Dreams of Forever

Tia, what happened?

It's nothing serious. No need to--

NO! We are the rulers of Equestria! Together! If you know something happened that--

Lulu, please--

Don't Lulu me! What happened?!

...Nothing good...

Somnia sighed. It had been four days since her stay at the hospital, but nothing could get her used to this. Sitting up in bed, she checked for any blood this time, but with only the wettened spot it seemed the healing magic had worked its... well, magic.

"Somnia?" Twilight sat up in her own bed across from her, eyes baggy. "Another nightmare?"

"Yeah..." She admitted. "Sheets will need to be washed again."

Twilight bit her lip. The filly wouldn't say it, and nopony else who did know would, but the bed wetting practically proved what happened. The first time she thought it might have been excess blood from internal injuries, but the second and third time...

The cast on her daughter's horn was obtrusive, but it was better than for it to get caught on her mane while it repaired. Her wings also still needed to regrow the lost feathers, and many of her bruises still were visible, but her teeth and cuts were all healed up with the best healing magic on offer, several doctors having traveled from Canterlot to Ponyville General Hospital to work their magic. It somewhat perturbed her when she watched them cheerfully enter Somnia's hospital room during those three days to only leave looking like they saw a ghost after finishing their work. Maybe it was Excalion staying by Somnia's side the entire time, she wouldn't doubt that the strange crow would spook them. Either that, or they were threatened into silence, as they refused to even talk to Twilight after the procedures.

With a fourth guard, the shifts were also now overlapping, meaning there would be two guards available to protect her at a moment's notice during one of the four-hour windows of single guard protection. They adjusted their protocols to inform the other guards immediately if something were to happen, and Somnia herself had been given a communication node so she could give warning if her attending guard was preoccupied. There would never be a repeat of the foalnapping, and they all vowed to never let Somnia go outside without supervision in one form or another.

"Do you want to go for a walk?" Twilight asked gently. "I'll come with you, if you want."

"Yeah, okay." The filly got out of bed, stretching out her legs. Two had fractures in the bones that were healed with magic, but they still needed stressing to heal properly. Getting out of her own bed, Twilight threw Somnia's sheets in the now permanent linen basket and replaced them with fresh ones she kept in what formerly was the 'restricted section' of the library. Spike also had been moved to the lower level since Somnia was having trouble sleeping and would often get up during the night to go onto the balcony.

The two left the library, Scutellum and Dawn joining them as they walked through the very early morning Ponyville. Nopony was out at this time, except for maybe the rare party-goer stumbling their way home. The filly was silent as they walked, her head turned mostly towards the ground in thought. Between the frequent daytime crying and longing looks over the edge of the tree balcony, Twilight's heart kept breaking for her daughter. Somnia absolutely refused to cry into her mother's shoulder, even refusing hugs when she was in one of her breakdowns or panic attacks. There was nothing Twilight could do except help where she can, but even then it didn't feel like enough.

"So... read any good books?" Twilight forcefully smiled down to her daughter.

"Yeah. Read about the history of Griffonia. Seems they have some religious reverence in a 'Boreas', or whatever." The filly tiredly answered. "They used to have a grand duchy that stretched the entire continent, but it seems that is forgotten too."

"Do you miss Excalicorn?" Twilight asked, feeling what the answer was going to be.

"Yeah..." Somnia admitted. "It isn't so bad once you see how far things could fall."

"Can you give me some examples?"

"See these lights?" She pointed to a building-mounted lamp. "What's in them?"

"Light-bulbs?" Twilight wasn't sure where this was headed.

"We used insulated energy currents on an isolated loop to produce photons directly rather than through excess photonic radiation done by heating metal." Twilight blinked in confusion as she pointed to a cart that had been left out. "You are still using manual pony-power to carry goods around, we had publicly available magi-tech carts capable of carrying nearly ten times that cart with no need to manually pull it." She pointed towards the train tracks, or the direction the station would be, anyway. "You barely have steam engines powered by mostly magic, we had rockets that went to the moon and back without any need for magic."

