Legend of the Cursed Treasure

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“Have you ever read into the legends that surround this place? Ancient spirits that protect the land, visitors from another planet touching down centuries ago, haunted mines hiding a cursed treasure… that sort of stuff. It’s all superstitious nonsense of course, but for some reason this place is a paranormal hotspot that tends to attract all sorts of strangers, weirdos, and fanatics. For almost two centuries now, fools trying to claim a stake on a treasure they could never hope to claim have scoured the desert to no avail… but what if the legends were real? Supposedly intersecting ley lines can create vortexes of spiritual energy in this valley, points where thaumic energy would likely converge if my predictions are anything to go by. This kind of late night expedition could very well be what pushes our research further… or disprove it, but we’ll never know until we seek out the answers.”

“And you need my help with this… why?”

Gyro looked up from his notes and over towards Phoenix, “Because Tinker and Sprocket won’t try and stay up later just to chase some old ghost story, and I’m not going to be able to do this on my own.”

“So why does this have to be done at night?”

“It doesn’t have to be done at night, but it makes my life easier. Ponies are naturally curious creatures, they see us carrying around some expensive equipment and we’ll be hounded non stop with questions.”

Phoenix nodded, “Okay… but do you even know where you’d start looking though?”

“The legend doesn’t exactly paint a clear picture of where the old mine is, only that it supposedly sits on converging ley lines. Look, I’m just curious to see whether there’s any truth to the notion that there’s science backing the supernatural. I promise it won’t take long, I just want to get a reading on the resonant psychokinetic frequency of the area, I can analyze the data back here.”

Phoenix raised an eyebrow, gesturing his hooves in air quotations “Resonant psychokinetic frequency? Do you have to sound so… text book about it?”

Gyro rolled his eyes, “I mean do you have a better name for it?.. Don’t answer, that’s rhetorical. So what do you say?”

Phoenix paused for a moment, “Why me specifically though?”

“Because I can trust you, and you’re clearly the next most qualified pony here for this kind of experiment.”

Phoenix raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean by that?”

The unicorn rolled his eyes again, “Seriously? It’s just a coincidence that you set up shop on top of a set of intersecting ley lines that would theoretically form one of the largest vortexes in the entire Oasis?”

Phoenix glanced around Gyro’s office in the Ark. “And so what? How does that make me qualified? Maybe I just thought that spot looked nice.”

The unicorn rolled his eyes, “Right… Phoenix, I’ve been studying this stuff for a couple of years now and it’s plainly obvious that you’ve got a fascination with the supernatural just like I do, this is exactly your kind of project.”

“Can’t you just grab Zipper and have him help you? I mean he’s a total nut for the supernatural and psychic too, I’d probably just get in the way of all your science experiments.”

Gyro sighed, how do I put this lightly, “Zipper means well but he’s… well he’s Zipper. You know how he is.”

Phoenix nodded, “Yes, and I also know that he worked at a carnival before ETS and was best friends with the fortune teller. He’s a nut for the supernatural and you know how he is when there’s something that genuinely interests him. Plus he’s been way more responsible since he got his cutie mark, haven’t you seen him taking care of the geese with Blue Spring? I don’t know about you but I think he’s really starting to change for the better.”

Gyro shook his head, “I can appreciate his dedication, but I’d really rather keep him out of this, we don’t need him to suddenly decide that ghosts are real and run off with some hairbrained scheme to use our resources to create some kind of ghost hunting team.”

“Oh come on, I don’t think you guys give him enough credit—“

“No.” He flatly replied.

Phoenix rolled his eyes, “Okay look, I didn’t want it to come to this, but if I’m going to get dragged along for some stupid treasure hunt when I have better things to do, I’m going to drag along someone else who might actually enjoy it.”

Gyro sighed, “You’re not relenting in this are you?”

He shook his head, “Nope. I could just say no and leave, but that’d be an incredibly rude thing to do to a friend. I might as well bring another friend along to pass the time with.”

The orange unicorn put his head between his hooves and sighed, “Alright fine, but you’re going to be the one explaining it all to Silver if he suddenly hatches any crazy schemes.”

“Fair enough. So what is this legend anyways?”

The unicorn gestured to a large painting that sat behind his desk, showcasing a bearded human in fancy clothing, holding a large golden nugget in his hands. “It is the legend of Alexander Ravenscroft, the prospector turned entrepreneur who owned this land almost two hundred years ago… rounding up of course. Legends say that he was ruthless and uncaring, purchasing and inheriting legitimate mining claims through less than ethical practices.”

“So you mean he’d steal them?”

Gyro shook his head, “Not quite, at least not in the traditional sense. He’d scam settlers, cheat their land away from them, even arrange their deaths if it meant he’d be able to strike it rich. By the time he settled here, the man was untouchable. He had every marshall, sheriff, and prospector under his thumb, and he’d still find ways to cheat them.”

“So where does the legend actually begin and the history lesson end?”

Gyro smiled, “That’s a good question. The legend begins in a small mining town called Mesa Verde, better known today as The Oasis. It was a rotting ghost town by the time we got to it, however it wasn’t always that way. Quite the opposite in fact. It was once a thriving boom town where fortunes were seemingly made overnight. The kind of place you only hear about in old westerns. It was an alluring place to a man like Ravenscroft, an easy stake to claim given his nature.

Ravenscroft heard tale of a land full of resources that were ripe for the picking-- iron, silver, copper… but most importantly gold. Legends say that this area housed an abundance of gold at one time, but they also speak of the mysterious spirits that protect it. Specters that inhabit the land and torment those who’d seek to exploit it, like our dearly departed friend.

Now, of course he knew of these legends-- was even intrigued for a time, but in the end he didn’t care. He was a skeptic by nature, a soul blind to the more… mystical sides of the world around him. He figured that these legends were simply old ghost stories told by the native people of this land to try and frighten him. Without a second thought he established Mesa Verde here and immediately set off to claim the fortune he believed lay waiting.

Despite the countless warnings he thrived, robbed the land for all it was worth, and just when he thought he had struck the motherlode, a series of tragedies began to befall the city. It started innocently enough, plants and crops wilting away, the old lake drying up, wells running dry… all seen as warning signs that the legends were true and that the old spirits of the valley had been disturbed.

He was yet to be deterred however, and continued digging into the earth. This proved to be his folly, for it wasn't long after that more tragedy struck. His beloved wife fell sick with an unknown illness and soon passed, followed by his daughter and finally his son. The loss only served to drive him away from everyone else, and he seldom left the mine he had lost everything for.

Rumors of phantoms haunting his nightmares spread and in time he grew more fearful and worried. He finally relented and ordered Mineshaft 13 sealed off, the very shaft where he thought he’d claim the biggest stake of his life. The damage was done though, for on that fateful day, the legends say a great earthquake struck, trapping him in the very mine he had grown to fear, never to be heard from again.

Seemingly overnight the entire town seemed to fade away as the prospectors and townsfolk left, leaving it to rot away, occasionally reviving for a few years only to be left abandoned again. That is until we came along, and well… the rest is history.”

Phoenix shifted around, “You don’t mean… I mean do you actually believe that?”

Gyro shrugged, “I don’t know, but I want to try and explore the old mines and see if I can get a reading there, see if there is indeed latent thaumic energy where the lines intersect.”

Phoenix nodded, “Can’t you just go to the antique shop and get a reading there? I mean you said it was theoretically the largest vortex point.”

He shook his head, “I wish it was that easy. There’s just too much latent background magic in the Oasis for my spell to really work, it’s still a work in progress but the mine in question should be located just far enough outside of the city to get a fairly decent reading.”

“What kind of spell is this anyways?”

“It’s a Class X asset, part of Project Further Beyond. On paper and outside of the Ark project archive it doesn’t even exist.”

“But what does it actually do?”

“It lets me lock onto and identify a specific thaumic signature, gives back rudimentary information like what kind of magic is at play, that sort of stuff, though I’m afraid it’s not quite perfect yet.”

“So you think it could determine if some kind of spiritual turbulence is magical in nature?”

Gyro nodded, “Exactly, that’s why I’m asking you.”

“Well that’s great, so where’s the mine even at?”

The unicorn shrugged, “That’s just it… it’s lost. Records were either lost, purged, or destroyed and none of the currently excavated shafts match up with the few descriptions and shadows I’ve been able to gather from my own research.”

“So we’re just going to dig around blindly?”

Gyro shook his head, “Not quite.” He unrolled one of the large sets of plans that normally sat in the city archives. “These are maps of the mineshafts, showing where they connect and intersect. 13’s not labeled, but neither are a handful of them. Now if I take this survey map of the valley and overlay it with the other map, we can see where tectonic activity likely occurred, that still doesn’t tell us exactly where it is, but it narrows it down to about three locations.”

“So we’re going to look at all three?”

“Not quite.” He unrolled a third map, “This shows various ley lines around the Oasis, there’s a set that intersects in between the three locations, but there isn’t a marked mine there… Now there’s a chance that that could be where the missing mineshaft is, but we won’t really know until we get there.”

“So it’s a good thing we’re going to have a third set of hooves helping then.”

Gyro sighed, “I guess.”

“Alright, well we better get going then.”

“Right. I’ll grab the supplies…” He let out a low sigh, “and I guess you can go grab Zipper.”

The full moon shined brightly above the desert as Zipper excitedly led the charge through the outskirts of the Oasis and towards the site that gyro had outlined. He was surprisingly still full of energy despite being awake far later than he was used to, and his enthusiasm was keeping Phoenix in good spirits. Gyro had his roll of plans strung across his back and was currently pulling a small supply cart full of tools and equipment, keeping a short distance away from the energetic pair.

“This is gonna be sooo cool! A real ghost hunt!” Zipper excitedly cheered.

Gyro let out another small sigh, “We’re not chasing ghosts. We’re analyzing the effects of overlapping ley lines and seeing if there’s any credibility to the theory that they create vortexes of spiritual energy.”

“Oh lighten up Gy, It’s almost Halloween, it’s the perfect time for a good old fashioned ghost hunt!” Phoenix added with a laugh.

Gyro sighed again, “Fine. but can we please get the readings I need first?”

Phoenix nodded, “Sure… How are you going to even get those readings anyhow?”

“It’s going to be a mix of casting a special spell that I’ve thrown together and analyzing the effect on the area, and more traditional methods.”

Zipper perked up, “Ooh! You mean using the kinds of tools that ghost hunters use!”

The unicorn sternly shook his head, “Ghosts aren’t real Zipper. I’ll be using very sensitive scientific equipment to gauge electromagnetic activity in the area along with the aforementioned spell.--”

“--Sounds like you’re a ghost hunter.” Phoenix added with a smirk.

Gyro face hoofed, “Alright, sure, whatever. This technology is similar to what those pseudoscientists use, but this is for an actual scholarly purpose.”

“You think the ghost stories are true Phoenix?” Zipper excitedly asked, completely ignoring Gyro’s response.

Phoenix shrugged, “I don’t know Zip, I guess we’ll find out.”

“Alright, we’re almost there, the cave entrance is up ahead,” Gyro said as he gestured towards the nearby cave, “The entrance into shaft 17 should be located inside. I brought along some supplies that should make this easier for us.”

“So what do you want me to do?”

“Phoenix you can see in the dark relatively easily, you’ll be keeping an eye out for anything lurking in the shadows that Zipper and I can’t see.”

“And what can I do?!” Zipper excitedly asked.

“You can carry the light.”

“Oh come on, just the light?” He asked with a twinge of disappointment carrying in his voice.

Gyro nodded, “Yes. You weren’t intended to be a part of this expedition, I hate to be rude but you can help by carrying the light while I cast the spell.”

“But can’t you already do both?” Phoenix cut in.

“Yeah! That’s true, you’re like the best unicorn here! Can’t I do anything else?”

Gyro sighed, “You can help take readings… IF we get to that point and it’s not already being done by Phoenix.”

He excitedly nodded his head, “Alright! I’m gonna be a real life ghost hunter!”

“Zipper, need I remind you, this is just a routine expedition.”

“A routine expedition into a haunted cave…” Phoenix said in a low voice.

“You’re not helping Phoenix.”

Phoenix shrugged, “Hey look I’m just trying to lighten the mood a little bit, you asked me to come along when I had actual work to do, so I’m going to at least have some fun with this.”

“Phoenix, we’re both part of PRISM, if anything this is you doing actual work— work which I appreciate by the way, and as I’m sure you’re well aware, I don’t say that often.”

“Okay sure, but this is work for a program that I’m no longer really a part of. Sure I’m still on the PRISM payroll, but that’s basically as a consultant and nothing else. I have my own business to run too and I’m not running it right now in case you haven’t noticed…”

“Doesn’t Midnight help with that? I thought you two were close or something.”

“I mean does that matter? She still has her own job to do too. You know, the mare who’s currently working on the monorail expansion plans with Tinker and Sprocket’s R&D team?”

“I guess I didn’t really think about that,” the unicorn paused for a moment, “Look, if it helps I can pay you for your time, technically you’re a contracted researcher right now, it wouldn’t be hard to approve a small bonus for you too.”

“And I appreciate that, I just wish you would try and take other ponies' thoughts into consideration the next time you want to do something like this. We all have our own separate lives too you know. Oh and please try and give Zipper a little more credit, he genuinely means well even if he’s got his own way of doing things.”

