"Okay, remember this isn't like a rifle. You aren't aiming down the sights as much as you are pointing the gun at the target. Try to wait till the clay is at the top of its arc, if you shoot while it's still going up or heading down, you need to lead it a bit," Lemon Drop said to the young unicorn standing at the firing line.
I watched on as Lemon Drop gave a few more tips before asking the colt if he was ready to try again.
The colt nodded and pulled the last round from the box of shells on the table next to him. I watched as he walked up to the small slab of concrete embedded in the ground that designated the shooting location. He chambered the round, and brought the shotgun into a firing position.
"Whenever you're ready." Lemon Drop said.
The Equestria version of skeet had changed a bit since its inception. When it was first introduced the thrower would do a series of nice gentle arcs, giving ponies plenty of time to hit their targets. Repeat customers had started getting better and better at hitting all of their targets and wanted more of a challenge so the game had evolved into its current form.
The basic premise hadn't really changed much. A player was still still trying to hit a small clay disk, but instead of a series of relatively slow moving predictable targets, the unicorn in charge of throwing the things would progress through a series of harder and harder throws. A standard match consisted of 4 sets of 5 disks.
The first set of 5 throws were just tossed into the air much like a static launcher would throw a clay pigeon back on Earth. On the second, the clays would be launched much faster and at varying angles. From the 3rd set on, the thrower was allowed to use their magic to make minor course changes on the disks mid flight. By the time the 5th set rolled around the clays were zig-zagging across the field as the thrower did their best to prevent a hit.
The game could be played in either a team vs team configuration where each team provided their own thrower or in a individual competitors mode where a single unicorn was chosen to throw for everypony.
Lemon Drop had been working for me since I first opened the range to the public. She had been our first thrower and had been the one to suggest the new gameplay style as she noticed at repeat customers having too easy a time with her standard throws. Like all my employees, she got free time at the range and had also gotten quite good at hitting targets as well. In fact she had recently moved up from her original position and was now acting as an instructor, though she was still one of our best throwers.
Lemon Drop's horn glowed and a clay floated out of the box. Meanwhile the young colt brought the shotgun into a ready position.
"Pull!" he shouted out.
With a flick of her magic, the clay was hurled into the air. Since this was the colt's first time at the range, she went with a fairly easy toss. I tracked the disk as it climbed into the air, getting higher and higher until it reached the top of it's arc. There was a loud bang and the disk exploded into a fine powder.
"I got it!" the unicorn shouted out. "Did ya see dad? I got it!" He turned and was about to bolt over to his father who was watching from behind the firing line. A gentle cough from Lemon Drop gave him pause and reminded him to follow proper range safety rules. He opened the breach of the shotgun, ejecting the spent round and placed the empty shotgun, still with breach open, down on the table.
He hastily shouted out a "range cold" and she gave him a nod. With that he bolted over to his grinning dad. I walked over and collected the shotgun and placed it in a holster on my back before walking over to the pair.
Normally the ranges weren't open to the public on Mondays, but when the father and son had shown up at my door, not knowing that fact and hopeful to try some shooting out before they had to return to Manehattan from their trip to Canterlot I just couldn't say no. Since I owned the place, it was easy enough to clear a little bit of time for the two ponies.
"Thank you again," the father said to me as I lead them off the range.
"Don't worry about it," I said. We headed in, the two ponies collected their saddle bags and left via the front door. I put the shotgun away and walked over to break room to grab a drink.
As I sipped on my water, I could hear the occasional distant pop of gunfire. It sounded like it was coming from the 100 yard range. Probably Iron Anvil doing some test shots with a new batch of rifles. In the nearly eight months that had gone by since my grand opening I had acquired a small team of ponies. Six machinists, four ponies who worked on ammunition manufacturing, two ponies with wood working experience, a unicorn who specialised in industrial enchantments and a few helpers that worked on the range. That didn't even include Short Fuse or her employees.
The time had gone by far faster than I had thought possible. It was nearing the end of spring in Equestria when I had driven through the portal. Twilight had turned me into a pony a little over a month later. I had been flying around Equestria on my own set of wings far longer than than the short time I had walked around it in my original body.
With the changing of the seasons came holidays. Some of the pony ones were very familiar to me, even if the names were different. Only a short time before we ran the leaves off the trees they celebrated Nightmare Night which was effectively Halloween with a background story about some scary monster named Nightmare Moon. Towards the end of the year came Hearth's Warming Day. It wasn't exactly Christmas, but many of the traditions were the same. It was a time to spend with friends and loved ones, gifts were given, trees and decorations were put up. I smiled warmly thinking about the moment on Hearth's Warming Eve when Golden Dawn had pulled me under a mistletoe.
Time continued to pass swiftly, New Year's, Hearts and Hooves Day, and Winter Wrap Up Day. If I had to pick my favorite thing about pony holidays it was how musical they were. These ponies seemed to have songs for everything, not only that but I suspected there was some sort of magic at work when ponies gathered and sang. I nearly had a heart attack the first time I was involved in it. At the town's Hearth Warming's gathering, Pinkie had started singing a song and the next thing I knew everypony, including myself was joining in. I didn't even know the words, but I was somehow singing them with every other pony and I was singing well, something I had never been able to do as a human.
