Blank Flanks

Blank

Flanks

Five

"Daring! Wake up!" said Miss Cheerilee. Daring's head shot up from his desk.

"I'm up, I'm up."

"Would you like to repeat what I just said to the class."

"Umm, no. I'm good actually."

"Since you obviously weren't listening the first time, I was telling the class about the science fair coming up this friday."

"How could you have possibly fallen asleep during that?" Evergreen asked sarcastically. Cheerilee gave him a nasty look. Just after two and a half weeks she was already thoroughly fed up with him. The look only seemed to make Evergreen smile even more.

"As I was saying, science is a spectacular new field of study and we hope that this fair will encourage several of you to pursue it." Miss Cheerilee walked over to the other side of the classroom, and Daring laid his head back on his desk. As he drifted back into sleep he heard her words grow fainter and fainter.

"With all the new breakthroughs in many different scientific fields, it holds endless possibilities for an infinite number of benefits for all of ponykind..."

*    *    *    *    *

"It's bullshit," Evergreen said as he closed the door of his community center locker, "why do we have to do a 100 point project on something as fucking stupid as science. We should be applying ourselves in a more beneficial way for our educations."

"Ya have no idea what ta do fer your project, do ya?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Of course I do... ok I don't."

"See, this would be a lot easier if ya weren't such an idiot."

"Coming from miss 'don't insult other ponies it hurts their feelings' you hypocrite."

"Well, yer an exception to the rule. Besides, it's not an insult, it's a very well known fact."

"She's right. So far you've failed every single assignment Miss Cheerilee has given you," Sweetie Belle added.

"I'd say that's more from my lack of trying rather than my overall stupidity."

"So, you realize that you're so fucking stupid that you don't even try?" Daring laughed.

"At least I'm awake during class."

"I was tired after being up all night, if you know what I mean." Daring said slyly.

"Oh, another romantic evening with your right hoof I see."

"Fuck off."

Evergreen laughed as the four exited the locker room. As they left, Thunder and Scootaloo stayed.

"Hey, Thunder?"

"Yes?"

"I can't help but notice that you've been avoiding me ever since the Wonderbolt derby." Thunder's body tightened nervously. He tried to say something while avoiding eye contact with Scootaloo. "Look," she said, "It's okay if you don't like me like that. It's just that... I wanted to see... you know what, forget it." She started to leave with a hint of anger now manifesting in her. She wondered why she even bothered.

"Wait." She stopped and turned back to Thunder, who was still standing there nervously. "Would you...um...would you...would...you..." Fuck it. he thought. "Would you like to go out...with me?"

"Go out?"

"Yeah... like on a date." Scootaloo grinned. "Oh I don't know..." she purposefully trailed off. Just before Thunder's heart sank completely she said, "I'm kidding, of course I will you big idiot." They both smiled and walked out together, rejoining the other four who were standing by the vending machine.

"How is that even possible?" Daring asked Evergreen.

"Well I had a very spicy dinner that night, and it was a few hours later so part of the food was digested while part of it wasn't. So I'm sitting there feeling terrible, so naturally what I do when I feel bad is I masturbate. So I'm going at it and all this work has gotten me feeling even more uneasy and bam! I shat, came, and puked all at once."

"You actually tripled yourself."

"Ya know, ah never would have believed that there were ponies as disgustin' as yerselves that really existed, and then ah met you two." Apple Bloom stated.

"I'm really glad I missed most of that conversation," Scootaloo said. That very disgusting conversation was suddenly interrupted when the six ponies noticed Dual casually entering the building.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" he asked.

"What the fuck are you doing here?!" Daring asked, looking around to see if any of the probation workers were around. Fortunately none had arrived yet.

"I had nothing to do at the house so I came here."

"What?! Somepony could have seen you around town while I'm supposed to be here. You are the stupidest fucking pony I've ever met."

"Technically he's you." Evergreen pointed out.

"Fine, fine I'll go back in you. It's just that I never get any time outside and when I do I have to stay in the house all the time."

"Well that's because you're an annoying prick now get back inside me."

"At least I'm not a big jerk." Dual said under his breath.

"Is that seriously the best you can come up with."

