Chapter 28
The sharp blast of a whistle drew both Allen and Twilight’s attention as a passenger train slowed to a stop in front of the Ponyville station platform. Steam swirled around the engine as it came to a halt. Ponies milled about on the platform as they gathered their things to either board the train or made their way to the baggage car to collect their luggage as they disembarked. Turning to Twilight, Allen remarked, “I haven’t ridden on a train in probably fourteen years.”
Cocking her head, Twilight replied, “Really? Then how did you get around back home?”
“I drove mostly,” he replied, “most people back home either fly or drive to their destinations, a lot of people in the US don’t find traveling by rail to be very practical, so it’s not a very popular mode of travel anymore.”
“Interesting,” she said as she pulled out a quill and paper to jot more notes down. By this point Allen wasn’t even phased as anytime he spoke with the nerdy unicorn, she would inevitably teleport a quill and piece of paper to her and begin taking notes for later perusal. It was kind of adorable, in a dorky sort of way.
Turning his attention back to the engine, he could see that it was in a 4-4-0 configuration and had a small tender following along behind it that was loaded up with coal. Twilight had explained that this train was just a local commuter and unlike its more colorful cousin, the Friendship Express was painted in a black and silver livery. Allen, having seen color pictures of the famous Friendship Express with its pink, purple and yellow livery, decided that he preferred the local color scheme as it didn’t hurt his eyes with its basic black theme.
Seeing that the majority of ponies who wanted to get off had already done so, Allen carefully nudged Twilight forward. Head still glued to her scroll, Twilight somehow managed to navigate her way onto the train and even managed to present her ticket to the conductor on the way in. Flashing his own ticket at the open-mouthed, mustachioed pony, Allen waited as the stallion reflexively punched his ticket and giving a nod of thanks, boarded the train.
Thank god they built their train coaches with minotaurs in mind, thought Allen to himself as he easily boarded the train without having to duck through the doorway. Twilight had explained to him earlier that Equestrian railway cars were required to be able to accommodate as many species as possible, this included the tall minotaurs and the wide yaks, even if the two species were still a rare sight in Equestria proper. Of course, if what Twilight said is true, they probably also did it so that their princesses wouldn’t have to duck through low doorways for the rest of eternity either. He smirked at the thought quietly to himself.
Nudging Twilight into an empty booth, he took his own seat across from her next to the window and waited for the train to depart. After a few minutes, a distant shout of “All aboard! ” rang out, and with two blasts of the whistle and a sudden jerk, they were on their way to Canterlot.
Contenting himself with watching the scenery pass by, Allen felt his mind wander back to last Saturday and the last couple of days following Lyra’s visit. After he’d downed an entire bottle of beer, he’d sat and moped around the house for a few hours while he let his mind digest the information that Lyra had given him. Penny had already left by the time Lyra and Bon Bon had shown up, so he didn’t need to explain why he was in a mopey mood all of a sudden, for which he was thankful. Sometimes one just needed to sit and mope for a bit. However, that moping made him feel guilty because he had things he needed to do, and so he’d forced himself to get back to work.
His first order of business had been to try and figure out how to get in contact with Chisel and Son’s. Seeing as how phones didn’t exist in Equestria, he had a couple of options. The first was to send them a letter asking them to come and take a look at his buildings, but he figured that would take longer than he wanted as it would probably require several back and forth letters as they tried to schedule an appointment. The second option was to just take a train to Canterlot and visit their office in person, and after thinking about it, and how he didn’t feel like hassling with the mail service, he settled on taking a day trip on Monday up to the mountainside city instead.
Naturally, when Cloud Kicker had come by that afternoon with the, hopefully, last bit of his paperwork, he mentioned his plans to her, and seeing as how he’d never been there, wondered if she would be interested in tagging along with him so that he didn’t get lost. Unfortunately, Cloud had told him that she would be busy that day and thus wouldn’t be able to accompany him. However, she did suggest going and asking Twilight if she might be free as she was also from Canterlot as well. Liking the idea, Allen decided to do just that the following morning.
“Of course, I would be happy to come with you,” she had replied, when Allen had shown up at her door, asking her if she was free the following day, having rode into town on his freshly cleaned and aired up bicycle.
Man, I’m glad that these tires are still in good shape, even though I haven’t ridden this thing in years, he’d thought to himself as he cruised along that morning. It had been kind of funny when he’d ridden into town, watching various ponies gaping at him as he pedaled past, as apparently bicycles also didn’t exist in this world. Probably because ponies didn’t have a need for them when they could just gallop or fly if they needed to get somewhere quickly. Though by the time Allen had reached Twilight’s treebrary, he’d been pretty winded and his legs felt like they were on fire from all the pedaling he did.
“Super, hopefully, it won’t take too long to get this sorted out,” he had said, though he then changed topics by asking Twilight about her current home, as he’d been curious about it since seeing it from a distance. “So Twilight,” he asked, pointing up at the tree, “is this a real living tree?”
“Sure is!” she replied happily, before then proceeding to spend the next hour on the history of treebraries in Equestria and how they were formed. Thankfully, Spike, Twilight’s dragon assistant, had inadvertently come to his rescue with a letter from Princess Celestia that had distracted Twilight long enough that Allen could escape.
He’d heard about Spike while he was in the hospital from Nurse Redheart, but seeing the little dragon up close was an interesting experience.
“So you’re a dragon, huh?” he casually asked Spike after they had left the treebrary far behind, as Spike was already on his way out to do some shopping of his own in town, and because Allen didn’t want to get trapped by Twilight in another hour-long lecture.
“Sure am!” proclaimed Spike proudly, as he puffed out his chest and lifted his chin in the air.
“Do you breathe fire?”
Shooting Allen a knowing, smug look, Spike took a deep breath and blew out a gout of flame nearly three feet long, startling Allen and a couple of nearby ponies in the process.
“Holy shit!” exclaimed Allen in surprise.
“I know,” replied Spike smugly as he buffed his claws on his chest, “I’m pretty awesome, and Twilight says that my flame will only get bigger as I get older.”
Allen made a mental note to do his best to keep on the little dragon’s good side from now on, as he didn’t fancy being turned into a human flambé anytime soon.
“That’s great kid, but how about warning a guy next time you’re gonna do an imitation of a flamethrower right next to his legs, eh?” replied Allen as he willed his heart to slow down.
