Chapter 11: To a Crystal City
Theo was supposed to be helping Sharp bring the Horizon down—but instead of doing anything useful, she stood completely still, staring off the edge at what was below them.
They’re supposed to be primitive. A traditional village frozen in the north, with a few bits of medieval hardware in Sharp’s tower.
Everything Theo thought she knew about the ponies and their world shattered before her eyes as she got her first look at the Crystal Empire. Semitransparent spires as large as skyscrapers rose into the air ahead of them. A single spectacular structure at the very center looked like it might be able to rival some of Earth’s largest buildings.
She saw artificial light glowing in the buildings, saw the smoke of distant factories, and smelled a thousand different kinds of cooking food. Voices she could only understand thanks to her necklace all blended together as ponies lived and worked down in the city below.
One thing she didn’t see were vehicles. While the sky was thick with pegasus ponies in flight, often zipping between open balconies in the huge structures, the only vehicles she could see were carts and carriages with ponies pulling them. Maybe they don’t need them. They’ve got way more endurance than we do. It was definitely more of a European city than what little she’d seen of the US—everything was packed in close.
“Summer, are you done gawking?” Sharp shouted from beside her. “Down there, see that pony? He’s going to throw you a line. Tie it off on the thick railing sticking up from the side there. That’s what it’s for.”
Theo blushed, ears flattening as she hurried over to obey. While she stared at the spectacular city, the Horizon had come almost all the way down into the dock. There were dozens of other ships parked here, some of which made theirs look like a toy. But she wouldn’t think about that now.
“Ready on the rope, mate?” called a pony standing on the other side of the wooden platform, meeting her eyes. “I’ll throw if you’re on it.”
“Ready,” she said, staring at the rope as it hovered in the air beside him. The pony had a bony ridge protruding from his face, and it was glowing. This is a unicorn. They mentioned something about this.
She nearly dropped the rope, but her claws dug in tight, and she stopped it from slipping away. Theo was no sailor, but she could wrap a rope around a pole and tie it off well enough.
“There, that’s—” But the pony hadn’t stayed to watch. He didn’t seem to much care how she did.
“We’re actually here!” Emerald said from beside her, tightening her scarf on her shoulders. “The Crystal Empire. You hear stories about it, but…” She looked up. Now that they were on the ground, most of the buildings loomed over their heads. Occasionally the sun would catch one right, and she could see the dark shapes of ponies inside, doing whatever ponies did inside skyscrapers.
“It’s amazing,” Theo said. “Looks like… these buildings are somehow made from single pieces of rock. How did they get it up here? What stops it from shattering?”
“Magic,” Sharp said, tapping her lightly on the shoulder. He was tucking something away into a satchel with his hoof—a slip of paper with official-looking stamps all over it. “Obviously. Though more serious, I don’t think anypony actually knows how the Crystal Empire was built. The old stories say the ancients grew their buildings, using the magic of their fellowship. But nopony remembers. That’s why the city has an earth district. Which… we’ll be staying in, unfortunately. Too many wealthy tourists from Equestria come up here. Unless you’re hiding a huge purse I didn’t see, Summer.”
She blushed slightly at the name, but didn’t argue. It was obvious how much easier it was for the ponies to say. Besides, it matched better. “I still have my stuff, but… I’m not sure ponies would be interested in trading for any of it. Better not.” Theo adjusted the saddlebags on her shoulders, freeing her wings from their weight. She was carrying all her human possessions with her at all times—she didn’t trust them to be left behind on this airship.
“Then let’s find an inn. Expect… maybe two days here in the Empire? We need to resupply for the trip south, and visit the library. I don’t precisely know where we can find the hippogriffs. Your tribe has never been terribly open with details.”
Theo followed him over to the plank bridge leading up to the deck, but stopped as soon as she reached it. Emerald had dropped onto the ground right where she had been earlier, staring off at the city between the rail with a glazed, distant look.
Sharp winced as he saw, pawing at the ground. “Losing her mother… I knew she was going to be like this. But how do you help a pony who’s…”
One of Theo’s eyebrows went up. Sharp always seemed so quick on his hooves, so clever. He didn’t know how to do something.
“Nothing can take it away,” she whispered. “The pain of losing a parent… stays with you. But we can distract her, help her move on.”
She crossed the deck slowly, so that it wouldn’t look like she was upset with the child. While she moved, she fished around with her head in the nearest bag. There was something there, something that might help.
By the time she’d reached her, she had the cube of sturdy plastic in one claw, hidden from sight. “Hey, Emerald.”
“Hey.” She didn’t look up.
“We’re going into the Crystal Empire now. Don’t you think it will look even cooler up close?”
“I guess.”
“I, uh… I think I’ll need your help with something, Emerald. Do you think you could?”
That made her look up, eyes widening a little. “My help? I don’t know very much, Summer. Less than I thought I did.”
