Chapters 00 Prologue
She parted the blinds of her window to peek outside. She could see six girls crowding around the statue in the center of the courtyard as they gave their final farewells to the latest member of their group. She’d seen enough and looked away. Using her phone on a secure line, she sent a text to a waiting party. It contained only one word, ‘Go.’
Once she was certain it had been received, she turned her attention to the young girl sitting on the sofa.
“I must say Miss Sunset, you’ve caused quite the commotion today.”
The student bowed her head in shame and spoke in but a whisper. “I know. I’m sorry.”
“Really? Now that is something I never thought I would hear from you.”
Sunset looked close to tears.
“I know,” she whimpered.
“I never meant for things to end up like this.” She looked up to the teacher as tears began to make their way down her cheek. “Please, I’m sorry, Principal Celestia.”
No malice, only sincerity, Celestia thought.
She smiled and placed a hand on the youth’s shoulder as she leaned down to level their eyes. “Don’t worry my dear. Everything will be just fine.”
Sunset trembled as she looked her in the eye. Memories from long ago, memories she had thought she burned, suddenly came rushing back. She was overwhelmed. She grabbed Celestia and held her tight.
To her surprise, she felt arms reach around her.
The feeling of warmth and security, the feeling of love, was too much. She couldn’t take it anymore and just let it go. As she cried her heart out on Celestia’s shoulder, the teacher held her tighter in response.
The moment she got that simple message, she began to move. Past the students, the food, and the sound system, she ascended the stage and approached the microphone. After tapping it a few times, she managed to gain the crowd’s attention. Perfect .
“Good evening everyone.” She smiled, all eyes on her. “It has been quite a night, has it not?”
Murmurs and chuckles were heard from those assembled.
“You must have any number of questions, but fret not, for they shall be answered.”
Faint blue light began to emanate from her eyes. As it grew brighter, the assembled students watched; some in fear, some with caution, others yet with awe.
All of a sudden a flash of light engulfed those present. When it cleared the entire student body stood there, dazed.
Luna took a moment to breathe and compose herself. It had been a while since she had to do that on such a large scale, and she had been rather out of practice. She looked around and noted that they still looked to her.
“Well, I think we have had enough for tonight,” she said as she clasped her hands. “Though it has been wonderful, it is time for this party to come to a close. I hope you all enjoyed yourselves, have a good night and I shall see all of you on Monday.”
The students still looked confused, but got the message and began to file out, eagerly talking amongst themselves. Luna smirked as she watched them leave. She definitely still had it.
A while after the last student left the gym, a feminine figure emerged from the shadows on the wall. Her hair was up in a bun and she had on a pair of archaic glasses, but what was really striking was what she was wearing. It was a well fitted, well pressed, midnight blue blazer, and a similarly impressive pair of black slacks. Luna took notice of this and greeted the new arrival.
“Inkwell,” she nodded in her direction, “I take it the other five have have left the premises?”
“Yes, they have. The portal has also closed, but what shall become of them now?”
Luna released a sigh. “They may have to be brought in. You saw it yourself. They will Awaken soon and we have to be ready for that.”
“I suppose it was inevitable,” said the aging instructor.
“Indeed. At the very least, Project Harmony will finally have a purpose once more.” She turned and proceeded towards the door. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to go meet with my sister.”
Inkwell nodded as Luna left the gym.
Luna entered the principal’s office and found the sleeping form of Sunset Shimmer, peacefully resting her head on her sister’s lap.
Celestia looked to Luna as she entered and, in a low voice, said “Since you’re here, that means that the grounds are clear and the deed is done. Well done sister, excellent as always.”
Luna stood there and watched as her sister held Sunset.
“You know, Luna,” Celestia said as she stroked the young girl’s hair. “She was so tired. For so long, she allowed herself to be consumed by her rage. Rage that, if I'm not mistaken, was actually directed towards me." She released a sigh.
Worry found a place on Luna's features. "Tia..."
"The whole thing sounds eerily familiar, if I do say so." She looked to her sister as she said this.
Luna knew very well what she was referring to and began to feel more than a little uncomfortable.
"Tia, what happened to her wasn’t your fault. Like you said, this was a mistake the OTHER Celestia made.”
A wistful smile came upon Celestia. “That’s just it Luna, our Sunset Shimmer, the one native to this side, is a Dreamer. A powerful one at that. I could just as easily have made the same mistakes as my counterpart.”
The two were silent as they contemplated the possibilities. Celestia gently lifted Sunset’s head and replaced her lap with a throw pillow. She approached her desk and brought out a strange, wide-fingered glove.
“Luna,“ she tossed the glove in her sister’s direction. “Could you please bring Sunset home? I have a meeting to get to.”
Luna caught the glove in mid-air, but not with her hand. Instead, the glove floated there enclosed in a dark blue aura. She extended her arm and the glove slipped on. “Of course, Sister.”
She knelt over the sofa and placed the gloved hand on Sunset’s shoulder. Her eyes began to glow and the glove began to hum to life. In a short moment, the two disappeared in a flash of light.
When they had disappeared, Celestia went to the back of her desk and pressed a button that wasn’t there, or at least, wasn’t there in the conventional sense. A flash of golden light emerged from the doorframe and the window frame as the whole room began to descend.
01 Duality
She dove for cover behind a crate as the beast lumbered past. With its back to her she closed her eyes and concentrated as she drove her energy into her wide-fingered gloves. They had reacted and their inner mechanisms began to hum with life. She raised her now shining hands towards the beast and fired.
A solid beam of light pierced the air and hit the creature, severing its scorpion-like tail and bringing it to the ground as it gave out a yowl of pain.
She pumped a fist into the air in celebration. "Gotcha."
Unfortunately her victory was short lived as the creature began to rise once more. It faced her, eyes glazed with fury more than pain, spread its bat-like wings and roared with the strength that could only be achieved by a fully grown manticore.
The color drained from her face.
Are you serious?! What is this thing made of?! she thought.
She turned and ran as fast as her legs could carry, jumping over crates and going around the twists and turns formed by several stacked boxes, all in an attempt to confuse the beast that now pursued her.
Her opponent however, being several orders of magnitude larger that she, had no problem simply swatting aside any pesky obstacles that came in between him and his prey. After witnessing a particularly large box fall with a thud at the giant’s assault did she realize that she could not do this alone. She reached for her earpiece.
“Control, this is Twilight Sparkle, requesting immediate assistance.” Her voice filling with anxiety.
She looked over her shoulder. “Target is very angry.”
The manticore leaped into the air and just barely missed her as it crushed a few stacks of boxes and their contents. The force from this was enough though, to knock Twilight off her balance causing her to slow down. It became evident that trying to evade it was a futile effort, and so, she faced the humongous beast. She raised her fists which began to glow and flexed her legs as she prepared to take it on. She knew she wasn’t suited for close quarters which made her wonder exactly how long she could last. Probably not long, she considered, after-
“Not to worry my dear, for help is finally here ”
Her earpiece had buzzed out the message and, in her concentrative state, scared the daylights out of her, snuffing out the light that built up on her gloves. The manticore had shared her shock and had raised an arm to swipe down upon its latest meal. Sadly the meal had to be postponed as the manticore was abruptly knocked onto its side.
Atop the manticore stood an ashen woman with a well toned physique. She sported a black and white mohawk, a grey blazer, and black slacks. One of her hands was clenched in a fist while the other held a long metal rod pointed at the manticore’s face.
The newcomer looked to Twilight and smiled. “I apologize for being late, the path to you was in no way straight.”
Twilight’s eyes were wide. “Zecora!” She gave off a sigh of relief. “Believe me, your timing couldn’t be better.”
As they exchanged greetings the manticore had woken up from its impromptu nap and twisted its body around in an attempt to get to its assailant. Sadly, for the manticore of course, Zecora was simply too fast that by the time it had turned over, she was already standing in front of Twilight.
She clicked her tongue in disappointment. “I will have you know, you are simply too slow.”
She leaped, spinning, into the air. With her staff, she delivered a mighty blow straight to the manticore's face, dazing it. She took this as an opportunity and used her weapon to bring its legs out from under it. In short order the manticore had found itself on its belly again.
With the great beast on the ground, Zecora positioned herself as she brought the tip of her staff to rest just above its head. A spike emerged from the tip as Zecora closed her eyes and chanted a few words. The words themselves were indiscernible, but their effect was unmistakable as ley lines embedded in her staff begun to glow.
“Though your chase put my student here to the test, I’m afraid that it now time for you to rest.”
She brought down the staff and the light that it built up flowed into the manticore. Slowly, the manticore began to shrink as its wings receded into its back, and a new, non-scorpion-like tail, sprouted until it took on the shape of a regular lion.
When the light had faded, she withdrew her staff and held it behind her back. This time, the staff began to shrink and flatten out. When it was small enough, it wrapped itself around her wrist and ended its transformation as a simple silver bangle.
Twilight walked up to Zecora as she looked at the sleeping feline. “Thanks again Zecora. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Zecora wore a scowl of disappointment.
“Once again Miss Twilight” - she faced her charge - “you went alone to a fight. You claim that you don’t need assistance, yet this beast nearly ended your existence.”
Twilight had taken a step back. “I’m sorry. He was right there and I thought I could take him. Besides, I was able to get a pretty good hit in.”
Zecora was not amused by her logic. “All you did was it him on the backside, and make him want your hide.”
Twilight’s eyes were downcast as a pregnant silence stood between them. Thankfully it did not have to last long as a group of people wearing the same outfit as Zecora, except with their blazers a solid midnight blue, entered the scene. Twilight herself wore an identical outfit, but with the color a subdued purple.
One of the new arrivals approached them, her blazer decorated with a few more emblems on the breast pocket. It also contrasted greatly with her bright pink hair and cream skin. She wore gloves similar to to what Twilight had been using. From the confidence in her gait, it was clear that she was the leader of this group. She looked appraisingly at the two fighters, their surroundings, and then the lion. A smile then graced her lips.
“Well, I must say you two caused quite a commotion here.”
She looked to the grey woman and said, “I thought subtlety was your specialty Zecora?”
The grey lady smiled in response. “Hello there Twinkleshine, always good to see a friend of mine. As for the damage, that-”
“Was actually my fault.” Twilight had cut in with a sheepish grin.
Twinkleshine looked to her, eyebrow raised. “Ah! You must be Twilight Sparkle.”
She approached and grabbed her shoulders. “You know, your name has been bouncing around a lot lately.” A smirk replaced her smile. “So what can you tell me about this ‘Project Harmony’?”
This time it was Zecora who interrupted them by separating the two girls. “Forgive me my friend, I do not mean to offend, but that is a secret which I mean to defend.”
Twinkleshine rolled her eyes and pouted. “Fine, fine. Although I do find it so ironic that you’re keeping secrets from me.”
“Anyway,” she said as she signalled her comrades. “We’ll take care of this. Why don’t you do some sightseeing? Fillydelphia is pretty nice this time of year.”
Twilight was about to go, but had one more thing to say. “Also, we’re pretty much the same age, kiddo.”
Twinkleshine was taken aback, but a moment later grinned and let out a good laugh. “I like you, Twilight Sparkle.”
The pair said their goodbyes and made to leave the warehouse. As they passed the doors some of the blue’s gloves lit up and the broken boxes put themselves back together. Another effortlessly lifted the lion and brought it to a truck waiting outside.
Twilight sulked in the passenger seat. Her performance today was horrible. Zecora was right. Even if she did get a good hit, she didn’t even consider what her next move would be and because of that, put herself in unnecessary risk. Perhaps worst of all, Celestia was definitely going to hear about this. The thought of it all caused her to release a great sigh.
After they had left the warehouse, Zecora suggested they get something to eat. Half an hour of searching in silence later, they found a quaint little cafe on a relatively quiet corner. Twilight immediately found them a table by the window, while Zecora went to see what they had on offer. She stared out the windows and watched as people walked by. Every once in a while, one of them would notice her and smile in greeting, and she would smile in return.
It was worth noting that they weren’t wearing their blazers at the moment. Hers was just draped around her chair and Zecora had hers tied around her waist by the sleeves. On the outset it looked like a perfectly normal piece of clothing, but it actually granted her a degree of invisibility against those who weren’t ready to deal with magic yet. Those people they called, ‘Sleepers.’
Thanks to that, she could always rejoin the rest of the population at a moment’s notice by simply changing into something else. It also had several defensive enchantments placed on it, so that it may also provide protection against threats both physical and magical.
As the people passed her window, she thought about what it was like to not know the true depths of the world they lived in. About what it was like to see her when she actually wearing it. Those who were, as they termed, ‘Awake’ weren’t entirely sure what the Sleepers saw when they were actively hiding amongst them, but they did have a pretty good idea.
Their escapades usually circulated in stories and rumors, dating as far back as a thousand years ago, when their group was formed. Those who claimed that they were visited by ‘ghosts’ or say they had ‘encounters’ were, in actuality, brought into the crossfire of one of their operations. Either that, or they were insane.
Over time, those who were Awake became associated with the supernatural; and they embraced this cloak the people had given them, wholeheartedly. In fact, it was from this supernatural mindset that they got their more modern nickname.
More than once had they heard Sleepers say they were blinded by flashes of light or that they saw some unknown light source out of the corner of their eye. They even started to notice that occasionally, photographs would have these mysterious ‘orbs’ or ‘phantoms’ in them. In any case, it usually had something to do with light, and so certain stories had begun spreading. They were nothing but rumors of course, and nobody actually took them seriously.
But that didn’t stop certain people from claiming that these strange phenomena were caused by, what they christened, ‘Magic Light People’ of MLPs. After a while, the idea itself of MLPs breached the mainstream and merged with pop culture; being depicted as some giant net of powerful individuals who manipulated the world around them while at the same time hiding under everyone’s noses. The whole things seemed preposterous of course, but then again, sometimes reality itself could prove to be be very unrealistic.
Twilight was snapped out of her reverie by a tray of food arriving on their table. Zecora had returned and she brought with her two burgers, a fruit smoothie, and a chocolate shake. She took a seat and faced Twilight.
The student lowered her head. “I’m sorry, Zecora.”
Her mentor sighed. "If there is one thing I need to teach you, my student, it is that you must learn to act more prudent. Though believe me I can understand your stress. After all, it is Central you wish to impress.”
“Still, you were right. I put myself at risk and not only that, I charged in alone.” She still wasn’t making eye contact.
Zecora smiled sympathetically as she reached over and lifted her student’s head up by the chin. “Child, you should not worry, I was never really angry. Perhaps I was frustrated, but that was only because it was you the beast nearly ended. Just promise me that you will never go alone, that is all you need to do to atone.”
Twilight finally managed to crack a smile. “I promise. Thank you, Zecora”
Zecora let go of her chin. “Now that my speech is complete,” - her smile became a grin - “let’s eat.”
