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// 03- Turn of a Page 
// Story: The Prism Engine 
// by FrostTheWolf 
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It had been only a couple of minutes after Sunny and her friends had stepped through into this strange place and right now, the earth pony was finding it rather difficult to process what exactly they stumbled into. Earlier, they were on the outskirts of a testing facility that belonged to CanterLogic Industries. Now, if what she and her friends found was to be believed… They were in Cloudsdale. The very same city that once floated among the clouds during the age of harmony.

However, there was something really wrong about this place. Cloudsdale was supposed to be a shining beacon of prosperity and happiness. A symbol of progress and harmony where all walks of life could come together and strive to achieve a similar goal. Yet, nothing like that was here. Instead, many of the buildings were either in heavy disarray or just simply reduced to rubble… and it left the earth pony with more questions than answers.

“Sunny? Are you alright?” She heard Izzy speak up, before a sudden hoof blocked her vision.

“Y-Yeah, sorry,” the earth pony apologized, “I’m just… trying to wrap my head around all of this.”

“Why’s that?” Zipp asked.

“Well, if this really is the Cloudsdale my dad’s notes described, I wouldn’t think they would leave such a place to… well, be like this,” Sunny motioned her forehoof to everything that they were seeing, “Something awful must’ve happened here.”

“Yeah, that seems a bit obvious,” Zipp replied, before she remembered something, “Hey, you still have that radio Castle gave you right? Maybe you can try telling him we’re okay?”

For a moment, Sunny almost forgot that they had that with them. But now that they had the chance, it probably was a good time to use it as she pulled it off her bag and attempted to use it. “Castle? Castle, can you hear me? This is Sunny. We made it inside and… well, I think your friend was right. We did find a city here. In fact-.”

Instead of words though, all three of them heard the sound of distorted static on the other end, “Hello? Mr. Castle?” Her second attempt wasn’t much better, for she got the same results as before. “Shoot.”

“Wait, it didn’t work?” Izzy looked at her friends with a puzzled glance as Sunny clipped the radio back onto her bag, “I thought that sparky noise thing was him.”

“No, that was definitely not him,” Zipp shook her head, “Something must be interfering with it. You know, like how our phones lose signal the farther away we are from the city?”

That kind of made sense, but in Sunny’s mind, there were still a lot of things that they didn’t really know about. However, stuff like that can wait for the moment. They still had to figure out what to do next. The three of them were now in the abandoned city that was once Cloudsdale, with no idea as to where to go next or if there was even a way to get back. While Trial Run had found one, they couldn’t seem to find anything close to it.

Then, she noticed Zipp look down at her foreleg as something brushed up against it. As the pegasus picked it up with one of her wings, she began to read what was on it, “You are cordially invited to join us… blah blah blah… to celebrate the 10 anniversary of the founding of Stella Akademia?”

“Ooh! I heard that word before! ”

Both Sunny and Zipp turned around at that, both of them raising an eyebrow at the exact same time, “You… have?”

“Yeah, it was on the front of the building where I would use to go to school in Bridlewood,” Izzy nodded. “Ooh! Maybe that can help us find something that can help!”

“Wait a minute. How-?”

“Actually, I think Izzy might be onto something,” Sunny interjected as she took a quick look at what Zipp was holding onto, “Maybe this ‘Akademia’ has something that could help us find out what happened here?”

“Oh… well then,” the pegasus shrugged. Though, there was one particular comment that Zipp said that her friends were quick to pick up on, “First time for everything I suppose.”

Izzy blinked as her ears twisted for a moment, before she looked towards her friend and tilted her head in confusion, “Have you not gone to a school before, Zipp?”

“Not… exactly,” the pegasus shook her head, “I remember going to a couple of schools during events where Mom would give speeches, but that’s about it. Pipp and I had tutors that would come to the castle to teach us various things every week when we were young, but outside of that, you can say I never really went to a school for learning. It was more to ‘smile and wave’ at cameras.”

“Huh,” The curious unicorn said, before looking towards Sunny now, “What about you, Sunny? Did you go to school?”

