Chapter 7
Revelations

Neither of us spoke as we entered the steam bus. The driver looked like he had something to say as he took in our apparel, bloodied as it was, but the glare I gave him made him change his mind.

Normally I would have just teleported us back to my office, but after the dregs of adrenaline had worn off I found myself spent both mentally and physically. It was that room. I knew that I shouldn’t be THIS tired. But the truth was I was still replaying events over and over in my mind, both those of today, and from all those years ago.

As we sat beside each other, listening to the chuff, chuff, of the steam engines, the images interposed themselves over the view of the bus’s interior. Blood, so much blood, so many pieces of pony. And Twilight, always Twilight, with that look of horror and revulsion on her face.

Nopony ever thinks about how quickly their life can change. That morning, all those years ago when a young colt woke up to a future as bright as Celestia’s sun, but before the evening was over, it would turn as black as a moonless night. This morning all that those ponies at the restaurant had to worry about were who would show up late, and how big the tips would be by the end of their shift. Now half of them would wake up in the hospital tomorrow, and the other half would never wake up again.

These were the thoughts running through my head right then. Not the case, or the clues, or the dry cleaning bill. Innocents had died. Again. And if I had done things just slightly differently, they would not have... again. All I had to have done was NOT cave in to Moonlight’s request for lunch. If we had just gotten there sooner, then I would have been the one to open the locker. I would have immediately recognized those explosives from the first time, and teleported them away. Or at least that’s what I’m telling myself. Tartarus, I don’t know... All I do know is that if I had to chose between them and me, I would have chosen me every time.

I rub my temple with my hooves, and when I look up I find that Moonlight has been staring at me. Sheesh, that’s not at all creepy. I raise an eyebrow, as if to say ‘what?’. She answers my unspoken question.

“I-I’m sorry.” She says hesitantly. “What I said before, in the kitchen. You were just standing there, not moving... and all those ponies...”

“Just stop.” I say holding up a hoof. “I froze. You have nothing to apologize for. Seeing the inside of that room... It drug out a memory of a long time ago. One I keep trying to bury, but keeps finding it’s way back. That’s no excuse though, I froze. It’s like you said, ‘what good was I?’ If anything I owe you an apology, and my thanks for putting my head back in the here and now.”

“Is it something you want to talk about?” She asks, her voice soft and understanding.

She seems genuinely concerned, but I horde my pain like a dragon hordes treasure.

“No, but thank you. Let’s just say that some years ago I made a mistake. A mistake I can never undo. That room should give you a pretty good idea of the kind of mistake I’m talking about.” I lean back and rub my temples once again. “Sometimes I wonder if there’s something wrong with me. Do you have any idea how many beings I’ve had to kill since I started as an agent?”

“One hundred and fourteen,” She replies deadpan. “It was in your file.”

I sigh deeply. “I was being rhetorical,” I reply. A small part of me notes that whatever her sources are, they weren’t able to obtain a copy of my ‘other’ file. Her total is woefully low.

“Sorry,” she says.

“Fuggeddabouddit,” I reply with my old accent. “Let’s just get back to the office, get cleaned up, and call it a day. We need to meet back up first thing in the morning. You and I need to pay a visit to Night Industries.”

“Um, about that,” she begins, caution creeping into her voice. “I really don’t think Luna would appreciate an agent of Celestia’s running around loose in her main research and development facility.”

“You’re absolutely right,” I reply. “But the fact is, the trail leads right to their doorstep. Also Luna gave me that nice writ to go ANYWHERE that has bearing on my investigation. Add to that, I’m getting pressure from my own boss to finish this case quickly. Bottom line, like it or not, that’s where we are going. If it helps, I can promise not to go snooping around any areas that are not related to the case. And I think you know I’m too much of a professional to blab any secrets to the public.”

“But you will still be reporting to Celestia.” Moonlight prompts.

“Unavoidable.” I retort. “I’m trying to go up the middle here, but Celestia is my boss, just like Luna is yours. If, in the course of my investigation I were to discover something that could become a potential threat to her kingdom, I have no choice to report it.”

