Below the catwalk, hundreds of ponies lie stationary within life-support tanks, unicorns had their horns sawed off, from the bone stump of where their spiral horn had once sat there emerged a long sharp spike of synthetic crystal, interwoven with arcane circuitry, currently connected to wires, cables, and electrodes, made of interwoven strings of fiberoptic crystal, snaking beyond their tanks and into cable bundles that ran the walls of the facility. Pegasi had their feathers pulled from their wings and crystal shards in the shape of their old feathers implanted, also connected to fiberoptic cables that protruded from their life support vessels. Earth ponies had their hooves sawn off and they too were replaced with synthetic crystal that too was wired into the machines.
They were all ponies who volunteered for this project, or who were terminally ill and who had donated their bodies to science once they died, except they were simply taken to this facility while asleep, on the hope to save them from death. On the catwalk stood the very first test subject, dutifully following behind her superior. Her coat, dark purple, reflected light in strange ways, her wings interspersed with feather-shaped crystals of the same hue as her coat, her horn a curved crystal spike same color as her mane, bolted into the base of her skull. She had not been born with that horn, shining a pale turquoise and interspersed with thaumic circuits that sparkled in time with her thoughts, she had been the very first successful experiment with the borosilicate horns. Despite not being natural her body had accepted the synthetic material, already skin and fur was growing around its base, covering up the surgical scars. Her ability with that horn growing rapidly, especially after the gene-splicing experiment, even just a few months post-modification the nerves from her brain were growing through the synthetic crystal as if she were a real unicorn, just barely visible under the glassy surface if one stared close enough.
Beside the pegasus-turned-alicorn stood a true alicorn, one not created by the wonders of modern science, but one created by ancient ritual and spellcraft… Luster Dawn stood in her predecessor’s old labcoat, her pink coat interwoven with magically active chalcogenide crystal lines, reaching from hooves to horn, pulsing in time with her movements. A responsible scientist would always rather experiment upon herself than risk the wellbeing of another pony once the animal testing had been completed and calculations showed the experiment posed no risk to pony life. She had lost a few of her parts due to this method of scientific pursuit, but most outside observers would never notice, her eye, horn, and hindlegs, identical to her original body parts, minus the fact they were made of carefully sculpted crystal.
Materializing from nothingness appeared a familiar form, Luster’s predecessor in the prime of her youth, but this was not actually Twilight Sparkle, this was a being of far more importance and power. “Harmony,” Luster said, not batting an eye at the appearance of the magical hologram, “The results of experiment number five-two-five?”
“Biocrystal derived from my stock has shown a noticeable increase in thaumatological capacity,” Harmony began in her normal monotone voice, “compared to the artificially grown borosilicate, chalcogenide, pure silicon, and Crystal Empire structural biocrystal samples.”
“How soon do you think we can mass-produce biocrystal derived from your biomass?”
“I do not think that will be necessary.”
“Explain?”
“Due to the semi-organic nature of biocrystal, it is fully possible to synthesize a string of amino acids that can instruct your molecular machinery to produce biocrystal in the same manner as your organic biomass.”
“I see, I will prepare the gene labs for animal testing, when can this synthetic DNA be produced and how soon can we begin attempts to splice it into genetic code?”
“Producing models of complex amino acids polymers is within my processing power, however, I cannot run such calculations and maintain the five-hundred-and-twenty-seven other thaumatological systems I am currently maintaining, I would require a twenty-seven percent increase in computing capacity if you wish me to run the calculations and keep the planetary rotation systems operable.”
“I will request more arcane servers for you,” Luster said, retrieving a tablet made of both electronic and arcane circuits, pressing a series of buttons on the glowing device’s surface. “Yes, Petrochemical, I will require three dozen new thaumic processing banks for my latest experiments, can you order them by next week?” She spoke into the tablet, shutting it off and placing it back under her wing once she had sent her message.
They had passed from the prosthetics lab to the genetics lab, currently, several dozen dragon eggs were laying in containment chambers, magically being warmed and energized. “Thanks to Dragon Lord Smolder’s experiment proposal I have in-depth knowledge of the biological code of dragons to begin work on crystal-based biology.”
“Speaking of which, is the experiment with the eggs coming along?”
“Removal of the desired amino acids has shown no harmful effects on the draconic embryos, modification of the amino acids dictating hormone production is already showing the growth of desired skeletal and muscular structures.”
“Will they be born with functional wings or will it still take a decade for the proper neurological pathways to form?”
“I cannot say for certain as these embryos have not yet developed their cranial biocomputers, however preliminary simulations suggest so.”
“The Dragon Lord has asked that once we have confirmed that the newborn dragons are capable of flight, we should provide them with a gene-modifying spell so all dragons can benefit from their modified genetic code. However unlike the Kirin, Dragons cannot learn magic the same way Unicorns can, so I propose instead we synthesize a gene-altering potion for them.”
