Rainbow Dash - 19th of Megan, 17 EoHRainbow Dash - 19th of Megan, 17 EoH
SkyLabs, ██████████ - Phoenix Sovereign Territory Zone
Back when Pinkie first started dating Sky, I wondered how he got so much done. Managing a company that spans the known world, doing all of the command level decisions for an entire city’s infrastructure, inventing whatever gizmo he liked, helping Neighpone out by designing every mech they used from the fifth generation onwards. That stallion did a lot.
Too much for one pony to do, at least in my opinion. Yeah, yeah, his sister helped out with some things, but one wizard who doesn't know any time travel or cloning spells isn’t going to be able to do enough to help a guy do as much stuff as Sky. I called horse apples on his whole ‘I do everything’ deal.
It just felt like a lie. Like Trixie’s use of the ‘Great and Powerful’ title before she explained what it meant. A way to stroke his ego.
Then we’d worked out my connection to the Speed Force, and he showed me SkyLabs. Then it all made sense. At least, the basics made sense. I didn’t have the brain to wrap around the how or the why of anything in here.
I knew two things about SkyLabs. First, the entire thing was one huge automated R&D lab working off computer files and lots of other complex stuff. Sky didn’t build everything, he built one thing that built lots of things in the way he would build them if he had the time to do each one himself.
Second, Sky might legitimately try to kill me if I ever showed anyone where it was. He was super protective of his lab. If we weren't quadruple certain that putting a portal to my Uncle’s house anywhere else would be a very bad idea, I’d never have seen this place.
Heck, Sky’s sister Ayna said she only knew about this place because it’s where Sky liked to go camping when he was a colt. Which sounds insecure until you learn he only ever came here alone or with her once.
And neither would Lotus. Well, kinda. It’s not like I could run faster than light. So she’d probably seen some blurry splotches as I zipped inside to the portal room, but that probably didn’t count. Unless demons eyes and memories worked differently from a pony’s…
“Hey um, so… Did you see how we came in here?” I asked as I set her down in the small portal room just a few steps away from the inactive portal’s archway.
Lotus nodded, looking around herself curiously exploring the dining room sized, basically bare room with her eyes. “Slightly, I know we’re inside a mesa. You were flying towards it for about two seconds. The rest of it happened too quickly to perceive,” she answered honestly.
“Okay,” I said after a moment’s thought. “Cool. Sooo… This place don't exist. Understand?”
“I do… Why dig into a mountain for such a small space?” Lotus asked looking at me with a baffled stare. “And why go through such lengths to hide a portal? I understand the technology this is based on well enough. It hasn’t been altered all that much. The biometric locks you could use with this portal, combined with a simple hexagrammic ward could secure this portal completely. There’s no reason to physically hide it.”
Lotus huffed irritably. I smirked.
“Yeah, sure. We could lock this side. But the other side? Yeah, not so much,” I laughed, rubbing the back of my head with a hoof. “We’re going somewhere where ‘secure’ is more of a challenge than a deterrent to a lot of people. And where ‘special talents’ can do all kinds of wierd stuff, including bypassing almost any security, yeah, those are like, scarry common.”
I turned to the locker on the right side of the door and started to open it. Why the hay it had a stupid combination lock was beyond me. It was kind of like if after all of the boobytraps and archaic puzzle-locks Daring Doo had to open a simple gate latch as the final seal.
“I see…” Lotus mused. “ Then this… Brushed steel, dining room-looking place is to contain things coming from the other end. Dad could learn from you. The portals home are completely insecure. Not that anything wandering through would be much of a threat for long.”
I laughed and shook my head. “You know, I’d say that was stupid, but if the legends about Tartarus are even half true, then security isn’t much of a concern.”
“Oh no, I didn’t mean to the entire realm. Of course that’s a lethal land,” Lotus agreed as I opened the locker. “I meant for his castle. I think he just lazily copied the portal design.”
“Fun fact, I’ll keep that in mind for later,” I said as I reached inside the locker and took out my custom wonderbolts uniform.
Or rather, my Wonderbolt costume. Time to suit up. Traditions and all that.
“A Wonderbolts uniform?” Lotus asked curiously, cocking her head to one side.