“You always have a choice.” She replies in a quite voice, not looking at me.

The steam bus pulls up to our stop. I don’t say anything as we get out and make our way back to my office. By the time we get there I have made up my mind to tell her something about myself. Heck, I figure if we work together long enough she’s going to find out anyway, and maybe this way she’ll understand my position a little bit better.

We trot inside and I throw my coat and fedora on Ori’s desk. “Back in the bus, you said I always have a choice.” She looks up at me and nods. I take her hoof and place it on my barrel. Through my coat it only takes her a moment to feel the hard metal of a rune set under the outer layer of my skin. For a moment it flares a soft blue at her touch. “No Moonlight, I don’t have a choice. I gave up all my choices a long time ago.”

“A spell rune?” she asks in shock. It’s my turn to nod. Instead of pulling away she begins to trace her hoof across my barrel, it only takes her a moment to find the next one, then the next one, then the next one. She continues her explorations for a few more minutes. Her eyes going wider as she begins to recognize what some of them are for.

“How... how many? They seem to be everywhere.” She says as she finally removes her hoof. This is a shame, I was starting to really enjoy it.

“At this point around seventy-eight percent of my body is covered in spell runes.” I say as I settle back into one of the guest chairs.

“Seventy ei-... by the Sky Stallion! How could you endure it? Each one, melted into your flesh... that many... it must have been sheer agony! Is this what it means to work for m- Celestia?” she says in horror.

“Now, now, calm down.” I say, raising my hooves. “It’s not like I was forced or coerced. We are all volunteers. And it didn’t happen all at once. I had time to heal before the next one was added. Also, not all of them are permanent. Some she added to the base set as time went along. But the thing is, some of these spells are extremely powerful. Celestia isn’t foolish enough to just let us run around with them unchecked. If we want those spells, part of the price is a geas that we allow her to place on us. It’s different for each of us, but the bottom line is, that there IS a bottom line. If we cross that invisible line, our death runes will activate automatically, and then all that magic will cause our bodies to explode like the interior of that restaurant. We can also choose to self destruct if we are captured, and of course if she so chooses, Celestia can activate them at any time herself. As you can see, it’s quite the incentive to do our jobs properly.”

One look at Moonlight and I can tell she is horrified.

“H-how many others?” she stammers out. “How many more like you are there?”

“That’s classified.” I respond.

“But... why? Why would you allow something like this to be done to you? Surely you realize that the magics those runes hold, leak magic into your body. Not even the most sophisticated spell rune is one hundred percent stable. And that many runes. Your body will become saturated with conflicting magical harmonics. It’s a miracle that your body hasn’t torn itself apart.” She says, staring at me as if I might explode any minute.

“Let’s just say I have a work around.” I reply. “I am in no danger of exploding, at least not from that. And before you ask, no, I don’t plan on going into details.” I say holding up a hoof to forestall that line of inquiry. Assuming Luna’s agent is as trained as I am, then I had to be careful of making any off hoof remark. Sometimes Celestia loves me like a son, but she’d throw me INTO the sun if she ever found out I let any of her secrets slip out.

Almost as if she was reading my mind, Moonlight asks. “And you don’t think your boss will be upset when she finds out you have given away what could be a huge tactical advantage by telling me all of this?”

“Not really,” I say casually. “It seems to me that you’ll find out at some point regardless, given the direction our investigation seems to be heading. Also, at least in this endeavor, we are on the same side, and I feel a... ‘partner’, should know what to expect when the cow chips are down.” Partner. Gahh, I hate saying that word again. But really, it’s the only term that fits. Thankfully at least it isn’t permanent.

“I see.” She responds.

She sits there quietly for a few moments. I assume she is integrating everything she just heard into whatever her mission profile is. I don’t think for a minute that Luna told me even half the truth about her. For all I know her instructions are to kill me as soon as I finish this case. Which would totally suck... for her.

