private Whisper: The City Of Darkness

[Unicorncob 5,687]

The mutant in front of Lavender suddenly relaxed, a vacant half-smile appearing on its slightly misshapen face. With the tense situation defused, the lanyard with a white card on it became apparent.

 

"Ast. K Arclight, Magi-tech labs, Ponyville," Bramble read out as he sheathed his knife, although this mutant didn't react to its name.

 

"Let's call you Arclight," Lavender chirped, returning the smile to the mutant, "That's a cool and easy-to-remember name, right? That's always good. Coolness and easy-to-rememberness."

 

She held out a hoof, slowly, to Arclight. "You wanna come with us? I'll get you something to eat, you look pretty hungry."

[Chaton 3,765]

At the sound of the crashing display, Wilhelm stuffed the Sparkle correspondence mirror into his saddlebags before galloping in the direction of the noise, saying over his shoulder to Scarlett "I have the other mirror!" 

 

I looked at the mirror the other pony was waving around, before looking back at the mounted one on the wall. "I do not think that they are linked." I glanced at them both again. "Though they are most certainly compatible! Bring it over here, I'll see if I can link them."

[Once In A Blue Moon 895]

@@Ethan Sawyer,@@Orion Caelum, @@Unicorncob, @@Chip Circuit, @@ForthEorl.

 

 

 

She held out a hoof, slowly, to Arclight. "You wanna come with us? I'll get you something to eat, you look pretty hungry."

 

Arclight's smile grew slightly, and although she remained somewhat glassy-eyed, Lavender got the distinct impression that she would be happy to come along.

 

 

 

Bring it over here, I'll see if I can link them."

 

It was the work of a moment to link the two - a tiny crystal embedded in the pocket mirror's case lit up - there were five in total, two of which were now lit. The mirror seemed to have been damaged, and the image was flickering  and distorted, but it clearly showed the atrium much like it was now - badly damaged with detritus scattered across the floor and completely empty, but with the large painting of Twilight Sparkle at the back mostly intact.

 

After a few moments Princess Twilight walked in through the main doors, then stopped to look at something in her hoof. Seconds later she hurled it at the painting of herself and it bounced off into a corner. Her horn flickered with magical light, and with a precise blast of purple energy she burnt herself from the image. Turning, she looked up and saw the mirror. Her horn began to glow again, and the recording ended.

 

The images from the first crystal in the pocket mirror kept flicking and skipping - clearly it had been damaged, but there was enough left to see that it was the recording of a science experiment. A card at the beginning dated it as the day of the disaster, there was a brief glimpse of a body bag. A pony was opening it, and the mirror was dropped to the floor. The next second was too badly distorted, but when it came back into focus the mirror was looking up from the floor at Princess Twilight, clearly distraught and holding a hoof over her face. She regained her composure a moment later, gestured that the out-of-view pony should continue and picked up the mirror.

 

The next few coherent images were of various crystals arrayed around the room, although the viewer appeared to be avoiding looking at the body bag as the image was shaky and poorly directed. The crystals started glowing, lightning arcing between them, and the mirror was directed back to the middle of the room, where a pegasus in a wonderbolt uniform lay on the table. A sheet had been put over their face, and the wing on the closer side was missing, along with a newly-stitched together gash running down their side. A blue hoof twitched, then the mirror swung around to look at one of the technicians, who was clutching their head in their hooves. A white pegasus in royal guard uniform, albeit with a purple band around the head of their spear, moved forwards to restrain them before dropping the spear and clutching their head as well. The mirror was dropped again, and the last image was of Princess Twilight surrounded in an aura of purple magic and an expression of concentration on her face.

 

Moments after the last recording had finished a distant, inequine cry could be heard. It was some distance away, but it was rapidly answered by numerous other cries from all directions.

 

"Time to move on," Bramble remarked, sounding nervous.

[Unicorncob 5,687]

Arclight's smile grew slightly, and although she remained somewhat glassy-eyed, Lavender got the distinct impression that she would be happy to come along.

 

Lavender returned the grin, her tail flicking under her cloak.

"Seems Arclight has joined our party!" She chirped, and hummed a little tune. Something akin to a video game.