Spike had the good graces to give a sheepish smile. “Sorry,” he replied, “I sometimes forget that not everyone is used to me randomly burping flames all the time.”
“You randomly burp flames?”
Spike nodded. “Yeah, but it’s usually only when Princess Celestia sends Twilight a letter or I get indigestion.”
“Why would Princess Celestia sending Twilight a letter make you burp flames?” asked Allen confused.
“Princess Celestia placed a spell on me that allows her to send a letter to Twilight instantly through my dragon fire, and if we want to send her one, all I have to do is just burn a specially enchanted scroll and it’ll get sent straight to her.”
Allen blinked owlishly while his brain processed what he’d just heard. Finally, he decided to just accept it at face value and move on. “Alright,” he said as the pair resumed their journey through Ponyville.
“So how did you and Twilight meet?” asked Allen as a way to keep the conversation going.
“She hatched me during her entrance exam to Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. My egg was being used as the final test for fillies and colts, Princess Celestia told me later that it was supposed to be impossible for anypony to hatch that egg because it takes very specific conditions for a dragon egg to hatch, and in any case, they didn’t think the egg was even capable of hatching in the first place. They were just using it as a way to test how a foal handled failure. However, when Twilight surged, her magic apparently made me hatch, then grow to full adult size before Princess Celestia could calm her surge and return me back to baby size.”
“Wow, that’s... crazy to think that Twilight could have done that as a foal,” suddenly looking around to see if anyone was nearby, Allen leaned down and whispered in Spike’s earfin, “I heard from Nurse Redheart that Twilight allegedly turned her parents into house plants. Is that true?”
Spike nodded. “Yep, it’s true, though Princess Celestia turned them back after Twilight’s surge ended. From what they told me, they don't remember being turned into plants, one second they saw Twilight surging, and the next it was all over.”
Allen shivered. “I’d be freaked out if that happened to me.”
Spike gave an understanding nod. “Yeah, I could see that, Twilight tells me that you come from a place that doesn’t have a lot of magic, right?”
“Yeah,” replied Allen with a nod, “apparently there is some magic in my world, but there’s so little that it’s all but unnoticeable for the general population. To us, magic is something found in fantasy books and movies.”
“Wow, that’s so weird to think that there’s a place out there that functions without using magic for everything.”
Shrugging, Allen said, “I feel the same way about Equestria,” pointing to Spike, he said, “I mean if you had told me two months ago that I would be walking beside and talking to an honest to god dragon I would have thought you were off your rocker. Yet here we are.”
“Life sure is weird sometimes, isn’t it?” asked Spike as he glanced up at Allen.
“You have no idea kid,” replied Allen, with a shake of his head.
“So... what do you think of Equestria so far? I mean besides it being different with magic and stuff,” asked Spike hesitantly.
Allen shrugged his shoulders and replied, “It’s... different. Don’t get me wrong, everyone has been pretty nice to me since I got here, and the land looks beautiful. But I miss home, even with all its problems. I’m hoping that Twilight and the others can find a way to send me and my farm back soon.”
“Well with Twilight on the job, you’ll be home in no time!” exclaimed Spike confidently.
Chuckling at the young drake’s enthusiasm, Allen just shook his head in amusement and replied, “Here’s hoping kid.”
“Why do you keep calling me ‘kid’? I’m a dragon, not a goat,” said Spike, a weird and confused look on his face.
“Oh, sorry,” replied Allen, an apologetic look on his face, “back home kid is a shortened way of saying child, but it can also refer to a young goat as well. One of the idiosyncrasies of English I suppose. If it bothers you, I’ll stop.”
Spike shook his head. “No, that’s okay, I don’t mind really. I just wanted to know why you kept calling me that.”
“Fair enough I suppose,” remarked Allen as they continued their trek through town. Entering the main market square, Allen noticed that there was quite a bit of activity going on for a Sunday, even the bank was open.
“Huh, that’s weird,” he said half to himself.
“What’s weird,” queried Spike.
“Oh, just noticing that there’s a lot of ponies out and about for the weekend and that the bank is open as well,” he said as he pointed to said building with an outstretched arm.
“And why wouldn’t they be open? Ponies need to shop and stuff, how else would they get their money?” responded Spike, his head tilted to one side in confusion.
“I just figured that since it was Sunday, they would be closed, seeing as how it’s the weekend and all,” replied Allen with a nonchalant shrug. In truth, he was glad to see the bank open as that meant he could withdraw his bits today instead of first thing in the morning on Monday and hope that he didn’t miss his train.
“Well, yeah it’s the weekend, but ponies still need money, and there isn’t any other way to get it other than by going to the bank,” explained Spike patiently, “aren’t your banks open on Sundays back home?”
Allen shook his head. “Some are open half a day on Saturday, but I’ve never encountered a bank that was open on a Sunday.”
“Well why not?” asked Spike with a child-like curiosity in his eyes.
Again, Allen shrugged. “A lot of reasons,” he began, “many people believe that Sunday is a holy day and is meant for rest, meaning that they don’t do business on that day. Others just don’t want to work on Sunday because it’s become the cultural norm in their country due to religious observances in the past on that day. Plus a lot of governments have put laws into place limiting the amount of work employers can ask of their employees without having to pay over time, so people generally have two days off per week, and they’re traditionally Saturday and Sunday. Besides, most people in my world don’t need to go to a physical bank in order to get money out to pay for things anyways.”
“How does that work? Don’t you need physical money to pay for stuff?”
Allen laughed. “Not really, a lot of people pay for things on credit and then pay their balance at the end of the month. It’s faster and more convenient for them that way, though if they miss a payment, they’ll owe more money due to interest on the credit and late fees. A lot of people in my world are heavily in debt and struggle to get by.”
Spike crossed his arms and confidently replied, “Well then maybe they should do a better job of keeping track of how much money they spend then. Besides, buying on credit is a bad idea anyway, if you can’t afford something, you shouldn’t buy it. That’s what Twilight has always told me.”
