To say the ride down the elevator wasn’t tense would have been a downright lie. While Twilight did her best to not show it, she kept glancing back at the two maids who were standing directly behind her. Despite their blank expressions and closed eyes, Twilight could still feel their resentment for her being here instead of Princess Luna. As for Count Raven, he also appeared to be calm yet there was still an air of displeasure emanating from him. Most likely due to the maid’s prior behavior.
For that, Twilight couldn’t blame them for the way they acted. They had wanted Princess Luna, the alicorn of the moon and ruler of the night. She was the perfect fit for these ponies. Yet instead they were sent Princess Twilight, a pony who had only been alive for barely two decades and wasn’t the ruler of anything. She had no realm that was under her control or influence. All she had on her resume were defeating a few bad guys with the help of her friends. Would all the ponies here act like the maids? Perhaps. While Count Raven was on her side, he had originally taken the news badly so it was likely that most (if not all) thestrals would react in a similar manner.
Thankfully Twilight felt the elevator slowing down meaning they were close to their stop. That or somepony else needed to get on. Just before the contraption came to its final stop the sound of a buzzer was heard right before the doors opened. Spike jumped and Twilight cried out in shock, her wings outstretched as she did, when they saw who was waiting for them. There, standing at the threshold was a stallion accompanied by two guards. The stallion was wearing a coat that reminded Twilight of the one her brother wore at his wedding, red with golden gear shaped buttons running up the middle. On his chest were several large interlocking gears, larger than any Twilight had seen before. His natural grey coat look rugged and scarred in the places that were visible while his black mane was slicked back ending with a ponytail. But none of that was what shocked Twilight or her assistant. It was his lower jaw. Instead of one made of skin, fur, and bone it was made of steel with etchings of the lunar cycle across his jaw line.
“Greetings Princess Luna,” said the stallion as he was somehow able to move his mouth. Yet his tone was pleasant and easy to understand despite this. Twilight watched as he calmly bowed as did the guards next to him. “Please, allow me to introduce myself. I am General Steel Trap. I beg your forgiveness for not being able to greet you when you first arrived. Had I not been in a meeting with the Great Houses-”
“General,” interrupted the Count as he stepped forward. “This is not Princess Luna. She declined our request and instead recommended Princess Twilight Sparkle who you see before you.” Twilight could see the General’s eyes twitch at this information, but said nothing as he backed up to allow the occupants of the elevator to walk out. Yet despite not saying anything Twilight could feel the air around her become filled with even more tension. She could feel the eyes of the two guards upon her even though they were hidden by their masks and goggles. Steel Trap himself seemed to be giving her a cold, calculating appraisal. Twilight in turn tried her best to smile at him, only for it to falter at his intense glare.
“I see,” said General Steel Trap at last. There was an edge to his tone that caused Twilight’s ears to flatten. “Count Raven, allow me to escort you to the conference hall. We will need to…discuss this development with the Heads of Houses. I am sure they will have many words for you.” Twilight watched as Count Raven gave a firm nod of understanding. Without another word, the General and the two guards turned around before walking down the hallway they were in. As for the Count, he took a few steps backwards so that he could move next to Twilight without letting the General out of his sight.
“Your Grace, I’m afraid I must leave you for now,” he whispered swiftly. “Please stay with the maids while I attempt to have them see reason.” With that said, Count Raven walked in the direction Steel Trap had gone without so much as waiting to hear Twilight’s reply.
As the four retreating figures moved down the dark hallway they were in, Twilight and Spike exchanged a look. Spike was twiddling his claws like he always did when he was nervous while trying his best to look like everything was ok. Twilight was sure that her reassuring expression was just as weak, biting her lower lip as she trip to smile. Both felt scared and alone within the new land of steel, steam, and smog. Without Count Raven, Twilight didn’t know who she could trust.
“So,” said Spike as he broke the silence. “What do we do now?”
“Well I suppose we could take a tour of the castle,” said Twilight as she turned to look behind her. “Do you think…” Twilight’s words trailed off as she realized that both maids were no longer standing behind them. Squinting her eyes, Twilight tried to see if she could see them down the hallway only to fail. Somehow they were long gone without any way for her to contact them.
