Lightning? But it's clear! [Open]

She continued to listen to the two before giving a slight sniff of the air as she smells the pipe smoke as he puffed it out and continued to state his option on the lifestyles of the ponies that followed the old ways compared to the more technology focused ones that the other pony wanted to create. She would slowly back away from him but was soon caught in his sight and asked the question,"Uh...well honestly...I..don't...uh...mind either way." She says looking away from both of them.

"From what I am understanding you...uh both have valid points. Though I think...you both are...refusing to see a...common point.", her hoof kicks the ground looking away again as she starts to state her opinion. "I mean would it...be so hard to have a town run but this...uh..Lightning Capture Device but also relies on the old ways to light the towns?" Her breathing would hasten a little as she tried to get all the words out quickly so not to keep the attention on her for too long.

"Why have both, when you can have the obviously superior one?" She asked, honestly not understanding, "It seems a bit redundant to me. Like they have a lack of faith in the new tech, and an overabundance of faith in the old methods."

She looked at the pair of ponies helplessly. They seemed to be one of those ponies. Both of them, mind, to a degree. The old-looking-but-not-so-old-looking one seemed to question everything she did, and the other hooded-mysterious-and-obvious-observation one simply didn't seem to like the idea either way.

I need to start pandering to a much younger crowd she thought helplessly.

Enough power!? Enough power!?

"I'll have you know," Sugar said, trying hard to stay calm with actually decent success, "That lightning, and this is only one strike by the way, can generate voltage differences of, potentially anyway, several hundred million volts. A typical bolt of lightning generates ten to the power of twenty electrons in the fraction of a second! If you're not a mathematical savant, like myself, to put it in its simplest form in terms of numbers, one lightning bolt generates up to one hundred quintillion electrons per bolt! That makes a current of almost ten kiloamperes, or several hundred megawatts, which is more than enough to be reliable!"

She took a breath, then continued.

"It only take approximately 0.54 amps to power a 60 watt lightbulb, which is all Canterlot is going to need for it's street lamps. They need to be bright enough to see by, but not too bright as to blind the poor pony walking under it. So! With approximately ten kiloamps to every strike, and about one thousand amps to every kiloamp, I have deduced that you would have to have over twenty thousand streetlights active all at the same time to not have enough energy to power Canterlot's lights! And why in Equestria would you want that many lights in the first place!?"

She seemed to be getting quite upset about all this, as she slowly degenerated more and more in ranting instead of explaining.

"If I combine it with a strong enough battery held in a controlled environment beneath the mountain Canterlot stands on, And run powerlines from the battery to the lights, it would make everything so much easier! Lights in the castle! No more excessive heat from flaming torches, and oily smoke from said torches! Clean, dependable and completely and utterly without fault, because we barely even have to change our daily lives! A thunderstorm would generate enough power to sustain the city for weeks before the energy finally disperses completely as heat..."

Finally, she went quiet, looking at her hooves. When she spoke again, it was in a level tone, and quiet.

"Where would we go, if we didn't start looking forward?"

|     Making no attempt to get in the middle of the other two's debate, Shifting Sands just smoked quietly and waited for a lull. When it did come, he took his turn at the discussion.

"You show you've put in much thought about this," he said with a nod. "As you should, for such things can be dangerous if not created with every detail in mind. Yet despite your facts and figures, and the good and bad your device would bring (for all things have a measure of both), some will choose not to listen. Some are content with their ways, both old and new, and will refuse to change so easily--even if great change bring about great good." He shifted his seated position slightly, making it not quite so easy for the cloaked mare to hide behind him. Seemed Sands was surreptitiously keeping her in the conversation, whether she'd really want to be or not. True, she could just leave at any time; whether or not she wanted to was the only question there.

"There is a mineral found in the Sand Sea that is treasured by my people. It is of a crystalline nature, faceted and smooth with a formed shape untampered with by pony hooves. It comes in many colors, all beautiful, but the most prized is white." He took his pipe out of his mouth to tap it out, contents burned beyond recognition or use. Still, maybe out of habit, he stuck the now non-smoking pipe back in his mouth. "These crystals are used to decorate our tents, be it tied to the poles of a pavilion, or at the very top of a center support, to greet the sun outside. All day they gleam in the light, and in the evening when Luna arises, we continue to enjoy her sister's glow. They are called Sun Stones," he explained.

"Each day they harvest the sun's rays, a bounty otherwise unharnessed, and at night it is leaked back out into the darkness. I have no facts or numbers to give related to their operation, but they are, as you say, 'clean energy'. And these stones have been known to my people for generations, longer still than the use of fire. In a way, they remind me of what you are attempting, and yet they are of the old ways. To promote your own plans and change the future, you must also take into account those who are firmly in the past. Expand your mind, so that you may expand theirs. Fire, too, was once feared."

Zeila looked up from behind the stallion now that he adjusted himself so that she wasn't able to hide as easily. As she listened to him talk to the mare explaining how a culture of ponies may not be so readily to shift from one idea to another she would see the other mare's expression change and her head for the first time since arriving on the scene her head lower. She felt a bit of sympathy for the mare and looked to her.

She hesitantly and slowly set the saddle bag she had on for most of the conversation down behind the stallion then slowly walk over to her,"Uh listen...I...I think it will work well especially with as much thought you put into it.", she would lean down a bit trying to get to her level,"You just need to expect some resistance when wanting to improve things, as long as you are willing to be flexible and adapt." She would give a small chuckle and smile to her,"You won't fail." She knew next to nothing on how this would work or how it might affect pony societies but she knew being open minded to things would make life easier for all.

It was obvious. She'd taken everything he'd said the wrong way. He hadn't said she'd fail, he hadn't said she was wrong. But her doubts were clouding her thoughts, and she could only think of it that way.

"I've heard the speech before," She mumbled sadly, "Just before my work was thrown away like common trash."

She picked at the ground beneath her with a hoof, then looked back at her machine, a glorious work of mechanics and magic. A possibly world changing invention that could change the face of equestria, and put her name up in the lists of ponies like Starswirl the Bearded, Princess Platinum, and Clover the Clever.

But all she saw was a failure.

"Maybe you're right..." She said softly, "Maybe it's too dangerous. Maybe it's not reliable..."

Maybe she should've made things differently. Maybe she should invest in decent metals that weren't randomly around her shop. Maybe she shouldn't have made it at all. What if it explodes in the face of the first pony that used it? What if the battery overloaded? What about the lightning rod? What if it couldn't take the heat or energy of a thunderbolt?

What if Sugar, despite all of her calculations and thought, was in fact wrong?