Fluttershy flew down towards her friend’s castle. It was a magnificent looking castle that looked like it was made out of a very fine crystal. The castle had magically appeared after Twilight had defeated Tirek from the rainbow magic in the chest and since Fluttershy was the element of Kindness, she was allocated a throne in the main hall with her five other friends. She was in her deepest thoughts while flying towards the castle, mainly about last night.
“I don’t feel strange.” Thought Fluttershy. “Maybe it was just a bad dream.”
Right on cue, she started feeling strange in the stomach. It was the same feeling that she had encountered while having her `dream’ last night.
“Oh my I feel, *hurp* sick again.” She said to herself.
Fluttershy felt like she wanted to throw up, no actually, she NEEDED to throw up. Her cheeks swelled up with vomit as she dived down to the edge of the Everfree Forest to find the nearest bush.
*BLEARGGGGGGG*
She emptied the contents of her stomach into the bush.
“That was the feeling.” Fluttershy thought sarcastically to herself as she laid on her back, massaging her stomach. “Maybe it wasn’t a…huh?”
She looked towards her fresh pile of puke with curiosity. Her vomit was bubbling, like air bubbles are trapped inside of her vomit.
“Is that normal?” Fluttershy murmured to herself.
She grabbed a stick in her teeth and poked one of the air bubbles that was resonating in her vomit. The bubble burst with extreme force and sent a shockwave towards Fluttershy. She prepared to be blown backwards but was somehow still in the same position she was in a few seconds ago. Fluttershy opened her eyes and gawked at what was in front of her. A bright, pulsating bubble shield, made out of wind that was surrounding her and the same wispy haze that made up the shield was surrounding her hooves.
Fluttershy could just stare in awe as she witnessed what she was performing at the moment. The wind that she was producing was exactly identical as what Riley was explaining to her earlier that morning as well as her experience last night. Could she really be transforming into and elemental? Fluttershy didn’t know what to do. Could she ask Riley to look at her, maybe Twilight could help, what about that bacon…
“The Bacon!” Exclaimed Fluttershy. “Why did I want to eat that bacon?”
Fluttershy would have to confront Riley about it.
“Maybe he knows what I can do, if I’m an elemental that is.”
Fluttershy took off when she suddenly realised that she would be late.
“I’ll have to make up an excuse for why I’m late.”
“Maybe she ain’t comin sugarcube.” Applejack told Rainbow Dash.
“No way.” Replied Rainbow Dash. “She said she would be here.”
“I agree with Applejack.” Agreed Princess Celestia. “This is not the type of event that she would usually come to.”
“So, shall we be leaving now?” The royal guard that stood next to Celestia asked her.
“Not yet. We shall wait five more minutes for Fluttershy.” Said Celestia.
“But sister.” Luna replied. “We cannot be holding up our meeting with this scientist, it is of grave importance.”
“I know Lulu, but we must wait for Fluttershy.”
“If you say so sister.”
They waited for another five minutes, possibly even ten. They were about to depart when a butter yellow Pegasus came flying down the road.
Fluttershy skidded to a halt in front of the chariot and bowed in front of the princesses.
“Rise Fluttershy.” Celestia said in her usual soothing tone.
“I’m sorry I’m late princess. I had a big problem at home with my animals, they were all making ruckus and I had to deal with them and…”
“It’s okay Fluttershy. I understand.”
Fluttershy nodded and hopped into the chariot.
“GUARDS!” Commanded Luna. “WE SHALL BE ON OUR WAY NOW!”
Fluttershy sat down next to Twilight Sparkle as the chariot took off towards the observatory.
“Are you okay Fluttershy?” Twilight asked.
“Huh…oh. Yes I’m fine Twilight. I just have, a lot on my mind at the moment.”
“Well, it can’t be as bad as being the princess of magic. I mean like, how many pieces of paperwork I have to sign and the royal duties I have to uphold. It’s a pain in my flank.”
“Oh…Is it really that bad.”
“No no no no, It’s just challenging. I don’t know how the princess does it.”
