The four stallions convened in the basement of Blueblood’s warehouse, where they could talk freely without fear of being overheard, thanks to various wards and distracter spells. They had the notes and diagrams the two princes had shown them before, the tools, the will, they were ready. But what they were not expecting was Midnight's actual motivation for their meeting.
“A ship?!” Blueblood, Techorse, and Doctor Whooves all exclaimed in response, not understanding.
“Not just any ship,” Midnight clarified, “I am proposing we construct a new kind of airship, into which we’ll install the prototype we make of the Electro-Storm Engine, or the ES Engine for short... to test it! That being said, Blueblood, I am commissioning your company to make this ship for me.”
“So, you want an airship of your own, but you also want it to be the means through which we test this brand new technology,” Blueblood gathered, “Well, I suppose it would be one way of deploying this machine. But don’t forget, Midnight, we still must determine an efficient method of harvesting solar energy to fuel the ES Engine, it will take untold amounts of trial and error to build it, and lastly... there's a matter of the construction costs for building a single vessel in a class of its own!”
“If I was worried about the impact on my finances, I wouldn't be asking you to build it for me,” Midnight couldn’t help but brag subtly, “but that’s besides the point. Tech, Doctor, what about your thoughts on this? You have equal say in whatever we decide regarding this project.”
“Well Midnight, you know how I feel about private military forces,” Techorse stated flatly, making eye contact with his friend, “I have some good ideas as to how we can bring this engine to life, but I hope this airship you want isn't some new initiative by the crown...”
Blueblood couldn't believe the gall Techorse had, this new side of doubting Midnight's intentions. Of course, Midnight felt differently, having gotten to know Techorse and so respect the inventor. His friend just wanted to be sure that his position of authority was not going to be put to the wrong use, and Midnight respected that concept more than Blueblood could be allowed to know.
“I assure you, Tech, I'm not trying to turn you into a defense contractor,” Midnight answered softly, “and I'm not going to let the ES Engine get into the hooves of those who would turn it into a new line of sky battleships for profit at the expense of somepony's blood.”
“Moving along,” Dr. Whooves urged politely, “I also have some concepts in mind as to how we can implement this engine. But it would be nice if you had any more information about it besides the drawings shown during our last meeting.”
“I have compiled the notes and drawings into a couple of schematics that I think will be much easier to understand,” Blueblood answered, levitating a heavy manila envelope the size of a cookie sheet onto the table and letting it land with a solid whack.
Techorse and Dr. Whooves opened the envelope and slid out a healthy stack of blueprints, with white ink drawings representing the basic parts and components of the engine design, including the bonded crystal housing, the suspension system, and the storm cloud injector. All of it seemed to have basis in standard issue pegasus weather brewing technology, which the two stallions were familiar with. Techorse's saddle opened with a hiss of steam, and twin robot arms grabbed a portion of the diagrams and began flipping through them in front of his face as he took in the information rapidly.
To Blueblood's chagrin, Techorse looked through the documents once and then put them back on the table, “Yeeeah, that would fizzle out after a while.”
“I'm pretty sure it wouldn't,” Blueblood grumbled, “stormclouds are the perfect power amplifier and maintain their strength well in a close environment. The engine is fine the way it is, right Doctor?”
“Well, unfortunately Blueblood, I have to agree with Techorse's analysis,” he admitted embarrassingly, “the initial design is good, but it needs a few adjustments before I would be willing to give it the rubber stamp, as you might say.”
“But the general concept works?” Midnight asked with a hopeful look.
Techorse went into a bit of technical detail, “It does, and the schematics you two guys came up with make sense. The engine uses a condenser to continuously evaporate and precipitate water to make a persistent storm system in the engine's chamber, easy enough to follow. It's just that a regular pegasus grade storm cloud suspended in a sealed jar would eventually spread out and become too flat along the perimeter of the jar to produce any more lightning.”
“In addition,” Dr. Whooves added, “the power capture mechanism at the bottom of the chamber doesn't possess a good way to handle the fact that lightning strikes provide unpredictable voltages of electrical power. We will need a way to store or otherwise regulate the amount of electricity generated during each strike in order to provide consistent, steady power.”
“That’s right...” Midnight thought aloud, looking at the ground to think, “cumulonimbus clouds are the best type for generating strong lightning strikes, and they're tall. If we don't have a way to keep them properly shaped, they'll stop producing lightning strikes.”
“...and if the power coming out is going to fluctuate in voltage, it'll fry your ship's systems,” Blueblood added through while facehooving at having made such an oversight, “I see now.”
“Luckily, there's a great way to keep the stormcloud tall,” Techorse answered, batting his eyebrows and raising a metallic finger, “I just need to do something to this blueprint here and then I can explain...”
“As will I!” added the Doctor.
Techorse was provided a white pen from Midnight to change the blueprint he found most suitable, and with a couple of strong edits, he placed the completed design on the table for all the stallions to see. It used the same jar shape and aesthetic Blueblood and Midnight wanted, but there were now two new mechanical devices to bring the idea together.
