“Now, girls. It wouldn’t do well to keep your mouths hanging open like that,” said Celestia teasingly. “You could catch flies.”
Rarity was the first to recover. “Principal, do you mean to say that you are in charge here?” she asked. “Why? How?”
Celestia just kept smiling. “You didn’t really think I was just a school official, did you? What did you think I did during my off hours?”
“I always thought you sat at home watching cheesy soap operas and eating ice cream while wearing a fluffy robe. Sometimes I’d even imagine that you had a bunch of cats running around the place.” Pinkie interjected with an enormous grin.
Celestia did not expect that. She also did not expect that she would laugh. “My, my Miss Pie. Although you were right about me having a cat.”
“Wait a second!” said Rainbow Dash. “If you’re the boss around here, is that why CHS is right in front of the building we entered to get down here?”
“For that matter, what in tarnation does that make Canterlot High?” asked Applejack.
“Before I get into all that, would you girls mind accompanying me? It also might help if you could see what I’ll be talking about.” Celestia stretched an inviting hand towards the larger door.
Three of the girls gave her wary looks. The other two, pink and yellow, were excited and uncomfortable respectively.
“Don’t worry, my dears. I’ve done nothing but watch over you as students of Canterlot High and I don’t plan on acting any different just because we’re underground. You can trust me,” said Celestia in her sweet, motherly voice.
Exchanging quick glances, the three apprehensive girls nodded and agreed to follow her. They motioned to the other two and followed Celestia out the door. Top Form followed the group from a short distance.
Rarity gasped when they crossed the threshold of the door. Grand ceilings, gorgeous marble tiles, amazing stone sculptures, red velvet curtains, saffron valances with intricate embossed patterns, fine mahogany paneling. It was just too much for the young designer.
“It’s like a palace,” she marveled as her eyes darted around the room eating up as much of the ambience as she could.
“Indeed.” Celestia giggled. “We do have quite an interest in classical architecture and design.”
“Uh, meaning no offence, Ah think we had a few things we meant to ask you, Principal,” said Applejack as she awkwardly waved to a familiar person in a blue blazer that gave her a friendly smile.
“Of course. If I’m not mistaken, Miss Dash’s first question was the relation between CHS and this facility, correct?”
Rainbow nodded as she passed what she could have sworn was the fourth familiar face.
“The two actually have a very long history, but the simplest things to say is that CHS was built with a purpose in mind. A purpose beyond offering some of the finest education in Equestria, of course,” Celestia answered as she smiled to the next subordinate to greet her.
“That’s still pretty cryptic,” remarked Rainbow Dash.
Celestia gave two small laughs. “It is, isn’t it?” She thought for a moment on how best to describe it to the girls. “You all obviously know that magic exists in this world and that each of you had awakened your powers. Truth be told, everyone in the world is capable of magic. Their powers are all just asleep.”
“Everybody?” asked Pinkie as she waved to a random grey coated agent. The agent happily waved back.
“Yes, everybody. Some may go their whole lives without awakening, but there are others who are on the borderline of regaining their powers. We call them Dreamers. Yesterday, all five of you were classified as Dreamers.”
“So it’s true? You and your people have been watching us?” asked Rarity, more than a little disgusted.
“Not really. I assure you Miss Rarity, we do not monitor your personal lives. You see, Dreamers are obvious to spot because of two distinct things. In the physical sense, they have attitudes that go above and beyond that of an ordinary sleeper. They also have a very different outlook and attitude in life. For example: you are only how old, yet you are the owner and proprietor of a successful dress shop. Miss Fluttershy is also responsible for a sizable chunk of Canterlot’s stray population, if I am not mistaken.”
Fluttershy blushed at her mention while Rarity went into thought.
“What’s the second thing?” asked Rainbow.
“That is more on the magical side of things. Dreamers tend to produce a…. chaotic aura around them as their body begins to adjust to their surfacing powers. It’s actually very obvious for us.”
“That’s why Canterlot High is an invitation-only school, isn’t it?” interrupted Rarity.
Celestia smiled at her conclusion. “Indeed, my dear. Before you lived in Canterlot, you came from all across Equestria, from Ponyville to Cloudsdale. Then one day, you all received an invitation and scholarship for Canterlot High.”
