A few minutes had passed since the infiltration of their base, but now the threat was over. Three young girls were walking through the battle damaged halls, a few of the guards stopping to salute them as they passed by. They drew back their hoodies, the hot air from the battle wafting about and making the confines of the hoods suffocating. When the hoods were drawn back it let loose their long hair, making others wonder if those hoods had some extra pocket dimension to contain all that hair.
The lead girl had dark yellow skin, with two rose colored, calculating eyes. The majority of her hair was tied back into very puffy ponytail, colored dark amber with yellow highlights. The one on her left had light-blue skin, and a faraway look in her violet eyes. Her sky-blue, with navy highlights hair was tied back into a ponytail that made it look like she did have tail. The other on her right had a permanent scowl on her face and annoyed look in her indigo eyes. Her hair purple and turquoise highlight hair was done in pigtails that swayed all the way down to her knees.
All three were different, in appearances and personalities, but they all three had two things in common. One: the ruby jewel that hung around their necks, and two: they were not of this world.
“Wow, who knew those guys had so much negative emotions towards each other! I mean they were on the same team, but I wonder why? Do you know, ‘cause I sure don’t?”
“Ugh, maybe because they had someone like you on their team! If that’s the case then I’d understand completely.”
“Why’s that Aria?”
“Take a minute and think about it Sonata, or in your case, take the next couple of months!”
“Will you two please be quiet?! Listen…”
Aria and Sonata strained their ears, but they didn’t need to wait long. A powerful quake rocked through the base, shaking it to its very foundation and making the three girls brace themselves against the walls.
“What in the hell was that Adagio?!” Aria asked.
“I have an idea, follow me!”
The three girls rushed through the hallways and found a working elevator. They took the conveyance all the way down to sublevel twenty. Adagio, Aria, and Sonata bolted out of the elevator, following Adagio as she led her cohorts down the halls to their destination. Adagio stopped, putting up her fist as a signal to halt. Smoke was pouring out of the door to their right. Adagio looked to Aria and Sonata and nodded. They walked slowly into the room, waving their hands in front of them to clear the smoke from their vision. They noticed a violet flame burning at the epicenter of the smoke, but they weren’t sure what it was.
The flame flickered out, causing a pressure wave that blew away the remainder of the smoke. Adagio, Aria, and Sonata gasped at the sight. A giant hole was burned into the wall, molten rock and metal dripped from the giant entrance like sludge, hissing loudly like angry snakes. Where the violet flame once was, stood instead their commander, his hands balled up into fists.
“Director Dusk Shine, are you alright?” Adagio asked.
“Not in the slightest. An unexpected variable has entered the equation, and a piece of the formula has been sent away.”
“Huh?” Sonata asked.
“Professor Neigh sent a Firestorm Protocol out of the base. To where I do not know, but I want it back!” Dusk Shine turned around and faced the three girls, despite his earlier tone, he had a satisfied smile on his face. “Good news though, the mass produced Firestorm Protocols are stable and ready for further field testing.”
“That’s great news, Director! Do you want us to go after that missing Protocol?” Adagio asked.
“Belay that, follow me.”
Dusk Shine motioned for the three to follow him, they walked out of the damaged room and headed for the elevator. Once there, Dusk Shine inputted a code that activated the elevator and made it shoot up. After a minute, the elevator stopped.
“I want you three to fit yourselves with Protocols immediately. Once you have I want you to start mobilizing the base, we’re abandoning this area and moving to the secondary location. While you’re doing that, I’m going to see if I can get someone to tract that rocket. I doubt the good Professor Neigh would let it be tracked so easily, but once it lands we’ll have a better chance.”
“Yes sir,” said the three girls as they departed the elevator.
Dusk Shine nodded to them and the doors slid closed as he went off to do his business. Adagio, Aria, and Sonata began their trek to the lab where the mass produced Firestorm Protocols were stored, all the while, Aria was looking about, making sure that there was no one around before she spoke.
“Adagio, how long are we going to have listen to that guy?! We could use our powers and feed off of this base’s negativity and be back to at least half our old strength!” Aria grumbled.
“Because Aria, if we did, then we wouldn’t have the Protocols now would we? Those may not be the magic we want, but they are the power we need! If we had taken him over, then there’s little chance that he would’ve completed the Protocols.”
