Episode I: Evil Never Dies
Arsenal and Swan: The Queen Gadget Saga
Episode I: Evil Never Dies
Sand blew viciously as the wind roared with ferocity through the air. The sun, obscured by the sandstorm, beat down upon the girl struggling to move forward. Her legs struggled to push through the mounds of sand clusters ahead. She held her arm above her face, squinting her eyes in a fruitless attempt to see anything ahead of her. Nothing but a flurry of sand was visible to her.
From head to toe, she was draped in thick cloth, covering most of her face and her body entirely. There were small eyeholes, her eyes protected by thick green goggles. She held her mouth closed, breathing through her nostrils. Sand particles flew up her nose causing her to have to stop and cough on occasion.
Then, as if no sandstorm had happened at all, the sand evaporated, the wind’s roar dissipating. Silence now permeated the air, the cloaked girl’s vision completely restored. The sun shone brightly down, instantly heating the desert to an unbearable degree. It stung Soanta’s eyes as she held up her arm to shield herself from the blinding sun. A tumbleweed blew by as a lizard crawled out from behind a rock.
Sonata let out a sigh. She ripped off the cloth, revealing what she was truly wearing. Her skin was light blue, her hair striped in an equal contrast of dark and light blue. She had violet eyes, wearing purple cuffs with spikes on her wrists. She wore a dark purple jacket, a pink skirt, and light purple boots.
The siren put her hand up to her ear, “This Mindscape place is like so weird. First, there’s a sandstorm then there isn’t. What’s up with that?” Sonata said in a happy-go lucky tone.
A rather annoyed voice responded after a groan over the small headset Sonata was wearing in her ear, “It’s literally the world of imagination, created by psychics, remember?! You’re so dumb!”
“Nuh uh!” Sonata retorted, “You are!”
“No, you are!”
“No, you are!”
“Would both of you just shut the hell up!” A dominating, angered voice intervened. “The Omega should be close Sonata. We need that to gain the power we so rightfully deserve.” Though Sonata could not see it, she could picture the demonic grin that formed upon Adagio’s face as she finished speaking.
Sonata wiped the sweat dripping from her forehead. She glanced at her wrist on which she was wearing a large purple watch like device that showed a small blinking yellow dot a few miles ahead of her. This indicated where the Omega, the object she was looking for, was very close.
“Okay, I like totally see it, I’ll get on that for realsies, Adagio.” Sonata said as she began to nod her head in confidence as if the girl on the receiving end could see the gesture.
“Just hurry!” Adagio demanded.
Sonata jumped in fear and began to move forward. She placed her hand over her eyebrows as if her appendage was a visor. The siren glanced to her left to see nothing but miles of sand and a few cacti. To her right was more of the same. However, she kept moving forward in fear of Adagio. The heat was nothing compared to one of her punishments.
Soon, she came to a jagged cliffside causing her to stop immediately in her tracks. Sand fell off the cliff down into a forested area below. Sonata gazed down and gulped at the sheer scale of the drop below. One step forward would leave her flatter than a pancake. She spotted a river below, but was not in the mood to take a quick dip in death.
“Um, there’s a cliff,” Sonata reported into the earpiece.
“Oh, my, I’ll get that for you,” came a rather unsettling, maniacal female voice, “Sometimes this place just has a mind of it’s own. Hahaha!” She cackled as the forest below began to rise up, shaking the earth around Sonata.
Sonata nearly lost her balance, her knees buckling as the forest soon became one with the desert in front of her. The water flowed down a roaring stream separating the forest into two parts, one to the left, the other the right. Buzzing was audible in the distance through the air as the leaves on the tree blew in the soft wind.
The siren entered the brush, pushing aside weeds and branches. Bugs whizzed by her face, as she traversed down a dirt path, the sound of the water still audible to her. Sonata saw a cute chipmunk shoot by as if it was going at the speed of light. After she admired the wildlife, the girl gazed down upon her wrist, the blinking spot getting closer and closer.
Soon, she reached a clearing where no trees where in view for miles. A few meters in front of her lay gray stone rubble, remnants of ruins long decimated. She walked up to the rubble and began to grab it getting ready to move it. With a huff and a strong pull, she moved the rubble aside, revealing the item she was searching for.
It was a circular gray metal orb, glowing with a red aura. The metal seemed to move in a pattern, snake-like in the way it did so. It seemed to be teeming with life as if it somehow was an animate object. Sonata’s eyes grew wide, a smile growing upon her face. It was as if the metal was calling to her, beckoning the girl forward closer to it.
Suddenly, everything dancing around in her mind faded away into nothingness. It was as if the world around had been washed away. The only thing keeping her attention was the glowing aura resonating in her eyes. Slowly, she began to reach for it, her hands getting closer and closer until…
“Don’t touch the damn metal!” The crazy voice shouted over the earpiece.
Sonata immediately snapped back into the world like a rubberband. “Huh, what?” She said, shaking her head in an attempt to regain her ground. Her hand snapped back into place on the ground before she came in contact with the ominous metal.
“The Omega is very sensitive, dear, we can’t have you transforming all willy nilly in the middle of nowhere. Now, can we? After all, I need to train you as well,” The crazy, yet soothing female voice cooed into Sonata’s ear. “These heroes are not to be taken lightly.”
“Right, um, so how do I like pick it up?” Sonata asked with the usual clueless yet happy look on her face.
Aria groaned, “With the special gloves the Master gave you. You are so incompetent.”
“No, you’re inconstance!”
“That’s not even how you say it and you are!”
“No, you are!”
“Shut the hell up and bring me my metal or I will grind all three of you into nothing but dust and bone with my bare hands,” The psychotic voice threatened with a horrific tone. It was as if the very notion pleased her in some strange manner.
Sonata pulled out a set of silvery metallic gloves from her purse. She placed them on her hands and reached down for the metal. Quickly as she picked it up, she yanked out a small glass capsule with her free hand. It popped open with a press of a button and the siren placed the metal inside of it. As it sealed closed, she placed the capsule in her purse and zipped it closed.
However, as she finished zipping up her purse, she noticed something on the ground. It was a folded up piece of old, torn parchment. The siren snatched it up and unfolded it. It showed a small island like area with a black X marked on the bottom right in a very specific area as if to indicate something of great importance.. She read the title, The Omega Vault? Wonder what that place is? I’m starving, maybe they serve tacos!
“I found something else,” Sonata said in a sing-songy tone.
“What is it, my apprentice?” The psychotic voice questioned.
“Some map looking thingy, it says the Omega Vault or whatever. Do they serve food there? Do they serve tacos?” Sonata asked, her stomach growling. Images of tacos danced in her mind as if nothing else in the world mattered besides tacos.
At first, nothing but inaudible mumbling came over the earpiece. Then, a cackle emanated throughout Sonata’s ear canal, causing her to jump a little, “Ahahahahaha! It does exist! I’ve found it! Ahem, we found it,” Her voice became calmer, “They serve something much better than tacos at that establishment. Come back, my apprentice. Well done, for your first mission.”
Sonata cheered in victory as a swirling pink aura surrounded her. In the blink of an eye, the siren was gone as if she was never there at all. The landscape around her had changed entirely into a bustling city. The desert and forest were nowhere in sight as if they were a figment of mere imagination.
________________________________
“So, that’s the situation, Princesses.” A blonde haired, blue-eyed man in a suit and red tie said into the monitor in front of him. He held a briefcase in his hands, wore thin-rimmed glasses and would be described as a pretty boy. He wore khakis and black dress shoes to finish off his ensemble.
On the receiving end of the monitor sat the four Princesses of Equestria, all on a separate golden thrones cushioned with velvet red material which was quite warm and comfortable.. Celestia sat in the biggest throne, her mane flowing with radiance as always, while the other three sat on three smaller golden thrones slightly below her. Their mouths were agape in shock at the sudden news.
“A villain from your world contacted the Sirens?!” Twilight said in a mix of confusion and intrigue., “But why? They have no power and Sunset hasn’t told me anything about them in a long time. Who is this Queen Gadget?”
The man, Elliott Hanson, sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose, “She’s a psychic who got a hold of some Omega, a living metal with the ability to grant great power or horrible fate. She became fused with it giving her three octopus-like pincers on her back. She’s caused more death than the plague and she’s virtually unstoppable. No matter how many times we lock her up, she finds a way out. All I ask is for your aid.” He explained with a bow.
“Well if the Sirens are involved that can’t be good for both our worlds or Sunset’s for that matter,” Celestia said with worry evident in her voice.
“What do you suggest we do, Elliott? We’ve dealt with H.E.R.O or Heroic Enforcement and Registration for many years with these kind of inter-dimensional incidents. Your agency recruits and trains the best agents and superheroes and has the best record for super villain defeat among any other agency.” Luna asked, turning to the monitor. “But it does beg the question, are these heroes up for the challenge?” Luna cocked a brow.
Elliott nodded, “Yes, I’d trust these heroes with my planet and life.” He said this with assurance and confidence.
