Immediately after the school year ended, practically on the minute Skyla and I got home, before I could even start putting my artificing projects in my room, mom and dad roped Skyla and me into helping prepare the house for our new sister. Without much else to do over the summer, I went along with it.
“Do you think we should use a bold or pastel pink paint? Oh, can we add glitter too?”
“Do you think a heart shaped or rounded top crib would be best?”
“What kind of carpet should we have?”
“So many toys to choose from! Do you think she’ll like the stuffed bear or dog more?”
“Inova, go pick out a cute ceiling light. Skyla, find some curly shelf brackets.”
“How does Crystal Garden sound for lunch?”
“Is it a bit self-centered to want the alicorn decals?”
“We need a new carrier. Maybe one that matches my mane?”
After only a couple weeks of it, I finally got fed up. “Mom, can you please stop for a bit?”
She looked surprised. “Stop what?”
“I know you’re excited about the new filly. I am too, but. . . Can’t you slow down a bit? Maybe take a couple days off from turning a guest room into a foal’s room? Just sit down with some tea and a book for a day or something.”
“Inova, this room needs to be perfect,” she insisted.
“You’ve got five rolls of carpet in there and you’re comparing all of them to the perfectly fine existing carpet!”
Mom thought about my words for a moment. “Well, there’s nothing saying we can’t put carpet on the walls and ceiling. Do you think the ceiling should have a dark or light carpet?”
“GAHH!” At that moment, in my frustration, I made up my mind. “I’m going to Canterlot for the summer.”
That caught her attention. “No, Inova! You’re going to-”
I held her muzzle shut with my telekinesis. “Mom, I love you a lot, but I’m getting tired of the excitement. I’ll be back before summer ends. I promise.” I let go as I turned towards my room.
“Inova, your dad and I built this house with you and Skyla in mind,” she sternly reminded me as I began packing up. “We did everything in our power to make sure you two grew up in a cozy home instead of a cavernous castle. We even expanded it just for you two, and gave you generous renovation budgets. We’re all working together to do the same for the new filly.”
“And I’m doing my part by removing the dead weight: me.” I packed some of my human clothes just in case I needed them for something. “I’ve just been dragging myself along the past few days, and I’m tired of it.” My artificing projects and plans got packed up as well.
“But I love having you with us. It really makes a family outing feel complete.”
“And what have I contributed to any of it? Nothing. I may as well have not been there and you’d have reached the same results.” I levitated my stuff along, pushed past her and stopped at the front door. “I’ll be back well before she’s born.”
There were tears welling up in mom’s eyes. “You promise?” She suddenly sounded very sad.
“Of course. I have no intention of lying.”
“At least a month before?”
“Easily. I’ve got to be back in time for eighth grade, after all.” Not wanting to delay any further, I seized the moment and left. I had a train to catch, and I didn’t feel like flying to the station.
Along the way, I saw Diamond, Ruby, and Nick enjoying an outdoor lunch at a cafe. Despite having her back turned to me, Ruby somehow noticed my approach and picked up on my mood very quickly. “Is everything okay, Inova?”
“Yeah.” I decided better than to brush it off. “Not really. I’m going to Canterlot to get some space for a bit. Mom’s gotten a bit obsessive and hyper over preparing for the new foal.”
She nodded. “I understand. Some mares can get like that while they’re pregnant.”
“Mom, can I go to Canterlot with Inova?” Diamond eagerly asked. “I’ve always wanted to go, and if I’m with her, I’ll be safe.”
“Sweetie, you know what we’ve told you, right?” Nick asked her. “There are powerful unicorns there who would ruin your life just for being an earth pony, and then us for being your parents.”
“They wouldn’t do that to the friend of a Princess, though.”
“Some of them actually are that stupid,” I said. “I don’t know how, but they are. I’ll make sure you stay safe.”
Ruby gave me a serious look. “You promise you won’t let anything bad happen to my filly?”
“She’s my friend, so of course I’ll keep her safe.”
She relented. “Diamond, you can go with Inova, but I want you to write a full page about your trip for each week you’re gone.”
Diamond slumped at the condition. “Really?”
“You need to focus on your writing skills. Your Equish final score was very close to disappointing. I’m sure Inova would be willing to help you, right?”
“I can do that,” I said. “In fact. . .”
“Inova, please don’t give mom any ideas,” Diamond pleaded.
“I can think of a few things that’ll give her enough material for a few full pages. Would you like me to mail them to you when they’re done?”
