ERROR% - Tied
Comment consensus: Shining Armor
I’m not leaving Rainbow alone out there like Fluttershy. She needs somepony with her.
Twilight looked at the three captains, trying to make an estimation of who would be best knowing full well that sending another pony could kill them both. She briefly considered Spitfire, but without the final preparations in place she would have a hard time operating the equipment needed to return back to Equis, which meant only one of the three captains qualified…
“Shining, go after her!” the purple unicorn shouted as she jumped for cover, everypony else except her brother following Twilight's lead.
“Goshdarnit, Rainbow!” Applejack shouted at Rainbow from her covered position. The rings of the relay increasing their rate of spin as Shining too jumped into the device's field of influence.
“We'll be ba-”
CRACK!
The sound not unlike the cracking of glass echoed through the air as the relay deactivated itself again. So loud, in fact, that the ground shook from the noise.
“NO!” Celestia looked at the sky through the opening in the roof above the relay. Where it previously had just been a clear blue sky, it now was covered in a myriad of cracks. Without a word the two princesses teleported out of the room, both of them clearly looking distressed.
More cracking sounds could be heard as the guards rushed out of the structure again to set up a perimeter around it and look for their princesses. Twilight, who's curiosity was now also piqued, teleported up to the roof of the ancient ruin to see the extent of the damage.
What she saw caused her to be filled with dread. A spiderweb of cracks crossed the sky, centered directly above the ruin, reaching all the way to the horizon and slowly continued to shatter further until two beams of magical light shot into the air.
Both princesses of the moon and sun were seemingly pouring their full strength into keeping the cracks from growing, slowly reversing the damage, but even in the places where the two royal sisters 'fixed' the damage a scar of sorts remained on the sky.
But all of that went completely unnoticed by Twilight who was looking directly up. A full on hole had appeared where Dash and Shining had presumably shot through. Where the surrounding sky was blue as day, the sight through the hole was completely different. Through the small hole the unicorn could see a large amount of stars among what seemed to be a large nebula, and even this small glimpse completely mesmerized her.
“It's amazing…” she whispered to herself, but this also caused her to realise something.
The Princess is going to shut us down! But what about Shining and Rainbow?! They'll be stuck out there as well!
Twilight almost started to panic but stopped before it could get out of hoof.
Not now Sparkle, your brother and two of your friends need you. You need to make sure they have a receiving relay to make their return possible, even if the Princess won't allow it.
Twilight stopped in her tracks as she realised what she'd just thought…
…Did she just think about disobeying her mentor, the Princess of the Sun, possibly committing high treason in the process?
Yes.
Magenta light flowed from her horn as she teleported back down to the field laboratory where she rapidly started to pack all the valuable paperwork containing the calculations they had been working on for over a year.
“Miss Sparkle! What's going on?!” Particle Bit the unicorn stallion, who had made most of those equations and designed the theories behind them, asked with a panicked voice.
“Something broke. The Princesses told me about it and warned that if it were to happen, they'd completely shut down this project, and I don't think they're going to allow any of this to ever see the public's eyes.” The stallion's pale brown face completely lost color as he heard what Twilight had said.
“T-They can't! This is my life's work! I've been ridiculed for pursuing it all my life, and now that I've proven it they're shutting me down before I can publish it in any paper?!” he exclaimed as he started hyperventilating.
“I'm sorry, Particle. I know it's not fair, but know that I'm not going to give up.” Twilight finished her sentence just at the same time as two guards approached her.
“Miss Sparkle, I'm going to need you to drop that saddle bag and come with us.” Neither guard looked as if they were going to tolerate delays but Twilight had no intentions of going with them. Particle bit stepped next to the purple unicorn.
“I know what you're thinking. You've moved heaven and earth to get your friend back, and now another friend and your brother are lost among the stars,” he whispered while eyeing the two stoic guards. “I want to come with you.”
“You know that's probably committing treason, right?” Twilight asked but got no indication that the stallion cared.
“Miss Sparkle, I will not ask-” The guard who was speaking was interrupted by a bright purple flash as Twilight teleported herself and the other unicorn as far away from the ruin as she could. She regretted not being able to say goodbye to Rarity, Pinkie, and Applejack, but they were safe right now and Twilight would need all of the headstart she'd get if she intended to outplay the royal guard.
But no-one was going to stop her from helping her friends.
Thud
Dash slid across a smooth surface, all the air pushed out of her lungs due to the impact. Behind her she could hear the device slowly spinning down to a stop.
Did it work?
Forcing herself back on her hooves Dash opened her eyes, her breath getting caught in her throat as she saw her surroundings. She was in the middle of a plaza of sorts, filled with large basins of water spanned by white metal bridges, boxy metal carts flying through the sky seemingly without anypony pulling them, and most notable of all were all the various creatures surrounding her.
“Miss Dash, are you okay?” a voice came from behind the rainbow maned mare, making her spin around to see Shining collecting the few bits of equipment Twilight had already set up to be sent along with the pony that would have been going through.
“Yeah. Also, just call me Rainbow or Dash” Rainbow responded as she continued watching all the various new creatures, some keeping their distance from the pair while certain blue clad individuals stopped the more adventurous from approaching. “Look, Shining, I’m-”
“Zip it, Rainbow. I’m fuming at you, but I’ve got better things to do right now,” Shining practically growled. Dash flinched back at his harsh words.
“Hey! I just want to help my best friend!” Dash shot back feeling her anger flare up.
“And what do you think we wanted to do?!” Shining shouted back only for his demeanor to change radically as he noticed something behind Rainbow, wrapping his magic around Dash and pulling her close before casting a shield around them both.
“Hey! What… are… oh.” A group of blue armored individuals were slowly approaching.
"Don't do something stupid,” Shining warned, as the leader of the group stepped forward.
“Do you understand me?” He asked something but neither pony was able to understand the language, both of them looking confused. “Shit, they don't. Make a corridor for them to walk through, maybe they'll come along.”
The creatures in front of them seemed to part to the sides, making a corridor of sorts to allow the two of them to pass through. The leader seemingly making a motion for them to follow him.
Dash looked suspiciously at them, but Shining didn't seem to care. “Rainbow, we're going to follow them. My mission was to track down Fluttershy and make first contact with the locals if any were present.” After finishing his sentence Shining dropped his shield, unclasped his saddle bag and drew his sword with his mouth, placing it to the side before cautiously stepping forward.
Looking at the strange creatures Rainbow shuffled nervously. She didn't like to surrender to them, but maybe she didn't have to…
1. [Follow Shining. He's Twilight's brother. He'll know what to do.]
2. Run off. I'm faster than them anyway and splitting up might help us cover more ground.
3. [Let's see if those flying boxes can outfly a sonic rainboom!]