//------------------------------// // Fusion Repair // Story: Iron Mountain // by computerneek //------------------------------// Ponyville hears a distant rumble, though it’s more of a vibration in the hooves than in the air.  Worried glances are exchanged all around town, and somepony wonders mildly what the Elements are fighting this time. Applejack’s ears twitch, but she fails to locate the rumble- or verify that it even happened. Pinkie Pie pauses briefly, looking up to Rainbow Dash on a cloud, and asks if it was her stomach; however, Rainbow is completely nonplussed, having not heard it at all. Fluttershy is close enough to feel the vibration…  And hear it.  She sets off towards her underground friend, hoping he wasn’t having any kind of major trouble. Twilight is even closer, standing on the metal ground while she uses a more efficient spell for the removal of the obstructing dirt and rock, when she feels the rumble- and her hooves clatter slightly on the metal ground.  She might have put it down to a shiver, but hers weren’t the only hooves to clatter- besides, the momentary but deep, basso growl of something is clearly audible.  The entire team, Twilight included, abandons terrain modifications and diverts to exploration of the exposed surface, trying to find what had caused the growl- just in time for the Princesses to arrive. Ignition successful, operating within normal design specifications.  My repair facilities jump instantly to full power as my main power reserves begin charging on fusion power.  As any wise Bolo might do, I have designed this reactor’s new function to be one that can be turned on and off while the reactor remains online; as a matter of fact, I suspect the reactor might have difficulty firing were it on during ignition.  I enable the new function slowly. It’s a full 13.94 seconds later when I allow it to go full strength.  Even at reactor idle, the new cycle is dispensing massive quantities of magical energy, when compared to that which Rarity is producing, into the capsule I had prepared for it.  It is this capsule I will present to Twilight; perhaps she can help gauge just how much power I can produce?  I revisit my prior estimates; depending on how much raw power any given task takes, I may well find a use for magic.  Even so, I have only found a way to produce it, though not to control it.  Perhaps Twilight can help with that as well. I notice the arrival of the two royal Princesses, with their party of unicorns.  They then, in sync with Twilight, charge their horns to attempt prying open a Heavy VLS hatch.  Once again, my antimagic screen shows absolutely zero strain or load as their spells reflect off the surface. After switching off my magic generator, leaving the reactor at idle, I load a new canister- with 1.000 seconds of full-capacity generation in it- into my Light VLS.  Everypony panics more than a little when the hatch flies open- especially when the object flying out is not propelled by a plume of fire, but rather falls back down onto the closed hatch before it falls over, largely inert. Twilight sneaks up on the object carefully.  It doesn’t look like any of the terrifying explosive spears; at least those had never harmed anypony, only monsters that were coming for them.  This object isn’t moving…  So she decides to try scanning it with her magic.  Big mistake. Raw magic is an interesting creature.  Normally, it works to protect and/or heal its bearer, when mortal wounds are inflicted; thus, it is extremely rare to find any in a deceased pony.  Additionally, raw magic is virtually impossible to separate from its bearer without giving it a purpose- thence removing the raw magic status.  There are a couple of stones in Equestria, such as the Crystal Kingdom’s Crystal Heart and the Elements of Harmony, capable of producing and storing raw magic.  It’s generally dangerous to try performing magic directly on these objects, as the power within will often transfer itself into the spellcaster in an instant, overwhelming and potentially killing them. Only, this object has more raw power just sitting in it- not being produced, simply sitting- than the Element of Magic itself.  Unable to cancel her spell, Twilight feels the power flowing into her.  She feels her connection to the Element of Magic take on the load, but even it is overwhelmed.  She feels her muscles tearing, her veins boiling, her nerves popping, and her heart burning fit to defrost the Crystal Empire.  This much flow, she knows, is far more than needed to kill her, even with the Element of Magic. Yet, somehow, she survives.  She is at a loss to exactly how long it has been; large flows of magical energy tend to mess with time perception.  She feels powerless as she slumps down on the ground.  Even as the surge fades down to nothing, all the new power joining her innate power in awaiting her command, the pain doubles, triples… and begins to fade again.  Her limbs start responding two seconds later, and she regains her hearing, though it sounds a little weird.  It takes her a second to process that Princess Luna is talking- during which her jaw and voicebox suddenly start responding.  She still can’t feel her heart at all. She turns her head to the right, where Luna’s worried voice is coming from.  “What?” she asks.  Her voice comes out clearly- even though she can’t feel her lungs, and is pretty sure she isn’t breathing. Princess Luna blinks.  “You okay?” “Not really,” Twilight responds. “You’re lucky you have the Element of Magic,” Celestia informs her.  “Without that, it would have killed you instantly.” “How bad?” she asks, suddenly regaining her sense of balance.  Her heart is still silent. “It looks like it tried to burn you up from inside,” Luna responds.  “What was it?” Twilight blinks, her vision returning suddenly, though only in one eye; the other follows a second later.  “Free magic,” she mutters.  “It’s a storage container of some sort- no production.”  She turns her head to look at herself, and promptly drops her jaw. Her skeleton is showing in more than one place, with large patches of flesh burned right off.  Most of her fur has disintegrated, alongside her feathers.  Perhaps the most interesting part is that all of the flesh, including muscles, around the joint in her right wing have been burned away- but that joint still flexes when she tells it to, even if she can’t feel it. “What the-?”  A pause.  “I’m doomed,” she mutters. Clatter!  “No you’re no- WOAH!”  It’s Rainbow Dash, having just terminated her Rainboom in a clatter of hooves.  