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Post by wanderingmagus on Feb 5, 2018 23:06:55 GMT
Candycane nodded enthusiastically. "That's actually why we're here! Silver Lining was telling me about how she dreamed of the old machines and way of life she'd heard stories of, and how even mechanical devices seemed magical to her... I offered to sketch her a few examples, but she recommended I bring that offer to you," she giggled. "I'm no engineer, but I still know enough details from school and the like to explain most of the general concepts such that somepony with an engineering mind would be able to make progress with them. Anything I have that New Avalon does not, I'd love to contribute! How can I help?" The professor's face lit up with excitement. " Help! There is so much to help with, Miss Candycane! Oh, this is the chance of a lifetime! So many questions and riddles to answer..." he chattered as he sprang from his seat and began sifting through his stacks of charts and notes, scrolls flying every which way in a sort of organized chaos. " This here, for instance! And this contraption, the purpose of which for the life of me I cannot guess, and this portion of this little machine; the original sketches were partially burnt, you see, and I had a most terrible time piecing what was left of them together..." Steam locomotive models, sketches of the parts to a film projector, an incomplete drawing of a phonograph, designs for a sky-ship dirigible with a great many question marks pointing at the balloon, a reversed diagram of what looked like a wagon designed to double as a music-maker and cake-baker, even a drawing of some sort of magic-powered cider-squeezing machine was floated in front of her as Sandstone giggled; the professor had the air of a young foal getting a present on Hearthswarming eve. |
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Post by Wavelength on Feb 5, 2018 23:13:25 GMT
Candycane felt a little flustered at the sudden rush of papers as she realized she must have sent the wrong message. "H-hey, slow down, one at a time!" she laughed, shielding her face from a stray paper. "I only caught a glance of a lot of those, but it looks like I won't be able to solve a lot of your puzzles. I can help with understanding the theoretical, not quite exact, concepts behind why things work," she explained. "Pick one, for example, and I'll see what I can tell you about it!"
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Post by wanderingmagus on Feb 5, 2018 23:58:54 GMT
Candycane felt a little flustered at the sudden rush of papers as she realized she must have sent the wrong message. "H-hey, slow down, one at a time!" she laughed, shielding her face from a stray paper. "I only caught a glance of a lot of those, but it looks like I won't be able to solve a lot of your puzzles. I can help with understanding the theoretical, not quite exact, concepts behind why things work," she explained. "Pick one, for example, and I'll see what I can tell you about it!" The professor stopped with the onslaught of papers and notes, blushing a little. " Oh, but of course! Please forgive my impropriety, Miss Candycane, I was just so excited! We haven't had such an opportunity since the last Golden Age pony, and that must've been almost a century ago." He laid the pages and notes in a neat little stack to the side as he sat back down in his chair, lifting a single sheet for the mare to look at. It was the sketch containing parts for a film projector, the one the professor couldn't make heads or tails of. " Now, as far as I can tell, this contraption seemed to have been made to wind some sort of ribbon about in circles in front of a candle or light; I cannot for the life of me fathom why, unless to dry out the ribbon, or perhaps to burn some sort of pattern, but if that were the case, there would be so many more elegant and efficient ways to do so..." |
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Post by Wavelength on Feb 6, 2018 0:45:04 GMT
Candycane blushed a little with the effort of holding back a laugh. "O-oh... that's the puzzle piece you were missing. Could you pass me a piece of scratch paper and a pencil? I think this might help me explain more visually," she said, barely keeping her composure. Well, this would be... easier than she thought. Now, don't get ahead of yourself, he's probably got some really tricky questions lined up... Moments later, she showed Copper Scroll a simplistic sketch that portrayed the concept of a projector. Pointing to the leftmost image, she said, "This, in the middle here, is the candle you spoke of. Candles cast light, but they aren't particularly powerful on their own. That is why there is a focusing lens here," she explained, indicating the curved rectangle to the right. "This glass lens focuses the light, just like a magnifying glass, onto the ribbon. Two important things must be true of the ribbon: it must be transparent, and it must have an image imprinted on it. The magnified light will be filtered by the image, casting a shadow on the rest of the light that passes through. If you aim this at a wall...," she said, pointing at the right side of the drawing, "the tiny image on the tape will appear in greater size!" She pointed back toward the left. "There's more, though! This is just how a normal projector works. Teachers used to use this principle, combined with a mirror, so that all the students in their classroom could watch her write something on an under-lit glass desk. That way they didn't have to crowd around, and nopony would be in each others' way. The way this projector works, though... Notice how I drew this cart in different positions in the images on the spool of ribbon? If you find a way to block the candlelight at the right moments, and just let it blink each time a picture is centered in front of the lens, you can make it look like the picture is coming alive!" Candycane tried to go slow enough for Copper Scroll to keep up, but she was getting a little carried away... Hopefully his brighter mind didn't have any trouble with it, though. |
