Caves, Twilight hated caves. They were dark and damp, uncomfortable, and, worst of all, she never had the luck to find some big scientific breakthrough within one. That would change soon though, if all went according to her plan. Who know what wonders she could uncover with what she had planned. Removing all the evil from a pony, it’d solve so many problems. There would no longer be any fighting, she and her friends could rest easy knowing that they would no longer need to risk their lives for the citizens of Equestria.
‘Maybe I can do even better.’ Twilight thought to herself as she walked down a sloping path in the cave. She could see the water of the mirror pool shimmering below her. ‘Maybe the evil in ponies is just the first step. I might be on the threshold of finding a cure to some previously incurable disease.’ she sped up her trotting speed, her wings anxiously twitching at her sides and a cart full of supplies and equipment was pulled by her magic as she had the fantasy of being behind the biggest scientific breakthrough of the century. An excited squeal escaped her muzzle as she finally came to a full stop in front of the mystical water.
She stared down into the crystal water, her reflection staring back at her. The air suddenly felt colder and an eerie feeling found its way into the pit of her stomach. The reflection in the pool was staring back at her like any reflection usually would, but there was something else, something dark and mysterious that she didn’t like at all.
“Must be this cave, it’s dark and damp, it’d creep anypony out.” she said out loud to herself, hoping it would help to steel her nerves a bit. After all, she had science to do.
Twilight turned away from the pool and began to rummage through the cart she had brought with her. Using her magic, she pulled boxes of various sizes that were all labeled according to what they contained. Twilight was known for being aggressively organized, so this was no surprise.
At the very bottom of the cart was a box that was much larger than the others. She pulled it out with her magic, all the while keeping the other boxes floating in the air. She did, with such ease, something that would take any other unicorn years of intense training and amazing focus. Without so much as a second thought, Twilight was able to use her magic to open each and every box and gently take out their contents. In the largest box was a foldable table that she set up and began placing all her other tools and instruments on top of.
Beakers and test tubes of various sizes were set in position, next to graduated cylinders and a burette, the only box still left unopened was one labeled “Specimen”. She now held a single object up with her magic, and gingerly placed it onto the center of the table. It was a small machine, with a few knobs and switches as well as some indentations at the top where she could insert test tubes for centrifugation.
Twilight surveyed her equipment, making sure she had everything she needed, before she grabbed her largest beaker in her magic and finally turned her attention back to the magical water that rest behind her. She slowly dipped the beaker into the pool and filled it to an inch below the brim. She couldn’t risk filling it too much and having some fall onto her, resulting in another Twilight running around and ruining things for her. Once that was done, she brought the beaker back to her makeshift workstation and placed it down, labeling it as “C.W.00” with tape and a marker.
Once she finished labeling the water, she retrieved a pencil and notepad that she brought along with her in order to record her tests and observations. She took a moment to fully gather her thoughts. One would imagine Twilights subconscious was as organized as her library had once been. Once she felt she was fully prepared, Twilight launched into scientist mode and began to scribble various notes and hypothesis.
Test #: 001
Components: C.W.00, Subject S.F.001.
Hypothesis: When subject S.F.001 comes into contact with C.W.00, it is predicted that subject S.F.001 will most likely be cloned and/or copied much like the Pinkie incident.
The notepad and pencil were placed onto the table, away from her designated testing area, and she turned her attention towards the previously unopened box labeled “Specimen”. Not wasting any more time, Twilight lift the cover from the box to reveal an assortment of small potted flowers, separated into sections consisting of specific types. She levitated a sunflower that had the label “S.F.001” on its pots base.
“Now, let’s begin the test!” Twilight said excitedly. There was no way she could hide her joy at the moment. It had been much too long since she could conduct experiments like this in her free time.
The flower got her full and undivided attention at this moment. She placed it down on the table, double checking the pot for any cracks or holes that would allow liquid to escape. That was the last thing she needed right now.
‘Now for the moment of truth.’ Twilight thought as she levitated the beaker of magic water to the sunflower and gingerly poured some onto both the soil, in order to ensure the roots came into contact with the liquid, as well as the petals and stem of the flower. The beaker was placed back into position and Twilight got her pencil and pad at the ready, patiently watching the flower.
