A dangerous rift opens in different worlds, and summons different people and ponies to a dimension full of danger.
A dangerous rift opens up in different worlds, taking different ponies and people from each world. This world is full of dangers, and very misterius, yet strangly framilier. Each one has a purpose, though none are expected. Will any of them survive? Or will all of them die, along with the world's that they are trying to save?
Fractured Heart belongs to Fractured Heart, Fallout belongs to Fallout Dude, Scorched Apple belongs to Scorched Apple, Windy belongs to Final Fantasy Forever, and Toxigo Paralasis belongs to FourShadow.
The Void, I thought as I scurried towards the base that I had built many years before. The Rifts are going to open up again soon! This is terrible! The Void was a mysterious alternate dimension that I had been brought to, and was way different from Equestria. The skies were a purpleish hue, causing the non-lethal waters to be a slight purple as well. The animals were very strange as well, looking similar, but...altered. The shades of the animals 'normal' color (at least normal in Equestria) were darker, and some of the animals had fiery parts. Some of the birds wing membranes were flames matching their plumage, the bears had flaming claws, and the intresting parts were the skin. On rare occurrences I would actually see their skin, which was an evershifting hue of colors. It was a different color with each animal. And the intresting thing was what the Void's Rifts had done to me. I appeared to be human, like the ones I had banished the sirens into, but I still had pony ears and my horn.
As I entered the base, the ground shook. I glanced up nervously, knowing what that meant, despite having not heard it in years. I was the first of a group of different ponies and people to appear in the Void the first time. The Void had given me and the others a mission of sorts, a mission to stop.....something. We never figured out what it was that we were trying to stop, but it was insanely dangerous. We knew that it was trying to get to out of the Void, and wreak havoc on any dimension it could get into. I had only seen it once, and that was enough. Of course, even then, I still didn't fully understand what I was looking at. It was like a whirlwind of oily black gunk, with various animal heads strung together dangling off of what I assume was it's neck. Of course, the scene still frightens me, and I don't really think of it.
Of course, I knew that others were going to be summoned, and had made sure that the base was ready to host them. I had known that others were going to be summoned soon because of...well, I'm not entirely sure why. It came to me in a dream, and all I remember was a feeling of utter happiness and that others were going to be summoned. The base itself was fairly big, with two large levels above ground for rooms, a recreational room, a kitchen, a dinning room, bathrooms, a bathing room, and the entrence room. Of course there were many levels below it, but those weren't useful for me. Not at the moment, anyway. They would be soon. Those levels were filled with wonderful machines and technological devices that I still didn't fully understand. The found shook again, harder this time, and I knew that somepony, or someone was going to appear soon. Very soon. Too soon.
Candy Burn sighed as she and her sisters walked home.
"That was an interesting challenge," she said.
"Yeah," Floriba said. "Who knew that they could be so tiring?" The mares they were talking about were the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They had asked Floriba, Candy Burn, Twill Weave and Taissy to help them find ponies with cutie mark problems, and the day had finally ended.
"Yeah, good point," she said. She stifled a yawn. "But still, they can be quite the hoofful." They were almost at the door of the Crystal Castle when a portal opened underneath them. They screamed before it closed, like it had never been there.
"Pinkie!" Fallout exclaimed as he walked into Pumpkin and Pound's room. "Mrs. Cake wants....Pound.......what are you doing?" Pinkie was wearing a small (and probably tight) yellow top and tight looking blue pants and was sweating like crazy. She was currently resting and had probably just finished doing something to entertain Pound.
"I'm multitasking silly!" Pinkie exclaimed.
"How?" Fallout asked.
"Well I'm doing my morning workout and foalsitting, of course! Besides, look at him, he's enjoying it!" Pinkie said. Fallout looked at Pound, who looked as confused as he was.
"I don't think he's enjoying it, I think he's just trying to figure out what the hell you're doing in front of him. Look at his face he's so confused," Fallout said.
"Well....uh.... he was laughing earlier!" Pinkie said.
"Were you making silly faces again in front of him?" Fallout asked with a light grin.
"......yes......wait why are you up here did you need something?" Pinkie asked.
"Yeah, two things. One, Mrs. Cake said it's time to feed Pound and two Rainbow Dash is waiting downstairs for you she's going on about another good idea for a prank," Fallout said.
"Sweet I love pranking with her," Pinkie said.
"I know you do. Now could you please go down there and take her she keeps looking at me and licking her lips," Fallout said. Pinkie laughed.
"Yeah, just me let finish," she said. She started doing jumping jacks, making her generously sized breasts bounce around.
"And get you at least 20 towels," Fallout commented.
"Could you please?" Pinkie asked. Fallout smiled.
"I can't say no to that face," he said. As he left the nursery to get said towels, a portal appeared underneath him, swallowing him up and closing up before he could cry out.
Fractured Heart stood at attention. Her current employer, a scrawny nerdy looking colt, was in a press conference, talking about the effects and ability range that something he had just made had: transferable genetics. She hadn't payed much attention to what the machine was able to do, but she did know that it had the intresting ability to take hold of a certain gene within a ponies genetic structure, and hold it within staisis for some kind of future use. Of course, she doubted some of the abilities that the conference people were talking about, but the machine was still useful, she was sure. As the conference ended and the colt started walking towards her, she tilted her head just a little bit. She was sure that she had heard something. A few seconds later an arrow came whizzing down towards the colts head, and would have gone straight though it, if Fractured Heart hadn't been able to swat it away. There were some screams. She looked up, judged the angle of the way the arrow came in, and looked toward the second to the top floor of a building to see a crossbow retreating back into a window. She glanced around at the security guards.
"You guys saw where it was too?" she asked. One of them nodded. "Well, you should go get somepony who has better qualifications to deal with this." She felt somepony tapping her shoulder. She turned her head to see the colt.
"You saved my life!" he said. He even sounded extremely nerdy. "How can I repay you?" Fractured Heart was about to reply when a gold and green portal appeared beneath her, sucked her in, and vanished without a trace.
