What Must be Done Chapter 6
By Foxgear
Applejack awoke with a groan as she stumbled to her feet. At some point in the trip or maybe it was right away, she didn’t know, Tundra knocked her out. Her vision cleared and she found herself in some sort of a see through prison. The room was dark, but she could make out several other similar cages around the room, one was right next to her in fact and it seemed to contain one of her friends!
“Hey,” She yelled pounding on the glass “Are you ok?”
Beyond the glass was a waterfall of pink air, far too straight to be Pinkie Pie’s, which left Fluttershy as her nearest cellmate. She yelled louder and increased her pounding trying to get the girl’s attention, but the shy girl barely moved and it was really starting to freak her out.
“Maybe these things are sound proof,” Applejack reasoned stopping her assault on the glass, which showed no signs of damage, meaning it was some tough stuff, like shark tank tough. She did manage to bloody her hand though; a red smear stained the otherwise crystal clear surface.
Applejack looked down at her damaged hand, looking it over for any broken fingers or something, she thankfully found none, she just busted her hand open around her knuckle, nothing too serious Applejack reasoned looking up from the wound, only to gasp as she found Fluttershy, red eyed with fangs and bat wings pawing at her cell!
“Whoa! What the hell!” Applejack screamed rushing to the other side of the cell, giving her a full look at her shy friend’s new appearance. Fluttershy looked as if she was ponied up; ears on her head and wings, plus the extra hair, but this version gave her longer pointer ears with leathery bat wings and hair down to her feet. Also big two inch long fangs, cannot forget about the fangs!
Slowly Applejack gathered her courage and slowly moved closer to Fluttershy, confident in the cell’s sturdiness. Once there she got an even closer look at her scary fangs, but also noticed something else, a tuff of purple hair on the ground behind her.
Moving to the right of Flutterbat, who was too busy trying to get a lick of her blood off the cell wall, Applejack peered in for a better look and gasped at the sight of Rarity sprawled out on the floor with her shirt nearly ripped off and large bit mark on her neck! For a moment she thought the fashionista was dead and gone, but there was a faint movement of her chest, indicating that Rarity was at least still breathing, though she was looking much paler then usual.
Backing away Applejack tried to look at the conditions of her other friends, but the dim lights prevented her from seeing anything worthwhile, and in her mind was a blessing and a curse. There was no telling what kind of monsters the rest of her friends could have become and she was afraid to find out.
“Enjoying the show?” A voice said, startling her.
Applejack pressed herself against the wall of her cell as a peach toned woman with brown hair stood outside her cell door smiling casually at her. She wasn’t sure what was more disturbing, the woman’s smile or the blood stains on her lab coat. Either way the woman opened the door to cell and walked in with no weapon or containment device Applejack could see and the woman was wearing heels and didn’t look to have a lot of meat on her. She could take her.
With a throaty growl Applejack rushed the woman, fully intent on punching her in the face and getting out of this cell, but to her utter shock and surprise the woman dropped her clipboard and just as quickly dropped her to the ground! Applejack struggled against the woman’s grip as she nearly twisted her arms into pretzels, but the woman was much stronger then she looked, stronger than her even.
“Hmm, test subject 005 shows to possess average intelligence with good tactical instincts and possess beyond normal human strength for a female. Possible conclusions are earth pony magic, but then again, Nico Vega’s daughter would be someone special.” The woman smiled widely down at Applejack, giving the farm girl the shivers as the woman ran her finger down her cheek. “Cute freckles, inherited from your mother, in fact you inherited almost all of your mother’s genes. Practically a clone as far as looks, which is only a good thing I assure you. Your mother was quiet the looker.”
“What do you know about my mom?” Applejack asked/snarled trying to break free of the woman’s grip, but it wasn’t happening.
“I know a lot more about her then you do,” The woman answered lifting her off the ground, though still maintaining a strong grip. “I’m Maddie by the way, Maddie Hoof, pleasure to meet you again Applejack Abigale Apple, did you like the flowers?”
