The Curse of Cryonics

by Mine_Menace

Interlude: Human Curiosity

The unicorn's bright orange eyes scanned the unusually crowded desk and she licked her lips in anticipation.

Tempora Strider was doing something important. For once. At least, that's what many of her teachers would say.

A book lay open in the center, and some loose notes were scattered around it. In front of that lay a pencil that had broken in half the previous day.

Tempora glanced at the book and nodded slightly, smirking. She then shut her eyes and concentrated, feeling for the pencil, which began to glow orange.

In her head, she recited the technique, and as she frowned, she began to slowly twist the magic as the pencil bits moved closer together.

Almost...

The front door downstairs slammed, and Tempora immediately lost concentration, letting go of the pencil. Damn, I forgot! she thought, looking at the open doorway to the upstairs hall. I'll take a look at you later, she thought, glancing at the broken pencil before she slid off her chair and went into the hall.

"Oh, hello, Tem," said Firefall Strider, seeing her from downstairs. He smiled weakly. "I'll be in the kitchen..."

And as Tempora quickly trotted downstairs, he moved into the kitchen after shutting the front door behind him. She followed him and sat at the counter as he opened the refrigerator and levitated leftover pizza out.

"Soooo..." Tempora said, starting to grin, "how was your day? What'd you learn?"

Firefall didn't answer at first, but instead set the pizza on the counter and poured himself a glass of water. After taking a sip, he spoke. "There's another one."

"Another what?"

"Another human," Firefall said shortly. He sat himself up on his stool and leaned forward onto the counter. "And we found her today."

"Another one? I thought there was only one!"

"We all did, but..."

"How'd you find her?" Tempora asked, leaning forward.

"Well...Princess Celestia, Patrick, and I went back into the mine to get some information," Firefall said, "because he said there was a computer with information in that room...the cryochamber is what it's called...he was found in. So we went down there, and we found out, first of all, that he's two million years old."

"Two million?!" Tempora gasped. "That's even older than Princess Celestia! I mean, what even is that old?"

Firefall nodded. "So then after that, we found out that there were nine other humans that'd been put through the same experiment Patrick has--"

"Experiment?"

"Experiment, yes...actually, he hasn't told us everything about the 'experiment'," he realized. "I don't know if that's on purpose...or if he just forgot. Anyway, his cryochamber could detect two more humans. And then, at about that time, the miners found one of them."

Tempora whistled. "What'd you do, Fire?"

"What do you think? We went over there, the Princess finished digging it out, and then Patrick woke up the human inside. She's up at the castle right now."

"Wow." Tempora hummed as she looked toward the ceiling. "What do ya know about her?"

Firefall shrugged. "Well, she looks like she might be around Patrick's age...though she didn't say, and I can't use one human and base others off of him like that. She's from his time period, though...and she took the news better than he did about being around ponies...but she still thinks she's dreaming. Oh, and she's called Katherine Franklin."

"Huh...do Patrick and Katherine know each other?"

"I doubt it, honestly, the way they spoke to each other..."

"Huh." Tempora looked down at the counter and poked at a knothole in the wood. "So are ya gonna find any more of the humans? You said there's more."

"Well, I'm not," Firefall replied, "but I'm guessing they'll try. Patrick's cryochamber told us where another one was, so I'm guessing the Princess will send out a team to uncover it."

"Wait, it told you?" Tempora repeated. "It's not alive, is it?"

"No, Patrick said it's a computer," Firefall said, shaking his head. "Artificial intelligence, I believe he called it."

"So...it sounds alive, but isn't actually alive?"

"Essentially," Firefall said, staring at his glass of water. "Since it's a computer, it's obviously a lot more complex than just that, but I don't know a lot beyond what I've told you."

"Huh." Tempora stood and trotted over to the fridge, opening it and looking around inside. "So you said that arti-whatsits thing told you where another one of it was, right? Are you gonna go find it, Fire?"

"No, I've got to focus on Patrick and Katherine. They're the ones who are, well, conscious. Say, Tem, what are you looking for, anyway? The pizza is right here."

