Chapter 7
"He's not cute," I whispered loudly to Golden Dawn, pointing at the dog-like creature in a very obvious manner. Then I waved at the two mean looking ponies. "Neither are they."
Golden Dawn let out a giggle, but Blue Skies kicked me in the shin, "shut up!" she said, glaring at me.
Fortunately, whatever the thing was, it was too busy heading over to the bar to notice me. When it got there, it let out a growl to get the barkeeper's attention then gruffly placed an order in a deep raspy voice.
"That's a diamond dog," Golden Dawn said. "They live underground in large caverns, do a lot of mining. Not the friendliest bunch, though none of the ones I've met have been nearly as mean as their reputations have made them out to be."
I watched as the diamond dog shouted at the pony to the left of him, a moment later the pony cleared away from the bar, making room for the dog's friend. This was the first time I had seen anything remotely close to violence since I had arrived in town. Up until then my observations of of pony society had been shown me something practically idyllic, but when you've only had a limited glimpse into a new world, it makes sense that your perceptions won't match reality. After all, the town did have a sheriff, it made sense that there were lawbreakers and malcontents.
"Then again, some match their reputation perfectly," Golden said.
I eventually lost interest in watching the jerk and his rather rowdy friends and turned my attention back to the table. For the next hour or so, our conversation drifted to the ongoing job search. I voiced my frustration over the lack of progress and explained that this was not the first time it had happened to me.
“I can’t even do something simple like manual labor, because all the available work is scaled for ponies. I just don’t have the strength to compete. Nevermind the jobs that require flight or magic,” I said with a sigh.
“I know you said no before, but if you just let me loan you the bits, you could buy a train ticket and be on your way to Canterlot on the next train out of here,” Golden Dawn said.
"”Ugh, I know. If I can’t find something in the next few days, I might have to take you up on your offer. I just hate the idea of it, I’m already leaching off of you. What I really need is something that pays a lot of money for a very short amount of work," I said, after taking another drink.
"Don't we all?" Blue Skies added with a laugh.
Short term, my chances at finding something to do were looking fairly slim. If I didn’t care about speed, I could pick up a service job at a store. Heck if it was really long term I could probably try to work for Golden Dawn or in another machine shop. Once I got the hang of pony style equipment, it wasn’t so different than what I had been doing Rick’s shop. Helping Golden Dawn fix the trailer made me realize how out of practice I was, but I was sure I could pick things up fairly quickly if I had to.
It was getting kind of late, the saloon was almost completely empty. The groups that remained were me, Golden and Blue Skies, the dog and his friends, and a mysterious looking pale cream colored unicorn wearing a duster and large hat who was sitting off in the far corner of the bar. Finally, after much complaining I agreed that I would go out one more time the next day before giving up and borrowing the money from Golden Dawn. She was about to go settle our bill when I heard a loud series of footsteps behind me and then a large paw landed heavily on my shoulder.
"What isss this thing?" the diamond dog asked while spinning me part way around. Even over the heavy smell of alcohol, I could smell its rancid breath. I came very close to throwing up, it was just that bad.
I, with some difficulty, removed the paw from my shoulder before responding.
"Not a thing, a human." I mumbled.
"Never heard of a human before. Why all the fancy clothes, you too good for this place?"
The two ponies that had come in with the diamond dog started chuckling.
I looked down at myself, I was wearing cargo pants and a long sleeve t-shirt, hardly what I would consider fancy, but given that most ponies, and if he was any indication, diamond dogs, went either naked or with minimal clothing, I guess it didn't take much to consider something fancy dress.
"Humans wear clothing all the time," I said with a shrug. "Now if you'll excuse me, my friends and I were just about to leave." I stood up out of my chair slowly, hoping the dog would be satisfied and walk away.
"Friendssss? Yes, pony friendsss. What does scrawny thing like you need with two hot maresssss." he said, he gave Golden Dawn and Blue Skies a slow and lecherous once over with his eyes.
I almost burst out laughing at that. Did he think Golden Dawn and Blue Skies were my dates?
"You don't need two ponies, maybe one come sit with us." the dog said, reaching a paw over at Golden Dawn.
Golden was not about to take any of that and she kicked his paw away, the dog let out a yelp and pulled his arm back.
"Youu'll regret that pony!" the dog shouted drunkenly while standing up to his full height. This close to him I could tell that he had at least four inches on me as well as at least a hundred pounds. More importantly, that weight looked to be in muscle where as more of mine than I cared to admit was comprised of late night pizza binges, a deep love of barbecue and all you can eat wings specials.
I stepped forward, placing myself between him and Golden Dawn who was twitching nervously. With a push that I was sure could move my truck, the dog shoved me back down into my chair. I stood up again but as I did he punched me in the stomach, knocking the air out of me. I had never gotten into a real fight before and the amount of pain was completely unexpected. Golden Dawn yelled something at the dog and Blue Skies stood up as well. Still gasping for breath, I stumbled forward and joined my two friends, my brain tried to tell me that Golden Dawn and Blue Skies were far stronger than I was but the alcohol in me shouted something incoherent about girls and fighting and what I, as a man, was supposed to do. In retrospect, I should have listened to my brain, it was far more sensible.
The diamond dog looked down at all of us, you could see the gears in his head cranking and sputtering as he tried to process if three was bigger than one. It took him a minute but eventually he reached the conclusion that he was now outnumbered. A situation that did not last long as the two ponies who had come in with him decided now was a good time to back up their friend. They stood up from their seats at the bar and started advancing towards us slowly. My brain, which was starting to win the fight against the alcohol fueled courage, immediately insisted that it did not like where the situation was headed.