“For a time, yes,” the earth pony admitted, “Mostly, my dad was my teacher when I was younger. But after… what happened, I went to school at the same place Hitch and Sprout went to. While I did learn some things… I wouldn’t exactly recommend it.”

“Really? Why?”

“Let’s just say that Sprout’s mom was one of the ponies on the school board back then and… well, she had a hoof in the curriculum, so to speak. Like, before we brought back magic and she tried to make a change for the better.”

At first, Izzy couldn’t quite understand what her friend meant. However, the more that she thought about it, the quicker that she realized what exactly her friend was implying. “Oh… Ohhhhh… OH! That’s a bit scary to think about.”

The three of them continued to converse among themselves as they tried to navigate the ruined city and toppled spires to find the Akademia. Given the rough state of where they were, the three of them thought that the school they were looking for was relatively small in comparison to the other buildings around them. Like finding a needle in a haystack that was the size of a city.

After around ten to fifteen minutes, all three of them had looked around most of the ruined city with no success so far. Yet, that left only one last place to look and that was a giant structure that was directly in the center of the space they were in. At a glance, the architecture looked a lot like something from Zephyr heights. However, instead of the overabundance of gold, it was a marble white with what looked like faded shades of color in the form of a rainbow around the doors that led inside.

Upon first glance, it looked as if the interior of this building was just as bad as everything that was outside. Chunks of Marble from the ceiling blocked off hallways and debris was scattered everywhere. However, when Sunny stepped forward into the main hall, she felt one of the tiles on the floor give way along with an audible click. At first, she just thought that the ground underneath her was unstable.

Seconds later, two lights from the ceiling came on and converged in the center as a unicorn appeared to have taken form a few feet in front of them. One with a short mane, wore regal like clothes and had a cutie mark that looked like a shooting star. However, her sudden appearance was something that Izzy did not quite take well. “Ahh!! Ghost pony! Quick, hide!!”

“Izzy, I don’t think that’s a ghost,” Zipp told her.

“It’s not?” the puzzled unicorn asked, “Then what is it?”

“If I had to take a guess, I think it’s some kind of projection thingy,” the pegasus said as she moved a wing through the holographic mare that appeared in front of them as dots of light began to disperse from its figure. When Zipp moved her wing away, the pony reformed back to its normal appearance. “See? Not a ghost?”

Before Sunny or Izzy had the chance to say anything, the earth pony moved her hoof to press a second tile underneath her hoof. This time, the pony that was being projected began to speak. “Hello, and let me be the first to welcome you into the halls of the Stella Akademia. I am Comet Chaser, the headmaster of the Akademia and one of the founding members of the Convocation.”

As the projection spoke, nothing that this ‘Comet’ was saying sounded like anything that Sunny knew about already. Was this possibly something that her father might’ve missed?

“When the Convocation was first formed, our goal was simple. To unite the greatest of minds together, no matter who they were or what they were capable of, to help Equestria grow and prosper. Our first creation, the Prism Engine, was constructed using the remnants of the elements of harmony and is the driving force that was able to transform Cloudsdale into what it is today and our hope is that this school can bring forth a new generation of minds such as yourself to lead Equestria to a brighter tomorrow. With enough hard work and determination, you might be able to make the next big discovery. Thank you for coming today and I hope you enjoy your time in the halls of our institution.”

Once the projection was finished, the lights began to dim as the pony that they were saying disappeared from sight. Which left the three of them in the ruined front lobby of the Akademia… as well as a realization.

“Wait a second,” Zipp said, “Didn’t Castle say something about that?”

“About what? We just found this place.”

“No, not that Izzy. What he was talking about with what that doctor guy was saying,” the pegasus clarified, “You know, about the ‘magical engine’? Do you think that ‘Prism Engine’ thing that mare said just now was what he was talking about?”

“Given what we know, it may be possible,” Sunny reasoned, “Yet, if that is the case, then we need to find it.”

