> WWC: The Invasion of Area 51 > by Chris-Cross13 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Security Breach > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Man, today is lazy!” Christian yawns while lying down on a grassy field nearby to Ponyville. Yet another day with nothing out of the ordinary; but he didn’t care. The peacefulness of Ponyville is much more favorable than his usual rush of school back in Virginia. School used to be such a ride what with notes, tests, and homework; but with him being Equestria’s laid back atmosphere, it made life so much slower. “You practically said the same thing a week ago.” Twilight says, sitting next to him while jotting down some notes about Celestia-knows-what. “Next thing you know, you’re hit with The Elements of Harmony and can talk to animals.” “True, but I digress.” He says, sighing. A slight breeze now started to blow from the west. It is the only noise other than the careful and firm sound of Twilight’s pen writing; which is actually pretty loud. Curiously (and a bit aggravated), Christian leans over to see what the mulberry pony was doing. “What are you writing about, Twitty?” He said plainly. After a quick roll of her eyes from the nickname, she answers: “Just a short summary of what I think about the biosphere in which the species; Homo Sapiens reside in. Even though I have never been on an excursion to your home; I think attaining a better grasp on how your planet differs from mine would help all of Equestria accumulate into a more integrated society, like your ‘United States” for example.” She finishes her small thesis with Christian having a ‘Huh?’ expression on his face. It takes him a second to piece together what she had just said. “Oh! You’re writing about humans and Earth? That’s cool, I guess.” He says a bit underwhelmed; yet his brain said otherwise. The ideology of what a pony though about Earth never really crossed his mind before. “Whatcha got so far?” Christian says suddenly. “I’m the only human you’ve ever met! How would you know what the rest of my species is like?” “You mean besides the stupidity and anger issues?” “Yea! Besides the…Wait, what?” Christian paused at the words thrown at him. Quickly suspecting Celestia’s student as the culprit of the harsh language, he does a swift one-eighty and points his crossbow directly at her. Twilight quickly objects to her accusation. “Don’t look at me! I didn’t say it!” She shouts. Christian narrows his eyes at her. Clearly, he does not believe her. “Well then who did, Twitty? Last I checked, we were the only two here!” Twilight is about to say a defending statement; but something captures her eye behind the human. Her eyes quickly narrow too, throwing Christian off a bit. “Guess again.” Twilight growls sternly. Christian slowly turns around and instantly his body surges with anger. The sight of a familiar periwinkle unicorn makes him almost growl as well. “Miss me you two?” Trixie snaps at the irate duo. Her eyes fixated on mainly Christian, who is trying hard not to grind his teeth into dust. “I see you are at awe at the Great and Powerful Trixie, no?” She says snidely. “No, I’m actually trying to figure out where to hit you with this dart.” Christian replies; “Because this time, you are not getting away!” Trixie just smiles malevolently at him. “Oh Christian, you amuse The Great and Powerful Trixie.” Trixie says, shooing him away like a fly. “You think you can scare her? HA! Trixie laughs at your petty threat. Watch;” Trixie then starts to laugh maliciously and almost mockingly at her two opponents. “See? She laughs.” Christian and Twilight both roll their eyes at Trixie’s narcissism. “You know Trixie;” Christian starts with a sigh. “You may know a few new tricks, but that still doesn’t mean you can beat a unicorn with more magical premise than you and a human who has outsmarted you.” “He’s right Trixie,” Twilight adds. “It’s two against one. If I were you, I would stand down and turn myself in.” Trixie blinks at the two of them before laughing to herself under her hoof. “Oh you two are so predictable.” She says, snidely. “Well, if you two think you can beat Trixie once more…” She lowers her hoof and stares right into Christian’s eyes; as if enticing him to make the first move. “Hit her with your best shot.” Trixie emphasizes the final word of her sentence, making Christian’s right eye twitch a bit. He glances at Twilight, who is looking back at him like Trixie was some sort of madpony. Confused, Christian shrugs at Twilight and returns his attention back to Trixie. “Alright then Trixie;” Christian aims down his crossbow, the iron sights focusing right under Trixie’s neck. Securing the target, he shouts: “You want my best shot? YOU GOT IT!” With a strong flick of the wrist, the dart launches out of the bow at breakneck speed. Trixie remains unwavering from her position, still smiling at Christian. Christian looks back at her fiercely, hiding his confusion as to why she hasn’t tried to move out of the way or teleport. From Trixie’s point of view; she remains smiling at the oncoming projectile as it is about to reach its destination. But somehow, it doesn’t. To Christian and Twilight’s astonishment, the dart freezes mere inches away from Trixie’s body. Trixie gives Christian a smug look. Christian glares back at her before glancing to Twilight. “Twitty, explain how my dart isn’t making Trixie saw logs right now.” He asks without removing his annoyed frown. Twilight goes to open your mouth. “Isn’t it obvious?!” Trixie yells to them before Twilight could speak. “You’ve managed to somehow be so bad with that thing that your trinkets manage to freeze in mid-air before…” BZAPPPP! Twilight’s horn quickly illuminates as a lavender beam is shot out suddenly, aimed at Trixie’s temple. Trixie’s face goes from smug to scared in seconds. “That should put her to sleep!” Twilight says confidently as she waits for the successful sound of Trixie napping. “Uhh, you sure about that Twitty?” Christian asks while staring straight forward. “Of course! Trixie can’t stop magic. You would have to…” Twilight is interrupted when Christian turns her head toward Trixie; who now had a dart AND a lavender laser frozen in front of her. Trixie smiles happily. “I’m sorry, Trixie can’t stop what now?” She says matter-of-factly. Christian and Twilight’s jaws drop at her impossible feat. “Okay, what now? How do you freeze magic?” Christian asks, still staring. “Uhh…” Twilight goes to explain. “Wow, you humans ARE dense!” A voice calls out, seemingly from Trixie’s direction. To Christian and Twilight, the voice sounded vaguely familiar; almost like a mix of Discord and Sombra’s. Trixie eyes the two of them as the glance around the area for the source of the voice. She rolls her eyes. “You have got to be kidding.” She mutters to herself. “Patience, my student.” The voice assures her. “An element of confusion is essential…” Christian and Twilight give up searching to their right and left for whatever caused the voice and return their attention to Trixie. However, Trixie is no longer present. Instead a pitch black void fills the space between Trixie and the two frozen projectiles. A hand suddenly emerges for the darkness in a ‘stop’ signal, which Christian suddenly realizes is stopping both his dart and Twilight’s magic. The moment he realizes this, he figures out the source of the darkness before the rest of the figure even emerges. “Paradox!” Christian shouts just as the spirit’s full figure comes into view. Twilight’s head swivels around to see what Christian was shouting at. “Well, that explains how my magic froze.” Twilight says blankly. “Well, it would make sense that the spirit of time would be able to freeze time.” Paradox states. Twilight frowns at the comment, but Christian pays no attention and advances toward him. “I see you are still using my body.” He says sourly. “It’s more like a shadow, really. Flesh doesn’t look too well on a dark spirit of time.” “Buck off.” Christian hisses. “Ohh, and there are the anger issues.” Christian’s eye starts twitching again. Quickly shaking off the fact that his blood is boiling, he cuts to the chase. “What are you doing here?” Paradox lets out a small laugh at the comment. “Oh, Trixie and I are going shopping on Earth for a few things.” The spirit says nonchalantly. Twilight then starts laughing, with Christian following up with a smirk. “Yea, good luck with that.” The two of them say in unison. “Considering that only a select few people can actually access the main portal to Earth, you are not going anywhere.” Christian says, mockingly. “And I assume that you are one of those people?” Paradox says. “Let’s see…Uhh, duh.” Christian snickers at the dumb question, but Paradox and Trixie both smile to each other. “Perfect.” Paradox’s shadowy mist starts condensing into Paradox’s palms. Christian stops his laughter when he sees what Paradox is doing. “Uhh, Twitty?!” He starts yelling for her help to see if she can do something about this; but Twilight has no clue what the spirit is doing. Conjuring another minion perhaps? Their answer comes in the form of Paradox throwing out his hand, which makes the dart and magic beam start shifting away from Paradox and Trixie; and toward Christian and Twilight quite rapidly. Twilight gasps as she sees what Paradox is trying to do. With Christian still gawking, she needs to act quickly. “Christian, MOVE!” She dashes over and pushes Christian out of the way just as both objects reach the two of them, but Twilight takes both hits for Christian. Christian on the other hand, gets thrown just in time to see Twilight get hit by both his dart and her magic and falls to the ground. “TWILIGHT!” He shouts in a panicked tone, as Twilight may be hurt. Twilight slowly gets up and winces in a bit of pain. “Christian, I’m fine…I used a tranquilizing spell. Just…stop them!” She says as both the magic and the dart start affecting her. Christian nods and quickly gets up from the shove and stares angrily at Paradox, who is quite annoyed that the human did not get hit with the pacifying projectiles. He turns to Trixie. “Trixie, pre-occupy the human. I’ll put him to sleep myself.” Paradox says as he vanishes with a swift movement of his hand. Trixie sits down and watches as Christian starts to look around frantically for the villain. With a loud and obnoxious yawn, Trixie speaks: “Trixie thinks you should not stay in the same place, Christian.” Christian turns around and cocks his head toward her, perplexed at her comment. “What the heck are you…” FZZOOW! WHAP! Christian gets cut off as Paradox suddenly appears mere centimeters in front of his face and right hooks him square in the jaw. The human flies backward and into a nearby tree. He falls, landing onto