“Then,” Cadence intervened, “What do you believe we should do, Elliott?”
“I suggest we get moving. Deploy Twilight to meet with Sunset and I’ll gather my heroes, but first, I want you to decide if these two are the right ones for the job.” Elliott reached into his suitcase and pulled out a small black flash drive which he plugged into the monitor. “First, is Jason Jetts a.k.a Arsenal,” He said as he let the footage play.
The princesses watched as an image of a hero suited in silvery, gleaming metal, striped up the legs and arms with blue metallic paint. His helmet was a simple faceplate with a bright green glow surrounding it, It had eye slits and a mouth slit. In the center was a red chestplate with a yellow A in the center. The monitor showed grainy security footage with a watermark, Bragha Industries in the top right corner. It began to show how Jason was forced into a suit and made into a weapon for the United States Government. The footage showed him struggling and screamed in terror as he was forced into a room by two large beefy bodybuilder type security guards. He was then forced into a metal suit which began to close around his body as if it was a predator closing its jaws about to swallow it’s prey.
“Basically, Brandon Bragha, some crazy nut scientist working with Jason forced him into this suit and made him a sort of slave to the US government. The kid finally had enough and quit, he was a scientist, not a soldier. Then, he met a group of heroes like himself, who taught him to fight and to matter in this world. He’s defeated Bragha, MK-2, and Warlock among many other foes. He’s courageous and selfless, not to mention he can be a little dopey at times,” Elliott paused, “But he’s a strong asset and an amazing hero.” Elliott explained.
More footage played of the hero. It was black and white and a little grainy but Arsenal could clearly be seen shifting his hand into a large sword. He tilted it sideways as if it could catch something. It did, a bus fell on top of it, saving the children and driver onboard. He could hear the relieved cheers of the survivors after they realized their lives had just been saved. The reel cut to another shot of him transforming his right hand into a an AK-47 and shooting at a swarm of robotic foes, blowing them to kingdom come. Then, she shifted his left hand into a sharp blade, slashing at a metallic tentacle. Queen Gadget was in frame.
Elliott paused the footage, zooming in on the girl who wore the sadistic smile, striking her tentacle at Arsenal, “That’s Queen Gadget. It’s hard to really see her, but that’s her.” Elliott said with disgust in his voice as if he was repulsed to merely mention her name. The man cleared his throat, “Anyway, the next hero,” He said, switching back to the footage.
The screen then went to black as Elliott continued his speech, “Next up is our last hero, Jessica Swanson a.k.a Swan. She’s sort of got a rough exterior but she’s loyal and soft hearted. She grew up in isolation, on an island, called Metania. It’s located within the Bermuda Triangle. Anyways,” Elliott paused for a second clicking on the remote in his hand.
An image of a black twin-tailed hero wearing a glittering silvery mask with a small orange swan-like beak coming off the tip of her nose. The hero called Swan also wore a glittering rainbow decorated skirt and black boots. To complete the ensemble, she had a symbol of a Swan in a golden chestplate placed in the center of her chest. The hero also wielded a wooden bowstaff.
“She is an Elementalist, or “in other words”, someone who can use all five elements, fire, wind, water, earth, air, and electricity. As you can see in the photo,” Elliott zoomed in on the staff with a small remote he held in his hand which controlled the monitor, “she’s wielding a staff made of Pinesteel, a rare wooden metal that’s unbreakable. After her village was attacked, she trained with her grandfather and became the elementalist to not only beat the tyrant, Tao-Shin, but unite her divided people. She’s also incredibly intelligent and works as a liaison, hoping to bring her country out from the shadows and into the world. But, I’ll let the footage speak for itself,”
Another reel of footage began to unfold in front of the princess's eyes. Swan stood in her uniform and blasted a wave of wind at a large enemy encased in rock. The rock creature was blasted to nothing but mere chunks. She then screamed out, “Flame Wave!” as she did, she slashed her staff upward sending a tidal wave of fire up toward a flying stone enemy. It shattered into a million pieces. Another clip played in much higher quality where it showed Swan giving a speech.
“My country has been divided, but through negotiation and through perseverance, we became united as one. I believe we can unite with this world as well. As you know, they’re threats out there. Threats that if not addressed, could wipe us all out in an instant. Black or white, rich or poor, hero or civilian. These threats could unite not only our worlds, but humanity itself.”
After Swan finished her address, the crowd cheered. She began to walk off stage, waving to the crowd who snapped photos with a ferocity and determination like that of a cat stalking a mouse. The reel ended, the screen fading to blackness. Elliott’s face reappeared as he took the hard drive out of the monitor.
“So,” Eliott cleared his throat, “What do you think?”
The princesses glanced at one another, each contemplating the heroes they were just shown. Silence permeated the air as Celestia glanced back at the monitor.
“Our options are limited as it is. Your heroes show promise to aid in our defense.” She looked at Twilight, “What do you think Twilight?”
“Me?” Twilight gulped, but then closed her eyes, pushing away her nerves and using her friendship skills to respond. She opened her eyes, took a deep breath, and looked directly at Elliott as she said, “If you believe they’re the right heroes for the job then we’ll trust your judgement.”
Elliott nodded, “Well, they’re the best I got, so yes, they’re the most qualified. I’ll deploy them asap. Elliott out.” He said as he pressed a button on the remote in his hand, ending the call.
The monitor was raised back up into the air with the alicorn princesses magic, a green aura surrounding it. A small slit closed up in the ceiling, sealing it away from unwanted eyes. This wouldn’t be the first Equestrian secret kept by the Princesses.
“Twilight, first and foremost you must take this with you,” Princess Cadence said, levitating a small cerulean box toward the Princess.
Twilight watched it as it moved up to her, the purple alicorn’s horn lighting aglow to catch the item being handed over to her, “What’s this for Cadence?”
“Let’s just say, it’ll help your magical abilities in the human world. A little gift from us and H.E.R.O. Equestria’s never faced a threat as deadly as this.” Cadence looked Twilight straight in the eyes. “Twilight, we really need you and the others.” She smiled with confidence, “But I know I can trust my own sister in law.”
Celestia turned to Twilight, “Contact your friends in Ponyville and tell them I need to see them. After they arrive, I want you to go to Canterlot High and meet up with Sunset and your other friends and explain the situation.”
Twilight nodded, narrowing her eyes in determination, “I won’t let you down, Princess.”
____________________________
Sunshine shone down upon the city, no clouds present in the sky. Birds chirped in the distance, and the busy city buzzed with all sorts of activity. However, today was not the celebration of a parade or a fun day in the sun, no today was much more chaotic. Smoke billowed into the air as buildings crumbled into the streets below. Cars were crushed like mere insects under the weight of the glass and bricks.
Robots flew through the sky wielding machine guns for a left arm and a rocket launchers for its right. On both their shoulders was a single gear that stretched from its shoulder to it’s back. It was a rusty bronze in color and had a sadistic smirk painted across it’s face. The robot's eyes glowed red as they flew quite quickly through the air, a jet-pack built into their backs, each one wreaking all sorts of havoc.
Buildings were blown to bits and highways reduced to nothing but smashed cars and highway debris. People down below scrambled to escape the disaster ensuing around them, screams of terror being let out as they did so. Some machine gun fire mowed down fleeing citizens, while some got to safer areas, their fates unknown.
A loud rumbling could be heard in the distance. It was reminiscent of the sound of a large tractor. A huge blood red robot emerged from behind a building. He smashed through it with ease, sending pieces of glass and debris flying everywhere, raining down on the fleeing pedestrians below.
It was a Tank version of the Gear robot codenamed Smiley, who not only had the creepiest, most sadistic smile of any of the robots, but his eyes moved up in such a way it was as if they were smiling as well. The robot also packed two rocket launchers for arms with six missile silos on both his back and legs. Turrets were mounted on his shoulders and he had tank-like lower body, moving around on a tractor.
Sitting atop the light purple spiral of a building was a woman, smiling sadistically. She had three large tentacles with three sharp pincers on each and wore a silver metallic crown with a single glowing red jewel in the center. Her attire was a dark black short skirt with spikes coming out the ends and ruby red boots. She had blood red eyes and auburn hair.
Finally! Finally Finally! This world will be mine! It will get what it deserves, the cleansing will come. Just wait Violet, be patient, girl. Besides, with the map, every piece of the puzzle is fitting together perfectly. Ahahahaha! The evil villain thought as she cackled aloud not being able to contain herself until she was interrupted by a male voice.
“Stop this at once, Violet!” Arsenal ordered, hovering in the air with his jet boots. He placed his hands on his hips, the center of his belt glowing red.
Gadget climbed to the top of the spiral, spotting Arsenal a few feet away from her. A smirk instantly grew on her face as she spoke, “Jason, Jason, Jason, what will I ever do with you?” She shrugged, “I mean I knew you were an idiot, but how dumb can one hero really be? It boggles the mind. Ahahahahaha!”
“You, shut up, ummm… idiot!” Arsenal struggled to find a comeback.
