After a war that devastated the world, the Alicorn Project that started it is still in operation. Twilight, a cybernetic alicorn, struggles with who she is, what the workings of her home are, and why going outside is forbidden.
In the past, Ponykind attempted to create alicorns, legendary creatures said to be like the goddesses themselves. But then, the War started, the goddesses vanished, and the constructs of science and magic turned their abilities on the living.
Now, years later, the world is struggling to pick up from where it left off, and the constructed alicorns are ingrained into everypony's mind as being soulless monsters. And despite the warring factions outside destroying what alicorns they come across, the Alicorn Project is still in operation.
In contrast to the outside world, for the new alicorns, life seems perfect. They're permitted to interact with each other, communicate with the Interface who acts as their teacher, and grow for Placement in a registered family they could call their own.
But one alicorn named Twilight, set to be placed with the Sparkle family, struggles with questions. Why her family-to-be seems so protective of her. Why the Interface refuses to tell her everything.
The unicorn immediately did as instructed, ducking behind a cluster of fallen debris as an explosion shook behind her. The blast kicked up a blinding wave of dust, which resulted in her white coat and purple mane becoming soiled with patchy spots of gray. Years ago she might have cried out in disgust at her coat being covered in dust, and run to the nearest bath to rid herself of the grime. But things were different now. The filly she had been was a far cry from the mare she had grown into.
She was dimly aware of the mare who had shouted finding a place to hide as well, her hooves scrambling to find a cover where the explosions wouldn't hit either of them.
The clanging of metal rang in Rarity's ears, and flickers of red light passed over her hiding place, like searchlights. Searching if we survived to make sure it can blast us properly, no doubt, the mare thought.
"Ya okay, Rarity?" A voice resounded among the ringing in the mare's ears.
"I-I'm fine, Applejack," Rarity assured, meeting the bright green eyes of her friend who had hidden behind the debris patch as well. Turning her gaze back through the crevices, Rarity fought to stop her hooves from trembling as she held herself high, charging her horn before raising herself into view of the equine form of metal and flesh that trotted nearby. The red light of his eyes were trained ahead, and she could see the lengths of twisted wire hanging from a mangled back leg, some metal framing visible in a side wound charred with flame.
Before the synthetic creature could turn around, a blast from Rarity's horn aimed squarely at its exposed chest, the laser hitting its target as the cybernetic alicorn was struck. The pony-like creature shrieked in agony, writhing before breaking apart in the blast, a mess of metal and blood left in its wake. Dust came up around it as it plummeted to the floor, dead.
With shaky breaths, Applejack and Rarity came out of hiding, looking cautiously at the fallen creatures. Its body had been almost entirely destroyed, only half of its head and its left front hoof remaining. The one eye that was visible was completely dulled.
Applejack nearly collapsed in relief. "We got another one. Happy Anniversary I guess..." Applejack tried to force out a laugh, but with a somber look from Rarity the laugh died quickly.
It was 20 years ago to that day that the terrible Scourging begun, turning their once-green, wonderful home into an unknown wasteland. Inhabitants were scarred physically, emotionally, and mentally, thrust into a world turned upside down into an environment that many were not prepared to survive.
Stepping closer to the carnage, Applejack fixed Rarity's gaze with her own. "Well, you know what we gotta do since this one hasn't been completely destroyed."
"You do it, Applejack," Rarity said with a wince. "I've touched enough corpses this week."
"This is the first one you got in two weeks," Applejack retorted, a deadpan expression on her face.
"Well, still, you're better at this than me!"
Applejack sighed, unable to argue with that statement. Taking a deep breath, she looked carefully at the mess of wires for anything that could be salvaged to figure out how these things worked. She tilted her head, noticing that the horn was opened, half of a metal capsule underneath it.
"Now here's somethin'," Applejack said, using her hoof to coax out the half-destroyed contraption. "It's busted, but it might help us figure out what makes these things tick."
"And taking it will prevent any other scavengers from getting at it," Rarity said, levitating the capsule into her bag. "Last thing we need is some other group of ponies planning on building a war machine against us."
Applejack nodded in agreement.
Leaving the alicorn wreckage behind, Applejack and Rarity raced across the landscape, the dry gravel beneath scraping their hooves. Among the broken and abandoned buildings as they ran through what was once their city, a small shack made itself visible through the growing storm. As they drew closer, the door opened, and a white-coated mare with a light-pink mane waved her hoof.
"Come on!" she called. "Get in here!"
The pair raced through the metal door, the nurse pony shutting it behind them with a heavy click. She leaned against the door as the wind began to howl against the walls, her nurse hat nearly falling off her head.
"Bless you, Nurse Redheart," Rarity said, brushing the dirt and ash out of her mane.
