“Wait,” Rainbow Dash says, face scrunching up. And it’s hard to get her to scrunch up like that when she’s got a mug of cider in front of her. “Like, Tirek Tirek? The power-mad centaur that tried to steal Equestrian magic?”

“That’s the one!” Cozy Glow’s chipper grin looks entirely too chipper for Rainbow Dash’s liking.

“And,” Rainbow Dash continues with a certain trepidation, having difficulty putting aside the two times that she lost her magic, “why, exactly, are we writing letters to him?” She rubs at her taut belly; in her view, they got lucky there wasn’t any lasting damage from Tirek (well, Doug, sort of, after Discord got involved) to any of the mares or foals. At least, that they or the doctors could detect.

“Golly, because everypony deserves a shot at redemption,” Cozy Glow answers with an aura of innocence Rainbow Dash immediately suspects. “Right?”

“I mean, sure,” Rainbow Dash concedes. She doesn’t want to make the concession, not for Tirek, but can’t see a way to argue otherwise. “In principle.” To say that some ponies are past the point of redemption… Harmony, or whatever magic the Crystal Heart has, vaporized Sombra, and they are letting Radiant Hope try to bring him back. Even so, she raises an eyebrow at the other pegasus. “And there’s nothing you’re getting out of this?”

Cozy Glow titters to herself, covering her open mouth with a hoof. “I hope to get a friend.” She guilelessly sways back and forth like a foal clutching a cherished doll. “Is that so wrong?”

“Well, no,” Rainbow Dash admits, again not liking having to make the concession but still not buying the act.

“And if I get enough of the right friends,” Cozy Glow mutters, her innocent laugh and high-pitched voice devolving into a mad cackle as she rubs her hooves together.

“You’re doing it again,” Diamond Tiara reprimands.

“Oh.” Cozy Glow coughs a few times. She regains her innocent smile, the effect completely lost. “It’s just so sad to hear about how Tirek is imprisoned in Tartarus, all alone, without anypony to talk to.”

“Maybe we could get him a lady friend,” Silver Spoon suggests with an obvious glance at Diamond Tiara. The pink mare pointedly ignores her. Pomarbo’s face scrunches up from his perch inside the Cider Squeezy.

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash deadpans. “Because Equestria’s problem is that we don’t have enough power-hungry centaurs roaming around.”

Cozy Glow rolls her eyes as Pomarbo goes back to scrubbing. “Which is why it’s so important to get to know him better.” She lets out an irritated snort as the scrubbing gets louder. “Not like that! Eww!” She huffs as she turns back to Rainbow Dash. “As a friend. You know, finding out what his interests are, his likes and dislikes.”

“If he likes long walks on the riverbank,” Silver Spoon adds as Diamond Tiara growls, their evening plans obviously shattered.

“If he prefers sucking out your magic beforehoof or after,” Rainbow Dash blithely continues. “Now, I’m an after kinda gal, but I bet he really likes before.”

“You aren’t giving him a chance,” Cozy Glow defends, harrumphing.

“Fine,” Rainbow Dash grumbles. “What normal, everyday activities does Tirek like doing?”

“Err,” Cozy Glow mumbles, quickly scanning her previous letter. “He, um, he likes magic items?”

“Urgh.” Rainbow Dash wants to dunk her head into her oversized cider mug, but there’s still cider in there and she doesn’t want to waste any. “Of course he does.”

“No, not for power, not like the Storm King.” Cozy Glow pulls out the most recent letter. “He finds them fascinating because he can’t drain them of their magic like he could a pony.” Cozy Glow stops, realizing her normal sing-song voice is too bright and cheerful for such a morbid topic. She shifts to a lower register, slowing to a dour crawl. “Which is so sad when he does.”

“Ye-ah,” Rainbow Dash snarks, forelegs crossing in front of her.

“So,” Cozy Glow continues, gradually losing her dour voice and becoming interested, perhaps intrigued, “before he pursued pony magic in Equestria he studied magic items, research he continued once he was imprisoned in Tartarus. Not that he could do a lot of empirical testing, of course, but theoretical work. And he thinks it’s possible for us to speed up how quickly the batteries recharge.”