“Still not a big reader, I see,” Gadget giggled, “That’s okay, we’ll still be together when I take over all of creation. You’ll be my little toy, darling,” The villainess disappeared and then instantly reappeared quite close to Arsenal. “And I know how much you’d like that, sweetie,” She cooed seductively into his ear as she licked the side of his faceplate.
“In your dreams, crazy train!” A female voice shouted as a whoosh was heard throughout the air. Gadget disappeared and the wind attack Swan had just sent upward nearly smashed Arsenal.
“Hey!” Arsenal scowled at Swan who he spotted down below dressed in her usual sparkling costume. “That could’ve killed me ya know!”
“Don’t ‘hey’ me! I just saved your dumbass!” She facepalmed and shook her head. “I swear if I didn’t watch you, you’d die in a flash.”
“I don’t need a babysitter, Swan!” Arsenal retorted, “All that matters is stopping Gadget and saving these people! Even if it means I have to risk my life doing so,” He put his hand to his heart, “I’ll do it.”
Swan blushed and looked away, “Umm… yeah… well, just let’s get this over with or whatever.” She brushed her blonde hair to the side, her cheeks still redder than a tomato.
“Ahhh, if it isn’t Ms. Tsundere, Swan.” Gadget blew a kiss at her and gave a seductive wink, “How lovely you look, as always, trying to impress my sloppy seconds, are we?” Gadget cackled.
Swan’s face got red and she stomped her multiple times foot in frustration as she spoke, “I am not trying to impress anyone! Is it a crime to look good?!”
“Ahahaha! You’re so cute when you’re all flustered, Swan. Anyway, I think it’s time we draw this little part to a much needed close. Gears!” Gadget called up to the robots who halted in place. “Kill these pests. They’re messing with my sanity,” she twisted her head back toward the heroes wearing a creepy chesire grin, “not that I had any to give away in the first place. Ahahahaha!”
The robots converged on both the heroes swooping down in a storm of metal and bullets. Arsenal transformed both of his arms into submachine guns and blasted away at the robots coming at him at lightning fast speed. Swan slashed fire, yelling, “Flame Wave!” as she did so. Many of the robots were decimated, bits of metal and debris fell to the ground below.
More came from the sides as the heroes readied for a counter attack. Arsenal morphed both hands into swords and began slicing and dicing his way through the incoming robots. Occasionally, he dodged some machine gun fire but soon the Gears became nothing but explosions and debris.
Swan turned her staff sideways, closing her eyes as she did so, “Torrent Burst!” The girl cried as her raven colored eyes shot open. A huge burst of water came out both ends. It disintegrated the robots as if it was acid water and not just your run of the mill pond water.
“Oh, Smiley!” Gadget called in a sickly singy songy tone.
Smiley smashed through buildings, crushing cars under his tracks, leaving them flatter than pancakes. One of the buildings was tilted and torn in half. Over a dozen office workers hung off the edge of the building as more held onto beams and other objects in a desperate attempt to survive.
Arsenal flew over and grabbed a man who had just lost his grip. With his free hand, he grabbed a woman and flew down, lowering them to safety. He turned to Swan, “I’ll help the people, you take the robot!” He ordered.
Swan nodded, gazing up at the tank rolling up to her. It seemed to get bigger and bigger until it stopped in front of her. A confident smile began to form upon her face. “Electric Strike!” Swan shouted, raising her staff in the air.
The tank began to blast it’s turrets at her as missiles exploded out of their silos and headed for the hero. Storm clouds began to form above, darkening the skies and everything around them. The tank stopped firing, gazing from left to right, confused at the current moment.
Meanwhile, Arsenal grabbed the final civilian, lowering her to safety. The group of around twenty people he had saved cheered, some even hugging him, and all thanking him. Arsenal just smiled and told them, “You’re welcome.” He glanced over to see Swan standing on a building.
Swan leapt down upon the robot striking it from head to track with a blade of lightning. She turned around, walking away as crackling circuits could be heard behind her. After she was a short distance from the robot, it exploded into chunks of metal and gear.
Arsenal and Swan both confronted Queen Gadget, who looked down upon them as if they were insects, “Smiley! Oh, whatever will I do?” She tapped her finger on her chin as if she was actually thinking about what to do, “I could just get a replacement. That always works. Ahahahahaha!”
“Enough, Violet, drop this, now!” Arsenal ordered angrily. “People are dying! Can't you see that!”
“Don’t call me Violet!” Gadget snapped, “Violet Prescott is dead, she’s been dead for a long time. I’m Queen Gadget, dammit!” She clenched her fist together, tilting her head back, her blood red eyes widening, “I am evil incarnate and evil never dies. Ahahahahaha!” She then gained a seemingly sane complex, well, sane for Queen Gadget at least and changed the subject “Well, I’ve enjoyed our little play date, but it seems my time is up. Don’t look so sad, though, I can’t spend all my time playing when there’s work to be done. Toodles.” Gadget said with a wave of her fingers and a malevolent smirk.
Arsenal charged at Gadget morphing both his hands into blades as he rushed at the villainess at full force ready to take her down at any moment. Swan readied her staff for an attack as well, but before anything could be done, a beam of pink magical energy shot down from the sky. It engulfed Gadget and soon she disappeared, the light dissipating as she did so.
Arsenal struck the spiral and groaned. “Damn it, so close!”
Swan’s mouth was agape, her index finger pointing at the building, “H-how did she do that? She’s never done that before.”
Arsenal crossed his arms, thinking about it for a mere moment, “Yeah, I suppose you’re right. So what?”
“So what?” A serious look came across Swan’s face, her tone changing with her demeanor, “That wasn’t just an ordinary teleport, Arsenal. That was an interdimensional transmission.”
Arsenal scratched his head, “An interdimensional what now?”
“Ugh!” Swan groaned, faceplanting, “She was teleported to another dimension.”
“That’s illegal, besides, no one’s been able to do that since the founding of H.E.R.O.” Arsenal shrugged it off, but then it clicked in his head, “but Gadget is a schemer.” He rubbed his chin.
“She won’t care if it's illegal Arsenal, she’s a villain!” Swan shouted in frustration, “Besides, if she is going somewhere specific we should be able to track the coordinates to this building which we could run through H.E.R.O’s database and find the corresponding coordinates she went to in the opposite world.” The hero blurted out.
“Yeah, I caught none of that, but we should just be able to track the coordinates and find the other world she went to in H.E.R.O’s databases,” Arsenal said as if he had come up with the idea.
Swan groaned, “You are such an idiot sometimes, you know that?”
“What?” Arsenal shrugged, “What’d I do?”
“Clueless as always,” Swan muttered under her breath as a sudden beep came from her pocket. It persisted until Swan answered her cellular phone.
“What’s up boss. Uh huh. Uh huh. Right away? We’ll be right there,” Swan hung up the phone and turned to Arsenal. “The boss wants to see us.”
Arsenal nodded, but couldn’t help notice the building Gadget had been so keen on staying upon. It was odd, colorful with the light purple spiral, orange bricks, and stained glass windows depicting odd things involving ponies. Cordian Industries? Huh?
__________________
Sunset darted toward Canterlot High at a speed Rainbow Dash would be proud of. Her alarm hadn’t gone off and if she wasn’t in homeroom within five minutes, detention would be her fate. Something was off though as the pony turned human girl remembered setting it before she had went to sleep. All she could focus on was this sick, scared, instinctual feeling in her gut.
Since the second she had awoken, Sunset Shimmer had had that feeling. The feeling she got about the sirens and Twilight at the Friendship Games. A nauseating, nagging feeling that something bad was about to happen. Twilight hadn’t responded to her letters in two days but with her new apprentice, Sunset understood she was busier than before.
With four minutes to spare, Sunset spotted the school ahead, but she had arrived at a rather busy crosswalk. She sighed and pushed the button, waiting to cross the street. She tapped her foot, her arms folded as she waited impatiently, praying to Celestia she wouldn’t be late.
That’s when Sunset spotted it. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a bright flash of pink magic. She quickly glanced up toward the left and saw a beam of Equestrian looking magic. It dissipated as quickly as it had appeared.
Sunset gulped, a lump forming in her throat, fear coursing through her very being. Something is definitely going on. I need to tell my friends the minute I get to school. I knew it, whenever I get that feeling, something bad happens. Sunset sighed as she crossed the street and made it to her destination. More and more it seemed as if her bad feeling premonition was coming true.
The girl burst through the door and entered homeroom just in the nick of time. One minute remained as Ms. Cherilee called out her name as if she were saying it for the second or third time.
“Here,” Sunset said, panting. She quickly took her seat next to Rainbow Dash and directly behind Applejack.
“Ya just made it Sunset. It ain’t like ya ta be tardy no more,” Applejack said, turning to face her friend.
Sunset couldn’t get the image of the beam of magic out of her mind. It was like a mosquito biting at her skin, but no matter how many times she wanted to just swat it away, she couldn’t. Her eyes were wide and she was totally zoned out. She contemplated different possibilities about what had happened.