With the tension between the two now relieved, they dug into their meal with gusto. When they were finished, they paid their dues, put on their blazers, and left the store. The staff weren’t entirely sure whether or not someone had eaten there on the table by the window; but the dishes were present and the bill was paid, so they simply shrugged it off.
Outside, the invisible pair returned to their vehicle and drove off.
The car stopped in front of an unremarkable clothing store. In front of it was a simple, carved, wood bench, and upon that bench sat a relatively young man wearing a familiarly blue blazer. Upon seeing the two he gave them a nod of acknowledgement, which they had returned in kind.
Inside there wasn't really any word that could be used to describe the store besides, average. Racks of shirts and pants sat on one side, shelves of shoes and three changing stalls were near the back, a large bargain bin was in the center, and a cashier situated on the other side.
Perhaps it was the plainness of the place, perhaps it was something else. Either way, the store found itself occupied by but three people. Twilight Sparkle, Zecora, and a particularly uninterested looking cashier.
The first two of the aforementioned approached the back. The changing stalls in this shop did not use a curtain or a slotted door, but instead opted for creating a miniature room, only large enough for one to change their clothes. Once the pair entered and locked their respective stalls, the cashier had reached under the counter, brushed aside a hanging grey blazer, and pushed an unseen button. The doorframes of the occupied stalls received a barely noticeable glow as the two occupants began to descend.
The moment their changing elevators stopped, they stepped out and onto an elegant hallway. On the right were several large french windows displaying verdant meadows with mountains lining the horizon. Going along the hall was a plush red carpet that seemed to invite you to lay on it. The walls themselves were paneled with fine mahogany, interlaced with beautiful carvings that evoked power and mystique. Spaced evenly along the left wall were several doors that lead elsewhere into the complex, and each door was flanked by shining marble statues representing certain facets of the magic of their world. Finally, at the end of the hall were a set of grandiose double doors, and it was through these doors that a tall, gaunt young man wearing a blazer the same shade of purple as Twilight’s emerged and approached them.
“Ah! Thank goodness you’ve arrived, the Overseer is awaiting. Sunset Shimmer has returned from the other Equestria.”
This news took them by surprise. Twilight was the first to speak up.
“Then what are we waiting for? Who knows what she might have brought with her from their side?!”
The room on the other side of the double doors was large. Very large. On the ceiling was a stately chandelier that bathed the room in a warm glow. The back wall had three windows that stretched from floor to ceiling standing side-by-side. Through them was a scene similar to that on the windows in the hall. Dotted around the room were six carved wooden desks and at those desks were six people wearing nearly identical purple blazers. But what really stood out about them was that around each desk, three rings of floating screens, displaying information about any and everything, revolved around their user. This was MLPs Fillydelphia Control Center.
Standing in the center of it all was a man of average height, but excellent build. He also had had thick messy hair, and large horn rimmed glasses, which, when all put together made judging the book by its cover very difficult. His coat, unlike all the other purple ones around him, was a light beige.
“It’s about time you showed up!” His voice was an octave higher than of what you’d expect, but it did not lack in authority.
Zecora bowed her head lightly, “I apologize for being tardy. The manticore proved to be quite hardy.”
He waved a hand in the air. “It’s fine, Twinkleshine already reported that the whole incident was taken care of. Onto more important matters; looks like the little refugee came back after all.”
It was Twilight’s turn to speak up. “How long has she been back?”
“A couple of hours, but she didn’t really have anything with her when she returned. Although something small did pass through before she did.”
Twilight looked absolutely alarmed. “What was it, was it a bomb?!”
Zecora placed a hand on her shoulder. “Twilight, please take a breath and stay calm. I doubt Sunset would bring back a loaded bomb.”
The Overseer stifled a chuckle. “She’s right, even she isn’t that reckless. But what did stand out was that, according to the Canterlot guys, it was a trinket that contained power identical to that of Harmony 1, Magic. One of the students actually found it first, most likely cause it hit her on the head.”
He raised a hand to stop Twilight from asking a question. “Thankfully she actually handed it straight to Central Officer Celestia. When Sunset realized that what she tossed through the mirror wasn’t there, boy was she angry.” He didn’t bother stopping his chuckle that time.
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Is she ever not? But wait, you said the Central Officer received it? Has she said anything in particular about all this?”
“Nothing yet. Apparently she’s still in a meeting with the other head honchos.”
The chandelier’s light shifted to a red tint as one of the people at the desks spoke up.
“Sir, something’s coming through the portal.”
“On screen! Now!” commanded the Overseer.
The meadows on the window disappeared as they were replaced by a large statue sitting on a green lawn. It was the horse statue that decorated the front of Canterlot High. The view then focused to the back of the statue’s pedestal. The stone began to shimmer like light on waves.
The room waited with bated breath for what was going to come through. It began to ripple as something, or someone, phased through and landed behind the statue.
The room’s collective jaws dropped. There on the pavement of Canterlot High sat… Twilight Sparkle.
As fate would have it, the two Twilight’s seemed to have very similar reactions, though for differing reasons.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”
After letting out her breath with that one grand scream, Twilight, the one in Fillydelphia, began to hyperventilate. She then began to spew out nonsense in her panicked state. “Wha- Huh? Me there… but, but, I’m here? haaaaa……”
The others around her began to worry for the poor girl’s well being. Zecora decided to end this before it got out of hand, and, with a well aimed poke shocked her out of her catatonic state.
Twilight shook the quickly formed cobwebs from her head and thanked her mentor. They then returned their eyes to the screen and watched as the other Twilight got used to her new bipedal form.
One of the operators spoke up. “Sir! Incoming transmission, straight from the top.”
The Overseer’s eyes went wide. “On Screen!”
Watching the other Twilight fumble would have to wait, as her image was replaced with that of Central Officer Celestia.
“I take it you’ve seen the latest development? Especially you Twilight,” she said teasingly.
“Central, I’m sorry, but what exactly are we supposed to do about her?” said the still wary Overseer.
Celestia gave them a motherly smile. “I’d like for you all to not worry for one. We have the situation well under control here. I have already spoken to my counterpart on why their Twilight Sparkle is here.
“However, Twilight,” - her gaze locked onto the teen - “it is imperative that you return to Canterlot at once. The Black Train shall be waiting for you at the station. I’m afraid we’re going to have postpone your field training with Zecora for now.”
“Yes, ma’am.” replied the young agent.
“That is all. You may return to your posts.” With that, the windows went black.
Twilight watched as the countryside rolled by. Immediately after the meeting with Celestia, she had gone straight to the train station. She was excited to finally be able to head back to Canterlot, but she was also disappointed that she hadn’t gotten much first hand experience on the field. Adding to that, was that her latest field assignment ended with her almost being a manticore’s breakfast.
She thought to the talk she had with Zecora at the cafe and decided to push her thoughts about this morning aside. Instead, she started to think about the other Twilight.
What would the implications of her presence be for their world? Was she really just like her? What would it be like to meet herself?
She opened her tablet and looked through the files that Central had sent. Apparently this was the information the other Celestia shared about their Twilight Sparkle. Her mind began to imagine what the world beyond the statue was like. She knew the basics, such that they were all ponies. Magic also worked differently there than it it did on this side, apparently because the ending of the Chaos War was significantly different.
So that’s what I’d look like as a pony? she thought.
As she read on, her interest piqued itself on the exploits of her counterpart.
She’s a librarian and the personal protege of Princess Celestia.
A powerful unicorn. Apparently one of the strongest ever.
The leader of the Elements of Harmony. Huh, guess that’s what they call Project Harmony over there.
Defeated Nightmare Moon? Oh, that must’ve been the Nightmare Incident.
Defeated… Discord?! If he returned to power over there, then wouldn’t that mean that… she gulped at the thought. Then considered that if her counterpart could do it, so could she.
What else does it say… Time travel, negotiations, daring rescues, changelings? she raised an eyebrow at the last one.
Crystal Empire? I wonder what that is? Finally, she’s a recently crowned… PRINCESS?!
She put down the tablet and stared out the window.
If she’s a princess over there, that mean’s that she’s Fully Realized. Would that mean that I can do that too? Full access to all magical abilities…
The sun was setting by the time the Black Train arrived in Canterlot. Outside, a tall, muscular, young man with snow white skin and electric blue hair waited for Twilight. Much as everyone else Twilight had interacted with so far, he was wearing a blazer. His was grey, but his left and right sleeve each had a cream colored stripe across the upper arm.
Upon seeing this person, she smiled and ran towards him. “Shiney!”
“Twiley!”
The two siblings greeted each other with a loving embrace. After a bit of small talk, they got in the car and drove off towards Canterlot Control.
“So she hasn’t said much about the situation?” asked Twilight.
“Not really, she’s been going back and forth from talking to the other main officers and to her pony counterpart. She’s only had her secretaries release a few reports and instructions. As a matter of fact, besides her meeting with you guys in Fillydelphia, she’s only left her office once.”
“Bathroom?” she asked with a smile.
Her brother returned it before replying. “No. She had to leave ‘cause you decided to go to her office at CHS.”
Twilight was confused. “Her office? Oh! The other me went there?”
“She didn’t even seem that surprised that you went to her. I guess you two are a lot more similar than you think.”
Twilight looked out the window again. “I guess so.”
A few more minutes passed before they entered the underground parking of a two storey office building. A few blocks across this office building sat Canterlot High School. On the outside, the school didn’t seem like much. Sure it was rather large and the architecture seemed to invoke a medieval castle-like appearance, but the really interesting part about the place was deep underground.
Their vehicle entered a special receptacle and it slowly began to descend. When it reached the bottom, it area didn’t really look all that different from the parking lot they had just left. They exited the car and entered a door to the facilities’ main hall.
It was exquisite to say the least. For a building under ground, it had three storey high ceilings, polished marble floors, and a large fountain in the center. Directly above the fountain was a sparkling chandelier that didn’t so much have light bulbs, as it had floating spheres of energy, illuminating the entire hall. Much like the Fillydelphia Center, the windows were large and displayed images of nature. However the windows here had curtains of fine silk enveloping them.
Celestia greeted the two as they entered.
“Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student, it is so good to see you again.”
“Central Officer Celestia.”
After a more formal greeting, Twilight went up to and hugged her second mother. The hug was reciprocated in its entirety.
Celestia looked at Twilight as she placed her hands on her shoulders. “Come, we have much to discuss.”
From inside Celestia’s office the student and teacher had their eyes locked on a floating screen. On that screen was the other student sleeping on a well arranged pile of books.
“You know, when she came to my office, I couldn’t even tell the difference between you two.”
Twilight, never taking her eyes off Twilight, asked, “Why’d she go to your office?”
“To see if I could help her get back her crown.”
“You didn’t just give it back?”
“No. Princess Celestia specifically requested that I not just hand it over to her.”
“Why? Isn’t that a crown a key component for their Project Harmony?”
“I think she means to see if her Twilight can get it back on her own, which is why I gave her the idea of running for Fall Formal Princess to get her crown back. Also, I don’t think she could think of a good enough story to convince me she was from a pony dimension”
This got her attention. She looked straight at her teacher. “They don’t know about us? Why not? They’re magic, we’re magic. Wouldn’t we get along just fine? And doesn’t Sunset Shimmer also run for the Fall Formal?”
“They don’t know because I made Princess Celestia promise not to reveal the truth about us to her ponies. Not yet at least. Not until everyone is Awake. As for Sunset, well I suppose Twilight is in for quite a challenge, but if she’s really anything like you, she’ll manage.
“Why don’t you rest up, Twilight. You must be exhausted from your trip.”
“Just a moment, Central.” Her eyes were once again locked on her doppelganger. “What do you think it’d be like to meet her face to face?”
Celestia smiled as she put an arm around her student. “I’m sure you two would get along splendidly. But now is not the time for that, though, maybe someday.”
The Twilight on the screen tripped, fell, and all around goofed as she desperately tried to get the ball from Rainbow Dash.
The Twilight underground couldn’t help but comment on this. “Wow, she’s even less physically fit than me.”
“To be fair,” Celestia said, “she has been a pony all her life. She probably isn’t used to her new form yet.”
I’m gonna be myself
No matter what I do
And if we’re different, yeah
I want you to be true to you!
Shining nudged his sister as they watched the apparent flash mob. “I didn’t know you could sing, Twiley”
Twilight was also watching wide eyed at her counterpart’s choreography. “Neither did I.”
As they watched the girls, and soon the entire student body, clean up the gym, Twilight couldn’t help but notice something.
“Why isn’t she using magic? Even in private, I mean the report said that she’s Fully Realized. She could easily bend reality itself at this point.”
Celestia smiled at her student’s attentiveness. “Much like walking and running was for her at first, she simply doesn’t know how to, my dear.”
Twilight looked to her teacher with confusion. “How to? But isn’t magic between worlds relatively similar?”
“Think of it this way my faithful student, you could be the fastest runner in the world, but that does not necessarily mean that you know how to swim. Training in one would indeed make the other significantly easier, but the method to accomplish it is still fundamentally different.”
Celestia, together with Luna, had left to present the crown and as expected, Twilight won by a landslide. Things immediately went downhill from there, as not too long after Sunset managed to get a hold of the crown. She used it to turn into what they could only call a fiery demon.
The Control Center shifted into red alert and grey coats from the across the city prepared to charge back to CHS. The whole facility was in lockdown as they watched the terrible magic unfold. But then the other Twilight and her friends’ counterparts managed to summon an amazing power.
One of the screens within Control focused on the vault where they kept the the six components of Project Harmony. They all began to glow as they channeled their power into the six girls on the surface. This, combined with the power from the other side’s crown, managed to strip Sunset of her ill gotten power. The entire facility released a breath they didn’t realize they were holding as things swiftly returned to normal.
Twilight looked to her brother. “So I guess that means that those five girls really are the ones needed to complete Project Harmony. But what I don’t get is why did Harmony One react to their Twilight? Celestia said that it was locked to me.”
“I’ll be honest Twiley, I’m not too sure either. But if I were to guess, I’d say that you two are closer than you think. Maybe the two worlds themselves are a lot more similar than they seem.”
“But what about Project Harmony? I think it’s pretty obvious we’ll be needing their” - she pointed to the screen at the five girls who surrounded the other Twilight - “help to activate it and they're still Dreamers.”
“I don’t think they’ll be Dreamers for long. They could be Awakening pretty soon.”
Twilight sighed as she looked back to the screen.
02 Awakening
The sun rose over the east horizon, on schedule as usual. The moment the light entered her room, Applejack rose from bed, on schedule as usual. She headed for the bathroom to prepare herself for the days activities, on schedule as usual. She gripped the handle of the door and promptly ripped it off its hinges, on schedule as- wait, what?
She stood there mouth agape, eyes wide, staring at the door she casually held aloft in one hand. She carefully leaned the door against the wall and, with her hands now free, slapped herself two consecutive times.
Nothing.
Well, guess that rules out dreamin’ .
She went over to the doorway and inspected the part where the hinges used to rest. She looked over the wood and carefully knocked on it a few times.