Rainbow began to reminisce of that moment in her life. “My parents were thrilled when they got that letter. They were so happy that one of the most prestigious schools in Equestria was asking for me.” Rainbow’s eyes shot open as she realized what that meant. “So that means that everybody in Canterlot High can do magic? All of them can do the stuff that we can do?”
“In a sense. Your core ability is actually unique to you as a person. Such as you have amazing speed, another may have superb grace,” Celestia explained.
Rarity was about to ask another question when they stepped into the grand atrium. Her jaw nearly hit the floor. It was actually causing a few wrinkles to appear on her face, but she didn’t care at that moment. Even the others couldn’t help but be dazzled.
“Whoa,” said Applejack. She then did a double take as her peripheral vision picked up their Biology teacher, Grassy Graze, in a white blazer. She knew exactly what to ask Celestia next. “Principal, what’s with the colors of all your people here?” she said as she gestured to the agents milling about.
Celestia and the other four took a few looks at the room and at the four recurring colors being worn by the people around them. “The colors are a uniform. They denote the general type of job that people here do. Although, perhaps I’m not the best to tell you about all this. It may be better if you learned about them from them as well.” She stepped aside to reveal an older agent with gray skin and ebony—with a number of silver strands—hair. She was wearing a midnight blue blazer with a cream band around her upper right arm..
“Professor Inkwell?” asked the five girls.
“Good afternoon, ladies,” replied the old chemistry instructor.
“I’ll leave you to it then.” Celestia turned and walked towards a hallway to the northwest.
Inkwell smiled to the group. “Well, I guess that means that you’re stuck with me.”
“Professor, Ah literally just saw Mrs. Graze pass by, does that mean that the teachers at Canterlot High are part of all this?” asked Applejack.
Inkwell nodded. “Central Officer Celestia already mentioned that Canterlot High was created to gather dreamers from all around Equestria, as such, the students would need faculty that could understand exactly what they were capable of.”
“Can we please get back to the colors,” Rainbow said as she saw her first year math teacher wave to her. She awkwardly waved back and gave a weak smile.
“Well, you can see that mine is a dark shade of blue. This denotes that I am a member of the Obfuscation Division. We ensure the veil that protects the Sleepers from the dangerous world of magic stays intact. As for the others, perhaps a member of the respective division could describe it better.” She gestured to the agent who was standing a short distance away.
Top Form reared back slightly as the five sets of eyes suddenly turned their collective attention towards her. “Oh! Well, um, white is the color of the Medical Division. As the name implies, we take care of the other agents as well as any sleepers who happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Essentially, if it has something to do with your body, be it physical or magical, then you go to us.”
Inkwell nodded and smiled as another agent—wearing a grey blazer—approached them from the side. “Are you sure you’re up for this, dear? We could always get someone else, especially after the beating you went through today.”
The girls recognized the necomer as the redhead from the fight with the chimaera. It was then that they realized they didn’t know her name.
“It’s fine, Officer Inkwell. Whites patched me up pretty good. Besides, I’ve seen these girls in action first hand and it would be my honor to introduce them to the Reactionary Division.” She turned to face the girls. “My name is Red Letter, leader of Reaction Team Two. I think it’s pretty obvious what our division does here,” she said as she gave a proud smirk.
The sound of feet hurriedly running across the marble tiles was heard by those present. After a moment, a slightly hunchbacked, lanky man with brown hair and a pointed nose slid into view from the hallway to their left. He was wearing a velvet red blazer with a cream band on his upper left arm. He stumbled a few times on the polished floors as he approached the group.
“Sorry I’m late!” he said between breaths. “Are these the newbies that Central asked us to show around?”
Inkwell’s smile never faltered. “Yes, Inator. These are them.”
“Awesome!” He straightened out as much as his hunch allowed him and extended his arm at the closest of the five. “I’m Canterlot Magitek Officer Inator Inator, you can just call me Inator for short.”
“Uhh, pleased to meet ya’ll,” said Applejack as she slowly reached a hand out to the eager officer.
Not waiting for her, he grabbed her hand and began to shake it vigorously. Applejack couldn’t help but feel a distinct feeling of irony. She was usually the one that gave the enthusiastic handshakes.
“So I’m part of the Magitek Division. We’re in charge of building all the little toys that everyone else uses. Technology, whether it’s physical or magical, is our specialty.” He released the cowgirl’s hand when he finished.
Inkwell cleared her throat and regained the girls’ attention. “I’m afraid it would take too much time to go over the divisions one-by-one so how about this? You girls go ahead and pick which one you want to learn more about?”