Actually, that was wrong. If I had to pick my favorite part of the holidays, it was spending them with Golden Dawn. Even with our busy lives, our relationship had flourished and grown, quite fast in fact, faster than I had ever thought possible. I was madly in love with her which both made my heart rejoice and terrified me. There was a constant inner war between my love for her and my desire to return home. I tried to picture what would happen if Twilight finally contacted me and told me that a trip back to Earth was one way and I was afraid to admit that there was no way I could leave Golden Dawn.
I didn't tell her about the internal conflict, but, after having perhaps a bit too much drink on New Year's Eve, as the New Year rang in at the stroke of midnight, I let slip to her that I was well and truly past the like stage and quite passionately confessed my love. When she responded with a kiss, I knew that she felt the same. Neither of us got much sleep that night, as I boldly went where no man had gone before.
Eventually, the holiday season passed by, winter was more or less finished with spring right around the corner. Silent Night had been right with his guess, it was just over four months after his visit with Thunderbolt, that a company based out of the Crystal Empire started selling break action shotguns and lever actions similar to my own.
I began to suspect that the large number of horse puns that seemed ever present in Equestria was actually caused by some function of the magical nature of the ponies' universe. I let out a groan when I read about them, Whinnychester Repeating Arms Company. They used spark powder in their loads, which meant they weren't quite as clean as the smokeless stuff Short Fuse was making, but I figured it was only a matter of time before they figured that out as well. Not that I had a problem with competition, if anything my own sales went up because now more ponies were being exposed to shooting as a sport.
I still hadn’t heard anything official from either the Guard or any other sort of government branch about the guns I was making. I asked Silent Night during one of his visits if anything official ever came from the report he and Thunderbolt had made, unfortunately paperwork moved slow in the Guard and he said he wouldn’t be surprised if it took six months to a year for anything to come of it.
On the other hoof, the was a huge influx in guards coming by to the range to shoot, they were perhaps my largest unified block of customers. Silent Night and Thunderbolt were regulars at the range and they spread the word amongst their own friends, who spread the word to their friends and so on and so forth. This created a huge bump in business and just a month ago a huge upgrade to my facilities was completed. It turned my small shop into Equestria's first real firearm factory.
The building itself had been expanded, giving us almost triple the square footage to work with. On top of that, most of the hoof operated equipment was upgraded with automated or partially automated machines. The part of the process that was still done completely by pony was the barrel construction. Iron Anvil wasn't working on those alone anymore though, he had two assistants helping him out and they were cranking the things out as fast as they could.
With the upgrade to the facilities, came a new lineup of guns. We were selling four different kinds now. First was the Model 120, a refined version of the original single shot break action that I designed. The Model 240 was a side by side double barrel variant. Both were only offered in 12 gauge, I saw no reason to introduce a smaller cartridge since even young ponies could easily handle the recoil of a 12 gauge.
The Model 4873, named after the previous year, when it first went on sale, was my .44 magnum lever action, it was nearly identical to my original, with minor modifications to make firing by hoof easier. The 4873 held ten shots in its tubular magazine and sported adjustable peep sights. It was accurate out to about 150 yards with a skilled shooter. In addition, we introduced the Dragoon, Equestira's first revolver. It had a six inch barrel and fired the same .44 magnum cartridge that the 4873 did.
We were now producing everything locally. Primer production had long been one of the the slowest part of the process, but eventually we were able to come up with a solution. On Earth, primers are actually primed by hand due to the unstable nature of the compound. There’s no easy and safe way to automate the process.
Here in Equestria though, we found a way. By using a spell developed by Dazzling Sparks that prevented the primer compound from prematurely detonating, we were able to automate the priming process. Primers, like cartridge are made of brass. A large punch press took in sheets of brass and punched out a huge number of primer cups in a very short amount of time. These were loaded into groups of 100 and then sent into the priming machine.
Inside the priming machine was a supply of lead styphnate, the primary explosive used in our primers. Ordinarily this compound is extremely sensitive to shock, but a magical field inside the machine stabilized the lead styphnate to such a degree that it was impossible for it to detonate. The primers each had a preset amount of lead styphnate inserted into each cup and then the anvils were inserted last, completing the primer.
Before this breakthrough I was having to rely on my limited supply of Earth made primers to supplement the limited number we were able to make by hoof. Now that the process was automated, we could easily scale our daily primer yield as demand rose.
Manufacturing had grown immensely as I hired more and more ponies to help out. Many of the ponies that worked for me had previous experience in machining, automated production and assembly, so I was quick to use their expertise to kick production into high gear. The biggest difference between what I was doing here in Equestria and how things would have worked on Earth was the blend of technology and magic.