Applejack blinked in confusion, “Flowers?”
“Oh you don’t remember,” Maddie pouted walking her out of the cell, “I sent you flowers for your dad’s funeral, but I guess you wouldn’t have remembered, what with being stricken with grief and all, understandable. They were moon orchids by the way; your mother always had a special thing for them. Course that maybe because of your father, he was so transfixed by the moon, must be from serving under Luna.”
“Serving under Luna… my vice principle?”
Maddie laughed a loud as she pushed Applejack into a chair and quickly locked her down before she could do anything to escape. Not that she would have gotten far anyway.
“Sorry for laughing, but it’s just so funny that you don’t know! I would have assumed Nico would have told you before he died, but I guess not. Shame he chose to keep you ignorant of your true heritage.”
“True heritage?” Applejack asked warily. How did this woman know her father and mother? What the hell was going on?
Maddie rolled in a table with a number vials and needles spread out in front of her and carefully began to mix and match the contents as she talked.
“Well, to start off I guess I should tell you that both your father, Nico Vega, and my father Madhoof, are both from the world of Equestria, a world that I’m sure you are at least a aware of given the level of magic oozing from you and your friends. To make a long story short, Nico Vega served under Princess Luna in her night patrol and my father worked in what they called the rainbow factory. They were on opposing sides of a conflict involving my father’s work and they ended up here by accident.”
Maddie hummed a little song as she shook a blue and yellow vile between her fingers, all the while Applejack stared jaw slacked at her. “Let’s see after they end up here, your dad tried to drown my dad in a river, but he survived and was found by some campers and they took him to the hospital. After that he found this world’s version of him and took over his life by you know…” Maddie made a cutting gesture over her throat. “With that taken care of my father got educated about the world, became a professor at Crystal Prep and continued his research for many years, along the way having me, and one day Nico shows up and kills him.”
“You don’t sound too broken up about that,” Applejack pointed, noticing the lack of emotion at the mention of her father’s death. Something she hoped never happened to her.
Maddie shrugged. “Well it’s not like my dad didn’t tell me why Nico was bound to come and kill him, it’s completely understandable why he did it. I mean dad did kidnap Nico as a foal and then changed him and many others into dragon ponies, completely erasing their former selves. Also dad may have had a slight, maybe major role in your mother’s death.”
Applejack blinked and then clenched her jaw hard as she glared at Maddie, “What did you just say about my mother?”
“That my dad injected her with the same virus that he used to kill Nico and then sent Nico flowers telling him that he did it? I think he had the flowers signed to 088, if I remember right.”
That was it! That’s where she saw 088! The day of her mother’s funeral she answered the door and found a bundle of roses and moon orchids at the door. When she looked at the card the only thing it said was “to 088, I hope your time was together was happy.” She showed her dad the flowers and he got mad, really mad! He crushed flowers in his hands, the rose thorns cutting into his palms, but he didn’t care, he just stood there seething in the living room as blood pooled at his feet. That was the day her dad changed, the day he became distant and colder. He left her, Mac and Applebloom with Granny more and more often, till finally he come home one night smelling of smoke and wearing a grim smile.
Tears swelled up in her eyes. She had been the first one to find dad that night, slumped against the porch door with a bottle of whiskey in one hand and a picture of mom in the other. He had ruffled her hair, chuckling sadly as he took a drink from the bottle. He had gotten revenge, but at the cost of his own life and he knew it too. After that night her dad had been his kind old self again, taking every second of every day to play and spent time with them and on the seventh day, he died.
“You… you killed my parents!”
Maddie paused in her work and tried to look cute, which only pissed Applejack off more as her hands tightened so tight that her nails cut into her palms!
“Technically it was my dad that did that, but I guess that doesn’t matter, since I did kidnap you and your friends.” Maddie leaned in close to Applejack, a sickly sweet smile on her lips as she whispered into Applejack’s ear. “And do you know why I told you all this? Knowing it would make you angry?”
