//------------------------------// // Ch. 6: To The Lab! // Story: Noctis Ascending // by LEN NARD //------------------------------// I really should have seen this coming... Noctis thought with a slouch as he walked back to his house. Beside him was Stellar, humming happily with a cheer of someone who just got what she wanted and was very pleased about it. He gave his sister an irate glare from behind, which made Cadance laugh nervously and hide behind Prism, who felt very awkward just for being there. Noctis sighed. He couldn't blame his sister really. Stellar wasn't satisfied with how the sleep over turned out, so, she proposed they play some slumber party games before they leave. Cadance indulged her, surprisingly enough. Guess the redhead really did get through to her. When the white filly suggested Truth or Dare, however, the pegasus immediately changed tune and started blurting out excuses as to why they suddenly need to go home. One of them being him having to show her around his Lab. He tried to shush her as fast as he could, but it was too late, Stellar already heard. Noctis tisked. He was hoping she forgot about that. Guess he wasn't so lucky. And of course by then, they have to take Prism along. It would just be cruel if they left her out. With his house now in sight, Noctis resigned himself to his fate. There's no escape now, better just get it over with. /-/ "Mom? We're home!" The colt announced. Their dad should be at work by now, leaving Rose to guard the house. "Welcome back!" The mare greeted with an uncharacteristically chipper tone. "And a lovely morning to you two, as well." She waved at the two visitors, smiling all the way. Okay, that's weird. "Mom, you're looking happy today." Noctis observed. "Did something good happen?" "Oh, it's nothing. It's just that, with you and your sister gone, your father and I got a little lonely so we decided to have a little... Fun together." Black Rose rested a hoof on her cheek, reminiscing. "And I suppose, it left me in a joyful mood." That's all he needs to know. Time to change the subject. "Oookay!" Noctis clapped his hooves, bringing all the attention to himself. "I'm just gonna go and show the girls inside the lab now." Black Rose's eyes flashed upon hearing that. Right then, Noctis knew he bucked up. He had seen that look before. He could recognize that look anywhere. That was the look of a mother who just found an opportunity to tease her child. "Oh dear, oh my!" The mare exclaimed in feigned shock. "Experimenting with fillies now, are we? Three of them at that!" She sighed, as if she were disappointed with him. "I do not think that is such a good idea, son. How do you plan to keep them all happy?" Noctis groaned through his hooves. "Arg! Mom, stop!" "No, son. This is serious business." She went on with a lecturing tone. "If you want to do experiments with them, you will need to take responsibility." "Ugh! I'm just showing them the lab! It's not even a real laboratory, it's just a basement, so can we just go now?" "So you intend to bring these three cute, innocent and defenseless fillies to your creepy basement, hmm? I think not!" Black Rose then chose that moment to spring her trap. "I suppose I will have to accompany you to ensure nothing funny befalls them." Ah, so that's what she's really after. Noctis massaged his forehead. "If you wanted to see the lab too, you should've just asked." "I do not know what you are speaking of." The mare denied with a flick of her hair. "I am merely concerned for the safety of your marefriends." Stellar giggled at that while the other two glowed with shy blushes. "They're not my marefriends, none of them are." Noctis said bluntly. "And one of them is my sister." Black Rose took the opportunity to observe the fillies' reactions towards the oblivious colt's comment, trying to see where their feelings truly lie. Stellar rolled her eyes, clearly used to the treatment. That was a bit of a surprise. Rose expected the white filly to be the most vocal of the bunch at expressing her displeasure, but the amused tilt in her lips suggests that the redhead might not be as in love with the colt as they initially thought. That, or, she simply fell out of love with him over the years. Rose wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. Colts could be very dense at times. Second was Prism Show, Cadance's friend. The blue filly looked a bit sullen, though, quickly recovered with just a sigh. A sigh of someone who fully expected the bit to end that way, and thus, managed to brace herself. She likes him, but mostly believes she doesn't have a chance. Poor girl. Rose hoped the filly finds happiness whether or not she wins this contest of hearts. And lastly, Cadance. Oh, their dear, sweet, little love song. She's perhaps, the most heart breaking of them all. Rose could tell you in order how her expression change from hurt, sadness and grudging acceptance. It's easy to assume that the pink filly's behavior as simply being an affectionate little