The next night, in the security room, the security guard was getting ready to leave. His shift was over, so he was free to go back home to his wife and probably already asleep kids. He just needed to wait for the next guard to arrive. He was surprised, though, to see that the guard was a young woman with bright orange hair wearing the security guard uniform.

"Miss Dazzle?" the guard called, surprised. "What are you doing here? Where's Mike?"

"Mr. Schmidt called not long ago." Adagio explained. "He had an accident on his way here. Nothing serious, but he won't be coming to work today."

"Wow, that sucks. I can cover his shift if you want to!"

"That won't be necessary, Mr. Fitzgerald. You go home now, I can take care of this!"

"But why you? You're the boss's secretary, shouldn't you--"

"President Sombra is not here. If someone calls, we have an answering machine. If someone shows up for no reason, tough nuggets to them. I just want to get away from that desk and do something other than nothing. Even if it's just for tonight!"

"Are you sure? Aren't you afraid the boss will fire you for that?"

She chuckled, then shrugged and shook her head. "I know for a fact that President Sombra won't fire me, Mr. Fitzgerald!"

"Well, if you say so... If Mike calls again, tell him I said 'get well soon'!"

"I'll do that. Good night, Mr. Fitzgerald."

"Night, miss Dazzle."

The guard grabbed his bag and went straight to the men's locker room, where he took off his uniform and put on his everyday clothes. Adagio watched through the cameras as he left the building. Once she was sure he wasn't returning, she reached into her pocket and pulled an earpiece.

"All clear, girls."

Sunset and Trixie, both of them wearing their Maiden Do Well outfit, were hidden in an alley one block away from the Umbrum Corp. building. They had just knocked a man unconscious and tied him up. The man in question was Mike, the security guard who "had an accident".

"Sorry, pal. Nothing personal!" Trixie said to the man. "We'll come back for you later."

"What's the next step?" Sunset asked Adagio through the earpiece.

"I already turned off the recording function of all cameras." she said. "You can come in whenever you want, just don't be spotted!"

Sunset and Trixie made their way to Umbrum Corp. and walked in through the front door. With the help of Adagio's guidance, they sneaked past the guards on the first floor and went straight to the security room, where Adagio sat alone.

"Good job!" she said.

"So, which route we're going to take?" Trixie asked, resting her elbows on Adagio's chair while looking at the screens.

"Where's the screen you mentioned yesterday?" Sunset asked. "The one with people strapped to tables."

"Just a second." Adagio pressed a few buttons on the keyboard and a password screen popped up on the computer. "Not every Umbrum Corp. employee knows about the secret deals going on under the building, so there are some cameras protected by password. Luckily for me, as President Sombra's secretary, even though I can't physically go to many rooms, I have access to all kinds of files and documents! I just need to enter this and..." she typed the password and pressed Enter. "...done!"

Many of the screens changed, showing white corridors with people on lab coats walking to different rooms, a room with people strapped to surgical tables and several other rooms with machines, shelves full of documents, boxes and chemical products.

"Your destination is this one!" Adagio pointed at the screen showing the room with the people. "I don't know if they're there or not, but it's our best option." she pointed up. "There's a vent right above us. Use it to go down to the third basement. I'll guide you as best as I can. Oh, and one more thing!" she reached into her pocket and pulled a small photographic camera, then passed it to Sunset. "Take some photos, we need evidence. Umbrum Corp. is not escaping this time!"

"Got it!" Trixie said, then pulled a small screwdriver from her utility belt. Sunset Shimmer helped her up and Trixie stood on her shoulders. She used the screwdriver to unscrew the bolts and entered the vent, then helped Sunset up.

"Good luck, you two!" Adagio said as they crawled through the vent. It didn't took long for them to descend to the vents of the third basement. They moved as quietly as possible, trying not to be noticed by the people on the corridor right below them.

"What can you see now?"

Sunset looked through the grids, analyzing every detail.

"We're still in the corridor, right in front of the bathrooms." she whispered.

"Let's see... Okay, I found you! The testing room in not too far ahead. Tell me, do the vents have ramifications?"

"Yes! The ventilation system connects all the rooms."

"Perfect! The room you're looking for is on the third left."

Doing just as they were told, Sunset Shimmer and Trixie turned left on the third turn and crouched next to the grid above the room.

"Okay, we're here. What now, Adagio?" Sunset whispered, but was only met with silence. "Adagio, you there?"

"Maybe your earpiece is malfunctioning." Trixie suggested. "Here, let me try mine. Hey, pillow hair, can you hear me?" still nothing.

"I think there's something blocking the signal." Sunset Shimmer hypothesized. "Looks like we're on our own from here."

"So, do we jump right in, knock out whoever is in there and save everyone?"

"Don't be so reckless, Trixie! We need to assess the situation first! As far as we know - which isn't much without Adagio - there could be armed guards in there."

"I see your point."

They approached their faces to the grid and watched carefully.