Wood’s still good as ever .
Yet, it was obvious that the screws were torn clean off from it. This was, disturbing, to say the least.
After a moment of pondering and staring at the displaced door, she remembered the events of last night.
Could it have somethin’ to do with that beam of light we used on Sunset?
She’d have to talk to the others about this, but first she needed to wash-up. So she entered the bathroom and handled everything like it was Granny Smith’s finest porcelain.
BEEP BEEP BEEP
A pale hand rose from the silken covers of the bed and reached over for the clock. With a precise push of a button, the alarm was silenced. The rest of the covers had been roused and from them Rarity emerged and assumed a sitting position. Blinking the sleep from her eyes and checking the time, she considered whether or not she should get up. After all it was a Saturday, and last night definitely put… last night.
The memories of what transpired suddenly came back to her. As she reminisced, she wasn’t sure if she should be happy, sad, or angry. She was angry at what Sunset Shimmer had done to their friendship, what she tried to do at the dance, and what she did to her personally. She was happy that she had met someone as wonderful as Twilight and that their group came back together, stronger than ever. But she was also heartbroken that Twilight had to leave so soon. They weren’t even sure if they would ever see her again. Perhaps if the portal ever opened again, she’d come visit them. A wistful smile graced her lips.
Seeking to strengthen what she remembered, she searched for her phone to view some of the pictures taken of last night. She noticed it sitting neatly on the other side of her night stand. She reached out a hand to grab it but as she did so, the strangest thing happened.
Her phone slid across the table and met her hand halfway there. She stared, wide-eyed, at the apparently magical phone in her hand. Or was she the one who was magical? Did it have something to do with last night? In any event, none of these questions really mattered as her brain had decided to go back to sleep. Not long after, her body had decided to follow suit. On the bright side she no longer had to choose whether or not to get up.
Pinkie’s eyes shot open. As she lay in bed she wondered why she woke up so suddenly. She was certain she’d end up sleeping in, especially after last night. She was even having such a great dream. It was primarily about a land of talking ponies where she was a pony too, it was kinda what she imagined Twilight’s home would be like. As a matter of fact, the last thing she remembered happening in the dream was that her knee began to tremble. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but she had a feeling that the trembling was significant somehow.
BRIIIIIING!
Her attention was now turned towards her alarm clock.
Huh, weird. I’ve never beaten my alarm clock before .
She sat up and turned off the bothersome timekeeper. Her lips were pouted as she stared at it in thought. She shrugged and put it back down. Since she was already up, she might as well get ready for the day.
Fluttershy had gotten up bright and early, it was something she had already gotten used to. She learned to do this primarily for two reasons. One, it was hard not too considering that if she didn’t, she wouldn’t be able to see her parents off before they had to show up for work. Two, a number of her animal friends needed to be fed at the crack of dawn. She had to admit, one of the best perks of being the daughter of two Equestrian Air Force Generals was that they had a huge personal lot; within the secondary wall of Canterlot Castle even.
It was large enough that she was able to use it as an unofficial second animal shelter for the city. When she first brought home that injured puppy, her parents had been skeptical, but as she showed both the responsibility and skill necessary, they supported her new ‘hobby’ wholeheartedly.
So after greeting her parents and a light breakfast, she went outside towards the food shed. She grabbed what was necessary and went to the animals that were awake. The first little friend she approached was a particularly yappy terrier she had named Terrence. After giving him his meal, she watched him eat for a moment. Terrence then looked at her and pointed to the water bowl outside his cage. She smiled as she brought the water to rest beside his food. She closed the door and immediately noticed something was off with that entire situation.
Did Terrence just point at the waterbowl?
As she worked through the animals, she noticed some seemed to wave as she passed by, others seemed to visibly smile at her, and some of the birds produced a sound that was suspiciously close to her name. Once she was certain that their needs were taken care of, she stepped aside and held her chin in absolute bewilderment.
Am I dreaming?
The animals for their part had apparently taken notice of their caretaker’s discomfort. Those in the cages went as close as they could to Fluttershy, whilst those that she allowed to roam around had crowded around her. She had no idea how to react and so, decided to think about what exactly was different about this situation. Did something get in the water? Did she hit her head again? Did Rainbow-
DOOT DOOT! DOOT DOOT!
She drew her phone out and saw that Applejack was calling her. She brought the phone to her face and answered it. As she heard what exactly it was Applejack had to say, her jaw dropped.
It had been midmorning by the time a head of messy rainbow hair popped out of the bed sheets. A blue hand rose up to meet a yawning mouth.
What a night. Rainbow thought to herself as she got up to go to the bathroom. A splash of water should do the trick.
Unfortunately, in her haste, she hadn’t noticed that her phone had four recently missed calls from four different people. She took a step forward, and another, and another, and ano-
*SMACK*
Well that got her well awake. She shook her head both to regain herself and in bewilderment. How’d she get from her bed to the door in three steps? She turned around and took a step, carefully watching her feet. Nothing peculiar seemed to happen.
Well that was weird.
Aw, well. Shrugging her shoulders, she proceeded out the door and towards the bathroom, and in short order hit its door face first.
Now this really got her attention.
Okay, what the heck? she thought as she looked back to the door of her room. I know I’m fast but even I don’t think I could go five meters in five steps. Let alone this early in the morning.
She shrugged it off as one of those days and entered the bathroom.
After taking baby steps around her room and handling everything around it as if it would explode, Applejack had finally readied herself for the day. So after putting on her hat, she carefully opened the door, stepped out of her room and headed for the kitchen. When she got there she had noticed Granny Smith sitting at the head of the table, reading the paper, with Big Macintosh on the next chair over fiddling with his tablet.
“Mornin’ y’all,” she greeted them.
Granny lowered her paper. “Mornin’ young’in.”
Big Mac was still focused though, and just let out an automatic, “Eeyup.”
“Ah take it Bloom’s still sleepin’?”
“Eeyup.”
Noticing her brother’s concentration, she snuck a peek over at what he was doing.
“Hey now, are those the new model bottlers for the plant?”
Big Mac turned his head to look at his sister and said, “Eeyup, should increase productivity by 30% and it’s energy efficient.”
Granny looked at the two skeptically. “You kids and you’re darned technology, why back in my day we had to do everything by hand, we had none of them ‘automatic bottlers’ and what not.”
The siblings just looked at each other and shared a knowing smile. Applejack looked back to her grandmother and said, “We know Granny, and y’all did a fine job, but you gotta admit, times are a changin’.”
Granny let out a good natured chuckle and continued reading.
Applejack looked to her family and considered for a moment. She could always look to them for help, so maybe they could help her find out more about this morning’s… incident. She made a mental note to fix that door ASAP. She approached the counter to grab an apple, and as she did she asked her family a question.
“Y’all remember what happened at the dance last night? The whole ‘demon Sunset’ thing, and me and ma friends firing a rainbow on her?”
The two had their eyes on Applejack now, and both their eyes had a look of utter confusion.
“The what now youngin’?”
“Uhh, AJ, what are you talkin’ about?”
Now it was her turn to be utterly confused. How could they not know? Especially Granny, she was a chaperone for the dance, she pretty much saw everything.
Unless…
“Sorry but Ah gotta go, I was supposed ta meet with mah friends in a few.” She quickly snatched an apple from a bowl, but since she wasn’t concentrating, accidentally squished it like a grape.
Everyone’s eyes were wide as they stared at her hand. Surprisingly, Big Mac was the first to say something.
“AJ, you been workin’ out?”
Applejack could only give a pathetic chuckle in reply.
“Hehe, you could say that. Gotta go now, see y’all later!” She then briskly walked out the door.
Her two family members glanced towards each other before hearing her truck start up and leave.
“Meetin’ her friends?” Granny looked towards her grandson and he nodded in understanding. He stepped outside and caught the tail of Applejack’s truck as it made a turn around the bend.
As he approached his car to give chase, a female voice called his attention.
“Hey there Big Mac!” She raised her hand. “Gimme five!”
He noticed it was his cousin Apple Fritter. She was wearing a dark blue blazer and black slacks. He smiled in greeting and allowed his hand to meet hers. When his arm had returned to his side he approached his car to… to… what was he gonna do?
He took a good look around the immediate area hoping to remember what exactly it was he was going to do. After a moment of nothing coming forward he simply scratched his head, shrugged and walked back inside.
It had taken a while, but she had done it; Rarity was ready for the day. It wasn’t so much that it was difficult for her to do so, it was more because she was distracted by trying out her new little trick.
In fact, the only reason she had woken up again so soon after her fainting episode was because she got a call from Applejack. When the phone had buzzed her awake, she was even reluctant to simply touch it. It didn’t take too long for her to get over it of course. By the time Applejack had described to her her very similar situation she had come to the same conclusion that Applejack had.
This was related to what happened last night.
Something else that bothered her was that apparently both Granny Smith and Big Macintosh had no recollection of the events of last night. Did anyone else ‘forget’? She’d have to verify this later. As it stood she had to meet her friends and so went down the stairs through her boutique and out the door. As she approached her car she noticed one of her fellow fashion aficionados from school walking down the street. She saw her at the same time as well.
“Hey Rarity! You’re not opening today?” She put on a sly smile. “A bit tired from last night’s dance.”
Rarity rolled her eyes at her friend’s implication. “No, it’s just that I have a few errands that I need to run today. Although, tell me Star, did anything peculiar happen last night?”
“Peculiar? Like how so?” she replied as she tilted her head.
Rarity took a moment to consider how exactly to phrase her answer. “You know, magical, out-of-this-world, fantastic?”
Star Catcher’s eyes lit up a bit. “Oh! So I take it you heard about Lily and Varie?” she said with a grin.
Not quite what she had in mind. “Oh I did! But does nothing else spring to mind from last night?”
Her friend cupped her chin. “Not really. Why? Did something happen?”
That was all she needed. “Oh, nothing. Anyway I really must be going now. Pleasure seeing you.”
Star smiled. “Alright Rares, see you later.”
Rarity quickly proceeded to her car. Normally she’d drive top down, but today was an exception. When she was certain the roof was secure she grabbed her keys. She looked at them for a moment before dropping them to the car floor. She took a breath and concentrated.
The keys began to rise, and with it she had noticed something about them. As they floated they seemed to be engulfed by a faint blue light. I wonder, is this my magic that I see? She thought.
A few minutes and several awkward finger gestures later, she managed to get the keys into the ignition. Now all she had to do was turn it. Try as she might, she could not force the key to turn with magic and so opted for a more conventional method. She grabbed the keys with her hand and turned them. It was time to meet her friends and hopefully gain some insight into this.
Pinkie Pie was having a weeeird morning. She had been getting strange sensations all over her body. Not only that, but each sensation seemed to urge her to do exactly what was needed at that moment.
When she went downstairs, rather than go to the kitchen, she went to the door and opened it. Lo and behold, on the other side was a surprised Mister Cake holding a few groceries. After exchanging ‘good mornings’ she helped him sort out the things he had brought home. Carrot Cake had noticed Pinkie had a very serious, very thoughtful expression.
“I’m really not sure, Mister Cake.” Pinkie replied.
“Is everything alright Pinkie?” he asked.
The two blinked at each other. Pinkie cleared her throat. “Uh, I’ll be in my room of you need me Mister Cake.”
Carrot was still staring at her. “Okay, Pinkie.”
For whatever reason, Pinkie grabbed a waiting baby bottle from the fridge and climbed up the stairs.
As she got to the top she was greeted by the crying wails of Pound Cake. The baby was hungry and there she was ‘conveniently’ holding a bottle. This was enough to make her wonder, What is going on today?
Since Sugarcube Corner wasn’t due to open anytime soon she returned to her room to ponder her current situation. After a while she arrived at a conclusion.
“Oh my gosh, I must be psychic now!” she shouted to no one in particular.
She immediately grabbed her phone and brought it to her phone. As if on cue, it rang. Without even looking at the identity of the caller she greeted, “Hey Applejack! Did you know I’m psychic now?”
Whut? came from the other end of the call.
“I’m psychic. I grabbed the phone and got ready to answer it, before you even called me! Not only that but a while ago, I grabbed a baby bottle from the fridge. At the time I really didn’t get why, I mean I haven’t used one of those in years, not since I was a baby and maybe a few times after just for fun, but anyway when I went back upstairs Pound Cake started crying! He was hungry and there I was holding a bottle of milk, just for him I guess. And before that, Mister Cake was gonna ask me a question, but before he could even ask, I already gave my answer. Anyway what did you wanna talk about AJ?”
So that’s how it’s affectin’ you?
Pinkie gasped. “AJ, are you psychic too?”
No, but Ah got somethin’ just as weird goin’ on. Pinkie, Ah think this might have to do with last night.
“You mean the big rainbow cannon?”
Well, yes that, and a few other things too. Point is, I called the others an’ apparently weird things have been happenin’ to them too. So we’re all gonna meet up at Memorial Park.
“Okay, I’ll be there lickety split!”
Oh, and I wasn’t able to get a hold of Rainbow, could you try her?
“Sure thing Applejack, but knowing Rainbow, she’d have slept in. Especially since it’s a Saturday.”
A sigh was heard from the other side of the line. Well could you just try? I think she’s gonna be havin’ her own little experience .
“Yes Ma’am!” She saluted.
When their call had ended she immediately initiated another, but to her rainbow haired friend this time.
RIING. RIING. RIING.
No answer. She tried once more.
RIING. RIING. RIING.
It seemed she was right about Rainbow sleeping in. She decided she’d just try again later, after all she had a meeting to get to. She grabbed her helmet and dashed down the stairs and out the door, pausing only to say ‘Going out for a while, be back soon’ to the Cakes.
Once outside, she pulled out her bike from behind the shop, got on, and pedaled furiously. Her legs were a blur as she sped through the bike lane on the way to Memorial Park. That is until she got another sensation. She stopped and pulled herself and her bike off the road and brought out her phone again. She decided to call Rainbow again.
RIING. RIING. RII-
Hello? came a raspy yet somewhat excited voice.
“Rainbow, you picked up!”
Uh, yeah hey Pinkie. Listen now’s kinda a bad time, I’m sorta in the middle of-
Pinkie’s eyes perked up, “Are you psychic too?”
Huh?
Pinkie recalled to Rainbow the events of her morning.
Are you telling me there’s something happening to all of us?!
“Oh yeah, I forgot to ask, what’s up with you?”
Well, let’s just say that I’m REALLY fast now. But anyway the girls are all meeting at the park right?
“Memorial Park to be exact”
Alright, well I’ll meet you there Pinkie, see ya.
“Wait, Rainbow-” Too late, the line was cut. Pinkie pouted and looked at her phone. “Bummer.”
She perked up again and jumped back onto her bike. She sped off into the sunrise, towards their meeting place.
Fluttershy, tell me has anythin’ weird happened to you this morning?
Fluttershy pondered this a moment. “Well not particularly Applejack, although…”
Although?
