Not our world anymore (IC)

[GalacticWar_Xavier]

Twilight, Airimus and Amalthea approached the door, and were stopped suddenly as Airimus held up his hand, "Hold on... This is too simple..." He said, then carefully approached the door and looked closely at it. Twilight had to wonder what Airimus knew that she didn't, until he said it, "There are motion trackers on the corners of this door, which will set off an alarm instantly and inform the main parts of the castle to where we entered." Twilight felt like swearing, but she maintained her composure, "How the hay do we bypass it?" Airimus pointed to a small slot, "ID card, fairly simple. They don't have retinal scanner or biometric technology like the griffons yet." Twilight looked around, then started moving back toward the train and found one of the defeated sorcerers, she quickly levitated his ID card out of his wallet and began trotting quietly back toward the door.


"Hemyo..." Rex sounded off, Leafrun nodded, unsure, still not entirely certain what to think of Rex. The muzzle on him signified that the guards had been worried about him biting them. And he looked like some sort of creature which could have sharp teeth. Leafrun looked to Winter, "What is he, exactly?" Rex pointed to himself proudly, "Iy'm a ragon!" he muffled. He looked to Winter Bell, "I aw huming horrimle..." his tone noticeably getting a little fearful, "I... ell... ey... howed me a eecording oh... oh you... you kiwing...." he looked down, resenting asking Winter about the video he had been shown of Winter Bell killing Twilight Sparkle in seemingly cold blood, the video had made it seem like Twilight had been trying to stop the spell Winter had ultimately used to kill her. He was torn about it because he was still fairly disturbed by it and he was a little worried that even though he had been shown it, they had allowed him to be reunited with Winter to confirm whether or not it had actually happened.

[Blue Fox]

Nimbus' squad separated as they each went to plant explosives on key targets. The bombs they carried were small but had one hell of a bang. They were also designed to self vaporise so that the equipment couldn't be traced back to Talonopolis, although it wouldn't be hard to deduct who it was. They krept around silently keeping their radios dead as they each made their way towards their location. Nimbus's target was the gate controls. The blast, in theory, should rip out the gate control matrix allowing the gate to go into a state of emergency that will not only open it, but keep it jammed open permanently until it received repairs. Wing Tear and Sun Flower were dealing with the towers leaving Arch Light and Crimson to deal with the rest, such as vehicle depots. When each of them rigged their bombs onto the targets their radios would click followed buy a simple 'target confirmed' response. By the time they had finished and finished it surely wouldn't be long before Twilight would be ready. Or at least that's what they hoped. Every second from here on in was a second a guard could notice something wrong or one of them could be discovered, blowing the whole operation. Nimbus had been thinking about the Golems. They were safe from them thanks to their wings but Twilight and the other land beings would be at high risk of being flattened by the hulking guards. They would have to make sure none of them reached Twilight or the others.

Winter's heart sank as she learned that Rex had seen what happened inside the circular room. That someone had seen what she had done was almost to much for the charcoal mare to bare thinking about. She let out a deep sigh, looking at the ground before giving him the honest answer. "Yes Rex, it's true, I killed Twilight" she said feeling the sting hit her chest as she admitted it. "I just wish it didn't have to end that way. I mean OK so she didn't want to be my friend any more.... but to actually want me dead ? I never thought I could be so wrong about a pony" she said as she looked away sadly. She had no more tears to give but she felt the welling pain that made her wish she did.

[GalacticWar_Xavier]

Twilight made it back over to the door with the ID card levitating next to her. Airimus got the gun, he had brought along ready, he knew if he had to he could quickly switch from a gun battle to a magic battle, since he could cast magic with only one hand. Much earlier, perhaps even before they had reached Talonopolis, Airimus had wondered how ponies like Twilight and Winter Bell had gotten along, having to use their magic for literally almost everything concerning manipulating objects. He had seen Twilight turning a book's pages with her nose and getting a semi-decent grip on somethings with their flexible hooves, but other than that, they had been almost exclusively using their magic. Twilight swiped the card and Airimus opened the door, pointing the gun in first. The hall they faced was empty to their relief. Airimus walked forward, down it a short ways, then turned and motioned to Twilight and Amalthea that it was all clear. Though his grip on the gun was wobbly due to fear, he kept a good vigil and watched the opposite end of the hallway. Twilight quietly cantered over to where Airimus was, and spotted the utility elevator. She looked both ways before pressing a button with a down arrow on it. The elevator began functioning, and it was a tense few seconds before the doors opened. Twilight realized for a panicked instant that none of them were covering the elevator doors, she swung about to look in, but the cabin was empty, "Alright, Airimus." Twilight whispered, "If we aren't back up in 10 minutes, you abandon this post and hook up with the Pegasi, got it?" Airimus simply nodded, though in truth he had no intention on moving from this spot until the elevator began ascending from the depths once again.