one knee and veering in pain. “Okay, teleportation. I can deal with that.” He gets up and starts shooting his crossbow without missing a beat. The time spirit folds his arms and laughs as his form starts vanishing and reappearing in between the volleys of darts; which quickly results in Christian exhausting all of his ammunition. Paradox sees this as a prime opportunity to once again get up close to the human. “Are you quite done?” He asks, bored. Christian starts backing up a little bit. “What kind of a teleport was that?!” He asks nervously. Trixie laughs from a far at his comment. “Why would the spirit of time teleport!?” She shouts. Christian quickly realizes how stupid his former comment was. “Right; forgot about the whole manipulating time thing.” He mutters just as Paradox punches him in the gut. Once again, the force throws him backward; but this time he slams into the steel frame of Ponyville’s portal gate. The impact to the frame makes Christian crumble to the ground, writhing in pain as he tries to get back up. Paradox appears in front of him and steps a few feet toward him so his shadow casts over his body. “Pathetic.” He says triumphantly as he glances down at Christian before moving on to the portal gate. The spirit inspects the circular metal frame to find out how to turn the blasted thing on. His eyes then dart to some odd, flat contraption with a keypad attached to the right side of the frame. Getting a closer look, he quickly identifies the device as a hand scanner with a location input. He backs up with a hand on his chin to think for a second before laughing a bit under his breath. Without skipping a beat, he picks up Christian’s semi-unconscious body and puts his limp hand onto the scanner. After a few seconds of soft beeping noises, an electronic ding is heard followed by a voice saying: “Welcome Agent CIA. Select destination please.” Paradox is pleased at the gadget working. “Hmm, looks like the human is good for something.” He says as he throws Christian’s motionless body back onto the ground. “Now let’s see…” He mutters to himself as he scrolls down the list of destinations. He smiles as he finds the one he is looking for. “Ah, here it is! The Pentagon!” He eyes Christian’s body and laughs. “You stupid humans make it almost too easy!” He selects his desired destination and snaps his fingers. “Trixie! Come along! We have much to do.” The periwinkle unicorn complies, trotting in a snotty fashion toward her mentor. Twilight, barely clinging onto consciousness, gets a final view of the duo before they disappear into the portal in a brilliant flash of colors. Her eyelids slowly close onto the limp body of Christian, who is lying on his back, motionless. “Christian…” She mutters as her eyelids slowly fall and her vision turns black as she drifts into her brief slumber. Meanwhile on planet Earth, more specifically The Pentagon; John Average is just now walking into the Research and Development Department of the lower levels of The Pentagon. He takes a deep breath and exhales before moving past the two automatic glass doors and into the sleek, technologically advanced room. “Alright lab boys, anything new today?” He asks promptly. A scientist in a typical white lab coat at a nearby computer gets up and dashes over to the officer, clipboard in tow. “Nothing much, sir.” He says as he reads off the clipboard. The two of them start walking toward the centerpiece of the room: The interplanetary portal to Equestria from Earth. “The portal is stable, as usual.” The scientists continues; “And Christian just left two hours ago.” John nods at the information. “Excellent. Looks like another easy day then.” He says with a chuckle. Suddenly, a computer starts flashing nearby. The scientist identical to the one with the clipboard ponders at the information on screen. “Strange,” He says aloud. John and the scientist with the clipboard look at each other perplexed before moving over to the computer to see what all of the ruckus is. The scientist at the computer points at the two entities that were being registered as they were traveling through the portal. One was of a human figure and another was a unicorn. The scientist then explains: “Looks like Christian is bringing Twilight back with him for some reason; but why is he coming back this early?” He wonders out loud. John immediately realizes something is not right and speaks up. “Wait a sec, Christian would never leave so early; it’s only twelve o’clock. “ John says quietly to the group. “Even if he was bringing someone, he would at least tell me...” John’s head turns ominously to the sound of the portal opening followed by a flash of light. Two figures step out of the frame and view their surroundings. John and the scientists stare at the two of them; one is a periwinkle unicorn and the other is a shadowy-humanoid like figure wearing Christian’s usual attire. John’s right hand lingers over his sidearm. These two look like trouble. “You two, freeze!” John yells at the two characters, who turn their heads toward him simultaneously. The two groups look at each other unresponsive, forming a stalemate that lasts a few seconds before John breaks the silence. “What are you two? Friendlies or enemies?” Paradox and Trixie, who were caught off guard at the question; look back at each other puzzled before looking forward to answer the concerned humans. “Gentlemen, please! There is no reason for panic.” Paradox says while slowly walking toward them. John glares at him. “Ok, then what’s the answer?” He asks apprehensively. Paradox puts his hand up to motion patience. “The answer is simple, and will only take five seconds of your time. You see, I am a…” The figure vanishes right before the three humans. “How did he…?!” John yells, startled at the sudden vanishing act. However, in the matter of a second; John’s sentence is cut off as Paradox reappears behind him and throws him forward. John gets tossed over a computer console on the other side of the room. The two scientists look at the spirit, shaking with fear. Trixie casts a spell on the two of them that causes a shadowy rope to materialize and tie the two of them together. Paradox then suddenly reappears to finish his previous statement. “…enemy. Stupid humans.” He nods at his cohort. “Well done Trixie. Now, let’s see what could be of use around here.” Paradox points to the far side of the room as the two split up and start scouring the room for anything that looks interesting: Secret files and classified projects and the like. Trixie inspects the insides of a nearby group of file cabinets while Paradox scours the paperwork covered tables. As his umbral hands sweep papers and folders to the sides of the table, he spots a peculiar manila folder peeking out of the bottom of the heap of files. Curious, he plucks it from the rest of the mess and opens it. As soon as he starts scanning the first page, he starts laughing manically. He has found what he was looking for. As he continues to read and inspect the rest of the classified document, he hollers to Trixie behind his shoulder; “Ah, Trixie! I believe I have found what we are look-” He turns to see the brown haired human he threw a minute ago hobbling over to a big red button on the wall. Startled, Paradox screams at Trixie. “TRIXIE! STOP HIM!” Trixie quickly turns around just in time to see John slam his fist onto the red button. Trixie fires off a single periwinkle blast that barely misses John as he dives back to the ground. A siren starts blaring all over the room and red lights begin to flash; John had hit an emergency alarm. “Darn! Trixie is sorry, Paradox.” She curses herself and kicks the ground. Paradox ignores her for a second as he approaches the portal again with the folder in tow. “That’s quite alright Trixie. We are done here anyway.” He says while typing another location into the keypad on the portal. The portal opens seconds later. “Come along Trixie, you know I hate wasting time.” He comments while entering the gate. Trixie prances after him and enters the vortex just as the glass doors behind her are breached. Two dozen battle-ready soldiers rush into the room, all bearing dart rifles and wearing SWAT gear. “FREEZE! FBI!” A solider in front shouts as he sees the last bit of periwinkle vanish into the portal, which promptly closes moments later. With their intruders gone, the soldier moves on to help John off of the floor. “You alright, sir?” He asks, lending him a hand up. “Fine, but whoever they were just escaped; possibly with classified intel.” He says, while walking toward the rest of the guards before he starts giving out orders. “Alright, let’s move people! I want those scientists untied; find out where those two invaders disappeared two, AND FOR CRYING OUT LOUD; WHERE IS MY NEPHEW!?” John is promptly answered by a female scientist to his left. “John, Christian isn’t responding. We can’t even link up with him.” John pinches the bridge of his nose in discontent. He sighs before answering: “Then set up a link with Celestia; tell her to get the girls and…” “Sir, you may want to see this!” John is interrupted yet again by one of the now untied scientists. “What now?” He asks sternly while rushing up to where the nerd is typing on the keyboard of the portal gate. “Well, I’ve managed to find out where those two teleported to.” “Ok, where?” “Guess where the only other portal gate is?” The scientist hits enter on the keyboard and a bunch of maps and diagrams pop up on the monitor. John ignores the various pictures and only focuses on the name of the destination in big, cyan letters: GROOM LAKE, NEVADA John turns back to the scientist with an intrigued look on his face. “Ironic, wouldn’t you say?” He says to the scientist. The scientist ignores the comment and goes back to the seriousness of the matter. “What do we do, sir?” John smirks at the question. “Like I said, get Celestia;” he says while walking back toward the entrance of the room, “I think the girls deserve a little vacation…” > The Next Course Of Action > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- *SPLOOSSSSSHHHH!