“Wait.” Rainbow Dash takes a second to ponder the implications. “You mean…” Her eyes spring open. “We could have more cider?! Why didn’t you lead with that?”

Cozy Glow grins, obviously glad to have persuaded her greatest detractor. “He’s not sure we’ll be able to make it work.” She kicks at the air with a light sigh and small frown. “H-he’s not sure what we’re working with.”

“Oh, we can make it work.” Rainbow Dash and the others turn to regard Pomarbo, their resident ‘expert’, who only reluctantly comes out of the Cider Squeezy. While he looks a mess, covered with little bits and flecks of crushed apple, the inside sparkles.

“Ocellus built it,” he explains as he hops down, shaking his head like Winona and removing most of the pieces. “It’s a dual system modeled after how changelings operate. She said one part gathers passively, um, which means it pulls in a little bit of magic from everything around it. Basically, it’s how they sense emotions from everything around them, little tiny bites that aren’t that nourishing. Or Chryssy’s throne, but she didn’t elaborate on that one. She said it’s got a range, an’ ours is set to a big range, like Sweet Apple Acres big, but gathers a really, really small amount. Most ponies won’t notice, but somepony who works with their magic might feel a mite sluggish.”

“Somepony like Applejack?” Rainbow Dash asks, frowning. Now that he mentions it she has felt off when practicing around Sweet Apple Acres, similar to when she trains at high altitude and has trouble catching her breath. She hadn’t made the connection to assisting with cider production, instead suspecting that her increased cider consumption might have had something to do with it. Okay, it could be both, but she’d rather blame the magic stealing item than wonderful, wonderful cider.

Pomarbo’s ears fold against his head. “Eeyup. She knows it’s affectin’ her, not that she lets it slow her down. Us usin’ the Cider Squeezy an’ sellin’ the cider lets her grow more apples, an’ lettin’ more ponies enjoy ‘em, somethin’ she’s always for.”

“And the other part?” Cozy Glow asks, lowering the letter to watch Pomarbo and the recharger closely.

“The ‘active’ part is like a really slow version of a thaumic reactor, the furnace powerin’ the Cider Squeezy.” Pomarbo shuffles one hoof against the floor. “That one’s like a fire, pullin’ thaums out fast as it can an’ leavin’ a good bit left over. This one’s like a stomach, breakin’ down an’ then absorbin’ everythin’ it can from whatever we put in.”

“Stomach and intestines,” Diamond Tiara corrects.

“Err, eeyup.” Pomarbo takes a second to get his train of thought back. “‘Cellus said something about Chryssy finally spawnin’ a ‘ling that could replicate that slow burn? Ah didn’t follow exactly. But like Ah said, it’s slow, but it gets a lot more out. ‘Cellus said we’d be chargin’ one battery a day instead’a four if’n we only went passive.”

“Then we could get another recharger, right?” Rainbow Dash points at the recharger, as if there is any doubt about what she is referring to. “Or double the, err, active part of it?”

“Err,” Pomarbo stalls, scraping against the floor enough to expose the stained wood underneath. “We would need more, err, raw material. An’ Ah ain’t sure, but dam says we’re close ta breakin’ even as it is.”

Rainbow Dash’s ears fold against her head. “Oh,” is all she can say.

From what she understands, which is (not regrettably) limited, the changelings shifting from requiring regular infusions of magic from their herds to a caloric diet has drastically increased the demand, and thus price, of those foods that best comprise said diet. The second thing she’s heard, and finds somewhat disturbing, is the best foods are those that were originally highest in magic. Thus, while they are technically omnivores (even if eating rocks doesn’t get them that much benefit, but gems did, making them compete with dragons over the semi-precious stones), and could subsist on plants just fine, their preference (loudly insisted that they would do nothing illegal to obtain it, but quietly conceded that it is true if pressed) is for meat, the more intelligent the better. Except dragons are at the top, the brawny and often-as-dumb-as-the-rocks-they-eat creatures chock full of those delicious nutrients. Or whatever it is changelings crave, she tries to avoid thinking about it.

