"The world almost died on September 26th, 1983. In our timeline, in a bunker near Moscow, the Soviet's were monitoring for a US missile attack on the Soviet Unio, since this was at the peak of the Cold War. We all know how 'Primitive' computers can be in the 1980's, and this was a computer glitch rather then the apocalypse. The Colonel on the day knew that the attack wasn't real, and actually saved the world. Had it been another officer...." Crimson said sadly. He then thought for a moment. "Guys...what would happen if the Russians didn't only have the tech to cause doomsday, but improved?"
"All because I decided to go try time travel out..." said Twilight guiltily, "Well, Circuit, do you know how to drive stickshift?" "No, but I can figure it out," he replied. "Good enough," Twilight responded cheerfully, "If anyone knows where to find your phone, it's you." "Thanks, Twi." And he took the wheel. Stickshift was a bit of a pain at first, but he adapted after a while. After an hour of driving, the van parked in front of the alley Circuit had woken up in. There was a homeless man there. "Maybe he knows what happened to your phone, Circuit!" suggested Pinkie. "It's worth a shot," noted Circuit. He approached the homeless person, slowly as to not completely freak him out. "Excuse me, sir?" asked Circuit politely, "Have you seen anything going on in this alley at all?" "...was on me way back from th' shelter, lad..." he replied in a slurred Scottish accent, "...I saw a man... tall, pale, beefy an' blonde, he was... he had sumtin' strange in his hand... like a wallet, but made o' plastic, by th' looks o' it... he went to th' payphone an' started speakin' in some language I couldn' understand... then he made off to th' airport... didn' seem like a friendly bloke, him..." "How long ago was this?" asked Circuit. "...'bout six o' seven hours ago..." "Thanks, sir." And Circuit went back into the van. "Okay, guys," said Circuit, "Someone, probably KGB, came by about six or seven hours ago and took my phone. He phoned home and went to the airport. You guys know what this means, right?" Rainbow Dash smiled deviously. "We're gonna get that phone back." "Exactly," said Circuit. "Well, on that note..." said Twilight, "It would seem we're going to Russia. We'll need weapons, ammo, and some more things to get in there, but if this works... it'll be worth it."
Crimson looked at Twilight. "I really hope that time travel works on the multiverse theory, for reasons obviously..."
----- KGB Research Facility Leningrad, Russia, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics 14 00 hours local time Soviet researchers seemed to have been given a godsend when they were presented with a strange device that a field operative found in the States. It seemed to be a slab of plastic with reflective glass on the front, about the size of a wallet. Upon closer inspection, the device appeared to be a portable computer. The graphical display quality and color pallete was downright photorealistic, even better than a real camera of the period, while the sound quality was on par with a vinyl record. Computation speed seemed to far surpass anything available at the time as well. What they didn't know is that they were not meant to have it, and those who were had come to take it back.
All Nine of the group poked their heads out of the snow, looking out into the cold concrete before them. Leningrad was formerly St. Petersburg, yet the city would be renamed to it's historically known as St. Petersburg after the Soviet Union fell in 1991. But the prospect of the Soviet Union surviving past 1991 started to seem growingly common now, especially with the mobile back in the facility. It's not really the technology that scared Twilight and Crimson the most, it was the potential with the energy source. If the device was reverse-engineered somehow, the possibilities for the Communists could bring the Cold War to terrifying new heights... And as the group looked at the facility, they were now fighting for the future...
"Alright, girls," said Rainbow Dash, trying to make her voice deeper and more gravely than normal, "What's the plan?" "First, stop talkin' like ya ate some sandpaper for breakfast," said Applejack, clearly not amused. "Why you gotta ruin the moment, AJ?" asked Rainbow Dash, clearly sad, "I always wanted to be an action movie hero, and I can't do the cool voice?" She hung her head in disappointment. "Actually, we're going to try to get in undetected," replied Sunset, "but the only way in is the front door."
"And it's guarded by around six different guards, who I bet is going to be shooting dead anyone who even attempts to get in" Twilight said. "Undetected is our best bet, we don't want to raise the alarm just yet." Crimson told them.
"But how?" asked Rarity. "What about the ventilation system on the top of the building?" asked Fluttershy.
They snuck around the side of the building, scaled the back and went onto the roof, before entering the ventilation shaft.
As they crawled through the ventilation system, there was talking below them. As it got louder and more numerous, it felt as if they were getting close...
Circuit looked down through one of the grates, and there it was. His phone, somehow still intact. They had shown up just in time.
"Alright, so here's how we're gonna get in--" But before Circuit could finish, he heard Rainbow Dash shouting "LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOY JEEEENKINNNS!!!" "Oh, wonderful," said Rarity, facepalming.
Rainbow suddenly charged through, surprising the two guards in the room before she personally took care of them. Once the room was clear, the rest of them dropped into the room, with Crim aiming a silenced AEK-971 at the door incase the alarm was raised, before Twilight hacked the security camera's in the room to replay old footage on a loop.
"What the hell, Rainbow?!" Circuit demanded, "That was very risky!" "Risky... but effective..." she replied, handing him his phone. "Now c'mon, let's get outta here."
The alarm wasn't raised, but escape would be risky. The very same KGB officer that took the phone was standing at the door, expecting the owner of the phone to come and rescue it or if American spies would have tried to steal it. Just as the group prepared to escape, the officer smirked behind the door, flicking a switch. The alarm was raised...
Circuit facepalmed. "Nice going, Rainbow..." The KGB officer simply clapped sarcastically. "You did best you could, da," he said in a thick Russian accent, "But I am still here. You cannot escape with telephone while I still live." "Wait a minute, how did you know this was a phone?" asked Sunset skeptically. "It is obvious," the Russian explained, "It is device that make telephone calls, da? But it is much more. It has screen like looking through window. It is faster than our best computer. It can do thing that supercomputer cannot. With technology of telephone, glorious Motherland will destroy capitalist American scum at long last. Now, hand over telephone, and you may leave alive." "I'll give you my phone," Circuit replied defiantly, "when you send a man to the Moon." The man laughed at this prospect. "You claim telephone is yours, da? It is KGB property now. Surrender now." "Has it ever occurred to you," Circuit began, "that this thing doesn't belong here? Because it doesn't. I know what's gonna happen to you in six years, give or take a few months. Your economy is in shambles, your people's morale is at an all-time low, starvation and famine are rampant, and you cling to the ideologies of your fathers for dear life, while everyone outside your influence is passing you by in every respect. Even some of your superiors are beginning to realize that maybe, JUST maybe, this whole idea of cultural censorship and a state-owned economy wasn't that good to begin with. The combined stress will be too much for your precious Soviet Union to handle. It will collapse. And when it does, you'll be out of a job. Sure, this thing here could help your military out, but it will take you many years and a lot of money to replicate the technology of this device, probably cutting your remaining time as a country in half." "You DARE to mock--" "Yeah, I dare. Because where I come from... your regime is but a distant memory, a relic of an era gone by. A time of fear, mistrust, and prejudice... happily forgotten outside of historical texts and the occasional television broadcast." The Soviet's hardened face was starting to display a mixture of fear, anger, and confusion. "So with all of that out of the way..." Circuit paused for dramatic effect, and also because he wanted this to really hit home, "Hello from the year 2016."
