The sand and dust picks up around the wheels of a black Hummer as it travels across the wasteland of Yucca Flat. The private road that John had been taking the group on has been smooth yet awfully boring; as shown by the four out of six ponies sleeping in the back even though they have only driven for about five minutes. Pinkie, Twilight, and Christian were the only ones still awake. Pinkie looks back at her sleeping friends before turning to Christian and smiling.
“Sorry that your planet is so boring, Christian!” Christian can’t help but crack a smile.
“Ah, don’t worry about it, Pinkie. This wasteland is nothing like the rest of my planet.”
“Really?” Pinkie says; “What’s the rest of your planet like?” She looks at Christian with pleading eyes and blinks a few times.
“Well, most people live in huge cities all over the planet: New York City, Hong Kong, France, London…”
“Like Manehattan?” Pinkie asks, interrupting Christian in the middle of his sentence. Christian looks at her with confusion on his face.
“Do you mean Manhattan in New York?” He asks.
“Nope, Manehattan.?” She says, happily.
“Pinkie, that city doesn’t exist.”
“Not here, but in Equestria it does!”
“So your planet is stealing our city names now?”
While Christian and Pinkie start getting into a heated debate on “Which planet is copying cities from the other?” Twilight gently taps John’s shoulder to ask him a question. John turns his head a bit toward the unicorn.
“What’s up, Twilight?”
“Sorry to bother you John; but do you mind if I ask what this “Area 51” is?” John laughs a bit at the question.
“Not at all, Twilight!” He turns his head to focus back on driving. “You see, Area 51 is a top secret military testing facility here in Nevada. It is occasionally used for classified experimental aircraft testing; but some rumors say that we also experiment on extraterrestrial artifacts and aliens.” This quote immediately halts Christian and Pinkie’s conversation and makes the sleeping ponies jolt awake from fear. They all stare at John, eyes wide with fright. John turns to see the disturbed ponies behind him, and immediately tries to fix the situation.
“It’s just rumors, girls. The FBI never experimented on aliens as far as I know.” He hears a simultaneous sigh of relief from the back of the truck.
“Oh good.” Twilight says, smiling. At that moment, Christian leans in and whispers into her ear.
“Yea, as far as John knows; they haven’t experimented on any aliens.” Twilight suddenly feels a chill go down her spine and her body tense up. Christian starts laughing at his comment; which makes Twilight give her human “friend” the evil eye. Meanwhile, Dash squints out the windshield and points to an upcoming building out in the distance.
“Is that the warehouse?” She asks.
“Yup, that’s it;” John answers. “Warehouse 51; and good timing too; the silent alarm to the warehouse just got triggered.”
“Good, then we’re not too late.” She responds, itching to kick some plot. The Hummer comes to a stop in front of the two large doors leading to the interior of the warehouse. Christian steps out and pulls down his sunglasses.
“Hmm, this is a problem.”
“What’s a problem?” John asks as he steps out of the vehicle; along with the girls who follow suit behind Christian.
“If we open those doors, Trixie and Paradox will know we’re here. We need to find out how they got in.”
“Easy! From over there!” Pinkie shouts, pointing to the destroyed steel door on the ground beside the right side of the building. Everyone stares at pink pony like she is some sort of maniac.
“How… did you know that, Pinkie?” Twilight asks. Pinkie looks at her friends oddly.
“It was in the last chapter, duh!” She exclaims. Everyone says “Huh?” in unison; with the exception of Christian who is pondering Pinkie’s answer.
“Last chapter?” He says to himself. He shakes his head. Now was not the time to think about Pinkie being… Pinkie. “Never mind that, girls. Let’s go!” The group makes there way over to the decimated entrance way.
“Wow, they sure did a number on the door.” John comments.
“No kiddin’” Applejack responds. Suddenly, her ears perk up and her eye widen. “Wait, ya’ll hear that?” The others perk an ear towards the open door. Sure enough, the group can hear quiet voices come from the interior of the warehouse.
“Sounds like they’re still here.” Twilight says to Christian. He nods.
“Good, you girls ready?” He asks in response.
