Old Wounds

Experimental and Developmental Institute, Stratusburg
1 week post Nightfall Incident
9:30AM
Prince Dusk Light

You figure that a pony that has basically just been introduced to society and it’s many quirks and curiosities might take time to try to comprehend the world around her now that she wasn’t worried about getting a knife in her back or something.

Apparently, those same sane ponies hadn’t met my daughter or her new partner in crime Archer. The morning after the incident with De Witt the two had barged into the suite we were using in the castle with a proposal for an institute with royal ascent with the goal of magical and technological development. Celestia and Twilight were there having breakfast with us, and it was Twilight who pointed out to Dawn that she was a member of the royal family. Just on that technicality she could come up with the most cockamamie schemes she wanted and run with them.

Dawn immediately proceeded to scribble out the ascent order under Twilight’s supervision, who sent it off to the scribes for it to be put on proper documentation and not a napkin that Dawn had swiped when she thought nopony was looking. The fact that she had ripped that napkin out from under my hand was apparently lost on her.

Aside from that whole royal ascent thing, the new dynamic duo had clearly pulled an all-nighter to put together one of the most professionally written organizational schemes for their new ‘Experimental and Developmental Institute’ that anypony in the room had seen. There was even a list of staff that they wished to offer positions with the new group. Mostly engineers of varying backgrounds, but a few mages as well. So Twilight offered to do up the letters to the potentials, as she thought that Dawn and Archer would have to identify a site for the institute.

But Archer came prepared. ‘We’ll just use the old support facility up in Stratusburg. We used it for E-201, so there’s more than enough room.’ She had said, pointing out that all of the major mechanical components were assembled at the old industrial site under her direct supervision.

Dart and I immediately left with the duo for the Stratusburg site, while I also had a note sent to the reporter from the day before that he would be more than welcome to come up to the new site. I figured that I’d be doing a lot of sitting on my hands up there, so at least we could do that interview that I had offered up.

At the same time, it got us out of the castle, away from royal staff members that were clearly not too thrilled with my stop during the walk to the main hall, and made sure that Dart and I would have ample time to continue connecting with Dawn.

During that timeframe, the pair were personally seeing to the outfitting of the machine shops and testing labs that would be likely to see heavy use for whatever these two were scheming up. I got something of a gist to their plans when two days ago the entirety of Polaris Team, accompanied by Constellation (who admittedly now needed a place to live after blowing her house up) arrived and set up shop in the large industrial building that was rapidly looking less like a warehouse and more like a proper developmental laboratory. Whatever their first project was, it centered around Sky and getting her back into the air. As we came onto the day before zero hour, when everything would get started, the staff arrived. All engineers bar one unicorn, the last unicorn I think anypony expected to show up.

Starswirl the Bearded.

He hadn’t even been on the list of mages to offer positions with the new institute. In fact all of them had turned down the offers. Not, apparently, because they thought the premise of making a self-regenerating energy crystal was too difficult. But because they were busy enough as it was. As it turned out Starswirl was with one of those mages in Vanhoover when the letter showed up. When he realized that the recipient wasn’t going to show up, he got on the first train and sped north as fast as he could. None of us had a clue why though. It was a rather common conception that Starswirl was done doing crazy magical things and was more apt to leave the discoveries to the current generation. He was far more content being a source of wisdom and advice when you could get past that nominally prickly demeanor. But as the thirty some-odd ponies filed into the new briefing theater just before 9:30 this morning, I saw something unexpected out of the old mage.

Excitement.

Dart had said she thought that the mage was in a good mood when he showed up the day before. But now everypony in the room could see it too.

But when the clock hit 9:30, Dawn and Archer hit the stage and the whole room fell silent. “Alright, thanks for coming everypony.” Archer said. “Now I’m going to assume that all of you have read up on our proposed first project, so no need to rehash the sales pitch. While the potential of a self-regenerating energy crystal is massive, we need a test case to prove the concept and outline our limits with the idea.” Archer hit a button on the podium, and the screen behind her lit up with a personnel file. Sky’s to be precise. “So here’s our pincushion. Get to know her, because her and the rest of her unit are on site for the duration of this first project if not longer. Now, the files on your chairs have the details, but I’ll give you the blow by blow. Sky had her wing physically severed during the incident in Canterlot last week. While it has been reattached, the prognosis is not good.” Archer hit the button again and the screen turned to the medical report that Constellation had filed. “Suffice to say, in the highly likely chance that reality pays Sky a visit, we are here to tell it to fuck off because we make our own damn rules around here. That comes down to the list of rules that I’ve got in your packets, but that’s not the important thing right now. While the primary aim of this project is the crystal, the crystal will be used to help power a thrust pack to allow our test subject to fly again. This has the additional benefit of helping us find the output limits of the crystal that we’re going to make here.” Archer looked around the room and hit the podium again, killing the screen behind her. “Now, to explain how we are going to get reality to go fuck itself, I yield the floor to this institute’s director. Fillies and Gentlecolts, Princess Dawn.”

