When Darkness Falls...

by XTech309

Mad Twi-ence: Part Two

It was now the second week that Twilight and Sunset had been working on their now joint project, and things had been progressing quite well. Now that there was an extra set of hands, it was possible to either get things done twice as fast, or have one of them work on one thing and the other one work on another. School had thrown a wrench into things, as it wasn't possible for either of them to miss it. But with the start of a new semester, it had been made possible for them to opt for easier classes, so the burden would be lessened. Combined with the fact that it was their senior year, which meant an early release for both of them, it worked out pretty well.

They were both dressed in lobcoats and safety goggles. Twilight sat at one end of the room, typing on her laptop, screen filled with code. Sunset was on the other side of the room, a small set of tools laid out in front of her, as well as the prototype. She was hunched over, sweat beading on her forehead as she worked with what was in front of her attempting to place a transparent display over the housing that contained Twilight's geode and wire it to the existing circuitry.

---

"Phew!" Sunset exclaimed, getting up and walking over to the coffee maker, pouring herself another cup and taking a big sip.

"You've been over there a lot today." Twilight inquired. "How come?"

"I just didn't get enough sleep, that's all. Bad dream. How's the coding going?"

"Good, we should be ready to test it in a couple of days."

---

"Hey Rainbow! Glad you could make it!" Sunset exclaimed as she opened the door.

"Sure! I've had a lot more free time since it's senior year and all. Mind telling me why you called?"

"I think it'd be better if I just showed you." Sunset said, taking a step back and motioning Rainbow to follow. The two of them made their way down to the basement. There they found Twilight making final checks and adjustments to the next stage of their project.

"Whoa!" Rainbow exclaimed once she could fully take in the sight. "This place looks like a mad scientist's lab out of a horror movie!"

Sunset snickered. "I guess it does, doesn't it? We really should bring some more light into this place."

"So, what's going on down here?"

"Twilight and I have been working on a way to enhance our abilities as heroes here, in light of our encounter with the interdimensional intruder six weeks ago."

Remembering what Sunset was referring to, Rainbow's eyes widened slightly. "Oh, that! Heh, I don't think I've ever hit anyone that hard before!" She said, striking a pose with her fist punching the air in front of her.

"Yes, and for the next phase we need your superspeed."

"What for?"

"To test our prototypes of a force field and a replication of your superspeed ability." Twilight interjected.

"Replicate my ability? As in copy it?"

"Yeah, basically." answered Sunset. "The main goal is to make it possible for all of us to use each other's abilities, instead of just relying on the one embedded in our geodes themselves."

Rainbow paused for a second, seeming to do the math in her head. "That would make us... one hundred and forty percent cooler! I've always wanted to be able to use Twilight's telekinesis for when the TV remote is on the other side of the couch. Ooh, or Applejack's super-strength!"

"Glad you're on board." Twilight said. "So does that mean you'll help?"

"Uh, yeah!"

---

"Okay, phase two: test one." Twilight said. "Ready Sunset?"

"Ready."

They were now in the front yard of Twilight's house, Twilight and Rainbow on the grass while Sunset sat under the porch outside the front door with the laptop for Twilight's program and her cell phone to record the test. With the new prototype, the device gained the ability to work over a wireless connection. They were still a long way from having complete autonomy, but they were still proud of how far they'd come. Twilight straightened up, holding her arm with the device in front of her, the front facing Rainbow.

"Aaand... go." Twilight said. Sunset hit enter on the laptop, and a large barrier the color of Twilight's magic with her cutie mark in the center appeared before her, emanating from her geode, which sparked and glowed with power and the electric current going through it. All three's eyes widened.

"It worked." Sunset said plainly.

"It worked." Twilight said in disbelief.

Rainbow did a little celebratory victory dance, which Sunset noticed was the same one she did at her soccer games, before exclaiming, "WOO HOO! This is so awesome!" She paused. "Now what?"

Sunset reached to her side and picked up a baseball before tossing it to Rainbow.

"Okay? What am I supposed to do with this?" Rainbow said after catching it.

"Throw it at me." Twilight said in a steely tone. "As hard as you can at super speed. We need to test the strength of the barrier."