* *Gurgle, gurgle* “UGH! ACK! HACK! PFFT!” “See? I told you girls that would wake him up.” Christian is violently brought back to consciousness by a strong downpour of rain, courtesy of Rainbow Dash and a few small hops on a cloud. As Christian chokes on rainwater and tries to regain some air, he manages to spit out a few words in between coughs and gasps. “What…happened?” “Well according to Twilight;” Applejack explains, “Trixie n’ some guy called Parasocks jumped through the portal ta your planet.” “Paradox.” Twilight corrects. Applejack shrugs. “Makes more sense than being named after hoofwear;” She says. At this point, Christian is shaking the last bit of water out of his ears and turns to Dash, who is now lounging on the cloud that she used to drench him. She looks at him and smiles before Christian shoots a dart into her flank and she tumbles to the ground, sleeping. “Don’t EVER do that again!” He screams at her while she tries getting up from her sudden, three second nap. “Also, thank you for waking me up.” Dash looks at him irritated from his mixed messages. “Anyway, back to the main problem. If Trixie and Paradox went through the portal; John would have contacted me.” Christian adds. “I guess it didn’t go through on the account of you being unconscious.” Rarity points out. “True; but he would have contacted someo…”. Spike starts making a few odd sounds, interrupting Christian in mid-sentence. “Uhh…What’s with him?” Christian asks. His question is answered in the form of Spike burping up a scroll in a veil of green fire. Christian looks at him flabbergasted. “Well that’s different.” “You never saw Celestia send a scroll through Spike before, Christian?” Rarity asks. “No; and I think it’s weird how Spike is used as an organic mailbox of sorts.” He says plainly. “What does it say, Twi?” Applejack asks as Twilight starts scanning the scroll. With a quiet gasp, she points a small portion of the scroll out to Christian, who laughs a bit at the sentence. “Well, I can’t say no to orders. Plus, this outta be a fun new experience for us!” “What do you mean, Christian?” Pinkie asks curiously. “Well according to this, Paradox and Trixie just attacked The Pentagon and are most likely planning something; it doesn’t go into specific details; but John has notified Celestia to send you girls with me to Earth to help take down both Trixie and Paradox.” The mares squeal with glee at the news. Well, all of them except for Rarity; who seems a bit apprehensive about the whole ordeal. “Now Christian, while I’m not one to criticize such a rare opportunity; I must ask: Isn’t Earth…Well, filthy?!” She yells. “Aww don’t be such a baby, Rarity!” Dash says, nudging her side. “So the Earth might be a little grimy, what place isn’t?” “Carousel Boutique.” Rarity says plainly. “That’s an exception! Plus, when will you ever get the chance to go to another planet? Think of all the new designs for your boutique! I bet Earth has some pretty unique styles.” Rarity‘s eyes widen and her pupils dilate at Dash’s suggestion. “Well let’s get this show on the road then! Can’t leave the humans waiting, you know.” The unicorn rushes over to the portal. “Take chill pill, Rarity. First we stop Paradork and The Great and Stupid Trixie; then if we have time we can take small trip around the USA.” Christian says as he starts typing into the keypad near the portal. The colors light up the frame once more and Christian points at the vortex. “Alright, who’s first?” The ponies look at each other a bit nervously. Christian sighs in an annoyed tone. “Okay then…Guess I’ll go through fir…” “WAHOO!” Pinkie bounds from the group and into the vortex. Christian and the others stand there a bit shocked at what just happened. “Well…I guess Pinkie will be the first of your kind on Earth.” Christian says, astonished at how the pink pony just hurled herself to his planet; which she knows nothing about. The other ponies stared into the portal before Dash rockets after Pinkie. “Oh no she won’t!” She hollers as her form disappears into the swirling lights. AJ laughs a little at Dash’s intense competitive spirit before trotting up to the portal herself. “Welp, can’t leave your planet waitin’! C’mon girls!” She hollers as she leaps into the vortex. The others smile at each other before galloping and leaping in after their friend; all except for Twilight that is. She remains next to Christian with a worried look on her face. “Uhh…Christian? What if someone sees us when were on your planet? You know, like a normal human who isn’t with your government?” Christian goes to answer, but then his mind goes blank. He has not thought about this predicament until now. “I bet John has safety measures in place to prevent a ‘normal’ human from seeing you girls. I wouldn’t worry about it, Twitty.” Christian says with confidence in his voice. Twilight softly smiles at Christian before leaping into the portal herself; with Christian following right after her. Moments later, Christian arrives at The Pentagon’s interior with the girls already there waiting for him; well more like gawking at their surroundings really. The girls have never seen such technological marvels before. They are amazed at the shiny and complex machines on this unknown planet to them. Twilight is the only one of the group who isn’t completely flabbergasted by what’s around her. “Hmm, I figured your planet would be this advanced.” Twilight says. “This is nothing Twitty; wait until you see cars!” “Huh?” The girls say simultaneously. Christian pinches the bridge of his nose in annoyance. Then again, it’s not their fault that Equestria is not as technologically advanced as Earth. “Sorry, ‘horseless carriages’.” He says plainly. The girls “Ohhhhhh” in harmonious synchronization. Christian pitches the bridge of his nose again and sighs. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.” He says to himself. “Nonsense, Christian!” A voice from behind Christian exclaims. Easily, Christian recognizes the source of the voice as his uncle. He turns around toward him, rolls his eyes and smiles a bit. “Bringing the girls here will not only help out with the task at hand; it will also give them a taste of what Earth is like!” “This is true.” Christian says, agreeing with his uncle’s points. At this point, Twilight trots behind Christian and moves her head to look at John. Christian glances behind him and sighs loudly. “You remember Twitty, right?” John nods. “Of course! I remember her and the rest of the girls.” John says as he holds out his hand to Twilight. “It’s a pleasure to meet you again Twilight.” Twilight smiles and nods as she shakes John’s hand. “Thank you.” She states plainly. “Now, on to more pressing matters!” John quickly dash off behind a row of terminals and computer screens. He starts typing on one of the computer’s keyboards and after a few seconds, a screen pops up in the center of the room. A few seconds after that, a video of surveillance footage from earlier that day starts playing. The Mane Six and Christian watch in disgust and anger as they see Paradox and Trixie take out John and magically tie up two scientists. The screen then skips to Paradox taking a file off of the desk, John hitting the alarm, and Paradox and Trixie leaving The Pentagon before security breaches the door and the floods the room. John cuts the video and is a bit shaken at the six ponies and the one human who were enraged at what they just saw. Christian, still facing the empty screen, talks to his uncle sternly from over his shoulder: “Where did they go and what did they take?” John steps out from the computer and walks up to a large screen in front of the group and manually starts inputting some data into a nearby keyboard. “Well, we know that the shadowy figure; Paradox as you call him; took a classified file with him when he raided The Pentagon.” John says, sternly. “That file contained documents relating to Warehouse 51 and Area 51 as a whole…” “Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Christian interrupts; “Dee-Dee told me that the government revealed Area 51 to be just a testing facility for planes.” John turns and looks at him funny. “Didn’t you get the message we sent to all agents? That was just a cover up. Heck, we couldn’t believe so many people bought it!” He says happily. “Anyway, that file contains the schematic of the warehouse as well as a list of the contents. What you girls and Christian need to do is travel to Area 51, confront this “Paradox” and Trixie, and get the file back, AND prevent them from stealing any technology from the warehouse!” John finishes, painting a bit after his little speech. The group in front of him look at him with mixed looks of either confusion or interest. “Uhh, beg yer pardon?” Applejack says, confused. “So, basically we kick plot? Sounds easy enough! I can’t wait to get payback on Trixie for making me her servant!” Dash says with gusto and a pound of her hoof. “Now John,” Twilight begins; “How are we supposed to get to this “Area 51” without…Well, alerting your entire country about us?!” She yells in a panicked tone. John laughs at her question. “Come now, Twilight. Did you think we only built one of those portals?” He asks. “We have portals in every top secret facility in the USA! Heck, we are even attempting to install a few in Europe with the help of MI6!” “What’s an MI6?” Twilight asks, perplexed. Christian face palms in frustration. “Alright, let’s not get off topic here!” He yells. John smiles nervously at his nephew. He had heard about this temper of his. He starts typing on the keyboard again; making the portal behind them starts lighting up. “Anyway, it’s simple. I can set up the portal to take us all to Area 51. We can then drive to the warehouse from there.” With a final press of a button, the portal comes to life once more. Christian and Twilight are the first to approach the vortex of colors. “You ready for this, Christian?” Christian smirks in response. “You better believe it, Twitty.” He starts marching forward. “I want my revenge.” He mutters under his breath as he disappears into the gateway. Twilight looks back at the others and nervously smiles before following the human. The other ponies look at each other, a bit worried. “Well, Christian is feeling confident.” Rarity says. “How’s that gonna help him? Paradox will just kick his butt again if he tries anythi…” Rainbow Dash is cut off as a dart flies out of the portal and into her flank. The cyan pegasus falls flat onto the floor for five seconds before slowly getting up and rubbing her head. “Alright, well it’s safe to say he’s going to be in a bad mood for a while.” Dash says quietly before sauntering into the portal. “Christian will be fine. We’ve got his back; right girls?” Rarity states in a proud voice. “Right!” The other three shout in unison. “Then let’s go!” The rest of the ponies jump into the portal one at a time until only John is left standing in the room with a few scientists working around him. He chuckles: “Never a dull moment with those girls, is there?” He says. “Well, better not keep them waiting. They need my authorization anyway for the car…” John keeps talking to himself as he walks into the portal. Having the girls here on Earth may prove to be an interesting ordeal, but John couldn’t help but feel a bit apprehensive about this ‘Paradox’ figure. He is planning something and John knows it. Meanwhile, two figures’ silhouettes cast on a