“You bet I’m ready! Trixie and this ‘Paradox’ won’t know what hit’em!” Dash yells with confidence. The others start walking into the building. Before Christian can join them, John tugs on his arm to hold him in place. Christian turns his head towards him, confused.
“Christian, I’ll have a few men outside the warehouse and a few back at the portal to keep an eye out if these two try to escape.” John informs his nephew.
“Thanks, John.” He nods in response before following the girls into the warehouse. The group waits for their human companion before venturing deeper into the building. Before long, the light from outside vanished and only the lights hanging from the high ceiling lit the room. Following only the smallest bits of voice they heard from inside, the group eventually reaches the center of the warehouse. Suddenly, Christian sees a bit of periwinkle and motions everyone to hide behind a huge wooden crate nearby.
“You see them?” Twilight says in a hushed tone.
“Yea. They are right over this crate.” He responds.
“Good, let me at them!” Dash yells quietly before spreading her wings and flying towards the other side of the crate. Suddenly, she is yanked back and dropped onto her stomach by Twilight’s magic.
“Not so fast, Dash. We need to be sneaky about this; not just dash out at full speed, hooves blazing!”
“Twitty’s right.” Christian adds. “Let’s wait until they are distracted.”
Meanwhile, Trixie and Paradox are having the times of their lives finding all sorts of blueprints and schematics for weapons of mass destruction and futuristic tools. Trixie is busy digging through one of the numerous wooden crates; eyeing and admiring each and every blueprint inside:
“Ohh! This one seems interesting!” She says while putting another blueprint into her saddlebag while picking one up and opening another; “A thermal energy weapon?! Positively amazing! Trixie never knew these humans were so devious!” She turns to Paradox as she puts the schematic away. “Hey Paradox, what are we looking for exactly? All of these blueprints seem like perfect tools to take over Equestria!”
Paradox, meanwhile, is busy flying to a multitude of different crates; opening them and eyeing the contents inside before sighing and dropping the top back on; disappointed at his findings.
“We are looking for a certain schematic, my student.” He says, prying open another huge crate. “This schematic is probably under heavy security.” He says while opening yet another crate. This crate however, was different. His eyes grow wide as he reaches into the container and picks out a long, blue tube with a metal top and bottom. “Or not.” He flicks off one of the metal coverings and pulls out another schematic. He opens it carefully and is instantaneously fascinated with what he is reading.
“Trixie!” He shouts behind him. Trixie pops her head up from another crate of blueprints, one of which falls off her head and back into the crate. “I found the schematic we are looking for!” He raises the rolled up blueprint into the air in victory. Suddenly, a dart flies in from out of nowhere and snags the blueprint before sticking it to another one of the numerous wooden crates behind the time spirit. “WHAT THE?!” He yells, startled as he turns towards the source of the dart.
“And now it’s gone!” Christian yells from across the room.
“Well, if it isn’t the human! Back for another pummeling I assume?”
“Yea; I’m back to pummel you, Paradork! And I’m not alone.” With a show of his hand, he reveals The Elements of Harmony behind him. Paradox laughs.
“Ahh yes; the legendary “Elements of Harmony”. I believe we have already met, Twilight Sparkle.” The spirit says.
“Paradox.” She says simply. Paradox gives a small laugh.
“To you other five, let me introduce myself. I am Paradox, spirit of time!”
“Big deal.” Dash says, unimpressed. Trixie quickly swerves her head in the pegasi’s direction with an angry look on her face.
“How DARE you insult Paradox!” The unicorn yells from across the room. Paradox waves his student’s words.
“Never mind her words, my student. These… pests shall know the extent of my power shortly. Just take those schematics back to Equestria.” He orders the periwinkle mare. With a nod, she grabs the schematic Christian pinned with a dart using her magic, puts it with the others in her saddlebag, and starts charging up a teleportation spell to head back to the portal.
BZZAPP!
Suddenly, something hits the wall close to the periwinkle mare and makes her lose her focus charging the spell. From across the room, Twilight’s horn begins glowing a bright purple again.
“You’re not going anywhere, Trixie; until you return those schematics!” Twilight yells at her rival. Trixie shakes off the shock from almost getting hit by Twilight’s spell and hops down from the crate she was on top of.