"Of course," Redheart said, finally moving away from the door as the sound faded. "I was getting worried for you two. Did you find anything?"
"We ran into an alicorn out there, but Rarity defeated it," Applejack said with a note of pride in her voice. "It was already injured a bit when she blasted it, but we were able to salvage half a horn-capsule."
Rarity's horn glowed as she levitated said capsule out of her bag, Redheart taking it in turn. Despite it only being half of a container and in no condition to even have a spark, a smile formed on Redheart's face. "We might be able to work with this. I think we have one fragment I might be able to connect to it."
"That's good news," Applejack said, carefully hanging up her hat on a rack and dusting it off to return it to a reasonably-pristine state. "We oughta note it down."
"I'll take care of it," Rarity offered. "It's my turn, anyway."
Nurse Redheart coughed, looking a bit nervous as she spoke. "I think from this point on you should think of yourself as the first." She glanced around their shelter, eyeing their various belongings. At least their new living quarters were looking somewhat like a home now,
Rarity paused at that. "You can't be saying we should act like the past didn't happen?"
"Certainly not," Redheart said, trotting over toward the back of the building with the damaged capsule in tow. "Which is why you should note it down in your log. If the past is left forgotten then its mistakes are doomed to be repeated."
Sighing, Rarity walked over to the table at the side of the room, lit up by a bare bulb. On its surface rest a frayed quill, a midnight-blue covered book, and a crumpled piece of paper with eloquent writing visible on it. Listening tensely to the heavy winds outside, the white unicorn's horn shone an azure blue as she picked up her quill, penning down her journal entry for that day. The journal their group had been recording in had been destroyed in the last raid. She had to start over.
As far as she knew, what they wrote here would be the only first-hoof account for those in the future. Assuming they had a future.
Year 20 P.S. (Post-Scourging) Month 1, Day 1, 14:32
Our search today was only partially successful. Applejack and I barely escaped being killed by an alicorn, and we destroyed it before it could do anymore damage. We're both a bit shaken but alright, and half of a capsule used to enhance their magic is better than nothing. It could have been an older model. But the important part is we got something and we're safe. Relatively speaking.
Rarity was just about to finish it off with her name to end the entry, but she glanced up the page, her eyes training on where she had written the time again. Sighing, she levitated the quill and continued to write.
Even as I simply write down the date and time as we have calculated since the War, my mind is filled with conflicting thoughts. Those... monstrosities we hunt down every day seem to calculate time differently. What is their timeline like? I wonder if they really have any perception of time at all... we just survived an attack from another one just now, violent as ever.
But, I know this will be our only record for the future, so it's best to bring you what details I can. Hopefully there will at least be someone in the future who can read this.
Where to begin... it's been so long since we've actually detailed the start of these events, trying to put the past behind us...
Being a dressmaker, I know that life can be considered a tapestry, a woven tale meant to depict Ponykind's triumphs, trials, and tribulations. Every waking moment adds a new thread to the work.
Unfortunately, the tapestry of our recent past has become... well, 'frayed' or 'scorched' is the only way I can describe it. Like all my supplies of needle and fabric have been blackened by soot and ash. Even with the larger scale of the tragedy having come to an end twenty years ago to the day, the world is still struggling to pick up from where they left off. Families are growing, the pony population is beginning to pick itself back up.
It's hard to remember at times that wasn't always like this.
In the past, long ago, Ponykind was sinful and proud, and the Holy Mother Celestia regretfully called her Four Ponies of Perdition to trample the wicked. The Four who manifested as stars surrounding Luna's moon were called into action. Now we scrabble and fight in a world scarred by their hoofprints.
In the past, we strived to harness the raw, untapped power of magic and combine it with biological and mechanical processes. To form a being as perfect as possible to live in our mortal world, and to enhance the traits of Ponykind.
In the past, we set out to make alicorns.
Why? My parents claimed it was because we had to show Celestia that we could step up to her throne. That she and her Celestial Sister, Luna, were not the only ones who could attain the power of earth pony, unicorn, and pegasus alike. Ponykind thought we could do so much more than what our mortal bodies limited us to. Unicorns like myself had magic, pegasai soared through the skies and regulated the weather, and earth ponies were known for their strength, connection to the earth, and long life span thanks to their endurance. Surely it couldn't be too difficult to combine the three?
We should have known that wouldn't be true...
Unicorns attempted to use spells to help advance this goal. They tried to grant unicorns wings, pegasai horns, and earth ponies both features. But like a dress that's one size too small, or a misplaced cog in a machine, the new additions to their bodies didn't fit them no matter how hard those who were part of the research tried. My parents among them.