"Alright! You're a...cunty faced...cunt." Daring stood there for a moment with a blank expression, then grabbed Dual trying to tackle him. "Ok, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, ow, ow, ow." They kept fighting while Apple Bloom, Thunder, and Sweetie Belle tried to pull them apart. Evergreen and Scootaloo just stood there.

"If those two got into a real fight, who do you think would win?" Scootaloo asked.

"I'd say the ugly one." Evergreen replied. This all continued until three older ponies and a dragon came into the community center.

"Hey! What in the world is going on here/!" Twilight said. The ponies all froze, unsure what would happen next or how they would react to Dual. "Who the hell is that?" Twilight asked pointing at Dual. They all just stood there, worried about what to say next.

"He's my auntie, who the hell do you think he is?" Daring said calmly.

"I didn't know you had a twin brother." The young ponies let out small sighs of relief.

"Obviously because he's never around here, this community center, this place, because he's much less of a trouble maker, you know, he's into things... besides making trouble," Daring stammered on while trying to keep his cool.

"Ok, well I'm just here to tell you all that I won't be here today," she laughed but nopony else did, " I'm going to be busy today reorganizing the library, so I asked Applejack to take my place and help Rarity and Spike today with supervising you guys. So they'll give you your assignments and you guys can get started," Twilight said as she quickly left the building.

"Ok, y'all have to clean all the graffiti on the left wall, get to it." Applejack said. She and Rarity started to leave.

"Wait, you're not going to supervise us?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Ya see, we were all doing this as a favor to Twilight, but ah just have too much work on Sweet Apple Acres to do this anymore."

"And I also have work piling up at my boutique. Besides, you all have Spike here. I don't know what Twilight was thinking, you certainly only need one pony supervising you." On that note the two left to take care of their own business.

"First off, I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that he's not your twin brother." Spike said. For the sake of demonstration Dual reluctantly faded back into Daring. "Ok, that, is a cool power."

"It's not that great." Evergreen said, still worked up over the fact that he didn't seem to have a power. "You guys know the drill, clean the graffiti, then you can go home."

*    *    *    *    *

"I can't believe we completely forgot about this for so long," Evergreen said while scrubbing the O in TO in the message I'M GOING TO KILL YOU.

"Yeah, considering we've walked by it everyday for the past three weeks." Scootaloo said. The six each scrubbed a section of the message.

"This was written by the original probation worker, whats-his-face." Evergreen said.

"Onyx," Thunder pointed out.

"You know his name? What, were you in love with him?'

"No, he told us his name... a couple times."

"Oh...well you don't have to be a twat about it." Thunder just went back to scrubbing but Scootaloo leaned in and gave Evergreen a swift hit on the side of his head. "Owww, what was that for?"

"For being annoying." They all continued to scrub in silence for a few minutes, until Evergreen broke it.

"It's just not fair." The group ignored him at first. "I said, it's just not fair." Apple Bloom sighed. "What's not fair Evergreen?"

"Each of you jerks have pretty much mastered all your powers, and I haven't even found mine yet."

"Maybe yours is being an annoying prick," said Thunder.

"Look, I'm happy that you're coming out of your little socially awkward shell and everything but remember something, I'm the funny guy around here."

"Some ponies think I'm pretty funny." Daring said.

"Shut up."

"Hey Sweetie Belle, ah've been meanin' to ask, how far have you come along with your power?"

"Oh... I don't like to use my power."

"But yer not gonna get any better unless ya practice."

"But last time I used it I blasted Evergreen into a wall. What if next time I hurt somepony I actually care about."

"Oh yeah, thanks, and I thought we really bonded...you." Evergreen interjected, but the others just ignored him. After a bit of silence they went back to cleaning the wall. Daring finally decided to interrupt it.

"Well, it's that time of day again, time to ignore our power problems and deal with the rest of the shit in our lives, particularly school. What are we doing for the science project?"

"Ms. Cheerilee said we can be in groups as big as we'd like so all six of us can work together although Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle are the only ponies here smart enough to come up with something," Evergreen said. Scootaloo voiced her resentment of that statement. "You hit me, I'm not complimenting you."