While the numbers were even, the species were not, ponies seriously outmatched me in the strength department and judging from what I’d seen of him so far, diamond dogs did too. I tried to look on the bright side, both of his friends were earth ponies, which meant they couldn't simply hit me from across the room with magic, but at the same time, I remembered Dusty explaining how they had even higher levels of strength and endurance than other ponies.
The barkeeper shouted at the dog to pay his bill and get out but the lumbering moron wasn't listening, instead he turned his head downward, giving me a nasty glare.
"Hey mutt, I think you were asked to leave," a voice from behind us said. I turned to the back corner of the bar where the pony in the duster was standing up.
"What you call me pony?" the dog barked.
"You heard me mutt, go on, get out of here." the pony said.
The dog, easily distracted, immediately forgot about us and turned towards this new pony. He took about two steps before the ponies horn lit up. I could see his duster moving around as if the pony was rummaging for something. A hint of worry flashed in the pony’s green eyes as he continued to dig around under his duster. They lit up in as he found whatever it was he was looking for, just as the dog was about to enter punching range. A small trinket floated out from under the duster, the green glow on the pony’s horn brightened slightly, and the thing, whatever it was, began to glow with a green light.
Suddenly every other pony in the room winced, I saw Golden Dawn's wings fly up and cover her ears. Whatever effect the trinket was having on the ponies, it was far worse on the dog. His collapsed to the ground and began to rolling back and forth, letting out an almost pitiful whining sound. He desperately tried to cover his ears with his paws, but judging from his continued wailing, it wasn't helping much.
The objects glow faded quickly, at which point every pony seemed to relax. The dog's recovery was taking a little longer, so his two friends walked over and picked him up off the floor. He looked up and let out a growl at the pony.
"Ah ah ahhh." the pony said with a big smile as he twirled the device around in his magic. His chestnut tail flicked back and forth, as if daring the diamond dog to make another move.
The dog watched as the trinket spun around in the air. He started to swear up a storm, but he knew he was beat. He turned around, pushed his friends out of the way, threw some money at the barkeeper and stormed out. Seeing their numbers dwindle, the two burly earth ponies gave us one last glare and ran after their friend.
Golden Dawn asked if I was alright and I gave her a look of confusion.
"He punched you, in the stomach. Remember?"
"Oh yeah, no I'm fine." I said. It had hurt at first, quite a bit, but the combination of adrenaline and alcohol had dulled most of the pain away.
She walked over to the barkeep to settle the bill while I sat down at the table with Blue Skies.
"You didn't have to get back up," she said looking at me.
"And let you face the thing alone? I’d rather stand with my friends," I said, seriously.
"She's right you know, that dog could have broken a skinny little thing like you in two."
The pony from the corner had wandered over to our table.
"I said it seemed like the right thing to do, not the smart thing." I said with a bit of a smile. "Thanks for the intervention, name's Hal Storm, pleased to meet you."
I stuck out my hand, the pony reached up and shook it, "Kitchen Sink," he said. He took off the duster, exposing a set of very over stuffed saddle bags which more or less matched his cutie mark, a small crossbow and a very sharp looking sword. How all of that fit under the duster without being noticeable, I had no idea. He opened one of the flaps and a number of small items spilled out. Each was caught in the amber glow of his magic and he proceeded to stuff them and the device he had used to disable the dog back into the bag.
"What was that thing?" I asked, curiously.
"Non lethal magical deterrent, specifically designed to be most effective on diamond dogs," Kitchen Sink said as he struggled to close up the flap on his bag. "It lets out a very high pitched sound that's very hard on their ears. Ponies can hear it too but not as well."
"And you just happened to have it on you?" Golden Dawn asked, as she rejoined us at the table.
"You'll never know when you might need it, I like to be prepared," Kitchen Sink said as he finally got the buckle buckled.
"I can see that, " I said. "I'm guessing that also explains the crossbow and sword? First time I've seen anyone carrying weapons since I got here." I said
"It's not as common in the bigger cities, but you'd be surprised how many ponies own and carry weapons out on the frontier, especially when they are traveling outside of towns. Having to actually use what they're carrying though, that's pretty rare. More often than not, it's easier to just get away." Golden Dawn said as she got back to the table.
"The way I see it, a pony is always armed, they are born with their first weapons, hoof, wing and horn." Kitchen Sink said.
He had a bit of a point there, earth ponies, whether they looked like it or not, were built like tanks. Pegasus ponies were amazingly quick both on and off the ground and I'd seen Blue Skies coax lightning out of a cloud before. Unicorns, well, I'd seen even small ones levitate and manipulate heavy objects from across the room. Used offensively that could be devastating.
"I couldn't help but overhearing your predicament," Kitchen Sink said to me. "It just so happens that I'm looking for some assistance. I've got a bit of work that needs to be done, it shouldn't take more than two or three days but could go as long as a week. I can offer excellent pay, say 40 bits for up to the first 3 days and then 10 bits a day afterward?"
40 bits for two to three days of work sounded amazing. The highest paying job that I had found so far was 4 bits a week and that was one of the ones I had to pass on due to lack of ability.
"That would be enough to get you to Canterlot and have more than enough left over for food,” Golden Dawn said, then she turned towards Kitchen Sink. “Though it seems like a lot of money for such a short time, what kind of work are you offering?"
"You know the Sliver Stone Mines south of here?" Kitchen Sink asked.
"Those are the abandoned mines in the Badlands right? That the old road leads too?" Blue Skies asked.
