“Oh! I’m so sorry that I woke you up! I was just worried because… um… my friend is missing and…” The soft spoken pegasus at the door said when Twilight opened it up. She stopped when she heard Dash snoring softly and peeked around Twilight to see her.
“Oh my… she looks… peaceful… I’ve um… never seen her look like that in her sleep…” The new pegasus said, awe evident in her tone. After a few moments she seemed to remember she was at someone else’s doorstep and quickly bowed her head low.
“I’m so sorry again for waking you up! She’s clearly in good hooves, I think I should go now…” The shy pegasus continued, backing away from the door slowly. Twilight blinked a few times before yawning wide and stepping aside.
“Come on in, if you’re a friend of Rainbow’s then I trust you. I know the workshop is a little intimidating at first, at least form the outside, so coming up to it just to make sure your friend was ok was pretty brave of you.” Twilight said. The pegasus nodded slowly, some of her confidence returning, as she shuffled around Twilight to enter.
“Philomena love, it’s morning! Go on outside and play, I know you love the dawn!” Twilight called down one of the pipes leading down into the furnace. A lazy caw was her response as the fireplace went out in full and the sound of the phoenix leaving the great source of energy was heard. Fluttershy froze in place when the phoenix, eyes narrow with sleep, hopped up the stairs. They all looked at Dash as she let out a particularly loud snore and Twilight giggled.
“Seems even us yelling doesn’t wake her up. Wanna try your talon at it?” Twilight asked the bird. The mischievous look in her eye was all the response they needed before the bird hopped over to the sleeping mare. She let out a particularly piercing screech right in her face, but Dash only flicked a wing in response. The bird cocked her head and appeared to even smirk. She hopped onto Dash’s head and her smirk deepened. The slight sizzle and smell of burned hair finally caused the sleeping mare to crack an eye open.
“What’d I say about the mane, feathers?” The pegasus said grumpily. The bird cawed in response before shooting out of the still open door. Dash mumbled something under her breath as she slowly sat up and let out a massive yawn.
“Sleep well?” Twilight asked, her tone hopeful. That seemed to remind the pegasus that something wasn’t normal about this. She had just roused from a deep sleep, not bolted upright screaming again. In fact, she could remember actually dreaming. She looked at the off-color feathers on her right wing and sighed. Then she looked up at Twilight. Both she and Fluttershy were a little worried when the mare got up and started walking towards them, tears in her eyes, but it quickly warmed as the mare pulled Twilight into a full embrace. It wasn’t too different from how Luna had held her in that dream.
“Thank you… I… I don’t know what you did… but…” She started, sniffling, until she couldn’t hold it in anymore. She started crying, but they were tears of happiness. Twilight was shocked, some instinct or another driving her to gently stroke the mare’s mane as she cried. She looked to Fluttershy, grasping at straws for what to do, but she seemed to be almost in tears as well.
“Oh my gosh! Dash, did you really not have a nightmare?!” Fluttershy exclaimed. Well, an exclamation for her was still apparently barely above a whisper. Dash just nodded as she practically clung to Twilight for dear life.
“I-I… It started out as a nightmare, the one where I lost my wing again… but right before I hit the ground, I heard this… song...This soothing hum, and suddenly I was flying high above this beautiful field. The thermals were perfect, the wind was behind me, I could have glided forever!” The rainbow hued pegasus explained, finally composing herself slightly. “I… I kinda don’t want to go back home to sleep anymore… if that’s ok with you…” She continued to Twilight.
“What?! I-I mean, I don’t even sleep here most nights… And there’s definitely not enough room for you in the office. I have Spike sleeping in a basket, though he says he loves it…” Twilight started rambling. They were all startled out of it as the door suddenly slammed shut and started glowing blue for a moment before the dragon in question practically swung in again. He opened his mouth to say something, but paused when he saw not only Rainbow Dash here, but Fluttershy as well.