"It doesn't really matter if we're smart, cause fer one ah don't know anything about science," Apple Bloom said.

"Me neither," Sweetie Belle said.

"But I thought... ok, does anypony know a single thing about science?"

"I've heard that... if you mix baking soda and vinegar and put them in a little fake volcano... it looks really cool," Thunder

said.

"Well we're fucked."

"Let's face it, Ms. Cheerilee's lessons went over all of our heads," Apple Bloom said.

"I'm am shocked, shocked! You guys were supposed to understand that shit so it's ok if we couldn't, or more realistically, didn't care."

A few hours later they finished cleaning and went inside and started changing. As they exited the locker rooms Twilight arrived back at the community center. "Hey guys, where's Rarity and Applejack?" she asked.

"Oh, they left because they realized how stupid it is to have several different ponies just to supervise us," Evergreen responded.

"Huh, that is pretty stupid come to think of it," Twilight said. "Another thing I've been meaning to ask, Daring, has your brother been going to school with you?"

"Umm...yes," he lied.

"Good, so you guys are done for today?" They all nodded. "Great, so... have you all got plans?" They stared at her for a minute, surprised and a tiny bit creeped out when it came from Twilight.

"Well, we were about to work on some school stuff," Sweetie Belle said.

"Oh, that's great! I can help you if you want. What do you guys have to do?"

"We have a science project that we have to do," Evergreen said. Twilight's smile faded.

"Oh, I only know a little about science, and what I do know mostly deals with stuff like astronomy, or sciences related to magic in some way," she said.

"Sounds good to me, with that we should get at least a B," Daring said.

Twilight thought to herself for a moment, "You know what," she said, "There may be a pony in town who'll be able to help you guys out more than I can."

"Really?"

"Yes, there's a scientist who lives here in Ponyville, an old stallion named Dr. Felix Data. He may be able to help you guys get an A+ science project."

"A+? That's awesome," Daring said. Twilight levitated a nearby pen and paper with her horn. "Here's his address, I'm sure he'd be delighted to help you all with your project." She wrote it down and gave it to Apple Bloom, who put it in her saddlebag. They thanked her and left, and Twilight walked into the office where Spike was sitting. Although he had been napping before she arrived at the community center.

"What was all that about?" he asked.

"I'm going to get friendly with them, and I'm going to find out what they know."

"I thought that was my job."

"Well three weeks and no results. No offense but that seems like a pretty lousy job."

"Maybe it's because they're innocent."

"I don't buy it I-"

"You have this gut feeling that it's them. You just know it. It's the only logical explanation."

"It is the only logical explanation! All the clues point to them."

"What clues? What evidence do you have that confirms this? I keep telling you maybe you're just wasting your time looking in the wrong place. I mean, do you really think a couple of teenagers would do something like this?"

"Maybe you just don't want to get your new friends in trouble since you love them so much!" Twilight was getting angry. Spike had never seen her like this before.

"I'm just saying you should be a bit more open-minded."

"I know, I know. I'm sorry for snapping at you, it's just-"

"It's alright. I'm just worried you may be getting a little obsessed." They sat in silence for a moment. "So, why didn't you just help them with their science project yourself?"

"Ah, that's part of my plan. Just hanging out with them right off the bat, that would be suspicious. I first gain their trust by helping them in different ways, then I go into full on spy mode."

"You sure have put a lot of thought into this," Spike said, getting up and walking towards the xit.

"Spike." He stopped in the doorway. "Remember... you'll always be my best friend."

"And you'll always be mine."

*    *    *    *    *

"Alright here's his address," Apple Bloom said, "Ah don't know, ah've never heard of this pony before."

"Ah, a recluse. He may need a bit of convincing to help us out. Don't worry, I've got this." Evergreen said. He walked up to the door and knocked on it. Soon after, a young stallion opened the door. "Dr. Data. I thought you'd be shorter." That was an understatement. This stallion was built like a house. Easily as tall as Big Mac, if not taller. He was muscular too, being ripped all over, but his muscles weren't too big and bulgy either. They were all sculpted and toned to lean perfection. This was certainly a very handsome stallion. The girls blushed when they saw him (except for Scootaloo, who was talking with Thunder in the back, neither of them paying any real attention).