"Yep, well old Silver Stone passed away a year ago, he had no children and his wife had died a few years before. He left the mines to his niece, Jade Circlet. She was going through some of his old journals and discovered something. Those mines weren't closed because they went dry, they were closed because something was in the mines."
"What do you mean? What kind of something?" Golden Dawn asked.
"Nopony knows, it started with a couple of missing miners, a new level of the mine had just opened up and as the miners were digging they broke into an underground cavern. Two of them went in to check it out but they never came back. A small rescued party was organized, but it too vanished without a trace. They sealed the entrance to the cavern up but over the next few months more and more ponies went missing. Sliver Stone's grandfather, the original Silver Stone, went into the mines with a large security force to try to find something, anything that could explain the disappearances. Only one pony made it back, screaming about shadows in the dark. Silver Stone's father was forced to close the mines and paid a huge number of bits to cover the whole thing up." Kitchen Sink said.
"And the point of this story was... what exactly?" Blue Skies asked.
"Jade Circlet wants to reopen the mines, like I said they hadn't run dry, in fact just the opposite. The miners had just hit a major deposit of mithril, and that wasn't the only thing down there."
"They were digging for mithril?" I asked before starting to laugh.
"Very rare metal, stronger and lighter than steel and extremely easy to enchant, makes for very good armor, among other things." Golden Dawn said. "Wait, why are you laughing?"
"A bunch of ponies dug too deep in their quest for mithril and let some underground horror loose, next thing you're gonna do is tell me you figured out what they unleashed and it's a balrog."
"No? Those were hunted to extinction by the Princesses millennia ago." Kitchen Sink said looking puzzled.
"I was... wait what? Ugh, course balrogs are, or were, real here, nevermind" I said bringing my hand up to my head in frustration.
"So what's the real deal here?" Golden Dawn asked.
"Jade Circlet wants me to check out the mine before she reopens it, make sure it's safe and if it isn't, make it so."
"Aren't you worried that whatever was down there is still hanging around?" Blue Skies asked.
"Not particularly, it's been over 120 years since the mines closed, and even if there is something down there, I'm confident that I'm prepared for it," Kitchen Sink said.
"Have you done this kind of thing before?"
"Of course!" Kitchen Sink shouted out loud. "Well sort of anyway..."
"Sort of?"
"I've been doing odd jobs all my life, more than a few of them could be considered dangerous, but what I was specifically referring to was a time I took up a job to retrieve a long lost heirloom that had ended up in a dragon hoard."
"And you pulled it off?" Golden asked with a look of disbelief.
"Yeah... except when I got to the cave the dragon was gone, but I did fight off a bugbear that had moved in!"
"You guys have bugbears here too? I've got to hand it to you ponies, this place seems pretty peaceful considering how many different kind of monsters seem to be real here." I said.
"There's still a lot of dangerous places left in the world, places where dark and foul creatures roam unchecked. And we ponies are always growing, always moving into new areas. Sometimes the things that live in those areas don't like that very much and somepony has to step up to deal with them. I'm ready to be that pony." Kitchen Sink said seriously.
"So what do you need me for?" I asked.
"Well to be honest, I'm still kinda new at this, at least the more dangerous tasks. Having a partner who can see what I might have missed is going to be beneficial. But the biggest thing I need you for is moving my equipment, it's supposed to be coming in on tomorrow's train. I could haul it all down in a wagon but uh, I packed a lot of stuff and I'm not built like an earth pony. I don't care much for pulling a wagon that far. But you've got that thing, that device that I saw you driving through town the other day, it looks like it could haul all my stuff in one go."
"You mean my truck?" I asked
"If that's what you call it, the big metal wheeled thing."
"No offense but wouldn't paying some ponies to pull your stuff be cheaper?" Blue Skies asked.
"Yeah, but I’m going to be down there for at least two days, maybe three. I’ve got enough stuff coming that I’d need to hire two ponies. I figure one is cheaper to hire than two. Also, if you’re up for it, I’d like to have a second pair of eyes when I'm investigating, and I like to know that second pair of eyes isn't going to disappear at the first sign of trouble. Your friend here stood his ground against that diamond dog."
"That might just have been the alcohol," I said with a snort, "besides so did Golden Dawn and Blue Skies."
"Only after you made it clear you weren't going to back down. Individually, the natural reaction to danger for most ponies is to flee, if possible; it usually takes training to overcome that. We face danger best as a group, when one ponies stand together, the rest will usually join in, it comes from being a herd species."
"Back to the part where you need my truck, I'm not sure I can use it. I've only got so much fuel and there isn't anymore available in Equestria." I said.
Kitchen Sink began to muse this over, I don't think he was particularly happy to hear it, but before he could say anything Golden Dawn spoke up.
"I might have a solution for that," she said.
"Oh?" I asked.
"Yeah, I can't really talk about it right now, but I will meet you in the morning at the shop."
"The whole things sounds kind of dangerous." Blue Skies said.
"Why do you think I'm paying so well? Look I don't expect we'll actually find anything, it's been a very long time, but there's always a chance," Kitchen Sink said, then he turned to look at me. "In the end it's up to you to determine if the risk is worth the reward."
I thought quietly for a few minutes. Even with my limited knowledge of the Equestria economy, 40 bits was a lot of money to pass up. If I did this 1 thing, I could be on my way to Canterlot by the end of the week. The downside was the risk, but it sounded like that was minimal. Plus, Kitchen Sink was basically offering to take me on a quest. I was already in a fantasy world, how could I refuse something like this? It was, very likely, a once in a lifetime opportunity. My mind made up, I looked up at Kitchen Sink and responded. "I'll do it, provided we can figure out something for my truck."