Another example of this that stood out to me was how quickly I was able to ramp up ammunition assembly. To load ammunition on a commercial scale on Earth required complex machines that required an extreme degree of precision. You didn’t want to end up in a situation where your loader put too much powder in a cartridge and caused a kaboom. Ponies could, and did, design machines with that much precision, but I was finding that they could also create simpler machines with a similar amount of precision by mixing magic into the equation. For example, a simple spell could measure the amount of powder going into a load with perfect precision, over and over again, with virtually no chance of failure. I would have never even thought of such a thing, if it wasn’t for one of my own employees pointing it out when I was struggling on how to meet the constantly rising demand for more ammunition.
I sold off the fireworks portion of Short Fuse’s business which gave me a good amount of capital to reinvest in my own expansion. She and Dazzling Sparks were among my top employees and directly responsible for many of the advancements that had been made since I had opened my first tiny shop six months ago.
If Storm & Fuse Munitions was doing well, Golden Motors was doing fantastic. In just two short months her business had attracted backing from a number of large investors. Between funding from those investors and money she had made on deposits from ponies seeking to buy a truck, she ordered a brand new factory to be built.
It dwarfed the small workshop, where her and her team of ponies had been assembling trucks by hoof. It took six months to go up but once it finished, Equestria’s first assembly line operated automobile factory started churning out new vehicles. Golden's workforce ballooned from just herself and 20 other ponies to well over 500. Ponyville was growing so fast that they were in the midst of a housing shortage as more and more ponies moved to work in her factory.
Even with the new factory, which was putting out around 50 trucks per day, they had a backlog of orders a mile long even though she kept production going 6 days a week. It seemed like every farm in 500 miles of Ponyville wanted at least one of her trucks, not to mention shipping companies, construction companies and half a dozen other businesses. Some ponies were ordering them just for the novelty of having an automobile.
The new factory employed a full style assembly line style production. Instead of following the vehicles as they were produced, workers stayed in one spot, doing one job, which they got very good at doing. She believed that as her force got better at their jobs, she could bump up the production rate at least another 25%. That was, if she could procure supplies fast enough. As it stood, she was already negotiating with the rail lines to expand the size of the nearby station so it could handle larger shipments.
At first, there was only a single model, Golden Dawn, not being much for names had decided to name it Model A. I was secretly hoping she made it up to 'T' before she came up with a better naming scheme, even though I'd be the only one on the planet who would think GM putting out a Model T would be funny.
The GM Model A closely resembled an early 1900s truck, though with a larger cabin sized to fit two ponies. The engine was rated at 25 horsepower and it could haul 1 ton of ponies and cargo at speeds up to 30 miles per hour. The truck was rated at 20 miles per gallon of fuel while carrying 3/4th of a full load. With it's 10 gallon tank it could drive up to 200 miles before needing to refuel. It was designed to run off of a blend of kerosene and vegetable oil which Golden Dawn sold as diesel but could run off of either one of those substances without blending in a pinch. The truck cost 300 bits, around 6 months wages for the average pony.
For comparison the best steam auto on the market only generated 20 horsepower, cost 3000 bits, got 10 miles per gallon of kerosene which it burned to heat it's boiler. Even though it had a larger fuel tank, it used a gallon of water every 4 miles, giving it only half the range of the Model A before needing to refill it's boiler.
When the new factory had finished, she retired the Model A and introduced the Model B. It had a heavier, stronger frame and a more powerful engine, rated at 35HP. In addition, it had 25% more carrying capacity and could handle rough dirt roads better thanks to wider tires. The Model B also upgraded from a crank start to an electric start powered by a small gem battery. In case of battery failure, it still had a crank for backup.
None of the steam auto companies could keep up with her rate of advancement, by the time they had some competition for the Model A, the Model B production ramping up. We didn't expect this lead to last forever, like with the guns, somepony was bound to start making their own internal combustion engines at some point, but for now Golden was enjoying dominating the field.
"What time will you be getting out of work next Friday?" Golden Dawn asked me over dinner.
"Tomorrow?" I asked between bites.
"No, next week," she said.
"I don't think I have anything special going on. I've got a shipment of lead coming in but Lemon Drop can pick it up from the station,"
"You're going to make her pull a cart of lead all the way from the station? She's tiny and that stuff weighs a ton." Golden Dawn said with an exaggerated look of shock.
"Nah, I'm going to give her the keys to my truck. They'll load it up at the station for her and Iron Anvil can help her unload. She won't have to lift a hoof."
"She should be driving one of mine, it would be good advertising," Golden Dawn said with a smirk.
"I tried to get one, but even though I'm dating the owner she said I still had to wait in line," I said sticking out my tongue. "Anyway I can get off work any time, why what's up?"
"I thought we might fly into Canterlot, get dinner somewhere nice."
"I'm fine with that," I said. Cautiously I asked "What's the occasion?" I was never great with dates and the pony calendar threw me off a bit. Their months were all 32 days long, a year in Equestria was 384 days exactly. I hoped I hadn't forgotten her birthday or something.
"Don't worry, you didn't forget anything like our one year of dating anniversary, you still have a little while before that comes up. Though in a way, it is an anniversary of sorts. A year ago from next Friday is when I found you in the Badlands," Golden Dawn said.
