Day 7 (early morning).

I walked into the laboratory which was located on top of one of Canterlot Castle’s towers. It was around 4 in the morning, and not even the beautiful, regal, graceful, powerful, untouchable… etcetera, Princess Celestia herself was up. I was just too nervous. Then again, it’s expected of me, Twilight Sparkle, to be nervous about an experiment that could change Equestria in an unpredictable way.

I marveled at the six gems that stood on each of the six pedestals, using a light spell. The magenta light that emanated from my horn was reflected by the six different gems that were protected by another spell which prevented any impurities to damage the quality of the precious gems. The effect it had was truly entrancing… like the princess’s eyes…

I decided to review the minuscule still important details; the exact position of the pedestals, the strength of the magical barrier protecting the gems, the angle of the mirrors… I had already checked all of these things five times in a row, but I needed something else to occupy my mind on so it would not drift back to Princess Celestia and her recent distancing…

Every time I remembered that, my chest would hurt and I would start regretting everything I’ve done; something must have made her want to drift further and further apart from me, something I’ve done. Probably she noticed the glances I shot her the day before while she gave the theories the last touches… I just couldn’t control them! At first I was lucky to have theories to explain two days ago so I could distract my mind from the beautiful goddess of the sun calmly listening everything I said right in front of me.

Even in my dreams, the princess would take a hold of my thoughts, so sleeping wasn’t really an option. On top of my torturing feelings for Princess Celestia, I had my nervousness for the experiment. I had reasons to be checking again and again and again the details; if even the slightest thing was out of place… Who knows what could happen.

Literally, who knows? Nopony has tried this before.

This only made it even more dangerous; there were no guides I could follow, or references, or anything. At least there were this and that book talking about the properties of magic, which helped a lot. It also made me think of how strange and mysterious this world of ours is; our magic’s properties, which are actually the characteristics of this mysterious force of ours that can manipulate reality and can differ slightly or greatly from pony to pony, are actually tightly tied with our personalities and such. This is exactly why I compared this experiment to the Elements of Harmony; the magic’s properties have to be in perfect balance, in perfect harmony.

What was the purpose of this? This harmony would probably give this magic abilities, uses or properties a unicorn's magic doesn't have. Maybe we could be inventing a source of power; some force that may improve technology itself...

Something interesting was that the princess said that I had to be the one providing the magic. At least it just had to be a beam, but it had to be a very powerful one. This was one more reason to be nervous; but this decision had to be made fast and very early in the stages of planning so we could determine the position of the gems.

The beam was going to be aimed at a diamond which would fragment the magic into 7 different beams with their respective properties. These properties would be balanced by 7 different gems and mirrors would guide those balanced beams into another crystal specially polished and molded to combine the 7 beams into one, harmonious, and possibly white, beam of pure energy. This intense, concentrated beam‘s energy would be dispersed by a spell which would act as a barrier, and would be cast a few moments before the experiment started.

Put this way, it’s not really that complicated, but if I went into detail about the gems, the properties and magical theory then it would be a written headache.

I sighed after finishing my measurements and walked towards the laboratory’s window, admiring the dark night sky. It was around five thirty; Princess Celestia was going to raise the sun in some minutes.

Groaning, I wondered how my thoughts could drift back to the princess so fast; I could be reading about… biology and somehow I would relate it to the princess. Somehow. Probably I would start comparing the beauty of the butterfly, the elegance of the tiger, the grace of the eagle, the strength of the lion, and the intelligence of the owl to the princess’s own attributes. She was all of this and even more…

It was useless though; the Princess didn’t want anything to do with a pathetic, weak pony like me. Sure, probably I was more powerful than most unicorns, and I could learn a spell by simply watching it being casted once, but what did it matter if I was weak at heart?

I looked back at the crystals. Luckily, my thoughts didn’t change towards the princess, but I began to think about my friends. I loved them, I missed them, and I needed them right now more than ever… Here, I felt all alone; not even the princess was by my side. She now felt so… distant…

There we go… back to the princess. Great.

Without any other measures to check, or theories to review I had to find a way to spend the next hours without going completely insane. At least there were a fair amount of books here with me…

Noon.