Twilight could only continue blinking as she processed what her daughter just said. That was... "That's amazing." She grinned excitedly. "Did you know anypony that had gone to the moon?"

"You!" She poked Twilight's chest angrily, forcing her mother to step back in shock. "You went to the moon to oversee the lunar colony! For nearly a year I waited for you to get back!"

She winced at the hurt look on Somnia's face, both of them starting to form tears in the corners of their eyes. "I-I'm sorry."

Twilight, you need to understand that there is more to technology than what you currently see. Your society has the basics of electronics and industrialization, but makes so little use of it that it is being functionally wasted. It is hardly present outside of the major population centers meaning a national collapse could send you back to pre-industrial times. Grar spoke up.

"But we don't need all of that. We're peaceful how we are."

"And you will lose it if nothing happens! Equestria is run by two sisters who would do anything secure their power and an aristocratic class that wants to keep the population in line! How do you expect to maintain the status-quo when a truly strong enemy comes over the ocean? Make use of your limited resources and artifacts?" She grabbed Twilight's face. "We had tools on par with the Elements of Harmony for crowd control. Our curriculum had mandatory magic training for all unicorns, changelings, and kirin, including defensive magic. Everypony knew how to defend themselves because the world is a dangerous place!"

"Equestria isn't--"

"I was foalnapped and tortured, and you are seriously going to tell me that Equestria isn't like that? Two ponies were with that merc gang. Two! The only reason there wasn't more was because your society is built around harmony compared to the griffon's. We had both. Harmony, and supremacy. We do what we have need to in order to survive, thrive, and be free!"

"For life everlasting against forever..." Twilight idly repeated the phrase from the speech in Hollow Shades, drawing the connection. "Where did that come from?"

It is a segment of the Grand Council's Oath. Three principals to guide an intelligent society towards Ascension. The full oath covers the duties and responsibilities of the Grand Council. Excalion and I had built the Harmonic Empire from the example set by the Cyclical Union, a multi-dimensional inter-universal alliance of the ascendant species. Or at least it was before the War of the Fallen.

"You can't live in ignorance forever." Somnia continued. "Threats will rise to crush you if you do not act first. Nopony is safe until there is nothing else to threaten society from collapsing."

"That's not our way." Twilight shook her head, pushing the filly a bit away from her. "Our society--"

Is dying. Look around you. What do you see? A society that is slowly sliding backwards because it refuses to move forward. You use resources wastefully because you believe that your magic will last forever, but it won't. Ponies are fearful of advancing too quickly, but they are failing to realize that is the only way to prevent societal decay. By refusing to move forward, you ensure that threats will rise to destroy you that are outside of your ability to compensate. For every successful unique space-faring species, there are a million that never make it past the industrial revolution, and another ten-thousand that die out just as they are reaching the space-faring cycle.

The princess furrowed her brow, thinking about what they were saying and not quite grasping the scale of her ignorance. She looked around the empty streets, the market just down the way. "What did ponies do when they had so much technology?"

"They lived! Some chose to work, not because it was needed, but because they wanted to! The Imperial Military was considered the highest calling for any pony, and the ponies who joined were celebrated as heroes! The minotaur rebellions showed exactly that! We lost just over one hundred soldiers during the war, while they lost over a hundred-thousand! And all of ours were because of militant activity after we crushed them to the point they needed to surrender to survive!"

"Ponies faced down minotaurs? Alone?" Twilight couldn't believe it. The scale of that conflict must have been gargantuan, if only because of the minotaur loses.

"Powered armor with highly trained soldiers taught to kill." She let it sink in. "We were the undisputed masters of Equus, and every creature knew it! You see this?" She pointed to Twilight's splint. "You'd have been healed that very day with little use of magic! That's what an advanced society is like! How home was!"

"Then how did you fall?" She had to ask. "If you had so much power, how could you fall?"

"The universe is a dangerous place, and we experienced it first-hoof! What wiped us out won't stop until Life and Reality are destroyed!" The filly took a deep breath, calming herself down. "Societies more advanced than Excalicorn are wiped out on-mass by such creatures. Nowadays, there's nothing that can be done to stop them when they arrive, only to contain them after the fact."