I nodded and started to slip the costume on. “Sort of, kinda,” I began frowning as I tried to find a good way to explain myself. “So… Um. You know how there are parallel universes, right? A world like your own but slightly different. Well there are also connected universes. They are not parallel, they are completely different. But they are linked in such a way where travel between them is possible and stuff.
“My uncle’s universe is connected to this one, but it’s not parallel. It’s pretty different. One of those differences is magic is way different. It’s not like here where every unicorn is a spellcaster, every pegasi manipulates weather, and every Batpony is absurdly good at making things. Imagine if most people had no magic, and some people had one or two magical abilities each and-”
I paused, slapping a hoof to my forehead in embarrassment. “Oh my god,” I groaned. “Do you read comic books?”
Lotus shook her head no. “No, but I am aware of them and the general concepts,” she answered.
“It’s A LOT like the Simulacra Comics Universe,” I elaborated hoping she understood. “It’s not the same. I thought that we found whatever pocket universe SC uses to make their special edition ‘Be the Hero’ comics for a while, but it’s not.
“Anyways, my uncle is sort of a superhero. And I help. So I had to have a costume and an alter ego. It’s tradition, and also practical.”
I finished slipping into the costume and flipped up the hood. I’d never wanted to do the whole costume thing, and even pointed out that I was a pony. The only one there. So you know, kinda hard to have a secret identity.
Turns out the real reason for the costumes is psychological. Having a simple iconic look helps civilians remain calm during emergencies because they see someone they recognize helping out. Also you can stick gadgets in them.
Lotus rolled her eyes. “What, saving Equestria wasn’t enough for you?” She asked snidely.
I nodded. “Yeah, that’s right. It’s not,” I agreed, making Lotus blink in surprise.
“How is it not?” She asked incredulously. “Twilight has a different mission every other week on average!”
I nodded. “Yeah. Twilight does,” I agreed. “I don’t. Most of us don’t. Are we instrumental in protecting Equestria from the big threats? Yes. Do I help Twilight with every ‘friendship problem’ as she calls them? No.
“In fact, most of us don’t do much outside of our ordinary lives except for one or two crazy weekends a year. Sure, they are all fine with that. But I’m not!
“My day job is a weather team leader. It’s important work that pays pretty well, but it’s a bit boring. Imagine one day you got to do something actually exciting, have a real adventure, and actually make a difference in ponies lives. Life changing moment right?
“Now imagine that you only get to keep doing that for maybe three days for every four hundred days that pass. So yeah, no. Protecting Equestria is not enough for me. I’m too bad at working within a command structure for the Guard to want me despite my being totally fine with combat. I can’t join the army or anything. But my uncle fights crime as a costumed vigilante and was totally awesome by offering me a job. Make sense?”
The succubi nodded slightly. “Yes. I’m sorry. I didn’t- I thought… Nevermind. How do we go?”
I turned to the portal and pressed the red button set into the lefthoof pillar. The archway immediately began to hum as it worked to open up the portal. Then the sound effect’s Sky had implemented kicked in and played a series of ten rapid diffrent pitched electronic beeps.
And the other hideous horrible screeching electronic ear rape of a sound which I could only describe as a computer screaming in pain decided to stab me in the skull.
Lotus winced, ears falling flattered then mine. “Ah! What the hell!? WHY!?” She demanded as the portal began to spark, the energy swirling around the center like water down a drain.
“Sky’s sister said that if it was going to take thirty seconds to connect two universes, then it looked like ‘The multiverse runs on dial-up’. Sky laughed, and then made the portal do this,” I grumbled as the noise died down.
“That’s dumb,” Lotus grumbled closing her eyes tightly as the portal stabilized.
“Yeah well, Sky finds lots of dumb things funny,” I sighed. “Come on, we’re good to go and I’m already not looking forward to explaining you to Cisco.”
“Who?” Lotus asked with a steep frown.
“My Uncle’s tech guy, um… Just, come on,” I said as I gave Lotus a gentle push towards the portal. “Same time. Ready?”
“Not especially,” Lotus admitted with a short sigh. “But I doubt you’d let me wait here while you retrieved your friend.”