Finally she stands facing me. “Johnny. I just can’t figure you out. On the one hoof, you are cold and calculating, and almost relentless when in pursuit of your goal. Yet on the other, you have trouble when others are suffering. You’ve killed more sentient beings than half of Luna’s agents combined, but you freeze at a blood filled room. You are literally the equivalent of a walking magical bomb just waiting to go off, and yet you act like you don’t have a care in the world. Do you have any idea how much damage that much high level magic would cause if it all went up at once?”

“Yes, actually I do. You, on the other hoof, do not.” I say rising to my hooves as well. “I know down to the thaum, what would happen. You’ll just have to trust me when I say that it won’t. No innocent pony will ever be harmed by such a thing. That possibility has been eliminated.”

I say this last with finality. She needs to know I am serious, otherwise she might try to do something foolish. Like try to lock me away in some underground bunker until they can rip the runes out of my living flesh. That wouldn’t end well for any of us.

She studies me again. Time seems to come to a stop.

Finally she says. “I’ll have to report this to Princess Luna.”

“Fine,” I say. I expected no less.

“And the fact that you plan to visit Night Industries.” She adds.

“Do what you have to do.” I reply. “But if Luna decides she wants to try and do a quick tidy up tonight, and ends up ruining my chances to solve the case, it’s safe to assume that my boss will be very curious to know what could have possibly been so important as to jeopardize not only the chances of recovering her pet, but the life of a young pony as well. And it’s a safe bet that if she starts thinking down those lines that you’ll soon find your city full to the brim with ponies like me. Ponies you know nothing about.

So my ‘advice’ agent Moonlight Shadow, is to convince your boss to let me do my job with a minimum of interference. It’ll get me out of her mane all the faster.”

“When seeing the facts from your perspective, I am forced to conclude that you are correct.” She says ridgedly. “I will inform the Princess of your... ‘suggestion’,” she says as she makes her way to the door. “Expect me back here by nine o’clock. I’ll inform you of any changes the princess may wish to make to your plan.”

And without another word, she walks out the door, not quite slamming it behind her. I’ve put her on the spot with her boss. Good. I haven’t been thrilled walking a tightrope between Celestia and Luna ever since I was assigned this fools errand. Maretese Phoenix... bah. If it wasn’t for the missing pony, I’d tell them both where they can go looking for their missing bird. First clue... it’s dark. Second clue... it smells most recently of chili.

Hmm, speaking of which... I open the door to my office, and turn on the lights. In front of my desk is Celestia’s... I mean MY new chair. I trot over to it, lean in close, and take a hesitant sniff. Oh... smells nice. Not only cleaned and polished, but they added some of that spray stuff... what was it called? Fabreezy? Yeah, that was it. Well, at least one thing went right today.

I wasn’t about to ruin all the hard work that somepony did on my new chair by flopping down in it in my current condition. I was feeling rested enough for a teleport home. I needed a shower. And something to eat. And lots of somethings to drink. Time enough to test drive this beauty in the morning.

Nine firstnight came far to early for my liking. By the time I struggled out of bed I was almost late. I grabbed my spare duster and fedora, threw some oats in a bowl and teleported to work. Ori had a fresh pot of coffee waiting for me, and a fresh muffin was on my desk along with the morning news. I had made it with fifteen minutes to spare, so I quickly began eating while my eyes scanned the pages.

There was an article there about the restaurant. The Night Watch were quoted as saying the cause was an ‘accident’ pending further investigation. No mention of Moonlight or myself, or any pictures of either of us. Good.

At nine on the dot Moonlight arrived. She was wearing a new dress, still black. No hat this time. She seemed much more relaxed. Either the chat with her boss went well, or a good night’s sleep had worked wonders. I was more worried about the former, than the latter.

I drained the last of my coffee and stood up. “Ori, expect us to be gone the better part of the day. You have the bridge.” I quipped

“Aye, aye captain.” She replied, not quite stifling a grin. We both listen to the same shows on the ponaudio, so she got my Star Trot reference.