Theo lifted her claw, settling the box in front of her. “Do you remember this?”
“That’s your… magical camera,” she said. “The one that makes little pictures come out the side.”
“Right. See… I would like to take good pictures of Equestria while I’m here, so I can show my friends back home. But Sharp might need me, so… I was hoping you would.”
“You’ll let me…” She reached out with one hoof, touching the side of the box as though she thought it were going to crumble away. “You’ll really let me use a camera?”
She nodded. “It can only print a few pictures, so we’ll keep them digital while we’re here—” And there wasn’t a hint of recognition on her face. Magical translation apparently had its limits. She tried again. “It’s a powerful spell, it can keep all its pictures inside. Whenever you take one, you’ll see it appear on the back. That’s how you know it’s safe inside. At the end of the day, I’ll let you pick one to print.”
Emerald squealed with excitement, hurrying over. Theo was dimly aware of a group of several professional-looking ponies waiting on the dock—service workers, by the look of them, waiting for them to leave so they could do their jobs. But she couldn’t bring herself to feel awkward.
Emerald’s mom was trash, but she didn’t deserve to lose her. From the look of things, Sharp was going to deal with them.
She explained the little Polaroid’s functions, posing for her so the child could take a picture. “Wow, you’re right! It’s right on the back! That’s amazing!”
“Sure is,” Theo agreed. “And there’s a strap, you can keep it on your neck like this. Then just… lift it up when there’s something you want to take a picture of. Just remember to switch it off when you’re not using it. Once that battery runs out…” She shook her head. “The magic will run out.” Unless I can remember enough of my basic electrician skills to wire a 5V 500mA charger using wire and string.
They clambered off the Horizon a minute or so later, with Emerald now scanning the skyline with a critical eye, occasionally lifting the camera and then lowering it again. Sharp nodded his appreciation, but didn’t say anything. Not where the child could hear.
“Earth district is this way,” Sharp said, pointing laterally along the crystal structures. There were a few transparent buildings out here too, but most of them were small, and they were outnumbered by newer buildings made of black brick. A few had been painted in pastels to imitate the rest of the city, but most of the bricks were left naked, to be stained with soot and snow and other things.
“Will we see the palace? I heard that anypony can walk right up to the Crystal Heart and see it for themselves!” Emerald said.
“Tomorrow,” Sharp promised. “I have to sell a few things today, to…” He coughed, looking away. “Finance this trip. We should be able to find some time to visit the palace. But we won’t be able to go inside, Emerald. We don’t have any official business.” There was a little bitterness in his voice, but he didn’t press.
The further they walked, the fewer crystal buildings she saw. Whatever else he’d said, Sharp was obviously right about the ponies of today not knowing how to build crystal structures. Dozens of brick and stone buildings were packed into a few circular rings, imitating the crystal city beside them the same way a sandcastle might imitate the expensive resort it was built in front of.
The ponies here had no fancy clothes, and most were stained with ash or grease from their work. Many of them stared at her as she passed, whispering quietly to one another. But they didn’t seem afraid or upset. If anything, these ponies seemed excited to have her there. But none were brave enough to stop them, and Sharp marched them right up to an inn.
As she followed him inside, she took in the old-fashioned construction in a single glance. Warm fireplace by one wall, old wooden tables, and a row of mailboxes beside a pegboard of keys.
She let Sharp deal with getting their room, while she and Emerald waited behind him. There weren’t very many others in the inn right now—a few sailor-looking ponies in one corner, sipping huge tankards and filling the inn with a musky scent far stronger and somehow less refined than Sharp’s.
“Do you think we’ll get to see the rest of Equestria too?” Emerald asked from beside her, voice tentative. “I always knew I’d get a chance to go down to the Crystal Empire, but… it’s so far away from everything else. They say nopony gets to leave Sleighsburg. It always pulls them back in.”
“I don’t know,” Theo answered, honestly. “We’re mostly here for the library. But we will get to visit the place Hippogriffs come from. Some kind of mountain, or… I don’t actually know. But it sounds like it would be fun to visit too.”
She trailed off, eyes widening as something across the street caught her eye. A huge glass window, unlike anything she’d seen in Equestria yet. Sharp was still haggling over prices—Theo wandered back out, crossing the little courtyard over to the storefront so she could look in.
Instead of being a dim, cozy space, this store was wide and spacious, with a wooden floor and tables spread in orderly lines. Lights shone from overhead, white and electric and familiar. Products were on display on the tables, with little price tags in front of each and ponies walking around between them.
How the hell is this here? She leaned in close, squinting through the dirty glass at the nearest table. That was no macbook resting on the table, but a silvery flashlight, with a wide grip and a strap to be used by a pony. The rest of the store was filled with similar things—little electrical devices, made to be used by ponies.
“Look at those prices,” Emerald said from beside her, voice wistful. “We used to make less than that in a month.”
