Despite the Rainbooms’ rough introduction to G.I. Joe – and the fact that none of them had even considered the military before now – they had been allowed to join up… even if Sunset had basically blackmailed their way in, which General Hawk had made sure to inform the girls that very few Joes would like. “I’d keep my eye out for General Flagg and Gung-Ho in particular. They’re pretty testy when it comes to this sort of thing,” he said as much in his office as he spoke to the girls. “And as you might imagine, your enlistment has some conditions.”
“Such as?” Rarity asked.
“One; you undergo training here in the Pit to gauge your powers and ensure you’re G.I. Joe material with or without them.” Hawk listed. “You’ll be given ranks depending on where your instructors believe you’d be best suited. Two; you consent to have a team led by Airtight, Doc, and Mainframe conduct an in-depth analysis of your magic.”
“Uh… all due respect General, but I’d suggest against that,” Sunset said nervously. “I tried to run my own analysis of our magic once, and… well, it didn’t go… great.” The girls knew full well how much of an understatement that was – they remembered that attempt and how it literally exploded in Sunset’s face—multiple times.
“I appreciate your warning, and I’ll certainly pass it on to Airtight and the team, but I have faith in them,” Hawk noted. “After all – no offense, but – you’re a civilian. We’re the best military strike team America has to offer. We’ve got better toys.”
Sunset sighed; she knew that some people just had to learn the hard way, but she would’ve expected a US Army Major General to know better. “All right. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” she shrugged.
“If our analysis goes as well as yours did, you all have full clearance to say, ‘I told you so’,” Hawk assured the girls.
“Looking forward to it, sir.” Sunset smiled.
“Glad we’re on the same page.” Hawk nodded and shook Sunset’s hand before turning to the others. “All yours, Duke.”
“Yes sir.” Duke nodded, turning to the girls and gesturing for them to leave the office. “Ladies.” The Rainbooms walked out of the office where Scarlett, Flint, and Airtight were waiting. “Airtight, get your team together. The girls have signed off on the analysis, but Hawk’s given them the go-ahead for ‘I told you so’ if it goes wrong.”
“Understood.” Airtight nodded.
“Flint, go with and observe. Scarlett, you’re with me; let’s get the girls’ boot camp set up.” Duke smiled as he led Scarlett across the Pit.
“C’mon; let’s get on with this,” Flint ordered the girls as he and Airtight led them through the Pit toward a large white lab chamber. Waiting for them were two other men; one with glasses and a medical kit, and another with a special large computer module in his hand.
“Mainframe, is everything ready?” Airtight asked the second guy, his respirator hissing with each breath.
“Yep, got everything set. We’ve got biometrics, energy readers, air scrubbers, the whole nine yards you asked for.” Mainframe answered. Sunset looked around and despite how much more advanced Hardware’s tech obviously was, it wasn’t much different from the equipment she used in her own study of the Rainbooms’ magic, which let her know very easily that things would go pretty much the exact same way for the Joes as it did for her.
“And I’ve gotten their medical histories for a baseline comparison,” Doc answered.
“Wait, how’d you get our medical records?” Twilight asked seriously.
“We’re military. We ask for it, we get it.” Flint answered simply.
“That is in no way a satisfactory answer to my question.” Twilight pointed out.
“Well, it’s the one you’re getting.” Doc shrugged. “Believe me; I’ve been G.I. Joe’s go-to medical officer for years now, so I know that when Flint answers questions, they’re typically that blunt.”
“Well, I guess a blunt answer will work for my next question; which one of us goes first?” Sunset asked.
Airtight looked around at the group before pointing at Fluttershy. “Fluttershy.” The shy girl flinched almost instinctively as she tried to hide behind Rainbow.
“W-Why me?” she asked.
“Simply put? With the power you reported having, we won’t have to worry about anything exploding.” Airtight shrugged. “And you just seem naturally like a good person for a baseline in this sort of study.”
