The Royal Three

by Kingstar008

The contract

October 8 1009 AG
San Franciscolt
Fort Alcatraz
10:40 AM (western standard time)

It was a cold autumn day in San Franiscolt. As the fog rolled over the city, like its twin on planet earth. Atlas and Celestia were in the city for a work trip. They were visiting Fort Alcatraz, an island military base located just six miles away from the iconic Golden Bay bridge.

The reason why they were visiting Fort Alcatraz is because of the increasingly aggressive Changeling empire.

At first, they were doing normal things. like building up their military industries and increasing their army size.

Then they started to station a ton of troops, nearby their borders, and started to build forts there as well. This action alarmed Equestria and a few other countries, like Yakyakstan for example.

Now they are showing off their brand-new battleship fleet by sailing the ships in territorial waters that belongs to Equestria. Often crossing paths with cargo ships coming from the eastern hemisphere. That’s when the sun princess decided to visit the base.

===•••===
Celestia’s POV

Celestia was sitting in a small conference room with Atlas sitting on her left.

On the other side of the table was a sea pony captain, and a pegasus general.

The sea pony has white fur with an arctic blue mane and tail, and he has a mustache of the same color. He is also wearing a class A naval uniform. And he’s an environmentalist his spare time. His name is Barnacles.

On Barnacles’ right was a blue Pegasus a Stallion with a red mane and tail with a white stripe going through the middle. His name is Ace.

“Thanks for meeting us at such short notice princess.” Ace said.

“It was the least I can do. Now let’s get this meeting started, shall we?”

Captain Barnacles spoke first.

“Of course, your majesty. As you know the situation in the northwest is tense. Any time we confront them they always claim to be doing a naval exercise or completely or ignore us and try to harass ships going to Port Winnieapolis. My counterparts from the Federation are concerned that they’re going to go after passenger ships next.”

“Do you think they’re going to go after ocean liners?” Celestia inquired.

“No, but if they do, the changelings would have to deal with a navy five times bigger than theirs. And that’s without the Federation’s help.”

“Well, that’s good to hear. General Ace, what’s the situation on the border?” Celestia ask.

“Right now the situation is not as tense as on the open ocean. The soldiers in the area has reported only an increase of military personnel, but no border skirmishes thankfully. It’s clear that they are trying to intimidate us as well as the rest of their neighbors.”

“Do you need any more reinforcements?”

“No princess very been generous with a large amount of royal guards and marines. But that’s not the real reason why we invite you to visit Alcatraz.”

This made Celestia raise an eyebrow.

“The reason why we set up this meeting in the first place is to let you know that the changelings have recently developed a shield spell that can block a crossbow even at point blank range.”

“What!” she said in disbelief. “When did they develop this spell?”

“Three days ago.” Captain Barnacles responded.

“Can I ask a question?” Atlas ask.

“Yes you can.” Ace said.

“Hypothetically, if we were going to have a border skirmish or full on conflict, will this new spell prevent us from advancing into their territory?”

“No, we’ll still be able to advance. It’s just they are going to make us fight for it.”

‘That’s concerning.’ Atlas thought.

“So our current equipment needs an upgrade is what you’re saying.” The sun princess stated.

“Correct, specifically infantry weapons that perform better than crossbows. And a new type of weapon that could destroy fort like no other weapon before.”

After thinking what to say next for 10 seconds, the sun princess looked to her advisor and said.

“Atlas, can you please write a letter to my sister to contact every engineer that has government contracts to design new weapons for the military. And present their designs to me and Luna on Monday.”

“On it.”

After writing the message down, he took out a special lighter from his pocket and lit it on fire. Sending it back to the capital.

===•••===
October 9 1009 AG
12:30 AM
One hour one hour away from Canterlot.

It’s has been five hours since Atlas and Celestia left from San Franciscolt international air station, and most of the blimp’s passengers were fast asleep.

Including Celestia, who was sleeping comfortably in her first-class seat. The moment she came into contact with the chair itself she went out like a light. After all, doing nothing but meeting with military officials for two days could do that to a person.

The only the only person that was still awake besides, Mapleleaf.

Was Atlas.

The reason why was because his mind wouldn’t allow him to. Ever since they left fort Alcatraz, the words of what the general had said kept on playing over and over in his head. In fact, that’s what the rest of his colleagues have also said the same thing.