Allen smirked down at Spike and ruffled his head crest playfully, while Spike tried to wave his hand away. “Truer words have never been spoken, kid,” his smile faded though, “of course that’s not always possible. Things are always more complicated than they appear at first glance. It’s true,” he continued as he looked out over the bustling marketplace, “that there are a lot of people back home who aren’t very good at managing their finances, but then there are a lot of people who are good at it. The problem though is that in some places, it’s just too expensive for most people to live, and it isn’t getting any better.”
“Well, then why don’t they just move?” asked Spike, as if it were the most obvious solution in the world.
“They can’t or won’t,” shrugged Allen indifferently, “there are a lot of reasons people struggle with life in my world. Some of them are because they made poor choices, and others are because of factors outside of their control,” glancing down at Spike, Allen could see that he was going to ask another question that would require an unpleasant answer. Deciding that he didn’t feel like answering those kinds of questions, Allen headed him off by saying, “Look, Spike, I get that you’re curious about my world and all, but I’d rather not talk about the less pleasant aspects of it right now,” looking around, he waved an arm around the market and said, “it’s a beautiful day, so why don’t we talk about something else, alright?”
Frowning at being denied further knowledge, Spike grudgingly nodded. “Alright, but I’d still like to hear more about what your world is like.”
Allen shrugged and said, “Alright, what else did you want to know?”
Rubbing his chin in idle thought, Spike tried to come up with a question that Allen wouldn’t object to, after a few quiet moments he finally asked, “Did you travel a lot back home?”
Allen nodded, a nostalgic smile blooming, as he recalled childhood memories of his mother and him traveling across the country. “Sure did,” he said wistfully, “my mother loved to travel, though my dad preferred staying home as according to him, he had had his fill of traveling when he was in the army, plus he could never get comfortable on long car rides.”
“Where did you guys go?”
“All over the place, my country is huge, and you can travel for days or even weeks before you reach another one,” replied Allen as he spread his arms wide for emphasis.
“So what did you see?” asked Spike with a mix of curiosity and excitement about hearing something new.
“It would probably be easier to tell you what I didn’t see,” chuckled Allen. “I saw tall snow-capped mountains, large flowing rivers, lush green plains, sparkling sandy beaches and deep blue oceans, majestic forests, and, ah man, I could go on for hours. As much as my government mystifies and irritates me at times, there’s probably one government department that I am fully happy to fund with my tax money, and that is the National Park Service.”
“National Park Service? What do they do?”
Smiling, Allen said, “They’re responsible for maintaining a lot of the parks and heritage sites across my country, and for the most part, they do an amazing job. The parks are well maintained and a lot of them have cool things to see in them.”
“Like what?” asked Spike.
“Well,” began Allen, “one of my favorite parks to visit is Yellowstone National Park. If my memory is correct, it’s one of the oldest if not the oldest park back home, and covers thousands of square miles of land. You can see all kinds of wild animals running around, and it’s got some beautiful landscapes and features, like Old Faithful.”
“Old Faithful?” asked Spike as he tilted his head in curiosity wondering what this ‘Old Faithful’ might be.
Allen nodded and explained. “It’s what’s called a ‘cone geyser’ and it shoots scalding hot water, and steam high into the air in a spectacular display. Yellowstone sits on top of an ancient supervolcano and as a result, there are a lot of hot springs and geysers in the park. Old Faithful has regular eruptions every day, hence the name.”
“Wow, that sounds cool! How hot is the water?” exclaimed Spike in excitement as his eyes grew wide.
“Pretty hot, like a couple of hundred degrees at least, and the steam is even hotter. I heard when they found it, the early explorers would use it to clean their clothes, with varying levels of success,” explained Allen patiently.
Spike giggled and replied, puffing out his chest in pride, “Well, that is pretty hot, but we dragons can swim in lava! Which is way hotter than that!”
Chuckling at the little drake’s antics, Allen ruffled his head crest and said, “I bet,” pausing, he noticed that both he and Spike had been walking for a bit and had ended up in front of Sugarcube Corner. Feeling a bit peckish, Allen hooked a thumb in the direction of the bakery and asked, “say, I’m feeling a bit hungry, how about getting something to nom on? My treat.”
“Really?” asked Spike, his eyes widening and a touch of drool forming at the corner of his mouth as the thought of getting a free treat from Sugarcube Corner.
“Really,” replied Allen with a knowing nod, “though I need to stop by the bank real quick to get some bits first, think you can wait here and guard my bike for me while I do that?”
Snapping to attention, Spike snapped off a crisp salute and said, “Sir, yes sir!”
Chuckling at the dragon’s enthusiasm, Allen gave his head crest one last ruffle and said, “Alright, I’ll be back in a minute,” before heading inside to make the necessary withdrawals.
Back in the present, Allen smiled at the memory as he watched the scenery go by. Both he and Spike had had a good time together that day. The cupcakes were delicious, and Spike had enjoyed his immensely. After that, Allen had decided to tag along with Spike and help him with his shopping, as he found himself enjoying spending time with the little guy. It was probably for the best that he had, as by the time Spike had bought everything on his list, he had a stack of items as tall as him nestled in his arms that wobbled dangerously back and forth as he walked. Allen’s stack hadn’t been much better either, but somehow they had managed to make it back to the library without incident, and after confirming when he would meet Twilight at the station the following morning, Allen had gone home for the evening.
The sharp blast of a whistle broke Allen out of his memories and he realized that they would soon be beginning their ascent up the mountain to Canterlot. Turning away from the window, Allen noticed that Twilight had her snout buried deep in a book and seemed to be lost in her own little world. Giving her a gentle nudge, he smiled when she let loose a surprised, yip! and shot him an unamused look.
Giving her an apologetic look, Allen pointed out the window and said, “It looks like we're almost there now, just thought I’d let you know.”
Looking past Allen to look out the window, Twilight gave a thoughtful hum and nodding said, “Good call, we should be arriving at the station in about ten minutes or so. Thanks for the heads up, it’ll give me a chance to wrap up my current train of thought.”
“Sure, no problem,” replied Allen as he watched Twilight rebury her face in her book.
