//------------------------------// // 23: Exposé // Story: A Clash of Magic and Steam // by law abiding pony //------------------------------// The drums of war thundered across the land and sea once more.  Mighty ships of wood and iron clashed upon the bloodied sea, the skies darkened with weaponized storms, and the lands were ripped apart by shell and hoof.  Abandoned villages burned and cities were besieged, all while soldiers marched on with songs of victory and home on their lips.  And while the dead mounted and the costs of war piled high, there was no shortage of ponies on either side wanting to fight the good fight.   For two particular ponies, the shadow of war was catching up to them. Nestled on the last mountain bordering the griffin held brown plains sat the Lunarian military base: Fringe Point.  Unlike two years prior, its numbers had quadrupled.  What had once been a watch post and research base had been partially converted into an alpine basic training camp for the army and air corps.  New recruits were shipped in weekly by rail just as fresh green troops were loaded up and sent to stations abroad.  The camp itself had struggled to keep up with the new demand for space.  The walls had been demolished in several places to allow for morning exercises and passage between the rail station and the tent city which continued to expand into the plains.  Even the mountain itself was not free of new construction as high altitude camps were set up for earth ponies and unicorns to acclimate to the thin, cold air they would surely face on storming the various mountain cities of Equestria.  Chief among all was Canterlot itself.   However, while all this activity renewed the base’s importance to the military as a whole, it put a severe strain on the permanent buildings that already existed.   As a result, the auditorium was denied to Twilight who was relegated to an empty training field for her demonstration. What she lacked in posh was made up for by the collection of army and air corps high ranking officers who could spare the time to travel here.  These high ranking movers and shakers of the military gathered on a hastily built set of stands while Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Clipped Wing prepared in a tent nearby.  The laboratory assistants were busy setting up every infantry weapon on a long table near the stands along with checking everything that’d be needed.  Rainbow should have been out on drilling some fresh arrivals, but she got someone to cover for her so she could be here; currently patting Twilight on the withers.  “You’ll do fine, Twi, just get out there and show your stuff. The inventor in question was suspended up into the air by a mobile hoist that had been rolled in from the lab.  Thick armored boots were wrapped around her hindlegs that had inch thick cables connecting them to a large boxy backpack that was held so securely by the dozen straps that she could perform loops for days and it wouldn’t budge an inch.  Threaded around her wings were bands of aluminum that carried a static charge strong enough to fizz the hair of Clipped Wing and Applejack who were doing final inspections. “I hope so, Rainbow.” Twilight reached her head around to bite an itch on her right wing since Applejack refused to let her move until the engineer was done with her inspection.  “But this aluminum-scandium alloy of his,” she jerked an ear at Clipped Wing, “is hideously expensive.  If this doesn’t go well, the project is done for.” The very much poorer stallion was satisfied Twilight’s left wing’s armor was in perfect order and tapped the shoulder joint so Twilight could fold it back up.  “Nothing else would work though, Luna knows we tried.” “A right shame, really,” Applejack was satisfied as well and allowed Twilight to fold her other wing up.  “Could buy and outfit a second rate ship for the three of ya.”  She jerked her head at two other pegacorns behind them all who were also getting final checks on their respective sets of armor.  “It’ll all be worth it though,” Pinkie Pie assured everyone as the curly haired mare did some touch up on Twilight’s helmet.  It was a simple aluminum thing, not unlike the same helmets worn by the royal guards.  Only this one had a mesh covering her horn to capture and redirect any sparks she gave off.  “No pony with any sense is going to turn their nose at this.” “The Commandant did,” Rainbow stated unhelpfully. Applejack went over to the hoist and eased it down so Twilight could stand on all fours again.  “Pah, I’d say Iron Sights gave up on this project, but that’s assumin’ he ever cared about it in tha first place.  Now that he’s got it in his head to turn this place into a training camp he can’t wait to be rid of us.  Ya’ll do know he only called the brass here so he can wash his hooves of us and turn the labs into more billets.”  