"Oh, I'm not Dr. Felix Data, I'm his son, Felis Data," the stallion said.

"No offense but your parents were kind of shit in the naming department." Felis wasn't amused.

"Might I inquire why you are looking for my father? He doesn't like guests."

"Oh, excuse us," Apple Bloom said shoving Evergreen out of the way, "our school is having a science fair this Friday and we were wondering if yer dad could help us, considering he's a scientist and all."

"I'm sorry, but my father doesn't like visitors." He started to close the door but stopped, leaning over in pain. "Are you alright?" Daring asked. "Yes, I just pulled a muscle earlier today. You said you needed help with a science fair project?"

"Yessir we did," Apple Bloom said.

"My father doesn't like visitors, but he always enjoys helping other ponies when it comes to science. Anything particular in mind for your project?"

"Not really, we're just hoping for a good grade," Sweetie Belle said.

"Alright, you all can come inside and wait while I go get my father."

"Sounds great," Apple Bloom said, "thank you so much for letting us- ok, where the hell did Scootaloo and Thunder go?" They all turned around and saw that the two were gone, most likely to go on the date they talked about earlier. The others shrugged and were about to go inside until the next interruption.

"Hey, I'm glad I found you guys," Spike said. He had been walking down the road and noticed the ponies standing outside. "Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, can I talk to you two for a minute?"

The two ponies looked at each other and then back to Spike. They nodded and turned to the doctor's son.

"We'll catch up later to help out with the project," Sweetie Belle said.

"Do hurry back," Felis said. Spike, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle started down the road and Daring and Evergreen went inside with Felis.

"So what'cha wanna talk to us about Spike?" Apple Bloom asked, walking next to him. Spike's face turned more serious than the two fillies had ever seen it.

"I'm worried about Twilight, the whole murder investigation has taken it's toll."

"She has been acting strange lately," Sweetie Belle said.

"No, it's more than that. She's obsessed. I mean, she's easily the smartest pony in Ponyville, and after three weeks of non-stop investigating she hasn't come up with any hard evidence what-so-ever. She suspects the truth, she just can't prove it, and it's tearing her up inside. She hasn't slept for more than two hours at a time for a week."

"But how can we help?"

Spike gave a deep sigh and stopped in front of them. "I think we should tell her the truth." The two fillies looked at each other nervously.

"Well Spike, we would do that... but as soon as we do she'll turn us over to the police," Sweetie Belle reminded him.

"I don't mean we go right out and tell her. I mean do what you did with."

"You want us to tie her up in Daring's basement?"

"No, let her get to know you guys. Show her you're not a bunch of cold-blooded killers, then explain everything to her."

"We don't know that that will solve anything," Apple Bloom said.

"No, no we don't, but at least she'll be content. I can't stand to see her like this. I wanted to ask you two and Scootaloo first because you've known her longer. You're friends with her too. Please... just let her in."

*    *    *    *    *

Daring and Evergreen sat on the sofa of Dr. Data's living room. This was definitely Felis' parent's house, judging by the decor. The style was about 60 years old with tacky green and white wallpaper, old worn furniture, and the only things adorning the mantle were various science awards. There seemed to be a surprising lack of pictures for a family home. There was a smell lingering in the room, neither of the young colts knew exactly what it was, but they did know it was musty and all over the sofa. Speaking of the sofa, it was a faded pink and also very worn. It was uncomfortable to the point where the two ponies constantly fidgeted in place trying to find a position that didn't hurt their flanks.

"When are your friends getting back?" Felis asked. The two shrugged in response. "I think they should be here when my father gets back. He wouldn't want to start your project without them." There was an awkward silence about them, so Evergreen attempted to break the ice.

"Sooooooo, are you a scientist too, or something else?"

"Your friends are taking so long," Felis said as he went into the kitchen. "Oh, that's alright, just go ahead and ignore me," Evergreen said. Felis then came back out with three cups and a tea kettle. "Well, I think that while we're waiting, we might as well have a drink."