"Meet me at the train station at noon tomorrow, bring the truck if you are in," Kitchen Sink said.
"Do I need to bring anything, besides myself and the truck?" I asked.
Kitchen Sink scrunched his nose up in thought for a moment.
"I um, well I've got a lot of stuff being delivered, I'm pretty sure I've got everything we might need. That being said, if you have your own weapons and want to use something you are comfortable with, feel free to bring them."
We had to get going after that, as the saloon was closing down for the night. Golden and Blue Skies walked back to the shop with me. Blue Skies expressed more concern over Kitchen Sink's job offer but Golden Dawn thought it was exactly what I was looking for. When I pressed her for more information on the possible fuel substitute her eyes twinkled in the moonlight.
"I'll show you in the morning," she said with a grin.
Even the excitement of the day wasn't enough to keep me from quickly falling asleep.
True to her word, Golden Dawn was there the next morning, bright and early. This time she let herself in and had the coffee brewing before she woke me up. I couldn't tell if the splitting headache I had when I woke up was because I was hung over or if I was still sick. So I did what I had been doing every morning, I popped down some painkillers. After that Golden Dawn and I shared a quick breakfast and she led me downstairs to the third room, the one that she had skipped over during the tour.
She opened the door and hit a switch, lights blinked on and the smell of oil singed my nostrils. Work benches lined three of the four walls, all of them covered in parts. Off in the corner of the room were two large barrels. I recognized them as the barrels that ponies stored kerosene in. There were two bulky objects covered in tarps in the center of the room. Golden walked over to the first tarp and pulled at the cord that tied it down with her teeth. The knot came loose and then she pulled the tarp away.
A large metal contraption was unveiled, standing nearly the height of the room. Golden trotted over to the device and inserted a small ruby into a slot, I hadn't even seen her pick it up. Then she trotted over to one of the barrels, next to it was a smaller container with a spout. She walked over to the contraption, opened a tank and poured in some liquid. She twisted a knob then walked behind the machine. I headed to the other side and watched her make a few more adjustments before turning a crank. Seconds later the entire device sputtered to life, I could see a piston pumping in and out and attached to a large metal wheel which was spinning at a rapid pace.
"Is that what I think it is?" I asked.
"If you think it's Equestria's first internal combustion engine, then you'd be right."
"You built this?" I asked while walking around the machine, watching all the moving parts. Golden nodded.
The wheel continued to spin steadily; a muted rumble and a rush of warm air washed over me as I passed the exhaust pipe of the machine.
"Should you be running this indoors? What about the exhaust?"
"We're fine, that ruby I inserted powers a modified pollution filter off a steam engine. It ran me a good number of bits but I wanted to be able to work on it in secret."
"When did you build this?"
"This one I finished about three months ago, the next version is under that tarp, it isn't done yet, in fact I may scrap it entirely."
"Why?"
"I came up with the idea for this engine back when I was in school. I've been putting every bit I could spare into getting it up and running. I've gone through dozens of variations and modifications before I finally came up with something both stable and efficient. What you see before you, I could bring that to the market right now as it is. It would revolutionize Equestria's transportation systems, power generation, anywhere steam engines are used today. As it stands, this engine is four times as efficient as the average steam engine and twice as efficient as magically boosted steam engines. But I learned a lot building it and the next version would have increased reliability and maybe even efficiency even further."
"Then why are you going to scrap it, what happened?"
"You did," she said with a smile.
"Me?"
"When you were describing your truck's diesel engine, it hit me. Your engine and mine, they both work on the same basic principles. A four stroke process, air is drawn in, compressed, fuel is injected and set off by the heat of the compression and finally exhaust. I don't know exactly how your diesel is made, but as far as I can tell, it's quite similar to what I use, a blend of kerosene and vegetable oil. I suspect my fuel would work in your truck... I have a confession to make, I took about a gallon of your fuel to run some tests, my engine burned it just fine," she said scratching the back of her head in a sheepish manner.
"You stole some of my fuel?" I was surprised.
"I'm really sorry, I should have just asked, but I didn't want to get your hopes up in case it didn't work. And if it destroyed my engine, well I was going to build a new one anyway, but your truck, it's one of a kind."
I sighed, "Alright, next time please ask me though, I would have said yes."
"I'm sorry, I promise I'll never do it again," she said bowing her head.
"I'm still a little worried about trying an unknown fuel, but I now that you mention it, I am pretty sure that some people make a fuel called biodiesel from vegetable oil, so your idea is probably sound. What I don't know is if there's any sort of conversion process that I need to do to the truck or if it will just run it as is."
I began to pace back and forth, if Golden's fuel did work I could buy some and drive all the way to Canterlot, which was much preferable to taking a train. The only risk was that if it didn't work, it could wreck my truck. Then an idea dawned on me.
"The generator!" I shouted, jumping up and down happily.
"The what?"
"That big metal box thing in the back of my truck, its a diesel generator, another engine that runs on the same fuel. We could test your stuff in that, if it's safe for the generator, it's probably safe for the truck and if the generator breaks, well, it's not as big of a deal."
We moved the generator outside and about a hundred feet from Golden's shop. I was fairly confident that if Golden's fuel didn't work the generator would just not run, but I didn't want to take any chances. Golden Dawn flew up into the sky and grabbed a large dark cloud just in case there was a fire. In the end our precautions were not needed. I drained the generator of the small amount of diesel that was in its tank, filled it up with the oil and kerosene blend and pulled the cord. A few more pulls and it sputtered to life. Golden Dawn leapt up into the air pumping her hooves in excitement. I left the thing running for a while, I wanted to make sure that it didn't have any issues after long term use, but a couple of hours later it still seemed fine.