I nodded. “Sorry… Look, it’s totally fine. I’ve gone through with another pony plenty of times.”
“But have you gone through with a non-pony composed primarily of non-equilibrium matter?” She asked with a sheepish grin.
“Nah, but-”
“How about I go first then? That way you can see if it’s safe or not to use the portal with me in the future?” Lotus asked diplomatically.
“Yeah, no. Trust me, you pop over on your own and my uncle will probably kick your ass. Cause you know, unknown energy readings with weird biosigns,” I explained with an irritated sigh. “Come on, just go!”
Lotus nodded and then dipped her head towards the open portal. “Let’s go,” she said with a defeated sigh.
I nodded and stepped forwards, touching the swirling blue vortex a split second before she did. The portal seemed to stretch out, going from a flat disk to a long tunnel which I felt myself shoot through like somepony had thrown me through, only for the tunnel to contract at the far end and spit me out into the familiar room on the other side.
Star Labs. Big round shapes, open air, lots of glass, almost everything white or chrome with the occasional bit of blue. Sci-fi as buck if you ask me.
The particular room we wound up in was nothing special. Just a sort of ‘welcome room’. Apparently interdimensional shenanigans were such a common thing here that Cisco wound up building this end of the portal before even I’d shown up. The room too. Cuz you know, if people from elsewhere keep popping up, a big map with a planet on it, an arrow pointing to a place on the map, and a zoomed in view of Central City with ‘You are Here’ written on it is nice.
Also the subspace snare to force hostile things coming through to wind up here wasn’t a bad touch ether.
No, the bad touch was the poorly synthesized voice that announced our presence by saying, “You’ve got mail.”
I rolled my eyes, like I did every time I came through. It figured that tech geniuses shared the same sense of humor.
“Huh…” Lotus mused as she looked up for the source of the voice. “Alright. I did not expect a nice little lobby on the other side.”
Oh yeah… That’s right. Lotus spoke Equish. Unless she had like, magical language abilities.
“Hey, um, real quick, do you speak any other languages?” I asked curiously.
“Yes,” she answered, eyeballing the rack of pamphlets for things like ‘social norms of Earth-1’. “But I doubt the people here speak-”
The faint click of the room’s intercom turning on made my ears twitch. “Hey, Dash. You’re here for that book right?” Cisco’s voice asked over the intercom, prompting Lotus to look up in concern.
Yeah… She didn’t speak the right language… Crap!
“What book?” I asked frowning.
Oh snap! I’d brought a copy of Daring Doo and the Sunken Tower to show Alter!
“Hell if I know. Your loopy letters do not get along with universal translators… I guess we need a multiversal translator,” Cisco mused to himself. “There’s a bit of an emergency going on. I left the book on my desk in the office. Just go get it, I need to stay on the- Barry! Watch out, the new guy’s not aiming for you he’s increasing the ambient heat! He’s trying to cook you alive, get out of that warehouse now!”
Buck! Crisis at home, crisis here too!
“I’m not here for the book actually,” I explained quickly, knowing how much Cisco hated being interrupted while working. “I need to talk to Alter, it’s an emergency. Will this mission be wrapped up soon?”
Realizing what I said I immediately fachooved. No, Alter wouldn’t be helping with this one because it was a fire based villain.
“Oh yeah, we’ve got the pyrophobe fighting off sixteen different fire based meta-humans,” Cisco laughed sarcastically. “Yep! Totally what’s going- What? Oh shit, sorry, Barry. Your niece showed up. Some kind of emergency.”
“Don’t distract him!” I protested with a frown. “I sort of got a prisoner I need interrogated, like. Now. There is a Darkseid level threat happening back home right now and I REALLY need to confirm some information.”
“There's a WHAT?!” Cisco yelped. “Fuck! We’d help but the goddamn Fire Nation decided to attack today. We’re completely swamped!”
“What about Alter?” I asked hopefully.
“I sent her to get me some burritos, this is hour five,” Cisco said quickly. “Barry, just focus on the mission. It’s okay, she just needs Alter’s help.”
Ugh, I hated only hearing half of a conversation! Stupid ear pieces.
“Dash, just wait in the command center with me. She should be back soon,” Cisco instructed, the intercom clicking off before I could explain I had a prisoner with me.