And when he was boarding the blimp Atlas felt nervous and excited, because when he came to Equestria, he thought he will never be an engineer.

Don’t get him wrong. He liked being a political advisor for Celestia, it’s just he thought he wasted two years of college for nothing.

But now there was an opportunity to show off his skills. And opportunity to give back to the country that helped him out.

When the blimp finally landed at the Canterlot air station, he knew just what to do.

So after he arrives at the castle, he wishes Celestia good night, went to the kitchen to get himself some coffee and walk to his office, turned on his reading lamp, and took out his journal and some pencils.

He knew he wasn’t going to sleep tonight.

===•••===
8:30 AM
Artemis point of view.

It was a nice Friday morning in the city of Canterlot, and Artemis was in his office looking over his schedule that Raven had prepared for him.

When someone knocked on his door.

‘That’s strange I don’t remember having a meeting this early in the morning.’

“Come in.”

Artemis looked up from his paper and saw that Atlas entered the room.

“Morning Atlas, how was your trip to San Fran- “

Then he noticed the bloodshot eyes and the bags underneath them.

“Are you ok? You look like you didn’t get a minute of sleep last night.”

“Because I didn’t go to bed last night.” Atlas deadpanned.

“So, you stayed up all night after being on a flight for six hours. How you’re not tired at all?”

“It’s because I took five shots of espresso. But that’s not the reason why I’m here the reason why I’m here is because I need your opinion on something. I need to see if my designs are any good.” He said, as he placed his open journal on the mahogany desk.

Artemis looked at the journal, he can now see why Atlas has placed it on its side. There were two drawings on both pages. The page on the top was a drawing of a tank with measurements all around it, while on the page on the bottom was an assault rifle.

“The designs are pretty good, but I thought your dreams of being an engineer was crush?”

“I thought so too, but when I was in San Franciscolt. The western command found out that the changelings have develop a spell which would make a potential war with them very difficult.”

“What does the spell do exactly?”

“All I know is that a single soldier, no matter if he or she is good at magic or not. Can shield themselves from a crossbow bolt even a point-blank range.”

“That doesn’t sound good.”

“It sounds even worse when it comes from this four-star general. The western command is confident that explosive bolts and bombs will be able to destroy the shields. But they did the smart decision of playing it safe and told Celestia that they needed new infantry weapons and another weapons that would be the literal backbone of the entire army. So, when I got back home, I got a cup of strong coffee and stayed the rest of the night in my office.”

“So, you’re throwing your hat into the ring?”

“Yep, if anyone’s getting the royal contract, it’s me.”

Artemis looked at the journal, then back at Atlas. “Don’t get me wrong, I support your endeavor, but how earth are you going to get that contract? You don’t own a manufacturing company.”

Atlas laughed nervously. “That’s the second reason why I’m here.”

His brother raises an eyebrow.

“Remember unicorn stallion in hollow shades, named…Um” his brain couldn’t form the words thanks to all the jet lag and fatigue.

“Paxton Steel.”

“Yeah, him.”

At that moment the architect/economist figured out what his brother was requesting of him.

“You want me to write a letter to him to see if he will help you develop and manufacture, tanks and guns when you receive the contract.”

“Yes. That’s what I want you to do.”

“All right, I’ll write a letter to him. He owes me a favor anyways.”

“Thanks. I’ll get out of your hair now.”

“I hope you’re not going to the throne room. You’re not going to last that much longer if you do.”

This made Atlas stop in his tracks.

“I’m not that...…. stupid.” He said, as fatigue slowly took him over.

Noticing his wobble, Artemis started to do a slow countdown in his head.

‘Five, four, three, two, one.’

Just as he predicted, Atlas fell face first into the couch accompanied with muffled snoring.

*Sigh* “Might as well write the letter.”

===•••===

After Artemis told his brother that Paxton was more than happy to help him out. Atlas set his plan in motion.

For the next few days Atlas would head to his office after 8 PM and stay in there for hours, doing nothing but continuously updating his designs.

His assault rifle concept (in his opinion) was pretty easy. All he had to do was figure out how many bullets would be in one magazine, the range, and the overall look.

But the star of the show would be his main battle tank. The possibilities were endless, and he had fun imagining what his creation would look like.

But there was a downside to this. Since he would stay in his office late into the night, his mare friend and friends notice how tired he looked in the morning.

After explaining that, he was working on a “special project”, they all understood, but they wanted to make sure he didn’t go overboard.

