The notes of doctor Plasma Cannon, the leader of Equestrian Scientific Centre.
So, these are my research notes I have scribbled down during my work at the Equestrian Scientific Centre, or ESC for short. These notes and entries I write tend to be somewhat diary-like, but it should not matter.
These notes are only the most interesting things. I won’t write an entry every time someone finds a new material that can absorb water nearly a half as good as a cloud.
But first, I’m going to tell you a bit about myself. Just to bore you to death, that is.
As I already said, I’m the lead researcher of ESC, having complete control over the whole facility and its resources, including the occupants.
How come a single pony has this much power in his hooves?
I have made much work in order to achieve this position of mine. I have given my word to the princesses themselves that I will be a good leader. In addition to that, they have made simple rules that I have, and will, follow.
If one of those rules is broken, I will lose my job, my facility and my title as a doctor of physics and electronics. Therefore, I have fairly good reasons to follow these certain rules.
One might think that being a boss of such a huge facility is easy. This certainly is the current stereotype the movies and literature are feeding us. The popular movies of the last five years show bosses as fat and lazy, sometimes balding ponies that just relax and let their minions do the work.
But one should not believe everything one sees. The work is hard. I personally supervise every single experiment done in this building, just to avoid accidents.
I personally sign every single paper that comes into or leaves the building. If you want to do a test and you need resources, you have to ask me first and I have to fill out some papers and watch over you as you do your test.
And of course, I take part in designing a better future for the country. A future powered by electricity and magic together.
But that future is still far away. We need to be reasonable. We have made some breakthroughs in our tests, but that still doesn’t mean that we will invent anything great today.
But over time, such inventions will happen. For example, a couple of months back we finally, after years of research, managed to find and prove the existence of these tiny building blocks we call “atoms”.
That invention was such a huge accomplishment that the whole team got personal congratulations from princess Celestia herself. That moment was one of the best of my life. The princess shaking my hoof, congratulating me from the incredible work.
Well, I guess that that’s enough of boring you to death. If you have gained access over this folder and can understand what I’m saying, feel free to read through. Some of the greatest inventions of the history of ponykind may reside between these covers.
Always be eager to learn, my friend!
- Doctor Plasma Cannon, the leader of ESC.
12. February:
Interesting times are upon us. We are closing on what we hope to be the final breakthrough on discovering the borders of material and what’s beyond existing material.
Everyone in the facility is literally holding their breath as I walk over to the machine that is supposed to take atoms apart and expand the fabric of space and time.
We are so close. If this works, the future is suddenly closer than ever.
14. February:
A minor error in the machine managed to stop the process as something was about to happen. You can’t possibly imagine how awkward it felt to stand there in the best possible spot, the success of the whole test lying on your hooves and to see it fail due to what turned out to be a badly wired circuit.
A thing that could have been fixed in mere minutes, maybe even less, managed to ruin a year’s work. Luckily, we were able to save the machine before the certain circuit caused any internal damage to the machine.
We’re going to try again tomorrow. Hopefully things go a little better this time.
15. February:
It worked!
For a small amount of time, there was a little notch in the graph. If it’s not a magical error- which is extremely unlikely- we have managed to breach the limits of time and space. Even though this was only for a time that one’s eye could barely notice, it’s still incredible news.
Imagine. We dig deeper and deeper into this. Eventually we will find a way to make that time longer, maybe even seconds.
If “the wormhole”, as we call it, would stay open for as long as a second, a unicorn would be able to try to control it with magic.
If the unicorn would get a hold of the wormhole, he or she would possibly be able to hold it down for a longer time and in the best case scenario, pin it down. Therefore, we would be able to investigate what’s beyond the visible matter.
A time of change may be upon us. And I, for one, welcome such change open-heartedly.
24. February:
We have done series of test with “The Holemaker”. I know, I know. We aren’t that good at naming stuff.
But anyways, we have been able to see the small crack in space for multiple times and even have pictures of it.
It’s like a clear winter sky; so deep and dark, but if you look really closely you might spot some small brinks of light.
Those lights possibly mean that there is something down there. Something new. Something interesting.
We are working on a basic prototype of “The Holeopener”. It’s basically a smaller and a less powerful copy of The Holemaker. If everything goes as planned, we can use The Holemaker to create a hole and The Holeopener to keep the hole alive.
If this really works, we might be able to explore what’s beyond the hole.
What are the mysterious lights?
4. May:
A long break. From writing, I mean. We have worked non-stop since the first 3D-model of the “Portal Gun” came. Yes, we renamed The Holeopener to be Portal Gun. It sounds better, doesn’t it?
So, that makes a total of three and a half weeks of 20-hour workdays.
But I’m not complaining. Sleep is for the weak, especially now when we are nearing the breakthrough. The basic skeleton of the gun is ready. It is really only in development stages, but it has the basic methods to keep the portal alive.
In a couple of days, the final pieces will be secured and attached, and the gun will be built.
The excitement is killing me.
8. May:
Well, the build got delayed by a day. One of the lead builders got sick and I had to connect the last piece of the gun.
But all in all, the test was a success.
Oh who am I kidding it was a fucking huge breakthrough! Not only were we able to hold the portal down for a couple of seconds, the Portal Gun actually managed to pin it!
Now we have a small crack in the fabric of time and space located in a small plastic cube where the best scientist of our facility investigate it all day, all night.
Any time soon they will manage to combine the data into a one huge chart and understand it.
And when that time comes, history will be changed.
27. May:
Well, it took long but I think it was worth the wait.
We now have some basic data of the hole.
First off, it’s not a hole. It’s a portal. So, seems like Portal Gun did its job, eh?
