MLDC: Firestorm Crisis

by Michael_Ravencroft

Entry 5: Explain!

Many things were going through Sunset’s mind right now, one of them being why a rocket suddenly crash landed in the middle of a public park?! And another being how Twilight was able to track it, and somehow open the thing, all while acting as if this was expected or something that she’d seen before. Too many questions and not a single answer coming from the one person who seemed to know. During the ride back to Twilight’s house the studious girl would not let go of the capsule, hiding it in her hoodie as Sunset Shimmer sped through the night.

By the time they arrived back at the Sparkle residence it was already turning eleven ‘o clock. Twilight practically bolted off the bike and hurriedly went to the front door, fumbling her keys as she worked to keep the capsule hidden and open the door. Sunset parked the bike out of the way like last time and went to the violet haired girl, taking the keys from her hands.

“Sunset what are you doing?!”

“You need to hold up Sparkle! I just got through driving you to a park where a rocket crash landed! A ROCKET! And you go up to the damn thing like it was just another day at school for you! On top of all that, you went and smuggled, whatever that thing is and brought it to your house like a lost puppy!”

Twilight was getting frustrated, that much Sunset could see, but there was also a pensiveness to her eyes, as if she was struggling with something within her mind.

“Sunset I promised you I’d give you an explanation but right now –”

“No, either tell me what’s up or you’re not getting back into your house. Personally speaking, I don’t think you can afford to try and get past me and hold onto that thing at the same time. You’re choice.”

Twilight could tell that Sunset Shimmer wouldn’t budge on this, and there was no way she could overpower her. Despite her slim physique, Sunset Shimmer had proven that she is a capable fighter and could just as easily force her into revealing everything she knew. That was what Twilight was finding surprising about this whole thing; Sunset didn’t have to take her to the park, she could’ve just said no and leave it at that, but instead she took Twilight to the place she had to go. Sunset even saved her life, granted she didn’t have to considering that the girl before her harbored some resentment towards her. Could Twilight show her no less trust?

With a sigh, Twilight nodded her head. “Okay, I’ll tell you what I know about this thing, and why it came here. Will that work for now?”

Sunset mulled that over for a bit and after a few seconds nodded her head. She then handed Twilight the keys, with the correct one sticking out. Twilight opened the door and waited for Sunset to come in, once she did she quickly locked the door behind them.

“Follow me, I need to analyze this as quickly as possible,” said Twilight.

“‘Analyze’? I don’t remember seeing anything in your room that could help us with that Sparkle.”

“I never said we were going to my room.”

Spike, after hearing the door close, bounded towards Twilight, wagging his tail happily at seeing his owner return. Twilight bent down and petted the purple dog, showing him some affection to make up for her spastic episode a couple of hours ago. When Sunset approached, Spike looked up at her and tilted his head again and gave her that look as if asking “Is Twilight alright?”

Sunset shrugged, truthfully she did not know, but Twilight was still calm about the situation. She continued to follow Twilight, she stopped at what looked like a hall closet, but when she opened it, Sunset saw that there was a staircase leading down towards a basement. The two climbed down the stairs and stopped when they reached the basement door. She did a double take at the sight of it. The whole door looked as if it was made of steel, or some kind of dense metal. The right of the door was a keypad, Twilight began typing in a sequence of numbers in rapid succession. After a couple of seconds the sounds of latches releasing and tumblers rolling echoed in the hall.

Twilight gripped the door handle and pushed it open. Sunset Shimmer gawked at what was inside. The entire basement was a laboratory, a sixty inch, high definition, computer screen took up one portion of the wall, with at least three different server towers on one side connected to it. There were shelves filled with equipment, gadgets and tools for building – Celestia knows what. At another side of the room was a lab table with beakers and test tubes filled with all sorts of chemical concoctions, there was a shelf next to it with even more vials, all marked and labeled. There was even a glass case that was marked “UNSTABLE, USE WITH CAUTION” that made Sunset gulp.

