Project Everfree

Project Everfree: Log Entry 1

This log formally marks the beginning of Research Project Everfree. As per usual, I'll be using this first log as a base to reference for the projects goals, as well as recording my personal thoughts on the projects concepts and potential for success. All subsequent logs shall be written by myself, Princess Celestia of Equestria, and project leader, unless otherwise specified.

The primary goal of Project Everfree is to create a self sustaining environment in Equestria, relieving the necessity of constant maintenance by its citizens by making weather systems, plants, and animals capable of independent regulation. This would make the weather capable of occurring without the need for pegasi management, plants capable of growing and thriving without earth pony farmers, and animals capable of learning, feeding, and caring for themselves without the need for anypony to guide and nurture them. This will take much of the effort away from the ponies of Equestria. Finally, upon the completion of each of these tasks, the project shall shift to the final goal of freeing the sun and moon from control, automating the day and night cycle. This goal is one that my sister and I personally look forward to the most, as it will relieve a great burden from us both.

In order to facilitate the completion of this project, my sister and I have sought out experts in animal behavioral and feeding habits, agriculture, pegasus and earth pony magics, and advanced arcane theory and application. The team that has been selected consists of a total of twelve earth ponies, seventeen pegasi, and nineteen unicorns, with four ponies having refused the offer.

The project is divided into subdivisions, each carrying out a different goal of the project. Three subdivisions exist to complete three different independent goals.

Team A consists of seven earth ponies and five unicorns. Team A is tasked with applying earth pony magic with the assistance of trained unicorns in order to modify plants and apply large scale modifications to Equestria's magical fields to apply changes as necessary, to allow plants to grow and maintain themselves. The final goal is to adapt Equestrian flora to grow and thrive without the need for caretakers. The team will begin work on smaller plants and shrubs, progressing to larger and theoretically more difficult plants, such as trees and bushes. The team will finish with plants grown by ponies for agricultural purposes, as these will be the least necessary for the project's overall success.

Team B consists of fourteen pegasi and six unicorns and has two coinciding tasks. Team B is tasked with applying a combination of pegasus and unicorn magics to create season appropriate weather events that form, move, maintain, interact with each other, release precipitation, and disperse without the necessity for pegasus management in any stage listed, but still allowing management if necessary or convenient. Team B will have two overall goals, first to create a self sustaining system for weather events, and second to automate the cycling of the seasons.

The first goal will be achieved by creating localized chaotic manifestations that result in weather events that meet all of the specified requirements. This technique, while experimental like all others in use for this project, is more dangerous, and has more questionable chances of success than the technique used by the other two subdivisions due to the uncontrollable and unpredictable nature of chaos energy, especially in long term and when expected to interact with themselves as well as other energies. As a result, a fallback plan was set in place. By using ordered reconstruction of parts of Equestria's magical fields, they could be used to generate weather effects based on predetermined templates and rules, having the same end result. Though more reliable, this technique is estimated to take several generations or more to fully complete as each weather event and each reaction will need to be applied separately, and may react unpredictably while only partially finished.

The second goal is intended to be completed with whatever means prove most effective in the completion of the first goal, although from a theoretical standpoint it would appear that chaotic manifestations would be least effective and least efficient in this matter, despite being the easier of the two methods for the first goal, which may necessitate alterations to the plan unless theory is proven wrong. This goal is less important than the automation of weather events, so it will receive a lower priority and will be completed last if it does not need to be integrated into the other goal in order to interact with weather properly.

Team C consists of five earth ponies, three pegasi, and eight unicorns. Team C is tasked with applying large scale changes to Equestria's magical fields to allow for animals to over time develop independent behavioral patterns, reducing to outright removing the need for animals to be cared for by ponies. In order to facilitate the correct instincts and behaviors, the larger portion of the team will consist of animal caretakers, or experts the field of animal behavioral development. The team will start on small animals an work up to larger ones. In order to prevent ecological damage the team is required to move quickly, so they will be testing the magics involved on single or small groups of animals in controlled conditions and using the animals as templates for large scale application within a short timeframe.

Upon the conclusion of all of the above goals, the team members will be reassessed and new members will be brought in as needed for the final goal, where with our help they will use the knowledge provided by the other groups to free the sun and moon from control, after which time Project Everfree with officially close unless something else occurs between now and then to necessitate any form of continued work or maintenance, which will be resolved to the best of the teams ability in a hopefully short time.

My sister and I will observe the project and provide assistance or advice whenever needed. That being considered, some of our subjects may feel uncomfortable working so close to their princesses, though hopefully the pressure will not interfere with their abilities.

Now would be the best time to put into words my lack of confidence in the projects odds of success. My sister and I have had this idea for several centuries and have searched on numerous occasions to find a means to make the idea reality, all of which ended unsuccessfully. It is only because of recent advances in the field on arcane theory and our understanding of the nature of the magical fields that permeate Equestria that either of us believe this to even having a chance of succeeding, and that doesn't even apply to Team B, who's techniques, though approved by my sister and I, are far closer to Discord's magics than I feel comfortable with.

To finalize this entry, I will say that I have little faith in the project and neither does my sister. The methods are untested, some even purely theoretical, and others are only somewhat relevant to the end goal despite their significance which leaves even more uncertainty in the odds of success. Despite our lack of faith, I have much hope that the project will succeed, and even if it doesn't what we learn from it may lead to countless breakthroughs that will revolutionize our understanding of magic for years to come.

Celestia set down her quill as she closed her new logbook, spending several seconds simply sitting at her desk, staring at the ornate text on the front. Project Everfree, it was more than just a name, it was also a dream she and her sister had shared for centuries, one that may soon become more than just a dream.

Slowly she stood, and moved towards her balcony like she did every morning. As she looked out, she saw clouds ready for the day's scheduled rainstorm dotting the skies and carefully tended flowers lining the gardens just outside the castle, and though they were not unusual sights they held much more meaning this morning than they ever did before. To her they were signs of the many years of dedication and care her little ponies had given to keep their land alive and beautiful, and she prayed that in this effort they would be successful, and after all these years her ponies could rest as the world began to care for itself.

And as she lifted the sun over the horizon, she prayed that she too would be free of her burdens soon.