"Oh wow, and that means this Saturday is a year from when I stumbled into Equestria," I said. "I was too busy trying to not die in the desert to pay much attention to the date." I said with a grin.
"Completely understandable, especially since it changed when you crossed from Earth to Equus," Golden Dawn said.
Golden Dawn ears fell flat as she stared off into nothingness. I recognized it as a sign that something was bothering her. I walked over and nibbled affectionately on her ear, shaking her out of her trance.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Have you heard anything from Twilight recently?" she asked.
"No, it's been at least a month since she we last talked, why?"
"Princess Celestia and her sister Princess Luna are supposed to be coming back soon. The papers said would be gone a year, and they left the same day you arrived. I just think it's odd that Twilight hasn't asked you to come to Canterlot to see them when they get back."
"Why's that?" I asked.
"Princess Celestia, well she's been around forever. If anypony knows how to find your universe, it will be her. And even if she can't I'm sure she'd like to meet you."
"Maybe Twilight's is waiting till after she's back before she schedules a meeting. I'm sure there are more important things for Princess Celestia to look at when she gets back than one lost ex-human."
"Maybe, still you know how Twilight likes to plan ahead, it still seems weird that you haven't heard anything."
"Well we both have Saturday off, we could head to Canterlot if you want. Twilight did tell me I could stop by anytime," I said.
"Maybe, I don't want to bother her, especially with Princess Celestia returning. I guess if we don't hear anything we can always stop by after our date next week."
We decided not to bother Twilight on Saturday. Then on Sunday, I woke up to Golden Dawn shaking me, her eyes were puffy as if she had been crying, and she was trembling. I had never seen Golden Dawn like this before, she looked terrified.
"What's wrong?" I asked, reaching over and putting a hoof on her.
"It's Princess Celestia, she's gone!" Golden Dawn said, holding up the Sunday paper. The front page article read "Equestria in Shock: Princess Celestia and Princess Luna Missing."
Between tears Golden Dawn told me what she had read in the paper. Both princesses were due back the previous day. When they did not return as schedule, Twilight held a press conference. She revealed that Princess Celestia had gone on vacation because she had been injured and needed time to heal. That alone was a huge shock to Golden Dawn. I still didn't know much about Equestria's other two alicorns but Celestia, and to a lesser extent, her sister Luna were revered almost as gods among most of the ponies I knew. The fact that Celestia had been seriously wounded had sent Golden Dawn into a panic.
Luna was also suffering from something, and the two sisters had decided to leave Twilight and Cadance in charge while they rested and recuperated. What Twilight hadn't revealed was any reason behind the disappearance nor when contact was first lost with them. She had promised to give an update in two weeks if Celestia and Luna had still not returned. The rest of the article was rife with theories as to what had happened to the two princesses. Everything from a simple delay to Celestia and Luna abdicating, to them both having been killed.
"Is there anything I can do?" I asked as I held Golden Dawn tightly in my wing. Her body continued to shake as she struggled to keep back the tears.
"Just... don't go anywhere," she said looking into my eyes. "I'm scared Hail Storm. Princess Celestia, she's always been there for us. I remember when I was a filly and my great grandmother would talk about the time she met Celestia at the first Summer Sun Celebration after the family had moved to Canterlot."
Golden Dawn paused to inch closer to me.
"Great gram was just six years old, the family had only been in Canterlot for a few months and weren't prepared for the crowds that the Summer Sun Celebration brought. When they were heading out to get a spot, she got separated from her parents. She was running around in a tears trying to find her mom when she rounded a corner and ran straight into Princess Celestia. The princess brought her up on the stage while she raised the sun and then helped her find her mom and dad, my great great grandparents, in the crowd."
I held her tightly and eventually the tears stopped. When Golden Dawn looked ready to talk again, I asked her something that had been bothering me since she told me the story about her great grandmother.
"So wait, the story with Celestia, that was your great grandmother you said?" I asked, scratching my head. I had no idea what a Summer Sun Celebration was nor did I know what Golden Dawn meant by raise the sun but if Golden Dawn's great grandmother had met Princess Celestia that would make her very very old. At least I thought so, I actually didn't really know how long ponies lived.
"Yeah," Golden said.
"I um... odd question, how long do ponies live? Because if your great grandmother met Celestia as a filly... wouldn't that make Celestia really old?"
"Celestia... old" Golden Dawn said with a giggle. I wasn't sure why she was laughing but it was good to see that she had calmed down completely. She must have noticed my confusion because then she started to explain.
"I'm sorry... your statement, it just threw me for a loop with its absurdity. It's not your fault, you didn't know it was absurd. It was nice though, distracted me a for a moment. Anyway to answer your question, I think the average life expectancy is just under 100 years for pegasus ponies. Earth ponies it's a little lower, unicorns it's a bit higher. As for Celestia being old, well that's a bit of an understatement. She's ancient... and immortal."
"Wait what? Like she doesn't age?" I wasn't sure if I believed this.
"Yeah, she's been ruling Equestria for thousands of years."
