Chapter 6

Testing

I sat there watching Twilight with a bored look plastered on my face. We’ve been sitting here for twenty minutes without so much as a word between us. She was double checking and triple checking a book she had found. Apparently it contained relevant data on the subject she wished to study so I assume it was something about the crystal in my chest.

As Dash, Pinkie and me were on our way to go cause a bit of innocent mischief, I had no sooner set a foot, or rather hoof in this matter, in town before being tackled by the purple unicorn. “Oooo I found it. I found it. I found it. Come on, Crystal! Let’s go!” I was then dragged by my tail to Twilight’s library and down into the basement.

Now here we sat. Well, Twilight was sitting while I laid on my side, bored out of my mind. Finally it got to a point where I couldn’t take it anymore. “Ugh. Twilight! We have been sitting here for a half an hour. I thought you had something to show me or talk to me about...Twilight....Twilight!!!” My yell seemed to break her from her trance.

“Oh! Yes, Crystal, what is it?”

I gave a steely stare at the unicorn. “What’s going on? Why did you drag me down here?”  I rolled over and got to my hooves. “How you dragged me off, it seemed really important.”

The mare nodded. “It is! I found a book that has some details on the Daedalus Heart. More importantly, how it works. Nothing on what it was made for though. That is intriguing. You usually find stuff on why things like this were made, not how they work. It usually takes some digging for you to find the specific working of an artifact other than the history of why it was made in the first place.”

“Twilight!”

Twilight blushed and smiled. “Oh right. The Heart works as it’s own perpetual magic source, but it’s magic only works for one purpose. That purpose is to create and control the crystalline substance you used earlier. The substance comes from the Heart itself. Usually, a unicorn would draw the magic from the Heart to get the substance but I can feel the magical barriers around the Heart.”

Twilight got in close, staring at the scar on my chest. “They are really powerful. I don’t think even the princess could break through them.” Twilight furrowed her brow as she thought. “But you were able to draw from it’s magic. I am guessing that somepony...or something has enchanted the Heart to work only for you. I also think it was enchanted to flow blood through your body automatically as well as act as some sort of life support system. There is no way a normal pony could have survived the amount of blood you lost. Well, not standing like you are.”

Twilight reached out and poked the scar with her hoof. “I was wondering if we could try and draw the magic out again, like you did against the changeling.”

I scratched my head. “I don’t know, Twilight. That was sort of an accident. A spur of the moment thing.” I sighed. “I am not sure how I did it.”

Twilight didn’t look deterred from her goal. “What happened when you did it? Was there anything out of the ordinary with you. A blur in vision, a weird feeling....anything?” I thought back to the incident with the changeling. I remember the burning in my chest and body before the crystal appeared.

“Yeah...I do. My chest and body felt hot when the changeling started to attack. Do you think that may be how it works?”

“Heat? Hmm. That’s interesting.” Twilight ran back over to the book. “It might work like a unicorn’s horn. When magic is drawn through our horn, it creates heat. Your body may act like one big horn for the Heart.” Twilight flipped through some pages. “Try to focus on that heat again. Try pulling it with your will.” I looked at Twilight skeptically. “Go ahead. I want to see if you can consciously control the magic.”

I sighed and closed my eyes. I focused on my chest and sure enough, I could feel a little light of warmth there. I imagined reaching out to the light and pulling on it. There was a pulse of warmth throughout my body and I snapped my eyes open. “Whoa...I think I might be able to.” Twilight just stared at me expectantly.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes again. Instead of pulling on the whole light this time, I only pulled on a part of it. I could feel a part of it break off. I pulled the little ball of heat through my body and down my left foreleg before it stopped, blocked by some weird barrier. I frowned and gave the ball of heat a good tug against the barrier.

Gasping as I felt pain shoot up my leg, I kept a firm grip on the ball. I knew what the barrier was. Just like it was said before, the stuff had to come out somewhere. “Crystal! Are you alright?” I opened my eyes to find a golf ball sized globule of liquid floating in front of me.

“I am fine, Twilight.” I looked down at my leg, seeing some blood already trickling out of the wound. “I wonder.” I pulled a sliver of warmth from the one in my chest and brought it to the cut. I watched as the crystal liquid seeped out of the wound, covering it before hardening. I brought my hoof up to examine my handiwork. “Ha...just like a band-aid.” Twilight grabbed my hoof and rubbed the crystalline patch.

"Amazing. Don't do anything more until I get my scroll and quill!" With a flash of magic, the unicorn disappeared. I sighed and stared at the globule of shifting liquid in front of me. I know Twilight said not to do anything but I was just too curious. I grabbed either end of the ball in my mind's grasp and pulled. It brought a giggle to my lips as the ball began to stretch out. I then squashed the thing, watching as it quivered and shook as it grew smaller. I clopped my hooves together, delighted. For my next experiment, I flattened the ball. It stretched out to the  size of about a plate. I squished the edges to give it a sharpened look. It very much could be a deadly weapon.