Head tilting down now, Twilight began to ponder Spike’s question again. As much as she wanted to look around the castle she had no way of knowing how they would be treated. Many would probably assume she was Princess Luna, greeting her warmly until she told them the truth. She could lie and say she was Princess Luna, but how would they react when they found out they had been lied to? How could they ever trust her to rule this land when the first time they met was when she was claiming to be somepony else? Perhaps she could use her magic to make her and Spike look like thestrals for a bit while they looked around. That, however, also came with risks. What if the spell failed and they were caught? General Steel Trap was already paranoid about outside threats, so doing something like that would be more like throwing more fuel onto the fire. Not to mention that if they thought she was spying on them then they definitely wouldn't want her to be their Queen. They would lock her and Spike in jail, never to see Ponyville ever again. Worst of all she would have embarrassed not only Equestria but also Princess Celestia!
Just as Twilight was about to suggest they just sit and wait her ears perked due to a strange noise approaching them. Lighting up her horn in order to see better, Twilight lifted her head just in time to see something stranger than the appearance of Steel Trap turn the corner: a pony made of metal! Twilight briefly remembered seeing something similar to this when she was looking out the zeppelin, but it was something else to see it so close. In terms of shape, it reminded Twilight more of a bronze earth pony due to the lack of wings or a horn. On its back was a flat surface, as if it were meant to carry things on it, as well as several slots on his legs. Both eyes shined a red tinted light from its lens as it moved down the tracks on the side of the hallway that both Twilight and Spike just noticed. As it passed her by, Twilight noticed something in its neck. It looked like a card or something similar. For what reason it was there Twilight had no idea, but the red line around the slot it was in made it seem important.
Unable to help herself, Twilight began to follow this machine from a safe distance. Her mouth salivated as she thought of all the things she could learn if she could only get it to stay still for just a few moments. Was it like an enchanted golem, able to do any task that its creator desired? If so then that would mean that non-magical ponies could build them to help out in their labors! Perhaps handling material that was unsafe for a normal pony or just doing jobs that no pony has time to do.
Up ahead, the machine turned another corner causing Twilight to speed up with Spike hot on her hooves. Down it went through another long hallway that seemed to go on forever with only the occasional doorway as a change of scenery. Thankfully the machine never sped up or bumped into anypony, both of which would have made it harder for Twilight to follow it. Glancing upwards at the ceiling, Twilight noticed plenty of spider webs which suggested that few ponies went down this way. She also noted that several of the lights didn’t seem to be working anymore.
Finally, the machine entered a large archway which Twilight followed after…and then stopped dead in her tracks.
“Wha-What is this place?” asked Spike as the two looked around. The area they were in reminded Twilight of the tower the two had lived in back in Canterlot, with metal stairways running up its circular walls stopping at the occasional railing the served as a floor. Chains hung from various cranes that ended in hooks that skewered the bodies of machines like the one that they had been following, oil and other fluids dripping from them. All across the dirty floor were parts of machinery that the purple princess had no idea what to make of. Half open cabinets were on the railings above them all the way up to the yellow glass domed ceiling above.
“I…I have no idea,” whispered Twilight as she took a step back. “But I think we shouldn’t be here.” After she said this, a metal door slid out from the wall behind them to seal off the archway as well as the exit.
As Twilight lit her horn, ready to teleport them out of there, a voice called out. “Well, well, well. What have we here?” Twilight and Spike turned around, searching for the voice. Then, something landed in front of them causing the pair to scream in fright. Due to the light of her horn, Twilight was able to see four spider like legs with five or six segments on each. Cables and wires ran down each of these ‘legs’ to the middle and into a large metallic pack that had cords running upwards to the ceiling. And wearing that pack was a thestral. The thestral had a white mane that seemed to stand up in every direction and a brown coat with several scorch marks on it. His eyes were covered by goggles that had several tools sticking out of them such as a metal arm holding a toothpick, scissors, and magnifying glass. As the legs brought his body closer to the ground, Twilight and Spike screamed again.
“AHHHHH!” shouted the thestral as he fell to his hooves. Then, as the two from Equestria looked on in confusion, he quickly removed a strap that was holding him to the legs and fell to the ground. Once all four hooves were on the ground the thestral raced away, still screaming at the top of his lungs, until he reached a particularly large pile of junk which he ducked behind.
Spike and Twilight blinked at this. “Ah, Twilight,” began Spike as he crossed his arms, a look of utter confusion still on his face. “Do you have any idea what’s going on here?”
“Not really,” replied Twilight as she shook her head. It was then that she noticed the head of the stallion peeking out from around the pile. Not wanting to frighten him anymore, as well as hoping he could let them out, Twilight Sparkle grinned nervously as she waved to him. “We’re friendly,” she called out.