“No, why?” Applejack growled, though she really didn’t care what the girl’s reasons were, she just wanted to get out of these cuffs and wring her neck with her own bare hands!
“It’s because,” Maddie whispered seductively, “This is an experiment and this mixture works better if your body is running with adrenaline, the compound spreads faster that way.”
Applejack’s entire body froze as she felt the prick of the needle against her skin. She watched wide eyed as the blue and yellow mixture slowly entered her body, its effects hitting her almost instantly as she felt something strange happening to her body.
“Why is it so hot in here all of the sudden?” Applejack asked, her anger and energy suddenly drained. She felt exhausted and was that stream coming off her skin?
“I wonder what magic will awaken in you?” Maddie said a loud as she uncuffed Applejack and threw her back into her cell. Applejack’s entire body was limp; the farm girl couldn’t move a muscle. “Will you turn into a monster like your shy friend or will you become an elemental like Tundra? Maybe you’ll be something new? Wouldn’t that be exciting? I wonder if Nico’s dragon genes transferred over to this world. That would be interesting, you turning into a dragon!”
Maddie laughed hysterically from outside her cell, not that Applejack really cared right now. She didn’t really care about anything. She pressed her head against the cement trying to cool down, but it didn’t have much effect. She was just too hot!
In some hope of cooling down Applejack kicked off her boots and socks and unbuttoned her shirt, exposing her belly and bra, but that was as far as she went, but god damn if she wouldn’t consider it if she didn’t cool down soon!
Another thing she noticed was that it was getting harder to breathe and to see. Her vision was blurry as hell and everything looked a like mesh of colors and lights.
As she rolled over onto her side, her stomach felt sick, like she was about to throw up! Never mind that, she did throw up, she thought dreary as she rolled away from the stink. What was happening to her?
Maddie tapped on the clear wall, “Hey how you doing in there? It’s been at least two hours and no change, I’m kind of disappointed, so much so that I think I’m gonna give you another dose!”
The cell door opened and Maddie walked towards her with a syringe in hand. Applejack fearfully backed up against the wall of the cell.
“Please don’t! I can’t take anymore!” She pleaded.
“Oh they all say that. Don’t worry Applejack, the human body can take a lot of abuse before breaking down, you just got to push yourself!” Maddie grabbed Applejack by the shoulder forcing her against the ground. “Now hold still for your medicine!”
Applejack felt the prick of the needle hit her again, this time in her leg as she slumped against the ground without any fight. The heat was cooling and now she was feeling cold. She shivered as she curled up into a ball for warmth and she wondered if she would ever get out of here or be forced to be Maddie’s play thing till she finally died.
“Mac… please help me… Mac,” She cried, sobbing loudly into the floor. She didn’t want to be here! She wanted to be at home with her brother and sister!
But Mac didn’t come. He probably wouldn’t be coming anytime soon, he might never find them. Applejack sobbed harder at the thought as she huddled in the corner. In the cell next to her she spotted Flutterbat standing leaning over Rarity, licking her lips, she looked away as her lips parted revealing her fangs.
Applejack awoke feeling normal, but stiff, sleeping on the floor did that to a person. She didn’t know how long she’s slept, but it must not have been too long.
“Ugh, why won’t you stay changed?” She heard Maddie shout in frustration. Looking over to the other cell Applejack saw that Fluttershy missing. Quietly she moved the door of the cell to get a better look around the lab, there she spotted Fluttershy strapped to a chair, her face covered in tears, but at least she was normal again.
Keeping quiet she listened in.
“This is the third time you’ve changed back! I’ve wasted two doses on you and have gotten no results! Now tell me, why won’t you stay transformed?” Maddie demanded with a syringe filled with a pink liquid in her hand. “Tell me now!”
Fluttershy sniffed as she tried to shrink into the chair, there was blood on her lips, Rarity’s blood. Applejack preyed she didn’t remember her time as Flutterbat; the poor girl would never recover.