The mental image of the lab being reduced to housing soured Applejack’s mood. Could at least turn all this into a trainin’ house or somethin’. “You’re all not seeing the big picture, ladies.  Twilight spun around testing the weight of everything. All told, it was quite heavy. Some grooves along the sides of her armor allowed Twilight to anchor her wings into a comfortable folded posture at least. The whole frame was fastened to a leather suit that covered her from the nape of her mane to her flank. It was in the Lunarian air corps’ silver colors courtesy of Kerfuffle’s comfortable design.  Lastly, the centerpiece that made it all work was an amber gemmed necklace half a hoof in size. “The law clearly states that during wartime, research teams like ours have two years to make a field ready prototype before we must be reviewed for an extension.  We’ve done that.” Twilight developed a mad hatter grin that still unsettled Applejack and Clipped Wing after she started showing it months ago.  “Pegacorns can finally stake our claim to the skies!  Sure the price per unit is untenable,” she admitted with a dismissive wave of an armored wing  “But prices can be lowered, the fact that we can fly can’t!”  She faced the two other pegacorns being fitted for their own armor.  “What say you?” The pair in question were air corps in name only. Outside of the navy, and being naturals with war engines, pegacorns were regulated to desk jobs or logistics members in the Lunarian military.  As such, it was rare their tribe could achieve battlefield glory.  The very real possibility of earning that one day made the pair quick to snap to attention now that the hour was upon them. “Hooah!” There was something in that cheer and stern looks of solidarity they gave Twilight that jerked on her memories.  For a moment, she was back in Canterlot.  Watching her brother at a distance as he was first put into a command position.  He said a speech she couldn’t remember, but what she did recall, was the same look on the soldiers faces.  I can see why Shining stayed in the army.  It’s not my place, but there’s no harm in some brief indulgence.  Twilight studied them with excitement written over her.  With their own armor tenders backing off, she felt a thrill course through her. “Ferrum, Veselov, you both know they’ll never buy any armor sets, right?” Ferrum was the burly son of a steelworker and had almost been one himself until he answered Clipped Wing’s call. He was big with steel colored fur and a dirty blonde mane. Though it had been Clipped Wing who brought him here, Twilight was the one he was glad to see. “I ain’t the brightest one in my family, and I could see that once you said aluminum.  Even if you take this armor back with you, you’ve still let me taste the sky, my lady.  I won’t forget that.” Veselov was a good deal older than the young stallion matching Twilight’s age. His beard was greying and he bore some bald spots where steam leaks had scorched the fur off him, but he was still built like a train and he intended to keep his physique well past his age. “Nor will I, my lady.  My mother once told my pegasus brother that once you’ve taken flight, you’ll decide that is where your heart will feel at home.  You’ve given me the means to see that for myself, no matter how fleeting it was.” “Just be sure to thank Clipped Wing before you leave Fringe Point,” Twilight stated warmly.  “I just used his research to make them.” “Oh believe me,” Ferrum chimed in as he hovered a bit with a stupid grin while dangling his hooves in the air.  “I will once we’re through.” “Good.  Now, you’ll start with the diving bomb demonstration, then move on to the flying artillery.  Just because we expect them to decline buying more units doesn’t mean the ones already made can’t be used in Luna’s name.” Both soldiers and the staff that had been servicing their armor snapped salutes and got to work. Twilight looked to Pinkie Pie. “Wish me luck.” “For somepony who plans for both success and failure, you won’t need it.”  Pinkie giggled mady as she strided up to Twilight. “I’m saving up luck for the future.”  She leaned conspiratorially into Twilight’s ear.  “I’ve got a bag of sixty five dice, all of which rolled sevens in their last game.  A few more and I can get an extra life!” “Uh huh.”  With concern, Twilight watched Pinkie Pie scamper back to giggle.  Must be more of that Pinkie Sense she mentions.  I wonder if her fighting the stripes for so long damaged her sanity a bit.  Deciding to let it slide and focus on the positive. “Well if that’s not a vote of confidence I don’t know what is.” Everyone else shared encouragement before Twilight and her two air troopers departed the tent. By now the collected officers were all seated, yet one thing gave Twilight a moment’s pause. The group had been joined by a single earth mare captain of the navy and a blind folded thestral of the cloth. Why would a blind pony-?  