At the center of the room was a larger workbench. Twilight went to this one and flipped over a touchpad that was mounted on its edge. She typed something and the flat surface of the table opened up, setting up two stands to hold the capsule. Twilight pushed a few more buttons and the table opened up a small port, what rose up from it was a wire and a rotating wheel with many different prong attachments. Twilight looked over the capsule and found a small jack-in port, she looked upon the attachments till she found the one that would fit. Luckily, her first guess proved correct as the jack attached to the capsule.

Twilight then moved to the rolling chair near the sixty inch monitor and typed away at the keyboard that was attached to the chair. A low buzzing noise emanated from the capsule that made Sunset jump with unease, thinking the strange container and its miniature sun would explode. The monitor displayed various windows, each one running a different program as Twilight’s eyes shifted back and forth quickly. Twilight typed for a few more seconds and then she stopped. On the monitor the screen read “ANALYSIS UNDERWAY” and “BEGINNING DATA TRANSFER”.

Twilight let out a sigh and popped a few kinks in her neck. “Okay, now that that’s running we can talk. And I’m sorry about all this secret stuff, but this is too important.”
Sunset found an unoccupied chair and rolled it around to sit in it backwards. She placed her forearms on the back of the chair and rested her chin against them, giving Twilight this critical gaze as if trying to determine if she was a threat.

“So you say. Why don’t you give me an idea of just how important that thing is and why you were freaking out about it earlier?” Sunset asked, although it sounded more like a demand.

Twilight brought her fingers into a pyramid of contemplation, tapping the tips a few times as she collected her thoughts.

“Have you ever heard of a brilliant scientist by the name of Bill Neigh?” Twilight asked.

“Hmmm…a few times when I was surfing the web a long time ago. He apparently won a crap ton of Nobel Prizes and is more or less noted as the smartest person on the planet. But then he mysteriously dropped off the face of the Earth and no one’s heard from his since. They think he’s secluded himself in some secret lab somewhere working on his next big thing, or that either the government offed him or aliens abducted him.”

“Well they’re not too far off about the abducting theory.” Twilight paused a moment to let Sunset grasp that, when she saw the confused look she elaborated. “Let me start at the beginning. Professor Neigh was working a new field of study, one that he was sure would revolutionize mankind. Have you ever heard of transmutation?”

“Yeah, the concept of turning one thing into something else. Basically breaking down matter on a subatomic level and reconstructing those same atoms into a completely different object or substance. Alchemists tried to accomplish this with turning lead into gold. Didn’t exactly work out for them,” said Sunset.

Twilight grinned a little, she was really becoming impressed by how much intellect Sunset Shimmer had, and it was nice having someone she could talk to about these kinds of things. Don’t get her wrong, Twilight loved talking with her friends, but not all of them could grasp the kind of – as they put it – “sciency” stuff she could.

“Professor Neigh found a way to accomplish this very thing. But to do so he needed energy that could affect matter on that atomic scale. Unfortunately, all manner of different energies were either too extreme or too weak to cause the desired effect of transmutation. But then Professor Neigh discovered something during the course of his research, he found a kind of particle that had for years gone undetected and unseen in even the smallest creatures and objects. He found that this one particle of energy had massive potential, he dubbed the ‘Big Bang Particle’.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “‘Big Bang Particle’?”

“If you want to get religious you could refer to it as the ‘God Particle’, but essentially, it’s the leftover remnants of the Big Bang, the very power that birthed the universe into creation. Think about it Sunset, the power that formed the universe from nothing, the power that in a single moment breathed life into the vast universe, all that power and it was held in a single particle. Unfortunately, these particles only held one tenth of that power, so Professor Neigh substituted the remaining power with something else…nuclear energy.”

Sunset’s face contorted into horror. “Wait…you’re not saying that…”

“The nuclear energy served as the perfect catalyst and from it he created that, dubbing it the ‘Firestorm Protocol’. Poetic in a way, seeing as the initial explosion that created the universe must’ve been a spectacular firestorm of flames.”