Techorse's contribution was a set of metal tubes angled at 45 degrees from the side of the jar. They were connected to a rotating metal ring that spanned the circumference of the jar near the top and capped off with a metal dome, meaning the crystal would have to consist of two pieces: a cylindrical body, and a domed shaped 'cap' that would be hidden underneath a metal cover that connected to the ring. As shown by arrows drawn by the earth pony's saddle manipulators, the ring would rotate, spinning the tubes inside around a central point. Each tube was tipped with a showerhead shaped apparatus that lay flat to the two pipes, making the tubes look like two arms reaching for the core of the engine.
“As you can see here,” Techorse explained to his friends while pointing at his complex drawing, “I've created this rotating set of arms supplied power from the wiring through the top of the engine, which we'll have to cap off with some steel over the crystal.”
“And what do they do?” asked Blueblood curiously.
“There's two electromagical devices inside the tips of the tubes,” Techorse answered, “one is a cryo beam that will cool the top of the engine chamber artificially so that it stays cold while your evaporator keeps the bottom equally hot. Previously you were relying on the natural water cycle to keep the cloud going.”
“I'm going to assume this means the engine will start with all the water it needs to make a cloud from scratch,” Midnight asked, “so what's the other device do?”
“The other device is a suspension ray, like a trap rune you might use to keep somepony floating in midair if they broke into your house,” the engineer continued proudly, “The arms then rotate, constantly outputting the cold and suspension beams to keep the cloud system in the shape of an upside-down tear drop... perfect for making lightning!”
“Brilliant!” Blueblood cheered, “We were thinking about the storm clouds we have, not the ones we could make. With this we can keep the cloud system going perpetually.”
“Now, if Techorse is finished, I can explain my own mechanical creation at the bottom of the design,” Dr. Whooves said, having waited his turn patiently.
“Of course,” said the other stallions.
The Doctor motioned for a complex set of gears and horizontally aligned wheels that he had attached to the bottom of the engine chamber.
“This is a set of flywheels connected to a power dynamo which will convert the lightning strikes, no matter how wild they may be, into mechanical energy. The wheels spin and store power as the lightning strikes power the dynamo, then, the wheels are released at a constant and steady pace to generate the proper amount of power at all times for the vessel.”
“That would also mean we have a few minutes worth of power if something happens to the storm system,” Midnight mused, scratching his chin with his hoof, “excellent thinking, Doctor. You too, Tech.”
“Of course, I'll need some electromagical parts, namely the ray of cold and suspension runes,” he said, “plus my usual time and materials to build the electricity to arcane power converters. Both of us know how that goes...”
“All too well,” agreed Midnight, “and I'll assume you'll need the same kinds of items, Doctor?”
“Indeed.”
“Well, you'll all be pleased to know we have most of the components available here in the warehouse just upstairs,” Blueblood said while motioning up to the ceiling “and if I don't have it... I can acquire them quite easily.”
“Wait, so this place is a parts storage facility?” Techorse asked, eyes twinkling.
“It’s my personal workshop and Ponyville branch of my company,” Blueblood clarified, “But I have to store the spare parts somewhere, and I'm sure you'll be surprised by the quality of the materials and level of organization.”
Blueblood brought them to an extension of the warehouse on the ground floor, which housed rows upon rows of neatly color coded and stacked bins upon steel shelves filled the facility. Taking a look around with the wonder of a colt in a candy store, Techorse quickly dashed from box to box at the ground floor, opening it up quickly and going through the contents. He tossed out the parts he wanted with his hooves at an impressive pace, covering the floor with components. Soon he was leaning over the edge of a large blue colored bin with a black lid, hanging over it by his front legs.
“Oh my, there goes your level of organization,” Dr. Whooves teased, “I'll be a bit more careful in my search for the things I need, trust me.”
“No no, by all means, please ruin the place if you must,” answered the prince, pushing his mane back, “If this madness is Techorse's method, it's fine by me. His design was incredible!”
“That's Techorse for you, putting something together out of pure chaos,” Midnight laughed in agreement, “you should have seen what his house looked like when I met him. Total bomb, but he had a lot of cool stuff built and in great condition.”
“Thanks Midnight... I think,” said the stallion digging through the parts bin.
The stallion's tail disappeared into the large floor level bin as he kept rummaging through it for supplies. Of course, the top had closed shut behind him, so only the glow of his saddle's flashlight gadget visible from the seam between the bin and its lid.
“I'm still curious about that brass and leather saddle he's worn to our meetings,” Blueblood brought up, “He's put arms and hands on it like he's trying to be another creature, and a lot of other devices as well. It's very interesting, but I seem to have forgotten how it works.”
“That's his 'battle saddle',” explained the sapphire alicorn, “and I've got to be honest with you, I have no idea how much of that machine is magic and how much of that is technology. He's really adamant about not sharing the plans for it, either way.”
