//------------------------------// // Chapter Nineteen // Story: Unity // by Kieva Lynn //------------------------------// Unity Chapter Nineteen Upon learning the truth of what had happened to Ponyville, Trixie Lulumoon had arranged to take possession of the abandoned house that she had hid in with Prince Blueblood and his guards during the storm. It was certainly a fixer-upper by any definition, but it was also the first home she had ever owned that didn't come mounted on wheels, and the showmare had taken a powerful liking to the place. Now she sat in her kitchen, staring at the gemstone sitting on the table. The gemstone she had purchased four hours earlier from the Goblin Bluffnix. Trixie had told a small lie to the Goblin, letting him think that the stone was common and wasn't really worth all that much in pony circles. In truth, Trixie had never seen anything quite like it, and suspected that it would be worth an Alicorn's ransom back home on Eqqus. Of course, there was nothing extraordinary about a gem that could react with Thaumic energy; Nearly all types of gemstones could be made to hold an enchantment. Indeed, it was specially enchanted gems that enhanced the human's electric generators to provide power to Unity's core functions. But what sat in front of her was so much more than the usual. It looked like a diamond, with a slight blue tint. But Bluffnix had called it 'Magicite' and insisted that it was the key component to how magic was used on his home planet. Trixie had been skeptical at first. Goblin goods, everyone was learning, were very hit or miss. It took only a moment of levitating the gem in her magic to tell that this was definitely a 'hit.' Normal gems held magic. This magicite seemed to make magic out of thin air. Not that such a thing was possible, Trixie knew enough to understand conservation laws. The magicite must interact with the field in a way that drew raw power out on an unprecedented scale, at all times, even without a formatted enchantment. Either way, the potential applications were mind-boggling. If the Goblins had more of the gems, if they were willing to part with them, it could have a tremendous impact on Unity's long-term viability. Trixie's first thought had been to try to corner the market. It passed quickly, with the better thought that if she was really trying to change herself for the better the thing to do was share the discovery. "Spike was right." She thought, "Unity is a chance to start over like no other I could hope for. Better to do what's right..." Wrapping the magicite gem in a cloth, Trixie carefully placed it in her saddlebags and trotted out her door looking for Twilight Sparkle... xx She found Twilight half an hour later, in the midst of a large crowd that included, in addition to the expected species, Gryphons, Minotaurs, and a couple of Changelings. Unlike most of the ponies in town, Trixie was not taken aback by the shapeshifter's presence; having traveled all over Equestria and beyond, she had experience with free-hive drones. Still, to find them here... Trixie trotted to a human on the edge of the crowd and asked "What's going on?" "We found out who the last storm bought here." the man answered. "A place called Shetland Crossing apparently. These guys are their delegation, just got here about an hour ago." "Shetland Crossing? Wow, I did a show there a couple years ago." Trixie said. "Oh? So, trustworthy?" "Pretty much." Trixie replied. "Just don't get into any arguments with Minotaurs and remember that borderlands ponies tend to be rougher around the edges than those of us who lived in Equestria itself." "Probably won't be an issue." Another person said as she joined them. "They're talking trade, not moving their town here." Trixie recognized this new human. "You're the diner waitress aren't you?" "That's me." Florence answered. "And I didn't recognize you earlier but it was you that bought the diamond from Bluffnix wasn't it?" Trixie nodded, but said "Yeah, but it wasn't a diamond... I think I've made a big discovery actually, I need to show it to Twilight Sparkle." "That makes two of us with important things to tell the folks in charge about." Florence said. "Let's go then, the meeting's breaking up already." Trixie agreed. xx "As a border town Shetland Crossing already has strong defensive walls." Steel Forge was saying, "Designed to repel an invading army. I doubt they'll have trouble holding off wild animals." "Just remember those animals are tough as nails." Bert said. The Minotaur nodded. "Of course. In any event, though, I feel it better for my town to stay where it is, though