Lotus blinked as I sighed and moved towards the door. “That was… Odd. It sounds similar to Terran but the words are completely different,” she said half to me half to herself. “Can your friend speak Equish? I imagine it will be hard to show her I’m telling you the truth if she can’t.”
“Alter speaks everything,” I answered intentionally cryptically.
“Really? I imagine that’s a useful ability,” Lotus mused as I opened the door for us and trotted into the long curving hallway.
“Yeah, it is,” I agreed, leading the way.
Star Labs was the weirdest building ever. Even by this world’s standards. The whole thing was a big circle. Who the heck builds their building as a circle!? At least it made the command center easy to find. Just go around the circle.
A quick and easy walk, with just one elevator. Over before Lotus could do much more but see a few portraits hung on a wall and remark, “Ooo! Non-prismatic humans. Interesting! We must be in the universe the Terran Empire tried to tunnel to! I remember them desperately trying that after discovering humans living in another universe.”
“Um… I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I Informed honestly as I pressed my hoof against the door panel.
The steel blast doors hissed, quickly sliding into the walls to open the way into the room taken right out of a space center and merged with a war room. Big holographic display table in the middle of the room, a ring of desks with computers on them, big displays on every wall except where there were doors…
The huge room looked extremely empty with just Cisco in it. It felt like a place which should have a dozen or more people manning stations and calling out orders. Like the bridge of that ship from that show Ayna liked.
Normally, it was. But right now there was just the one long haired cinnamon skinned guy in a hoodie and jeans with an earpiece, running from station to station. That would be Cisco. Looks kind of like is slacker and a bit of a dweeb, is the exact opposite of those things on the inside.
“Barry!” Cisco explained as the door opened. “I think I figured out what they are after! One of the sixteen is distracting League members everywhere in the city except for a ten block radius around Hudson University. Odds are pretty good that they are after any data about F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M. left in the servers there. As soon as you get an opening, I need eyes inside.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Cisco turned his head just enough to look at Lotus and I before turning back to his screen. “I thought you said your wife was orange and blonde. Hi, by the way, AJ. You picked a hell of a time for a first visit,” Cisco greeted.
I looked down at the floor sadly for a moment before catching my breath. “That’s not AJ. That’s a… Enemy who defected. I need Alter to help me confirm if she’s cool or not.”
“... And you brought her here?” Cisco asked, raising an eyebrow before frowning and glancing at his headset mic. “No, Barry. She didn’t bring her wife. She’s got a prisoner in tow… Yeah I trust her it’s just- AH HELL! Forget everything happening here, thermal imaging shows another four massive heat spikes approaching the city. They’ve got back up. Just how many pyrokinetics are out there!?”
The problem with being a part of two worlds… When disaster strikes both, who do you help? Maybe I could help both this time.
“Four more than we knew about, apparently,” I said with a worried frown. “D-does anyone need some quick help while I’m waiting for Alter to get back?”
Cisco shook his head, making my ears droop with a mixture of sadness and disappointment. “No offense Dash, but she’ll be back any minute and this attack has been going on for over five hours. One more speedster for a few minutes won't be able to do much,” he sighed. “Although… If you wrap your thing up within the usual half hour we’ll probably still be fighting. You could pop back then. With your wizard friend. Because our wizard is deathly afraid of fire.”
“Yeah well, if you were combustible you’d be afraid of fire too,” I said defensively.
I knew he didn’t mean it negatively, and it was the stress of managing this attack, but no one bad talks my friends!
“I know. I know. Her powers cut out around large amounts fire and she’d go up like a torch. But it would still be nice to get her out there right now. The bad guys are using teamwork for a change, and whoever is coordinating them is at least as good as me, maybe better,” he grumbled worriedly, eyes narrowing at something on his screen. “Barry, he’s losing heat. You should have an opening to check out the university soo- No! No yeah do your plan. Take him out first.”
I winced again, my wings twitching uneasily. I REALLY wanted to help! Even if I only had two minutes before I had to get back to demons invading ponyville I could easily run out, take down one of them via surprise, and make it back before-
A sound much like someone inhaling slowly next to your ear quietly sounded amid the whirring of computer fans and status update beeps. A ghostly humanoid figure, more shadow than substance, accompanied the sound, leaning through the wall behind Cisco, one hand outstretched, fingers hooked as if ready to claw at the back of his head.