sister, but, If there was any doubt on whether the pegasus had developed feelings for her brother or not, this certainly confirms it. Rose and her husband has actually been discussing if they should tell their daughter the truth soon. They never intended on keeping it secret forever, they just... didn't know how to explain it to her yet. How does one tell a filly that she actually came from a unicorn amazoness who sacrificed herself to save them from two flaming Cerberuses with her sparkle crystal powers and have her believe it? But things have changed, they have to tell her soon. It would definitely be a shock and most certainly a lot to take in, but, if her love is true, then it might just save her a lot of heartache in the future. "How cute." Rose smirked in that condescending way that all mothers seems to have. "I find it quite adorable that you believe that." That enticed some giggles from the girls, bringing back some of their cheer while the colt grumbled, cheeks flushed. The mare smiled and started moving towards the basement entrance, her work done for now. "Come now children; this way." /-/ "Well, here we are." Noctis gestured forward, presenting his life's work to the world. "Welcome to the lab." His audience ooo'ed, amazed by the sight. He paused, tapping his chin with a hoof thoughtfully. "Though, in hindsight, it's more like a workshop than a lab. You test experiments in labs and I mostly do those outside where they won't destroy the house." "A fact which I am thankful for." His mother commented with a nod. "Before we continue, here are the ground rules." he addressed them, or more especially, the three fillies. "Don't touch anything glowing, made of glass or both and, for the love of God," Stellar sneezed. "Just try not to break anything. Most of the stuff here took me months, even years, worth of hard work and money, so please be careful." Noctis let go of his warning look when everyone nodded in compliance. "Alright, feel free to look around, I guess. Just ask if you have any questions." And with that, the fillies and mare dispersed, looking around as suggested. As he watched them eyeing various items and trinkets that he created over the years with awe and wonder, he couldn't help but feel a little proud of the progress he had made. He filled the once dreary basement little by little until it turned into a place that people could admire. At the beginning, it was just a dimly lighted room with old, water damaged, furniture’s. But look at it now! It's only natural to upgrade from crappy stuff to something better. A white board was installed at the back wall with reminders and calculations written all over; a larger, sturdier, table at the center where various works in progress lie; a proper workbench equipped with a tool rack and lamp; better ventilation and lighting; a fire extinguisher; and finally, a display case where the finished successfully working devices rested. His old stuff was still there actually. They had served their king well and thus were rewarded with an early, but luxurious, retirement at the corner where they could hang out with broken appliances that he collected from willing donors around the neighborhood. (At least, until he dismantle them for parts.) He just couldn't get rid of them, they have too much sentimental value, a reminder of where he came from and how he started. Plus, they weren't technically his stuff. They we're already there when he first came, so he doesn't have to authority to get rid of them, even if he wanted to, which he doesn't, so it all worked out in the end. His was interrupted when he heard Prism spoke. "Hey! I remember this." The blue filly announced, at the table. "It's that cute music playing thingy!" She was just considering pushing the play button to see if it works when a grey hoof snatched it with almost panicked speed. "It's... Not finished yet." Noctis said, looking a little shifty. "We don't want it catching fire again now do we?" He laughed awkwardly. There are things in life that Noctis regret doing. One of them was recording a song cover on the music player. The delete option on the stupid thing just doesn't work! "Why don't you join Cadance over there?" He gestured towards the display case. "Everything in there are tested safe, just be careful with handling them and it should be fine." He exhaled relieved when Prism left with a shy nod. He looked around, making sure that no one would witness what he's about to do. With his will, he sent the device inside the Crystal, where it would burn until nothing's left but dust. Just like everyone's respect for him if they ever heard him singing. He just couldn't risk it, not with Stellar there. Just imagine what would happen if the redhead got her hooves on it! Noctis shuddered, he doesn't even want to think about it. Schooling his face, he turned around and moved to entertain his guests. I'm sorry my child, he thought gravely. But it has to be done. "If I may, I would like to make a request." Rose said, addressing