Chapter 10: Poor Communications kills
John stepped off the locomotive's foot plate impressed. As he expected, its performance was inferior, but the engineer made up for it by thrashing the locomotive, producing sharp barks from its smokestack. He had also learned a few things on the ride. The locomotive was owned by the Ponnyvania Railroad, which was in direct competition with the New Yoke Central System. John spoke with the engineer regarding his need for a new locomotive.
"Try asking the road's president. He's a fair guy, I'm sure he'll let you borrow the Hoofiata shops for it." John turned back to the engineer.
"Thanks, I will." The human headed back down the line of cars, searching for Peashooter. He found him coming out of one of the rear cars, an irritated expression on his face.
"Ready to go?" He asked. "Can I go back home, sir? I was stuck between these two fat colts, this foal behind me kept throwing up, and they had no food. This is the worst morning I've ever had."
"Sorry mate!" John replied, his cheerful tone annoying the guard, "We've got to see Twilight. I've got some letters to mail!"
"Why her? We could've just mailed them from the castle and I could've saved myself thirty excruciating minutes. Sir." "Because I need an instantaneous reply." The pegasus shook his head, "Whatever." The pair headed to Twilights tree-library-thing. There, they were greeted by Spike.
"Where's Twilight?" asked John. "Her room," said Spike, "She's been studying up on humans and junk." He said as he got back to dusting some shelves.
"Hey Twilight!' the human yelled. The mare poked her head down from the library's upper level.
"Hmm? Oh, John!" "Hey, could I borrow Spike for a minute?" The dragon turned around at the mention of his name.
"Why do you need him?" "I need to send some letters." Twilight shrugged, "Well, I can't see any harm in that." She levitated some paper and a quill.
"Alright Spike, get ready." The human paused. "You wouldn't happen to know who the President of the Ponnyvania Railroad is, would you?" "AJ Castanets." She said.
"Thanks. Dear President Castanets. My name is John Paul and I have been put in charge of Equestria while the princesses are gone. I wish to use the Hoofiata locomotive shops to build a locomotive for one of my projects. In return, I will give you plans for bigger, stronger, and faster locomotives, as well as grand stations to display the glory of the Ponnyvania railroad. Sincerely, John Paul. Done."
Spike rolled up the letter and sent it away. "What's next?" "Next, um…" the human paused. "Hey Twilight?"
"Hmm?" "You wouldn't happen to know of any ponies trying to make heavier than air flying machines, have you?" She thought for a moment.
"There's that Willy Boing guy. You could try him" "Dear Mr. Boing" John began…
(Meanwhile, in Canterlot…)
Blackburn pointed to the several liquids and the effects it had on its set-up targets to the scientists. He hadn't remembered their names, as he was horrible with those.
The leader of the group nodded and said "These are marvelous, but why would we need such terrifying devices and substances?" Another spoke up and said, "Yes, will these have any value to our nation?"
Blackburn chuckled and said "Your country is in troubling times. The princesses are trying democracy to make peace, BUT, all the signs show that a war is imminent, and it's better to have some tech that your culture can improve on. I can't give you victory, but I can give you the know-how to acquire it."
The lead scientist shook his head. "What makes you so sure this war, if it ever happens, will affect us? Equestria has had peace for the longest of times."
Blackburn looked at Buckshot Smiles, shook his head, and then said to the scientist "On my homeworld, countries that try to be peaceful in times of misunderstanding and suspicion. The princesses left myself and John Paul in charge of this country. I am trying to make sure that your children have a future to look forward to. Now, can we go back to the preparations?"
One of the scientists threw his clipboard to the ground and said "Celestia put you in charge! You come to our home and have only filled in for less than a day, and you already have plans that could affect the whole country! Are you mad?"
The human chuckled "Trust me, I may have just came here, but if you follow my instructions I can set this place straight, then find a way to return to my home eventually. Now, here are my basic plans I call "Phase Alpha": I would like you to send a sizable work crew, but one that will not be noticed, out to the desert on this map. From what I have read, there are caves of considerable size there, spanning 15 miles. I want you to start this plan off by building a steel mill and industrial factory of these standards, and MAYBE set up caravans or make a small 2-way rail line to ferry supplies in and out of this area. This is part of phase 1. Then, have your engineers who aren't doing the architectural work on the factory try to adapt these designs so that ponies can use these weapons." He motioned to the information he had gathered, "Here you go."
The scientists clustered around the clipboard and large sketches. One spoke "Do you just need these "G-3's" and "Kevlar vests" made, along with procurement to issue ammo?"
Blackburn sat down and said "Yes. Now, the factory comes second, the desert complex is going to be top-secret and hidden as best as possible. The G3's and Kevlar can be made from local facilities that support possible steel-refinement production. Ammo can be made the same. I want the royal guard to receive these tools within 3 days. I will also oversee that all factories and personal that can help with this project be hired to build this equipment, including grenades, engines, and heavy weapons. Also, see if the unicorns could learn spells to duplicate these objects we are making. That would make this a whole lot easier. After we get the basics done, I shall begin the production of a standing army. Dismissed."
The scientists left with mixed emotions. This leader was assertive, smart, and very organized. They just wondered, "Would anything bad come out of this?"
As the scientists left, Michael uncovered a chess board from the table and set it back down between himself and Smiles. He moved his queen forward and said "Checkmate" with a victorious smile.
Buckshot laughed. "Damn, this is a pretty nice game humans have. Maybe after the army is made, we can mass-produce this 'chess'!"
They both laughed and sipped on some cider as Blackburn began drawing sketches of an F-4 Phantom II, and rolling up his designs of an M-47 Patton to send to the scientists later that week.
(Back in Ponyville…)
Spike sent the second letter away in a cloud of smoke.
"What do you need a flying machine for?" Twilight asked. She knew humans couldn't fly, but she didn't know what the need was in Equestria.
"It's simple really," John replied, looking out a window, "Equestria has no military. Where I'm from, that's just asking for some sort of invasion. I need those planes to make an air force. But you can't rush this. I know of all sorts of aircraft designs, but Equestria only has the industrial capacity to manufacture the more basic ones. I'm not sure if Michael will try to make aircraft, but he'll probably try a most advanced design. Those won't have the same quality back on my planet." The human turned to face the three ponies, "Anyway, I need to see Rarity and get some new clothes. I'll be back later to see if they've replied. Let's go, Pea"
"Right behind you sir." As the two headed to the Carousel Boutique, John did some thinking
Once I meet Rarity, that means I've seen five of the Mane Six. I need to figure out a way to see Applejack. Now that I think about it, there are a few ponies I haven't seen. Vinyl Scratch and Octavia are probably not in Ponyville. But there's citizens of Ponyville, like Dr. Whooves, Bonbon, and Ly-
"Sir!" cried Peashooter, but it was too late. Something tackled him. After he opened his eyes, he found that 'something' was a mint colored unicorn with a smile bigger than any Pinkie could muster.
To quote Emperor Palpatine (in a Robot Chicken special), "Hey, you wanna see me tempt fate?"
So, this is the end of the pre-made chapters. Now, I need to start the next few. And again, if you have an idea of how we can improve this fanfic, send me a message. I'm probably going to go back and rewrite some parts later.
Anyway, you might be able to see a slight problem with both of our plans, mostly the part where we don't know what the other's doing.
Also, I will be amazed if anyone can figure out where I got AJ Castanets and Willy Boing from. Seriously, AJ is pretty obscure and Willy is foreshadowing.