Bunsen Burner looked at the three ponies before him. Though his duties generally kept him informed on current events, these three were a part of the group of ponies who were consistently responsible for those 'current events'. They along with the Elements of Laughter, Generosity, and Loyalty had restored Princess Luna to her natural state and thwarted Discord’s near successful rule of chaos. Those had been two interesting events that had been a part of recent Equestrian history which Bunsen Burner had had to clean up. It was a duty Bunsen Burner’s Royal Science Division had not been initially created for; the protection of Equestria and all its citizens, but adaptability had been one of Bunsen’s personality traits from birth.
Bunsen Burner was obligated and willing to follow Princess Celestia’s command to allow these three to help him in his research; he still retained his professional respect of his old mentor. He was willing to allow it if only because he was curious as to how they would react in the human’s presence. Twilight Sparkle had shown a belief in the human’s innocence; perhaps her reintroduction to the subject would catalyze the subject to reveal more information than what had been gained already. All the same, Bunsen Burner was no fool; they would try to help the subject if they truly believed he was innocent. Now it was time to be objective, and time to study his ‘graduate students’.
“So, you three have come to help me in my studies?”
Applejack nodded. “Yessir Mr. Burner. We wanna make sure we cain help our fellow ponies tah be safe.”
“Good, patriots are always appreciated here. And you must be Fluttershy? A pleasure to meet you. I was told by Twilight Sparkle here that you had the misfortune of being chased by our prized subject.”
“Yes.”
“Thank you for your support in spite of your experience.”
Here he came at last to look at Twilight. “Twilight Sparkle. It wasn’t too long ago that I was in the role of student as you are. Perhaps someday soon you can serve Equestria in a role protecting your fellow ponies.”
“To be honest Mr. Burner, we all sort of already do that.”
“True, but perhaps you might someday want to be paid for your hard work?” He gave a low chuckle. None of the three ponies before him laughed. They might be intimidated by him. He saw no need to dispel that.
“Now, I can see you are all eager to begin, so why don't we head down to the subject’s holding chamber?”
“Um, do we really have call him a ‘subject’?” Fluttershy asked quietly.
“I understand that it is in your nature to be caring to any creature Fluttershy, but we must also be objective: this creature is dangerous, and we must be of a scientific mindset in order to study it more effectively; without sentimentality.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s fine; not many ponies have a nature for the fields of science, and I appreciate your help greatly.” Bunsen Burner rose and walked to the door out of his office; the girls filed out behind him. As he led them out of the office, he led them past several cells. The cells were designed with observation in mind; the walls looking into the cells were made of one-way Plexiglas, and an intercom fed any sounds made by the occupants to the observers.
“With the subject’s believed abilities of telepathy, we made use of a technology we recently procured that utilizes sonic energy for therapy on those ponies who have had great exposure to its psychomagnetic projections.”
Applejack’s eyes glazed over “Um, beg pardon?”
“They’re using noise to stop the subject’s telepathy,” Twilight quickly explained.
“Very good, Twilight Sparkle. Now, here are our first two patients.” Within the first two cell’s beds lay Lyra and Bon Bon.