“Oh, since when did you start making so many friends Twi? Anyways, there’s a mare here to see you. Said it was something important about her livelihood.” The young dragon said. Twilight’s uncertain reply was cut off by Fluttershy practically squealing.
“OHMYGOSHISTHATABABYDRAGON?!” She got out, which roughly translated into ‘oh my gosh is that a baby dragon?’. With the softest gusts of wind, Fluttershy was next to Spike in the blink of an eye. She had reached out to presumably grab him like a child, but she quickly stopped and looked at Twilight. Still a little bewildered, Twilight gave a little nod and couldn’t help but grin as Spike was swept up in the shy mare’s grasp and doted over like a new mother with a foal. Spike giggling and half hearted protests only accentuated it.
“You gave me my dreams back, Twilight… I’d sleep out in the rain if it meant that never went away…” Dash said softly, leaning into Twilight ever so slightly while Fluttershy was still doting over Spike. Twilight looked over and saw the mare’s soft pink tinted cheeks and how she was looking everywhere but directly at Twilight’s eyes. The unicorn smiled but shook her head.
“I didn’t do it, Rainbow. I just asked…” She replied. Dash seemed a little confused about that, but nuzzled Twilight just under the chin. It caused all of her fur to stand up and her pinks to match Dash’s.
“Either way, it was still because of you.” She said before pulling away just as Spike finally wriggled free from Fluttershy’s grasp and plodded over to them.
“Anyways! Business! Stuff!” He huffed out, embarrassed at being treated like a child again. Twilight kissed him on top of the head, though. She knew he loved it, Celestia knows he does when she does it. And that wasn’t just a figure of speech.
“Alright. It was nice meeting you. It seems Spike’s taken a liking to you as well, I’d say you’re welcome here whenever you want really. I’m not around all that much to be honest, but if Dash is going to be sticking around more maybe I’ll spend some more time on this side. My name is Twilight Sparkle, by the way. And speaking of, you’re free to come and go as well Dash. I don’t mind if you bring some cloudstuff in here or if you want to claim a room upstairs, I can’t promise I can be here every night but it’ll be good to see if your nightmares come back.” Twilight said to the two.
“Oh! I’m so sorry! My name is Fluttershy, and that’s… um… nice…” The shy mare said, apparently not really knowing how to respond to the current situation now that she didn’t have a baby dragon to distract her. Twilight nodded and made towards the still open door leading into the hallway of her office at the palace.
“Uh, Twi?” Spike said. Twilight turned to look at him, he poked his nose with a talon and Twilight looked cross-eyed at her own nose. It was filthy. She hadn’t bathed last night after spending the entire day working with machinery and volatile magic. She debated having Spike stall for time while she took a quick shower, but decided to just use a quick cleaning spell. She and Spike entered the hallway and turned to shut the door. Fluttershy waved with a smile, but Twilight almost made a whining noise when she saw Dash’s face. She seemed like she thought she wasn’t going to be able to survive without Twilight. She gave her a warm smile and mouthed ‘Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon’ before closing the door and twisting the knob back into its normal place.
“Well, he said not to touch it while it was glowin’... Is he back now?” They heard through the door. Twilight proceeded to open it, which startled the earth pony on the other side. Twilight was barely out of range as the mare swiped a hoof in the air and stumbled backwards a bit.
“Consarn it! You scared the nellies out of me!” The mare exclaimed. Twilight was suddenly very aware she probably would have been out for days if that hook had connected as she could see the muscle on this mare.
“Sorry, I don’t get many guests that don’t know about it… What can I help you with?” Twilight asked as she closed the door behind her and led the mare into the office proper adjacent to the astronomy room. The mare had a soft orange coat and a blonde mane and tail that looked reminiscent of hay if hay looked like it was soft as a cloud. This mare clearly made sure to use her conditioner this morning.