"Seriously?" I asked.
"Hail, I wouldn't joke about Celestia at a time like this," Golden Dawn said seriously.
"Yeah... sorry. I just well, I know Equestria is different than Earth and pony magic still amazes me, but immortality? That's just a hard pill to swallow."
"It's alright, I mean even as ponies go, Celestia's unique. Well, Celestia and her sister Luna."
"This Luna is immortal too?" I asked.
"Yes, I mean I think so, Luna went away for a long time but she just came back recently. We don't know as much about her or much about either of their pasts, but we think they were the original alicorns. "
"Is immortality an alicorn thing? Is Twilight immortal too?"
"I don't think so but I don't really know, you'd have to ask Twilight."
"I'm almost afraid to ask... but what did you mean by raise the sun?"
"Oh my. If immortality threw you for a loop, I'm really not sure what you will make of this. You know how ponies control the weather?"
I nodded, I had watched pegasi move clouds, form storms, change the seasons, I had stopped trying to make sense of it a long time ago.
"Well, Celestia kind of does too, she um... well, she uh controls the sun... starting both the day and the night by raising and lowering it. In the past, Luna handled the moon, I except when she returned she resumed doing that. Anyway, Equestria is as habitable as it is because of the adjustments Celestia makes to the sun in its orbit around Equus. Without her controlling the sun, even every pegasus alive couldn't maintain control of the planet's natural weather," Golden Dawn squeaked out.
"Care to run that by me again?"
"Celestia controls the sun. She begins the day by raising the sun and when it is done she lowers the sun so night can start."
"Golden the sun doesn't get raised or lowered. It only looks like it does because of the planet is rotating. As it spins, the sun appears to move up over the horizon, across the sky until it reaches the other side and goes down again. Night time is just when the other side of the planet is facing the sun."
"That's how it works on other planets, but not Equus," Golden said.
"How do you know that?"
"Celestia told us."
"If it were true, how come Equestria still has days and nights while she's missing?" I asked, in a more snarky manner than I had intended.
"The article covered that, Twilight and Cadance are managing it in her absence."
"You can't raise a sun, it's a star, they're massive," I said with a bit of annoyance "Earth's sun is so big that you could fit over a million Earths inside of it. I mean maybe Equestria had no rotation and if she turned it, that might make it look like the sun was being raised. But even that's impossible. You can't move a planet and if you could, well it would disastrous for everypony on it if the rotation was stopped and started up every day."
"This isn't Earth!" Golden Dawn said, raising her voice. "You said so yourself, you're currently sitting on a planet in another dimension in the body of a pony because of magic. Something that doesn't exist in your world. How can you know what is possible or impossible?"
I almost yelled back, but a terrible sick feeling in my stomach forced me to hold my tongue.
What the hell am I doing? I asked myself. I loved this mare and here I was arguing with her about her beliefs for no good reason. She was afraid and hurt and I was just making it worse.
"Golden... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause an argument. Whether Celestia can move the sun or not, that's not important. What's important is the love of my life is hurting and I'm just being a big jerk, I said sadly. I gave myself another mental kick. I should have been trying to comfort her and here I was arguing what was probably religion for Golden Dawn, maybe even the whole country. Hell since Celestia was a princess it was religion and politics. It was the perfect recipe for a disaster of an argument and I had galloped right into it.
Golden's stern expression softened.
"I'm sorry too, I shouldn't have yelled. I understand your skepticism, with you living so much of your life with no magic, somepony like Celestia would be impossible for you to relate to," she said, as she leaned over and nuzzled me. "She'll be back someday and when she is, well you'll be able to see for yourself, then you can choose to believe it or not. Either way I'll still love you."
The news of Celestia's disappearance seemed to hit everypony else as hard as it had hit Golden Dawn. The next day at work every single pony on my crew was distant. I could tell their minds weren't really on the job. That wasn't going to fly working with guns and explosives. If a distracted worker was loading ammo incorrectly or a gun wasn't assembled to the proper specifications, somepony could get hurt, severely. I didn't want to seem like an insensitive jerk and I certainly didn't need a repeat of my argument with Golden Dawn so I gave them the rest of the day off and closed the shop.
I found Golden Dawn at home, she had done the same for her workers. In fact many places ended up closing down for the next few days. I might not have believed Golden Dawn about Celestia's sun controlling powers but it was clear that she, and the rest of the country loved their ruler deeply.
By the end of the week, things were mostly getting back to normal. There was still a lot of speculation going on over what had happened to Celestia and Luna but life went on. If Twilight kept to her schedule, we'd know the truth in a week. And from what I knew of that pony, she always kept her schedule.
In light of the situation, Golden Dawn and I postponed our plans to visit Canterlot the following weekend. Instead we shared a simple picnic meal on a cloud under a starry night sky. After we returned home, we began to talk of business as we often did.
"I've been going over the books and when I compare the number of orders to our production speed, it's clear that we're being held back," I said as I flipped through the notes I had made earlier in the day.
"Time to expand?" Golden Dawn asked.