“So you want a duel; is that it, Twilight? Very well then!” Trixie yells. Twilight starts walking over to the unicorn. Meanwhile, Christian turns to talk to Rainbow Dash.
“Dash, go with Twitty. While Trixie is distracted by one of you two; the other can grab some of those blueprints back.” He whispers to her. Dash rolls her eyes and sighs at not being able to fight the malevolent time spirit. Then again, at least she knows how to beat Trixie.
“Well, Trixie is more annoying. No problem, Christian!” She proceeds to fly over to Twilight. Christian, AJ, Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy remain standing below Paradox; who is merely amused by the party that has stayed to fight him.
“Hmm, a human and four weak ponies. This will be easier than I thought!” AJ’s eyes narrow as she grits her teeth.
“Paradin’ me? Mind sayin’ that again to ma face?!” She yells to him. Amused the time spirit hovers down and lands on the floor and slowly walks over to the orange earth pony. He meets his face with hers and smiles.
“Your weak stature is no match for…”
BAM!!!
CRASH!!!
In seconds, Paradox goes from standing on one side of the room to being inside a wooden crate on the other in a matter of seconds. AJ took the time Paradox was using to get in her face to whip around and buck him with her hind legs with as much force as she could muster. Christian and the others were impressed by Applejack’s feat of strength.
“Whoa. Good one, AJ.” Christian comments as he stares at Paradox’s motionless body.
“Who’s weak now, time boy!?” She shouts to him. The spirit floats back up and snickers.
“Okay, I under estimated ONE of you. You other three are still easy prey!” He instantly vanishes in front of the group. They look around trying to find where the spirit vanished to. “So, you ponies have the upper hand when you KNOW you can hit me…” They hear from Paradox’s unknown location. Rarity feels a brief gust of wind on the left side of her body. “But what if you don’t know WHEN you can…”
“HI-YAH!”
SHOOP!!!
BWAK!!!
Rarity quickly gets to her hind hooves and does a swift kick to the air on the left side of her body. The kick sends an unknown force flying back and into a pile of small, wooden crates. Christian watches in awe as Paradox reappears in the bunch of fallen crates from the swift kick to his chest.
“So let me get this straight: You know karate?!” Christian asks with his mouth agape. Rarity smiles as she poses on one hoof in a crane kick pose.
“Darling please; I know many martial arts techniques. I’m not just a pretty face you know!” Christian is profound at Rarity’s hidden fighting skills. He could barely punch (Well, if he wasn't angry.), yet this pony knows martial arts.
“Okay, you have GOT to teach me some of those moves!” He asks her, pleadingly. She smiles.
“Later, Christian; Right now, let’s deal with this pest first.” She looks back at Paradox who is now scratching his head in confusion.
“Do all of you ponies have some sort of secret skill I am not aware of?!” He shouts. Christian thinks for a moment.
“Well, Pinkie has a cannon and Fluttershy can probably attack you with some sort of giant, rabid animal. So… I’ll go with yes.” Paradox sighs in anguish. These ponies were colorful Swiss army knives!
“Alright then, forget about the ponies. You’re the main event then, human!” He vanishes into thin air once more.
“Ah, shoot! This again?” He says while flicking his wrist to ready his crossbow. He looks around. “Now where are you this ti…AH GEEZ!!” He shouts while Paradox punches him on the side of his head. Christian flops to the ground but is quick to scramble back to his feet and fight the spirit head on.
Meanwhile, Twilight and Trixie are gearing up for a showdown of their own (With Dash off on the sidelines, sneaking up behind Trixie).
“Well then, Twilight; who shall cast first?” Trixie says as the two of them circle around. Twilight sneers.
“Well, you said you got more powerful. I am interested to see what Paradox has taught you.” She says. Trixie laughs.