small, white, metal door on the side of a giant warehouse: one of a human and one of a unicorn. With a swift wave of a hand, the door flies out of its frame and into the dark recesses of the warehouse. The two enter the warehouse and stare into the darkness. “Trixie, if you don’t mind, a little light please.” The unicorn complies and with a soft glow if her horn; the warehouse’s lights instantly flick on all at once. The duo look at each other and give a wicked smile. “We better hurry my student.” He says while opening the manila folder to a floor plan of the warehouse. “It says here that each door is hooked up to a silent alarm that activates once breeched. We will be swarmed with guards in about a minute.” “By guards do you mean…” “Yes.” “Hmm, well Trixie thinks they will not be a threat.” “After our encounter back in Equestria, we should be just fine.” The two of them laugh manically before walking deeper into the warehouse. “Now come Trixie, let’s go… shopping.” > A Fight Ensues And Then Explosions > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The sand and dust picks up around the wheels of a black Hummer as it travels across the wasteland of Yucca Flat. The private road that John had been taking the group on has been smooth yet awfully boring; as shown by the four out of six ponies sleeping in the back even though they have only driven for about five minutes. Pinkie, Twilight, and Christian were the only ones still awake. Pinkie looks back at her sleeping friends before turning to Christian and smiling. “Sorry that your planet is so boring, Christian!” Christian can’t help but crack a smile. “Ah, don’t worry about it, Pinkie. This wasteland is nothing like the rest of my planet.” “Really?” Pinkie says; “What’s the rest of your planet like?” She looks at Christian with pleading eyes and blinks a few times. “Well, most people live in huge cities all over the planet: New York City, Hong Kong, France, London…” “Like Manehattan?” Pinkie asks, interrupting Christian in the middle of his sentence. Christian looks at her with confusion on his face. “Do you mean Manhattan in New York?” He asks. “Nope, Manehattan.?” She says, happily. “Pinkie, that city doesn’t exist.” “Not here, but in Equestria it does!” “So your planet is stealing our city names now?” While Christian and Pinkie start getting into a heated debate on “Which planet is copying cities from the other?” Twilight gently taps John’s shoulder to ask him a question. John turns his head a bit toward the unicorn. “What’s up, Twilight?” “Sorry to bother you John; but do you mind if I ask what this “Area 51” is?” John laughs a bit at the question. “Not at all, Twilight!” He turns his head to focus back on driving. “You see, Area 51 is a top secret military testing facility here in Nevada. It is occasionally used for classified experimental aircraft testing; but some rumors say that we also experiment on extraterrestrial artifacts and aliens.” This quote immediately halts Christian and Pinkie’s conversation and makes the sleeping ponies jolt awake from fear. They all stare at John, eyes wide with fright. John turns to see the disturbed ponies behind him, and immediately tries to fix the situation. “It’s just rumors, girls. The FBI never experimented on aliens as far as I know.” He hears a simultaneous sigh of relief from the back of the truck. “Oh good.” Twilight says, smiling. At that moment, Christian leans in and whispers into her ear. “Yea, as far as John knows; they haven’t experimented on any aliens.” Twilight suddenly feels a chill go down her spine and her body tense up. Christian starts laughing at his comment; which makes Twilight give her human “friend” the evil eye. Meanwhile, Dash squints out the windshield and points to an upcoming building out in the distance. “Is that the warehouse?” She asks. “Yup, that’s it;” John answers. “Warehouse 51; and good timing too; the silent alarm to the warehouse just got triggered.” “Good, then we’re not too late.” She responds, itching to kick some plot. The Hummer comes to a stop in front of the two large doors leading to the interior of the warehouse. Christian steps out and pulls down his sunglasses. “Hmm, this is a problem.” “What’s a problem?” John asks as he steps out of the vehicle; along with the girls who follow suit behind Christian. “If we open those doors, Trixie and Paradox will know we’re here. We need to find out how they got in.” “Easy! From over there!” Pinkie shouts, pointing to the destroyed steel door on the ground beside the right side of the building. Everyone stares at pink pony like she is some sort of maniac. “How… did you know that, Pinkie?” Twilight asks. Pinkie looks at her friends oddly. “It was in the last chapter, duh!” She exclaims. Everyone says “Huh?” in unison; with the exception of Christian who is pondering Pinkie’s answer. “Last chapter?” He says to himself. He shakes his head. Now was not the time to think about Pinkie being… Pinkie. “Never mind that, girls. Let’s go!” The group makes there way over to the decimated entrance way. “Wow, they sure did a number on the door.” John comments. “No kiddin’” Applejack responds. Suddenly, her ears perk up and her eye widen. “Wait, ya’ll hear that?” The others perk an ear towards the open door. Sure enough, the group can hear quiet voices come from the interior of the warehouse. “Sounds like they’re still here.” Twilight says to Christian. He nods. “Good, you girls ready?” He asks in response. “You bet I’m ready! Trixie and this ‘Paradox’ won’t know what hit’em!” Dash yells with confidence. The others start walking into the building. Before Christian can join them, John tugs on his arm to hold him in place. Christian turns his head towards him, confused. “Christian, I’ll have a few men outside the warehouse and a few back at the portal to keep an eye out if these two try to escape.” John informs his nephew. “Thanks, John.” He nods in response before following the girls into the warehouse. The group waits for their human companion before venturing deeper into the building. Before long, the light from outside vanished and only the lights hanging from the high ceiling lit the room. Following only the smallest bits of voice they heard from inside, the group eventually reaches the center of the warehouse. Suddenly, Christian sees a bit of periwinkle and motions everyone to hide behind a huge wooden crate nearby. “You see them?” Twilight says in a hushed tone. “Yea. They are right over this crate.” He responds. “Good, let me at them!” Dash yells quietly before spreading her wings and flying towards the other side of the crate. Suddenly, she is yanked back and dropped onto her stomach by Twilight’s magic. “Not so fast, Dash. We need to be sneaky about this; not just dash out at full speed, hooves blazing!” “Twitty’s right.” Christian adds. “Let’s wait until they are distracted.” Meanwhile, Trixie and Paradox are having the times of their lives finding all sorts of blueprints and schematics for weapons of mass destruction and futuristic tools. Trixie is busy digging through one of the numerous wooden crates; eyeing and admiring each and every blueprint inside: “Ohh! This one seems interesting!” She says while putting another blueprint into her saddlebag while picking one up and opening another; “A thermal energy weapon?! Positively amazing! Trixie never knew these humans were so devious!” She turns to Paradox as she puts the schematic away. “Hey Paradox, what are we looking for exactly? All of these blueprints seem like perfect tools to take over Equestria!” Paradox, meanwhile, is busy flying to a multitude of different crates; opening them and eyeing the contents inside before sighing and dropping the top back on; disappointed at his findings. “We are looking for a certain schematic, my student.” He says, prying open another huge crate. “This schematic is probably under heavy security.” He says while opening yet another crate. This crate however, was different. His eyes grow wide as he reaches into the container and picks out a long, blue tube with a metal top and bottom. “Or not.” He flicks off one of the metal coverings and pulls out another schematic. He opens it carefully and is instantaneously fascinated with what he is reading. “Trixie!” He shouts behind him. Trixie pops her head up from another crate of blueprints, one of which falls off her head and back into the crate. “I found the schematic we are looking for!” He raises the rolled up blueprint into the air in victory. Suddenly, a dart flies in from out of nowhere and snags the blueprint before sticking it to another one of the numerous wooden crates behind the time spirit. “WHAT THE?!” He yells, startled as he turns towards the source of the dart. “And now it’s gone!” Christian yells from across the room. “Well, if it isn’t the human! Back for another pummeling I assume?” “Yea; I’m back to pummel you, Paradork! And I’m not alone.” With a show of his hand, he reveals The Elements of Harmony behind him. Paradox laughs. “Ahh yes; the legendary “Elements of Harmony”. I believe we have already met, Twilight Sparkle.” The spirit says. “Paradox.” She says simply. Paradox gives a small laugh. “To you other five, let me introduce myself. I am Paradox, spirit of time!” “Big deal.” Dash says, unimpressed. Trixie quickly swerves her head in the pegasi’s direction with an angry look on her face. “How DARE you insult Paradox!” The unicorn yells from across the room. Paradox waves his student’s words. “Never mind her words, my student. These… pests shall know the extent of my power shortly. Just take those schematics back to Equestria.” He orders the periwinkle mare. With a nod, she grabs the schematic Christian pinned with a dart using her magic, puts it with the others in her saddlebag, and starts charging up a teleportation spell to head back to the portal. BZZAPP! Suddenly, something hits the wall close to the periwinkle mare and makes her lose her focus charging the spell. From across the room, Twilight’s horn begins glowing a bright purple again. “You’re not going anywhere, Trixie; until you return those schematics!” Twilight yells at her rival. Trixie shakes off the shock from almost getting hit by Twilight’s spell and hops down from the crate she was on top of. “So you want a duel; is that it, Twilight? Very well then!” Trixie yells. Twilight starts walking over to the unicorn. Meanwhile, Christian turns to talk to Rainbow Dash. “Dash, go with Twitty. While Trixie is distracted by one of you two; the other can grab some of those blueprints back.” He whispers to her. Dash rolls her eyes and sighs at not being able to fight the malevolent time spirit. Then again, at least she knows how to beat Trixie. “Well, Trixie is more annoying. No problem, Christian!” She proceeds to fly over to