“It’s alright, sorry I swung on ya. Anyways, My family and I run a farm not too far away from here an’ we’ve been relyin’ heavily on our machinery lately. So many of the family moved out to other cities to be more active with all the fancy tech that’s poppin’ up all around. Mac an’ I can’t keep up usin’ the carts so we’ve been usin’ the tractors more an’ more. Problem is, they’re old old tractors and the ponies we had fix em up to use them batteries you thought up did a real bad job of it and it makes the batteries drain right up real fast. We can’t afford new machinery an’ all my technical know-how is in hydraulics an’ steam engines. We can’t even afford to have a proper Arcanotechnician come out an’ fix em up.” The mare explained. Twilight hummed and wrote some things down in a notebook.
“I see, what exactly can I help you with though?” She asked, prodding the mare for more information. She was far too used to the nobility trying to sugarcoat lopsided requests with a sob story.
“Well, I heard that the Princess’ personal Arcanotechnician was in the process of makin’ a better battery that don’t need replacin’. The Apple Family don’t get by on handouts, so I didn’t come here to ask for no favors. I came here to make a deal. I try an’ help you with whatever you need doin’, even if it’s just heavy liftin’, and you either come fix our current machinery up nice or we can let you test yer stuff out on em. The farm’s done for either way otherwise so it won’t hurt none if it fails.” The mare answered. Twilight hummed.
The idea of having more help on her project was appealing, though she didn’t know exactly what the mare could do. The heavy lifting part wasn’t really an issue because of her magic, she’d have to take a measure of what the mare’s technical skills were. A farm pony usually wasn’t the first place to look for a technician, but there were certain things she said that led her to believe otherwise.
“Alright Miss…” Twilight started.
“Applejack.”
“Miss Applejack. Where is this farm of yours? The least I can do is take a look, my week is fairly empty since I’ve made some significant progress on my Arcane Engine recently. I could at least point you in the right direction even if I can’t help you.” Twilight continued. Applejack lit up at that.
“Oh thank you! We’re in Ponyville, see my family founded the place and it kinda sprouted up around the orchards.” Applejack replied. She was confused when Twilight started laughing.
“Sorry, Just an amazing coincidence. My workshop is over next to Ponyville at the moment. Come on, let’s take the shortcut.” She said, leading the confused mare out of the tower.
“I’ll hold down the fort, bring me back something sweet!” Spike called out from where he took his seat at Twilight’s desk. She waved at him in response and closed the door.
“Shortcut? But Ponyville is a four hour train ride away…” Applejack said skeptically.
“Magic.” Twilight said. Applejack snorted.
“Girl I aint heard of no unicorn strong enough to teleport two ponies that far.” The earth mare retorted. Twilight giggled.
“I can make it alone, two might be a bit of a drain but I probably wouldn’t die. No, even cooler magic.” She replied, twisting the handle as it glowed golden. “Welcome to the Wandering Workshop.” She continued as she opened the door. Fluttershy was still there, petting Philomena who was cooing softly like a purr.
“What in… Flutters? What’re y’all doin’ here?” Applejack said. Fluttershy looked up, surprised.
“Oh! Applejack! You were the mare that needed Twilight?” The pegasus asked, Philomena grumpy at the fact her perch had stood up without telling her.
“Yeah, I left yesterday remember? Went to go get help from that famous Arcanotechnician Rares was talkin’ about.” Applejack replied, stepping inside and taking a look around.
“Where’d Rainbow go?” Twilight asked.
“Oh! She went home to grab a few things. I know you told her she could claim a room, but I think she might completely move in here…” Fluttershy replied, looking out of an open window towards Dash’s cloud home.
“Wait what? Since when was Dash movin’?” Applejack asked.
“It’s a bit of a long story. I can tell you while we walk. Are you going to stick around, Fluttershy?” Twilight asked. Fluttershy shook her head.
“No, I’ve already spent enough time away from my animals. I just never expected to meet a phoenix and a baby dragon today!” The mare said.
“Be careful with that one, she loves to play pranks.” Twilight warned as she penned a note as she closed the door and twisted it, the blue glow fading and opening it again to reveal the countryside near Ponyville again.