Across the courtyard, she could see Sharp emerging from the hotel, gesturing for them to follow. Theo turned, shepherding the pegasus reluctantly back. This pony city was wonderful, but the more of it she saw, the more questions it raised. Who the hell copied an Apple Store in Equestria?
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Apple Store selling I-pones
Calling it now: the hippogriffs are seaponies at this point in time.
Considering the state of electrical tech, it's not terribly surprising a battery operated flashlight is an expensive toy compared to a more pedestrian lamp with some firefly-things in it. I do hope Summer- er, Theo, keeps the her private stash hidden. It'd be like the movies where a stranger from the future has all this ultra-hightech gadgets on them. It'd blow the minds of today's scientists yet not be out of the reach of replication with enough time and resources. It never goes well for the traveller when the locals find out about the future-tech goodies.
Sounds like something an Apple pony would have done. Or maybe Twilight.
Oh Theo... You have no idea.
This is one of the best ongoing stories I've read recently.
Well written, finely paced. Lots of action to catch my attention along with tg transformaiton, drama and social interaction to keep me ensnared.
I'll be tracking this story and hope for many updates in the near future.
This certainly raises some intriguing questions. I at least suspected that Theo wasn't the first human to visit this Equestria, but this is much more contemporary human culture than what I'd expected.
A shame they can't (or dare not) try to pass Theo off as a hippogriff ambassador to Cadence and Shining... though I suppose it would help if said ambassador knew what nation she represented.
9619558
Or a possible Apple cousin. Consider the PiePod.
9619175
If the alien tech is actually replicable or at least somewhat reverse-engineerable, there'd be a strong potential partnership with some local entrepreneur. From there, it depends where that local—and/or his government's patent law—is on the sliding scale of idealist to sociopath to cartoon villain.
Not everybody kills the golden-egg goose. Even ignoring the possibility of continued useful input from the alien, the cost of giving them a partner's cut is small compared to the potential profit at stake that could be lost if it turns out like the recent Dumbo remake.
Spoiler-related but otherwise irrelevant rant: I mean, honestly, they guy basically took the offer of "give my friends guaranteed jobs and I'll give you a miracle unique to this world," and he spits on it. Even if he was in a delicate financial position, what the hell. Not that there aren't any historical figures that would have done the same, but still.
9621359
Heh, no chance of spoilers-- no intention of going to see the Dumbo remake.
I realy hope Summer knows how LEDs are made, because that would be an awesome invention to turn loose : )
Poor Theo. If only he knew what that central structure really was...
Apple clan. Who else?
She said while riding in a powered dirigible.
9624244
Sadly that would be straining believability just a tad too far, as he's already internally monologued about having to try and remember just enough electrical engineering to hopefully cobble together a charger that won't fry his gadgets.
LEDs are a highly specialized offshoot of semiconductor technology, and manufacturing them requires some pretty hefty and sophisticated industrial infrastructure.
10127010
Making a charger is fairly easy. Trouble is, there is a requirement for diodes. Not light-emitting ones, but ones that can turn alternating current into a direct current. The easiest way to create electricity is by taking advantage of the effect of magnetism on a coil of wire. The only way I know how to do it results in AC. After that comes the need for resisters and some way to test for how much voltage the generator is actually producing.
10211780
Rectifying the current is the easy part if you have the diodes (though if the power source is already DC then rectification isn't needed), but pump too many amps or or too high a voltage into a modern mobile device and you can fry circuits; or even blow up the battery.
10212009
The important thing is to bring the battery to somepony who knows how to measure bottled lightning. Translation necklace or not, you need to figure out what the exchange rate between volts/amps and whatever Ponies use as a measurement. And the best way to do that is to let them measure something that you know the (approximate) measurement of already. As, unless he/she brought a voltmeter with them (or knew more about electrical work than they inner monologue admitted), there would be no way of knowing if they were over/under charging.
Sure, reverse engineering their devices, plus lots of conservative trial an error, could eventually give a positive result, but I doubt it would be worth the effort for personal use. As a long term goal to jumpstart an electronic empire, sure, but . . .
The "Apple Store" is owned by a unicorn by the name of Stevia Jams
Besides the interdimensional traveler. Yep, no official business at all. To me that sounded like a very cheap excuse, I'll see where I'd goes...
10212009
You technically don't need solid state electronics (ie. diodes as we think of them today) to rectify AC to DC current.
The defense contractor Raytheon is named after their first product back when they were a civilian electronics company... a vacuum tube for rectifying AC to DC so your radio didn't need to burn through a fortune in batteries.
Alternatively, a metal rectifier would be much bulkier and less efficient, but would be a semiconductor design that should require much less of a technology base to manufacture.
I would hope that either Sharp or Theo(Summer) would report Sleighsburg for their attempted murder. The place is too dangerous for outsiders exspecilly non earth ponies.
10895465
They're just a backwater village in the middle of literal nowhere. You can't blame them for their... Insular phycology