Rainbow was quick to interrupt. “Hold on, are you trying to split us up?”
Inkwell gave her a look that was normally reserved for parents dealing with unsure children. “Rainbow Dash, for years we have served as your mentors and guardians whether you realize it or not. Up to this moment and beyond we will still serve as that. You are in no danger here. You are among friends.”
Rainbow eased up slightly at her words. “Fine.”
“I wanna go with Red Letter!” shouted an excited Pinkie Pie as she skipped over to the Reactionary agent.
“Good choice!” she said as she placed an arm around the pink girl.
“I suppose I’ll go with Professor Inkwell. I’m a bit intrigued at how you’ve managed to keep a secret this big from everyone,” said Rarity as she approached the professor. Inkwell nodded in kind as she approached. “Would you like to come with, Fluttershy?”
The yellow girls eyes were downcast as she mumbled, “Um, actually I think I want to go see the Medical division. They help people.” She shrank as she noticed the surprised look Rarity gave her.
The fashionista smiled warmly at her friend then turned to Top Form. “You will take care of her, of course?”
Top Form returned the smile. “You have my word.” She reached out a hand towards Fluttershy who gingerly accepted it.
“Ah think I’ll go with Inator over here. You guys do tech, right?” asked Applejack.
Inator nodded. “Yup.”
“Then Ah think Ah’d like to see what ya’ll got down here.”
“I’m going with Pinkie and Red, then,” said Rainbow. “Seriously, you guys were awesome earlier.”
“Glad to have you on board kid. You weren’t so bad yourself zipping around the place like nobody’s business. Takes guts to do that against a Class 7.”
Rainbow beamed at the praise. “Well, what can I say?”
After agreeing to meet back up later, Red, Pinkie and Dash went through the southeast corridor, Fluttershy and Top Form took the northeast, Rarity and Inkwell the northwest, and Applejack and Inator the southwest.
Rarity enjoyed her walk through the halls far more than Inkwell thought she would. She was aware that the young girl had a taste for the refined but she never knew that she really appreciated it. It warmed her heart to know that class and elegance would live on.
“You’re really enjoying yourself, aren’t you?” she asked.
“Oh, yes. I must say that this place is exquisite. Such beauty and grandeur and for a long time it was all literally underneath my feet.” As she scanned the walls, she noticed yet another familiar face. “Professor, I’ve been meaning to ask, why do so many people here seem so familiar?”
“That’s because they are.”
“Pardon?”
“It has something to do with the blazers that all agents wear.”
“Ah. Functional and stylish.”
Inkwell chuckled. “Indeed. The blazer is laced with special enchantments that project an illusion of sorts onto sleepers. But the mind is a complicated thing, and on some level, be it physical or magical, your subconscious can still see past the glamour.”
“Why haven’t you tried to stamp the problem out?”
“It’s too variable. The way its detected tends to differ from person to person making phasing the problem out all but impossible unless we account for every possibility.”
Rarity nodded in understanding. “So I take it this was something that your division created? The, what was it? Obfuscation?”
“Yes. With the help of the Magitek division, of course.”
The two turned a corner and came face-to-face with a large, black, ornate door. Despite its haunting and ominous presence, Rarity noted that you wouldn’t actually notice it unless you turned that particular corner. If you didn’t know it existed, you would never know it did.
The doors opened and the pair stepped inside to a simple, adequately lit hallway that had several doorways on either side that were generously spaced apart. A few blue coats exited one room, only to enter another. The pair began to walk down the hall.
“This the west wing of the Canterlot Control Center: the operations center of the Obfuscation Division,” said Inkwell.
They stopped at the first doorway. Through it, Rarity could see several cubicles wherein sat blue coats, surrounded by floating, pink tinted screens that displayed a variety of text, glyphs, runes, and other magical paraphernalia.
“This is where we can access the archives for references and research.”
“So it’s an electronic library?”
“Essentially.”
Rarity nodded as the two made their way to the next doorway on the right. Inside was another hallway with even more doors. Inkwell motioned for Rarity to follow her within.
“I think this will be more up your speed. These are workstations where you can try out new applications of your magic, or make and test little creations be it a gadget or apparel.”
The two were looking through the window of the first workroom. Inside, a blue coat and a red coat were inspecting a grey blazer being worn by a mannequin.