There was no reaction for a few moments, and Twilight began to feel the pang of disappointment form within her mind. Then, almost out of nowhere, a bud began to form from the stem of the sunflower. Twilight's eyes widened as she witnessed the bud grow in size and another stem grow forward and carry the bud outwards, where it bloomed into a full grown sunflower.
Twilight couldn’t write fast enough.
Results: Sunflower was not cloned as expected but, rather, began to bud and grow at a rate exponential to usual.
Foreseeable possibilities: Faster growth of crops which would, in turn, end food shortages worldwide.
Twilight put the notepad back and looked back at the siamese sunflower she had just created. She almost couldn’t believe her eyes, and let a proud, although goofy, smile grace her face as she thought of the breakthrough she had just made with a single test. Various thoughts raced across her mind.
‘What else was possible with this magic liquid?’ she thought. ‘How has nopony else discovered this? Not even Princess Celestia and Luna themselves seem to know about this, or else they would have put it to use long ago.’
Twilight shook her head to free her mind from these thoughts, she had other things to do right now. She looked into her specimen box and decided to try the same test with a tulip. If the results were the same, she would move on to the next phase of testing.
Back in the Crystal Castle, five ponies and a baby dragon sat together talking about a certain princess that was nowhere to be found.
“I honestly don’t know where she is. All she told me was she was doing something important, and she needed me to stay here, then she left with a cart full of boxes.” Spike said, shrugging his shoulders.
Rarity spoke up. “It is very unlike Twilight to sneak off without alerting us to what she is doing.”
Rainbow Dash stepped up next. “Maybe she’s planning some kinda epic prank!”
“I find that unlikely. It’s Twi we’re talking about here, not a foal. She’s probably off studyin’ or somethin’” Applejack said sarcastically, receiving a scowl from her rainbow friend.
“Umm, maybe she’s just tired?” came the almost completely silent voice of Fluttershy.
“What d’ya mean?” Applejack asked, Rarity and Rainbow nodding along, showing they would also like to know.
“W-well Twilight’s a princess now, and that comes with a lot of responsibility.” Fluttershy began, trying her best to not bury her face behind her mane. “She has to look over the ponies here, and help with things like the traders exchange. Plus she had to deal with all that stuff with getting the powers of Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Princess Cadence, then fight Tirek alone. Let’s not forget she lost her home too. Maybe she just went to rest and relax a little with nopony to bother her.” Fluttershy gasped as she tried to catch her breath, she wasn’t used to talking so much.
All the other friends blankly stared at her for a moment before Applejack spoke up.
“Y’know, we never really spoke about all that stuff with her before.” she said, taking her hat off and holding it against her chest with her hoof. “We really do take Twi for granted, don’t we?”
All the other girls shamefully bowed their heads as they realized this was true, and Spike nervously rubbed his arm.
“We have done some things to help her, but I will be the first to admit that she has done so much more, and we owe her more than just gratitude.” Rarity said.
“She helped me study for my test, and never gave up on me, even when I did.” Rainbow Dash said, her voice held a strange solemn tone you wouldn’t expect from her. “The most I’ve done for her is some flying lessons. We’ve all saved Equestria a few times, but it was always Twilight coming up with the plan. She even fought a demon for us. She was winning too! But then, when he threatened us, she wouldn’t risk it and gave him her magic. She’s...she’s…” Rainbow scanned her specific vocabulary in her mind, trying to find a word suitable to describe her friend. “so awesome.”
Rarity, Pinkie, Applejack, Fluttershy and Spike all nodded their heads. Twilight really had done so much more than anypony else they had seen before. Even the other princesses, with all their power and experience, seemed to have done less than Twilight had done in the short amount of time since she had moved to Ponyville.
“Maybe we should give her some room, let her relax a bit.” Applejack said, looking around at her friends to see what they thought about that.
“I agree. It’s shameful to us that Twilight would have to leave the castle to get some alone time. Yes, we are her friends and have a place here, but this is her home, not ours. She should be able to be at peace here.” Rarity added.
“Agreed.” Rainbow said. “Let’s go girls, no need to look for her. She’ll find us when she’s ready.”
The five ponies all made their way to the exit, none of them noticing the deep nervous breath Pinkie released.
‘I promised Twilight I wouldn’t tell them anything. It was a Pinkie Promise!’ she thought to herself as she walked behind her friends. ‘This is gonna be tough.’