any citizens wishing to move to Unity will not be hindered. And likewise we will welcome any who come in peace." "Glad 't hear it." Macintosh said. "After the squid-things we're more than happy t' get a new ally." "Should we discuss trade considerations next?" Nigel wondered. Steel Forge waved that aside. "Better to wait for all parties on that. These 'Goblins' you've mentioned for example, and the breakaway human and pony groups that still trade with you." "Not looking forward to having to invite Carl..." Bert grumbled. "Or Blueblood for that matter. But you're right, we should bring in everyone." "I'll send runners to all three." Tucker said. "Schedule for, say, three days from now?" "Excellent." Steel Forge agreed. "Now, if we've finished our business for the moment I would like to see more of this merged town." As the initial meeting broke up, Twilight was about to volunteer as a guide when she heard her name being called out. "Trixie!" "Hello Twilight." Trixie smiled. "Have you got a minute? Oh, and the others might want to see this too." Twilight nodded and called for her friends. Rarity, Pinkie, and Rainbow gathered around, along with Bert, Nigel, and Reginald. Xix-xax watched from nearby as well. "Okay Trixie, what have you got?" "Actually, why don't you go first Flo?" Trixie said. "I suspect once Twilight Sparkle sees what I've got we'll lose her." Florence nodded her thanks and explained to the group what she had learned from Bluffnix. "Well that's interesting." Bert said. "Interesting, but not necessarily pertinent." "No? What if more storms come? If nothing else, this tells us that just because new arrivals look like us, doesn't prove they're from either of our worlds." "Something to keep in mind." Twilight agreed, then looked at Trixie. Reaching into her saddlebags with magic, Trixie produced the gemstone and held it hovering in the air before her. "I bought this from Bluffnix earlier today. Go ahead and take it Twilight, you'll see why I'm so excited instantly." The moment Twilight's magic enveloped the gem, her eyes went wide. "Whoa!" "See?" Trixie grinned. "What? What are we missing?" Reginald asked. "It's..." Twilight fumbled for words. "It's like there's magic flowing out of it! This is... The potential... You said you got it from a Goblin?" Trixie nodded. "He called it Magicite, said that it's the basis for how magic-users on their world get the energy needed for their spells. I don't know if they have any more, but the fact that he was willing to part with it for any price suggests that they must." "True." Bert agreed. Staring at the stone held in Twilight's aura, Xix-xax stepped closer. "Excuse me?" She whispered. "May I try something?" "Um, sure." The Changeling reached out a hoof and lightly touched the Magicite. As she did so, she also released a tiny bit of the love energy stored in her body. As she expected, the emotional power flowed into the gem. "What did you just do?" Reginald asked. Xix-xax explained and Reginald, now curious, reached out and touched the Magicite for himself. He was rewarded with a sharp electric shock that knocked him off his feet. "Are you okay!?" Twilight exclaimed. "Fine." He answered as Nigel helped him to his feet. "Just a shock." "But why?" Trixie asked. "I touched it directly earlier and that didn't happen to me. And it hasn't been around anything that would have imparted a charge." "Or maybe it has..." Bert mused with a glance at the Changeling. He touched the Magicite, which didn't shock him at all. "Xix, can you spare another bit of that energy? Maybe a little less than before?" "Of course." Xix answered, and after she had done so Bert again touched the gem and reeled back as he got a shock. "Oh! Oh my!" Twilight exclaimed. She began to dance in place, bouncing up and down. "Do you realize what this means!? Trixie, everyone, come on, we've got to go talk with the Goblins! Oh this is incredible!" The unicorn galloped away, in the direction of the Goblin encampment, then stopped and looked back at the confused crowd. "What are you waiting for?" "An explanation?" Rainbow asked. "I can tell you've realized something but I'm not sure what." Twilight trotted back and motioned for everyone to put their heads close together. She then whispered "Tell no one else, I don't want hopes up in case it doesn't work. But you remember the spell I used to convert magic to electricity?" The humans in the group nodded. Twilight continued "The spell is impractical for long term use. It's too draining on the caster. But this Magicite just took emotional energy from Xix-xax and converted it into elecricity. If