“That is cooler magic.” Applejack mumbled to herself.
“Philomena love, make sure you let Dash in if she comes back before me. Otherwise usual procedure.” Twilight said as she motioned for the two to follow. The phoenix squawked in an affirmative, even giving a salute with a wing, before flying back out of the window.
“If you don’t mind, um, I’ll walk with you. I’m not the greatest flier so, um, I might as well not travel alone.” Fluttershy suggested. The two nodded happily and they climbed down the plated steps to the ground and made their way towards the road.
“So you all know each other?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah, we’ve got a nice little circle of ponies here. It’s me, Flutters here, Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie who runs the bakery. Rarity makes the prettiest darn dresses you’ll ever see, even got me to wear one for her birthday and I didn’t hate it. She and Pinkie do some other stuff on the side but I’ve kinda lost track of it with the troubles an’ all.” Applejack replied.
“I believe Rarity is in Canterlot right now taking the Arcanotechnician course at the university, something about making her designs come alive.” Fluttershy explained. Applejack nodded.
“Arcanotechnician? Interesting, sounds like someone I’d be interested in meeting.” Twilight said.
“Hm? Oh yeah, probably. She sure as hay wants to meet you. But anyways, what’s this about Dash movin’?” The earth mare asked.
Twilight proceeded to explain what happened that night and most of the morning, sans the princess of course.
“Wait, you’re tellin’ me that she didn’t wake up screamin’ her head off this morning?” Applejack asked. The two nodded.
“She looked so… peaceful… I still feel kinda bad about having to wake her up actually… She hasn’t had a decent night’s sleep since she came home, not to mention since her accident.” Fluttershy replied.
“I’ve lost four cousins to that war, and got three more fightin’ them rebels now. Mac still can’t look at a rifle the same- though he was finally able to shake hooves with a griffon and not have a fit. He was just a corporal, Dash climbed from Private all the way to Major in that war in just two years.” Applejack said as the shook her head. “Well, whatever happened yer a damn good influence on her psyche for some reason and I’m glad to hear it. Fer helpin’ her like that, even if it’s just one night, you’ll always be welcome at our dinner table.” She continued to Twilight.
“Um… Thank you? I was just helping a friend. She helped so much with the testing yesterday I had to help her, and she just looked so… downtrodden… I just wanted to help her.” The unicorn replied. Applejack smiled and nodded.
“Darn good of ya too, mighty fine heart you got in there. I tell you what I was worried when I came to yer place, all them snooty nobles lookin’ at me like they were. I was worried you’d be just like them professors at the university thinkin’ they were hot stuff because they solved some equation or another.” The earth mare said. Twilight snorted.
“Darn right I’m hot stuff! I invented the most efficient energy source since steam power, made it mass producible, perfected the dozens of glyph arrays written form almost scratch to do so, AND I’m improving upon the design already. I just don’t go holding it over everyone’s head. I sure as hay couldn’t run an apple orchard that’s for sure.” Twilight replied.
“Hah! The right amount of Pride and Humility. Looks like we found ourselves a keeper huh flutters?” Applejack said, nudging the shy mare.
“You do seem like a very interesting mare. While I’m no good with all of the technological stuff, there are a few things I would like to know in the future… um… if you don’t mind. I’m heading an environmental preservation committee due to have its first meeting with the council in Canterlot this week and I know too little about Arcanotech to properly assess it for its threat to environment.” The pegasus replied. Twilight hummed.
“I bet you had a field day when Steam first became popularized…” Twilight said. The surprisingly agitated hum from the pegasus confirmed that statement. “Don’t worry, it’s heavily based on the old practice of magical talismans made from gemstones. Cleaner than burning coal or other fuel sources for steam, and hopefully it’ll slow down the industrial digging operation for oil for the hydraulics. I use a lot of everything, but even my boilers are phoenix powered.” Twilight explained. Fluttershy hummed again.