“Oh, poor Twilight; you are in for a world of hurt when you see what power Trixie has!” Trixie’s horn starts glowing pitch black and points it at Twilight. “Now we shall see who the better unicorn is!” Trixie fires off a long, dark beam of magic towards Twilight, who deflects it away from her body with a quick purple shield she conjures up. The beam hits the ceiling of the warehouse, making some concrete fall besides the mulberry mare. She jumps at the loud bang next to her; making her lose focus and dissolve her shield. This scare gives Trixie an open target. She fires off another dark beam towards Twilight. Thinking quickly, Twilight dives out of the way as the beam hits a crate behind her and carves a large hole in the front of the hole. Trixie laughs at the sight of the mare. “Trixie is enjoying this, Twilight. Your magic is no match for-”
Trixie’s vision suddenly turns dark as something hits her smack dab in the face; cutting off her little speech in the process. Twilight had thrown a whipped cream pie at Trixie while she was gloating. Twilight has a smirk on her face as Trixie throws the majority of the pie off her face and wipes off the rest of the whipped cream with a handkerchief she summoned. Trixie looks at the pleased pony and growls with hatred. “I’ll make you pay for mocking The Great and Powerful Trix-”
Her threat is cut short by yet another pie to the face. The pie slowly falls to the floor and reveals Trixie’s irate face underneath. She shakes of the whipped cream and points her horn at Twilight again. “Trixie will make you toast, Twilight!” Her horn starts turning pitch black again. Twilight stops laughing and summons her shield once more as she gets bombarded with more dark beams of magic.
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash quietly floats behind Trixie. She eyes her open saddlebag and the numerous blueprints in it. She sneaks a forehoof into the bag and starts nabbing blueprints.
“I’ll take this one… and this one…” She opens the biggest one and laughs. “Oh, this one looks important; definitely taking this one! Ooh, that one looks cool!” She ends up with six blue prints in her hooves as she quietly floats away from the crazed unicorn.
Twilight’s shield starts failing the more Trixie hits it with her dark magic. Eventually, Twilight’s purple shield vanishes around her, leaving her wide open to Trixie’s attacks. Instead, Trixie taunts her rival once more.
“I would finish you off, Twilight; yet I need to get back to Equestria with these blueprints for Para…” She stops herself as she stares into the emptiness of her saddlebag. The unicorn is dumbfounded. “Wait, how did…”
“Looking for these, Trixie?” Trixie quickly directs her attention to the pegasus that is taunting her from above. With a quick spell cast from Trixie, a black aura surrounds Dash’s right wing and throws her to the ground; making the blueprints fall all over the place. Trixie grabs the two nearest to her before turning to Dash.
“That little spell of Trixie’s should keep you grounded for a while.” She turns back to Twilight. “As for you Twilight, I-” And once again, Trixie is cut off by yet another pie to the face. Enraged, Trixie viciously wipes of the dessert and screams at the giggling mare: “TRIXIE HAS HAD IT WITH THESE PIES!” Her horn rapidly turns black as night as she fires off a powerful spell at Twilight. Twilight puts her shield back up, yet the spell breaks her magic like a twig and zaps the unicorn. Twilight gets thrown back a few feet before getting up to cast another spell. Yet to her surprise, she can’t cast a spell; or even a spark of magic for that matter. Twilight gains a worried expression on her face as Trixie raises her head to address her. “There! Trixie’s magic has made you unable to cast a spell for quite a while now.” The periwinkle pony starts stepping toward the hindered mare and laughs. “Now, Trixie can have a little revenge.” Twilight gulps loudly in response.
Meanwhile, Christian soaring in the air after getting hit by Paradox again. He lands and rolls along the ground before trying to getting back up. Paradox laughs as he struggles to get up.
“Human, when will you learn that you are nothing compared to me?” Christian says nothing in response as he gets back up. Rarity and the others look worried at Christian’s condition. They realize that he can’t take a few more hits.
“Christian!” Rarity yells; “When Paradox disappears, feel for where he is!” The message completely threw Christian off. He turns around to address the unicorn.
“Feel where he is?! What the heck does that mea-“
BAM!!
CRASH!!
Christian gets thrown down by another one of Paradox’s punches. He leans up on an arm at stares at the group behind him angrily. This is the worst possible time to be distracted by stupid comments. He gets back up and turns toward Paradox again, was laughing once more before vanishing with a snap of his fingers. Christian’s head turns back toward Rarity and closes his eyes.