“I suppose that counts as a compliment.” Rarity shrugged.
Fluttershy shuddered for a bit, frightened by the prospect of this but she knew it had to be done. “W-W-What do you want me to do?”
“Just stand right here; I’ll talk you through setting up the electrodes,” Doc instructed, pointing to the center of the room. Fluttershy stepped as she was instructed and stepped into the middle of a small circle in the middle of all the machines. Once she was situated, Doc did indeed talk her through setting the wires up on her body… some of which were situated in rather embarrassing places on her body.
“Alright, looks like we’re all set.” Mainframe nodded. “Everything appears to correspond to established baselines. Medical readings look solid and match registered norms. Call it, Airtight.”
“Alright, you said you can activate your magic at will when you… what’d you call it; Pony Up?” Airtight asked.
“It’ll make sense when you see it,” Sunset assured.
“Sure. Alright, go to it.” Flint said simply.
Fluttershy was still nervous, but the reassuring look she got from her friends was certainly a big help as she gripped her Geode tightly. Her gold aura emanated from her body as her ears shifted, her hair lengthened, and her wings sprouted from her back. The looks of shock on the Joes’ faces were enough to let Sunset know they understood the terminology now. “Told ya,” she remarked, earning an annoyed look from Flint.
Quickly snapping out of it, Airtight and Mainframe went to the readings. “Energy readings are off the scale. This magic is some crazy stuff.” Mainframe remarked.
Fluttershy’s eyes suddenly popped as she saw something. “Um… Airtight?” she asked quietly, but they didn’t look up.
“Ear movement is messing with the readings a bit, but I’m not seeing any difference medically.” Doc agreed as he looked at his own readings. “I’m definitely expecting some minor skeletal modifications to account for the wings though.”
“Um, Airtight?” Fluttershy asked, a bit louder but still didn’t get any response.
“My question is why are her clothes affected like this?” asked Airtight.
“Probably some sort of weird side-effect of the magic, making room for the wings.” Mainframe suggested. “Pretty precise though.”
“Airtight?” Fluttershy asked, louder still but the scientists still didn’t look up. Sunset however easily followed her gaze to a screen that showed a wavelength… which was quickly going nuts.
“Uh, just a heads-up, but… you guys might wanna duck.” Sunset suggested quickly as she and the girls all dropped down.
“What, why?” Flint asked… right before there was a glimmering burst from Fluttershy that sent a swarm of pink butterflies shooting out in all directions, knocking Flint down as a few of them fluttered around his head.
“That’s why,” Sunset remarked.
Flint growled in annoyance as he stood up, waving the butterflies away as he brushed off his beret and set it back on his head. “Alright, at least tell me you guys got some solid readings,” he said seriously.
“Yeah, we got something.” Airtight nodded as he looked at the readings. “But I still wanna test the others. The wavelengths of their individual magic powers are all subtly different enough that I think testing them all is for the best.”
“In for a penny and all that, I guess.” Applejack shrugged.
“Looks like. You’re next. Mainframe, let these bugs to the surface, will ya?” asked Flint.
“Yeah, I’m on it.” Mainframe nodded and pressed a few buttons, opening a series of doors to allow the butterflies to fly out of the Pit.
Fluttershy removed the electrodes from her body and set them up on Applejack, apologizing profusely for how she was getting a bit handsy, but Applejack didn’t mind. “All systems go, Flint,” Airtight reported once she was set up.
“Alright, let’s do this,” Flint smirked.
Unfortunately, it was clear that even with the much more advanced technology the Joes had, their results weren’t any better than Sunset’s; Applejack surged with orange energy, and while it initially seemed like there were no adverse effects, the girls knew better and stepped back… right before a pile of magic apples fell on each of the Joes from out of nowhere.
