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The Science of Magic

by theworstwriter

Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End

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“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” -Arthur C. Clarke

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What appeared to be half the population of Ponyville had somehow shoved themselves into Sugarcube Corner for the event. Pinkie Pie had spared no expense in planning an incredibly spectacular party to celebrate Twilight’s formal presentation of her newest work to the Royal Academy. She had apparently developed a policy of throwing a huge party BEFORE a decisive event, so that in the event of an unpleasant outcome there would still have been at least one party to mark the effort. The same precaution was taken just before Rainbow Dash’s Wonderbolt tryout, but had proven unnecessary.

“I still don’t get it Twilight,” the bouncing host said. “I thought all this time the Princess had sent you here to learn about the magic of friendship, not the science of magic. Or the magic of science. Or whichever... I get confused because I thought friendship WAS magic and that would mean you’ve been trying to measure friendship with rulers and chemicals and math and I thought for sure the Princess had taught you better than that because that’s not how making friends works.”

Twilight giggled. “She did, Pinkie, but that wasn’t all I’ve been doing. Everypony does something that benefits society, even if indirectly, and as much as I was surprised to learn that the fate of Equestria did in fact rest on me making friends, that was an isolated incident. Applejack runs a farm. You throw parties and bake treats. I’m an academic. I study and research to try to advance the frontiers of pony knowledge.”

“Whatever you say, Captain Science.”

“I’m not the captain of anything yet, Pinkie. We don’t even know for sure if I’ll be accepted.”

Rainbow Dash trotted into view and looped a reassuring hoof around Twilight’s shoulder. “You’re better than some dumb captain. You’re like, the Queen of Books or something! Trust me Twilight, you’re the smartest pony I’ve ever met and those eggheads in Canterlot would have to be... whatever the opposite of an egghead is to think you weren’t the best.”

Twilight blushed. “Thanks, Rainbow. It means a lot that my friends believe in me so much, but more than that it means a lot to me that I have such amazing friends. The Academy even agreed to let me operate from right here in Ponyville, if they accept me, because they concluded that relocating would adversely affect my progress. I think they’re right. I really don’t know what I would do without you girls.”

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“... and so you can see that magic is a misnomer. There is no great fundamental difference between arcane force and magnetic force or gravitational force, only a very wide difference in the ways we understand and manipulate them. At the most basic level, everything is as simple as a push or a pull.”

There was an uncomfortable silence. Twilight shuffled her hooves while the unicorn at the other end of the room stared thoughtfully at the blackboard.

“We are going to need to see more,” the unicorn said, breaking the silence.

“I’m sorry, I still don’t understand. Does this mean you do or do not accept my theory?”

“I cannot detect a single error in any of your work. It is flawless and could undoubtedly be the groundwork for ideas that change the whole of Equestria. This is exactly the kind of forward progress that ponies so badly need, but what you have presented here is simply not enough.”

The deafening silence returned for several very long seconds while Twilight’s face tried to decide between confidence and anxiety.

“Do you mean to say that...”

“I mean to say that we need more. We need more experiments that test the nature of our reality, more results to help us understand the forces in play, and more theories to guide our understanding of the world, but there simply aren’t any prominent figures rising to present them. As much of a blessing as Celestia is for us all, the presence of something so powerful and inscrutable has dissuaded most from attempting to pry apart the world and see what makes it tick. Too many ponies are happy to accept magic as an explanation for everything, and somepony of your curiousity and intellect is precisely what is necessary to begin reversing this trend. I mean to say congratulations, Professor Sparkle.”

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The strange contraption beneath the library clicked and whirred. The thing was enormous and intricate and complex to such a degree that even without any knowledge as to what it was or what it was doing, anypony looking at it would feel a sense of awe. Whatever the machine was, it was clearly a finely crafted piece of high-precision equipment. Twilight Sparkle kicked it, showing none of the precision or accuracy it tried so hard to maintain. Her hoof slammed harshly into an arbitrary panel for no other purpose than for her to vent her frustration.

“Spike, are you SURE you didn’t touch anything down here while I was gone?”

The little dragon fuming in the corner of the room crossed his arms in front of his chest and let out a harrumph. “No. I didn’t. I haven’t even been down here today,” he protested.