“I don’t know either Twilight.” Interrupted Celestia.
“Oh…I’m sorry princess, I didn’t mean any offence.”
“No Princess Twilight. I take it as a compliment that you acknowledge my work.”
“Um…thank you princess.”
“My pleasure.”
“We have arrived.” The royal guard up front that was pulling the chariot.
“Celestia damn it.” Bio yelled as he slammed his hoof on his desk.
“I’m sorry sir.” His assistant replied. “We haven’t been able to get the tracking table or get those creatures positions.”
Bio put his hooves over his head and turned towards his assistant. She was a cream coloured, unicorn mare with a brown, fuzzy mane and tail and a data pad as her cutie mark.
“Well tell everypony to work harder.” Bio boomed. “We need those creatures alive.”
“Yes sir.” She yelled as she galloped out of the room.
Bio sighed as he got up from behind his desk and flew down towards the tracking table in the middle room.
“We won’t find them until this stupid thing decides to work.” He thought to himself.
Bio kicked the table with his hooves in frustration. His assistant from before came into his office.
“Excuse me sir, but the Princesses and the Elements of Harmony are almost here for their requested meeting.”
“I’ll be up there soon.”
“Yes si…”
“Don’t call me sir, just Bio.”
“Okay, Bio.”
She galloped out of the room for a second time. Bio grabbed his white lab coat and fixed his scruffy mane to try and make it look as presentable as possible.
The mane 6 and the two princesses disembarked their chariot and walked towards the laboratory building.
“So princess.” Asked Twilight. “What is this place like?”
“You’ll see Twilight.” Smirked Celestia. “You’ll see.”
They continued up to the front entrance and were stopped by the two same guards that Celestia met the other day.
“Name and identification card.” One of them asked.
“Princess Celestia, sister of the sun.
“Do you have an identification card.”
“No, but we have requested a meeting with…”
“You cannot enter without identification.”
“Listen here buddy.” Complained Rainbow Dash. “Do you know we are?”
“Rainbow Dash, element of loyalty.” The guard drilled.
“That’s right. Now you’re going to let us through to see this scientist dude.”
“Only with an identification card, you can pass.”
“You want to do this the hard way buddy, then let’s do this the hard way.”
“Please stand down miss.” The guard said, not backing down.
“Rainbow Dash, interrupted Rarity. “you’d better listen to them.”
“No way Rarity, they’re denying access to the princesses and the elements of harmony.”
“They have a good reason to Rainbow, now please stop.” Commanded Celestia.
“I’ll take it from here.” Bio’s assistant said as she came outside to greet them.
“Stand down guards, they’re with me.”
“Our apologies Miss Combe.”
The guards resumed their posts at the front entrance of the labs.
“What a meanie-pants.” Pinkie said as she trotted on inside with the others.
“Don’t worry about them, they just take their jobs too…seriously.” Explained Miss Combe.
“May I ask your name?” Asked Luna.
“Certainly. My name is Violet Combe, I’m Bio’s assistant.”
They continued down the hallway towards the elevator.
“So Miss Combe.” Asked Twilight. “What do you do here?”
“We perform a barrage of experiments here, usually to improve the abilities of other ponies.”
“Such as?” Luna questioned.
“To put it simply, we have achieved new abilities using devices instead of potions and spells.”
“Really? I’ve never heard of ponies being able to augment their abilities in such a manor.” Said Rarity.
“Well we don’t just do augmentation, we also create machines to help in our research as well. But without magic.”
“WITHOUT MAGIC!” Exclaimed Twilight. “How is that possible?”
“Once we reach the main laboratories, you’ll see a great example of our achievements.” Beamed Miss Combe.
They reached the elevator and got inside. It was a tight fit.
“Where do we go?” Said Twilight.
“Down.” Replied Miss Combe.
The elevator buckled and proceeded to go down. All of the ponies jumped at the shock of the elevator going down. The elevator continued to head down deeper into the labs.
“How long does this take.” Complained Rainbow Dash.