 

 

It was the work of a moment to link the two - a tiny crystal embedded in the pocket mirror's case lit up - there were five in total, two of which were now lit. The mirror seemed to have been damaged, and the image was flickering  and distorted, but it clearly showed the atrium much like it was now - badly damaged with detritus scattered across the floor and completely empty, but with the large painting of Twilight Sparkle at the back mostly intact.

 

After a few moments Princess Twilight walked in through the main doors, then stopped to look at something in her hoof. Seconds later she hurled it at the painting of herself and it bounced off into a corner. Her horn flickered with magical light, and with a precise blast of purple energy she burnt herself from the image. Turning, she looked up and saw the mirror. Her horn began to glow again, and the recording ended.

 

The images from the first crystal in the pocket mirror kept flicking and skipping - clearly it had been damaged, but there was enough left to see that it was the recording of a science experiment. A card at the beginning dated it as the day of the disaster, there was a brief glimpse of a body bag. A pony was opening it, and the mirror was dropped to the floor. The next second was too badly distorted, but when it came back into focus the mirror was looking up from the floor at Princess Twilight, clearly distraught and holding a hoof over her face. She regained her composure a moment later, gestured that the out-of-view pony should continue and picked up the mirror.

 

The next few coherent images were of various crystals arrayed around the room, although the viewer appeared to be avoiding looking at the body bag as the image was shaky and poorly directed. The crystals started glowing, lightning arcing between them, and the mirror was directed back to the middle of the room, where a pegasus in a wonderbolt uniform lay on the table. A sheet had been put over their face, and the wing on the closer side was missing, along with a newly-stitched together gash running down their side. A blue hoof twitched, then the mirror swung around to look at one of the technicians, who was clutching their head in their hooves. A white pegasus in royal guard uniform, albeit with a purple band around the head of their spear, moved forwards to restrain them before dropping the spear and clutching their head as well. The mirror was dropped again, and the last image was of Princess Twilight surrounded in an aura of purple magic and an expression of concentration on her face.

 

Lavender looked up at these strange, and frankly unsettling recordings, and gulped at the sight of them.

 

"I don't think fun things were happening here," she murmured, "those look very not fun..."

 

 

Moments after the last recording had finished a distant, inequine cry could be heard. It was some distance away, but it was rapidly answered by numerous other cries from all directions.

 

"Time to move on," Bramble remarked, sounding nervous.

 

A shiver ran through her body at the cries, and she turned to the door. "Seconded, thirded, fourthed, et cetera!"

 

She trotted toward the doors, hoping her mutant companions were following.

[Chip Circuit 1,842]

Zayoh simply watched as everything transpired before him, he was still rather unnerved by the aura of the location that was once ponyville. However in his silence he turned his attention to Lavender who seemed to become linked the new mutant they found after the mutated pony outside was shot down. It seemed Lavender was capable of taming these mutants, perhaps to go so far as to restore their mental states.

 

Once the cries rang through the area the zebra looked around him trying to figure which direction they were coming from but because of the structure it wasn't easy to pinpoint. It was then Lavender and Bramble suggested a hasty retreat and he nodded in agreement. "Perhaps that would be the best course of action, it does seem for mutants we have a certain attraction."

[Once In A Blue Moon 895]

@@Ethan Sawyer,@@Orion Caelum, @@Unicorncob, @@Chip Circuit, @@ForthEorl.

 

 

A shiver ran through her body at the cries, and she turned to the door. "Seconded, thirded, fourthed, et cetera!"

 

 

 

Once the cries rang through the area the zebra looked around him trying to figure which direction they were coming from but because of the structure it wasn't easy to pinpoint. It was then Lavender and Bramble suggested a hasty retreat and he nodded in agreement. "Perhaps that would be the best course of action, it does seem for mutants we have a certain attraction."

 

 

The original  cry had come from roughly where the pegasus-mutant Wilhelm had shot had fallen, and none of the cries had sounded like they came from inside the facility.

 

Gala trotted up to the crystal labs door and pushed it open, her card glowing as it linked with the door. Putting on her best, although still rather distorted, smile, she gestured for everyone to follow her into the lab.

 

"In our crystal laboratories," she began, raspy and hesitant, "We are working on developing ... new and more efficient crystal structures ... along with ... a number of military projects."