I didn’t want to waste the time it took for a steam bus to get us there, so as soon as we were out in the hallway I took Moonlight’s hoof and teleported us. Night Industries R&D was the last set of buildings you came to on Star Lane. The road continued forward from here to the main courtyard of Luna’s Castle.

I stood there for a moment, just staring up at the imposing edifice. Forever bathed in the light of the full moon, it was at once both beautiful, and intimidating. Whoever the architect was, he had manage to capture the presence of his mistress perfectly in stone.

“Beautiful isn’t it?” Moonlight asked, at my side. “The spires, and minarets. It’s like a fairytale castle.”

“Indeed.” I reply. “To be honest, I always found the one in Canterlot to be excessively biased toward Celestia. It was a ‘sun’ castle. It’s nice to see her sister’s taste’s have a chance to be expressed.”

Moonlight looks at me oddly for a moment. “A surprising thing to say, considering who your master is.”

“I have NO master.” I say, a little more strongly than I intended to. “I have a boss, that I have willingly pledged myself to. You may think there is no difference, SHE may think there is no difference, but if she were to ever betray herself to her ponies, she would find out otherwise.”

“Like Nightmare Moon.” Moonlight says, almost to herself.

“Exactly.” I respond. “I am loyal to Celestia, as long as she is loyal to her people. If that were to ever change, my loyalties would always remain with the ideals that she strives so hard to attain.”

“You are a very... complex, pony.” She says finally.

“One of the nicer things I have been told about myself,” I say inclining my head toward the front door of Night Industries. “Shall we?”

“Very well, if we must.” She says, forcing a look of resignation onto her muzzle.

We trot in side by side. I’ve never been inside the place before. White walls, vaulted ceilings, glass and brass accents everywhere. Very high tech looking. I walk over to the main receptions desk. A bright looking young mare greets us with a wide smile.

“Welcome to Night Industries Research and Development. My name is Silver Lining, how may I help you?” she inquires in a happy voice.

She looks so happy and perky, it makes me really hate myself for what I’m about to do, but there may be a pony’s life on the line, so I force myself to push on.

“Mrs. Lining,” I say, earning a slight frown from Moonlight, (I remembered too late that she hates ‘Mrs.”), I realize this will be a terrible inconvenience to you, but I’m afraid that we need to see Dr. Brass.”

Moonlight’s head jerks up with a start. I purposely never mentioned the name on that business card that was in Bab’s locker to Moonlight. I had no intention of allowing her time to head off what I had planned. This was because of who Dr. Brass was.

Dr. Brass Tacks was the pony responsible for single hoofedly inventing the Magically Induced Steam engine, and most of it’s applications in Luna’s city. Dr. Brass, as everypony called him nowadays, was also the head of Night Industries Applied technologies decision. If there was a new toy or piece of tech released to the citizens of Whinnyappleous, you can bet it was Dr. Brass that put it there. Aside from Luna herself, he was the most important pony in the city.

As expected, my request caused the chipper receptionist to deflate, albeit only slightly.

“I’m sorry sir,” she said in apologetic tones, “But Dr. Brass is unavailable to see guests. And I’m afraid that making an appointment is out of the question. He specifically requested that he not be disturbed for the remainder of the week.”

“And I suppose next week...” I left the question hanging.

“He will come to my desk, and request not to be disturbed again for the remainder of that week as well.” She says, trying to maintain her good nature.

Clearly she has had to deal with this sort of thing before. She fully expected me to lose my temper, rant and rave, or at least storm off. I felt really bad for her, considering I was about to do something worse. At this point what I should do is put on my mask, and force myself to be cold and efficient. But this pony was just doing her job as best she could. And I was about to put her in a bad place with her boss. So instead I placed a small shield around the two of us and spoke quickly.

“Silver. May I call you Silver?” She offers a quick nod. “I just placed a small shield around us. A cone of silence. For the next few seconds, nopony can hear what we say, even through those little listening devices under the lip of your desk.” Her eyes widen at this, clearly I wasn’t supposed to know that they monitor her conversations. “Now in a moment I am going to show you an official document, but before I do, I want you to know that this is nothing personal between you and me. You have to do your job and I have to do mine.” I take her hand and hoof her a business card discreetly. “If something happens to you because of today, please give me a call. I’ll do everything I can to make it right.” She gives me a confused look for a moment, but tucks the card into her sleeve in such a way that nopony else could have saw.