“I-I-I don’t know,” Fluttershy cried as Maddie grabbed her by the hair, pulling it hard so her head was off to one side revealing her neck.
“Fine, then I’ll just have to watch you more closely this time.” Maddie stabbed the needle into a Fluttershy’s neck and injected the mixture. The effect was immediate as Fluttershy changed to Flutterbat within seconds, looking angry and hungry as she snapped her fangs at Maddie.
“How cute,” Maddie scoffed tossing the batgirl back into her cell. “Snack on your friend some more… wait a second!”
Maddie entered Fluttershy’s cell batting the batgirl’s attacks away easily as she knelt over Rarity, muttering something to herself that Applejack couldn’t hear. After several seconds Maddie picked Rarity up off the ground and carried her out of the cell and locked the door. She threw Rarity into her own cell and returned to Fluttershy’s with a tape recorder.
“Have removed subject 002 from subject 001’s cell, on the theory that 002’s blood somehow reverts 001’s experimentation. Cause for this theory is only a hunch, but shows strong signs of being correct. I will look into the effect at a later date.” Maddie left Fluttershy’s cell and moved to another across the room and turned on the lights, revealing Rainbow Dash lying face down on the ground. “Beginning experiment on subject 004.”
From her position Applejack could only watch helplessly as Maddie injected Rainbow Dash with some sort of blue liquid. The effects were quick to start as Dash began to scream in pain as lightning began to shoot from her body!
“AAAGHH! It hurts! It hurts!” Rainbow screamed as even her hair became electrified, she was shining as bright as a thousand watt light bulb as she ponied up, growing ears and wings with her hair growing down to her feet before she passed out.
Maddie commented into her recorder, “Subject 004, here by named Rainbow Storm, as shown elemental properties after injection with quick results. Reprogramming will commence after evaluation of subject 006.”
Applejack watched worriedly as Maddie traveled to the other set of cells far side of the room. The cells contained Sunset, Aria, and Sonata, but her worries grew when Maddie stopped in front of Sunset’s cell with a dark red vile in her hand.
She opened the door; Sunset was still asleep inside, making it easily for Maddie to inject her with the red liquid. Once she was finished Maddie stepped out of the cell and waited.
Sunset’s eyes snapped open. She wobbled onto her feet and fell against the wall breathing hard and sweating heavily.
“What’s… who are you… what… what did you do to me?” Sunset asked fearfully as red stream began to rise off her body. “No, no, no, no! I don’t want to! I don’t want to be that monster again!”
“Sunset!” Applejack screamed out as she watched her friend slowly transform into the monster she had once become during the fall formal. Unlike last time she wore a look a pure horror and sadness as her skin redden and her fingers become claws. She cried out as two leathery wings sprouted from her back.
“Aj, AJ HELP ME!” She screamed as the transformation finished. She gave one final agonizing scream before passing out and falling in a heap on the floor.
Applejack screamed at the top of her lungs, “What are you doing to my friends!”
Maddie stepped away from Sunset’s cells to stand in front of Applejack’s, a devious smile on her lips. “I’m making them into my new minions. Your brother and his band of girlfriends, killed White Tail and Kerosene, two of my favorites by the way, and I need replacements. Don’t worry; you’ll join them soon enough as soon as I find the right magical chemical mix to inject in you. Since you show no reactions to fire and ice, I’ll have to do an earth and wind mixture this time.”
“You stay away from me!”
“Oh Applejack, it’s so much fun watching you crumble before me, though I was hoping you’d keep that feisty attitude a little longer. It makes it more fun for me.” Maddie said pulling out a green and black syringe. “Now, which one do you want first, or how about both?”
Applejack growled as her back touched back of the cell, “How about neither!”
Rushing ahead Applejack punched Maddie in the face, catching the mad woman by surprise as she pinned her down with her knees and proceeded to rain a fury of blows on Maddie’s face, splitting her forehead open as Maddie screamed with rage as she wiggled her arm free from beneath Applejack’s legs and stabbed the black syringe into the farm girl’s leg. Instantly Applejack’s assault stopped as the mixture paralyzed her.