“Yo, Cisco! Burritos,” Alter exclaimed as she blinked back to normal as she finished phasing through the wall, a Taco Bell bag seeming to blink into existence in her hand as light could properly bounce off it again.
"AHHH!" Cisco yelped wheeling around in fight, glaring at Alter as he snatched the bag from her outstretched hand. "God dammit! Fucking Martian density shifting. Gimme me that!"
I couldn’t help but laugh as Cisco snatched the bag of food from her. Alter’s pale skinned human shape made the whole scene just the best! The creepy-evil-shadow-thing just poofs into a short, skinny, pale girl with dyed purple hair, a light lavender hoodie over a blue shirt, fingerless gloves, and dark black sunglasses.
Alter looked like what would happen if an alien had chosen a human form using old 90’s TV commercials. Because that’s exactly what happened. The only reason she kept herself looking like that was the humor value.
To me, she had even more humor value. Because she sounded EXACTLY like Twilight.
Alter smiled as she saw me. “Hey! Dash! Come back for the book? Mind staying a while? The building across from my apartment is on fire and um… Yeah…” She sheepishly trailed off, scratching the back of her head nervously.
I shook my head. “Sorry, can’t stay, my home city’s getting completely screwed over right now. Like, it’s leveled, and bucking Demons are literally spewing forth-”
Cisco’s eyes widened practically to the size of dinner plates. “Jesus Christ! Yeah um, okay! We’ll be helping you as soon as this is wrapped up,” he said promised with a worried frown. “No, Barry. You DON’T want to know what's happening. Not yet. You need to focus on this.”
Alter frowned, dipping her head forwards to look at me over her shades, revealing her lavender eyes. “How much exaggeration is behind that? Also who's your friend?” She asked worriedly.
“None. No exaggeration,” I said as firmly as I could manage. “And she’s one of them. She’s defecting, possibly.”
Cisco and Alter blinked in unison before demanding, “AND YOU BROUGHT HER HERE!?!”
"Dammit Dash, you brought a demon into Star Labs!? Couldn't you....write first or something!?" Cisco added urgently.
“I don’t exactly have a prison, and she seems harmless,” I explained, holding up my forehooves defensively. “I just need you to read her mind and tell me if she’s telling the truth or not, Alter.”
“Why!? Can’t your girl do that too?” The shapeshifting alien asked with a worried frown.
“Um… She- She’s possessed right now…” I explained, ears drooping sadly. “I- I need intel so I can take down the thing controlling her. Lotus offered it.”
“Well, fuck,” Alter sighed, rubbing her temples with a thumb and forefinger. “Sure thing. Least I can do.”
Alter walked around the desk and made her way over to where Lotus and I stood with a few quick steps. “So… Um… Demon pony,” Alter began.
“Yeah, she doesn't know this language,” I explained with a worried frown.
Alter nodded. Her eyes suddenly glowing a bright red, bright enough to show through her sunglasses. Lotus eeped taking a step backwards with honest fright stamped on her face.
Alter raised an eyebrow, the glow vanishing a second later. “Really? A daemon is intimidated by some eye-glow?” She asked sounding thoroughly unimpressed.
In Equish.
“Um, you could have used me to translate,” I pointed out. “Lotus, Alter. Alter, Lotus. Alter’s a telepath. Kind of like a changeling without the requirement for an emotional bond.”
“Sorry for creeping you out,” Alter apologized. “I needed to know if I could read you or not, and hey, it’s easier for me to copy a language than to provide live translation to someone.”
“W-wait if you can copy a language-” Lotus began.
“It’s temporary. A few hours,” I explained. “She’s copied from me a lot.”
Lotus frowned then nodded. “Okay. I understand. Go ahead and let Rainbow know that I’m telling her the truth,” she asked urgently. “This universe… Itches.”
“Sure, thanks for permission by the way. I hate breaking into a conscious mind without permission,” Alter said as her eyes began to glow again.
“But you will for languages?” Lotus pressed.