Sunset shot up out of her seat and looked to Twilight incredulously. “Hold on a minute! Are you telling me that that floating fireball in the center of the capsule is nuclear?! As in Chernobyl explosion?! Nagasaki and Hiroshima, and Three-Mile-Island, kind of nuclear?!”

“Yes.”

“And you brought it to your house?! Forget crazy Sparkle, you’re insane!”

“Sunset, everything I’ve told you has all been an unproven theory set by Professor Neigh.”

Sunset’s shoulders slumped as a deadpan expression appeared.

“Really?”

“Technically…it was. Professor Neigh didn’t publish it or set out to prove it because of one factor that could be potentially dangerous. The Firestorm Protocol couldn’t be fixed to a machine, the power it wields fizzles out and destroys any apparatus that tries to use its power. But a human body can use it. The highest concentration of BBPs lie within organic life, specifically, those with higher cognitive abilities such as Homo sapiens. The human body would serve as the conduit, giving the one who held the power within them to recreate or reshape almost anything.”

“Sounds dangerous,” said Sunset as she took her seat again. “Humans seem to love killing each other and starting wars for power and other stupid stuff. Give someone this kind of power and they could rule the world.”

Twilight sighed sadly. “That’s what Professor Neigh determined, but then he was kidnapped by some very bad people who wanted the Protocol to do very bad things. He had no choice but to create it, but it required a lot of trial and error, creating a power such as that is not easy. But for Professor Neigh, despite his being taken against his will and forced to work on it, he couldn’t deny his fervor to try and make his theory a reality. And now he has apparently.”

Twilight got up from her chair and stood before Sunset.

“I know all this sounds completely made up and too fantastical to believe, but Sunset I am telling the truth!”

Sunset blinked once. “I do believe you Sparkle.”

“I know you don’t believe me but – wait what?!”

“I said I believe you.”

Twilight stared at Sunset in disbelief. “But…But…I know I’m telling the truth, but given the events that have transpired, you should at least be somewhat skeptical! I’ve presented no other evidence other than a glowing fireball in a tube, or anything that shows that this is related to Professor Neigh!”

In truth I’d be the biggest hypocrite on two worlds if I didn’t give her the benefit of the doubt. I come from a world of talking, magical equines, ruled over by an immortal sun goddess and moon goddess, and I was unicorn who was a pupil to said sun goddess. This place might have the magical power level of an ant, but that doesn’t mean that strange things don’t happen. Magical or otherwise.

“Sparkle just believe me when I say: I’ve seen and heard far more weird things in my life than I care to admit.”

Twilight was both grateful for Sunset’s understanding and at the same time, curious as to what weird things she’s seen in her sixteen years of life.

Truly, I don’t know her at all, thought Twilight.

“So what now?” Sunset asked.

“For now we wait until the computer finishes its probe. I should have the complete data by morning and by then I’ll know for sure if this is from Professor Neigh.”

“Wait you don’t even know if it’s from him?!”

“If it is then it confirms my worst case scenario. If not, then…” Twilight shook her head. “No it has to be from him! I know it!”

“On that note, how do you even know Professor Neigh?”

Twilight bit her lower lip, letting out more than she had thought. Sunset then yawned loudly and stretched her limbs out.

“Something that can wait till tomorrow. This is more excitement than I’m used to,” said Sunset.

Twilight nodded her head, looking at the digital clock that read twelve-fifteen. Twilight led Sunset through the door and up the stairs, with the latter glancing back at the metal door and beyond that to the fireball contained with the capsule.

I wonder…if it’s as powerful as she says it is, can it take me back home?

“Sunset…? Are you alright?”

“…Yeah.”

UNKNOWN LOCATION…

{Director Dusk Shine, I cannot believe the reports I’ve been getting about your base.}

{Infiltration by a government black ops unit, the death of Professor Bill Neigh, and now we learn that a Protocol was sent via rocket to a city, in a public park?! What kind of operation are you running?!}

{For such a smart and sharp young lad, you are quite disappointing.}

Dusk Shine stood before three large monitors, each one had the shadowy silhouette of a man on it. How old they were was undetermined, but judging from their voices it was of varying ages between forty and sixty.