“Okay, but where should we start looking? I mean… we don’t really have a lot of options,” Zipp said, motioning to the fallen debris and areas of the school that looked to be closed off by various means. The only other place that they could investigate at the moment was the desk in the front lobby. Something that, much to the surprise of both of them, Izzy was already looking into.

And shortly after she started, the unicorn found something tucked away in the drawers of the desk that stood among the empty lobby. At first glance, it just looked like a piece of paper. But after fiddling with the folded edges, the paper began to unravel and reveal something that sparked a bit of hope. “Girls, come here! I think I found something.”

As her friends trotted over, Izzy pushed a few things off of the table to set down her recent discovery. The folded paper she found was, in fact, a map of the entire campus. Not just what they were on, but the floors that were both above and below them. Some places were labeled as different facilities, such as classrooms, research labs and other facilities; while others were listed as places that belonged to specific faculty members.

There was one small problem though. Despite the map shining some light on their current whereabouts as well as where they can find a hoof-full of other stuff, one of the things that the map didn’t highlight was where the ‘Engine’ that the projection of Comet Chaser just mentioned would happen to be. If that was somehow connected to what was going on outside, they needed to find it… but there was no telling where exactly it could be.

“So, where do you think we should start looking?”

“If you ask me, I think we should just stick to this floor for the moment,” Zipp suggested, “We haven’t had the chance to thoroughly look around yet and I don’t think it would be a good idea to start wandering around without having any clue as to where we’re going.”

As Sunny looked back at the map again, there seemed to be three specific areas around the main courtyard that stood out. The student lounge that was near the back of the building on the current floor, the faculty office that was to the far left and the security office that was to the right. Given the situation, each one of those areas could potentially hold clues as well as the uncertainty as to what else could possibly happen. The only way to know for sure is if they went to go look.

“Well, as it stands, there’s only three places here that we can check out,” the earth pony told her friends as she pointed to each one of the areas on the map, “What do you girls think is the best place to start?”



By the time that Sunny and her friends considered their options, it was unanimously agreed upon that they would check out the security office first. Zipp had the impression that the ponies who would be part of security would be allowed to go into places that students weren’t allowed to access. If that was indeed the case, then it was entirely likely that they could find something that could allow them to reach the other floors of the Akademia. Of course, it was entirely possible that the security here was not like the guards of Zephyr Heights or the security officers at CanterLogic, so there was no telling how things were structured until they saw it for themselves.

When they found it, the office itself was a complete mess. The door that was supposed to have prohibited entry for ponies that were allowed inside was melted and bent out of shape to the point that the girls could simply trot through the gaping hole. Papers and blocks of marble were scattered all over the place as the three ponies trotted inside. Yet, many of the desks appeared to be bolted into the floor and did not show any signs of being damaged. Assortments of other items, like decorations, were also among the items that were on the floor.

As for Sunny, her focus was on a desk in a room that was sectioned off compared to the others. A sign that read ‘Head Security Officer’ was on the glass as the door was left ajar. Yet, when she poked her head inside, she was caught off guard by the sight of various different frames and props along the wall. Posters and news articles about the Wonderbolts, a team of aerial performers during the Age of Harmony were everywhere and on the desk itself was a picture of two ponies.

The first was a rather recognizable face. Rainbow Dash, the pegasus that was famously known as the Element of Loyalty and one of Princess Twilight’s closest friends. The second was of a stallion that had light blue fur and a navy mane while wearing a Wonderbolt Flight Suit. However, she couldn’t tell who exactly it was… at least, until her eyes drifted over to the name plaque that was at the opposite end of the desk.

Soarin Skies.

Sunny couldn’t help but wonder as to who this stallion was as she circled around the opposite side of the desk. Her father’s stories about Princess Twilight and her friends did mention the Wonderbolts from time to time, but did not always mention different ponies by name unless they were either close friends or family. But she didn’t have time to get distracted by this. Instead, the earth pony had to focus and see if there was anything in the office that could help them piece together what was happening.

