The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

The Search For Harmony

"An incredibly deep hole in the ground?" Saffron Sunflower scratched her head with her good foreleg, the other bound tightly in a splint constructed from two thin metal pipes from the cargo bay. "Well, sure, there's ravines all over. What's your purpose?"

"We need one deep enough to reach a crystal palace," Jamjars said, standing at the foot of her bed with a pleading, cutesy expression. "We're looking for ways to refuel the ship."

Saffron frowned. "Well, I can't say I know a whole lot about those, but I suppose your best bet would have to be that canyon over east separating us from the forest. Wish I could remember its name. But it's real windy, so you can't fly down, and there's some griffon legends about monsters and I don't think anyone's ever reached the bottom. Which probably means you can't, either."

"I don't think that will work," Maple apologized, looking over from her own bed. "Garsheeva's is only a day's flight north of here, and the one in Ironridge was a month's flight away. We found a map in Sosa's journal, and the closest one is likely far southwest of here."

"Any idea exactly how far southwest, and a more precise direction?" Saffron perked her ears. "Like I said, I know a lot of deep places. Caves make for good exploring, and all. Help me narrow it down, here."

Maple's face fell. "If it's that far away, it would be easier for us just to take a Writ of Harmonic Sanction and try to cross back over the mountains... assuming we need them anymore, and that the Empire is still standing on the other side. I think we're just going to have to find a way to get the ship to water and sail."

Jamjars blew a raspberry. "Easy for you to say. Any ideas?"

Saffron scratched her chin. "Well, there's a whole lot of hills and rivers around these parts. What if we could build a dam, divert a river and get it to help carry the ship to the sea? Might be a little rough on the hull..."

"Would that actually work?" Maple drew a small gasp, then winced from the movement in her ribs.

Saffron shrugged. "You'd have to ask an engineer. I'm just brainstorming."

"Your contribution is appreciated." Jamjars tossed her mane, which she had finally started growing back after keeping it short to fit in her wig throughout much of their time in the Empire. "I'm going to go talk with my team."

---

Grenada and Glimmer were waiting patiently in the library, the former sorting books that had been stacked but not reshelved and the latter existing sightlessly in a reading chair. Both looked up when Jamjars approached. "Well?" Grenada flicked her ears.

Jamjars struck up an important trot, chin held high. "Regretfully, Maple agrees with you that the nearest crystal palace isn't near at all," she announced, pointing a hoof at Glimmer. "Which means we'll have to hope we can reach it by sailing. Now we just need to get mana power so we can sail, and get the ship back in the sea."

"I almost wonder if it would be easier finishing the harmony extractor and making it be powered by ponies the way Arambai initially designed," Grenada muttered. "So we could fly it ourselves."

Glimmer nodded. "That's what it was originally designed for, after all. Theoretically, we have windigo hearts to act as batteries, and could find a way to charge one gradually until it had enough power to carry us to the sea. But in practice, it's not so easy."

Jamjars regarded her keenly. "Keep talking."

"I wouldn't be surprised if Arambai left a book here explaining it succinctly," Glimmer continued. "The term 'harmony extractor' is a misnomer. The machine as Arambai designed it is more of a harmony borrower. Think of a pony as a closed system that is harmonic, but neither produces nor consumes harmony. It is a catalyst that enables the functionality of much of our magic. So a pony connecting to the extractor, rather than somehow draining their harmony, makes them and the machine part of the same closed system, so the machine effectually borrows their-"

"Uhhh..." Jamjars' face twisted. "What?"

Glimmer sighed. "It's difficult to put this simply. The harmonic flame in the windigo hearts has been acting like fuel, right?"

"Yeah, isn't that the point?" Jamjars frowned.

"It isn't fuel." Glimmer started to pace. "Not in the sense that it can be created or consumed like... It isn't physical and it isn't energy. It's..."