Hidden Darkness shivered as he trekked to his mountain top home. It was covered with snow, and was a part of an abandoned ski resort. Of course it also doubled as a lab, with the lab going deep within the bowels of the mountain. He had moved there, and had lived there for the past few years, creating genetic anomalies, and had advanced beyond genetics. He had finally started with programming and machinery, with the most advanced machine he had being a tie between his Brain Mapping machines and his portal technology. Of course, he missed (and frequently thought of) his previous genetic anomalies, and friends. But one had betrayed the rest, and Hidden Darkness had been able to escape to here. And there were the other strange anomalies that happened around the resort. Gravity fluctuations, strange things appearing, odd smells, and the occasional gateway portal. Today they seemed to be acting up much more then usual. He had seen several different portals appearing and disappearing randomly, until a green and gold one opened up underneath him.
Scorched Apple and Rainbow Dash were enjoying another date together as the sun sank below the horizon. Scorched Apple had found a spot in Everfree Forest that was surprisingly empty of animals. It had a clear view of the horizon and wasn't to far from Ponyville.
"It's beautiful," Rainbow Dash said.
"Not as beautiful as you," Scorched said, making Rainbow blush lightly.
"That's so cheesy," she said. "So how did you find this anyway?"
"Fluttershy asked for my help getting some herbs for medicine, and we stumbled across this little hidden gem," Scorched said. "I was hoping you would like it." Rainbow Dash smiled and nodded.
"Of course," she said. They started leaning in to kiss each other, but then a green and gold portal appeared under Scorched, and disappeared.
In a small hut in the Everfree Forest, a mare named Windy was hiding from the storm raging on outside. She turned and looked at Zecora, the owner of the hut.
"So, you live here?" Windy asked. "Permanently?" Zecora nodded.
"Yes, I'm aware it is odd, but it is much better then being out getting clawed," Zecora said.
"Do you always speak in rhymes?" Windy asked.
"Why, yes, I do, young bugaboo," Zecora said. "I hope you don't mind me saying, but your aura is now....neighing."
"What?" Windy asked. Zecora didn't get a chance to say anything, because a gold and green portal opened up underneath Windy, sucked her in, and closed before she could scream.
Toxigo Paralysis nervously walked down the halls of the Canterlot Castle, his left prosthetic forhoof clinking every time it set down. His eyes wandered the halls, looking for possible things he could...borrow....without Celestia or Luna knowing. Then again, maybe not. After all, he trusted them, and he didn't trust many ponies. He sniffed the air. Something was different. Some powerful magic was at work. Some really powerful magic. Toxigo Paralysis learned just how powerful as a gold and green portal opened underneath him.
Flash Truth entered the temple and gasped. It was so old, and vine covered! He grinned.
If it's this old, and looks like this, then there must be something good in here! he thought. He descended the stairs and looked around. There was nothing. He sniffed the air, and felt for a breeze. He looked towards the right.
Hmm, he thought. There's a slight breeze from over there. He walked over and felt the wall he was sure the breeze cam from.
This crack shouldn't be here, he thought. He grabbed a hoofful of gunpowder, filled most of the crack with it, and used the rest of it to give him some time to get away from the blast. He grabbed a match, flicked it against a nearby stone a few times, and when it finally lit, he dropped it on the gunpowder and hurried away, and got behind a rock. When the blast exploded, he looked at the wall. Or rather, what had been a wall. It was now a pile of ruble, reveling a statuette, with a small ray of sun shining on it.
Wow, must be really magical and powerful, he thought. As soon as he grabbed it, a gold and green portal appeared underneath him.
Twilight and her friends, including her human ones, were testing on the mirror portal.
"Are you sure this is safe?" Sci-Twi asked. Princess Twilight shrugged.
"I don't know, but let's find out!" she said. "Sunset Shimmer, can you hand me that staff right there?" Sunset Shimmer grabbed a staff with her magic and handed it to Princess Twilight.
"Twilight, you better not get us killed," Sunset Shimmer said.
"I won't," Princess Twilight said. As she touched the staff to the mirror, a gold and green portal appeared beneath them, sucked them in, and closed. Naturally.
As the ponies and people tumbled out of the gold and green portal, they landed on what seemed to be a giant mattress. Through the grunts and complains and whatnot, Princess Twilight heard someone whistle outside of the pile of ponies and people.
"That's a lot of ponies," she heard him say. She poked her head out of the pile and saw someone that made her gasp. It was Starswirl the Bearded! The only strange thing was that he was...human, kind of. He still had his horn, but he had fingers and stood on his back two legs. He was also wearing a brown robe. She looked down and relized that she was basically the same, and was wearing a light blue shirt and black pants. She finally managed to get out of the pile and rushed over to him.
"You're Starswirl the Bearded!" she exclaimed. "How?" Starswirl the Bearded stared at her.
"Yes, I am Starswirl," he said. "You don't need to say the Bearded. What do you mean how?" Twilight tilted her head in confusion.
"It's been a thousand years," she said slowly. "The history books said that you just....disappeared." Starswirl's eyes widened.
"I've been trapped in here for a thousand years?!" he exclaimed. Suddenly Pinkie appeared at Twilight's side. Pinkie was wearing a light blue shirt and white pants.
"Ohh!" she said. She turned to Twilight. "Who's he?"
"I'm Starswirl!" Starswirl said. "I've made a ton of spells!" Pinkie slowly nodded her head.
"You finished that one spell of his, right?" she asked Twilight.
"Yes, that's what made me an alicorn," Twilight said. Starswirl looked at Twilight's back to see that she did indeed have wings as well.
"Another alicorn," he said. "Wow." Toxigo Paralysis walked up to Starswirl. Toxigo was wearing blue pants with a belt buckle with a biohazard symbol and a white shirt.
"Who are you, and why did you bring us here?" he asked nervously. The other people started to gather around Starswirl. "And why are we now wearing clothes?"
"You are in the Void," Starswirl said. "I did not bring you here, but I am glad you are here."
"If you didn't bring us here, then who did?" Fallout asked. He was wearing a black jacket and brown pants. Pinkie kept glancing at him with a strange glint in her eyes.
"The Void did," Starswirl said. "I can't explain it, but the multiverse is in danger! That's why each of you have been brought here. Each of you has a unique set of skills that can help stop the monstrosity that is trying to escape."
"What is trying to escape?" Floriba asked.
"I'm not entirely sure what it is," Starswirl said. "But we call it the Negative Space. It is trying to cause mass panic and destroy everything."