 

The room was more like an open-plan office than a stereotypical laboratory. There were six large glass cylinders at the back with a number of crystals suspended in various colourful liquids and a number of chalk boards on the walls covered in formulae, sketches of crystal lattices and magical energy equations. An office to the left was labelled 'Overseer's Office' whilst there were also a number of cubicles down the side of the lab / office. Most of the desks around the central partition were covered in papers, folders and assorted office clutter, but several of them seemed to have been hastily cleared of papers, aside from the odd sheet or pencil lying on the floor.

 

On the opposite side of the room was another door with a red diamond, also claiming to lead to Twilight's Lab - although if that were the case, then it must cover a very large portion of the facility. To the right was a red and white diamond door to magi-tech development.

 

[Unicorncob 5,687]

Lavender followed Gala into the lab, jaw going agape as she looked around the room.

 

She was automatically drawn toward the crystals in the cylinders, and began tapping on the glass with her hoof. "I like the shiny!"

 

She saw the blackboard, and grimaced at all the mathematics and equations on it. Couldn't she just erase it and draw a nice picture to bring the mood up a bit?

 

Then again, she didn't want to upset her mutant friends. That would be a bad thing.

 

She leaned over at the door that claimed to lead to 'Twilight's Lab'. "Twilight... as in Twilight Sparkle? She's my favourite purple magical pony with a horn and possibly wings! Can we have a peek?" She was already trotting toward the door.

[Once In A Blue Moon 895]

 

 

She was automatically drawn toward the crystals in the cylinders, and began tapping on the glass with her hoof. "I like the shiny!"

 

The crystals were quite large - almost as big as the tank in some cases, and a label on each of them gave a file reference and a chemical formula. As lavender's hoof made contact, a tiny spark of magic jumped from her hoof to the crystal, which turned a slightly deeper shade of green around where the spark made contact. The darker patch spread out, but also faded, until the crystal was the same colour as before again. 

 

 

 

She leaned over at the door that claimed to lead to 'Twilight's Lab'. "Twilight... as in Twilight Sparkle? She's my favourite purple magical pony with a horn and possibly wings! Can we have a peek?" She was already trotting toward the door.

 

The door refused to budge. Whereas the previous doors had swung open to the touch, this one seemed jammed in place - there weren't even cracks at the edges where it started to bend. It could probably be broken, but not easily. 

[Dust and Memories 557]

The room was more like an open-plan office than a stereotypical laboratory. There were six large glass cylinders at the back with a number of crystals suspended in various colourful liquids and a number of chalk boards on the walls covered in formulae, sketches of crystal lattices and magical energy equations. An office to the left was labelled 'Overseer's Office' whilst there were also a number of cubicles down the side of the lab / office. Most of the desks around the central partition were covered in papers, folders and assorted office clutter, but several of them seemed to have been hastily cleared of papers, aside from the odd sheet or pencil lying on the floor.

 

On the opposite side of the room was another door with a red diamond, also claiming to lead to Twilight's Lab - although if that were the case, then it must cover a very large portion of the facility. To the right was a red and white diamond door to magi-tech development.

 

Wilhelm giggled like a little schoolfilly, dashing between blackboard and blackboard as if possessed. "Crystalline matrice structure models for facetry at atomic scale, quantification of the structural differences between a traditionally-mined and a magically-smoothed coronium crystal in airship engine performance, and... Ooh, interesting. All these crystals are high-density storage, at least military-grade. Looks like some sort of capacitor, though..." He glanced at the blackboard that looked most relevant. "They were trying to reevaluate something about the crystals... Not too complicated, not like... these!"

 

He gestured expansively at the next blackboard... Or two... Or three. It was a very long series of equations and diagrams. "This is fascinating! They were trying to develop an experimental redefinition of vacuum permeability of amicomagical interactions to try and reconcile amicomagical theory with the implications of Bitohr's quantum-thauma packets... No, no, that last equation is wrong. They're completely forgetting atmospheric interference from thaumatic emanations from Luna's False Sky, though they did account for the interference from the moon as a construct of..."

