The Price of Progress

by The Sleepless Beholder

Rating: everyone
Tags: Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Science Fiction
Length: 1716

Cars, computers, and phones, all of them and many more are foreign to Equestria, but found right at the other side of the mirror. Twilight wishes to change that, and bring a new wave of progress to Equestria. She's not the first.

Ever since coming to their world, Twilight Sparkle has been surprised by how technologically advanced the creatures at the other side of the mirror were. Even without magic, they've made many things Equestrians would have a hard time understanding. And an exchange of inventions and magic to benefit both worlds was something she would eventually truly consider a good thing.

But is Equestria truly so far behind?

Entry for the Science-Fiction-Contest-II-2023

Pre read and edited by the wonderful friends and writers: daOtterGuy, Dewdrops on the Grass, and EileenSaysHi

Published 2023-04-02 20:30:01 UTC
Last updated 2023-04-02 20:30:01 UTC

Is Not What You Expect

Twilight Sparkle, recently-named Princess-in-Waiting of Equestria, trotted in a circle inside the throne room. The trail of flattened carpet under her hooves made evident the nervousness piling up inside her as she waited.

It had been a long time since she had gotten in such a state. With the ruling of Equestria soon to be in her hooves, she had been preparing for the stress and challenge it would bring. But even after a full year of preparations and many more being a fully independent princess, a simple letter from Celestia telling her to meet her at the castle to discuss Twilight’s most recent proposition was enough to send the bookish mare into a 'getting sent back to magic kindergarten' kind of panic.

Luckily for those in the castle staff worried the future ruler would end up spontaneously exploding, when Princess Celestia finally opened the doors to the throne room, Twilight felt a bit of that panic melt away in the presence of her old teacher. A quality the soon-to-retire alicorn was well aware of and used in many difficult conversations.

The fact she had her hair in a bun and was wearing a Hawaiian shirt also helped take some of the seriousness out of the meeting.

"Princess!" Twilight exclaimed, moving over to her old mentor and stopping just short of hug-tackling her. "I'm sorry you had to pause your vacation for this."

"Oh, don't worry, Twilight," Celestia offered a foreleg for a hug, which her old student instantly took. "Aiding you in this new stage of your life will always take priority. Especially with such an important matter."

Twilight pulled away a bit. "So… you're against it? Should I cancel it? I can do it right now-"

Again that calming aura took hold of the smaller alicorn so Celestia could talk. "I am not against it, no. But if you truly want to start exchanging magic for technology through the mirror, I wanted to show you some things beforehoof."

"Things? What things?" Twilight asked, fully letting go of the hug.

"It's better I just show you, but for now, why don't you tell me a bit more of your plan? How will you achieve it?" Celestia asked as she used her magic to reach some of the hidden mechanisms behind her throne.

"Well, I've been messaging my counterpart through Sunset a lot. Much easier now that they live together. She's also on board with the idea, and even planned out what types of technology we should introduce first to Equestria."

"Has she said something about Equestria's level of technology compared to theirs?" Celestia pulled on some unseen lever, and a section of the floor let out a loud clunk as it depressed. Then slowly kept moving down. The princess quickly stepped onto it, taking Twilight along with her.

"She said that it didn't make sense. But that's the answer to everything I tell her about Equestria, so I… is this an elevator?" Twilight couldn't help but ask as they continued descending down, leaving the throne room far above them. "Where are we heading?"

"To the Vault of Knowledge," Celestia answered with an all-knowing smile.

"You just made that up now," Twilight deadpanned with a smirk.

Celestia chuckled and shrugged. "I never got around to naming it. It'll be yours soon, so you can call it whatever you like. What's important is what's inside."

The elevator came to a stop with another clank, and the two found themselves in front of a large set of stone doors. Just like the old vault for the elements, it required Celestia's horn to open. Once the heavy rock and dust were moved out of the way, Twilight saw a large, dark chamber.

She looked at her old mentor, and Celestia simply signaled her to look for herself. So, Twilight did, lighting up her horn and taking the first steps inside.

It didn't take long for her to find something. Something that surprised her.

She had seen something like this before, but only in the human world, and a much more modern and efficient version of it. Still, Twilight knew enough to recognize a car when she saw one. It looked more like a prototype, and a quick look inside showed that it was designed with hooves in mind. This showed that it wasn't taken from the human world. It was Equestrian-made.

Confused, Twilight kept moving, and found the next item sitting on a small display case.

