“Can we go in?” Twilight asked excitedly, her eyes shining as she stared at the floating city above her. Large wooden and steel constructs rose into the air, looking impressive even with the distance.
“Of course Twilight, it is why I brought you here.” He nodded his head at a large building, near the edge of Canterlot. Twilight wasn’t surprised she had missed it; it quite small compared to the large construct that hovered in the air, though it was still a good size.
“What’s in it?” She walked to the door with Olmstead. He took out a key, unlocked the door, pushed it in, and allowed Twilight to enter first.
“The first challenge we met when we discussed the Magic City was, of course, getting Unicorns and Earth Ponies up there. We figured teleportation would be the easiest to use and stop any major traffic jams from forming as it is instant. We had some Earth Ponies and Unicorns collaborate and after a few months…the Teleporter.” He gestured to several dozen long tubes that lined the steel gray walls, crackling softly with magical energy.
“What?” Twilight breathed, running up to one and stroking the tube. “But how? So few know how to teleport…how did you get this to even function?”
“Simple, really. Teleportation by a Unicorn only requires a large surge of energy, and a place to go. We can pool together energy now instead of just relying on one Unicorn to do the trick. All they have to do is think of the fair entrance, and the magic reacts!”
“Wow! That’s amazing! And we can use it now?”
“Of course, Twilight. But be warned; don’t use it when the exit tube is turned off. They are magically attuned so they will only come out of one area. If that tube is shut off you’ll be trapped as magical energy forever…but besides that, perfectly safe.” Olmstead laughed at his little humor, though Twilight found it a little more morbid than funny.
She breathed in as she slowly stepped inside the tube. She shivered as she felt the swirling primal magic surround her. For her entire life, all the magic around was always controlled to some extent by some Unicorn or Alicorn. But now, she could feel uncontrolled magic fill her…it was almost frightening. But Olmstead seemed ignorant of her discomfort, taking it for confusion.
“Just think about the fair and you should just teleport there!” he called out loudly.
Twilight nodded at him and closed her eyes, the image she had seen of the fair floating in her head. She suddenly gasped as the magic gripped her, and she felt like she was being flung forward, then backward, then side to side. It was worse than when she did herself, she concluded as she held back her vomit. But finally, it stopped and she stumbled out, feeling a quite ill. A little noise sounded the arrival of Olmstead, who stepped out fine.
“Ugh…that was a bit…much,” Twilight groaned, stumbling over to a small bench to lie down on. She moaned happily as she found the sickness vanished after a few moments.
Olmstead walked over, smiling apologetically. “My apologies, Twilight. We know the twisting and twirling certainly is headache inducing, but it vanishes after a few moments.”
Twilight nodded, rubbing her head as she got up. "Glad to hear, would be a shame if the headache lasted long enough to ruin the fair experience,” she mentioned as Olmstead walked towards the close door, unlocking it.
“I’d have to agree…although I believe the headache would go away regardless once you catch a look at the view.” He opened up the door, and Twilight's eyes widened again as she took in the view. A massive golden bridge connected them to the Magic City. It sparkled gloriously in the sunlight, an arch right over the end of the bridge, with two statues of the Princess’s holding the arch up, famous symbols of every major city in Equestria lining the top.
“By Celestia, this is glorious! Is this actual gold Mr. Olmstead?” Twilight asked, gently hoofing the bridge.
“Oh yes, all of it is real. Took ages to find it all. Luckily, plenty of it was donated by the Equestrian nobility,” he said as he walked across the bridge, Twilight following. “Not enough though. We had many mining teams scouring Equestria, but taxes had to be raised to fund them all. It was a burden, but we got it through.”
At the mention of taxes she turned towards the older pony, with a discontent frown. “This was what those taxes were for? Did you have to raise it so much for mining teams? I saw a few friends go through hard times to pay those,” Twilight asked.