“Alright;” Christian says to himself. “This may sound crazy, but weirder things have happened let’s be honest.” Suddenly, he feels a soft breeze on his right side. “Wait, what?” He thinks to himself. “I’m inside! There’s no source of wind! Unless…” He preps his bow and flicks his wrist towards the right. The dart flies through the air for a few seconds before striking something and stopping in mid-air.
“AHHH! What the?!” Paradox screams as he reappears in front of him. Christian is stunned at what had just occurred. Paradox looks at the dart in his shoulder before grabbing and flicking it away like a wad of gum.
“Hmph. Lucky shot, human. Unfortunately, that will be your only shot you actually land!” He shouts before vanishing once more. Christian smirks a bit at Rarity’s little note.
“Oh, I get it! Paradork may be able to slow time to hit me…” He feels a sudden breeze brushing his hair a bit. Acting quick, he shoots straight up at hits Paradox in the middle of his chest. He lands to pluck out the second dart as Christian keeps muttering to himself “But he doesn’t realize that he still creates some wind when he moves!” Paradox throws that dart away and stares at Christian angrily.
“I don’t understand, human. How are you hitting me?” Christian shrugs.
“I have skill, Paradox. Something you’re lacking in!” Paradox growls in response.
“Oh! Well we’ll see who is lacking in skill after THIS!” He vanishes again. Christian turns and nods at Rarity and Applejack. They nod back, silently understanding what he is planning; and Christian turns around to feel what seems like a rough wind heading towards his chest. He fires off three darts straight in front of him. Paradox reappears, falling in front of Christian. Thinking quickly; Christian dives out of the way as Rarity and Applejack move in front of the spirit. AJ turns around while Rarity gets onto her hind legs.
“Uh oh.” Paradox says as he is bucked and kicked by the two ponies. The combined power sends him flying to the other side of the warehouse and crashing into a few of the numerous crates. He tumbles out of the mess, weak and tired. He slowly turns toward Trixie, who was about to unleash a spell at Twilight. Paradox yells toward his student.
“Trixie! Forget about that unicorn! Get back to Equestria! I will deal with these pests!” Trixie turns toward her teacher, annoyed that she could not finish off her adversary. She turns to Twilight.
“Sorry Twilight, but Trixie must follow her teacher’s orders. Then again, I have faith that without your magic; Paradox will finish you himself!” Her horn starts glowing a light blue. “Goodbye, Twilight!” She says her final words to her before teleporting away. Christian, realizing that Trixie just teleported away, taps the tablet on his wrist to try and contact his uncle. Unfortunately, Christian is too late as John appears on his screen, sounding frantic.
“Christian! The men I had guarding the portal just reported seeing a light blue unicorn going through. What happened?”
“Trixie just teleported away.”
“Did she have any blueprints on her?” John asks. Christian pauses for a second. He never actually saw if she had any blueprints with her. Dash then interrupts Christian’s thoughts as she says:
“She had two, the rest of them scattered all over the place.” John scratches his head, trying to think of what to say.
“Alright, I bet you guys can get those back from her. What about Paradox?” Christian smiles and stares at the defeated time spirit.
“Oh, he’s not going anywhere.” He says as he joins the ponies in surrounding the spirit. Paradox looks up and cracks a smile before soaring into the air.
“Don’t bet on it, human. I shall be joining my student as soon as I destroy all of you!”
“What are you talking about?” Twilight yells to him. Paradox smiles again.
“You see insolent pony; this warehouse does not just contain blueprints and schematics; it is also home to some very dangerous weapons and inventions. One spark could make this entire warehouse become a crater.” He then reveals a red button from seemingly out of nowhere. The group below him simultaneously gasps in fear as his thumb overs over the button. “It would be such a shame if you were caught in such a devastating explosion.” Christian glares at his foe before turning to Twilight.
“Twilight, use some magic to get that button and stop him!” Twilight looks at Christian nervously.
“Uhh, I can’t.”
“WHAT?!” Christian shouts.
“Trixie used a spell to nullify my magic for an hour! I can’t do anything!” Paradox laughs from above, happy that his victory is just a literal click away.
“Oh, this is just got much easier! Farewell ponies and human! This will be the last time we shall meet.” Paradox clicks the button and vanishes from the warehouse. The button falls out of the air and rolls to Christian’s feet. Suddenly, a chorus of loud beeps start coming from the back of the warehouse. Everyone’s eyes grow wide as they realize what Paradox had just done. John suddenly appears on Christian’s tablet.