“Well, I don’t really know how to explain it, but I think the animals have been talking to me.”
Talkin’ to ya? So you’re able to hold a conversation with ‘em?
“Not really, they’re actually using some kind of vague body language, but I can still understand them perfectly. Almost as if they actually did talk to me verbally.”
Interestin’ Applejack relayed her bit of destruction earlier in the morning.
“Oh my. That sounds kinda scary.”
What’s scary is that it might be happenin’ to the five of us. I mean, if that big rainbow managed to take Sunset’s powers who knows what it could have done to us.
Fluttershy gulped in response.
Listen, I’ll be callin’ the others and seein’ if somethin’s happened with them. Whether or not somethin’ did, let’s all meetup at Memorial Park, alright?
“Okay Applejack. Bye.”
One more thin’, we’re to all show up alonealright Fluttershy?
“I understand, bye.”
Bye.
Alone. Well this could be a bit problematic. Since her parents were in the air force (and were pretty high up the ladder) and since she was also rather shy, her parents had assigned a bodyguard, a soldier named Stonefist, to shadow her throughout her day. At first she felt uncomfortable with the idea, but she never said anything because she didn’t want to cause an argument. Eventually though she warmed up to her guardian and felt safe knowing that someone was watching over her. It was also convenient that he acted as her chauffeur.
It did, however, make attending secret meetings troublesome. Usually she’d lose him through the more labyrinthine places in the city before going where she needed, but she always hated doing that. She knew it made his job really difficult and added unnecessary stress to the poor soldier, and she really hated being a burden on anybody. But she supposed that she really needed to do it this time.
Once she finished making sure her animals were fed and happy, she got dressed and asked Stone to take her to the Shopping Center. After all that place was close enough to Memorial Park. When they arrived she immediately went through some shops, window shopping and occasionally checking a few samples.
Several shops and an entire mall later, she leaned on an unremarkable spot of wall and looked around. She lost him. Satisfied that she managed to shave her shadow she proceeded to her real goal. Unbeknownst to her, when she had left, a figure emerged from a corner, not too far from where she was standing. It was Stonefist, but rather than wearing his relatively army-looking attire, he was wearing a grey blazer and black slacks.
Rainbow was happy. In fact, you could say she was very happy. The moment she woke up, for whatever reason, she was pretty much a speeding bullet. She could zoom here, there, anywhere!
The moment she went down the stairs, she noticed a note from her parents saying that they had gone on ahead and that she had breakfast waiting for her. So from the foot of the stairs, she took five steps and found herself in front of the counter in the kitchen. Seven steps later found her in the living room. She decided to put on some TV with which she to eat her breakfast with. After a few moments of channel surfing, she heard a noise, or rather a song. It was her phone, she had realized. It was still on her bedside table.
No problem she thought to herself.
She got up, zipped upstairs, and zipped back down. She looked at the phone and saw Pinkie calling. After a brief exchange on the apparent situation with the others, she quickly, and emphasis on quickly, finished up her meal.
A certain train of thought decided to arrive at the station of her mind. If walking a few steps could do that, what would running do? A goofy grin attached itself to Rainbow.
She put on her runner’s outfit and went out the door. She looked to the garage. Bike? Board? Skates? Car? Pffftt.. Those would be nothing on her. Once on the sidewalk she assumed a runner’s position.
5... 4… 3… 2… 1… “Go!”
She was a blur. Around her her surroundings had melted as she went at unbelievable speeds. Of course the speeds and g-forces didn’t compare at all to the adrenaline of it all. For a moment she wondered if her body could take this much pressure, but since nothing seemed to be wrong, she guessed it was a side effect of her ability. With nothing to worry about, she simply enjoyed the euphoria brought on by going at such speeds.
Where she passed birds were disturbed, papers flew and people were bewildered. In her haste though she didn’t notice that, on more than one occasion, she passed someone wearing a dark blue blazer, facepalming.
Five minutes after leaving her home she was at Memorial Park. The park was noticeably empty today, that probably being the reason they were meeting here in the first place. She noticed Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie on a nearby bench. They were wide eyed as they watched her approach them.
Rainbow still had her goofy grin. “Hey girls!”
“Oooooo,” Pinkie said in realization. “That’s what you meant by fast.”
Rainbow puffed up her chest and said, “Yup!”
She looked over the four others present. “So I hear you guys have your own little tricks. Care to share?”
“Well,“ Applejack began. “Ah managed to break off mah bathroom door without even trying. Ah even squished an apple usin’ nothin’ but my grip.”
“On mah weak hand.” she quickly added.
“Hmmm… So I suppose that means that you gained strength.” Rarity concluded.
Rainbow stuck in a comment of her own, “Wow, AJ. That. is. awesome.”
“As for myself, well I suppose I might as well show you.”
She brought out her phone and placed it on the ground in front of the bench. The girls watched with bated breath at what Rarity was going to do. She raised her hand over the phone and concentrated. A faint blue light encompassed her phone and it flew towards her hand.
The girls were awestruck. Pinkie broke the silence by saying, “Whoa! Rarity you can move stuff with your mind?”
“Apparently.”
“Alright,” Rainbow got their attention. “So we’ve got speed, strength and apparently telekinesis,” she said, pointing to the abilities’ respective owners.
“What about you, Shy?”
Fluttershy jumped from having all eyes point to her. “Oh, well I can talk to animals. Not verbally, but I’m able to understand when they’re trying to tell me something. Also, I think they can understand me too, cause when I started feeling a bit uncomfortable about apparently understanding them, they approached him ad sorta just snuggled.”
“Well, that seems awfully appropriate. Bet your l’il shelter’s doin’ pretty well with that kinda talent.”
Applejack turned her thoughts to their pink friend. “Alright Pinkie, could you please elaborate on what you meant by ‘you’re psychic’?”
The others raised eyebrows at this.
“Well, I get these weird feelings and they usually mean that something happens in the immediate future. So far they’ve all been pretty accurate, like when my finger twitches it means I should grab my phone, or when my elbow itches, I think it means- BRRRRRR”
Out of nowhere Pinkie got an extreme case of chills. Her friends had immediately jumped on this and checked on her. Once they were certain that their was nothing wrong with Pinkie they took a step back to allow her to speak.
“Thanks guys.” She smiled at the care her friends had presented. “I have no idea where that came from tho-BRRRRRRR.”
“Uhoh, girls I think this shivering is related to it. Worse, I think something big is going to happen…” she said as she looked up, down, and around for anything out of place.
Pinkie was right of course, because that’s when the ground started to vibrate.
03 First Encounter
The facility was drenched in red light as klaxons began to sound. Footsteps in the halls became even more frantic as a message was broadcast.
Class 5 manifestation in progress, location: Memorial Park. All available Reactionaries are to report to gates one and five. Magiteks are to ensure that the Reactionaries are appropriately equipped. Medicals and Obfuscationists are to remain on standby for emergency deployment.
Twilight had been lying in one of the facility’s on-hand beds, awake, when the alarm was raised. She hadn’t yet gotten any sleep as her mind was too busy thinking about those five girls that the other Twilight bonded with. Not only that, but the other five parts of Project Harmony also seemed to bond with them. Did that mean that they were going to be teammates? Now was not the time to ponder though so, hearing her brother’s broadcast, she immediately jumped up and rushed towards Canterlot Control.
In a lot of ways it was similar to the Fillydelphia Control Center. Excepting of course that it was dwarfed by this one. As with the rest of the base, it enjoyed very high ceilings rivaling those of the most grand of ballrooms. It also rivaled them in sheer elegance. The walls were decorated with moldings made from several types of precious metals. Each twisted into shapes that not only served aesthetically, but practically as well, for they were formed to subtly resemble powerful protective sigils. This made it utterly untraceable and impenetrable by any means, both physical and magical.
The left and right walls had several, evenly spaced, marble columns. Hanging on those spaces were paintings depicting significant events from years past. Ranging from the defeat of Discord and the end of the Chaos War, to the sacrifice Former South Officer Luna had made to keep the Nightmare at bay.
The door of the room itself seemed to emanate not only in power, but also in presence. Made from the best of the finer woods, it too was enchanted to only allow those worthy to pass through its splendour. It was tall enough for a person of average height to pass. Whilst standing on the shoulders of a professional basketball player. This meant that Twilight Sparkle could easily enter, as she was just below average height.
Opposite the wall of the door were several grand windows, whose height went from the ceiling to the floor, depicting a scene of absolute serenity. The ocean. Indeed, if you didn’t know it was a magical window you would think that the facility was floating right there on the water.
There in the center of the room, directly below the apex of the somewhat domed ceiling, from which suspended a gorgeous three tiered chandelier, that was composed of various hanging crystals, stood her brother, Canterlot Reactionary Officer Shining Armor.
Flanking him were several rows of desks which, much like the Fillydelphia Control, were occupied by people wearing purple blazers, who were clearly frenetic. The whole room was abuzz with communication and coordination.
All-in-all, another day on the job for the Canterlot Control Center, primary hub of MLP.
As Twilight approached her brother, he turned to face her. He had a grim expression.
“Well, Twiley, good news and bad news. Good news is the five girls from last night have all Awoken. Bad news, they decided to meet up at Memorial Park.”
Twilight, being the junior scientist she was, found that the situation could not possibly be so coincidental. “They’ve Awakened and a Class 5 just so happens to show up at the same place they decide to meet each other? Are the two events related?”
Backpedaling on what she had just said, her face filled with shock. “They’ve Awakened?!”
Her brother gave a nod in response. “They just found out this morning and decided to talk about it amongst themselves for now. We made sure they weren’t followed or otherwise interfered with as they discussed their new abilities. We were planning on approaching them when they were a bit more comfortable but…
“As for the events being related, I doubt it. There was already a minor distortion floating around the city since yesterday. Although whether or not them getting together influenced the fact that it’s a Class 5” - he gave a slight shake of his head - “we’re still not sure.”
A member of Mission Control spoke up. “Sir! Reactionary Agent, Stonefist is already in the area.”
“Get an ‘eyes wide open’ on him, now!” barked Shining.
Eyes Wide Open was one of the most used of the spells in MLP’s arsenal. It allowed for someone, or in this case Canterlot Control, to see whatever it was a different party could see. Of course, since this required connecting to their senses, and in turn partially to their mind, the whole process had to be consensual on both ends.
The view of the ocean disappeared and was replaced by that of five girls facing… something.
The creature that faced them could, at first glance, be confused for a lion. However with subsequent glances, one could reasonably conclude that this was not just a lion. First of all, it was at least as large as a garbage truck. Second, at around the point where its barrel would begin, fur turned to hard, cold, grey scales. Following its back, you would come to a certain protrusion that lead to what looked vaguely like the head of a large lizard. Or perhaps more accurately, a dragon. Following further down the creature’s spine would lead you to its tail where the harder scale turned into softer, more flexible scale. What made it stand out though was that it seemed to have a very entrancing pattern upon it that led to the waiting maw of a particularly angry snake.
“A chimera!” said Twilight, her tone indiscernible. Her mind was currently at war with itself as half of it urged that it should be terrified that such a beast was currently facing her supposed teammates, whilst the other half declared joy at finally being able to see a chimera live.
Shining, however, had no such problems figuring out what to feel at the moment. “Agent Stonefist, you are to protect those girls at all costs. They are priority one targets!”
A quick ‘Yes, sir’ was heard as the image of the beast began to get bigger.
The girls stood there, paralyzed, as two pairs of eyes, both slitted, both hungry, one reptilian, one mammalian, gazed down upon them. Two began to consider what happened for things to end up like this, one was a bit too terrified to think, one was also terrified, but was slightly sidetracked by the beauty of the dragon’s scales, and one was flabberghasted that her psychicness predicted this.
Their collective eyes, however, widened as the lion part opened its mouth. Whether it was going to roar or bite them, they would never know as it was immediately blindsided by the fist of a large man wearing a grey blazer. He had a standard military crew haircut, as was required by his profession. His skin was a shade darker than his blazer and he had jet black hair. He was also strong enough to knock a chimera to its side.
“Stonefist?!” Fluttershy shouted in shock.
Rainbow looked to Fluttershy with curiosity. “Your bodyguard?!” She gave an impressed whistle. “I didn’t know he was that strong.”
He looked to them, eyes filled with determination, and said, “Get out of here now!”
Or he would have if the particularly angry snake-tail did not immediately swat him away when the beast landed on its side. He flew a good ten meters which gave the monster plenty of time to right itself. It was taller than twice the height of any of them, and from its vantage point decided to choose who its first meal would be.
Pinkie casually took a step to the left as a large paw crushed the ground she had been standing on. The other girls immediately jumped back at the motion, leaving Pinkie Pie facing the beast alone. Yet try as it might, the beast simply could not get to her. For every attempt to squish she would step aside, for every swipe she would jump. It even tried to use its tail, but that only made her cartwheel out of the way. The beast was not amused.
Pinkie seemed expressionless as this went on; she was actually concentrating on trying to understand the tingly sensations that her body gave that somehow sensed where the monster would strike next. As she dodged, she decided she’d call this her Pinkie Sense.
The other girls, though, couldn’t just sit around watching their friend play such a lethal game. Applejack was the first to charge in, followed by Rainbow. Rainbow ran around to see if she could flank the thing before being reminded that it had eyes on its back in the form of an angry snake. The snake lunged and she jumped. As she was in the air, the sensation reminded her of something from last night, flight.
She landed not too far off from the beast’s hip. Taking a quick look around and finding nothing, she decided to do what they normally did in monster movies at this point. Distracting it.
She took a deep breath and shouted, “Hey ugly! Pay attention to me why don’t cha!” To her surprise it actually worked. Three menacing heads were now focused solely on her.
Since they were now looking behind them, they did not notice Applejack take a very impressive leap, which allowed her to hit the lion square on the back of its head. With the feline part dazed, the draconic part took a good, angry look at the perpetrator, whilst the reptilian decided to try its luck against Rainbow again.
On impulse, Rainbow jumped in order to avoid being swatted aside by the tail, unfortunately since Pinkie had already used this trick more times than was enough, the tail immediately curled up and wrapped itself around Rainbow. She found herself neatly constricted by the significantly larger predator.
The dragon, on the other hand, decided to pull out its ace. Rather than charge towards their assaulter as the lion would have tried, it decided instead to fry her. A fireball, around the size of a football, left its mouth and made its way towards the cowgirl. She made to dodge but found that it was unnecessary as one of the park’s picnic tables neatly intercepted the flame in midair. She looked behind her and saw Rarity, both arms extended and palms opened with breath showing signs of slight exhaustion. Both Applejack and the dragon were caught off guard by this surprise interference.
As this went on, the snake seemed to consider what to do with its prismatic prize. It then decided for the simplest of solutions and lunged forward to consume her.
Out of nowhere, a loud ‘NO!’ echoed through the park. The snake looked to its source and did not like what it found.