Is it an Equestrian villain on the loose? Did someone come through the portal? What is going on? Sunset needed to get to the bottom of this and she after all she was intelligent and resourceful, she could figure something out.
“Hello, earth to Sunset,” Rainbow Dash said playfully, waving her hands in front of Sunset’s face.
“Oh, what, yeah, my alarm didn’t go off. I’m lucky I made it,” Sunset said with a chuckle as the bell rang which signaled homeroom’s beginning.
All throughout homeroom, Sunset thought of the Equestrian beam of magic she had seen. It wasn’t a spell she was familiar with and that bothered her even more. She had to get to the bottom of this. Before the girl knew it, the bell rang, signaling the five minutes she had to scramble to Trigonometry.
School went by like a blur as Sunset’s focus remained solely on that strange beam of light she had seen earlier that day. The image played over and over again in her mind like a song set to repeat. Over and over again, she saw that pink magic, the feeling in her stomach getting worse by the second.
Something is definitely wrong, I need to talk with my friends. They should be waiting out front by the statue. Maybe they’ll know what to do.
Sunset placed a few books in her open locker, slamming the door shut. She turned and left the school, opening the front door to see the usual sights. Buses were lined up to pick up students whilst others walked in groups, conversing among themselves. In front of the statue were her six friends, but that’s when she noticed it.
It wasn’t just her six friends standing in front of the statue waiting to walk home with their friend. Princess Twilight was standing there as well with a look on her face that spelled doom. Sunset’s suspicions were confirmed without a doubt in her mind. Something was going on, and it wasn’t good. With a gulp, step, by, step Sunset walked down the stairs slowly approaching her friends. Thoughts of possible danger danced around in her head as if her mind was putting on a twisted play.
“Sunset,” Princess Twilight said with a smile, waving as her friend approached the group.
“Hi, Twilight,” Sunset rubbed the back of her neck, “it’s great to see you and all, but I kind of know why you’re here.” Sunset’s eyes and facial expression grew immensely serious, “I know something’s wrong, I saw magic. Equestrian magic!”
Twilight sighed, shaking her head, muttering to herself, “Oh, no, no, no, this isn’t good. She must already be here.”
“Uh who’s she? Rainbow Dash chimed in, cocking a brow.
“Queen Gadget, the villain from the other world.” The princess ushered her friends to follow her, “We need to go somewhere more private. This deals with the fate of all worlds.”
As the group began walking, they glanced at one another, wide-eyed, intrigued, and frightened all at the same time. Pinkie simply skipped along, humming to herself, a boing noise being made out of thin air with each hop. Fluttershy gulped and muttered in fear,
“I really, really don’t want to know who this villain is.”
________________________
Jason and Jessica stood in a large golden elevator heading up in direction. Jason had hazel hair and eyes, was rather slender, wore a red Star Wars t-shirt and purple shorts, as well as black Nike sneakers. He adjusted his thin-rimmed brown glasses as he impatiently awaited their arrival on their destined floor.
Jessica stood with her arms folded, her mind on her political matters. She had long flowing blonde hair, a small bust, wore a white frilly dress and red high heels. She didn’t use makeup much as her blue eyes brought out the beauty in her face enough and she never felt the need for any.
Jason tapped his fingers, one by one, on the gold railing of the elevator. His mind was solely focused on Gadget. She was always one step ahead, executing plan b before plan a ever got started. It drove him nuts, to the point where he either tapped his hands or shook his leg.
“Jason!” Swan snapped, “Stop that, god, it’s so irritating.”
“Sorry,” He said as he stopped tapping his fingers. “So, you think Gadget is after something?” Jason quickly asked attempting to change the subject.
“Probably,” Swan answered, her gaze still on the velvet covered floor. “But, what is she after and why?”
The elevator dinged and the door opened up. Some agents dressed in their usual suits and ties got onto the elevator as the heroes exited. Jason greeted one of them as the doors closed behind them.
What lie before them was a long hallway with rooms on each side. Large fluorescent lights hung above from the ceiling. In between some of the rooms were small luxurious couches varying in size and color. Some offices had plants sitting outside in front of the door.
Silence permeated the air as both heroes walked down the hallway and took a left. Soon, they came to a room marked Briefing Room 102 and Jason twisted the knob. He ushered for Swan to go inside, saying, “Ladies first.”
“I can open a door by myself!” Swan snapped, walking inside the room. Her cheeks were tomato red and in her mind she did love the gesture, but she couldn’t show it, that wasn't who she was. “And I don’t need to be guided in either! You’re so stupid!” She stomped her foot and took a seat at the comfortable computer chairs set out around an oval see-through glass table.
“Sheesh, okay, sorry,” Jason rolled his eyes and closed the door behind them, flicking on the light switch to his left. The room lit up, showing it was a white painted room with green and red patterned tiled floor. To the right was a monitor and to the left was a portrait of a group of heroes.
Jason took a seat as Elliott walked into the room. Elliott adjusted his glasses, clutching his briefcase as he got down to business.
“You both know Gadget attacking the city today was not a coincidence. She was gathering coordinates to a world known as The Canterlot Highverse. At 0100 hours, we received a red flag that said someone from our dimension made contact with three girls from their world. As you know, that’s illegal without the right permission.” Elliott paused and cleared his throat.
“Who are these three girls?” Swan asked.
“Adagio, Aria, and Sonata or The Sirens,” Elliott answered, reaching into his briefcase. He tossed pictures of three cartoonish looking grins, two with evil grins on their face and one with a more goofy, clueless kind of smile. “They tried to take over the CHverse before through mind control. They lost their power, but they could be desperate to regain some sort of power.”
Jason swiveled around in his chair, “Gadget always has a plan. These girls are just a piece of the pie.” He finished as his chair stopped spinning.
“Probably,” Elliott nodded in agreement, “But, we received another red flag when the Mindscape was accessed.
“The Mindscape?!” Jessica and Jason gasped in unison.
Mindscape, the place where she… where Sarah died. The shock of the the mention of the place made Jason’s eyes go wide. He gripped the table, his head spinning. That hell created by psychics that was meant to be a place to police human thought and provoke imagination, but when it was abused for power, it was created as a utopia for psychics and used to spark imagination in humanity.
“Jason, are you okay?” Swan asked in a concerned voice, placing her left hand on top of his shoulder. “I know the Mindscape is the place where…” Swan couldn’t dare finish the sentence. So many lives lost, including Sarah Prescott, her best friend, the only one who truly understood and accepted her.
“...Sarah died, I know.” Jason said, smiling and moving Swan’s hand away. He sat back down in the computer chair, “Don’t worry about me. We have a universe to save.”
Swan blushed, pulling her hand away, “I wasn’t worried!” She quickly thought up an excuse, “I just don’t need you dying on me so I have to deal with all your work.”
Jason chuckled, “Okay, Jess.”
“Anyway,” Elliott interjected, gaining the immediate attention of both the heroes, “We believe Gadget is trying to locate the Alpha.”
“The Alpha?” Swan questioned curiously.
“Three pieces of Omega said to hold the power to grant the user’s deepest desire and they would gain abilities based of of those wishes, one by one, each getting stronger until the ultimate Omega weapon is created.” Elliott explained.
“So,” Swan folded her arms, “Cut to the chase. What do you want us to do?”
“I need you to go to the CHverse, rendezvous with Sunset Shimmer and Princess Twilight and then report back to me. We need to discuss our plan of attack, meanwhile, I have some other matters to attend to.” Elliott adjusted his glasses, “Are you ready to deploy, heroes?”
Jess and Jason both nodded their heads in unison, “Hell yeah!”
_____________________________
Darkness filled the room surrounding Sonata in nothing but blackness. She attempted to move her arms and legs, but she seemed to be strapped down to something cold and metallic. Panic began to settle in and fear hit her like a ton of bricks. She screamed, but sound came out of her mouth. She soon discovered she had duct tape over her mouth.
Suddenly, a blinding light flicked on above her. The beams were so bright she had to look away for a second as the light stung her eyes like a swarm of hornets. Next to her, standing upon her metallic tentacles was Queen Gadget.
“Shh, shh,” Queen Gadget sadistically cooed, “It’s for your own safety sweetie, after all this metal will hurt when it fuses with you and it could even kill you. Wouldn’t that be fun? Oh, the thought of death, it just makes me so giddy. Ahahahaha!” Gadget cackled as she reached the tongs she was holding down upon Sonata.
Clenched between the special tongs was the Omega that Sonata had found. As soon as the metal came in contact with Sonata’s body, she felt as if she was burning alive. Pain seared throughout her entire body. She shrieked as the pain intensified.
The tongs and metal were pushed inside her body, not damaging anything, but going through it as if the siren’s body was nonexistent. Sonata began to glow with an ominous dark aura. Her skin became pale as she shrieked, the metal coursing throughout her very being.