"That's what I've been thinking. Take a page out of your book and revise my production methods. The parts are all standardized but the workflow could be greatly improved. I'm also going to need more ponies but that means I need more space."
"Land's cheap enough, but even after expanding it, your building is awfully small. You going to do another expansion?"
"Nah, the last one was annoying. Work kept getting interrupted during construction. Instead, I'm going to break this into two parts. First I'm going to set up a whole new factory. All gun production will eventually be moved there, my current building will be the storefront and used to do repairs or custom work. I'll hire additional staff for the factory, as for the work flow, I'm going to take a page out of your book. Full on assembly line, instead of one pony following the gun from start to finish."
"Did you have a chance to look at the plans for the barrel drilling machine I sketched up?" Golden Dawn asked.
"I did, and I'm impressed. Barrel production is currently our biggest bottleneck. Iron Anvil has helped me make some improvements to the rifling machine I built, but it still doesn't have the best of tolerances. Also, I think he'd love a break from forging barrels day in and day out. Thanks for working on that by the way. How you have time to help me with my problems while running your own company, I don't know."
"I think I can get one built before your new building is up," Golden Dawn said.
"That would be fantastic. Once we've got one of them, I think my ponies can duplicate it."
Quite a few of my workers were machinists before I convinced them to jump ship on their old jobs and come work for me. None of them were quite as good as Golden Dawn, but if she supplied the blueprints, we could get more built.
"Though I'm not sure I can afford it right now though, if I'm going to be buying more land and putting in a payment for a building I'm not going to have a surplus of bits laying around," I said as I thought about my current funds.
I turned back to my notes and started running some numbers. Golden Dawn had put the estimated cost of the building the machine on the plans. It wasn't cheap but in the long run it would pay for itself in time saved. "Maybe we can work something out, a payment plan of perhaps? If you need the bits upfront I'm not sure how I can pay you."
"I can think of a few ways," Golden Dawn said with a grin. She leaned over and licked the tip of my ear, causing my wings to flare out completely on their own.
"Oh... um... yeah I can look at this later," I said as I dropped my notes and turned my attention to Golden Dawn.
"Afternoon Hail Storm, what brings you here?" Spike asked as I trotted into Golden Oak Library.
"Just looking for a book," I said.
"Well, you've certainly come to the right place," he said with a smile and a laugh. "Any book in particular?"
"Oh, I dunno, I thought I might just look around for a bit and see what you've got," I said.
It was true, I wasn't sure exactly what book I was looking for, though I think I'd know it when I saw it. Either way, I wasn't sure if I wanted to involve the young dragon. He might be responsible enough to run the library on his own in Twilight's absence, but he was still a kid and I had a very adult decision to make.
"Okay, let me know if you need anything," the dragon replied, he gave me another smile and then headed over to a stack of books and started placing them up on a shelf. "
I looked around and found the rest of the library empty. Good, except for Spike, I had the place to myself. That gave me time to think while I browsed the shelves.
Shelves upon shelves stretched up, nearly all the way to the ceiling. A rickety looking ladder leaned up against the wall, waiting for some poor earth pony, or perhaps dragon, that needed to reach the top shelf. Thankfully, my wings would save me from putting my trust in that thing, should the need arise.
Most of the shelves were filled with books, but the section I was standing in front of was filled with dusty old scrolls that looked like they hadn't been touched in ages. The sign at the top indicated that they were magical spells. I moved on, circling the room as I tried to make sense of how the library was arranged. As I did, my thoughts turned back to my reason for being here.
As I had said to Golden Dawn in the past, I was horrible with dates. This had been made even worse when I arrived in Equestria. Not only did Equestria have a slightly different calendar system, but I no longer had access to an internet based calendar to keep track of everything for me. So, a few weeks ago, when I was supposed to be working, I took a two hour break and sat down with a paper calendar and worked backwards through all the events that had happened in my life since arriving in Equestria.
That's how I figured out that my 1 year anniversary (Equestria years) was a week away. Thankfully, that was more than enough time to plan something nice for Golden Dawn. We took some time off of work and headed up to Neighagra Falls for a mini-vacation. During that trip I spent a lot of time reflecting on the past year of my life in Equestria and I realized something.
It had been the best year of my life.
I smiled as I thought back to that kiss, technically our second, as I had been returning the one she had given me weeks earlier, but it was the first we had both participated in. The smile only grew as I thought about New Year's Eve, I had finally told Golden Dawn that I loved her, just as the year ended. The night had only gotten better from there and I'd never forget it as long as I lived. But, my activities with Golden Dawn weren't the only thing special about that night. I had also made a decision then. If I had to choose between Earth and Golden Dawn, I would choose her.
It was many months later and I still hadn't had to make that choice. News from Twilight about the search for my home had dwindled to a monthly report which always said the same thing. No luck yet. I honestly was beginning to suspect I never would be forced to choose, but I still hadn't told Golden Dawn of my decision.