Twilight. Christian, AJ, Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy remain standing below Paradox; who is merely amused by the party that has stayed to fight him. “Hmm, a human and four weak ponies. This will be easier than I thought!” AJ’s eyes narrow as she grits her teeth. “Paradin’ me? Mind sayin’ that again to ma face?!” She yells to him. Amused the time spirit hovers down and lands on the floor and slowly walks over to the orange earth pony. He meets his face with hers and smiles. “Your weak stature is no match for…” BAM!!! CRASH!!! In seconds, Paradox goes from standing on one side of the room to being inside a wooden crate on the other in a matter of seconds. AJ took the time Paradox was using to get in her face to whip around and buck him with her hind legs with as much force as she could muster. Christian and the others were impressed by Applejack’s feat of strength. “Whoa. Good one, AJ.” Christian comments as he stares at Paradox’s motionless body. “Who’s weak now, time boy!?” She shouts to him. The spirit floats back up and snickers. “Okay, I under estimated ONE of you. You other three are still easy prey!” He instantly vanishes in front of the group. They look around trying to find where the spirit vanished to. “So, you ponies have the upper hand when you KNOW you can hit me…” They hear from Paradox’s unknown location. Rarity feels a brief gust of wind on the left side of her body. “But what if you don’t know WHEN you can…” “HI-YAH!” SHOOP!!! BWAK!!! Rarity quickly gets to her hind hooves and does a swift kick to the air on the left side of her body. The kick sends an unknown force flying back and into a pile of small, wooden crates. Christian watches in awe as Paradox reappears in the bunch of fallen crates from the swift kick to his chest. “So let me get this straight: You know karate?!” Christian asks with his mouth agape. Rarity smiles as she poses on one hoof in a crane kick pose. “Darling please; I know many martial arts techniques. I’m not just a pretty face you know!” Christian is profound at Rarity’s hidden fighting skills. He could barely punch (Well, if he wasn't angry.), yet this pony knows martial arts. “Okay, you have GOT to teach me some of those moves!” He asks her, pleadingly. She smiles. “Later, Christian; Right now, let’s deal with this pest first.” She looks back at Paradox who is now scratching his head in confusion. “Do all of you ponies have some sort of secret skill I am not aware of?!” He shouts. Christian thinks for a moment. “Well, Pinkie has a cannon and Fluttershy can probably attack you with some sort of giant, rabid animal. So… I’ll go with yes.” Paradox sighs in anguish. These ponies were colorful Swiss army knives! “Alright then, forget about the ponies. You’re the main event then, human!” He vanishes into thin air once more. “Ah, shoot! This again?” He says while flicking his wrist to ready his crossbow. He looks around. “Now where are you this ti…AH GEEZ!!” He shouts while Paradox punches him on the side of his head. Christian flops to the ground but is quick to scramble back to his feet and fight the spirit head on. Meanwhile, Twilight and Trixie are gearing up for a showdown of their own (With Dash off on the sidelines, sneaking up behind Trixie). “Well then, Twilight; who shall cast first?” Trixie says as the two of them circle around. Twilight sneers. “Well, you said you got more powerful. I am interested to see what Paradox has taught you.” She says. Trixie laughs. “Oh, poor Twilight; you are in for a world of hurt when you see what power Trixie has!” Trixie’s horn starts glowing pitch black and points it at Twilight. “Now we shall see who the better unicorn is!” Trixie fires off a long, dark beam of magic towards Twilight, who deflects it away from her body with a quick purple shield she conjures up. The beam hits the ceiling of the warehouse, making some concrete fall besides the mulberry mare. She jumps at the loud bang next to her; making her lose focus and dissolve her shield. This scare gives Trixie an open target. She fires off another dark beam towards Twilight. Thinking quickly, Twilight dives out of the way as the beam hits a crate behind her and carves a large hole in the front of the hole. Trixie laughs at the sight of the mare. “Trixie is enjoying this, Twilight. Your magic is no match for-” Trixie’s vision suddenly turns dark as something hits her smack dab in the face; cutting off her little speech in the process. Twilight had thrown a whipped cream pie at Trixie while she was gloating. Twilight has a smirk on her face as Trixie throws the majority of the pie off her face and wipes off the rest of the whipped cream with a handkerchief she summoned. Trixie looks at the pleased pony and growls with hatred. “I’ll make you pay for mocking The Great and Powerful Trix-” Her threat is cut short by yet another pie to the face. The pie slowly falls to the floor and reveals Trixie’s irate face underneath. She shakes of the whipped cream and points her horn at Twilight again. “Trixie will make you toast, Twilight!” Her horn starts turning pitch black again. Twilight stops laughing and summons her shield once more as she gets bombarded with more dark beams of magic. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash quietly floats behind Trixie. She eyes her open saddlebag and the numerous blueprints in it. She sneaks a forehoof into the bag and starts nabbing blueprints. “I’ll take this one… and this one…” She opens the biggest one and laughs. “Oh, this one looks important; definitely taking this one! Ooh, that one looks cool!” She ends up with six blue prints in her hooves as she quietly floats away from the crazed unicorn. Twilight’s shield starts failing the more Trixie hits it with her dark magic. Eventually, Twilight’s purple shield vanishes around her, leaving her wide open to Trixie’s attacks. Instead, Trixie taunts her rival once more. “I would finish you off, Twilight; yet I need to get back to Equestria with these blueprints for Para…” She stops herself as she stares into the emptiness of her saddlebag. The unicorn is dumbfounded. “Wait, how did…” “Looking for these, Trixie?” Trixie quickly directs her attention to the pegasus that is taunting her from above. With a quick spell cast from Trixie, a black aura surrounds Dash’s right wing and throws her to the ground; making the blueprints fall all over the place. Trixie grabs the two nearest to her before turning to Dash. “That little spell of Trixie’s should keep you grounded for a while.” She turns back to Twilight. “As for you Twilight, I-” And once again, Trixie is cut off by yet another pie to the face. Enraged, Trixie viciously wipes of the dessert and screams at the giggling mare: “TRIXIE HAS HAD IT WITH THESE PIES!” Her horn rapidly turns black as night as she fires off a powerful spell at Twilight. Twilight puts her shield back up, yet the spell breaks her magic like a twig and zaps the unicorn. Twilight gets thrown back a few feet before getting up to cast another spell. Yet to her surprise, she can’t cast a spell; or even a spark of magic for that matter. Twilight gains a worried expression on her face as Trixie raises her head to address her. “There! Trixie’s magic has made you unable to cast a spell for quite a while now.” The periwinkle pony starts stepping toward the hindered mare and laughs. “Now, Trixie can have a little revenge.” Twilight gulps loudly in response. Meanwhile, Christian soaring in the air after getting hit by Paradox again. He lands and rolls along the ground before trying to getting back up. Paradox laughs as he struggles to get up. “Human, when will you learn that you are nothing compared to me?” Christian says nothing in response as he gets back up. Rarity and the others look worried at Christian’s condition. They realize that he can’t take a few more hits. “Christian!” Rarity yells; “When Paradox disappears, feel for where he is!” The message completely threw Christian off. He turns around to address the unicorn. “Feel where he is?! What the heck does that mea-“ BAM!! CRASH!! Christian gets thrown down by another one of Paradox’s punches. He leans up on an arm at stares at the group behind him angrily. This is the worst possible time to be distracted by stupid comments. He gets back up and turns toward Paradox again, was laughing once more before vanishing with a snap of his fingers. Christian’s head turns back toward Rarity and closes his eyes. “Alright;” Christian says to himself. “This may sound crazy, but weirder things have happened let’s be honest.” Suddenly, he feels a soft breeze on his right side. “Wait, what?” He thinks to himself. “I’m inside! There’s no source of wind! Unless…” He preps his bow and flicks his wrist towards the right. The dart flies through the air for a few seconds before striking something and stopping in mid-air. “AHHH! What the?!” Paradox screams as he reappears in front of him. Christian is stunned at what had just occurred. Paradox looks at the dart in his shoulder before grabbing and flicking it away like a wad of gum. “Hmph. Lucky shot, human. Unfortunately, that will be your only shot you actually land!” He shouts before vanishing once more. Christian smirks a bit at Rarity’s little note. “Oh, I get it! Paradork may be able to slow time to hit me…” He feels a sudden breeze brushing his hair a bit. Acting quick, he shoots straight up at hits Paradox in the middle of his chest. He lands to pluck out the second dart as Christian keeps muttering to himself “But he doesn’t realize that he still creates some wind when he moves!” Paradox throws that dart away and stares at Christian angrily. “I don’t understand, human. How are you hitting me?” Christian shrugs. “I have skill, Paradox. Something you’re lacking in!” Paradox growls in response. “Oh! Well we’ll see who is lacking in skill after THIS!” He vanishes again. Christian turns and nods at Rarity and Applejack. They nod back, silently understanding what he is planning; and Christian turns around to feel what seems like a rough wind heading towards his chest. He fires off three darts straight in front of him. Paradox reappears, falling in front of Christian. Thinking quickly; Christian dives out of the way as Rarity and Applejack move in front of the spirit. AJ turns around while Rarity gets onto her hind legs. “Uh oh.” Paradox says as he is bucked and kicked by the two ponies. The combined power sends him flying to the other side of the warehouse and crashing into a few of the numerous crates. He tumbles out of the mess, weak and tired. He slowly turns toward Trixie, who was about to unleash a spell at Twilight. Paradox yells toward his student. “Trixie! Forget about that unicorn! Get back to Equestria! I will deal with these pests!” Trixie turns toward her