Follows A Little Spark 25

>”Do Their Graces need to bring anything else to this council’s attention?” Raven asks the ducal representatives around the table.
>They shake their heads.
>”Excellent,” Celestia says. “This council is adjourned.”
>The representatives always left first, as was custom. As they’re filing out, you see Raven and Prince Blueblood arranging their various papers to leave.
>You’re nervous, but this is a familiar nervousness. What’s coming, at least, is something your past life prepared you for.
>Past life. Are you really over it now?
>Something to think on later. What matters is the challenge before you is a familiar one.
>All you’re doing is selling a project to management. Simple.
>Though you’ve never tried to be this flashy or grandiose about it before.
>Just as the last of the representatives leaves, Raven looks at the other five individuals remaining.
>You, her, Blueblood, the two princesses, and the commander of the guard.
>”Now for matters at home,” Raven says. “What must we address?”
“Yeah, if I may.”
>You stand from your chair and pull a small circuit board from your pocket, a bit smaller than the palm of one hand. You flip it to the table casually, aiming for its center.
>Twilight had duplicated it already, this piece is expendable for showmanship.
>At least she could clone the board itself without passing out.
“Stallions and gentlemares, this is the single most sophisticated piece of hardware in the world, right now.”
>You point at the chip where it landed.
“That is a copy of the heart of this.”
>You pull out your smartphone, unlock it, then slide it across the table to rest near the motherboard.
“This is human magic.”
>Thanks for the line, Twilight.
>You have everyone at the table’s focused attention. You realize Twilight’s the only one who has seen your phone work, besides Celestia knowing about the flashlight, and you having waved it in Raven’s face a week ago. None of the royalty participated in your arrival interview.
>You suppose Luna may have seen it working in your dreams, but she seems just as fascinated with the real deal as the others.
“Basically, we could make sand think. Unfortunately, we can’t make new ones with the technology you have, and I don’t know enough about the theory to train up a suitable scientific base and skilled labor force to open a factory for it on my own, and I wont bore you with the details about that. That’s a project that will take at least two generations, and I don’t have that kind of time.”
>Celestia flinches at that, subtle enough you almost missed it. Raven gives you an unamused sidelong look.
>Shit, you didn’t intend that line to be about mortality. Pull out the positivity.
“We can, however, make copies of it with duplication magic. This isn’t as useful as it may sound, because there’s a lot locked in; these things aren’t just blank slates. But what it can do is interpret other devices that my phone has built in. I’ve been learning a lot about your magic from Twilight. I’m astounded you can replace limbs with simple materials and a single spell; back home prosthetic were still an evolving field, and we couldn’t yet perfectly duplicate natural movements. But she gave me a lot of ideas, and during this week she’s been away, I’ve been making plans.”
>You retrieve the phone from the table app, open and start the voice recorder, then aim the camera at Celestia and snap a shot.
>Turning the flash off was a good idea; the table hardly reacts to the whole process.
“Twilight tells me that limbs are about your limit. You can’t help lame pegasi fly again without more involved magic, which can be very awkward for them to adapt to. She also tells me you can’t replace lost senses.”
>You slide the phone back into the center of the table, this time displaying the picture you just took.
“That’s where this comes in. Look at that; it can interpret the image and knows how to present it in a form you can comprehend. The screen provides a working model your scholars can study to create a spell that will allow you to imitate it. The chip at this thing’s heart can interpret and output the camera’s signal with that.”
>Once they’ve had a look, you reach over, flip the photo app away, and hit playback on the voice recorder.
>”Twilight tells me that-”
“It can also hear sound and process that as well. A spell to interpret its sound output would be, I expect, trivial, if doing things with magic is as simple as the technological foundation used. Speakers are easy, and I know some unicorn musicians already make use of them with their own magic.”
“In short, if my projects work out, I can let your blind see, and your deaf hear.”
>You’d normally pause for some sort of reaction here; you intended that to be a punchy line.
>Instead, you have three ponies staring at you with rapt attention, a big ol’ princess and her secretary looking thoughtful and a touch proud, and a prince wearing a scowl.
>Ah, hostile management at the table.
“I’m also designing a system that can serve pegasi who cannot fly. That one will need considerably more work on my end than the other systems, which would lean on your mages, but that just means it’s working off proven principles, just in a novel way. It still won’t be as natural as a working wing, but it’ll give them a lot more freedom than the awkward levitation spells you currently employ.”
>You put both your hands on the table’s surface and lean on them, bringing you down to their eye level.
“To do all this, I’m going to need a proper workshop, a space I can test everything in safety and store all the equipment I’ll need. Building the initial demonstration model will take a lot of time and resources. I’ll also need another talented unicorn earmarked to study whatever Twilight passes them about potential magical theory; Her Serene Highness-”
>Thanks, Raven. Lets end on a respectful and humble note.