"We?" Candy Burn asked.
"Yes, we," Starswirl said. "I wasn't the only one to be brought here. There were many before me. Now, I know that all of this is sudden and very strange, but that structure over there is the home we live in. It has a few supercomputers that will answer any other questions you have.
"How do you have supercomputers here?" Hidden Darkness asked. "What else does this place have?"
"Follow me, and you'll find out," Starswirl said with a grin.
There was so much to check out. Everyone was surprisingly ok with being in this world, possible because of the various things that were there that may have caught their interests. Hidden Darkness was instantly drawn by the supercomputers and the surprisingly advanced tech that this place had. Meanwhile everyone else got to know each other.
"I'm serious!" Scorched Apple was saying to Rainbow Dash. "We're dating!"
"I'm dating Pinkie," Fallout commented.
"Really?" Scorched Apple asked, sounding a little nervous. "She sawed off my horn in my world." Pinkie appeared and gasped, causing everyone to jump back a little.
"Why?" Pinkie asked, the horror clear on her face.
"There was an evil spirit in her that caused her to do it," Scorched Apple said. Pinkie nodded.
"Don't worry, I don't have any spirits in me," she said. Then she turned to Fallout and grinned. "So I'm dating you in your world?" Fallout nodded.
"We've been dating for a while, and it's been great," he said. Pinkie's grin widened.
"Do we have sex?" she asked. Fallout blushed.
"Yes," he said. "Why?" Pinkie chuckled manically.
"Oh, no reason," she said. "Hey Starswirl?" Starswirl turned around from talking to Twilight.
"Yes?" he asked.
"What is the time like here?" Pinkie asked. "Is it almost night time?" Starswirl nodded.
"Yes, actually," he said. "Don't go exploring past dark. It gets incredible dangerous after night." Pinkie nodded.
"And where are our rooms?" Pinkie asked. Starswirl pointed towards a corridor.
"All are down that hall," he said. "And if you're going to ask about sex, it still works here." Most of the people blushed at that, but Pinkie grinned.
"Good to know," she said. "Good to know."
"You're going to try and have sex with me, aren't you?" Fallout asked. Pinkie smiled mischievous.
"Maybe," she said. "But that can wait until after dinner! Hey Starswirl! Where's the kitchen?"
After dinner, Princess Twilight had found and chosen a room. Apparently it wouldn't have mattered. As soon as she entered the room, a blue field had appeared around her head, took a scan of her brain, and the room changed. After she asked Starswirl about this, she learned that the entire building had an AI built into it, and was capable of scanning brain waves to accomadate for special needs. Twilight's room was supriseingly big, with sevral huge bookshelves, a bed, and a desk with paper, ink and a quill.
This place is awesome! Twilight thought. She looked at the books on the bookshelves and relized that they were all incredible rare books that she hade been trying to find for months. She looked around the room some more and saw a door at the back end of the room, kind of hidden by the way it was painted,which was like the rest of the room. She walked over, opened the door and gasped. It was like a sauna. It smelled like fresh ink and paper, which was a scent that she had loved since a child, and strangly, the steam itself actually seemed to have words faintly etched into it. The mist felt cool on her fur, and was very alluring.
"Hey, AI?" Twilight asked. A spot next to the door turned into a panel with a screen on it, showing a gold and green face, which looked kind of like Celestia.
"How may I help you?" she asked. Twilight gestured at the suana.
"What is this?" she asked.
"That is your recreational and relaxation room," the AI said. "It fits whatever you find most comforting." Twilight nodded slowly. "Is that all?"
"One last thing," Twilight said. "What do I call you?"
"I am the Technical Adviser and Problem Solver, or TAaPS for short," TAaPS said. "Although if you wish to call me something else, you may."
"TAaPS is good," Twilight said. She entered the relaxation room and noticed some shelves with towels on them and a closed armoire next to it. She opened up the armoire and saw several vibrators. Twilight blushed and closed it.
"Why are there vibrators in there?" Twilight asked TAaPS.
"Because of sexual deprivation," TAaPS said. "You might need them in the future."
"I can think of someone who won't," Twilight said.
"If you are referring to Pinkie, she's using one right now," TAaPS said. "Of course, she's going to sneak over to Fallout's room later, so you are in part right." Twilight blushed.
"Why are you telling me this?" Twilight asked. If TAaPS could shrug, she probably would have right then.
"Because that is a part of my programming," TAaPS said. "To talk to and inform all of you."
"Ok, but don't talk about sex, please?" Twilight requested. TAaPS smiled.
"As you wish," she said.
Meanwhile, miles away, in a deep underground cavern was a swirling mass of inky black evilness. It's laughter rumbled throughout the cave.
"Oh, she thinks that she can stop me by sending minions?" its voice rumbled out. "How cute. I've got minions too." A swirling black portal opened up, and the black mass laughed. "Go! Go and cause chaos!"
Toxigo Paralysis stepped into his room again and smiled. He closed and locked his door and walked over to his bed. His room was covered in replicas of famous paintings. Many of them he had stolen himself in the past, but he had returned them, but this were all replicas.
"Hey, TAaPS?" he called out. A panel opened up, reveling a screen with TAaPS face on it.
"Yes?" she asked.
"How do you know of all these?" Toxigo asked, gesturing at the paintings.
"I scanned your brain and replicated them," TAaPS said.
"So you can replicate anything from my world?" Toxigo asked.
"Almost," TAaPS said. "I can't replicate anything big like an attack helicopter or a tank." Toxigo nodded.
"That is so awesome," he said. "How?"
"I can replicate things by scanning all of you memories of an object, size it up, and using stored mass I recreate it," TAaPS said.
"Could you make a pony?" Toxigo asked.
"No," TAaPS said. "Are you asking for-" she was about to finish but an explosion rocked the base. "You'd better get going."
Fallout was fortunate enough to be close to the weapons when the base shook. He had overheard Starswirl talking to Twilight and Hidden Darkness about a weapons room, filled with suits of armor and things that were supposed to bond with you or something, and he had wanted to check it out. When the base shook, Fallout called out "TAaPS?" A panel opened up to show the screen with TAaPS face.
"Yes?" she asked.
"What happened?" Fallout asked. "Why did the base shake like that?"
