//------------------------------// // 9. Experiment Two // Story: Divine Indifference // by Orthoros //------------------------------// Atlas paused and looked at what he had created over the past month. With the help of Discord and Starswirl, a new cave partition had been created, this one bigger than even the main cave. It’s purpose was to provide enough secure space for large scale experiments as well as the more explosive kind. The first experiment had been completely set up, and Atlas was currently in the process of running through the final checks together with Starswirl, who inspected the runes inscribed at the opposite side of the cave. The cave was perfectly cylindrical and had a diameter of thirty feet, with every possible free space on the floor currently covered in runes. The rune array that decorated the floor was by far the most complex Atlas had ever designed. While he had only dabbled in computer programming back on Earth, writing a rune array conveyed almost the same feeling. Instead of making one huge array, he had created several smaller arrays that connected and reacted with each other to produce the desired results. Together with Starswirl, he had come up with a new type of array that synced with the bigger ones, allowing them to work with each other. Once again, Atlas focused his mind onto the task at hoof. Various papers were floating around him, detailing exact rune placements. He had really tried to memorize the whole thing, but it ultimately proved to be impossible. It was their third and final check, and Atlas was beginning to tire out from the tedious and mentally taxing activity. One of the great unknowns of this experiment was what would happen if even one rune was placed incorrectly. They had no idea if the whole thing would blow, or if the ridiculous amount of runes could actually make up for one or two mistakes. Not wanting to take any chances, they decided to triple check the whole thing after placing it. The first two run throughs had returned no mistakes, and the third one looked to be flawless as well. Yet, Atlas didn’t want to grow complacent so he put just as much effort into his work as with the first check. It wouldn’t be long now before they could finally move on to powering up the array, provided no mistakes popped up. As such, Atlas slogged on with his task, carefully checking each and every rune for its correct placement. At some point he passed by Starswirl, but they barely acknowledged each other's presence as they were too absorbed in their work. Finally, after over an hour of quality controlling the array, both Atlas and Starswirl came to the conclusion that it was as flawless as they could possibly expect to get it. If anything would go wrong now, they knew that it was the blueprints that were wrong instead of the craftsmanship. “Everything looks right to me, just like the last two pass-throughs,” Atlas said as they gathered at the chamber door leading out of their experiments section of the cavern. “Same for me,” Starswirl replied contently. “I’m just glad this part is finally over! But, at least we’ll finally get to the most interesting part after all this work we’ve put into it.” “Seeing if actually works, yes,” Atlas replied. “At this point I’m pretty confident that we’ll succeed, and I’m still giddy to see it in action.” “If the array fails now, something fundamental would have to be wrong, and I’m not looking forward to taking a fine tooth comb over everything. Again,” Starswirl added with a slight frown. A full month of almost non-stop work was about to come to a head in just a few minutes. Any scientist who was worth his salt would be devastated if all the effort was for naught. It was with cautious anticipation that Atlas and Starswirl moved into a little side passage that led them into an observation room. Only a small slit was carved into the wall so they could see into the experiment cave while the wall shielded them, just in case. Of course, plenty of wards had been installed to prevent any damage from reaching them, but one could never be too cautious. Atlas made brief eye contact with Starswirl, who nodded before starting the experiment. Atlas began to funnel his magic through the crack and into the array. While it would’ve been faster for them both to charge the array, they decided that only one of them should supply the mana to minimize variables. Therefore, Atlas was faced with the task of providing enough mana to power the biggest rune array created to date. It took him almost twenty minutes of carefully loading all the separate arrays, as well as the in-between runes, but eventually a bright purple flash announced the completion of the spell. All that was left was to activate the spell and hope for the best. Two sets of eyes transfixed themselves unto the small pedestal that stood in the exact center of the room, or rather the paper resting on top of it. Atlas took in one last deep breath to calm himself, before activating the array by spell prompt and with just a flick of magic. Almost immediately, another purple flash blinded them before a magical shock wave slammed through all their wards, and ultimately into Atlas and Starswirl, bowling them into the back wall of the observation room. Aside from the pain of the impact, both of their bodies tingled with magical energy that manifested itself as small purple arcs of lightning jumping over their fur. Groans escaped from both their lips as they slowly pulled themselves up from the ground, standing on wobbly hooves. “Did… Did it fail?” Starswirl asked groggily, trying to focus his vision to see into the experiment room. “I don’t think so…” Atlas replied in a haze. “That was probably the mapping shockwave I’ve told you about. Something similar happened when I used this spell the first time, albeit much less powerful…” “I hope it was only this intense because we are right next to the point of origin…” Starswirl said. “A purple shockwave travelling all over Equestria could already be considered as some sort of attack by some ponies… If it actually knocked over everything in it’s path and shocked ponies…” Atlas let the rest of the statement unspoken. They might have to do some damage control after this by contacting Clover and Platinum. “What the hell was that?” Discord shouted from the main cave. “Did you start the experiment without me?” Atlas and Starswirl's eyes met and they both smiled sheepishly at each other. They were supposed to get Discord before they started, but they forgot because of how tired and anxious they were. “Uhh… Yeah… Sorry about that!” Atlas called back as they moved towards the experiment cavern, meeting Discord half way. “It’s not finished yet, though, the interesting part is yet to come.” “I swear, you guys always forget about me when you do stuff like this,” Discord said while pouting. “You know I like to see things explode.” “Well, if you actually helped out every once in awhile, we wouldn’t even have to get you,” Atlas quipped at Discord, who scowled in return. “How much of the shockwave did you feel by the way?” “Not much,” Discord answered while scratching his chin. “There was just this rapidly expanding purple ring in the sky and it tingled slightly when it passed over me…. Aside from that, nothing.” Both Atlas and Starswirl let out a relieved sigh. They could’ve been in deep shit if they knocked down every single thing in Equestria. Still, they should probably write Clover to explain everything anyways. If the country leadership got the wrong idea about this, worst-case, a war could break out. “Well, I guess we just wait now,” Atlas said as he reached the border of the experiment cave. He didn’t dare step into the actual array yet, in fear of messing something up with his mere presence in the circle. “Waiting is boring,” Discord said, but sat down next to Atlas without further complaint. “Should’ve taken longer to come here then,” Starswirl said from the side. Discord huffed indignantly while Atlas just chuckled at his expense. Right now, a magical shockwave was travelling all over Equestria with one singular purpose. In an attempt to take his talent to a whole new level, with the help of Starswirl, he had designed a vastly superior mapping spell. While the first array had barely enough range to crudely map a few square miles at a time, this one was like that array on steroids. If everything worked out as it should, they would soon be in the possession of the first complete map of Equestria, down to a level of detail that rivaled even the maps back on Earth. They even managed to make it so the towns, cities and villages would be labeled. While the shockwave was expanding at a relatively fast pace, Equestria was still pretty big, so they had to wait yet another ten minutes before the paper on the pedestal suddenly started glowing brightly. Every pair of eyes was transfixed on the spectacle, waiting giddily for the spell to finish. And suddenly, just as if someone had pulled a plug, all of the runes and the paper stopped glowing. The three spectators took this as their cue to take a running start into a mad dash towards the map waiting for them in the center of the room. What awaited them, was perfection. Every hill, river, settlement, mountain, chasm and forest was neatly cartographed and labeled on the map. While Atlas was willing to just believe what the spell returned, he drew from his memories of travelling all over Equestria to compare what he knew. After finding everything he could remember just where it should be, a giant smile spread across his face. “I declare this experiment… a full-blown success!”