“She did seem happy… is she alright with being used as a fuel source?” Fluttershy asked. Twilight laughed.
“Absolutely. Until I suggested it, she was actually somewhat miserable as Princess Celestia’s pet. The Princess saved her when she was young and she could never bring herself to leave, but she couldn’t really burn much in the palace. One day, as a joke, I suggested making her a fuel source for a magical walking building and she jumped on the idea and here we are. There are fire talismans that she keeps powered in there to avoid the need for coal or other fuels to burn, we use rain and water talismans for the plumbing and steam, I designed a filtering glyph array so that the oil for the hydraulics lasts exponentially longer as well. And as far as Philomena goes, she gets to fly free whenever she wants. She can open the furnace to come and go as she pleases, gets to explore without risk of being hunted for her feathers or by predators, and I spoil her rotten with treats when I’m around.” Twilight replied. Fluttershy seemed satisfied with that.
“I should go back home. I’ll see you later AJ. Twilight, if you have time later, you’d be welcome to come and visit me at my home there- that tree yes. I’d love to talk more about this over tea.” The mare said when they reached the small town. They both nodded and she trotted off in the direction of the tree home she pointed out.
“I’m impressed. You’re the first tech pony I’ve ever seen explain how they do their stuff and she didn’t even grimace once.” applejack said with a laugh as she started walking towards the apple orchards even Twilight couldn’t mistake.
“Cleaner energy is the main reason I designed the Arcane Batteries. Talismans are too out of practice to be practical anymore, the effort and energy that goes into making them not up to modern standards, so everyone went towards the nastier stuff. I still use Talismans to stay as clean as I can and to set an example.” Twilight replied. Applejack nodded at that but didn’t speak for awhile.
“Say, are you really just gonna take a look? I‘ve come to find that you’re not no liar, but you’re also darn kind. I already told ya the Apple family don’t take no handouts…” The earth mare said when they finally entered the orchards. She sighed and stopped. “Ah’d love to have you at the dinner table and chat with the family, they’d love ya, but I won’t let you near them tractors if you’re just gonna fix ‘em up fer no reason.” She continued. Twilight was confused, but she could hear the hesitation in the mare’s voice. She clearly didn’t want to turn down a handout, they couldn’t afford to, but her honor and pride meant she had to work for it. Apparently it was how they lived. She could definitely respect that.
“Well, the way I see it, I won’t know if I CAN help until I see it. We can figure things out from there. If you insist on working or paying for it after I figure out what’s wrong then we can see to it then.” Twilight said in response. Applejack hummed but nodded and started leading again. There was a massive house, clearly meant to house at least two dozen family members comfortably, and an equally massive barn. There was also an obviously more recently added garage with four machines in the open doors. A large earth stallion with a red coat and orange mane and tail was currently under one that was jacked up. He slid out and stood to meet them when they neared.
“Greetin’s Miss.” He said simply. He was massive! Probably twice Applejack’s size!
“U-Uh, hi…” Twilight practically squeaked in response. Applejack chuckled and nudged her shoulder.
“Mac this is Twilight Sparkle, she said she’ll take a look at ‘em for us. Got a fancy magic door that took us right nearby. Twilight, this is my big brother Big Macintosh. Folks just call him Mac though.” Applejack introduced them. They both nodded.
“Glad of ya t’come Miss Twilight. I know my way around the guts of these beasts, but them brothers twisted ‘em around some and them batteries are like oranges growin’ on an apple tree t’me.” The large stallion explained. Twilight nodded and stepped towards the one that was jacked up.
“May I?” She asked, putting a hoof on the wheeled sled he was using to go under. He simply nodded and Twilight slid under the machine without any hesitation.
“Oh wow these really are old. These things really did run on oil, I can see the stains. Oh wow, how much did you pay those brothers? This is the equivalent of duct taping a lantern to the ceiling and calling it a chandelier!” Twilight called out from under it.