“Christian! Our thermal sensors are going crazy! What just happened?!” John shouts in a panic.
“Paradox just set off a multitude of explosives; we getting out NOW!” He turns to the mares.
“Girls, we need to leave right no-” A huge explosion cuts of Christian and sends him flying. “AH SHOOT!” He screams as he slams into the ground. Rainbow Dash and AJ quickly go to the human’s aid and help him back up.
“You okay, Christian?” AJ asks. Christian nods.
“Fine, but we won’t be if we stay here!” He says as another explosion erupts behind him.
“We need ta get outta here!” AJ yells to everyone. Dash leaps up and points forwards towards a pathway through the crates.
“The way we came in is this way!”
“Are you sure, Dash?” Pinkie shouts. Dash nods.
“Positive! Follow me!” She hoofs it toward the pathway she pointed out with everypony following her. Explosions start engulfing the area behind the group; with flaming crates and debris crashing and destroying the center of the warehouse. Dash and the others turn the corner and see the sunlight of the broken down door that they had entered the warehouse from. “I found the doorway!” She yells behind her.
“Then c’mon! Let’s go!” Christian yells as they all run up to the only available exit. Outside, they can see John half a mile away waving his arms.
“C’mon, you guys can make it.” John says to himself.
Back inside the warehouse, the group is about to reach their only way out of the death trap that Paradox had left them. Right before they dash out of the building, a ton of debris from the roof of the warehouse falls right in front of them; causing the group to come to a screeching halt in front of the now blocked doorway.
“Oh snap!” Christian shouts as he runs forward and starts trying to find an opening in the stone and steel. Outside, John looks on as the doorway becomes blocked. He remains motionless as he tries to think of a reaction; yet he remains speechless at the situation. Back inside, Christian starts trying to move some of the debris away to create an exit. The mares quickly realize what he is trying to do and rush to help him. AJ and Dash try moving a few of the heavier stones out of the way; with AJ pushing and Dash trying to use her wings to topple it off the rest of the pile.
“It’s…too…packed in!” Dash shouts to Christian.
“Keep trying! We can do this!” He shouts back.
“Well we better hurry! I don’t think we have much longer!” Twilight yells as she tries to remove a small steel girder from the blockage. Suddenly, a huge explosion detonates above the crowd. This makes a tower of crates start toppling towards them. Twilight looks up at the heavy falling objects.
“GIRLS! CHRISTIAN!” She shouts in a panic. The others look up and see their doom falling towards them. The girls huddle around each other, in a hugging formation of such as the smaller crates start hitting in the floor around them.
“We’re toast!” Dash yells as she shuts her eyes and awaits her fate the others follow suit shortly after. Christian glances up as he sees the huge and heavy crates falling towards them. He looks towards the mares in a final group hug. He clenches a fist and mutters to himself:
“Not on my watch.” He runs towards the mares and lifts up both of his arms to try and stop the falling debris from crushing his friends. Twilight sees what he is trying to do and gasps at his actions.
“CHRISTIAN! NO!” She yells as Christian closes his eyes and prepares to feel the full impact of two hundred thousand pounds on his body. Yet as the debris is about to pound him into nothingness; he feels as if some sort of new strength is being released from his body...
Meanwhile, outside the warehouse; John looks onwards at the flaming and exploding warehouse in the distance. His men are looking at each other and at John; not knowing what to do or what to say in this situation. Suddenly, Celestia appears right next to John, which startles him for a split second.
“Celestia? How did you?” He goes to ask, but she cuts him off.
“I had a feeling Twilight and her friends were in trouble; so I came to see what was going on. Where are they? And where’s Christia-”
They both turn towards the warehouse as a gigantic explosion envelops the building. Celestia and John turn to see the fireball that is now in the sky from the massive detonation. Celestia looks at John and swallows hard as she tries to get her words together.
“Were…they…in…” John nods before Celestia could finish her sentence. Her expression goes from shocked to severely depressed in a matter of seconds. John remains fixated onto the fire and smoke that now took up where the warehouse once was. John’s men have already started running towards the destroyed building as soon as it had erupted. John taps his tablet to contact one of his men.