teacher, annoyed that she could not finish off her adversary. She turns to Twilight. “Sorry Twilight, but Trixie must follow her teacher’s orders. Then again, I have faith that without your magic; Paradox will finish you himself!” Her horn starts glowing a light blue. “Goodbye, Twilight!” She says her final words to her before teleporting away. Christian, realizing that Trixie just teleported away, taps the tablet on his wrist to try and contact his uncle. Unfortunately, Christian is too late as John appears on his screen, sounding frantic. “Christian! The men I had guarding the portal just reported seeing a light blue unicorn going through. What happened?” “Trixie just teleported away.” “Did she have any blueprints on her?” John asks. Christian pauses for a second. He never actually saw if she had any blueprints with her. Dash then interrupts Christian’s thoughts as she says: “She had two, the rest of them scattered all over the place.” John scratches his head, trying to think of what to say. “Alright, I bet you guys can get those back from her. What about Paradox?” Christian smiles and stares at the defeated time spirit. “Oh, he’s not going anywhere.” He says as he joins the ponies in surrounding the spirit. Paradox looks up and cracks a smile before soaring into the air. “Don’t bet on it, human. I shall be joining my student as soon as I destroy all of you!” “What are you talking about?” Twilight yells to him. Paradox smiles again. “You see insolent pony; this warehouse does not just contain blueprints and schematics; it is also home to some very dangerous weapons and inventions. One spark could make this entire warehouse become a crater.” He then reveals a red button from seemingly out of nowhere. The group below him simultaneously gasps in fear as his thumb overs over the button. “It would be such a shame if you were caught in such a devastating explosion.” Christian glares at his foe before turning to Twilight. “Twilight, use some magic to get that button and stop him!” Twilight looks at Christian nervously. “Uhh, I can’t.” “WHAT?!” Christian shouts. “Trixie used a spell to nullify my magic for an hour! I can’t do anything!” Paradox laughs from above, happy that his victory is just a literal click away. “Oh, this is just got much easier! Farewell ponies and human! This will be the last time we shall meet.” Paradox clicks the button and vanishes from the warehouse. The button falls out of the air and rolls to Christian’s feet. Suddenly, a chorus of loud beeps start coming from the back of the warehouse. Everyone’s eyes grow wide as they realize what Paradox had just done. John suddenly appears on Christian’s tablet. “Christian! Our thermal sensors are going crazy! What just happened?!” John shouts in a panic. “Paradox just set off a multitude of explosives; we getting out NOW!” He turns to the mares. “Girls, we need to leave right no-” A huge explosion cuts of Christian and sends him flying. “AH SHOOT!” He screams as he slams into the ground. Rainbow Dash and AJ quickly go to the human’s aid and help him back up. “You okay, Christian?” AJ asks. Christian nods. “Fine, but we won’t be if we stay here!” He says as another explosion erupts behind him. “We need ta get outta here!” AJ yells to everyone. Dash leaps up and points forwards towards a pathway through the crates. “The way we came in is this way!” “Are you sure, Dash?” Pinkie shouts. Dash nods. “Positive! Follow me!” She hoofs it toward the pathway she pointed out with everypony following her. Explosions start engulfing the area behind the group; with flaming crates and debris crashing and destroying the center of the warehouse. Dash and the others turn the corner and see the sunlight of the broken down door that they had entered the warehouse from. “I found the doorway!” She yells behind her. “Then c’mon! Let’s go!” Christian yells as they all run up to the only available exit. Outside, they can see John half a mile away waving his arms. “C’mon, you guys can make it.” John says to himself. Back inside the warehouse, the group is about to reach their only way out of the death trap that Paradox had left them. Right before they dash out of the building, a ton of debris from the roof of the warehouse falls right in front of them; causing the group to come to a screeching halt in front of the now blocked doorway. “Oh snap!” Christian shouts as he runs forward and starts trying to find an opening in the stone and steel. Outside, John looks on as the doorway becomes blocked. He remains motionless as he tries to think of a reaction; yet he remains speechless at the situation. Back inside, Christian starts trying to move some of the debris away to create an exit. The mares quickly realize what he is trying to do and rush to help him. AJ and Dash try moving a few of the heavier stones out of the way; with AJ pushing and Dash trying to use her wings to topple it off the rest of the pile. “It’s…too…packed in!” Dash shouts to Christian. “Keep trying! We can do this!” He shouts back. “Well we better hurry! I don’t think we have much longer!” Twilight yells as she tries to remove a small steel girder from the blockage. Suddenly, a huge explosion detonates above the crowd. This makes a tower of crates start toppling towards them. Twilight looks up at the heavy falling objects. “GIRLS! CHRISTIAN!” She shouts in a panic. The others look up and see their doom falling towards them. The girls huddle around each other, in a hugging formation of such as the smaller crates start hitting in the floor around them. “We’re toast!” Dash yells as she shuts her eyes and awaits her fate the others follow suit shortly after. Christian glances up as he sees the huge and heavy crates falling towards them. He looks towards the mares in a final group hug. He clenches a fist and mutters to himself: “Not on my watch.” He runs towards the mares and lifts up both of his arms to try and stop the falling debris from crushing his friends. Twilight sees what he is trying to do and gasps at his actions. “CHRISTIAN! NO!” She yells as Christian closes his eyes and prepares to feel the full impact of two hundred thousand pounds on his body. Yet as the debris is about to pound him into nothingness; he feels as if some sort of new strength is being released from his body... Meanwhile, outside the warehouse; John looks onwards at the flaming and exploding warehouse in the distance. His men are looking at each other and at John; not knowing what to do or what to say in this situation. Suddenly, Celestia appears right next to John, which startles him for a split second. “Celestia? How did you?” He goes to ask, but she cuts him off. “I had a feeling Twilight and her friends were in trouble; so I came to see what was going on. Where are they? And where’s Christia-” They both turn towards the warehouse as a gigantic explosion envelops the building. Celestia and John turn to see the fireball that is now in the sky from the massive detonation. Celestia looks at John and swallows hard as she tries to get her words together. “Were…they…in…” John nods before Celestia could finish her sentence. Her expression goes from shocked to severely depressed in a matter of seconds. John remains fixated onto the fire and smoke that now took up where the warehouse once was. John’s men have already started running towards the destroyed building as soon as it had erupted. John taps his tablet to contact one of his men. “Have you found anything? Are any life signs showing up on any scanners?” He asks the soldier near the destroyed warehouse. Celestia peeks over his shoulder to see what the answer is. The soldier shakes his head. “There’s nothing here but thick smoke and a huge crater, sir; and nothing is showing up on anything.” The solider responds to his higher up. John lowers his wrist and starts shaking his head in denial. “No… no that can’t be.” He says to himself. Celestia, meanwhile, is about to be in tears at the news that she just reserved. Her best student, Twilight’s friends, and her ambassador were now gone forever. John looks at her and speaks up. “Celestia, I swear; I will find Paradox and Trixie and they will pay for-” “Sir! SIR! We found something!” John is cut off by the soldier he had just talked to. Celestia hears the sudden noise and gets up to see what had happened. John brings up the live feed of the soldier, hoping that everyone had somehow survived the blast. “What?! What did you find?!” He asks in haste. The soldier looks down the crater. “It’s… It’s some sort of orange, magic shield of sorts, sir! It appears that they survived because of it!” Celestia and John smile in relief at the news. “They’re alright. Twilight must have conjured a shield.” Celestia says in relief. John nods in agreement to the princess. Then, he realizes something. His solider said the shield in crater is orange, not purple. Also, he overheard something about Twilight not having magic. “Wait, Celestia; isn't Twilight’s magic aura purple?” “Yes, why?” “Because my men said the shield is orange, not purple. Also, my audio was still active when Paradox was still in the building; and I overheard Twilight saying that she couldn’t use her magic because of Trixie.” Celestia looks at John, bewildered at what he was saying. She ponders his words for a second before looking at him with a sort of confusion in her eyes. “Then if Twilight didn’t conjure a shield, then who…” John and Celestia look at each other before Celestia conjures a teleportation spell to send them to the crater. In less than five seconds, they appear in front of John’s men, overlooking the crater. They peer down into the pit and see the orange shield down below. The dust has just finished settling and the view has become much clearer. The two of them stare into the orange shield and real at what they see inside. “Wait, is that…?” John says with uncertainty. Celestia gasps at what she sees. “I don’t believe it! I didn’t think…” Down in the crater, Twilight is the first of the group to peek her eyes open a bit. When she realizes that she is surrounded by a magical force field; she opens her eyes fully and looks around. “We’re… alive?” She says to herself. This alerts the others to open their eyes and look around and see their safe haven. “We’re alive!” Dash smiles and shouts with glee. “YAY!” Pinkie yells. “What luck, I thought we were history!” Rarity says. “No kiddin’!” Applejack comments. “Nice use of magic, Twilight.” Dash says while patting her on the back. Twilight nods, but then realizes that she is not feeling any magic withdrawal from her horn and remembers that she couldn’t conjure this shield anyway because of Trixie’s spell. “Uhh, girls. I’m not the one putting up this shield.” She says, nervously. The girls look at their friend like she is crazy. “What