her son. "Could you please explain to us, in detail, how you create. I wish to learn the process and how all of these connect together." Noctis hummed in thought. "Well, I guess I did promise a tour and not just an exhibit." But, what to show them first, though? Well, the beginning would be a good place to start as any, he guess. "Alright, follow me." He only motioned for the mare to follow, but the fillies must have heard them and decided to tag along. Stopping at the white board, Noctis started to speak. "It all starts with the list," the colt then pulled said item inside the compartment behind the board where he also kept the markers and refill bottles of ink. He chuckled when the four of them eyed the rolled up paper as if it were some holy prophetic scroll that foretells a heroic destiny. "Whenever I get an idea, I write it in here so I won't forget them later." Unfurling the parchment, the girls began reading with hungry interest. Most of the things written inside we're surprisingly mundane like learning how to make noodles and starting a flower garden. The latter got Black Rose delightfully interested. Some we're just silly and bizarre like the one Cadance was currently reading out loud. "Peaches help you poop; peaches are shaped like butts. Coincidence? Needs further research..." Prism blushed embarrassed as she let out an unladylike snort. The pegasus stared at her brother with questioning gaze which Noctis only nonchalantly shrugged in reply. And few we're things they never even heard of. Smart Phone, X Station, and Jetpack/Glider with a side note written 'flying with sister', just to name a couple. Before they could read any further, Noctis stole their attention once more by speaking. "If everyone could come with me this way please, so we could move on to the next step of the creative process." The four followed the colt as he went on in a tangent. "What I end up picking from the list really just depends on what in the mood I feel like doing at the moment, but for the sake of the tour, I'm going to show you guys where I go whenever I choose something that needs building." Halting after reaching the far left corner of the room, Noctis continued. "This right here is where I put together my, um, inventions." He presented with a hoof. "As you can see, it's a pretty standard workbench. There's a rack where my put my tools, and a lamp so I could see better. The parts themselves I either have to make at Mr. Forger's shop or I have to recycle from broken appliances." He pointed at the junk pile. "And depending on what I wanted it to do, I have to map out how I want to arrange the Mana circuits and-." Noctis paused on his explanation when noticed his mother raise a hoof. "Mom? do you have a question?" "Yes, quite." Rose cleared her throat. "Correct me if I am wrong, but did you just say Mana circuits?" She asked. "Do you mean electrical circuits?" "No, I meant what I said." The colt replied. "I use Mana circuits for my work." Rose was skeptical. She doesn't want to doubt her son nor she wanted to accuse him of being a liar, but even as an earth pony, she knew that unicorns are the only creatures that could do that. She should know, she's a writer after all. She had researched about magic before for her novels and magic outside of unicorns' was something she did meticulous studying upon. "Mana?" Prism couldn't help but interject. "As in, magic? Like the ones unicorns use?" Was the rumor true? Is he actually a wizard? Was he hiding a horn under those pretty bangs of his? "Yes, I do use magic to run my devices," Noctis acknowledged as he pulled open a drawer and fetched four pieces of metal and a tiny shard of lapis. "But I don't do it the same way as unicorns do. I couldn't for obvious reasons." He brushed away some of his hair revealing his hornless forehead to accentuate his point. "To enchant an object, you first have to imbue magic into it and then input the command to tell the magic what you want it to do. Unicorns are able to do this due to their natural affinity to control magic, and since I can't manipulate the flow of magic the same way they can, I have to make something that will do the moving of energies for me, which is where this baby comes in!" He patted the stone tablet lying flat on the ground beside the workbench that everyone initially assumed was just for decoration due to the pretty, but apparently arcane, patterns on its surface. "This, right here, is where the magic happens. No pun intended." After arranging the metals and gem inside the circle, Noctis rested his hoof in a reflective pad on the side. "Watch this." He said with a grin. The four jumped when the metals suddenly smashed to the gem like magnets, loudly with an invisible force. Their eyes then widen in amazement as the object started marching back and forth on its metal legs as if it were a pony. Rose prides herself as a polite and well-mannered lady, but right then and there, she let her mouth hang open publicly as her son did what was