After being chased around for a short time by Samantha and finally giving in to her obsession with giving him playful scratches, which he now readily accepted since they were out of the eyes of the other ponies. He had made his way back to the lab, entering and heading directly to the others. Once they noticed Steel nodding to them, they all headed toward a back wall. Steel using his magic on an unseen switch, which quickly opened an unseen door.

After heading inside and closing the door, they all took a seat as Steel took the far seat at the end of the table.

"Samantha has left for the night, we can now proceed with the discussion of today's results. However, I would like to thank Ice for her spectacular performance earlier in dropping that little vial and then leaving. It was flawless and worked perfectly. That Alicorn should start to feel the effects pretty soon. However, I am slightly disappointed that we did not get to proceed with the other plan to get him to give us all a copy of his spell list. But in the end I think it would have been for the best. I am surprised that he still has cognitive function from that high of a number spell list." Steel took a seat while taking in another breath to continue.

"As you know, our plans have been going smoothly as of late. The addition of the human to our team was surprising at first, but she has proven to be far more helpful than previously thought. From my own experience with her I have come to the conclusion that she will not take our side in the near future when we start to test our findings on.......... living subjects." He stopped as Kindle spoke up.

"So what are we going to do about her? I may be new to the team but you all already know that when you told me about what you wanted to do, I was all for it. If she is in the way, can't we just kill her when the time is right?"

"Unfortunately not. Her intellect and ability to adapt to thinking about given subjects of magic is beyond what I would consider normal. It is as if she can come up with a theory that is near accurate to what would unfold in reality each time. Although she could become a problem to us in the future, she is far to valuable to loose at this time. Should she pick up on our intentions though, we may have to execute her quickly." He gave a slightly pained expression at saying those words.

"I'm beginning to think you have developed feelings for that human female." Ice spoke up giving a smirk but was immediately silenced as she was torn from her chair by the throat in a magical aura, and pulled across the table to directly in front of Steel.

"You would be wise to watch your mouth whelp. You may be the strongest of the team, but I will NOT tolerate your back talk." He snarled as he pressed his forehead to hers, his eyes glowing a bright white. "Is that understood?"

"GCK! Un....Under.....stood." *GASP* She took in a deep breath of air as she was flung backwards across the table into her seat giving a loud cough while hold her neck.

"Good, now we need to discuss how the spells are coming along for each field. Forge, If you would start please." Steel spoke up causing the male unicorn to clear his throat as he stood, taking a small device into his magical grasp as he lowered the lights and brought up a projector on a screen on the far wall. Giving the device a click the first image rolled onto the screen revealing a pony corpse laying on a table, several pictorial views showing from different angles.

"For the Study of earth based magic, there has been a variety of effects on various, differently deceased, test subjects. Variations have all been temporary however, while others, permanent." He said before clicking to the next set of pictures.

"As you can see, the earth based magic can have single or multiple effects on the corpse, turning it from dirt, or stone, into rotting wood or plant life of various types. Further testing has proven that as the spell is modified to include an alchemical agent that would also be not only the pony's life force in general, but also their body or other agent, it can be manipulated to become a stronger spell. However there is a problem." He trailed off as he clicked to the next set of pictures revealing massive destruction in several labs.

"On several occasions, the deceased subject has temporarily come back to life, the time consisting of merely minutes or no more than a couple of hours at most. During that time they have no cognitive function and simply walk within the area they are confined to or stand still. However, once the spell ends is when the trouble starts. There has been instances that would better be left unsaid. All of the subjects have either turned to stone, exploded, or burst into flames and being completely incinerated." He sighed as he clicked the device one last time revealing several stone statues of ponies that had foliage around them such as vines or plants. Or have a rugged exterior consisting of either stone of a dirt texture.

"Hmmm, seems as if your research has hit a wall. I am guessing that the rest of you have experienced similar problems?" Steel asked as he placed his hooves together while leaning forward slightly onto them as his elbows rested on the table. A unanimous yes resounded around the room. "Very well then, we shall continue researching on cadavers for another month, at which time we will start testing on living subjects. All of which will be unicorns. Unfortunately this type of testing is strictly forbidden, so we will have to find some subjects, through other means."

"You mean pony napping?" Forge spoke up.

"In a sense yes, but I think we can get some slaves from local diamond dog clans instead of doing the dirty work ourselves. Unless of course Kindle wishes to go to some local bars to flirt with a few stallions and mares." He smirked causing the mare to sputter nervously.

"I would rather not Steel. My talents are best put toward future tests." She gulped nervously.