Slowly the thestral stepped out from behind the junk pile, gaze locked onto Twilight. It was only after several long seconds did he move, traveling at a blurry speed that reminded Twilight of Rainbow Dash or Pinkie Pie. Before she could comprehend this Twilight felt hooves touching her wings. With a quick jerk of her head she saw that it was the stallion looking upon her wings in rapture.
“Oh Blessed Storm,” he cried out, his voice a bit on the high pitched side as he continued to feel up Twilight’s wings. “Feathers on a pony? Then this must mean that you’re a pegasi. Never seen one in pony before but there is no other explanation! They’re so soft and smooth! I would have thought they would have had to been made of stronger stuff, but no! They’re as soft as a baby birds. Oh how utterly fascinating these pegasi wings are.”
“Excuse me,” grumbled Twilight as she pulled her wing away. As the stallion turned to look at her, Twilight noticed something was horribly wrong with one of his wings. It looked dried up, almost to a skeletal level and about a third of the size of his other wing. But those thoughts ended as she realized that this crazy pony was now staring at her horn.
“And…And A HORN!” he cried out while bouncing closer in the direction of her head. Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but was quickly silenced as the thestral placed both his front hooves on either side of her face. Unable to move thanks to this as well as shock, Twilight watched as the stallion brought his face so close to her horn that she could feel his breath brushing up against it. “So this is a unicorn’s horn! Oooooooh, I read so many stories about these things. It even has the spiral just like how they were described! This is simply incredible. I wonder if there are nerve endings within the horn that connects it to the brain allowing the use of magic or if magic is present within the entire body making the horn a focusing point. Ma’am, would you mind if I cut into your horn?”
That snapped Twilight out of her funk. “What? NO!” she yelled as she pushed the stallion away causing him to fall to the ground with his legs pointing in all directions. As Twilight rubbed the side of her face Spike walked in front of her and held his arms up as if to guard her. This was a mistake.
“Wait,” said the stallion getting giddy again. “Wait, wait, wait! What is that creature?” Quickly he got up and began to look over Spike in rapid succession. “This creature seems to have scales rather than fur. I wonder how strong they are? The teeth are clearly fangs meaning its most likely a meat eater.”
“What?” said Spike before sticking out his tongue in disgust. “Eat meat? No way. I prefer gems over meat any day buddy.”
“And it can understand me!” cheered the stallion. “It’s capable of speaking and understanding the words its saying! Clearly this isn’t a mimicking response to-”
“EXCUSE ME!” shouted Twilight, finally getting the stallion to stop what he was doing and looking at Twilight. “Could you please calm down? You are freaking us out!”
Instantly, the stallion’s face morphed into that of horror before he quickly lifted up his goggles. “Oh, I am so dreadfully sorry about that,” he said while panting slightly in an effort to calm himself down. “Please, please, please forgive me. It’s just this is the first time I have ever seen non-thestrals before that I guess I got carried away. Never seen feathery wings like on a pony or…a…horn…” At that, his eyes lit up. “Wait, wings AND a horn. But the only creatures in existence that have both of those are alicorns! That must mean your Princess Luna, right?”
Twilight winced uncomfortably. “N-No, I’m not,” she answered. “She decided not to accept your offer and instead recommended me for the position. My name is Twilight-”
“Not Princess Luna!” shouted the stallion. His voice, however, did not carry any angry like she had expected. Instead, the stallion seemed to be excited once more as he walked around the room talking to himself. “Yes, well we knew there was at least one other alicorn so it would stand to reason that there could be others. Factor in the amount of time that has passed since our writings told us of Princess Luna and Celestia, there could have been any number of changes! Why, there could be hundreds if not thousands of alicorns running around across the planet as we speak! I have so many questions buzzing around my head. Better write them down before I spring a leak. Nothing worse than a leaky valve.”
Twilight smiled. “You seem to be taking this better than most thestrals we’ve met.”
“Seriously?” commented the stallion as he walked over to one of the piles before flinging stuff about. “Why shouldn’t I or any other pony be excited by this? You, my dear alicorn, are the first non-thestral we have ever had in Thunder Valley’s history! Add in the fact that there could be more alicorns out there has caused my brain to shift gears.” He then picked up an oily pipe with his mouth and then froze. Quickly he spit it out before turning to face Twilight. “Oh my, oh my, oh my. Please forgive me for not properly introducing myself. Often forget my manners when I get excited, you see. I am Dr. Wild Theory, in service to the crown as Royal Scientific Advisor.” As he said this, Wild Theory wrapped his good wing over his chest while his bad one touched the ground, sinking low to the ground as he did this.