Olmstead just shrugged. “They will recover, I’m sure. The taxes are already on their way to being abolished now that we are done. Do not fret, Twilight Sparkle. We know what we are doing,” Olmstead assured her as they crossed through the shining white arc.
Twilight stumbled, almost bumping into several construction ponies. She didn’t know how she missed them, and she apologized profusely as she got a good look at an actual building. It was massive, easily dwarfing any building in Canterlot besides the palace itself. What it was showcasing was obvious enough to her, with the sleek modern design of the building, and the large magical conductors crackling softly next to the entrance of the building.
“The Hall of Technology,” she murmured to herself, impressed with just the facade of the building. However, as she stood there she began to cause a small traffic jam. Olmstead gently nudged her with his tail, motioning her to follow him as he masterfully weaved in and out of the crowd of workers, nodding his head and smiling at few, and calling out greetings by name wherever he went, all the while never stepping on any ponies hooves as he guided her out of the crowd towards the administration’s office.
“Once again, my apologies Twilight for all that mess. We are a little bit behind schedule, so we’ve had to hire a little more help to make sure everything is done.”
“We’re behind schedule? Why is that? By how much,” she pressed; concerned that anything could be behind schedule.
“Not too much I promise,” he reassured. “It was just the addition of your building that caught us off guard. Magnificent and grand, it will certainly take a lot of work to finish it within a month. Hopefully we will be able to finish it quickly with all the other buildings almost finished.” He fished out the keys from his pocket again, and unlocked the door to the building, letting Twilight enter first before shutting, and locking the door. The inside was decorated like a manor, paintings and statues scattered in the main hall, with red velvet carpets and rugs strewn around the room.
“This is…quite extravagant,” Twilight murmured.
“Well we couldn’t expect ourselves to work without a little comfort.” he retorted a little harshly, sensing the veiled insult, before sighing. “But it really isn’t. Most of these things were donations from higher families we had no space in the real fair for. So we stuffed them in here to make sure they didn’t get offended and draw back their support.” Twilight blushed softly.
“My apologies Mr. Olmstead,” she conceded, lowering her head.
Olmstead gently raised her head up with his hoof and chuckled. “It’s not a problem. I can assure you, I’ve done as much as I can to keep cost low.” Twilight brightened a little at hearing that, and they moved upstairs and into an office. It was small and cozy, with a large diorama of the fair, with a detailed map to go along with it. Detailed plans were scattered all over the table, with hers at the forefront; notes scribbled all over the large scroll. “Now, Twilight, I’m afraid I have to leave you for I need to clear up some things with a few ponies, so I need to leave you here for an hour or so. Study the map and the location of your building, and if you wish you may go visit your building site to see how it is going, but please be back before two hours pass.”
Twilight bowed her head and smiled at him. “Of course. Thank you so much for showing me around Mr. Olmstead. I can’t wait to see the rest of the fair with you.”
He smiled and cantered over to give her a quick hug. “You’re very welcome Twilight. I’ll be back soon.”
He walked out and gently closed the door, leaving Twilight alone. She sighed loudly, visibly relaxing and stretching her legs from keeping them straight and regal looking. But once her eyes caught the map she eagerly rushed in, taking in all the detail. The fair was even more massive than she could have possibly imagined, with huge buildings showing off the best Equestria had to offer around the edges of the fair and tiny buildings showcasing countless other things in the center. As she scanned for her own, she gave an excited giggle as she saw her own building was in the center, showcasing her greatest talent, magic. She pondered for a moment why her building was put in the center… she supposed it could be to make it clear to the gryphons the ponies had something over them…she snorted and rolled her eyes. That was to cold, even for somepony like Sullivan. However, as she rolled her eyes, a little marking caught her eye. Next to her building was a particularly large building circled in red. She squinted and slowly read out the writing next to it.
“Changeling Massage Parlor…” she lifted her head up; blinking for a few moments before looking down and reading it again, her eye twitching.
“WHAT?!”