Golden Dawn had barrels of the stuff, literally she had them in what looked like big 55 gallon drums, having made a large quantity of it in preparation for the work she was going to be doing with her own engine. The stuff was insanely cheap, at least from my perspective, 8 bits a barrel. Two of them should be enough to get me to Canterlot, but I asked Golden if I could buy three off of her after my work with Kitchen Sink was done. It would take a good chunk of the bits I was going to be earning, but I thought it would be worth it since I didn't know how easy it would be to get the components to make more fuel once I left Hoofston. She agreed and said she'd top of my tank as well before I left.
"But only under one condition," she said with a devious smile.
"What's that?" I asked.
"Before you take off to Canterlot, you gotta let me look at the engine in your truck."
"I would have let you do that anyway!"
I pulled up to the train station in my truck, parking a short walk from the building. I wore the revolver at my hip and back in the truck my lever action sat in the gun rack. In the back seat of the truck was a case of .44 magnum along with a pair of ear muffs and shooting glasses. I hoped I wouldn't need the guns, but Kitchen Sink had suggested bringing weapons and I was bound to be far more comfortable with these than whatever he had.
Kitchen Sink must have seen me coming because before as I was stepping out of the truck, I heard a pony walk up behind me.
"Just in time, the train will be here any minute." Kitchen Sink said. "I take it you solved your fuel problem."
"Yeah, I'll tell you about it on the way there," I said as we walked towards the unloading area.
He nodded towards the revolver, "that a weapon?"
"Uh yeah, that's not going to be a problem around here is it?" I asked nervously.
"Not unless you do something stupid with it." Kitchen Sink said with a smile.
Off in the distance the shrill whistle of a steam train cried out, alerting ponies to clear the tracks. The gentle chugging of a steam engine filled the air followed by the squeal of steel on steel as the approaching train began to slow down. It pulled into the station with a hiss and a puff of steam. Ponies began to disembark while Kitchen Sink and I headed towards the rear of the train. We waited as a team of unicorns began to unload crates, boxes and packages from the car. When the unloading process was finished, I followed Kitchen Sink over to a large stack of wooden crates.
"This is all yours?" I asked looking it over in awe.
"Yep, now you see why I didn't want to pull a wagon all by myself."
There was at least ten different crates and the pile was large enough that I was nervous about fitting it all in the back of the truck. I borrowed a dolly, while Kitchen Sink levitated some of the smaller crates over to the truck. The back of the truck was just big enough to fit everything without having to stack the crates too high.
Kitchen Sink carefully climbed into the passenger side.
"Not a lot of room in here," he said, having to sit almost sideways on the bench to fit even uncomfortably.
"Sorry, it wasn't designed for ponies." I said while starting the engine.
"So I know you said this place is down the old mining road, and I'm going to assume that is the one I took with Golden when we got my truck out of the Badlands, but how far is this place exactly?" I asked.
"Bout 160 miles from here, there's nothing else out there anymore, there had been a small town built up around the mine but it closed down when the mine did, so we're going to have to bring our own supplies. If it lasts long enough we'll either have to hire somepony to bring us more, or head back to town when we start to run low." Kitchen Sink said.
"What's in the crates?" I asked.
"Shelter, cookware, traps, gadgets and weaponry."
"I thought you were already carrying weapons."
"I am, but since I didn't know what was in there I brought a variety, I like to have the right weapon for the job."
“You sure you didn’t overpack?” I asked, looking at the stack of crates again.
Kitchen Sink looked genuinely confused at my question. “Overpack? There’s no such thing.”
We stopped by the market and bought enough food for a few days, I packed as much as I could fit into the cooler, for once being glad that I only owned an oversized one.
"I've got to make one quick stop and then we can get on our way," I said.
I drove over to Golden Dawn's shop and then asked Kitchen Sink to get out. Climbing behind the front seat, I took a look at how the bench connected to the floor of the cabin. At first glance it looked like one long unit but there was separation about 1/3 of the way from the driver's side. I reached under and found a lever which disconnected the seat from the rails that held it down.
With a bit of struggling I was able to remove the bench, making a lot more room. If Kitchen Sink was willing to sit on the floor, he’d have plenty of room now. All I’d really need were some blankets piled on the ground, they’d make for a decent cushion. Of course this meant no seat belt but they didn’t fit ponies anyway.
Kitchen Sink opened the door for me while I carried the bench inside, the main room was empty but the door to where Golden's engine was sitting was open. I put the bench down in the corner near my trailer and walked over. Golden was inside making some adjustments to her engine.
"Hey Golden," I said waving to get her attention.
She looked up and gave me a bright smile, "hi Hail Storm, you headed out?"
"Sure am, I should be back in a few days, I just wanted to swing by before I left and give you something."
"What is it?" she asked curiously as she leaned sideways, trying to see if I was holding something behind my back.
"The generator we tested the fuel on, it's not my truck but unlike the truck you can take that thing apart and if you can't get it back together... well I was going to sell it anyway."
"Are you sure?" she asked.
"Absolutely, think of it as a thank you for saving my life."
Golden Dawn jumped up, beaming with joy, she was so happy I swear I heard her squeak with glee.
"Thanks Hail! This is awesome!"
I was about to head out but then a light bulb clicked on in my head.
"Hey Golden, my guess is none of your tools are going to fit the bolts or screws on that thing," I said pointing at the generator.
"Oh you're right, probably not," she said dejectedly. "I can make custom tools but that will make everything take longer."
For once, I had a quick solution.