She gritted her teeth, plainly aware Jamjars was staring. "The point is, every harmonic life form has some harmony that's unique and innate to them. It's not a lot, but using it doesn't make it go away. Connecting yourself to the harmony extractor, in most cases, lets the machine use yours as well, without any going away."

Jamjars puffed her lip in thought. "Okay, so what you really mean to say is that ponies can't put their harmony in windigo hearts since it can only be borrowed and not used up or given away."

"Thank you! Exactly." Glimmer's shoulders sagged. "It would be like trying to give away your head, which is attached to you and you only have one of and need to survive. Think of a pony as a closed system with a set amount of harmony. Think of that same pony hooked up to the machine as also a closed system with the same amount of harmony, only the machine is like a second horn or an extra pair of wings or an extension of their body they can use to create magic."

Jamjars pointed a hoof. "So what happens if you hook up multiple ponies at once? There are two helmet things on the extractor, after all."

Grenada shook her head. "You cannot. Those are there as backups because the helmets and their wiring were the most delicate part of the system and the only one to reliably break. If two ponies connect at once, it does not work."

Glimmer nodded. "For the purposes of thinking about harmony, the machine becomes part of the connected pony's body in that it is linked to their magic. Trying to link it to two ponies at once causes the two unique cutie marks' energy to clash and destabilize the system. In order to have multiple ponies' harmonic signatures resonate perfectly, their cutie marks have to be bound, earned at the same time, by the same event and for the same purpose. A powerful emotional bond is also needed. True friendship, love..."

"Okay, but we don't have any of that, so how relevant is it?" Jamjars tilted her head. "Unless Maple and Amber..."

"They got theirs some time apart, if I recall." Glimmer flicked her tail. "And it's relevant as long as you're hoping to improve that generator as a means of getting us out of these hills. That said, I give Saffron's far-fetched dam idea about twenty times higher odds of success."

"Noted..." Jamjars sagged. "So we're back to looking for mana power. Who wants to bet the griffons have some to trade?"

"We have restaurant money." Glimmer shrugged. "And they apparently take the same currency as in the Empire here."

Grenada cleared her throat. "If living beings are closed systems from which it is impossible to isolate this harmonic catalyst, where does the energy in the flames come from, why are we able to contain it in windigo hearts, and why is it consumed upon being put in the reactor or your Aegis? According to the initial goals laid out for the extractor, this was supposed to be a perpetual energy source that could be renewed freely as long as ponies were around to power it, like you are saying now."

"Like I said." Glimmer turned in a circle and sat back down, curling up in a reading chair. "There are ways. It is possible. It's just a lot harder than it sounds. Still could be worth looking into, but even just mana power is a good first goal and I give other ways better chances of success."

Grenada was still thinking. "If we obtain the energy from the root of the world, and assume the windigo hearts are part of the world, so it technically is not removed, we could treat the world as a closed system..." She tilted her head and frowned. "By that model and your logic, the world itself is a living organism."

Glimmer blinked. "...Well, a lot of small cultures and tribes view the world the same way. It's certainly not a bad worldview to live by. Take care of your environment, and all that. But anyway, enough about that! Let's talk more about trying to trade for energy with the griffons."

Comments

[Phoenix Kitten]

Welcome (back) to Equestria, you're not going to find any sort of power like that here!
Seriously, the trains are steam powered, and sometimes not even that, they're drawn along by other ponies.
Heck, Griffonstone, by architectural standards, is probably one of the least advanced parts of the greater Equestrian halidom, beaten only by Yakyakistan, and it's the capital of the griffon's living in the halidom.

...are the crew of the Dream going to be responsible for the Idol of Boreas falling into the abyss?

[Quinch]

In order to have multiple ponies' harmonic signatures resonate perfectly, their cutie marks have to be bound, earned at the same time, by the same event and for the same purpose. A powerful emotional bond is also needed. True friendship, love..."

I feel like this would be a Chekov's gun if this wasn't taking place this far in the past. But maybe it will go on to explain some events in the show?