The unicorns would crash constantly on their unstable wings. Pegasai would either find themselves creating small sparks of mana or uncontrollable explosions that set raging fires in more than a few Sectors. The poor earth ponies who volunteered had to deal with both problems—with uncontrollable aspects of flight and magic that were foreign to their bodies, they suffered more casualties than the other two races.
There was silence from our Celestial Mother and her sister, and we worried. We hadn't been devoid of communication with her before, but since then, she didn't respond to our calls. Didn't she care for us while we sowed our own seeds of destruction? Did something happen to her and her sister, perhaps our own creations destroying them? I still tell myself that can't be, but then, where were they? Why wasn't there a sign like ponies of the past had experienced?
Her sun hung in the zenith of the sky, no longer kind, as if the rays themselves were mocking us, testing us. The silence echoed the intent to some of us: "You're destined to fail. The power of alicons is something only the likes of my sister and I can wield. If you try, it will end in disaster for you."
If that was Celestia's intent, our kind tried to prove her wrong. After a while the seeds of our science and labor bore fruit, and Ponykind's constructed children waited for the right time to stick the knife of their existence into the real world, ensuring their place among us.
Too bad in their confusion they didn't care who they stabbed. They turned on their creators and the everyday pony who had wanted no part in the Project. Perhaps it was because they found out they weren't real in the sense that we are, or perhaps it was an innate trait. Regardless, nothing could stop them. It seemed that they were only fueled by rage and a terrifying desire to kill all those who weren’t their kind. A rage like that of the fiery sun and silent moon together as one.
Then the War started.
The three living pony races fought against the alicorns known as Constructs. Their bright eyes burned with nothing but hatred for us normal, living ponies as their galloping hooves left deep imprints in the ground, firm as the gravel which rained down from the sky in explosions of shards. The fire was fueled by Ponykind's desire to be like the sun goddess herself, the Construct bodies looking so real and yet possessed gears and wires deep in their inner workings.
I was just a filly at the time the War began, but I remember looking into the eyes of one as it stared down at me. On the surface, the eyes looked like those of any ordinary pony I would meet in town, but only on a closer inspection could I see the barest hint of wires and refracted lenses beneath the filmed structure that served as their eyes. It would have been considered a marvel of invention that I could appreciate for its beauty, if the alicorn's teeth hadn't been bared in a snarl, its lowered maw thrust downward with a snap that barely missed my head.
As time passed, almost everything became fire. Air became fire and burned our lungs, water became fire and seared our fur, and ground became fire and melted our hooves. The smoke clouded our vision and snuffed out what breath we still had, choking our organic forms while the partially mechanized Constructs still functioned.
The land as our kind knew it became unrecognizable. Gone were the mighty skyscrapers of Manehatten, and Cloudsdale became overwhelmed by a tumultuous brew of storms, which only added to the ashen shade of the smoke-covered landscape. The pegasai were forced to descend to ground level, or they would be fried by the bolts of lightning that the Constructs seemed to control on their own. It was as if the heavens above would continue to retain that murky gray coloring indefinitely.
After what felt like an eternity, the War ended, and whatever remains from the Days of Fire and Blood limps along.
In a way, it was our fault, as we did nothing to stop the Project when it had first begun. Now we and the innocent lie impaled on the Constructs' knives and equine blood has washed all the good things of the past away. Few of us seem to remember much before the War—me included. It's dreadful that we’ve been forced to grow up in a world where desolation and decay are our only reality.
We pray every day for Celestia's forgiveness and mercy, and every night for Luna's, in a land bereft of mercy now.
But though the Project was said to have formally broken apart after the War finally finished, there are factions still in effect, working behind the scenes. Supposedly trying to right their previous wrongs. Needless to say many doubt that claim. Sinister cults have done the same sort of thing before.
I'm not sure how much longer we will survive this. The barren wasteland we now live in is devoid of most life, nearly all buildings leveled or reduced to rubble that barely stands.
The Constructs don’t run as rampant as they did in times past, but it’s become harder and harder to distinguish from a normal pony if you can only see their wings or horn. They look more and more real, acting increasingly like a normal pony would.
But we know that these constructed alicorns are soulless monsters deep in their cores, ponies that could kill as soon as look at us. No matter how many of their organs are living tissue, it's all run by mechanical means. Without all the vital parts, they have no souls to speak of, just programming. It is for that reason that we have one primal rule: Kill any alicorns, or be killed yourself. There’s no reasoning with those who don’t possess a soul as a normal pony does. They may try to convince us otherwise, simulating emotions that a normal pony would show, but it's all a part of their robotic programming.
I only wish that things could be different. But the one main clue that we have to the Project’s present dealings—along with occasional reported sightings of alicorns themselves—is a form template from one of the Project’s laboratories, liberated from the rubble of what I can assume to be a house of one of the newer recruits. I can only hope that the fruits of its message never leave the abominable place of science that it came from.