Seeing as she was going to be busy for a bit longer, Allen turned his attention back to the window. Currently, they were seated on the left side of the train which gave him an unobstructed view of the valley below. It was a scene that would take one’s breath away, a beautiful patchwork carpet of various shades of green with other colors mixed in from flowering trees and plants. Several small rivers all joining together to form a much larger sapphire-colored ribbon of water that flowed ever onward towards the sea, and in the far distance, Allen could see the famous City of Cloudsdale, that Cloud Kicker had mentioned before, with its colorful rainbow falls and Greek and Roman-themed architecture. All in all, it was a magnificent sight to behold and Allen wished that he’d brought his phone with him so that he could take pictures with it. Alas, he hadn’t thought of it when he was leaving his home that morning, and so he’d just have to content himself with committing it to memory instead.
However, the scene quickly disappeared as the train chugged up the side of Mount Canterhorn, the spiraling pattern of the tracks quickly rotating Allen’s view to another section of the landscape below. Though he did see the floating city come back into view a few more times as they wound their way up the mountain. However, they soon entered a tunnel that blocked the scenic view completely as the train entered the final leg of its journey.
Huffing and puffing, the train emerged from the tunnel a few minutes later in a cloud of steam and smoke, its whistle blowing a long, loud warning to anyone foolish enough to be in its way that it was coming through. As the darkness of the tunnel changed to bright sunlight, Allen blinked as his eyes adjusted and he beheld his first glimpse of Canterlot up close.
Crossing the train car to the opposite side, he craned his neck so that he could get a better look at the towering spires that stood tall against the deep blue sky. They were painted a variety of colors, from pale blue’s that matched the sky to gentle purples and ivory whites, some even had gold-capped roofs, while others were adorned with painted tiles that matched their tower's paint scheme. Everything was clean and spotless, with well-tended plants and hedges lining the various walkways and roads that Allen could see before the train entered the station proper. Everything about this city said, I am the center of wealth and power, bow before my splendor all ye who enter here.
However, the train soon entered the station before coming to a stop in a cloud of steam and noise as the engine let loose a pair of sharp blasts of its whistle signaling that it had arrived and that it was time for everyone on board to leave. Looking out through the window at the sight of the bustling crowd on the platform, Allen could see what had to be hundreds of ponies, all running hither and thither in their quest to be somewhere else. It was quite a chaotic change of pace from the more sedate Ponyville.
Feeling someone nudge his leg, Allen looked down and saw that Twilight had donned her saddlebags and was poking him with his satchel bag, a knowing smirk on her face as she watched Allen stare out the window at the chaos beyond.
“It’s pretty chaotic out there isn’t it?” she asked as Allen slung his satchel over his shoulder.
Nodding he replied, “Yeah, quite a bit busier than Ponyville that’s for sure.”
Twilight giggled. “Once we get out and away from the station, it should be a little less crazy. The lower levels of Canterlot are the busiest as that’s where all the cargo and passenger terminals for the trains and airships are.”
“Airships? You mean like, blimps or dirigibles?” asked Allen in amazement as he and Twilight slowly pushed their way through the crowd of passengers to the car’s exit.
“Dirigibles?” she asked, a confused look on her face, before shaking her head, and saying, “No, I mean airships, you’ll see them as we exit the station.”
Shrugging, Allen fell in alongside Twilight as they exited the train car and carefully crossed the platform. The crowd of ponies flowing around them like water. It actually kind of amazed Allen as he didn’t see too many ponies looking his way. He figured that he’d attract at least a little bit of attention, but apparently, ponies in Canterlot were a bit more cosmopolitan in their outlook.
Looking around the station, Allen let out an impressed whistle and said, “Man, this place sure looks fancy.” As he took in the sight of the polished marble columns and vaulted ceiling of the main lobby area just off the platform.
Twilight puffed up her chest slightly in a show of hometown pride. “Well, of course, Canterlot Station was designed to wow foreign dignitaries and visitors from far away lands. I mean, would you expect anything less for the nation’s capital?”
Allen gave a nonchalant shrug. “Fair enough I suppose, it’s still impressive though,” he said as he and Twilight passed by a wall mural showing some of Equestria’s great historical events, the royal blue carpet muffling their steps as they walked.
Must have cost a fortune to build and maintain this place, thought Allen idly to himself as he and Twilight exited into the late morning sunlight.
Pointing a hoof to the left, Twilight said, “Over there, you can see some of the airship docks, and... oh! It looks like the Wind Spirit is in dock today, how exciting!”
Following her hoof, Allen felt his jaw slowly drop as he saw the ship she was pointing at. It was a strange sight to behold, it looked as if someone had taken a wooden-hulled sailing ship, suspended it underneath a gigantic oval-shaped gasbag, and tied the two together with several hundred ropes. The vessel looked to be perhaps three to four hundred feet in length, with its keel clad in copper sheets that were still bright and shiny like a brand new penny, while its wooden hull was painted a brilliant bright white with a royal blue line painted halfway up its side. The gasbag meanwhile was painted a beautiful sky blue with a large yellow sun motif at the front of the gasbag and small white clouds trailing along the side of its envelope towards the stern.
Shaking his head in amazement, he watched as distant pegasi flew around the large airship like a swarm of busy bees would a fragrant flower bush, as they cleaned, checked, and loaded the airship for its next voyage.
Well, I’ll be damned, he thought in amazement as he took a couple of hesitant steps forward out of reflex as he stared up at the beautiful airship before him. The damn things got to be at least three hundred feet long. How do they manage to keep that thing from breaking apart in mid-air like that? Never mind getting it to float like that, it’s got to weigh several thousand tons!
Seeing Allen’s look of stunned amazement, Twilight gently nudged him and said, “Told you it was an actual airship and not a dirigible.”
“H-how is that possible?” he asked incredulously. “There’s no way that gas bag is strong enough to hold up that much weight!”
Smiling smugly up at Allen, Twilight casually buffed a hoof on her chest and explained, “A combination of special lightweight building materials, excellent engineering, floatstone generators, and magic. Wind Spirit is just the latest airship to be built at the Royal Canterlot Airship Yard and is meant to quickly and safely transport passengers and cargo all across the world for the Equestrian government.”
Tearing his gaze away from the majestic sight, Allen remarked, “How come I’ve never seen one of these from Ponyville? The damn thing is certainly big enough to be seen from miles away!”
“Most airships tend to avoid the Ponyville area due to the unpredictable nature of the Everfree Forest’s weather system. As such they tend to come in from the north side of Canterlot, which puts them behind the mountain and out of sight from Ponyville as the docks are on the northern side of the city anyways,” explained Twilight happily.