"Oh, I'm not thirsty," Daring said. "Please," Felis said, pouring tea into the three cups, "I insist." He took one of the cups and drank from it. The other two colts took a cup and each sipped from it. "So, the...six of you is it? You're doing all this for school, right?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, I didn't want to start until your friends got back, but I guess we'll just fill them in when they get here. So... shall we begin?" The colts were about to respond, but they felt a very sudden light-headedness and they both passed out.

Meanwhile, in another part of Ponyville two fillies and a dragon had come to an agreement. "Spike, we all know how dangerous this is, but yer right. Twilight's our friend, and she has the right ta know."

"Remember, we have to do this carefully, or it may just backfire." Spike said. They all agreed. They stood there for a moment, but the tension was quickly diffused when Spike let out a deep breath and laughed. "Well, how about we move onto a lighter subject on our walk back," he said, and the three started to walk, "So, you guys are working on a school project?"

"Eeyup. We were getting help from that scientist fella Twilight told us about," Apple Bloom said.

"Oh, Dr. Data. Twilight's told me about him. You guys should get plenty of help."

"Yeah, right now we've just met his son, he seems pretty nice, and very handsome," Sweetie Belle said trailing off towards the end.

"Huh, that's weird."

"What?"

"Twilight once told me that he never married... or had a family." The three quickened their pace towards the house, and an unknown fear of what was to come began to build in the bottom of their stomachs.

Daring and Evergreen woke up in a dusty concrete room with a steel door and cobwebs all over. "Great, this is just fantastic," Evergreen said, "How did we not pick up on this. I mean with everything going on lately. The fucker only changed one letter of the name! How stupid are we?"

"Very."

Evergreen sighed and sat back down. "What do you think it is? Maybe he's some sort of... brain eating thing that came from space, and killed the doctor... and it's using his basement as a place to farm ponies for their brains and..."

"Evergreen, shut up."

"Hey I'm just making suggestions here as to what we're in for."

"No, I mean... this room has light in it," Daring said, standing up. Evergreen looked around in an over exaggerated manner. "By Celestia it is! This is an amazing discovery you've made Daring!"

"No... there aren't any lamps. It's sunlight." The two looked up, and they saw a small open window several feet above them. It looked just big enough for a pony to fit through.

Spike, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle slowly opened the front door of the Data residence. "So," Sweetie Belle said in a low whisper, not knowing what could be inside, "What do you think we're dealing with?"

"Maybe," Apple Bloom said, also in a whisper, "it's some sort of brain eating thing that came from space, and killed the doctor... and it's using his basement as a place to farm ponies for their brains."

Spike and Sweetie Belle turned and looked at Apple Bloom dumbfounded. "You've been spending way too much time with Evergreen, you know that?" Spike said. Suddenly the door slammed shut behind them. They each spun around to find Felis Data standing nonchalantly by the door.

"I'm so glad that you finally made it," he said. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle stood in attack positions and Spike readily raised his fists... or claws? Whatever they're called. "Alright, we don't know what's going on, but a lot of weird stuff's been happening, so we're not taking any chances. Now where's Daring and Evergreen?!" Sweetie Belle said.

"I somewhat knew this would happen, or at least something like this," Felis sighed.

"Well, way ah see it, it's three against one, odds are stacked against ya, so how 'bout you tell us where our friends are," Apple Bloom said. Just then the very skin on Felis's right front leg began to shift and open to reveal a metallic cannon with an electric blue light emanating from within it, and he proceeded to point it directly at the trio.

"Okay then, that'll even it up a bit."

"Come on! Stop being such a panzy and lift me!" Daring said. He was standing on top of Evergreen while trying to reach the open window. "Well if you weren't such a fat ass then I'd be able to lift you!" Evergreen replied. They both fell over. "Can't you just teleport us out or something?"

"I've already tried that, but the fucker's done something to the house so my magic doesn't work."

"Well we can't reach the window by ourselves... and that means the only way out is to break down the door." Evergreen charged shoulder first into the iron door of the cell, and immediately backed up and grasped his shoulder. "Mother fucker. oowaugahagh." Evergreen collapsed on the floor, still writhing in pain. Daring looked around still trying to find a way out when a familiar feeling of indigestion swept through him, and Dual popped out.