Don’t worry about it, Twilight. He’s just a priest anyway, not your target audience. Cantering forward to stand in front of the stands, the two assistants waited by the firearms table as everyone had practiced for weeks. “Dear esteemed ladies and gentlecolts, thank you for coming all the way out here during these trying times. I know many of you wish to return to your regular duties, and the rest probably have little patience for pomp and ceremony, so I’ll be brief.  “As some of you already know, pegacorn magic, such as it is,” she inwardly grinned when some of the crowd looked either condescending or gave off an iota of understanding. Good, I didn’t get nothing but the nepotistic incompetents.  “is not affected by machines. Thus far, no pony has found a way to make use of it.”  Suppressing a broad grin to only a thin smile, Twilight leveled her wings out straight, and tapped the amber gem twice. “Let there be flight.” Her aluminum encased wings and torso began to hum. Though she had practiced this for months now, the feeling of lifting off the ground under her own power, in a manner of speaking, sent an electric thrill from horn to tail and she didn’t try suppressing her toothy grin.  Only a scant few of the more reserved officers remained visibly unmoved as she started hovering around without flapping her wings. It was as if she was gliding under an updraft. Higher and higher she drifted almost lazily until she was above the stands. She angled her wings to swoop into a low hover directly in front of them. “Now, I suspect some of you might be thinking I only created an expensive hovering toy, so let me dispel that notion.” Clicking her back hooves, her magic was converted into a more pure form of mana, which quickly destabilized being so close to the machine on her back and burned violently. Angling her hind legs, Twilight used it to rocket away and soared into the air. She could never match Rainbow’s speed, she couldn’t even match pace with a regular pegasus soldier either, and that was something the officers noticed quickly.  Yet in that moment where Twilight was flying with the wind blowing through her mane with nothing between her and the great blue. A child of the sky could at last come home.  She angled back around and dove to a spot in front of the stands and came to a flourishing stop. She curtsied, demonstrating her wings remained just as flexible with the armor. Greased, silent hinges threatened to snag her wings’ fur, but thankfully it didn’t happen this time.  Twilight spotted the navy captain was explaining things to the blindfolded thestral, which gave her enough of a curious pause to allow one army colonel to give a slight bow of his head. “Interesting toy you have here, Lady Twilight.”  A magic flying suit is all well and good, but I trust you have more for us than that.” I create a machine that gives pegacorns flight and you call it a toy?!  Leveraging her merchant upbringing, Twilight buried her insult, gave a lopsided smile, and nodded as if she agreed with him. “If that’s all this was, then you’d be completely right.  However.” She wagged a wing finger at him. “While my suit runs on magic, it…”  She hummed upon seeing a single unicorn army general was among the crowd. “Well, you’re all here to see its capabilities.  My good general,” she called out to the unicorn, would you be adverse to firing a mana bolt at me?”  It was a tried and true showmanship ploy, and there was a reason it was tried and true.  The general in question had been chewing on tobacco and spat before answering irritably. “You expect me to help you demonstrate your own project?  Do it yourself.” It stung, badly, and there wasn’t a second unicorn in the crowd.  Still, Pinkie had been nothing if not an excellent teacher in the art of the sale, picking up where her mother’s training left off. “Naturally I would, but the mage team who was helping us were shipped off last night, and I haven’t been granted a replacement yet.”  Could you at least have the Luna damned common curiosity to wait until after the demonstration to show your tail?  She tried to banish that bitter thought from her mind.  Although the unicorn remained disgruntled, he at least didn’t try pressing the issue, so she slid back into merchant mode with a comforting smile. “Where was I?  Ah, of course.  This comes equipped with my own version of the pony-portable do-nothing disruptor. Honestly, the ones the army currently issues are far too heavy.  I had to downsize it a bit, but it is strong enough to afford the same level of protection against telekinesis, divination, and mass effect spells. If a warmage or inquisitor wants to bring me down, they’ll have to work for it.” Pulling a whistle from a pocket she turned and blew it. Ferrum, Veselov, and a few lab staff moved over to the table full of small arms ranging from pistols to heavy ‘inquisitor’ guns. Turning back to her audience Twilight continued in her best salespony voice. “Now, standard practice for air infantry is to become proficient with one particular weapon, two if they’re an officer. I’m sure you are all aware this is because compensating for recoil while in midair is a highly difficult task. Thanks to the sweeping adoption of standardized cartridges for infantry weapons, soldiers wearing my suits no longer have that issue.”  