"I don't think that's a good idea. I mean, not to brag, but I don't think you can handle my best."

Sunset rolled her eyes. "Just do it, aim for the edges if you're worried about Twilight, or don't make it as hard as you can, ignore what Twilight just said, let's try to play it a little safer."

"Okay then." Rainbow said, shrugging. She went into her focus mode, winding up a pitch with the baseball, staring directly at Twilight before throwing it, in a scene that to Sunset looked straight out of a wild west movie. The ball soared through the air, hitting the barrier with a loud magical CRACK before reflecting off it and flying back over Rainbow's head at a forty-five degree angle. Rainbow turned around and watched it go for a few seconds, until it was out of sight and she put a hand over her eyes to block out the sun.

"Home run!" She exclaimed.

"Interesting," Twilight said, "instead of stopping the projectile hard like a shield, it reflected off the surface like light going through a prism. Sunset, did you catch that?"

Sunset gave a thumbs up before ending the recording on her phone.

"I'm wondering if the barrier will behave differently depending on what is hitting it. Maybe the next thing we should do is test it against a blunt force trauma, a hand-held instrument instead of a projectile. Any ideas?" She asked to nobody in particular.

"How about a bat?" Rainbow said in reply. "Since we've already used a baseball."

"That sounds good, but I don't think we have one of those here." Sunset pointed out.

Rainbow smirked before disappearing and reappearing a second later with just that, a short rainbow trail as the only indicator that she'd used her superspeed.

"Right, superspeed." Sunset said, pulling out her phone again. "Phase two, test two: Blunt force trauma." She said to the camera. "Ready?" She asked.

"Ready." Twilight and Rainbow said in unison.

"Go."

Rainbow moved quickly up to Twilight's barrier and swung at it with all her might. As with the baseball, the force of the swing was reflected back, causing the bat to fly out of Rainbow's hands and back a few yards.

"Hmm, same result." Twilight noted. "Sunset, as the Equestrian here, how accurate would you say this is to the shields you can make as a unicorn?"

"Pretty accurate, the only differences I can see are the fact that the replication only covers your front half and your cutiemark being in the middle."

Just then, the barrier flickered and made a strange noise before shutting down completely. Sunset and Rainbow's eyes widened in surprise.

"I was expecting something like this to happen." Twilight told them. "After all, we are pushing the magic in our geodes to the limit with this. Let me try something."

She tried to use her standard telekinesis to levitate the bat over to her. But she found she was straining just to get it off the ground, let alone bring it to her.

"Hmm." She said as she put a hand to her chin in a moment of deep thought. She looked at Rainbow, a light bulb going off in her head as she did so. "Sunset, do you remember when Rainbow used her super speed for everything, and because all of our geodes are connected, it caused a power surge for all of us, making our abilities uncontrollable?"

"How could I forget?" She replied. "I was able to hear everyone's thoughts without having to actually touch them. Fortunately, I didn't hear any bad things that day, but I'd hate to try my luck again."

"I think that might be the solution to our problem." Twilight began. "Think about it. This test has confirmed that using these devices is a huge power drain and can't be sustained for very long. If we started using our powers like that again, especially Rainbow, we could constantly store and replenish the energy, and since the excess energy would leave our geodes as soon as it was generated, we could theoretically have an infinite supply to power the replication of each other's abilities!"

"Does that mean what I think it means?" Rainbow said with growing excitement.

"Yes, Rainbow, you can start using your super speed again for whatever you want, but not yet, it will have to wait until me and Sunset are finished and we all have our own versions of this device so we don't lose control of our powers again."

"And how are you going to do that?"

"Twilight and I have been working on a theory on how to go about it." Sunset said. "The other Twilight, being an Alicorn, embodies the magic of all three tribes: Unicorn, Pegasus and Earthpony. We have used this as the basis for designing an experiment, and this is where your geode and your super speed come into play once again. We think if we extract magic from your geode and Twilight's, mix it in another device Twilight designed based on the amulet, and put it back in Twilight's geode, we'll be able to replicate your ability because some of your geode's magic would be embedded in hers. If that works, we'll be able to do the same thing for the others, and our geodes will all be embodiments of each other's magic, making us 'alicorns' in a sense."