“Understood, recording your orders and setting playback for once experiment number five-two-six has concluded.”
“While you are doing that can you inform Zillra Erba to prepare a sizable amount of precursor potion.”
“Affirmative, sending message to chief alchemy researcher.”
As they trotted on, Luster could almost hear the recalcitrant zebra screaming at being given another large workload… At least the precursor potion was easy enough to synthesize. They passed through another door, marked with a star symbol. Luster’s assistant huffed and walked down a tee in the catwalk, this area was off-limits to ponies of her rank. The purple and turquoise alicorn already knew where her superiors were headed, she would simply meet back up with them in the electrothaumics lab.
She passed into one of the observatories overlooking most of Equestria, the facility was built on the east side of Canterlot and she could almost see all the way to Manehattan with her augmented eyes. Her communications tablet shook beneath her wing and she pulled it from its holster to answer, “Yes?”
“Hey-”
“Oh, hey, forgive me but I am at work currently, I do not have the time to speak with you.”
“I figured, just so you know I’m currently on the south-bound levitation train from Rainbow Falls to Zephyr Heights, Li’l Cheese is working us to the bone, bitter old stallion…” She took on a falsetto gruff and raspy voice “Both my parents were party planners, I want to outdo them, I’m going to build a party city, I’m going to waste my Mother’s money tearing down an entire mountain, it would be a dishonor to my parents if I didn’t get this done in my lifetime… Nag, nag, nag…”
She stared out of the observatory windows, the structure was a glass hemisphere build extending out of the side of the Canterlot Royal Research Institution, filled with various magical, electronic, and analog research equipment for studying the movements of the stars and planets and calculating orbital trajectories. Using her crystal eyes the alicorn stared out into the distance and zoomed in on her friend, seeing the mare perfectly through the window of the levitation train, “I can see you, Haven” She replied. The mare in the train’s window turned and waved a hoof out across the intervening thousand kilometers.
“Anyway, Zephyr Height’s residential district is almost ready for pony habitation, Cheese wants the place to rival Las Pegasus, if that were possible… I need to go myself, train is almost at my stop.”
“Understood,” The alicorn clopped a hoof toward the screen and put her tablet back into sleep mode, stuffing it in the holster under her wing once again. Out in the distance, she could see the train moving to rest at the half-complete levitation station, the mountain once overlooking Hollow Shades having its entire peak sawn off to make room for the new city being built overlooking where once the ruins of a dark cult stood. It was a shame Twilight Sparkle ordered the Well of Shade demolished, such ruins were positively alive with ancient history, dark magic it may have been… Knowing the previous Princess, she was sure that somewhere the mare had stashed her own research into the ruins, but alas she was unlikely to ever get access to them.
It had been a century since Twilight was crowned, and three decades since Luster Dawn took her place. In that time, only three generations, Equestria had changed dramatically. She was not alive to witness the old world, but even in the life she had lived already, Manehattan had tripled in size, the old towns of Fetlock and Bucklyn having been absorbed into the growing city and becoming simply smaller parts of a larger whole, with new small towns having cropped up around it such as Maretime Bay.
She took the shortcut to the electrothaumics lab going through the reactor bay. The catwalk stretched over three large pools of water glowing a subtle blue as deep within were four pressurized heavy water reactors each, powering the turbines a floor beneath. Enough to supply power to all of Canterlot and Ponyville while synthesizing plenty of heavy isotopes for mixed oxide fuel and various nucleothaumic experiments, including those using the big “Sparkle” collider beneath Mount Canter, sometimes called the BSC, or “Bessie” as some of the engineers called it.
Inside the electrothaumic lab something caught the alicorn’s attention… A pile of various gemstones… Sapphires, diamonds, and blue topaz. Modern-day electrothaumic devices required a downright absurd precision and crystal purity, so it was no surprise that the crystals were being processed for some kind of magical circuitry, what was surprising were the power levels involved, even without her synthetic horn, the alicorn felt magic radiating throughout the room.
A hoof-sized white diamond was being cut on a thaumic lathe until its dimensions were within an atom’s length of what was desired, spells protecting the crystal from damage until a protective layer could be applied to shelter the gem from contamination or damage. “This sample is of the highest purity, place it into the cutter,” Harmony said, the scanning machine carefully dropping the sample of topaz and loading up one of the numerous sapphires next. Luster followed, placing the sample of blue topaz into a large arcane device that resembled vaguely a woodworking bandsaw, however, it used robotic limbs tipped with telekinetic emitters to position the crystal with unparalleled precision and a monomolecular force field plane to cut, the machine’s emitter gems glowing faintly red from the rubies used in its assembly as it worked to shape the chunk of topaz into a horseshoe shape with a series of protrusions on the side that vaguely resembled wings.