 

Wilhelm trailed off mid-sentence, and nosed his head around to look through his saddlebags. Muffled by the material, he said "Does anypony happen to have a piece of chalk and any experience in theoretical amicomagical relative theory...?"

[nolongerabout 403]

@@Once In A Blue Moon,

 

Sharp walked cautiously into the room, keeping his eyes on the so-called 'Tamed' mutants that had attached themselves to that bizarre pony leading the way. But, seeing no threat, he decided here would be a good place for a five minute break. He lent his carbine against the wall by the door to the overseer's office, and pulled a small clay pipe from his jacket. He caused a spark with his magic and sipped on the pipe until the tobacco within the bowl was glowing, and sat down by his gun. Sometimes he found it best to sit back and look at what was going on. Rushing about just led to mistakes.

 

"Where to now, eh? Both doors may lead to what we're looking for." He said to no one in particular. Aye, and the more time we spend looking the less time we have, he thought, before we are wiped off the face of Equestria by that damn weapon.

[Unicorncob 5,687]

The crystals were quite large - almost as big as the tank in some cases, and a label on each of them gave a file reference and a chemical formula. As lavender's hoof made contact, a tiny spark of magic jumped from her hoof to the crystal, which turned a slightly deeper shade of green around where the spark made contact. The darker patch spread out, but also faded, until the crystal was the same colour as before again. 

 

Lavender gasped as her hoof touching the glass made a spark of magic jump into the crystal.

 

"Oooooh~" She cooed, and spend the next thirty or so seconds doing the same to all six cylinders, "Sparkly things, beakers, chemicals... yeah, I like it here!"

 

 

The door refused to budge. Whereas the previous doors had swung open to the touch, this one seemed jammed in place - there weren't even cracks at the edges where it started to bend. It could probably be broken, but not easily. 

 

She trotted over to the door, and frowned as she saw it was jammed shut. She wasn't nearly strong enough to bust it open.

 

"If only I had some kind of door opening thing. Like a ram or something."

 

 

Wilhelm trailed off mid-sentence, and nosed his head around to look through his saddlebags. Muffled by the material, he said "Does anypony happen to have a piece of chalk and any experience in theoretical amicomagical relative theory...?"

 

She looked at her teacher, and blinked once. "I'm not even going to pretend I understood what you just said. Though, there might be some chalk near the blackboards... maybe."

 

She walked up to the beakers, and giggled, almost mischievously, as she began looking for chemicals to throw together. "Some explode-y juice might do us some good. I dunno what kind of good, but good all the same."

[Once In A Blue Moon 895]

 

 

All these crystals are high-density storage, at least military-grade. Looks like some sort of capacitor, though..." He glanced at the blackboard that looked most relevant. "They were trying to reevaluate something about the crystals... Not too complicated, not like... these!"

 

 

 

"Oooooh~" She cooed, and spend the next thirty or so seconds doing the same to all six cylinders, "Sparkly things, beakers, chemicals... yeah, I like it here!"

 

The end cylinder was reinforced with thin wire mesh, and the corresponding backboard seemed to focus far more on shattering the crystal in such a way that it would separate evenly during free-fall, along with energy distributed per unit area at certain altitudes. 

 

 

 

She walked up to the beakers, and giggled, almost mischievously, as she began looking for chemicals to throw together. "Some explode-y juice might do us some good. I dunno what kind of good, but good all the same."

 

The contents of the beakers seemed to have evaporated in most cases - a few still had some colourful liquids in them, but many of the others had a coat of tiny crystals on the inside of the glassware. When Lavender picked one up, tiny sparks danced from her hoof to the crystals, which turned a deeper shade of their respective colours and didn't fade this time. When she set the beaker down, one of the darkened crystals came loose and fell. When it hit the bottom of the beaker it gave a tiny crack of magical energy, which immediately set off the nearby crystals. Within a fraction of a second all of the crystals in the beaker had detonated, leaving it blackened but largely undamaged. A strong chemical smell emanated from the gently smoking beaker and the remains of the crystals.

 

 

 

He lent his carbine against the wall by the door to the overseer's office, and pulled a small clay pipe from his jacket.

 

The door appeared to have been barricaded shut from the inside although there were no ponies, dead or otherwise, to be seen through the door's window.