When we finally returned back from Neighagra Falls, all I could think of was what we were going to do for our next year, or the year after that, or the year after that. I had to have a talk with Golden, specifically about Earth. I had been putting it off for a while now, I couldn't help it, I was nervous. I didn't think she knew I had noticed, but whenever the subject of Earth came up, there was a sadness in her eyes. She didn't want me to leave, but at the same time, I knew my marefriend. If I told her that I was giving up on Earth to stay with her, well she'd be happy, but I was also afraid she'd also be mad at herself for forcing me into that decision, even though she wasn't.
Just like choosing to let Twilight turn me into a pony, staying in Equestria was, after all, my decision to make, and I didn't see it like that. What I needed was a way to show her that I wasn't giving up on Earth because of her. Instead, I was choosing to stay with her, even if that meant not going back home. In fact, if my plan worked out the way I wanted it to, I wasn't going to just choose to stay with her for a while. I'd be with Golden Dawn for the rest of my life.
I just had one problem I had to deal with, well maybe not one. There was always the nervousness factor. Thinking about my plan both gave me the jitters and gave me a warm fuzzy feeling. I knew i'd get past that eventually, so that left another issue, which is why I was in the library today. Our relationship had been a good one, but well, when you're dating an interdimensional alien pony, there are bound to be cultural differences. I had run into the first before we even kicked things off, when she had thought I was giving her one of my feathers.
"Hey Hail Storm," Spike said, interrupting my thoughts.
"Huh... Oh, what's up?" I asked.
"Just a bit of a warning, I've got to close up the library a little early, I'm heading up to Canterlot and I've got to catch a train."
"Oh, meeting up with Twilight?" I asked.
"Yeah, I've got to help her with some... research," Spike said.
"When you see her, tell her I said hello," I said, then something struck me. "Wait, did you say a little early? What time is it now?"
"Almost 3:30, you've got another half an hour," Spike said.
"Shoot, sorry. I didn't realize how late it had gotten, I'll be done soon." I said, reassuring the dragon. I had zoned out and lost nearly an hour. I quickly resumed my search and my thoughts.
Hooves off the cutie mark while in public was another thing I had found out, fortunately we were in our home when I learned that bit of information. Not like when I found out that playing with Golden's wings was definitely not an appropriate thing to do in the park. I had gotten an earful from the local school teacher, Cheerilee. She and her class had been sitting just a short distance away and apparently her and some of her students had seen me.
Anyway, the point was, pony and human culture, while often similar, occasionally didn't line up. Since I was planning something big, I wanted to make sure I knew exactly what I was getting into. That meant doing some research.
"Ah ha," I said quietly to myself. I had finally found what I was looking for.
I picked up the small book and then sat down on the floor so I could look it over. I flipped open the cover and turned to the first page. Marriage Traditions in Equestria. I had some reading to do.
**********
"Thank you all for getting here so early," Twilight said. To her left sat Cadance and Shining Armor, on the other side of the table the rest of her closest friends sat. Applejack and Fluttershy were both wide awake, both of them were used to early mornings and had been the first to arrive. Rarity was currently taking a sip from a teacup, while Pinkie was shoving yet another doughnut into her bottomless stomach. Rainbow Dash, clearly the most tired of the group, was struggling to hold back a yawn.
"Where's Spike?" Rarity asked as she put down her tea.
"Still sleeping, he was up late last night helping me set up this meeting, I gave him the morning off." Twilight said. "If everypony is ready, I'll begin."
There was a series of nods and grunts, so Twilight kicked off the meeting.
"As you know, the Princesses were expected to be back almost three months ago. With still no word from either them or Discord, it seems likely that either they can't get back or somepony is preventing them from returning."
"Discord! He's got to be holding them somewhere," Rainbow Dash shouted out.
"I don't know, I really think he's past that," Fluttershy said quietly.
"I considered that, but it just doesn't seem his style. If he had turned on us, why hasn't he shown up to gloat? What purpose could it serve to simply vanish? Twilight asked.
"Have you been able to find anything at all?" Rarity asked.
"Yes, as you know from the monthly updates I've been providing, Cadance and I have been searching all of Equus. We finished that last night. Through a combination of search spells I've been able to confirm that they are no longer on on Equus at all. Does everypony remember the Crystal Mirror that I traveled through when Sunset Shimmer stole the Element of Magic?
"You mean the human world? With the other us-es?" Pinkie asked.
Twilight nodded.
"Could they be there?" Rarity asked.
"That was the first place I wanted to check since I knew Discord knew about it. But the portal was closed so I had no easy way to do so. But I discovered a thread of magic that was holding the portal just barely open and by using that I was able to open the portal up to that world ahead of schedule. Other than their human counterparts, there is no sign of Celestia or Luna on that world either. Based on what I was able to study from the portal Discord used and from the appearance of Hail Storm I strongly believe that Discord went to a previously unexplored dimension.
"Just how many other dimensions are there?" Rainbow asked.
"Clover the Clever's Multiverse Theory hypothesizes that there are a nearly infinite number of dimensions," Twilight said.
Applejack let out a long whistle, "I reckon it's going to be a long search then?"