Sonata put a finger on her chin as she looked up in contemplation. “But how did he complete them anyway? I thought that Professor Neigh guy was the one working on them, so how did he complete them without his help?”
“Amazingly she has a point, the professor was working alone, how did he manage to complete the Protocols?!” Aria asked.
Adagio went silent. True, Dusk Shine had proven to be a very clever man, and on top of that, a genius to match Professor Neigh, and yet up till now he hadn’t figured out how to finish the Protocols. Adagio didn’t like that too much, and then there was the hole in the wall, it seemed like overkill for Dusk Shine. He usually preferred quick and efficient ways of killing his foes, and having the power of a Firestorm Protocol would more than give him the means to do so.
So why did he blow up half the room to kill the professor? A message? Not a very effective one if there was no one around to see it. Testing his powers? Possible, but not very likely.
The three girls arrived at the lab, the doors swooshing open upon their proximity. The inside had hundreds of dozens of Firestorm Protocols, each one contained in a capsule and ready to be wielded. Adagio, Aria, and Sonata each grabbed one of the capsules, holding the weighty object in their hands. It was power, not the Equestrian magic they’ve longed to have again, but it was the closest thing to it, and right now, their best bet at getting what they wanted.
“Just be patient girls, it took us this long to take hold of these. Once we’ve found out what the ‘variable’ and ‘missing piece of the formula’ are, we’ll rule this world, and make every pathetic human in it adore and obey us!”
Sonata and Aria glanced at each other, smiling wickedly at the plan their leader had in store for Dusk Shine, the Organization, and the world.
“FIRESTORM!”
“FIRESTORM!”
“FIRESTORM!”
CANTERLOT CITY, T-MINUS 60 MINUTES…
Sunset had no idea what was happening. First Twilight gets this weird look in her eyes like she just saw a ghost, and then the studious girl just goes into full-blown panic mode and runs up the stairs to her room, leaving Sunset in the foyer, alone. She looked down to Spike, who looked up at her and tilted his head in confusion, apparently as in the dark as she was about Twilight’s behavior. Sunset believed it was none of her business, but that look in Twilight’s eyes was worrying, plus she didn’t want to get blamed for something she may or may not have done. So Sunset decided to head upstairs, Spike right behind her. She made her way to Twilight’s door and opened it swiftly.
“Sparkle are you al–?”
“EEEK!”
Sunset suddenly found Twilight in the middle of changing her clothes, trying to hurriedly pull up a pair of sweatpants and accidentally causing herself to stumble back onto her rear. The yellow girl quickly slammed the door shut, feeling very embarrassed about interrupting her while changing. Being in a locker room was one thing, but this was Twilight’s house, so she was entitled to her privacy.
“Sorry, sorry! Why didn’t you just say you were going to change your clothes?! Sparkle?! Sparkle…? Hey, can you hear me?” Sunset asked.
After a few more seconds of hearing the sounds of scampering, things falling over, and panicked breathing, the door flung open. Twilight had thrown on a pair of purple sweatpants, tennis shoes, and a gray hoodie.
“Okay…are you going out for a jog or something?”
“Sunset I need your motorcycle!”
Sunset crossed her arms over her chest and looked at Twilight with a raised eyebrow.
“Yeah, there’s no way I’m letting that happen.”
“Sunset please, you don’t understand! I have to do something really, really, really important and I have to go now!” Twilight pleaded.
“Then maybe you should let me in on this oh so important thing you have to do? Because I’m not lending you my bike, and on top of that, do you even know how to ride one?”
Twilight bit her bottom lip as she rubbed her right arm nervously. “N-No I don’t! But how much different can it be from riding a bicycle?!”
“A lot different.”
“I don’t care, Sunset! Please! If you won’t give me it then…then…I’ll just take it!”
Sunset narrowed her gaze at Twilight, she closed the gap between them, getting right in the violet haired girl’s face.
“First of all: you wouldn’t even get within a hundred feet of it before I put you on the ground. Second: you couldn’t beat me if your life depended on it, and third: what’s so damn important that you need to ride my bike in the middle of the night?”
Sunset suddenly felt Twilight gripping the sides of her arms, she was about to throw her off and deck Twilight, but stopped when she felt her shaking. In fact Twilight’s whole body was shaking.