"Where the fuck have you bee-" Daring was about to ask when Dual shushed him.

"You owe me after this, big time. Come on, when you get out go for help as fast as you can," they turned when they heard a noise coming from outside the cell, "We'd better hurry." Evergreen was on the bottom (since he was closest to the ground) and Dual got on his shoulders (which he wasn't crazy about) and Daring climbed up onto Dual. Daring grabbed onto the edge of the open window and climbed out. Just as Daring had gotten out Dr. Data opened the door and the two ponies promptly fell to the ground.

"Hmm, you two seemed to have been reaching for that window. I had forgotten it was there. I will have to fix that," Felis said. He shoved Spike, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle into the room and closed the door behind him.

"Quick, the window!" Dual said. He stepped on Evergreen again and motioned for Sweetie Belle to get on him, but then the window was sealed by some kind of foam that quickly hardened, making escape through there impossible.

"Damn he's fast," Evergreen said, shoving Dual off of him, "but there's one thing he didn't count on. Our powers. Daring's already out and hopefully help will be arriving soon. In the meantime Apple Bloom, can you get a key or a drill or something to get us out of here."

"Okay, back up," she said. She then took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and clinched her body. After a few moments she opened her eyes, "Anything?" They all shook their heads. "Oh, this may not be the best time to tell y'all this but...my powers have always been kinda ify if you know what ah mean."

"No Apple Bloom, we don't. Please elaborate," Evergreen said.

"Well, they don't always work, persay."

"They've always worked before!" Evergreen finally exploded.

"Well that's because y'all were never there for the dozens of times I couldn't get them to work."

"Dozens?!" Evergreen sat back down against a wall. "You can't even materialize a light or anything, I can barely see shit in here. So, any guesses on what's this guy's deal?"

"Oh we already know," Sweetie Belle said, "he's a robot." Evergreen stared blankly at her. "He's a what?"

"A robot, a machine. Well half a machine. He told us everything on our way down."

"He sure does love to talk," Spike interjected.

"He told us how he was the scientist, Felix Data, but the storm made him super smart and stuff, even smarter than before, but it did something to his body, and he was dying, so he built himself a new body, and put all his organs into like his brain and heart and lungs and stuff, but now those are starting to die too, so he's going to take our's, our organs. And also kill us."

"That was kind of implied."

"Well, the only thing left to do is wait, I guess," Spike said.

They all gave what seemed like a unified sigh, when Evergreen said, "Since there is a pretty decent chance that we all may die, and we're in a small dark room, who wants to have sex?"

"No." The others said in unison.

*    *    *    *    *

Scootaloo and Thunder Runner were sitting at a cafe having just recently finished their meal. "Mmmm, I don't know about you, but that was awesome," Scootaloo said. Thunder nodded and smiled. "So," she asked, "you never told me what you got arrested for," she asked bluntly.

Thunder choked a bit on his water and after a bit of coughing, tried to change the topic. "So, (ack) the water here is really nice... um... it's refreshing...and..."

"Neither of us are leaving until you tell me," Scootaloo said with a smile. Thunder relented eventually as Scootaloo continued to press him. At first he couldn't find the words. He knew he should tell her, but he didn't know what it would mean to her, what it would mean for where they were going, if they were going anywhere. He knew the truth would turn away most fillies, but he also knew that Scootaloo wasn't like most fillies.

"Well...uh... back in Trottingham... I was friends with this one colt, who was my neighbor, since we were both foals. But, when we got to being teenagers... he stopped hanging out with me... him and his other friends even made fun of me. One day... they played a prank on me at school... a really bad prank. That night, I made sure neither him or any of his family were home... and I tried to burn his house down. I took a bit of newspaper, lit it, and put it through their mail slot, but I didn't realize their cat was there. The door was locked, so to put it out I... I got on my hind legs... stuck my... you-know-what through the slot... and I tried to piss it out. That's when his mom got home and called the police."

For a few seconds they both just sat there, although for Thunder it felt like an eternity. He almost certain that she would be disgusted with him, that she would run off and never even speak to him again. He was certain he blew the best thing that had ever happened to him. Scootaloo's reaction was not what he had expected, and at first he couldn't decide if it was better or worse.