She hadn't seen this one in person. Rather, she had seen it on Rainbow’s TV. Her friend had insisted on watching the ‘next best thing after Daring Do’, which apparently was a pirate show starring the human version of Captain Celaeno. And watching said show, Twilight had wondered why all the pirates were carrying metal tubes with a piece of polished wood attached to one end.

It wasn’t till she saw them in action that she realized how terrible they were. And Rainbow owning a modern version of one didn’t help matters much.

She had never seen or heard of one in Equestria, yet here it was. Just like the car, the design was tailored for pony use. Unicorns, specifically, judging by the magical runes etched into the sides, replacing the flint ignition of the human version.

Twilight expanded her light spell and saw many more inventions filling the vault. All gathering dust since who-knows when. All just one or a few steps behind human technology. All with Equestrian design.

She turned to her old mentor, looking confused. “Why is all of this here? And since when?”

Celestia slowly walked over to her while she talked. “Ever since they were presented to me. Or seized by the Guard. As for why… that’s the reason I wanted to show you this place.”

“You… don’t want Equestria to advance technologically?” Twilight asked worriedly. "I talked it over with Sunset and my counterpart, and they said it would definitely helps us improve-"

Celestia lifted a hoof to interrupt her. “I know how it looks, let me clarify.” She gestured to the collection of lost inventions with a wing. “All of these were made by those with ambitions, imagination, creativity, or passion. All thinking they would bring Equestria one step forward towards progress.” She closed her wing. “But sadly, none of them could see what their inventions could cause, intentionally or not. What price Equestria would need to pay to achieve that progress.” Celestia turned to look at Twilight. “Being as old as I am, I have seen firsthoof how a simple change in a stream can end up causing a flood a century later. How an entire ecosystem can be flipped on its head if it’s altered. All things that are never immediate, or even soon, but eventual, and most times, inevitable.”

Twilight looked back at the weapon she saw. “I can imagine it for some, but how could cars or phones cause problems?”

“It takes a lot to manufacture a car. Even more if you want them to be provided to every creature in Equestria incapable of flight. Requires industrial quantities of raw resources, factories to process them into parts, more factories to assemble the car, create the fuel for cars to run, roads, and much more. All of that brings pollution, unsafe work environments, risk of permanently damaging ecosystems, accidents and problems never encountered before.” Celestia let out a soft sigh. “A lot of effort and pain, when a cart pulled by pegasi is much simpler, if ‘archaic’.

“I took those risks when it came to medicine. Allowing the hospitals to become some of the most technologically ‘advanced’ institutions. And, of course, there has been some invention or other slipping under my nose or coming from abroad. Or ponies like Vinyl, Cherry Berry, or Time Turner who have developed things for their own use or research.”

“So… should I stop my project?” Twilight asked, feeling like she had just been brought for an elaborate talk down. “My counterpart said it would be alright. That we could start small and just fill in some gaps before moving to-”

Celestia’s wing lifted her face, showing the comforting smile of her old mentor. “I’m not telling you to stop, Twilight. This room. The stopping of these inventions. These were my choices. I decided that they shouldn’t see the light of day because I didn’t feel like Equestria… or me, were ready for such changes. And I don’t want you to take this as me wanting you to think the same. I am merely showing you my reasons for the past to be this way. It’s in your hooves to determine what the future will be.”

“But… if you couldn’t handle them, with thousands of years of experience, how could I prevent…” Twilight moved her hooves frantically, trying to find the words. “All of that?!”

“Twilight, when we chose you to take our place, it was because Luna and I both knew you would be able to not only handle our responsibilities, but also make better decisions than we ever could.” Celestia’s smile turned sad. “When this vault was made, I had lost Luna. And later I lost Sunset. I kept things in balance for a long time, but it wasn’t until you came around that things became better. For me, and for Equestria.

“I know that you’ll do better than me when handling the same dilemma.”

Twilight tried to look hopeful, but failed. “And what if I choose wrong? What if I fail to see the butterfly effect? I’m just one mare.”

Celestia chuckled. “You’re not, Twilight. You won’t be alone. In this project or in any other. You’ve friends in this world and the one across the mirror. And I trust, more than anything, that both of my students will guide Equestria into a new age.”

Twilight smiled, hopes and dreams filling her eyes once again. “We will. Together. My counterpart and Sunset also believe this will be for the better. And they’re the smartest people I know. They trust me with handling their technology, just like I trust them with the magic of Equestria.”

Celestia hugged her old student, and she responded in kind, holding each other for a few seconds before they made their way to the elevator.