Some time after she began looking around, the earth pony found something that was buried in a pile of dust and papers. It was an old leather bound journal that had an insignia of a lightning bolt with an outstretched pair of wings in the center. As she opened it, her pace began to quicken. The pages inside had not suffered any damage at all! In fact, the writing was clear to the point that she could actually read what was on there.



Day 1:

	Well, out of all of the creatures who I thought would approach me with a job offer, Rainbow Dash was certainly not one of them. I know that things have been busy for her since Captain Spitfire handed off the reins of the Wonderbolts to her and I decided to retire from stunt flying, but I was still surprised nonetheless. At first, I thought she wanted me to come by to give a speech to new recruits or something. Though, it turns out that the job actually has me working at the Akademia of all places.

	Personally, I’m not sure why I would be qualified for such a position. Though, I wouldn’t mind a side job to get some extra bits and such. I mean, the description alone seems easy enough. Just make sure that nopony’s causing any trouble for the students and staff, file reports and so on. Sounded like some of my duties back with the Wonderbolts.

	The interview for it should be coming soon, so hopefully I can find out more while I’m there.



As Sunny skimmed over a few more pages, it became clear to her that this must’ve been some kind of diary. Each one of the entries that were on here were not always the same and as the earth pony continued to read, she tried her best to skim over some of the parts that did not seem too important.

Yet, after a few pages, there was one entry that caught her attention.



Day 30:

	There’s something about this place that feels… off. 

	Earlier today, I had the chance to meet with one of the creatures who was on the Convocation, Moondancer. Our meeting was mostly to discuss my performance over the first month of the job while also telling me about the Akademia’s goals for the future and how my job would be a part of that. Reason why is because she was considering promoting me to where I was in charge of security for the ‘special projects’ that the Akamedia had been working tirelessly on. Such things included being able to travel through space and different realms, stasis chambers that act as a form of cryosleep and other things that sounded like something straight out of a science fiction novel.

	Then, she went to show me the Akademia’s pride and joy. The Prism Engine.

	And that’s where things got weird.

	For a majority of the time that I was down in the chamber where the engine was kept, everything seemed fine as Moondancer explained to me things like how it was constructed and what it can do. But before she had the chance to demonstrate, the engine started to glow and set off a pulse of some kind. It caused problems with their equipment sure… but when that same pulse hit me, it… felt as if everything ounce of magic I had was drained.

	Almost exactly like when Spitfire, myself and the rest of the Wonderbolts confronted Tirek all those years ago.

	Moondancer told me that nothing like this had ever happened before and I believe her, but something about that engine doesn’t feel right at all. It was made as a means to help others and have Cloudsdale grow, sure… but what if this doesn’t become just a single occurrence? If something like this happened again and on a greater scale, who knows who else might be affected or get hurt because of it?

	Maybe I’m just overthinking things… but I know for sure that I don’t want what we had to go through happen to anypony else.



“Hey, Sunny, did you find something?”

Immediately, Sunny looked up from where she was to find that both Zipp and Izzy were standing across from her on the other side of the room. “Oh, y-yeah. I t-think so.”

“Well, at least that’s something,” Zipp let out a small sigh, “Izzy and I tried to look in the other desks, but aside from just office supplies, figurines and romance novels, we couldn’t find anything. What was it that you found, though?”

“A journal,” Sunny said as she turned the journal around so her friends could read it, “I think it belonged to this ‘Soarin’ pony. Still looking through it, but… something about the engine we’re trying to find didn’t feel right with him.”

“What, like on a superstitious level or-?” Zipp asked, just as her eyes reached the point where the entry described ‘the incident’ on the page. “Oh. That’s… something.”

“Yeah, but I don’t think it’s enough,” the earth pony insisted, before turning the journal back around as she began to flip through the pages, “I mean, this ‘Soarin’ realized that something seemed wrong, so-.”

“Hey girls, look what I found!”