"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA," Scootaloo burst with laughter. Thunder thought she was laughing like the ponies in Trottingham laughed at him, but that wasn't the case. There was something about her laugh. It wasn't mocking or cynical, it was more... infectious. Thunder soon found himself laughing along with her. They laughed together for a good minute before calming down.

"That is just... oh, you shouldn't have been afraid to tell me that."

"I didn't know how you'd react. Since we're on the topic, why did you get arrested?"

"That? That can be summed up pretty quickly. You know that guy in our group, Evergreen?"

"Yeah."

"Fuck that guy. He got us blamed as accomplices to his shit when we didn't even do anything," Thunder laughed a bit to himself, "What's so funny?"

"That's the first time I've ever heard you swear. You're the only girl in the group who would."

"Yeah, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle would never talk like that. I on the other hoof, always just speak my mind."

The two smiled, but this was quickly interrupted by the arrival of Daring. He ran to the table (almost knocking it over in the process) and breathed heavily while attempting to form words. "What's wrong?" Scootaloo asked.

"Well, I don't exercise very often, so after running for a while I get really..." Scootaloo looked at him, "Right, not what you meant. We've got trouble. Big trouble."

*    *    *    *    *

Dr. Felix was standing in front of the operating table in his basement laboratory, assembling his tools, thinking about which parts he should take from which pony. The one filly seemed to be in the apple family, judging by her accent. They're always from good, hard working stock. I think I'll take her heart. Now, I wonder how the implication of dragon parts would-

Felix suddenly turned and fired his hoof canon at what first appeared to being nothing, but manifested as a young stallion once he was struck by the canon. The stallion was blasted against the wall and fell to the ground severely dazed. Felix walked over to him and crouched in order to get close to the stallion's face. "You little foals sure are stupid. Even if I didn't have thermal trackers, did you honestly think that would work?"

"No." Thunder said. Felix raised an eyebrow, and was clonked on the head with what felt like a metal pipe. He turned around to Scootaloo and Daring, the latter of which was holding said pipe and was likely expecting it to do more damage than it actually did.

"No, give it here," Scootaloo said. Daring did so and she said, "You've got to do it more like this." She swung the pipe at her accelerated speed and knocked Dr. Data across the room into a wall of shelves holding many beakers and various other glass objects. Scootaloo grabbed the nearby keys on a counter and tossed them to Daring.

"Free the others. I've got this guy." Daring went into the next room to look for the cell, and Thunder grabbed the pipe and stood next to Scootaloo across from Data. He stood up, various bits of glass tearing his artificial skin, exposing the metallic components that lied beneath. "Holy shit, he's a robot!" Scootaloo exclaimed in surprise.

"Yes," he said, arming his hoof canon, "I'm a robot." He fired and the two ponies ducked out of the way. Scootaloo ran at him and struck him at super fast speeds and continued to circle the room and hit him. Data quickly calculated her average speed and likely approaches each time she struck, and swiftly extended his hoof, which Scootaloo sped right into and spun into the far wall.

Thunder charged at him with the pipe but was hit in the stomach and then again on the back, promptly sending him to the ground. "Your abilities really are fascinating. Do all of you have one?" Thunder looked up in anger at Data, blood trickling from his mouth. "Well, I very much look forward to dissecting you each to find the cause of these phenomena. Although, against my better judgement, you have made me very irritated, so I think I'll cause you a bit more pain before I end your life."

"Let 'im go," Apple Bloom said. "Now, fer lockin' us up, we're gonna have to beat the livin' daylights outta ya, and it's eight against one, and those odds are lookin' mighty-" Data armed his hoof canon, but also revealed that his other hoof could turn into a tazer-like  device. "Oh... to be honest, that plan sounded a lot better when ah started that sentence."

"Look," Evergreen said, "Maybe we don't have to fight. I don't know about you, but I seem to be the only pony here who's considered diplomacy. Look, scientist guy, you seem like a nice pony, and we're not bad kids. Well, besides killing our probation worker I guess." Spike kicked Evergreen in the shin. "Ow... my point is, what do you say? Truce?" Evergreen extended his hoof to Dr. Data. Data proceeded to blast him off his hooves with electricity from the tazer.