“We’re almost there, look behind you.” Replied Miss Combe.
The steel backing of the elevator opened up to reveal a massive room made entirely out of steel. The walls that were accompanying the bottom floor each had something interesting inside that was making Twilight more and more excited with each passing second.
“What you see down there.” Stated Miss Combe. “Is a miracle of modern science and engineering. Each wall can rotate to shape a bigger or smaller room for different sized experiments.”
“And how long did it take to build all of this?” Asked Luna. “Surely it would have taken many months.”
“Only about one and a half, some of the greatest minds in Equestria worked on and in these laboratories. “
The Elevator got off at the bottom floor and they disembarked.
“Feel free to wander around the labs and observe what is happening.” Said Miss Combe. “Just stay behind the yellow lines in each lab and always listen to what the scientists tell you. We don’t want anypony to get hurt.”
Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity all went a separate way in the labs to see what the labs had to offer. The Princesses, and Fluttershy continued to follow Miss Combe to Bio’s workstation. They arrived at the entrance to Bio’s lab. Miss Combe knocked on the door.
“Come in.” Bio yelled from the other side of the door.
Miss Combe opened the doors to his lab. The inside consisted of his complete map of Equestria holographic table in the middle of his room and Bio’s desk in the far right of the room, stacked with paperwork and other things.
“Princess.” Bio said as he bowed.” I’m terribly sorry for the mess but I’ve been quite preoccupied with my work and didn’t have time to clean up. I see that you brought Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy and your sister along with you. It is an honour to meet you all.”
“Please.” Replied Luna. “The honour is ours.”
“I don’t think I’ve properly introduced myself. My name is Bio Shock, but please call me Bio.”
He ushered them to crowd around his holographic table.
“This was a map of Equestria that was displayed holographic images that I could interact with to survey what was going on in Equestria, but ever since those creatures arrived, I only get this.”
Bio activated the table and a pulsating red light was flashing in the middle of the table. The light started to engulf the rest of the table until it sparked and shut down immediately.
“There is some kind of weird EMP on my table.”
“EMP?” Said Luna.
“Electro Magnetic Pulse.” Explained Bio. “It can disable electronic devices such as this table.”
“I see?”
“Never mind, what it means is that I need an excess amount of energy to fight it and restart the table to track the creatures which I think you could help me with.”
Fluttershy’s blood ran cold. If they could fix that table, then Riley and Erin would be found out. She could be arrested for housing `evil’ creatures. Fluttershy tried to think of a way to stall them.
“Um..excuse me Bio.” Interrupted Fluttershy.
“Yes Fluttershy.” He answered.
“Do you know where the bathroom is?” Fluttershy mentally slapped herself.
“Just down the hall on your left, you shouldn’t miss it.”
“Thanks.” Replied Fluttershy.
Fluttershy left the room but didn’t go to the bathroom. She instead left the door open a touch to listen and hear their conversation.
“So, how are you going to fix it Bio?” Asked Celestia.
“I have two external unicorn horn ports here and here.”
Bio gestured to two cone shaped holes on each side of the table.
“Sometimes if the table plays up, we insert some unicorn magic into the table. But since this is a massive EMP, do you think we could try with alicorns magic.”
“I don’t know Bio.” Said Celestia. “An alicorn's magic can be very unstable if not treated correctly.”
“I assure you princess, nothing can go wrong.”
“If you insist.” She murmured.
Celestia stood on one side of the table and Luna stood on the other side. They inserted their horns into the slots. Fluttershy could only watch in horror as they charged up their horns and allowed magic to flow inside the machine. The red light flickered back to life but instead of being dull, it was shining as bright as the sun itself. The red orb resonated in the centre of the table.
“Interesting.” Said Bio. “I wonder if this…”
The redbubble released a shockwave of pure energy and sent Celestia, Luna, Twilight, Bio and Miss Combe flying backwards. The table was still offline and Fluttershy was extremely happy.
“Damnit.” Said Bio in a disappointed tone.
Still being the element of kindness, Fluttershy rushed in to help her friends.
