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Post by Sugar Sweet on Aug 30, 2014 12:22:39 GMT -5
Normally, the roads in and out of the sleepy little city between Fillydelphia and Baltimare didn't see much activity. Well, not much in terms of tourism. And, one would suppose, this day was no different. Maybe there'd be a carriage later? Maybe there'd be a hiker, hitchhiking their way to Baltimare, or the other way. Maybe there'd be a pegasus team taking a brief respite before moving on again on their errands, whatever those might be.
But if there was one thing on this day that was guaranteed to never, ever come around, it was lightning.
This was, first and foremost, because it was an absolutely divine, clear skied day! Barely a cloud to be seen in the sky. The sort of day you'd go out and have a picnic during with friends and family, maybe a close loved one. And indeed, if one was observant enough, they would see a pony sitting stone still, staring at something odd before her.
This pony would be the ever curious, and over excited, Sugar Sweet.
Sitting before her was a small wooden box. But that wasn't all! No, coming out of the top of said box was a long metal pole, specially designed to attract lightning! Yes folks, she had a lightning rod right in front of her, and she was waiting, seated by a lightning rod, staring at it eagerly, occasionally looking up at the sky before looking back.
Absolutely clear skies.
Beside her was a small sleeping bag, and the other side was a small lunchbox. She was totally ready for this!
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Junior Member
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According to my brother, Sands is Gandalf Pony.
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Post by Shifting Sands on Aug 31, 2014 22:35:03 GMT -5
| Waiting for a proverbial bolt from the blue was odd enough, but Shifting Sands had little notion about lightning rods and the like. No, what was more curious to him was the fact that someone appeared to be...camping. In the middle of the road. They didn't even have a proper tent set up.
| He'd locked up his cart for the day and was about to get some lunch when he saw her, the odd mare staring up eagerly into the sky at nothing. Sands glanced around to see if anyone or anything was nearby, and when he confirmed she was alone, was even more curious. What in the world? With a cautious step he came closer, habitual smoking pipe sticking out of his mouth as he examined the contraption from a polite distance.
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Post by Sugar Sweet on Aug 31, 2014 22:59:54 GMT -5
Sugar didn't even notice him, or his cart. So content was she to simply glance between her lightning rod box thing and the absolutely clear skies in eager anticipation. She puffed a tuft of her mane out of her face now and then as it fell, but otherwise seemed completely docile, and didn't offer up an explanation to her actions to the stallion she was unaware of.
"This is gunna be awesome!" She giggled to herself happily.
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Junior Member
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According to my brother, Sands is Gandalf Pony.
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Post by Shifting Sands on Aug 31, 2014 23:11:11 GMT -5
| With his cart still in town, Sands was rather light on his hooves at the moment. Thus, it didn't really occur to him that he wouldn't be noticed. He ambled over to stand just behind and to the side of her, his large head scanning the would-be experiment from the base to its tip in the sky. Flipping his long pipe from one side of his mouth to the other, away from her, he raised the silent question.
"What is that device?" came his deep voice, quite suddenly and right by her ear.
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Post by Sugar Sweet on Aug 31, 2014 23:18:50 GMT -5
Sugar, not expecting company, much less a voice, squealed in shock, almost falling over backwards before looking behind her in alarm.
"Celestia's shoes, don't do that!" She squeaked, one hoof on her chest as she felt her heartbeat start to slow down again, "You could kill somepony!"
She knew. She'd done the math. However, that math was not important right now, as his question was processed after her warning and she beamed.
"But! To answer your question, this device is a Lightning Capturer~" She said proudly, gesturing at it grandly, "It's going to make me famous one day! I made it myself see?"
To be honest, it was quite plain, but she seemed very proud of it.
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Junior Member
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According to my brother, Sands is Gandalf Pony.
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Post by Shifting Sands on Aug 31, 2014 23:23:43 GMT -5
| Sands couldn't help but jump a little too, ears pinning back at the squeal, but he'd blundered right in to that one. He gave his head a gentle shake to regain his senses.
"Lightning capturer...?" He glanced upward at the cloudless sky and back down to the orange mare. "What good would it serve to capture lightning?" Politely he skimmed over the obvious fact that there were no clouds, for of course she knew that. Or so he expected.