Nodding his head absently, Allen muttered, “I guess that makes sense,” pointing at the ship, he said, “Well, one thing is for sure, they didn’t spare any expense when they built that thing.”
Twilight giggled. “I would think not! The Wind Spirit was built to ferry important ponies around the world. So it would make sense that they would make it as comfortable and beautiful as possible. I know that Princess Celestia has used it a couple of times for state visits to other nations, but usually, it is used to transport diplomats or important cargo quickly.”
“So how does it float like that? Surely that gasbag isn’t the only thing holding it up there?”
Shaking her head, Twilight replied, “The gas bag is mostly there for fine-tuning the ship’s altitude and to act as a sort of parachute should the floatstone generators fail.”
“Floatstone? Let me guess, it’s exactly what it sounds like?” asked Allen with a roll of his eyes.
“You got it in one!” replied Twilight happily. “Floatstone is a magically charged rock from the northern mountains, between here and Yakyakistan. When you run a weak electrical current through it, the magic in the rocks creates a localized area of lift and causes them to float. The more current you use, the greater the lift. There are several floatstone rooms on all airships that are strategically placed throughout the ship to give it the lift it needs to be able to fly,” pointing a hoof to the stern, Allen could see that there were several bulbous protrusions sticking out of the hull to either side of the rudder, “those,” she explained, “are the propellers that give the ship the thrust it needs to move through the air and can be turned slightly in either direction to help with steering in tight airspaces.”
“I see that you guys gave her a copper bottom,” remarked Allen as the sunlight reflected off the ship's shiny copper sheathing.
Twilight nodded. “It helps with drag and rigidity. Plus, if the ship needs to touch down in the water, it will help keep the ocean life from damaging the wooden hull as much.”
“So it can also act like a normal ship and sail on water?”
Twilight made a ‘sort of’ gesture with her hoof. “Only in an emergency, and not for very long either. Airships are not designed to sail in the oceans, as even though their hulls are strong, they aren’t as reinforced as one that is dedicated to sailing on the water. If an airship were to spend too much time in the water, it would run the risk of developing leaks due to the weight of the water working the timbers loose, and possibly sinking. However, in a pinch, it can float for a time without issue.”
“Wow, just when I think I can’t be surprised anymore, you guys go and surprise me again,” remarked Allen dryly as he and Twilight resumed their journey.
Giggling, Twilight replied in a teasing tone of voice, “I would think that you have realized that by now, Allen. After all, you’ve barely seen all of Ponyville yet, let alone the rest of the country or world. Even Princess Celestia hasn’t seen everything that the world has to offer yet, and she’s been around for thousands of years!”
Allen just gave an affirmative grunt but didn’t comment. In truth, he wasn’t one-hundred percent convinced that what Twilight and the other ponies had told him was true regarding their leaders' long lifespans or the fact that they held sway over the heavenly bodies in the sky. So instead he kept his mouth shut and just went along with it. At the end of the day, he figured there wasn’t any point in arguing with someone on something he couldn’t easily prove one way or the other. Of course, he thought quietly to himself, there is always the chance that she is right, and the princesses do raise the sun and the moon.
He glanced up at the sky above, and shading his eyes against the glare of the sun, frowned. Considering the fact that my farm and I were brought here through space and time by some sort of being of chaos, it’s always possible that the rest of what I’ve been told is true. Sighing, he turned his attention away from the big floating gas ball in the sky and shook his head. Best just not think about it, he thought silently to himself as he and Twilight wound their way through the well-kept streets of Canterlot.
Noticing that Allen had fallen silent, Twilight cleared her throat and asked, “Everything alright, Allen?”
“Hmm? Oh yeah,” he said with a shallow nod, “just thinking about some stuff.”
“What kind of stuff?” asked Twilight in her usual inquisitive fashion.
Allen merely shrugged. “Just how things are different here is all. It’s sometimes hard to wrap my head around it, ya know?”
Twilight tilted her head to one side and replied hesitantly, “I... guess?” she paused, thinking about what might have caused Allen to fall into such a contemplative mood all of a sudden. However, nothing really came to mind, and so she decided to change the subject. “So, you mentioned that you needed to find Chisel and Son’s?”
Allen nodded and pulled out a piece of paper with the address of the shop written on it. “Address is 129 Trotter Street, you know where that is?”
Twilight nodded happily. “Sure do! Trotter Street runs along the edge of the commercial and industrial districts, if we take a left at the next street, we should run right into it in no time.”
“Well alright then, sounds like a plan,” replied Allen easily as he stuffed the piece of paper back in his bag and continued walking. As the two of them moved along, Twilight would rattle off some interesting fact about Canterlot, and Allen would listen attentively. Twilight was a well of interesting and helpful information regarding the history of the city and its citizens, and it helped pass the time as they walked along the well-maintained sidewalks of the lower industrial and transportation sections of Canterlot.
It was interesting to Allen, just how clean and orderly the pony city was. Looking around, he could see freight wagons moving to and fro being pulled by teams of muscled earth ponies, while pegasi flitted about through the air lanes, either solo or as a team pulling an air cart laden with cargo or passengers. Even here in the bowels of the industrial district, everything was kept to a high standard of cleanliness and aesthetics.
If this had been a city on earth, the area they were in would probably have looked rough and unwelcoming, with pothole-filled roads, crumbling sidewalks, rusted chain-link fences, overflowing garbage cans, and the ever present graffiti. Here, however, it was the opposite. The streets were well maintained, with nary a pothole to be seen, and the few that he did see were in the process of being repaired. The sidewalks were free of trash and were well maintained with not a single blade of grass poking up through the few cracks that he could see. Sure there was some garbage that littered the gutter, but even as he saw it, a cleaning pony was sweeping it up into a garbage bin to be taken away, and most impressive of all, not a single sign of spray-painted graffiti anywhere. That’s not to say there wasn’t any color, there were plenty of painted murals and all the buildings had a well-maintained coat of paint. All in all, Allen could barely believe he was walking in an industrial district.
Doesn’t even smell, he thought as he took a deep breath filling his lungs with crisp mountain air. Glancing up at a pair of nearby smokestacks, he could see great white puffs of steam escaping into the air, but not a single speck of soot.
“Damn this place is clean,” he remarked, interrupting one of Twilight’s factoid monologues.