Aria bursted into the room, panting and in a panic. “Where’s Sonata? Is she okay?” Then, her eyes widened at the sight she saw unfolding in front of her very eyes.
Sonata began to grow in size, but she didn’t stop at a few feet. No, the siren began to grow enormous, her binds ripping as she grew bigger and bigger. Soon, her back pressed against the ceiling, but the sudden growth spurt didn’t stop there. Sonata burst out of the building, debris flying in every direction.
A chunk of wood flew t-boned a car sending it sideways off the bridge and onto the freeway traffic below. Cars veered out of the way as the vehicle slammed front first onto the top of another car.
Gadget had already teleported Aria, Adagio, and herself away from the situation. They watched from a hilltop closeby. Gadget cackled at the destruction, reveling in it’s glory with a grin so wide and sadistic the Chesire Cat would be jealous.
“I need to see if Sonata’s okay, she isn’t moving!” Aria cried still worried about her friends.
Gadget began to laugh, “Ahahaha! Sentiment will get you nowhere in this life girlie, if she’s dead, she’s dead, end of story. Another failed experiment, oh, well, you just sort of move on I guess.
“How can you say that?!” Aria yelled in confused frustration. “I’m checking!”
Aria ran down the hill at a pace she had not run before. Adrenaline coursed through her veins as she was determined to save Sonata. Sonata and Adagio were always there for her. Even if they didn’t get along all the time, that was family in her mind.
Soon, she reached Sonata, stepping over rubble. The girl had to be 50 feet tall at least, but something was unmistakeable. As Aria got closer to Sonata’s now giant mouth, she heard no breath of any kind. Sonata wasn’t breathing nor was she moving and her skin was pale.
Aria placed her hand on Sonata and she felt colder than an ice box. “Oh no, she’s… she’s,” Tears began to streak down Aria’s cheeks as she pointed at Sonata’s limp, unmoving body, “she’s dead!”
Episode II: This Strange New World
Arsenal and Swan: Arc1: The Queen Gadget Saga
Episode II: Strange New World
The moon shone down upon the unmoving corpse of Sonata Dusk. Next to it, curled into a ball, was a weeping Aria. She mourned her dead friend, reminiscing at all the time they had spent together, good and bad. Specifically, she remembered how much Sonata drove her nuts, and a small smile formed on her face.
Don’t let the sudden surprise happiness derail the unfortunate event that has just occurred though. She immediately began to cry again, burying her face in her hands. Then, she felt something waft over her entire body. It felt like a breeze of wind, that smelled like… tacos.
Aria sat up, quickly wiping the tears from her face as she turned around. Another breath of taco wind nearly knocked the girl over. Aria’s jaw dropped to floor as she saw it was in fact Sonata breathing. Color began to return to the sirens face.
Soon, Sonata opened her eyes, her vision blurry. She blinked a few times as if to remedy it. When things became clear, she saw a surprised Aria standing in front of her, however, Aria had gotten quite smaller to her in scale.
“Why are you so small Aria?” Sonata asked, poking a finger at Aria as if she were a specimen in a lab.
Aria folded her arms, attempting to hide the fact that she was just balling out crying on the floor, as she groaned, rolling her eyes, and responding with, “I’m not small, you’re,” She pointed a finger at her for emphasis, “bigger!”
Sonata sat up, bursting through the ceiling, as she rubbed her head. Debris fell down and nearly crushed Aria.
“Watch it!” Aria screamed in fear.
“Sorry, Aria. So, that metal thingy worked?” Sonata asked, tilting her head.
“Indeed,” Queen Gadget’s voice seemingly came out of nowhere as she stepped out of the shadows and into the moonlight, “The procedure went perfect! Just as I suspected. You three must hold the key.”
“The key to what exactly?” Aria asked, giving Gadget a rather angered stare. “You haven’t told us anything!”
Queen Gadget remained silent for a second, her face stiff. Then, a sickening smile began to form upon her face, “Ahahahahahaha!” She cackled insanely as she slowly began to walk up to Aria, all three of Gadget’s tentacles were raised and spinning in a threatening, yet, intimidating way, “I don’t have to tell you a thing, vermin. You’re lucky to be in my presence. If it wasn’t for me, you and your friends would still be scurrying around the streets like rats in New York. You do what, I, say,” Gadget smacked Aria across the face with the back of her hand, leaving a red imprint on Aria’s face. “Got it?”
Aria felt the burning sensation in her face, the slap stinging her as she winced. “Y-Y-Yes Master.”
“Besides,” Adagio came from the doorway, strutting her way into the moonlight, “We can all benefit from this, Aria. Imagine what we could become. We will regain the power that stupid Sunset Shimmer and her friends stole from us and get our revenge.” Her eyes glistened with determination, an evil smirk forming on her face.
“You’re a smart one, Adagio,” Gadget admired the girl’s determination. However, that was short-lived as she smiled that cheshire like smile she always did. Her smile alone could tell that she had more than a few screws loose, it spelled evil as if it were tattooed upon her lips.
“Anyway,” The villainess continued with a self-centered sort of tone, “Sonata, dear, why don’t you shrink back down to regular size. We wouldn’t want you to get caught now would we? We have the element of surprise, remember?’ Gadget explained in a demeaning voice which made one feel sort of like a baby or younger child.
“Totally!” Sonata agreed and then blank-faced, sitting there doing nothing.
“Argghhh!” Aria growled, “Change back now, Sonata, you idiot!” She face-palmed as she normally did, living a life filled with the often dim-witted girl’s actions.
“You’re an idiot!” Sonata retorted, getting eye-level with Aria.
“No, you are!”
“No, you are!”
“Silence!” Gadget and Adagio demanded angrily in unison like they had rehearsed a line for a play.
Aria immediately shut up as did Sonata. However, Sonata seemed frightened whilst Aria simply turned away as if she wasn’t at all phased by the yelling.
“To turn back, just think really hard that you want to be small and the metal will do it’s work.” Gadget explained again in that dehumanizing voice.
“That’s gonna be hard,” Aria muttered under her breath.
Adagio kicked Aria in the leg, giving her a look that read, “shut up!” as if the words had been spelled out for her.
Sonata nodded, “Okay, I can totally do that.”
Her eyelids shut as she saw blackness. Harder and harder she thought, concentrating on the task at hand. Her face was scrunched up, her nose curling as she thought with all her thinking might to turn back to her regular size. She peeked one eye open and blurrily saw she hadn’t succeeded in her efforts to reduce her size.
With a low growl, she shut her eye and thought again. She cleared her mind of tacos and more tacos as she focused her brainpower on the one thought she needed. I want to be regular-sized. At that moment, even though she herself could not see it, she began to shrink back down to regular size, until finally she was her normal self again. A few pieces of debris crumbled down to the ground behind her, filling the air with dust.
Sonata coughed as she walked out of the dust, a gleaming smile on her face, “I did it!”
“Yes, you did, dear. Now,” Gadget snapped her fingers, “Let’s go to my place where we can train you.”
Before any of the sirens could speak, a pink aura surrounded them and soon they were spinning into a whirlwind of colors. The colors swirled together making a funnel shape as the girls, all gripped in fear, felt the sensation of falling. They tumbled and tumbled until finally they saw a white light. It was like the light at the end of the train tunnel and even comforting in a way.
As they approached the white light, they squinted and everything went completely white. Soon, they found themselves standing on a rather hard structure. At first, they didn’t want to open their eyes, unsure if their trip had reached it’s conclusion.
When they did, their jaws dropped at what lay before them. They were standing on a cube made of a white metal with small blue lines separating them four ways, intersecting at the middle of both sides. Beyond were more cubes which moved erratically every two seconds as if they had a mind of their own they couldn’t seem to make up. However, the cube they stood upon remained in place, unmoving.
In the room they stood in was a large black throne, decorated with all sorts of diamonds and multicolored crystals. Instead of a normal oval shape it had bits of metal that stretched out like spikes in all different directions. A large velvet carpet led up to the throne and sitting upon it was Queen Gadget.
“What is this place?” Aria asked quizzically.
“This, my apprentices, is the Mindscape,” She walked using her claws, the metal scraping against the floor with each step, “It was created by my father Arthur Prescott as a sanctuary for psychics and to police human thought and spark imagination throughout the universe.” Then, she began to giggle, “Soon, a war sparked between humans and psychics as they believed this to be an invasion of privacy, can you believe it? The nerve.”
She pressed her face against the glass, gazing out into the sky of this strange world. She then turned to the three who were listening intently, “So, a deal was made. Psychics would live in the Mindscape and have no direct access to the human mind. My father, however, began to change after the war. He drank and began to abuse me and my sister, Sarah. He began to break mentally and became the villain known as Mastermind. And he took me along for the ride, forcing me to find this metal for him. Ha, but the metal had plans of its own. It spoke to me, it told me things,” Her eye twitched as her creepy evil smile grew even more gruesome, “It chose me. And for good reason.” Gadget finally finished and sat back on throne.
Aria folded her arms, “What’s the reason?”