This compounds the stresses on the Equestrian agricultural system caused by their rapid population growth, even if only the changeling portion of the estimated twenty percent increase has been born. Their herd is an outlier, but not by much: Doug is stallion to nine mares (ten if one counts Starlight Glimmer), with seven foals on the way (eleven counting Starlight’s). With eight foals already born, that’s almost a forty percent increase (almost sixty with Starlight, which is high). Farmers around the country have been gearing up, requesting historic increases in the amount of rain and the distribution of said rain, which has made Doug’s job all the harder - something he gripes about to her, Applejack, and perhaps Celestia.

All that is to say, it would be too expensive to buy more magic-making material. If they need an active component to run it, it wouldn’t make sense to build another. Maybe she could chip in, but she might as well just buy bottles of the stuff if that’s what she wants. But if they could coax more out of the air… that would give them more extra barrels, barrels that get stored and then brought out for celebrations!

“So” Rainbow Dash says, drawing the word out, staying interested and hoping the others pick up on that energy, “what would we do to get more?”

Cozy Glow grabs the letter, frown deepening as she reads to the end. “He says that different magical items will have different effects if we hook them up to it. For example, one might double the range but halve the charge rate. Another might do the reverse.”

“Wait,” Rainbow Dash says, scratching at her head. “Why would we want to do that?”

Applebaum answers, speaking up for the first time in a while. “For the first one, because you’ll end up with a faster charge overall. You don’t grab as much from each thing, but you’re grabbing from more things. You’d end up with twice as high a charge rate, which means another battery per day.”

“It’s a sphere,” Pomarbo corrects.

Applebaum’s muzzle purses as she concentrates. “Four times as much? Wow, that’d more’n double your output!”

“Eeyup,” Pomarbo confirms with a nod.

“Sooo much cider,” Rainbow Dash drolls with a sated rub of her belly, tongue lolling out comically. She snickers as she goes back to normal. “Wait, why would you want the reverse? Wouldn’t that just be bad?”

“It’d get ya less charge,” Pomarbo agrees, “but it’d let ya be more picky ‘bout what it affects. Like, if it got concentrated enough, ya could put it on the edge’a the Everfree an’ not worry ‘bout it drainin’ yourself even when workin’ the south fields.”

“Until you went to change the batteries,” Applebaum cautions.

Rainbow Dash’s hoof starts shaking. “E-yeah,” she says. Until now she’s been fully on board with the youngsters trying out different combinations. “Could it really be that dangerous?”

“Ah’m not sure.” Pomarbo cocks his head, tapping at his chin. “Applejack wanted as low a drain rate as it’d go.”

“Tirek says an item could also do both,” Cozy Glow adds, now at the bottom of the letter. “The more powerful the magic item, the more powerful the effect, with up to six items at a time.” She rolls the letter back up, gulping.

“Ah’d imagine it could,” Pomarbo continues, “even capped at six. If ya notice the drain now… each one doubles, and then doubles that, after three ya’d end up with an eightfold increase, not six. Then sixteen, thirty-two, an’ sixty-four with all six. An’ that’s assumin’ it don’t get more powerful than doublin’.”

Rainbow Dash stares at her hooves. On one hoof, she doesn’t want to put anypony in danger. Further experimentation could certainly do that, and she should probably tell Twilight about what they are planning on doing. Actually, Twilight already knows, now that she thinks about it. On the other hoof, for the past week it’s proven to be safe at the current level. Surely they could find something that raises the size and keeps the drain the same, or decreases the drain. But then they’d run into laws about the airspace above the farm, and draining outside ponies, and a whole bunch of legal hassle that, again, Twilight would know about.

“Ah bet Ah could find some stuff we got buried in the Mausoleum,” Applebaum suggests with a wide grin. “Mail ‘em an’ let me know how it goes.”

That did it for Rainbow Dash; after all, Apples stuck together. Plus, she’d get more cider this way. “I’ll tell Twilight, see what she thinks. But until then, no experimentation.” She focuses on Pomarbo for this last part. “Got it?”

“Got it,” the colt says, withering under her intense stare.

Next Chapter: Ch. 125 - Emperor's Wit, Part One Estimated time remaining: 12 Hours, 18 Minutes