“While I will admit to my shortcomings about the infiltration and loss of the Protocol, we have been able to create the mass produced Firestorm Protocols, each one is combat ready.”

{As great as that is, we still have the ONE MISSING PROTOCOL! If someone else gets their hands on that one they could mass produce them for themselves!}

{Calm yourself, we are the only ones who possess the equipment and resources for mass production of the Protocols, worst case scenario is someone figures it out and they can only reproduce inferior versions to the originals. We’ll still be able to turn over a good profit for it.}

“On that note Sir, I have a proposition for you.”

{Do you now?}

“Allow me to dispatch my agents to the crash site. We need information, and our people aren’t…inconspicuous enough to go unnoticed.”

{Humph, our surveillance is plenty good, we don’t need your freak, teenybopper girl band trio!}

Dusk Shine laughed at that. “Oh yes, because three high school aged girls walking amongst a crowd draws so much attention! They’ll be noticed immediately, what was I thinking?!”

{You arrogant little –!}

{That’s enough Miser, but you have to admit he got you there!}

{Very well, send your agents to the site. We’ll also need to set up a showcasing of the Firestorm Protocols to prospective buyers.}

“If I may, allow me to handle that as well,” said Dusk Shine.

{Eager to redeem himself isn’t he? Let ‘em set it up, I want to see what ‘ol Dusky can do!}

{So ordered. Director Dusk Shine, do not let us down a second time.}

Two of the three monitors cut out, but the third, the left one, stayed on. Dusk Shine eyed that monitor dubiously.

“Something you wish to say Mr. Miser?”

{Do not forget your place you little failure.}

The monitor cut out then and there, leaving Dusk Shine standing in the lone room. His violet eyes shimmered with the flame of the Firestorm energy within him. But he suppressed his anger, anger would not serve him here, no, action and a cool, clear head was needed. Dusk Shine walked towards the entrance, the door swooshing open upon sensing his presence. Waiting on the other side were his personal bodyguards, Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, and Sonata Dusk.

“I take it that it didn’t go so well in there, did it?” Adagio asked.

“Actually…better than anticipated. I’m sending you three on a mission.”

Aria scoffed. “‘Bout time we got out of this hole in the ground, so where you sending us?”

“Canterlot City,” said Dusk.

If Adagio and Sonata disliked the location they didn’t show it, although Aria had no problem venting her feelings on the matter.

“Canterlot City?! That place is The Worst!”

“Well what about that time we were Louisiana and got lost in the swamps?” Sonata asked.

“Okay…second worst.” Aria corrected.

“Or that time we were in Brazil and met those giant snakes, Anamandas or something?”

“Third worst.”

“Or that time in Istanbul when –?!”

“OKAY THEY ALL WERE THE WORST!” Aria shouted while flinging her arms into the air. “But Canterlot City is still The Worst.”

Dusk Shine just continued to look upon the three with a slight bit of annoyance. “I’ll bite, why do you dislike this particular city out of every other city on the planet?”

“It was the place we were banished to…where we ended up and were stuck in for a while,” said Adagio.

Dusk Shine showed, what could’ve been, the faintest amount of sympathy in his gaze. “It was not my intention to make you relive old memories. But I need eyes on the ground, and yours are ones I can trust. If you find the missing Protocol do not engage, contact me and I’ll determine the best course of action.”

All three nodded their heads.

“And while you’re there, our benefactors want a show. Take a Protocol with you.”

“But we already have one inside each us,” said Sonata.

“Oh, it won’t be for you girls.”

Comments

[ShadowLDrago]

“It was the place we were banished to…where we ended up and were stuck in for a while,” said Adagio.

Ah.

[Michael_Ravencroft]

5647824 Makes sense now, this will be touched upon more further down the road.

[Crack-Fic Casey]

Have you ever heard of a brilliant scientist by the name of Bill Neigh?

He's a science guy.

[The Portal Passer]

Please don't tell me they're going to give a firestorm matrix to some random person who hates sunset shimmer

[Killerfox]

5675275
Just now got that.