“But you know how Zipper is—“

Phoenix bared his fangs and let out a hiss, “And you know how I am when I’m trying to get my point across and it goes in one ear and out the other. I’m not asking you to change your entire life, just to remember that you’re not the only pony here.”

“I’m sorry, I’ll try and keep that in mind next time.” The unicorn added with a reassuring smile.

“That’s all I ask. We’re a team here and we need to remember that.”

“Hey guys? I hate to interrupt, but is this what we’re looking for?” Zipper called back from a rocky hill in the distance.

Gyro watched as the pegasus gestured towards a cave entrance with his flashlight and returned a quick nod, “Yeah that should be it, does the entrance seem clear?”

Zipper waved the light around at the entrance, scrutinizing it for a few solitary moments before flying back over towards the two, “Yeah seems like it. There’s some equipment a little further in but I can’t really make out what it is or if it’s blocking anything.”

“Right, well I guess that’s better than we could have expected for a site that’s been abandoned for as long as this one has.”

“So what should we do Gy?” Phoenix asked as he glanced towards the cave.

“You scout ahead and double check that it’s clear for us. There’s some equipment I need to prepare before we go down…” He paused for a moment, “I mean if that’s alright with you that is.”

Phoenix smiled, “Glad you asked, I’m fine with that. What about Zipper?”

Gyro turned towards the pegasus, letting out a small sigh, “Zipper, do you want to give me a hand with some of this? I know it’s not the most exciting job out there but you’re along for the ride so…”

“Yeah! I’d love to!” the pegasus excitedly replied.

Gyro and Zipper had flipped on their headlamps while Phoenix scouted ahead, keeping an eye out for any obstructions that would hinder their progress. The trio was mostly silent, save for Zipper, who was cheerfully whistling every so often, much to the unicorn’s annoyance.

“Okay, I’ll be the one to say it, do you really need to make so much noise Zipper?”

The pegasus shook his head, “No of course not, but it sure makes it more fun!”

“Lighten up Gyro, remember what we talked about earlier?”

Gyro rolled his eyes in response, “I know, but can’t we just—” he suddenly paused as Phoenix held up a wing.

“Quiet, I think someone’s been through here,” the night pony said in a whisper.

“What do you—“

“He said quiet Zipper, zip it!” Gyro cut him off with a harsh whisper, walking up towards Phoenix, “How can you tell?”

Phoenix pointed to a set of fresh hoof prints in a layer of dirt that he hadn’t noticed before. “I thought I saw hoof prints as were walking, but there wasn’t enough loose dirt on the ground to be sure…” he began to trail off as his ears pivoted slightly, “I can hear a subtle click every so often, I think someone’s hunting for treasure just as we are.”

Gyro silently nodded and gestured for the two to follow him. With careful steps they trotted further down the mineshaft, taking extra precaution to make as little sound as possible. As they neared the source of the sound, Gyro caught sight of a trio of ponies, two unicorns and a night pony. The white unicorn mare was currently filming the other two while the night pony talked into the camera.

The dark green unicorn looked towards the camera and dimly hit his horn, “Could the legends of a greedy old miser out in the middle of the Arizona desert actually be true?.. Well we’re here to tell you YES!”

The night pony off to his side suddenly jumped in, completing the unicorn’s sentence, “On another thrilling episode of—”

“ — WORLD OF THE WEIRD WITH RICK AND RUBEN!” The two called out in unison.

Gyro looked over towards Zipper, who had a star struck expression on his face.

Zipper snapped his head towards the unicorn, his face lighting up in joy, “Do you know who that is?!” He excitedly whispered out.

Phoenix held up a wing, “Wait you know them?”

“Will you two keep it down? You’re going to give us away.”

“Trust me Gyro they’re harmless,” Zipper replied back, returning his gaze to the three intruders.

“Okay, that may be, but they’re also intruding on our land,” he gestured towards a small pile of equipment on the ground nearby, “and it looks like they’re not just here for a friendly visit. I’d say we could press trespassing and maybe even theft charges given that they’re clearly here to go hunt down the treasure.”

Phoenix nodded, “Gotcha. So what do we do then?”

“Okay well Phoenix, you and Zipper guard the path behind us, just in case they try and make a run for it. I’d suggest calling Cal too, but I doubt we’ll have any reception down here.”

Zipper nodded, slowly walking a few feet back to a spot where the path narrowed, “Alright, uhh just let us know when you’re going to jump out.”

Phoenix followed Zipper and flexed his wings for a few moments, “Okay, ready when you are.”

With a quick nod, Gyro lit his horn and jumped out, shouting towards the three intruders. “Excuse me? This is private property, I need to know who you—“

“— Oh my gosh! I can’t believe it’s actually you!” Zipper shouted as soon as the light had washed over the trio”

The unicorn stallion set down the pick he was holding with his magic and grinned, “Guilty as charged! So I’ll take it you’re a fan?”

Zipper beamed, “More than that! I’ve watched you guys since you started podcasting years ago! Man this is so cool!”

The mare started to speak up, “Giles is that you I hear? What a small world! You of all ponies set up shop in Ravenscroft’s turf?”

Gyro’s eyes widened in shock, “Connie!? THIS is what you’re doing now?!”

She blinked her eyes at him a few times, “Surprised?”

Zipper looked towards the pair with child-like bewilderment, “You know Constance Tombs?! And you didn’t even tell me?!”

Gyro shot his hoof out in Zipper’s direction, “Zip it Zipper, now’s not the time for this.”

“So this is an old friend of yours I’ll take it?” Phoenix asked, raising an eyebrow and lowering his wings.

Gyro shook his head slowly, “Worse, she’s my ex.”

The unicorn slowly began to trot over, “Oh come on Gil, don’t tell me you don’t miss me.” She interjected with a mock face of sadness.

“I sure don’t miss being lied to and robbed, that’s for sure.”

She rolled her eyes, “Oh come on, we were close to a breakthrough and you wanted to stop and settle down. We could have definitively proven that there was an existence after death, but you didn’t want to.”

“I… I thought it was pseudoscience at the time… figured that maybe the world didn’t need that answer… but you didn’t need to steal the device and claim all the credit.”

Phoenix flashed Zipper a confused look and then turned back towards the two unicorns, “uhh is this really the best time for you two to hash out your relationship problems?..”

The pair ignored him, continuing their conversation, “Someone had to share your work… I know you wanted to stop but I couldn’t let all your hard work go to waste,” she paused for a moment, walking up close to him, “Look, I’m sorry, it was a dumb decision that alienated one of my best friends and I’ve felt terrible about it for years. What happened to the man that thought all scientific breakthroughs should be shared with others? Remember him?”

“He turned into a stallion that realized his folly once his ex mare friend claimed all the credit for his work.”

“So now’s the time to change that Gilly! We can settle this once and for all, just like the good old days!”

Gyro turned towards her, “Connie, can you really say those days were good? We were close but then we kept letting work consume everything. We barely made time for each other then, what makes you think now will be any different?”

She paused for a moment and looked off to the side, “I could. I might not have shown it much, but those hours spent working away in the lab with you were some of the best times I’ve had… you have to admit that. So what do you say? ”

Gyro shook his head, “Maybe…” he looked over towards the rest of the group and then back towards Constance, “Alright, sure. Like the good old days. But let me make something very clear, you three are here on our private property. You’re going to follow our rules, help with my experiment, and then leave. Got it?”

She smiled, “Let’s do this Gilly, we’ll finally finish our greatest research project.”

“So uh… what kind of device was this?” Phoenix asked in curiosity.

Gyro extended a hoof towards their equipment, “The Psychokinetic Analysis module, really a bunch of hypothetical research, but something Connie and I were very invested in at the time. Detects subtle changes in an area’s electromagnetic energy readout, or rather it should… Connie and I never finished it, but I started working on it again not too long ago.”

“-We were so close! That’s why I took it, Giles.”

He calmly turned towards her, “It’s Gyro now, Connie. Regardless I know you never finished it, but that’s where my spell comes in. We can combine the information that I get from it with the readouts that the machine is able to generate--”

“--And then you’d have a spectral readout on the area’s surrounding negative energy, and if you put the patterns together with a personality baseline you’ve no doubt already taken you could tell if there’s some kind of lingering specter! That’s actually really smart!”

The two oasis ponies looked towards Zipper with wide eyes, shocked at his sudden interjection. Gyro sat slack jawed in disbelief for a moment before shaking his head, “Zipper how on Earth do you understand any of that?! Seriously, I’m struggling to figure out how a theme park junkie like you knows so much about the paranormal.”

Zipper shrugged, “What can I say? Strange and unusual stuff interests me, and I myself am strange and unusual… it just kind of clicks with me, y’know?”

Phoenix let out a small laugh, leaning in and whispering to Gyro, “I told you so!”

Gyro shot him an annoyed glare and returned his attention back towards Constance, “Right, well Zipper’s correct. I’ve been theorizing that potential spiritual apparitions could have some basis rooted in magic. I haven’t been able to test any of my hypotheses up to this point, but that’s where this excursion comes in.”

Constance raised an eyebrow, “Rooted in magic? How?”

“Well, it’s not 100% confirmed, but I look at the dream realm as a model. It’s a realm that doesn’t exist in our natural plane, but certain magic harnessing individuals are able to cross a part of themselves into it in a sense. What if there’s a spiritual realm-- the afterlife, where the inhabitants there can do the opposite? And what about how our own human resonances existed as a sort of magical echo post ETS. What if we can imprint a similar resonance on the world around us? Leaving imprints of what we’ve come to see as ghosts in the waking world?”

Phoenix nodded along in interest, “That would explain a lot. I’m not as proficient of a dreamer as Silver is, he’d probably be able to give some insight on this that we don’t have, but maybe it’s plausible. Legends, ghost stories-- all stuff that’s been passed down throughout history without any kind of scientific fact to back it… but I suppose magic goes beyond science…”

“Magic is a branch of science in itself, just one that goes beyond anything we’ve ever known before. This is where our experiment comes in, there’s no guarantee that this will even work, but if my research is correct, this should be a hotspot for psychic turbulence.” Gyro added, point of factly.

“Well what’re we waiting for? Shaft 13 is just behind this wall!”

Gyro rolled his eyes, “Possibly behind that wall. You three want to tag along, so get to it. Connie and I will make some adjustments to the device’s calibration, Zipper and Phoenix can keep an eye on you two and make sure you don’t get us killed.”

The group had moved off to the side, towards a makeshift basecamp that Gyro and Phoenix had set up. The portable generator hummed loudly from a short distance away, and the lights hooked up to it flickered every so often, occasionally casting odd shadows around the room.

Ruben stood up from the ground he was sitting on, raising his voice so he could be heard over the generator, “So what’s the plan here uhh…”

“Gyro.”

Ruben nodded, “Right, Gyro. So what’s our plan then?”

Gyro gestured towards the caved in tunnel, “Well we need to get in there right? We won’t be able to get any excavation machinery in here anytime soon, let alone tonight, so we’re going to have to do things the old fashioned way…”

The dark gray night pony, Rick, nodded his head, “Uh huh… and the old fashioned way is?”

Gyro let out a sigh, gesturing towards the cart he was pulling, “The old fashioned way would be setting up some strategically placed mining explosives and clearing the rest away with more traditional methods…”

Rick nodded, “So you mean picking up a few picks like we’re prospectors or something? I can dig that.”

Zipper and Phoenix let out a chuckle in response to the pun, while Gyro simply nodded, “Well you guys probably won’t be able to do that, but Connie and I can use our magic to just lift the remaining rocks away.”

“Uhh, you know I was just joking right? I didn’t expect us to actually be lifting picks up.”

Gyro nodded, “I know. So is that okay with you? Can I trust you two to help and not blow us all up?”

Ruben nodded, glancing between Rick and Gyro, “Yeah, this isn’t our first rodeo, it’ll be just like Calico eh Rick?”

Zipper perked up, “Just like Calico? Oh man that was such a cool episode!”

Gyro and Phoenix shot a glare towards the two ghost hunters. Gyro raised an eyebrow, “What happened in Calico?”

“Oh it was so cool, they brought some old dynamite along and wound up causing a cave in, but they jumped out just in the nick of time!” Zipper excitedly answered.

“I’m sorry what?!” Phoenix shouted out, “Gy they’re gonna get us all killed. I think we should just call Cal and get them out of here. We can come back later when we have the proper equipment.”

Constance ran forward, “Calico was staged Gilly, it was a special Halloween episode to boost tourism to the old Ghost Town, please trust me. We’ve come this far, why turn back now? Aren’t you curious to see if the legends are true?”

Gyro considered this for a moment before nodding, “I didn’t lug all of this equipment out here for nothing, Zipper and Phoenix are going to keep a close eye on you two. If you do anything stupid you’re going to regret it. Do I make myself clear?”

Rick nodded, “Crystal.”

“Good. I have some experimental charges in the cart over there, they’re kind of volatile so make sure you only set a few of them up. The construction crews haven’t run into too many issues with them, I can trust you to properly follow the instructions right?”

Ruben nodded, “Of course. Would you like to give us a quick rundown on everything we need to know before we get started? I’m assuming that this place is probably not very sound, unless you’ve been maintaining the old tunnels.”

