Transparent Living

by PinoyPony

Chapter 46: Theories

"I'm afraid that this is my fault, Mr. Rich." Twilight said.

“What?” Mr. Rich broke his trance from the passing trees and hills. He steadied himself as the train briefly rocked back and forth. After he had read the letter that given the symptoms and the diagnosis, he struggled to make sense of it. He stayed quiet, trying to sort through his thoughts as composed as possible.

Maybe the Princess had some answers. "Whatever do you mean, Princess?"

Princess Twilight frowned. She bowed her head and stared at the ground. “I’m responsible for your daughter’s ailment.”

Mr. Rich popped an eyebrow. Things were becoming more complicated. First, he finds that his daughter had caught Corrosion, an earth pony! Catching Corrosion! Then, the Princess of Friendship openly admits to being the reason behind it. “Princess, I’m not sure what you’re getting at. How could you be responsible for a Diamond catching Corrosion? It’s like admitting fault for me catching the cold.”

“Can we go to the next car? I think the next first-class is vacant.” Twilight said, glancing around the train car. Although the train car was occupied only by the Rich household and the Princess herself, Filthy was surprised to hear about another train car.

“You may…” Filthy said, trying to keep the hesitation out of his voice.

Princess Twilight hopped off the seat, leading the way down to the next car. As she passed by, she nodded to Randolph who nodded back subtly.

As soon as the door shut behind them with a hiss, Filthy asked “I saw you look at Randolph. I know it’s not proper to make assumptions, but does he know what is going on?”

“More or less.” Princess Twilight took a seat on the plush bench. “In my experience thus far, I can tell he’s a type of pony I can confide in.”

“I agree. That’s what makes him good at his job. He can compartmentalize the information he’s given.” Filthy took his seat across from her. “But, I have yet to understand why you’ve pulled me aside.”

“I’m getting to that.” Princess Twilight started. “But first, I need to make sure you keep it private. I will mention the reasoning behind it as I continue.”

"You have my word.” Mr. Rich said, nodding.

“If Randolph or you wife steps in, we will need to dismiss them.” Princess Twilight said. “The information I’m about to mention doesn’t belong to me, it’s generously lent to me from Dr. Fuse.”

Doctor Fuse. The famous name was seared in Everypony’s minds across Equestria. One of the most celebrated Doctors since the Corrosion hit. Stationed at ground zero, Mane-hattan, Doctor Boron Yttrium Fuse leads the front line, a metaphorical ‘infantry’ in finding the counter-curse.

“That’s one thing I wanted to ask you before I got distracted with reading the letter.” Mr. Rich said. “Doctor Fuse is known for his leaps and breakthroughs. I would assume he is inspecting Diamond for any clues of how the Corrosion worked, but in this letter, he mentions plainly that all the symptoms are regular, and nothing out of the ordinary to report. However, I have my doubts.”

“That’s where I come in to fill in the blanks.” She pointed to the letter. “He would’ve mentioned more, but omitted it is because he’s trying to be careful.”

“Careful, how?” Mr. Rich asked.

“I’m sure you are familiar with Occam’s Razor?” She asked.

“Vaguely.” Mr. Rich said. “I might need a refresher.”

“In a world of so many explanations, the simplest one is usually the correct one. There is a whole process he adheres to, to make sure no misinformation is spread. He makes sure that the results are communicated properly, and to do so, he sometimes oversimplifies.”

“Why would he do such a thing?” Mr. Rich asks. “It seems very un-professional.”

“Three reasons. One, if he makes a mistake about something, then the damage is minor. Two, if he discovers something, he can protect his findings until he is sure the discovery is both observable and able to be replicated. Three, he has a pack of ravenous media crews hounding him for answers. In other words, he’s not trying to hoard secrets, he’s trying to keep the spread of misinformation minimized.”

“I see. So, he’s trying to make sure the foundations of what he knows is stable first before moving onto the next step.” Mr. Rich said.

“It seems ironic that the Doctor making the breakthroughs in leaps and bounds is a careful-footed, cautious Medical Professional, huh?” Princess Twilight said.

“It does.”

“Which leads me into writings he has shared only with the four Princesses and trusted individuals also trying to find the cure.” Princess Twilight tapped on her chest, then waved out towards the window. In the far distance, Filthy could see the first towering buildings of Mane-hattan. “His speculations, in forms of hypotheses, not to be released to the general public.”

“Oh?” Mr. Rich asked curiously.

“The answer to our question about the cure is almost on the horizon. It was staring at us in the face this entire time. It goes back to a fundamental postulate of Meadowbrook. Magic conducts better through organic material, particularly carbon."

“Elementary.” Mr. Rich said. “Although the implications I can see.”

“Next, is a fact of observation.” She continued. “You notice how Earth Ponies don't tote around any magical trinkets? You notice how Earth Ponies are inclined to stay grounded?"

"Yes, Sociology one-o-one." Mr. Rich said. "I studied it while in business. Earth Ponies don't want anything to do with Magic and they barely take up aviation. They are more likely to accept jobs in agriculture, or a trade. We have to keep that in mind to market to them, since they are a third of the population."

“Now we’ve established that, let’s discuss things that only a few ponies know.” Twilight mouth twisted. "On the eve of Nightmare Night last year, I came into Mane-hattan to watch one of Coco’s plays. Unbeknownst to anypony else, with the exception of the stage crew, I came in with a special request in mind: enchant your daughter's tiara to temporarily age her to an adult. I did this for two reasons- so she can volunteer at the hospital, and so she can help Coco's play go on."