Twilight blew one long note and one short note on her whistle.  Ferrum went to the table, took to the air and started firing at a straw target down towards the brown plains. Once he fired a few times with each weapon a pegasus or thestral flew up a new gun and claimed the old one. With each shot, the hum from Ferrum’s suit grew loudly, and as he climbed up the calibers the louder it got. What the officers were watching for, was the expected push back Ferrum should have gotten, throwing off his aim and, had he been in a formation, threaten to push his weapon in a friendly’s direction. Yet he remained stable through it all. His actual aim was decent enough that Twilight hoped the officers could look past it.  Heading off any questions, Twilight spoke up once the last shot was fired. “How is this possible you may ask?  The answer is in here,” Twilight touched the amber gem on her necklace. “This is a golem intelligence core. Although with pegacorn magic, the intelligence is actually - negligible, but it remains smart in the needed disciplines.  For example,” she ended when right on cue, Pinkie Pie ran up with a revolver in hoof and gave it to Twilight with a wink before running off again.  Twilight faced an empty field and tapped her gem three times. “Training new weapon.” A carbon copy of Pinkie Pie’s voice rang out from the gem in a serious, deadpan tone. “New training acknowledged.”  Twilight floated up into the air and fired into the empty fields.  Being so out of practice with firearms, she thought better of trying to go for the target.  The first shot sent her back a ways. The second less so, the third barely did at all, and by the fifth shot she was as stable as a rock. Floating back down and holstering the weapon she scanned the crowd and saw more than a few impressed faces. “Recoil compensation and weapon pattern archived,” the gem chimed before falling silent once more. With that step of the demonstration complete, Twilight focused on the officers.  “As you can see, the need for prolonged training is diminished by that particular aspect of sky firing no longer being an issue. The use of sharpshooters in the skies who can still use a carbine for close-in protection is now a distinct possibility.”  She paused a bit to gauge the crowd.  The collected officers were a reserved bunch, but the lack of any overt scowling or negative grumbling seemed to be enough of a good sign to give her a glimmer of hope.  Don’t go thinking that.  Once they hear the price, you can forget it.  Just satisfy them enough that they don’t think we’re guilty of embezzlement and it’ll be a win. She turned away to give three long whistles. “However, all of this so far is just the start. There are two tactics, one with strategic applications, I have devised to use the suit’s most important feature: heavy lifting.”  A trio of earth ponies carted in a pair of bathtubs rigged with chains so a pony could fly and lift them. Veselov and Ferrum grabbed the tubs straight out of the wagon and with their wings humming loudly, flew over to show the officers that the bathtubs were filled with training weights. Some of their number in the center of the stands got up to see for themselves. “Thanks to the intelligence gem and properties of the armor itself, the suit is able to manipulate pegacorn magic to act as a facsimile to a pegasus’ weight reducing ability to the point where carrying three hundred pounds is as arduous as a standard soldier’s field kit.”  She inclined her head and gave a sharp nod to her brethren. “Sargents, those hay bales over there are an eyesore. Can you help with that?” “Gladly, My Lady,” they echoed before rocketing into the air with a speed such weight should have made impossible. Everyone watched them reach the clouds before dive bombing the hay bales close to sixty degress from the ground. They let go of the tubs, and had to work hard to keep from crashing into the ground along with their impromptu ordinance. The bathtubs didn’t come close to hitting the marks and bounced away, with one nearly slamming into the tent before hitting a wrong angle and careened off course.  “Ah ha.”  Suppressing a cringe, Twilight gave a stilted laugh, and coughed a bit. “Well, what a perfect demonstration that we’ll need something better than bathtubs to drop on the enemy.”  