"And if that doesn't work?"

"We really hope it does. It might still be possible to do it otherwise, but it would take a lot more effort and it wouldn't work out as well."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's find out."

---

"Okay, everything seems to be ready." Sunset said. "Twilight? Rainbow?"

"Ready." They answered in unison. The three of them were now back in the lab, getting ready for the biggest hurdle so far in Twilight's journey to replicate each other's powers. In front of them on a table lay the machine they would be attempting this with. It consisted of a large transparent container with a solid metal base and lid. From the base extended two large tubes, connecting with two holders for Twilight and Rainbow's geodes, not too dissimilar in design from the device they'd been using thus far. Twilight and Rainbow both took off their geodes and placed them in the holders in front of them. Sunset tapped another key on the laptop. The experiment began.

Prongs sprang out in unison in the containers for each of their geodes, causing them to levitate into the middle and magic to start flowing from each of them. The magic gathered in the center of the container, and the wisps of magic from both geodes mixed and swirled within it. After a few seconds, the magic took on a blue-violet color, a mixture of Twilight's purple and Rainbow's blue. The resulting mixture then filtered back through the tube leading to Twilight`s geode, before being forced back into it. Her geode began glowing, getting brighter and brighter before it became too much for the three of them and they had to turn away and cover their eyes. After a few seconds, the reaction stopped, and the three cautiously looked back to see what had happened.

They all stepped up to Twilight's geode and looked over it. It looked normal, but now instead of pure purple, there was a distinct blue whisp visible toward the center.

"D-did it work?" Sunset questioned hesitantly.

"Only one way to find out." Twilight said. She took her geode out of the holding device, flipped open the display of the watch-like device on her wrist, and put it back in the device, closing the lid on it. She played with some of the buttons on both sides of it, as well as with the transparent display.

"Okay, here goes." She said. Her eyes widened slightly after a second. "My magic feels... different."

"Different? How so?" Sunset inquired.

"I can't quite put my finger on it." She replied. "Rainbow, how do you use your super speed?"

"There's not much to it really. When I want to go fast it just happens, when I don't it doesn't. You'll get it if you really have my power now. Trust me."

"Alright, here goes." Twilight said. She took a running stance and looked up at the stairs. Without warning, she took off, leaving a purple trail behind her as she blurred and disappeared up the stairs. A moment later, she came back, another trail overlapping the first one. They all stood in shock for a second.

"It worked. Again. Wow." Sunset said incredulously.

"So how was your first run?" Rainbow asked playfully.

"Invigorating!" Twilight exclaimed. "I can see why you like your power so much! It was amazing!"

"Glad you finally get me. So what's next? Wanna take a few laps around town? Loser has to buy dinner!" She said, playfully punching Twilight's shoulder.

"Not yet, there are a few things I want to test." Twlight replied. "First, how well can I control this?" She paced aimlessly around the room, testing what it would take to activate her new power. She stopped after about a minute.

"Huh, you were right Rainbow." She said. "It's just a matter of will, just like my telekinesis."

"Now that we know it can work, can you do the same with my geode?" Rainbow asked impatiently. "I want to use your telekinesis!"

"Not quite yet." Twilight replied. "Sunset and I need time to fully test this and ensure that it does not have any adverse effects. If there aren't, then we can all start mixing our powers together."

"Okay, do you need me for anything else?"

"Yeah, one thing." Sunset said. "Keep a close eye on your geode after you leave, let us know if there are any changes as a result of what we did here today."

"Alright. Well, if you guys don't need me anymore, I'll be on my way. When you're done, be sure to let me know!"

"Don't worry, you'll be the first to know." Sunset said with a smile. Rainbow disappeared with a flash of her super speed.

Author's Note:

Day two of me doing daily uploads. If all continues to go well, expect daily uploads for the rest of this week, and by the end of it, I'll he adding two more animated series to my current roster. :)

Comments

[TheAlienBrony22]

Can't wait to see how this all comes together later on.