“We’d love that,” Nick said. “Now go have fun, and don’t forget to bring back some souvenirs.”
I relaxed a bit once Diamond and I passed the Empire’s bubble. “Are you okay, Inova?” Diamond asked.
I looked out at the swirling snow as I answered. “Yes? No? I’m not really sure. I’m glad to be away from mom and able to breathe again, but. . .”
“You miss her already?”
“We didn’t part on entirely good words. I’ll be back, but. . . I wish I could have been more graceful about it.”
Diamond had nothing to say, but she pulled me into a hug. It made me feel a bit better for the ride.
“Guards!” Diamond yelped when we arrived. “Did I do something wrong?”
“Nope,” I said as I got to my hooves. “They’re just following orders. It happens every time my family comes here.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be treated like a normal pony?” she asked as she followed me.
“That only applies in the Crystal Empire. You’re with me, so you’ll be guarded as well.” We stepped out and the guards formed the normal ring around us. “To the castle, gentlecolts. We can go at a leisurely pace today. No urgency. Also. . .” I whispered something to Captain Glaive.
“As you command, Princess Inova,” he said.
“It’s so much warmer here than at home,” Diamond commented as she looked around. “It feels really good.”
“It is,” I said. “Unless it’s winter, then it’s colder.”
Our guards took us to and parted away at the exact spot I’d requested, and Diamond’s reaction was immediate. “Princess Celestia!” She immediately went into groveling mode, practically burying her face in the plush carpet leading to the throne.
“Hi, Aunt Celestia,” I casually said.
“Hello to you too, Inova,” Aunt Celestia said. “This must be Diamond Heart.”
“Yes, that’s me!” Diamond’s admission was heavily muffled by the carpet.
I leaned down next to Diamond’s ear and whispered, “Skyla still calls her Aunt Celery.”
Diamond collapsed in laughter for a few seconds before collecting herself and mostly getting back to her hooves. “I’m sorry about that, Princess Celer - Celestia!”
“Hmm.” Aunt Celestia contemplated the apology, though I had a feeling I already knew the answer. “I forgive you. In fact, how about you and Inova come take a walk with me?”
“Of course, Princess.” Diamond got to her hooves and we followed Aunt Celestia out of the throne room.
“She’s very eager to please, isn’t she?” Aunt Celestia asked me as we wandered the halls.
“Her parents did the same thing when I stepped hoof in their home,” I said. “Diamond, you can cut the groveling.”
“Sorry,” Diamond said. “It’s just. . . I knew you were close to Princess Celestia, but I don’t think I really got it until now. And she’s way taller than I thought she would be.”
“Is there anything going on right now, Aunt Celestia?” I asked.
“We have some time before the nobility starts talking legislation,” Aunt Celestia said. “I’ll have to be there for it.”
“Can I watch Inova handle it?” Diamond asked, almost sounding eager.
“Not today. They all decided to make today a ‘bring your foals to work’ day, and I’d rather not expose the foals to Inova’s temper.” She looked ahead. “Speaking of the nobility and foals, here’s some of them now.”
Diamond hid behind me as the two approached, along with a pegasus filly and an earth colt, both younger than me. “Well, if it isn’t Princess Inova,” Fancy Pants warmly greeted. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”
“Family drama,” I said, giving the very short explanation. “Oh, and I have a friend with me.” I levitated Diamond around in front of me. “Diamond, these are the best nobles in all of Canterlot. Fancy, Fleur, and. . . What are your names?”
“Finesse,” the pegasus filly said, gracefully fanning her wings.
“Fromage,” the earth colt said with a bow. “At your service, Princess Inova.”
“They won’t hurt you,” I assured Diamond.
Clearly, Diamond’s parents had managed to instill a lot of wariness about the Canterlot nobility into her. She was tense and shaking as the Pants family (a phrase that would never not be funny) approached her. “Uhh. . . Hi?”
Finesse bowed before her. “It’s an honor to meet one of Princess Inova’s friends.”
Fromage also bowed. “And her first friend at that. The honor is ours, Diamond.”
I did my best to suppress my laughter at seeing Diamond get flustered and try to figure out how to respond. It made me wish I had a camera or some kind of photography spell.
“We’ll be staying here for our trip,” I said as I opened the door to the room Skyla and I usually got during our Hearth’s Warming vacations.
“This is a guest room here?” Diamond asked in awe as she entered.
“Well, yes, but actually no. It’s a royal suite, reserved for royalty, diplomats, and other high ranking officials.” I went towards the bed I usually took and set my stuff down on it. “Aunt Celestia and Aunt Luna’s rooms are the only ones that are nicer.”