By the time Monday finally arrived, everything was ready.

===•••===
Monday October 12 1009 A.G
The Senate Conference Room
11:00 AM

For the past three hours, Celestia, Luna, Shining Armor, and Firefly have been meeting and reviewing engineers and the proposed projects for three hours now.

And they have seen nothing new at all. In fact, it seems like some of them have been copying from each other work.

By the time 11 o’clock came around the mood in the conference room was palpable.

“Tia, should we just end this conference now? This has been nothing but a bunch of failures so far.”
Luna said while robbing the bridge of her nose.

“I have to agree with her princess, all we’ve been the same old ideas.” Firefly said.

“I know it seems to be a massive waste of time, but there’s one more pony left on the list.”
Celestia said.

“Who would that be exactly?” Shining Armor asked.

“You’ll see.” The sun princess looked at the senate police officer and spoke. “You’re allowed to let in the last engineer now.”

The officer said nothing as she opens the door to allow Atlas to walk inside carrying a briefcase.

Shining, Firefly, and Luna were surprised to see him.

“Surprise.” The human said, in a sing song voice.

“Atlas, I didn’t know you were in this contest.”
Firefly said.

“Same over here.” Luna and shining said.

“Yeah, when I heard this little contest was happening, I decided to sign up.”

“That means” Luna looked at her older sister. “You knew he was coming.”

“Yes, I did.” She said calmly.

“So, you know what ideas he’s proposing.” Firefly asked.

“No, I do not.”

“Guys, can I start my presentation now?”

“Yes, you can proceed.” Celestia said.

*Ahem* “Now since you all know me already, I’ll skip formalities. The reason why I’m here is to show you my two ideas that would greatly benefit the Equestrian military.” He said his briefcase on the ground and opened it and pulled out a rolled-up blueprints.

“I’m going to present my infantry weapon design first. I think you all going to like it.”

He unraveled the blueprint in front of the four judges. They looked at the paper with great interest.

“This is interesting. What is it?” Firefly ask.

“That my friend, is a gun call the assault rifle.”

“Isn’t that the same weapons your president’s security uses when he’s traveling or something?”
Shining Armor ask.

“Yes”

“OK, what does this ‘rifle’ do exactly?”

“I’m glad you asked. Just like a crossbow it’s designed to shoot a projectile at its target. But instead of shooting whimsy bolts that could get blown off course by the wind. This bad boy shoots small projectiles, named bullets. These little shells are about the size of my index finger, and they go through the air very fast, faster than any crossbow bolt could ever go. And the best part is that you don’t have to load a bullet in the chamber by hand anytime time you want to shoot something. Every time a bullet leaves the chamber a new one goes in, and they’re stored inside of a container called a magazine. They’re 30 bullets in each magazine.”

“I’m sold!” Firefly said. “Give him the contract.”

“Master sergeant, you know we can’t do that yet. He not done with his presentation.” Celestia said.

“I know, but this weapon sounds way better than the stuff we have now.”

“Yeah, but you don’t know if it’s easy to maintain or if it’s more delicate than a porcelain doll.” Shining Armor pointed out.

“And range. We can’t forget about the range.”
Luna added.

Atlas smiled at them.

“Well, I’m glad to tell you that all your concerns can be put to rest. A weapon like this could survive in any climate desert, tundra, jungle, you name it, it can survive it. As long as you keep it clean and maintain it properly. And the range of this very weapon can go as far as a half a mile.”

The judges looked impressed.

“Now, we are halfway through my presentation. This idea I’m about to show you is…bit radical compared to the last one.”

“What do you mean by that?” Celestia ask.

“I save this one for last, because it will be more difficult to develop, build, and distribute. But it will be a nightmare for anyone that have to fight it.”

After she put away the first blueprint, Atlas took out the second one and unenrolled it on the table.

They looked at the blueprint with more curiosity, and they did with the last one.

“May I introduce to you all the future backbone of the Equestrian army. A tank named the J-20.”

“I remember you telling us about a machine like this. And you want to bring this machine to Equestria?” Celestia ask.