Looking up at him, she tilted her head and asked, “Well why wouldn’t it be clean? This is the capital after all, and Princess Celestia, along with everypony that lives here, likes to keep a clean city.”
Allen chuckled. “Wish I could say the same thing for back home,” sweeping an encompassing arm around them, Allen said, “if this were my world, this place wouldn’t look nearly this clean, nor be this safe to walk around in.”
“Why not?” inquired Twilight with a curious tilt of her head as she absently brought out her quill and paper and began jotting down notes again.
Allen rubbed his thumb and pointer finger together in the universal symbol for money. “It all comes down to money, Twilight. A lot of industrial areas back home are dirty, smelly, unsightly, and dangerous. Trying to pretty them up would be like putting lipstick on a pig, a waste of time and resources. The only reason you would live near them is because you have to, not because you want to.”
Twilight’s lips puckered into a thoughtful pout. “I see, that sounds... sad. But I suppose in a way, it's understandable.”
Giving her a weird look, Allen cocked an eyebrow and said, “And why’s that?”
“Well, because of magic naturally,” replied Twilight as she blew an errant lock of mane out of her face, as she continued writing. “Every factory and workshop here in Equestria is required by law to have runes, enchantments, and spells built into them that remove toxic gases, and pollutants. It’s probably the only reason why Canterlot isn’t covered in soot all the time or why Fillydelphia’s river isn’t always on fire. They also make the working conditions safer for the workers as well. Honestly, without those things, I’m pretty sure a lot of our cities wouldn’t be very nice to live in either. So in a world without the magic levels that we have, it would stand to reason that you would need to expend more resources to get the same effect that a simple rune or spell can achieve here.”
Allen stuck his hands in his pockets and nodded. “Yeah, I guess having magic would make it easier to keep pollution levels down, and improve workers' safety,” he snickered suddenly as an errant thought crossed his mind.
“What’s so funny?” inquired Twilight, a curious look on her face as the two of them finally reached Trotter Street.
“So which way should we go?” asked Allen suddenly as they had found themselves at a crossroad, a nearby sign proclaiming it to be the street they were looking for.
Looking both left and right, Twilight looked at the addresses on each of the buildings and quickly pointed right, deeper into the city. “If I’m reading the signs correctly, then 129 should be that way.”
“Alright then, right it is,” said Allen as he and Twilight continued on their way.
After a minute of silence, Twilight cleared her throat and asked again, “So, what was so funny?”
“I was just picturing a pegasus flying through a random soot cloud and coming out the other side covered in the stuff, like one of those cartoon characters, you only see a dirty outline of them and the whites of their eyes.”
Twilight chuckled a little at the image. “That is kind of funny, but any pegasus that did that would have a pretty bad time.”
“Yeah, it’s funny in a cartoon, but in real life, they’d probably get sick if they did that,” agreed Allen.
The two of them continued on for a bit before Twilight asked Allen another question. “So you mentioned that industrial areas in your world are dangerous?”
“Yeah, industrial accidents happen all the time, the government has several agencies that work to prevent accidents, but they still end up happening. Sometimes it's nobody’s fault, other times it is. Plus industrial areas tend to attract crime if the local law enforcement doesn’t stay on top of it.”
“Is crime a problem in your country?”
Again, Allen shrugged. “Depends on what part of the country you’re in. Some places are pretty good, others... not so much,” he finished, a grim look on his face.
Twilight nodded as she felt her ears fall flat against her mane and a sad look came over her face. “I’ve lived my entire life in either Canterlot or Ponyville, and while Ponyville has very little in the way of crime, the same can’t be said elsewhere. My brother, Shining Armor, he’s in the Royal Guard, and he’s had to help break up criminal elements both here in the capital and around the country.”
“Really? I figured that you ponies were generally less inclined towards committing crimes against each other,” remarked Allen, a surprised look on his face.
“Well, as you said, some places are pretty nice and others... not so much. Manehatten has several slums, and from what little Shining has been willing to tell me, they tend to attract some pretty rough characters. Just because Canterlot and Ponyville look really nice, doesn’t mean that every place else in Equestria does as well. Not only that, but not every country is stable or possesses a benevolent government as we do, so there are always dark places for bad characters to hang out as it were.”
Allen nodded somberly. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right, guess I just thought that the rest of Equestria here was like Ponyville and Canterlot, seeing as how these are the only two places I’ve seen so far,” he said quietly.
Twilight nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I can understand how you could think that, seeing as you’re not from our world and have only been here for a couple of months. I was the same way when I was younger before my brother joined the Royal Guard and I was accepted as Princess Celestia’s student. For my whole life up to that point I’d lived here in Canterlot, and as Princess Celestia’s personal student, I tended to keep to the really nice parts of the city. So when Shining went into the Royal Guard and started telling me some of his experiences chasing down bad guys, I had a hard time wrapping my head around the idea that there were bad ponies and places here in Equestria.”
“Yeah, the world has a way of peeling the innocence away from you as you grow up, and once you’ve lost that, you can never get it back,” agreed Allen with a nod of understanding. However, after that, he didn’t say anymore and the conversation soon petered out after that, leaving the two of them to walk in silence. However, Allen soon spotted their destination and pointing at it said, “I think that’s the place over there.”
‘There’ turned out to be a nondescript building with a small sign out front that read Chisel and Son’s Spell Runes. Looking both ways first, Allen and Twilight quickly crossed the street and stood before an oak wood door. Lifting the door latch, they stepped inside.
There wasn’t much to see inside, a wooden counter with an open ledger book, quill, and inkpot resting on it took up the majority of the front office. A small planter stood in a corner with an unidentifiable plant happily soaking up the sun's rays through the front window, while a clock ticked mindlessly away above it. Looking past the counter, Allen spotted a couple of workbenches along the back wall, and another door that had a sign saying, Employee’s Only on it.
Stepping up to the counter, Allen leaned over it to see if there was anypony crouching down looking for something on a lower shelf, but he saw nopony. Seeing that the front part of the store was empty, he looked to see if there was a bell to ring for service, again, he saw none. So, taking a deep breath, he loudly called out, “Hey, is there anyone here?”