“I got that from your subconscious. It’s different. All Martians are telepathic, this is just another sense for us. I afford everyone the same courtesies I do my own people, but no special privileges. Look, the other two of my people on Earth may be okay with completely ‘blinding’ themselves to make others comfortable, but I’m not going to handicap myself for other’s comfort,” Alter said defensively.
Oh boy… This conversation again…
“I guess I understand and- Oh! I can feel you looking,” Lotus exclaimed in a sort of happy shock.
Or not. Good!
“Yeah. Feel free to explore back down that link if you like,” Alter said off hand, frowning as she focused. “Humm… Okay so, like, are you certain you’re a demon and not a mortal with the powers of a demon? Because you’ve got some real fucked up self-loathing going on here.”
I nodded to myself. She had been telling the truth about hating herself. So far so good.
Lotus shook her head. “No. I’m definitely not a mortal and- And you’re not originally from Mars!”
I blinked, then frowned. That was news to me! “Um, what?” I asked, giving Alter an odd look.
“That’s true, but it’s not important,” she replied with a friendly smile. “I got teleported to Mars as a baby. I would have died there so the people who found me used genetic engineering to turn me into a martian. It’s why I lack some of my people’s capabilities.
“Also I can’t remember any other home so you know. I’m Martian. Humm… Okay, yeah. Dash, if this Lotus told you she's got a soul in her who is on semi-friendly terms with her, that’s a lie. ‘Aloe’ considered their bond sisterly, since Lotus has protected her from like, the worst shit imaginable at great expense to herself.”
I nodded slightly. “Okay. Sooo you didn’t tell me the truth on that, why?” I asked, looking Lotus dead in her eyes.
Her ears drooped sadly. “I… I don’t deserve that sort of affection,” she replied.
“That’s a lie,” Alter said quickly. “Um, I mean she’s telling the truth, but Lotus, you’re cool. Your species doesn't define you, your actions do. And your actions make you a pretty damn good person.”
Lotus shook her head violently. “Maybe for mortals, but I’m less a person and more of a weapon. I’m inherently bad… C-can we get back to confirming everything I told-”
“Ooohhhhkaaayyy…” Alter exclaimed suddenly with a wince. “Daemon or not, go seek a good therapist. You need one. Massively! That said, Dash, she’s not a liar. She really does want to help you kick her maker’s ass because she feels that is the right thing to do. And so do I.”
Lotus blushed deeply and took a step back, shying away as Alter’s eyes stopped glowing, the telepathic link severed.
I blinked, ears perking up at her statement. “Wait, you want to help? That would be awesome! Please!” I begged, pleading with my eyes.
“You’re damn right I do!” Alter exclaimed, her face turning red as she struggled to keep her cool despite boiling anger. “I checked her memory for your home town and saw her perspective of your attempt at fighting that thing. You’ll need help. Of the Arcane kind.
“I also just absorbed a lot of info regarding some seriously fucked up shit going on to innocent people that asshole is responsible for. Even if I wasn’t pissed off that I can’t help the Flash right now because fire, I’d have to go and help you with this. Dash, you have no idea… I’m going.”
I nodded slowly. “I wouldn’t stop you. We need all the help we can get. But shouldn’t you clear it with Cisco?” I asked.
She nodded and turned around to yell at Cisco in English. “Hey, I’m going to go help Dash put her hoof firmly up the ass of a guy who has litteraly skinned children alive in front of their mothers because he was bored,” she informed flatly.
“Ahhh!” Cisco and I hissed together, both wincing about the same.
“Did not need to know that right now,” Cisco groaned. “I need you guys to go away. It’s hard enough focusing on coordinating defenses with the enemy working this well together. I don’t need to picture adorable pony babies being hurt!”
“Seconded,” I said with a disgusted grimace.
I’d gotten way to clear of a head-picture...
“Yeah… Told you you had no idea Dash. That guy needs to go down. Now. So, one martian mage at your service,” Alter informed in her most serious possible voice.
I nodded in agreement. “Let’s plan in the portal room,” I said nodding towards Cisco. “He did ask for privacy.”
“Sure thing. See you there,” Alter agreed with a quick nod, immediately turning translucent and gliding through the wall on a straight line path to the portal room.