Standing slightly ahead of Rarity now, Fluttershy looked to the reptile, eyes filled with deadly intent. “Let her go right now, mister!”
The snake did not know what to do. A part of it, particularly the part connected to the still dazed lion, told it to ignore this insignificant little speck. Another part though told it to do as she said, lest there be dire consequences. It decided to go for the more reasonable former. The moment of hesitation, though, was enough for Stonefist to ambush the snake head.
His fists now matched his name as they looked to be made of particularly heavy granite, yet he managed to lift them as if they were still his ordinary hands. With three precise punches to the snake’s anatomy, it let go of Rainbow and released a pained hiss. Now free, Rainbow placed a significantly larger distance between her and the reptile, with Stonefist by her side.
Rainbow appraised her surroundings to see if there was something, anything, she could use against this large creature. She didn’t find anything, but she did hear something: The sound of motorcycles. She looked to the side and there were in fact three bikers rapidly approaching them. She noted that they were wearing an outfit that looked exactly like Stonefist’s.
When the three bikers reached the edge of the park, simultaneously, they leaped off their bikes. Their bikes didn’t crash as they instead disappeared in a flash of light. If one looked closely, one could see that each of the bikers now had a silver necklace on.
The lead biker was fast and lithe as she soared towards the draconic head. She had a ring on her right hand that started to both glow and grow. When the light of the ring faded, in her hand was a shining sword that looked to be made from pure amethyst. She drew her arm back and stabbed the surprised dragon right in the eye. Twisting it slightly to make sure that the damage she did stayed.
The biker on the left was significantly bulkier than his leader. This bulk did not seem to hinder him though, as he gracefully shot towards the lion head. His leather gloves shapeshifted into the wide a pair of the special wide fingered gloves. Landing in the mane of the frustrated lion, he drove his palms onto its scalp. Sparks flew as the the spot he held was singed by whatever it was that the agent had done.
The biker on the right was much smaller than the others and didn’t seem to have any intention of actually landing on the beast as her contemporaries had. Much like the one on the left, her gloves transformed. As she got to the peak of her leap, she brought her hands together and charged up a ball of destructive energy. When she got a bit closer, she released it. It hit the beast right on the nose. She landed just in front of Rainbow, who looked stunned at their stunt, and Stonefist, who merely gave a knowing nod.
With the beast now injured and confused, the four agents took advantage and attacked all at once.
The window was currently showing four different perspective of one event. Eyes wide open was currently active on the four field agents, which allowed Canterlot Control to know exactly what was going on.
“You have to admit, what they did was reckless. But it was also really effective,” said Twilight.
“I guess they really are meant for Project Harmony.” Shining looked to his sister. “But did you see what that Fluttershy girl did?”
Twilight nodded. “What kind of power was that? What could be so strong as to leave a fully formed Class 5 chimera paralyzed, even for a moment.”
“Don’t forget that Rarity managed to pry a picnic table off the ground without any help from an Augmentation Glove. The only other agent I’ve seen manage that is, well, you.”
“What about Pinkie Pie and her dodging?”
“The other two also managed to use their abilities, without prior training, like they’d had it all their lives.”
Shining sighed as they watched the screen. The four agents had gotten the upperhand now.
“Guys,” he addressed the agents over the intercom. “You’ll have to take down all three heads to finish it off. Stonefist, get the girls together and keep them safe. Red Letter, you finish off the dragon. Your sword should be enough to pierce its hide. As for the other two, Wind, Melody, go crazy.”
The four gave their affirmations to Control and went about their duty. Stonefist grabbed Rainbow and ran around to the front of the beast to grab Applejack. With the two girls in tow he returned them to the the other three. Having all five of them together would make his job significantly easier.
A small, feminine voice spoke to him. “Stone… what’s going on?”
He turned around to see his charge looking at him with curious, and dumbfounded, eyes. “Miss Fluttershy, I’m afraid I’m not the best person to explain all this. Perhaps we can get you to someone who can once we finish up here. For now, know that you are about to learn much more about the world we live in.”
The five girls looked to him with confused expressions. Unfortunately, that really was all he could say as a loud roar got their attention. They turned their heads and saw Red Letter flying towards them. Stonefist immediately put up his hands to catch his injured companion. As he caught her, he felt that something was definitely not right with her ribcage. She let out a grunt of pain as she stood up once more.
“Looks like this big guy’s smarter and faster than he looks. He feigned a lunge towards Wind Shear whilst the dragon kept shooting at Melody. Darn snake managed to flank me in the confusion,” she said as she held up a bloodied hand. Her sword had receded back into ring form thus requiring her to summon it again. She began to run back towards the commotion.
Now that the girls managed to get a good look at what the snake did to Red Letter, they’re reactions were a mixture of shock, anger, and fear. Rainbow in particular considered that she might’ve had a similar wound if Stonefist didn’t intervene earlier.
Wind Shear had opted for a more conventional weapon, specialized blades that protruded from gear attached to his forearms. Using his flight-like ability he got to the face of the lion head and gave a mighty slash. The lion roared in pain as its wound began to bleed and lowered itself. What happened next, Wind did not expect.
The moment the lion ducked, he saw the dragon with a waiting fireball in its mouth. He briefly wondered when the manifestations started to exhibit skills like these before being blasted by a point blank ball of flame. Before hitting the ground, he was caught in a pinkish aura which prevented him from suffering the brunt of the impact. Melody turned out to be the source, as she caught her comrade before it was too late. Knowing that he was at least out of danger of falling she returned her attention to the beast, in particular its tail.
She studied the way it moved and the way some of its muscles contracted in order to get a rough prediction of where it would try to strike. The only problem with this was that she couldn’t focus her attention on a counter attack and was forced to keep dodging. Thankfully, as if on cue, Red Letter got a good hit onto the snake’s body. With an opening now available, Sweet Melody placed what power she could into her gloves and fired a shot right between the snake’s eyes. She looked to her left and found that in her attempts to dodge the tail, she had gotten too close to the rest of the beast.
With one of its mighty paws, claws out, it struck her right across the chest, causing her to fly a fair distance away. Things were not looking good.
Red Letter ran up the beast’s limp tail and, aiming for the last head in good condition, with a bloodthirsty scream, struck. Her sword was now embedded well within the dragon’s cranium after a slash that also went through its other eye. She gave a sigh of relief, just before the snake decided to have one last go at her.
With the three Reactionary agents down, the chimera, or what was left of it, turned its attention to its original targets. The five girls. Stonefist raised his namesakes, ready to defend the girls at all costs. He really hoped reinforcements would get here soon.
The beast leaped, but as it did, a flash of light appeared between it and its prey. Standing there was a young girl with lavander skin in a purple blazer and black slacks. She had straight purple hair with a pink streak. She also had a determined look in her eyes as she placed her hands to her side and channeled her energy. The five girls behind immediately recognized who this was.
As she brought her last bit of power into the gloves she realized something. She had MUCH more power than she realized. She took a moment to wonder if this was in someway related to Project Harmony before channeling some of it, only some because she couldn’t even feel the end of it, into her hands. When she felt they were ready, she raised them up to face the chimera.
An explosion was heard as a large column of light shot out from her hands. The beam hit the chimera, starting from its chest until it burned all the way through to its haunches. When Twilight was finished, the monster fell to ground, limp, dead, and with a massive hole through its body. She kept her hands up as she panted with exhaustion from what she had just done.
It took a while before anyone did anything.
“TWILIGHT!” the five girls chorused.
The young agent’s eyes went wide as five girls she had never really met before swarmed her.
“When did ya get back?”
“Did the portal open again?”
“I didn’t know you could do THAT!”
“It’s so nice to see you again, Twilight.”
“That is quite an outfit, darling.”
It was too much for her. She didn’t want to have explain everything that just happened, besides, she knew that the Obfuscationists would be here soon. They could do a better job at that than she ever could. So, in her panicked state, she did what she found to be the best solution.
“I’m sorry!” she shouted just before disappearing in another flash of light.
“...Twilight?” asked Pinkie Pie, with more than a little disappointment in her voice.
Stonefist cleared his throat to get their attention. “Ladies, if you’ll excuse my interruption, I believe our ride is here.”
From the street behind him four unmarked vans, two blue, two red, arrived onto the scene. Several people, wearing blazers that matched their vans, exited and went about the area. Several of the blue ones walked around with their hand held up, as if they were blind and trying to feel their way, around the battleground. Five of the red ones attended to the fallen Reactionary agents. Two more approached the group of girls.
One of them was male, he had pink skin and red hair, the other female, with yellow skin and aquamarine hair. Each had a sweet, tenderly smile about them.
“Hi there,” the male one said. “I’m Clean Bill, from the Medical division, me and my partner here, Top Form, are just gonna check on your well being, is that okay?”
The girls, still bewildered by the days events, just decided to go along with it. All of them but Rainbow, of course.
“Whoa! Hold up, no one’s giving me any medical whatevers until I find out just what is going on here!” she shouted.
Stonefist sighed. Her behaviour did not surprise him, but it did not disappoint him either. “Miss Dash, I understand you have questions, and they will be answered. The faster we finish this process, the faster we can get to that.”
“Okay, but how can I be sure I can trust you guys?”
Applejack had joined in on the suspicions. “Ah gotta agree with mah friend here. Somethin’ like that” - she pointed to the chimera carcass - “shows up out’ta nowhere and here you guys are, a whole lot more prepared for it than I would have ever expected. Sounds mighty suspicious if you ask me.”
Stonefist, as well as some of those at Canterlot Control, couldn’t help but smile, even if inwardly, at the attitude the girls were displaying. If anything it actually showed them that they were indeed agent material.
“I’d like to think Miss Fluttershy trusts me,” he said as he looked to said girl who was trying her best to hide behind her long hair. “But if that isn’t enough, you trust Twilight, right?”
They gave a wary nod.
“Then you saw what she was wearing, and you can see what me and my associates are wearing. I think it stands to reason that this outfit is actually a uniform, correct?”
More nods were given.
“Which means that Miss Twilight is associated with us, and can vouch for our credibility, if a little later when we get back to base.”
Rainbow and Applejack considered and gave each other a look. Their people were everywhere meaning there really was no other way out, so the best thing to do may be to just play along.
“Fine.”
The two Medicals got to work. They didn’t find anything on Fluttershy or Rarity since they had stayed mostly away from the physical altercations. Pinkie Pie merely had a slightly pulled leg muscle. Applejack and Rainbow though had a few more bruises and sprains from actually going toe-to-toe with the monster.
When the check up had finished, the group made their way to one of the blue vans. It had been empty, excepting the driver. The interior of the van also did not in any way match the exterior. For one, it seemed to be bigger. The seats were also upholstered with suede that felt relaxing to the touch. Rarity in particular found this to be odd since she never had much taste for that type of leather. In the back was what looked like a miniature fridge, and above each seat was a tablet that was connected to the MLP mainframe. They each took a seat and got settled in. There was a lot of extra space left since the vans seemed to be designed to, somehow, handle two squads at a time.
The whole time they had been on the move, no one had bothered to say anything outloud. Stonefist had taken the stoic route and decided to close his eyes, cross his arms, and lean back. Fluttershy kept herself busy by twiddling her thumbs. Since Stonefist didn’t mind, Pinkie Pie and Rarity were fiddling with the tablets and the information there-in. Suffice it to say, they were amazed about what was in there. They actually wanted to share it with the others, but the atmosphere in the vehicle was just significantly heavier than either were comfortable with. Applejack and Rainbow on the other hand, exchanged conspiratorial whispers all throughout. They still didn’t trust these guys.
Eventually, the van made its way into the basement parking of a large skyscraper in the southern part of Canterlot. They parked in a negligible corner. Naturally, this raised alarms in the heads of Rainbow and Applejack.
“Okay, what’s going-” Rainbow was unable to finish the question as the vehicle now began to descend.
When they reached the end of the tunnel, Stonefist made to exit the vehicle and signals the girls to do the same. Once they were all out, they realized that they were in a building that looked remarkably similar to the one they were just in. What was different however was that there was a set of carved, well crafted oak doors on one wall. Above it was a printed ‘5.’ They approached the door and entered the Canterlot Complex.
As with the rest of the facility, Gate 5 was absolutely exquisite. The main hall was about as wide a standard suburban street, but lined with beautiful decorations. It was bisected by a long and thin fountain/planter that had a few breaks in it where other smaller halls merged. It extended all the way until the the center of the facility where the large circular fountain and chandelier with the floating orb lights were located.
Rarity, of course, was the one who truly appreciated the beauty and elegance that went into the design of the facilities. As she absently rambled on about the details of the decorations, Rainbow and Applejack flanked Stonefist, intent on getting answers.
“Alright, we’re in your base, and I’ll admit it looks good. But none of my questions have been answered yet.”
Stonefist, keeping his eyes facing forward, said, “Don’t worry Miss Dash, as I’ve said your questions will be answered.”
“That’s what you’ve been saying that since the insanity with that… thing!”
“Chimera,” he helpfully pointed out.
“Whatever! Point is we still have no clue what’s going on.”
Still maintaining a deadpan tone. “I understand your anxiety Miss Dash. Believe me I felt the same way when I first awoke.”
It was Applejack’s turn to say something. “Wait a second, whatd’ya mean by ‘awoke’?”
“As I’ve told Miss Dash, you’re questions will be answered the moment we walk through that door.” He pointed to a large, single, but still impeccable, door.
Their ‘interrogation’ went on all the way until they reached said door. They also couldn’t have reached it at a better time as Rainbow looked about ready to explode on the uncooperative agent. He motioned for them to enter and they did. Once they were all inside he shut the door, but did not enter.
Inside, the room followed the classical theme the entire base was using. Upon the walls were a few crystal sconces that provided the room a warm glow. Several bookcases, filled to the brim, were scattered here and there. In the center of the room were two sofas surrounding a subtly charming coffee table. On the far wall, was a bay window with a view one would expect to see from a cabin in the woods. In between the sala set and the windows was a large ornate desk with an equally ornate chair. To the left of the chair was Twilight Sparkle, who looked like she had cleaned herself up for the occasion. And finally upon the chair sat…
“Principal Celestia!” the girls shouted in utter disbelief.
In response, Celestia smiled that kind, motherly smile she had with just a hint of mischief in it. “Actually, down here it’s Central Officer Celestia.”
04 Acceptance
Seeing the girls’ jaws simultaneously hit the floor, Celestia couldn’t help but break into a fit of laughter. After a moment she had regained herself.
“Forgive me girls, I just never get tired of seeing that expression. Now, I have no doubt that all of you must have a multitude of questions. Why don’t we have a seat, and we can begin,” she said as she gestured towards the sofas.
The five girls had squeezed themselves into one, while Twilight and Celestia took the other. The moment the Central Officer took her seat, the door opened and in came two agents, dressed in red, who brought with them cookies and tea good enough for seven. They set them down on the table and made their leave.