“What do you do with all this space?”
“Not much. I’m usually out doing other things.” I looked past my stuff and to the sheets under them. It was the same bed I hid in after my first split, and I could vividly remember the fear I felt at the time. “Anyways, I’m going to keep working on my artificing while we’re here. I. . . Don’t actually know what you can do while I’m doing that.”
“Oh.” Diamond sounded a little disappointed. “Well. . . What do you normally do?”
I gave it some thought. “At least one trip to Pony Joe’s, go see some plays, and a little bit of shopping. I don’t know what’s going on right now, though.”
“Then we’ll go to town and see what’s going on after breakfast tomorrow!” She sounded very excited. “It’ll be an adventure for both of us!”
“You know what? That sounds good. We’ll go out tomorrow after breakfast.”
“Diamond, I have an idea for your letters.” I levitated a pencil and paper onto the table we were having breakfast at.
“Are you going to write them for me?”
“Ha ha ha, no.” I moved the materials over to her. “We’ll just write a whole bunch at once, and we can take care of one like this. Aunt Celestia?”
“Yes, Inova?” Aunt Celestia responded from the other side of the table.
“I haven’t heard very much about the minotaurs in history class. Do you know what they’re like?”
“Minotaurs are often more aggressive than the other sapient races. Since most of the sapient races, ponies included, tend to keep to themselves and mind their own business, this unique aggression often leads to the minotaurs being the instigators of wars, sometimes over the slightest of things.”
“How often does that happen?”
“There’s usually a century or so between these wars. The last one was about sixty years ago, so we still have time before we have to prepare.”
Diamond tapped my shoulder. “Inova, where’s the fun part?”
“History can be fun,” I said. “How about you ask her a question next?”
“Really?” Diamond looked uncertain for a bit as she thought about what to ask. “Anything?”
“Anything,” Aunt Celestia answered.
“What’s your favorite kind of cake?”
“Cheesecake with drizzled fruit sauce, honey, and a bit of lemongrass. It’s quite delicious, and if my dietician would allow me, I’d have some every week. Alas, I’m only allowed to have some on the 25th of each month. Thankfully, it lines up nicely with Hearth’s Warming.”
“That sounds good. Oh, can you take us to see a play? I think I saw a poster about a Divine Goblet performance yesterday.”
I put a wing on Diamond’s back. “Diamond, Aunt Celes-”
“I’d love to take you two to see it,” Aunt Celestia said, not only interrupting me, but also invalidating what I was about to say. “We could leave now if you’d like?”
“Yes, please!” Diamond had forgotten about the letter entirely.
The idea also sounded better to me than just sitting around and talking. For some reason, I also started thinking about coconuts of all things. “Why not? Oh, where’s Aunt Luna? I didn’t see her last night.”
“She decided to spend her summer on a trek across Equestria to see the small towns,” Aunt Celestia said. “She said she wants to go talk to our subjects herself and see what things are like outside Canterlot and the big cities. For now, let’s go on our own trip.”
I was briefly freaked out during The Divine Goblet when coconuts were involved early on in it, but the humor of the performance dealt with that very quickly. The absurdity of it, unlike Pinkie, actually made some degree of sense.
Diamond was the biggest source of audible laughter from the three of us, but nopony paid her any mind as the rest of the audience was also busy laughing. Even the musical bits were great. The one about the Knights of the Round Table had a weirdly familiar feel to it, as did the Prench being amusingly annoying. I made sure to remember the ‘quarter-witted son of a cabbage hunter’ line.
The actors even had the gall and intestinal fortitude to poke fun at the Canterlot Nobility, some of which were in the audience. The Bluebloods, in a balcony of their own across from ours, did not take it well. I couldn’t read their minds, but it was clear that they wanted to exact revenge on the actors. The fact that Aunt Celestia was having a good time was probably the only thing that would keep them from actually doing anything.
Whether it was good timing on our part or the actors had decided to take shots at the Bluebloods with the protection of Aunt Celestia’s laughter, I would never know.
To my delight, Canterlot Castle had a team of artificers, and they were delighted to help me with my projects.
After the introductions were done, I demonstrated the gravity gauntlet, showing the schematics and demonstrating by easily picking up a small crate of iron ingots with it.
Head Artificer Gearbox gave his opinion. “That’s an impressive build, but it probably wouldn’t see much use among the public.”
“Why not?” I set the crate down and took the gauntlet off.