Twilight sighed and rubbed a hoof against her head. “I just don’t understand how this could have happened. Everything was running perfectly for weeks, and then suddenly nothing is right anymore! I just went to take care of some errands, and when I came back downstairs all the readings were wrong. It even got the TIME wrong, Spike. The clock mechanism is pretty much copied right out of the book. There’s no way it could just suddenly be a whole ten minutes behind!”

“I told you I didn’t do anything!”

“I’m not saying you did, Spike, I’m just frustrated and thinking out loud. You can go ahead and go clean upstairs or something,” she said, waving him away with a hoof. Spike huffed and stomped up the stairs, still upset at being accused. “This doesn’t make any sense. The backup power is still at full capacity, so it couldn’t have been inoperative... unless the connection was somehow blocked or severed.” Her horn lit up and two large metal levers were pulled downward. The machine continued to vibrate and hum, various gears still turning and belts still rotating. “No, that isn’t it.”

A loud belch ripped through the room above before echoing down the stairwell. It was followed shortly by angry little stomps as Spike returned. “You’ve got a letter from the Princess,” he scowled.

“I’m sorry, Spike. It was wrong of me to assume you were responsible for something without any evidence. You should know, though, your attempts at showing contempt only come off as adorable.”

The young dragon’s cheeks were tinged with rose and his eyes cast to one side. “I am NOT adorable. I’m a fearsome, fire-breathing dragon,” he grumbled.

Twilight rolled her eyes and telekinetically snatched the letter, unfurling it while it floated toward her. She carefully read each line before a look of confusion set across her face. She glanced back in the direction of her machine, but was clearly lost in thought, miles away from it. She turned her eyes back to the parchment in front of her and slowly scraped her vision across it. Left to right, top to bottom, pulling every last bit of data from the page. The confusion on her face turned to worry.

“Spike, watch the library while I’m gone.”

“What? Where are you going?”

A flash filled the room, Spike filled with concern, and the unicorn was gone. Celestia’s letter fluttered to the ground.

My faithful student,

A matter of great importance, one which I have shamefully been delaying dealing with for far too long, cannot be put off any longer. I am deeply sorry for not revealing the truth to you sooner, but know that I have only tried to shelter you from that which you did not deserve to be forced to bear. It is my greatest hope that you are both able and willing to lend your talents toward solving the coming crisis. Regrettably, I will have very little time to offer you more details and I must ask that you return to Canterlot as soon as possible so that I can do my best to inform and apologize while still possible.

-Princess Aurora Sol Celestia

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The Princess wheezed into the floor and shakily got back onto her hooves. Lowering the sun had become incredibly taxing, and raising it was almost completely out of the question. Her sister had raised it for her that morning. Soon she would relinquish complete control of the heavenly cycle to Luna. She needed to remain strong, at least until she was sure Twilight had everything under control. She would just have to be careful not to exert herself too much.

Without warning, a splotch of purple popped out of the air in front of Celestia, startling her into falling back down. Twilight Sparkle looked with worry filled eyes at the disheveled alicorn on the floor.

“I am fine, Twilight. You simply startled me,” Celestia said, tilting herself upright on wobbling legs. “Come, we have much to discuss and precious little time,” she said, panting.

“Are you sure you’re okay, Princess? You don’t look so good.”

Celestia cautiously glanced about the room, confirming no guards or castle staff were present. “No, Twilight. I am not okay, and that is a part of the reason we must hurry.”

Twilight gasped. “What’s wrong? How can I help?”

“It is with a heavy heart that I must inform you that it’s already too late. My dalliance went on for longer than it should have, and my dear sister discovered an error in the calculations. I had no choice but to act.”

“Princess, I’m not following. What is going on here, and why did you call me here if I can’t help?”

“You can help, Twilight... just not in the way you want to. Equestria needs you, and it is my most important duty to make certain you are as prepared as you can be. Luna has a few more years at best.”

“Did Luna do this to you? Has the Nightmare returned? We can stop that! I can go get the girls, and we can use the Elements of Harmony to-”

“Twilight, Luna has done nothing wrong. This is the only situation I can imagine in which the Elements would actually make things worse.”

“I don’t understand... what’s happening to you, and what am I supposed to do?” Twilight managed to force out between breaths, rapidly approaching hyperventilation.

“Twilight, please be calm. You will need to be strong,” Celestia said, a sparkling mist forming at the bottom of her eyes. “I’m dying.”

Next Chapter: Long Live the Princess Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 20 Minutes
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