-Rarity
Resting her quill on the desk, Rarity picked up the crinkled paper and taped it underneath her newest entry.
Alicorn Project Ver. 3.7. The goal of uniting the traits of pegasus, unicorn, and earth pony alike is held within our grasp. Every day, the Alicorn Project increase its capabilities. Our research expands, and the Constructs are far more flesh-and blood than their initial programming had been.
Variations in genestock are expanding to emphasize certain traits, and every minute we earn more data collection to make these beings as perfect as possible. Rest assured that they can react, learn, and think just as a normal pony can.
All registrants must swear to keep the code of honor that you will uphold to the values of the Project, and remember that only the most capable alicorns are entered into Placement Review.
We will not make the same mistakes of the past. No matter what the cost, the alicorns will grow into the brilliant constructions of science that we have dreamed of. It will be hard work for the creators and our creations, but soon it shall be worth it once we achieve our ends.
Through Magic, We Grow, Through Flight, We Rise, Through the Earth, We Build a New Foundation.
The only sounds to be heard within the large chamber were the dull thump of hoofsteps and the steady drone of mechanical workings, all carefully regulated to keep the room’s occupants in check.
The majority of the equine figures contained within, however, were immobile. For all intents and purposes, they weren’t even yet alive. Just hollow forms of metal, wires, and organic flesh.
Constructs were not to be disturbed.
The door to the chamber opened, and four ponies stepped forward into the room. One of them was a tan-colored unicorn, wearing a dark brown suit with a deep red rim at each of the cuffs, matching the red color of his shortly trimmed mane and tail. The other trio was a family of unicorns, known as the Sparkle family. The parents, a mixture of nighttime colors, trailed behind the scientist, while their son, a white-coated, blue-maned teen named Shining Armor, tensely walked next to them. He harbored a more unsettled expression than his parents. They were more used to such things, even given what they were here for, but he didn't think he'd ever get used to it...
The lights above flickered once as the door closed behind them, and the unicorns took in the gaze of the room. A string of tubes lined the walls, a dim blue light backing each one. Each tube contained an alicorn in various stages of development, but the Sparkles trained their eyes on the closest one.
The young lavender alicorn’s head was drooped, eyes closed as if in slumber, though it was clear by the readings she was in a state not of sleep, but of something more like death. In fact, it didn’t seem as if a soul inhabited the body at all, and the form was just a limp shell. And in reality, it was—wires and mechanics were visible within the alicorn’s torso, connected to what looked like the organs that would be found in a normal pony. To many of those part of the Project, she was not yet a pony but rather a hollow, inanimate object, a harbor for cybernetics and living tissue still in the process of being fully formed.
As for which of the alicorn’s organs were organic and which were mechanical, the Sparkles weren’t sure on most of them. Some apparent organs were obviously mechanized, but others seemed to be made of living tissue possessed by any other pony.
Though a silver-colored translucent tube was placed around the growing pony’s mouth and nose, the exposed metallic lungs remained motionless, neither expanding nor contracting. No indicator of life inhabiting the hollow shell.
The parents glanced at each other, while Shining was unable to take his eyes off the alicorn, as if looking at her would help her awaken and free her from that unsettling, death-like state.
"Dr. Craft," Shining asked, "why does she look so..." The last word died in his throat—he didn't want to voice the word "dead".
“Without a proper life force inhabiting the Construct, all biological processes are currently nonfunctional,” Dr. Craft noted, gaze trained on the alicorn in question. “We all hope that will change soon once it’s ready, once it can be deemed properly alive. We’ll know a soul has surfaced when the readings tell us so.”
Nightlight Sparkle examined a string of green numbers on a monitor by the control panel, a complex progression that he honestly couldn’t make heads or tails of. The pattern of 1s and 0s made it clear that the readings were in binary, but computing had never been the strongest point for the unicorn stallion.
"What's the coding mean?" he whispered, as if wary that he would wake up the "developing" alicorns in their containment tubes. While the Sparkles were reasonably adept with technology as required for the Program, the more complex uses of the number coding were lost on them and left to the professionals.
Dr. Craft's voice was gruff, with a business-like air. "It details the Construct’s current status. For instance, this is Alicorn Construct Revision E, Version P, No. 114, or EP114 for short.". Dr. Craft rattled off the information as if he could read binary on his own. "Primary Genestock: Purple Unicorn. Version: 3.8. Registered Name: Twilight."
"H-Hey, she shares your first name," Nightlight said to his wife with a small grin. The mare laughed softly in response.
Dr. Craft continued as if the Sparkles hadn't spoken. "Maturity for Awakening at 98%. Stability: A technical glitch or two early in Development but otherwise stable."
