“WHOA! UFF! ACK!” Christian shouts as he gets tossed from the portal at a high velocity and is thrown onto a white and rocky surface. He lands face first in a cloud of white dust, body aching a little from the impact. “Well, THAT could have been a smoother landing.” He says, voice muffled by the ground. Christian gets up and brushes some of the white dust off of himself; his black pants making it look like he fell into a few bags of flour. After most of the dust is off, he finally takes a look at his surroundings. His eyes explode as he realizes that he is on the surface of Luna’s moon; the blackness of the outer reaches of space speckled with thousands of stars. “Whoa…” He gasps, astonished at his surroundings. “Nova actually did it.”
“Indeed I did.” Nova’s voice echoes behind Christian as the stallion jumps out of the colorful portal, the black orb following him out as the portal closes. The orb gains a light blue aura as Supernova hovers it over to Christian, who promptly puts it's back into his pants pocket. “I’m glad to see that the upgrade performed nicely.” Christian takes notice to his comment as he looks around his new landscape, still gawking.
“I’m glad to see that we’re all still alive… BECAUSE WE ARE ON THE MOON!” He shouts; nervous, startled, and confused all mixed in his yelling. “H-How are we b-breathing?!” He states again, shaking in the fear at the possibility that his lungs will collapse any moment. Suddenly, Pinkie pops into his view from out of nowhere.
“Obviously we are using the rules that apply in cartoons when it comes to space, Christian! Like in Jimmy Neutron and Johnny Test; they didn’t need any oxygen or space suits while in outer space!” She starts jumping around as she explains the group’s circumstances and the situation; har bouncing being higher than normal due to the lower gravity. “It’s just easier to have characters in space without the actual consequences of not having a space suit on!” Christian stares at her as she finishes her explanation; his eyes not blinking as she keeps on smiling.
“Okay, now how does that make some sense?” He says with a confused expression on his face. Supernova sighs as he monitors the scanner that he brought with him.
“It doesn’t, Christian.” Supernova says with a roll of his eyes. Suddenly, the scanner floating next to Supernova starts emitting a series of low beeps. The noises shock Supernova, who swivels the scanner over to him and starts reading its sensors. “What in Equestria-?” He mumbles to himself as he adjusts the parameters on the device. However, the beeping persists. The others quickly gather around him, puzzled by the device’s constant beeping.
“What’s wrong, Supernova?” Luna asks.
“Well,” He says while adjusting a knob on his scanner. “It seems that another frequency similar to the portal device is in the vicinity.” This news shocks the three friends. How could another portal be all the way up here?
“Wait, you’re saying that there is another portal up here?” Christian exclaims.
“Uh, yea Christian. That was explained in the last paragraph!” Pinkie answers. Everyone proceeds to stare at Pinkie for yet another odd comment.
“Anyway…” Christian continues. “How could another portal be all the way on the moon?” He asks the unicorn. Supernova takes a second to respond as he keeps adjusting his scanner.
“Well, it seems that we are not alone up here. Someone or somepony is doing something up here.” He concludes. Luna’s eyes suddenly pop open with surprize before they narrow with madness.
“Whoever they are, THEY must be the source of the disturbance that I have been sensing!” Her voice booms. Supernova nods at the princess.
“Correct. I have reason to believe that there is only one source of this portal: Trixie.”
“WHAT?!” Christian shouts. “How could that be possible?!”
“The portal spell can be learned by any unicorn, Christian. Even with enough practice, you could learn it yourself.” He states as he starts marching forward. “The only question I have is how in Equestria she managed to get the information to learn the portal spell.”
“That one is easy.” Christian says, awkwardly trying to walk forward; which was surprisingly easily to do on the moon. “I bet you twenty bucks that Paradox taught her the spell.” Nova thinks to himself about the situation for a few seconds. With both Paradox and Trixie on the moon, that could only mean trouble.
“Then there is no time to waste.” Nova says, suddenly. “Let’s go to the source of this new portal and stop whatever madness that those two may be causing.” He starts leaping forward in order to have greater strides while on the lunar surface. Luna nods and follows after him, her hooves pounding with each step and causing some moon dust to rise up as she moves. Pinkie and Christian remain as the last ones to move from when they came on to the moon.
“Great.” Christian says with a roll of his eyes. “Even on the bloody moon, we can’t catch a break from those two.” He jumps and does a front flip to catch up the the other two. “C’mon Pink, let’s go!” He says with a smirk. Pinkie nods and give her human friend a salute.