“Have you found anything? Are any life signs showing up on any scanners?” He asks the soldier near the destroyed warehouse. Celestia peeks over his shoulder to see what the answer is. The soldier shakes his head.
“There’s nothing here but thick smoke and a huge crater, sir; and nothing is showing up on anything.” The solider responds to his higher up. John lowers his wrist and starts shaking his head in denial.
“No… no that can’t be.” He says to himself. Celestia, meanwhile, is about to be in tears at the news that she just reserved. Her best student, Twilight’s friends, and her ambassador were now gone forever. John looks at her and speaks up.
“Celestia, I swear; I will find Paradox and Trixie and they will pay for-”
“Sir! SIR! We found something!” John is cut off by the soldier he had just talked to. Celestia hears the sudden noise and gets up to see what had happened. John brings up the live feed of the soldier, hoping that everyone had somehow survived the blast.
“What?! What did you find?!” He asks in haste. The soldier looks down the crater.
“It’s… It’s some sort of orange, magic shield of sorts, sir! It appears that they survived because of it!” Celestia and John smile in relief at the news.
“They’re alright. Twilight must have conjured a shield.” Celestia says in relief. John nods in agreement to the princess. Then, he realizes something. His solider said the shield in crater is orange, not purple. Also, he overheard something about Twilight not having magic.
“Wait, Celestia; isn't Twilight’s magic aura purple?”
“Yes, why?”
“Because my men said the shield is orange, not purple. Also, my audio was still active when Paradox was still in the building; and I overheard Twilight saying that she couldn’t use her magic because of Trixie.” Celestia looks at John, bewildered at what he was saying. She ponders his words for a second before looking at him with a sort of confusion in her eyes.
“Then if Twilight didn’t conjure a shield, then who…” John and Celestia look at each other before Celestia conjures a teleportation spell to send them to the crater. In less than five seconds, they appear in front of John’s men, overlooking the crater. They peer down into the pit and see the orange shield down below. The dust has just finished settling and the view has become much clearer. The two of them stare into the orange shield and real at what they see inside.
“Wait, is that…?” John says with uncertainty. Celestia gasps at what she sees.
“I don’t believe it! I didn’t think…”
Down in the crater, Twilight is the first of the group to peek her eyes open a bit. When she realizes that she is surrounded by a magical force field; she opens her eyes fully and looks around.
“We’re… alive?” She says to herself. This alerts the others to open their eyes and look around and see their safe haven.
“We’re alive!” Dash smiles and shouts with glee.
“YAY!” Pinkie yells.
“What luck, I thought we were history!” Rarity says.
“No kiddin’!” Applejack comments.
“Nice use of magic, Twilight.” Dash says while patting her on the back. Twilight nods, but then realizes that she is not feeling any magic withdrawal from her horn and remembers that she couldn’t conjure this shield anyway because of Trixie’s spell.
“Uhh, girls. I’m not the one putting up this shield.” She says, nervously. The girls look at their friend like she is crazy.
“What do you mean, Twi?” Applejack asks.
“Trixie made it impossible for me to use any magic for an hour. This can’t be me.” The others look at her, befuddled at her explanation.
“Then… If it’s not you, Twilight… Then, Rarity?” Pinkie turns toward the only other unicorn in the room, followed by every other mare. Rarity looks at all of them and shakes her head.
“Please, I don’t use magic for this sort of thing.” She says in response.
“Then… who’s?” Twilight goes to say before she looks behind her friends to see the impossible. The others turn around to see what she is now gawking at. What they see shocks them.
Christian is there, standing in the center of the small shield; keeping the whole thing stable with his own two hands. They were in HIS shield that HE conjured. They hear small grunts and moans as he is struggling to keep the magic force field stable.
“CHRISTIAN?!” They all yell in unison. At that moment, the shield degenerates as Christian can no longer keep up his magic. He collapses in fatigue, veering in and out of consciousness. He can barely hear the people and ponies around him. As he closes his eyes to fall into unconsciousness; he hears off in the distance:
“Get him an evac, stat! Christian’s down! I repeat; Christian is down!”