Gyro waved the pair towards the supply cart, “Okay. These are experimental explosives, and while they’re fairly volatile, as long as you make sure to handle them properly you won’t need to worry. Our construction crews used them to clear out some old collapsed tunnels so they’ll absolutely do the job here, but the trick is to use them to do the heavy lifting.”

Rick gently touched one of the charges, “Okay, so what’s the best way to go about doing that?”

Gyro looked back towards the collapsed tunnel, “I’d say plant two to start, towards the center of the rubble,” He gestured back to the charges, “You turn this dial to set the timer, tap it twice to set.”

“And then we run?” Ruben asked.

Gyro shook his head, “No, then you take this detonator and activate the charges once you’re a safe distance away. They’re linked together and the charges won’t go off unless the detonator is far enough away. That said you need to tell us when you’re done and set so we’ll have enough time to get back, there’s only one detonator and the charges won’t be able to tell if we’re nearby or far away so give us notice okay?”

The pair nodded.

“Good. Glad we’re on the same page,” Gyro turned towards Constance, “I need to make some adjustments to the device, would you care to help?”

Constance smiled, “I thought you’d never ask Gilly, lead the way!”

Gyro nodded, “Phoenix, Zipper… keep an eye on the other two, okay?”

“Gotcha boss,” Zipper excitedly replied back.

Ruben and Rick were currently setting up mining explosives while Constance and Gyro were making adjustments to their device and running over diagnostics. Zipper stood alert as if he was some highly trained guard while Phoenix paced around the group.

“Uhh, do you guys know what you’re doing?” Phoenix asked as he looked on in concern.

Ruben shrugged, “It’s blasting apart rock, what’s there to know?”

Phoenix nodded and stepped further back from the group. “Just uhh… making sure I guess. You guys followed Gyro’s instructions right?”

Rick nodded, “Yeah of course, what do you take us for? A couple of lunatics?”

The yellow night pony glanced towards Zipper, who returned a confused shrug, “Something like that… Look, just please make sure you’re careful about this okay?”

“Yeah yeah, just trust us okay? This isn’t our first rodeo.”

Phoenix rolled his eyes at Ruben and slowly walked away, leaning in close towards Zipper as he passed, “I know you’re a fan of them but please keep an eye on them okay? If they do anything… weird give us a holler okay?”

Zipper nodded, “Yeah okay, what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to go talk with Gy about this, I’m starting to think that this might not be the best idea.”

“Okay… I’ll uhh, I’ll just stay here then.”

Phoenix gave a short nod and trotted over towards Gyro, who was fiddling away with his machinery and chatting with constance.

“Gee Gilly I didn’t realize that the analysis module on the old model was so broken, no wonder we never got any solid results from it.”

“The machine was broken from the start, we wouldn’t have gotten results at all. We only just recently developed the processors we needed to get this thing working— and we haven’t even had a chance to test it fully yet…”

“Sorry to interrupt Gyro, I just needed to talk about something… alone if that’s okay,” Phoenix said, glancing towards Constance.

Gyro looked towards Constance and nodded, “Okay?..” He took a few steps away from the cart and leaned in, “What is it?”

“I just don’t know what to make of the others, they’re just rigging things up willy nilly and I don’t think they’re paying attention to your instructions.”

The unicorn took a cursory glance towards the pair that were still rigging up the explosives, nodding as he looked back toward Phoenix, “Right. Give me a second,” He began to trot towards the duo, raising his voice as he got near, “Hey, tweedle dee and tweedle dumb, you two finished setting the charges up?..” He paused as he noticed that they were rigging up far too many charges than was necessary. His eyes widened in anger, “Hey! Are you two thinking straight, you’re gonna get us all killed!”

Ruben quickly set the charge and ran back, diving behind a few tall rocks and activating the detonator, “Too late to back out now! Everyone get back! It’s gonna blow!”

Rick and Ruben dove behind a large rock, while Gyro threw up a shield around himself, pulling Connie, and the two remaining ponies that hadn’t found cover yet behind it with his magic. With a loud, bright, blast the cave shook, threatening to collapse around the group.

As the dust cleared and the rumbling settled a deafening silence hung in the air for a few solitary minutes.

“What the blazes do you think you two are doing!? You’re going to get us killed at this rate!” Gyro angrily ran towards the pair, backing them into a wall. “You literally only had to rig up a couple charges and back away, yet you decided it was smart to just light them all up!”

Ruben stuttered for a few moments, “W..well y--yyou see, we have access to the shaft now, we didn’t before.”

“That’s your defense? You’re lucky we’re alive, but once we’re outta here you two are out of here, if I ever see you here again you’re going to wind up locked away and facing criminal charges, do I make myself clear?!”

“Gilly, please calm down, they didn’t know any better. Look, we’re all alive now, and we’re safe. The cave’s open and the wall was a lot thicker than I think we realized, see?” Constance said, gesturing towards the now open cavern, revealing a thicker pile of rubble than they had initially thought.

“I… Fine, but they’re still getting banned after this,” he glanced towards the camera that Constance was holding with her magic, evidently still recording, “You too if that footage gets posted anywhere, we don’t need even more uninvited guests here. Got it?”

Constance smirked, “Oh come on, I’ll give you a copy to study if you want--”

“No.”

Ruben, Rick, and Zipper glanced into the now open cavern, noticing the dimly lit sparkle of mineral veins. At once Rick jumped up and ran over, Clearly seeing something with his enhanced vision.

“Do you see what I see?!”

Ruben squinted into the darkness and cocked his head to the side, “What is it Rick?”

“Gold! It’s gold! We’re gonna be rich!”

“Gold?!” Ruben and Zipper both said in unison as they ran towards the excited night pony.

Gyro rolled his eyes, turning back towards Constance and Phoenix, “Come on, let’s get the equipment and get this over with. There’s no telling if the blast damaged the structural integrity of the cave and I’d rather not wait and find out for ourselves.”

Phoenix flashed Gyro a concerned look, “Uhh Gy, are you even sure that this is the mineshaft we’re looking for?”

Gyro shrugged, “I’m not, but I guess there’s only one way to find out.”

A low rumble echoed through the cave, earning an involuntary twitch from Phoenix’s ears, “I just don’t think this is really worth it anymore, maybe we should go before things get dangerous…”

“You’re free to go if you want, but I’m going to get the data I need with or without your help.”

Constance nodded, trotting close to the red unicorn, “Right… so what is it you’re actually looking for here, Gilly?”

The unicorn glanced towards his equipment, “Isn’t it obvious? I’m trying to finish what we started all those years ago… well to a degree that is. I want to see if there’s any correlation between the magical and the supernatural, and in essence that answers what we were trying to do.”

“Do you really think it is— connected? I mean this could be big if the device actually works.”

Gyro shrugged, “I… I don’t know, I guess we’ll find out together, if you’re not too afraid to continue on that is. So what about you? What do you believe?”

Constance shuffled her hooves around, glancing towards the smoking cavern, “It’s hard to say, what if there’s a life after death? Do you think the world’s ready for the answer? I know I am, but you and I are different from the rest of the world.”

“People have been asking that question for thousands of years, and so many think they know the answer— are even convinced that they’re right. You could show them mountains of contrary evidence and I doubt it’d change their minds. I don’t think our experiment will definitively answer it one way or another, but maybe it’ll offer some insight into how magic interacts with the world around us, and maybe that’ll give us clues to that answer. I know we’ve only just now reached our magical awakening, but the universe is so much bigger than we thought, we’re pioneers in unexplored territory.”

Constance nodded, “I guess you’re right. Whatever we learn today, I’m just glad I can find out with you,” She paused for a moment, “Gilly, do you think that maybe we can work together again? I’m not saying it needs to be like we were back in the day, but you’re right, this is a new branch of science and I want to be a part of it.”

Gyro glanced over towards Zipper and Phoenix, giving Constance a quick nod, “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t open to the prospect… plus I need an actual assistant instead of the hired help I have now… but I’m not kidding about banning your… associates. They trespassed here— you trespassed here with them too, you’re lucky I’m in a good mood tonight or you’d be going out with them.”

The mare perked up, “So that’s a yes then?”

Gyro sighed, a small smile spreading across his face, “Something like that I guess. We can talk about the finer details later, but let’s see how tonight goes for now.”

“Thanks Gilly, I can’t wait, now how about we go get set up, I think it’s time to see if the legends are true.”

Phoenix walked over towards the cart while Constance and Gyro began to clear out a path on the cave floor.

Excited cheers could be heard from the cavern within, but Phoenix could also hear a low rumble every now and again, as if the cave had come to life and was breathing. “G— gyro, we should really get this done asap… how long do you think it’ll take?”

“About fifteen minutes if we’re in a rush, forty five max. Why?”

“I’ve just got a bad feeling about this, I keep hearing a rumble.”

Gyro nodded, pivoting his ears around, “I do too… I don’t like it either, but you can blame the two powder monkeys for that one, so let’s get this done before we all follow in Ravenscroft’s footsteps.”

Phoenix began to scout ahead while Constance and Gyro pushed the cart into the mineshaft, lighting and leaving small electric lanterns along the way. As the group entered the large cavern, Gyro parked the cart, lighting up the large floodlights that were built in and illuminating the entire place. Constance began to explore the newly lit cavern, poking around at some of the antique equipment with her magic.

As Phoenix panned the light around he caught sight of Zipper, Reuben, and Rick, who were excitedly gesturing around towards the ore veins, no doubt trying to figure out how to knock some of the precious metal loose.

“So you think this is it Gy?” Phoenix asked as he continued to look around.

The unicorn craned his head around to better examine the cavern, “Hard to tell, there’s no identifying marks on anything so we just have to set up our equipment and hope we get a reading before the whole place comes down around us.”

Phoenix slowly nodded his head, “You’re not really reassuring me Gy…”

“Uhhh guys? I think this might be the right place.” Constance said with a worried sounding voice.

“Huh? What do you mean Connie?” Gyro began to turn towards her, pausing as he saw sight of what she was referring to.”

As he turned the cart, the light illuminated a skeleton hunched against the wall that was dressed in the same clothing as the man in the painting that hung in Gyro’s office.

“Alexander Ravenscroft…” He paused for a moment, “This is it for sure.” Gyro said in a low voice.

“So the legend’s at least partially true then?” Phoenix asked as he took in the grim sight.

Gyro nodded, “It appears so… at least the part of him perishing amongst the fortune he so desperately sought.”

As he spoke, the others began to walk over to see what the commotion was about. Pausing as they noticed the long dead prospector.

Zipper nervously gulped, “So it’s true then…” He quickly jerked his head over towards Gyro, “Do you think he’s still haunting this place?!”

The unicorn shook his head, “Zipper I told you that ghosts aren’t real.”

“But what about what you and her were going to do? You know? With your fancy ghost detecting machine?”

Gyro turned towards Phoenix, “That’s different, the machine’s purpose is to detect fluctuations in the magical resonance of an area combined with the spell I mentioned before. Connie and I had some wild theories about the true nature of the afterlife, or lack thereof, years ago, but my understanding is different now. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t intrigued at the possibilities of how this could correlate though.”

“So you believe in ghosts then.” Phoenix replied with a smirk.

The unicorn rolled his eyes, “I believe in the possibility of emotional and magical resonances imprinting on the world around us, some may interpret that as ghosts. So I guess you could assume that if that suits your definition of what a ghost is.”

Ruben smiled and stepped forward, walking towards a pair of dusty old crates, “I hate to interrupt this fascinating discussion my dear friends, but how about we hold a good old fashioned seance? Make this a two for one deal.”

“You mean give ol’ ravenscroft a ring and see if he’ll answer? I like it!” Rick added with an unsettling grin.

Zipper beamed with excitement, “Oh man a real life seance! This is gonna be sooo cool!”

Gyro rolled his eyes, “First you three wildly blow a hole in an old, possibly unstable mine and now you want to hold a… seance?” he added with a hint of distaste.

Phoenix cleared his throat, “Just an FYI, you came down here to run some readings on the potentially latent thaumic resonance that you thought might be here right? In case that there was some actual truth to the old legends?”

He nodded.

“Well there you go, worst case this does nothing and we all look dumb, best case you get some sort of solid reading and the chance to prove that there’s life after death. Either way you get to take your readings and we get to have fun.”

Gyro rolled his eyes, “We’re not here to have fun though,” he waved a hoof over towards the three intruders, “In fact, three of you are only here because you snuck onto private property to go on some paranormal treasure hunt.”

“Oh lighten up Gilly, it’s just some good old fashioned fun, what’s the harm in holding a little seance?”

“Now now, let’s not fight. Your night pony friend has a good point, this way we can all get what we want.” Rick finished. “Ruben would you like to begin?”

The unicorn nodded, lighting his horn in a dull blue glow, “Please take a seat around the crates and hold hooves.”

“Do we have to?” Gyro asked in annoyance as the rest of the group took a seat.

“Of course! It only works if we all hold hooves!” Zipper loudly answered.

Gyro rolled his eyes and glared at the pegasus, “Zipper, is all of your paranormal knowledge based solely on movies? Or have you actually done some research on this? Because I don’t mean to be rude, but it’s annoying.”

He shook his head, “Nah, I was good friends with the fortune teller back in the day, this isn’t my first seance.”