do you mean, Twi?” Applejack asks. “Trixie made it impossible for me to use any magic for an hour. This can’t be me.” The others look at her, befuddled at her explanation. “Then… If it’s not you, Twilight… Then, Rarity?” Pinkie turns toward the only other unicorn in the room, followed by every other mare. Rarity looks at all of them and shakes her head. “Please, I don’t use magic for this sort of thing.” She says in response. “Then… who’s?” Twilight goes to say before she looks behind her friends to see the impossible. The others turn around to see what she is now gawking at. What they see shocks them. Christian is there, standing in the center of the small shield; keeping the whole thing stable with his own two hands. They were in HIS shield that HE conjured. They hear small grunts and moans as he is struggling to keep the magic force field stable. “CHRISTIAN?!” They all yell in unison. At that moment, the shield degenerates as Christian can no longer keep up his magic. He collapses in fatigue, veering in and out of consciousness. He can barely hear the people and ponies around him. As he closes his eyes to fall into unconsciousness; he hears off in the distance: “Get him an evac, stat! Christian’s down! I repeat; Christian is down!” > A Magical New Advantage > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “GAH!” Christian shouts as he jolts awake from unconsciousness. His head is pounding and the rest of his body aches horribly. “Ugh, why do I feel like a weight is crushing me?” He says to himself as he groans again from another surge of pain. “Well, I’m alive. That’s an upside at least. Where am I?” He says as he tries to get a hold of his surroundings. The first thing he notices is that he is sitting in a bed; but the bed is weird looking in the sense that it look like it had fused with a crib. It has side rails all along the edge of the bed. Looking around, he notices a TV in the top right corner of the room he is in and a window that takes up the entire wall to his right. He looks left to see a door and some odd looking equipment next to him; a few monitors and an IV. That’s when he realizes where he is. “A hospital? But how did…?” Suddenly, the door to his room opens. Christian stays fixated on the open door and points his crossbow at it in apprehension. The figure who had opened the door steps into Christian’s line of sight. It takes him not even a second to figure out who it was. “Well, look who’s awake!” John says as he closes the door behind him. Christian lowers his crossbow and smiles at his uncle. “How are you feeling, kiddo?” He asks as he leans his back against the wall opposite to his nephew. “I’ve felt better. How long have I been out?” Christian asks. “Actually not that long, only about an hour or so. You seem to have a good track record of not being unconscious for very long.” “Oh, that’s good.” His chest tenses up as another surge of pain hits him. “Yet the pain is still annoying! Ouch…” He pauses for a second to lie back down to lessen the stress on his stomach. “So, how have you been?” “Honestly, I’m just glad that you’re alive, kiddo. You gave me and Celestia quite a scare when that warehouse blew up with you and the girls in it.” “Yea…” Christian then remembers something rather important. “OH SHOOT! THE GIRLS! Where are they?! Are they okay?!” John starts laughing a bit at his nephew’s reaction before going over to the door and opening it. “See for yourself!” He says as a group of rainbow colored ponies rush in and immediately start smothering him in a group hug; throwing Christian off completely. “AH! OKAY! They’re alive! Great! Get off! This hurts! A LOT!” Christian yells as he tries to free himself. The ponies quickly notice the effect they are putting on the human and back off. Christian shakes off the affectionate welcome and smiles, happy to see that the ponies are alive and well. “Glad to see you girls are okay! Let me guess, Twitty used a spell didn’t she?” “Uh, well actually…” Twilight goes to say; but Christian cuts her off as usual. “I gotta say Twitty; I hate you for multiple reasons, and I mean MULTIPLE. But this magic of yours really comes in handy!” “I don’t know if that’s a compliment or not, but…” “I mean, Trixie even put a spell on you to prevent you from using magic; and you use it anyway! How does that even…” “I didn’t use any magic!” Twilight shouts, interrupting Christian who then goes into a blank expression on his face which transitions into confusion. “What do you mean ‘you didn’t use magic’?” He asks, laughing at her unbelievable statement. “I didn’t conjure the shield that saved us.” Twilight persists. Christian laughs again. “Well then who did, Twitty? You’re the only one that I know besides PC and Luna that can use magic the way you use it.” “You did.” Twilight answers. Christian goes dead silent for a second and everyone looks at him, a bit concerned. “What do you mean ‘I did’?” He asks with a nervous laugh. “You conjured the shield.” Twilight says with a smile on her face. Christian shakes his head in disbelief. “Twitty, you must have been hit in the head with a falling piece of concrete. I’m a human. I mean, it would be awesome if I could use magic; but I can’t. It’s not possible.” “Oh yes you can!” Dash yells. “We all saw you creating that shield with your own two hands! And it was awesome!” “It blew my mind!” Pinkie Pie comments. “No kiddin’! I didn’t even know humans could use magic!” Applejack says. “It was very…umm…cool, Christian.” Fluttershy whispers to the bedriden human. “I don’t believe it. There is no way!” Christian says, throwing himself back down onto his bed. “I mean, do you know how impossible this sounds?” “Yes, but it’s true.” A voice coming from the doorway says. Celestia walks in and looks at Christian. “John and I saw it with our own eyes.” Christian glances over at John, who shrugs. “What? They were going to tell you anyway!” He says putting up his hands in his defense. Christian starts shaking his head. “Me using magic? AWESOME! Wait, so does that mean I’m a unicorn now or…How does that work exactly?” He asks the solar princess. “Well, there’s only one way to find out.” She responds. “Take off your necklace and let’s see!” Christian slowly reaches behind him and unhooks the back hook to his necklace. After a brief flash of light, Chris-Cross is shown holding his necklace in his left hoof. He looks around the room to see wide eyes and gaping mouths. “Well? Anything different?” He asks curiously. Dash glances down to his eyes. “Uh, Yea. I’d say that’s new!” She says while pointing to his forehead. Chris-Cross lifts a hoof to feel anything different. His hoof bangs into a strong structure on his head. Taking his other hoof, he quickly feels around his head to find a smooth and somewhat pointy object protruding out of his head. CC gets a freaked out look on his face for a second, not realizing what this “thing” is. Twilight notices this and conjures up a mirror. “This should help, Chris-Cross.” She says as the mirror hovers over to CC. He looks into the mirror and his admires what he sees on his head: An orange unicorn horn. He turns his head left to right to get different views of this new addition to his body. “Not bad.” He mutters to himself. “While I still think unicorns are more female oriented; magic is the kind of thing that every human wants! This is going to be aweso…” Suddenly, Chris-Cross’s horn vanishes from his head, seemingly disintegrating from where it once was. CC stares back into the mirror, a bit confused at what just happened starts waving his right hoof back and forth where his horn once was. The ponies around him are a bit intrigued at the horn’s disappearing act. “Uh…Is this normal?” Chris-Cross asks. Celestia shakes her head. “Not at all; how bizarre. I’ve never seen such a thing.” “Welp, I guess there goes your magic, CC.” Applejack points out. CC gives off a blank expression before his face transforms into the most annoyed and irritated face the girls have ever seen. “You have GOT to be kidding me!” He yells. “I get one of the coolest skills ever and then I just lose it?! GAHHHHHHHHH!” He slams his hooves onto his bed. “Give me a break! For the love of Celestia, I almost got wasted in the warehouse back ther…” As Chris-Cross points a forehoof outside the window in the direction of a small crater on the horizon, a brilliant orange beam flies out of CC’s forehoof and slices a cookie cutter size hole in the glass. The ponies and John look toward the punctured window before looking back at CC, who is staring at his hoof in alarm. “Did…Did Chris-Cross just conjure a magic beam from his hoof?” Twilight says, bewildered. “I didn’t even know unicorns, or ponies for that matter; could even do that.” Rarity says. “They can’t.” Celestia says as she walks up and starts observing CC’s hooves. Using some of her own magic, she surrounds CC’s hooves in a white glow. Celestia closes her eyes and starts channeling more magic before thinking aloud. “Hmm…It seems that because Christian’s human DNA is fused with that of a pony; when a horn was introduced into the gene pool it had to cope with both pony and human DNA. So it seems the gene for the unicorn horn infused with that of his hooves to compensate for the lack of a human unicorn horn.” Chris-Cross gives Celestia a blank stare. “Uhh, what?” “She means your horn and hooves are connected.” Twilight explains in a more simple form. Christian mumbles to Twilight; acknowledging what she said, before focusing his attention back to his forehooves. “So, does this make me part unicorn now or something?” Chris-Cross asks the princess. Celestia looks up for a second to think about his rather unusual question. “Well…Technically yes, even though you ‘lack’ a horn.” She answers. Christian nods as he starts trying to put his necklace back on. As Chris-Cross is fumbling around, Dash comes to a somewhat interesting realization. “Hey, wait a sec; can’t Chris-Cross talk to animals too?” She asks. The girls turn toward their pegesi friend to address her. “Yes I can; but what does that have to do with anything?” CC says as he tries to un-hook his necklace. “How do you girls use these things?” He mumbles under his breath as his necklace slips from his grip. “Well think about it; CC just so happens to get two amazing new skills right after he gets blasted with the Elements of Harmony. I mean, C’MON! You don’t have to be Twilight to figure this out.” “I don’t understand what ya gettin’ at, Dash.” Applejack says. “I never understand.” Pinkie says with a smile. Dash slowly facehooves herself in annoyance. “Think about it girls; who’s the one pony we know…” Dash zips up to Fluttershy in the blink of an eye. “…who has great connection to animals?” She nudges her yellow friend, who smiles in