Nuclear
Let me tell you a story...
A story of creation, of science, of destruction.
Where the rules of reality are broken,
Where the supernatural doesn't exist,
But where the energy is condensed into a new idea,
An idea that was formed into a living being,
A living being that was discovered to become a pony,
A pony that was formed into a unicorn,
A unicorn that had more power than the sun princess,
A power that was...
Nuclear...
---
The Skyfell Laboratories were set in high alert, their sirens calling and their speakers bawling. The scientists crowded into the main foyer of the building, talking to each other as if there wasn't anything to worry about. It was a regular emergency drill that was issued once a month and was most of the ponies who worked here were already used to it.
As the alert was called down and everything began to calm, the scientist ponies began their walking to their assorted labratories they work in. In laboratory Alpha Three they have begun their first test of a device that creates object from pure magical aura energy.
There were seven scientists on this project and they've been working without sleep for countless days trying to perfect this technology. Shimmer was the leading scientist in the lab and her colleagues took position their respective control panels in the room.
"Set the device on fruits and have it create an apple for it's first run, that should be easy enough." she shouted the command past the noises of running machinery.
The scientist pony behind the switches that decided what they were creating had nodded, twisting the round switch that was located near the edge of the panel and setting it to fruits, flipping a lever back from a down position to an upward one as setting it to small and inputting the words from a keyboard using her magic and spelling out 'apple'.
Shimmer called out to the two scientists by the forming chamber, "Activate the power, hold for two minutes then..." she turned towards the three that held position at the panels near two large poles that have a massive electrical bolt intertwined between them and said, "Transfer the energy through the machines."
The scientists did as told by activating the power and holding it steady for two minutes. The energy from the two poles emitting a magical aura and condensing the large bolt from between them into a small electrical sphere.
After the two minutes one of the scientists moved over to a large button that was positioned on the wall and pressed it down. The button relayed a signal to the ball of electricity which magically moved it through the upper pole and through the machinery in the back. The machines roared loudly and screeched widly and then the ball appeared in the large former chamber.
The two scientists began inputting commands on their keyboards from the panels with their magic, causing the ball of pure electricity to stretch and morph slowly in the chamber. Piece by piece in small parts it slowly began to form into a red glistening apple and once it was finished it floated within the forming chamber waiting to be taken.
Shimmer turned over to the doorway behind herself and motioned with her hoof to bring in a test subject. A dark silver earth pony walked into the room, his eyes were a beautious gold and his cutie mark was briefly hidden behind his curled wings.
She glared at him and said, "Welcome test subject, you've been called here to eat this scientifically created apple." she pointed at the forming chamber, "Go ahead and take it, then take a bite and tell us how it tastes."
He nodded with closed eyes and returned his opened view to the apple, walking up to the forming chamber and reaching past it's gooey forcefield to take the apple in his forehoof. He didn't hesitate a bit as he took a swift bite, devouring half of the apple in one swing. The test subject smiled and swallowed it, nodding and then turning to Shimmer to say, "It's great."
Shimmer looked at his unsuspectingly and stated, "If you experience any effects like drowsiness or food poisoning, come and tell us immediately." she let him exit the lab with the apple and watched him eat the final half in one last bite.
Shimmer looked over to her colleagues, "Alright, you all can go for the day, tomorrow we'll run our project through one last stress test and then send it to the high ranking science ponies." and she raised a brow, "Remember... Do not let word of this come out... or severe punishments will be given."
The other scientist ponies shut off the machine and nodded, taking their things from the nearby lockers and leaving for the day. Shimmer took one final inspection of the lab to make sure every single connected machine has no cracks or severed parts.
After a few minutes of inspection she made her way towards the exit door of the lab, flipping a switch to turn off the lights as she exited the laboratory.
During the night there was an intruder and the figure of their body was an easy give away that it was a mare; her face was covered by her black mask and her body was hidden behind her black suit. Her eyes were visible color of a modern cyan. As she snuck her steps were complete silence as if the aura of heaven itself was keeping each step incredibly light. Neither a horn or wings could be seen through the black foggy aura cast over the silhouette.
She made her way to the controls and looked over them for a second, then she walked away from the panel and made her way to the delicate machinery without missing a step in complete darkness. Then she flipped open the two openable panels and saw a computer with a keyboard behind them. It was a console computer that needed specific commands inputted.