"I asked you not to do anything!" I yelped at the sound of Twilight's voice behind me, flinging the disc across the room. It embedded itself halfway into the wall. "Hey! Watch out with that. You could have taken my head off!" I grinned sheepishly as Twilight walked over to the disc I made. Her horn lit up. "Now let's-" She quickly frowned and stared at the disc. Her horn glowed brighter as she focused on the thing in her wall. She finally gave up with a sigh. Her horn dimmed but not completely going out. A quill and scroll flew past me from behind and set themselves before the unicorn. She began to scribble furiously on the parchment.

"So Twilight...what were you just trying to do?"

"I was trying to pull it out of the wall but my magic just...slipped over it...You try pulling it out of the wall." She looked up at me and motioned to the thing. I stepped over to it and took a deep breath. I could still feel the disc but it wasn't like before. It was cool like a stone now. I thought for a second before an idea came to me. I tried to imagine it warming up again and was rewarded with the surface of the disc shimmering and it becoming a warmth source in my mind again. I easily tugged the thing from the wall. Twilight was just scribbling away.

"Put it over there," She asked, not looking up from the scroll. "Now tilt is slightly...Yeah, just like that." Before I had time to react, Twilight shot a burst of magic at the disc. It bounced off of it and dispersed harmlessly against the wall. "That is-"

"Totally awesome!"

"No. It's a bit disturbing." Twilight kept writing. "I don't like the fact that it seems completely resistant to magic." Twilight paused for a moment. "But if that is true then how are the enchantments on it?"

"Well, that just means it isn't completely resistant to magic. Plus, I don't think it would be wise just to assume that in the first place after just casting two spells on it." I squished the disc back into a ball. Twilight just nodded as she scribbled on her scroll. "So...is there anything else you want me to do?" Twilight nodded again. "Well then, what do you want me to do?" Another nodded. She wasn't paying attention to me anymore.

I pulled the ball apart and shaped the two halves into to shapes that roughly looked like ponies. This stuff was funner than play dough. I took the two ponies and began dancing them around Twilight's head. After a moment, Twilight stopped and looked up at me with a very unamused expression on her face. "That is very distracting. This is a very important report." In reply, I made one of the little figure bump noses with Twilight.

"Oh come on, Twilight. All work and no play makes Twilight a dull dull pony."

Twilight's eyes widened. "I am not a dull pony. I'll have you know that lots of ponies enjoy my reports on many different subjects. I am a very well respected pony in the unicorn society." I could barely hold in my laugh as she turned her nose up and puffed out her chest proudly. "I am princess Celestia's personal protege and the wielder of the Element of Magic. I am anything but a dull pony."

"Blah blah." Twilight glared at me. "I was expecting an afternoon of fun with Pinkie and Dash until you pulled me away. Now I have had barely any fun. I learned how to control this Heart thing, now I want to really see what it can do." I smashed the two halves back together formed a small dagger with it. I took a few swipes and stabs with it.

She looked disapprovingly at the weapon. "Eagerness must be tempered with caution when dealing with magic. I want to see it's full potential too but I also want to learn the limitations first before charging in headfirst. I am also a bit wary that a Pegasus is using something design for unicorn magic with such ease. I want to make sure we take every precaution so we don't end up hurting you or another pony." I couldn't argue with that. She used my worst enemy. Logic.

I sighed, hanging my head in defeat. "Yeah...I guess you're right." I made the liquid crystal into a ball again. "So what is next on the agenda?" Twilight thought for a moment, scratch her cheek with the quill. I chuckled a bit as it left a line of ink. "I think it would be a good idea to learn how much of the crystal you can control at once." She scribbled something down. "If you start to feel anything out of the ordinary, stop right away. We don't want to push you beyond your limits."

I nodded,taking the crystal covering the cut on my leg and adding it to the ball. I closed my eyes and focused on my chest again. I started pulling bits of the main source and letting them travel through my leg again. This soon became tedious and made my leg ache every time I pulled a bit through the opening in my leg.  I stopped and tried to think of an easier way. I listened to Twilight's continuous scribbling for a bit until I got an idea. I began pulling at the source, not letting the warmth break off as I streamed it down my leg and out the cut.

I kept the stream going, entirely focused on keeping the stream stable until I heard Twilight call out. "Crystal, I think that's enough. Stop." The urgency in her voice was enough to snap me back to my senses. I realized I was soaked in sweat. I breathed heavily as I noticed the little ball of warmth in my chest had turned into a blazing flame, it's heat coursing through my blood and body. The golf ball sized globule was a little bigger than a basketball now.

" Wow. Twilight, could you open a window or something?"

"We're underground, Crystal. There are no windows."

"Oh, I see. Can we get out of the stuffy basement then? I think I could use some cool air." Twilight nodded and began towards the stairs. I followed after her, tugging the ball after me. With the smaller ball, it had seemed weightless. With the larger size, there was a notable resistance against my pull. It was still manageable though.