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Post by Sugar Sweet on Aug 31, 2014 23:32:20 GMT -5
"Lightning Capturer!" She asserted, just to make sure he didn't forget, "And I'm glad you asked! Look!"
She pointed to the rod.
"First and foremost! That's a lightning rod!" She explained, assuming that, since he asked, he mustn't have known, "It's made of a special, hyper conductive alloy I made in my shop (She didn't have the heart or pride to admit it was just random pieces of scrap metal she found that did conduct electricity) that'll draw the lightning bolt down and into it, and then..."
She fiddled with the wooden box base, turning it round and muttering as she finally found the latch that opened it up. Inside was a complex series of wires, metal instruments and a cylinder that looked to be covered in rubber. She continued.
"The lightning travels down here," She continued her explanation excitedly, eyes glittering, "Where it travels through these copper wires I've had reinforced with magic, since I couldn't get stronger wire. The energy is measured by this-"
She pointed at a small meter.
"Which doesn't change until next charge, or lightning bolt in this case, and the rest of the lightning that wasn't used up as heat or to activate the meter is stored in here!"
She then pointed to the little cylinder covered in rubber.
"Which is insulated on the outside to prevent anypony from shocking themselves when they pick up the battery to power something else!"
She smiled proudly, excited that somepony was interested in her creation, and had asked for an explanation.
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Junior Member
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According to my brother, Sands is Gandalf Pony.
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Post by Shifting Sands on Aug 31, 2014 23:38:50 GMT -5
| Shifting Sands listened intently to the explanation, looking rather blank on some points, and at the end of it all, tipped his head to the other side.
"But...why would you want to? Lightning is dangerous," he noted. "Even if you did manage to keep a bolt trapped in there, wouldn't it just strike whatever it was you tried to...power?" He blinked back at her. Though a stallion of simple tastes, he'd still seen very little that was reliant on outside power sources like batteries or electricity. In his experience, at any rate, most communities still lived in simpler times. Maybe this young inventor was just a forward-thinker a little ahead of her time.
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Post by Sugar Sweet on Aug 31, 2014 23:46:58 GMT -5
"But what if it needs a big jolt?" She countered brightly, "And everything is potentially dangerous, but not this battery. See, batteries are designed to only let out so much charge per second, otherwise it'd fry the contraption in question!"
She closed her bizarre invention up and sat before him, raising a hoof as she spoke animatedly.
"Every battery has a different voltage, which is important! Because different voltage is good for different things! Powering a flashlight is, for example, different to powering a lab! Most ponies still live in ancient times..."
She made a face at that. Obviously she didn't agree with that way of life.
"But with a battery this powerful, I could, potentially mind you, this is all theoretical at this point, be able to charge an entire city! How long for is questionable, since I'm not entirely certain how a city the size of Canterlot could be powered by one of these batteries, and of course it would have to be significantly larger in size to account for all of the extra power that'd come with it, and recharging it would be easy, efficient and clean!"
She was practically glowing as she continued her happy explanation.
"No downsides, right? I know! But of course, before you can implement things or present them to the public, you must test them to make sure they're safe, right? So here I am, with my potentially groundbreaking new powersource, waiting for the perfect moment!"
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Junior Member
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According to my brother, Sands is Gandalf Pony.
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Post by Shifting Sands on Sept 1, 2014 18:51:31 GMT -5
| Sands continued to listen quietly to the explanation as best he could, grabbing onto what he understood and muddling about with the unfamiliar. He was quiet for a little while after she stopped, processing the ins and outs, and finally replying simply:
"What about magic?"
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Post by Zeila on Sept 1, 2014 19:53:36 GMT -5
On her way coming back from one of her rounds in Fillydelphia a smile would stretch across Zeila's face. Almost beaming in happiness as her satchel was full of bits earned from he fake fortune telling, she was going to be stocked for quite some time. Though as she travels down her usual path back to town she noticed a large metal object sticking straight up into the sky she looked a bit perplexed as she moved closer only to see two ponies standing right next to the thing. Her happy mood dropped as she quickly pulled her hood up onto her head with such haste that her mane wasn't even properly packed in.