[Dust and Memories 557]

The end cylinder was reinforced with thin wire mesh, and the corresponding backboard seemed to focus far more on shattering the crystal in such a way that it would separate evenly during free-fall, along with energy distributed per unit area at certain altitudes. 

 

 

 

 

The contents of the beakers seemed to have evaporated in most cases - a few still had some colourful liquids in them, but many of the others had a coat of tiny crystals on the inside of the glassware. When Lavender picked one up, tiny sparks danced from her hoof to the crystals, which turned a deeper shade of their respective colours and didn't fade this time. When she set the beaker down, one of the darkened crystals came loose and fell. When it hit the bottom of the beaker it gave a tiny crack of magical energy, which immediately set off the nearby crystals. Within a fraction of a second all of the crystals in the beaker had detonated, leaving it blackened but largely undamaged. A strong chemical smell emanated from the gently smoking beaker and the remains of the crystals.

 

"Hmmmm..." The complicated unification equation forgotten for now, Wilhelm trotted towards the other cylinder. "Looks kind of like Crystal Empire work. They had some of the best crystal-mages in Equestria." His hoof trailed down the glass while he glanced over the nearby blackboard. "Some sort of... airburst? Looks like something the Griffons would have tried; a fuel-air explosion weapon. They never did manage to get it to work reasonably, though this seems like it could be targeted to a superior degree. And break shields... I wonder if they have any samples we could get to the Scion?"

 

As if in a trance, Wilhelm kept moving along the crystal tanks, examining each chemical formula avidly. Soon, though, the information had depleted itself, and he moved to the table with the beakers. "And this... this looks like some sort of cascade reactive device. An inbuilt impact trigger for an explosive?"

[Unicorncob 5,687]

The contents of the beakers seemed to have evaporated in most cases - a few still had some colourful liquids in them, but many of the others had a coat of tiny crystals on the inside of the glassware. When Lavender picked one up, tiny sparks danced from her hoof to the crystals, which turned a deeper shade of their respective colours and didn't fade this time. When she set the beaker down, one of the darkened crystals came loose and fell. When it hit the bottom of the beaker it gave a tiny crack of magical energy, which immediately set off the nearby crystals. Within a fraction of a second all of the crystals in the beaker had detonated, leaving it blackened but largely undamaged. A strong chemical smell emanated from the gently smoking beaker and the remains of the crystals.

 

Lavender went wide-eyed as the small crystals in the beaker reacted the same as the ones in the cylinders. "They're all magic crystals!" She chirped.

 

When the beaker detonated, she yelped and ducked her head a bit beneath the counter, before re-emerging and giving the blackened glass a small nudge. "I... it was like that when I got here!"

[Once In A Blue Moon 895]

And break shields... I wonder if they have any samples we could get to the Scion?"

 

The crystals in the containers were rather too large and heavy to move by hoof, and their magic-absorption properties made levitating them much more challenging, even without the risk of magical leakage from cracks or imperfections. It wouldn't be too difficult to take a sample of the solution they were grown from, however - there were plenty of stoppered flasks around.

 

 

 

"If only I had some kind of door opening thing. Like a ram or something."

 

"I get it, I get it, stand back - earth pony coming through," Bramble grumble good-naturedly. He gave the door a solid kick, and it didn't budge an inch. Frowning, he kicked it again, and then a third time. On the fourth impact the wood cracked slightly, and Bramble stopped to examine his work, "It'll break eventually," he concluded, "But it's sealed tight around the edges, probably magically, and there could be half a dozen more like it between us and our destination."

Edited April 27, 2016 by Once In A Blue Moon

[nolongerabout 403]

@@Once In A Blue Moon,

 

Sharp, after watching the attempts on the door, decided to lend a hoof. Pipe still in mouth, he picked up his gun and walked over to the stumped ponies. He looked at the door, saw it was only wood, and pulled his axe from his belt. He offered Bramble the haft.

 

"You might do a bit better, mate, with that. I shall use this," Sharp pointed at the brass plate on his carbine's butt, "And the gods better help that bloody door.". He lifted the frizzen, and blew the loose powder out of the pan. That way, it wouldn't go off if the flint sparked on the frizzen.