Celestia turned her attention to the girls. Fluttershy had returned to the business of her thumbs. Rarity’s eyes scanned the room over and over, more out of admiration than suspicion. Pinkie Pie had taken a liking to the cookies. Applejack looked like she felt sorely out of place here. Rainbow, though, had not taken her eyes off of her since they entered. She looked to the young athlete and smiled. “Why don’t you tell me what’s on your mind dear?”
Rainbow was surprised, but pleased, that Celestia was the first to make a move. She wasn’t sure how much more of the silence she could take.
“Who are you? Really?” she said, eyes narrowed.
Celestia’s smile never once faltered as she said. “I am still that which I am, just a little more. The person you know to be Principal Celestia of Canterlot High is still here, but beyond that, I am also Central Officer Celestia, Grand Commander of the MLP, and the Navigator.”
“MLP? Commander? Navigator? Yeah, not really all that helpful.” said Rainbow, sarcasm more apparent on her face than her voice.
“Then tell me my dear, which would you like me to elaborate on first?”
Rainbow looked to her companions who urged her to go on, to Twilight who maintained a stoic expression all throughout, and finally to Celestia who looked to be willing to wait forever.
“What’s MLP?”
“I’m sure you’ve heard those silly stories about people with magic powers going around the world and engaging in acts that ranged from crimefighting to demonslaying, correct? As a matter of fact, several movies have already been made with those concepts.”
She received a few nods in response.
“They aren’t as silly as you’d think. MLP is an organization dedicated to protecting the general population from the dangerous aspects of magic. While at the same time slowly teaching humanity proper usage of their powers. You can literally find us everywhere, silently guarding, as Miss Fluttershy can attest. Her personal bodyguard was one of us afterall.”
“Hold up,” Rainbow said as she raised her hand. “That’s stretching it a bit far don’t you think? Wouldn’t somebody have noticed by now if you deal with things like that lion-dragon-whatever on a regular basis?”
Celestia in turn waved a hand, “One reason is because of the West Division, they handle obfuscation and ensure that nobody accidentally stumbles upon our activities, and those that do can walk away still… normal.”
Her smile then gained an impish quality. “The other reason is that people themselves deny our existence. They think that something like MLP simply cannot exist, that it defies all logic and possibility.”
It was Rarity who was now skeptical. “Wait a moment, so you’re telling us that people choose to believe that you don’t exist?”
“In a matter of speaking, yes.”
For them that did not make any sense at all. How could people actively ignore something as grand as this? Celestia, of course, could see the doubt written all over their faces.
“It seems difficult to understand, I know. But the only reason you find such a principle hard to grasp is because you are past it. Your mind was ready to take in the world beyond what you knew.”
She still got blank faces in return so she resolved to try and explain it differently. “When Twilight, the other Twilight that is, told you that she was a pony princess did you have a hard time grasping such a concept? No, you readily accepted it and endeavored to assist her get the crown back. That is a sure sign that you were ready to re-accept your abilities.”
“Uhm, excuse me,” began Fluttershy. “When you say ‘re-accept,’ doesn’t that mean that we’ve had these abilities all our lives?”
They were getting it.
“Indeed. Everybody is capable of things similar to what you performed and what you saw some of my agents perform. Each person, though, has unique twists to their abilities.”
“So why are they blocked in the first place?” said Rainbow.
“Well, that requires a bit of a history lesson. I’m sure you all know the story of Hearth’s Warming. The three tribes who each had a piece of the knowledge necessary to survive?”
“Yes ma’am, that’s pretty much kid stuff,” said Applejack, now equally intrigued.
“That knowledge actually extended to their individual abilities, but that’s not the important part. Soon after they made peace with each other, the knowledge began to flow freely and those that had mastery of all three tribes’ abilities began to emerge. They were called the Fully Realized and there were only a handful of them at the time. Unfortunately, there were also those who had more… malicious intentions for that power.
“The most famous and powerful of them all was Discord. Your history books depict him as a tyrant who ruled over the land until a rebellion of the people finally brought him down from power, and that is all true. But certain parts of the story were omitted, particularly that fact that he was also an archmage of Chaos.
“He bent reality to his will without care for anyone or anything. He was malicious and cruel and did unspeakable acts seemingly for fun. Eventually, three archmages, one from each tribe, and two of the Fully Realized managed to create something powerful enough to nullify his abilities. They were called the Elements of Harmony. You’ve all seen their power first hand, the rainbow blast that hit sunset was caused by those Elements.
“After a long and arduous battle the five of them made it face to face with Discord.” She gave off a half amused snort. “Even in defeat he was still arrogant. After the Elements were done with him, they had one final act to ensure that a mistake like him would never again repeat itself. It stripped away the abilities of humanity and distributed it into the environment.”
“Well, obviously it didn’t work otherwise you wouldn’t be here,” Rainbow said with quite a bit of sarcasm.
Twilight wore an expression of shock at the blatant disrespect she had displayed to her mentor. Celestia, without even looking, placed a hand on her thigh to calm her.
“That’s because the intention was never to lock them away forever. Humanity never respected the abilities they had, so we hoped that in time we could slowly teach them how to use it.”
“We?” Rarity interjected.
Celestia gave a tiny nod in affirmation. “Yes, we. I, together with my sister Luna and the three archmages, are the ones who faced Discord and ended him.”
The five girls once again had looks of utter shock. Pinkie even had bits of cookie still in her mouth. It took more than a moment, but Rainbow finally regained herself enough to say something.
“So, you must be like, a thousand years old… Wow, you are old .”
It was Twilight’s turn to be shocked as her mouth turned agape. Celestia on the other hand merely found her matter-of-fact method of stating it to be hilarious. She had a good hearty laugh before she reigned herself in.
“Yes my dear, I am that old,” she gave off a slight sigh. “And so, after the battle that was when the five of us formed the Compass. Its purpose was simple: to guide humanity to better use their powers and to not fall once again into the cycle of abuse we went through. We started out with the North, South, East, West, and Central sections. Luna took the South and I took the centre, hence the title, ‘Navigator.’
“The details aren’t important for now, but the three archmages eventually became tired and desired to rest. This left us with a conundrum as the way we originally planned it was for each of us to take the namesake part of Equestria. With only two of us left, we decided to bring everything under one banner. As fate would have it, that’s when some people began to reawaken their dormant powers, so as we promised we took them in and trained them on how to use and respect their abilities.
“Unfortunately, the more dangerous aspects began to manifest as well. Things like cockatrices, manticores, dragons, and the chimera you girls faced started to appear as well. That was when we took on the mantle of protector in addition to teacher. The process continues to this day. With more and more people awakening, the group grew till it started to resemble the organization you see now. More and more threats also started appearing, but we always had the resources to counter and snuff them easily.”
She looked to her silent, but awed, audience and smiled again. “I think we should have a short break for now. I know everything I’ve told you is a lot to take in, so I’ll let you dwell on your thoughts for now. For the moment, I can’t allow you to leave the facility, but please feel free to explore. You are practically one of us now after all. Twilight,” she looked to her student, “why don’t you be the one to show them around?”
Twilight, not wanting to disappoint her mentor, agreed even though deep down she really didn’t want to.
The six girls made their way out of the office.
“Sooooo…” Pinkie began, “you’re not the Twilight we stuck with yesterday, are you?”
Twilight’s eyes were downcast as Pinkie finally brought up the elephant, or in this case pony, in the room.
“I’m sorry. I’m not her.”
To her surprise, Pinkie wrapped an arm around her shoulder and brought close enough that they were cheek to cheek.
“Well that’s great! That means that I get to befriend another Twilight!”
Not the reaction she had been expecting. It was Rarity now who came up and placed a hand on her shoulder.
“I have to agree with Pinkie, I’m sure it would be absolutely lovely to get to know you as well.”
Twilight’s face brightened as purple and red began to mix on her face. The other three girls likewise went to her and gave more ‘formal’ introductions to the local Twilight. Perhaps this wasn’t going to be as bad as she had envisioned.
The group had paused just in front of the fountain that dominated the central hall of Canterlot Control.
“So… where do you girls want to first?” Twilight asked.
Rarity had been preoccupied by designs on the ceiling when she said, “Well, I don’t know darling, what would you recommend?”
“Well, personally, I’d love to show you girls around the labs,” said Twilight, in a matter that was more befitting Fluttershy.
Rainbow nearly cringed at this. “Labs? Seriously?”
Twilight's head sank between her shoulders with her reaction.
“Now come on, Rainbow," said Applejack, "'sides they might have some cool gadgets there considerin'. So where are these labs o' yers?"
"It’s in the southern part of the facility, we can get there through that hallway," Twilight gestured to the hall to the right of the door to Celestia's office. As they made their way they engaged in lighter conversation.
“So, exactly how many of you guys are there?” said Rainbow asked Twilight as she noted more than one familiar face in the expansive building.
“Not as many as you’d think,” Twilight noted the way she looked at particular agents, “and the reason why they seem so familiar now is because you’re actually seeing them, so to speak.”
Rainbow gave her a blank look.
“It’s the jacket,” she pulled on the collar of said jacket, “it’s enchanted to alter the perception of Sleepers.”
“So, when you take it off, those who still don’t have their magic can see you? But you’re basically invisible to them when you’re wearing it?”
“Pretty much, yeah. That may also be why some people here are familiar. When you were Asleep, you already saw them in shops or across the street when they weren’t wearing it, so you’re able to remember those times and now you can associate them here since you see them even if they’re in uniform.”
“That sounds like a pretty good deal to me,” Applejack interjected, “Ya get to use all them fancy powers, and protect people while at the same time being able to go back to the life you were livin’ as if nothin’ happened.”
Twilight smiled at the way she put it. “Yeah, it is a pretty nice setup.”
“And you also get to look rather fabulous if I do say so myself.” Rarity said as she noticed more than one particularly interesting way some of the agents had donned their blazers.
It did not take too long till they rounded a corner and were introduced with a more secure hallway. The hallway was also more noticeably armored than the area they had come from. The walls here resembled the walls of a medieval castle in its prime, which also had tiny glowing symbols embedded into the very stone that formed it. Yet, despite the darker shade the place had, they still had no trouble seeing in it.
“Yeah, this place is built like this to contain the more volatile experiments that go on. This entire section of the facility is for the research of the Magitek Division. That’s actually the one I was originally a part of.”
“Oh! They’re the ones who make all the cool gadgets and wear purple, right?” said Pinkie.
“Why do you know that? Is this related you your psychicness?” asked Rainbow, surprised at her friend’s knowledge. Even Twilight was taken aback since, as far as she knew, nobody had yet to really brief them.
“Well Rainbow, darling, whilst you and Applejack were giving Stonefist the evil eye on our way here, Pinkie and me looked through the tablet that was above the seat. We weren’t able to read much, but we did get a basic understanding of the organization’s different divisions,” said Rarity.
Twilight was impressed by the initiative at knowledge gathering the two presented. Maybe they really would work well together as a team.
Pinkie decided to continue where she left off. “Anyway, the Reactionary Division, grey, handles the beasties that pop up, like that chimera thing, Medical, red, takes care of everybody else and takes care of any kind of magical diseases, and Obfuscation, blue, makes sure that nobody notices the stuff that the others do. So, did I get that all right, Twiley?”
Twilight found herself smiling once more as Pinkie called her by that nickname. “Yup, pretty much spot on. There’s more to it of course, but that is how the four divisions work.”
Pinkie did a little celebratory jump. “Woohoo!”
The group turned another corner and entered another hallway, but this one had several doors on either side, as well as a larger door at the end. As Pinkie had mentioned, most everybody here was wearing a purple blazer identical to Twilight’s, but there was also the occasional blue, red, or grey. They entered the first door on the left.
Through the door, they found themselves on a catwalk that overlooked several smaller rooms, and unlike the hall they exited, the walls here were plated with metals. Even the floor was made from sheeting that you would find in heavy duty factories. Overall it looked alot like the sets in those sci-fi movies. If there was one word to describe it all, it was chrome. Within these rooms they saw blues and purples fiddling with things from the wide fingered gloves, to the blazers that they all seemed to be wearing.
“This is the Cloak Lab. Here, the Obfuscation and Magitek divisions work together to develop new ways to make sure that our outfits are as helpful as possible.”
Rarity in particular had noticed a face that she was definitely familiar with. She squinted slightly to get a better look. The blue-grey skin, the hair in a bun, and the slightly closed eye confirmed her suspicion. “Is that… is that Professor Inkwell?”
The professor, upon hearing her name, looked up and smiled at the girls who stared at her with wide eyes. She proceeded towards the stairs that led upwards.
“Oh, that’s right,” Twilight said as realization hit her, “she teaches at CHS, no wonder you all know who she is.”
It did not take long for Inkwell to join the girls. She raised her arms in greeting and scooped them into a group hug. “Hello girls, it’s so nice to see you joining us here on the other side.”
“Whoa, I did not expect to see you here. I always thought you were a boring old chemistry teacher.” Rainbow then looked sheepish as she realized what she had just said. “Uh, no offence.”
Inkwell merely gave a very good natured laugh in response. “Oh, none taken at all. If that really is all you thought I am, then that means I’m doing my job very well,” she said as she gestured to her blue outfit.
“Oh! So you’re one of those obfuscation agents.” said Rainbow.
“Not just any agent,” interrupted Twilight, “she’s the Canterlot Obfuscation Officer. Which means that she’s in charge of the entire Canterlot branch of that division.”
“Now Twilight, there’s no need for that,” said Inkwell. “Why don’t you girls have a look around? I think there are a few things here that may just interest you.”
They followed the Officer down towards a large window on the first room. On the otherside of the wall one of the blue ones was wearing a pair of wide fingered gloves that were hooked onto his blazer. The glass was soundproof as no words were heard even though the two had been talking for a while now. At the signal of the purple one, the blue one closed his eyes and concentrated. In an instant he had vanished.
“Invisibility?” asked Rainbow. “Wait a sec, isn’t that kind of pointless since regular people don’t see you anyway?”
Inkwell smiled. “Yes it does seem that way, but the specialized suit they are developing isn’t meant to fool Sleepers, it’s meant to help fight off Manifestations, similar to the one you girls faced today.
“You see that suit doesn’t just alter sight, but also smell and sound. It is true invisibility at its finest. But…” she said as a frown began to form on her face.
As if on cue, purple’s eyes shot out in panic as she charged the spot that blue occupied. Blue was still there, as purple had clearly hit something. She ripped apart the connections between the jacket and the gloves using her hand in the same way one would use a knife. With it separated, she grabbed it and threw it at the far wall, on contact it disintegrated into naught but ash. The room once again had two occupants, both of whom were clearly spooked.
“There’s still quite a few kinks to work out. Anyway, I think I’ll just show you one more thing you might find interesting” she said as she led them towards the fourth room.
“This may be right up your alley Miss Rarity,” she said as she gestured towards the window.