With a simple push Maddie knocked Applejack onto the floor and got up wiping the blood off her face as she did so.
“Still go some fight huh, that’s good, very good. You’ll last longer with that attitude.”
Applejack didn’t respond, or rather she couldn’t respond. Something, something was happening to her. Her muscles felt like they were being torn apart!
“Ah I see I finally got the right mixture, I wonder what you’ll become?” Maddie giggled as she crossed her fingers, “Here’s to you becoming a dragon! Oh don’t give me that look it will be fun! I’ll leave you alone to change in peace; you seem to take longer than the others to transform. Kind of like the pink one. She’s something special all together.”
Maddie continued to laugh as Applejack mumbled something, curious Maddie leaned in closer, “What was that?”
“Mac…”
“Hmm, you’ll have to speak up, I can’t here you.”
“Mac…”
“Crying out for big brother now? Figures, I can’t tell you how many times he’s accidentally been a thorn in my side, but I very much doubt he has the intelligence to find you and even if he did, it would be far too late to…(BOOM!)… save you. Hold that thought.”
Maddie ran over the security monitors where they showed Tundra being shattered to pieces as Mac and Adagio entered the library with a third shadowy figure standing at the base of the stairs.
“Well fuck, I guess he’s a lot smarter then I gave him credit for.” She said watching the two through the hallway monitors. They were looking a bit conflicted about which way to go and it would be a real pain if they found her lab and wrecked her equipment. She better go greet her guests.
“Well, you girls play nice, while I go play with your little would be rescuers.” Maddie sweetly sang as she unbuttoned her lab coat, revealing a pair of black shorts and a workout shirt as well as her toned body.
Maddie giggled as she did a few stretches to limber up, “Like what you see? You’d be surprised how much of a workout it is wrangling monsters all the time. I could probably compete in the Olympics if I wanted too. I’ll be back shortly with more of your friends, please be a dragon when I get back!”
AJ laid numbly against the floor Maddie exited the lab. There was nothing she could do except pray Mac and Adagio would save her.
Maddie slowly walked up the stairs of the basement to the main level of the library. She could hear their footsteps up above her. Guess she did a good job hiding the lab’s secret entrance; they’d be distracted well she made her entrance. Hopefully she could catch them when they separated, it would make things easier.
At the top of the stairs Maddie peeked through the secret door, making sure the cost was clear, seeing that it was she entered the library and quickly shut the secret lab door behind her. For now she stood alone, with the only the shuffles of Adagio’s and Mac’s booted feet echoing in the room.
Quietly Maddie removed her shoes and placed them on the shelf. Now in her long socks she jumped onto the nearby bookshelf, which she had bolted down so it wouldn’t tip over. In the past she used the shelves and other objects in here to practice her gymnastics. This was her playground. They didn’t stand a chance!
Catching the wisp of orange fluffy hair running by Maddie smiled deviously as she jumped and flipped her way from shelf to shelf. She came to a stop on the shelf where Adagio had her back turned to her and as nimbly as a cat Maddie jumped down on the siren! Muffling Adagio’s mouth with her hand before Adagio would even scream out. The siren struggled beneath her, trying to break free, but Maddie was prepared for such a thing.
“Sleep now, sleep,” She whispered into Adagio’s ear as she stabbed the siren with a tranquilizer dart. The siren’s eyes drooped as she muscled relaxed and her struggling ceased. “Good girl.”
Mac yelled, “Adagio! Where are you?”
Quickly Maddie hoisted the unconscious siren over her shoulder and ran from the sound of Mac’s voice, her socked feet making no sound on the hardwood floor. Opening the secret door, she dropped Adagio inside and shut it again. One down, two to go.
(I wonder who they brought with them.) Maddie found it hard to believe there was magic user in this world she didn’t know about. Whoever it was had to be strong for Tundra to still be fighting them. She’d have to go help the ice girl after capturing Mac.
