Chapter 3: "The Genius Of Dr. Cobalt."

As soon as we were through the huge, automatic doors of the manor, we were greeted by two things.

One: The lavish and modern artistic style of the manor. It looked more like an art museum then a mansion, from the many paintings and art deco furniture to the massive aquarium that stood as an entire wall separating the entry foyer from the living room. I saw Simon's taste for modern decor hadn't changed.

And two, was the loud discharge of static and lightning we heard coming from upstairs. All three of us jumped at the sound, as the figure of a stallion appeared at the top of the steps, practically on fire. "Sorry! Sorry to scare you all, it's just a minor discharge in the polar relays. Nothing to worry about, I assure you." the stallion said quickly, before his eyes went wide as they fell on me.

"Morning? Dear Celestia, is that you?" he asked, adjusting his glasses. "Hang on, I'll be down in just a moment!"

Tropical Breeze smiled at us, smiling at Cobalt. It had been so long, since I had seen him, but he didn't seem to have changed much.

That was what I thought at least, until he actually came downstairs.

I looked up as I heard a soft, electronic whirring, like the sound of mechanized wheels moving down a smooth surface. Dr. Cobalt entered the room, and smiled at me, from the seat of his wheelchair. "Morning. Heh. I can't believe how much you've grown." he said giving me a searching look.

Even like this, Simon was the same stallion. A calm, focused stallion, older then both me and Dr. Seastone, but still young. A grey coat, short handsome white mane, intelligent glasses, and cold, calculating eyes that are always on his work. His cutie mark is that of a split atom. He wore the same white collared shirt, and blue cardigan sweater as he always had. (His sense of style hadn't changed either.)

I was speechless for a minute. I had little to really think about, as I simply asked what I needed to. "Simon...I...I'm sorry, what-

He put a hoof up to stop me. "Don't, Morning." He said simply. "This' he gestured to himself, "This is all me. I messed up. Went too far for science, and this is the price I paid."

I walked up to him, and he just smiled. I looked at him with apologetic eyes. "What....what happened, Simon?"

But he shook his head. "Now, now, we'll have time to discuss that later on. For now, will you all join me in my laboratory for tea? We have so much to discuss!" Simon said excitedly. "And quite a bit to catch up on, it seems as well..." he added, looking back at me, before driving his chair back up the ramp, to the elevator he had used to get upstairs. We followed him, and as soon as we were all loaded onto the elevator, Simon spoke aloud. "Ivan? Laboratory, please."

"Right away, Dr. Cobalt." A male, mechanized voice answered from above us.

Before I had time to comment, the elevator suddenly moved of its own accord, not up, but back, accompanied by the sound of machinery whirring and turning around us, we then ascended up until a small ding told us we had reached the laboratory.

Dr. Cobalt's Laboratory, 10:21 am

The doors opened and we all followed Simon out, eyes wide in awe at the splendor of what we were seeing. The lab was a massive palace-like atrium rotunda, with every corner crammed with amazing looking machines, gadgets gizmos, and countless chalkboards filled with line upon line of equations and theorems, that at first glance were eons ahead of anything currently known to science. Several areas had been set up, each one devoted to an area of science and invention. A small area was cluttered with mechanical parts and instruments dedicated to the design and building of complex weaponry. Another, was adorned with scale anatomical models and notes on various medical practices. Another, was littered with lenses of many shapes and sizes and devices that produced new forms of light. Another seemed to be an advanced wood crafting station, and another, cluttered with various alchemical instruments, burners and an entire system of interconnecting beakers and chemicals, showed this station was dedicated to chemistry.

To the far corner, was a large lounge with many tables and a cafe, which Dr. Cobalt lead us over to. Two guards adorned in high tech security uniforms, nodded to us from either side of the doorway as we made our way into the cafe.

Dr. Seastone looked around, thoroughly impressed, as we sat down in the cafe. "Well, well, I should think of having a cafe installed in my lab!" she joked. Simon, ordered us all tea from the counter, and we were served almost immediately. It must've been something amazing to be having tea in such a refined setting, and all with in his own lab, no less!