Gadget looked up, her face deadpan in expression. Her evil smile was gone as if it vanished. She then walked over to Aria, seemingly getting bigger and bigger, her shadow looming over Aria. The tentacles made her much taller than she really was.
“Because of Jason!” She screamed in anger, balling her fists. She said Jason with disgust like she had just eaten something truly rotten. “That so called ‘hero’ was more preoccupied with work then our miscarriage!”
Aria and Adagio both looked at Gadget when she said those words while Sonata remained oblivious, rocking back and forth.
“Jason made me see the truth about humanity, no about the universe.” She leaned in and with a serious tone she said, “Everyone is out for themselves and no one, not a single person or pony has your back. Not when it truly matters.” Gadget went back and sat on the throne. She was silent for a moment, “Enough questions, we must train Sonata. You and Adagio come with me, you stay here Aria and look over the plans, I’m sure they could use some fine-tuning.”
Aria nodded, but had not heard what Gadget said, nor did she notice the three leave the room. All she could think about was what Gadget had said about Jason, the miscarriage, and Gadget’s own childhood. Something in her brain nagged at her, telling her that something was up. Gadget seemed to have motivations of her own that didn’t match up with hers.
Aria lifted her hand to where she was struck by Gadget, it still burned upon contact, causing her to wince. Then, it hit her like a ton of bricks. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped to the floor. She’s using us.
_________________________________
Sunset’s house was a mess as if she hadn’t cleaned in a while and she hadn’t with just having dealt with the Friendship Games and the disaster that followed suit. Clothes were everywhere in her bedroom, scattered around in a nonsensical pattern which Pinkie was tracing with her eyes. Her bed, consisting of a queen-sized mattress and ember colored blankets while her pillows had sun yellow covers on them. Posters hung on her wall depicting the things she enjoyed as well as a group shot of her friends from Equestria, those however, were the only things not in disarray. Her desk had a large 16’ computer screen with keyboard and mouse. Old water bottles and pop cans sat there, empty, but not thrown out as they should be. Her computer was on, as Sc-Twi and Princess Twilight were huddled close to look at the screen, Sci-Twi clacking away on the keyboard. One of her dresser drawers were open and her closet was closed, hiding more clothes heaped in a pile, but unseen, shrouded in darkness.
Rarity glanced around the room in disgust. “Darling, why ever would you leave your room in this state?” Immediately, she began to clean up, plucking up a shirt and folding it.
“I’ve just been busy, I’ve been meaning to do it.” Sunset said, not really thinking about her dirty room, but rather the knot still twisted within her stomach. “I mean, it’s nice of you to clean and all, but that isn’t really important right now.”
“Uh!” Rarity exclaimed, “Cleanliness is always important dear,” She explained, as she placed the folded shirt in the open, empty drawer.
“I think we found something!” Twilight squealed in glee, but then she looked around at the confused eyes staring back at her, “Um, sorry, anyway, I think we found an article about those heroes and the organization. It took a lot of digging, but we did it.”
“No way!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, leaping to her feet in excitement. “I love superheroes! I can’t believe I get to meet one, this is so awesome!” Then, she looked around at her surprised friends gazing right back, “I mean, that’s cool, whatever.” She shrugged as if what she said wasn’t true, but her friends knew better.
“Somethins botherin’ me though,” Applejack said, “Why does this Gadget want ta use tha sirens, tho’ they might wanna get back at us. And what in the hay does she have a problem with us for? Ain’t like we did anythin’ to er. It just doesn’t make a lick a sense.” She raised a brow.
“They must be desperate or maybe Gadget is using them, it’s anyone’s guess,” Sunset answered, rather quietly, her gaze planted firmly on the floor, which was getting much cleaner she noticed due to Rarity’s quick efforts. However, no matter how clean it got or how much the floor started to sparkle, Sunset’s mind was on the problem at hand. She placed a hand on her stomach as the knot grew tighter, something just wasn’t right.
“It’s more likely they’re being used,” Twilight said in a saddened tone.
“Then, if that’s true,” Sunset snapped out of her state for a second, contemplating her lessons in friendship. If she had learned anything, it was that even the most vile of villains can be turned good, especially if the sirens were in fact being used as if they were simple chess pieces on Queen Gadget’s own personal chess board. The yellow haired girl narrowed her eyes in determination, gaining a confident smile, and balling her fist in determination, “We have to reform them! We can’t let this villain just get away with this. We have to stand up for not just our world, but every world.” Sunset stood up, passion seeping from every word that spilled from her mouth, “We have an obligation to help out with this crisis, and I know,” She smiled, looking around with pure content, “My friends are with me.”
“Duh!” Rainbow Dash said in a playful tone.
The friends all nodded in unison, especially Twilight. She smiled, happy to see how far Sunset had come. It wasn’t long ago she wanted to take over worlds and enslave the minds of teenagers, now she’s not only conquered three villains, but helped Sci-Twi understand the most important magic of all. And without need of introduction we all know quite well what that magic is.
“The Sirens have motivation to get back at me. At,” She looked around the room and gestured to everyone, “ all of us. We took away their magic, maybe even their identity. I don’t know if this Gadget lady is using them or if they are complicit, but I do know they’ll stop at nothing to get back at us for their defeat.”
“True, we did defeat them, but do you really think they’d go that far?” Twilight asked. “Risking their lives for the sake of superpowers?”
“Are you kidding me?!” Pinkie cried, causing her friends to jump a little, Fluttershy even more so. “They came to our school, brainwashed everyone, made us compete against them for magical power and the fate of the world, and were like pure evil! Of course, they’d get back at us!” Pinkie explained.
“Right,” Sci-Twi said, adjusting her glasses, only ever hearing about the Sirens, never having met them herself. “You guys should take a look at this, I’ve been reading and they sound like they’re really heroes who saved a lot of people and stopped many more threats.”
“How does our universe even have this information?” Sunset asked rather dumbfounded that her world had information on heroes from another world.
Sci-Twi glanced up and down the page, scrolling to look for an author, but it was anonymous. “The author didn’t put their name, it’s an article from Cordian Industries about Heroes and the Pros and Cons of having them.”
“Cordian Industries?” Rainbow Dash asked, rather confused.
“They’re a multi-billion dollar company that sells a lot of different kinds of products and owns different kinds of services, but it’s still boggles the mind how they could have obtained this information.” Sunset explained to Rainbow Dash. However, her mind was still on the knot in her stomach, growing tighter and tighter, like a snake around it’s prey.
Cordian? Princess Twilight thought, Why does that sound familiar? Discord? No, it can’t be, I haven’t even seen him in this world… yet, at least. She gulped at the mere thought of a human Discord running amok and spreading chaos wherever he went for this one would be an unreformed wild card unlike the Discord from her world who has proven his reformation.
“So,” Fluttershy spoke up in her soft, quiet, almost inaudible voice, “What do we do now?” She exchanged a glance with each of her friends.
“We wait.” Sunset said, plain and simply.
_______________________
Never had the heroes laid eyes upon the object which was used to traverse to and fro between dimensions. They both pictured something different, more technologically advanced, and more well, not a mirror. However, what stood before them was a person-sized pink mirror with white diamonds along the sides. Instead of glass, there was a portal which swirled in a mix of psychedelic colors as if the mirror was tripping on some form of drug. Hooked up to the mirror, were long spiraling wires which formed a spider web of wires towards a large computer where two men in white labcoats sat, operating the machine.
However, what they didn’t know is the simple fact that everything isn’t invented or designed in their world. They also weren’t aware of the fact that Elliott had collected this mirror after the first ever interdimensional conflict from Princess Celestia and Luna themselves. Of course, they didn’t know because they weren’t the director of H.E.R.O like Elliott.
All the Director could do was smile at their shock and awe. He motioned toward it with his right hand, the other planted firmly in his left pocket, “Go ahead, heroes. Suit up and head out. I have other matters to attend to.” He said, turning to leave the room.
Swan halted him with a simple, “Wait,” however, when Swan says ‘wait’ it doesn’t just mean hold on, it means she knows something is up too.
“Yes, Miss Swanson?” Elliott said, twisting his head to look back at her. He knew all too well what the girl was implying, that he hadn’t told them all the details of their assignment.
“What aren’t you telling us? The craftsmanship on this thing, it’s not even from Metania, where the hell is it from?” She folded her arms and raised a brow.
“Equestria.” He answered simply.
“Equestria?” Both the heroes said in confusion at the same time, exchanging a clueless glance with one another.
“Pony world. Nothing you need to be concerned with.” Elliott said, waving it off and walking out the door.
“Well,” Jason smiled dumbly as if Elliott had said nothing, “Let’s get going Swan, we got people to save and places… to uh… not let blow up… yeah.” Jason’s words became less enthusiastic as he wasn’t good with sayings. If you asked him to build a brand new suit, he could do it in a heartbeat, but Jason was not smart in most other categories besides inventing.
“It’s places to go and people to see, you moron,” Swan snorted, rolling her eyes.