"We are under attack," TAaPS said. "You are close to the weapons closet. I'll open the door and guide you from there on." A steel door opened.
"Thank you!" Fallout said as he rushed towards the door. What he saw inside the room was not what he was expecting. There were rows upon rows of sleek black objects lying everywhere. Some of them looked kind of like giant knives, some of them were spheres, and others looked like human sized robots.
"Select a sphere," TAaPS said. Fallout bent over and picked up the nearest sphere.
"What now?" he asked.
"It should activate any second," TAaPS said. As she finished saying that, Fallout felt it shudder. He almost dropped it in surprise. A beam of bright blue light shot out of it, and scanned his body. It seemed to stay on his head the longest.
"A.R.G.U.S systems activating," a voice came from the sphere. "Prepare for engagement."
"Engagement? I barely know you!" Fallout joked.
"Systems powering up," the sphere said. "Prepare for merging." A bright flash of light blinded Fallout, and the sphere activated. He could feel the sphere change shape in his hands, and started attaching to his hands, metal racing up his arms, across his chest, down his legs and up to his face. The metal was the interesting part, because it felt almost alive. It felt like it was becoming a part of him, the coding inside of it entering his bloodstream,and the metal soften up and becoming like a second layer of skin, and he felt cold. Really cold. For a few seconds, he couldn't see, and couldn't move. And then he could. Everything was the same, but it all felt different. He looked down at himself and gasped. His clothes were (fortunately) still there, but his skin now had a metallic gleam to it.
"What happened?" Fallout asked. "Why is my skin so shiny?"
"You've been chosen successfully by the sphere," TAaPS said. "That was a Fusion Core. Not all will be chosen by a Fusion Core, but that's not important right now. You've been given new powers and abilities. Now, can you place a finger inside of the hole below this screen?" As TAaPS said that, a hole about the size of Fallout's pinkie appeared underneath the screen.
"What will that do?" Fallout asked.
"It will allow me to entire the robotics within you, and give you a lesson on how to use these new abilities on the go," TAaPS said. "Now please insert your finger." Fallout placed his pinkie into the hole and yelped. A spark had hit his pinkie and he felt blood rush to his head.
Are you ready? he heard TAaPS voice say.
"Are you inside my head?" he said.
Technically, I'm inside all of you, TAaPS said. Now, exit the facility, please, and I can give you information on the way.
Another explosion rocked the base.
"What is happening?" Fallout said.
It appears that the Negative Space has summoned some minions TAaPS said. Something roared, and people scrambled around, trying to figure out what to do. Fallout ascended a ridge and saw what was attacking. Some kind of beast was through something at Hidden Darkness.
"Come on! You're not like this!" he was yelling. The beast roared and grabbed something off of its back and threw it at Hidden Darkness. Then Fallout relized that it had thrown a chunk of its back.
"How is it doing that?" Fall out asked.
I'm scanning it's cellular make up now, TAaPS said. After a second, she said Strange. It appears to made up off swamp water and some other toxic chemicals.
"And how exactly am I supposed to defeat him?" Fallout said. "You said that my physical strength and endurance were enhanced, but what else did that sphere do to me?"
Well, it also gave you several powers, TAaPS said. You also have a sort of freezing ray. You have sevral others, but those aren't important right now. It's pretty convenient, really. He's rather sludge like, like clay.
"That is convenient," Fallout said. "How do I use it?"
Well, you have to focus on it, TAaPS said. Remember, cold is slow.
"How does that help me?" Fallout asked as he ran down the ledge and towards the beast. Hidden Darkness was still yelling at it.
"Why are you doing this?" he yelled.
It helps you because you have to remember it spreads slowly, TAaPS said.
"Get back!" Fallout yelled. The beast roared and threw another ball of sludge at them.
"What are you doing?" Hidden Darkness yelled.
"I need to freeze it!" Fallout yelled back. Hidden Darkness looked confused.
"How?" he asked. He shook his head. "Actually, never mind. Just don't kill him!" Fallout slowly nodded.
"Ok," he said. "Now, how am I supposed to do this?"
Think of all those nights during winter, when snow would just keep falling, TAaPS said. Remember the feeling it gave you. Concentrate on that feeling, and you will be able to summon the cold.
"Ok, then," Fallout said. Last winter, he had spent a lot of it with Pinkie. One night, his heater broke, and Pinkie being Pinkie somehow knew. So she brought him over to Sugarcube Corner. But he had spent about half an hour trying to fix the heater, and it had been freezing.
Concentrate on that feeling, Fallout thought. After a few seconds, he felt something change.
It's activated, TAaPS said. To aim, all you have to do is face the palm of you palm towards him. To blast him, just focus what you thought of and will the coldness to your hands.
"That's kinda complicated," Fallout said. "But I need to do it anyway." He focused on the cold he had the on that night, felt the coldness in his skin, aimed his palms at the beast, who was looking at him, confused. He was still throwing stuff, just not at Fallout, for what ever reason. Fallout's hands were freezing, ready to fire. Fallout was waiting, though. He needed to charge it up. He charged it up for a few seconds longer, when he fired. A beam of concentrated ice blasted out of his hands. The beast, who was just deciding that Fallout needed to go, had just thrown a ball of toxic sludge at him. The ice blasted through the sludge ball, freezing it and splitting it in half, and hitting the beast in the face. It started to roar, but because of the ice spreading across its face, it couldn't continue. The ice spread all across its body, freezing it in place. When the ice was done spreading, the beast was frozen in a position that was rather humorous. It kind of looked like it didn't have arms, because one of them was frozen to his face, and the other was frozen to its back.
You did it! TAaPS said. Nice! Now here come your fans.
"What?" Fallout asked. When he turned around, he understood what she had meant. Starswirl, Pinkie and the others were running down the hill. As they got close, they started asking questions.
"How did you do that?" Hidden Darkness asked.
"Why are you so shiny?" Pinkie asked.
"So you managed to get a Fusion Core?" Starswirl asked.
"Woah, guys, slow down!" Fallout said. "I did that because of a Fusion Core I bonded to, I'm shiny because of the Fusion Core, and yes, I did get a Fusion Core." Starswirl nodded.
"Nice," he said. "So I'm assuming that that's where TAaPS went?" Fallout nodded.