Creeping back up onto the shelves again Maddie searched for her prey, which she found quite easily. He was standing the middle of the room. The one place where she would be unable to get the drop on him, from the shelves at least, getting a running start she leap for the bars hanging from the ceiling swinging from one to the next, till she was positioned right over Mac. From this high up she would hit the ground pretty hard, her impact would be at full force, making the best use of her one hundred twenty pound body frame against Mac’s two sixty.
Still this was very high up. Nervously Maddie licked her lips as her hands began to sweat. She remembered falling from this high before and breaking her leg. Dad, dad had been less then supportive as she dragged herself down to the lab. He did splint it for her, only to go back to work right away, telling her next time if she was going to jump from stupid heights she should at least use her magic, which she will in this case.
All she needs to do is drop down, transform and land on Mac before he notices the magical surge. She was confident she could take him down quick, but if she failed the fight would no doubt drag out and that was something she could not afford. He had the strength and endurance to outlast her and while she processed beyond normal strength and was certainly more agile and quicker then Mac, she tended to tire quickly. Such is the bane of having a female body, but that’s genetics for you.
“Come on, you can do this Maddie, just let go and let gravity do the rest.” There was on hiccup with her plan. She may have a slight fear of falling from that one incident. She wasn’t afraid of heights, but falling in midair with no way to control her landing. Even if she had the power to do so now, a small irrational part of her mind held her back.
The sweat on her hands began to pool, soon she wouldn’t be able to hold herself up anyway, she should just let go and finish this! She closed her eyes and thought of letting go of the bar, but she didn’t, if nothing else her grip tightened, forcing a drop of sweat to drip from between her fingers. She watched in slow motion as the droplet fell right on top of Mac’s head. He looked up at her and she looked down at him, both of them did nothing for several seconds and then Mac pulled out a pistol. She had no choice now!
A shot rang out, whizzing past her hair as she touched the floor, her knees bent and she rolled to lessen the impact, but it still hurt. She hadn’t used her magic like she planned to and had taken the full blunt of falling from ten feet in the air straight to her knees, but at least nothing was broken.
Mac came roaring up behind her and slammed into her like a stream roller straight into a bookshelf. She was really regretting bolting them to the floor. They made excellent break stops as she now knows due to her body being pressed up against it.
Once Mac backed off to make a second attack, Maddie recovered and quickly climbed to the top of the shelf. Mac rammed into the hardwood, while she flipped onto his back and tried to tranquilize him. She was unsuccessful as he bucked around like a rodeo bull, making her drop the dart as Mac threw her off his back and into a bookshelf.
“Damn that hurts!” She screamed holding her ribs. They weren’t broken, but bruised ribs hurt too. They hurt a lot!
As Maddie stumbled to her feet Mac wasted no time charging her and punched her in the solar cortex. Rolling with the blow Maddie dropped and rolled along the ground and flipped back up onto her feet and delivered a jab to Mac’s side. The big man didn’t react to the blow.
Maddie stepped away from the towering mass of muscle, realizing that going head to head with someone like Mac was like a mouse challenging a cat and she was the mouse in this situation.
“Um there isn’t any chance that we can change this to a battle of wits instead of fists?” Maddie meekly asked as Mac snorted turning towards her like an angry rodeo bull that just saw red. “I thought not.”
Ducking under Mac’s punch Maddie rose up delivering a barrage of fast punches to his torso, she jumped back when Mac tried to grab her, knowing he would win any grappling they engaged in. Quick as a bee she jumped back into Mac’s reach with most of her punches getting through his defenses, but their effectiveness was lacking as Mac just kept coming at her!
Gritting her teeth Maddie wiped the blood from her lip with her hand. Mac only hit her about three time’s vs her twelve, but she was defiantly the one hurting after each exchange. She’d have to use her trump card now or never.
Calling on the magic inside of her Maddie felt the warmth of magic wash over her as well as the tingling sensation of her ears changing position from the side of her head to the top and the feeling of her hair brushing her thighs. Mac was clearly stunned by her display and she took her chance and charged with a fist a blazed with magic as Mac raised his arms in defense. She could see his own magic surging to counter her attack, but it was too late, she was too fast for him!
There was a small shock wave as they met. Her fist slipped past Mac’s arms and hit his heart directly, the big man wheezed as his breathing became irregular as his body worked to get back into rhythm, which left him completely defenseless.
Maddie waited with tranquilizer dart in hand for Mac’s heart to get back into rhythm and the moment it did, she stabbed the dart into his neck! He grabbed for her one last time, his fingers brushing her throat as his massive frame dropped the ground. It was over she won!
“Oh thank God,” Maddie sighed falling onto her butt. This was why she had minions, for things like this! Speaking of minions, where was Tundra?
The front entrance of the library suddenly blew up, sending shards and shrapnel in every direction with a few pieces of glass landing by Maddie’s thigh, though she was too tired to really react. She did gasp though as the body of Tundra was tossed inside and a broken figure stumbled inside.
“You’re dead,” She stated bluntly to the figure standing the early dawn. She wasn’t sure who she was expecting the third person to be, but Nico Vega made up of wood and magic was not her first choice. He was as powerful now as he was before, though his fight with Tundra was not one sided, since he was missing most of his upper torso and his left arm. Inside his chest the faint glow of the magic orb that held his being together pulsed, growing weaker and weaker every second.
“Yelp,” He replied, “That I am.”
“Using a timber wolf body to create a copy of yourself, cleaver. I’ll have to remember that. Still you clearly don’t have much time left, but maybe just enough to oh I don’t know… kill me?” She liked to think she sounded brave, but she was absolutely terrified. She was tried and drained of magic with no minions; except her doppelganger, which was at her apartment across town. She had nothing left to defend herself with.
Nico looked sadly at her as his body began to break down into sawdust. “I didn’t kill you before, so why do it now? Like I told you last time Maddie you don’t need to follow in your father’s footsteps. You’re a smart girl, you know what he did was wrong and you know what your doing is wrong. You don’t have to be the mad doctor.”
“What if I want to be the mad doctor? What if I like being like my dad? Ever think of that?” She retorted with a huff, ignoring the crack in her voice and the pain in her chest. It hurt like that last time too. “Don’t look at me like that!”
Pity, he was pitting her! Looking at her with those eyes! What does he know?
Nico shook his head with sorrow, “There will be no mercy after this Maddie. No second chances. I’ve made the arrangements. I may not be able to save my kids, but my friends will and when they find you Maddie, they will kill you. You can avoid this fate, if you simply let my kids and their friends go and stop following in Madhoof’s hooves. Nothing less will do.”
“You think I’m sacred of your little threats? You’re bluffing; there is no one in this world that can stop me! Who can stand up to me once I finish my work on those girls down stairs? Who would have that power?”
“Who do you think?” He said bursting into splinters, leaving only a small blue orb behind.
Maddie walked over to orb and took it in her hands, it was the last shred of Nico Vega in the entire world, the last of his magic and it may hold the key to finishing her research. Orb in hand she descended down the lab once more and placed it a container that would keep it supplied with power, so it wouldn’t fade from existence.
Next Maddie drowned a bottle of her father’s patented healing potion. The effects were instantaneous as her bruised ribs were mended as were her other injuries. She felt a lot better, but she could still feel the pain from the injuries, but the injuries themselves were taken care off.
Back to a functional level Maddie dragged Adagio and Mac down the lab and placed them cells. She threw Adagio in with her fellow sirens, while placing Mac in the cell next to Applejack, who was withering on the floor, with no noticeable change her appearance.
“Why don’t my serums affect you?” She wondered aloud bringing up Applejack’s blood tests up on her computer. The thing is, is that it wasn’t just Applejack, but all the other girls were also showing high resistance to her tests. Something kept changing them back to their original forms and she needed to get the bottom of it soon if Nico’s threat of another recuse party was indeed valid.
