Research of Space.

//

See through Stargates....

You'll understand later..XD

This chapter ended up just being one big pile of Starfall doing magical research but I think it turned out pretty well and I hope it is understandable for everyone.

I always liked to go into details about stuff like this so bear with me if it's too much XD

I hope you like it and like always ENJOY!!

//

After returning from Appleloosa, Starfall instantly dived into research. He had a number of projects, and he really hoped to finish at least one of them before the Gala.

He decided to finally go through the problem of long distance travel, which would make visiting his friends and family that much easier. And the answer to that were...

...Magical Portals!

They weren't really anything new in Equestria, but What Starfall wanted to do was a proper portal that could be deployed anywhere,at any distance, and didn't come with any disadvantages the likes of being only opened once every thirty moons, (which as he found out while living in Equestria actually meant around four months) or led only to a single unchangeable location.

A good example of such portals were the ones created by Chancellor Neighsay using his Token Artifact's Power, but those were not exactly what he was aiming for, because it was a solution only for a unicorn which wouldn't be much different from what he already had. After all He could already teleport.

No, he wanted to create a portal network between different places. Technically something like Stargates, and maybe when he improves it, even a portal gate from Treasure planet which could take him anywhere in the world!

Of course he wouldn't share the later technology with everypony, and he wasn't sure if even sharing the first was such a good idea, but he still needed to develop the portal before he could start thinking about stuff like eventual commercialisation...

Thankfully he had a lot of sources of information to look into. Even the Ponyville Library had theoretical books on Portal Magic, and "Aunt" Celestia agreed to send him the Portal Mirror from Canterlot Treasury, which apparently led to a different dimensions...

Yep...That mirror...

Although the way she spoke in the letter seemed a bit strange to Starfall, but being too encompassed in his research, he didn't give it much thought...

_________

It took a week of hard work for the first prototype of the "Space Gate" To be completed inside the lab, and Starfall was extremely proud of his accomplishment.

Although he had a slight trouble upon the realization of having no power source...

Thankfully Twilight and Whooves were the ones who came to the rescue, having been working on the Meteorite Magic Generator during all this time that he focused on the Gates...

He would sometimes come to give them a helping hoof...or an eye, as his Mage Sight and insight into magical runes was often needed, but in the end, they surpassed his expectations having finished the Generator only half an hour before his realisation of having no power source...

__________

"Alright. I'm activating the Gates!" Called out Starfall as he pushed a button from a safe location, away from the large Circular objects which actually did resemble the Stargates from his previous life quiet a bit...

The rune covered metal started to glow as magical energy went through the magical conduits connected to the floating, spherical power source case with a spinning meteoric core inside of it.

Then with a flash, blue films started to materialise inside the circles, before slowly opening into two identical holes in space, clearly connected with eachother as he could see themselves staring at them from both of the portals.

"I think it worked Starfall!" Said Whooves excitedly as he waved his hoof, seeing himself waving from the other side in the same manner.

"Well, as long as it's possible to walk through the portals, then we indeed succeed and it's not just an overly complicated mirror." He replied, slowly walking out of the cover.

His Mage Sight worked on overtime trying to find anything wrong with the portals and the magic creating the space rifts. So far there was nothing wrong, although he could recognise multiple methods to improve the portals now that he could see it working, which he promptly noted on a parchment.

"Initial observations show no trouble with transportation of light and gases."

"Be careful Starfall! We don't know how it's gonna react to solid matter!" Called out Twilight looking at her Coltfriend with worry.

"Don't worry! We have made proper safety measures, right?" He tried to assure her as he picked up a bowling ball and placed it on a track leading into the portal.

"First test. Simple solid matter transfer." Starfall said officially, pushing the bowling ball down the track and stepping back behind a safety glass.

The bowling ball passed through the left portal and rolled out of the right one without any obvious problems.

"Initial test seems successful. Proceeding with the magic test." He said before taking another sphere, this one made out of glass and filled with chunks of magic metals and plants.

The sphere passed through the portal, and Starfall sighed with relief seeing no trouble and no magic interference.

"Another success." He said and Twilight trotted happily towards him.

"I think you did it Starfall!" She said excitedly.

"Don't get so excited Twi, we still have a few tests before we can be sure it's safe." He chastised her lightly, giving her a smile.

"Right. Sorry. I got a bit excited." She said wryly.

"Do you want to do the next test?" He asked and Twilight stopped for a moment as she knew what was the next part before shaking her head.

"No. I think you should do that. I won't be able to look Fluttershy in the eyes if something goes wrong..." She said a bit thrown off by the idea.

"Alright." Starfall said, not really having trouble with what he was doing but understanding the sentiment. He's not going to tell Fluttershy that part no matter the result...