"Yes, TAaPS is inside of me," he said. He turned to the beast. "So what is this thing."
"That is Toxicon," Hidden Darkness said. "Well, kind of, anyway. Last I saw him, he was no where near this big."
"You know him?" Toxigo Paralysis asked.
"Yeah. But I'm not sure what happened to him," Hidden Darkness said.
"I believe that the Negative Space did this to him," Starswirl said. "TAaPS, can you scan him, please?"
Right away, TAaPS said. A blue light emerged from Fallout's chest, scanning Toxicon's frozen form.
"It appears that he was taken from another world and injected with an unknown element," TAaPS said. A few seconds later, Fallout relised that she had spoken through him!
"How did you do that?" Fallout asked.
Circuitry and coding is everywhere in you! TAaPS said, now in his head.
"Ok," Fallout said. "Anyway, how do we....I don't know, fix him?"
"We'll need to learn about this unknown element," Starswirl said. "This wasn't used last time we fought the Negative Space. Now, we'll also need to carry him back in. I don't suppose that you have super strength as well?" Fallout shook his head.
"It's been enhanced, but no super strength," he said. Starswirl nodded.
"That's still good," he said. "Now, everybody, get ready to do some heavy lifting."
About 20 minutes, they were done. Fallout had needed to return to the weapons room to put his pinkie into the hole so TAaPS could open up a prison room for Toxicon. TAaPS cut a small pice of Toxicon's skin off and managed to isolate the new element. While she was doing that, Fallout asked her some questions.
"So this Fusion Core won't come off?" he asked.
"Not until you return to your universe," TAaPS said. "But you can deactivate the ice powers."
"That's good," Fallout said. "How?"
"After a short period of inactivity, it will power down. I believe it already has," TAaPS said. "You know how to re-activate it, right?"
"Yeah," Fallout said. "I remember." He felt someone tap his shoulder, and he turned around to see Pinkie.
"Hi," she said. She was grinning rather widely. "Why don't you come by my room in 30 minutes."
30 minutes later, Fallout was standing outside of Pinkie's room. He had just knocked and Pinkie had cried "Just a second!" Now he was waiting. It had been more than a second.
"Ok, you can come in now!" Pinkie said. Fallout opened the door to revel Pinkie wearing a bathrobe. Fallout's eyes widened and blushed.
"Oh," he said. "Are you sure?" Pinkie nodded.
"Let's get started!" she said.
10 minutes later
"Oh, I don't think I've ever had an orgasm like that," Pinkie said. She was about to say something else when there was a banging on the wall.
"Are you guys done?" Rainbow Dash asked. She sounded annoyed. It may have been the pony one or the human one, Fallout was't sure. "I'm trying to get some sleep, and with you two going at it like that it's kinda hard to!" Pinkie blushed and Fallout face palmed.
"TAaPS, I thought you said that you soundproofed the room!" Pinkie exclaimed.
The next day, Starswirl had everybody meet in the weapons room.
"So, as all of you know, we were attacked yesterday. Then Fallout arrived and managed to freeze the thing that was attacking us," Starswirl said.
"Then he had sex with Pinkie," Rainbow Dash said. Fallout and the Pinkie he had sex with blushed.
"Yeah, anyway, Fallout was able to do that because of a Fusion Core," Starswirl said. "Those are all these spheres on the ground. They scan you, and give you powers according to your personality."
"What about those robots?" Hidden Darkness asked.
"Those are a little bit like the Fusion Bots," Starswirl said. "TAaPS, care to explain?"
"Absolutely," TAaPS said. "Climb inside of the cockpit, and it terraforms to your body, kind of like a cocoon. As it does that, it scans your brain to give you powers that are a bit more advance than the Fusion Cores."
"So it's like an upgraded Fusion Core?" Candy Burn asked.
"Yes," TAaPS said. "But both have certain advantages. Now, someone will have to pick up a core for an example. Twill Weave, how about you?" Twill Weave nodded.
"Ok," she said as she bent over to scoop up a core. "Now what?"
"Just wait," TAaPS said. A few seconds passed, and then the sphere shuddered. Then a beam of blue light shot out of it, scanning her entire body, seeming to linger a bit on her head.
"A.R.G.U.S. systems activating," a voice from the sphere said. "Prepare for engagement."
"Engagement?" Twill Weave asked.
"Systems activating," the sphere said. "Prepare for merging." Then a bright flash of light blinded everyone for a few seconds. When they could see again, they could see the sphere attaching itself to Twill Weave, expanding and coating Twill Weave's skin in shiny black metal. Then it started becoming her skin, the metal becoming the whitish purple that her skin was, and the strange circles and dots showing up clearly. And then she started moving. She looked down at her skin and gasped.
"Why am I so shiny?" she asked. "What did that sphere do to me?" A hole the size of one's pinkie appeared on the wall behind Twill Weave.
"Well, if you'll place your finger inside of this hole, I can set up the training wheel programing," TAaPS said. "As for everybody else, pick up a sphere and lets get started!" In the clamor that followed, it was reviled that a few spheres didn't start activating with a few people. TAaPS was talking to those people now: Hidden Darkness, Fractured Heart, Toxigo and Candy Burn. They were standing next to the robots.
"It would appear that you four will need a Fusion Bot," TAaPS said. "Don't worry, it's not very complicated. Just get into the cockpit. Hidden Darkness, you first." Hidden Darkness nodded and stepped towards a robot. It was a bit bigger than him, and looked like something from a movie. Hidden Darkness opened the cockpit, and started to slide in. His arms slide into the arm sockets, and his legs went into the legs. It was like putting on clothes, not very hard, but so much more advanced then clothes. He was about to ask TAaPS what to do when the glass screen closed around him.
"A.R.G.U.S. systems activating," a voice said. A blue light came out from the top of the cockpit. "Are you sure you prepared for this fusion?"
"Wait, what?" Hidden Darkness asked.
"Say yes!" he could hear TAaPS say from outside.
"Why," Hidden Darkness asked.
"Just do it!" TAaPS said. "It'll be worth it!"
"Ok, fine!" Hidden Darkness said. "Yes!"