"Technical glitch?" Mrs. Sparkle muttered with a thoughtful frown. "What kind of glitch?" If there was even a slight possibility that this would be the alicorn that was to be Placed with their family—providing she passed the review—they wanted to make sure that she wouldn’t pose a danger to herself or anypony around her. They had invested too much time in the Project to take that risk.
Dr. Craft pulled a few levers to adjust the tubing positions before replying. "There was a bit of sparking from faulty wiring in the secondary coverts of its left wing that needed to be fixed.” He spoke in such a brisk manner than the others could barely get a word in edgewise. “Its eyes opened as we were repairing it, but it appeared to be a reflex from the electrical manipulation applied to the Construct body". His bright green eyes studied the limp young pony's form, as if scrutinizing for even the slightest movement of an eyelid. "There wasn't a conscious response, verbal or otherwise, merely a reflex." A huff before attaching another extension of wiring to provide further nutrients to the developing alicorn.
Shining Armor, stepping a bit closer to the Construct’s limp form, looked inquiringly at the engineering expert. Something about the stallion’s wording really rubbed him the wrong way. “Why did you call her an ‘it’?”
“You’re a bright one.” Rather than harboring a tone of praise, Dr. Craft addressed the colt in the same condenscending manner as before. Without a backwards glance, he began noting down the changes in the organic coding as more nutrients were pumped in the tubes to fully supply to the organic portions of the Construct. “Here in the lab, we don’t refer to the Constructs by gender until we detect that they’ve reached a level of MCA.”
“MCA?”
“Minimum Conscious Awareness,” the stallion clarified, a hint of irritation now present. “Referring to a Construct by gender is capable of forming even a subconscious psychological attachment toward the one in question. Thus, we avoid any indication of such matters. It’s all business here, and we can’t afford to let emotions get in the way before they become conscious.”
“I can tell,” Nightlight whispered in a tone that was only audible to his wife. His manner of speaking, however, wasn’t entirely disapproving.
The expression on Shining’s face made his confusion clear. “But what about the names? You said that you call her—it—Twilight.” Shining caught himself just in time to avoid the green eyes of the scientist. Despite Dr. Craft insisting otherwise, it was clear that referring the pony who might become his “sister” as merely an “it” left a bad taste in the colt’s mouth. She was a living pony—or rather, was going to be living, if all went well.
However, the scientist Shining spoke to either didn’t notice his tone or didn’t care. “We have to pick a name for them to prepare for their Interaction Tests and development in social situations. But now is not the time to discuss that. Let’s just continue on with the tour.”
With a quick jerk of his head, Dr. Craft led the trio away and called for another one of the scientists to look after the growing Construct. “There’s still so much you need to understand about the Program before that Construct is fully developed for its Placement.”
“You mean her Placement,” Shining corrected in a voice barely above a whisper.
The heart began to slowly pump blood through the circulatory system. The lungs took in oxygen for the first time,
The Construct—Twilight—opened her eyes, gaining a comprehensive view of the world. This time, it wasn’t just a reflex, but a true indication that the alicorn in question was aware of its surroundings. And the first thing the she was aware of was pain. Constricting coils that prohibited movement. She began to take in air for the first time, the chemical being pumped into her nose and mouth nearly causing her to choke.
With her senses in the waking world becoming increasingly brought into life, she became aware of a loud, blaring sound. A constant ringing that penetrated her eardrums and caused her to wince.
There were other voices audible over the alarm.
"One of them has reached Awakening! I think it's EP114!".
"Get it out of there before its circuitry is damaged! Do it immediately!"
Unnerved by the blurring of her senses, the contained alicorn attempted to struggle, pure instinct telling her to get away from the blaring echo and loud chatter. With a whoosh of cold air clinging to her synthetic fur, the restrictions suddenly loosened their bonds. She crashed to the floor in a daze, head spinning as she attempted to regain her bearings.
Awake? The alicorn had a vague idea of what the word meant, but there was too much sensory stimulation going on to process it.
The world spun around Twilight as she struggled to get her hooves to grip on the tiled floor, blinking as she willed her eyes to adjust. The floor felt cold underneath, and the cold temperature of the room chilled her exposed insides. She glanced down, perplexed at what she was seeing. Part of her chest was open? That couldn't be right; the others around her weren't like that...
A buzzing resounded in her head as the constant blaring alarm ceased, giving some slight relief to the alicorn as the clamor of voices became her sole auditory company. She couldn't make out what they were saying at first, but it was more pleasant at that point than the alarm.
A rush of others like herself—yet also unlike, as she noticed that they all were missing a horn, wings, or both—, surrounded her and gently helped her up. The construct felt comforted at the stability, and managed to keep her legs from shaking. The pounding of additional hooves caused her to turn her head upward, four more ponies racing into the room.
