The Core

Chapters

Prologue
A visit from the Young Six
Unobtainium
Light of Hope
Launch
Detour and Diamonds
Restarting the core

Prologue

Twelve years ago, Twilight Sparkle had been crowned the new ruler of Equestria. Everything had been going smoothly with a casualty every once in a while. Neighsay had retired from the EEA and passed the torch to Starlight Glimmer. He had decided to go into science and figure out how to safely explore under the ground in extreme conditions. Now there were many problems happening all over the place. At a recent Wonderbolts performance, the sky suddenly turned dark and a severe lightning storm came. All of the Wonderbolts got hit mildly before they could land safely. They were still in the hospital recovering from their injuries. Twilight didn't know what was going on, and she was very nervous about Rainbow Dash. She hoped that her friend would be okay, but with the storms getting worse and more frequent, she began to worry. She was aware that the Young Six had become geophysicists and were studying what the planet was comprised of.

A visit from the Young Six

Twilight had taken notes of all of the calamities that had occurred, and where they were seen. They were all over the globe, and she did not know what could cause such massive natural disasters. She was working on an announcement to send out to tell everyone to remain calm as long as possible when a knock on the door interrupted her.

"Come", she replied.

"Your majesty, the Young Six are here and would like to see you.", a guard replied.

Twilight led the six to a conference room and gave them the floor.

"Thanks for letting us meet with you on such a short notice. We know that you used to be interested in science and learned that there was a magnetic field wrapped around the world.", said Sandbar.

"Now that field seems to be weakening and on the brink of collapse.", Yona said in a shaky voice.

"WHAT? HOW?", Twilight yelped in a panic.

"Think of this peach as the planet. The skin is the crust, which is what we live on.", Gallus explained as Ocellus picked up a peach from a basket of fruit and cut it in half.

"The peach's juicy meat, that simulates the mantle, which is thick and gooey like hot tar.", added Silverstream.

"The peach pit in the center is like the core. That part is complicated, because there is an inner and outer core. The inner core is a solid ball of iron. That is surrounded by the outer core, which is molten metal.", said Ocellus.

"How does this figure in to what is going on?", Twilight asked.

The Young Six explained that the magnetic field was created by the outer core spinning in one direction at many miles per hour, which made it the engine that drove the field.

"That is where the problem is, because this "engine" so to speak has stalled. The core of Equus has somehow stopped spinning. This is bad because the magnetic field protects us from solar wind. Solar wind is a lethal combination of radioactive particles and microwaves. When the field collapses completely, the radiation will literally cook Equus.", Ocellus indicated as Yona picked up another peach.

"This peach represents Equus without the magnetic field. This spray can represents the sun.", Smolder explained.

She lit a match and aimed the spray through it. The spray ignited and then fire surrounded the peach. Yona said that what was demonstrated was what would most likely happen to Equus after a full year passed. Twilight asked if there was any way to stop the problem, but everyone said they didn't know.

"Even if we came up with a way to fix the core, we can't get there.", Ocellus reported sadly.

"Yes, that is true. However, what if you could? Ever since leaving the EEA, Neighsay has been researching how to design a device that can withstand pressure and heat underground. Maybe you ought to pay him a visit.", Twilight suggested.

Unobtainium

Twilight and the Young Six boarded a train to the San Palomino Desert and then walked to a large laboratory building. Neighsay greeted them outside and asked what brought them to his remote area.

"We are here to ask about your project. Are you aware of the calamities that have been occurring recently?", Twilight responded.

Neighsay said that he had noticed the disasters and led everyone to a tall mountain. He had everyone put on ear protectors and dark goggles. He then powered up a giant laser array and fired it at the side of the mountain. A short time later when the dust settled, everyone took off their protection to see that the spinning lasers had drilled a hole cleanly through the mountain.

"Very impressive method to cut through the crust.", Yona said excitedly.

"Follow me inside and I will show you what I have chosen to use for the skin.", Neighsay responded.

He showed them a metal box that he had placed on a concrete block. Placing two breezies inside, he put a top on the box and powered up a smaller laser array. The lasers cut through the concrete and the steel plate behind it, but nothing happened to the metal box. When the box was opened, the two breezies flew out. Everyone was stunned at what had just happened.

"What do you call this material?", Smolder asked Neighsay.

"Its real name is extremely long. I call it Unobtainium."

He led them to the largest area of his lab and told how the unobtainium would convert heat and pressure into energy. Gallus asked how long it would take before the ship was ready, and Neighsay said it would be close to ten years.

"What would it take to get the ship ready in three months?", Twilight asked.

"Fifty billion bits.", Neighsay laughed.

"Will you take a check?", Twilight asked him calmly.

Neighsay could not believe his ears.

Light of Hope

Three months later...

Much training went on as the Young Six prepared for this dangerous mission. They broadcast the project to everyone as the ship was being built. They planned to drill down to the core and then detonate giant bombs to force the core back into motion. The ship was made up of seven compartments that were fastened to each other in a line like cars on a train. Each compartment had two impellers that would spin in opposite directions at 1000 RPM. Neighsay explained that the ship was designed to eject compartments that were damaged, but there was a safety switch that could be disengaged if they had to split the ship apart at will. At one point while the ship was being prepped for transport to a launch facility, Gallus spotted a massive lightning storm nearby. He radioed his friends and they rushed out to take a look. As they were taking notes on how severe the damage could be from the storm, Neighsay called to them and showed where some of the solar wind had gotten through the atmosphere. Las Pegasus was experiencing terrible tragedies as buildings were destroyed by the heat and fires were breaking out without warning. Upon receiving word of the damages, Twilight said it was time to get the ship in the ground. Neighsay led the team to a train that took them to a harbor where a boat waited to take everyone to an offshore platform. The ship was held upright with clamps on a tall tower with the nose pointed down at the water.