Rarity’s results were very similar as she hovered well off the ground before she dropped down, a bright blue bolt of energy shooting down the electrode wires… and sending a large crystal spike out of one of the screens right in front of Doc, splitting his glasses off the bridge of his nose. Luckily, he had a replacement pair, but it was still funny.
After that, it was Pinkie’s turn, and the Rainbooms all stood well back as Pinkie bounced around against the wires, right before the screens erupted in large waves of magic balloons that knocked the Joes back. Airtight was lucky as he was protected from the static electricity – at least somewhat – by his suit, but the others weren’t as lucky.
Spike’s test was thankfully much calmer as the study simply revealed that his intelligence had been somehow amplified to allow him to talk, but other than that, there were no crazy side effects of the study.
After that, it came around to Twilight’s turn, which left the girls very interested… even from the complete opposite side of the room as the Joes had now mandated considering past results. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t this the first time Twilight’s magic has been tested?” Rarity asked.
“I think it is, actually.” Fluttershy nodded.
“It definitely is. I considered it after her transfer, but after what happened with you guys… no way.” Sunset shook her head.
“Oh, this oughtta be good.” Rainbow smiled.
“I hope so,” Flint remarked. “Uncharted waters, boys. Let’s see what we got.”
“Here goes nothing. Hit it, Twilight.” Mainframe ordered.
Twilight did as she was instructed and Ponied Up, the purple glow fading not long after as the readings poured in. For a split second, it seemed like everything was fine but then a purple flash shot through the wires and blasted into the computers, sending out a telekinetic surge that sent the Joes flying back into the wall and floating around the room like gravity had been switched off. Once Twilight returned to normal, the telekinetic surge stopped and everyone fell back to the floor, with Flint shooting an annoyed look at Twilight as he adjusted his beret for the fourth time today.
With that set, they set Sunset up for her demo… but for the sake of safety, they called a man in a red and black heavy-duty fire suit called Barbecue into the room, just in case her power had any destructive side effects. “Alright, let’s get it done.” he shrugged.
Sunset took the order and Ponied Up, her power surging to one of the computers and making it burn with heat before it exploded into a small fireball. Barbecue was on it in less than a second, setting a dial on his large backpack before he drew a small hose connected to it, blasting the computer with extinguisher foam to snuff the fire as Sunset gave a nervous chuckle.
(Cut it)
Finally, it was Rainbow Dash’s turn. “Just sayin’ it now; this is a terrible idea,” Applejack said firmly as Rainbow set up the electrodes herself.
“I wholeheartedly agree, Darling.” Rarity insisted.
“Yeah well, I want a full data-set, so we may as well.” Airtight shrugged, though it was clear from his tone that he was just as worried about what might happen here as the girls.
“Don’t worry, chief; I’ll be sure to make this one epic,” Rainbow assured.
“So should we start running now or wait ‘til the last second?” Spike asked.
“Eh, let’s give it a minute.” Sunset shrugged.
“Alright, hit it.” That was a very poor choice of words on Mainframe’s part as Rainbow grabbed her Geode, Ponied Up, and then pressed a button on her phone… playing back a recording of the Rainbooms playing Awesome As I Wanna Be, which she started shredding to on an air-guitar.
Instantly, all the Rainbooms went pale as they saw where this was going, including the rainbow-colored light surging down the electrodes. “Forget what I said earlier; run!” Sunset yelled.
“Scatter!” Flint agreed as everyone ran into the hall like someone had dropped a live grenade, slamming the door behind them… right before there was a loud splattering blast from inside. Once the shaking stopped, the group was somewhat relieved to hear Rainbow falling over cackling inside.
Tentatively, Airtight opened the door to let everyone peek into the test chamber… and see that the remaining monitors had exploded in rainbow-colored goo which was splattered all over the wall. “Ohoho man! That was awesome! Ahahahaha! Oh, I can’t breathe!” Rainbow cackled.
Sunset glanced slowly at Flint with a smirk on her face. “I think this is the part where I get to say I told you so.”