Covering a vicinity around her to make sure any guards that walked in wouldn't notice what she was typing in, she began to input commands with due speed.
A similar sized mare walked into the room with the same solid black suit and mask, her body was covered in a slight magical vision disruption field to hide specific parts of herself. Her eyes were as visible as the mare at the console which were an easily visible as a light magenta and she spoke in a regal tone, "Come on sis, we must go... now!"
The cyan-eyed mare looked over and let go of the smokey mist surrounding her, closing the panels back onto the machinery and running towards the light magenta-eyed mare that stood slightly taller than her. Both of them nodding in unison they ran out of the laboratory. Even though it was protected by high security, their silent steps and high magical auras kept them in the cover of true darkness.
It felt as if the day was delayed by a few moments but that didn't deter many ponies...
Many years passed with true smoothness and the continual tests have led the scientific creation machine to move forward in upgrades and fixes. The time had almost arrived and the same seven scientists have been waiting for this moment for the years they've worked on this project. Shimmer looked over at her aquaintances one-last time and ordered, "Let us begin the procedure..."
Already by this time, Skyfell had been separated from Equestria and became their own independent nation. The construction of four large towers that were set in the directions of north, south, east, and west had begun.
The other scientists got into position by their respective controls and machines. "Set it to form what we have been waiting for this long time..." Shimmer took a slow breath, "Set the device to create a living pony."
The switch was twisted to its limit by one of the scientists, the arrow on it pointing at the words 'PONY' and the lever was already set in the position of 'LARGE' for a large scale creation. They knew that it was going to use much of the energy in Skyfell but it was a risk they were willing to take up. The scientist that had flipped the first controls went to their keyboard and inputted the selection of words...
GEN "MARE"; SET "FOAL"; SUB "UNICORN"
Shimmer nodded after viewing the words that appeared on a screen in front of herself and then ordered, "Activate power to the machines and hold for ten minutes on full transfer."
The three ponies near the two energy transmutation electrical poles nodded in unison and began to input their respective codes into their panels and flipping levers and pressing buttons when needed. The machines in the background began to roar incredibly loudly which shook the ground that they stood on massively. The two energy poles began to hold their positions as three large electrical bolts transferred between the two.
Holding the power for ten minutes the bolts slowly began to compress into a large yet unstable ball of pure electricity. After the minutes passed one of the scientists quickly pressed the button as the room was going to overheat if the energy ball overstayed its welcome.
The ball of pure electricity was transferred by a relay through the upper pole and began to move through the loud machinery.
BZZT went off one of the machines silently.
The sphere of energy appeared in the chamber and it was strangely tinted a different color that was unnoticeable by the naked eye. The two scientists by the chamber began to enter their respective commands that relayed into the chamber. The ball began to stretch and morph into the shape of a pony and then piece by piece spots of fur began to form around it.
The first to be completed was the ponys face, its eyes closed and its unicorn horn appearing shortly from its forehead afterwards. Then it began to form the body underneath the spots of fur that were appearing and finally the mane and tail were last.
Colour began to settle in and visibly it was a mare as inputted, then it slowly began to morph with a combination of magic and science into a small foal from its large size as if it was recently born. They saw that her fur was a bright cyan and her mane was a slightly tinged darker cyan.
Shimmer walked in and picked her up after the machines were shut off; she then looked over to her buddies and said, "Let no pony know about what happened here today..." she glared at each of them, "We will name her 'Discovery' but none of us will reveal the crimes against nature we have pulled."
Then she turned away from them, holding Discovery as she said, "We already have caused a worse enough rift of space with our smaller tests, the fact that we've done this in secret is a crime punishable by death..."
The scientists all walked out together from the abandoned, vine-covered laboratory; Shimmer in her old-state carrying the seemingly newborn unicorn foal on her back...
Continually the years passed without haste, the building of the four large towers with their portruding platforms were completed along with the top platform. Everypony began to move from their homes on the ground to the top, the richer families gaining the separate platforms scattered around the towers.
The towers had many swirling bridges connecting from one to another so that nopony had to go back to the ground level unless a needed talk to the princess was established.
Like an old memory that had been forgotten, the old laboratory was buried under inches of snow and Discovery grew up slowly with Shimmer taking care of her throughout her lifespan. Their test was a success as the lifespan of this created figure felt the same as a regular unicorn.