“These two are working on modifications for a specialized version of the jackets,” said Inkwell.
When the red nodded to the blue, she took several steps back. The blue then approached a table and put on a pair of white gloves. He raised his arms in the direction of the mannequin. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the mannequin vanished into thin air.
“Oh my!” exclaimed Rarity. “Now that is impressive.”
The red coat wore a huge grin, but lost it the moment she saw the strain on the blue’s face. Her eyes then shot open as she curled down to the floor. Even the blue dropped his hands and ducked. The mannequin reappeared right before it disintegrated into a shower of sparks and electricity.
“Looks like they still have a few kinks to iron out,” said Inkwell.
The professor led the designer to a particular room at the end of the hall. She opened the door and the two stepped inside. The leftmost wall had several bolts of fabric with several shades of the four divisions’ colors. On the side opposite the door were two well-maintained, high-quality, industry level sewing machines. The rightmost wall had a large empty table, ideal for handling large patterns and reams of cloth.
Rarity was in her element.
Inkwell approached the table and brought out a tablet from one of the drawers. She presented it to Rarity. “You are a designer, are you not? I also know that you are one to pay attention to the tiniest details, if the reports you submitted to me for the experiments we did in class are any indication.”
Rarity took the gadget. On it were the patterns and cuts for two blazers. What caught her eye, though, were the extremely detailed instructions for several embroideries that subtly covered on of them. They were tiny and practically unseen yet it was obvious that they were to be given priority. She looked to the instructor.
“Why don’t you try making both? I’m sure someone of your calibre would have no problem with it.”
Rarity took another look at the designs one more time before approaching the various cloth on the rack. She picked three shades of blue and rolled the first—the darkest—onto the table. Grabbing some tailor’s chalk from the drawer, she began to trace the pattern onto the cloth using only her eye for scaling. It came out perfectly. She grabbed a pair of scissors and cut out the respective patterns. Rolling up the remnants and placing them aside, she grabbed the next shade and repeated the motions.
Once the cuts from the three shades were finished, she brought out some embroidery materials. Using thread the same shade as the cloth, she began to mimic, in precise detail, the patterns displayed on the tablet’s screen.
As she read through the instructions, she realized that each stitch had to be accounted for in a very exact manner. Even the angle from which the thread was to enter the cloth was important. It had taken her just over two hours, but she was done with the embroideries.
She took a moment to breath when she noticed that Inkwell was still in the room with her. She received a nod from the older woman and got to work on putting the pieces all together. This process was much more straightforward. When she finished the first—the one with no embroideries—she stood up and turned to find that Inkwell had set up two mannequins for her to use. After she fitted the first blazer, she got to work on the other.
Ten minutes later, two mannequins wearing two nearly identical blazers. Inkwell turned to Rarity. “There are two white, silk gloves on the bottom shelf of the table. I want you to put them on.”
The designer complied and found that the two gloves fit perfectly. Almost as if they were tailored to her hand’s contours.
“Now grasp the shoulders of the one with the embroidered patterns. I want you to think of safety and security. Think of anything that makes you feel protected.”
She placed her hands on its shoulders as instructed. Tears began to form at the edges of Rarity’s eyes as she thought of one particularly potent memory. Her eyes were closed so she did not see the tiny embroidered patterns emit a short, blue flash of light. She let go of the mannequin and took a step back.
Inkwell smiled at her before she approached the desk. She pulled out a pair of gloves, similar to what Rarity was wearing, from her coat pocket. Rarity noticed that the patterns on Inkwell’s varied slightly from what she was using.
The professor placed her hand above the table such that a definite shadow formed on the surface. The black shade twisted around and reformed itself into the silhouette of a particularly menacing dagger. Inkwell then grabbed the two dimensional projection which turned it into a three dimensional weapon.
“Professor?” Rarity asked cautiously.
“I do apologize in advance for this.” Inkwell brought the knife to bear on the blazer with no embroidery. It cut like a hot knife through butter. A large gash now went through the entire left side of the dark blue blazer.
Rarity’s mouth fell open. “Professor?!”
Before she could say any more, Inkwell raised her knife and attacked the other. Just before the blade made contact, it stopped. Not by Inkwell’s choice, Rarity noted. The professor had not let up and was actively still pressing onto the cloth. She took a step closer and noticed that there was still a tiny sliver of air between the knife’s edge and the magical cloth. When she squinted, she noticed that there was also a tiny amount of light that was acting as a barrier for her work.