“Whatever,” Jason waved a dismissive hand, “You know what I mean.”
“No, I don’t.” She said sarcastically.
“Ya see,” Jason started to explain, “I mean we have to save people and…”
“I know! I was being sarcastic!” Swan snapped, rather annoyed at the fact that Gadget had to throw a wrench in her diplomatic plans.
“Well, someone’s in a worse mood than usual,” Jason said, looking away.
“Than usual?” Swan asked with a cocked brow and angered expression, “What’s that supposed to mean, Jason?” The look on her face read ‘say it and you're dead’.
“Nothing!” Jason said quickly, regaining his smile and happy-go-lucky attitude.
The heroes walked over to a large black storage space with shelves and drawers. It had different hero insignias decorating it. On the rack were a number of different weapons and on the golden hangers were different costumes. One looked like a biker’s jacket, a chain next to it along with dual katanas crossing one another. Another was hot pink with a glittery mask that made Jason sigh at the sight of it. This was the costume of someone he had held dear to his heart, his second fiancee who he had hoped to spend the rest of his life with.
I hate seeing Sarah’s costume like this, but she loved this place, it’s what she would’ve wanted. To remembered for her heroism and good deeds. Then, Jason shook his head as Swan broke his concentration.
“Thinking about her again?” She asked with a concerned look on her face and even though she herself would not admit it, a tear formed in her left eye, swelling up with liquid sadness. “She was going to marry you.”
Jason nodded, “Yeah,” He said, sighing as he grabbed his belt and strapped it around his waist.
“If it wasn’t for Gadget,” Tears began to stream down her cheeks, her fist balling up in anger, “She’d still be here, damn it! She should be the one six feet under not Sarah. She was such a kindhearted, selfless hero. Gadget will pay for this, for everything!”
Jason put a comforting hand on Swan’s shoulder, making her look directly at him, “I know. But, revenge is never the answer. You know better, Swan, hell, you’re smarter than me for sure.” He chuckled.
“That’s true,” She said, giggling, and wiping her tears. “And I wasn’t crying! I was just using my water element for ummm… dry eyes.”
“Okay, Swan,” Jason chuckled again, though he knew better, as Swan grabbed her bowstaff.
They were ready, well ready as they possibly could be in this situation, and walked up to the portal. The two exchanged glances and gave a confident nod. It was a silent gesture, an unspoken signal, that meant they were in full hero mode. A serious look crossed their faces as one by one they took a deep breath and walked into the portal.
Just like the sirens did before them, they swirled down a psychedelic mix of colors. It was a rabbit hole and down they tumbled, that sensation of falling gripping them. Both their hearts beat a mile a minute in their chest, fear filling their very being. The same white light from before appeared, blinding the heroes as they attempted to shield their eyes from the intensity of the light. And just like that, they were on the other side, tumbling onto the grass covered ground and out of a stone horse statue.
The heroes had landed in the most awkward position and not the cliched one that one most would think. No, instead of landing on top of one another in a rather risque sexual position, Swan had landed perfectly in Jason’s arms, her eyes looking directly into his.
Swan’s face became tomato red and soon she quickly pushed herself off him, “Get off me, pervert!” She folded her arms, dusting herself off, and turning her head away.
“Oh come on Swan, you know it wasn’t like that.” Jason sighed, shaking his head, “Whatever, let’s get goi-”
Immediately, he stopped speaking, the world around him catching his eyes. Bright beautiful colors made up everything from the sky to the people themselves. They were multicolored with all sorts of different kinds of skin color, hair color, and dress codes. It was as if the heroes had landed themselves inside of a cartoon, and little did they know, well, they kind of did.
“Wow,” Jason said in utter joy, “Would you look at this place!” He said excitedly turning to Swan who had a different look on her face. It was one of panic as she looked down at her own skin. “What’s wrong?” Jason questioned, puzzled by her reaction.
“My skin, look!” She said, putting her arm in front of his face, “It’s purple! And my hair! What is with this ruby red and puke green! It’s hideous!” She sounded rather alarmed at the situation.
Jason looked down at his hands, noticing his own skin had turned bright orange and his hair was spiky and sky blue in color. He simply shrugged, “Rules of the world, maybe, I don’t know. This isn’t the time for stupid little details like that anyways.”
Swan growled in frustration, “Fine, let’s just get looking for this place. Where is it, Jason?”
“Ummm…” Jason said, snatching the paper from his left pocket, “100 Alicorn Lane.”
“And where’s that, exactly?” Swan asked, gazing around the schoolyard.
“Elliott said it was a few blocks over from CHS, so let’s go ‘splorin’ and we can figure this out on the way.” Jason began to walk forward, beaming with joy.
Swan facepalmed, “Why me?” With that, she followed him, not totally confident in Jason’s navigational abilities.
With that, our heroes were off, ready to take on this strange new world they had found themselves in. Everywhere they looked, something caught their attention. From the different shops like Sugarcube corner, where a large muscular man yelling ‘yeah’ slurped down a milkshake, to a rather tasteful exotic diner where a father and daughter happily stood outside with a sigh, attempting to attract more business, everything looked so impressive and strange all at once. A girl wearing headphones, nodding her head to the beat walked by with a smile and beside her was another girl holding a cello case in her right hand.
After aweing at the scenery, the heroes found Alicorn street and began their trek down the sidewalk. Each house number was low and began to get higher and higher as they walked. Soon, they came to a rather small brown house that almost seemed like a garage. It was one story with a few windows in the front, back, and on each side of the house.
At first, the heroes glanced at each other unsure what to expect when they knocked upon the oak wood door. For a moment, they were both hesitant to knock. However, it was inevitable that one of them would have to knock eventually. They couldn’t very well just stand on the small stone step in front of the door for eternity, now could they?
Jason raised his hand and knocked upon the door with a clunk, clunk, clunk. He heard shuffling from inside the house. Soon, a pink-haired girl with a huge, happy smile on her face opened the door.
“Hiya!” Pinkie said, shaking both their hands quite quickly. “I’m Pinkie Pie! You guys must be the heroes!”
“What gave it away?” Swan murmured sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
“WellnooneelseiscomingandyourwearingabeltwithanAonitsoitporbablystandsforArsenalandyou’recarryingabowstaff-” Pinkie was interrupted by a blonde girl with freckles, covering her mouth. Pinkie still spoke through the mouth not shutting up, though it was simply inaudible gibberish.
“Don’cha mind her, she’s just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie.” Applejack extended her hand out for a shake, “I’m Applejack, you can call me AJ if ya want. Now, get a move on, we’re all waiting for ya.” She motioned them inside after shaking both of their hands.
As the two heroes entered the house, they looked around, noticing the house was quite nice on the inside. The walls and ceiling were painted a pearl white and the floor was carpeted with a beautiful beige rug. Pictures hung on the wall and a large flat screen television sat in the corner on a large, black entertainment center containing DVDs and CDs. To their right was the entrance to the kitchen which had all the things a kitchen should have, a microwave, stove, toaster, and fridge.
Applejack and Pinkie Pie lead the heroes into Sunset’s room which was now glistening with cleanliness. All eyes turned to the door as the four entered the room, closing the door behind them. Swan was used to eyes being trained upon her as she often gave speeches and was the face of her country, but Jason wasn’t a fan, in fact he did anything he could to not look directly at those staring back at him. AJ and Pinkie took their seat on Sunset’s bed.
“Hello,” The group said in unison and each introduced themselves, breaking the awkward silence.
Rainbow Dash ran up to Jason with a speed Sonic the Hedgehog would be jealous of. “So you’re like a real superhero?” She asked, wide-eyed and excited like a kid opening presents on christmas morning.
“Yup, I’m a full-time superhero. Got a belt and some weapons, it’s uh… pretty neat,” He rubbed the back of his neck, not sure how to respond to her. In his world, superheroes were commonplace and widely accepted.
“You’re such a moron,” Swan rolled her eyes, “She obviously hasn’t seen a superhero before.”
“Right, I knew that,” Jason responded in a tone that said he hadn’t truly known that.
“This is so cool!” Dash shouted in excitement. She turned to Swan, “What’s it like? How many villains have you stopped?”
“Well, it’s not all fun and games like in the movies. It’s a serious job, not a cool one.” Swan seemed annoyed by the girl’s ignorance. “And thirteen villains.”
“Pssh, I stopped like forty,” Jason puffed his chest out in confidence.
“Twenty two, don’t exaggerate, and it’s not a popularity contest!” Swan snapped, “Do you take anything seriously?”
“Nope.” Jason answered with a goofy smile.
“I can relate to that!” Pinkie said, raising her hand.
Sunset cut in, “We really should get down to business. I mean it is cool to meet real life superheroes and all, but we kind of have a problem here.” She gave a soft smile to them.
Rainbow Dash nodded and returned to her seat, knowing full well that the task at hand was much more important than her fondness of superheroes.
Jason nodded, “Yeah, Gadget.” When he said her name, it was tainted with despise. “But, who are these siren chicks?” He asked, clueless about the group’s run-in with them.