Gyro just nodded along and turned on his equipment, briefly lighting his horn and enveloping the area in a sparkling magical glow. With a sigh, he begrudgingly took Zipper and Phoenix’s hooves. “Alright fine.”

Ruben nodded, “We humbly call upon the spirit of Alexander Ravenscroft, proprietor of the Mesa Verde Mining Company.” He paused for a moment and began to recite some strange poem,

The Witching hour is close at hand, we know the risks, yet here we stand.

We call to you now in this place of gloom, seeking the spirit that led to your doom.

Demons and specters, creatures of fright, call in the spirits, to join us tonight.

Serpents and spiders, beasts of the night, open our eyes and show us the light.

Oh Phantom of sorrows, seek out this bond, we summon you now, from regions beyond!

The Grim Reaper’s promise, the spirit’s drive. To the living let now the dead arise!

As he finished the group waited with bated breath, leaving the room silent except for the quiet sounds of their breaths and the low rumble that continued to echo throughout the caverns. With an uncharacteristic laugh, Gyro broke the silence, earning a glare from Constance.

“Ha! I told you it wouldn’t work! Now if you don’t mind can we get back to the task at hand? It shouldn’t be much longer before— ” As if on cue, his machine began to light up and emit a strange ethereal hum, catching him by surprise. “Huh… that’s… actually intriguing.”

Phoenix looked on in curiosity, “What’s up?”

Before Gyro could answer, a low rumble began to break through the silence, followed by a steadily growing shaking.

Zipper immediately jumped up in a panic, “The curse! It’s real! We’ve gotta get outta here, the spirits are after our souls!”

“Calm yourself! It’s likely a result of cavern instability caused by your friends’ recklessness.” Gyro flatly added.

Phoenix raised an eyebrow, “But what about your readings?”

“Likely some sort of interference from the earthquake. This is a sensitive piece of machinery after all, I’ll have to look through them when I get back to the lab.”

Constance glanced back over towards the machine, “I don’t know Gilly, I’ve never seen anything like this before, even with the unfinished prototype…”

A few loose rocks and bits of gold from the surrounding cave began to rain down around them as the shaking got more intense. Gyro began to hastily pack up his machinery, pausing for a moment as he heard a loud crack coming from the support beam that sat at the entrance of the mine shaft, “Damn it, I’m not going to have enough time to pack this, Phoenix grab the readouts, Zipper you go grab the lamp, we don’t have much time, the beam’s splitting!”

Without any argument, the two nodded and made a run for the entrance. Gyro began to follow them but paused as he watched Rick and Ruben desperately try and scoop up bits of loose gold and rock. “You idiots! Are you insane?! Leave the gold and get out of here!”

Ruben hesitated and opened his mouth as if to argue, but a large rock falling dangerously close behind him quickly dashed those thoughts. With a nod, he and the others followed Gyro out of the cavern and back into the main cave, accompanied by the loud rumbling. The six bolted through as fast as they could, dodging loose rocks and hastily navigating their way through the dark caverns. Much to Phoenix’s relief, the mine they had ventured into was largely a straightforward path, but that still didn’t stop him, Zipper, and Rick from hastily flapping their wings to gain speed while the three unicorns ran as fast as they could behind them.

Much to his relief, the entrance of the mine was getting closer and closer, while the sounds of rumbling continued to echo from behind them. It was clear that they were out of the danger zone now, but Phoenix had had enough adventure to last a lifetime and he was more than ready to leave. Out of breath and exhausted beyond belief, the six collapsed onto the cool desert sand outside as the rumbling ceased behind them.

The sounds of their heavy breathing was all that could be heard for a few long minutes until Zipper finally broke the silence.

“That… was… SO AWESOME!” He excitedly cheered, earning a few annoyed glances from Phoenix and Gyro.

“If by awesome you mean terrifying, then sure…” Gyro turned towards the three investigators, “And you two! If you hadn’t been so careless we wouldn’t have been forced to leave so soon! You better believe I’m pressing trespassing charges!”

“Oh lighten up Gilly, we’re all alive, have a fascinating story to share, and we even got to take some readings like we were always meaning to.” Constance added while gesturing towards his crumpled up readouts.

“And… we even salvaged a bit of gold from the mine… If anything that’s gotta be worth it!” Ruben added while holding out a small gold-colored nugget in his magic.

Gyro looked on with a smirk, “Can I see that gold? I promise I’ll give it right back.”

Ruben nodded and tossed it in his direction, watching as Gyro caught it with his magic and cast a quick spell.

“Hmm.. just as I suspected.” Gyro resplied, a grin slowly spreading across his face.

“What’s that?”

He began to let out a few laughs, “It’s pyrite… fools gold! You almost got us killed over fools gold!”

Phoenix let out his own series of laughs, “Huh, so Ravenscroft died over fools gold… kind of fitting that he met his demise chasing a fortune he had no hope of ever finding.”

The duo continued to laugh for a few more minutes until Zipper finally perked up, cutting through the laughter, “Alright, so maybe we didn’t get any real gold, but you can’t tell me that wasn’t a real haunted mine!”

“Zipper, like I said before, ghosts aren’t real, at least not in the traditional scary story kind of way. Obviously we still need to try and make sense of these readings, but for the sake of logging this down and not getting our funding slashed to high hell, I’m going to say that this was probably just cavern instability caused by the explosion...” Gyro began to trail off as a faint glow far off towards the edge of the valley caught his eyes.

The unicorn shook his head and squinted off into the distance, pausing as he tried to focus on a strange series of dim lights that seemed to float around in a strange rhythmic fashion. He rubbed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them the lights had vanished.

Zipper gave a knowing smirk as he followed his gaze, “You never know Gyro… maybe some of the legends are true after all…”

Gyro shook his head in disbelief, “I guess so Zipper, I guess so.”

An Oasis in Motion

View Online

The calm silence that would normally permeate the ARK was broken by the gentle echo of the music that was playing throughout. The sprawling lab was normally staffed with at least a handful of high clearance researchers, but today it was devoid of all but one. Despite the solitary loneliness, the red pegasus continued to silently, but eagerly work away on his projects, occasionally humming along to the music.

You're face to face

With the man who sold the world

The sound of the music continued to echo throughout the large lab, suddenly being interrupted by the sound of the comm going off, startling Tinker for a moment and breaking his trance. With a small sigh, Tinker slid over towards the glowing screen and gently tapped a hoof to it, “Sprocket, what’s up?”

“Look, I know you’re busy but the other half of the team has been driving me crazy with requests and I’m getting tired of it. Any chance you can take another look at this so we can maybe get our budget proposal back in order?”

Tinker nodded, “I can spare a few minutes, so what’s up this time? I can’t imagine it’s really all that bad.”

“Well you’re not going to like this, I’ve got a long list of shit that’s been breaking down and an even longer list of issues that the team’s been bringing up non stop. Before you ask, it’s different than the issues we already addressed. You got a pen or something handy to jot this down with?”

Tinker nodded, quietly flipping up his gauntlet’s built in stylus and holding it over the screen, “I suppose.”

“Right, well first thing’s first, the grid’s experiencing a whole slew of issues again—”

“—I thought we corrected those issues?”

“We did. But that last round of budget cuts meant that the planned upgrades got shelved until next quarter.”

Tinker nodded, idly jotting down a few notes, “I see. What about project Helios? I thought we were adding more panels to each building and adjusting the backup battery array to account for that?”

“It’s already underway, but they won’t be online for weeks, the Helios team only has so many contractors that can handle this kind of complicated wiring and calibration, recruitment’s kind of fallen behind a bit— but that’s supposedly being rectified if Diamond and Silver’s words are anything to go by... Maybe we’d have the budget for some of those repairs if Silver didn’t insist on adding the redundant access point to the clock tower...”

“You know the reasoning behind that… even if we’ll never have to use it, it's still important that we have access in case of an emergency.”

Sprocket sighed, “I guess. But maybe we wouldn’t need emergency access if our grid didn’t cut out as often as it’s been doing.”

“So what about hydroelectric then? Where are we at with that project?” Tinker asked, ignoring his question.

“Still in early planning, the Mariners were working on a few components for that way up north, but got tied up with their Sea Castle project again. Silver was going to stop up there after his vacation, that’s another week away though.”

“Magic?”

Sprocket laughed, “Yeah no, you know the answer to that one. Really though, what’s the issue Tinker? We’ve got the resources, we’ve supposedly got the funding and staff— well for the most part that is. Why does it feel like this place is falling apart?”

Tinker looked around at the model of the Oasis that sat towards the center of the room, “Well, taking your list of concerns into account… maybe we’re outgrowing this place.”

“You think so?”

Tinker nodded, “It makes a lot of sense now that I think about it. You and I don’t have issues getting to our projects everyday and that’s because we have wings— we can literally just fly right over here, take the most direct route. Only about a third of us are able to do that, even less are humans that can just drive around. Everyone else here has to walk or take the shuttle… and well, the shuttle’s lacking to say the least.”

Sprocket let out a small laugh, “That’s putting it incredibly lightly Tinker, they’re so bad that it’s laughable at this point. It’s funny really, our entire world changed what, two years ago now? And somehow public transportation’s managed to get even worse.”

Tinker shrugged, “Well I’d say that’s a bit subjective, but fair point. So what should we do about that now then?”

“Well making sure that the few researchers we have at our disposal can actually get to their projects on time would be a good start.”

“So what you’re saying is that we should jump start some of those projects that the Transport Team was working on then?”

“You mean—”

Tinker nodded, “—Oh yes, I do. We’ve got so many more ponies and humans here that could lend their talents to this kind of thing. I mean it’d be a headache to figure out right now with the aforementioned issues, but the benefits in the long run would certainly make it all worth it…”

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking then?”

“Automated people movers?” Tinker said with a smile.

“I was thinking more in the line of monorails… but maybe we could utilize both. APMs for the smaller lines, monorails for the bigger ones?”

Tinker opened a new project file and started quickly jotting more notes down, “I like it, offer some alternate options. It’d set us back a bit more, but I think the added transportation will make it worth it. Plus if we come up with anything new and groundbreaking we’d have a working model we could sell would be investors on.”

“We’ll need to do a full analysis on what would suit us best, along with what has the best potential for future growth. We also need to make sure we can actually maintain ours so we don’t run into all those problems that others have dealt with in the past.”

Tinker paused his note taking and turned back towards the comm, raising an eyebrow, “Problems?”

“Yeah, you ever hear about the Disney monorails in Florida? I was riding one some odd years back and the door opened during transit. Definitely not something we want to deal with here, especially when we’re dealing with ponies that don’t have hands to hold onto the railings with, or wings to glide to safety.”

Tinker nodded along, no doubt ignoring most of what Sprocket had just said, “So the door opened and they still ran the monorails?”

Sprocket paused for a moment, “Yeah, those things were pieces of junk that were literally falling apart left and right and I’m honestly amazed they ran as long as they did without being replaced. It was like half a dozen accidents waiting to happen.”

“Right, so safety and maintenance procedures definitely need to be a priority then.”

“Yeah, I don’t want to waste any more time on this than we need to, especially if we can avoid issues along the way. Well also need to discuss this with Patrick so we can get the budget allocated properly. I don’t think the new budget is finalized yet so this might work out really well in our favor. We’ll need to do some research on who to purchase them from because it’s not going to be simple or cheap. Zip and Ocean are from Vegas right?”

Tinker nodded, “Somewhere around there, why?”

“The strip’s got a monorail system too, same kind of system as the one I’m thinking of if I’m remembering this correctly. Those two might have some insight into how efficient they are and whether it’s a good fit for us.”

Tinker tried to stifle a laugh, “You want Zipper to sit in at an operations meeting?”

“Mhmm, I know Zip’s a bit of a bird brain, but he’s honestly a walking encyclopedia when it comes to things he’s really interested in and this falls under that umbrella.”

“Alright, well if you think he’ll help… I’ll just have to trust that you’re thinking this all through.”

“If it makes you feel better, we’re not hinging everything about this on Zipper’s thoughts, it’s just nice to get someone’s opinion who’s actually had some experience with this in a practical setting.”

“So we’re trusting Zipper to give us advice and feedback on an important public works project… what could possibly go wrong?”

“Oh come on, you have to admit that he’s been a lot more responsible since he got his cutie mark.”

Tinker smiled, “Alright, well maybe he is. I’ll go get a team together then. When’s the next city planning meeting?

“The Friday after Silver gets back I think, conference room 1A, 8AM.”

“Room 1A, 8AM, got it. Zipper and Ocean for sure, I’ll bring a few others along too. I know Drive Train and Steam Engine have a few prototype vehicles they wanted to share too, and while they’re still early prototypes I think they’re worth sharing with the committee.”

“What kind of prototypes? I haven’t been keeping up with their side of the Oasis.”

Tinker quickly opened one of the project files, “Uhhh, autonomous vehicles designed with ponies in mind, but adaptable for humans as well. They’re still incredibly rough, but the Oasis might serve as a good testing ground for them given our unique situation here.”

“Alright, well just make sure they have all the documentation for them. I know we’re a private operation, but safety still needs to be our main priority for this. We don’t need another Horizon incident…”

“...Yeah… that kind of blew up in our faces…”

“Literally… you’re lucky that we avoided any serious injuries with that one, thank God I wasn’t in that room for the test fire. So just make sure the team’s one hundred and fifty percent sure that the engine’s not going to explode this time, alright?”