He pushed an enchanted floating cage forward and watched as The fluffy Parasprite approached the Portal...

And then it exploded...

... Just kidding.

The cage flew out of the second portal and Starfall instantly caught it examining the Parasprite which seemed unharmed by the experience. So far, everything was leading Starfall to believe that the portals worked as intended by bending space and there was technically nothing that the objects passing through actually touched before ending on the other side.

But now it was time for the last test that Starfall thought off, and which had the greatest chance of causing a contained catastrophe...

"Alright guys. It's the last test. Please leave the room. I'll be with you shortly." He said and the duo of knowledge freaks nodded in unison.

Starfall picked up a sphere filled with a wild, multicoloured magic set it up on the track.

"... alright... Chaos magic test...commencing..." He said before pushing the sphere and galloping out of the room.

He only had time to hide behind a glass wall where the other two were standing and look into the chamber, when the sphere approached the Portal and everything went to hay...

__________

"Alright...It seems we still need to figure out a way to stop the chaos magic from causing the space distortion in the portal..." Starfall said looking at the inside of the chamber which looked as if two black holes ate up a better part of the walls and the floor, only leaving the generator intact thanks to the special barriers Starfall installed around it just for such a situation. In hindsight, he should have just placed it outside of the room...

"You don't say?" Twilight said unamused, holding the cage with the Parasprite under her right hoof.

Starfall shrugged with a wry grin.

"Well, nothing lost I guess. The materials for the portals weren't that expensive...and I guess there ain't that much to clean up as well..."He said looking at the cleanly disintegrated walls....

Twilight facehoofed before sighing in exasperation. It was Starfall we're talking about... Creating a space singularity in his basement was just another Sunday for him...

________

"So according to your calculations, it shouldn't be impossible to replicate The alloy in the meteorite right? Then why can't you do it?" Asked Twilight as she looked over Starfall's shoulder as he was sitting at his table taking some notes.

"Well. The large amount of metals in the meteorite are your standard magical metals that we use in our everyday Artificary, but I found some trace amounts of materials which in our current situation would be borderline impossible to obtain if not extremely difficult...

...well...I could... technically go looking for them, but I know for a fact that two of them are located in an extremely dangerous and/or hostile locations, while another would need the help of a Rock Expert or a trip into yet another similar location to the previously mentioned ones." He explained imagining The Changeling Kingdom, Storm King's Lands and 'Our Town' with their unique, Magic containing/absorbing Materials...

Twilight opened her eyes wider with every word he said and quickly shook her head.

"No, don't do this! You won't be risking your life for a few stupid magical rocks!" She said firmly, and he tried not to think of the irony of The Elements of Harmony being just a few room away from here...

"Of Course I won't Twily. While I'm very Strong, I'm not so stupid as to do stuff like this without being totally over-prepared..." He winked at her and she sighed in relief...

"Just...Promise you'll never leave me. Well think of something else. You said something about a Rock Expert right? maybe he or she could help us find the materials without going into those locations?..." She asked and Starall had to think whether it was even possible. He was rather sure that at least the material from the Throne of Queen Chrysalis was pretty much unique to the Changelings in Equestria, but he could always be wrong right?

"Oh and you didn't even talk about that Space metal now that I think about it. What about it?" She asked remembering their original discovery of the mysterious metal inside the Meteorite.

"Oh that's actually where the special minerals come from. Apparently the metal was also another special alloy, but it produced a totally different effects than its components when they were actually put together. Because unlike the alloy's magic regenerative properties, the components all had something to do with absorbing, containing, or resisting magic...Truly a wonder." He explained, and Twilight nodded in understanding.

"I see...*Sigh*...We had this rock for an entire week and didn't figure it out but you take it for a day and understand more than we did even after we already made it into a working generator... "She said with a pout, before finding another problem.

"But if it's all like this, then how do you plan on powering the gates? You said yourself that you don't want to make a slow, ambient recharge mechanism, so..." She trailed of and Starfall smiled.

"Well. After a closer look, I believe it shouldn't be impossible to separate this meteor into a few smaller ones without damaging it's generation properties, Although I don't believe we would be able to accomplish that in the next week before the Gala, and it would limit the amount of gates we could instal." He explained.

"For now let's slowly wrap everything up and make sure we are ready for the event. You know that I want us to be properly presentable for the big day." He winked at her causing The purple unicorn to blush heavily.

In this world, Twilight wasn't adamant of spending the night with Celestia, and her place was taken mostly by Starfall. Twilight could already imagine herself dancing with the Stallion to a slow tune and enjoying herself immensely, although she didn't realize that the other mares weren't in that regard much different from her...

Starfall was up for a very eventful night, even if he did all to make it go as smoothly as possible...