In the shopping mall, around closing time, teens had gathered to discuss what had happened.
"I can't believe it!"
"We're all gonna be a smoldering crater!"
"Is it really worth anything anymore?" These were just some of the things overheard in the crowds of children as they mingled among one another. As the crowd grew more and more panicked, several groups approached the front of the crowd.
"People!" came a distinct voice. "People please! We need to not panic here!" The crowd grew more and more silent as they began looking ahead towards the ones who'd texted them the message to come here.
"Listen!" Diamond Tiara shouted, Silver Spoon, the Crusaders, Snips, and Snails standing besides her. "We have called you here today to discuss something very important." She wore her usual attire, but also had the face of a determined, devout leader. "We all received a call at a dire hour from someone we've never met. She claimed to be powerful, to be better than us, to hold our lives in the palm of her hand, and to have the life of a fellow wondercolt." The students looked at one-another, confused why they were listening to a child tell them something they already knew. "But she has given us an out. Clean up wherever she fancies and we will all be spared. This demand, however seems to be a fool's errand." Diamond said as the crusaders set up a computer presentation. The first slide showed the heavily damaged school, police surrounding it, she pointed to it using a small stick, not dissimilar to the one a stereotypical teacher would. "The local police have it barricaded and locked down for processing, ditto for her other two targets." The crusaders showed a slide of the fair and the theater that had been closed down due to the threat. "We are here to find out how to solve this problem."
"...Wait" came the voice from the far back, belonging to one of the nerds. "You're telling us you called us here to talk about a plan you haven't even thought about?" The crowd began bickering and muttering, rabbling about this and that before Silver Spoon handed Tiara a whistle. Blowing into the whistle, all the students flinched and turned their attention towards the little girl.
"No." She finally said. "I am here to tell you a plan to save Flash Sentry." The slides changed, showing a very basic drawing of the students splitting up into multiple groups.
"We will have seven teams, each of them with a team leader. Three of these teams will provide distractions for the police while three more will go in and clean up the locations." The slides changed once more to show a group of teens bickering with the police while another group sneaks past. "Now, I know what you're thinking: "Isn't this illegal?" Well the answer is yes, but my daddy can buy the best lawyers from wherever he wishes... So if you're caught, all of this will be swept under the rug."
"Is that how the law works?" Snips asked Snails, who shrugged.
"Any questions?" Diamond Tiara asked.
"Yeah!" Came the voice of the Great and Powerful Trixie. "Trixie demands to know who or what are the seventh group!"
"The seventh group are-" The slides changed to show Twilight Sparkle and company. This immediately caused an uproar in the crowd.
"They won't be helping?!"
"They could do all this by themselves!"
"You're cheating us Tiara!"
"I knew this plan was nothing but baloney!" Silver Spoon blew the whistle herself the time, all the crowd quieting down and looking at the group unhappily.
"Oh, I am SO sorry!" Diamond taunted. "I thought I called the Wondercolts! The teens who look upon those girls with pride and respect! But apparently, I called upon their baby brothers! Grow up!" She shouted. "Look at yourselves! These girls have given their all to protect us! They've treated us as equals, even with their powers and abilities! They have saved our lives three times now and asked NOTHING in return but our forgiveness! But the moment we are given the chance to return the favor, to show them WE are not just innocent bystanders, you all turn tail! Look at them Silver Spoon, tell me what you saw at the beginning of this meeting."
"I saw people ready to help the cause."
"And now?"
"Chickens waiting for their heads to be cut off." The crowd was silent as they realized the little girl was correct.
"Now listen, this is where it gets complicated." It changes to another slide. "You will split into teams based on the color Snips and Snails give you." The two boys began passing out slips of paper. "Red team and Blue team deal with the cinema, Gold team and White team deal with the fair, Black team and Green team deal with the school." The slides change showing how the groups pair off from there. "Each team will be given an appointed leader. Trixie, Microchips, Sandlewood, Lyra, Bon-bon, and the Crusaders will be these leaders." The groups of people chosen approached the podium as Snips, Snails, and the crusaders lead them to the front of the class.
"W-what? What is the meaning of this?" Microchips asked.
"The meaning of this is that YOU'RE important now. Ever heard of a trial by fire? This is that trial! Blue team, meet with Trixie, red with Microchips, Sandlewood gets gold, the Crusaders are white, Lyra gets Green while Bon-bon gets Black. You have your leader. We start our plan of attack tomorrow morning, at dawn!"
Before anyone could ask any questions, Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara made their exit to the outside parking lot, where Sunset Shimmer sat on a bench.
"There, we did your stupid job." Silver Spoon mumbled.
"Already? Jeeze, you girls are good at this."
"We know!" They said at once.
"But you remember OUR bargain, right?" Diamond Tiara asked. "Next fifteen elections you and your friends will back us."
"And we will retain exclusive rights to your images and characters!" Silver Spoon added.
"Er... yeah, of course... You are aware there's only 8 more school elections after this, right?" Sunset asked.
"We never limited it to schools, Miss Shimmer." Tiara said, smiling as the two walked away.