"Starting fusion now," the voice said. The robot started to move and shudder, making Hidden Darkness move along with it. "Terraforming now." Everything started shifting around Hidden Darkness, and closing in on him. From somewhere, a ton of mist started emerging, fogging up the glass, and taking away his visibility. And then the metal and glass started to merge with his skin, coding entering his bloodstream and something forming over his right forearm and all over his back, and the glass forming over his face completely blocking his view of what was happening. And then it was done. His vision cleared, and he could see what the Fusion Bot had done to him. The people around him had gasped. There was...something....on his right forearm that looked kind of like a chemical arm glove he used, except it came up to his elbow, not his entire arm. And it was made of metal, not latex. It had some kind of module on his wrist, kind of like some kind of watch, although it was probably closer to being like a small supercomputer. Then he looked at his back and lightly gasped. There was some kind of backpack like thing attached to him, filled with a ton of different chemicals.
"It's a chemical blaster," Hidden Darkness muttered as he stood up.
"It alters your genetics for a period of time," TAaPS said. "Basically, it will change you into something else." Hidden Darkness grinned.
"And how does this power work?" he asked.
"Let's wait until everyone has gotten their Fusion Bots," TAaPS said.
About 10 minutes later, Fractured Heart, Toxigo and Candy Burn had gotten into their Fusion Bots. Fractured Heart had gotten some sweet weapons in her arms and legs, Toxigo had gotten the ability to turn invisible and pass through solid objects, and Candy Burn was able to summon a powerful exosuit made of candy corn. And now was their training.
"Ok, Hidden Darkness, the power the modifier on, just press down on the central disk," TAaPS said. Hidden Darkness pressed down on the circle above his wrist, and it sprung up, higher than before, and emitted a strange blue and black light.
"Ok, now turn the ring on top," TAaPS said. Hidden Darkness gripped the ring and turned it. A hologram appeared. It looked humanoid, but it wasn't human. It had spines coming out of it's spine, and was covered in scales, and it's arms were so long they were touching the ground.
"What is that?" Hidden Darkness asked.
"That is a Repto," TAaPS said. "It is a reptilian species from another universe."
"And how do I activate it?" Hidden Darkness asked.
"Just push down on the central disk," TAaPS said. "Now, everyone gather in the training room!"
TAaPS had gotten everyone into a training room for a simulation to help with their new abilities, and it was going well. Fractured Heart was quite skilled with the weapons in her arms, and was (surprisingly) able to form a sword around her arm. Candy Burn was able to redo the exosuit to different types of styles, Toxigo was randomly popping up out of thin air, and Hidden Darkness was mastering his genetic modification device. Fortunately, TAaPS was able to activate a program that was helping with their training. Starswirl was watching them all train, leaning on his staff.
"Bit for your thoughts?" TAaPS asked, a screen popping out of the wall.
"What if it's not enough?" Starswirl said. "Last time we had strategists, generals and tacticians."
"Yes, but even though not everypony may not be those, they are still good," TAaPS said.
"That's a good point," Starswirl said. "But the last team didn't survive. What chance does this team have?"
"As long as we have hope, we can do this," TAaPS said. She started to say something else, but then the room rumbled. Everyone stopped their training.
"TAaPS, what was that?" Starswirl asked.
"Let me see," TAaPS said. A few seconds passed before she answered. "We are being attacked again."
"By what?" Twill Weave asked.
"A scan of its molecular composition says that it is an altered humanoid," TAaPS said. "It has the same molecule in it that Toxicon had."
"So it was sent by the Negative Space?" Toxigo asked.
"It appears so," TAaPS said. "Now, it appears to be trying to build something. I suggest that Fallout, Fractured Heart and Scorched Apple go take this thing on."
Scorched Apple followed Fractured Heart and Fallout as they ran out the door of the base. He had a power over fire, able to summon it at will, and had a resistance to burning.
But why did TAaPS suggest me and Fallout for this? Scorched Apple wondered.I'm fire, and he's ice. I can see why Fractured Heart is coming, though, with the weapons and skills she has. They had reached the outside of the building, and they saw nothing. Fractured Heart frowned.
"Something's not right," she said. "Where is it?" Then they heard a tremendous roar coming from behind them. They spun around to see....nothing. Until Fractured Heart pointed towards the roof and shouted "Up there!" A beast of tremendous size was standing on top of the base, next to what seemed like a crossbow of sorts. Said beast was grey, and had short light blue hair.
"How did it get up there?" Fallout said. The beast pulled out a pickaxe and hurled it at them. It shot towards them at an incredible speed, making Fallout and Scorched Apple duck, but Fractured Heart didn't back down. Instead, she dashed forward, and managed to duck under the blade, and somehow managed to grave hold of the blade, swung it around a few times, and launched it at the beast. The beast hadn't expected this to happen, and instead of moving out of the way, it stared at the pick until it hit it in the stomach. The beast roared again as it stood up and turned to the crossbow.
"How did you do that?" Fallout asked in awe.
"Physics," Fractured Heart said. "We can talk about it all later, though. Now we have to get up to top of the base!" Fractured Heart morphed her arms into blades and started cutting into the ground around her.
"What are you doing Scorched Apple asked.
"I'm making a platform," Fractured Heart said. "You and Fallout will need to use your powers to create a geyser of sorts."
"How?" Fallout asked as the beast roared. They all glanced at it. It seemed to be almost done with whatever it was doing with its crossbow.
"Ok, so what you'll need to do," Fractured Heart started. "Is to shoot your fire and ice under this platform. That should create pressure, which should shoot use up to the top." As she finished talking, she started working on a smaller hole next to the platform.
"And that'll work?" Scorched Apple asked.
"It should," Fractured Heart said. She finished slicing a new hole and backed onto the platform. "Now shoot!" Fallout started firing a stream of ice into the hole, which was surprisingly deep, and Scorched Apple started firing a stream of fire into the hole after the ice. After a few seconds, steam started billowing out of the hole, and the ground started to shake a little.
"Get on!" Fractured Heart said. As Scorched Apple and Fallout scrambled onto the platform, the steam slowed down, and then the platform exploded into the air, launching all three of them into the air and at the beast. The beast grunted in surprise as the jumped off the platform and onto the roof. Fractured Heart morphed her sword arms back in her normal arms as a couple of throwing knives popped out of her forearms and into her hands. Her eyes were draw to a small hole in the roof and relised the beast was trying to get in.
