Playing With Purpose

by Pwnyta

Prologue: Gems and Technology

Prologue: Gems and Technology

Shortly after the wedding between Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guard, unicorns in Canterlot began to excavate the caves within the mountain once again thanks to the rediscovery by Queen Chrysalis. At first, the gems that were contained within the caves were simply sold to ponies as decoration or jewelry. But one day during a routine shift in the mine, a sick worker accidentally discharged a beam of magic during a sneeze. This beam of magic was absorbed by a small sapphire upon contact. This caused the sapphire to glow a brilliant blue, and the gem became to hot for direct hoof contact.

The sapphire was quickly cut out and brought to the attention of Princess Celestia, who ordered that the gem be studied for its potential magical properties. The mines were once again closed down while researchers performed all sorts of tests on the precious gemstone. It was soon discovered that these gemstones were able to release the energy of the magic that they had absorbed. Further testing showed that by using the proper materials, this magical energy could be converted into electricity.

Upon this discovery, the mines were quickly reopened and the gems were excavated for the purpose of testing to see which ones held a stronger magical charge with less effort. It was soon discovered that sapphires were able to hold the strongest magical charges for the longest period of time. Further research even showed that the gemstones could power entire sets of buildings for days at a time, and that when drained of their energy, the sapphire simply had to be recharged instead of discarded like most other gemstones.

Plants were built, employing ponies with strong magical abilities to charge up these gemstones. Meanwhile, public sale of sapphires were cut off. Any of these gemstones that were excavated went directly to the charging plants of Canterlot and her surrounding cities.

Inventions for the use of electricity were being made and implemented at an alarming rate. Buildings shot skyward as businesses quickly worked their way up in size, employing thousands of ponies from across Equestria, causing them to move in mass to cities like Canterlot, Manehattan, and Fillydelphia.

However, there was an issue with the current system. Despite hundreds of ponies being available for gem charging at the plants, the spell that had to be cast was extremely draining. Even ponies with the strongest magical ability would only be able to charge one gem at a time, and from then would need a full day's rest without magic use in order to be able to use the spell again. This concerned Princess Celestia, as she pondered the negative side effects of such great magical drain on her subjects.

The Princess herself began researching possible methods to casting such a powerful spell without such a need for magical drain. After a few months of critical research, a breakthrough was made. However, the princess was the only pony able to cast the spell in such a way. Small teams of unicorns trained to attempt the same feat, but none of them were able to replicate it. Unwilling to admit defeat, the Solar Monarch decided to create several different training methods to help unicorns discover such control of their own magical ability. Most of the training routines were met with some disdain, however.

After a few more attempts, the princess finally found a way to help unicorns train or discover the control of their magical ability. It was a rather unconventional method, but Princess Celestia was willing to take the gamble, hoping that someday, a unicorn would be able to unlock the secret to magical control...

Comments

[Rocky1234516]

Breath-taking! So, different in a good way