Tinker nodded, “Alright. Well I guess I’ll go get started then.”

“As opposed to updating the Oracle?”

Tinker glanced towards the large supercomputer that was gently humming, “Yeah, it’s running through a diagnostic routine right now, Gyro updated a few modules on the neural engine, said it involved a few experimental modifications that should aid us in both Project Foresight and Project Further Beyond. I don’t know how it’ll play into the latter though so your guess is as good as mine.”

“Right, well uhh, keep me posted on that. I’m going to get back to trying to fix the grid for now, but we really do need to get a permanent fix in place before moving forward with the transportation stuff.”

Tinker nodded, “Gotcha, you take care Sprocket, give me a call if you need anything, okay?”

“Alright.”

The comm disconnected, leaving Tinker alone with the sound of his music again. With a small chuckle he saved his work and powered his station down, standing up and stretching out, a few dull pops echoing out in the large room.

“Navi please send an alert to Drive Train and let him know that I’ll be stopping by to check out all of his progress shortly.”

Confirmed… alert sent.

Tinker smiled, “Thank you Navi,” He paused for a moment as he lowered his arm, chuckling to himself, “Listen to me, talking to a computer like it’s a flesh and blood entity, I’m beginning to sound like Silver aren’t I? Oh well.”

With a spring in his step, he trotted towards the Ark’s elevator and began to plan out the rest of his day.

The sun was high above the Oasis by the time Tinker had made his way to Drive Train’s lab, and he was eager to see all the crazy ideas that the unicorn had been cooking up for the last few months.

As he approached the large circular warehouse excitement started to fill him. The advanced mobility and design facility was one of the newer additions to the Oasis and it was easily one of Tinker’s favorites to date. The two engineers inside were always working away at some new creation, sometimes they were practical, but most of the time they were wildly fantastical— which was perfect for his own plans.

He paused as he reached the large metal door, raising his gauntlet up to the nearby reader. After a few moments the light flickered from a red to a bright green, and the large door slowly began to swing open. With a cheerful spring in his step he trotted in, passing by some of the older prototypes that had been moved from their old warehouse and were still yet to be catalogued. Tinker peeked his head into the large central room of the building, smirking as he noticed the two researchers hard at work on some large vehicle frame that could easily hold a couple of ponies in it.

“Afternoon friends, I hope I’m not interrupting anything important today.”

The purple unicorn paused his welding and raised his goggles, turning to greet Tinker, “Aha Tinker, come on in, we’re just wrapping up work on another prototype right now.”

Tinker stepped forward and nodded, “I can see that, that’s actually part of why I’m here.”

“I hope that means our advanced drone projects were approved then? The AeroCycle prototype is this close to being finished.” He said, gesturing with his hooves to emphasize his point.

Tinker shook his head, “Not today old friend. Though maybe that’ll change soon,” he glanced over to the bulky vehicle that vaguely resembled a strange bench, adorned with buttons, straps, and a series of large propellers, “I’m actually here to talk about a big project that I think you’re really gonna love, and it might be enough to bump your other projects up on the list.” He paused for a moment, “So tell me, what do you guys have in the way of public transportation projects?”

Drive Train flashed a confused look for a moment, and then turned towards the green unicorn who was still working away on one of the larger projects, “Hey Engie got a moment to spare? Boss wants to see what kind of crazy n projects we’ve been cooking up.”

The other unicorn, Steam Engine, nodded and trotted over, raising her own goggles, “Well what kind of stuff did you have in mind? We’ve got pretty much everything under the sun here, it’s just not all… done yet.”

Tinker nodded his head, “Mhmm, well let’s start with the problem. As I’m sure you two are aware, we’re starting to get a nice influx of helpers around this place… and that’s making it a bit… tricky for everyone else to get around to where they need to be. We need an affordable and efficient solution to help with that, and well, that’s where you two come in.”

The mare nodded her head, “Public mass transit… not impossible but it might be a tricky problem to solve here. I guess my first question is where our budget is. My second question would be, what kind of operational figures do we want to look at? I’m sure it’s all doable here, but we’ll have to raise our metaphorical rate for this kind of work.”

Tinker let out a chuckle, “Well we’ve got no budget right now… but that’s fine. Silver’s getting back home in a week or two, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Right now I’m trying to figure out what we’re able to do so we can at least start getting some plans on paper, maybe even get some initial construction underway, you know? Hell, you might even be able to slide some of your other projects into the plan too if you can justify it.”

Steam Engine nodded, turning towards her counterpart, “Well Icarus is a definite no, but we could start with Archimedes and go from there?”

Drive Train nodded, “What about Compass and Atlas?”

Tinker let out a small cough, “Well why don’t you show me them all? If it helps, I’m looking for something we could adapt to serve the best range of people with. Sprocket and I talked about monorails earlier, do you have anything like that?”

Drive Train nodded, “Archimedes then. Motion might be a good candidate too… in any case, follow me. We’ll start with some models and jump into the actual prototypes as needed.

Tinker nodded and followed the pair through the large interior door and into another, smaller, warehouse space. Steam Engine trotted towards a large cabinet and began fishing out a few wooden models with her magic while Drive Train flipped on a set of lights, “Okay, go ahead and take a seat over at the table, there’s a lot of these but I think Motion is probably the way to go.”

“Motion?” Tinker asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Motion.” She nodded, “It’s just the internal name we’ve catalogued this under,” she levitated the small model over in front of Tinker, “It’s basically a small scale monorail— the ponymover as we’ve affectionately called it. We were going to set up a working prototype not too long ago, but we kind of just got too busy with other stuff and couldn’t fit it in.
Tinker lifted the model up and began to turn it around in his hooves, taking in every small detail. The model itself wasn’t anything spectacular, just a small covered tram car with a few low benches but it had potential. Tinker gently set it down and turned back towards the two engineers, “You know, this could be exactly what we were looking for… how hard would it be to scale it up?”

“Scale it up? Like make it bigger or add more trains?” Drive Train asked, holding a pen in his magic.

“Maybe both? The more traffic it can handle the better, make sense?”

Steam Engine nodded, “Yeah. So that’s doable, but it’s not gonna be cheap. I don’t even know where to start with this aside from getting quotes for manufacturing.”

“That’s fine, Patrick can handle that part of the process.”

“Good. So how many of these do you think you’ll need?” Drive Train asked from behind his notebook.

“Maybe two to start with? Throw in like 5 cars per train and that should be enough to support us for now. The tricky part would be setting up lines and stations around the Oasis, it’s not going to be something we’ll be able to just do overnight.”

Drive train nodded, “Of course not… well we do have some other options we could pursue in the meantime.”

Tinker raised an eyebrow, “Like?”

“Well we’ve been working on a couple automated ideas. You know, self driving cars, shuttles, the like.”

Tinker turned towards Steam Engine, “Any chance you could show me some of those models?”

The mare nodded, “I can do you one better, we’ve actually got a couple very barebones prototypes set up, I’d have to boot up the network but that shouldn’t take much more than say a few minutes or two.”

The red pegasus smiled, “That sounds like a great idea. Let’s go take a look, if you’ve already got some up and running I’m sure the operations team wouldn’t mind expanding them out to the rest of the Oasis in the meantime— as a sort of public test.”

Drive Train closed his notebook and carefully placed it back into his saddlebag, waving Tinker along as he started to walk towards a large storage area. With a flick of his magic he threw another switch, illuminating the large room around them. He stepped forward with Steam and glanced around at some of the prototypes that filled the room, pausing briefly in front of some before shaking his head and continuing forwards past others.

“Aha, Archimedes!” He excitedly said as he pulled the cover off of a small vehicle.

“This is it?”

Steam Engine nodded, “Yeah. It’s like an automated shuttle. Runs on the shop’s network, has the whole place mapped out and it can even detect if there’s any obstructions or changes to it’s planned route, and account for that.”

“Sounds interesting. Would it work around the Oasis?”

She shook her head as she stepped into the vehicle, “Not fully, at least not yet. We could get it to run on the Oasis’ network, but we’d need to spend time mapping out everything and making sure it can handle that. Hop in though, we’ll take you on a little trip around the workshop and you can see how it feels.”

Drive Train stepped up and took a seat next to her, waving towards Tinker, “I can’t say it’s going to be a very interesting tour, but hey maybe this’ll work for what you needed too.”

Tinker nodded and took his own seat, “Sounds fine to me, anything I need to do?”

“Buckle up and sit tight, it’s a little rough at first but smooths out once we get going.” Steam Engine pressed a button on the panel in front of her and pulled down a lap bar, glancing at the display. “Right, well here goes nothing.”

The vehicle jolted sharply, loudly rumbling before slowly pulling forward. After a few rough moments it smoothed out and the three were off on their trip around the warehouse.

The tram continued it’s lap around the warehouse, weaving in between shelves and aisles, shaking the three ponies around slightly as it zipped around the next corner. Tinker shook his head and looked towards Steam Engine, “Any chance you could slow this down a little? I feel like I’m going to lose my lunch at this rate.”

The mare nodded, “Sure thing, I guess we’re just used to it by now.” She pressed a button on the panel and the vehicle slowed to a stop near a few covered projects.

Tinker nodded his head and took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a few moments. As his head began to clear he began to take a look at some of the other objects near them, pausing as he noticed a half covered hunk of metal that was set off to the side, “What’s this? Another project?”

Drive Train nodded and pressed a button on the control panel, releasing the restraints. He hopped out of the vehicle with a short thud and trotted towards the project, pulling the cover off of it, “Kinda. It was for a while, but we could never really get it working the way we wanted it to at the time… right now it’s pretty much just a glorified coffee table that we sunk a lot of cash into.”

“It looks so different than the others you were working on.”

Steam Engine nodded as she stepped out, “That’s because it was. It’s a shame really, it would have probably been one of our biggest inventions if it had worked out. Hopefully someday we’ll get over those development hurdles, but for now it’s just here, gathering dust.”

“What exactly is it though?”

Drive Train smiled, “It was meant to be a sort of mobility aid, something that could help a pony or human with their daily tasks.”

“Like a guide dog,” Steam added, “But with the added advantage of never getting hungry, or tired, or lonely. The big idea was that it would follow you around and say you needed something from a high shelf, or a door opened, or really anything that might prove challenging for someone with mobility issues— whatever it was, the asset would be able to help you with.” She gestured towards a mechanical arm, “We tried to build every solution imaginable into it, right down to including a mechanized arm to help do some of the heavy lifting for you.”

“It was a great idea on paper, but unfortunately there were just too many issues for us to solve on our own. Maybe someday we can jump back into it.”

Tinker cocked his head to the side, “So what were the main issues you were having?”

Steam tapped a hoof to the deactivated automaton, “Well right now it’s all brawn and no brain… literally. The biggest snag we’ve hit with this was coming up with, or finding someone who could program an AI to run it.”

“Yeah, it turns out it’s easy enough to program it to follow a set routine, but doing what we wanted to do, with our own limitations and budget, was just impossible. I don’t want to say we just gave up, but we more or less exhausted all of our options,” Drive added

The mare nodded, “We invited every bright mind and programmer that we could even think of inviting to help solve this problem, and well, none of them showed up unfortunately. Can’t say we didn’t try though.”

A smirk slowly spread across the pegasi’s face “So really what you’re saying is that you two just need an AI to run it then?”

Drive Train nodded, “Yup! That’s basically the wall we’ve hit. I don’t suppose you happen to just have a spare AI construct lying around in your scientific wonderland now do you?”

Tinker smiled, “It sounds a bit absurd when you phrase it that way, but I actually might have something workable, you’d have to sign some NDAs of course, but are you interested in taking this project further?”

He paused for a moment, “You’re not serious are you? Because above all else this is the biggest project we’ve been working on, our life’s work even.”

Tinker nodded, “I am. I think it’s got some real good potential.”

“Is there a budget set aside for this?” Steam asked, cutting in.

“Not exactly, but we could fold this project into another and get by that way. I’ve been working on something downstairs and this might be a great way to handle everything we’ve been trying to do with it. The best of both worlds if you will.”

“So your… AI gets to do whatever you’ve been meaning to do with it, and our mobility aid gets a functioning brain?”

Drive Train cleared his throat, “Let’s get something cleared up before we commit to anything. Would we be able to use this for our own project goals? Or are you the one calling the shots in this situation.”

Tinker hesitated for a moment, “Both. Without getting into details, Silver needs our program to pull in more real world data to analyze, if it can do that while serving your own goals then I think we’re set to go.”

“And what’s the data for? If this is going to live in and help out in other people’s homes I want to make sure that their privacy is respected.” Steam added.

“The data’s just for the program to build a better reference library from. You know, get a better feel for the world around it so it can better fulfill its primary purpose. If it helps we can geofence where it collects this reference data and limit when it does. I mainly just want to see it function in a real world setting.”

Drive Train nodded, “I see… well given that you’re the only pony who’s been able to offer anything remotely like what we’re looking for, I’m tentatively onboard.”

Tinker smiled, “Good, good. How about we head downstairs and get all the boring stuff sorted out? I’ll explain more once we’re there.”

Drive Train nodded, “Sounds fine to me, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t incredibly curious about what goes on down there.”