"Well then, I guess it is for the best then since Glacia doesn't seem to be a social pony." Steel snorted toward her, only for her to turn her nose up to him before crossing her arms. "You are just lucky you are the most brilliant scientist I have ever found or that attitude would have cost you your life a long time ago. Just remember that." Steel snorted before getting up and heading toward the door. "I look forward to seeing more positive results once the first batch of test subjects arrive. Be sure to triple check your notes. We do not want to have the authorities or royalty breathing down our necks for what we will be doing. Everypony is dismissed, Kindle, I would like a word with you in private please." He finished off as the others exited the room, the door coming to a slow close as she looked nervously toward Steel, his eyes giving of a frightening glow as he spoke.

"My dear, as you know we are in need of some more potent forms of magic to further our studies and tests."

"Yes sir, but what does that have to do with me?" She asked, almost visibly shaking now.

"As you know. Glacia is extremely hot headed and not a very good mare to be in the company of. This leaves only yourself to pick up the slack for what I am about to ask of you. You will have the choice of doing this, or not. There will be no repercussions should you choose not to, but please note that if you do not take this course, then our research will move at a much slower pace. But if you do take this path, then you may enjoy it as well as help our research." He chuckled.

"What do you want me to do?" She asked as her nervousness began to subside.

"As you know from our intel, that male Alicorn is more powerful than Celestia herself. That and he has a soft spot for mare's in general. If we could get a sample of something from his very being, then I believe it could be molded into a very powerful form of magic that we can use to further our research.

"Wait............. ARE YOU ASKING ME TO SLEEP WITH HIM?!" She gawked in disbelief.

"Well, yes. Just make sure that you take a few hidden sample jars with you to collect the specimen. That is, unless you would rather pack it back here in another way." He chuckled.

"I can't believe this!" She spoke out as her jaw never left the floor. "I swear to CELESTIA! You had better thank your lucky stars that you offered the element of fire to me otherwise I wouldn't even be here." She snorted in disbelief. "I'll do it, but only to hasten our research, and you had better NOT say anything about this to any of the others or so help me I will torch this whole BUCKING building!"

"Understood my dear. Now, if you don't mind. I think our intel stated that the Alicorn was staying at a local hotel. You don't have to do this now, but it would help if you went to speak with him at least. You know, to show him that your interested." He grinned.

Kindle gave a loud snort as she slowly left the room heading out of the building toward her intended destination. Steel sat back in his seat smiling.

"Everything is going smoothly for now. Let us just hope that she will follow through with our plans." He chuckled while looking over toward a corner of the room see a cloaked figure meld from the shadows.

"I have a good feeling that all of your plans will come to fruition. Just remember our deal." The voice spoke in a sinister tone as a smile slowly escaped the hooded figures face.

"Don't worry yourself. I promised you the griffon nations souls and will deliver. Once these idiots finally come through on creating the perfect elemental spells for their assigned elements, they will want to wreak havoc onto something in order to fully test themselves to their farthest potential. But you do realize that my mind altering agent being added to the mixture is what is causing the delay, correct?"

"Yes, but it will be needed in order to control them. I have personally created many spells consisting of the elements, but nothing like we are trying to create now. My subjects in the past that had been under my spells all went insane and could not be controled. They had to be destroyed before they could cause any mass panic. It was a shame to loose them to such a weak spell. But the spell we are doing now is already perfected. The only inclusion to the spell is the addition of the mind control substance. Once the spells have been perfected with it, then we can move on to the next phase." The cloaked figure gave a wicked laughed while staring at Steel.

"You do realize that my own magic is being pushed to its limits each day by just holding this guise, correct?" Steel asked as his horn glowed for a moment, releasing his visual guise to reveal a solid shining body of pure glistening silver. His eyes glowed a brilliant white as he chuckled feeling the tension from holding the spell released.

"You did surprise me when you cast the element of STEEL spell onto yourself even though you knew it could cause insanity. You are the first pony to actually remain as you were before casting the spell. Fortunately for you it was only because of your lineage. You do come from a long line of powerful unicorns."

"Yes, but there is a slight problem with being in this form, All of my weaker spells consume as much magic as a complex spell, while the complex spells cost next to nothing to cast." He groaned thinking of the guise spell he would have to cast more than several times each day." A guise spell is in the lower class spells and normally would take little effort and magic. But his current form causes the exact opposite. Taking more concentration and far more magic than normal just to hold it. This is yet another reason he has a workstation to himself away from the others in his group.

"As time permits, we shall continue to test these spells in conjunction with the mind control serum. Do not forget this. We do not need an elemental pony running amok and destroying these past two years of work." The cloaked figure spoke just before vanishing into thin air.

Steel sat back in his seat giving a sigh as his horn lit up to recast his guise spell. He gave a low groan once it had finished and took his leave from the room muttering quietly under his breath.

"I can't wait until this is all over with. Canterlot will be mine. In due time." He began to chuckle softly before erupting into an insane laugh as the door slowly closed behind him.