Sunset Shimmer took out the phone and dialed Twilight. "Are you sure this was the best idea? I feel like we lost more than we gained."
"Trust me, it was a necessary sacrifice." Twilight hung up and turned her attention to the masks in her workshop, staring at them as they hung on the wall. There were eight in all, each with a different color and design.
The Red mask was Sunset Shimmer's, designed to resemble a bird's head and beak. It was curved frontwards and had white fabric in place of the eyes, to let Shimmer see through them. The Blue mask was Rainbow's and had been designed to resemble a racing helm, the black glass visor staring into the distance. A Purple mask was befitting for herself, Twilight thought. It reminded her of a robot, it looked not too dissimilar to Rainbow's but had more jagged edges and a small antennae sticking out of both sides.
Following that was a Yellow mask for Fluttershy. She had tried her damnedest to think up how to make a mask as unthreatening as possible, but as she stared at what basically amounted to a yellow smiley face. She began wondering if she might just start from scratch. Pinkie's mask was the same color as... well, everything about Pinkie. A bright vibrant pink covered what was once the hood to one of Twilight's old Halloween costumes, based on one of her most favorite paintings. She was unsure why everyone kept calling her "ghostface" though. Rarity's was a white masquerade piece that covered her eyes and nose. It had a regal design that reminded twilight of royalty. Finally, Applejack's mask was a rather simple piece constructed of an old gas-mask. The only real visual change Twilight had incorporated was spray-painting it orange.
On the table lay a spare, green mask, designed when Twilight realized she had enough items left over to create one more, in case of an emergency. She had made it to resemble Spike, mostly because at this point she had run out of imagination and figured a blank green mask would just be creepy. In hindsight, she probably should have used the parts to give Rarity a proper mask, but she figured that the one she had would be more suiting to her friend.
She picked up her own mask, looking at the glowing mechanical energy that swirled inside of it. Taking a deep breath, she put it on.
Nothing happened. She blinked and stared at her hands, clenching and unclenching her fists, and looking around her room. Nothing had happened. She didn't feel different, she didn't know anything new, she couldn't even fly. All that she could tell was different was that she was wearing a robot mask.
"I... don't get it." She confessed to herself, looking over her notes and such, the mask still attached to her face. Flipping, skimming, analyzing, Twilight drew upon every single piece of knowledge she had about Inapan's tech. It just didn't make any sense! What was she missing that Inapan wasn't? Growing angrier and angrier, she finally shouted and slammed her hands on the desk, breaking it in half. Panting she looked at her hands, feeling and moving them once more. She moved on to a nearby computer, picking the machine up with ease. She began laughing, not a maniacal laughter, but one of pride, of joy! She had done it! Grabbing her cell phone she began to dial her friends, but the piece of plastic shattered in her grip.
"Oh..." She took off the mask and set it aside, nervously. "I should probably have seen that coming..." She confessed to herself.
Flash Sentry sat in the same bed as Princess Inapan, staring up at the ceiling, and thinking about what was happening to him. He needed to talk to someone, anyone. After he made sure his wife was sleeping, Flash clapped his hands and his father emerged from the wall. Trying to maintain his balance.
"Hey dad... couldn't sleep either, huh?"
"At least you get a bed, son." The man said, unhappily.
"Dad, this isn't my fault! How was I supposed to kno-"
"I know... I know." He took a deep breath. "I'm just kind of... upset about this."
"We both are, dad. Have you heard the news? I'm... married."
"So I have, I just don't believe it."
"You and me both... What do I do?" Flash asked, breaking a long, painful silence.
"Son, this is a... well, this is a situation I never imagined being in." His father confessed, Inapan mumbling in her sleep behind his son.
"Mmmm come to bed honey..."
"I-in a moment." Flash turned back to his father. "I just need some advice, it doesn't even have to be good advice, tell me what to do."
The officer shook his head and scratched his head. "Tell her the truth."
"I've tried! She keeps cutting me off and telling me that I-"
"Son I'm sorry, but that's all I have! Let her know that this is a two way street, and she's not letting you ride in your lane! I mean even if you can't get a divorce at least try to make some ground rules!"
"Honey..." Inapan's voice was a lot less mumbly and a lot more awake this time. "What're you doing?" Flash clapped his hands and his father returned behind the wall, the boy turning back to his wife. "Were you talking about me behind my back?" She asked, frowning.
"No! Well, yes but nothing bad? Just asking my father what you'd like for our one week anniversary?" He pulled a false smile.
"Oh, you're so cute when you're lying." She grabbed him by the cheek. "Come on, let's get to bed. I'm gonna show you more of the ship in the morning, and you don't want to be sleepy then."
"Yes, dear." Flash sighed as he laid down, her hand rubbing his chest as he pondered how he was going to get out of this crazy relationship.
Tested meanwhile, entered the lab and approaching Grunt as they both stood outside a large green tube.
"How's the research coming?" Grunt responded with a yelp. "Excellent. Soon Sunset Shimmer, soon we will know your secret..."