the Goblins have enough of it, if we can figure out the mechanism, we could maybe build a magicite battery that could restore full power to the entire town!" Most of the group reacted positively to this revelation, but Xix-xax was worried. "I'm... not thrilled at the prospect of being a power source." The changeling said, shrinking back from Twilight. "Oh! Oh no, that's not what I mean. If it works, the battery would absorb the ambient energy from the environment in the same way you do... Ideally, we'll even be able to tune it to draw off a power other than love so that your food supply isn't reduced." "Oh. Well that makes me feel better." "Right. But this is all hinging on the Goblins having more Magicite... So let's go find out!" Twilight galloped away again, and this time the rest of the group followed... XXXX "Any idea what this is about?" John Tucker asked as he walked with Midnight Steel towards Town Hall. "None." The pony replied. "All I know is that Strumwind was flagged down by Roger Hoad atop the Hall and asked to find the two of us and have us meet him there." "Hmmm... Rog's been studying local weather patterns. Maybe he's noticed something important." "Maybe." They climbed the stairs up to the roof and found Roger there, staring off to the north with a pair of binoculars. "What have you got?" Tucker asked. Roger handed the glasses to the Sheriff and said "Take a look. In the mountains, up near the highest peaks." Doing so, the Sheriff didn't need long to see what had caught Roger's eye. "Is that a snowstorm?" "I've watched the mountains almost every day since we arrived Sheriff. There was no snow anywhere until a week ago, and now this is the fourth storm. It's a little lower on the slopes than the first three were as well." Roger looked Tucker and Midnight in the eyes. "Winter's coming folks. Not at this altitude yet, we've probably got a month, but it's coming for sure." "How the hell did this sneak up on us?" Tucker asked. "I thought you were keeping close tabs on day length, watching for the days to start getting shorter." Roger sighed. "I was. Day length, and angle of the sun in the sky. And in the whole time we've been here that hasn't changed at all. At first I thought maybe the planet just had a really long year and it was changing too slowly to notice yet. But now, I'm wondering if this world doesn't have any axial tilt to speak of and the seasons are controlled by something else." "Like what?" "I dunno, maybe the orbit is more eccentric." "This could be bad news either way." Midnight said. "I'm no farmer, but I expect most of the crops won't be ready for harvest in the space of another month." Tucker agreed. "Right. Okay Rog, keep an eye on this and keep me informed. Midnight, let's go talk to some farmers..." xx "A month!? Damn Sheriff, we'll be lucky to have the corn harvest done in two!" "The lettuce and cabbage will be ready before then, but not the potatoes." "Wheat fields are looking good. Of course, we may not finish the harvest by then, but so long as the snow's not too deep we can keep gathering it in." "With volunteers we can speed up gathering the local fruits and vegetables." "Sorry Sheriff, but if I don't get another six weeks all my crops are wasted." xx "Well it's not all bad news at least." Tucker said as he and Midnight walked towards Sweet Apple Acres. "No. Hopefully the Apples have good news though. We'll be cutting food stores close if they don't." "Hell, we might be anyway... We're assuming a winter the same length as what we're used to. What if it's twice as long? Or more?" Midnight grimaced. "Well... We could always talk to the weather team about interfering in the natural course." "I thought that was a bad idea." "Bad idea to overdo it sure. But a couple of weeks, a month tops, how bad could it be? Especially compared to the alternative." "True enough..." Tucker nodded. "Wanna discuss it with Dash when we're finished here?" "Think she went to the Longstop with Twilight. We'll catch her when she's back." "Hello!" A voice called out from the direction of the orchard. A moment later Applejack appeared from over a hill, trotting towards them. "Welcome, what can we do for yah?" Tucker explained the situation, and asked about harvest times. "Well that's a tricky one... We can have the food stock apples off the trees by then mostly, but the cider apples take a mite longer. And o' course the other crops'll be laggin' too." "Damn... We've gotta get the pegasai to do something." "Agreed." Midnight said. xx "Absolutely not!" Cloudkicker insisted. "And Rainbow Dash will tell you the same thing! Adjusting