Finally, after a day of standing party after party with shrieking rich mares and snooty ponies, Palas was going to court. His hatred for parties and other social events had been reaffirmed. The only positive thing gotten out of this was that his social awkwardness had diminished a little. Still, he had wasted a full day that could be spent in something more productive. Fortunately, there hadn’t been any uproar caused, or guards searching through every corner of Canterlot… yet. Maybe Luna thought he had gotten too caught up in exploring the city, or that had discovered some sort of cave system and decided she should just wait until he returned, knowing his adventurous and curious spirit…

If that was to be the case, that was definitely better than anything. He had time to fix all of this before ponies went insane. He would get into court, request a session with Princess Luna, use their super special secret eye-contact language and then everything would go back to… no, normal is not the word. Everything would go back to the way it used to be. Yes, that’s more accurate.

Palas had insisted Fleur to allow him to go alone, but the generous mare had insisted and pleaded otherwise, claiming it could be dangerous and completely rude to leave somepony in need to themselves, so he had no choice but to accept unless he wanted to spend another day surrounded by mares who seemed to be in heat.

They were (finally) about to enter Canterlot Castle when something in the corner of Palas’s eye caught his attention. He turned his head to see a… mare trying to sneak into the castle?

“Hey!” Palas, completely ignoring his brain, Fleur and the guards, obeyed his instincts and gave chase to this mysterious mare.

Once he got closer, he could take in her details; black shaggy mane, red coat, green eyes and circles under them. This mare was a Pegasus, but one of her wings was wrapped in bandages. She also had a pair of heavy looking saddlebags. She seemed not to pay too much attention to her personal appearance…

But that wasn’t important. Palas was chasing what could possibly be a real terrorist or a spy, but then he noticed he was also being chased by angry guards. Then, when he heard them something about ‘Her Majesty’s sacred garden’ and ‘Not the flowers’ he realized he was also making a mess of a perfectly kept garden dedicated specially to ‘Tia.

That wasn’t important either. He could repay by fixing the garden himself when he turned back to being a mare…

He also noticed the mare’s physical conditions weren’t the best; he was almost about to get her. Only a tackle and the job was done. However, before he could do anything, the black maned mare’s eyes were fixed on an open window at the top of a tower.

Her wings unfurled, the bandages falling loosely on the ground. Then, she flew directly towards the open window.

Some minutes earlier…

It’s finally here…

No, this experiment hadn’t been planned from one day to another. It had taken months to get the spells and to put the theories together, but most importantly, to find other researchers and scientists willing to help me with this experiment that could revolutionize the whole Equestria. And it had all been a headache; a worthwhile headache.

Aaaand I’m about to relate headaches with the princess. Though I must admit she had come to represent an ‘enjoyable’ headache to me…

Scientist ran to and fro, doing last minute preparations; adjusting sensors, readers which would register the information the sensors grabbed… Meanwhile, I was taking care of purifying the air and casting the barrier which would disperse the white beam and keep protecting the gems from impurities, and eliminating the other barriers previously placed around the gems themselves; all of this had to be done very carefully and fast so no impurities managed to enter in the process. I was so focused I forgot the princess was there, watching everypony’s every move, especially mine. I had to do my best, no errors, no slip ups. They weren’t allowed in this laboratory, not today.

Sure, there was still this burning desire to please the princess, but I wanted to do something for myself as well for once. Something I could take pride in. However, being the annoyingly modest mare I was, that wasn’t going to be easy.

After doing everything I had been put in charge of, I and some other scientists took care of installing the sensors which would analyze important factors which would improve the theory. There were also guards inside and outside the laboratory, just in case something went wrong; because if something did go wrong, it just wouldn’t be wrong, it would be horribly wrong, taking into consideration this experiment involved high levels of both magic and energy.

Suddenly, I was starting to regret not considering doing this somewhere else less risky, yet the air of the tall tower was purer than anywhere else I could have come up with. If I did this somewhere else like a forest, where the air was indeed pure, if something went wrong we could probably be destroying natural habitats, and making Fluttershy very angry in the process. If we did this in a desolated place, like mountains or canyons, or even a desert, it would be tougher to keep the gems’ purity, but it would be safer, even though it was meaningless: did it matter for it to be safe if there was nothing to be safe from? Did it even make sense?