"Well I won't have to look through all of them," Twilight said. "Every dimension is its own contained universe, and normally there's no way to bridge the gap between one universe and the next. The exception to this is when one universe intersects with another, a hole or gateway can be made at the point of intersection. These intersections are rare, but because there are so many different dimensions there may be thousands of dimensions that brush up against our own. If the dimensions don't intersect, no portal can be opened. Though it is possible for the dimensions to drift in and out of contact. That's why the Crystal Mirror normally only works every 30 moons. The rest of the time that dimension point of intersection is weak enough that a portal can't normally be opened. I had to use a considerable amount of energy to force the mirror to work outside of it's normal schedule."
Cadance coughed quietly, "I think we're getting a bit off track of the original reason for calling this meeting," she said.
Twilight looked at Cadance with a blushed, "Sorry, I was in lecture mode, " she said before turning back towards her friends.
"Have you been able to find anything out about Hail Storm himself, or where he came from? Shining Armor asked.
"Unfortunately no. I've been working on a spell that can detect the dimensional phase alignment of an object. If I can get it working, I can sample one of the items he brought with him, then setup a spell to scan through every reachable dimension until it finds a match. It's a top priority for me right now, since Hail Storm came through a fragment of Discord's portal, I strongly suspect that Celestia and Luna ended up in either Hail Storm's dimension, or one linked to it."
"So what do we do now?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Well after a good deal of discussion between the Cadance and I we're going to work on expanding the number of ponies working on the problem. The public already knows some details, that Celestia and Luna are missing but we haven't gone forward with anything about Discord's involvement yet. That information is going out publicly out in the next few weeks. There's going to be a lot of questions, so to get on top of the situation ahead of time, we want to share what we know with a select group of ponies ahead of time. Later today, Cadance and I have a meeting with the High Council. In addition we will be reaching out to the leadership of both the Royal Guard and the Wonderbolts."
Rainbow Dash's ears perked up, "Wonderbolts...? You mean Spitfire?"
"Yes, she should be here shortly, along with Iron Fortress." Shining Armor said.
"I thought Shining Armor had resumed his duties as Captain of the Guard?" Rarity asked.
"I have," Shining Armor replied, "and as as the Captain of the Guard I also represent the Royal Guard on the High Council, but that takes a lot of time and I have to delegate most of my Guard duties to Iron Fortress. He has a better handle on the Guard's current state and more importantly, the Guard's personnel. If there are any ponies in the Guard that can help with the search, he'll know about them."
A loud knocking echoed through the room.
"That's probably them right now, I'll get the door," Twilight said. Her horn lit up, the door opened and in stepped a large white earth pony in full guard armor. Behind him the yellow form of Spitfire, Captain of the Wonderbolts could just barely be seen. The door shut behind the two ponies with a resounding thud.
"Iron Fortress reporting as ordered," Iron Fortress said, giving Shining Armor and the two Princesses a salute.
Spitfire was a bit more cavalier in her greeting and merely offered a "Good morning."
"Please be seated," Twilight said and the two ponies walked over to the table. Spitfire sat down in the empty spot next to Rainbow Dash, who looked like she might explode in excitement. Iron Fortress took up the chair across from Shining Armor, giving the unicorn a respectful nod.
"I'm going to assume this is about Celestia and Luna," Spitfire said. "You know, normally Celestia provides us with an agenda before meetings."
"I am sorry about that, I had one prepared but ultimately decided it would be best to go everything face to face due to the nature of this meeting," Twilight said. She looking genuinely sad about being accused of not providing enough paperwork.
"Anyway, let me get started and please hold all your questions for the end," Twilight said, looking down at her notes. "So... we have a bit of a problem..."
Twilight, with help from Cadance and Shining Armor, went over the events that had occurred inside Canterlot Mountain a little over a year ago. By the time the story was done, Spitfire's jaw was hanging open, while Iron Fortress maintained a stern look.
"Wait, so they aren't just missing... You lost the Princesses?" Spitfire shouted as Twilight concluded the story.
"We didn't lose them, Discord did," Twilight said.
"I still think he just crashed their vacation and took them somewhere else," Pinkie said in between bites of a cupcake that she hadn't been holding a moment ago.
Twilight rolled her eyes, "Even if that's true Pinkie, we still need to find them. They've been gone over a year, they are supposed to be back by now. You know how unpredictable Discord is, what if he took them somewhere dangerous?"
"Do you have any input Iron Fortress?" Shining Armor asked, looking at the other guard.
For a few moments, Iron Fortress gave no response. His face remained blank, showing no expression; if the story behind the princesses' disappearance had unnerved the stoic guard, nopony in the room could tell. At a best guess he looked as if he was deep in thought, so when he finally opened his mouth every pony turned to hear his response.
The high pitched cackle that escaped the stallion's throat only caused a moment of confusion, for barely a couple of seconds after it started, Iron Fortress stood up and in a flash of green fire his body burned away revealing the Queen of the Changelings.
Chrysalis stood tall and strong, gazing out at the group of ponies as if daring them to make a move.
"You do have a problem," she said with a sneer, "and you do not know the half of it."