“Okie dokie lokie!” She quickly bounces after him, easily surpassing the human with her own agility. The four of them start trekking across the lunar landscape, tracking the signal and determined to stop whatever plans that their foes have come up with.
One hour later…
The three ponies plus a human continue across the white and crater-filled satellite; each of them a bit tired and bored with the lack of changing terrain. Pinkie is the only one with a smile still on her face as she continues to bounce around the moon with glee. Christian keeps doing a few flips, handstands, and spins in the air as he tries to copy his pink friend. Luna and Supernova have stone cold determination on their faces as they keep tracking the signal in front of their other two friends.
“You’re getting better, Christian! If you keep this up; you should be a pro in no time!” She shouts as the human lands another double backflip.
“Thanks, Pink. But I think the moon’s lower gravity is helping out with the air time.” He says with a slight grin on his face.
“That’s why space is the best place to practice your new moves!” She says as she lands a triple axel spin herself. Suddenly, two white orbs appear out of the corner of her eye; floating alongside the moon. Pinkie turn around to see just what these two objects actually are. Getting a good look, they seem to be mechanical in natural, one orange and one blue…
“Wow, a Portal reference. Well, isn’t the author subtle about it?” The pink pony says with a roll of her eyes. “That game is four years old! He could at least done a game that came out this year!” Christian blinks at Pinkie’s statement before looking behind him to see the two small, white spheres floating in space.
“Are… Are we going to get sued for this?” Christian questions as he points to the two objects behind him with his thumb. Pinkie shrugs in response.
“I doubt it. Now c’mon! Let’s get back to work!” She says. Christian nods.
“Right!” He jumps back up into the air, flipping a few times before landing on a nearby orbiting asteroid. He jumps off of the rock, does a single flip and lands in front of Luna and Supernova. The two ponies smirk at his act.
“Impressive form, Christian. Pinkie is teaching you well!” Nova comments as he walks past him.
“Well, I do have a good teacher. I guess that really goes for all of my skills, though.” Christian says while generating an orange orb in his hand.
“Aww, thanks Christian!” Pinkie yells while flipping over him. Luna giggles at her stunt.
“Well, you girls have been helping him hone his new abilities. The least he can do is thank you girls.”
“Luna’s right.” Christian adds on. “You girls have been helping me out a lot and…” Suddenly, Supernova’s scanner starts beeping widely and even louder than before. Supernova puts a hoof up, interrupting Christian’s statement as he tries to pinpoint the reasoning behind the noise.
“Aha!” He shouts as he realizes the cause of the beeping. “It seems that the source of the new portal is on the other side of this crater!” He runs forward before leaping over the large gap and landing on the slope upwards on the other side. Luna follows by flying over the expanse. Christian and Pinkie look at each other and nod before copying Nova’s movements; though doing a few flips and tricks in the air for some style points before landing right next to their two friends. Nova goes up the lip of the crater first, motioning the others to stand back as he scopes out the surrounding area. The other three hear a small gasp before Supernova slides back down the crater a bit to the others. “I think you should all see this!” He says, worryingly. The rest of the group shares their unicorn’s concerned look as they prop their heads above the curve of the crater.
On the other side of the crater field, the bodies of a few green beings can be seen flying back and forth from a rainbow colored portal; carrying random metal objects and tools toward a cave cut within the lunar surface. One by one, a line of the beings carry their equipment. And a few seconds later, they emerge empty handed and fly back into the portal; seemingly in a loop. Suddenly, another one of the beings yells something at the others; and almost immediately, the rest of them zip back into the cave and the portal vanishes. The scene before them both shocks and surprises the group.
“Aliens?!” Pinkie exclaims with a mix of joy and fear.
“Not even close! Those were changelings!” Christian instantly shuts down Pinkie’s guess. “I recognize those blue eyes and holed-filled bodies anywhere!”
“What are changelings doing on the moon?” Nova questions aloud.
“I don’t know…” Luna’s says with anger building up in her voice. “But whatever they are doing…” She looks up at the others, her eyes pure white and fury written on her face. “THEY WILL REGRET EVER COMING HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE!” The other three shutter at her booming voice and irate features. As quickly as it started, her rage-filled mood dies down and Luna returns to her previous state. She exhales deeply. “Sorry about that; lost my temper for a second. Now, let us find out what those bugs are up to.” She advances out of the crater and towards the cave the changelings were flying into. The other three are still frozen in their places as they try to recover from what just occurred.
“And yet somehow…” Christian starts. “I was louder than THAT when I found out I could talk to animals.”