Twilight and Amalthea boarded the elevator, but Amalthea leaned out for a moment and almost too quickly, planted a kiss on Airimus' cheek. Airimus blinked in utter surprise and looked to Amalthea, just too late as the doors of the elevator closed. Airimus blinked for a few seconds, then forced the realization out of his mind as he refocused on the hallway, bracing himself for the explosions about to tear almost quarter of the base asunder.

Amalthea drew her own firearm, ahving had the same sort of sense as Airimus, or perhaps she had copied off of him. It was good sense, no doubt. She looked to Twilight, "I finally did it." she said, Twilight smiled warmly, "Eh.. All you gave him is a kiss, he might still be clueless." she said teasingly. Amalthea sighed, "He's smart... He'll figure it out." Twilight nodded, "This elevator can hold 20 people, max, probably." Amalthea then said, Twilight looked over, "Why do you say that?" she asked, it seemed like random information, "There'll be more subjects down here probably, keep that in mind in case you want to save them too." Twilight nodded, the thought now crossing her mind.


The utility elevator console beeped on the opposite side of the Subject Common Area, the apprentices ignored it, though, as a shipment of new chemicals was due for the testing labs, probably inbound on the train which had just rumbled in up above. They were too busy watching the interactions of Rex, Leafrun and Winter Bell, however. Rex gave Winter a look of mixed shock, sadness and outrage, he wished he could have been there to hear what had been said, to know what else had gone on. He looked down, his green eyes narrowing, "Ike on' orgive ou..." He mumbled.

[Blue Fox]

Nimbus waited on Wing Tears calculated time frame before she gave the order over the COM frequency built into their technological helmets. "Time to get loud" she said as she activated her detonation beacon. As she did so the rest of her squad hit theirs. The base roared as explosions shattered and raged over everything within its vicinity. The front two towers crumbled into a mess killing many in and around them as they collapsed. The vehicles exploded with a loud twang of twisting metal as the petrol ignited, doubling the power of the explosions. The last explosion came a little delayed but it appeared as a fiery ball of death behind the castle, far on the other side. Sirens flashed into action as an alarm sounded. Guards and soldiers filled the courtyards to see what the cause of the attack was, this was the chance Sun Flower needed with her grenade machine gun. She took to the skies with massive power and speed before barrel rolling and coming about to face the crowds. She was noticed immediately but before they had a chance to shoot at her she spilled death onto them as explosions blew body parts and earth asunder. Nimbus and the rest of the squad burst into the skies with frightening force as they also spun and began their attack runs. The sorcerers had began firing back by now but they had trouble hitting the fast fliers. The two ranger ponies had flew above cloud level for cover and were now spitting shots through clouds to pick off the more dangerous threats. The Golems who weren't able to shoot anything had taken to picking up chunks of earth and throwing them at the flying pegasi. This stopped however when the sorcerer captains realised the missing shots was dealing damage to them when the earth fell back to free fall.

Winters ears dropped, she understood. It felt unfair and unjustified but she didn't bother trying to convince Rex that is was the right choice. In allot of ways she didn't truly believe it. On the walk back to the common area she had gone over a hundred different things she could have done to prevent the fight. And she knew she would have this hanging over her probably for the rest of her life. But maybe she deserved that, maybe it was justice for taking another ponies life. She sighed and looked at the floor before all of a sudden the room exploded into alarms. The guards were startled at first as were the subjects, Winter flinched as she expected something bad to happen, but seeing the guards act that way told her this wasn't anything they were expecting. "Is this a drill ?" one of the apprentice sorcerers said to the other. "I don't think so, they would have mentioned it on the company e-mail" he replied unsure what to make of the situation. Winter looked to Leafrun. "Stay close to me" she said in case she was forced to protect the colt somehow, although truthfully she didn't know how she would do it with this collar around her neck. Winter looked bad, her main was split and had stray hairs flying out in different directions where she had been roughed about. Her hooves had burn marks where the shocks had been amplified by the shackles and had friction burned onto her. Her eyes were red and swollen from lack of sleep, stress and tears. She in fact looked like she shouldn't even be standing, however she stayed standing as she looked about trying to figure out what was going on.

[GalacticWar_Xavier]

Amalthea and Twilight both stumbled as the elevator shuddered violently in protest to the immense shockwaves traveling through the ground and the base's substructure, however the elevator was built quite sturdily, and held fast. Amalthea flipped off the safety on her pistol and looked to Twilight, "Show time..." She said as the light indicated them as passing Basement 18. Twilight nodded and took a deep breath, her heart beat faster, knowing well that there would be guards in the Common Area which would need to be dispatched quickly and efficiently, deadly efficiently. 19. Amalthea readied her weapon, she had been to a gun range a few times before she had applied to High Azuras, and at times she felt more comfortable with a gun than with magic. 20. The elevator halted and slowly adjusted itself so the floors of both the cabin and the outside hall would be even. Twilight gave one last glance to Amalthea as the door opened.