"No need! I've got a whole boatload of tools in the back of my trailer."
I ran outside to tell Kitchen Sink that it was going to be a few minutes, then hurried back in to unlock the trailer. I proceeded to dig through it, looking for the tools my dad had left me. It took about ten minutes to find all of them and dig them out. I put them on one of the workbenches and then headed back to the trailer. I grabbed a few spare blankets, the big kind you use to protect things when you’re moving. They’d make for a good padding on the floor of the truck so it wasn’t so uncomfortable for Kitchen Sink. I locked up the trailer and walked back over to Golden Dawn.
"That's everything I've got, hopefully you can figure it out, if not you'll have to go the custom tool route. Oh and you can still look at the truck when I get back, but maybe you'll learn something from the generator."
“Thanks Hail Storm. Good luck with Kitchen Sink, and stay safe,” Golden Dawn said, she jumped up and gave me a hug.I hesitated for a moment, then returned the gesture.
With that settled, I went back outside. Kitchen Sink was standing next to the truck, patiently waiting for me. I apologized for the delay, opened the passenger door, and spread the blankets out on the floor.
Kitchen Sink climbed in, mussed with the blankets and then sat down. I got into the driver's seat, started the truck up and headed out of town. 15 minutes later I was pulling on to the old mining road. The trip down to the mines took about four hours, the beginning of the road was in pretty good condition, but the farther we drove, the words it got. I would have never been able to do the last ten miles in my normal car, thankfully the truck had big tires and 4WD. On the way down Kitchen Sink asked me about myself and I gave him a quick summary of the recent events in my life that had lead me to Equestria.
"So you're from another world?" he asked, eyes wide with disbelief.
"As far as I know, I mean maybe this could be Earth, super far in the future, or something but I doubt it."
"I can see why you want to get to Canterlot. Well, the ponies you've talked to are right, if anypony can help you, it's going to be one of the princesses. I’d almost say send a telegram, but no offense, if I hadn’t seen you and your stuff, I’d not believe it. First relay station your telegram hit and they’d think it was a practical joke."
“Golden Dawn was thinking about sending a letter, but she had no idea where to send it. I also didn’t realize you guys had telegrams, where are the lines?” I asked.
“They run along the train tracks, in underground pipes. Most places use buried lines, only in some cities, like Manehattan, do you see above ground lines on poles.”
“What about phones? Could I like call the princesses? Golden Dawn mentioned knowing what a phone was,” I said.
“Pretty new, there’s no cross country phone system in place yet. Manehattan and a few other of the larger cities have semi-public networks but that's it. Canterlot is not one of them. As far as I know Hoofston isn’t either. There’s talk about eventually connecting all the cities but my guess is it’s years off.”
We bantered back and forth about Equestrian and Human technology. I showed Kitchen Sink my cell phone and did my best to describe what it could do. He was really taken with the idea of being able to make a phone call from pretty much anywhere, no wires needed. As we got farther and farther from Hoofston, I began to notice something. I didn’t know if it was the excitement of finding some work, or maybe I was just starting to get over whatever had been plaguing me, but as we drove out towards the old mine, I actually started to feel better. Better than than I had for the last few days anyway. Even my headache had all but disappeared.
Finally, we arrived at a small box canyon, nestled up between the walls of two of the taller western mountains. Sheer rock walls rose up at least 100 feet on either side of us and the road narrowed for about a quarter of a mile before flaring open again into a ring of stone. Here and there the partially collapsed skeletons of buildings stood strewn throughout the small canyon floor. The only building that still looked completely intact was a large stone structure built almost right up against the far wall. Kitchen Sink instructed me to pull in front of that building and then we got out.
"So what do we do now?" I asked.
"First we setup camp," he said and I helped him unload the truck.
One by one he opened the various crates, as he did I let out out a long whistle, one crate after the other were packed full of various types of weaponry including crossbows, regular bows, swords, spears, knives, hammers and more.In addition to that there was at least a half dozen heavy steel bear traps, and what looked like parts to build some other traps as well. One of the smaller crates was marked dynamite, I wasn't sure how I had missed that one earlier. I raised my eyebrows at it but said nothing.
The collection of weapons was an impressive but it did strike me a bit odd how… archaic… they all were. My initial impression of an 1800s western level of technology I had been proven wrong, but in the opposite direction. Ponies appeared to at least have technology comparable to the early 1900s, even without bringing in the things they could do with magic. The weapons on the other hand looked like they were from the medieval era.
"Planning on arming a band of ponies and terrorizing the countryside?" I asked, pointing at the pile.
"I'll have you know that each of these weapons has specific uses and since I don't know what is down there, it's safer to bring everything."
"Okay, I get that you want to be prepared, but a lot of these weapons look similar to me, like what's the reasoning behind bringing 4 different swords?"
"Enchantments, " Kitchen Sink said while picking up one of the swords I was looking at. "This one, for example, will cut through damned near any type of unenchanted armor." He put the sword down and picked up another, I could just make out a very faint glow when he picked it up. "While this one is specifically for dealing with undead."
"Undead?"
"Yeah like vampires and zombies."
Whelp that settles it, this can’t be a universe spawned by a little girl’s imagination. Unless she’s into Dungeons and Dragons. What have I gotten myself into?
"Why can't you just have one weapon with multiple enchantments?" I asked.
"How heavily you can enchant something depends on a variety of things, the skill of the enchanter and the material the object is made out of. Most metals don't hold enchantments very well, the exception to that being mithril, and even then it takes an entirely different kind of magic to work with metal than gems, which are how most things are usually enchanted. But even with mithril some enchantments will interfere with each other. For example, it's impossible to mix a hellfire blade with a frost enchantment, even with mithral."