“Even I don’t think you were louder than that, Christian.” Supernova says, moving toward the cave as well. “Luna tends to fluctuate in anger. THAT was towards the end of spectrum that her anger will go.” Pinkie and Christian remain in the crater, looking at each other with a bit of fear still in their eyes.
“Even I won’t argue that.” Christian says, looking upward towards where Luna disappeared to.
Meanwhile at the cave’s entrance, Luna and Supernova peer inside to see a corridor leading deeper within the moon. The interior is winding and pitch black, like every other cave that they walked past earlier. However, this one filled Luna with an odd sense of… nostalgia.
“Hmm… This place seems… familiar.” Luna whispers to herself.
“Well, no time to find out why.” Christian says, coming up behind the two other ponies. “We need to figure out what those bugs were doing.” Luna and Nova both nod at his words.
“Right. So, let us move onward.” Luna says, pushing further into the cave. The rest of the group follows after her hastily. As they advance toward the inner workings of the cave, they come upon an exit that leads into a large open space that leads out into a giant crater. Peering from within their opening, they see the changelings with their cargo in tow all flying towards the center of the crater. In the center, a giant contraption is sitting there; partially disassembled and powered down. The contraption seems to be some sort of large laser gun perched on an arched pedestal. A platform is at the base of the machine with a bunch of blinking colorful buttons. The group stares at the machine with confusion and fear.
“What IS that thing?” Luna asks, cocking a brow at the structure. Christian and Supernova both glare at the contraption before eyeing each other with suspicion.
“Something tells me that this is the result of one of those blueprints that Trixie and Paradox stole from Area 51.” Nova says, examining the machine further.
“And something tells me that you’re right.” Christian concludes. “Only question is: What does it do?” He says, putting a hand on his chin.
“Something evil, no doubt.” Pinkie adds in, marveling at the machinery in front of her. Suddenly, a familiar unicorn emerges from behind the contraption: Trixie. Dawning a wicked smile, she nods as the changelings continues to build and work on the device. The ponies quickly notice her presence and duck into the cave they came from, their eyes peering out from the darkness to see what she is planning.
“Excellent! Trixie is pleased with your work so far, changelings. Chrysalis did say you would get the job done quite quickly.” She trots forward to look at the front of the mechanism to ponder its controls. “Yes… Paradox will be quite pleased that The M.I.N.D is near completion!” The hidden ponies gasp as the plan is revealed.
“The M.I.N.D?” Pinkie ponders. “I wonder if it has something to do with mind control?” She questions aloud. Christian facepalms at her statement.
“Gee Pinkie, I wonder what gave off that impression?!” He shouts, sarcastically.
“Well, it is called ‘The M.I.N.D’.” She says with an innocent smile; unaware of Christian’s sarcasm. Christian sighs and shakes his head frustration.
“Well, we won’t know for sure until we get a closer look and analyze that thing.” Supernova states. “If I can get down there, unnoticed; I can get a closer look at that weapon before Trixie even notices. I should be able to deactivate it as well.”
“Are you sure, Nova?” Christian asks, hesitant in trying to sneak down into a crater full of his worst enemies.
“Can’t be that hard, Christian. I am one of the smartest ponies I know.”
“Fair enough.” Christian shrugs again. “I’m sure we can do this, right Pinkie and Lu-” His sentence comes to halt as he notices that the lunar princess has vanished from Supernova’s side. Supernova swivels around to see what his human friend is gawking at and quickly realizes his worry. Christian leaps from the shadows of the cave to see Luna stomping down the side of the crater towards Trixie and the changelings. “Snap.” Supernova and Pinkie rush out to see the source of Christian’s worry. “She’s going to blow our cover.” He looks back at the other two ponies. “Any ideas?”
“We could use this as a prime opportunity to get the weapon.” Nova points out. “While Luna is yelling at Trixie and distracting the drones; I can reach that panel.” The unicorn points to the control panel on the other side of the weapon. Christian smirks at his friend’s idea.
“Sounds like a plan.” He points to the left curvature of the crater. “We’ll slide down over there. Let’s go you two!” He leaps toward his intended destination. The other two ponies nod.
“Right!’ The quickly bounce after him (With Pinkie performing another front flip for style.)
Meanwhile, in the middle of the crater, Luna is fuming as she approaches Trixie. The periwinkle unicorn is facing towards the device; completely unaware of the irate unicorn behind her. The drones working on the weapon also don’t notice the alicorns presence. That is, until a certain pony screams louder than a banshee.