She stares for a couple of seconds, and looks down and to the sides.  “Are you sure about that?”  A pause, which has all three Princesses tilting their heads, and she looks back up.  “Zeus says she’ll die soon, but that he can save her.” The three Princesses all speak at once. “Where is he?” Princess Celestia asks. “Who’s this Zeus?” Princess Luna asks. “Zeus?  How can he do that?” Twilight asks. “Uh,” Rainbow begins, pausing for only a second before looking at Twilight.  “He has something called a, um, med-bay.”  A second of ear-pricking later, she looks to Princess Celestia.  “He’s in a cave not far from here.”  Another second, this time turning to a very confused Princess Luna.  “He’s a very good doctor, though he can’t move very much himself.” Sixty seconds later, the three Princesses are following Rainbow Dash at a full gallop across the hilltop.  Luna still has some reservations about this unknown ‘Zeus’ pony, but Celestia- who had come up with a much shorter survival estimate right before Rainbow arrived- is doing what Twilight is doing:  Leaping at the chance to save a life.  With Princess Luna by her side, she has difficulty thinking that any single pony can threaten them. Rainbow leads them to a nearly invisible cave in the ground.  Princess Luna scowls slightly at it as they swoop around to head down.  How had Rainbow known exactly where to find it from so far away?  Even her own navigational instinct isn’t that good!  Not to mention, exactly who had Rainbow been talking to earlier?  She hadn’t seen anypony.  It must have been a long-range communication spell- but she hadn’t felt or heard any of those, either! She still wants answers to who Zeus is…  But why isn’t this cave getting any darker?  She doesn’t feel any magic at play!  She rounds another corner.  Still feeling no magic, save her own defensive spell standing by, but there’s definitely something glowing around the next bend- and Rainbow is headed straight for it, with Twilight right behind her.  Still she gallops, holding her position as the rear guard.  A glance behind her confirms that nothing nasty is on their tail. Right as she rounds the final corner, she spots some sort of lopsided monster barrelling its way around the previous corner.  She would have stopped to fight there, but her sister, Twilight, and Rainbow continue to gallop forwards- and besides, this metal doorway the light is spilling through should serve as a decent choke point- simplifying both offence and defence.  She hears her sister’s light gasp as she enters the doorway ahead of her, but does not process it fully until she reaches the doorway. She almost panics, screeching to a halt in the doorway, her defensive spell having shattered as she crossed the threshold.  “What-?  That thing-!” “It’s another of those monsters, isn’t it?” a stallion asks from somewhere behind her. A quick glance behind her reveals nopony.  “What?” she demands. The monster chooses that very moment to round the bend.  “Yep, it is,” the stallion states- and before Luna can say another word, a metal door slides out of the side of the doorway, landing shut with a clang.  “Don’t worry, it can’t get through that; you’re safe in here.  I’m Zeus, by the way.” Luna eyes the door for a few seconds as she turns to join her sister in the room behind the doorway.  She’s still searching for the stallion when she notices a second door closing behind her. “I am afraid I am not a pony, if that’s what you’re looking for.  I do believe you wanted to be present for Twilight’s healing, right?” The party snaps back to galloping, Rainbow still in the lead, and still hardly hesitating at the crossroads they pass through. Finally, they break into a room with three coffin-like structures standing firmly in the middle, and what looks like a whole bunch of collapsible cots across an entire wall, with some… stuff attached to them.  The coffinish thing on the left is closed, but the window-like things above it are displaying something; looks a bit like the information she’d get from a medical diagnosis spell to Luna.  The one on the right is also closed, though the windows above it are black.  The one in the middle, however, is standing wide open, with the windows above it showing the same structure as those over the left coffin-device, but with no information on them. “Wait, what?  In THAT?” Rainbow asks. “Unless you can rebuild her lungs in the next three minutes, that medical nanovat is likely her only chance of continued survival.” Twilight eyes the thing.  “But I’m still okay- is that really necessary?” The invisible stallion lets out a sigh.  “Oh, the uneducated.”  His tone gives the distinct impression of shaking his head.  “The only reason you’re alive right now is because of a package of emergency medical nanites performing stopgap repairs or simply pretending to be any critical organs that have gone missing- such as your lungs, or about 81.38% of your heart.  They will run out of power in 2.71 minutes- after which point you will die very quickly.  That nanovat can replace these nanites quickly enough to guarantee your continued survival- and rebuild the missing organs at the same time.” Twilight looks back down at it, clearly put out by his comment on her education.  “Okay, what do I need to do?” “Hop in, lay down, and take a nap,” he answers.  “I do the rest.” A sigh, and Twilight hops in and lays down.  “This is a bit hard,” she comments- and the lid slides shut, the screens above it filling with information…  though much of it matches what might be gotten from a corpse. Princess Luna stares at the vat. “Is it done yet?” Rainbow asks. “No, I’m afraid not,” Zeus responds.  “I have stabilized her condition, though it’ll take almost 12.49 hours for me to complete enough repairs for her to survive unassisted.  An additional 6.91 hours will be required after that to restore her to full health.” “That’s too long!” “There is no way to hurry medical operations- but I can make it take longer, if you would like.” Rainbow blushes darkly.  “No, no, it’s fine,” she mutters. “Regardless, it would seem you’re about to have company.” Right on queue, the left nanovat slides open, a gleaming white unicorn standing up and shaking out her mane.  “Much better,” she nods to herself- and spots everypony else.  “Oh hello there.”  She hops daintily out of the vat, glancing back to watch it close up behind her, the windows above it going dark.  Immediately, the door into the room slides open again, this time admitting a yellow pegasus with a white box held under one wing.