“Correct now this concept is nothing like any of you guys seen before. To put it simply imagine a cannon from a battleship but smaller and attached to a track war machine covered in armor. This vehicle would be operating with a crew of 4. Two gunners, a driver and a commander. Its top speed would be 39 mph and the tracks will help it go over even the roughest of terrain. I know earth is different from planet Equis, so I’m going to make sure that there are magic spells in place to protect the crew from a potential explosion. If the changelings could even lay a scratch on this thing. To make things even worse for them, there are two machine guns protecting the tank. That’s why there’s two gunners instead of one.

“Wow, that’s impressive.” Shining Armor said.
“So, this is basically artillery pieces?”

“In a way, yes. It depends on the battle plans, but I think like this could go ahead of infantry and secure enemy positions, or it could be used for artillery strikes.”

“So, what’s the range? With all the information you gave us I’m guessing it could hit a target from far away.” Luna inquired.

“2 miles.”

“2 miles?!” They all said in shock.

“Yep, you heard me two miles. And to end this presentation. I would highly suggest that the tank is painted in a dark color or an army fatigue like pattern to make sure he blends in with its environment.”

“Well, thanks for coming to the Senate and explaining your ideas.” Luna said.

“Thanks for hearing me out.”

After atlas gathered things, he exited the room.

The room was quiet.

“Do we have to pretend to debate this?” Firefly ask.

===•••===
12:30 PM
Canterlot Castle.
Castle library lounge.

Apollo and Artemis were sitting in the castle library lounge waiting for Atlas to get back and tell them the news. They have been supporting atlas endeavor ever since he got back from his trip. They all thought it was good idea especially what’s been transpiring in the northwest for the past few weeks.

After waiting for 20 minutes, Atlas entered the lounge with a neutral expression on his face and his right hand behind his back.

“So how did it go?” Apollo asks.

Atlas let the question hang in the air for a good five seconds.

Then he pulled his hand from his back, revealing that it had a rolled-up piece of paper with the royal seal on it.

“I got the contract.” he said, grinning from ear to ear.

“You son of a bitch, you did it.” Artemis laughed.
“For a second there I thought it didn’t go well.”

“Quite the opposite. They loved my ideas. But it turns out all of my competitors were doing the same concepts over and over again. But you wouldn’t believe what happened after they announced that I won the contest.”

“Well, spill the beans, dammit.” Apollo said.

“After the announcement, many of the engineers in the room got angry and accused them of favoritism because I’m dating Celestia. They all shut up when I show them what I presented to them. They all left in a bitchy mood.”

Apollo walked up to atlas and spoke. "Man, I knew you would do it. This is cause for celebration. Hey tonight we’re going to that all you can eat buffet in East Canterlot and I’m inviting the entire gang. Songbird serenade, our friends in the Royal guard Ruby, Mira, the elements and everyone else.”

“Wait, you’re inviting everyone to the Buffet? Isn’t that place pretty pricey?” Artemis asks.

“Yeah, but who cares at least got a deal of a lifetime so who cares if it’s a bit expensive. Besides, I get paid a lot so i can afford it.”

“OK if you say so. Oh, I almost forgot, Atlas there is this a surprise in your office. You better hurry.”

“All right, see you guys later.”

After atlas left, Apollo looked at Artemis and spoke.

“So, are you going to help me write the invitations?”

“Fine I’ll help you out.”

===•••===

As Atlas made his way through the hallways, he was wondering what type of surprise Artemis had for him in his office.

When he finally arrived, he opened up his door and saw that an older unicorn stallion was sitting on his couch reading a book.

The stallion had a purple fur coat with a steel gray mane and tail. And he looked like he was in his late 30s.

He looked over to the human, smiled and put his book down.

“Oh, you finally arrived. I was worried that you were not coming.” He said with an accent sounding like he was from New Orleans.

“I’m sorry, but who are you?” Atlas asks.

“Oh, where are my manners? My name is Paxton steel, owner of steel industries. I’m guessing your name is Atlas, correct?”

“Yes sir, and thanks for helping me out with my project.” Atlas said, shaking the older stallion’s hand.

“It was nothing. When your brother told me your about your project, I was excited to help you out. It reminds me of myself, when I first started my company. You have the contract with you, right?”

“Yeah, it’s right here.” he said opening his briefcase and pulling the contract out.

“Perfect, now I have one more question to ask you.”

“What is it?”

“When do you want to get started on this project?”

“Does tomorrow afternoon sound good?”

“Sounds perfect.”

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

(This series Starts A few weeks before the episode “best night ever”)

Let me guess: Celestia’s birthday is connected to why she hates the GGG so much.