Derpy Hooves awoke with a grin. Today was the day. the day she had been anticipating for most of the year. She rose from her bed and made her way to the kitchen. She didn’t really want to have breakfast this morning, as it was a barrier in between her and school, but her mum had always told her breakfast was the best meal of day. Besides, Derpy couldn’t imagine a day not starting with one of her mum’s world famous muffins.
Like every day, the clanging of pots and pans and the savory smell of fresh muffins permeated the house. Now, Derpy would never brag about it, but her mother was Drury Mane, the most famous unicorn baker in all of Equestria. At the young age of 6 she invented the muffin which was now one of the most common foods in the world. And that lead to the invention of the cupcake, the tastiest dessert in the world.
When the anxious filly entered the kitchen, she found she had arrived just in time. Her mum was removing a fresh baked tin of muffins from the oven, and much to derpy’s delight, she saw that they were her favorite kind. Just from looking at her you would be unable to guess her important role in culinary history. She was an older mare, but she solidly built, especially for a unicorn. Her coat was eggshell white and her mane was vividly yellow, Even more so than Derpy’s. A stylize muffin tin adorned her flank. Her mum placed the tin on the counter and greeted Derpy with an affectionate nuzzle.
“You’re up early today” she said with a grin “you must be more exited then you let on”
“Yup” Derpy replied, beaming “The techno-magi reactor is the coolest place in Equestria”
Drury levitated three muffins into Derpy’s already book filled saddlebag. “Ok then, you silly filly, I won’t keep you waiting.” A sad look flashed on her face for a spilt second “Say hi to daddy when you get there, ok?”
“Ok mum” Derpy replied she wriggled into her now bulky saddle bag “bye mummy” she nuzzled her mum neck and ran out the door, faster than should have been possible with such a heavy bag. Ah the techno-magi reactor. The very name sent a feeling of wonder through Derpy’s mind. She had been interested in the place since she had first heard about it and had been studying it ever since. She knew all of its history.
8 years ago, near the end of the Pony-Dragon war, the energy aura of the planet, the energy field that let all of ponykind use magic, had become drained from the use of powerful attack magic. Civilization began to collapse without magic. Pegasi Couldn’t fly, Unicorns lost their spellcasting, and the earth ponies lost their connection to the land and food became hard to grow. In the darkest hour, a canyon filled with strange crystals was found on the outskirts of Equestria. These crystals were filled with magical energy, and just being around returned magic to ponies. News of the discovery brought hope that the end of the world could be averted. The dragons soon heard of the unearthing, and fearing Equestria would weaponize the crystals, attacked the canyon in an attempt to gain control of it. A long and vicious battle ensued but the ponies stood strong. The battle had been costly to the dragon people, and they were forced to agree to ceasefire thus returning peace to the land. A facility was built over the canyon to study the crystals within. They quickly discovered that they could extract the energy within them and pump it into the atmosphere, thus repairing the damage caused by the war. The facility stood to this day, maintaining the magic of the planet.
Lost in thought, Derpy almost didn’t notice when her best friend, Diamond Mint, came up behind her. Diamond was a light blue unicorn. Her mane was a pale purple with a streak of white.
“Hi Derpy!” Mint called. Seeing Derpy’s overloaded bags she giggled “Wow you are such an egghead. You know it’s a fieldtrip. That means we're not being told to read today!”
“It’s a long trip and who know what I’ll feel like read on the back. Derpy replied matter-of-factly “Oh my mum just got me a new book that you might like, Mint. It’s called Darin-”
“Whatever. Hey I smell something tasty” Mint said in a singsong voice. She opened Derpy’s bag and removed two muffins and quickly began to munch them.
“B-but those are mine, Mint” Derpy protested. Her mum had made them special for her.
“I missed breakfast, and you can have your mum’s muffins anytime. Besides, I left you one.” Mint said trough a full mouth.
“Umm oh… ok I guess” Replied the grey filly with a shaky smile. Mint was her friend and sharing was a big part of Friendship. Still, that was supposed to be her lunch too… At that moment they arrived at school, interrupting her train of thought.
Waiting outside the school was the class’s teacher, Miss Merry Mend. Like Derpy she was a pegasus with a small red cross as a cutie mark. Her coat and mane were both completely white. Derpy had read that it was caused by a condition call Albinism, but Mint sometimes made fun of her by calling her “Skeleton Teacher” behind her back. Derpy thought that she was a nice teacher and it was cruel to mock her, and also that it wasn’t a very clever nickname. When Derpy did tell Mint to stop it, she had just said it was all in good fun and that Derpy was just being a party pooper, so Derpy was forced to let it rest.
When Merry Mend saw them approach she called out to them. “Good morning Derpy. Good morning Diamond Mint.” She said cheerfully “I know you were the top fundraiser for this trip, Derpy. You must be pretty exicted.”
“Oh Yes Ma’am” Said Derpy, Grinning ear to ear “Are we leaving soon?”
“Well you two are the first ones here, so you’ll have to wait for the rest of the class. But I promise we’ll go as soon as we can” Merry Mend answered with a smile and gently tussled the filly's mane.
The wait seemed to last forever to Derpy, but soon the class was boarding the train she had dreamed of and they were off. As long as the wait to board had seemed, the trip it's self, well lasting a several hours, seemed to pass in an instant. this was mostly due to the books Derpy had brought, Justifying bring them, much to Diamond Mint's chagrin. Then out of the corner of her eye Derpy saw it.