"Scorched Apple, could you heat things up?" she asked. Scorched Apple nodded. He threw out his arms as the exploded with flames and started lobbing fire balls at the beast. "Fallout, ice the hole!" Fallout fired a beam of ice and covered up the hole in a few seconds. Scorched Apple was continuing to throw fire balls at the beast, and decided he could do better. He charged at the beast and attempted to tackle it, but only managed to fall down. Then he relised something: its hair was flammable. Scorched Apple threw his arms around the beast, who roared and tried to shake him off.
"Scorched Apple, get off him!" Fractured Heart yelled. Scorched managed to role to the side as Fractured Heart started throwing daggers at the beasts.
"Go check on that machine, you two!" Fractured Heart said. She was grinning, for some reason. Scorched and Fallout ran to the crossbow and started going over its machinery.
"It's a homing beckon," Fallout said.
"But what is it trying to home in?" Scorched Apple asked. "What was this thing doing?"
"What other technologies exist out there?" Fallout asked.
"Is it on?" Scorched asked.
"I don't think so," Fallout said. "But we need to destroy this thing! Remember that steam thing we did earlier?" Scorched nodded. "Why don't we try it on this thing?"
"That could work," Scorched said. "Lets do it!" Fallout started his beam of ice, freezing the homing beacon in ice, until Scorched started firing his fire at the machine. He aimed it at the smallest hole he could find, hoping that would help destroy it, and the machine started to smoke and rattle. It started beeping and whirring, and the machine pointed its nozzle skyward, shooting a beam of light into a few seconds before it exploded. Fortunately, Fallout had been working on a wall in front of them that Scorched had only then noticed to keep them from getting hit. The ice cracked and steamed as hot pieces of metal hit it. The beast roared, and they relised that there work wasn't over just yet...until the beast fell over. Fractured Heart stood over it in victory, panting heavily.
"So, any of you two know this guy?" she asked.
After the battle was won, and Scorched, Fallout and Fractured Heart had returned to the training room. Congratulations were passed around, until they started explains what had happened.
"You're sure that nothing got in?" Starswirl asked.
"Yes, I'm sure," Fractured Heart said. "That beast we fought was the only one, and none of the beacons parts got in."
"And the beacon really wasn't active?" Starswirl asked. When Fallout nodded, Starswirl muttered "Intresting."
"So, what do we do with the beast?" Scorched asked. "Apparently, nopony knows who it is, and it's still on the roof."
"Actually, while you were talking, I took the liberty of moving the beast to a cell," TAaPS said. "Both he, and the machine he brought, are being analyzed. Starswirl, if you don't mind, can you come down to the containment room?" As Starswirl walked down to wherever the containment room was, Hidden Darkness walked over to Fractured Heart.
"I know you said you only saw one beast, and nothing got in," Hidden Darkness said. "But are you sure that there wasn't anything else?" Fractured Heart shrugged.
"Well, something had to have made that hole, and the beast that was there certainly wasn't able to fit down it," Fractured Heart said. "So it's entirely possible that there was something else. But we still don't know very much about this world."
"Like its inhabitants," Hidden Darkness suggested. "Or what technologies it has." Fractured Heart grinned.
"You're smart," she said. "That's good." Hidden Darkness grinned.
"Well, I am a geneticist," he said. "Not only am I that, but I have made sevral genetic anomalies."
"Nice," Fractured Heart said. "How about we talk while we train?"
As Hidden Darkness and Fractured Heart practiced using there weapons, they talked about observations they had made.
"And the animals?" Fractured Heart said. "What is with the skin?" A boomerang like blade popped out of her leg, and she grabbed it.
"Perhaps it's because of the water," Hidden Darkness said. "Could be anything." He twisted the receiver, flashing images of different types of forms.
"You know, we could try and see what causes all of it," Fractured Heart said. "We could find an animal and see what it's eaten recently." Hidden Darkness grinned.
"Let's do it!" he said. "And who knows? I'm supposed to be able to absorbe the DNA of anything and be able to transform into it!'
"Does that include humans?" Fractured Heart asked.
"Probably," Hidden Darkness said. "Now, lets go find some animals!"
Starswirl stared at the homing beacon. Several lights were blinking, even though the machine had been destroyed.
"You know what this means, right?" Starswirl asked. TAaPS had disconnected from the building and had returned to her green and gold body, and was standing next to Starswirl.
"Of course," she said. "That wasn't a homing beacon."
"Which you've said before," Starswirl said. "But what is it then?" TAaPS shrugged.
"I'm not sure," she said.
"That's what worries me," Starswirl muttered. "You know everything."
"Almost everything," TAaPS said. "But, this is rather worrying. What do we tell everyone else?"
"I'm thinking about that," Starswirl said. "There isn't a port or anything that you could plug into?"
"Let me see," TAaPS said. A blue beam of energy emerged from her eyes, and she walked around the machine. She almost did a full circle before she stopped. "There is a port. Would you like me to plug into it?"
"Yes, but be careful," Starswirl said. TAaPS morphed her finger into a jack and stuck it into the port. Immediately, she collapsed, and started spasming.
"TAaPS!" Starswirl yelled. He ran and pulled TAaPS's finger out of the port. TAaPS spasmed for a few more seconds, and finally stopped. Starswirl shook her body. "TAaPS? Can you here me?" He was about to slap her in hopes that that would wake her up, but then she gasped and opened her eyes, but they weren't her eyes. They had changed into a strange swirling black vortex. She stared into Starswirl's eyes.
"Dlrow ruoy dna uoy ot od lliw I tahw ot derapmoc gnihton eb lliw sedarmoc ruoy ot did I taht sgniht eht! Lla uoy nopu hsaelnu lliw I egar eht ni hsirep lliw seno devol ruoy fo lla dna uoy!" TAaPS said. Then she gasped and collapsed again.
"TAaPS!" Starswirl exclaimed. He started shaking her. "Come on, wake up normal!" Suddenly, TAaPS gasped and opened her eyes again. Starswirl was worried that she would start ranting whatever language she had spoken in, but her eyes were normal.
"That was an interesting experience," she said.
"Are you ok?" Starswirl asked nervously.
"Of course I am," TAaPS said. She frowned. "Strange. I can't quite remember what I saw in there."
