"Ugg, this is boring, are we there yet?" Fred asked me.
"If we were there we wouldn't be walking now would we?" I asked rhetorically.
"Umm, actually, we are here." Jodi said, bringing the whole group to a halt.
"What? How do you know?"
"Well, there's this random brick construct in the middle of the woods."
I looked at the large box in front of us. "Hmm. Well, this isn't supposed to be here as far as I know."
"Honestly, I'm amazed you didn't see it until I pointed it out, it's not like it was painted camouflage or anything."
"Anyways, so, how about we go around it and look for an entrance?" I suggested.
The other ponies in the group muttered amongst themselves in agreement.
"So, guys go this way, girls go that way?" Fred asked.
"Sure, it seems reasonable enough." Twilight said.
"But, can't we-" Jodi started.
"What?" Luke asked.
"Never mind."
"Ok."
The group split up and went around the cubical impound.
***
"So, did you girls see anything?" I asked the girls when our groups met on the other side of the box.
"No, did you?" Fluttershy asked.
"No, but Luke here has been whispering to himself the whole time." I pointed out.
"Did you catch anything out of the ordinary on the walls?" Twilight asked. "Anything? Any dents or chips forming a picture, or an out of place brick, maybe an oddly colored one?"
"All I can think of is that no spots on the wall were perfectly flat, like it was constructed in old times, before machines could build brick buildings, or that hand workers got payed by how well a job they did."
"Curious. We observed the same. Though they seem to think it's normal." Twilight said. "It's too shoddy to have done by magic, or Earth ponies. Earth ponies kind of have an eye for perfectness."
"So, I DO have some sort of power." Fred said, he appeared dumbstruck.
"Yeah, but you also have extra strength." Twilight said.
Fred glared at me. "You liar." he mouthed. Or maybe it was 'I hate you' or something. I can't read lip.
"I'll be right back." Twilight said. She turned around and went back around the building.
"What is she doing?" I asked.
Luke turned around and did the same thing Twilight did, continuing on with his quiet prattle to himself.
"What is he doing?" Jodi asked.
"I don't know. I'm not him."
"Should we go talk to them?"
"Nah, it's probably best to leave them alone."
"Ok, hey, where did Fluttershy and Fred go?" Jodi asked.
I looked around for my friends. "I don't know." I heard the sound of gently fluttering wings and a yellow feather fell in front of me. "Possibly up there." I said, looking up at the silhouette of two ponies in the air. I watched as it slowly flew one way, then quickly came back. I was surprised when the figure split in two, one with wings, one without. The one with wings slowly came down as the other figure fell quickly.
"What is he doing?" Jodi asked, staring at the black figures. "Oh crap, RUN!" she said, bolting to the side.
I looked at her for a moment. "What? Why?" I looked back at Fred then realized what was going to happen. "CRAAAAAP!" I screamed as I ran to the side with Jodi. There was a very loud bam. I dared to look at what happened. Fred got up and rolled his neck.
"Wow that is one strong wall." he said. He looked where he hit, a dent was just barely visible. "Guess we're finding another way in." he said. Just then, Luke and Twilight came back around the building.
"Well guys, good news and bad news." Twilight said. "Which do you want first?"
"Uhh, let's get the bad news out of the way first." I said, a hint of terror in my voice.
"Well, neither of us can use magic to go through the wall." Luke said. "But now time for the good news, Celestia is in there."
"What? Awesome, so, can't you do that spell that takes us to a person if we know where they are or whatever?"
"I just said we can't."
"But I know someone who can." Twilight said.
"Who? Get them!" I demanded.
"Joe, don't you notice anything odd about me?" She asked.
"Umm, no." I looked Twilight over again. Then I noticed. "Wait, Chrysalis?"
"Eeyup." the changeling queen said. She altered back to her normal form and the real Twilight came around the building.
"So, get us in there!"
"Ok." Chrysalis said. She changed herself into Dusk Blade. The queen then used her new war magic to take down a portion of the wall of the bunker. Celestia was sitting in it. She had a muzzle on and she was chained up. There was a metal ring around her body, holding her wings to her side. She was completely incapable of movement or communication, and if to add insult to injury, some pony put a butterfly net over the monarch's horn,
"Celestia!" I shouted. I ran up to the princess to help her out of her shackles.
'NO JOE!" Twilight shouted.
"Huh?" I stopped running and looked back at the lavender alicorn. Her warning was too late. When I set my last hoof down, a net shot out from the wall and it wrapped around me. The impact made me fall to the ground and I landed on my side.
"I'm coming Joe! Don't worry!" Jodi screamed. She ran up to me and suffered the same fate. She landed next to me and we were stuck staring at each other.
"Wait, I'll help you!" Fluttershy said. She fluttered her wings and flew a few inches off the ground and flew to the two of us. A magnet activated on the ceiling. It pulled her up due to the rifle on her back. "Ooof." she grunted when she hit the ceiling. She tried to undo the strap, but of course, it had a metal buckle on it, so it got pulled out of her reach. Why would anything just be that easy.
"What do we do?" Luke asked.
"I don't know." Chrysalis said.
"I have an idea." Twilight said. Her horn glowed and a brick was pulled off the wall. She used her magic to test every tile on the floor. She followed it on a straight path to me and Jodi. Suddenly, a half circle of metal with a butterfly net on it fell from the ceiling and pinned her to the ground. The net covered her horn. "Oh great. Butterfly nets. They cancel magic." she gave out an exasperated harrumph as she spread her wings to try and push the thing off of her. All she got was a sharp pain in both wings as she realized her wings were pinned to her body just like Celestia's. Of course, she could still talk and wasn't forced to be standing in an awkward position. "Amazing, the traps must be heat sensitive.
"Umm, guys." Fred said, tapping Luke on the shoulder.
"What?" Luke asked. He turned around. The wall was reconstructed and Dusk Blade stood in front of them. "Oh, ha ha Chrysalis. Nice try. You're not getting me so easily."
"Umm, that's not me." the changeling queen said. Luke looked left, eyes wide open. he looked at Chrysalis. "Hi." she said lightly.
"Well well my little ponies. You must be quite strong and intelligent to have made it this far." Dusk Blade said in a voice so deep that it would put Arnold Hoofenneger in his place. "Oh, and I see you have Chrysalis too." He glowered at Chrysalis.
"Hi." She said again, a tinge of fear in her voice.
"Uhh, you two have a problem with each other?" Fred asked.
"Yeah, we kind of used to go out until I cheated on him."
"Ok, I don't know a lot about love, but that just isn't something you do to a guy." Luke said.
"So, you have two choices. Die, or die." Dusk said. Both choices had a different tone, equally terrifying.