In the moment that Archer stepped back and Dawn took to the podium, I flipped to the second page of the packet that had been sitting on the chair when I walked in. ‘Important Rules for E&D Institute Staff’ were printed in large black, bold letters at the top of the page. It had a handful of points, written in that crass style that Archer carried. While entirely unprofessional, they drove the points home.

1. Leave your old rules in the trash. We’re here to break rules.
2. If you refer back to your old rules, I will smack you upside the head.
3. If you fall back on preconceived notions, please refer to point 2
4. If you thought that what we’re going to do here is impossible, you wouldn’t have bothered to show up.
5. Impossible is not a thing around here. I told him to fuck off when we started renovating.
6. As long as you don’t do something to get somepony killed, you’re good to devise a project or test a theory.
7. If you think somepony will get maimed, mutilated, killed, or turned into a zombie, consult Dawn and I first. Refer to the smack of the head in point 2 if you go ahead with the dangerous idea without first telling us that somepony can get maimed, mutilated, killed, etc. Point is you can do something crazy if we know you’ll be doing something crazy.
8. This is not a prison. If you must leave for some reason and will be gone for an extended length of time, please tell us. If you don’t tell us… Well, you know the drill. Slaps and heads and all that.

“I’m going to assume that you all know who I am, so I’ll just skip the introduction.” Dawn said, drawing my attention back to the front of the room. I noticed that she was wearing the same garb that Rarity had made her, less the gloves.

All that succeeded in reminding me is that she likely only had one pair of decent clothing at this point. “Hey, what’s Dawn’s clothing size?” I whispered to Dart.

“Let me guess, wardrobe?” My wife observed.

“Yeah… We might want to get on that.”

“You finished back there?” Dawn called out. When I stayed quiet, she nodded. “Alright, now as you all know we’re going to make an energy crystal. The more astute among you might notice that this sounds a bit like what the Crystal Heart does. That’s because we’re repurposing the equations used in it’s creation and function.”

Murmurs went around the room before one of the engineers at the head of the room held her hand up. “But I thought that the Crystal Heart was a fluke of nature?”

“No, it wasn’t. But to save time, I’ll just refer you to the historical inaccuracies list in the packet that I’ve come across applying what I was taught by the pony that was responsible for my care and education.” Dawn replied.

“If I may allay any concerns-” Starswirl said as he rose from his chair. “I had studied the Crystal Heart long before the time of Sombra, and the math I came back with was very similar to what the Princess here has presented. The proposed plan for this crystal is entirely feasible with the proper efforts.”

With that ringing endorsement any lingering doubts must’ve been extinguished, because the same engineer stood up from her seat immediately. “When do we get started?”

“Right now.” Archer motioned for the door. “Let’s go get everypony situated.”

While the crowd of engineers filed out of the theater, Starswirl must’ve had a similar goal to Dart an I, as the three of us made our way to Dawn at the head of the room. “I’m not going to lie. I thought they’d need more convincing.” Dart said as Dawn took a seat on the edge of the stage.

“Yeah, I was thinking we might have been fifty-fifty when we walked in. Although I think Starswirl certainly helped significantly.” Dawn said, nodding at the mage. “You just made my day, and this is the most we’ve talked since you got here.”

As the last of the ponies left the room, Starswirl’s horn flared and the door behind the crowd shut. “Well, Faust clearly taught you well enough to know the variables in my spell matrixes.”

Confusion was clearly evident on all but Starswirl’s face. “Wait, your spell matrixes?” I asked, thinking back to the revelations Dawn had delivered on the Crystal Heart right after she and Archer came to us with their plan.

But the mage nodded and smiled. “I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was touched that Faust decided to try and save those notes. After Celestia and Luna were born she took a turn for the far less sentimental and far more cold and calculating.”

Dart beat us to the punch. “You’re older than you lead on, aren’t you?”

“Far older.” The mage admitted rather openly. “But that’s a holdover from my wife’s sentimental days.”

Wife. He said wife. “Oh great.” I groaned. “You’re Faust’s husband.”

“Indeed.” Starswirl said, still looking quite please. “Now then, let us take the time to talk more about our family history, shall we?”