 

He would batter the door, and working together they would probably make much better progress.

[Unicorncob 5,687]

"I get it, I get it, stand back - earth pony coming through," Bramble grumble good-naturedly. He gave the door a solid kick, and it didn't budge an inch. Frowning, he kicked it again, and then a third time. On the fourth impact the wood cracked slightly, and Bramble stopped to examine his work, "It'll break eventually," he concluded, "But it's sealed tight around the edges, probably magically, and there could be half a dozen more like it between us and our destination."

 

Lavender backed up and allowed Bramble some room to start kicking the door. She tilted her head, watching as his assaults were barely making a dent.

 

"That's some kick-proof magic up in here, yo," she muttered, and tapped her hoof on her chin in thought, "If I had some kick-proof-magic-proof magic, maybe I could bust that sucker open myself..."

[Chaton 3,765]

It was the work of a moment to link the two - a tiny crystal embedded in the pocket mirror's case lit up - there were five in total, two of which were now lit. The mirror seemed to have been damaged, and the image was flickering  and distorted, but it clearly showed the atrium much like it was now - badly damaged with detritus scattered across the floor and completely empty, but with the large painting of Twilight Sparkle at the back mostly intact.

 

After a few moments Princess Twilight walked in through the main doors, then stopped to look at something in her hoof. Seconds later she hurled it at the painting of herself and it bounced off into a corner. Her horn flickered with magical light, and with a precise blast of purple energy she burnt herself from the image. Turning, she looked up and saw the mirror. Her horn began to glow again, and the recording ended.

 

The images from the first crystal in the pocket mirror kept flicking and skipping - clearly it had been damaged, but there was enough left to see that it was the recording of a science experiment. A card at the beginning dated it as the day of the disaster, there was a brief glimpse of a body bag. A pony was opening it, and the mirror was dropped to the floor. The next second was too badly distorted, but when it came back into focus the mirror was looking up from the floor at Princess Twilight, clearly distraught and holding a hoof over her face. She regained her composure a moment later, gestured that the out-of-view pony should continue and picked up the mirror.

 

The next few coherent images were of various crystals arrayed around the room, although the viewer appeared to be avoiding looking at the body bag as the image was shaky and poorly directed. The crystals started glowing, lightning arcing between them, and the mirror was directed back to the middle of the room, where a pegasus in a wonderbolt uniform lay on the table. A sheet had been put over their face, and the wing on the closer side was missing, along with a newly-stitched together gash running down their side. A blue hoof twitched, then the mirror swung around to look at one of the technicians, who was clutching their head in their hooves. A white pegasus in royal guard uniform, albeit with a purple band around the head of their spear, moved forwards to restrain them before dropping the spear and clutching their head as well. The mirror was dropped again, and the last image was of Princess Twilight surrounded in an aura of purple magic and an expression of concentration on her face.

 

Moments after the last recording had finished a distant, inequine cry could be heard. It was some distance away, but it was rapidly answered by numerous other cries from all directions.

 

"Time to move on," Bramble remarked, sounding nervous.

 

I can't be the only one wondering about "What the hell was that."

 

The original  cry had come from roughly where the pegasus-mutant Wilhelm had shot had fallen, and none of the cries had sounded like they came from inside the facility.

 

Gala trotted up to the crystal labs door and pushed it open, her card glowing as it linked with the door. Putting on her best, although still rather distorted, smile, she gestured for everyone to follow her into the lab.

 

"In our crystal laboratories," she began, raspy and hesitant, "We are working on developing ... new and more efficient crystal structures ... along with ... a number of military projects."

 

The room was more like an open-plan office than a stereotypical laboratory. There were six large glass cylinders at the back with a number of crystals suspended in various colourful liquids and a number of chalk boards on the walls covered in formulae, sketches of crystal lattices and magical energy equations. An office to the left was labelled 'Overseer's Office' whilst there were also a number of cubicles down the side of the lab / office. Most of the desks around the central partition were covered in papers, folders and assorted office clutter, but several of them seemed to have been hastily cleared of papers, aside from the odd sheet or pencil lying on the floor.

 

On the opposite side of the room was another door with a red diamond, also claiming to lead to Twilight's Lab - although if that were the case, then it must cover a very large portion of the facility. To the right was a red and white diamond door to magi-tech development.