‘A-all right,” she stammers, “but what is this about?”

“I’m sorry, I can’t tell you that. I’m about to drop the shield, are you ready?” I ask. She gives a small nod in return.

To anypony else except Moonlight who was standing right beside me, it would have merely looked like I had dropped my voice, trying not to yell at her inside the building, and she of course had done the same. As for the listening devices, they would have simple heard nothing. Well up until now.

“I’m sorry to hear that Mrs. Lining, but you see in this case, I cannot take ‘no’ for an answer.” I pull out Luna’s Writ from the pocket of my duster, and place in on the desk in front of her. “I have full permission to go anywhere I see fit in this facility, so like it or not, I WILL be meeting with Dr. Brass, the only question is, will somepony escort me to him, or will I have to do a room by room search?”

Her eyes go wide as she reads the document I’ve placed before her. “I-I’ll need to speak to my manager-” she begins to say as she reaches for the intercom. But before she can complete the gesture two immense security ponies trot up to either side of the desk.

“Ah, you must be our escort. If nothing else, Night Industries makes efficient use of it’s time. Now if you two gentle ponies will be so kind as to escort me to Dr. Brass.” I say taking a step forward.

Instantly the two are blocking my way. “It’s time for you to leave Mister.” The taller of the two say.

“This letter I have says otherwise.” I hold it aloft in front of his eyes with my magic.

“Sir, I really don’t care what your paper says,” he says while trying to rip it out of the air between us. A move I anticipated by making sure the magic surrounding it rendered it untouchable. After a few frantic grabs he continues. “All that concerns me at this moment is how much blood we will have to clean up between here and the front door.”

I shake my head for a moment. “Boy’s I don’t have time to play today, I have a full schedule ahead of me, so let me make this simple.” I form two small perfectly unbreakable spheres around their heads with my magic. Before they can so much as lunge at me, I teleport the remaining air from inside of them, out into the lobby. Then after they both collapse into unconsciousness, I let the bubbles fade. I simply stand there waiting for who they send next.

Moonlight, who had up until now been merely standing silently beside me finally speaks. “Is this going the way you expected?” she asks.

“Pretty much.” I reply.

“So what happens next?” she says nudging one of the guards with a hoof.

“One of two things I’d expect.” I say. “Either they have called the Night Watch by now, or they are going to send out a flunkie to see if I can be reasoned with. Given just how important Dr. Brass is, I would guess, Night Watch. And considering there is a doughnut shop half a block away...”

“FREEZE!” A voice behind us shouts. “Throw down your arms, and put your hooves in the air!”

“You do realize that those are three completely contradictory statements right?” I say over my shoulder, as I begin to turn around.

He raises his M.I.S.P.P.L. and points it at my head, before yelling “DOWN ON YOUR KNEES!”

“I’m not your moth-” I begin before Moonlight shoves a hoof in my mouth.

She puts her other hoof on my shoulder and pulls us both down to a kneeling position, while she floats her ID out of her carry bag and levitates it over to the officer. His eyes then go wide as he realizes just who she is, and who she works directly for. He lowers his weapon as we rise to our hooves.

“S-sorry about that ma’am.” He stutters. “We just received a call about somepony killing two security guards. Did they somehow break the law?” He asks indicating the ponies sprawled on the floor.

The two dead guards in question begin moaning and waking up. Before things can get out of hoof, I trot over to the officer.

“I believe that there has been a misunderstanding.” I say, passing him my writ. “As part of my investigation for Princess Luna, we came here to speak to Dr. Brass. Unfortunately the ponies in this building seem reluctant to accede to the princess’s wishes. I don’t suppose that you would be able to help us with that?”

During my little speech the Patrol pony had given my writ the once over. He fishes something out of a pouch on his belt, and passes it over the paper. He then passes the writ back to me, almost reverently.