Already know was that unicorns had a slightly longer span of life than pegasi or earth ponies and Shimmer was already nearing her final days on this world. With the help of some old friends, she and Discovery built the grand library of Skyfell from the ground up on their platform, slowly filling it with books that had been archived in the older library from the ground as well as including books from the abandoned laboratory.
Shimmer brushed her hoof against her ' daughter's ' mane, Discovery was always one to be immersed in her books and her talented ability in magic was astounding. Her cutie mark already had appeared when she first began using her magic. Shimmer told her, "It is time for me to bury the hatchet, Discovery..."
There was one thing that Shimmer knew and it was that her last glint of life could not be left seen on this plain of reality anymore, her body had to be removed or else the new skyfell scientists would access the secrets in her mind with their new technology.
She took in a slow breath and asked, "I ask for one final favor..." she never really asked favors from Discovery but this was important. "Kill me..." she sighed like she just let out a heavy weight. Discovery dropped her books immediately, her magic dissapating and her pupils shrunken in surprise.
"K-Kill you...?" she repeated in the phrase of a question.
"Yes..." she answered.
"I-I can't...!" she protested.
"You can..." she calmly responded.
Discovery clenched her teeth as her pseudo-mother just asked her to do a horrible thing. Her eyes shut tightly with her head bowed down as tears began to slowly flow down her brisk cheeks. "B-But..."
"No ifs, ands, or buts, Discovery; I thought I taught you this before... Just fulfill this for me and my soul will rest in happy peace." Shimmer wrapped her forelegs around her creation in a motherly embrace and continued, "I know of your potential and one thing I know is..."
"...you can't disobey a direct order..."
BZZT... silently went off a jolt in Discovery's mind.
"NO!" she shouted and stamped her forehoof in forceful protest, her invisible thoughts ever-twindling around herself like a protective barrier from her so-called mother.
Shimmer gasped weakly and knew that something was wrong, even though she never tried giving Discovery a direct order before this was still hard-wired into her programming before she was created...
Not unless...
Discovery grinded her teeth angrily as she began to hover three metres above the floor, her eyes glowing an intense yellow as she spoke slowly, "You are not my mother... are you...?"
Shimmer answered the question immediately and quickly, "I'm not."
Discovery asked hastily, "Then who... who am I?!"
Shimmer once again answered, "'Our creation'"
Discovery shouted, "Are you saying that..."
Shimmer quickly intercepted her sentence, "You're not real nor were you born."
Discovery roared, "NOT... REAL?!"
Shimmer closed her eyes and bowed her head, waiting for what was to soon come.
Discovery held tightly the sides of her own head and screamed in confusion and pain. She wasn't real? She wasn't born? She was just some complex creation?
Question after question began to flood her thoughts and she began to overload, a bright electrical aura forming around her and growing in size and brightness slowly as every question formed within herself.
What is real? What is fake? Was my life just a test? Was it all just one lie? Could this all be a joke?
She screamed louder and louder, twisting and rotating as her power grew to stronger proportions.
Am I really fake? Was I really created in a machine? Did Shimmer really care? Did anypony else know? Did anypony care?
One final, loud, innocent scream filled the room as her power reached its peak; the electrical aura blasting out with the force of an unstoppable hurricane that could tear any living being into nothingness.
Her nuclear power immediately destroyed Shimmer and left no trace of her body nor any stains of blood or organs. It was like she had just dissappeared from this reality.
A few minutes later Discovery opened her eyes, she was laying on the floor of the grand library where she lived with Shimmer and when she looked over to where her pseudo-mother was there was nothing but a scorch mark on the floor where Shimmer once stood.
It all felt like a nightmare... but why couldn't it have been one instead...
Discovery slowly picked herself up off the floor, nothing else was damaged except for the fact that there were books laying scattered everywhere along the floor and it seemed that the only thing missing was Shimmer.
"Where did she go..." she asked herself aloud and hoped that her fake mom would appear from behind one of the shelves.
It never happened.
Discovery weakly searched around, tears slowly running across her cheeks once more as she finally reached the conclusion that her 'mother' wasn't coming back anytime soon.
She fell onto the floor and curled up; she never had any friends to see nor any other family to find...
She was alone...
alone...
___________________
System Booted Up
Input Commands...
Username... done
Password... done
Command Line W~140-142
Set-x-will = lune
lune = 0
System Command Line Accessed
Set-x-will = luna
New line added...
luna = 100
Commands Re-established...
Newly set parameters saved...
System Shutdown...