"Is that the explanation why the media can't find this missing 'Mare-ison Bergeron'?" Filthy asked. "Also, what does this have to do with the Corrosion?"

"Yes, your daughter is indeed Mare-ison Bergeron. Yes, this has to do with Corrosion, but I'm getting to that." Twilight said. "The fact of the matter is that I programmed the magic to do one thing- age her when she put it on, and de-age her by that same magnitude when she took it off. Rather simple, except for the level of mastery in the spell.”

“Very advanced magic. I remember a blue Unicorn with some type of weird necklace waltzed into Ponyville one day and successfully cast it.” Filthy said. “Other than that, I’ve never seen it cast.”

“That Unicorn’s name was Trixie, and the necklace she had was called the Alicorn’s Amulet.” Twilight explained. "That's beside the point. I figured that the spell would be easy to tweak to an enchantment form but I had to figure out another set of problems- How would it gather that much energy for advanced magic? How would I be able to get the metal to conduct correctly. But suddenly, Eureka!"

I remembered from Meadowbrook that magic tolerance of metals depends on the arrangement of the atoms. If I could tweak the structure so it resembled glass, both strong and conductive of magic, then I could get it to store energy." Twilight tapped her horn. "That is why Alicorns have a greater capacity for magic. That’s also why Alicorns haven’t been affected yet. Our horns are altered to the point where the arrangement is so altered, that the chaos of the system allows exponentially more magic to conduct through."

“Huh.” Filthy scratched his chin, intrigued. “I didn’t know that.”

Twilight smiled sheepishly. "Her tiara lent itself well to adjusting the crystal structure. I basically modeled it after the structure of an Alicorn horn and made a less developed version by enchanting her tiara. Recharges when she is wearing it and causing magic flow in and out of it."

"So, you are saying that her tiara is essentially a horn?"

"Precisely." Twilight sighed. "That's why I said this was my fault. I enchanted her tiara with no thought of how Corrosion could affect it."

"You didn't know Princess." Filthy held out a hoof, gesturing to her it was okay. "So, since that was in last October, how come we are in early May?"

"The reason why she didn't show any symptoms until late is because Corrosion has to overload the system. Not to mention it only casts one type of spell, and even then, it’s infrequent. Hence, it takes longer to work through. But, according to hypothesis, severe symptoms like blindness are caused by the magnitude of the overload. The larger the overload, the worse the symptoms are.”

“Interesting," Mr. Rich said. "So, where does Dr. Fuse's theory fit in?"

"He states in his papers to the Princesses that Corrosion is present in our trinkets, or carried through the air. Then, when our horns are ‘recharging’, the Corrosion magic flows into the organic material and feeds off any stored magic. In which, it forms dendrites in the horns and short circuits the magic. Which causes the system to lose energy and collapse on itself," Twilight said. "In simpler terms, think of it as a crumpled paper jamming a printer."

“That makes sense.” Mr. Rich nodded. “How come none of the masses have heard this?”

“It’s fairly new, as Dr. Fuse and many others across Equestria are barely receiving permissions to do autopsies on cadavers who have died from Corrosion. Soon enough, the information will be released to the public.” She assured.

“Eesh.” Mr. Rich said. “I take it that they are close to finding a cure though?”

“Actually, now that you mention it, on the brink!” Princess Twilight said. Her ears suddenly dropped. “Although, this comes at a terrible price, one that will impact you for the rest of your life.”

"What might that be?" He asked, suddenly afraid of what the answer will be.

“Are you familiar with what happens to a unicorn horn biologically after a pony’s passing?” Princess Twilight asked.

“I’m an earth pony. I’ve never really heard much. Enlighten me.” Filthy said, the feeling of trepidation rising in him.

“Within two days after death, the unicorn horn releases a chemical that rapidly decays the magical portion of the structure, making it hard to gain accurate readings. Not to mention it has a direct connection to the pony’s brain.” Princess Twilight explained. “Another reason why finding a cure is slow is because gaining an understanding of the process is like examining a crime scene after a fire.”

Filthy gulped.

“Examining the internal workings would require that the pony would be still living. Unfortunately, due to the ethicality of the measures of putting a unicorn with Corrosion under anesthesia and performing an operation presents several legal and medical troubles.” Princess Twilight continued. “The field of Unicorn horn operations is still in it’s infancy, and due to many discoveries, researchers have discovered that altering a system that performs magic, even by a little bit, is literally like playing with fire.”

Filthy was familiar with stories of the pioneers of Unicorn horn research. Quite literally, while running experiments, the labs would explode from the sudden release of stored magic. That was the least of their worries. The lab would need to be swept for any stray discordant magic that often twisted the fabric of reality into chaos.

“Since unicorn horn research was not a viable option, the medical community needs an opportunity in which the pony’s horn didn’t rapidly decay, like an Alicorn. Or, even better, where the horn didn’t decay at all.” Princess Twilight said, her eyes starting to grow glossy with tears.

“You mean to tell me―”

"Your daughter will have to pass away in order for researchers to examine the body for a cure.” Twilight hung her head low, and solemnly finished, “She might be our only hope for a swift cure."