“Of course sir. I will personally see to it that no pony here impedes your work for the princess.” He says as he offers me a salute.

By now the guards have risen to their hooves, and have caught the tail end of our little diatribe. A quick word between them and the shorter of the two hurries off into the inner office. While the other guard hurriedly explains his version of events to the officer, suddenly a well groomed pony in a lab coat emerges from the inner office and all but runs toward the receptionist’s desk.

“Officer, just a moment if you please!” The pony all but shouts as he hurries toward us. “I am Dr. Double Helix, please give me a moment, and let’s see if we can sort out this situation eh?”

Double Helix speaks to both the receptionist and the taller security pony as the officer stands nearby and listens. After a few moments he turns to myself and Moonlight.

“I am terribly sorry that you both have been put to such inconvenience.” He says apologetically. “I can assure you that our security policies were never meant to interfere with any pony who has a legitimate need to see anyone in our facility. This misunderstanding was merely due to a rather overenthusiastic member of our security force.” He adds, glaring at the taller security pony. “I’m sure that we can clear all of this up, and help you with your problem without the need to detain a member of the Night Watch any further.”

I decide to let him off the hook. We bucked the tree, and this was the apple that fell out. Whether he was a worm inside or not didn’t matter, because now that we were officially ‘noticed’, they really couldn’t get rid of me until I was satisfied. And I am very difficult to satisfy when I want to be.

“Yes officer, I think that we should be able to sort things out now.” I say, smiling my used cart sales pony smile at him. “I really do appreciate all of your help in clearing this matter up for us.” He thanks me before trotting away, no doubt wondering what exactly he did to help us, other than pointing a gun at my head. Heh, sometimes that’s all the help I need. I turn to the Doctor.

“Doctor Double Helix... hmm, is it alright to refer to you as Dr. Double?” I ask.

“Oh perfectly fine,” he says with his muzzle, but not with his eyes. No he doesn’t like that at all... Dr. Double it is then.

“Well, Dr. Double, as I was saying to your receptionist, I need to speak to Dr. Brass immediately. It concerns an urgent matter to the crown.” As I say this I hold up my writ for inspection once again. He barely glances at it before replying.

“Of course. Luna is after all the owner of our company, not to mention our sovereign ruler. Unfortunately you have come as he is right in the middle of a very delicate experiment. He is working in a sealed environment and wont be able to leave it for at least another half hour. Word has been sent to him informing him to come to his office as soon as he is finished. In the meantime, could I offer you a tour of our establishment? I’m not sure if a look around will help you in any way, but if nothing else it will pass the time until Dr. Brass is able to speak to you.”

Moonlight has a rather stunned look on her muzzle. This was obviously not what she expected to hear. I weighed my options. If Brass was up to something, thirty minutes was a long time to cover it up. On the other hoof, a free tour of one of Luna’s most secure facilities would be quite the feather in my cap with Celestia. And thinking about it realistically, even if I were to force the issue, Dr. Double could still give Brass enough time between now and when I actually found him, to clean up any dirty laundry he may want to hide.

“Dr. Double, speaking for Miss Moonlight and myself, I’d say that we would be delighted to take you up on your offer of a tour.” I turn and give Moonlight a broad smile. The look she offers back could melt steel.

“Excellent!” He says, as he guides us into a steam powered elevator.

I hide me unease. These things always make me nervous. Tiny coffin size box, suspended high in the air by a thin cable. I don’t need a seapony in a white jumpsuit yelling ‘it’s a trap’ to make me suspicious of the whole thing. But the ride goes off without a hitch, and as the doors open once again, the three of us look down the long corridor ahead.

Freeoow! And I thought the lobby had looked high tech. All along either side of the hallway were rooms with thick clear glass walls facing us. As we walked along we could see dozens of ponies, griffins and other beings in lab coats all hard at work on various projects. I picked my metaphorical muzzle off the floor and concentrated on what Dr. Double was saying as we slowly walked past different rooms.