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Post by wanderingmagus on Feb 6, 2018 1:56:11 GMT
Candycane blushed a little with the effort of holding back a laugh. "O-oh... that's the puzzle piece you were missing. Could you pass me a piece of scratch paper and a pencil? I think this might help me explain more visually," she said, barely keeping her composure. Well, this would be... easier than she thought. Now, don't get ahead of yourself, he's probably got some really tricky questions lined up...Moments later, she showed Copper Scroll a simplistic sketch that portrayed the concept of a projector. Pointing to the leftmost image, she said, "This, in the middle here, is the candle you spoke of. Candles cast light, but they aren't particularly powerful on their own. That is why there is a focusing lens here," she explained, indicating the curved rectangle to the right. "This glass lens focuses the light, just like a magnifying glass, onto the ribbon. Two important things must be true of the ribbon: it must be transparent, and it must have an image imprinted on it. The magnified light will be filtered by the image, casting a shadow on the rest of the light that passes through. If you aim this at a wall...," she said, pointing at the right side of the drawing, "the tiny image on the tape will appear in greater size!" She pointed back toward the left. "There's more, though! This is just how a normal projector works. Teachers used to use this principle, combined with a mirror, so that all the students in their classroom could watch her write something on an under-lit glass desk. That way they didn't have to crowd around, and nopony would be in each others' way. The way this projector works, though... Notice how I drew this cart in different positions in the images on the spool of ribbon? If you find a way to block the candlelight at the right moments, and just let it blink each time a picture is centered in front of the lens, you can make it look like the picture is coming alive!" Candycane tried to go slow enough for Copper Scroll to keep up, but she was getting a little carried away... Hopefully his brighter mind didn't have any trouble with it, though. " Fascinating! Moving pictures, who would have thought!" exclaimed the professor, jotting down notes with his magic. " And without the need for magic! An ingenious invention it is, no doubt related to the 'camera' diagrams we discovered in the same excavation site as these drawings. I've actually built something of a prototype replica of one, right over here; it's nothing compared to Golden Age artifacts, to be sure, but I do feel quite proud of it, if I do say so myself." He grinned as he held up the crude prototype Candycane had noticed on her way in; it was primitive, but looked more or less functional, depending on how good the quality of their glass lenses were. " In any case, I've been wondering about this drawing here; it seems to be related somehow to those odd vinyl disks that we've uncovered, completely lacking in magic mind you, but what they are and how to use them I can't seem to figure out. It's something of a personal project, really; I haven't had the time to go about asking anyone, and of course I couldn't go asking the Queen or the Guru about this sort of thing, they're far too busy with the defense of Avalon and all that. Still, every time I look at this drawing, I can't help but think that it could revolutionize our lives. If only I knew what it was, or why on earth you would attach a trumpet mouth to a needle!" |
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Post by Wavelength on Feb 6, 2018 2:36:05 GMT
"Ah, the record player," Candycane sighed. "Well, I know what it's meant to do, but I don't personally know how it does it," she apologized. "The disks have a fine, carefully-carved spiral line running all around their surface from the edge to the center. This needle is meant to ride in that groove while the disk spins in place, starting at the outer edge and slowly working its way in. Something about that groove--perhaps by slight bumps or imperfections that cause the needle to vibrate, but that's completely conjecture on my part--has the ability to store sound. The "trumpet" attached to the needle amplifies the sounds generated by the needle as it travels across the disk; this was used to store music, primarily, but also worked for stories or briefings. They'd often play a record at the same time as a projector to give their moving image sound, but that took careful timing. I'm sorry I don't know more certainly how the needle reads sound from the disk..."