“Anything it can pick up, a unicorn can too, with greater range and freedom.” He levitated the same crate around with ease. “For an earth pony, it would leave only three hooves on the ground. Pegasus drawn wagons and trailers already have weight reduction and levitation enchantments in place to transport things more easily as well.”
“Oh.” My disappointment was brief. “Well, I wasn’t thinking about that anyways. I wanted to make one for my human part so she’s not entirely defenseless. I also have a sword I want to finish up.” The alicorn sword went on the table next.
One of the other artificers inspected the sword. “It looks good to me. Very well made.”
Instead of explaining what I wanted it to do, I used an illusion spell to show my human part using it against a similarly sized minotaur. After some fighting, the illusory human spun the horn, pulled the wing, and pressed the horseshoe, each one building up effects and power before delivering a powered slash. “I think I need logic command enchantments for that.”
The looks I got were ones of worry and a bit of dread. “This. . . This is a very tall order,” Gearbox said. “Two inputs is one thing, but this. . . We’ve got our work cut out for us.”
“I’ll get started on the diagrams,” one mare said as she got the diagrams I’d brought and started drawing things out.
“I’ll get a pile of gems,” a stallion decided. “Does the color matter, Princess Inova?”
“Red and blue ones for the effect gems. Red for combat, blue for harmless illusions, the others can be anything else,” I said. “And I’d like somepony to make a model of my hands for reference.”
“Are you okay, Inova?” Diamond asked from her bed when I got back to the suite one evening. “You look worn out. Again.”
“I’m good.” I turned towards the bathroom. The shower was calling my name. “How’s your trip been?”
“Fleur is one of the best ponies I’ve ever met! She gave me a whole bunch of cute clothes for free! She really is a good Noble. I wrote about her in this week’s letter home.”
“That’s good. She’s good.”
“How’s your artificing project going?”
“I’m trying to figure out something for my human gravity gauntlets and the artificers are working hard on some way to make my alicorn sword work. We’ve still got a lot of work ahead of us, but I’m sure we’ll figure it out.” I went into the bathroom to take a refreshing shower and get the grime out of my fur and feathers.
Fancy took us to one part of Canterlot I’d never been to for lunch. “Ladies, I present to you one of my best restaurants: The Switchyard Diner.”
The casual diner was built like a wide bridge over a switchyard for the trains. The middle had a bar going around the kitchen, and numerous booths were set up along the windows that stretched end to end. Waitresses rushed around to bring out and take orders all around the place. Many ponies, some clean, others dirty, were enjoying their meals, watching the trains below, or both.
“Mr. Fancy!” A waitress greeted in surprise. “Princess Inova!” She turned to Diamond. “And a guest!”
“One window booth, please,” Fancy said.
The waitress lost some of her energy. “Uhm, they’re all taken right now, sir.”
“Then we can wait. The diner’s not going anywhere. Carry on.”
It took about fifteen minutes for a window booth to be ready for us, and I got a spot next to the glass. “Fancy, why did you make this diner?” I asked.
“The professional answer is that I saw a business opportunity and took it,” Fancy explained. “The real answer is that I wanted to bring to life a dream from when I was a colt, and I had enough Bits to risk on the venture. It turned out to be another big success of mine.”
“How did you get enough Bits for this?” Diamond asked.
“Lots of hard work, learning from failure, and a bit of luck. One of the most important things I’ve learned throughout all of what I’ve done is that the way you treat your fellow pony often matters more than the Bits.”
As if on cue for a demonstration, a different waitress with a beaming smile came over and dropped off some menus. “Good afternoon, Mr. Pants, Princess Inova, and company.” I did my best to hold back my laughter. “What would you and your guests like to drink?”
“I’ll have a lemonade,” Fancy answered. “Inova, Diamond, what about you?”
“Lemonade sounds good,” Diamond said.
“You know what, you’re right,” I said. “Lemonade for me too.”
“Three lemonades coming up.” She took off to get the drinks.
I turned back to Fancy. “Anything you recommend?”
“If you don’t mind a hint of grease and salt, the hayburgers are quite good,” he said. “The trainyard workers certainly like them. The fried alfalfa bundles are also a popular order.”
“What about the salads?” Diamond looked over the salad section of the menu.
“If you’re feeling indulgent, you could get a salad stuffed in a bread bowl. The most popular way to eat it is to just pick it up and bite into it.”
The waitress dropped off our drinks. “Any idea what you’d like?”
“Ladies?” Fancy offered.