“‘Bout a hundred bits per tractor, includin’ the price of the batteries. Theirs lasted the longest, ‘bout two weeks, but the only ones we were able to afford only lasted half that.” Mac replied.
“Oh for the love of Celestia, what did they…? Oh… Oh those hacks!” Twilight exclaimed. She rolled out from under the thing, clearly annoyed, and stood. She quickly turned to the two.
“This one is on the house, just because it physically pains me to see such a crime against technology. You’ve been scammed, the housing on this one at least has been tampered with and the glyph array to keep the pressure down is straight up gone. The batteries are incredibly low quality but there’s nothing wrong with them, they should last at least a month before breaking down with this kind of work.” Twilight explained. Before they could respond, and Applejack seemed like she was going to put a few obscenities into their rare use, Twilight turned and her horn started glowing. The tractor lifted off of the jack about a foot and every single piece of it came apart. Twilight continued to speak as she did this.
“I’ve encountered this kind of thing before, usually with Hydraulics and Clockwork since they’re either delicate or prone to breaking down naturally. In this case, they mess with it so that it works but you have to keep buying their batteries. They probably offered you some discounts on the first few batteries before you switched right?” She asked looking back at the two as the tractor slowly reassembled itself around the battery. The two could only nod, in awe of the feat of magical prowess in front of them.
“I’ve disassembled the housing and rewritten the glyph array. It won’t be able to hold a battery right now, I’ll need to grab a few things from my workshop to do it all, but if you have any standard lightning talismans on hand it’ll work just fine until then.” She said as the thing settled back down on the ground next to the jack.
“We do have one, was gonna be our last resort next month.” Mac said and struck off towards the barn, presumably to fetch the thing.
“Right, what do you want in return?” Applejack asked after she recomposed herself. Her tone was serious. Twilight shook her head.
“I told you, this one’s on me. You’ll need at least one functional for harvest right? It’ll help you at least catch up. Besides, like I said I would have nightmares if I let that atrocity of a patch job stay.” She started, but turned on Applejack to cut off her protest. “As far as the rest of them go, according to your suggestion, I will take them to my workshop and begin prototyping. I’ve actually just reached that stage in my testing, seeing if it’ll work hooked up to something and not just explode.” She continued. Applejack closed her mouth and let out huff of breath through her nose.
“An’ if it works we’d still owe ya.” The retorted. Twilight hummed and rubbed her chin in thought for a moment, looked down at it to see that yes there was soot on it and now her chin, channeled some magic to dissolve it, and continued rubbing it in thought.
“Well then, sounds like lunch is on you.” She said with a little smirk. Applejack blinked.
“What?” She asked, a little confused.
“You can’t afford to pay me, even though I usually don’t even charge, in bits so why not apples? With the one tractor alone you should be able to keep up with the demand. And if we do fix them all up completely then you’ll be back in business. Ponyville does have the best apples, the chefs in the kitchens refuse to stock anything but, but having my own personal supply sounds like adequate pay to me.” Twilight explained as Macintosh returned with a topaz encased in some wire mesh and glass. Without even really looking, Twilight took it from his grasp and placed it into its new housing. The engine roared to life and didn’t pop a few times like it used to.
“Oh yeah, one of the pistons weren’t sitting right in its housing. We’ll call that a courtesy fix.” She finished, rubbing her cheek for effect. She narrowed her eyes and looked at her hoof and saw there was oil on this one, which was now on her face as well.
“Basket a week as well as a permanent spot at our table sounds like a done deal ta me.” Mac said.
“She already had that spot, forgot to mention, but I guess I can live with that fer now. Don’t be afraid to ask for help at all though, yer doin’ this family more good than it’s seen in a long time…” Applejack said after a moment of pawing the ground. Twilight smiled and nodded. It was at that moment her stomach growled. She did kinda skip breakfast, and they had walked for awhile.
“Speaking of, I uh… don’t suppose that offer extends to lunch?” She asked sheepishly, earning a laugh from the two.