"Ok, instead of multiple enchantments what about a combining the properties into a single enchantment? Like you mentioned the super sharp blade and the other one that will hurt undead. Why not just create an enchantment that's super sharp plus hurts undead?"
"You've got a good mind for this, coming from a species that doesn't know magic exists." Kitchen Sink said looking impressed.
"Thanks, I credit it to an unhealthy obsession with fantasy games for much of my teens and early twenties."
"In fact, you are correct, that is how ponies have gotten around the limitation of lesser metals in the past, but there's a catch. Enchanting an object is a fairly complicated procedure and requires a great deal of practice to do it correctly. The more complicated the enchantment, the harder it is to successfully pull it off. Something like my eversharp blade enchantment, even a student could probably pull off, but each subsequent property adds to the complexity and the effect is multiplicative. Even a grandmaster level enchanter would have trouble combining more than five or six properties into a single enchantment, only somepony like Princess Celestia could hope to do more."
Kitchen Sink pulled out a large canvas tent and got to work setting it up while I gathered some rocks and made a fire pit. There was a severe lack of trees inside the canyon, but there were plenty of decrepit buildings so firewood wasn't going to be an issue. An hour later we finished with setting up the camp to Kitchen Sink's satisfaction. Kitchen Sink suggested that we should take a break and have some food, my stomach agreed, and we headed back to the truck to retrieve the cooler.
"I assume you have a plan?" I asked Kitchen Sink between bites of my sandwich.
"The entrance to the mine is on the right side of the old company headquarters, the building in front of us. First thing to do is go get it unsealed, then we head in and make our way down to the lowest level, that's where the cavern entrance is. We're going to have to unseal that as well and then we head in."
"You brought all these weapons and each has a specific purpose, but you aren't going to be able to carry them all, how does that work."
"Because our first time down there, we're going to be scouting it out. We investigate, search for clues and avoid conflict until we know what we're up against, once I know what we're up against, we'll return to the surface and formulate a plan of attack."
"What if we get spotted and attacked before we can get back up here?" I asked.
"Well, we're going in armed and a weapon is better than no weapon, but that's what these are for." he said, levitating a pair of necklaces up from the box he had just opened.
At the end of each necklace hung a small green jewel. He placed one of them around his neck and the jewel flashed brightly for a moment before fading to a dim but steady glow.
"What is it?" I asked.
"I'll show you in a moment, I'll be right back." Kitchen Sink set the second necklace back down and then got up and headed over behind one of the crumbling walls of a partially collapsed building where we had dug a pit to use as a latrine. I patiently waited for him to finish his business, but after several minutes he still hadn't returned.
"Kitchen Sink?" I called out.
When there was no reply I stood up. I was about to walk over when Kitchen Sink told me to sit back down.
"What the?" I asked, confused. He was sitting on the rock in front of me, exactly where he was before he left. He had left, walked behind the wall and then walked right back out and sat down. I could remember it clearly now.
"You came back right away and then sat down, it wasn't like invisibility or anything, I remember you walking back there now, but I didn't actually notice you until said something."
"The enchantment on the necklace makes you hard to notice, by altering the memory of anyone that sees you, and making them immediately forget that they did see you. It doesn't work if you're seen putting it on, until you are able to break line of sight, which is why I had to go walk behind that wall. Drawing attention to yourself will also breaks the spell and the alterations to your memory will fall apart almost instantly. Even without breaking the spell, those alterations don't hold up, within half an hour they fade away. The two necklaces are linked so we won't lose track of each other while we wear them."
"That's incredible," I said with awe.
As it was growing late, we decided to hold off on going into the mine till the next morning. I woke up to the crackle of a campfire and crawled out of the tent. Kitchen Sink was standing over over the fire tending to what looked like two cast iron pans stuck together on a hinge. He lifted it up, opened the top pan and tipped the bottom upside-down. A large waffle fell out of the pan onto a stack that he had behind him. He passed me a plate and two of the waffles. After breakfast he walked back over to the box that had the enchanted necklaces and grabbed them, slipping one over his neck.
"Are you ready to head in?" Kitchen Sink asked, floating the second necklace over to me.
"As ready as I'll ever be." I said, taking the necklace. My hand brushed up against Kitchen Sink’s magical glow. I had never come in contact with a unicorn’s magic before.My whole arm went numb and I almost dropped the necklace. Then, as quickly as the feeling appeared, it vanished as Kitchen Sink’s horn went dark and the field dissipated.
I placed the necklace over my neck and a wave of dizziness washed over me.
"Whoa, is it supposed to feel so strange?" I asked, looking to Kitchen Sink.
"Huh? No, you shouldn't feel anything," he said.
"When I put it on, I felt really dizzy, but I think it's starting to fade."
After a minute it had all but disappeared, but I still felt off. It wasn't easy to describe, the closest I could compare it to was the onset of a cold when you know you're going to be sick soon but the real symptoms haven't quite hit you yet.
"I think I'll be okay," I said "Let me grab my stuff and then we can head out."
"Alright, but let me know if you have any more issues."
Kitchen Sink had a pair of sturdy metal flashlights, he gave one to me and kept the other for himself, placing it in his saddle bag; then he picked up a large lantern with a crystal inside the glass. Then he walked over to the crates of weaponry and selected a sword. He switched it with the one that he had been carrying but kept the same crossbow. Finally, he picked up a small quiver of bolts which he then looped around his neck.