Unless the Grand Council is re-established. Even a single Grand Councilor with full capability can stop them from breaching reality entirely. That is why Somnia's survival is so important, and why I am willing to do anything to ensure it happens. Including sacrificing my own life.

"To the deepest pits of Tartarus and back." Dawn spoke up from behind them.

"For Life and Reality." Scutellum added.

Somnia finished by staring into her mother's eyes, a fire burning within Twilight had never seen in her before. "We will never surrender, because we can't! We fight, or we die!"

Scribbling on the design paper, Somnia bit the tip on her pencil. Another mistake that needs to be erased.

It doesn't need to be perfect. It isn't rocket science.

"Rocket science is easy, armor design is hard." She erased the small error in the plate alignment. "Do you know how we're going to get the helmets to work?"

I would like to avoid using magic, if possible. That leaves a physical helmet that has to be removed. Either hardened magnetic or vacuum seal.

"Hmm..." She put down her pencil, taking a look across the lab. The entire area beneath Golden Oaks Library had been repurposed for her use. After Shield had helped to bring back the remaining alchemy and enchanting supplies, Somnia had requested certain specialty materials, paid for by the royal treasury. The library was too small to make the nuclear reactor that Grar had suggested, so a magi-kinetic reactor would have to suffice.

Getting up from her chair, she went over to the cage containing their prisoner. They wouldn't know anything that the Queen's Guard or Somnia didn't already know about the foalnapping, but the filly had other plans for her.

"Ready to let me go?" The griffoness sat up on her cot that was generously provided by the local garrison.

"Not until you are ready." Somnia picked up the color palettes she grabbed from the market, holding them up. "Light blue and gold, or pinkish and silver?"

She laid back down disappointed, grumbling: "Doesn't matter to me. I'm not going to be wearing them."

"You know, you were actually pretty nice compared to the others." Somnia put the palettes back down on the small table next to the cage. "Why did you get into mercenary work?"

"Needed the bits." She shrugged. "Nothing much more to it than that."

"There's a lot of ways to get bits that don't involve foalnapping ponies." The filly walked to the bars, tracing them with her hoof.

"Bits are bits." She got up fully, walking over to the filly. "What do you want from me? What do you expect? You haven't asked me anything of relevance to the foalnapping or to my previous work since I was put in here."

"I want to know who you really are." Somnia turned away, looking over her shoulder. "Why you would associate with creatures that would beat and rape fillies."

"I never chose to be assigned with them! I took the job because it was enough to live on until I died of old age!" She growled back, straightening herself up defensively at the insinuation. "If I had a choice, I'd have turned it down if I had known what they were going to do to you!"

The filly hummed before walking back to her design table to continue with the armor design. Got the measurements, Grar?

Within a respectable margin.

The next two hours she worked tirelessly on getting the design correct. The helmets and wing guards would come later, but the armor from paws and claws to the neck was more-or-less complete. Rolling it up, she brought it over to the cage and pushed it through the bars. "Do you like it?"

Lovisa picked it up without getting out of bed, unrolling it and staring at the design. Somnia explained. "You see, I've been thinking about a few things. Four guards is good, but five is better. Properly equipped, they could handle most tasks I would ask of them. You didn't have to kill that other mercenary, but you did it because you thought it was the right thing to do. The rest of my guards are with me because they believe I will do the right things, and they want to be a part of that."

"Are you... inviting me to be a royal guard?!" She sat up wide eyed, still examining the design.

"It's a reliable way to make bits, and only carries some of the dangers of mercenary work. Legal protections, full pension upon retirement, serving a greater cause, etc etc." She waved her hoof dismissively. "You get the point. I'll let you think about it for a few days. If you don't want to, I'll turn you over to the royal guard in Canterlot to be indicted for foalnapping and conspiracy charges to bring harm to royalty, rape, foal abuse, and a few other things that you are guilty of based on your mercenary profile. Probably will serve the rest of your life in prison, maybe leaving when you are an old bird who's losing their feathers."