Cisco sighed, closing his eyes tightly for a long moment. “Doors! They exist for a reason!” He said wearily.
It was kind of cute how much that always creeped him out.
Turning to Locus, I switched back to Equish. “Come on, back to the portal room. Oh and um… Sorry for doubting you,” I said, rubbing the back of my head with one hoof in shame.
“No. No it’s okay. Only an idiot would have just believed me,” Lotus said reassuringly, her ears drooping sympathetically.
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, maybe. But that doesn't matter. I trust you now, and that’s not going to change. Loyalty, remember?” I replied nodding at the door. “Come on, she’s already there.”
After taking the elevator back down, I began to jog down the hallway towards the welcome room, Lotus quickly following after me.
“So, she’s a Telepath and can walk through walls. What else can Alter do?” Lotus asked.
“Thinking of a strategy?” I asked with a hopeful smile.
“Yes,” she replied.
“Alter has most of the martian abilities,” I said while thinking of a good short summary. “I um, I always thought she was just like their version of an out of shape fat guy. They are normally stronger than humans, by a lot. She’s not.”
“Right but what CAN she do?” Lotus pressed.
“Telepathy, Rarity level telekinesis, including self-levitation but that takes all her concentration, shape changing, density shifting,” I summarized. “Oh! Energy still affects her while she’s ‘ghosting’. And she can’t deal with fire at all.”
“She said she was a mage?” Lotus asked curiously as we reached the portal room’s door.
“She is. I’d say she’s this world’s equivalent of a changeling wizard with um, maybe three decades training. And a stupid-high mana reserve,” I said with a laugh.
Seriously, Martians and Changelings could be cousins. Alter always wondered why her shape changing didn’t freak me out. Maybe she’d meet a shifty-bug and finally understand.
I reached up to the door panel and pushed the button to open it. Sure enough Alter was already in the room, leaning up against the archway in a pose I’m certain she thought was cool.
“‘Stupid-high mana reserve’?” Lotus asked with a hopeful tinge to her voice. “In terms of Twilight Sparkles, where would you say she is at?”
“Twilight?” Alter asked with a frown before snapping her fingers in recognition. “Right! That wizard Dash says I sound like. We’ve established that we’re actually pretty close in terms of raw power. Planning the attack already?”
Lotus nodded. “Yes, I am. The best strategy will be to seperate Dad from Applejack. Then the Elements of Harmony can be used to deal with him. Failing that, they could be used to alert the creatures he fears to his presence and-”
Alter’s eyebrows perked. “He’s afraid of something? Perfect!” She exclaimed with a cruel grin.
“Um…” Lotus said nervously as alter’s teeth melted into points.
“She REALLY likes foals,” I explained with a smirk. “And her favorite weapon is fear.”
Alter nodded. “Yep! Nothing more just than scaring the crap out of the people who terrorize others,” she said with a smile. “Sorry about the fangs. I’ve got that memory stuck in my head and um… It’s getting a little hard to maintain a human form.”
Oh. Right… Human form. That could be a problem.
“Uh, so, Alter…” I asked ears flopping slightly. “I know you want to help but my worlds atmosphere is way different from this one. We’ve had a few humans come and well, it’s toxic to you guys. When you shapeshift can you-”
Alter took of her sunglasses, knelt down to my eye level, rolled her eyes, and then put the glasses back on.
“I’m breathing THIS atmosphere, arn’t I?” She asked.
I nodded. “Well yeah, but-
“And I’m not from this planet, am I?” She pressed.
“Oh!” I said, blushing with embarrassment. “Sorry. I just thought that-”
“That Mars also has an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere?” She asked with a laugh. “It’s Carbon dioxide and argon. Whatever you got won’t be a problem.”
“Oxygen-nitrogen-radon,” I said quickly, just to be safe.
She raised an eyebrow again. I sighed and added. “Yes I know that radon should decay in a few days. It doesn't in our world. Please don’t, Cisco gets so mad about that…” I grumbled with a sigh.
I hated having that argument over and over.