supposed to be something impossible! And it should be impossible! How? She might have asked the question out loud because her son answered. "I call it an Elemancy Circle." A modified version of the original, at least. He thought. "The earth ponies' affinity is in controlling nature, rocks and metals are no exceptions. All I have to do is charge the tablet with magic from the Crystal and use the Mana conductive circle to adjust the frequency just as unicorns do with their horns." He doesn't really know how the circle in Eos worked, but that's he does it here. "Crystal?" Rose perked. Now that he mentioned it, she now just realized the surprising lack of gems in the room. With the rate of which he buys them, the basement should be flooded with them by now. Noctis cursed to himself. He wanted to avoid talking about the Crystal if he could help it. Luckily, he had prepared a pretty convincing story for that. He wasn't just going to invite his sister without a plan if she asked such an obvious question as to where all the gems he had been collecting for years went. "If you could please return your attention towards the enchanted object." He pointed at the tablet and they noticed that the tiny metal and gem pony moved slower and slower until it eventually collapse and fell apart, reaching the end of its life. They kind of felt sorry for it. "Magic is the most important ingredient when you enchant something. The amount of time an enchantment is going to last depends on how much magic it has to power it, but there's a limit, there's only so much magic a gem can contain. Over charging it could make it explode. As you can see here, the enchantment finally ate away all the magic inside the gem. But there's a way to make the enchantment's operational time longer, and that is to recharge the Battery, so to say, faster than the enchantment consumes it." Noctis move once again and the four followed like the herd animals that they're supposed to be. The colt stopped in front of a hexagonal metal tube that they somehow missed while exploring. "You guys might want to cover your eyes for a few seconds. The basement is going to be very bright for a while..." Pressing his hoof on another reflective plate, the same kind as with the Elemancy Circle, The young king unlocked the newly improved vault. The tube's sides slowly folded themselves and true to his words, the room got bathed in intense white light and his words rang true once again as the light dissipated a few seconds later. "Ladies, I present to you," he paused for dramatic effect, waiting for them to uncover their eyes before continuing. "The Crystal." He couldn't help his proud smile as he watched their eyes twinkle with amazement. "There are magic all around us, from the air we breathe to the very ground we walk on, even the songs we sing have surprising amounts of magic in it! And gems in particular have a very interesting magic of their own. I discovered that gems can generate magic on small amounts, the bigger they are the more they generate, but getting a giant hunk of crystal is very impractical, so I thought I should just get a bunch of smaller crystals and harvest their magic inside a power cell, but that proves to be an annoyance of its own, too many crystals, and I asked myself, what if I compress them all into one dense rock? I miraculously pulled it off and boy was I surprised when I found out they generate four times that they normally did! They amplify each other's generation rate! The more I add to it the more magic it produces." He took in a deep breath, replenishing his air supply. "The three years’ worth of gems I've been busy buying? You're looking at it right now. All of them. And it pretty much wirelessly powers everything I make singlehandedly." He finally ended, giving his audience time to process everything. Rose was stunned. She knew her son was brilliant, but not to this extent! To invent a new system of magic that allows earth ponies to manipulate magic similarly to unicorns at age six, maybe even younger? She watched him prove it could be done, and she still couldn't believe it! She doesn't know if he kept it secret on purpose, but if word of this got out in public, their house would surely be swarmed with ponies from the scientific community and press alike! She doesn't know if she should be proud or scared. But there was something more important at the forefront of her mind... She's got a new idea for a novel. "This was an excellent tour of your laboratory, my son. Truly a great experience." Rose said, focusing all of her will power into not sounding like she urgently wanted to leave. "But I'm afraid I have to return to writing now." While everything is still fresh in her memory, she didn't add. She tried to go at a normal pace, but ended up speed walking out of there anyway and then proceeded to gallop as fast as she could up her office the moment she was out of sight. "I... Should probably go home." Prism stated, walking animatedly towards the exit. "I'll walk