Rarity looked over to Twilight, understandably paranoid. "We wouldn't be able to break into where they are keeping those two! I can't imagine what could happen to them!" Around the corner, wearing an apron, Winter cheerfully walked into the room with a tray of drinks. "Lemonade, anyone?"
The others accepted her offer and took the drinks. "We need to find a way to get in..." said Twilight, stroking her chin in contemplation. "I'd be careful if I were you," noted Winter in a worried tone. "Area 51 is probably the most heavily guarded place in the country behind the White House itself. You'd be hard-pressed to try sneaking in without getting shot. Granted, bullets would be little more than an annoyance with a magical force field protecting you, but-" "Let's hope it doesn't come to that, Mum," replied Crimson.
Ivy, who had been quietly sitting in the corner, couldn't believe what she was hearing. She shook her head in disbelief as she took a sip of her drink. "I can't believe what I'm hearing.....we are actually doing this? Am I dreaming? We are actually going to break into Area 5-" Orchid however, couldn't wipe the smile of her face at the prospect of possibly finding aliens. ---------------------------------------------------------- The group soon prepared a car for a big road-trip into Nevada, and Winter was going to be doing absolutely everything that she could to make sure the group of friends were adequately prepared. With barely enough space for them to fit in, she also gathered supplies for the trip along the way. This was, however, not going to be a fun trip whatsoever. This was going to be a 12 hour drive. Twelve hours of hell....
Thankfully, the group had all packed lunches for themselves. "This feels... weird," said Twilight, as she stared out the window in contemplation, "I never thought I'd have to rescue myself."
Ivy reassuringly placed a hand onto Twilight's shoulder. "Everything should be alright Mademoiselle. This is quite a weird experience for all of us!"
Rainbow went over and rested her head onto Circuit's shoulder, scooting over to her comfy with her boyfriend, all in the view of the rest of the boys and girls. "It's alright Circuit, even if nothing was okay, we are all here for you" Circuit smiled and hugged Rainbow in response. "Well, when you put it like that....I guess you are right" In the back of the car, sitting to Fluttershy, Orchid couldn't help but try to hide a slight tinge of blush on her cheeks.
---- Night had fallen. The group were about to leave the small Nevada hamlet of Rachel, their destination a mere 25 miles to the southwest. Winter turned to face the van's passengers from the driver's seat. She was not looking forward to the task ahead, but time was of the essence, and the fate of reality itself was potentially at stake. "As a police officer, I feel obligated to remind you all that we are about to commit a federal offense or two," she said, "so if anyone has any objections, now would be the time to raise them." The occupants of the van remained quiet for a moment before Fluttershy spoke. "Pardon my language, ma'am," she said, softly but firmly, "but I think I speak for all of us here when I say... screw the consequences, our friends are in danger."
Winter couldn't help but smirk at the compliment. "That's the spirit!" Soon, as the van began to drive towards their destination, the group of teenagers were clearly nervous about what they were about to do. The stakes were high, but if they couldn't prevent what was about to happen, then the stakes would never be higher....if the stakes existed after that point. In the dead of night, a while building was in the middle of the desert, and along driving towards it, the police officer suddenly slammed her foot down. Orchid clearly wasn't expecting the sudden increase in speed, her hands gripping onto the closest hair of legs or knees as something to hold onto. Soon, with a very small gate being guarded by a lazy guard, the older woman did something stupid. He sped up even more. The guard turned around at the loud noise and barely had time to jump out the way as the gate was literally blown apart from the impact of the speeding van, looking in shock at what was going on. The walls of the building grew closer and closer, and Winter had the most sadistic grin on her face. Just a mere moment later, the alarm was raised early. "Alright kids! Hold on tight, we're gonna come in hard!" She exclaimed, the sound of a revving engine growing loud. Soon, everyone screamed in fear as they were bound to hit the wall. "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" Pinkie Pie excitedly exclaimed, which while terrified herself, couldn't help but enjoy the rush of it all. Crimson closed his eyes at the last moment, just when the colossal van slammed into the walls of the facility.
Spoiler: Music for scene (reccommended) The van crashed through the metal wall as dozens of armed guards fired upon it. Rarity reflexively put up her forcefield to protect the group, causing the bullets to ricochet off of it, much to the consternation of the guards. "Wait... you can do magic, too?" asked Ivy, confused. "Just the girls can. It's a long story," replied a young male voice who didn't sound like either Circuit or Crimson. Ivy gasped when she realized who it was coming from. "MON DIEU!! The dog can talk!?!" "No time to explain!" said Twilight frantically. "We've got more important things to worry about, remember?!" Ivy smiled nervously as she remembered the whole reason they were in this situation. "Oh... right..."