No, Twilight. Too late for regrets…

I needed the princess’s comfort right now, but I wasn’t going to receive it. I knew… until…

“Everything will go alright, Twilight” the princess whispered in my ear. There was no physical contact, or eye contact. She was just there, right next to me, her eyes also marveling at the structure of the experiment; the gems, the mirrors, the diamonds. However, just her words, her tone, her concern were enough to relieve me. I knew I wanted much, much more, but this was okay… I looked up at her, though her eyes refused to leave the gems.

As long as she was there with me to reassure me, even as a friend, mother or mentor, it was okay.

She wasn’t wrapping me up in illusions, but telling me what she believed… she believed in me; she believed I was capable to terminate this experiment to success… and that was enough for me.

“Thank you, princess…” I whispered with a lot of meaning behind those words. There were so many emotions I wanted to convey, but it was impossible to do so using such simple words which could mean a wide variety of things…

I sighed, gathering strength and relieving stress. I closed my eyes and focused for a moment… until I finally heard the words I’ve been impatient to hear for hours.

“Everything’s ready, Miss Sparkle!” a researcher taking care of the readers announced, and I nodded with determination burning in my eyes.

“Alright, everypony!” I began, my insecurities still lingering. All the researchers and scientist turned to look at me; their focus on me just increased my nervousness “I… I have to admit that I am nervous and scared, probably as much as you all are…” I shyly began, chuckling a bit. Not a good start for a motivational speech, that's for certain

“Yet, I am here. I’ve always believed I was a coward because I was always afraid of the challenges ahead of me even if I had, in the end, easily busted through them and they all ended in success. I never admitted this, but sometimes we need ponies around, to remind us that bravery isn’t about not being afraid, but about pushing forward regardless that your fears and concerns are struggling to hold you back” I looked to the princess and she responded with a nod, which gave me enough confidence to continue. My eyes still fixed on the princess as I said “These ponies will also remind you that you are more than capable of doing anything you task to yourself… that you are not just an ordinary pony, that chance or pity weren’t the things that brought you to this fateful place, and on this fateful day…

“But…” my eyes returned to the crowd of scientists and researchers, burning with renewed determination “that this is where your abilities come in... Each of us has come to learn one thing or to do another, but this something will have a huge impact on ponies around you. Every action you perform causes great strides in our history, every action a mark, so that everypony is important in this world.

“This is an experiment that hasn’t been attempted until today, so we are treading on unexplored and unstable grounds which may break apart under our hooves. There may be many dangers here, considering we are dealing with highly concentrated energy, but if we do our best, if we fight against our fears… I can tell you now, everything will go perfectly fine! You are here because you are capable, not chance, or destiny!

“So don’t think we will fail! There is a possibility of mistakes, but it 'Is minimal, and it will stay that way if you trust your abilities! Alright let’s do this! For Equestria, and for a brighter tomorrow!”

Cheers could be heard across the room, cheers which filled me with pride and anticipation. My shyness returned immediately and I gave a few steps back as color rose up to my cheeks. I couldn’t believe I had say all those things; Rainbow Dash would be rolling in the ground, laughing at the cheesiness of my words!

The researchers turned on the machines and I readied my mind and magic for the powerful beam I had to cast…

“Hold on!” one of the researchers said “The window is open…” she had an embarrassed smile on her face and I nodded with a knowing smile, motioning her to go ahead and close it. Such little details were actually important; if a slip up from our part didn’t cause the experiment to fail probably an external factor would. She closed the window and I refocused… However, right after I shot the beam…

This wasn’t going to end well. The window had been closed in the last minute by a pony in a lab coat and this mare was about to crash against it, which was going to be really, really painful, both for her and for whoever was inside. And maybe she could also be destroying any experiment these scientist or whatever were doing. It was too late for her to turn around.

Palas couldn’t fly, or else he would blow up his cover. He dashed into the castle, evading every guard who stood on his way and recurred to his old mental map. Many things had changed since the last time he had visited… which was a couple of thousand years ago, so it was only natural, but he still was going to successfully make his way into the tower the mare was going to crash into. In the distance, he could hear sounds of glass breaking… and a moment later…

An explosion?

Author's Note

Yes, I actually spent some hours building up some magic theory that you probably couldn't understand with this explanation.

But it'll make sense soon enough.

Next part will be up tomorrow... or the day after tomorrow...

PS: Sorry if the "motivational speech" wasn't that motivating... (Did the cliffhanger work?)