Simon made his way over to our table and smiled at me. Tropical Breeze took a seat next to Dr. Seastone, as we were brought a small plate of cookies as well. Simon thanked the waitress, who smiled before returning to her work.

"I do so enjoy my tea." Simon commented. "But you remember that, don't you Morning?" he laughed.

Indeed I did. He always had a cup of tea near him as he and my father worked in the lab. Though, I don't remember it being nearly this large. It seemed Simon had accomplished quite a bit since I last saw him.

Looking at him now though....I felt something was different about him. And not just the wheelchair, but something in his eyes. I remember them always being bright and silvery, full of inspiration. But now, they were bright but occluded. Clouded by something he had on his mind. He saw that I was thinking and quickly answered what I was wondering.

"Forgive me, Morning. I'm afraid I too have been affected by the disappearance of Adden and Dawn. Your parents were-are like family to me. Me and your father did such amazing things for this island, you know. " said Simon, setting his tea down on the table.

"I was always amazed by what you and my dad did. I knew someday you guys would change the world."

"We will, change the world, Morning. Mark my words on that." Simon said seriously.

I nodded, sure that he was telling the truth. "Simon....would you mind if I ask you a few questions about what happened to them? Specifically the project, you and my father were working on before they vanished?"

"Not at all, Morning." he answered calmly. "Please, ask away."

Questioning (Dr. Simon Cobalt, Genius Scientist and Inventor, Friend of my father, Knows details that may help with the case)

My parents had traveled to the Keyes while I was In Nawlans. In doing so they began working with Simon once more, on a secret project that resulted in them disappearing. Finding out about the project was the first step to finding them.

So that was my first question. "Can you tell me about the project you and my parents were working on?"

Simon nodded, as he straightened himself up in his chair. "Have you ever read any of the stories of Clover The Clever?"

"Yes, of course. She's thought to be one of the most brilliant and inspirational unicorns of all time. Seconded only by her master, Starswirl The Bearded. I've read quite a few stories on her, actually."

Simon smiled. "Ah, but the history books never mentioned when her and Starswirl came to the Keyes, did they?"

I looked at him in surprise. "Clover and Starswirl were in the Emerald Keyes? Why? Were they looking for something?"

"Not looking for something, dear Morning. But hiding something on the island. The project was an archeological dig, in the northern parts of the island in the Voiceless Jungle, in order to find out what it is they hid here."

I had not expected that. Two of the greatest magical and scientific minds the world has ever known, had actually journeyed to the Emerald Keyes and hidden something on the island. Whatever it was, it must've been something either extremely powerful....or extremely dangerous. And definitely worth searching for.

"Do you know what it was? That they hid on the Island, I mean?"

"I'm afraid not. But I look forward to finding out." Simon stated, taking another sip of his tea.

As did I. So, my parents had gone missing looking for whatever it was that Clover and Starswirl had hidden on the island. That, meant the next place for me to go was the actual site where they were digging. The northern parts of the island, in The Voiceless Jungle.

My father had always told me to stay away from that jungle, as a filly. Said there was something....evil, about it. But I had faced plenty of evil since that time. I wasn't afraid of whatever that jungle had in it, and I certainly wasn't going to let fear stop me from finding my parents.

"Would you mind if I saw the plans for the actual dig site?" I asked politely.

"Of course not, Morning! Please follow me, I'll take you to my office. We have everything set up for you to do your investigation."

I still wasn't a detective of course. But at this point, I knew that I was the only one who could find them, Detective or not. "Thank you, Simon."

Dr. Cobalt's Office, 11:23 am

I was actually glad to see that Simon's office was the only thing that hadn't changed. It was a small and extremely cramped area, cluttered with boxes, maps, diagrams, charts of the world, telescopes, and several artifacts along with hundreds of prototypes of his inventions. A single window in the corner allowed a ray of light from the outside to shine into the dusty old room.

"I was expecting your office to have the same high tech flare as the rest of your house." I joked.

Simon laughed. "No matter how advanced my home may get, my office will always stay the same." He assured me. "Come, let me show you around."