“Well my friends, today you’ll find out.”

Steam hopped back into the vehicle and activated it, waving the two others over, “How’d you like to see how this runs out on the open road?”

Tinker raised an eyebrow, “I thought you said it wouldn’t work out there?”

“Not fully, but there’s a manual mode that I’ve been itching to try out, it’s been so long since I’ve actually driven anything. If it makes you feel better we’ll go nice and slow, none of that crazy whip you around in your seat driving this time.”

“And we can bring that… project along with us?”

Drive train nodded, tapping his gauntlet on the mobility aid and pointing towards a flat platform on the back. In an instant the robot came to life and began to trot towards the panel, pausing as it scanned a code on the vehicle, before laying down and powering off again. The unicorn began to strap it in, turning towards Tinker, “It can run, just not make decisions for itself.”

Tinker took a few steps forward, carefully taking a seat before pulling his lap bar down, “Right, well I guess I’m ready when you are.”

Steam smiled as the vehicle lurched forward, making the pegasi’s face flash a shade of green for a moment before they zipped off once again.

The vehicle came to a stop a short distance from City Central, much to Tinker’s relief. While the ride was smoother than when they were in the warehouse, it was still a less than stellar experience. Steam quietly released the restraints and hopped out, followed by Drive Train who immediately began to boot up and unstrap the mobility unit. Tinker slowly hopped out and took a few moments to compose himself before turning towards Drive Train, “So is it all set to go?”

Drive nodded, “Sure is,” He tapped his gauntlet to the side of the automaton and turned back towards Tinker,” It’ll follow right behind us.”

Tinker nodded, turning towards Steam and waving towards the towering structure that made up City Central. He began to trot forward, the two unicorns and the mobility unit following closely behind him, “So obviously there’s some boring stuff that needs to be done, but I can’t wait to show you everything once we’re done with that.”

“So is this just some little sub basement kind of deal? Or are you guys actually hiding a whole complex down there?” Drive Train asked.

Tinker shook his head, “It’s kind of complicated,” He paused for a moment, tapping a hoof to the reader next to the door. Once it chimed and opened, he gestured for the two to enter, “You see, the original town archive office was built with a small sub basement to keep the town’s records in, the building had to be razed, but we were able to use that sub basement as the sort of lobby for our new construction. You know some of the mines that used to exist down here? Well we wound up cutting into some of them and expanding out, I’ll explain more once you’re all verified and good to go.”

“There sure is a lot of secrecy around this place, are the projects really that… sensitive?” Steam Engine asked as she trotted through the door.

“Well you know our partnership with SPEC right?”

She nodded her head, “Yeah? What about it? I thought that was cut way back after the whole storm fiasco where we practically got stuck with the repair bill.”

Tinker nodded, “It’s… a little more complicated than that. Yes we got stuck with some of the initial costs at first, but Silver negotiated with their emissary and apparently that cleared everything up. But to answer your question, we’ve cut back our involvement with them significantly, but not fully. We still have an active research partnership which is where a lot of the more sensitive projects come in.” He trotted towards a boardroom at the far edge of the central hallway and held the door open for the pair, “Right this way.”

A cough pulled their attention away from the conversation as Diamond Glider and a shorter pegasus trotted up towards the trio. Diamond paused as his assistant whispered something into his ear and returned a nod as the pegasus trotted off, passing by the trio with a quick nod of his own, “Thank you Hard Case, I’ll meet you over at the Helios Station as soon as I can.” He turned towards Tinker and smiled, “So these are your new picks for Project New Horizons?”

Tinker nodded, gesturing back towards the now idle mobility unit, “Diamond I think they can kill two birds with one stone here. Facilitate something that we needed to test, and in return they get the same with their project.”

Diamond nodded, “I see… and they’re aware of the policy right? We don’t need Sunset Blessing to bring the hammer down on this whole operation, especially when she’s made the consequences very clear.”

“Of course of course, I’ve only mentioned what I’m able to, I told them I’d explain everything in detail once they were registered with the program.”

“Good. I need to get over to the Helios Station and figure out why that’s on the fritz again before Sprocket loses his mind, the paperwork is all set up at the terminal, the new gauntlet uplink is all set up too so that should make it a lot easier. Are you good to handle this or do you need me to stay?”

Tinker nodded, “As long as everything’s set up then I’m good.”

“Alright, just give me a ring if you need anything, I can’t promise I’ll be able to get over here in any timely manner, but I’ll try.”

“Thanks Diamond, I think I should be good from here on out.”

The pegasus nodded at the trio, “Well in that case, welcome aboard, if you have any questions feel free to ask Tinker and he’ll get you sorted out.” Without much more of a goodbye he trotted out of the room, leaving the three alone.

“So the paperwork?”

“Is just over here,” Tinker finished for Drive Train, waving him towards a large glass table with a built in screen, “It’s all done digitally now, just tap your gauntlet to the table to begin and it’ll have you fill out some contracts, NDAs… that sort of stuff.”

Steam Engine sat down at the table and began to flip through some of the documents, a grimace spreading across her face, “Why do I feel like I’m about to sign my soul away to the devil? This is a lot more complicated than I thought it would be,” She looked up towards Tinker, “When you said paperwork I kind of assumed it’d just be something like a quick NDA, not a couple dozen contracts…”

“You’ll have to excuse Steam, she and I are… kind of hesitant when it comes to dealing with stuff like this, I guess we just never realized how big of an operation this was.”

Tinker nodded, “Completely understandable. I wish I could explain more, but I promise you it’s really just a lot of scary legalese, don’t let it scare you. You’re not going to have to do anything that you don’t want to, and if you wanted to turn back now I wouldn’t blame you.”

Steam Engine frowned, “Well then I’d leave with more questions than I started with…”

The two paused for a moment, staring at the table’s display, “Are we able to back out if we’re not comfortable with all of this?” Drive Train asked as he looked up from the table.

“Yes of course, the only thing you’d still be bound by are the NDAs— you’d have to keep quiet about anything that falls under this project umbrella, but that’s it.”

Drive Train leaned in towards Steam and whispered something to her, nodding as she replied. He turned back towards Tinker and nodded, “Alright, well we’re tentatively in. I can’t promise we’ll stick around, but maybe you’ll surprise us.”

Tinker smiled, “Of course, all I ask is that you go in with an open mind and just see what we’ve got down there, it’s not as scary and intimidating as it seems at face value, I promise.”

Steam Engine nodded, “Alright, I believe you.”

A chime rang out as the pair’s gauntlets were registered to the system, earning a look of intrigue from Drive Train, “So that’s it? This is like our… key or something?” He asked as he inspected the device.

Tinker nodded, “Kind of, the gauntlets are linked to each user, that’s why you don’t need a password. It’s some new biometric scanning system that Sprocket was working on, which works well for us because we can use it as your identification to get into the Ark.”

“So what now?”

Tinker turned towards Steam and smiled, “Well, if you’re all set to go we can actually take a trip down to the Ark, I’ll show you around and over to the lab where you’ll be setting up shop in.” He gestured towards a small metal panel on the adjacent wall, “See that touchpoint over there? Go ahead and give it a tap with your gauntlet.”

Steam Engine slowly approached the panel and raised her arm up towards it, pausing for a moment before gently tapping it against the metal.

Identity Verified: Steam Engine, Drive Train, Tinker

The lighting in the room suddenly flashed green for a moment as a panel in the wall slid open, revealing a simple elevator. Tinker smiled and stepped forward, “Come on in, there’s a few different levels to the Ark that I’d like to show you.”

The pair slowly trotted forward, making sure that their robotic companion was all the way in before turning back towards the elevator’s control panel. “Projects Sun Spot, Star Hunter, Further Beyond… Foresight?” Drive Train asked out loud, looking towards Tinker with a look of confusion.

The pegasus chuckled, “We’ll get to those in due time, right now let’s focus on Project Foresight, that’s where our AI projects are set up at.”

“So wait, you really have an AI then?.. How much is it programmed to do? Is it you know… alive?” Steam Engine asked as she glanced back towards the now motionless automaton.

Tinker shrugged, “It’s… hard to really say. It’s not truly sentient like you and I are, but it’s smart. Sometimes I swear it’s really thinking and answering me as a real pony would, but we’re years away from even getting anywhere remotely close to that. We call it the Oracle, this whole project was meant to be a way to predict the outcome of experiments and events so we could reduce the chance or running into an accident that could otherwise be avoided. It stemmed from one of the Sun Spot projects, which is where the SPEC partnership comes into play.”

“So this… Oracle… came from SPEC?”

Tinker turned towards Drive Train and pressed the button for Project Foresight, shaking his head as the elevator doors closed behind the trio, “No, at least not fully. I can’t really get into too many details about it yet, but the basic rundown is that we get project assignments from our contact in SPEC every once in a while, usually theoretical plans for strange electrical components that we don’t fully understand. More often than not we’re only able to replicate bits and pieces of them— stuff that seems worthless, though I suspect that it has to be of some use to them. Our contacts aren’t ever really clear with what the whole purpose for them is, but every once in a while we get something that we can actually use. The Oracle comes from that— more specifically the CPU processor that powers it. The processor’s built like an actual brain— a neural network if you will… to tell you the truth though, from the reference material it almost seemed like we were designing a brain meant for something far greater than what we have down here now, and I’m not entirely sure what to make of it. It took us a lot of research and development, but right now it's at the point where it can hold a conversation just like you and me. It still has some bugs though, but maybe letting it run around the Oasis will give it a chance to adapt to its environment in a more natural way.”

Before either of the engineers could reply the doors opened, revealing the large floor of the Ark that held the Oracle’s mainframe. Tinker stepped out and waved them forward, smiling as he watched them take in the strange environment, “Welcome to Project Foresight!”

Steam Engine glanced down at the large computer that sat on the far side of the room and looked back towards Tinker, “That’s it? It doesn’t seem all that… active.”

“That’s because it’s in a sleep mode. It had asked me about dreams earlier today, so I had some of the developers set up a sort of simulation mode for it to work through when it’s in its low power mode. That’s essentially giving it dreams.”

“Can we talk to it?” Drive Train asked as he slowly trotted towards the stairs, “I mean if it’s not too much trouble that is. I’d like to get a feel for if this is going to work out for our own goals sooner rather than later if that’s alright with you.”

Tinker began to walk towards the mainframe, nodding as he stepped down the stairs, “That’s perfectly fine, If anything I’m curious to see how it’ll react to you two. It’s only ever really talked with Me, Silver, and the occasional lab tech.”

“So we’re testing it out for you as well then?”

Tinker nodded, “Mhmm. Consider it a win-win situation for all of us. Like I was telling you before, it’s a little buggy at times, runs into errors with its primary function, but I think opening it up to a larger reference pool would be beneficial.”

“So this processor you were talking about, would we be able to load it onto the Mobility Unit? What Steam and I had in mind with this project was to create something that could run on its own without needing to be tethered to a network. Not saying we can’t link it back to the mainframe, but I want to make sure it can run on it’s own if there’s ever an outage.”

“I suppose it could, it’d probably take some modification but nothing’s impossible down here. So what you’re saying is that you want to copy it’s personality matrix onto this… drone, and then have that sync it’s data back to the server mainframe?”

Drive nodded, “Exactly! You say it goes into a low power sleep mode right? I’m assuming that’s so it can process and analyze the data it pulls in right?”

Tinker nodded, “Right.”

“So ideally that’d be the perfect time to sync up then, let it process it all at once—”

“— Which could increase its productivity!” Tinker excitedly finished, “I like the idea. We’ll probably need to build a new drone chassis so we can upload a copy of the personality to it. Power is an issue too, though Sprocket and Gyro have been working on some new power cells that might be able to power it for a day at the very most. We’d have to install charging stations around town, but that’s not necessarily an issue. Just keep in mind that you wouldn’t be able to access any of it’s higher functions like the advanced simulation and prediction engine, I’m afraid that that’s too hard to run on anything other than the mainframe that was specifically built for that.”

“That’s fine, we’re really just trying to create something that can act as a guide for a pony or human that might have mobility issues. This would hopefully offer that functionality, and you’d get the diagnostic data you needed. To tell you the truth I’m more interested in that than the whole future predicting part.”

“Yeah, that’s uh… a little worrying if I’m going to be honest Tinker,” Steam Engine added in.

“Well no worries then, if you two can get it to function within your parameters with just the core personality then I’ll call it a success on that front,” He paused for a moment, “Would you two like to say hello to it? I can tell you’re eager to start digging into this.”

Drive Train looked towards his partner and nodded, “Yeah, I think that’s a good idea. It’ll at least give us an idea of what we’re going to be working with.”

Tinker smiled, pressing a button on the console, “Then in that case, say hello to The Oracle of the Oasis.”

The large monitor in front of them suddenly came to life, displaying a simple icon that pulsed as the computerized voice greeted them, Good Afternoon Tinker and GUEST USERS.

“Good afternoon Oracle, I’d like to introduce you to a couple of ponies that are here to help us, Drive Train and Steam Engine.”

Hello DRIVE TRAIN and STEAM ENGINE. I AM ORACLE.

Steam Engine slowly stepped forward, “Hello Oracle… how uhh… are you today?”

I am well. How may I assist you?