"That's it!" Apple Bloom shouted. She got on her front hooves and bucked Data right in the chest. Each pony then proceeded to charge and tackle Data, but he was too strong, and beat them down all the same. Daring looked to Sweetie Belle, who was cowering in a corner. "Sweetie Belle. We could use a little help here!"

"I can't, I'm... I'm just..."

"You've got power, use it!"

"What if I hurt..."

"Would you rather we be hurt, or dead!" Data grabbed Daring and threw him against the wall. Sweetie Belle suddenly let out a high pitched shriek that caused all remaining glass beakers in the room to break, which cause several chemicals to mix and combust. All the ponies covered their ears and Dr. Data, having the sound directed at him, literally fell to pieces under the extreme sonar attack. "I did it. Ha! YES!" a part of the flaming ceiling then fell directly in front of Sweetie Belle. "AAH!"

"Come on, we have to get out of here," Spike said. The young ponies ran out of the back of the burning house to avoid being seen, and only when they were far enough distance that they could barely see the smoke, they stopped to catch their breath. "Ok, it's official. No more school projects," Evergreen said.

The group began their walk home, and after a few minutes Spike remembered a topic he wanted to discuss. "Hey guys, I was talking with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle earlier, about how I thought it would be best if we... you know... bring Twilight in on our situation."

"Yeah, that doesn't sound like a terrible fucking idea at all. Let's take the crazy mare who's been hunting for super powered ponies, and obsessively trying to prove we killed our probation worker, and tell her that we're a bunch of super powered ponies who killed their probation worker," Evergreen said.

"I mean more like ease her into it, show her you're all good ponies, then explain to her what's going on. She's really a nice mare, she's just a bit obsessed because she really wants to prove to Celestia that she can handle more serious assignments, and it's eating her up that she's so close to solving her case but she can't prove anything. I'm just hoping that we can help her let go."

"I'm ok with it." Scootaloo said. Thunder approved as well, and so did Daring and Dual. "Fine, we'll let her join the club."

"Now," Daring announced, "while we're sharing thoughts and feelings, I would like to acknowledge the MVP of that little nightmare we just had, Sweetie Belle, who did fucking beautifully back there." Sweetie Belle's cheeks began to turn a bit red.

"You have the power, and the only way you can make it your own is if you use it. We're all proud of you Sweets," Scootaloo said. Sweetie Belle's cheeks were crimson now. "Please stop with the mushy stuff, you're going to make me cry... or puke," Evergreen said.

"Wait..." Thunder said. They all stopped and looked at him, "What are we going to do for the school project?" They all thought for a moment. "Fuck it, we'll make a volcano."

*    *    *    *    *

That night Spike was walking up the stairs of the library to go to bed when he noticed Twilight fiddling around with something on the first floor. "Hey, Twilight, what'cha doing?"

"Oh, nothing. Just examining some stuff I found at that burnt out house earlier today."

"Oh, anything interesting?"

"No, not really."

"Well, I'm going to bed, goodnight."

"Goodnight." Spike went upstairs and Twilight turned back to what she was doing. Spike hadn't noticed that Twilight was working on the head of a certain cyborg, using tools to uncover the data held in... well, Data. This is amazing. This technology is so advanced. I can barely work with it. Some of the head was burnt, but she thought she could access most of the memory banks. Let's see if I can get a projection through the optics onto that wall. I know the ponies went there, because I sent them there, I just need to know what happened. Just as components of the head began to turn on, Twilight analyzed the thought she just had, and put her head in her hooves.

Oh Goddess, I sent them there, to some robotic freaks house that burnt down later. It's a miracle they weren't hurt. What would Rarity or Applejack have said. Oh, they could have been killed for all I know. Just then, a picture appeared on the wall. At first it was just static, (most likely due to fire damage) but eventually a clear picture appeared of a small group of ponies and a dragon. "Look, scientist guy, you seem like a nice pony, and we're not bad kids. Well, besides killing our probation worker I guess."

Oh. My. Goddess

To Be Continued...