The hallway beyond was anti-climatically empty, but many shouts from a room at one end indicated quite a host of unknowns. Twilight leaped to the opposite side of the hallway while Amalthea simply rounded the corner with her gun ready. It was a clever feint, but the portal out into the Common Area was devoid of hostiles as well, if only for a few moments. The two apprentices rounded the corner into view as a voice over the intercom stated that the base was under attack. The time to think, was over, but Twilight didn't even have time to just act either. Two shots from Amalthea's pistol sent the two apprentices reeling backward, their livelihoods vanishing in a spray of crimson behind each of their hears. Twilight's ears rang as the shots from Amalthea's gun slammed her sensitive eardrums with overwhelmingly loud BANG's. Amalthea blinked as she realized herself what had just happened, though she hadn't used any magic, she was also still quite sensitive to the fact that she had never taken lives before. Twilight dashed forward, taking a new position right near the entrance to the Common Area.

Gasps and shouts of terror filled the Common Area as Amalthea's gunshots took the lives of the two apprentices. A few moments later, as chaos started to ensue in the room, a two armored figures, Twilight and Amalthea entered the room. Not heeding too much to pinpointing Winter or Rex, Amalthea swung her gaze to the facade of the food area, she fired a few bullets, followed by a lightly charged fireball from Twilight, over the heads of a few of the terrified subjects, into the kitchen area, forcing the chefs to flee into the back portions of the kitchen.

[Blue Fox]

Winter froze as if the world had turned to slow motion. The two gun shots had shreaded through her ears making her look over in terror at the cause of the sound. Initially she thought the guards were killing them off for no reason, or maybe some kind of test. But when she saw the sorcerers fall to the ground with their life blood pouring from their bodies she glanced to see who had caused such a thing. At first she had only seen Amalthea, or at least who she thought was Amalthea, the armour made it a little harder to see especially as the pony and human subjects began scattering in all directions. Then she saw Twilight. Her heart clenched with fear and all manner of mixed emotions as she stared in utter shock at what had been her friend. This wasn't possible, she had ripped Twilight apart back in that room. She had seen her body go limp and unmoving, Yet here she was and in armour no less. Winter didn't hang about. And with this collar on she was in no position to fight Twilight again. She used her levitation magic on Leafrun, throwing him onto her back. She then used her field on Rex and levitated him in the air beside her as she spun around and galloped to the double door. She didn't know if there was a way out this way but all she knew is that she had to get them and herself away from Twilight, even if it meant hiding. Winter galloped as fast as she could down the corridor ignoring Rex's muffled protests. He might not understand now but she was not going to leave him there with her. Leafun was silent, probably shocked by what was happening.

[GalacticWar_Xavier]

Twilight and Amalthea continued firing into the kitchen area until they were sure that the unarmed chefs had gotten enough sense to know that they stood no chance and went into a deeper part of the underground complex, "Amalthea, did you see Winter anywhere?" Twilight asked hopefully, Amalthea sighed heavily as she exchanged the empty magazine in her pistol for a full one, "I think I caught a glimpse of her, yeah... Charocoal coat, hard to miss. Didn't you see her?" Twilight shook her head, "My hooves were kind of full..." Amalthea nodded, looking around at all the frightened and confused subjects, "Anyone, is there a stairwell near the Utility elevator!?" No one answered her, except for a stable-looking unicorn stallion, "Yes, I think there's one a few doors to the left of it." Twilight looked over, surprised to find that the voice sounded familiar, "You!?" Twilight exclaimed, levitating off her helmet, "You..." the unicorn stallion said flatly, Twilight was sure, now, it was the stallion from when she and Winter had just been taken to this time, who had talked to them in the pipe, "Do you know where Winter is?... The charcoal-coated mare?" The stallion nodded, "Call me Admiralty. But I believe your friend went through the double-doors over there." The frightened crowd of the subjects was gradually shifting into an uplifted but confused crowd, Twilight looked around at the crowd, then to the double-doors, "Admiralty, do you think you could help Amalthea get the collars off these people and ponies and herd them toward the elevator?" Admiralty nodded. Amalthea watched, confused, but she knew now that Twilight and Admiralty had seen eachother before. When Twilight dashed to the doors, Admiralty and Amalthea got to work, with her quickly removing Admiralty's collar and then setting about helping the others.