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Post by wanderingmagus on Feb 6, 2018 19:42:10 GMT
"Ah, the record player," Candycane sighed. "Well, I know what it's meant to do, but I don't personally know how it does it," she apologized. "The disks have a fine, carefully-carved spiral line running all around their surface from the edge to the center. This needle is meant to ride in that groove while the disk spins in place, starting at the outer edge and slowly working its way in. Something about that groove--perhaps by slight bumps or imperfections that cause the needle to vibrate, but that's completely conjecture on my part--has the ability to store sound. The "trumpet" attached to the needle amplifies the sounds generated by the needle as it travels across the disk; this was used to store music, primarily, but also worked for stories or briefings. They'd often play a record at the same time as a projector to give their moving image sound, but that took careful timing. I'm sorry I don't know more certainly how the needle reads sound from the disk..." " Storage of sound? Marvelous!" exclaimed the professor, scribbling down notes. " Using vibrations in such a manner, a truly ingenious design. There must be incalculable amounts of priceless data stored on those vinyl disks, lectures, music, such works that have been lost to time! The Octavia Memorial Symphony will be especially interested, I think, if we can uncover remnants of Golden Age Equestrian music and compositions! In fact..." He put down the notes and paper, standing from his chair and rushing over to his piles of relics and equipment, rummaging through with his magic. " Let's see here, I know I put them here somewhere... aha!" The professor pulled out one of the vinyl records triumphantly, carrying it back to the little tea-table. " If your theory is correct, I think I may be able to simply use my magic to turn the bumps back into their original sound..." The disk began to spin in the glow of his magic, and slowly, static became sound, which became music, filling the room. It was an amateur sextet, bubbly and full of life, but that wasn't what froze the professor in his tracks. It was the voices singing. ...until you all shared its magic with me!
Brave adventure,
Tons of fun!
A beautiful heart,
Faithful and strong.
Sharing kindness,
It's an easy feat,
And Magic makes it all complete!
My little pony, do you know you're all my very best friends?The disk slowed to a stop, lowering gently down to the table as Sandstone and the professor both stared at it. |
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Post by Wavelength on Feb 7, 2018 1:02:29 GMT
"Amazing... I didn't think you could do that..." Candycane couldn't help but stare, too. "W-wait, I've heard these voices before... Pop singers from my time, maybe? No...," She shook her head, "more recent..." Her eyes widened and she slowly turned to Sandstone. "...The visions?"
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Post by wanderingmagus on Feb 7, 2018 1:32:24 GMT
"Amazing... I didn't think you could do that..." Candycane couldn't help but stare, too. "W-wait, I've heard these voices before... Pop singers from my time, maybe? No...," She shook her head, "more recent..." Her eyes widened and she slowly turned to Sandstone. "...The visions?" "That's..." " Those are the voices of the Six Minions of the Enemy!" whispered the professor, eyes wide. " But their voices... they're so... vibrant, so cheerful..." Sandstone nodded, swallowing. "B'fore Big Banana took an' changed 'em. Didja hear how they sounded? Th' opposite o' what they are now?" The professor wiped some sweat from his forehead, gently slipping the vinyl disk into a protective envelope. " This... this does not belong in my laboratory, nor to me. Miss Sandstone, you are one of Saint Liarjack's descendants, yes? If you should happen to meet her sometime, please give this to her keeping, if she will take it. I cannot imagine how much something like this could be worth to her, after a thousand years. If she refuses, give the disk to the Queen. She will know how to preserve it, for the day when the borders of Avalon can finally be lifted." Sandstone reverently received the envelope with a smile. "Ah will. Ah think she'll appreciate it, Professor Copper Scroll, sir." |
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Post by Wavelength on Feb 7, 2018 1:38:44 GMT
"I think they could all use a reminder like that, with the situations they're in now...," Candycane said, wiping a tear from her eye. "This is what we're fighting for. We have to bring that Equestria back." After a moment, she looked up at the professor. "I'm... sorry about that mood changer. I'd really like to pass on everything I can before I leave the city and enter harm's way, though... I don't want to die out there, but if I have to, I don't want to take what only I know with me. Did you have any more questions, or should I meet back up with you later?"