I ran to the truck, grabbed my rifle and slung it over my shoulder. I opened the ammo can that was sitting on the seat and took out ten rounds. One by one, I inserted them into the rifle’s loading gate. Then I took another then and pushed them into the loops on the rifle’s cheek rest.
Lastly, I loaded six rounds into the revolver and placed it back into the holster. The earmuffs went into my backpack, along with my first aid kit and a canteen of water and some food. It would be too dark in the cave to wear the tinted safety glasses that I had so I left them. I did one final check to make sure I wasn’t missing anything and then ran back over to where Kitchen Sink was waiting.
We followed some rusty tracks around the stone building and up to the face of the cliff. The entrance to the mine was supposed to be sealed and it looked like it had been at one point. Now though, it was only partially blocked by a broken wall of rocks. In front of that wall was a scattered pile of rubble.
"Maybe somebody broke in?" I asked.
Kitchen Sink trotted up to the entrance and peered inside.
"Look at the wreckage," Kitchen Sink said, as he pointed at the debris strewn around. "It's all on the outside, the inside of the mine is clear. Nopony broke in, somepony or something broke out."
He took one more look into the tunnel, then back at the camp as if trying to make sure he had remembered everything. Then he turned to me and asked.
"Probably a little late to ask but you're not claustrophobic are you?
Tight enclosed spaces? Where I'm surround by the ground? That actually doesn't sound bad at all.
"I've never had any problems with small spaces before."
"Good."
Kitchen Sink's horn lit up and the lantern floated in front of him. The crystal began to glow with a very bright white light. It was time to go down into the mine.
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Just incase nobody sees the accidental or intended reference.
Half-Life 2
G-man: "The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world."
I just noticed it and thought it was a reference.
Bravo. You solved the problem!
Cool facts: Newer diesel engines can run kerosene nearly straight. 1:10 heavy heating oil to kero, because kerosene doesn't have much in lubricating attributes. A diesel can also run straight vegetable oil without any modifications, but it's harsh on later model engines. Light heating oil and diesel are nearly identical in viscosity, but diesel is "cleaner" as it is more refined, and more finely filtered.
At any given rate, I like how you solved the fuel problem. You have this mechanic's respect.
7930915
I am extremely far from being a mechanic, but I did go into this story with a general idea of how engines worked. On top of that, I wanted to make sure any time human tech shows up, I, as the author, have at least some understanding of how it works in the real world so I can write about it in a reasonably accurate way. I read up on the history of gasoline and diesel engines before writing this, and a fair bit on how diesel engines work (as I'm more familiar with gasoline).
I knew the blend should work (even if it isn't the best for the engine) which is why I went with a diesel truck instead of a gas powered car. I have no idea how gas is refined from oil and I figured that would be a bit far fetched for GD to have in her shop
So the story title isn't meaningful, then?
7930982
I wouldn't say that. There's a reason I chose the title I did.
7930973 that is exceedingly awesome of you to do that much research for your writing.
Really cool fact: the diesel engine was originally designed to run on peanut oil. Pretty neat, right?
7932363
Thanks for all the comments, I love it when I get to hear what my readers are thinking about.
It's a little bit of both. I like the idea of Celestia and Luna being unique. Until the show introduced Cadance and turned Twilight into an alicorn, they were. To give them back some of their uniqueness, in this particular story they aren't *just* alicorns, they are immortal beings that have taken a pony form. Twilight and Cadance are alicorns, but they are still mortal ponies. In their case they represent the peak abilities and form that a mortal pony can reach, though they are still growing into that role. So, as time goes on they would grow in strength, but I'd never place them at the same level as Celestia or Luna.
So much of pony abilities stem from the fact that they are an inherently magical species. Look at it as a home-field advantage kind of thing. If you took a pony from Equestria and threw them into a universe where magic didn't work, they'd lose their strength, their flight, their magic. Even something as simple as picking something up with their hooves would no longer work.
7931280
7933382
Well, that's a plus!
7934944
Thank you for the compliment, I hope you continue to enjoy it!
♪I think they missed one!♫
I'm happy and I know others are happy that they found this story. You got your self a new follower. I love it when someone puts a lot of work into there story.
7948449
Thanks!
I'm glad you are enjoying it so far!
Im looking forward to seeing more of this fic.Very well written with thoughtful details that dont break flow at all.Leaving a like and fav,it deserves more attetion. ^.^
It's nice to see that someone else appreciates the qualities of a .44 Magnum lever-action carbine.
Sure, it lacks the range and accuracy of the more famous 30-30, but those heavy soft-point slugs make a mess of whatever they hit.
Don't do it! Don't you fucking do it! You're Black Hand!! YOU'RE BLACK HAND!!!
cinefex.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/image_10.jpg
If it's that Tatzlwurm he shot earlier, I'm gonna fucking laugh...
Anyone notice how whenever he's around magic he gets sick? I'm suddenly thinking radiation.
A shame Hal doesn't have those special shooters earplugs, they protect against the sharp sudden noise of firing a weapon, but allow conversations
Something is deeply wrong with this economic system. Golden spent 3 bits on a towel, and I'm guessing their breakfast and drinks weren't free either.
8410618
The 3 bits wasn't just for a towel, but a towel, supplies and a cast iron pan, and Hail didn't catch how much the meals cost. At some point during writing this, I tried to normalize most prices to about 1 bit = ~12 USD (I was using 1920s dollar prices and it just happened to line up to about that) That is of course, when I could find prices for things, I'll admit a good chunk of the economics is just me fudging numbers, but I am trying for some consistency :P
the last " after the question
Let me guess: mithril.
well I guess we now know why he is called Kitchen Sink.