Sunset didn’t say anything, but she caught the sickening way Jason said the villainesses name.
Princess Twilight spoke up, “They’re a group of beings from my world who were banished to this one. Recently, they tried to brainwash the school with their hypnotic music and then the world, but we put a stop to that and destroyed their amulets, the source of their power.” She explained to the two heroes. “After that, they ran off and we never knew what became of them until now.”
“Vengeance,” Swan said simply. “That’s what they must be after, but Gadget is dangerous. She could easily be using them for her own personal agenda.”
Jason shook his head, “No, she is using them. I may not be a genius, but I know her. She’s manipulative and cruel. A cold-blooded bitch and a murderer at that. Those girls have no idea what she’s truly capable of, but I do.”
“You can’t just jump to conclusions without the proper evidence,” Swan said as if she was a teacher giving a lecture.
“I’m not jumping to conclusions, she’s the impitamy of evil. I should know, Jess. I knew her-” Jason stopped himself, covering his mouth, hoping nobody would catch on.
“Epitome of evil,” Sci-Twi corrected him.
“Yeah, yeah, you know what I mean,” Jason waved a dismissive hand.
Sunset cocked a brow, picking up on Jason’s slip-ups, “What do you mean exactly by you should know?”
Jason froze, not knowing how to respond. All eyes were trained on him as he said, “We stopped her uh… plenty of times, so I mean, I should know, right?” He spoke as if he was trying to convince himself more than Sunset and her friends.
Applejack’s honesty sensor almost immediately caused her to question him, “Ya knew er personally didn’t ya?”
Jason’s gaze met the floor and he let out a sigh and confessed, “Yes, I knew her personally. She… she was my….” He couldn’t form the words as images of Violet and the time they had spent together before she became the villainess she is flashed before him. Then, finally he said it, which made the whole room gasp in shock, “... first fiance.”
_______________________
Lush grass covered the landscape in a blanket of green. Dandelions and other colorful flowers filled the air with a pleasant aroma. Scattered about were tall oak trees, a squirrel scrambling up it’s trunk quickly. No people occupied the area other than Sonata, Gadget, and Adagio. It was the perfect place to train Sonata’s new abilities.
Sonata had grown to her gigantic size, ready for whatever Gadget threw her way. She was determined, but carefree, rocking back and forth, causing the earth to shake beneath her.
Silence permeated the air as Gadget simply stared at Sonata. She circled around her, walking on her tentacles. The villainess looked her up and down as if she was examining some undiscovered species.
Finally, she broke the silence, “Okay, Sonata dear, we know you can transform now.” She gazed around, spotting a tree, “Why don’t rip that tree right out of the ground. I want to know the limits of your strength in this form.”
Sonata nodded and walked over to the tree. Each step she took was like an earthquake to the other two villains. The girl reached down, grasping the tree tightly. With a tug, she ripped the tree from the ground, dirt flying in every direction. She hurtled it like nothing and it flew yards away, landing in an unknown spot far, far away.
That all too sinister smile formed upon Gadget’s face, “You’re stronger than I thought you’d be. Ahahahaha! The heroes will never know what hit them!” She exclaimed, cackling manically. “However, let’s test your might against some actual foes.” With that, she snapped her fingers.
After a few brief moments, Gears began to burst from the ground. Dirt and grass flew in heaps in every direction as the robots began to unload their weapons at the giant girl.
Sonata held an arm out, covering her face from the hellfire of lead. She was nearly unphased by the bullets as they felt like nothing but needle pricks to her. With a swift swing of her humongous arm, she smashed all the Gears to bits. Pieces of metal showered down to the grassy ground.
Gadget was ecstatic, her plan progressing faster and better than she had hoped. “One more test, dear. Smiley!” Gadget called as a large shadow loomed over Sonata.
The giant siren gazed up to see a huge robot dropping from the sky as if a care package had just been called in. With a thud that shook the earth, the tank-like, rocket-armed killing machine known as Smiley had appeared before Sonata’s very eyes.
It launched missiles at her, firing from it’s gatling guns as well. Sonata leapt into the air, dodging the missiles which impacted a tree, blowing it to kingdom come. The girl came down with her right leg extended. She smashed the robot through it’s chest as it exploded into a cloud of flame and smoke. Pieces of metal shrapnel fell like drops of metallic rain to the ground below.
“I believe you’re ready, my dear Sonata.” Gadget said with that evil, sadistic grin she always seemed to wear as if her face was superglued that way.
“Can I pick out a supervillain name?” Sonata asked, gleaming with happiness.
“Of course, dear. Every villain needs a good name.” Gadget cocked a brow, “What will yours be?”
Sonata thought for a second, remaining silent, until it hit her, “Gigantess!” She exclaimed.
____________________________
Aria hadn’t even gazed at the plans sitting on the workbench in the far right side of the throne room. Thoughts raced through her mind as if they were competing in some sort of marathon. Her heart raced a mile a minute as she contemplated her realization.
She knew deep down she had to do something. However, she feared Gadget’s ferocity. Aria wasn’t even sure if Adagio would believe her and she knew Sonata was too dense to fully comprehend what she was saying. It was up to her and that made butterflies dance around in her stomach.
Slowly, she walked over to the workbench which had detailed plans sketched out on blueprint-esque paper. A computer sat next to it, the screen black as the night sky. First, Aria sorted through the plans.
Each one was more devious than the last and it gave the siren a good idea of the person Gadget truly was. However, underneath all the plans was the map her sister had found stapled to a large piece of paper.
Aria read the map over and over, trying to understand what this lead to. It seemed to lead to some sort of vault within the Mindscape. She glanced at the paper which read, Project Cloak in big, bold, black letters.
Cloak? What is that? What is she truly after? These were just some of the thoughts traversing through her mind.
Next, Aria turned the computer on and with a whirr it began to boot up. A logo of a mishmash of animals came up and soon enough the desktop screen came on. Moving the mouse, she clicked on a folder that read Project Cloak, hoping to find more information on what this secret project entailed. However, a password prompt popped up.
Aria groaned in frustration. She had no idea what the password could be as she hadn’t known this Gadget for very long. She reached the conclusion that she would have to guess her way into Gadget’s private plans.
First, she tried all the obvious ones, like Gadget’s name, her father’s name, Omega, and a few others, but with the same fruitless result. Every time a big red prompt said: Access Denied, no matter what she tried. Then, it hit her, what Gadget had said earlier about Jason. She tried the name and access was finally granted.
Three folders popped up on the screen. One read: Agents of Despair, the second read: Sirens, and the final one read Cloak.
She clicked on the one with the Sirens as the folder name. When she began to scroll down the page, she shuddered in terror at what she saw. Hundreds of pictures of the three girls roaming the streets as well as a few videos from their failure at the Battle of the Bands were all over the folder. Gadget had been keeping tabs them for quite some time it appeared.
Next, she clicked on Agents of Despair, which didn’t have much in it. Some mugshots of strange people she didn’t know. From Puppeteer to Warlock, she had no clue who any of these people were, but deep down in her gut, she knew they were just as horrible as Gadget herself.
Finally, she clicked on the last folder. She began to read aloud without even realizing it, of course, she was alone… so she thought, “A being consisting entirely of Omega located with-”
She was immediately cut off by a sweet yet sadistic, all too familiar voice. “... within the Omega Vault.” Gadget finished for her.
Aria froze in fear, her eyes widening. Slowly, she turned around to see the villainess looming over her. “I… I was just…” Aria began, however Gadget cut her off again.
“You were just what?” Gadget asked, her tone becoming more and more aggressive with each word, “Tsk, Tsk, Tsk, whatever will I do with you? You’ve been quite the bad girl, Aria. First, you question your Master, the one who saved you from a life on the street, then, you have the audacity to look through my personal files.” She paused, leaning in close to Aria, so close, Aria could feel her hot breath on her neck, as Gadget whispered almost seductively in her ear, “If I had half a mind, I’d kill you right now and make your little friends watch until the last bit of life left your pathetic little eyes. But, alas, I need you. You and your siren friends will help me to achieve what I desire.” Gadget turned around and silence permeated the air for a few brief moments.
Without warning, the villainess whipped around and stabbed Aria in the shoulder with one of her pincers. Blood began to run down her shoulder, staining her shirt. Aria screamed in pain, gripping her shoulder.
Aria spoke up, “What’s your plan? What do you want with us?”
Gadget smiled wickedly, “My plan? Why, to wipe out all of existence of course and start fresh. I’ll be a goddess.” With that, she cackled manically as Aria looked at her horrified.
“What are you going to do to me?”
Gadget did not answer the girl nor did she acknowledge her question at all. All she did was laugh crazily.
Aria was terrified beyond belief, shaking in fear. She gazed at ther shoulder as blood ran through her fingers. Her friends must have still been training as they were nowhere to be found. She felt the world around her spin out of control and soon her eyes began to close. Aria blacked out, fainting onto the floor.