It was a blessing as soon as we stepped outside. The cool breeze ruffled through my fur and feather.  “Oh sweet Celestia, that feels incredible.” I wanted nothing more than to stretch my wings and fly. My thoughts quickly getting lost in the daydream of soaring overhead. “I didn’t even notice how hot I was getting.”

"Yes. It's something we are going to have to look out for in later testing. Maybe having a tub of ice nearby." Twilight trailed off, scribbling her thoughts on the scroll she brought with her rather than talking out loud. I sighed and took a few steps away from her. I stared at the globe of liquid crystal in my mind's grasp. I wasn't really sure what to do with it now. Twilight seemed to be completely absorbed in writing her thoughts down.

There really wasn't anything else to do so I just started playing around with the crystal again. I did this for sometime, not thinking anything of being out in the open until a stallion came up to me. "I say, are...are you doing that?"

"Eeyup."

"But you have no horn. I thought it was only the horned equines that were capable of gravity manipulation."

I frowned. "I know... That is why Twilight is writing out a report about it, Mr-" When I looked up, my jaw dropped. The dark brown maned stallion stood proudly in front of me with a smile on his face. His hourglass cutie mark was obvious in the bright sun.

"Oh, you can just call me the Doctor. Is there something wrong. You look like you have seen a ghost." He tilted his head, examining me.

"Wibbly wobbly, timey wimey stuff." It was his turn to wear an astonished expression. "Those were your words, weren't they Doctor? This is so awesome! I didn't really think I would meet you here. Is Derpy really your companion here?" Twilight's ears perked up at the mare's name.

"Derpy? Where?!" Twilight ducked her head.

"No worries, Twilight. Your associate here seems to have mistaken me for somepony else. She is new in town, isn't she?"

"He!"

Twilight stopped the Doctor before he could question it. "It's a long story. So what brings you here today, Time Turner. Need to borrow another anatomy book?" Twilight rolled her scroll up. The stallion shook his head.

"The Doctor is fine, Twilight, and no. I was wondering if that new book on clock making from Canterlot has arrived yet. I can hardly wait to read it. I know my customers will be happy to start seeing me come out with some new designs." What? Clock making? What blasphemy is this? The Doctor doesn't make clocks! I listened on.

"It hasn't arrived just yet. I'll be sure to tell you or your sister first thing when it gets here. I have been wanting to trade in the clock in the library for a newer model. How has your and Colgate's clockmaking going?"

"We haven't had any new orders in a while but we have been getting enough calls for repairs to make a decent amount of extra bits. Between that and our day job, we've been keeping ourselves busy and happy."

"Day job?" I asked

"Oh yes. I guess you are new in town, aren't you? I happen to be the local physician while my sister is the leading dentist in town. While are talents lay in clocks, big or small, it wasn't enough to keep ourselves afloat. That is why we branched into different areas. Be sure to come by for a check up. I'll make sure you get the best treatment available. Oh yes, that reminds me..." The Doctor turned to Twilight. "Don't forget about your appointment Tuesday."

Twilight smiled. "I already have it scheduled and accounted for."

"That is good. Actually, Twilight. Why don't you bring your friend along with you. If she isn't busy, that is."

"He."

Twilight shot me a glare that I matched. "Yeah. She should be done with her weather duties by then. I will bring her along. It will be a good time to get some data on her physiology from a professional. " I swear Twilight put emphasis on each her. Was she really teasing me like that?

"Alright then. I will see you girls on Tuesday!" The stallion waved and made his way off. I turned and stared at Twilight as she unrolled the scroll. We sat there for a moment like that, me glaring at her while she read over her work.

"...You did that on purpose." Twilight looked from her parchment and tilted her head at me. "Referring to me as a girl. I am not one but you sat there and did it knowingly." I sat down, getting a bit tired of constantly focusing on the ball floating around me. I took the liquid crystal and spread it across my chest, making a sort of armor with it. I tested it to make sure everything still had full mobility, tweaking the armor here and there when I felt a hitch.

Twilight pulled the quill from her ear and began scribbling again. "Yes. I did refer to you as female because that's what you are. Are you really wanting to go through your whole story every time you get questioned about it? Your body is that of a mare's now, no matter what it was before. You are going to have to accept the fact that, by looks, ponies are going to call you a her from now on."

"But isn't there some sort of spell you could cast?"

"No. There is a spell to change the gender of a pony but only the highest level of unicorns could even attempt it and it isn't permanent. Plus, in your current condition, I don't think it would be a good idea to cast any spells like that on you. Who knows how it could affect the Heart." I groaned in frustration and unfurled my wings. Before Twilight could react, I pumped my wings and shot into the air. I wobbled a bit as I steadied myself.

"Crystal! Where are you going?!" Twilight called after me, me being too far out of the reach of her magic now. I didn't give her another chance to yell out to my as I tilted my wings and shot out over the skies above Ponyville.