She didn’t know who he was referring to, but she had a feeling she’d need her new minions functional and under control sooner then she planned. Looking over to Nico’s magical core an idea occurred to her.
Taking the orb in her hand she pulled it apart making it into two smaller orbs. She walked over to Mac’s and Applejack’s cells looking from the siblings to the orbs.
“I wonder…”
Opening the cell doors she first walked into Mac’s cell shoving one orb into Mac’s chest and then walked over to Applejack’s cell and did the same and exited to watch the results. She didn’t have to wait long as both Apple siblings withered in pain as dark blue magic rose off their skins.
The effects didn’t stop there. The others seemed to react to their friends suffering with the same blue magic seeping out of them and it was them Maddie realized why they were to resistant to her experiments.
“A magical bond! Your magic is all connected together! Amazing, simply amazing!” Quickly she ran into Rarity’s cell injecting the girl for the first time. Why hadn’t she realized it earlier? With their magic intertwined, if one was unaffected it would slowly change the others back overtime. Now with all of them infected and Nico’s magic working its way through their magic bond it would only be a matter of time before they were under her sway. Whoever was coming wouldn’t stand a chance!
“I hope you’re watching from up above Nico, cause your children are going to kill your friends when they arrive!”
Princess Luna of Equestria, Princess of the Night, yawned loudly as the morning sun peeked over the horizon. Celestia had awakened and it was time to change shifts. Tiredly she descended her throne flanked by her most loyal and faithful guards and friends, Sixes and Fierce Fury, both of them have been with her since before her banishment and had served as commanders in her night patrol a thousand years ago, even going so far as to freeze themselves (along with many others) in stone so that they may serve her now, but that was a story for a different time.
As they approached the door leading to up to her tower a messenger pony came running in and skidded to a stop in front of her.
“My time is done for the night; please bring whatever it is to Celestia.” Luna told the pony as Sixes and Fury opened the door for her. The messenger did not leave.
“Please hear me out your majesty, Princess Twilight Sparkle is here and requests an audience with you right away.”
Luna stopped in her tracked and turned to face the messenger. “Twilight Sparkle wishes to speak to me?” The pony nodded, “And she is here personally?”
“Yes, your majesty.”
“Then let us not delay. We will see her.”
The messenger trotted away to fetch the Princess of Friendship, leaving Luna to wonder what she would want at such an early hour and why not send a scroll via Spike? She hopped nothing was a hoof, but Luna trusted that if it was something truly dire Twilight would have notified them as soon as possible.
The doors the hall opened and a haggard looking Twilight entered carrying a book with Celestia’s cutie mark, ugh, she would still never get used to calling them that. A thousand years ago they were simply called marks, or emblems, crest and such; adding cutie just… didn’t feel right to her. Especially when stallions said it, Sixes and Fury have voiced their disapproval of the renaming to her several times, but it was just a thing of the times.
“Good morning dear Twilight, what has you calling on me so early this morning?”
The princess of the friendship looked uncertainly around as she levitated the book she was carrying in front of her.
“Well you see I got a strange message from my friends from earth, the world beyond the mirror, well not my friends exactly, it was actually that world’s Applebloom and she asked me to give you this message right away.”
“And what message is that?” Luna asked, her curiosity peaked at the mention of the other world’s Applebloom as she was associated with this world’s Applebloom so well through her dream walks. She wondered what she wanted.
Twilight rubbed her head nervously, “Well the thing is, I can’t read it, and it’s in ancient Equestrian, which is weird, because no one over there should know that language.”
“Let me see it,” Luna ordered taking the book from Twilight. The message was indeed in the old language in use a thousand years ago, but not only that it was in code, the same code night patrollers used to use.
“088… Nico Vega! By mother’s mane this is from Nico Vega!” Luna exclaimed excitedly remembering the small dragon pony that served her. “And he’s in need of our help! Sixes, Fury, get Kira Perfecta, we fly for Ponyville! We have an old friend to see and we are a thousand years over do!”