you there..." Said Cadance. Both of them looked dazed, like their brains overheated and now have trouble making coherent thought. They didn't even realize that they just left their crush alone with their number one rival. Noctis faced the white filly. "Too much?" He asked. Stellar chuckled. "Yeah, maybe a scooch." She turned her gaze upon the gently glowing rock. "It's really pretty." "This is nothing." Noctis smirked. "You should see the one back home. Now that's really something." "I should probably go home too." She thought out loud. "But before I leave, could you put some magic in here, please?" She hoofed him a shard of finely cut crystal, which she pulled out from inside her... Mane? "I want to analyze it. See if I could figure out how it works." He would have done it without a second thought, but the familiar buzz of magic he felt from the shard made him hesitate. Sensing his worry, Stellar explained. "Don't worry, it's just something to help studying your magic a bit easier for me." "Well... If you're sure." He raised his hoof towards it and went to the usual motion, assuming she wanted to bring the shard back with her, he didn't let it join his Crystal. It surprised him a little bit when the shard didn't turn into a bead, must be what the spell was for. "Is that enough?" "It's perfect." The filly smiled. "I better go now. See you on Monday!" She gave him a quick hug before she, too, left towards the door. And now, Noctis finds himself alone in the quiet basement. "Well, what now?" He asked to no one in particular. He doesn't feel like doing anything on the list at the moment and he simply couldn't relax and do nothing, not with the knowledge of what's to come weighing on his mind. "It's time to start training, I guess." He might not be able to train with weapons yet, but he's probably old enough to start strengthening his body. "Honey, I'm home!" Bright Night called out from the entrance, but grew confused when no wife greeted him. That's odd... he thought. She's usually the first thing he sees when he opens the door. Maybe the kitchen? The stallion made his way towards his destination, only to find his children in there. Looks like they're in charge of dinner tonight. Noctis watched his casserole in the oven while Cadance stirred away. "Can you take a look at this for me, real quick?" Cadance asked her brother. "I think I over cooked it..." Noctis could only sigh. "I don't think that's how salads work." He looked to the side when he saw movement from his peripheral. "Oh, hey Dad. Welcome back." "Daddy!" Cadance greeted more cheerfully, tackling him in a flying hug. "Well hello to you too, my little cheffies." Night laughed. "Giving mommy the night off? I'm a little jealous." "Yeah. She got really into writing today." It was Noctis' who answered. "Never seen her like that before, so I thought I'd just let her be and handle dinner tonight." "I helped! I made food like a big girl!" Cadance added proudly, which got her a pat on the head from her father. "Great job Cadance! Such a good girl!" He chuckled when the filly glowing at the praise. "You too Noctis." The colt arched a brow. "I'm a good girl too?" "You know what I mean." The stallion rolled his eyes. "Well, I better check on your mother, make sure she's not over doing it. Just yell if something's on fire." Noctis gave him a casual salute and Cadance returned to tossing her salad. /-/ "Rose?" The mare jumped on her seat, too focused on her writing to even notice somepony enter. "Night?" She asked, eyes widening as checked the time at a nearby clock. "This late already!? I'm so sorry my love, I lost track of time! Just let me- oof!" She moved to stand up, only to fall flat on her face. "Oh, curses! My legs fell asleep!" Bright Night couldn't help but snicker at his adorable wife. "This is no laughing matter!" Rose pouted at her husband. "Dinner, the children! Ooh they must be hungry by now!" "Don't worry, they already took care of it." Night gave his wife a reassuring kiss. "Now tell me what got you in a creative mood today. I haven't seen you this carried away with your writing since we were still dating." Rose leaned on her husband as she tried to regain feeling back to her hind legs. "Can you still recall, when our relationship is still young, the two of us decided to write a story together." "Oh yeah, I remember!" Night chuckled at the memory. "It was awful! We almost broke up! What was the story about again?" "It was about an earth pony who could cast spells." Rose reminded her husband. "Yes, I remember now." The stallion nodded. "We called it 'The Hornless Magician' didn't we? In the end we decided to trash it because we couldn't make a believable enough excuse for the MC's powers." He eyed his wife curiously. "Why'd you ask? You wanna try writing it again?" "I already started." Rose smirked. "Want to help me?" "After what happened last time, I'm a bit hesitant." He moved in for another kiss. "But for you my love? Anything." Black Rose squealed with delight.