Once Harmony had identified a sapphire of desired purity, it was loaded into the thaumic cutter after the topaz was finished being shaped. Carved into a pointy diamondoid shape, the three gems, protected from the environment and any potential damage were carefully placed into a bath of solvent to remove any lingering impurities on the surface, and then finally taken to the etching machine.
The three were each placed into one of the numerous etching machines in the electrothaumics lab, far more advanced than even commercial models for magical semiconductor manufacturing, these variants used multi-tipped robotic limbs, the tips, tiny needles through which individual atoms of matter could be placed if necessary, enchanted with a cutting spell and a disruptor spell that would allow the microscopically thin blades of metal to simply slide between the molecules of the crystal without destroying their bonds, allowing the machine to inscribe circuits into the crystals rather than just on the surface.
Luster loaded the etching machines with vials of silvery liquid metal, no doubt quite hot, enchantments on the vials preventing them from burning the pony loading them into the machines. The etching machines activated, and minutes turned to hours as they rapidly moved back and forth across the crystal’s surface, seemingly doing nothing at all. In actuality, with each pass, hundreds of microscopic magical semiconducting conduits were inscribed into the crystals. Slowly tiny points began to shine inside the crystals like stars where the conduits were densest.
“What precisely is the purpose of this device?” The alicorn asked.
“Are you familiar with the operation of Harmony?” Luster replied.
“Yes…”
“Can you explain it so I know you properly understand how Harmony functions?”
The alicorn sighed, “Harmony is an artificial thaumic lifeform created unintentionally by the Pillars of Equestria. She sustains herself by passive absorption of a small portion of the magical energy present in nearby lifeforms, akin to the Changelings’ ability to consume magic. Before developing sapience Harmony acted according to self-preservation. Whenever some entity threatened Harmony directly or her source of food, the ponies of Equestria, she would identify creatures acting to stop this entity and reverse her draining spell upon them, charging them with a portion of her stored magical energy, this is what produced the Fire of Friendship in Equestria’s ancient history, and what has since been perceived as the Power of Friendship… Since attaining sapience Twilight Sparkle was able to analyze Harmony’s function and expand her area of influence, protecting roughly thirty percent of the planet.”
“You are correct.”
“So… This crystal, has something to do with Harmony?”
“It is a power transceiver and transformer. The sapphire is an omnidirectional arcane antenna capable of both transmitting power to any location and absorbing power from any location. The diamond is a transformer that can convert any form of energy into any other form of energy, allowing the absorption of light, heat, electricity, magnetism, radiation, kinetic energy, etc… Or allowing the emission of such energies. The topaz is a thaumic reservoir capacitor, that controls the precise flow of energy through the circuit and permits it to release quick high-energy bursts if necessary, although I imagine it will be mostly used to ensure that the flow of magic is stable and consistent.”
“I see, you intend to sync this with Harmony’s magical control systems to increase her flexibility in magical control?”
“As well as to increase her range, with this installed,” Luster said, watching as the etching was finished and the crystals given a layer of hard and inert aluminosilicate crystal to protect them from damage, “Harmony’s effective manipulation radius expands to roughly three light-minutes, effectively giving her control over all magical energy across the entire planet.”
“Impressive,” The alicorn mused as the crystals were slotted together into a functional magical transceiver.
“Now that it is complete I must synchronize the crystal with your primary systems, Harmony, call a levitation train to take me to your physical body,” Luster said.
“Already done, Princess.”
Author's Note
To sum up the various implications and explanations... The cybernetics lab explains why unicorn horns and pony hooves are made of some hard material that's not the same color as their flesh, as it was in G4. Harmony learned how to modify pony genes so they grew hard crystal hooves and hard crystal horns. The genetics lab explains why dragons are born with their wings now, and also how Harmony was able to modify all the ponies of Equestria with naturally grown cybernetics... I also mention that ponys' crystal horns, crystal hooves, and the crystals embedded in their wings, are all grown from samples from The Tree of Harmony. That goes on to explain why they lost their magic when Harmony's magical antenna was broken into its component pieces since their magic was now intrinsically linked to Harmony, an unforeseen side-effect of using the crystals grown from the Tree. Once Harmony's antenna was broken, she was forced to run on a limited amount of power, and driven by self-preservation, she just sucked away the magic of all creatures on Equestria to keep the sun and moon moving through the sky.
And of course with pony reliance on magic for all their industry and commerce, and in many cases, their lives, due to crystal cybernetics, the lack of magic explains why pony civilization collapsed and why the pony population seems so much scarcer, before G5, ponies had huge cities and giant nations, meanwhile, in G5 we've so far seen three small towns with a limited population, no doubt when magic was taken away many ponies died.
At least that's all just my headcanon.