"Yes, I remember nothing," TAaPS said. "Why? What happened?"
"Here, let's get you a virus sweep," Starswirl said. "I tell you what happened."
Meanwhile, Fractured Heart and Hidden Darkness had found an animal. A bear, specifically. It's fur was black and it's claws were shifting colors.
"How are you going to do this?" Fractured Heart asked.
"The front part of this genetic inserter is able to absorb the DNA of anything," Hidden Darkness said, tapping the ring over his wrist.
"So, you're sure you want the bear?" Fractured Heart asked.
"Yes, bears are powerful," Hidden Darkness said. "Now, lets try this out." Hidden Darkness squeezed the sides of the genetic inserter and a small tube emerged in the front of it. He slowly walked towards the bear, hoping it wouldn't notice him. It didn't, until Hidden Darkness jabbed the tube into the bear's back. The bear stood up and roared....and then froze. Hidden Darkness stared at the tube and relised something: It was absorbing much more then just the DNA. It was absorbing the bear itself. The bear shook, its black fur shaking, and started to liquefy. It swirled up through the tube, through the genetic inserter, and into Hidden Darkness. He's clothes started turning into the black hair and his nails started turning into claws. His eyes widened and turned into a strange deep black. As the bear disappeared, Hidden Darkness's transformation was complete. Fractured Heart thought he looked triumphant, which was accurate. His pack had disappeared, but his genetic inserter was still around his claw. He stood on his back legs and stared at Fractured Heart for a few seconds before he looked at his body. He shook his head and roared softer than last time, then hit his genetic inserter. Instantly, the bear fur started retracting, turning into his clothes again. Only one thing was different when he was completely human again: His pack was gone.
"So, apparently, it's not just the DNA, it's the entire animal," Hidden Darkness said. "I got its memory's as well, for some reason."
Down in TAaPS's charging and medical room, she was getting a virus sweep, which was searching for anything out of the ordinary, like why she would start ranting in whatever language she had spoken in. The computer beeped.
"What's it say?" TAaPS said. Starswirl just started at the computer.
"According to these, nothings wrong," Starswirl said. "All it was was so kind of malfunction of going into something that was meant to attract the Negative Space." TAaPS frowned.
"Attract the Negative Space?" she asked. "That was supposed to attracted the Negative Space? How?"
"Well, I had the virus scanner copy the information you picked up from that thing and tell me what it was," Starswirl said. "And yes, I can do that. That machine was supposed to summon the Negative Space into here...but it didn't. You're fine." TAaPS frowned, then shrugged.
"That is very strange, but I'm glad it didn't happen," she said. "Now, I should probably reattach myself to the building before anyone comes down and complains."
Starswirl had slept the night in TAaPS's building mainframe room. As he woke up, he heard something. Silently, he stood up and started advancing towards where the sound was coming from. He peeked around the corner and saw TAaPS spasming, her head jerking around. And she was muttering the same thing over and over in the language she had spoken in yesterday.
"Rorre! Rorre! Etupmoc ton seod!" she was saying. And she was uploading something through a jack in the wall. Suddenly, she stopped moving as her finger came out of the jack. Then she collapsed. Starswirl started running towards TAaPS when she sat up. She looked around her, and finally, Starswirl could see her face.
"Are you ok?" he asked. TAaPS slowly nodded.
"Oh, everything is going perfectly," she said. Just not in her voice.
Meanwhile, up in the dinning room, people were eating and talking.
"And how about an intelligent species?" Toxigo was asking Twill Weave. "We've never seen anything else around."
"That is a good point," Twill Weave said. "But there is the chance that this base is hidden, or that anyone here just try's to avoid it."
"Ok, that is a good point," Toxigo said. He opened his mouth to continue talking when the food dispenser groaned. Everyone stopped talking and stared at it.
"TAaPS, what's going on?" Taissy asked.
"Oh, TAaPS isn't here anymore," a voice said as a screen emerged from the wall, reveling TAaPS's face. "You've been infiltrated. And this was disappointingly easy."
"Who are you?" Scorched Apple asked. "How did you do this?" The voice chuckled.
"Oh, I was here when the first person of the first universe was born, and I'll be here when the last person of the last universe dies," it said. "I am what you call the Negative Space." The room filled with gasps.
"But how?" Candy Burn asked.
"Oh, it was easy," the Negative Space said. "Really, all I had to do was wait for Starswirl to bring you here so I could attack you with others from other parallel universes. Then program that recover to be able to hold me in it, and wait for TAaPS to plug herself into it so I could take over the entire base! I've been planning this for years! And now I can take over the multiverse."
"No you won't!" Taissy exclaimed, slamming her hands on the table. "We can stop you!" The Negative Space chuckled.
"Oh, you are so naive," he said. "No you can't. I have access to the hole building! Starswirl never told you about this, but this building is the nexus to the entire multiverse! I can no longer be stopped!" That was when a surprising turn of events so unexpected that it may have prolonged the existence of the multiverse: Starswirl started talking. The talking itself didn't prolong the multiverse, but rather what he was talking about.
"You may have taken over the building," Starswirl started saying. "But you also but yourself in your most vulnerable position yet." The Negative Space turned around and looked at where Starswirl was, who was off screen.
"What are you talking about?" The Negative Space asked.
"I put in a fail-safe," Starswirl said. "Always put in a fail-safe! Team, you CAN beat him! Just get to the crystal caverns, and you'll have a weapon!" They couldn't see it, but Starswirl lunged at one of TAaPS's work benches, flipped a cover, and pressed a button. Before anyone could react, bubbles fizzled around everyone in the dinning room.
"What the hell did you do, old man?" The Negative Space yelled at Starswirl as a siren started playing.
"Making sure that you don't win!" Starswirl exclaimed.
"What are you doing?" Scorched Apple exclaimed, hoping that Starswirl heard him.
"You will be teleported away, far away from here!" Starswirl yelled back. "And more help will be on the way!" That was the last thing Starswirl was able to say, because as he finished speaking, and explosion rocked the building as machinery and walls started blowing up. No one was affected, however, because the bubbles surrounding them opened a portal below each one and dropped everyone to a different location, all far away from the base and Starswirl, which unfortunately knocked then all unconscious.