Tempora pulled her head away from the fridge and a smallish box floated out, encased in an orange aura. "Found it!" she cheered lightly to herself as it settled on the counter.

Firefall grimaced. "Is that fish again? You're the only unicorn I know who eats that."

"Thanks for reminding me of how special I am," grinned Tempora. "So anyway, if you're gonna be spending time with the humans, what are you gonna do with them? Play blackjack?"

"Celestia knows that's what you would do with them. No, I'm going to try to teach them Equestrian."

"I thought they spoke Equestrian," Tempora remarked, levitating the fish onto a plate. "Hey, will ya heat this up, please? You're better at it than me."

Firefall rolled his eyes and concentrated. The fish glowed orange and darkened, and was sufficiently heated after about five seconds. "There you go. No, they know how to speak it, but they have a different writing system. When Patrick and I met, I left him a note, and he said he couldn't read it. So I'm going to teach them to read and write. Princess Celestia actually suggested it, which leads me to believe that they'll someday be released into pony society."

"Oh, so then I'll be able to meet them!" Tempora said as she cut the fish up with her magic.

"Yes, but not before, and I'm not even sure that you will meet them. I mean, there's no guarantee they would even stay in Canterlot, or Equestria itself for that matter. Maybe they'll go to Griffonstone; they eat meat like griffons do."

"I can still visit," Tempora shrugged before chewing on a piece of fish.

Firefall turned completely in his seat and looked directly at his sister. "Tem, what's up with you? You seem obsessed with these humans ever since I first mentioned them. I've never seen you so invested in something like this; and you've got your project you're supposed to be working on!"

Tempora sighed and turned toward Firefall. "Okay...well, first off, I was working on my project before you got home...but okay. Well, the thing is, I still think it's really cool that there's something that smart that could have lived before ponies. I mean, from what you've told me, they don't have magic, but they got more advanced than us anyway! That's really very cool and it's gonna throw what ponies think of the world way out of hoof! I wanna know everything about them, and that's why I'm glad you're in this project so you can tell me these things!"

Firefall stared right back at her and cracked a small smile. "That makes sense, actually," he muttered. "If I wasn't afraid of exposing you, I'd almost ask the Princess if you could join in."

"Almost?"

"Yes, almost...I'm afraid that we need some degree of professionalism for this...professionalism which, I hate to say, you lack."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Tempora chuckled and ate another bite of fish. "I mean, theresh no way I can do thish professionalishm," she continued through the fish, grinning as she did so. "Itsh sho haaard...and itsh booooring..."

"You're insane," Firefall laughed, slugging her in the shoulder.

"Damn shtraight I am!" Tempora giggled, punching him back.

"Heh, nopony doubts you on that." Firefall rubbed his shoulder slightly. "So how's your project coming along? It seems rather difficult, even taking into account your capabilities, but I don't know..."

"Oh, well..." The broken pencil appeared in an orange flash on the counter. "I was close to getting it back together when I heard the door slam. I think I got the theory down, but if this works I still gotta try bigger things...fixing a pencil won't impress anypony, but I gotta start small..."

Author's Note:

And there's the chapter. I don't believe I've said this before, but if you dislike this, I would very much appreciate it if you commented why you disliked it so I can improve as a writer. Thanks!

Until next time, then...

Comments

[CrossNail]

I want more.
I! NEED! MORE!
Please?

[Mine_Menace]

7937602 Well, since you said the magic word...

Glad you enjoy, and thanks for the favorite, too!

[Da Fennec]

This chapter was little blah but not all chapters can be exciting.. In a way little surprised there wasn't more test subjects over all 9 isn't that many and odds are with such a long time passing not all of them would've survived. A little surprised that out of teh subjects found none of them knew about any others \
Looking forward to future installments

[CrossNail]

7937881 Welcome.

[Chrome Masquerade]

Firefall grimaced. "Is that fish again? You're the only unicorn I know who eats that."

Well, equines IRL eat meat when they can, so.... Why not?

[Chrome Masquerade]

"You're insane," Firefall laughed, slugging her in the shoulder.

"Damn shtraight I am!" Tempora giggled, punching him back.