 

Ooohhh. Magi-tech. The subject in which I am apparently rather good at. "I don't suppose we could take a look in Magi-tech later could we?"

 

The crystals were quite large - almost as big as the tank in some cases, and a label on each of them gave a file reference and a chemical formula. As lavender's hoof made contact, a tiny spark of magic jumped from her hoof to the crystal, which turned a slightly deeper shade of green around where the spark made contact. The darker patch spread out, but also faded, until the crystal was the same colour as before again. 

 

The door refused to budge. Whereas the previous doors had swung open to the touch, this one seemed jammed in place - there weren't even cracks at the edges where it started to bend. It could probably be broken, but not easily. 

 

You know, if I had of kept that broken crystal from the engine we could have just blown this door down.

[Once In A Blue Moon 895]

@@Ethan Sawyer,@@Orion Caelum, @@Unicorncob, @@Chip Circuit, @@ForthEorl.

 

 

He looked at the door, saw it was only wood, and pulled his axe from his belt. He offered Bramble the haft.   "You might do a bit better, mate, with that. I shall use this,"

 

 

They made quick work of the door, revealing a laboratory on the far side that was easily twice the size of the crystal labs. It was clearly in here where the magi-tech and crystal developments had been fused, with workbenches, crystal vats, life-size models of ponies with various prosthetic limbs and even a small forge in the corner. Along one of the walls were a huge number of design boards, as well as:

 

 

 

Ooohhh. Magi-tech. The subject in which I am apparently rather good at. "I don't suppose we could take a look in Magi-tech later could we?"

 

 

 

Arclight smiled at her and nodded, seeming to become more animated and focused. Walking up to the magi-tech door, she pushed it open, her white card glowing. Holding the door she gestured through to the magi-tech lab on the far side. It was of a similar size to the crystal labs, with workbenches in one corner, a large cabinet of reinforced glass holding a number of crystals of varying sizes and a large display area at the far end with a number of magi-tech items.  

 

[Unicorncob 5,687]

They made quick work of the door, revealing a laboratory on the far side that was easily twice the size of the crystal labs. It was clearly in here where the magi-tech and crystal developments had been fused, with workbenches, crystal vats, life-size models of ponies with various prosthetic limbs and even a small forge in the corner. Along one of the walls were a huge number of design boards, as well as:

 

Ferrous Phoenix.png

 

Lavender grinned as the door was blasted open. "Or... that. That works too."

 

She trotted inside and took a look around. She immediately noticed how large the room was. "'Das a huge female dog!"

 

She wandered around, and was immediately drawn to the lifesize model ponies with prosthetic limbs. "Ooooh, robots~!"

She began poking one. "Can I have one?"

[nolongerabout 403]

@@Once In A Blue Moon,

 

Sharp wandered in carefully, saw the mannequins, the crash mat, the forge, and realized this was a far larger operation than he originally thought. Such a combination of objects, in his opinion, could only be used for one thing- weapons and armour testing. he had seen a similar room in Canterlot, albeit without most of the magical apparatus. There, they had built fine armour for the gentry, testing it by placing it on life size models and firing all manner of weapons at it. Sharp suspected there had been a similar setup here, but where were the researcher's projects? For such a large lab, there was little evidence of anything physical. Perhaps it had been evacuated with the staff? That seemed to make sense.

 

Sharp spoke curtly to bramble. "You can look after that axe for a while. You might need it for these other doors." In the meantime, Sharp wandered over to the small forge. A heavy forging hammer would do well to replace the axe he had lent out.

[Once In A Blue Moon 895]

She wandered around, and was immediately drawn to the lifesize model ponies with prosthetic limbs. "Ooooh, robots~!" She began poking one. "Can I have one?"

 

 

The mechanical limbs were embedded with crystals, and various notes discussed the practicalities of magically fusing them with their bearers. Particularly with unicorns, fluctuations in ambient magic could interfere with the limb's function, although shielding against all but the most extreme external sources had been achieved with pegasus and earth ponies.

 

 

Sharp suspected there had been a similar setup here, but where were the researcher's projects?