She moved closer to the two of them only getting near the older looking stallion,"Oh uh...excuse me what is going on here?" She asked hoping not to bring up too much attention to herself and pass off as a passerby. Her head lowered a bit to keep from making direct eye contact with him.
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Post by Sugar Sweet on Sept 1, 2014 20:17:50 GMT -5
"What about it?" She shot back, a little annoyed, "Magic isn't sustainable! It would take heaps of unicorns to power a city, and even then!"
She looked at the newcomer, blinking a few times, then shrugged and just held a hoof up to her briefly, asking her to wait before continuing.
"Even then, the amount of raw magical power needed to run a city is monumental and unstable! You'd have thousands of different spells all active at the same time stored in one place, and magic much harder to handle than electricity. Plus, what if a city doesn't have an abundance of unicorns? What then? Well, then their unicorns would have to put more of themselves into the grid, which would weaken them over time, rapidly or slowly depending on how few there are, until eventually they'd die of just exhaustion. But with this!"
She gestured excitedly to the absurd contraption again.
"With this, all that's unnecessary! Completely unwarranted! Certainly, you can still use the unicorn's magic to change the seasons, but any city powered by one of or several of these will be the most efficient city seen in all of Equestria"
She then looked at the hooded newcomer and said: "I am explaining the reason and function of my lightning capturer to this gentlecolt here."
Her eyes brightened as she asked afterwards, "Would you like to hear it too!?♥"
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Junior Member
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According to my brother, Sands is Gandalf Pony.
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Post by Shifting Sands on Sept 1, 2014 20:28:20 GMT -5
| Sands' pale gaze shifted to the newcomer, perhaps studying her a bit longer than he would any other traveler--she looked somewhat out of place, like he did. He answered her query with a small, silent shrug, which of course he delivered subtly when the tinkerer wasn't looking. Attention going back to the magic-vs-electricity ramble, he 'hmm'ed at an appropriate time, taking a long draw on the pipe and finally puffing a cloud off to the side. When he spoke again, he wore a bemused expression.
"I respect your ideas, and the possibilities they present. What I do mean, though...regarding magic, is that not exactly what is done now? What cannot be achieved conventionally, if remedied by magic. And yet the world is still going on."
| Sands shifted his weight from one back hoof to the other.
"I myself rely on curious means in my own livelihood, yet it requires neither bottled lightning nor magic for its operation. I admit, I do harness elements of magic with certain aspects, but the device as a whole would still operate without it." The cherry-coke colored stallion shuffled a bit more, and with little ceremony, took a seat in the road as well. This gave him the liberty to remove the reed-pipe from his mouth and hold it comfortably in the crook of a foreleg. And, despite years of practice in doing so, it removed the slight lisp inevitable while holding something firmly in one's teeth and trying to speak.
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Post by Sugar Sweet on Sept 1, 2014 20:36:13 GMT -5
She frowned, trying to puzzle out his meaning, before shrugging.
"Well yeah, but no offense, you're a merchant," She pointed out, "Using my batteries to power your cart would most likely tear it to pieces, it's too powerful. You're also not a unicorn, so you have to get by without physical magic. But what if you needed light outside? What if you didn't have a candle? What if you don't have a candle and you're stuck outside at night in the pitch black and the streetlights have gone out because it's rainy? Or windy? What then?"
She shrugged as she continued, gesturing with her hooves as she spoke.
"You can't always light a witchlight, that requires unicorn skill, which neither pegasi or Earth ponies like ourselves have. So, we have to compensate, which is why I built this in the first place. Power lights and all sorts of things! It'll be great. You'll see."
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Post by Zeila on Sept 1, 2014 20:45:58 GMT -5
Zeila would be a little overwhelmed as she heard the mare give a very heated explanation for the lighting capture device to exist and its main function. She slightly moves behind the stallion as she shakes her head,"Uh..n-no thanks I am fine thank you." She then listens to what the stallion in front of her had to say in response to her. She looked around again seeing the clear blue sky taking a moment to think then leans out from behind the stallion,"Uh...why do you have that thing out here when it is so clear out?"
She looks at the mare again then back at the stallion,"I mean w-wouldn't it be easier to do this when there was a storm here?", she says staying right behind the stallion looking around at the sky verifying that there was no clouds in the sky let alone clouds that could shoot lightening.
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