The techno-magi reactor it's self was down right boring. Just a large stone cube rimed with windows, no more than three stories tall. What cause wonder to grow in Derpy's heart were the towers. The're were 6 huge hyperboloide towers. They must have been almost 100 meters in diameter and their height seemed unfathomable. Every few minutes a huge bubble, crackling with magical lightning, would emerge from the top for a tower. it would float a few hundred feet into the air and the pop with a pleasant crackle. Derpy had dream about this place since she could remember. It was her fondest wish that she would one day work here as it was one of the only scientific institutes that you didn't have to be a unicorn to work at. She had started to study the science that powered the place as soon as she had learned to read.
The train soon reached it's destination and stopped at a platform directly in front of the main entrance. A wide cobblestone path lead directly to the building, only being interrupted by a statue at about the half way point. Derpy's class disembarked about as fast as you'd think group of young ponies would. Derpy come feel anticipation building inside her. Miss Merry Mend quickly organized the class into a single file line with Derpy at the front and the made there way to the main doors.
When the reached the statue at the middle, Derpy stopped "could I stop a minute here ma'me?" She asked.
Merry looked at the statue and the back at the filly "Of course, Derpy. Join us inside when you are ready." She continued to lead the rest of the class into the building. A few classmates whispered among themselves, confused. Derpy waited for her class to disappear into the building, then she took a step towards the statue.
The statue was made of pure white marble. It was about a meter and a half tall, and depicted a colt in armour, rearing majestically on his hind legs. The base the colt stood on sported a carved inscription;
-For those that fell in our place-
Derpy began to speak in a solemn and thoughtful voice
"Hi daddy. You don't know me but I'm your daughter. We never met, but Mum told me all about you. She said you would have loved me and that I am a lot like you. She told me that you died a hero here. I... I know you're watching over me and mummy."
She turned her head, wiping the tears that had started to form in her eyes and removed the last muffin from her saddle bag with her mouth. She place her front hooves on the base of the statue, and gingerly placed the muffin in front of the marble colt. She sat in silence, just looking up at the statue. then she turned away from it.
"Bye daddy" she whispered and walked to the building.
Inside her class were facing a young unicorn mare. "ah now we can begin" she said cheerfully "Welcome To the Techno-magi Reactor. I will be your tour guide for the day. now please step this way and hold all questions untill the end of the tour. thank you." She lead them to a pair of door, swiped a small key card that hung around her neck, and opened the doors.
She lead the class through room after room and hallway after hallway. All the while, she told the history of the building, how some of it's systems worked, and even some fun facts. The class some lost interest, but Derpy hung on the guild every word. Most of it she all ready knew, but it was still very interesting.
Suddenly there was a loud explosion and the ground began to shake violently. The tour guide's expression quickly turned to panic "Get you class back to the train. I'll go see what was going on" she yelled to Miss Mend over the din.
Merry quickly began to corral the terrified young ponies, she turned just in time to see the grey filly slip through a closing door, in close pursuit of the guide. "NO DERPY! COME BACK!" she yelled but the door was already closed and had automatically locked.
Derpy was sure that she could help figure out what was wrong with the reactor. She had a hard time keeping up with the guide as she had broken into a dead gallop, but she would not fail with her daddy watching. The guide entered a large set of doors marketed -Emergency Control Room-. as Derpy followed, she ran right into the guide who had stopped dead in her tracks. The reason soon became evident to Derpy. The large room, while it was filled with monitors and large machines, was completely devoid of life.
"where are they? they're supposed to be here" the guide said with panic creeping into her voice. when she saw Derpy she exclaimed "what in Celetsia's name are you doing here? I sent your class to safety. this place could explode!"
"I can fix it" Drepy replied with a determined look "I know how all this works. I can do it"
"No! you are just a small filly. you have to get out of here" the guide countered. She approached a monitor and magic surrounded the keyboard, press a few keys. A look of shock appeared on her face as she read the information the machine told her. "Nononononono" she muttered under her breath.
"what is it?" Derpy said concerned
"the scientist... a bubble popped early and the escaping magic teleported every pony in range... somewhere. Us and your class are the only ponies left in the building!"
Derpy gasped "I'm the only one who can fix it. Let me." She pushed past the guide and stood on the very tips of her hooves. She outstretched her wings and began to type. The guide didn't have mush of a choice but to allow her to work. From the outside the filly appeared to be possessed, staring at the screen with a look of sheer determination on her face.
Derpy had figured out what the problem was. The explosion had broken a cable drawing magical energy from the crystals below the reactor and was now feeding energy back into them and the constant shaking was only making it worse. If she did stop it, they would explode, taking a sizable chuck of Equestria with them. She looked for a way to stop it.
"AH HA" She yelled triumphantly
She turned, garbed the key card from the Guide mares neck, and ran out of the room. She found the elevator she was looking for and used the key card to take it down to were the crystals were. She knew that there would be a big lever that would shut the magic extractors down, thus stopping the explosion. The doors opened and she stepped out in to a huge cavern. It was dimly lit by the glowing of the crystals and she could see wires were strung all over the place.
she located the main shut of lever it was about twice the size of Derpy's whole body and she began to worry she might not be able to pull it. True enough, it was too heavy for her. But she was not giving up. She was going to be a hero like her daddy! She formulated a plan. she grab a bit of long, loose wire in her mouth and tied it around the lever. she threw the other end over a nearby monolith of rock. using the extra leverage she was able to pull.
The shaking stopped and the glow of crystals dimmed slightly.
She had done it. She was a hero. The thought brought tears of joy to her eyes. A ding came from the elevator and turned to face it. As she turned something on her flank caught he eye.
There was a small image of bubbles on above her back leg
She gasped. It was her cutie mark! She really was meant to work here!
The joy so overflowed her that she did not her the newly arrived guide yell a panicked warning at her.
Nor did she hear the rock monolith behind her, which had been weakened from all the tremor, finally break of it's base from pressure she had just placed upon it.
She turned as it's shadow descended upon her.
She felt pain for a split second and then her world turned black.
