Half-Hour Horses

by HoofAndQuill

Way Of Life [Slice of Life?]

(The Prompt: Technological innovation in Equestria.)

(I've had this idea banging around a bit for a while, so thanks for providing a prompt for it.)

Princess Twilight Sparkle stepped into the small meeting chamber, and bowed respectfully before her mentor and former teacher, Princess Celestia. It wasn't needed anymore, of course, but Twilight still did it almost on instinct.

When she raised her eyes again, Princess Celestia was smiling, but with a slight tension behind it that set Twilight's nerves on edge. "Princess Twilight, it's so good to see you."

Twilight Sparkle smiled, and trotted over to give Celestia a hug. Celestia's smile seemed a lot more genuine after that. "Princess Celestia, you issued a royal summons, I couldn't just ignore it. Is this about my latest letter?"

There was a momentary pause that spoke volumes. "... Yes, Princess Twilight. Please, come with me."

Celestia turned and began walking. Princess Twilight followed after a momentary hesitation. She tried to keep a smile on her lips despite the strange feeling she was getting from Celestia. "It's an automatic loom, isn't it great? I had a little trouble with, you know, running out of spooled thread, but once I found a way to eject and reload the pirn-"

"How many weavers are there in Ponyville?"

Twilight blinked in surprise. Princess Celestia only very rarely interrupted her. She thought a moment. "Um... Spinning Thread, Flying Shuttle... Twelve? No, thirteen."

Princess Celestia nodded, and pressed her horn to a small indention in the wall of the hallway, one Twilight had never even noticed. The wall slid open with a grating sound, and Princess Celestia stepped through. Twilight took a moment to look at the secret door, but then trotted past a bit more quickly, to catch up with the Princess. The door grated shut a few moments later.

Princess Celestia spoke quietly. "Your letter mentions that your loom does the work of... how did you phrase it? Ten horsepower?"

Twilight nodded, trying not to look too proud. For some reason, she felt like it wasn't really a compliment. "I know it's a strange term, I heard it in that other world; in Canterlot High. But yes, it works ten times as quickly."

"One of your machines, operating in Ponyville, would put quite nearly all of the weavers there out of work."

Twilight actually stopped walking for a moment. She sped up to catch up again. "Well... yes, but not really. There's demand for cloth, and Ponyville could produce so much more. It would bring a lot of money in."

Princess Celestia's horn lit, and Twilight saw a few magical fields down the hallway blink away. Was this place trapped? Celestia continued down the hall, and then tapped her horn against the metal door at the end. It opened to her will, and Twilight's eyes widened as she stepped inside.

The room was full of strange objects, both large and small. Twilight recognized next to none of them, all manners of weird mechanical and pseudo-magical shapes filled the room. Her eyes finally stopped on something more familiar, something she could hold on to. "Is that the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy Six Thousand?"

Princess Celestia actually smiled again, though still a bit tightly. "Yes. You remember that it quite nearly resulted in your friend losing her farm and livelihood."

"Well, yes, but-"

Princess Celestia set her hoof gently on top of another machine, full of cogs and magic-to-motion transducers. "This is an automatic harvester. It only works for ground crops: carrots, potatoes, that sort of thing. But it can do in a day what would take Applejack a week."

Princess Twilight's eyes darted from object to object, noticing now the grips and movements that the arms and apparatus would make. It was hard to tell what each could do, but she was starting to see a pattern. She could almost imagine a place in the crowded vault already being cleared for her loom. "But... why do you keep these things secret?"

Celestia walked slowly across the room, her eyes moving across the objects scattered about, as though looking for something. "I found, long ago, that my subjects are happiest in a certain... way of life. The machines in this room, each and any of them, would threaten that way of life."

There was a certain ire building in Twilight, as they passed device after ingenious device. "But this could feel everypony for almost no effort! Look, this thing is some kind of forging tool, isn't it? It could make horseshoes cheaper than apples!"

Princess Celestia stopped at a small table, sitting in front of a dozen yards of empty hall. Her horn lit, and she moved something that looked like one of Rarity's dress forms over to the end of the hall. She spoke quietly. "Twilight, you have always been a very intelligent pony."

Princess Twilight fought down her boastful smile, but also felt her indignation fade a little. It was a compliment, but at the moment it didn't sound like one. "Thank you, Princess, but-"

"You are aware that there is some knowledge that is dangerous."

Twilight nodded again. "Yes, that's why we keep certain spellbooks hidden. Like the Necrosombracon, and--- These aren't the same thing, Princess. These machines would... change things, yes, but they would help ponies. Everypony could have more. More food, more possessions, clothing would be cheap, everything could be."

Princess Celestia poured what looked like some fine sand into the end of the object on the table, and then rolled a steel ball down the tube. She very carefully lifted the device to her shoulder, and set her hoof near a small switch. "Princess Twilight, I understand you value knowledge, and science. But Equestria can not begin on this path without following it through."

Celestia nodded to the dress form sitting at the end of the hallway. "Imagine, for a moment, that the ponyquin there is a friend of yours, or any pony. Keep in mind that I have used no magic on this device." Celestia glanced down at Twilight. "And do cover your ears."

Twlight folded her ears back, and looked at the ponyquin. Celestia's hoof moved just slightly, and a resounding crack of thunder shook through the room. The end of the object lit into fire, and the dress form toppled over backwards in a spray of stuffing and burnt thread. Princess Celestia lowered the item carefully to the table, and her horn lit as she levitated the dress form closer to Twilight.

Twilight rubbed her ears, and scrunched up her nose at the strangely acrid smoke in the room. She looked at the ponyquin, and her eyes widened. There was a hole torn clear through the center of the body, near the heart, or where a real pony would have a heart. The white fabric of the ponyquin and Celestia's previous words brought to mind the image of Rarity having a wound like this. Twilight squeezed her eyes shut.

A few moments of silence passed, and Princess Celestia spoke again, quietly and apologetically. "This is a Windchaser musket, one of nearly a hundred that were produced. It was the basis of a rebellion, four centuries ago. Twilight Sparkle, I would have simply taken your loom, were you any other pony. But you are my closest friend, and I wanted you to see why. Do you understand why I do not allow these things?"

Twilight nodded slowly, opening her eyes again to look at the destroyed dress form. "Yes, Princess Celestia. I understand."

--

Twilight Sparkle looked up at the ceiling of her darkened room, back home in her library. She couldn't sleep.

She turned her head over to her small work area, where up until this afternoon she had kept her magically driven loom. It was empty aside from a few scraps of cloth and discarded mechanics. She stood up, walking quietly as to avoid disturbing Spike, and looked over her old diagrams, the few that hadn't been removed by the guards.

Ponyville had thirteen weavers. They all did their best, they worked every day, like every pony. But many ponies in Ponyville had to stay indoors most of the winter, because they couldn't afford to buy expensive warm clothing. Everypony could eat, of course, but many ate less than they'd like, simply because of the effort and cost of producing food. Some fillies and colts didn't have horseshoes, or they did, but their parents didn't.

In the middle of the night, the secret vault in Canterlot was lit by a flash of purple light. Princess Twilight Sparkle appeared from her teleportation, and then lit her horn, just enough to see. She pulled out her sheaf of paper, and began studying the devices there, and taking notes. As she worked, her mind took in new principles of motion, and new ideas of automation.

After all, Princess Celestia had been wrong before, and Twilight knew that everypony would be happier this way. She just had to prove it.