Simon took me around his office, showing me all of his many awards, plans for future inventions, hundreds of news articles he had framed, detailing his latest achievement in science, and a large cobalt steel model of the Cobalt Industries Split Atom logo. He also showed me all of his prototypes and explained how they worked (Or he at least tried too, as I kept explaining how they worked to him without really knowing. Science had always fascinated me, and I actually had a very easy time identifying Simon's inventions.) One of them, a new form of metal that was lighter then air, yet tougher then steel. I was able to deduce it was made from a rare, frictionless metallic glass that suspended itself on particles of air, yet was so dense, it was almost impossible to put even a dent in it. Fascinating.

As we explored the office, my eyes fell on a large board, covered with many maps, diagrams and a layout of the Voiceless Jungle Excavation site. "Oh! Here it is. Do you mind, Simon?"

"Not at all! Go ahead."

I carefully analyzed the plans. It was rather straightforward. The main center point was a series of caves that ran down into a massive cavernous clearing beneath the jungle. Whatever they were searching for, it was down there, centered in the middle of the clearing.
A clear away team was in charge of removing any rubble and debris, while a team of 10 diggers actually excavated the target from the ground.

Wait....this....this didn't make any sense.

I looked at it again, to be sure I was reading it right. According to the excavation plans, which clearly listed where everypony was, that had to do with the site, my parents weren't even down in the caves, or the site. They were above ground, in the research station.

In this mansion. 30 miles away from the dig site. But I had thought my parents had gone missing from the actual dig site. How could they go missing from the mansion?

As I was about to ask Simon what this all meant, there was a loud alert sound over the speakers in the room, and Ivan's voice was heard. "Dr. Cobalt, I'm afraid security has caught an intruder trying to sneak onto the grounds." he stated without emotion.

An intruder?

Simon sighed as he removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "Send em in." he said simply.

Suddenly we both heard shouting and the sound of many objects being smashed, thrown or broken over somepony's head. Before either of us could say anything, the double doors of Simon's office were smashed open as probably 10 guards all tumbled in, all holding down who I assumed to be the intruder, they had caught. (And judging from all the bruises and the black eyes I saw on the guards, I would say that they had quite a hard time even getting near this intruder, let alone capturing them.)

I walked over to get a look at this intruder, and as I did, I suddenly realized I recognized her. A bronze colored Pegasus mare, with a black and grey mane, a green adventurer's shirt and pith helmet which lay on the ground beside her. I saw her cutie mark of a navigational compass, as she kicked one of guards off her. He hit the far wall, after sailing through the air. (She was apparently as strong as I had read, as well.)

Simon approached her with caution. "Apologies for the roughness, Miss?"

"Daring." She said proudly from underneath the weight of the guards. "It's just Daring Do. Please don't call me, miss, it makes my name sound less awesome." she added, throwing another guard off her. "Hang on a minute."

In only five seconds she managed to wrestle her way out from the mountain of guards, and stood up as she straightened her shirt. Picking her helmet off the ground, she dusted it off before putting it back atop her head. She looked proud, confident, and ready to take on anything the world threw at her. Her eyes held a bright spark in them. A spark, that I'm afraid cannot be properly explained. It was unique only to her. It was the spark Daring Do always had.

She looked at us as she looked back at the pile of guards now getting up off the ground. "Heh. Sorry about that. I swear I tried the front door first, but apparently your guards didn't trust me." she laughed.

I laughed back. "Well, you did break into the manor."

Daring nodded. "Very true." she said with a smile.

Simon then took this opportunity to find out what Daring Do, was doing breaking into his mansion. "And to what do we owe the pleasure, miss-

"Just Daring, Dr. Cobalt." she said quickly. "And as to the reason I'm here, it's because of you. Or rather something your looking for." Daring said, locking eyes with Simon. She was studying him. I wondered why.

Simon looked confused. "And what would that be, Miss Daring Do?"

Daring suddenly looked very serious. "The Heart Of Oceana." she answered. "You and my father were looking for it, years ago."

"And I'm trying to find him."