Soon the earth pony had amassed everything he needed, tubing, electromagical base materials, arcane conduits, and everything in-between were on the floor outside of the bin. He climbed out of the container, and trotted over to the pile of devices, beginning work on them with his saddle's gadgets, including a new soldering iron that popped out of the machine's doors on a small motor.
“I'm going to need some electric to arcana power converters, Blueblood,” he said, goggles over his eyes fixed directly on his work which sparked madly, “couldn't find them anywhere.”
“Top shelf, orange box,” he answered from memory, “just make sure you match the voltage to the mana output frequency or...”
“Or it backfires. Had that blow me up a few times, especially when the manufacturer doesn't label things.”
“Oh boy,” said the prince, taken aback, “how many times have you blown yourself up in your career?”
Techorse kept working on putting the first containment tube together but fired back,“Plenty of times!”
“Careful, Tech, it's been eighty days since the last workplace accident here,” Midnight teased while pointing to a nearby chalkboard Blueblood's employees like to use, “don't ruin the warehouse record.”
“With the quality of this stuff? Not going to happen,” he answered with a wink, “probably.”
“Well with all threats of explosion out of the way, I'll help you finish, and then we'll build the flywheels,” the Doctor said cheerfully, “you'll need a little help install those conduits, right?”
“Yes, and the cryo-ray casting piece will have to be cut from a full size one, same thing with the suspension caster,” he answered, nodding at his fellow scientist, “you can work the splicer for me, right?”
“Certainly!”
While watching Techorse give shape, form, and function to his share of the invention, Blueblood took note of the casters being placed into the tubing, and remembered something he should have mentioned again.
“Oh, I almost forgot,” he groaned while facehoofing, “Tech, those casters are fantastic magical parts, but they've increased the power requirements of starting the engine and maintaining the storm even further. Sure, it'll produce a hundred times the power it requires to run, but without an input, we're stuck.”
“We forgot the solar power,” Midnight grunted, stomping his hoof on the ground in frustration.
Tech's saddle gave up suddenly and the inventor dropped his soldering iron to the ground. He stood up on all fours again and let out a big sigh of disappointment.
“I knew we were missing something, and that's it. I got carried away once you decided you liked my plan.”
“And to make things more complicated, solar won't be an easy power source to implement,” the Doctor recalled, “but even with storage batteries for that, it will be quite heavy to mount enough solar panels to fly this kind of a vessel.”
“I know,” Blueblood went on, tempted to pace around, “I will have to think on what we can do. Continue working on the engine, Techorse. For now, I have to go check in one somepony.”
Even from a distance, Blueblood could see something was wrong before he hurried to get inside Carousel Boutique. He felt his heart jump into his throat at the sight of the ribbons, gemstones, furniture and mannequins scattered about in disarray, with a despondent Diamond Rose, assisted by Sweetie Belle, attempting to straighten things up and clean.
“What in Tartarus happened here?!” flabbergasted Blueblood as he felt like he was walking into the aftermath of a war zone.
"I....couldn't handle the huge rush," Diamond Rose said weakly. "My store only has about ten or twelve customers a day."
"I came over early because today's a half day. Cheerilee had to go to some school meeting," Sweetie Belle explained as she threw some ruined ribbons into a wastebasket.
"I returned and saw Diamond Rose was in a mess trying to complete everything. So I jumped in and handled the orders as she went to the back to try and get everything sorted. Once the last customer left, I've been attempting to clean this place out."
Sweetie Belle tried to smile, but she dropped it and went back to work before stating, "Oh and there's some boxes of imported fabrics that my sister bought some years ago and they never got used, so she said that if they weren't used by close of business today, that I was to put them out for the trash collectors in the morning."
Blueblood was intrigued.
“Fabrics Rarity imported but never used?” Blueblood looked at the boxes Sweetie Belle was talking about and read a label that said that the contents came all the way from AlpaChile.
Curious, he opened them and levitated out a folded fabric that looked to be made of cotton. It smelled dusty, which made sense if it’d never been taken out of its box until now, and as he held each corner up in his telekinesis, Blueblood noticed the sunlight peering in through the window and catching on the fabric. Some outside shadow, maybe of a tree branch, cast its reach through the window, and Blueblood saw the shadow waving along the fabric, outlined by the light of the sun.
The sun... Blueblood thought as something dawned in his mind, and he noticed, It... looks like a sail held up this way... Wait! The sun... a sail?
And just like that, Blueblood was struck with inspiration as he couldn't help but quote his Rarity and say, “I-DEA!!!”
"Quit turning into Rarity!" Sweetie Belle snapped, as she tallied up the receipts and made sure the math checked out. Blueblood didn’t mind, the filly did seem tired, and it made sense she’d be irritated at having to clean someone else’s mess.
Speaking of Diamond Rose, she was in the kitchen, having offered to make dinner and then she offered to stay behind and clean up. Blueblood thanked her and went back to examine the fabric even more. He had struck gold.