After a few moments, Inkwell relented. “Impressive. Whatever thoughts you poured into this were potent.”
Rarity blushed. She would never tell what it was, but she agreed that the memory was indeed potent. “Thank you, professor.”
“How did you even manage to fit all of this in here?!” asked Rainbow, her expression dumbfounded.
Right before her was a full track and field with various sport and exercise equipment scattered around the green grass. A number of people were jogging around the track whilst a few used the available things. Above was the gorgeous blue of a calm, cloudless day. The only problem she had with this was that they were still deep beneath the ground in the eastern wing of the Canterlot Control Center.
Red Letter placed a hand on her shoulder. “Our people just really know how to maximize interior space.”
Rainbow wasn’t buying it. She pointed above. “That’s the sky!”
Red rolled her eyes. “Fine. We have agents who are pretty good with spatial magic. While everything you see here is actually here and isn’t an illusion of any kind, it also isn’t obeying the conventional laws of physics.”
That she could buy. “Alright, I’ll take your word for it. I was never really much for the egghead stuff anyway.”
“Why don’t you give yourself a quick warm up with a couple of laps.”
Excitement returned to her features. “With pleasure.” She turned and ran—
—at a surprisingly normal pace. She looked to her feet before her eyes shot open. She looked at Red with a twisted expression and stomped towards her. “Okay, what did that little machine of yours do to me?!” she demanded.
Red tilted her head slightly at the question before remembering that Rainbow and her friends were all newly awakened. “That’s the effect of the stabilization process.”
“You took it away?”
“No! When someone gains access to their magic, their body isn’t used to dealing with that level of energy so they tend to, unintentionally, warp the world around them. Stabilization is meant to equalize your internal energies and make it safe for you to keep on existing,” she assured her.
“So I can still go super fast like I was earlier?” asked Rainbow.
“Of course,” Red said as she nodded. “You just need to be wearing these.” She raised her hands to show off her pair of white, silken gloves.
“And where can I get those?”
“You can use my spare first.” Red pulled out a pair of the gloves that she had folded on the inside pocket of her grey blazer. “Eventually you’ll get your own personalized ones from the Magitek division.”
She tossed the gloves over to Rainbow who eagerly put them on the moment she caught them. She flexed her hands as she took notice of the tiny symbols on the gloves. “So how do I use them? Do I say something like, ‘gloves activate’ or ‘startup’ or whatever?”
Red snorted. “No, silly. For you it would be best if you envisioned speed. You're an athlete so that shouldn't be too difficult since you know the feeling. As cheesy as this sounds, you have to put the thrill of speed into your heart. Know it from the bottom of your being.”
“Really?” Rainbow asked, flatly.
Red sighed as she once again rolled her eyes. “I know it sounds sappy, but just trust me on this. It’ll work.”
Rainbow shook her head in disbelief as she positioned herself. She started running as she thought of what Red told her. Get the feeling of speed in my heart? she thought. How the hay am I even supposed to do that? After the first few meters of her going at her normal—but nonetheless impressive—pace, she closed her eyes and started to think about what it felt like when she first went all out that morning. The thrill of going ninety miles an hour. The euphoria of the speed. The wind cutting through her hair, tingling the nerves on her scalp.
She started to feel something. She opened her eyes and saw that the world around her was starting blur. She looked down and saw that her feet were once again gliding across the ground. The feeling in her heart intensified and so did her speed. She started to figure that this was alot easier than she first thought.
Red smiled as she noticed Rainbow’s speed increase exponentially. She turned around and saw Sweet Melody talking to Pinkie Pie. As she approached the pair, she heard the tail end of a conversation that clearly needed more context.
“-then you would need several tons of butter to even begin all of that,” countered Melody.
“Not unless you bypass the saturation requirement. It’s pretty easy to accomplish with asparagus,” asserted Pinkie
“Alright, ladies. Sorry to interrupt but I need to have a talk with Pinkie Pie here.” Red approached Pinkie as Sweet Melody left to contemplate what her new friend said. “So apparently you’re some kind of precog?”
“I think so. I get these little, itty bitty feelings around my body and they mean little things. Like when my chin is itchy, I think it means to check the door.”
Red held her chin in fascination. “So what about when you were dodging that chimaera’s attacks?”