Twilight burst through the doors, levitating over a sub-machine gun from one of the dead apprentice sorcerers, "Winter?" Twilight called, moving down the now rather quiet hallway as opposed to the noisy room behind her, "Winter it's me, Twilight Sparkle! I'm here!" She swung her head to the side when she came upon a doorway, the machine gun likewise following the aim of her eyes as she looked through the room. Twilight walked into the arena room, and looked around, gritting her teeth when she saw quite an amount of blood splashed across a fractured reinforced glass window pane which looked through into a control room, currently empty. Twilight realized that she had accidentally ditched her helmet back in the Common Area, but she now figured she didn't need it until they went back topside. Twilight crossed the room to the other gate, and looked closely at the floor of the room, flecks of lavender fur were still here and there. She raised an eyebrow, then looked up at the ceiling as another explosion rocked the underground complex, reminding Twilight how little time she had.

[Blue Fox]

Winter heard Twilights call echo down the empty corridors but she ignored it with all intention as she continued to gallop down the halls. Leafrun clung tight to her back trusting her judgement as she turned a corner having absolutely no idea where she was going. Up ahead was a Sorcerer running from the other side, he was running to fast to stop himself before Winter had reached him. At seeing him she had picked up pace and slammed her head into him hard knocking the human out and slashing his stomach deeply with her horn. The human groaned in pain as he held his stomach, Winter didn't stop to see her work as she carried on her gallop. A loud crack echoed the ceilings as another explosion rocked the complex. Winter finally reached the end of the line to find there was no where left to run. There were a few rooms on either side, all of which were locked treatment rooms that needed some form of key card to open. They looked to heavy to buck down and were obviously resilient to magic, probably to stop their victims escaping if they somehow broke free from whatever they were doing to them inside. Her heart sank. If Twilight caught her here... but wait, she wouldn't kill them surely... she hated her not them. She still needed to make sure they were safe though. She set Rex down with Leafrun, she looked at them both with a stern motherly expression that told any child to listen and do exactly as they say. "Stay behind me" she said as she turned to face up the hallway.

[GalacticWar_Xavier]

Rex began to argue but halted himself when Winter gave him that look. If she were that determined, she could just slightly take her attention off his voice and not understand what he said anyways. He looked at Leafrun, who was still quite wide-eyed. On his end, Leafrun's ears were still ringing from the gunshots in the Common Area. Rex was as equally confused that Twilight had apparently come back from the dead, but he was trying to see it in a positive light. But something had obviously happened to Winter, something terrible, involving Twilight, yet not involving her. Had the video been part of a trick? Was the Twilight calling for them this very moment the trick? Rex was sure these same thoughts were likely going through Winter's head as well, and he couldn't make any more sense out of them.

Twilight exited the arena room and turned to see a sorcerer hobbling on the floor, who then fell limply to the ground. Twilight went over, the machine gun by her side held up threateningly. She then grabbed the sorcerer and flipped him over, discovering that he was dead, and had a unicorn horn-sized wound in his stomach. Twilight shivered as she wondered if Winter had done this, she must be desperate, she had to know that Twilight was here to rescue her! Twilight looked up and continued down the hall, "Winter! You don't need to be afraid anymore! Rex! Rex, if you're with her, I'm sorry for abandoning you! I tried to get help as soon as I could!... B-but I wasn't fast enough! I'm sorry!" She continued down the hall way and started around another corner, just thinking, now that she had seen that sorcerer, that she wished she had her helmet just in case. She looked down the hall she just rounded into, right into Winter's eyes. Time slowed for Twilight as she analyzed just what was going on, Winter looked like an absolute wreck, her mane and head were now covered in blood, likely from the sorcerer back there. The rest of her didn't look that much better. Twilight on the other hoof, looked exhausted as well, plainly evident with lack of sleep as well as physical and emotional stress, her mane was matted with sweat that had now dried since she had removed her helmet and caked the hairs together.

[Blue Fox]

The two mares stood silently as they looked at each other seeing what had been made of the other. Twilight had barely a scratch on her making her being alive all the more impossible as she was pretty sure she had torn her apart. The only sound that was made was the drips of blood hitting the floor as they fell from the tips of Winter's frayed mane. She struck a hind leg to the floor. crossing the path of Leafrun and Rex in a purposely visible attempt to shield them with her self. Her heart was beating faster and picking up pace as she tried to come to terms with the fact that she was probably going to die sometime in the next few minutes. What did make Winter more confused was the look on her face, like she expected her to look any different or less of a mess she had been last time they had seen each other. Winter pushed these thoughts aside however when she finally decided to speak. She wouldn't be able to fight Twilight for as long as this collar was still bound to her neck. So all she could offer was a plea for the lives of the two children. She still didn't believe she would harm them, but she couldn't be sure. "Look, kill me if it makes you somehow feel better, But for the love of Celestia let them go" she pleaded as she felt her composure slipping from fear of death. Her breathing became hard and the stale smell of blood was beginning to fill her nostrils as it dried into her mane.