"I give you your ship, the Light of Hope. Twilight and I will be heading up the mission control in Canterlot.", Neighsay said to the Young Six with a bow.

He got back on the boat and was taken to Canterlot to meet up with Twilight. The Young Six put on the suits that they had made to handle the extreme heat and pressure under the crust, and then climbed the ladder to board the ship.

Launch

Once everyone was securely fastened in their seats, they began powering up the ship's systems. The last check they had to make was their radio signal.

"Mission Control, this is Light of Hope, signal check.", Sandbar said.

"This is Mission Control, I have green lights across the board. You're clear to initiate power-up.", Twilight responded.

Yona flipped a switch and the impellers began spinning. Twilight said they would count down to launch on their mark. In a few moments, the system percentage read 100%.

"Mark.", said Ocellus.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, LAUNCH!", Neighsay counted down.

The clamps holding the ship were disengaged from top to bottom and the ship began to fall towards the water.

*SPLASH*

The ship broke the surface of the ocean and dove into the darkness. After leveling up the ship, Sandbar and his team swung their seats around so that they faced forward. They navigated past sinking rocks and eventually reached a deep drop. They angled the nose down and jumped to full throttle. Gallus began to charge the lasers and fired them ten seconds before they reached the ocean floor. The ship entered the crust and drilled deeper than anyone had ever gone. They made the transition into the mantle after 15 minutes.

Detour and Diamonds

As the young six ventured deeper into the mantle, they picked up a strange readout on their display screen. They didn't understand what static was supposed to signify, because it never appeared during the training. They radioed Mission Control to get advice, but Neighsay could only recommend trying to go around. Sandbar realized that static meant there was nothing solid. In other words, they were headed towards a huge pocket of empty space.

"We can't go around it. This is too large, and we turn too slowly. We have to drill through it.", Sandbar said in a shaky voice.

Neighsay warned them to be careful because he had not designed the ship to fly. When they pierced through the outside wall of the air pocket, they instantly felt gravity pull them forward in their seats as the ship fell downward. They saw growths in the space that looked like crystals, and then they hit a ledge and started sliding. Moments later, they were stopped when the ship was jolted to a halt. Something had jammed her drill and kept them from moving.

"Whatever's got us jammed up is inside our laser array. I am shutting them off. We're not going anywhere until the debris is cleared.", Smolder said as she turned off the lasers.

After putting on helmets to complete their suits, Ocellus, Yona, and Gallus exited the ship and shone spotlights. There was a huge crystal in front of the ship, which was what had jammed them, and there were thousands of crystals all over the place where they had ended up. While Yona started kicking the crystal to break it, Gallus picked up samples of the crystals, and Ocellus made a report on the stunning truth.

"We are inside a massive geode. However I don't understand how it survived down here with all of the heat and pressure. Gallus has taken samples for research. Yona has broken down the crystal that jammed the laser. I am coming back in."

She got inside just in time, because lava started flowing in from where they had drilled into the geode structure while Yona was freeing the ship. The lava had reached the foot of the ledge they were on when Silverstream closed the hatch. As they drilled deeper after leaving the collapsing geode, they found themselves surrounded by giant black crystals on their screen. Yona studied the screen for a minute, and came to realize that these were massive diamonds. Smolder said Silverstream were getting the timers ready for the explosives that they were using to restart the core. They had finished latching the case shut when they heard something strike the outside of the ship. In the cockpit, an alarm went off to signify a hull breach.

"BREACH!! Rear compartment, get out now.", Yona cried.

Smolder said Silverstream got both themselves and the timers out and into the next compartment before the bulkhead doors had closed. The compartment was jettisoned to avoid damaging the ship. The Young Six soon reached the core at long last. They were compelled to do quick calculations because they sped up in the outer core without warning. It turned out that the outer core was less dense than they thought. Their original plan to detonate all of the explosives in one spot would not work. They started working on an alternate solution to restart the core.

Restarting the core

Smolder remembered learning about ripples in science class, and formulated a simulation that showed what would happen if they split up the explosives in separate compartments. If detonated in the right spots at the right times, the resulting ripple would push against each other and restart the core. She talked to her crew mates and they all agreed. Neighsay explained that the master switch to allow compartments to be jettisoned without damage was behind a small hatch in the tunnel used to enter the ship. Smolder volunteered to disable the switch, and put her helmet on. The tunnel was blazing hot, so Gallus opened a valve that was hooked to an emergency coolant tank. The temperature was reduced, and Smolder was able to shut off the switch without too much trouble. She still had heat exhaustion, so she had to drink water. As Silverstream and Ocellus got the explosives ready, Sandbar released each compartment when they were clear. When the last one was released, they waited for the ripples to start. When the final ripple started spreading, the team got ready to leave the core. They used the ripple as a jumpstart to get going. They only used the impellers and kept the lasers turned off.

In Canterlot, everyone at Mission Control watched as the core regained its rotation and the world cheered. Twilight assembled a rescue crew to pick up the Young Six after they were back above ground. Neighsay watched as the radar dot from the Light of Hope moved closer to the crust and then emerged in the North Luna Ocean. He tracked where they were and reported their location to Twilight. She sent the crew out and they hoisted the ship out of the water on cables. The world was jubilant for the Young Six being brave enough to go that far under the ground. Twilight awarded them with medals of honor with crossed phoenix feathers, which was the highest award for anyone. The Young Six also had a stained glass window of them in the hall of Equestria's heroes. The world had been saved from destruction.

The End