“Sunset…I’m begging you…there’s something coming to the city. Something that was made by someone who once looked after me, I know he sent it at great risk to his life which is why I have to get to it before anyone else! We only have forty minutes left, please?!”
Sunset wasn’t sure what was happening right now, Twilight was literally begging for her help to get whatever it was that was coming. There were a lot of questions in her head, and all her senses were telling her that whatever was happening was obviously something earth shattering for Twilight. The sadness and desperation in her voice was heavy, and it hurt her to hear that from this girl, whom she had regarded as her enemy for months now, sound so vulnerable and hurt. It stabbed at Sunset’s heart, more than she wanted to admit.
The fiery haired girl shrugged off Twilight’s hands. “You got a Relieve around here?”
“What?” Twilight asked.
“I’m not giving you my bike, so…wherever it is that you really have to go to, I’m taking you! And since, from the sounds of it, we’ll need to hurry, I need a pain reliever so my ribs don’t hurt as much when I’m going fast, alright?!”
Twilight wasn’t sure if she heard correctly, but from the look on Sunset Shimmer’s face, she was dead serious. Twilight hurried into the bathroom, filling a paper cup with water and taking out the pain reliever Sunset asked for. She rushed back to Sunset, who quickly popped the pill into her mouth and took a quick swig of the water, swallowing it. She went into her room and grabbed her leather jacket, zipping it up and took hold of her bike helmet. When Sunset exited she looked towards Twilight.
“Here, catch.”
Sunset tossed her helmet towards Twilight, making her hands stumble to take hold of it before finally getting a good grip on it.
“But…this is your helmet.”
“And?”
“And you need one too when we’re out!”
“It’s fine,” said Sunset.
“No it’s not, I know I need one, but I can just go and get one of my parents’ bike helmets instead! You need it more than me!” Twilight argued.
Sunset stopped at the foot of the stairs and turned to Twilight. “Tell me if this headline grips you? Local high school girl, Twilight Sparkle, lies in a hospital bed in a coma. The young girl was found with another girl, considered a troubled student of CHS, named Sunset Shimmer. Apparently both girls were riding a motorcycle in the middle of the night, getting into an accident. Sunset Shimmer has a broken leg and arm but is otherwise alright, authorities stated that it was Sunset’s helmet that prevented her head from hitting the pavement like her passenger. Get it?”
“Got it…but…”
“Look, you and I both know that everyone in the school is going to blame me if you get hurt! So just do me a favor, wear the helmet and try not to break anything!”
Sunset stomped down the stairs, leaving Twilight to rub the helmet in contemplation. She started to remember this, those words, the words of someone who thought her life was more important than theirs.
“It’s not…really…it isn’t…”
T-MINUS 20 MINUTES…
Twilight was screaming her head off, and honestly, Sunset Shimmer giggled from hearing her. The two girls were racing through the night on Sunset’s bike, weaving in and out of traffic. Twilight had stressed to Sunset how important it was that they’d get to their destination, and asked if that meant she could break the traffic laws to do so. Apparently this was important enough that Twilight, reluctantly, agreed to the breaking of said laws. Sunset tore through the streets of the city, the engine of her bike whining loudly for all to hear. The wind in her hair felt great, and with the light of street lamps, made it look like her hair had become trail of fire following her.
“How much further?!” Sunset yelled.
Twilight held Sunset’s waist in a death grip, making Sunset glad she took the medicine earlier, else this would be hurting more than it was now. Twilight reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, tapping the screen a few times to show the GPS tracker. A red dot was gradually getting closer to a large green patch, followed by a green dot that represented them.
“Head towards the Canterlot Garden Maze!” Twilight yelled.
“Got it!”
Sunset revved the engine and punched it, sailing at high speed towards the garden. The Garden Maze was one of many of Canterlot City’s attractions, it was a park filled with different varieties of flowers, and further in was a large hedge maze. Many had tried to navigate the maze, but none succeeded in doing so, not entirely sure how the architect thought it up. Sunset and Twilight drove into the park, heading down the white stone path and stopping with a loud screech of the tires.
“Well that was fun! So why are we here then, Sparkle?”
Twilight removed her helmet, taking a moment to confirm that she was still alive and almost on the edge of a heart attack.