Dr. Craft paused, nearly causing the Sparkles to crash into him. He slowed his gait, stepping close to the young alicorn. "How do you feel?"
Twilight fought to stop her limbs from shaking, the other ponies stepping back to let her stand on her own. She glanced around, blinking several times. "Okay... I think..."
Shining had a brought grin on his face, trotting over, but a hoof from Dr. Craft prevented him from going any farther. From where he stood, the white unicorn was smiling at Twilight. "Welcome to the world, Twily!"
"Twily?" the others asked at the same time.
Dr. Craft shot a sharp glare at the younger stallion, the parents looking sheepish.
Nightlight chuckled a little "I'm so sorry, Dr. Craft, Shining just is excited, that's all."
Dr. Craft huffed. "Don't go giving her a nickname quite yet. Once she's with you than you can get all affectionate."
"He's right, Shining," Twilight Velvet said, both her and her husband blushing in embarrassment. "She's still getting her bearings."
Shing bowed his head. "Heh... sorry."
Dr. Craft shook his head in exasperation, his eyes trained on the now-conscious alicorn. "Can you show your wings for me?"
"My wings?" Twilight arched her brow.
A yellow-coated mare with a long green mane gestured to the appendages on her own side, indicating Twilight had them as well. Her precariously-perched goggles nearly fell off her head as she did so. "These, Twilight."
"Oh," Twilight remarked, taking note of the structures on her sides for the first time. She glanced at the wings on her sides, stretching them out and flapping them slightly.
The pegasus mare beamed. "Very good!"
"Thank you for showing that, Emerald," Dr. Craft nodded in approval. "Wing functions are looking stable so far." His gaze trained on Twilight once more, who was looking quite a bit happier with her new wings. "You'll have time to practice with them later. For now, we have to get you some more skin to cover up your chest cavity. Then you won't look so out of place."
"Really?" A grin stretched out on Twilight's face. "Then I'll be just like you!"
"Well, you won't stand out as much," Emerald Harvest said. "Plus your inner circuitry could get damaged."
"That makes sense... I think." In truth, Twilight wasn't sure what all of the words meant, but at least these ponies seemed to know what they were doing. "It is a little cold."
The Sparkles and Emerald laughed.
"Ms. Harvest!"
"My apologies, Doctor," Emerald said, shaking her head in amusement and placinf her goggles back around her eyes. "I just find it sweet when our alicorns have such a budding view of the world."
Twilight frowned at the word, arching a brow. "What's an alicorn?"
"A pony with the horn of a unicorn and the wings of a pegasus," Dr. Craft said briskly before the others could say anything. "Like you."
It was then that Twilight turned, noticing for the first time the other alicorns present in the tubes. All of them didn't seem close to awakening like her, and quite a few looked more, well, unfinished. "Other awake ones?"
"Oh, there's plenty of other awake ones," Emerald Harvest said with amusement. "You'll get to meet them later."
"But first," Dr. Craft interrupted, looking more annoyed by the second at the pleasantries. "It's time to take care of what's important first—getting you stitched up."
At the beckoning of Dr. Craft's hoof, Twilight cautiously trotted forward, walking in step with the Sparkles as Emerald Harvest led the back.
Shinning beamed at the alicorn, who was looking around the lab with a wide-eyed wonder. "I'm Shinning, by the way. I'm going to be your big brother!"
"Don't get too carried away there, Shining," Mrs. Sparkle said gently. "She has to go through Placement first to make sure she's okay."
"And then what?" Twilight asked eagerly, a spring in her step as she nearly hit the unicorn family with her wings on accident.
"Then you get to come home with us," Nightlight said.
Twilight's gaze brightened, her jaw dropping. "Really?!"
"You're rushing her too fast into things!" Dr. Craft barked, his horn glowing the same red color as his mane. "Wait until you pass and then you can get all excited."
Twilight's ears drooped slightly. She felt the light nudge of a hoof at her side and noticed Shining grinning down at her.
"I'm glad you're awake, Twilie," Shinning said.
Twilight grinned back, feeling her heart surge—perhaps literally—and this feeling of being alive and moving.
"So, um, what do you know, exactly?" Nightlight asked. He lowered his voice in the hope of bothering Dr. Craft less. "Are you excited?"
"Of course I'm excited!" Twilight exclaimed, not bothering to keep her voice down. "I've never been awake before and now look at me—" The alicorn was so excited that she unfurled her wings, wincing as they met resistance and she heard cries of surprise from the neighboring ponies.
"Ow, careful!"