coy manner. “Also…” Dash then hovers over to Twilight. “…who is the best at using magic in the room besides Celestia?” Twilight nods in understanding before showing a somewhat encouraging smile. "Dash, I like the theory. But there is no way that Chris-Cross could be getting these powers from…” “She’s right.” Celestia interrupts her student’s thought as she starts walking to Chris-Cross’s side. “Huh?” Twilight says, perplexed. “Wait, I’m right? Awesome! Score one for Dash!” Dash says, patting herself on the back. “It makes perfect sense. While I don’t understand how or why this has happened to Chris-Cross; maybe it is a side effect of the Elements as Redheart stated; or perhaps it’s a mutation in his new DNA. However it happened, the Elements of Harmony must have somehow transferred an aspect from all six of you into Christian’s genes. His talking to animals and magic ability are probably only the start. Soon, he’ll probably get four more new skills in time.” As Celestia is talking Chris-Cross is still messing with the hook on his necklace, and is getting rather fed up at not being able to become human again. Meanwhile, the girls are reeling over this new information. “Whoa, that’s awesome!” Dash says exuberantly. “That means you might get some of my speed, CC! Though, I doubt you’ll still be able to keep up with me.” She says while polishing a hoof on her fur and looking at it all gloat-like. “Ya think he’ll get ma strength? We could use the help during Applebuckin’ Season.” Applejack comments “Ohhhh, this is soooooooo exciting! I wonder what you’ll get from me CC? Baking? Nah, you can do that already. Balloons? OH! Maybe you’ll get a party cannon!” Pinkie shrieks. “Well darling, I guess you’ll be getting some of my fighting moves after all.” Rarity says. Chris-Cross sighs loudly in anger, halting every conversation and making the room dead quiet. “Do you think one of those new skills will be un-hooking this stupid thing?! I’ve been doing this for five minutes now and…” An idea suddenly pops into his head. “Wait a sec, I have magic! Duh! I’ll just use a levitation spell!” Twilight looks at him petrified at what he might do considering there is a busted window ten feet from where she is standing. “Uhh Chris-Cross? How about you let me do it…” “Don’t worry Twitty, I got this!” He raises his hooves just above his necklace and takes a deep breath. Within seconds, the necklace gains a faint orange glow and starts levitating into the air. Everyone else starts backing up in fear of Chris-Cross’s novice magic ability wasting the room and everyone in it. “Chris-Cross, be really careful about…” Twilight goes to stay, but is again cut off by the orange pony. “Relax Twitty; nothing bad is going to…” He makes a swift motion with his hooves to separate the two halves of the necklace. Everyone in the room braces themselves for what happens next… *clink* *FSWOOSH* “…happen.” Christian finishes his sentence as everyone opens their eyes to see the human sitting before them. Christian nods, impressed at his own feat in magic. “Aww, yea! Who’s the best magic using human in this room? I am! WO HOO!” He raises his left hand in a celebratory fist pump; which unintentionally makes Christian fire off a beam of orange magic into the ceiling; making another huge hole in the room. The girls jump at the sudden sound, while John just leans against the wall and looks up at the damage. “Can you go five minutes without blasting a hole with that new power of yours, kiddo?” He says with a laugh. Christian draws back his hand. “Uhh, oops.” “John’s right, Christian.” Celestia says; “You need to learn how to control your magic. It’s not just a party trick. You now have a dangerous power with you.” “Right, got it; so that means you’re going to teach me; right, PC?” Christian asks, pleadingly. “Actually Christian, I was hoping Twilight would be able to teach you.” She says with a smile toward her star student. “Wait, what?” Christian mutters to his boss. “Yea Christian, I’ll be able to…Wait, WHAT?!” Twilight screams. “Celestia, you can’t be serious!” She protests. Training the human who despised her in the use of magic sounded like a volatile combination. “Nonsense Twilight! I’m sure with your expertise in magic, you will be more than capable to help Christian hone his new skill.” Twilight turns back to Christian, who is trying to levitate an orange over from the small table next to him. Motioning his hand in a beckoning manner, the fruit hovers over to the side of his bed. “Sweet!” He says, clutching his fist in victory; which crushes the orange instantaneously. Juice bursts out of the food stuff and splatters onto the floor, leaving only the rind and pulp left hovering in the air. “Well, shoot.” He frowns. “However, I will keep close watch will you teach him. I find it interesting that he already knows a few spells with such little knowledge of magic.” Celestia stares at the human with great intrigue. “So, when can Twitty help with some magic target practice?” Christian asks, eyeing Twilight with a malicious smile. “You will start tomorrow.” Celestia answers. “Tomorrow? Forget that! Let’s start now!” Christian shouts as he starts to shift off the bed. “No Christian,” Celestia insists. “You need to rest. Your body isn’t used to using magic; especially for what you did earlier.” “Please, I feel fine! Let’s do this thing!” Christian eagerly leaps off the bed. The second he gets off and takes two steps forward he collapses onto one knee. His vision becomes blurry again and his whole body is racked with pain. “Argh! What the…?! I felt fine a second ago…GAH! That hurts!” John and Celestia help him back into the bed. “See? Your body needs to get used to using magic.” The princess informs. Christian eases himself back under the blankets and into a lying down position. “So is that going to happen every time I use magic now?” He asks. “Of course not Christian; you will develop a much higher magical stamina as you practice with Twilight.” Christian nods at Celestia, understanding how this was going to be a more intricate process then he thought. Then again, this is magic; it’s not exactly the easiest thing in the world. “So, tomorrow then?” He asks. “Tomorrow it is.” Celestia says with a bit of a laugh. She heads off to the door. “Excuse me; I must get back the castle. I am eager to see what you are capable of, Christian. And Twilight, I expect you’ll be a great teacher. I’ll see you all tomorrow.” She heads out of the room. Twilight is awe-struck by her mentor’s words. “I won’t let you down, Princess Celestia.” Twilight whispers to herself. “Welp, I better be heading out too.” John says, suddenly. “I need to explain to my higher ups that my nephew can now use magic.” He sighs. “Oh boy, this outta be fun. Later kiddo, girls, I’ll be seeing you later.” He heads out the door with everyone waving goodbye. “You girls leaving too?” Christian asks with some sadness in his voice. “Heck no!” Dash answers without hesitation. “We would never leave you alone when you’re like this!” Pinkie says happily. “You’re our friend!” “Plus, this room seems kinda borin’.” Applejack says as she inspects the four white walls. "Hospitals ain't the happiest or most excitin' places to be in." “Not really, I can watch TV.” The human says simply. The ponies look at the human with utter confusion on their faces. “Huh?” The girls say, simultaneously confused on what this ‘TV’ was. “Yea, you know…” Christian reaches a hand over to his side table and grabs the TV remote. He clicks a button and the TV flashes to life in the corner of the room. “See? That’s a TV. It’s what we humans use to entertain ourselves.” He says while flicking through the numerous channels. The girls take a seat on the floor and watch the machine, eyes full of amazement. Then, Christian clicks over to a very familiar show and a very familiar tune comes on... “My Little Pony. My Little Pony. Ahh, Ahh, Ahh…” “Hey!” Pinkie shouts. “Is that…US?!” Christian nods slowly and rather confused. “Yea, why?” He answers. He thought he told the girls that they were a TV show on Earth before. “Must have forgotten; whoops.” He thinks to himself “But…How did…You don’t…What?!” Rarity tries to assess this odd conundrum. Christian rolls his eyes. “Didn’t I tell you girls you were a show here already? He asks. “No, never.” The ponies answer. “Well, you are.” Christian says simply. The girls look at each other a tad worried for some reason before smiling and nodding. “So like, to the rest of your planet; we’re stars? Dash asks. “If you mean fictional television stars, then yes.” Christian answers. “Cool! I’m a TV star…sorta. Whatever! It’s still awesome!” She turns back to watch the show she is in. The others turn back to join her; that is, all of them except Twilight. She walks back to Christian, who is fluffing his pillow. “Um Christian,” She hesitates to ask. “Are you sure you don’t mind if we watch this?” Christian turns and nods at her. “Yea, it’s fine. It’s the episode with Chrysalis in it. It’s one of the few episodes I actually like.” He lies back down. “Besides, I’m gonna catch some Z’s anyway, so it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. “Okay, thanks. I was just checking.” She says with more tension in her voice. “Oh, and uh, Christian?” Christian turns his head a bit to look at the purple unicorn. “Hmm?” He says to address her. “I…uh…I’m actually really excited to be training you in magic. I hope that you can forgive me for my behavior before.” “Nah, I don’t mind Twitty. I mean, you are training me, right? I’m not exactly your biggest fan. I can’t blame you for hesitating to do it.” Christian assures her. “It’s just that, Celestia is counting on my and I don’t want to screw it up.” Twilight says, throwing her head down in sadness. “Hey, Twitty;” She looks up and sees Christian smiling. “I’ve seen you use magic. You’re by far the best I’ve seen. You’ll do fine, I know it.” Twilight smiles at the human’s kind words. “Thanks Christian.” She says, “I won’t let you down!” “Great. Now can I sleep now?” He asks as he turns back over. “Sure.” Twilight says, laughing a little. “See you tomorrow.” “Uh huh, whatever.” The human says in mid sleep. Twilight smiles; “Maybe training Christian won’t be so hard.” She says to herself. Just then, AJ interrupts her. “Hey Twi! You wanna see Chrysalis get her butt kicked at your brother’s wedding again?” Twilight turns. “What? Oh, I need to see this again!” She hollers as she trots back over to the TV, joining her friends as they watch their show. But as she watches herself on TV with her friends, her thoughts are conversing with each other. “Tomorrow is a big day.” She thinks to herself. “I swear on Celestia; I’ll make Christian the best magic using human on Earth AND Equestria!”