“Princess?” Diamond offered.
I sighed. “If I must.” I glanced at the hayburger section. “I’d like a double hayburger with no mustard or pickles, fries on the side. . . What’s the stuffed option?”
“That’s where part of the patties are cut out and the toppings and condiments go inside,” the waitress explained. “The cut out section of the patties are put with your side.”
“That sounds fun. Let’s do that. Diamond?”
“The railway salad in a bread bowl sounds good,” Diamond said. “Can I get extra cheese and tomato bits in it?”
“That can be arranged.” The waitress wrote down Diamond’s order.
“A grilled daisy sandwich, please,” Fancy said.
“And I just made five Bits. I’ll get those orders in for you.” She left to do that.
“What was that about making five Bits?” Diamond asked once the waitress was gone.
“I usually get the same thing when I come here, but I change it up from time to time,” Fancy explained. “If silly little bets like that keep morale up, there’s no reason to get on the employees about it.”
I tuned out the conversation as I turned my attention out and down to the tracks below. The passenger cars and engines were familiar enough, but the freight cars were ones I hadn’t personally seen before. Seeing the cars in motion and being rearranged was oddly relaxing.
Our orders arrived, and I enjoyed my stuffed burger while I kept watching the yard below. It was a very good burger. The grease and saltiness accentuated the flavor of everything else really well.
While I was working on my fries, I saw a few trains go through the yard. One moment, a passenger train passed through. Less than a minute later, on a different track that met up with the one the passenger train had been on, a freight train went by. Something started clicking in my mind and I focused on the tracks.
Different tracks for different trains and cars.
An array of switches controlled what went where.
The tracks all met up at one area before going out.
A choice of inputs that led to an output that depended on which single input was chosen.
“Inova?” Diamond poked me between my wings. “We’re done with dessert. Did you want any?”
I was snapped out of my schematic visualization. “Huh?”
“You zoned out on us, Princess,” Fancy said. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Yeah.” I tore my gaze away from the window. “Diamond, Fancy, I need to get back to the castle. I just got an idea. Do you mind if I leave now?”
“Is it an artificing thing?” Diamond asked.
“It’s the gravity gauntlet. I think I know how to make it better.”
“You’ll have to tell me about it later,” Fancy said. “Go while you have the idea.”
“Thank you.” I left and went out the door we came in. The guards that had accompanied us were still there. “Gentlecolts, we’re flying.” I took to the sky and went straight to the castle.
“I’VE GOT IT!” I shouted as I barged into the artificing workshop. Diagrams were spread across the walls, each one an attempt at either the alicorn sword or gravity gauntlet logic command enchantments.
“What is it?” Gearbox asked.
“For the gauntlet! I know how to change what it can do without logic commands!”
With that, I had everypony’s attention. “The chalkboard’s yours, Princess. Sapphire, you’re on note taking duty.”
I went over and started drawing out a diagram. “I’m calling this the Switchyard System. Start with a number of enchanted gems. Lift, push, give me some more.”
“Fire!”
“Shockwave!”
“Pulling!”
“Illusions!”
I wrote the ideas down, and added Safety to the list. “Alright, that’s good. Now, we’ll put an activation input here.” I drew a button and lines going to the enchantments, then from there to the output section, except for Safety. “Now, this by itself would just activate everything at once. We have to break the conduits.” I did that on the input side with the eraser. “Then, we put some conduits on a bolt, and when the bolt is locked in, it completes the circuit. In one device, you can have all of these capabilities at your disposal.” I stepped back and looked at it. “In fact, you could even have multiple inputs to activate it. Or multiple output areas. Or both.”
There was silence from my audience. All of Canterlot Castle’s best artificers were looking at my diagram with slack jawed expressions. “Is everypony okay?” I warily asked.
“Okay?” Gearbox asked. “Okay?! Princess Inova, you just barged in here and drew out a whole new system for artificing! You’ll have to give us some time with this before we work on the gravity gauntlet. There is research to be done!”
“Then you’re not doing the research without me!”
“So, what was so important, you had to leave the diner at Wonderbolt speeds?” Diamond asked when I finally got back to the room after the sun had gone down.
I casually waved off the question. “Oh nothing much.” I switched to serious mode. “I apparently just created a whole new artificing construct method! I just spent the last five hours with the artificers doing experiments and writing things that I’ll probably see in a textbook and get tested on.”
“Really?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised.” I imagined Mr. Forger teaching from the textbook before I stepped up and took over the lecture. “I should get a notebook for this.”