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Post by wanderingmagus on Feb 7, 2018 21:45:34 GMT
"I think they could all use a reminder like that, with the situations they're in now...," Candycane said, wiping a tear from her eye. "This is what we're fighting for. We have to bring that Equestria back." After a moment, she looked up at the professor. "I'm... sorry about that mood changer. I'd really like to pass on everything I can before I leave the city and enter harm's way, though... I don't want to die out there, but if I have to, I don't want to take what only I know with me. Did you have any more questions, or should I meet back up with you later?" The professor tore his eyes from the disk, smiling at the mare. " I'm afraid there may not be all too much time for you to return, much as I would love for you to do so. Let us do what we can for now, and puzzle out the meaning and purpose of these designs..." After several hours (and several tea breaks with delicious scones) filled with many a "fascinating!" and "marvelous!", Candycane had managed to explain the basic operating principles of a train, a sky-ship, a gas-heated stove with oven, and even a lightbulb (which honestly seemed useless, given that methods of generating electricity were sorely lacking and glowing crystals already existed). Of course, there were a few things she couldn't explain, though she knew what they were supposed to do - a video arcade gaming system, a DJ's mixing board, a Manehattan Times Square wall display panel, and essentially anything else that involved a computer. The professor gave several speculative solutions to using electricity for binary logic, but again, the lack of electric generation and the presence of magic made it something of a moot point. They also found it impossible to explain the bizarre machine labeled "welcome wagon" or the pony-powered candycane flying machine, although the professor seemed to be inspired by the shape of the propellers, noting that although physically generating that sort of torque might be impossible even for most Earth ponies, a simple magical enchantment might make the pedals unnecessary, or at least much more efficient. " Well, I think we've been about as productive as we can be," declared the professor with a smile, gathering up his piles and piles of notes in his magic. " Another glimpse into life in the Golden Age, with all its quirks and mysteries! I wonder how things might have turned out, if it had continued? Ah well, no use speculating. Thank you both for your time, Miss Candycane, Miss Sandstone! Your help has been invaluable." "Thanks fer havin' us!" grinned the filly. "Anyplace ya think we should go next?" The professor stroked his chin thoughtfully. " Well, there's always something new to see in the market square, or Magician's Alley, or the Scholar's Alley... but that's entirely up to you. You may wish to return to the Palace, as Starrise is approaching, and that's always a beautiful sight to see for newcomers. I hear that the Octavia Memorial Symphony is playing there also, and if the Queen is hosting you, it should be quite simple to gain entrance to their concert hall and the Crystal Gala. So long as Avalon isn't interfering with your saving the world, of course!" Sandstone giggled, but nodded. "Ah thinks we've got some time, th' next event's probably happenin' t'night anyhow, an' we don't need t' be there t' see it, Ah feel." The professor's horn sparked slightly as the filly spoke, and his eyebrows shot up. " Well! If you say so, Miss. That's some powerful fate magic you have there. Be careful where you use it!" |
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Post by Wavelength on Feb 14, 2018 20:53:26 GMT
"I suppose we'll have a look at each, then!" Candycane remarked. "I'm so happy I got to help you figure everything out, Professor... This may sound silly, but I'd be so ashamed if I found myself at death's door without passing on what I have. I had no idea I'd be able to connect so many dots for you... Please, no matter what happens to me, use this information to bring our old world back, okay?"
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Post by wanderingmagus on Feb 14, 2018 21:25:08 GMT
"I suppose we'll have a look at each, then!" Candycane remarked. "I'm so happy I got to help you figure everything out, Professor... This may sound silly, but I'd be so ashamed if I found myself at death's door without passing on what I have. I had no idea I'd be able to connect so many dots for you... Please, no matter what happens to me, use this information to bring our old world back, okay?" The professor grinned, adjusting his monocle. " If you two can reverse all the chaos outside, I'm sure we can build these machines! It's been an honor and a privilege learning from you, Miss Candycane, Miss Sandstone. Oh, and if you're headed for the Market Square, Magician's Alley or Scholar's Alley, or the Concert or Gala, I've a few items that need returning or delivering, depending where you go. And if you need anything here, please, feel free! Any contraption or book you might desire, not that I have all too much to offer. And as for you, young filly,
I do hope that you will keep that disk safe and sound." "That Ah will, Professor Copper Scroll, sir!" grinned Sandstone. "So where we goin', Candycane?" |
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Post by Wavelength on Feb 16, 2018 3:06:29 GMT
"Well, if we have time, we might just end up visiting every place! I can't promise too much, though," she told Copper Scroll. "What I can say is that if we decide to visit another of those locations after our next stop, we'll be sure to drop by here for another delivery first." She turned to Sandstone. "As for where we're going...," she said with a giggle, "...are you just along for the ride? I've already picked these last two destinations. What would you like to see?" she asked with a smile. "What sounds exciting to you?"
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Post by wanderingmagus on Feb 20, 2018 1:22:23 GMT
"Well, if we have time, we might just end up visiting every place! I can't promise too much, though," she told Copper Scroll. "What I can say is that if we decide to visit another of those locations after our next stop, we'll be sure to drop by here for another delivery first." She turned to Sandstone. "As for where we're going...," she said with a giggle, "...are you just along for the ride? I've already picked these last two destinations. What would you like to see?" she asked with a smile. "What sounds exciting to you?" Sandstone grinned. "Magician's Alley! An' Market Square! Those sound fun! Ah don't know 'bout Scholar's Alley, sounds a bit borin' t' me, an' Ah'm guessin' th' Gala's like that dinner we were at? Ah'd rather see all o' Avalon!" Well, it was obvious what a little filly like Sandstone would pick, in hindsight. Still, at some point they would have to get back to the Palace to sleep; they had a long road ahead of them, and as the filly had prophesied earlier, something big was going to happen tonight. |
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