Twilight paused, immediately folding her wings back to her sides again. She gave sheepish glances up toward the ponies who had now stopped walking. Mrs. Sparkle tried to force a smile, while Mr. Sparkle had placed a hoof on the side of his face. Twilight could see a scratch forming, glancing at her left wing and could see a bit of metal poking through the tip.
"Oops..." She winced.
Dr. Craft rolled his eyes, his horn alighting with magic once more, as a cloth was tossed from a stray worktable over to Nightlight. As the dark blue stallion murmured his thanks, Dr. Craft sighed as the door to the containment units shut behind the group.
This was going to be a long day.
About half an hour later, Twilight stumbled out of the containment chamber, able to land with her hooves on the ground with out tumbling on her face. A black wire of scarring could be seen around her chest, and a bright red laser shot out from the top of the cylinder. The stitching faded to a color that matched her coat, before shrinking to a thin point and vanishing altogether.
"Alright, you can remove your goggles."
Emerald Harvest placed her goggles over her mane once again, while the Sparkle family removed each of theirs. The white goggles became briefly illuminated by the colors of their magical auras, before the eyewear was set to rest inn the small bin waiting on the table.
Twilight stretched out herself more fully, glancing down at her now-covered chest. One wouldn't even be able to tell it had been open in the first place. "I feel a lot better now!"
"You look a lot better too," Nightlight added with a chuckle. "No more open organs."
Dr. Craft nodded in agreement, heading toward the door which opened in his presence, the others following through. Twilight trailed behind the group with a newfound bounce to her step, looking at the other ponies.
Twilight beamed, trotting around the group as they travelled through one of the many hallways, a whoosh of air sounding behind her as the door closed. Turning down another blue-tiled hallway, Twilight turned her gaze around. She could see various other ponies, dressed as Emerald Harvest was, white lab coats with colored trim along the edges. Some were green like Emerald's, while others were blue, gold, and violet. Different ranks perhaps?
She tried to take a peek in several of the doors in the hallway as they opened and shut. She saw one blue-coated unicorn hurrying into a room with papers strewn about, her light blue mane shining under the light of her horn as the papers were surrounded by the glow of her magic. Another door to the left had an orange pegasus race through a large interior, a group of alicorns hovering around a track and dodging obstacles with their wings and magic.
That must be one of the alicorn training areas! Twilight couldn't deny that it actually looked like fun, but the door shut before she could even call out a "Hello" to her alicorn kin.
Now even more intrigued after seeing what she would likely soon participate in, the newly-awakened alicorn practically hopped next to the others. She was thrilled that she had gotten proper skin and blended in much more with the others. "Now I look just like you guys! Except..."
She trailed off, eyeing the marks that the others had on their flanks. While Dr. Craft and Ms. Harvest wore lab coats that prevented their marks from being seen, the Sparkles had marks that very-well matched what they were called, as far as she could tell. The alicorn pointed at their marks. "What are those?"
"Oh, they're cutie marks," Mrs. Sparkle said helpfully, the corners of her mouth turned up in a smile. "Every pony gets one when they find out what their special talent is. It's a magical process that almost everypony goes through."
Twilight's gaze brightened as she trotted closer to the Sparkles, eyeing the marks. "Will I?"
"Well..." Mrs. Sparkle frowned, glancing at the two scientists.
Ms. Harvest nodded. "You should in time, Twilight. The other alicorns here have gotten their marks eventually, I assume you'd be no different. Besides, not having a mark if you're not wearing anything would have you stand out."
Twilight nodded in understanding. The fact that there was a prospect of her getting a mark eventually filled her with hope. Her mind ran with a plethora of questions—the laboratory, cutie marks, it was all a lot to take in. Not to mention that obstacle course test the alicorns seemed to be doing. Were all the tests like that?
While it was true that she was different, at this point she looked just as alive now as the Sparkles and the scientists were. She spread her wings and flapped them, bringing her to levitate a few inches off the ground.
"I can't wait to get my cutie mark!" Twilight's horn shine with a magenta aura in excitement, and a burst of magic suddenly shot upward. The force of the blast and the surprise of it sent Twilight to the ground again, the group of older ponies cringing a little at the smoldering indent now on one of the ceiling tiles. It didn't look like it was going to fall over, but it seemed that tile would still need some fixing.
Dr. Craft's mouth was set in a thin line.
Twilight's ears instantly dropped as she cantered up to him, the glow around her horn completely gone. "I'm sorry! I-I didn't mean it, it just happened!"
"It's alright, Twilight," Mrs. Sparkle said quickly, putting a hoof comfortingly around the alicorn's neck. "It was just an accident."
"And at the very least," Dr. Craft added, "it shows that your primary genestock attributes are functional. We're going to have to work on that and teach you properly."
Twilight nodded as Mrs. Sparkle stepped away, giving Dr. Craft as determined a look as she could. "I'll try to learn everything I can about magic! I won't let you down!"