"That's not really much of a choice." Lovisa glared at the filly from behind the design. "I'm damned if I don't accept this."

"So were all the others." Somnia smiled to her, walking back to her design table to begin work on the helmets. Five unique designs were needed since each creature had differences on their head. Manes would also need to be accounted for and horns needed additional protections.

Before getting down to business, she yelled out one last thing: "You always have a choice, even if it isn't always equal. I'm giving you a chance to start over. Don't waste it."

"Somnia, what's this for?" Twilight examined the invoice request.

"It's materials I need to make the new guard armor! They need the very best if they're going to protect me." She stated proudly.

"It's over a hundred-thousand bits." Twilight deadpanned.

"Some them are very rare metals, or I have to have them imported from overseas. It's not my fault Equestria isn't industrialized." The filly smirked.

"And who are you planning to make this armor?"

"Me!" She confidently proclaimed. "Grar has been showing me how to use the equipment downstairs and I'm certain I can get it done within a few months if I can get the materials in the next two weeks."

"Uh huh. And it's just armor?"

"A few other bits of equipment too." She admitted, turning away shyly. "Concealed weapons mostly. It's not for me since you told me not to carry around weapons."

"I'll... consider it." She put the invoice down on the table, wondering if Somnia might have some insight into the problem she was dealing with. "How do you study for things?"

Twilight, she's a genius. You show her a book and she'll be able to memorize it word-for-word if she really wants to. I've been teaching her the past few days how to build a magi-kinetic reactor and the fundamentals of armor design, and she's almost ready to jump right into it without my input. Practical, theoretical, doesn't matter. Motivation matters most to her.

"What about for tests? Doesn't she need to memorize facts and statistics?"

"The population of Excalicorn around the time of the fall was 26,475,000 within a low margin of error, with the population divided between the 7,427,000 pegasi, 6,903,000 earthlites, 5,173,000 unicorns, 2,844,000 thestrals, 2,393,000 changelings, 1,385,000 zebras, 129,000 alicorns, 126,000 hippocampi, 93,000 kirin, and about 2,000 of other species." She stated with absolute certainty.

"Grar, no helping!" Twilight chastised.

That was all her. And she's correct about the census data from the city.

"Wait... The city? As in Excalicorn was a single city?!" Twilight eyes widened in disbelief.

"That's what industrialization allows." Somnia cuddled against her. "The inner city only had alicorns though, and the seaponies lived along the coastal section in their underwater habitats. Do you want to know more? I know a looooot about it."

"I-I'm good." Twilight patted her on the head. "Exactly how large was the city in area?"

"Hmm..." She tried thinking of a metric that would be appropriate. The maps of Equestria were horrendous when it came to scale of the distances. "From here to Canterlot and back at least?"

Twilight fell to her flanks, her mind finally folding. "Equestria's population is only 24 million and even more than that fit into such a small area?!"

"The continent of Excalicorn had a population of 628 million-ish?" The filly tried thinking back but couldn't remember the thousands. "The Harmonic Empire had over 2 billion intelligent creatures, half of which were ponies and most of the rest were griffons. Changelings consisted of a three-hundred million on their own, making them the most populous other than the griffons."

"Wow..." Twilight considered the ramifications of having that many ponies living in such close proximity, the only relevant example being Manehattan at just over three million. Equestria was pretty sparsely populated compared to Griffonia, which shouldn't be the case when you compare a comparatively smaller country to an entire continent. But Excalicorn...

And all those ponies were dead.

"When you don't want to build horizontally, you build up and down. Excalion's Tower was higher than Mount Canterhorn and larger than the city of Canterlot. Only a few ponies lived within, though." She added, just to drive the point home. "I told you. We were soooo much further along than Equestria."

"I need to write this down." Twilight trotted over to the drawers of spare supplies, taking out a few pieces of paper and pens. "Do you think the city is still standing?"

Physically, somewhat. Socially, it is long dead. All you'll find are bones and ruins if you wish to travel into the unknown to seek it out. Whatever it was, it is now a grim reminder of the sacrifice Excalion and I made for all life.

"Do you think any of the books survived?" She grinned over hopeful.

Entire hard-copy libraries most likely survived, but even they pale in comparison to the treasures within Excalion's Tower.

"Yeah, Excalion kinda told us what was left." Somnia admitted. "Nopony even lives on the continent anymore."

"If there is untold amounts of knowledge within, wouldn't it be worth it to seek it out?" Twilight trotted over to Somnia, who wasn't so sure about it, raising her head with a hoof. "Equestria would be launched into a golden age!"

Twilight, there are still void entities roaming the continent. Any hopes of crossing it would come at great peril, let alone getting there through the dangerous winterbound territory that is the Chillrend Mountains.

"You mean the Windi--" Somnia covered her mouth, the glare she was giving told her not to dare say the name of the creatures. "Right." She put Somnia's hooves back on the ground. "Yeah, I can see how it would be difficult to get there. I mean, I've never been outside of Equestria." She snorted, still a little disappointed about not being able to read those ancient yet advanced books.

"You can help me downstairs if you really want to learn about some of the stuff we had." Somnia suggested, slyly grinning back up at her mother. "I need supplies though."

Twilight smiled back to her, heart fluttering. "I'd like that a lot."

Trotting back up to the main floor, Somnia eyed the visitors with suspicion. Her mother was out of the house helping Rainbow Dash with some sort of test so she decided to stay behind in order to continue disassembling the machinery downstairs. Dusty had received advanced warning from Shield about who he was returning from Canterlot with, Scutellum, Dusty, and Shield all staying close to the library in case they tried something.

"It is so good to see you doing well in the wake of your traumatic experience." Celestia gently smiled down to the filly. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine." Somnia turned to Luna who was trying and barely succeeding at holding back her emotions.

"I know you must be quite busy with your projects and recovery, but there are some things that we need to deal with." Celestia's smile dropped a bit.

"And why can't you handle it alone?" Somnia returned, standing firmly.

"Your speech in Hollow Shades hasn't gone unnoticed. It is now indisputable that you were the cause of the outbursts. The increased thestral activity has also caused some concern near bordering towns, sending panic through the papers that you are planning some sort of rebellion using the plight of the thestrals as a cover." She popped up a few newspapers in front of the filly. "These were the original papers before we had them recalled."

'QUEEN SOMNIA?: THESTRALS on the move'

'POLITICAL INSTABILITY: The SHADOW WAR among the PRINCESSES'

'MAGIC BURSTS linked to PRINCESS SOMNIA'

"As you can see, the news picked up on it quickly. The train to Hollow Shades has been swarming with reporters seeking comment from the residents, which they are all too happy to give." She placed the papers down on the table, looking at the filly sadly. "I don't want the ponies of Equestria to think something bad is going to happen, nor do I want them to choose sides. I would like to call a press conference to address these concerns, but you need to be there."

Somnia tapped at the floor, thinking about it. "Yeah, you're right." She admitted. "When do you want to do it?"

"Before the Equestria Games. I was thinking while the Foal and Filly Fair was going on here in Ponyville, so that you do not miss out on the Rainbow Falls Traders Exchange or the Equestria Games. Everypony needs to know that we are united in purpose: For their peace and protection."

"Fine. I want to be home before the end though."

"Deal." Celestia gently smiled. "Please try not to cause anymore crises in the meantime. Ponies can only handle so much breaking news."

"They're stronger than you give them credit for." Somnia rolled her eyes. "Was there anything else you wanted?"

Celestia paused, briefly turning to her sister. "No, that was all." She nodded. "See you in a few days."

The filly stood firmly as she watched the sisters leave, Luna casting one last saddened glance back to Somnia before exiting completely. She didn't know if her cousin just felt bad about what happened, or if she was regretting being responsible for it. It was difficult to tell. Either way, they both were on Somnia's suspect list along with the entire Noble's Council and Blueblood.

Returning to downstairs, she sat at her worktable, putting her goggles and mask back on. The electronics were crude, barely fit for number-crunching. From the design of the machine, it was meant to measure brainwaves and magical fluctuations for a target wearing the makeshift helmet. While on its own it served its purpose, it was also very simplistic.

The metals from the electronic scraps would be useful in the production of more precise boards for the computation device she had planned. She needed something capable of automation in order to produce even more precise processors, but that would need to be programmed. Her objective for the next month was to produce a forge capable of melting the metals she would be using for the armor plates. To actually use it she'd have to take it outside, but simply having it was a massive step forward.

"Who was that?" Lovisa asked from her cage.

"Two ponies that think they know what is best for Equestria." Somnia took off her protective wear and trotted over. "Hungry?"

"A little." The filly trotted to the side table and unwrapped an energy bar, passing it through the bars for Lovisa to grab. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Somnia went back to her worktable, took one look at it, and then trotted over to her design table.

"I thought I was going to be tortured and interrogated for information when I woke up in the hospital." Lovisa bit the bar, taking half of it in the single bite.

"If I can get the information without somepony getting hurt, then I'll do that." Somnia sighed. "I don't want to see anypony hurt, but sometimes that is necessary or justifiable. You know none of the other mercenaries lived, right?"

Lovisa shook her head. "Find that reddish bitch too?"

"Well, no." She tilted her head to the side. "I'm not going to seek revenge on them. They left before the worst of it, even if they didn't stand against the others."

"Heh, better than she would have done for you." Lovisa threw the rest of the bar into her mouth, chewing it.

"I'm not her. I'm me." The filly stated. "I'm not going to compromise who I am by doing disharmonious things without excellent reason."

"I hope you find whoever ordered that job. I'm sure they'll appreciate your mercy." Lovisa chuckled, sitting down on her cot.

Somnia gritted her teeth. "They'll receive their punishment, eventually. But until then, it helps nopony to dwell on it."

"You're stronger than I gave you credit for." The griffoness leaned against the bars to her cage, stretched out on her bed. "I would probably still be huddled up on my bed if what happened to you happened to me."

"I can't afford to let myself go. I need to keep going, no matter what happens or how much it hurts." Somnia wiped her eyes, her hoof shaking as she began her breathing exercises.

"I can respect that."

"Somnia! You've got visitors!"

"Be up in a minute!" Somnia yelled back, finishing the curves on the horn armor design. She made good progress on the helmets, even going back to the main armor designs and redoing the back. It would be more work, but it would serve her better if the guards had a tactical HUD through their helmets and temperature-regulated armor. Requires a highly complicated and compact version of the magi-kinetic reactor, but was doable without industrial-scale equipment if she made the proper adjustments to other parts.

She grabbed her invoice sheet and trotted up the stairs to where the crusaders were waiting patiently, practicing a bit with their projects for 'Twilight Time'. Turning to face Somnia, their faces were etched with concern at the sight of her still wounded form.

"Good to see you again!" Somnia smiled to them, passing the paper to her mother. "This is also needed. Made some changes to the designs."

"This is... more manageable? What's this for?" She looked over the sheet.

"Electronics mostly. I want to give my guards the best fighting chance!" She squee'd, trotting over to the crusaders. "How are all of you doing? I heard you've had a busy week."

"Yeah, seems you did too." Scootaloo poked at the cast atop Somnia's head, getting a wince out of her. "Something wrong with your horn?"

"It was a bit damaged." Somnia pushed away Scootaloo's hoof. "Needs time to heal."

"Looks like you got into a fight ya couldn't win." Apple Bloom commented.

"Are you feeling alright? I-I mean, are you feeling better?" Sweetie asked concerned.

"Better, yes." Somnia nodded. "They weren't exactly gentle, if you couldn't tell. A few cracked bones, bruises, chips from my horn, primaries pulled..."

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle shuddered while Apple Bloom asked. "Ya sure yer alright?"

"Yup!" She put a hoof around Apple Bloom's withers, poking her chest with the other. "Need somepony to talk to?"

"Wha...?"Apple Bloom looked into her bruised eyes as Somnia shifted them to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.

"Get up to anything interesting lately?" She smiled happily, switching the topic.

"Oh, yeah!" Scootaloo resumed her happy attitude. "We saw Sapphire Shores and Apple Bloom defeated a chimera!"

"Huh? No ah didn't." Apple Bloom denied. "Applejack did! I just got the pies past it."

"Yeah, but you managed to get through the entire fire swamp by yourself!"

"Trust me, it's not all that impressive." Apple Bloom smiled to Somnia who let go of her to join their little banter circle. "Prob'ly not even half of what you did to get those black-eyes."

"Don't count yourself out. You're braver than a lot of other ponies I've met." Somnia looked between the crusaders, expression going serious. "All of you are. You just need some experience to show your full potential."

"So how did you get those black-eyes?" Scootaloo asked curiously.

Somnia swallowed. "I signaled my guards to my location. The mercenaries didn't like that very much. It wasn't a heroic act, I was just saving myself."

"Oh..." Sweetie muttered, a bit saddened. "I'm sorry you had to go through that."

"Nothing permanent. I'll be able to fly and use my magic, whenever I can actually use them." She giggled. "It is nice to see you all again though. I missed being around friendly faces."

"We're glad to see you're doing fine after what happened." Sweetie smiled back. "We were on our way back home and decided to stop in to see how you were. Sorry we didn't come by sooner."

"It's no problem, really. I've had a lot to occupy me the past few days. Oh, right!" Somnia trotted over to a shelf where she placed a bag earlier, grabbing it in her mouth and placing it gently onto the floor between them. "These are for you! Pour the packet into the flask, stir, and drink! It's better than coffee at waking you up! Helps when pulling all-nighters!"

"Hey! I thought you said you couldn't make it without it going bad?" Twilight squinted at her daughter from across the room.

"I found a way to package it without losing its qualities over time! Sure, leave it a year and the base will go bad, but as long as the packet is dry then it can be reused as long as you make more base." Somnia slyly grinned. "It's also not as strong. Had to cut back on certain ingredients since they caused it to catalyze." She turned back to the crusaders. "It'll last for three days after you make it, so feel free to take it for a particularly stressful time at school."

"Wow, thanks, Somnia!" Apple Bloom looked into the bag. "Can you teach me how to make this?"

"Sure! But it requires some ingredients from the Everfree Forest to make, and I only had enough for three packets."

"I'll ask Applejack if I can go in there. Don't worry, ah'm sure I'll be able to come with you."

"Do you know how to build mechanical stuff?" Scootaloo asked hopeful.

"Need something fixed?" She raised a brow, smiling at the orange pegasus. "I could make you a pair of retractable gliders for you wings with the right materials, and teach you how to maintain them. Good for gliding, not so much flying."

"I-I can glide?!" Scootaloo hugged her while her wings fluttered. "Please please, pretty please?"

"No worries." Somnia winked to her mother. "Anything I can help you with, Sweetie?"

"Well... Your horn doesn't work, so I don't think you can help me with my magic." She regretfully said.

"I got enchanting stuff downstairs. I could show you thaumaturgy."

"That..." Sweetie squealed in delight. "Yes! Please?"

"Looks like Twilight Time is going to become Somnia Time." Twilight giggled. "I'll schedule it the next time she's available. The next week is going to be very busy with the Rainbow Falls Traders Exchange, Foal and Filly Fair, and the Equestria Games."

"Thanks again, Somnia!" Scootaloo waved back to her as Apple Bloom grabbed the bag Somnia gave them. Once they were gone, Twilight motioned for Somnia to follow her into the basement.

They sat down in front of the cage with their prisoner, offering her some iced tea via a straw, although she politely declined while she rested her eyes. "You were going to tell me what you were doing?"

"Oh!" Somnia trotted over to her design table and grabbed a roll to bring back over. "This is what I have for the computer. It should be sufficient for rudimentary code construction which we can use to make the next generation for even more advanced protocols."

Twilight examined the schematics. Computing was generally outside of her field of expertise, she was used to circuit boards, but this was a completely different beast. "It doesn't use magic?"