The absurdity of it all forced a laugh out of more than a few of them. Even the dour unicorn general didn’t seem to become any more abrasive. “Point is, the current three pound grenade used by the air corps is now but a pebble compared to what is possible now. A whole formation can be ruined with a single hit with a proper explosive.” She let them whisper among themselves for a bit. Lively, genuine interest had been sparked in over half of them, making Twilight’s heart soar. Time for the big one.  She turned once more to blow four long notes and a single short one. “Lastly for today, I present to you, the flying battery!” In the distance, a pegasus weather team pushed a decently sized cloud over, yet while lab assistants rolled an artillery piece out, one mare air admiral called out impatiently. “Lady Twilight Sparkle. This is certainly all well and good, and you have my interest, but I must know how much each suit of armor or whatever you want to call it costs.” And there was the question she had been expecting. Truth be told, she had been starting to get a little hopeful.  And here I was starting to think the clouds were parting.  I wonder if this is Celestia’s subtle way of punishing me for making what could have been a weapon against my homeland.  “How does this all work, Lady Twilight?  Such marvels could make all industries better.”  But no, as always the purse is the most important.  Sighing in regret, Twilight faced her project’s executioner.  “Well, most of the cost is in the material itself rather than fabrication and maintenance.”  She could already see spikes of disinterest and grumbles from them. There was nothing for it now. “Eleven thousand per unit.” Fully half of the audience balked in outrage and walked off barely a moment after. The same mare who had asked gave a scoffing laugh. “What did you make it out of?  Engraved silver kissed by the emperor himself?” “Nothing so ostentatious. It’s an aluminum alloy that-” Twilight's explanation was cut off by all but three of the remaining officers walking off as well. “Well, what does it matter?  A new ship of the line would be cheaper than a quarter of a company of suits anyway.” The same mare shook her head at it all. “If you knew as much, you could have saved all of us some time by having the Commandant give his assessment alone. Your invention has promising merit, but not at that cost. Find a cheaper metal and then we’ll talk.”  Ignoring Twilight’s mildly defeated posture, the air admiral walked off, hoping to catch the next train.  Twilight did an admirable job looking distraught towards the retreating officers, masking her decidedly less morose resignation. The navy officer and Chaplin were the last to leave, but by then Clipped Wing had already ordered the lab staff to start cleaning up everything and Twilight was on her way to the lab to do the same with her desk.  Later that day, Twilight, still wearing her armor, and her friends were all dining in the expanded officer’s mess. It was one of the few places that had a blending of hasty utilitarianism and elegance about it.  The expanded mess was one story above the recruits’ eating area.  It was supposed to be a place for new officers to get used to eating apart from the common soldiery, yet it turned into just one more cog in the gossip engine.   Rainbow Dash was gnawing on a piece of salted pork while keeping a close eye on three tables in particular.  In truth, the thestral had not been present the entire two years.  She had been deployed to coastal patrols barely two months after everyone arrived at Fringe Point, and it had been just over a month since she returned due to a gunshot wound to the gut, and ripped wing membranes.  Rather than sit in a hospital, Rainbow had only one place she’d rather be; here. Applejack was delighting in some beef and vegetable stew.  Not the best food on offer, but it was simple and filling.  A piece of apple pie sat off to the side, enticing her to eat just a bit too fast.  Though the earth mare spent most of her time helping the project, she had been splitting some of that time with her family’s new farm. That new farm due in large part to the pink mare currently gorging herself on a chicken salad loaded with fixings.  Pinkie Pie wore her freedom well, and to those who didn’t know her, would have never thought she had ever been a servant.  When she wasn’t stuffing her maw, she carried herself with the at-ease poise of ‘new money’, something Twilight found too endearing to try and train out of her. Surrounding them was a throng of junior officers who were too busy in their own worlds to comment on the table containing only one active member of the military.  It helped that they were regulars and that the Commandant didn’t care no matter how many fresh leutients tattled on them. Pinkie finished her salad and spoke while she moved on to her own helping of beef stew.  “So Twily, we still going with plan A?” Twilight’s wing armor was folded up against her side while the wings themselves were free to help eat.  “Yup.  