Inside there had been four different colored blazers, styled differently from the ones they’d seen, laid out on a table. One would be forgiven for thinking that these were identical, but for one with the eye of a designer, Rarity could clearly make out the different geometries these outfits focused on. The other side of the room had two purples, one blue, and one red all going over the apparent plans of the blazers.
“These fine agents have developed a theory in regards to the inherent power of shapes,” Inkwell began. “I haven’t gotten a good look at their papers yet, but from what I’ve seen they theorize that certain geometric arrangements can enhance certain aspects of one’s abilities.
“But it looks like they won’t be testing anytime soon,” she said as the agents on the other side began arguing amongst themselves. “Twilight, why don’t you show them to the other labs for the moment. I really don’t think there is anything more to present here for now.”
Following her advice, Twilight led them out and back into the hall. This time they entered the only door to the right.
The inside of this lab, or rather factory, made Applejack’s jaw drop. One part of the room appeared to be working on a vehicle of some kind, another looked to be focusing their efforts on one of the gloves the agents tended to wear, another still was working on an exoskeleton of some sort.
“This is the Canterlot Engineering Bay. This is where they manufacture and design the gadgets that everybody uses.”
Twilight, of course, recognized the face Applejack had been pulling. After all, she did the same thing whenever Celestia had presented her with one of the more ancient tomes from the olden days of the Compass.
“So, I take it you’re into this kind of stuff, Applejack?”
Pulled out of her reverie, she said, “Huh? Oh… Uh, yeah I do a bit o’ tinkerin’ here and there once in a while. ‘Specially since we left the farm, the Apple’s bottlin’ plant really gives ya the opportunity to take an interest in such things.”
“Oooo, what’s that?” The things Pinkie had been referring to were six motorcycles with particularly interesting designs.
“Those belong to the members of Project Harmony. They’re designed for fast response, optimal protection, and are tailor made, or will be be tailor made, to perfectly attune with the skillset of their respective riders.” said Twilight.
“Will be?” asked Applejack. “You designed them without knowing who’ll ride them?”
“The bikes themselves were already prepared, but the identities of all but one of the riders was only confirmed recently.”
The other girls had also taken notice of the bikes now. Rainbow looked quizzically to Twilight. “Why so recently?”
Twilight was surprised at this. Had they really not figured it out yet? Then again, they also did just learn about magic a few hours ago.
“Rainbow, the members of Project Harmony are you girls,” Twilight said. “And me.”
The five girls looked back to her, each with their own brand of shock.
Central Officer Celestia had been talking to a screen hanging just in front of her desk. On that screen was a, relatively, young lady with light pink skin and multi-hued hair of pink, purple, and yellow. She had an expression of worry as she reported to the Central Officer.
“Medical agents from all over have been encountering similar illnesses. For the moment we can contain it, but we have yet to truly find a way to eradicate it. Whatever this thing is, it seems to alter itself to not just match a victim’s biological code, but their magical code as well. Of particular note is that cases have nearly tripled this day alone. I fear it may have something to do with the incident last night.”
Celestia considered this. “I understand your concern North Officer, but the incident of last night may have also given us the best possible solution. The other bearers have been found.”
Her conversation partner’s eyes perked up. “You really think they’ll be able to stabilize everything again?”
“That has always been their purpose,” she said as a slight beep came from the side of her desk. “But I’m afraid we’re going to have to cut this talk short for now. They’re at my door and I’m quite certain that they’ll be having any number of questions for me. As always, keep up the good work and see if you can manage to isolate the cause.”
The North Officer nodded in understanding. “Of course, Central, and thank you auntie.”
Celestia wore that smile fo hers once more, “My pleasure Cadence, dear.”
The screen dissipated as the door opened and let in six girls, five of which had particularly determined faces. Celestia got up from her seat and went around the desk.
“Well, I can see from your expressions that you have learned quite a bit more about us.” She gestured to the sofas. “Why don’t we have a seat and continue our little Q&A session.”
They abided and took their places, with the five newcomers once again on the same sofa. Rainbow decided not to wait for anything and went straight to the point.
“What the heck is Project Harmony and why does Twilight say that we’re all part of it?”
“Remember the Elements of Harmony, and how they defeated Discord?”
Rainbow nodded.
“Well, Luna and I lost our connection to them due to… unfortunate circumstances. For the past eight centuries the Elements have laid dormant within our vaults, but thanks to some reliable sources we learned they would become significant again very soon. So we’ve kept our eyes open for anyone who may exhibit traits that the bearers would possess.
“There are six elements in all, Laughter, Honesty, Generosity, Loyalty, Kindness, and Magic. Agents, though, who seemed to be paragons of those virtues could not bond with the respective element. The only viable candidate we had ever found was Twilight who exhibited extraordinary proficiency and power and was able to get a response from Magic.”
She looked intently at the girls for this next part. “Last night, however, something happened to the other Elements. The moment you stood up with the other Twilight and faced Sunset Shimmer, all six of them began to emanate with power we had not seen in a long time and more importantly, five of those Elements were exclusively feeding their powers into you girls. Applejack was linked to Honesty, Pinkie Pie to Laughter, Rainbow Dash to Loyalty, Rarity to Generosity, and Fluttershy to Kindness. This was undeniable proof that you girls were to be the five remaining members of Project Harmony.”
Not too long after Celestia had explained a little more about Project Harmony did the girls decide to take another break. It was 2 o’clock and Twilight realized none of them had anything to eat yet and so decided to bring them to the dining hall. It was in the western section of the facility and as with all the other places kept up the palatial theme. Several windows were located opposite each other and no two displayed the same scene. In one you could find a beautiful view of the bottom of the ocean, perfectly lit and illuminated at that. In another you would see snowcapped peaks as blizzards raged on. You could find the organized chaos of a busy financial district in one more. Altogether the windows gave one a bizarre feeling of dissonant serenity. Each window was also accompanied by beautiful satin curtains. On the far wall one would also find a large table decorated with, as Twilight had put, ‘literally any kind of food you could think of.’
By the girls’ experience, you really could find any food you could think of, and so they filled up their plates and found themselves an empty table. The tables here were not long and rectangular made of acrylic and metal like you would see in any ordinary cafeteria, instead they were rounded, had a set number of chairs, and were covered by a pristinely white table cloth with silverware, tissues, and what not, simply waiting for whoever would take the table. Basically the kind of table you would more expect at a fancy dinner party.
Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie had jumped right into her meal of candies, sweets, treats, and various vegetables. Fluttershy found herself digging through her pasta with her fork as she thought about everything they had just learned, not just about themselves, but about the whole world around them. Rainbow, taking a cue from Pinkie, decided to gorge herself on her rather carnivorous platter. Applejack and Rarity on the other hand decided to begin a dialogue with Twilight.
“Twilight, I have to ask, what exactly is expected of us now that we’ve been introduced to this whole other world?”
“Well, to put it simply Rarity, we just want you to live in it. We don’t expect you to dedicate 24/7 of your lives to MLP, but we do want you to learn more about who and what you are. If you want, you can join one of the divisions, but as I said, you can choose to do that part-time rather than full-time.”
She made sure to address the group for the next part, “I want to make it very clear that what you choose to do from this point forward is YOUR choice. We will not force you to do anything you don’t want to. Actually there are a number of people who are Awake and chose to live very different lives from the agents in this room. Take Senator Blueblood or Fancypants for example.”
“Waif, jey haf prwers choo?” asked Rainbow who had been in the middle of chewing on a particularly juicy steak.
Twilight nodded, “Yes. Blueblood helps keep us in the loop on the government’s movements, whilst Fancypants can help influence things in the private sector. It’s really useful since MLP doesn’t exactly have control of every single person in the world.”
A gulp sounded as Rainbow finally managed to swallow. “Well, if that’s the case I’m in. I saw what those Reactionary guys did to the chimera and I wanna learn how to do that. Not the getting-mauled of course. Besides, if I was properly trained, that thing wouldn’t have stood a chance.”
One , Twilight noted.
“I’m in! Sounds like it’ll be fun!”
Two
“Well, I would like to learn more about how I could talk to my little animal friends so I suppose I could join too. But I don’t think I’d like to go against anything else like this morning anymore.”
Three
“I suppose I’ll go along as well. You did say that we don’t have to be completely dedicated, and I’d really like to see what I can do with this telekinesis.”
Four
“... Well, Ah think Ah’ll join in too. ‘Sides, I’d love to get my hands on some of those little toys ya got in the engineerin’ bay.”
Five
05 Adjustment (1 of 2)
After a quick tour around the other parts of Canterlot Control and one more chat with Central Officer Celestia, the girls were then allowed to go home to both prepare themselves for what came next and to sit on everything they had just learned. In less than 24 hours, they were introduced to a world of magic, power, and apparently adventure. All thanks to a pony princess from another dimension befriending them.
The next morning, Applejack lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She had been up for a few hours already and she was just waiting for the sun to peek into her room. Eventually she got what she asked for as the golden rays of light started to color her face. She exhaled as she got up.
Ah wonder what’s gonna happen now, she thought.
She looked to the back of her now fixed, she would have the blues to thank for that, door. Hanging on a hook was something she would never have thought she would be wearing. It was a brand new, custom made, freshly pressed, purple blazer. She approached the article and gently laid a hand on it as she admired the texture and the color of her new uniform.
Rarity hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before. Not because her mind was busy thinking about everything they learned, but because she was thinking of ways she could spruce up her new midnight blue blazer.
She already had quite a few ideas of how she could at least improve it aesthetically. Now all she had to do was to get her ideas to the Cloak Lab and then they could show her how it was done. She had to find a suitably large box to transport all her sketches.
As she looked at the pile, she remembered that she still had the box for that old television lying around. Now all she had to do was remember where it was.
Fluttershy gave herself a short once over in the mirror. She raised an arm to admire the craftsmanship in what she was wearing. Even though she was in her room, she still checked around to ensure that nobody was watching. When she was satisfied that she was indeed alone, she brought her sleeve closer to her nose and took a nice long whiff.
She was surprised to note that it actually had a hint of strawberry to its smell.
Her other arm soon raised itself as she did a little twirl to inspect her outfit from all sides. She had on a pair of dark brown leather flats, a nice, crisp pair of black flared slacks, a modestly white button shirt, and finally, a fresh, red blazer. When she was done appreciating herself, she stepped out of the house.
There, leaning on the car, was her ever faithful bodyguard, Stonefist. He nodded to her as he approached the driver’s seat, ready to take his young charge to her first day as an agent of MLP.
The moment her alarm clock had sung its song Rainbow immediately sprung out of bed. This was a far cry from her usual behavior of just yanking the poor device out of place; and occasionally throwing it at the wall.
She quickly made her way to bathroom and accomplished everything necessary in ten seconds flat. Everything .
She made her way back to her room and opened her closet to admire the latest addition to her wardrobe. She picked it up by the hanger and took the time to really look at it. The symbol of the greater thing she was now part of: a grey blazer
Just as yesterday morning, Pinkie’s Pinkie Sense allowed her to accomplish everything one step ahead. As both a kindness and a little test drive of her psychicness, she set up the shop for the day’s activities, preparing a particular assortment of treats and pastries that she sure would sell out today.
As she expected, the moment she entered her room the Cakes exited theirs. With that done, she proceeded to ready herself for today’s activities. She looked at her new uniform and a minor scowl adorned her face. She had only one problem with it and that problem was relatively simple: This shade of grey looked so dull.
She eventually shrugged it off. Rarity would most likely be able to help her with her problem.
Twilight had already taken several laps around the grand fountain of Canterlot Control in her pacing frenzy. The whole morning had her in a panic to the point that it took her a good twenty minutes just to brush her teeth. It was then that her brother, Shining Armor, approached her. He grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her around to face him.
“Twiley! Calm. Down,” he said, taking care to emphasize every word.
Her face was frozen in an expression of shock, confusion, and frustration as she stared at her brother. Right when the moment started to become awkward, she shook her head to regain herself.
“You’re… You’re right. What have I got to be scared of?” she said as she gave off a less than enthusiastic chuckle.
Her eyes widened and her jaw went slack. She looked her brother in the eye and said, “But what if we can’t work together?! What if I prove to be completely and utterly incompatible with them?! What’ll happen to Project Harmony then?! What if-”
Shining sighed, even knew that she was pretty much lost when she went into this state. There was only one way to get her back out. He prepped a finger, drove just the tiniest bit of magic into it, and poked her.
Canterlot Control had five gates all-in-all. One in each of the cardinal directions and one near the center of the base, to go with the original setup of the organization. Having a gate lead directly to the heart of your base may seem stupid, but that gate was also located directly below CHS, which was a fortress in and of itself. But that will be addressed later, for it was at this time that that gate, Gate 3, opened and in walked five of the latest members of MLP.
As they entered the hall, they were met by friendly smiles and greetings from a small crowd composed of members of the four different branches.
"My, I was not expecting quite a welcome," said Rarity as she shook hands and exchanged pleasantries with several of her fellow blues.
Rainbow and Pinkie on the other hand were greeted by fist bumps and bear hugs by other grey agents. Fluttershy was given a significantly gentler welcome by her fellows. Applejack was met by Twilight and several other purples.
The six girls then gave each other well wishes before going to their respective first activities.
"So Applejack, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that you're interested in the technological half of the Magitek division, right?"
"Yes ma'am. Ah saw what you fellers 'ere buildin' and Ah think I'd like to try mah hand at a bit of that mahself."
The moment they arrived at the Engineering Bay, their entourage had dispersed to allow Applejack some space to adjust. Twilight had then showed her the more specific parts of the facility, from the assembly station, to the storage chambers, to the enchanting station, and even the comfort rooms.
The two were now inside one of the private workshops. The room was as large as a one car garage with the walls, floor, and ceiling all emitting faint, but when together very bright, light. One wall was covered by an absolutely diverse array of hand, power, and possibly magic tools. In the center of the room was a large metallic table that had a number of scuffle marks on it, most likely from previous tinkerers. On top of that table was a device that looked like the child of a circular saw, an electric drill, a jack, and a blender.
Applejack lifted the strange tool. “Twi, whut in the hay IS this?”
"I'll be honest, I have no idea. I work mostly on magical research so I never really familiarized myself with this stuff." Twilight gave a sheepish grin
Applejack was flabberghasted. "Wait, whut? If you don't really know much 'bout this stuff, why are you showing me around?”
"Well, Central Officer Celestia is the one who said I should show you around. You know... Project Harmony and stuff,” she said rather uncomfortably.
The country girl stared at her for a moment then shrugged. “Fair ‘nough.” She gripped the device in what looked like its grip. “Might aswell give it a li’l test to see what it does.”
She pressed the trigger. Lights began to burst out from tiny holes in the device as they emitted patterns on the wall opposite her. The device then began to vibrate as it started… playing disco music.
Applejack had a blank expression as she looked to her friend. “Uhhh…?”