“This floor is devoted to projects that will soon be released to the public at large. Most are in the final testing stages. For example, in the room to your left you’ll see one of our latest triumphs. We are calling it ‘Ponvideo’. Much like ponaudio does with sound, ponvideo does the same thing with images." Dr. Double says, pointing into the rooms interior with a hoof.

“As you can see, we have a performer, ‘Otctavia’ I believe her name is, playing the cello. In front of her is a camera of sorts that can take pictures up to thirty frames a second. But the pictures aren’t printed on paper. Instead the images are then sent directly to the receiver you see on the other side of the room.”

Sure enough, on the other side of the room was a bulky square box, and on the glass front of it was a small ‘Octavia’ playing the cello, perfectly synchronized with the real one. DANG!

My mind started filling with all sorts of ideas for how this invention could be used, for both good, and bad, and... well... at this I broke off that train of thought before a blush could spread across my muzzle.

“That is the most amazing thing I have ever seen.” I admitted frankly. “What are your plans for this invention?”

“Oh all sorts of things,” Dr. Double responded with a huge grin. “Combining ponaudio and ponvideo, we can send plays instead of just audio dramas into everypony’s home. Nature documentaries, travels to exotic locations, and news and current events. Actors will no longer have to travel from place to place to entertain the masses. Great musicians can be heard across entire cities instead of just playing for a few hundred. And important messages can be sent back and forth by just looking into a receiver and speaking. If the two ponies at either end had both a receiver and a pickup, they could speak to each other as if they were in the same room, hundreds of miles apart from each other.”

“I am literally awestruck,” I said. Which was true. This technology could change the way the whole world interacts with each other. “And you say this will be made to the public, in the near future?” I ask.

“Oh yes,” Double replies. All that’s left to do is fine tune the synchronization between the ponaudio signals and the ponvideo. And that should be no more than a few days away at most. Then Luna plans on distributing receivers to all the ponies in Whinnyappleous. And much like ponaudio, it will only cost them a few bits per month to enjoy all the programs that Luna plans to have produced.”

Octavia has finished her performance, and has risen from her chair. She trots over to the ponvideo receiver. On top of it is a small box. The technician presses a button on the device, and a little red light blinks for a moment. Then it stops. The technician presses another button, and suddenly on the screen, the small Octavia reappears, and begins playing the same piece the real one had been playing moments before, from the beginning. My eyes start to bulge.

“Wait, hold on. You mean to tell me that you can somehow record ponvideo the same as you do ponaudio? You could record an entire play, and just play it back whenever you want?” I say, excitement filling my voice.

“Well, yes... and no. The process itself works quite well, but the film that we use to record it on is highly flammable. If exposed to a moderate amount of heat, it can literally set itself on fire. Until we can find some way to make a safer film, recording technology will not be released to the public.” Double says sadly. “However it can still be used in at least laboratory conditions, such as this one, and in certain special cases. For example, Octavia has insisted that as part of her payment for her services, we allow her to have copies of her performances, and a player for her own personal use. She has been clearly instructed on the dangers of the film itself, and has promised to keep it stored in a cool place away from light or heat.”

We continue to watch Octavia watch herself for a few more moments, before trotting further down the hallway. The rest of the floor is filled with many other interesting things. Special fertilizers to allow crops to grow in the eternal night of Luna’s city. New applications for the steam engine. Advances in alchemy, and thaumaturgry. But to me the most fascinating thing seem to be ponvideo. Celestia would toss her cake if she knew what Luna had managed to achieve. And yet, instead of hording it, and keeping it a military secret, she was going to give it to her citizens, almost for free. Not for the first time was I impressed by how the night princess operated.

By the time we had gotten to the other end of this floor, it was well past the thirty minutes we had allotted for until Dr. Brass became available. As we trotted back toward the elevator, I realized what had just happened. The good Dr. Double had dazzled me with things I had never seen before, but were essentially not secret, as most all of these would be made public soon. I couldn’t help but wonder as the doors closed, that if all of this was what I was ALLOWED to see, just what was going on on the other floors of this building...