“That one was weird. I wasn’t able to catch all the signals too clearly since it was all happening so fast but I do know that this feeling in my tummy kept telling me to move in a certain direction.”
Several thoughts and ideas came about in Red’s mind about what this newbie’s powers meant. Before she could act any further, though, she would need to see it in action. “Would it be okay for you to demonstrate it? A quick, harmless sparring match should do nicely.”
Pinkie, to Red’s surprise, accepted. She was even smiling as she said, “Sure, it’ll be fun!”
“So what’ll you take? Spear? Sword? Bow? Machine Gun?” aske Red as she approached the wall of training weaponry.
“Nothing!” Pinkie declared, happily.
Red skidded to a stop. “Nothing?”
“Yup! Totally sure!”
“Okaaay.” Red wondered what this girl was getting onto. “Sweets, lend your spare pair, will you?”
Sweet Melody approached the bouncy pink girl and handed her a pair of white gloves. Pinkie put them on and stretched out her fingers, observing the tiny details that covered the gloves. When she was ready, she balled her hands into fists and faced Red Letter. “Ready when you are.”
Red Letter grinned as she brought out her red saber, taking care to dull the blade as it manifested. The two stared each other down.
Red sprang forward, blade in the air, and shot straight towards Pinkie. Her vision closed in around her pink target when suddenly, she disappeared. “Huh?” She looked left, then right. Pinkie had vanished. She felt a finger tap her shoulder. She glanced behind and jumped as two, upside down, blue eyes stared at hers.
“Hey, Red.”
Red Letter brought her sword around to strike but was too late. Turning around, she saw Pinkie tilting back and forth on her heels as she looked at her. She raised an eyebrow as she eyed the mysterious pink girl. She ran towards her and brought her sword up to bear, only to end up hitting empty air once more.
Sweet Melody was baffled as she watched the two go at it. She was amazed at the way Pinkie defied the laws of reality so casually with Red hopelessly swinging her saber around in an attempt to hit her.
The one-sided fight went on for several more minutes with Red getting progressively exasperated. Pinkie, meanwhile, still maintained her smile.
Red’s breathing had become significantly faster as she scanned for her pink opponent. This was, by far, the strangest version of Body magic she had ever seen.
“Mind, Body and Heart?” asked Fluttershy.
“Yes. Those are the three types of harmony magic and each person is only capable of one type. The only exceptions are Central Officer Celestia, her sister Overseer Luna, and North Officer Cadence. They have access to all three types.” answered Top Form.
The two of them were having ice cream in the lounge of the Medical Bay.
“How do you know which kind you use?” asked Fluttershy.
“It depends on how you use your magic.” Top Form was relieved somewhat. When they were walking through the corridors, she could be forgiven for thinking that Fluttershy was a mute. Thankfully, she started to open up when they entered the reception area of the Med Bay.
She showed her around the diagnosis rooms, the analysis rooms, but what really got her out of her shell were the restoration chambers. In it were the animals that had been unwillingly transformed into various dangerous magical anomalies. The moment they entered, Fluttershy dropped her shyness and immediately rushed to a particularly beat up looking puppy.
She picked up its head and looked the poor thing in the eye. The agent stationed there, Tenderheart, approached her with concern. She explained that the puppy had a particularly nasty transformation into a chupacabra and had to be taken down with considerable force. The dog looked at Fluttershy and gave a particularly pained yowl.
She seemed to have gotten a lot more information from that than Top Form did as she immediately asked Tenderheart for a number of drugs and couple of syringes. Tenderheart looked to Top as if asking for confirmation. When she nodded, Tenderheart gathered the requested medicines while Fluttershy washed her hands and placed on some surgical gloves.
Fluttershy went to work, measuring precise amounts of the various drugs and injecting it into equally various parts of the puppy’s anatomy. When she was finished, she looked at the puppy again. Top Form could swear she saw the dog smile. Curious, she grabbed a pair of white silk gloves that were on a nearby table.
She approached Fluttershy and asked her to switch the surgical for the silk. She complied and asked her what they were for. Top instructed her to place two fingers just above the dogs eyes and her other palm just above its heart. When her fingers were in position, she told Fluttershy to form a mental image of the puppy and to make it as precise as her imagination could.