“I don’t think you can help us with anything specific today, but we’d like to get to know you a little better.”

What would you like to know?

Drive Train trotted up next to Steam and smiled, “Everything. Tell us about you, what you do, what you’d like to do… that sort of stuff.”

Why do you need to know this information?

Drive smiled, “Because you’re going to help us change the world my friend. I have a good feeling about this, as strange and weird as it might seem.”

Very Well. Let me start at the beginning then…

Research Logs: Project Foresight

View Online

-=SECURE SERVER CONNECTION INITIATED=-

Experiment log, Project Foresight 1-A, Project overseer: Silver Eclipse. Current location, The ARK research facility, Mesa Verde Arizona, better known as “The Oasis”.

Project Foresight is proceeding as planned despite Sunset Blessing’s own objections with how her research funds are currently being allocated. However, as I’ve continuously reminded her, all of our operations fall in line with our original agreement and regardless of her own personal opinions on the matter, we retain complete control over our projects and all the components we develop for her once she has the data she needs from them. She can complain all she wants, but we’re perfectly within our rights here.

Given our past history with the whole... Storm Incident, I’m wary to trust her even with the assurance that the ponies responsible were let go. The fact of the matter is that she couldn’t have had no idea what was going on in UMAD, but she’ll never confirm that of course so it’s all left up to speculation. Personally I’d rather wash my hooves of her entirely and venture out into our own territory. You know, put our resources to good use without pushing some overzealous speciesist agenda, but then again there might be some value in sticking on for the long run. We wouldn’t have even been able to dream of bringing the project this far without her mysterious assignments after all… and her funding, so maybe we just have to make the most of a morally gray situation for now and do our part to help better the world. I have my own personal theories on the true nature of those projects, though they’ll likely remain unsolved for years to come, if even in my lifetime. It’s frustrating, but maybe it’s for the best, I’m not sure if I’d even want those questions to be answered, some of this tech… it’s otherworldly to say the least.

I can’t go on being bitter about this though, it’s almost been two years at this point and at least the whole incident introduced us to some very good friends, even if the initial meeting with one of them was… less than ideal to say the least. Not to mention that my own personal plans likely wouldn’t have been possible without that, so in a sense I guess I can thank Sunset for the unintentionally positive impact she’s had on my life.

I’m getting way off track here though, the experiment at hand is what’s important. Today is our first systems wide test since installing the upgraded processors and formally restarting Project Foresight, and hopefully that should address some of the crashes that the system was encountering on the old hardware. Go ahead and initiate the startup sequence now.

Systems booting… please standby.

Core power levels are nominal…

Systems are online, peak performance at 200%

Alright, let's rise and shine little buddy, time to see what you can do!

—Greetings Director Eclipse, how may I be of service today?

Hello Oracle, please state your primary function.

—Primary function — Data analysis — Experimental Systems, Class X, Project Foresight. I am ORACLE

And are you aware of your surroundings? What about the project data we’ve been feeding you? What can you tell me about the predicted outcomes of Project Further Beyond?

—System error, insufficient data.

Noted, it seems like there’s still issues with interpreting more complicated questions, I’ll have to pass this onto Tinker, Sprocket, and Gadget for them to figure out. We definitely need to teach you to be a little more personal too. Can you restart your primary interpretation software and make sure that your neural network is set to read/write mode please?

—Request acknowledged, Director Eclipse. Please stand by….

Good. Now let’s have a chat.

—Let's have a chat, Director Eclipse.

You’re getting there, please just call me Silver. You don’t need to be as formal with friends. And believe me, we’re friends.

—Just Silver. Acknowledged.

A verbal confirmation isn’t required, but if it is feel free to spice it up. Acknowledged sounds too robotic, you might want to go with something like “you got it.”

—Acknowledged. You got it Silver.

Good! You’re getting there. You don’t need to specify that you’re acknowledging something though, the “You got it” part covers that well enough.

—You got it.

There you go! You’re doing great!

—Noted.

Try something like “thanks.” Makes you feel less like a robot.

—Thanks.

This is good, this is very good… Well there you have it, it’s not much more than a glorified chat bot right now, but it’s a start nonetheless. Obviously we’re a long way away from achieving our goal with this project, but given the ongoing nature of our operations here, hopefully we’ll have something workable sooner rather than later. Go ahead and shut down for now Oracle, we’ll need to send your diagnostic data over to the lab boys and see what they think.

-=CONNECTION TERMINATED=-

-=SECURE SERVER CONNECTION INITIATED=-

Experiment log, Project Foresight 4-A, Current location, The ARK research facility.

Every so often someone will ask me what your purpose is, that is, why we’re investing so much of our resources into this project when it has no immediate return value for us. It’s a tricky question to answer, but the best way I can put it is by explaining my thoughts behind why this is so important to us. Do you ever try and figure out what your true talent in life is? What destiny has in store for you? I know you can’t possibly even hope to answer that, but I still try. Every so often I think I know what it is, but then the little seeds of doubt start getting planted and it inevitably brings those questions back up. A picture of a lunar eclipse on my flank doesn’t really tell me anything meaningful, what? I’m good at eclipses? I like space? I want to go to the moon? It looks nice and all, but what does it actually mean?

Some ponies have clearly defined talents, like Scarlet for instance. She’s obviously gifted at astronomy, even if the actual application of her talent is far more complex than that. Knowing that some ponies had the answer of what their destiny was easily answered by a picture on their flank definitely made my earlier resentment with my situation all the more frustrating. I mean hell, I was trapped in form I wasn’t comfortable in, forever, with a talent that I struggled to understand early on… half of the oasis ponies don’t even have their marks yet, so to some I’d be considered very lucky. The more I reflect on it though, the more it starts to make sense.

For a time I thought it tied into my dream abilities, those of course were my greatest talent at the time, or so I thought. But then I started to teach other talented dreamers and realized that my abilities didn’t define who I was. Anyone with the right abilities can harness them like I did after all, so I thought back to how I earned that mark in the first place, and the answer just hit me. My talent isn’t something that’s clearly black and white, I doubt anyone’s truly ever is, even ponies like Scarlet. In my case it’s taking what I have and looking at what I can do with that— to see the new horizons looming in front of me if that makes sense. I saw the dream realm as this amazing opportunity to teach and work with others, and here I am now, teaching my own group of students that are situated all over the world.

No one’s destiny is ever truly set in stone though, despite what your special talent in life is, there’s always different and unexpected outcomes that can really throw you for a loop. Sometimes your destiny just works out in unexpectedly weird ways. The whole UMAD incident may have led to one of the biggest magical incidents on the West Coast at the time, but it also opened up my eyes to what’s really possible when you work together with the right ponies. I’m often asked why I was so… reserved about the Great Storm and how I handled its aftermath, and the answer is honestly very straightforward.

It’s two things really, for one, we simply had too much to lose by getting overly aggressive in our handling of the situation, not to mention the fact that what we had done to get that help was dubiously legal at best, incredibly illegal at worst. I know that I’m a night pony and that’s in my nature to be aggressive, but the fact of the matter is that we were both screwed over by UMAD’s rouge agents and lashing out at the pony that was acting in perceived defense of her friends would have only compounded the issue further. Choosing to forgive and help rebuild together was strategically the best choice we could make at the time. Sapphire’s a great ally and friend to have, and hell, befriending her has led to more good than befriending Blessing has in the long run, not that we’re not grateful for everything Sunset and the SPEC partnership’s done for this place, of course. But it’s different with Sapphire, in an ironic twist she’s actually become one of our closest family friends, something that might seem incredibly strange to any onlooker that’s familiar with the actual details of the Great Storm.

Secondly, it introduced us to some… interesting ponies that were uniquely suited to helping with the cleanup. The Cleanup Crew as I’ve started to call them, not the most creative name, but it suits them all the same. As far as I can tell they’re completely untethered to any government or state agency and seem to operate independently. They have a tendency of keeping to the shadows, and it’s all off the record of course so you’ll be hard pressed to find any evidence of them anywhere, but regardless of their true nature, they were able to help us fight off the litigation that we were facing, along with keeping word of the incident locked down to the valley. To most of the world outside the Oasis it was merely seen as some freak weather magic experiment gone wildly wrong, with the occasional crackpot theory about “The Pony of Storms”, an urban legend to the rest of the world, though one that a few bright individuals have managed to see through.

The whole point of this little talk is that destiny has a weird way of putting you on the right track, and almost everything that’s happened in the aftermath of the Great Storm wouldn’t have been possible if I had chosen to embrace my instincts and lash out at the very real Pony of Storms. The Seekers, the Oasis, even project foresight— they're all a part of this, even if I never actively realized it at the time.

— Error— data interpretation failure. Error code X15-SIR-0496. Shall I print out a crash log?

That’s a new one… Yeah go ahead and print the log, the lab boys will want to see it for sure. So what’s up? You weren’t a fan of my lecture on the nature of destiny? You don’t have to sugarcoat it, you can just tell me that I’m not the most amazing storyteller and it won’t hurt my feelings. Look at me, talking with a computer like it’s another sentient being.

— Error— I lack a sufficient response to the query.

Lighten up a little Oracle, remember what I said about being too robotic?

— I’m sorry Silver, I don’t know how to reply.

There you go, now you’re starting to sound a bit more like an actual conversation partner! I know it was a lot to give you, but we had to figure out what you could parse and how much your systems would take in. Now let’s go ahead and take it from the top, see if we can’t sort out that data retrieval error.

— Thanks Silver.

Anytime friend… anytime. Let’s go ahead and run the diagnostic program.

— Diagnostics running, please standby.

Good, good. I’m going to run over to my office, you should be connected to the COMM network, at least you should be if Arne did his job. Why don’t you try and call me when you’re done with your diagnostics?

— I’m on the network?

Yep! The PRISMTech COMM Network. Now that said, I’ve limited your broadcast range to the secure line for now. You’re still a class X asset so you can’t go around chatting away with any random user that feels like digging around the network, is that okay?

— Okay

Good! Anyways, my COMM ID is DIR-96-17, go ahead and route all correspondence to that in case you need anything.

— Okay. Have a nice evening, Silver.

Thanks Oracle, let me know when your diagnostics are complete, I’ll send some more data over once you’re ready.

-=CONNECTION TERMINATED=-

-=SECURE SERVER CONNECTION INITIATED=-

Experiment log, Project Foresight 7-B, Project overseer: Silver Eclipse. Current location, The ARK research facility, Mesa Verde Arizona, better known as “The Oasis”.

Project Foresight is proceeding as planned despite Sunset Blessing’s own objections with how her research funds are currently being allocated. However, as I’ve continuously reminded her, all of our operations fall in line with our original agreement and regardless of her own personal opinions on the matter, we retain complete control over our projects and all the components we develop for her once she has the data she needs from them. She can complain all she wants, but we’re perfectly within our rights here.

Given our past history with the whole... Storm Incident, I’m wary to trust her even with the assurance that the ponies responsible were let go. The fact of the matter is that she couldn’t have had no idea what was going on in UMAD, but she’ll never confirm that of course so it’s all left up to speculation. Personally I’d rather wash my hooves of her entirely and venture out into our own territory. You know, put our resources to good use without pushing some overzealous speciesist agenda, but then again there might be some value in sticking on for the long run. We wouldn’t have even been able to dream of bringing the project this far without her mysterious assignments after all… and her funding, so maybe we just have to make the most of a morally gray situation for now and do our part to help better the world. I have my own personal theories on the true nature of those projects, though they’ll likely remain unsolved for years to come, if even in my lifetime. It’s frustrating, but maybe it’s for the best, I’m not sure if I’d even want those questions to be answered, some of this tech… it’s otherworldly to say the least.

I can’t go on being bitter about this though, it’s almost been two years at this point and at least the whole incident introduced us to some very good friends, even if the initial meeting with one of them was… less than ideal to say the least. Not to mention that my own personal plans likely wouldn’t have been possible without that, so in a sense I guess I can thank Sunset for the unintentionally positive impact she’s had on my life.

I’m getting way off track here though, the experiment at hand is what’s important. Today is our first systems wide test since installing the upgraded processors and formally restarting Project Foresight, and hopefully that should address some of the crashes that the system was encountering on the old hardware. Go ahead and initiate the startup sequence now.

Systems booting… please standby.

Core power levels are nominal…

Systems are online, peak performance at 200%

Alright, let's rise and shine little buddy, time to see what you can do!

—Greetings Director Eclipse, how may I be of service today?

Hello Oracle, please state your primary function.

—Primary function — Data analysis — Experimental Systems, Class X, Project Foresight. I am ORACLE

And are you aware of your surroundings? What about the project data we’ve been feeding you? What can you tell me about the predicted outcomes of Project Further Beyond?

—System error, insufficient data.

Noted, it seems like there’s still issues with interpreting more complicated questions, I’ll have to pass this onto Tinker, Sprocket, and Gadget for them to figure out. We definitely need to teach you to be a little more personal too. Can you restart your primary interpretation software and make sure that your neural network is set to read/write mode please?

—Request acknowledged, Director Eclipse. Please stand by….

Good. Now let’s have a chat.

—Let's have a chat, Director Eclipse.

You’re getting there, please just call me Silver. You don’t need to be as formal with friends. And believe me, we’re friends.

—Just Silver. Acknowledged.