“Is everypony alright?” She asked.
“Yes, we’re all fine.” Replied Celestia.
The five of them got back onto their hooves shakily.
“I guess that was a failure then.” Sighed Bio.
“I’m sorry Bio.” Apologized Celestia. “Is there anything we can do to help?”
“No.” He replied. “I’ll sort this problem out in a different matter. You are free to leave now, Miss Combe will escort you out.”
“Thank you Bio. And again, I apologize for the table.”
“It’s alright princess. Science can’t proceed without failures.”
They proceeded towards the door and left Bio by himself. He walked out to the lab next to him and requested a group of hazmat ponies.
“Now be very careful.” Said Bio as they were lifting two canisters out of his table. “Don’t drop them.”
The unicorn hazmat pony in front of Bio held two containers in front of him. One was filled with a dark blue mist and the other was filled with a glowing orange mist.
“Where do you want these boss?” The hazmat pony asked.
“In the freezing storage vaults below, I don’t want any risk of them being contaminated.”
“Yes boss.” The pony said, as he and his crew (extremely carefully) escorted the two vials to the storage vaults.
“Only one more piece to the plan.” Bio muttered to himself.
“Bio.” Miss Combe said as she raced in, levitating a data pad in front of her. “You may want to have a look at this.”
She showed him the data pad that she was carrying. It had a picture of Luna, Celestia and half of the mane six in it.
“These and some scans that we took of them when they entered the labs. See how everypony is normal in this photo.”
“Yes.” Said Bio.
“Take a look at the next scan.”
Bio’s eyes widened. He could not believe what he was seeing. Fluttershy, instead of having the usual glowing red body from a thermal scan, her body was showing a white hot glow that looked like it was swirling around instead of being pixelated.
“What in Tartarus?!” Bio exclaimed.
“It gets even weirder, look at this magic scale when we analysed her body compared to the princesses.”
The magic and power output (MPO) for the princess was about 900-1000. Fluttershy was outputting 3000.
“That’s three times as powerful as the princess of the sun herself!” Yelled Bio.
“What should we do about it Bio.”
“I have a feeling that foul play is being involved.”
“I’m sorry Bio, but I don’t follow.” Said Miss Combe
“Those creatures. The final piece. Fluttershy must have had contact with them somehow and maybe been infected by their magic.” Informed Bio.
“Shall we apprehend her?”
“No, we can’t just waltz in to her home and snatch her. Those creatures could be with her and we don’t know what they can do as well as the princesses would be on our flanks.”
Bio went into a deep thought of what he could do.
“I got it!” He exclaimed. “Come with me Miss Combe.”
Bio took off towards one of the labs down the corridor with Miss Combe closely behind.
“What’s with the big rush Bio.” She yelled as she raced through the door.
“This.” Replied Bio.
In his hooves, he was holding an extremely small device that looked like a fly.
“What is that?” Asked Miss Combe.
“This, my apprentice.” Informed Bio. “Is a tiny micro drone. It will fly to Fluttershy’s house and record anything out of the ordinary. Then it will bring that information back to us to analyse the footage that it brings back.”
“So it’s basically a camera.” Said Bio.
“Yes. A very tiny camera.”
Bio activated it and it hovered in the air, motionless.
“Now we put in the coordinates.” Said Bio as he typed in the coordinates into nearby computer.
The drone received its commands and flew up and out of the building, towards its destination.
“And it goes off to start recording.”
“Are you sure this is a good idea Bio?” Miss Combe asked.
“Most definitely. It’s getting late now, you can go home if you wish.” Informed Bio.
“Thank you Bio.” She replied.
Miss Combe trotted towards the elevator to pack up her things and head home for the night. Bio instead took the elevator after her to a floor that was even lower that the underground labs, the storage vaults. Bio exited the elevator once he reached his destination and walked down a seemingly endless corridor until he reached last row of storage cases. He stopped in front of the two containing the magic of the princesses of the sun and moon.
“Soon.” Bio smirked to himself. “Soon.”