"Well, you're awake and functional," Dr. Craft said. A tone entered his voice that almost sounded to Twilight like a sense of pride. "That's a start, at least."
The group then came to a larger set of open doors in the lobby of the laboratory. The surface of the doors were crossed with black rims, while the windowpanes looked to be a stark white. Emerald Harvest ran a hoof to the left side of the door to allow a green panel to light up along the blue-gray wall. The doors opened to reveal a dark interior that looked as if it extended forever, fluorescent lighting shining above.
Twilight frowned, unable to see anything beyond the darkness. She stepped forward slightly, poking her heard into the entryway and glancing up, squinting in the light. Only the lights themselves greeted her. She withdrew from the square room, looking backward at the ponies who had accompanied her. "What's there?"
The Sparkle family looked at the young alicorn, their faces falling.
"Well, we have to leave, Twilight," Mr. Sparkle said reluctantly.
A small gasp left Twilight's throat, and for an instant she fought to get her lungs working right. "Why?"
"We were permitted to come here for a short time, just to see you. We didn't think you'd wake up when we were here, but you did, and..." a soft smile appeared on Nightlight's face as the trio looked at one another, than back to Twilight. "We already like you."
Twilight's mechanical heart leapt in her chest. "Really?"
"Of course!" Shining beamed. "And I'll be—"
"Shining..."
"Oh, right, sorry." The young stallion crossed the front of one forehoof in front of the other, looking sheepish. "No more affectionate nicknames."
The family stepped into the room, smiling softly. As Emerald Harvest stepped into the room, pressing buttons on the inside, the Sparkles each waved a hoof farewell.
"Bye, Twilight, Mrs. Sparkle said.
"See you later, I hope!" Mr. Sparkle added.
"It was great to see you, LSBFF!"
"Shining..."
Twilight managed a sad smile as the doors began to close, shyly waving a hoof herself at the unicorn family. She noticed that their eyelids were slightly drooped as they left, their cheerful expressions slipping. Did they already feel as attached to her as she did to them?
The doors closed, and Twilight could hear a whirring behind them that was ascending upward. She listened carefully for their voices behind the door, but she simply heard the fading whirring of machinery until they were out of sight. A silence replaced it.
"Ahem."
The noise of another pony clearing his throat finally turned Twilight's gaze away from where the Sparkles had left, staring into the stern green eyes of Dr. Craft once more. "Come on, it's time for us to go."
Twilight cleared her throat, her footsteps slowed as she walked behind the stallion. "Will they come back?"
The alicorn sighed at his gruff manner. She wished that it had been Emerald Harvest who stayed, at least she was more willing to talk. Still, Dr. Craft appeared to be the leader of this operation, and she wanted to impress him. Maybe the more I impress him, the more likely I'll pass my Placement? Just gotta think of some topic of conversation... "So, um," she began, a slight tremor in her voice. "What's your—"
"I know you're wondering about our cutie marks, and there will be time for questions about how magic works later." Dr. Craft gestured more firmly with a hoof, the purple alicorn following a bit quicker in his wake. "For now, it's time for you to meet our Interface."
Any questions buzzing around in Twilight's head regarding the scientists' marks were silenced at the reveal of this new information. Dr. Craft didn't seem the type to be willing to answer random questions, only inquiries as to his current topic of conversation. And this "Interface" was apparently all he wished to focus on for now. Best to go along with it. "What's an Interface?"
"The Interface is our monitoring system," Dr. Craft explained, his voice echoing through the metal halls, accentuated by his hoofsteps. "She oversees everything, serves as a trainer to the alicorns here, and generally keeps everyone in check. There's little that she can't see."
Despite her thoughts drifting toward the Sparkle family, and Dr. Craft clearly being annoyed with her questions, Twilight found herself getting excited again. Curiosity on the current topic at hand won out. "Do you just call her Interface?"
The stallion opened his mouth, then closed it again. Twilight noticed his eyes look away from her slightly, seeming intent on having his face turned straight ahead. "The Interface is known by her proper name as the Cybernetic Electronic Lifeform Engineered for Scientific Troubleshooting and Immediate Assistance. But obviously that's much too long for casual conversation."
"So what do you call her?"
"It's best if you call her by her short-hand name."
The stallion rest his hoof against the door, the surface underneath shining with a green pulsing light as it began to open.
"Come in," a voice said behind the door. "Welcome, Twilight—I mean, EP114."
Twilight started. "How did you know my name?"
The voice laughed as the door began to open, a pair of magenta irises visible amidst bright white. "I know almost everything."
As the door began to open, Twilight tilted her head upward to see the words that had appeared on the door, harboring a green glow before fading:
