[Mainframe]

by RidiculousPony

[Mania]

“An intelligent pony can rationalize anything. A wise one doesn't try.”

---

Twilight Sparkle stared at the helmet in its display case. The other researchers discussed the monumental implications of an entire week being foretold, but Twilight didn’t pay attention. She was lost in thoughts of her own.

I need to go back in. Maybe I’ll come down here alone tonight— Her thoughts were interrupted when Ginseng Rose grabbed Twilight’s foreleg.

“Twilight, come over to the chalkboard. Blue Moon says he has a plan for how to move forward with testing. Something about minimizing timeline deviation?” Twilight was pulled along and joined the others gathered around Blue Moon.

“Ahem.” Blue Moon tapped a piece of chalk against the board until he had everypony’s attention. “As you four may have realized, the way we acted in the vision differed from reality for a variety of reasons. These can be divided into two categories.” He wrote the words ‘External’ and ‘Internal’ and underlined them.

“First, external: things beyond our control. There’s really only one thing in this category: the disappearance of the Object.” He jotted ‘The Object’ on the board beneath ‘External’. “Since it disappears in the vision but not reality, it causes a significant break in the timeline. We may never be able to fully mitigate this, but we were still able to get good information from the last vision, so I’m not worried.”

“Next, internal: things we can affect directly.” He wrote in that column as he continued, “This includes how we go about verifying Twilight’s predictions and whether Twilight follows her vision’s hoofsteps.”

Twilight spoke up, “There’s also our reaction to the object disappearing. Since we know about that now, we’d be able to tell that we’re in a vision and not the real timeline…”

“Ooh, cool!” Cobalt Thorn called out. “Then we could do anything we wanted, since that world isn’t real!”

“No!” came a shout from Blue Moon. “Do not think that.” His gaze fell hard upon the four younger ponies. “We don’t know for sure that the Object won’t someday disappear from this world. Imagine the harm it could cause if you acted recklessly in our world while under the false impression that you were in the vision.”

Ginseng added, “And for that matter, we don’t know that the vision world isn’t real in its own way. Even the ponies in the vision might feel pain.”

Blue Moon nodded at her. “You bring up a good point. The visions could even be alternate timelines that continue on after the seven-day vision ends. We are dealing with powerful and unknown magic here. I believe we should all act with the utmost care, as if we are in our own world at all times. Doing otherwise could cause irreparable harm. Will everypony please promise to do so?”

They all promised aloud, including Blue Moon.

They brainstormed for another hour but they didn’t come to any final decisions for how best to account for the internal factors. Turquoise Star proposed they meet again in the morning after they all had a chance to ponder it on their own. “I can usually come up with solution to a problem after I sleep on it.”

---

That night, Twilight Sparkle could not sleep.

She tried for a while, but her thoughts churned and urged her on. Just one vision won’t hurt. No time will pass in this world, and I’ll get some peace of mind. I’ll know what’s coming. It should even help with tomorrow’s brainstorming. With a week’s worth of new information, we can solve all our problems…

Twilight snuck through the hallways toward the laboratory. At the entrance to the secure areas, the guards waved her through. They were used to her coming and going at all hours.

As she stepped into the lab, a shiver ran down her spine. It was exciting, dangerous even, to be doing this alone. There is risk involved, surely, but risks must be taken for progress, she thought.

But first… Twilight levitated a heavy curtain to the ceiling and fastened it there. She secured it to the ceiling and walls so that it covered the Object’s entire corner of the lab and didn’t let any light through. Then she wrote on a wheeled chalkboard and set it outside the curtain as a sign. It said, “No peeking! I hid the Object and the helmet. It will be easier to fulfill that promise if we don’t know whether or not we’re in a vision. - Twilight Sparkle”

She lifted the runed helmet from its case and crept under the curtain. She turned toward the Object and knelt on the floor. Just one vision, then I’ll go to sleep, she promised as she pulled the helmet down over her horn and ears.

---

Twilight returned to her room and crawled beneath her sheets. As soon as she laid back against the pillow, she fell soundly asleep.

She arrived in the laboratory early the next morning, but Blue Moon was already there. He sat on the couch and watched her enter.

“Good morning, Blue Moon,” she said.

“I see that you came back here last night. Clever thinking on the curtain,” he said bluntly.

“Oh, thank you,” she replied. “I couldn’t sleep, so when I thought of it, I went ahead and put it into action. I don’t doubt that we’d all try to keep the promise and act as if we aren’t in a vision, but we’re only ponies. I figured some extra insurance would help.”

Blue Moon narrowed his eyes. “Though one pony would know the truth, wouldn’t they, miss Sparkle?”

Twilight forced a smile. “Of course. Since I initiate the vision through the helmet, that’s unavoidable. I’m not a great liar, but if nopony pries, I should be able to keep the secret.”

The sound of voices came from the hallway outside. The three assistants entered but didn’t notice the tense atmosphere.

Turquoise greeted them, “Good morning, Twilight, Blue Moon.” He noticed the curtain and titled his head. “Oh, what’s this?”

“It’s something Twilight Sparkle thought up to help everypony behave... responsibly,” Blue Moon made eye contact with Twilight as he said the last word. He turned back to the others. “If we don’t know whether the Object is here, whether this is a vision, we won’t be tempted to do anything dangerous.”

Twilight smiled again. “Exactly! But that’s not all.” She approached the main chalkboard and grabbed a piece of chalk. She dramatically checked off “The Object” from the external column. “Now the Object’s disappearance shouldn’t change the timeline and we can research the Object’s predictions with fewer uncontrolled variables.”

After a lengthy but productive brainstorm session, Twilight excused herself to grab a snack from the castle’s kitchens. She wasn’t actually hungry. That went much better than the second time through. Now I know just what to say to speed things along and get back to my own research. I feel bad about lying to them, but it’s just so much easier this way.

She reviewed her mental checklist as she made her way to the main hall, Experiment one: stopping the construction accident on Market Street.

Twilight passed through the castle’s main gates and disappeared into the crowded streets below.

Comments

[meerkat8472]

Oh very nice. I had a simpler idea but this one is even more likely to produce good data, nice work.