Alter rolled her eyes and melted. Her form oozing and shifting in color until she molded herself into a copy of me, the ‘clothing’ she had been wearing chaning with her, mimicking my wonderbolt outfit exactly. An exact copy as far as I could tell. Down to the voice.
“Oh look, I’m adapted for your environment,” She said with a huge grin, giving her new wings a flutter. “But, since I’m pretty sure we aren't twins…”
Her body flowed again, gaining a few centimeters in height over me and shortening lengthwise slightly. Her colors changed as well, her fur becoming a super dark near black blue, while her mane and tail returned to the purple color she prefered, but kept my spiky style. Her wings melted away too, making her into an oddly skinny earth pony, with her eyes turning lavender again at the very end of the transformation.
And her voice came back. “There! That’s as good as I can do with just one of you guys to sample. These colors aren't like, impossible for ponies, are they?”
Lotus and I shook our heads. “No, not at all,” Lotus said honestly. “Since your face shape is still Rainbow’s, you could easily pass for her sister. That’s a very natural look. Though your colors do look horrible with the wonderbolt blue and gold.”
I nodded. I hadn’t wanted to say anything, but that was totally true. “Yeah… You should get rid of that…” I said slowly before realising. “Wait a minute! That’s not clothing that’s just a body part made to look like clothing! H-how do you take off the glasses?!”
Alter laughed, stumbling slightly as she went to make a gesture that just didn’t translate between biped and quadruped.
“Um, no! It’s bio-cloth. Martian tech, it changes with you,” she giggled. “But I COULD make it look like I have clothing when I don’t. I’d rather have nice climate controlled coverings though. Let’s see… To make my costume work with this body…”
Alter trailed off with a thoughtful look on her adorable face before closing her eyes in thought. It was weird enough hearing Twilight’s voice come from a non-pony, but with Alter now using a pony shape it was even weirder. Not bad weird, just… Weird.
A few quick adjustments to her clothing and Alter stood in a fairly well done version of her usual costumeThe dark red suit, tie, and trenchcoat, wide brimmed hat, and dark sunglasses went well with her pony form. But then again when she was in costume as a human she tinted her skin jet black as well. So in a way she had prep time to design a look.
“Better?” Alter asked hopefully, an eager grin on her lips.
“Yep, at least twenty percent cooler,” I agreed. “Do you have everything you need? I um, I don’t know how your magic works and that one wizard we fought had a staff so, you know.”
She shook her head quickly. “Nope. I’m good. Let’s go!”
“But where too?” Lotus asked worriedly. “If we go directly back to Ponyville we likely won’t be able to survive. In the short time we have been gone I fully expect some basic fortifications to have been erected, along with the deployment of many squads.
“Dad ordered a full ground invasion, remember?”
Alter smiled slightly and looked at Lotus, then at me. “She’s new to the heroine game, isn’t she?” Alter asked with a laugh.
“Yep,” I confirmed. “Pretty sure she hasn’t done this before.”
“No,” Lotus agreed with a nod before looking at the two of us very seriously. “But I have successfully evaded him for some time and I’m telling you we can’t just charge in while waving war standards and blaring Dream Evil’s The Seventh Day from a boom box.”
“When a member of Team Flash says ‘let’s go’ at the start of a mission, that means ‘let’s go do recon’,” Alter explained with a polite smile. “We never attack without the right intel. That’s how you get really badly hurt. That said, I like your taste in music.”
“Oh,” Lotus said, blushing again. “I- I’m sorry. It just sounded like you and Dash planned to just... Charge.”
“It’s cool,” I said giving the demon-pony a pat on the shoulder. “Standard operating procedure is gather info, plan, attack, repeat as needed. I figure we go to whitetail woods and set up a base of operations. I’ll pick up some gear from SkyLabs on the way out… Oh yeah! Um, Alter, the portal’s other side is classified. Sooo I’ma super speed you out of it, okay?”
“No problem,” she replied with a grin. “Come on, let’s go.”
I nodded and stepped over to the portal, pressing a hoof against the activation button and ordered, “Equestria, please.”
I found it kinda funny how Cisco had programmed the portal to not work without saying please.
The portal hummed, sparks flashing as the blue vortex began to reform. I had back up now. Backup and intel.
It’s okay, AJ. It won't be much longer. I promise.