"Nope! Completely physical!" Somnia scooted closer and drew her mother's eyes to a particular section. "This is the connector I've been designing for the helmets. The actual design is over there somewhere," she waved towards her design table and the two dozen large sheets of paper rolled up next to it, "but the basic principle is that it accepts photonic currents then converts it into electricity. In the event of power failure, the last bit of energy is buffered to initiate any backup procedures the system may have."

"We don't have much electricity here." Twilight turned to her wearily. "How do you expect to get the needed energy for all of the things you're making?"

"The magi-kinetic reactor will be fine for the smelter and a few of the other things. I'll need something bigger if I want to make anything more advanced."

"How advanced?" Twilight was curious as to just how far Somnia was willing to go.

"I want to setup a production line for the smaller components." Somnia retrieved another roll. "It's just a rough sketch, but I think that automated production of electronics will give us even greater processing power. Next step would be automating the magical inputs to skip some of the technology requirements for atomic scale manufacturing."

"You were taught all of this from Grar?!" She stared at her daughter in shock.

"Pretty much." Somnia giggled. "He knows a lot more advanced stuff than I do. Eventually, I would like to get an infrastructure budget passed to unify the Equestrian electricity sector, powered by a few strategically located fusion reactors. Nopony will go without artificial light or refrigeration."

"That's..." Crazy? Incredible? "Ambitious? Don't you think it would be a good idea to start small?"

"Why? Equestria has all the technology except for the fusion reactors. This is just making sure everypony is connected. An infrastructure unification for the nation." Her eyes shimmered in wonder. "We can usher in a technological singularity for all of Equestria."

Twilight looked back over the designs, eyes still wide. "And this is safe? There isn't any negative side effects?"

"It's designed to be safe from the get-go. This isn't trial and error, these are deliberate steps taken to make sure it all works as intended." She pointed to a particular part on the schematic. "This is for line flexibility. We'll be able to reuse the arms on the machine to perform different tasks by swapping the 'hooves', and their omni-directional design provides maximized flexibility. We can even program them to switch 'hooves' mid-task if the line is too short to specialize them."

"He wasn't kidding." Twilight stared at her daughter's eyes, both with the same crazy wonder her friends commented about herself whenever she gets engrossed in a good book.

Why would I? I give her knowledge, she converts it into something usable. The only thing she could do with more is the experience to know what materials to use and how to get them. I assure you, she'll be able to think of things the Cyclical Union has that even I don't understand. Like the necessary designs to produce a point-to-point communications array that doesn't rely on magic.

"Oooo!" Somnia retrieved yet another scroll, unrolling in front of her mother. "This is a long-range communications device that doesn't make use of magic. Perfect for connecting the settlements around Equestria without actually sending somepony to deliver the message! We used them all the time in Excalicorn."

"It's... a telephone?"

"That's just it: It's wireless! Can be used anywhere there is a connection, which is provided by tall towers that can be setup around the country. And when we get into space..." She leaned in to whisper. "Anywhere on the surface of Equus."

Twilight shook her head, taking a few deep breaths. All of this was so much. If she didn't know any better, she'd think it was... "What about magic?"

"We could use magic to enhance the functions." Somnia considered it a moment. "We'd have to setup two different systems for some of these, and it would significantly complicate the electricity throughput, but I think I can put it together."

"Well, I'm lost. I don't even know where to start on any of this." Twilight admitted with a nervous chuckle, feeling a bit embarrassed her daughter was schooling her.

"I'll teach you as we build it!" Somnia hugged her. "It'll be nice to spend time with you on something we both like doing."

"I look forward to it." Twilight returned the embrace, smiling to herself. If Somnia's knowledge were to be published for all of Equestria, it would send the country into a golden age of progress and advancement, even without the texts from Excalicorn. There would still be those who would misuse such technology, a concern that bothered her more than seeing Equestria rapidly change from its influence.

Her mind returned to the 'minotaur rebellion' Somnia had mentioned. Just how far ahead was Excalicorn compared to the minotaurs? Did the minotaurs even stand a chance? Could they even start to understand the technology from their level of development?

Or was it too alien, even for them?