A sudden racket of stuff falling on the floor and cursing emanated from behind the closed door and after a few moments of continued cursing and crashing, the door was flung open and a surly and tired-looking unicorn trotted out. He was bigger than most unicorns that Allen had seen, with well-defined muscles that rippled beneath his dark blue coat as he moved. His mane was black save for a few streaks of white and his gray eyes gave Allen a tired and irritated look as he took his spot behind the counter.
“What do you want, you weird looking ape?” he spat as he gingerly rubbed the back of his head with a hoof, a surly look on his face, clearly displeased that someone had interrupted whatever he was doing, and quite likely caused him to drop something on his head.
Allen cocked an eyebrow and leaning on the unicorn’s counter fixed him with a steady gaze, and replied, “Well... I was planning on asking if you guys could give me an estimate for how much it would cost to have some runes installed on my farm, but if you’re gonna be an ass to me, I suppose I could always go somewhere else.”
The unicorn snorted and planted his front hooves on the counter and retorted, “You can try sonny, but I’m the best there is around here, nopony can do as good a job as I can whipping up runes, and my warranty is second to none.”
“Perhaps,” replied Allen easily, not intimidated by the ornery old codger in the least bit, “but I bet they won’t greet a potential customer as rudely as you just did to me.”
The old stallion opened his mouth to give a hot retort when a different voice cut him off. “Father? Are you insulting another customer again? What have I told you about scaring off new clientele? Things are hard enough as it is without you pissing off everypony that comes in... here...” the voice suddenly trailed off as its owner exited the back room and saw Allen for the first time.
Turning to regard the newcomer, Allen saw that he was a cream-colored unicorn, with a brown mane and tail, and his cutie mark was a collection of six points of light that were connected by thin purple lines that formed the shape of a six-pointed star.
“I’m so sorry about my father,” he said, having recovered from his moment of hesitation. Trotting closer, he gently nudged his father out of the way as he took his position behind the counter. Extending a hoof, he gave Allen a friendly-looking smile and said, “My name is Spell Matrix, and this grumpy old nag,” he nodded at the grouchy-looking stallion next to him, “is my father, Rune Chisel. I hope you can forgive him, times have been... difficult lately and he’s been under a lot of stress.”
Deciding not to make a big fuss, Allen took Spell Matrix’s hoof and gave it a firm shake and replied, “I’m Allen Ross, and this,” he said indicating his companion with a nod of his head in her direction, “is Twilight Sparkle.”
“Wait... are you the Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic, personal protege of Princess Celestia and Savior of Equestria?” asked Spell Matrix excitedly as a wide grin nearly split his face in half as he quickly thrust his hoof in Twilight’s direction and gushed, “Oh this is so wonderful! To think, a national hero in our store! Oh, I can’t wait to tell Silver and Brass about this! Oh, this is so exciting!” he was practically vibrating in place by this point from his excitement.
“Oh, you’ve... heard of me?” replied Twilight hesitantly as Spell energetically shook her hoof.
“Heard of you?! Who hasn’t heard of you here in Canterlot, nay, throughout all of Equestria, Ms. Sparkle?! You’re a national hero who saved Princess Celestia’s long-lost sister from an evil parasite bent on destroying the world!”
Rolling his eyes, Rune Chisel pushed his son back out of the way and levered himself up so that he had his front hooves on the counter again. Clearing his throat awkwardly, he said, “Look, I’m sorry for calling you a weird-looking ape, Mr. Ross. I’m not exactly the most cheerful of ponies on the best of days, and... lately, I’ve been grouchier than I should be, so please don’t take it personally. In any case,” he continued on, quickly changing the subject to one that was less touchy, “you can rest assured that my work is the best you’ll find anywhere around here, probably even in all of Equestria.”
Allen nodded. “Yeah, an acquaintance of mine in Ponyville recommended your services. She said you did a really good job getting her candy shop up to code.”
“I see, well glad to see she’s happy with my services then,” he replied simply before continuing, “so anyways, what did you need done?”
“I’ve got a couple of barns that need renovating to bring them up to DOTI standards, and I need runework done on them in order to meet those standards,” explained Allen.
“I see, and where are you coming from again?”
“Just outside of Ponyville to the southwest of Sweet Apple Acres,” replied Allen easily.
Rune Chisel rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he pulled up a mental map of the surrounding area. “I see, I take it you’ve just moved in? I’ve never seen anyone quite like you before, and I can’t recall there being any farms in that direction the last time I was in Ponyville.”
“You could say that the local lord of chaos decided it would be funny to relocate me from my world to this one, by the way, I’m what’s called a human, in case you were wondering,” replied Allen in a somewhat sarcastic voice.
Rune simply grunted and gave a single nod. “I see, I think I remember reading something in the papers about that the other day. Didn’t realize that was you, my apologies. It must be difficult adjusting to a strange new world like ours.”
“You have no idea,” replied Allen with a tired sigh. “So, when do you think you can come out and take a look at my barns then?” asked Allen as a way to change the topic before the conversation took any more of an awkward turn.
Humming thoughtfully to himself, Rune grabbed a book from under the counter and began leafing through it. After a minute of searching, he said, “I can come down this Wednesday and take a look, say around noon?”
“Noon will work,” replied Allen quickly, glad to hear that they had an opening that soon.
Grabbing a quill with his magic, Rune made a notation in his book along with Allen’s address after having asked for it, and said, “Alright, my sons and I will be there to take a look. Don’t do anything to the structures until then, I like to see them at their worst so that way I can get an honest look at them.”
Shutting the book, he looked up at Allen and asked, “Was there anything else I can help you with?”
Allen shook his head and replied, “No, that should just about do it I think.”
Giving a single, nod, Rune Chisel said, “Very well then, have a good day sir,” and with that, he turned and stiffly trotted past his son, who had been excitedly conversing with Twilight about various topics on magic while Rune and Allen had been busy, and through the door into the back of the shop.
Watching his father go, Spell Matrix waited till Rune was gone and then turned back to Allen and bowing his head low said, “Again, I am very sorry about my father, Mr. Ross, and I would like to thank you for sticking with us, even with his rudeness. Things haven’t been very good this year, and my father has been under a lot of stress because of it. Usually, I’m the one working the front of the store, but he needed me to help him move some things around in the back, and when you came in, he was a bit faster than me getting to the front.”