“You’re a what?” asked Spike as Theory righted himself.
“Royal Scientific Advisor young lizard lad,” said Theory as he trotted over to another pile and began searching through it. “Back when King Cobalt was still alive, there would be many companies seeking government funded research grants for various projects they were working on. My duty was to consult the king on whether or not something seemed feasible and the possible effects such technology would have on Thunder Valley.” Theory paused, his mood shifting again as reflected in his voice. “Nowadays, all my position amounts to is a fancy title. Don’t know if you know this, but not too long ago there were plenty of budget cuts. In order to save money, I was also put in charge of the in-house repairs for all of our gizmos. Then we had staff cut after staff cut until I was the only pony left. With this area being such a low priority, there aren’t enough grits to order new parts so I’ve been reduced to searching through scrap yards and cannibalizing parts from anything I can get my hooves on. That includes the other auto-ponies.”
“Auto-ponies?” repeated Twilight as she looked over at the machine ponies dangling from the hooks. “Is that what they are?”
“Yes indeed they are,” said Theory as he seemed to regain some of his lost enthusiasm, turning around to look at them with a smile. Quickly trotting to the back of the room, with Spike and Twilight right behind him, not stopping until he was next to the mechanical pony the two followed. “This is the latest in auto-pony technology. Unlike previous models that were limited to a single task and location, this one can go anywhere in the castle with the use of a single punch card as long as there are tracks. Now, the duties it can perform are still very limited, so we have mostly used it for mundane deliveries and such. But, but, but it is certainly a trot in the right direction. If we can get funding for these beauties once more I feel certain within the next twenty years we won’t be needing either the track or a punch card. Just imagine being able to ask one of these wonderful auto-beauties to do a job for you and it’ll do it right on the spot!”
“That sounds wonderful,” said Twilight without a smile as she looked over the auto-pony. “But, won’t that replace ponies in the workplace? Like the staff here in the castle? If these things will be able to do what you say then wouldn’t you be putting the maids out of work?”
Wild Theory rubbed his chin. “Yes, that is worrisome. But, but, but what about ponies who have such dangerous jobs hauling toxic chemicals or working in the mines? If we can get these things to replace their jobs then they’ll be free to find safer jobs.”
“That’s assuming that they’ll be able to find some,” responded Twilight as she touched the cold metal of the auto-pony. “Believe me, I do like the sound of these things taking over jobs that put ponies’ lives at risk. But I can’t help but feel that they would have gone with a safer job if they could. Also, I have known ponies who enjoy doing jobs that others consider dangerous. No matter how you look at it, allowing these things to take over other ponies jobs simply means that there will be fewer jobs available. Instead of making life easier for ponies, we’d just be making them more stressful.” It was then that Twilight noticed the smile on Wild Theory’s face, his eyes glued to Twilight. “What?”
“Oh, sorry,” replied the stallion as he moved to a nearby tool bench. “It’s…just been a long time since I’ve been able to have a conversation like this. It’s been nice.”
Wild Theory’s words struck a chord with Twilight, her eyes widening slightly as watched him look at his tools. Before her stood a pony whose job had been to voice his opinion to help serve throne. One who probably sat down with the former king and had back and forth conversations with him for who knows how long. But now he was a simple repair pony with a fancy title, probably just taking orders from others and not allowed to voice his opinions. Judging by the webbing out in the hallway, Twilight thought it unlikely that anypony came down here all that often.
But that didn’t mean it would always be like this! Not if Twilight could help it. “Ah, Wild Theory,” began Twilight as she approached the bench. “I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind showing me around?” Wild Theory dropped the wrench he had just picked up in his mouth before turning to look at Princess Twilight. “You see I just arrived here with Count Raven and, well, he was sort of called away before he could show me around. So we’re a little lost now…”
Theory smiled at her. “Well, well, well, we can’t have you getting lost now can we?”
-x-
With that the tour began, starting in the area where most in the city came when visiting the castle. It was four stories tall and it was hard to tell what color the walls were due to all the bronze pipes running along them. The ground floor, which she was on, was mostly barren of anything that could obstruct a pony’s path as the thestrals milled about. Most of them were moving towards the various windows in the walls where they then either got in line or formed a new one. Each window had a mare or stallion standing behind it with several clear tubes coming out of the walls next to them. Twilight noticed that, on occasion, one of these ponies would put a piece of paper in a bronze cylinder before putting it in an opening for these tubes. Once it was closed, the cylinder would go flying up the tube without any magic helping it at all. It was simply amazing. At the other end of the hallway, Twilight saw two large spiraling staircases made of metal that went all the way up to the fourth floor. There were a few thestrals taking the stairs but most Twilight noticed used their wings to fly to the desired floor. With the limited light, Twilight could only see them going into rooms that were up there but as to what they were she had no idea.