Bad pun, I know. But anyways, it leads to a different dimension. A. Different. Dimension!
Can you believe it? We, the regular ponies, have managed to create a tunnel between two dimensions, ours being one of them.
This might mean that there are other dimensions, too.
And if there are other dimensions, there must be other forms of life than the ones we know.
Just imagine if we could go through the portal and explore the new world.
29. May:
One of our designers just came in.
She had a new model with her.
The model was a basic prototype of a weapon that shot electric charges at the point where you were aiming at, causing it to get electrically charged.
But at the same time it would de-charge materials that were already charged.
As soon as I head this, I told the whole team to come over. We discussed, planned and made some adjustments and BOOM! There it was. Portal Gun². It should be able of opening and pinning non-charged portals that are supposed to be accessible.
We are running beta-tests tomorrow.
2. June:
The tests got delayed yet again. We tried to de-charge the portal with it, but it didn’t quite work.
It shot the same blue orb as always and the orb hit the portal just as planned.
When it connected with the portal, it splashed. Several little orbs gathered around the portal, forming up a field. The field was floating around the portal, but as we tried to throw a ball through, it bounced back just as it had done earlier.
Everything in the Portal Gun² itself is fine. It works just as it was supposed to, save for not making the portal accessible.
Well, I’ve got a long night of fixing ahead.
3. June:
I realized what had happened.
I watched the tapes of the test again and again and again. After a good five hours of trying to fix the gun, I noticed a small detail we all had missed.
When the portal was “charged”, the small lights were moving left.
But when the power field produced by the Portal Gun² hit it, the lights started moving right.
If I completely understand what’s going on, we have created a time machine.
I’m going to investigate that tomorrow. I’m afraid that I’ll do mistakes when I’m tired.
4. June:
Well, I tested it all right.
One of the members of our team, Short Circuit, lost his dear pet rat we had used as a lab rat mere days ago.
Well, I got his permission to test the gun on the poor little fella. If you are reading this Shorts, huge thanks for you! You and Louise made this possible.
I positioned Louise (Short’s pet lab rat) on the table, right under the “tip” of the gun. She still looked so adorkable. The little fella had been our favorite. So smart and so cute.
“Sorry Louise. I’m doing this for science.” Were my exact words as I made my final apologies and shot an electrically charged orb at her.
It formed up a field, just like it had done with the portal. The field circled the white fur of Louise, actually going inside her.
This went on for a good ten minutes. I was just about to kill the power as I saw her left hind leg twitch a little.
You cannot possibly imagine the look on my face as she jumped up to her feet just the very next second.
Yes, I just brought a lab rat that had been dead for two whole days back into life. We had just invented a gun that would turn time back, making you younger. This little gun that was attached to the “leg” we used to hold things up could change the world. It would change the world.
How did I celebrate this?
I went to see Shorts, Louise sitting on my shoulder. You should have seen his face as I walked and he saw Louise.
I’m going to inform Celestia as soon as possible.
Better future, here we come!
8. June:
Well, I’m not a doctor anymore. I’m not in the lead of the facility anymore.
Princesses Celestia and Luna themselves came to pay us a visit.
Well, I took this as an honor. The rulers had come to congratulate us.
But the truth was all different. They had come to shut the facility down. Every single pony lost their job. Every single one.
I asked them why. Why had they done this to us? We were the force that kept Equestria going forward, towards better times.
But the answer I received was the worst one I’ve ever heard.
“Ponies are not meant to live forever. Playing a god is not a good idea, Plasma. We are shutting this facility down to prevent the misuse of the weapons you have created.”
I was outrageous. They had taken everything from me. My job. My lab. My inventions. My titles.
I was thrown out to the streets. The best known of the scientists that Equestria had ever witnessed.
I became a laughing stock. Everywhere I went, everywhere they would laugh at me. Random ponies that walked past would point hooves at me and whisper to each other.
“That’s the professor who got kicked out. They say that he did filly-testing.”
Lies. Filthy lies.
But I have nothing to do about it. They won’t listen. I’m all alone.
This is the last entry of my notes. This day will be the last one of my life. If miracles won’t happen.
And I don’t believe in miracles.
9. June:
I guess I have to start believing.
I was in the local bar, drowning my emotions into a mugful of the finest whisky the bar had to offer when a completely random pony just sat next to me and started chatting.
“So, Doctor Plasma Cannon, former leader of the ESC, I assume?”
I looked at him. He had that certain countryside accent, a Stetson-styled hat and a stalk of hay sticking from his mouth. The first thing I thought to myself was ‘How come a yokel like that knows me?’
The best way to find out was to ask.
“Yeah, I am. And you are?”
“I’d rather not tell. But you can call me Rob.”
“So, Rob, how come you know me? And how come you know I’m a former leader?”
“Let’s just say that I have connections. But enough chit-chat. Time for business. I’m offering you a place as a lead scientist in the Rebellion army that fights against the Princesses. Our main objective is to put a single normal pony to the lead instead of the “all-powerful” princesses that just happen to be eternal. So, are you in?”
I knew that this dude didn’t have all the buffalo in the pasture. But this was the best possible chance for me to get appreciation and revenge. So, I took the offer.
“I’d be honored to. I, by myself, happen to have something to settle with the princesses.”
“Great! Shall we get to the labs immediately?”
I chugged down the last drops of my whisky, wiped my chin with my hoof and rose up.
“We shall.”
And he escorted me outside where a simple wooden chariot was waiting for us.
A better life is ahead. I can feel it.
And someday, I will get my revenge.
And that day shall be soon.
Always be eager to learn, my Rebel comrade!
- Plasma Cannon, leader of the Rebellion Scientific Group.