“-already has enough on her plate, and I’ve been taking too much of her time with this stuff already. I haven’t been much use in matters of statecraft, but this is something I can do to help the country.”
>”Absolutely not!”
>You – and five ponies – turn to Prince Blueblood.
>”We simply do not have the resources to dedicate to your absurd projects, let alone the space to provide. I will not enable the use of this strange technology we have no knowledge of! We don’t know what could go wrong, not without years of study by all the scholars of the land, which will be disruptive enough-”
>”Your Excellency,” the commander of the guard begins. The stallion looks up at you with an expression more guarded than during your presentation. “Give me an excuse to put your work under my supervision, and you’ll have everything you need.”
>You look back and forth between him and Blueblood.
>Is this going to devolve into Equestria’s version of a catfight?
“Well, I, uh, I could probably design weapons and armor, but I don’t think-”
>”The last thing we need are weapons!”
>Yeah, Blueblood was right, there.
>”If you’re going to let this chance to better our people slip through our-”
>”Please, stallions,” Raven butts in. “We can go over this later, just the three of us supervisors.”
>She turns to you, then. “Thank you for bringing this opportunity to our attention, Anonymous.”
>You know a dismissal when you hear it.
>You retrieve your phone and the spare motherboard, then sit back down.
>Raven looks to the two stallions at the table. ”I ask you two to assess what spare material and manpower you have, and report back to me. Then we can discuss what we shall do about Anonymous’ request. This task should take you the rest of the evening; for this reason I suggest we table the rest of our business for now.” She looks to Luna.
>The princess nods, then everypony stands to leave.
>Neither the commander nor the prince look very happy.
>Stallions really were moody, huh?
>You’re still getting the hang of the different gendered behaviors.
>As you’re leaving, after most others have already gone, you feel a tug on the back of your shirt.
>Raven stands behind you, wearing a conspiratorial expression.
>”You use the prosthetics as a pretense for something else,” she says, barely loud enough to hear
“What makes you say that?”
>”You told me a week ago that you cannot make this project, with your phone and senses, known to Twilight. Now you tell this whole room, and say you have worked with Twilight this whole time. Something else lurks beneath all this.”
“Uh, yeah, but I wasn’t lying when I said all that. They’re just pieces of a bigger puzzle. But don’t tell any of the princesses your suspicions. Don’t tell anyone. I could probably get in a lot of trouble, and it’s going to be hard enough keeping this from Twilight, who’s going to be helping me. The stuff I intend to work with was a big point of contention back home, involving several scientific fields that were just coming into their own. But while we were having trouble with it back home, I might be able to pull it off here. I just need time to get everything together.”
>”If your activities jeopardize our work or the palace, you will make me very cross.”
“Look, the stuff I’m going to be doing might get me called a mad scientist back home, but I’m starting to get the hang of what’s possible here, with a fusion of magic and technology. I’m not going to let these possibilities pass me by. It’s curiosity, not ambition or malice. I promise.”
>”Should my assumptions prove accurate, some might call you mad here too.”
“We’ll just have to see, huh?”
>She gives you a long, hard look. “But should those assumptions prove accurate, you might do what no pony ever could before. And – to the extent I can ascertain what you do will benefit the lives of Their Majesties – I will back you. Your presentation here represented your opening move on Blueblood, no?”
“Can’t get it by you, huh?”
>”You pushed him on the issue where the few who had power over him observed, a smart tactic. Now all present know his angle, but you have not gotten any closer to understanding his motivation or resolving the issue. But I must warn you; he will not stop even if denied here, when he argues the point with the commander and I. You made an escalation play, and that can prove dangerous with the power those at that table wield.”
“I’ll be careful.”
>”I wanted to stay out of this conflict of yours, Anon. The proper functioning of this palace hinges on Blueblood, the Commander, and I all getting along. You drove a wedge between those two, on an issue of great interest to me.”
“Oh. Sorry.”
>”I can deliver you this victory, but I ask you resolve his problem with you sooner rather than later. And do not expect my direct help in the future; I can do much for you behind the scenes, but a great deal of my effectiveness in the palace relies on my abstention from petty intrigues like what animates Blueblood to stand against you. Power thought a threat proves more effective than used as fact, often, for every use diminishes it in more ways than one. I have pulled influence for you before, but I cannot play champion for you in courtly disputes. I have acted only to allow your project a place to succeed; my interest lies there.”
“Were you the one to finally get me my parts?”
>She dips her head in acknowledgment.
“Ah, thanks.”
>“I simply wish to keep your conflict with the Prince contained, rather than eventually involve Their Majesties. The core battle remains yours to fight alone. Do so.”
>She walks around you and out the door, then.
>Figures that keeping your secrets will get you in over your head, with this crowd.
>You stalk off towards the room where you and Luna discuss administrative matters in the evenings. Maybe things really were easier when you were concerned with matters of state.