On the other side of the room, in-between the double spiraling staircases, was a large door made of steel. It was so large that it went up to the second floor! Twilight could easily see that it had been polished recently due to the shine and on both sides stood a single guard with their odd looking weapons by their sides. But what fascinated Twilight the most was what was engraved into the door. Three cloaked ponies depicted as larger than life, their faces unseen as the full moon stood out in the background. Twilight would have sooner expected something like an old thestral ruler to be there depicted in some sort of glory or perhaps even Princess Luna, not three hooded figures. When Wild Theory noticed Twilight staring at those doors he explained that they were only ever opened to allow the populace into the throne room and those times were very rare.
From there, they moved out into more spacious and elegant hallways that were somewhat similar to those back in Canterlot Castle. Twilight guessed that this was meant for ponies of higher status and power compared to what she had seen before. The hallways were tall and majestic while also lacking as many pipes (perhaps two or three thinner ones running along the side of the wall at a time) allowing the dark wooden walls to be more easily seen. There were even wooden archways placed in the middle of hallways that had wooden ‘spears’ pointing down on the ponies who walked beneath them. Portraits hung on the walls of thestrals Twilight had to assume were important, perhaps past leaders from various points in the nation’s history.
One portrait did catch her attention as it depicted two thestrals around her age. One of them was a black coated stallion with an equally black mane that looked remarkably oily and parted in the middle. The artist had also seemed fit to give him the look of a pony who had gone several days without sleep. The other pony in the picture, by contrast, looked fresh and ready to take on the world. That pony was a mare with a coat as white as fresh snow with her equally white mane tied into a bun on the back. Twilight also couldn’t help notice how the two were dressed with the stallion wearing a simple dark brown vest while the mare had on an elegant black dress. Both ponies were back to back, while their heads were turned to face the viewer. While there was nothing there to tell her who these ponies were, Twilight had a good hunch that this was Princess Alabaster and Prince Obsidian. She never got a change to confirm this however as they moved from room to room at a shocking pace. One moment she was looking at a dining room that could easily seat fifty ponies or more before moving on to a copper colored ballroom.
There was something else that Twilight noticed yet said nothing about. As they moved through the castle, Twilight would hear a noise behind her. When she turned her head to look down a previous empty hallway she would instead find one of the maids cleaning something up. Other times they would pass by a maid and, when Twilight turned her head to look behind her the maid would have vanished. How they did this so quickly confused the princess since she knew they couldn’t have teleported away.
As the group turned around another corner to head towards the throne room they were met by a pair of guards standing in the middle of the hallway. “Princess Twilight and servant,” spoke one of the guards behind his mask. “The Heads of the Great Houses have requested your presence.”
Twilight blinked for a moment as she processed what had just been said as a small bit of Twilight style panic began to rear its head. They were ready to see her now? How long had they been waiting on her? Just how long had she been on this tour? It didn’t feel like very long, but that could have just been her perception of time. Perhaps it hadn’t been long at all and they were ready to throw her and Spike out of the country since she wasn’t the one they wanted! She’d have to go back to Equestria and tell Princess Celestia that she failed! What could be worse than that?!
Before her freak out could fully manifest on the outside, Twilight felt a small claw touch her side. She looked downward already knowing that it belonged to Spike. She looked down at the baby dragon who was smiling at her and giving a nod. Seeing this allowed Twilight to take a breath in order to calm down. If these Heads of the Great Houses had made their decision then there was nothing she could do beyond pleading her case, something that wouldn’t go so well if she were panicking. She also chided herself. The only way Princess Celestia would have been upset with her is if she hadn’t given this her very best effort. As long as she did that, no matter how it turned out in the end, the Princess would be proud of her.
“Very well,” said Twilight at last. “Lead the way-” Already the guards had turned and were walking down the hall without saying a word. Unable to help herself, the purple pony puffed up her cheeks in annoyance.
“Best be going,” said Theory from behind her. “Don’t want to keep their lordships waiting.”
Twilight turned and nodded to the stallion. “You’re right,” she said. “Thank you for showing me around.”
“Anytime Princess,” replied Theory with a bow.