“HOW DARE YOU DEFACE MY MOON!!!” Her voice explodes across the inside of the crater and outward into space. The three ponies sneaking along the side of the slope cover their ears at the sheer magnitude of her voice. The drones working on the weapon are blown away by the sheer force of her words. Yet Trixie remains facing the weapon; unmoving from the booming sound behind her. In fact, the unicorn laughs at the voice.
“Heh, you know it is said that in space, no pony can hear you scream.” She turns toward the angered unicorn, a relaxed yet serious look on her face. “However, Trixie thinks you just proved that theory wrong.” Luna’s nostrils flare at her words.
“You DARE mock me with a joke?!” She shouts again. Trixie keeps her calm nature.
“The Great and Powerful Trixie knows not to mock you, Luna.” The smaller unicorn steps forward, which catches Luna off guard. “Yet, you do not know of the magical power that Trixie now possess.” Trixie continues to step toward Luna, to which Luna keeps her ground but is getting rather perplexed as to why Trixie is so confident in her abilities. Then again, this IS Trixie after all. Thinking highly of one’s self is her most prominent feature.
“Do you think I am scared of some of your dark magic? PAH!” Luna scoffs at the threat. “I am much more powerful than whatever you are able to conjure up!” Trixie lightly laughs at Luna’s boast.
“Oh, Princess Luna; Trixie knows you are not easily amused.” She gives her a glare. “But she knows you WILL be when you see what she has in store for you!”
Meanwhile, Over by the panel; Christian, Nova, and Pinkie manage to sneak behind The M.I.N.D’s main controls. Satisfied that Trixie and the drones are still pre-occupied by the ticked off princess, Christian nods toward the assortment of buttons.
“Alright, Nova. Do your thing!” Nova nods as he hops over to the panel.
“With pleasure, Christian!” He starts tapping on the assortment of buttons and dial wildly, trying to find a way to power down the device. As he is doing this, Christian is peering over to where Luna is; making sure that Trixie is still being distracted. Pinkie on the other hand, is merely sitting down; bobbing her head back in forth in either joy or to some unknown song. “Alright, you two. I just need a few more seconds…” He says as his button presses start getting slower.
“Ohhhhh, how pathetic! Thinking you could disable MY creation without being noticed!” A voice calls out just as Supernova is about to input the final few presses. The three of them look around the machine, confused as to where the voice came from. Then, Christian realizes the deep voice and immediately starts to panic.
“Oh snap! Guys! It’s Para-” He gets cut off as a mysterious dark energy proceeds to lift the three of them up into the air. “Whoa! Hey!” Christian shouts as he starts hovering.
“Weeeeeeeeeee! This is fun!” Pinkie shouts as she tumbles in the air.
“You fools!” The voice says again; now coming from a dark void in between the three of them. “Did you really think it would be that simple?” Paradox emerges from the void, arms crossed and an evil grin on his face.
“Paradox!” Christian shouts as flips around to meet the spirit eye to eye.
“So, that’s Paradox?” Supernova says as he tries to move from the dark grip Paradox has on him. “He is quite the interesting being.”
“‘Interesting’ is the last word I would use on this guy.” Christian comments as he also tries to struggle.
“Oh come now, human. You must admit that I am quite the character.” He says, hovering front of Christian; who rolls his eyes.
“Yea, quite the annoying character.”
“Ha ha, human. Still giving me smart mouthed remarks even after I have you in my grasp.” He says hovering the three of them out from behind The M.I.N.D. “But let us see if you have anything smart to say after THIS!” With quick motion downward towards Luna, the three of them are thrown down with great force around the alicorn. Luna snaps out of her fixated stare with Trixie as she sees the two ponies and human getting up from their free fall.
“Huh? What is going on? Are you three alright?” She asks as she tries to assist Supernova up. Christian and Pinkie quickly spring up from their fall.
“We’re good. But I don’t think we will be for long…” Christian points the influx of drones that have gathered behind Trixie. The bugs quickly encircle around the group; leaving no viable exit for the group. Paradox floats down next to his student, the grin still on his face.
“So, what will we do with them, Paradox?” Trixie asks. Paradox starts laughing at her words. The group in the drone’s encirclement prepare to face the insects before them; readying themselves in combat stances.
“It is quite simple, my student. We shall give them the benefit of watching Equestria become ours!” Paradox thrusts a hand forward as the bugs start to close in on the group. The group looks around as the bugs start to encroach on their position. “This time, you fools will NOT interfere with our plans!”