//------------------------------// // When Science Meets Magic // Story: Equestria Girls: Secrets Beyond the Stars // by GoldenGoomba900 //------------------------------// Fluttershy was in an endless black void, standing up straight, but feeling neither ground nor air beneath her. She tried to flap her wings, but she went nowhere. Eventually, as she floated through the emptiness, she felt something pulling her. With several jerks and pulls, she was turned around, and saw a bright, powerful light coming towards her. Several conflicting thoughts entered her mind; had she died, would her friends be okay, had she let Inapan get the mask? The pulling slowed, becoming more gentle as a figure appeared before her. The figure was her, in a uniform resembling the one the aliens had worn, complete with butterfly wings. It had some differences though: her belt hadn't a gem on it, but a simplistic butterfly. She also wore a mask that resembled Rainbow's, but she could see her eyes through the clear glass covering them, and she wore a clear skirt that showed tights of a psychedelic nature. The second Fluttershy held out her gloved hand, looking at her other self as the void seemed to turn from a shade of black to a clean yellow. The first Fluttershy backed away, confused, afraid, but as the two locked eyes, the yellow girl saw a trusting look, the look of an old friend that she had never met. Cautiously, she took the doppelganger's hand. She froze as her body began healing itself, and the second Fluttershy entered her like it was a hole in the world. She awoke on the floor of Lemon's basement, panting and breathing heavily. The lights had begun dimming, but gave her enough light to identify she was wearing the uniform her other self was. Slowly getting up, Fluttershy cautiously observed her surroundings. Going up the stairs, she made a shocking discovery upon staring out the windows of Lemon's living room: it was now the dead of night, and there were no signs of anyone. Silence filled the air as she carefully looked around the home, finding only the damage that had been done by Inapan. Lemon Zest and Indigo Zap (Or as they will be called for the remainder of this unusual combination for the sake of convenience: Lemigo Zast) panted as she (they?) sat on Sour Sweet's couch, the other three shadowbolts staring at their friend(s?). Sour Sweet's home was a lot less impressive than most of the shadowbolts'. Mostly because while the rest of the girls lived in high-class, upper crust society dwellings with multiple floors, Sour lived in the local Trailer Park. There was one large bedroom, a counter and stove that served as the kitchen, a small bathroom, a TV and the couch on which the girl(s?) of the hour sat, staring at her companions. "So, you were Lemon and Indigo." Sunny says, trying to wrap her head around this. "But now you're just someone else." "No, no, no, I am Indigo and Lemon! Er, I are! I mean... We are, maybe?" The fact she had both voices coming from her mouth simultaneously only compounded on this confusion. "You got hit by a laser, then when you... two woke up you were like this? And you expect us to believe this just because you're wearing their clothes and have their voices." "We hope so, yes." "This is the dumbest thing I've been a part of in a long, long time." Sugarcoat told the group. "But it's true!" Lemigo shouted. "How can we prove to you it's still us?" "What's Lemon's favorite song?" Sunny asked, thinking quickly. "Scandinavian Rhapsody by King, bu-" "What's Indigo's least favorite sport?" "Curling, but I still don-" "What's your favorite ice cream?" "Orange Sherbet!" "Chocolate Swirl!" The two voices shouted at once, the group looking at one another. "Well..." Sour Sweet said, astounded. "I suppose this changes things quite a bit." "I'm glad it's not me in there. I don't think I could emotionally handle it." Sugarcoat nods. "But I suppose we need to figure this out in..." she took a look at her watch. "Three days." "We should call Twilight, even if she's the one who made all this happen by sending us Flash." "No wonder he was so hot, he was just a spy." Lemigo sighed. "But yeah, we need to find Twilight." "No, no we don't." Sunny frowned. "Every time the Canterlot High kids get involved we just end up worse off somehow. We can fix this ourselves." "But how? We don't have super powers, those aliens are willing to shoot us on sight, and if she's any indication attempts will end in some freakish mutation." Sour said, sighing. "Gee thanks for being so sensitive." Lemigo said, taking off her headphones and adjusting her goggles to a more comfortable position with her left and right hands, respectively. "I- er, I mean WE honestly think the best idea is to just go talk to Twilight." "Good luck with that." Sugar said, holding up her cell phone. "The Canterlot kids aren't answering their phones. I assume they're in mourning or something." "Of course, they use us, then they refuse to let us use them, we've been played like fiddles." Sour moaned. "Who else do we know that're smart enough to do this?" "I know a guy down in Diamond City who has this machine tha-" Lemon's voice came out, her left hand removing her goggles and the right putting the headphones back on. "In case you haven't noticed, we're still trapped in a dome. We need to think, there's got to be SOMEONE smart enough to work on this." "Yeah, but even if we do we'd still need to find the laser pistol to reslime us." Lemigo said, visibly annoyed as her left hand tossed the headphones to the floor and her right doing the same with the goggles. As Lemigo began fighting herself, the other Shadowbolts began ignoring her. "So we need someone smart, familiar with magic and alien tech, and doesn't hate us." Sunny recapped. "An impossible solution for an impossible problem," Sugarcoat commented. "Why don't we just leave them like this? We don't owe them anything, I don't even like them." "You say you don't like any of us, but you still follow us around and refuse to leave when we ask," Sunny pointed out. "I don't need to justify myself to you." "She's just afraid of being alone when we all die." Sour commented darkly, both girls looking at her, slightly shocked. While the Shadowbolts consulted each-other, the heroes of our story consoled one-another. "I can't believe it. They're gone, just like that." Twilight stared at the ground. "I only met them a few months ago, yet it feels like they were my best friends forever." Pinkie was crying, sniffling as Sunset Shimmer gave her a shoulder to lean on. Spike, meanwhile, remained oblivious. Being a dog the concept of mortality had never crossed his mind, so seeing all his friends so upset just confused him. "So, when are they coming back?" Spike asked, Pinkie just crying even harder in response. "Because I mean, maybe they can cheer you guys up." Sunset looked at the ground, remembering her past sins and recalling the good times. "Spike..." Twilight began, kneeling down by his side. She pet him softly, the dog looking at her worried. "I... this is..." She tried to think of a way to explain this to him. This was something she'd never thought she'd needed to do, even when he'd gained intelligence. "Do you remember that book I read you, back before we got into Crystal Prep? About that really sad, rich guy and how, halfway through, there was this lady who was hit by a car?" "I kinda remember..." "And how everyone made a big deal of it? Well, when someone gets-" Twilight paused, taking a deep breath. "When someone gets really hurt, they just" she paused, "stop." "But they get better right? I mean, I get hurt all the time an-" "N-no, no Spike." Twilight sighed and held him close. "They stop forever. And we think that happened to our friends." A long, painful silence followed as Spike let this sink in. "B-but, I won't stop. Will I?" Spike asked. This finally made Twilight cry, the dog backing away, worried. "I mean, it's only if we get hurt, right?" Twilight just cried harder and Sunset's phone began ringing. Upset and assuming it was the Crystal Prep kids again, Shimmer answered and began yelling. "What?! What do you want so badly! We're in pieces here and everything's going wrong! Half our friends are dead, our plan's in ruins, people want us strung up in the town square, and Inapan's on her way here to kill us as we speak! What could you POSSIBLY want?" "O-Oh, I'm so sorry... I-I thought maybe I could... I-I'll be right over." Shimmer paused as the voice resonated in her ears. Before she could respond the phone hung up. Shimmer dropped her phone and her frown began turning into a smile. "Fluttershy's alive."