Twilight was just as surprised, and was even more surprised when the door to the workshop opened and in stepped a very interesting looking Magitek agent. His blazer did not even look like a blazer as it was lengthened to the point that it was a lab coat rather than a jacket. He had a pointed nose and a bunch of hair on his head that grew to resemble grass more than any other kind of style. A slight hunchback was also prominent in his gaunt frame. His attention was drawn to the device that Applejack was experimenting with.
“Oh there it is! Hey... I know you,” he said as he noted the thing’s wielder. “You’re one of the newbies who are gonna bring Project Harmony back up.” His voice was of a significantly high, yet somehow nasal, quality.
He approached her and took back what was apparently his invention. After fiddling with it a bit things started to calm down as the device was turned off. Twilight smiled and introduced the newcomer.
“Applejack, meet the Canterlot Magitek Officer Silly Inator. I know he may not look like much, but believe me, he’s the Officer for a good reason.”
He looked to the girls and smiled. “Ya got that right, ladies. They don’t make just anybody the head of the local Magitek division. But anyway, I see you found my Discoinator!” he said as he gestured to the strange thing.
“Discoinator? Ya named it after yourself? For that matter, whut’s it even supposed to do?” asked Applejack.
Silly looked confused at her inquiry. “Well of course. Who else would I name it after? But to answer your most important question, haven’t you ever just had the urge to start disco dancing but couldn’t because the atmosphere just wasn’t there?”
His question was met by two head shakes.
He rolled his eyes. “Well if ever you do find yourself in such a situation, just press the button and lay this baby on the ground as it plays some of the BEST disco music, all straight from my ‘Best of the 70’s collection,’ and even provides ambient strobe lights.”
“Well that sure seems… useful,” said Applejack.
“I know right!”
“Anyway…” interrupted Twilight. “Silly, you’re obviously much more familiar with all the stuff here than I am, so you think you could show Applejack the ins and outs of the tools on the wall.”
He placed on a hand on his chin. “Hmmmmm, Well,” he said just before straightening himself. “Sure, why not.”
He approached and grabbed a crystal-like tool that looked to be a light source in and of itself. “This is one of my favorite magical tools…”
Rarity had gotten to know quite a bit about the Obfuscation agents that went with her to the Cloak Lab. She found it very amusing that the section of MLP dedicated to hiding seemed to be composed of individuals who were very friendly and open. Since the others had business elsewhere, she had only one companion with her on the catwalk overlooking the laboratory.
She was fairly young, but clearly older than Rarity. Her skin had an aqua hue to it. Her hair had two definite streaks of dark blue and white and was arranged in a spiky mop look. Her natural colors went fabulously with the midnight blue blazer of their division, Rarity noted.
“Guess that just leaves the two of us,” she said.
“I suppose it does. You said you’ve worked her before, did you not Miss Minuette?” said Rarity.
Minuette gave a slight chuckle. “Just call me Colgate, newbie. And yes, I have experience working here. Come on, I’ll show you what you’re looking for.”
Rarity nodded as she followed Colgate around the twists and turns formed by all the different workstations. From the catwalks everything looked so neat and orderly, yet once you were level with everything, it became more of maze. As she thought about it, it seemed oddly fitting considering that they were responsible for misdirection and confusion.
Finally they arrived at a room that had a few things Rarity could recognize, and a lot of things she could not. One side of the room had everything from sewing machines, edgers, embroiders, manikins, cutting tables, rolls of fabric, and plenty of other things one could expect to find in a dressmaker’s shop.
The other side though, had things that looked completely baffling. One table looked to have several lights embedded into it with magical runes placed strategically in a circle on it. Another was a large machine that looked like a giant press and emitted a strange magical aura that Rarity could actually feel. Hanging on the wall was a pair of those wide-fingered gloves. Another section of wall had several tiny cubes of light floating around it. There were a few more things, but frankly, she just could not make out what they could possibly be used for.
“Heard you’re into fashion, so I had a good feeling you came to the Cloak Lab for this,” said Colgate.
“Indeed I am, and yes, this is precisely what I was looking for,” Rarity said as she smiled at her escort.
“To be honest I already have quite a few ideas.” She reached inside the bag that she brought with her and pulled out a very obese looking manila envelope and placed it on the table. “I actually had quite a bit more, but I just decided to bring what I thought were best.”
Colgate let out an impressed whistle as she stared at the stack of designs. “Wow… You did all that last night?”
Rarity smiled as her her cheeks pinkened. “Well I was ‘in the zone’ as it were.”
“Well why don’t you actually make one of your designs first, then I can show you how to enchant it with the stuff over there.” She pointed to the half of the room with the mysterious devices.
Rarity considered for a moment then agreed. “Yes, perhaps that would be best. Thank you by the way, for assisting me.
“It’s no problem. Happy to help,” Colgate replied.
Fluttershy did not enjoy being the center of attention. The idea of eyes locked onto her, of expectation from others, made her feel like she was carrying the world on her shoulders. Whenever that happened she usually cracked under the pressure and would then try to slink away where no one would find her for the next few days.
The moment she started feeling that way though, all the eyes simultaneously looked away. The strange thing was that she still wasn’t alone. Her escort was still surrounding her, yet she did not feel as uncomfortable as she was a moment ago. One particular Medical agent approached her.
"Hi, I'm not sure if you remember me. My name's Top Form, me and my partner are the ones who checked up on you girls yesterday," she said.
Realization hit Fluttershy. "Oh, yes. Thank you for that, by the way."
"It's no problem," she said as she waved a hand. "We make sure that everybody is always in tip top shape. Anyway, sorry about making you feel like that."
Fluttershy's eyebrows creased as she looked to Top Form. "How did you know?"
"Well..." said the agent with a smile. "As members of the Medical division, we have the ability to empathically understand others. So when we sensed that you were feeling uncomfortable by all of us crowding around you, we immediately backed up."
"Oh my, that sounds... nice." Honestly, she didn't know how to feel if they could feel how SHE could feel.
"You know, since you'll be joining us," she said as she gestured to Fluttershy's blazer. "You'll end up getting that little trick too."
Her eyes widened more than before. "Oh... my." She had no idea how to feel if she could feel how OTHER people could feel.
Top Form placed an arm around Fluttershy and brought her close. "Hey, don't worry about it too much newbie. The thought can be kinda scary, I know. But once you see what it means to really be a part of the Medical division, you'll see that it is totally necessary."
She gestured to the others and they understood. In short order the group had dispersed as Top Form led the newbie to the Medical wing of Canterlot Control. The first place they had toured were Medical's laboratories.
These labs were all kept very sterile and very secure. Unlike the palatial look of the rest of the facility, this place looked more like a hospital. It had white walls, minimalistic architecture with practically no embellishments on the design, and was noticeably scentless. Along the hall there were several doors that had windows right beside them. Through those windows one could see the individual labs therein. The doors were also labeled as to what each lab handled. They ranged from pathogens, to curses, to aftereffects, to addictions and to plenty of other fantastic, and a number of mundane, illnesses or irregularities.
The two were currently looking through the window of the Growth lab. What really interested Fluttershy, however, was the agent working inside. She had snowy skin and pink hair tied up in a bun. She looked to be working with a number of chemicals, but rather than wear gloves, her hands themselves were aglow. But above all of that, she could have sworn that she looked just like the school nurse.
"She's our boss, Canterlot Medical Officer Redheart."
Fluttershy’s eyes widened, but Top Form could sense what she was feeling and looked to her. “I know she works up top in CHS, so seeing her here must be pretty surprising.”
It wasn’t actually surprise that Top Form sensed, rather it was something else. Her curiosity outweighed her shyness so she decided to ask Top Form something that had been bugging her since yesterday. “What’s so special about CHS? The Central Officer is the principal, a chemistry teacher heads Obfuscation, and now the nurse is actually the the head Medical officer? Why?”
Top Form was now the one with wide eyes. She really didn’t think she’d be the one to have to answer those questions. Thankfully though, she wouldn’t have to as the door to the Growth lab opened and out stepped Redheart. She greeted the two with a warm smile and approached them.
You could say that Fluttershy was petrified by the way she just stood there as the Medical Officer appraised her. Redheart let out a little giggle. “You can calm down Fluttershy. I’m not going to do anything to you, and your questions are entirely valid. Why don’t we walk around as I give you the answers you’re searching for.”
At first she still stayed frozen, but after seeing the inviting look that Redheart gave her, she relented and walked by her side with Top Form trailing just behind them.
“CHS is special because of those who attend it. Tell me, have you ever been to other high schools in Equestria?” asked the Officer.
“Well, there was the one in Cloudsdale. My cousin attends there and I accompanied her once,” replied Fluttershy.
“If you were to compare it to CHS, what would you say the differences were between the students here and there? And I want you to be as honest, or blunt, as possible.”
“Well from what I saw the environment there seems awfully different from ours. Some of the students were really rowdy with each other. Others were… crude, I suppose. There were also some who seemed to be doing things that were, well, kind of… dumb.” She felt guilty at the way she chose to characterize them. She never even really got to know them so their actions might have just been taken out of context, but then she remembered something that was in context.
“They were also very… provocative,” she added, as memories of one annoying flirt came to mind.
Redheart gave off a soft laugh. “Indeed. If you looked around Equestria you would find that that behaviour is actually quite normal for high school students. CHS is the real anomaly.”
They left the halls of the Medical labs and entered a somewhat less sterile but more hospital-like room. In the center was a receptionist’s desk which was flanked by two doorways that each led to a hall with several more rooms. This room actually had small decorations such as a few potted plants, a bit of wall art which Fluttershy didn’t quite get, and a few benches by the walls. Above the desk was a directory of names with their corresponding room number. The room was also filled with older looking reds heading places and reading on tablets. Others weren’t even holding theirs as it just floated casually in front of them. There were also a few members from the other divisions, but the ones here did not look too good. Putting it all together, she realized that these must be the wards.
Any of the reds that got close to them performed a gesture with their fingers that Fluttershy couldn’t quite understand, but Redheart had responded to in a similar fashion.
“You see,” Redheart said as she approached a blue, who looked to have his fingers fused together, and picked up his hands. “We classify people under three categories. The Sleepers: those who have no idea about the magic world at all, basically the majority of the population.”
Her hands started to glow as the blue made a face akin to that of one you would make when you touched something hot. “The Awakened: those who have regained access to their abilities; everyone here is Awakened for example.”
With his fingers now normal. she released his hands. He performed the finger gesture which Redheart just smiled to. “Finally, the Dreamers: those who are ready to accept the world as it really is, but have yet to truly make that ‘leap of faith.’”
She looked back to Fluttershy and saw that she still had the young girl’s full attention. “CHS is a very old school, and that is very evident in the architecture it uses. It is also one of the most prestigious schools in Equestria.
“Since our purpose is to help people be all that they can be, we found it to be easier if we could closely watch over the Dreamers. Tell me, why are you attending CHS, if all your life you’ve mostly lived in Cloudsdale?”
It took a moment for Fluttershy to realize that she wanted her to answer. “Well when I graduated elementary, I was offered a scholarship to attend CHS.” Her head snapped to attention as her mind connected the dots. “Since I was a Dreamer you invited me to the school but… wouldn’t that mean that everyone else attending is…”
Redheart just smiled and nodded in response.
Pinkie and Rainbow were treated very buddy-buddy-like by their group. They cracked jokes, laughed, and all around had a good time as they approached a very large door on the western side of the facility. Past that door was an equally large room. One would be forgiven for thinking that this place was used to store an airliner as it was simply that large. Several metal archways were placed along the room to support the place. The walls were given a washed, green color. Around the floor were two rows of closed off, evenly spaced, circular areas. Within some of these circles two agents looked to be practicing their abilities on each other.
“Welcome ladies, to the Training Center,” said a voice to their left. “I am the Canterlot Reactionary Officer, Shining Armor.”
The others around them scrambled and, in but a moment, stood in formation, at attention, right behind the two new girls.
“I’ll take it from here, dismissed,” he said.
As the others left to attend to their own matters, Shining approached the two girls. “Come on, let me show you around the place.”
The trio walked along a path that went between the two rows of arenas. The arenas themselves were separated from the outside world by a shimmering wall of light that was still clear enough to see through. They stopped and observed one particular arena. Inside of it two greys, both wearing their uniforms, stood and faced each other. One was wearing the wide-fingered gloves and looked to be using it to create a curved sword made of nothing but blue light. The other held a curled-up, more physically present whip in her hand.
“I’m sure that by this point you already know the purpose of the Reactionary Division, so I’m not going to elaborate on that,” Shining began.
The swordsman charged his opponent who in return bent her arms and legs into a ready stance. Using one hand, he got ready to perform an upper slash whilst his other arm stayed close in a guard position. The whipwoman then jumped high. Very high. She was around ten feet in the air when she turned herself and released her whip towards the swordsman. As it sailed through the air it crackled and sparked with electricity.
“But it doesn’t stop at just combatting magical threats. It also means that we are a first response team to anything. We are guardian angels who not only protect ourselves, but everybody out there.”
The swordsman extended his arm and made the rest of himself small. The whip then wrapped itself around the protruding sword. With it firmly locked, he pulled its user towards him and got his other sword ready. In response, the whip receded back to its wielder and shrunk till it took on the form a handmade string bracelet as she flipped and kicked into the air. The kick was able to, somehow, cancel all the momentum from the swordsman’s mighty tug allowing her to safely land on the other side of the arena. This did not go unnoticed by Rainbow and Pinkie.
“Whoa! How’d she do that?!” exclaimed Rainbow.
“That was so cool!” shouted Pinkie.
Shining laughed. “Once you know more about what you can do, you’ll realize that that trick is a lot simpler than you’d think.” He looked to the two. “You should see what some of our best can do. Anyway, let’s keep moving.”
They a passed a few more arenas before they stopped at one that had only one occupant. He stood in the center and had on a pair of the wide-fingered gloves. There was also one thing very noticeable about this person.
“As I’m sure you can tell, these skills don’t exactly come with your powers, so you are going to have to learn to use them efficiently, properly, and responsibly. Your abilities do not necessarily have to be used for combat as they can have plenty of other useful applications. Likewise, the other branches are also recommended to learn to hone their more combative skills.”
The guy in the arena had on a blue blazer. He balled his left hand into a fist and two light-based shafts extended from it and formed a slight arc. He brought his other hand closer, then pulled back. A long, thin, straight line formed from one fist to the other. He was using a bow and arrow. He then fired into several, seemingly random, spots around the wall. Shining tapped on the wall of light and the section opposite them but on the inside revealed a grassy field that had targets popping out every once in a while. One of the targets was subsequently incinerated by one of his arrows.
“As members of the Reactionary Division, you will be expected to consistently be in top physical form, and in top magical form.” He turned and faced them. “Can I expect this from you?”
For a moment, the two looked at him with wide eyes before they saluted and said, “Yes, sir!”
Shining smiled. “Good. Also, that’s not exactly how we ‘salute’ down here.”
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