Much to their annoyance, while the girls were distracted, Orchid and Ivy quickly went to hide behind the van as the girls worked their magic, literally. Crimson and Circuit on the other hand, quickly went together towards the walls as the girls started to drop. Crim, seeing one of the guards drop to the ground along with his rifle, bravely sprinted across the room in the middle of bulletfire, sliding across the ground during the firefight. The moment he went to aim it however, all the guards were unconscious on the ground as the group of six girls walked past him. "Nice try, Crimmy" Rainbow Dash told him as he patted him on the back. "But we will be doing the heavy lifting this time." Upon the smug gesture, Crim sighed in annoyance and carried the assault rifle with him, in-case it came in handy. ----------------------------------- Orchid looked in a daze, unsure if this was even reality anymore. She just seen six girls fight against armed guards using magic, and with Rarity operating a forcefield! She couldn't hide her shock, or her excitement, as she watched in awe. "I.....cant believe this!" Orchid said, stuttering in surprise. "W-what's happening!? This is so....weird!" Winter got out of the van and tussled her and Ivy's hair, giggling as the officer smiled. "I wouldn't worry girls. Weirder things have happened"
The moment that Winter began to follow the rest of the girls, Orchid quietly began to follow behind them. She didn’t feel right for this, especially when her life was at stake. She felt awkward, confused, and getting terrible vibes from this place as she waddled like a penguin. Just as she did, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck spring up, as a thunderous noise shook the whole room. “Woah, that was heavy....” Spike spoke, looking at his companion, Twilight. Twilight looked worried. “We don’t have much time. Quickly!” She said, quickly running in the hallway, along with the rest of the boys and girls. “Y-yeah, lead the way....totally lost in this maze” Orchid chuckled to herself, before doing her best to keep up.
After what felt like hours, the group came to the end of the long hallway. Standing in front of them was a door, marked "SUBJECT OBSERVATION AND EXAMINATION DIVISION; ALPHA-LEVEL CLEARANCE REQUIRED." No sound could be heard from the other side of the door aside from the alarm that blared throughout the facility. "How do we get in there?" asked Fluttershy, "I don't see any handle on the door, or any kind of lock." "Maybe a little elbow grease'll get 'er open," suggested Applejack as she approached the door. Winter simply smiled. "No need for that, Applejack," she said, "Everybody stand back." She drew her pistol as the others backed away from the door. She fired at each hinge, causing the door to flop forward with a loud thud. Rarity shrugged. "That was easier than I was expecting," she noted as they entered through the doorway, which led to another, far wider hallway. Doors lined the walls on either side of them, and each was marked with two numbers and a letter. Aside from the ever-present alarm and the group's footsteps, nothing could be heard. Suddenly, the alarm went quiet for a moment, before a panicked voice blared via the intercom. "ATTENTION, ALL PERSONNEL, SUBJECTS 36-BRAVO AND 53-TANGO HAVE BREACHED CONTAINMENT!! I REPEAT, SUBJECTS 36-BRAVO AND 53-TANGO HAVE BREACHED CONTAINMENT!! ENGAGE LOCKDOWN PROTOCOL ECHO-GOLF-NINER-NINER, THIS IS NOT A DRILL!! I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!"
The loud blaring alarm caused many of the girls to jump, especially Fluttershy, who was rather startled at the loud sudden noise. At the intercoms loud screaming, many knew what it meant without saying anything. “Gee, I wonder who they’re talking about” Crim added his two cents in. “Come on! Let’s go!” Rainbow Dash cheered her friends on, as the group of them began to run down the hallway Ivy gulped, a fear in the pit of her stomach surfacing. She didn’t have a good feeling about this...
"Guys...?" A familiar female voice echoed through the hallways, trembling but hopeful. "Sunset!" shouted the group as they ran over to hug her. The poor girl, dressed in what looked like a hospital gown, looked scared out of her wits, as though she had just seen a ghost. "Oh, thank goodness you guys are here!" said Sunset, panicking, "They did horrible things to us, half of it I can't remember... and Twilight... well, the other one," she hastily added as she noticed that Princess Twilight was there as well, "she... she..." "She what, Sunset?" asked Circuit worriedly. Sunset looked behind her frantically before replying, "I think it's better if I just show you." She lead her friends, and Spike, further down the hallway, and as they turned the corner, they came upon a horrible sight. Spoiler: Music for scene (Recommended) Strewn about the floor were the corpses of several guards, each of which had an expression of horror on their lifeless faces. Many of them had their limbs contorted in directions they would normally be unable to bend, and the way their bodies were spread out seemed to indicate that they were knocked back by an unseen shock wave. And sitting in the center of the corpses, by herself, was Twilight, quietly sobbing in the fetal position. "I can't let her out... I can't let her out... I can't let her out..." Fluttershy slowly approached her distressed friend. "Um... Twilight... are you okay?" she asked nervously. Twilight did not respond as crying gradually gave way to deranged laughter. She then slowly tilted her head up and turned to look at the group, her now-glowing eyes glaring at them with a crazed smirk. "Why yes..." she said, in a disturbingly serene tone, "I'm fine. In fact... I haven't felt this good in a loooooong time."