and controlling the weather by deciding when it will or won't rain, by sunny or cloudy, humid or dry, that's one thing! It's fine to adjust within the normal limits of whatever season it is! But making it stay hot summer when it's supposed to be cold winter? No. Just, no." "A lot of folks could starve if the weather doesn't hold until the harvests are finished!" Tucker shouted. "A lot of folks could die a lot faster if we lose control of the imbalance and spawn a giant tornado or something! Look, why don't the earth ponies put that vaunted green hoof magic to use and speed things up?" "All the earth pony farmers we talked to agreed to do what they can but that has limits." Midnight said. Cloudkicker sighed. "I'm not going to convince you to drop this and not bring it up to Rainbow am I?" The Sheriff chuckled. "So that's it huh? Maybe she won't tell us the same thing?" "Yeah... Everything I've told you about the dangers is true. And she knows it as well as I do. And she'll agree to it anyway. Because she always thinks she can hold control. Fine, all I ask is that you consider the warnings seriously, and you don't blame me if it does go bad." "Fair enough." Tucker agreed. "Good. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to start running the numbers for how to do this so Dash can ignore them..." XXXX Brayflox' Longstop. The Goblin matriarch smiled at the sight of a whole group of humans and ponies arriving. Life was good when business was good, her grand-gobbie had always said, and with Unity nearby and new settlements as well, business was indeed good. She rushed to meet her customers. "Welcome welcome ponies and uplanders! What might you be looking-seeking to buy?" Trixie produced the Magicite and said "I bought this from Bluffnix earlier today-" "Oh no!" Brayflox interrupted, "All sales final! No refunds!" "Erm... Right..." Trixie favored the Goblin with a disbelieving expression. "I'm not wanting to return it..." "We were wondering if you have any more?" Nigel said. "Sadly, very little magicite in stock when storm come." Brayflox answered. "Sad for Gobbie coffers, but happy-happy for ponies and uplanders!" "Happy?" "Yes! This magicite not from Goblin stock, this magicite found here!" "Wait it's local?" Twilight asked. "I was sold something I could have gone out and picked up off the ground?" Trixie asked. "Now I think I do want my money back..." "No refunds." Brayflox reiterated. She looked over her shoulder and called out "Flixxy!" In a few moments another Goblin joined her, quite obviously from his size a child. "This is grandson Flixbix. Flixxy find magicite deposit in forest, bring back gem pony buy. Flixxy show where deposit is for right price." "Yes! Yes!" the young goblin exclaimed, "Flixbix set price for much jingly-shines!" "Not so grandchild. Brayflox set price for Flixbix go to school with pony and uplander children, learn much." "Now that's a good deal." Bert chuckled. "I don't think that'll be a problem." "No of course not." Twilight agreed. "But grand-gobbie! Flixbix want make profits!" "Cease tongue-waggings. Time for profits when grown. Show way to magicite now." Grumbling under his breath, Flixbix motioned for everyone to follow and stomped off into the forest... xx An hour later the group climbed to the top of a hill and everyone's mouths dropped open in awe. Before them, littered across the ground in the valley below, were more magicite gems than anyone could count. Big ones too. Twilight had been afraid, given the young Goblin's obsession with profit, that he had chosen the particular gem Trixie had purchased because it was the largest one around. Now it seemed he had taken the only one small enough to carry on his own. Some of the Magicite stones here were as big as houses. "Holy..." Bert whistled. "This enough for you Twi?" Rainbow dash laughed. "What an incredible find!" Twilight squee'd. Her face turned serious. "Then again, odd that there's this much in one place without us coming across any before..." "Guess we just hit the Mother Lode." Bert said. "Maybe... In any case, a couple of weeks for research and who knows what we'll be able to do!" Twilight's horn glowed as she lifted a large chunk of the material and started back towards Unity with it. "Reg! Nigel! Come on! We've got work to do!" She excitedly exclaimed. "You too Xax!" As they watched Twilight, the Changeling, and the two human scientists, Bert said to Rainbow "Two weeks? I hope she lets them sleep at some point..." "You've just seen Twi in full-tilt egghead nerdgasm mode." Rainbow snorted. "They'll be lucky if she lets them go to the bathroom..."