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// Oh Pinkie, What Have You Done? 
// Story: "Harmony Is Key" 
// by Max Initial 
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Twilight would take a step inside the room, it was enormous, something she wasn’t expecting considering the way it looked from the outside. It was larger than any science laboratory she had ever seen, and to think it had just been hidden here.. left in pristine shape for all these years, decades, centuries? Completely untouched, as if the ponies who worked in it just left one day. The room had a stale smell to it, almost like the walls, though made of concrete, had begun to mold. The air was thick with an overwhelming amount of dust, which was visible in the air itself with any disturbance it received. Not to mention not only along with the air, but it had also coated what seemed like every surface of the room in a dense film of itself, caked in every crevice. The room was cold, with an unignorable, sharp chill. In the middle, a large, test-tube-looking vat stood. Wires and tubes ran in every direction from both the top and bottom ends of it. A glow would emanate from its center, with the silhouette of a pony, presumably, Harmony could be seen inside through the blurred and frosted-over glass. 

She would use her horn to create a light, as it appeared as if the lighting system that once worked within it, had failed at some point, and no longer functioned. She would study the room further as Pinkie would make her way in after she had entered. Many desks were stationed about the room, with papers strewn across some, and others neat and orderly. What appeared to be control panels were also present, some sitting alongside the desks, while others were placed in their own specific spots for whatever purpose they served. Twilight would notice only one door stood in the room, near the far back, what it led to? She was to find out, walking forwards over to it. Though before she could touch it, a loud bang could be heard, and Twilight would turn around with a startled expression.

“Oh.. haha, sorry.. that’s my bad.” Pinkie would laugh nervously, a mug from one of the tables had fallen, shattering on the ground in front of her. She would quickly use her hoof to try and sweep the pieces into a small pile, before quickly making her way over to Twilight.

“Pinkie, I thought you knew to be careful!” Twilight would sigh, scolding Pinkie for a moment, before looking back up at her. “Stay with me from now on, and try not to touch anything please.” She would say, before swinging the door in front of her open. Within the second room, what looked like large generators had been lined up and stacked neatly on top of each other, stretching far down the room, though oddly the noise they produced was more of a deep hum than that of a normal generator. “Ah! This is how this place still has power... Amazing it’s held up this long unless it’s somehow self-sustaining..” Twilight would study them for a moment, attempting to figure out how they worked, but would quickly turn back to continue looking at the main room. Though when she turned back Pinkie had disappeared from her sight.

“Pinkie, I thought I told you to stay with-” Twilight would watch as Pinkie was bouncing about, pressing almost every button she saw in sight. Quickly, Twilight would rush over, shoving her away in an attempt to stop her. “What do you think you’re doing?! I told you not to touch anything, and yet you disobeyed me anyway!” She would exclaim angrily, watching as some of the lights and buttons she had touched started to blink in patterns different than what she observed originally.

Pinkie would look down at her hooves, “..but they were all so tempting.. I didn’t think it would do all that much..” she would sulk for a moment, sensing Twilight's anger and disappointment, quickly retreating over to a corner of the room to sit quietly out of her way.

"Yeah.. just.. just stay over there for now okay?" Frustrated, Twilight would stare at one of the control panels trying to figure out how to fix the mess Pinkie had created, but she had no idea how any of it worked in the first place. She started to walk over to Pinkie to talk to her again, only to step on the shattered cup that she had broken earlier, jumping up in pain, her back slamming against one of the larger control panels, before falling forward, pressing more buttons in the process.

Suddenly the vat that contained Harmony would give off a cloud of cold vapor, slowly beginning to slide upward as a crackling sound could be heard coming from it. Twilight, still in pain, would feel her hoof for a moment before looking up, watching as the glass tube retracted, and the frost started to quickly melt and fall apart.

“No! Not yet!” Twilight would only be able to stare as Harmony, easily visible now without the frosted-over tube that had just moments before contained her, could be seen disengaging slowly from the frame that held her within the vat. She would rush over, as Harmony would fall from the frame, slamming against the floor with a loud thud before Twilight had the time to catch her. The researchers who had been stationed outside of the entrance had now rushed inside after all the commotion and stared wide-eyed as Harmony lay unconscious, hopefully, on the ground.

“What did you do?!” The lead researcher whom she had spoken with before had rushed over to her. “I didn’t think you were going to.. b-but how did you.. so early..” She was lost for words, and quite frankly so was Twilight at that moment.

“I promise I didn’t mean to do this, it was by complete mistake... I-I.. someone bring a blanket over here! Please!” Shortly after Twilight's call, one of the researchers would bring over one of the sheets they used to cover some of the equipment, which was better than nothing at that moment, as anything they could use was vital. She would wrap a still, hopefully only unconscious Harmony quickly in it, in an attempt to warm her up.

After a few minutes, she would finally be able to feel a pulse, a thin and long, drawn-out one. Though a pulse nonetheless. A large sigh of relief would come from her, and the rest of the research team. Pinkie would come forward cautiously, stepping toward her.

“Twilight... I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to cause any of this..” Twilight would watch as tears would well up in Pinkie’s eyes, before giving a long sigh. “Pinkie Pie, I know you didn’t... but you knew not to, and yet you still did anyway. I’m still frustrated with you for that.. very much so... You not only just put history at stake, but more importantly the life of a pony. Though you know I always forgive you. For now though, please just stay over there, I don’t want you to mess anything up more than you have already..”

Pinky would nod, still with a sad look plastered across her face, before retreating back to her spot. Twilight would stare down at the pony she held in her arms. Harmony was nothing like her mind led her to believe, she looked like any other pony you could always see wandering Ponyville. Colored white, with purple hair, and a large horn, nothing particularly special. Though her cutie mark... That was something else. Instead of a mark, it was.. a crystal? It was pentagon-shaped, with a center jewel that was silver. She would run her hoof across it only for a second, and in that second a loud grunt could be heard through the room.

Harmony, well it appeared she had just awoken...