 

 

 

There were a number of piles of ash where documents had clearly been incinerated by magical fire, but nowhere near as many as one would expect in a lab of this size. Some of the design boards had some sketches that clearly showed prosthetics with a greater focus on military use, but there was very little material.

 

 

Sharp spoke curtly to bramble. "You can look after that axe for a while. You might need it for these other doors." In the meantime, Sharp wandered over to the small forge. A heavy forging hammer would do well to replace the axe he had lent out.

 

 

Bramble nodded his thanks, and went to examine the two red doors. The forge had quite a large selection of tools, including several hammers. There were also a few documents that hadn't been incinerated or removed, which dealt with working crystals into mechanical constructions without causing explosions - largely done by introducing carefully drained crystal fragments at the right moment of the smelting process.

 

"The media door shouldn't be hard to break down," Bramble remarked, "But the private door is quite another matter; the axe doesn't even scratch it. Of course there's the managers office back in the other lab as well - it wouldn't be too hard to break into there."

[Unicorncob 5,687]

The mechanical limbs were embedded with crystals, and various notes discussed the practicalities of magically fusing them with their bearers. Particularly with unicorns, fluctuations in ambient magic could interfere with the limb's function, although shielding against all but the most extreme external sources had been achieved with pegasus and earth ponies.

 

Lavender levitated the notes up to her face and skimmed through them. She didn't really understand the intricacies of it, but she understood enough to get that 'Unicorns plus magical limbs equals bad'.

 

"Um, on second thought, she murmured, swallowing and setting the notes back down, "I'm fine with being the stock model."

 

She trotted around the lab to find something else to prod.

[Chaton 3,765]

The mechanical limbs were embedded with crystals, and various notes discussed the practicalities of magically fusing them with their bearers. Particularly with unicorns, fluctuations in ambient magic could interfere with the limb's function, although shielding against all but the most extreme external sources had been achieved with pegasus and earth ponies.

 

Oh now that is cool I thought to myself while going around looking at the notes. There were some blatant mistakes, but most were fixed on other pages. Not bad

 

"The media door shouldn't be hard to break down," Bramble remarked, "But the private door is quite another matter; the axe doesn't even scratch it. Of course there's the managers office back in the other lab as well - it wouldn't be too hard to break into there."

 

"Do you think we'd have the luck to find a spare key or access card in said managers office would we?"

[Once In A Blue Moon 895]

 

 

"Do you think we'd have the luck to find a spare key or access card in said managers office would we?"

 

"Worth a shot," Bramble said, trotting back to the crystal labs. The door to the office had been barracaded shut from the inside, but the axe made short work of it. Breaking away a chunk of the door, and pushing away a chair on the far side, Bramble stuck his head through and looked around. He immediately swore, pulled his head back thorugh the hole and broke the door open with a few more kicks. Inside the room, hundreds of sheets of papers lay around an open safe, along with the bodies of two unicorns and an earth pony. One of the unicorns lay crumpled on the papers, a horrific injury on the back of their head, whilst the other lay on the ground with its head at a odd angle. The earth pony sat in a corner, a gaping wound in its neck and several blodied shards of glass on the ground in front of it.

 

"They started fighting after they had barracaded themselves in," Bramble observed, "And this one doesn't seem to have decayed," he prodded the unicorn with the broken neck gently, "Dr Igneous Flair, Py Ville, Cr Lot, Er Free... Ponyville, Canterlot and Everfree? Regardless, we have our red card," frowning, he turned Dr Flair over, revealing a small growth on the side of his head, just below the ear, "He must have been affected somehow..."

 

The rest of the office had an assortment of items in it. The desk was relatively neat, with an in-tray and an out-tray filled with papers, but the wall had a large chalkboard on it with assorted barely legible scribbles on it - most apparently concerning magical energy distribution across a crystal, but some more mundane matters such as buying more mugs and to remind staff not to improvise with flasks and beakers were also covered. A small magical observation mirror stood in the corner, although someone had drawn 'aet erom deen' on it in mirror-writing. There were a number of magi-mechanical items laid out on a table, from a motor the size of a hoof to a folded, metal pegasus wing, which included a number of tubes and wires at the base of the wing that would somehow be inserted into a pony's back.