Prosperity Base, Sublevel 3
Just as Vice Grip was working on yet another "breakthrough", the power fluctuated in the base again. The lights in the halls flickered and went out, casting the entire mountain fortress in pitch-black darkness for a while. The Director's giggled could be heard from seemingly every part of the base, the echoing laughter of the sinister mare, lurking somewhere in the darkness. Creeped the hell out of Springer, Spinner and Vice himself, though now was mostly an annoyance. Although Vice suspected the Director was behind these power outages, she really wasn't; no, someone else was responsible for the power loss in the villain's base.
Opalescence walked casually through the halls of the base. Even though it was dark, to her, it might as well have been open to the sun. She hopped over the cables she'd just scratched through and enjoyed the angry noises Vice Grip made as he searched in vain for the fuse box. The lights would return when she wanted them to, not before.
Being a cat, Opal knew she was allotted a certain, precious few fucks to give over the course of the day. After listening to Vice Grip for thirty minutes, she had exhausted all of them. There was only so much anyone could take of the scientist jabbering on about how he should rule Equestria and destroy the Earth before she wanted to claw her own ears off. So she enjoyed listening to him be frustrated. THAT was fun to her.
To most ponies and humans, cats were cute. As such, Opal and her fellow cats in the Free Feline Federation allowed sentient beings to care for them. Opal did very much love her pet Rarity and her pet's sister Sweetie Belle. They were so good to her and such good friends that Opal and her fellow pony/human owners just had to save them. Of course, being a cat, saving the world was what they did, usually through their psychic connection that allowed them to maintain the balance and harmony of the universe. So this was easy for her, and a slight detour just to piss off Vice Grip was worth it. Sooooo worth it.
People who think they control them and especially those who think they control the world, to Opal and her kin, THAT was cute.
Opal followed the corridor to a maintenance room usually reserved for Spritebots. Using her innate cat abilities, she easily rewired the suite's terminal to broadcast a signal to her comrades on Earth. Within a few moments, the face of Opal's superior appeared on screen.
Mister Mumbles, or as she was known to her fellow cats, Master Mumbles, was the lead feline operative on Earth. She appeared on Dan's bed in his studio apartment, curled on the edge of it. When her monitor responded, Mister Mumbles could see Opal. "Mrow." Report.
"Reeeer rooooorrrrowww rowow mrrrrrrr." Situation is grim. The scientist continues to advance his work. The danger is progressing at exponential rate, I do not know how when we will be able to stop him.
Mister Mumbles nodded. Her expression always seemed to be cheery no matter what. "Mew. Mewew mrow owwrrow meowrow. Mowmeowmeow rowor mrow." Understood. We are working to counter the threat on this end, but we require more time. I have faith that my human will resolve this.
Opal raised one of her elegantly groomed eyebrows. "Meow wowow rorerrrr mewrow." You place a lot of faith in your human.
"Mrrrrrrow. Mrowow rowmeow meow mrrrow meowrowrow." I do. Dan is a good person and has proven himself many times before.
"Rrrrrmmmrrowrrrrrrmm. Mrrow. Mrrowow row meowow mrrrewowrrrrmm. Meow." He has his hands full over here. We need to buy more time. From Earth or Equestria.
"Nnnnrrrrowmrrr." Then buy time.
"Row?" How?
Mister Mumbles cuddled into herself, curling up into a ball. This was a cat's meditative deep-cognitive thought state where they contemplated the nature of the multiverse, the infinite possibilities in a realm of uncertainty and coalesced the great mysteries of life into organized philosophical expressions of incredible wisdom that only cats and their owners could truly understand. They also digested large meals and licked themselves, as Mister Mumbles now did.
"Mrowmrow meow meow row. Mrrrrrmeow mrowowrrrrerrr mrow. Meow!" Cooperate with our contact in the library. Do whatever you must but slow Vice Grip down. Hurry!
Opal saluted. "Mrrrrm." For us.
"Mnnnnmmm." For us all. The monitors switched off and the main power in Prosperity Base switched on. Opal then made her way out of the maintenance shaft, down the hall and outside of the base. Even if the surveillance systems picked her up, they were all set to monitor unauthorized activities by ponies or supposedly "higher creatures." None of them, not the guards or the cameras paid attention to a single white cat.
San Garry's Mod International Airport
Trans-Tolerable Airways Flight 1813
"We've been at this for hours," Chris complained. "If he was still here, we would've found something by now!"
He and Elise finally made their way back to where they'd been seated. "No one saw him get off the plane. He has to still be here." She opened an overhead bin and began tossing the contents over her head, forcing Chris to duck.
"I think-ah! We should-ehh! Elise!"
"What?!"
"I think we should let the airlines handle it!" he said quickly.
Elise turned around, almost glaring at him. "How can you say that? Dan's your best friend! He'd be doing the same thing if you were missing!"
Chris shrugged. "Would he?"
She groaned at him, turning back to the bin. She pulled out a black duffle bag with the word JERK emblazoned on it. It resembled a Nike logo but underneath were the words "Don't Try It", a mockery of the 'Just Do It' slogan and a clear message to anyone who might tamper with the bag. "Hey... it's Dan's luggage!" She lugged it down, so heavy it almost pulled her to the floor. "Holy crap... what does he have in here?" Elise tried to open it but the zipper caught.
"I don't think we should try to open that. Dan wouldn't like it."
She struggled with the bag. "For all we know, he's in here... darn, this thing is tricky."
Chris rubbed his neck. Dan had his own way of doing everything and it was likely he even had a special way of unzipping his duffle bag. Not only that, it was probably boobytrapped. "Elise, I really don't think this is a good idea."
She sighed. "You wanna go wait in the food court?"
"Yeah. I'm gonna use the bathroom first." He started walking towards the lavatory.
"You're gonna use the stall on the plane? Why don't you just go back to the terminal?"
"I gotta go! C'mon, Elise, gimme a break!"
"Fine, fine. I'm gonna keep working with this."
Chris walked back to the lavatory. He reached for the door and hesitated. He noticed right next to it, the emergency exit had almost the exact same configuration, markings, everything. Someone could easily mistake one for the other, maybe even get sucked out of the plane. For a brief moment, he thought it was possible the exact same thing could've happened to Dan. He decided that was almost impossible and opened the door.
But there was no bathroom on the other side. Instead, only open sky. Not even the airport was outside, which he was pretty sure it should have been. "Hey, Elise honey?"
"Yeah?"
"Are we flying right now?"
"Uh, no. Why?"
Chris tried to answer, but Elise couldn't hear him; he'd been sucked out of the plane. The door closed shut.
"Chris? Chris?" Elise walked back to the lavatory, still carrying Dan's duffle bag best she could. "Chris, are you still in the bathroom?" She asked, knocking on the door. The bathroom read unoccupied. She opened the door... and was greeted with a view of the clouds. In the distance, one of them looked pink. Looking down, she thought she saw the ocean far below, past where the tarmac should've been. "Well, crap." She was sucked out as well.
The door closed behind her. A security guard walked on the plane shortly after that.
"Hello? Did you guys find anything?" Officer Larry Buttz asked. No one answered him.