“Professor Neigh must’ve punched in the coordinates for the city, but not a specific location. But from my calculations, taking into account the angle it’s flying at, the wind speed, humidity, and barring that it didn’t meet with a military drone, it should land somewhere around here.”
Sunset nodded, but paused to think about all that. “Wait a minute, what’s going to land here?!”
*BOOM!*
Sunset’s question was answered when a loud rumble echoed through the sky. In the distance Sunset could see something heading towards them, and it was moving fast!
“Get down!” Sunset shouted.
Twilight looked behind her and saw that the object was angling lower in her direction. Sunset ran for Twilight, diving to push her out of the way and into the grass. Both girls rolled around in the grass, stopping about five feet away from where they were. The object, which turned out to be a rocket, roared on by, angling further and further downwards till it crashed into the pavement, kicking up dirt and stone as it came to a complete stop.
Sunset rubbed her head as she propped herself up on her right hand and knees, she looked towards the direction of the crash, seeing the destruction caused in its wake. Luckily her bike was untouched, thanking Celestia for small favors.
“Uh…Sunset?”
“Yeah, I’m alive.”
“Um…thank you for saving me but…could you maybe not keep your hand there?”
“My hand – GAH!”
Sunset looked down, seeing that she had somehow ended up on top of Twilight, with her right hand pressed against her left bosom. She jerked her hand away and shot up to her feet, dusting herself off and trying to act nonchalant about it. Sunset then offered her left hand to Twilight as the other girl sat up.
“Sorry.”
Twilight took hold of the hand let Sunset help her back to her feet. “I-It was accident, but thank you for saving me.”
“Yeah, okay, so what the hell just crashed landed in the middle of the park?!” Sunset asked.
Twilight, now remembering the situation, bolted towards the crash site. The rocket had left a grove in the earth, showing where it hit all the way to where it stopped. Twilight followed the trail of destruction, stopping when she saw the rocket. Its nose was imbedded in the ground, but the rest of its body was still accessible. Twilight ran faster towards it, with Sunset Shimmer keeping pace.
Both girls stopped before the rocket, which was about the size of both of them. Twilight took a step forward towards the rocket, but quickly felt Sunset Shimmer’s hand shoot out and grab her shoulder.
“Are you crazy, don’t touch that thing Sparkle!”
“It’s fine, the rocket didn’t make a reentry, and it’s just scuffled up.”
“I’m not worried about if it’s hot, I’m worried that it’s radioactive or might blow up!”
“If it was meant to blow it would’ve on impact, and neither of us would be standing here talking. And it isn’t radioactive. I retrofitted my phone to detect high levels of lethal radiation, it would’ve gone off at the slightest detection,” explained Twilight.
Sunset didn’t get it, why was Twilight so calm about all this. A rocket just crash landed in the park, and she was not even fazed by it. Twilight gently shrugged off Sunset’s hand and went to examine the rocket. She looked it over, trying to find something. Sunset was on the lookout, watching to make sure that they were alone, but she knew that wouldn’t last long. There was no doubt in her mind that someone saw that rocket flying through the city, the boom, and then the crash shortly after. Soon the police would be there, and not too far behind was probably the military, the FBI, the CIA, DHS, and every other acronym-ed agency that could make you disappear off the face of the Earth.
“Twilight we really shouldn’t be here! The cops will be coming soon, and I don’t think we want to answer questions about why we’re here with a rocket!”
“Just give me another minute, it has to be here somewhere?! Ah-ha!”
Twilight’s hand brushed up against an uneven portion of the rocket, tapping it few times to make a panel open up, displaying a keypad and screen. Twilight quickly went to work, her fingers flying across the keypad as she punched in a number of codes. Sunset just stared in amazement at how fast she was going. It took her a while to learn how to use her hands, but once she did Sunset found that she was pretty fast on a keyboard, but Twilight’s hand was almost a blur. Her eyes darting this way and that as she looked at the numbers. Finally she punched in the right code, or hacked the thing, Sunset wasn’t sure which.
A hatch hissed open, releasing a fog that bellowed out and settled over the ground. Twilight and Sunset moved towards the opening, looking at what was inside. There was capsule within the rocket, at its center was a glowing orb that looked like a star or the sun itself had been captured within it. Twilight gently reached in, despite Sunset’s protests, and detached it from the stabilizing arms.
“Okay, now we can go.”