She gasped and withdrew her hands as she looked to Top Form. She tole her that she could imagine a sort of outline of the dog and could see streams of light flowing around it. She could also sense that something was wrong with a few of them. Top nodded and asked her to join her for ice cream. Fluttershy gave a small smile as she followed Top Form out of the room.
They made their way to a different room with several tables and chairs. A few white coats were conversing at one table, but otherwise, the room was empty. Top directed Fluttershy to a table in the corner while she approached a dispenser built into the far wall. She came back with two particularly tantalizing vanilla sundaes with chocolate syrup and a cherry on top.
“The perfect example would be the way you felt what was wrong with the little puppy. You said that you could feel its pain. That you could feel that there was something wrong with it on the inside.
“That’s Heart magic at work. When I do diagnoses, I can’t feel it the way you do, but I easily visualize it in my head. That’s because I use Mind magic.”
“So what about body magic?”
“I wouldn’t know, but they say that they can physically feel what’s wrong.”
“So what if the person they’re checking has a broken bone or something equally serious?”
Top shrugged. “I really don’t know, but they seem fine when they had to check on such injuries.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Technically, you just did and have been for the past few minutes,” Top teased. When she noticed Fluttershy retreat back into herself, she immediately added, “I’m kidding of course. I’m here to help you so just ask away.”
Slowly sitting up straight again, Fluttershy asked, “What were those gloves you made me wear? I noticed that plenty of you seem to be wearing them, as well”
“Did you notice the tiny embroidered runes on them?”
Fluttershy nodded.
“Well,” Red continued. “Since stabilization tones down raw magical power, we need a different way to access our reserves. The gloves are enchanted such that all those tiny runes can tap into our internal streams of energy.
“The streams are essentially the lines of light you saw when you held the dog earlier.”
“I see.” Fluttershy finished off the remnants of her sundae and pushed the bowl aside. “Could we see more of your division? If you don’t mind, that is.”
Top grinned as she pushed aside her own empty bowl.
Applejack was in her own personal paradise. At least, one version of it. It definitely wasn’t the one with apples. Inator had escorted her to Magitek Lab 1. It was a large room with various machines of all shapes and sizes doing jobs that ranged from forming and shaping various materials to conveyor belts that brought finished products elsewhere.
“Welcome to the fabrication center,” declared Inator proudly. “As you can imagine, finalized designs for gadgets and gizmos from our division, and sometimes specialized equipment from the others, go here where they are turned into real things.”
Applejack gave an awed whistle. “Mighty impressive setup you got here.”
“Thanks.” He guided them down a catwalk and through the various machinery. “I take it you’ve dabbled in things like this before?”
“Yeah,” Applejack admitted. “But never something on this scale, o’ course.”
“If that’s the case, I think I know exactly where to bring you.”
The two skirted past the labyrinth of machines until they were at a set of double doors on the opposite side of the room. They went through and found themselves in another hall that had several garage sized workshop beside each other.
“These are part of the R&D section. Red coats come here to design and develop the prototypes of any kind of gadget they’re working on,” said Inator.
Applejack looked to the officer. “So any of you can just come here and start building?”
“Pretty much. We aren’t that strict on things, so long as it isn’t life threatening. We like to encourage creativity amongst our ranks.”
The two had reached an unoccupied workshop and entered it. As far as workshops go, it was standard fare. A table with metal plating on top sat on one side and had various scratches and burn marks on it. One wall had a large corkboard, no doubt for hanging blueprints, whilst the other held a wide variety of tools.
Some of the tools were things Applejack was well acquainted with like various power saws, hand saws, hammers, and rulers. There were also some things that were absolutely alien to her. One thing that stood out was a small, shiny metallic cylinder with grooves along its length. It also had a green crystal-like substance on one end the emitted a faint, eerie glow.
“I know that look.” Inator’s words broke Applejack from her reverie. “It’s the look a kid gets when he has a new toy.”
She looked to the scientist. “Whaddaya mean?”
“You got the bug, kid.” He pointed to the wall of tools. “You wanna create something. It doesn’t matter what, you just want to make something. Especially now with such a variety of tools, even ones you’ve never ever seen, available.”
Applejack opened her mouth to respond, but closed it a moment later when she realized something. “I guess you’re right. You know, Ah always thought Ah was meant to run the family farm, like all the Apples before me. But the day that Ah got that letter invitin’ me here to Canterlot High, I got to thinkin’ that maybe there was more for me.