Allen shrugged and replied, “Apology accepted, though if you don’t mind me asking, was he always that... belligerent, I can’t imagine that kind of attitude is good for business.”
Spell shook his head and sighed. “No, it isn’t, and no he wasn’t always like that. My... mother is very ill right now, and that combined with local political issues have him on edge.”
Allen gave a sympathetic nod. “I’m sorry to hear that, I’ve been in that boat myself, may I ask what’s wrong with her?”
Spell gave a grateful if small smile. “Thank you, and not at all. My mother was recently diagnosed with cancer, thankfully we caught it early, but the doctors say it still won’t be easy to get rid of, and with the local taxes and fees set to go up, it’s putting a lot of strain on my father. It doesn’t help that he tries to shoulder most of the burden of responsibility for the business himself, in addition to taking care of our mom.”
“Oh my, that’s horrible,” gasped Twilight, while Allen just grimaced as painful memories drifted to the surface. “I hope your mother will get better soon.”
“Thank you, Ms. Sparkle, we do too, and if what the doctors recently told us is true, she should be alright in the long run, but in the short term, it's going to be difficult. Even with insurance, we might be forced to downsize or sell our business.”
Leaning an arm on the counter again, Allen curiously asked, “How come? If insurance is covering her treatments, why would you be at risk of losing your shop?”
Biting his lip nervously, Spell looked back over his withers uneasily and seeing that the door was still closed, leaned in and whispered, “Ever since Princess Luna came back last year, Canterlot has been pretty shaken up. We’ve had a population boom as ponies from across the country move here for jobs in the lunar half of the government. As a result, property values have gone up, along with local taxes and rent.” Shaking his head sadly, he lamented, “Canterlot isn’t as friendly for small businesses as it was a year or two ago, and even though my father is a skilled rune crafter, he just can’t compete with the bigger companies that have moved in recently to take advantage of the population boom. They do it faster and cheaper than he ever could, even though their services and work isn’t as good as his, ponies only think about the short term costs, and when some company can do the work in half the time for half the cost, there is no contest, they’ll win the contract every time. He doesn’t talk about it to my brothers or I, but we know he’s been getting fewer and fewer contracts lately, and it’s hurting our bottom line. Eventually, we’ll run out of money and be forced to close up our shop forever.”
“Then why don’t you move out of Canterlot to a more business-friendly environment?” asked Allen.
Spell rolled his eyes in frustration and hissed. “Because my father is more stubborn than a surly mule! He won’t entertain the idea of leaving because his father and his father and his father before him all had a shop here in Canterlot, so to leave would be to admit defeat and in his eyes let our forebears down or something equally silly.”
“Perhaps you could petition The Crown for assistance? I’m sure Princess Celestia would be willing to help out,” offered Twilight helpfully.
Spell gave an amused snort. “My father would sooner cut off his own horn than accept charity from The Crown.” Twilight winced at the mental image.
Leaning closer, Allen conspiratorially whispered, “Then maybe you should do something yourself then if your father is gonna be a stubborn idiot like that.”
Spell blinked in confusion, before a look of panic spread across his face. “W-what?! You want me to go behind my father's back and ask The Crown for help? Are you out of your mind?! He’d throw me off Mount Canterhorn if I did that!”
Rolling his eyes, Allen shook his head and said, “Quit being so dramatic, Crown assistance isn’t your only option right now. You could just pack up shop and instead move to an area with a lower cost of living, like Ponyville. It wouldn’t be hard even, just slip away for a bit while your father is working on my farm and ask around Ponyville for any opportunities, if nothing pans out, then oh well, try somewhere else. But if you care about your dad and this business, then you’ll man up and grab the bull by the tonsils and figure something out with or without your dad before it's too late.”
Spell shifted uneasily from hoof to hoof. “I-I suppose I could talk to my brothers about this, we’re all worried about our father and how he’s been acting lately.”
“Don’t forget your mom, I know it’s kind of underhanded, but a united front might just be enough to pull him around to the idea of saving this business,” suggested Allen.
Nodding glumly, Spell replied, “We might have to do that,” he sighed, “I would hate it if we were forced to involve her though, she’s got enough to worry about without this added on top.”
Allen simply shrugged and straightened up. “Just some ideas. Trust me, when a family member is sick like your mother is, it can cloud even the best of judgments. Sometimes you just need to put your foot down and drag the other person kicking and screaming in the right direction, whether they want you to or not.”
“Spell! Get back here! We’ve still got work to do, you know!” yelled Rune Chisel from the back suddenly, his voice somewhat muffled by the closed door between them.
“I’ll be there in a moment, father, we’re just about finished up here!” he called back before turning to regard Allen and Twilight, a thankful look on his face.“You’ve given me a lot to think about, Mr. Ross, thank you” replied Spell gratefully, “hopefully I can put your suggestions into action before it is too late. Now, I’m afraid I must go, see you on Wednesday!” he finished with a quick wave before disappearing through the door into the back of the shop.
Now alone in the front of the quiet shop, Allen turned to Twilight and said, “Well... that was an interesting turn of events.”
Twilight nodded in reply as they both exited into the bright afternoon sunlight. “Agreed, so what do you want to do now? We’ve still got a couple of hours before the last train for Ponyville leaves. It would be a shame to come all the way to Canterlot just to turn around and head back after only an hour.”
Walking side by side back the way they came, Allen nodded in a thoughtful manner. “Yeah, I suppose it would,” shrugging he said, “Ah what the hell? Let’s go take in some of the sights, I’m sure you know a couple of cool places around town?”
Twilight gave a happy nod and replied excitedly, “I sure do! You haven’t lived until you’ve tried one of Donut Joe’s donuts! They’re the best donuts you’ll ever eat! And then after that, I can show you the Canterlot Royal Library, and then we can go to the Canterlot Museum of Natural History and then-”
Laughing at Twilight’s excitement, Allen made a calming motion with his hands before replying, “Alright, how about we go get some donuts first and figure out the rest of our itinerary from there, eh?”
Feeling a blush creep up her cheeks, Twilight sheepishly smiled and nodded. “A-alright, that sounds like a good idea.”
Giving her a thumbs up, Allen replied easily, “Then it’s settled, food first, then the grand tour,” and with their first destination in mind, the two set off at a brisk pace in an attempt to see as much of the royal city as they could before it was time to leave.