As Sunny and Zipp looked to the back right corner of the room, they found that Izzy was fiddling around with a rectangle shaped object that was on a rope. But when the unicorn brought it over to show them, both of them realized that the object in question belonged to the Head Security Officer that worked here. It was about the size of a hoof and had the words ‘Access Card’ labeled on the side along with a portrait of the same stallion that Sunny saw in the picture frame.

“What’s that? Some kind of fancy ID?” Zipp asked.

“I don’t know. But if it has somepony’s face on it, then it must be important, right?” Izzy asked, before she looked over to Sunny, “Ooh, maybe there’s something in the journal! Sunny, can you look and see?”

Sunny nodded as she cracked open the journal again and tried to find another entry. Even though it took some time, the earth pony was lucky and found something about it. Though, it didn’t seem to be the major point.



Day 188:

	I don’t know why, but something is clearly wrong here and I think the Akademia are trying to hide it from everypony.

	When I went to get my access card renewed this afternoon, I heard two other ponies talking about some recent tests they were running on the Prism Engine. At first, it sounded like some standard procedures. However, one of them mentioned that the Engine had been having some magical ‘flare ups’ and when those happen, any magic that somepony might be casting or channeling gets disrupted. The two of them thought that the problem was something that could be easily fixed, but when one of them asked if they should report it to Comet Chaser, the other said to forget the notion altogether since the Akademia ‘doesn’t want risks, only results’.

	Do they really think they could try to keep this thing hidden from every creature? If we lose our magic because of it, there would be dire consequences! And what if this isn’t limited to just Cloudsdale? I heard from Rainbow a short while ago that some of the new recruits for the Wonderbolts are finding it much harder to stay in the air during practice, as if their strength and will to fly had been sucked dry.

	Somepony has to know about this. Because if we don’t, the consequences would be much worse. But who can I really trust? The Convocation has their hooves in everything that happens inside the Akademia. If they even catch a small wind of anything I found out, I would lose everything that I had gained over the last few months.

	I might have to take some time off to make a few inquiries. Perhaps the School of Friendship would be a good place to start. Twilight’s former student, Starlight Glimmer, is in charge and she’s more adept with magical matters than I am. If somepony can help me get to the bottom of this, it might be her.



A cold chill creeped down Sunny’s spine as she read the words to her friends. When they arrived, she was under the impression that this ‘Convocation’ wanted to help other ponies. Yet, this was the exact opposite of that. If something was wrong, why would they ignore something that could be potentially dangerous?

There must’ve been a reason. Given everything that was described, there had to be.

Without even talking to Izzy and Zipp, Sunny continued to look through the journal and found another entry at a later point in time.



Day 199:

	I finally had the chance to meet Starlight Glimmer today to share with her everything that had been on my mind. From my experiences with the Prism Engine and the flare ups to the Convocation choosing not to do anything about it. I even made sure to include what Rainbow told me for good measure.

	When she had the chance to process everything and form a theory, it turned out that this was much worse than either of us were imagining.

	For this to fully make sense, Starlight explained to me that over the last few months, areas in Equestria that were once rich and dense with magic were now starting to grow weak. The phenomenon was first spotted when a fire broke out in the Everfree Forest almost five months ago. While the weather ponies were able to put it out and prevent it from spreading, something was making it to where the Everfree didn’t have enough magic in order to heal itself. At first, I thought that the problem was the amount of magic it had… but, as Starlight put it herself, there had not been any changes in the forest or the activity of its residents.

	Then, an idea struck me. What if something took the forest's magic beforehand?

	And immediately, we were horrified at what this could mean.

	The Prism Engine, the same contraption that the Convocation were so proud of, was stealing magic. Not like with Tirek… but worse. It was taking magic from Equestria itself. Starlight told me that this went against everything that magic was supposed to be for one simple reason. You cannot get something without giving something back in return. Pegasi give magic to the clouds and the weather and in return, we are able to fly and control the weather. Unicorns draw forth on mana for spells and then give it back when the spell’s done (which is, as Starlight put it herself, why some unicorns would be completely exhausted after channeling stronger spells). Earth ponies magic comes from the land and in exchange for using it with their crops and plants, they care for the land itself.