“Lemme tell ya, this place expanded my horizons. Education back in Ponyville is all well and good, but it ain’t nothin’ compared to what ya’ll got here in the capital. This is where Ah fell in love with machines, to be honest. Ah always loved the way all the pieces, even the tiniest ones, fit so perfectly together. For me, it just made sense.”
Inator observer the young girl for a moment. “I can sympathize. Before I was awakened I used to spend my days endlessly playing with this teal platypus that always came to my building. We used to pretend that he was a secret agent sent to stop me and I was an evil scientist. Even back then I used to build amazing things. They weren’t particularly useful, though. One time I remember building a machine that literally did nothing but blow itself up.
“Then one day, I felt something different. I started building things like crazy. Not only that, but they actually had a purpose. The next day, two agents from the Reactionary Division knocked at my door. They explained things to me and demonstrated some of their abilities. They offered to take me to their base. Who was I to refuse? Apparently I’d just found my companions.
“I’ve been with them ever since. Eventually I rose through the ranks until I became, well, this.” He raised his arm and brought attention to the cream colored band on his sleeve.
Applejack looked closely at the band. She didn’t find anything particularly outstanding about it like the gloves. “What does that even mean anyway?”
“It means I’m the Canterlot Magitek Officer. I’m the highest authority of this division here in Canterlot.”
“So that means that Professor Inkwell is-”
“The Canterlot Obfuscation Officer.”
Applejack thought about this for a moment. “So Principal Celestia’s jacket that’s completely beige means that she’s the head honcho of eveythin’?”
Inator nodded. “Anyway, enough about that. Why don’t we go check out some more of our gadgets and gizmos. I’ll even show you some the things designed for use by the Harmony Agents.”
Violet eyes shot open as their owner gasped for breath. Twilight Sparkle breathed deeply for a moment before calming down. She scanned the room and found herself inside one of the recovery rooms in the medical bay. She also found herself under the gaze of her mentor whose eyes she noticed were scrunched together in obvious worry.
“Are you okay? How are you feeling Twilight?” Celestia asked.
“I’m okay, Central,” Twilight said. “What happened? The last thing I remember was feeling this wave of despair wash over me, but then that feeling was almost immediately washed out by this feeling of calm.”
“Project Harmony reacted to your feelings, just I always thought it might. Do you remember what was happening when you got those feelings?”
Twilight thought for a moment. “We were watching the girls from last night. They accidentally brought about a Class 7 chimaera by being together.” Her eyes widened slightly. “Then it had Applejack pinned and was about to...you know.”
Celestia gave a small nod. “That’s when it happened. You started to emit an aura that, I believe, resonated perfectly with the Element of Magic. Adding to that was that it was someone who had resonated with the Element of Honesty who was in danger. Essentially, I think Project Harmony’s defence mechanisms came into effect.”
“So what does that mean?”
Celestia smiled. “It means that you, my dear Twilight, along with those five girls are destined to become the Agents of Harmony.”
Twilight’s jaw dropped as her eyes widened even more. “Bu-bu-bu-”
Celestia placed a finger on young agent’s lips. “Breathe, Twilight. I need you awake for this next part.”
Twilight’s breathing was getting increasingly labored. “There’s a next part?”
“Of course,” Celestia began. “Being one of the six agents means more than just resonating with your own element. It also means that you need to learn to synchronize with your teammates. The six of you would have to work in harmony with each other.”
“I think that goes without saying, Central.”
“Indeed. But that brings us to the next thing you have to do. Befriending them. There is no better way to understand how you can work together than by using the inherent magic in a bond of friendship.”
Twilight stared at her mentor. “But that means that I have to meet them, and get to know them. What if they don’t like me? What if they think I’m boring or lame or-”
Celestia interrupted her again. “Twilight. There is a reason that the five of them bonded so easily with your counterpart. You may be surprised how easily you could accomplish the same.”
Twilight was even less convinced. Her counterpart was perfect as far as she was concerned and she was...not. “But what if it really just doesn’t work out between us?”
“Then there is only one way we can really find out.”
Twilight heard the distinct sound of at least six pairs of feet approaching the door to her room.
“Who exactly does Principal Celestia want us to see here?” said a familiarly raspy voice through the door.
Celestia approached the door as it received two polite knocks. She opened the door slightly and peeked out. She said something to the visitors, too quietly for Twilight to hear. The door opened all the way revealing five very surprised faces.
“Twilight!”