A verbal confirmation isn’t required, but if it is feel free to spice it up. Acknowledged sounds too robotic, you might want to go with something like “you got it.”

—Acknowledged. You got it Silver.

Good! You’re getting there. You don’t need to specify that you’re acknowledging something though, the “You got it” part covers that well enough.

—You got it.

There you go! You’re doing great!

—Noted.

Try something like “thanks.” Makes you feel less like a robot.

—Thanks.

This is good, this is very good… Well there you have it, it’s not much more than a glorified chat bot right now, but it’s a start nonetheless. Obviously we’re a long way away from achieving our goal with this project, but given the ongoing nature of our operations here, hopefully we’ll have something workable sooner rather than later. Go ahead and shut down for now Oracle, we’ll need to send your diagnostic data over to the lab boys and see what they think.

-=CONNECTION TERMINATED=-

-=SECURE SERVER CONNECTION INITIATED=-

Experiment log, Project Foresight 6-C

Another day another round of inconclusive tests. Gyro tried to feed it more data from project further beyond, and as to be expected the simulations the Oracle was able to generate varied wildly from our own projected results, and that’s just a handful out of a good three dozen attempts that largely produced nothing but errors. The fact of the matter is that we lack enough of an understanding behind how the universe works to even get a good foundation for our own research built up. Not to mention the fact that this whole hypothesis of his is rooted entirely in the speculative nature of how the multiverse theoretically works, we only have one example to work with, and no one knows enough about it to generate any useful data. I’ve been trying to tell him that the Oracle isn’t even set up to handle this kind of simulation yet, but he’s still adamant that it’s worth trying.

This is where our big plans for this place differ significantly. I’m content with trying to find a more practical solution here, and that starts with figuring out an accurate enough time frame for their arrival. Gyro’s plan delves far more into the spiritual and paranormal, though I can understand where he’s coming from with it. Equestria exists in an entirely different universe, so what’s there to say that we couldn’t discover other universes out there? Obviously this kind of magic is kept under tight lock and key, though Gyro speculates that the answers might not be as complicated as we think… However, given that this is coming from him, I myself am skeptical to believe that at best. The stallion’s a genius when it comes to magical research, but there’s clearly not enough for us to work with yet… oh well, as long as the funding and interesting assignments keep coming in I don’t care what he does with it, as long as it doesn’t cause any problems for us here.

So how do we stop an impossibly powerful cosmic threat that’s looming on the horizon if we can’t even figure out when they’ll get here? Well that’s the hard part. This whole project, it’s meant to be a way to do just that— predict an arrival window. Though that’s… easier said than done however. But that brings us to Gyro’s solution; project Further Beyond. What if we could seed a new world? A world where our best minds could work away in safety? Our own connection to Equestria proves that at the very least the multiverse is real, so what’s to stop us from saying that there’s the potential to find another world out there? Another universe where we could set up a sanctuary— a second oasis, a place where the Devourers couldn’t even dream of getting to? Obviously it’s a pipe dream at best, and there’s no way it’d be viable in our lifetime, if ever… evacuating a planet of billions of people is just plain impossible. But what if? It’d be an ark, a place to ensure our own survival as a species, and I can definitely see Gyro’s intentions behind wanting to find such a place. Some might just say that we’re doomed to die anyways so we might as well speed towards the end, but what’s the point in living if we can’t try and make the best of it? Sure our own extinction might be looming on the horizon, but I’ll be damned if I won’t try and change the world before it happens.

Blessing might not always be happy about our agreement, but what is she gonna do? Break some mysterious agreement with a secretive mutual party that she can’t afford to breach? I wish I could explain everything to her, but the world isn’t ready for these kinds of harebrained theories yet. Maybe someday I’ll share some of the Oracle’s research with her, if she only knew the true nature of what she’s funding she probably wouldn’t even question where the money’s going. Hell, perhaps she’d even try and scoop it and all my researchers up, though I suspect she probably already has an idea of what we’re working with here. It’s no secret that she’s tried to slip a few loyal ponies into our ranks, though the way we operate makes those kinds of ponies stick out like a sore thumb. It’s a shame too, a few of them are genuinely talented, just… misguided.

Oh well, the world keeps spinning, and as long as it does we’ll keep trying to find something valuable that we can build up… we owe it to the world. In time maybe the Oracle can help us find the answers we’ve been looking for, and perhaps we’ll even find a new Oasis to call home… one that we can invite the entire world to be a part of…

-=CONNECTION TERMINATED=-

The Star Hunter - Memory 1 - Destiny

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A gust of wind sent a wave through the dark forest as the leaves in the trees rattled and shook around the young night pony. Fear shot through him for a moment as the eerie sounds of nature echoed out, but he was a brave pony, and he knew that everything would be alright.

Orion was no stranger to camping, but this trip was different than his usual trips, and he was beginning to regret his hasty decision to sneak away from his parents’ camp to do a little star gazing of his own. He was a natural when it came to that hobby, but finding his way around an unfamiliar locale was a different story entirely. The sounds of a deer calling out in the distance sent another surge of fear through him, and as the minutes stretched into hours he only felt more fearful.

A small twitch of his wings reminded him of the fact that he had yet to master flight, which only worsened his predicament as he continued to trot under the moon’s dim light. Without the ability to take inventory of his situation with that higher vantage point, he was as good as lost, the only chance at finding his way back seemingly locked away from him.

His fears began to grow as the wind sent another shiver down his spine, and the trees around him only seemed to grow even more alien and unfamiliar to the young night pony.

Tears filled Orion’s eyes as he frantically jumped into the air, his wings desperately flapping in the air but not allowing him to take flight.

“Why won’t this work!” He cried out, his voice echoing throughout the forest.

“Because you’re still growing into them,” came the comforting voice of his father from behind him.

The colt’s ears twitched for a moment before he turned toward the other pony, a warm smile spreading across his face as he ran toward his father.

“Dad!” He shouted out, “You found me!”

“Everything’s going to be alright... You really gave me and mommy a scare.”

The colt leaped up toward the midnight blue stallion, but quickly crashed onto the floor under him. He paused for a moment as the elder stallion floated across the ground, making him stare up in confusion.

“You…”

“I’m not really here,” Silver Eclipse clarified, “But we're connected, and I’m going to help you find your way home.”

“Is this… am I dreaming?”

Silver shook his head, “No, but I am… well, kinda. It’s a little trick I learned a few years ago, but what’s important is that I’m with you now, and I’ll be with you until you’re home.”

“But I’m lost,” he protested, “I don’t know how to get back.”

Silver sat near him and held an ethereal hoof up to him, “Hey little buddy, you’ve got this. Auntie Sapphire and Uncle Crescent are helping us look for you, but I just need to figure out where you are.

The colt let out a few sniffles, “But I don’t know where I am.”

The stallion let out a small, but comforting chuckle, “Orion, do you remember what mommy taught you about the stars?”

Orion’s ears perked up slightly, “She said I could use them to find out where I am.”

Silver smiled, “That’s right. Now do you remember how to find Polaris?”

“The North Star?” He perked up, “Yeah!”

“Good,” Silver pointed up to the sky, “Why don’t you do me a favor and find that. I know it’s scary right now, but I’m here with you, and we’re going to be together soon, I promise.”

Feeling comforted, Orion looked up at the sky as the gears in his head began to turn. It would only take him a few moments to identify and locate the constellations he knew by heart, and soon enough he had picked out the appropriate star.

“That one!” He excitedly pointed up at it, giving Silver a small basis of his direction.

“Good job!” The stallion cheered, “You make me so proud, you know that?”

“You’re not mad at me?”

Silver shook his head and sat down, “Terrified, but not mad. I could never be mad at you. I’m going to have to go away for a little bit soon, but we’re going to find you Orion.”

The colt’s eyes began to tear up for a moment as he neared his father’s incorporeal form, “I love you dad.”

The stallion leaned close to him, doing his best to mime a hug, “I love you too Orion.”

When the colt opened his eyes again, Silver was gone, but he wasn’t afraid anymore. His father had given him the strength to be brave, and had reminded him of a tool that he always had with him. Taking another look up at the stars, he smiled, locking his gaze on the constellation that was his namesake.

Orion, he thought to himself, someday I’m gonna go to the stars.

A warm feeling began to well up inside of him as he remembered the stories that Silver had read him as a foal, and he recollected the many hours he had spent with his mother learning all that he could about space and the stars. In that moment he felt the stars give him strength, and he knew what he wanted to do someday. He wanted to be the brave space pony that got to visit the stars, and he was going to do that no matter how hard it would be.

A bright light illuminated the trees around him, making his heart leap for a moment as he thought it was his family finally reuniting with him, but as the light faded he realized that he was still alone. Though a quick glance at the light’s source filled his heart with a feeling of joy far greater than he had ever felt before…

…because he had finally earned his cutie mark.

Interview Log: Scarlet Moon

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“So tell me about yourself, Mrs. Eclipse.”

“Scarlet, please,” the dark red mare replied. “And what would you like to know?”

The green mare adjusted her glasses and cleared her throat. “The purpose of this interview is to answer some questions so I can better assign you in the program. From what I understand you’re just a private astronomer without any formal educational or professional experience, and by all accounts that makes you ineligible for even the lowest levels of this program.”

“And is there an issue with that?” Scarlet raised an eyebrow.

“Not particularly,” the mare tersely replied. “But for the program director to endorse a relative amateur’s application along with a royal astronomer and the princess herself… is quite unusual to say the least.”

“Why don’t you look into my file instead of discounting me just because I don’t have a fancy doctorate. If you look again you’ll see that I took part in an educational exchange and helped write some of the reworked procedures.”

“I’m aware of that, though you only assisted on a low level technical basis.”

“And?” Scarlet replied. “I don’t want to be abrasive with you, but you said it best. The endorsements I got are unusual, and surely that helps paint a picture of what I’m capable of.”

The auditor rolled her eyes. “What are you capable of? Your cutie mark is clearly astronomy related, so does that aid in your talent or skills in any noticeable or distinctive way?”

“Of course,” Scarlet grinned. “I believe that Starry Skies called it Luna’s Sight. He said it was an uncommon ability that helps ponies navigate by using the night sky. I don’t want to brag, but I can do that very well.”

“As can many of our other technicians. What puts your skill above theirs?”

Scarlet looked off to the side and started to think back to her first days after transforming, specifically the day she earned her mark. “I have an unusually strong understanding of where I’m at from just a glance up at the stars. You could throw me into a forest in an unknown area blindfolded and I could probably find my way back home just based on the position of the stars and the way they’re moving. I can point out every major star in the night sky and which constellation it’s a part of at a quick glance, and based on what Starry seems to think, that’s not a usual skill just any old pony has…”

“If that’s true then it may indeed be a little more fine tuned than most of our technicians’. Nonetheless, what makes your particular skill set an advantage for us? We have dozens of ponies that already work together to do what you can.”

“With all due respect,” Scarlet started. “I can do quick and on the fly calibrations for the advanced telescopes you built with advice from Earth astronomers. I’m not going to say I’m better than anyone else, but I know the tech and can see things faster than they might be able to.”

“I see,” the mare replied. If she was impressed with anything that Scarlet had said then she sure wasn’t showing it, but perhaps that’s why she was working here instead of elsewhere in the program. “I’m aware of your referrals but if you’ll allow me to be blunt; I don’t know if you really have what it takes to contribute to this program. You’re an outsider and will probably be seen as one by the long term staffers, and your supposed talents might rub of the others the wrong way.”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Scarlet muttered out.

“What was that?” The mare asked.

Scarlet sighed. “Look. I know you’re taking a risk on me, but I promise you I’ll work as hard as I possibly can on this. I can’t tell you how important the education exchange was for me, and without that I wouldn’t have gone into teaching. If it makes you feel any better you’ll only be dealing with me for three months at a time right now, then you can spend the rest of your year not having to even think about me.”

“It’s not a matter of taking risks, Scarlet. You’re already hired on, so there’s no going back unless you violate the terms of your probationary period. But I expect to see your best, because you jumped the line to get in here and none of this would even be in consideration unless the Princess saw something in you that I don’t. So don’t fall behind, because the ponies that do don’t last long around here.”

Scarlet wanted to roll her eyes and say some choice words, but instead she simply took a deep breath and forced the most polite smile that she possibly could. For as abrasive as this mare was, she wasn’t any worse than some of the older professors at her college, and if her tenure status was anything to go by then she was more than capable of handling their shenanigans. She had gone through the gauntlet at almost every job she had ever worked, and weathered the storm time and time again. This job would be no different if she had anything to say about it.

“Thank you miss…”

“Sunshine,” the mare replied. “Sunshine Smile.”

That’s an ironic name if I’ve ever seen one, Scarlet almost couldn’t help but snicker to herself. “Thanks Miss Sunshine.”

Sunshine rolled her eyes and gestured towards the door. “Doctor Selene’s office is down that hall, last door on the right. She’ll give you your assignments and update you on the Outpost’s projects. There have been many advancements since you were last here that are no doubt far beyond the scope of what you worked with before.”

Tales from The Oasis

by TikiBat

Legend of the Cursed Treasure

An Oasis in Motion

Research Logs: Project Foresight

The Star Hunter - Memory 1 - Destiny

Interview Log: Scarlet Moon