	It’s supposed to be a balancing act… but what the Prism Engine is doing is tipping the balance to where we are taking too much and not giving anything back. And if this goes on… we might end up losing the source of everything that we rely on.



Sunny froze at that. Was this… how Equestria lost its magic? No, no. There had to be more than this. They must’ve done something, otherwise everything that she and her friends had accomplished wouldn’t have happened.



Day 205:

	Things had just gone from bad to worse.

	At the advise of Ms. Glimmer, I brought both Rainbow Dash and Moondancer to tell them our concerns about the Engine. While getting them to hear us was one thing, both of them had doubts on whether or not to believe us. However, that wasn’t what was concerning the most.

	What was concerning was that Moondancer told us that the Convocation had plans to use the Engine to ‘showcase’ their work to the public on the evening of the Akademia’s tenth anniversary… and that plan would be to try and have the city be raised into the stars above us.

	If they pulled off such an attempt, they would put all the lives on Cloudsdale… no, all the lives in Equestria at risk. Something has to be done. We can’t waste anymore time just sitting around and waiting for something horrible to happen when we could prevent it right now-



Much to Sunny’s own shock, the rest of the page had been torn off and any following pages afterwards were empty. Her friends watched as she tried to hastily find something… anything that could help narrow down what happened. Yet, nothing could be found.

That is, until a page at the very end of the journal was pushed out and gently floated to the ground by Zipp’s hooves. As the pegasi picked it up, one single glance told her everything that she needed to know. “Sunny, I think you should see this.”



If you are reading this… I have failed.

	We did everything that we could in order to stop the engine. Yet, even then, the efforts of everypony who helped me and got me to this point were in vain. S-Starlight said… that she had a contingency in place, b-but… I don’t know if it will work in time.

	On the night of the anniversary, the Convocation attempted to send Cloudsdale to the stars and beyond with the Engine. However, their attempts only caused the Engine to be overloaded with volatile magic. Sapping the magic of everyone in the city… and if Starlight’s contingency failed… everything else in Equestria.

	With no magic to keep the city afloat, the only thing that it could do was fall. Every creature panicked and rushed to try and flee the city. Buildings that were held together with magic immediately began to crumble and fall. We were watching a nightmare we could’ve prevented unfold before our very eyes and all we could do was help those who were forced to leave behind their homes and livelihood so they could live another day. Yet, out of everyone who fled, there was one who chose to stay behind despite everything. For Rainbow thought that if she could steer the city away, then the others may live.

	However, I… couldn’t agree with that. She has a family and friends to go back to. Yet, everytime I tried to reason with her, she adamantly refused. 

	So, to ensure that she lives… I had to put her in one of the stasis chambers. If it works, when all of this is over, she will wake and be able to return to the life she had.

	I’m so sorry, Rainbow… but I had to. You’re too important to throw your life away from somepony like me. Somepony who broke your trust before and even now. But… we need you. We need Loyalty. Equestria needs Harmony because that is the basis of who we are. And if we lose that… then what would we become?

	If you’re reading this, I beg you one last foolish request. Prevent the mistakes of the past from repeating themselves again.

	Destroy the Engine… Bury our Mistakes… Set us Free.

-Soarin Skies, former field commander of the Wonderbolts, Head of Security of the Stella Akademia, and a friend of Loyalty.



At first, the three of them didn’t say anything. Feelings of both shock and confusion lingered in the room with them, with the words on the page leaving behind more questions.

Then, a realization hit them. The contingency that was mentioned… it must’ve been the crystals they collected on their first journey. When they were brought together, magic returned to Equestria… almost as if they were undoing a lock on a door that had been sealed for a long time. Was it possible that Ms. Glimmer’s contingency involved it to such a degree. There was no way to know for certain.

Yet, there was one question that could be answered. “Sunny, what do we do now?”

The earth pony had only one response as she took the page and began to leave the room, “If the Engine is responsible for everything,” she said, regret lingering in her throat with the words she had to say next, “Then it’s up to us to make things right.”