The familiar female before them cackled with laughter as she stood up from her spot, her now-glowing eyes turning brighter with every sinister sound of her disturbing laughter. Her hair became frenzied and wavey, bright magenta light appearing over her arms and legs to clothe her. The lab coat she was wearing rumbled to contain a growing appendage on her back, but was ripped to pieces as the coat was merely obliterated, a large pair of wings spanning out. As a light blue flash lit up as a horn, the woman that resembled Twilight Sparkle was no more. Instead, the only thing that remained was nothing more of a demon. “Oooooh~” Midnight closed her eyes and sighed. “You have no idea how good this feels right now. I feel absolutely wonderful right now! I can just go on and on about how good this is! But....you aren’t gonna make that happen.” Sunset took a step back, horrified as she seen the terrible expressions on the faces of her friends. From all of her old friends who had stuck by her through and through, to the new ones who was experiencing that magic was real for the first time. But this was sometbing new for her. She had never seen them so afraid before.
"Twilight... you don't have to do this..." Sunset pleaded with her transmutated friend, but Midnight took no heed. "I know I don't have to, Sunset," she replied, in mock-reassurance, "I want to." The other Twilight sighed, as she stared up at her twisted cognate, a look of righteous determination on her face. "Look... we can do this the easy way, or the hard way." Midnight simply giggled in reply. "Ohhh, is that a threat?" she replied cattily. "I'd love to see you try to follow through on that, but I doubt you could even so much as scratch me the way I am now." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Whaddya know, the pride before the fall." "Look who's talkin'," snarked Applejack in reply, much to Rainbow Dash's chagrin. Twilight smirked slightly as she folded her arms. This was going to be interesting. "Alright then," she said, "Hard way it is."
Soon, the lights in the room flickered and fizzed as the girls soon began to feel a very brief flash of light flow over their bodies, like a warm sensation washed over them. Much to the shock of the rest of the group, all the girls had actually powered up before their eyes, and were ready to follow though, all of them looking determined. Soon, Princess Twilight took a step towards her corrupted counterpart. “Oh, this is precious...” Midnight taunted, the transmutated humanoid that used to resemble their best friend floating up slightly. “You’re approaching me? Instead of running away, you’re coming right to me?” Rainbow smugly stopped and clenched her fists. “We can’t beat the crap out of you without getting closer” Midnight smiled. “Then please, come as close as you like....” ——————————- Crimson and Winter looked in shock at what they were seeing, so much so, that they dropped the rifle and pistol that the two of them were holding. Orchid looked over to Circuit. “Surely she has a weak point, right?” She gulped, fear clearly evident in her eyes. Circuit couldn’t respond, instead Ivy looked over and gulped. “I.....hope so.” Orchid, while still seeing her first expose to magic and feeling it’s side effects, was absolutely terrified at seeing its effects first hand. “......I’m so afraid. Not even Dad was as scary as this....literal demon right before my eyes.”
Midnight stroked her chin thoughtfully. "Hmmm... I think it's time to make things more... interesting. Shall we?" She snapped her fingers as the room went black. ---- Spoiler: Music for scene (Recommended) Crimson slowly stood up in the darkness, illuminated only by a single dim light bulb. As he rose and his vision adjusted to the darkness, he saw that he was in a damp, narrow, dimly lit hallway. "Hello?" he shouted, wondering if anyone could hear him, but no response came. "Anyone there?" Crimson felt a chill work its way down his spine as the hallway remained silent. He was alone. ---- Sunset awoke to find herself in the dilapidated ruins of what might have been a city once. She stood up and walked around, trying to find any sign of her friends, or of civilization for that matter. Eventually, she came to an uprooted road sign, laying on the ground and covered in dirt. She brushed off the sign, and gasped in shock as she read it: WELCOME TO BEAUTIFUL Canterlot, Colorado ELEVATION: 6,035 FT INCORPORATED 1889 Heavy breathing could be heard from behind Sunset. She turned around to find... "Flash...? What happened to you?" she asked. Flash Sentry looked like he had been without food for quite some time, and he was crawling around on the ground with his arms, as his legs were missing. He looked at Sunset with a horrified expression as he slowly approached her, raising his arm to point at her. "You... did this..." he said feebly. ----