Talon Point should be much easier to renovate with a couple of suits for furniture moving and what not.” Rainbow Dash stopped herself from taking another bite of pork to chime in.  “Not to mention it's completely awesome to turn a fort like that into a mansion.  Might be worth building a cloud home nearby just to imagine what it was like to lay siege to it back in the day.”   “Well I hope you know I’m going to take down all griffin statues,” Twilight added while wagging a fork at her.  “But more importantly, it’s very close to Tranquility so trips to the office are short enough.” Applejack chuckled goodheartedly, and gave the pegacorn and harmless stink eye.  “And grab me off the farm on the way too, eh?”  Twilight returned a playful shrug.  “Still feels weird, having a farm to mah name and all.  Never thought it was more than a pipe dream when Ah was still plying the waves.” Rainbow leaned in towards Twilight with a conspiratorial smirk.  “So, word has it you and Clipped Wing are getting shacked up.  That true?” Sighing, while giving the thestral an annoyed glare, the inventor felt there was no real need to be shy about it.  “Nothing concrete yet, honestly it’s still only a proposal and not a confirmed yes on his part.  It’d be a political marriage if it happens.  He’s a good pony.  Good head on his shoulders, no intolerable vices, and easy on the eyes.  But I don’t know, I’d rather have foals with a dashing bat stallion.”  She studied Rainbow with a scholar’s eye that began to unnerve the brightly colored soldier.  “Not to mention that if you’re any indication, thestrals don’t have the same hybrid issues the other tribes do.” Following Twilight’s eyes up to her prismatic mane that was so uncharacteristic among her tribe, Rainbow blew a strand out of her vision.  “Yeah, not sure why that is, probably because of Luna’s blessing.  But hey, I’m not complaining because it makes me a thousand percent more radical.” “I doubt it’s that simple,” Applejack replied absently while moving on to her slice of pie. “Well it worked out for me either way,” Rainbow shrugged uncaringly.  “Honestly, constantly preening feathers would be such a chore.” A bell started tolling the hour, causing an absolute frenzy among the two dining areas.  Drill sergeants practically jumped from their table and started barking orders for the panicking trainees to put their trays away in a cacophony of noise.  Even the fresh lieutenants scattered to the winds.   While Twilight and Pinkie took the tolling bells and the bedlam it caused in stride, Applejack and Rainbow were passing short quips back and forth about their own memories of having to do the same thing.  “Go on, Dash, you’re still military, you better get going,” Applejack teased. “Screw that, I’m back on babysitting duty, and the baby doesn’t look quite ready to go.”  Rainbow leaned back in her chair, eagerly waiting Twilight’s response with a provocative smirk. Glowering under an unamused lifted eyebrow, Twilight Sparkle used a fork to flick a baby tomato off her salad and at the smirking mare. It smacked Rainbow on the nose, causing her to lose her balance and scramble to right herself before falling over.  Only for a piece of broccoli to fly over from Pinkie Pie to finish the job and bonk her on the forehead, and knock the soldier flat on her back. “Excellent form, my dear Pinkie,” Twilight stated in her best imitation of a martial trainer.  “The arc was perfect and the force of impact should leave her ancestors feeling dizzy.” Hiding her inner laughter behind a facade of dignified aristocratic aloofness, Pinkie Pie hummed in boredom.   “Why thank you. And I dare say your form is without peer, and the tomato?  An marvelous choice of weapon.” Before either noble could add anything else, a wad of mashed potatoes went flying and smacked Pinkie on the neck.  Rainbow Dash had recovered just in time to see it had been Applejack who had done the deed.  The engineer shrugged at Rainbow.  “Gotta stand by a fellow soldier, right?”  Even so, Applejack didn’t want to be the first one to throw food at Twilight, old concerns still poking out.   That did nothing to deter Rainbow Dash from developing a vengeful smirk as she too took up fork and spoon.  “Oh it is on!” As laughter, clanking plates, and food filled the air, a lone figure garbed in priestly robes stood outside the doors.  A bemused expression covered his wrinkled  face as he listened to the food fight, never once hearing Twilight nor Pinkie utter a single word to leverage their aristocratic status to avoid getting covered in dressing or gravy.  If anything, he was quite surprised.  So, the scion of Canterlot managed to befriend one of Luna’s children?  Well then, perhaps I should have listened to Rarity’s advice much sooner.  But not here.  I doubt she’d be willing to speak while covered in today’s special. If nothing else to ask how she managed to convince the Emperor to let her have Talon Point.