Two people in the room were not lying down, and both were wearing lab coats. The first was a glasses-wearing young woman with purple skin and dark blue hair with pink and purple streaks, which was tied up in a bun. Sunset Shimmer's suspicions were confirmed; that was indeed this world's counterpart of Princess Twilight.

The second person was and older woman, probably on her mid-thirties. Her skin was light grey, but with dark grey stripes on the side of her face and under her eyes, which trailed down to her neck and disappeared under her lab coat. Her hair was a striped light and dark grey mohawk.

"Please, tell me you have good news, Dr. Zecora!" Twilight's couterpart pleaded.

Dr. Zecora shook her head. "I feel bad for this, but my feelings I must suppress." she said. "We did the best we could, but still no success."

Twilight kept silent for a moment, then sighed. "Which ones did we lose this time?"

The older woman lifted the clipboard she was holding. "Test Subjects from 3 to 8; all of them suffered this terrible fate..."

Twilight grabbed the clipboard from Zecora's hand, looked at it with an angry look on her face and threw it at the wall, breaking the clipboard in half.

"DAMN IT ALL TO HELL!" she yelled before falling on her knees. "It's... It's all my fault... If I hand't..."

Zecora kneeled beside her and placed her hand on Twilight's shoulder. "No, Dr. Sparkle, you are not to blame. It's all President Sombra, he's the cause of our shame!"

"You don't understand, Zecora. I did all this! I told him about the girls from the other world. It was I who brought them here against their will. It was all me! I'm the monster!"

"Using science for evil, sadly I can relate. But the moment we signed the contract, we also sealed our fate. I wish I could cease all this, I truly do. But we can't face Sombra on our own. You agree, don't you?"

Twilight nodded. "I'm tired of him bullying answers out of me, but I don't want him to make my family 'disappear'..."

"Using our loved ones to make sure we'll follow his plan. Truly a condescending, sadistic, despicable man. We had our chance to remove him from the throne, but he'll be back soon - our chance is long gone."

"I know, Zecora. But I was scared. What if it was all a trick, a lie to expose those conspiring against him? As far as I know, he could be in his mansion, watching us through the cameras right now!"

"If that is the truth, this is a matter we shouldn't discuss. If he's on a bad mood, surely he'll punish us!"

"Alright, I heard enough!" a third voice said, startling both of them. Suddenly the grid of the ventilation system fell to the ground with a loud clank and the Maiden jumped in the room from there. Twilight and Zecora gasped.

"It's the Mysterious Maiden Do Well!" Twilight said in shock. "What are you doing here?"

"I am here to stop this madness." she said. "President Sombra went too far, and I am here to ensure that he won't go further than that!"

"That's... That's..." Twilight smiled. "That's perfect! You're not an emplyee, - at least I'll just assume you're not - which means that the President doesn't have anything he can use to force you to keep quiet. This is our chance, Zecora!"

"Indeed, such opportunity cannot go to waste." she looked at the Maiden. "We put our faith in you, make sure it's not misplaced!"

"Of course! But for this, I need help. You see, I lost contact with my informant, so I need to know which equipment has severed our connection and turn it off."

Dr. Sparkle and Dr. Zecora looked at each other, confused.

"We don't have this kind of equipment here." Twilight said.

"Then I guess I need your help even more. I need to find the girls that were kidnapped!"

"They're kept in a special containment room." Twilight said. She then approached the door and slowly opened it. The young scientist looked through the gap to make sure no one was there and, once she was sure no one was coming, motioned for them to follow her. The Maiden took a few pictures with her camera before going after her.

The two scientists led the Maiden to the door at the end of the corridor, which had a keypad.

"Just follow the main path..." the Maiden whispered.

"What was that?" Twilight asked as she inserted the password.

"N-Nothing relevant." she said.

Twilight pushed the door open. The room looked like a laboratory from a science ficton flick, with giant important-looking machines and stasis tanks. Two of those tanks had a person floating in its liquid; the first was a girl with light pink skin - her purple hair with aquamarine streaks no longer tied up in pigtails was gently waving behind her. The person inside the second tank was also a girl; her skin was pale blue and her light and dark blue hair, which was usually tied up in a ponytail, was also untied. Both of them would be naked if it weren't for the bandages wrapped around most of their bodies.

"There you are." the Maiden said. She took a picture, then approached the tanks. "What did they do to you?" when she was close enough, she saw the tubes in their arms. At first glance, she thought that they were pumping nutrients in their bodies to keep them alive, but upon closer inspection, she noticed that this wasn't the case.

They weren't pumping anything. They were draining!

"What the fuck did you do to them?" the Maiden said. She was so angry and concerned at the same time that she couldn't stop her tongue and let a curse word escape.

"We... We're storing their blood to be used in the experiments." Twilight said, looking down in shame.

"And what kind of messed up experiments are those?"

"President Sombra, he... He wants to turn humans into weapons!"

"Human weapons? I want you to tell me everything you know about this. Right now!"

"Su-Sure!" Twilight reached into her pocket and pulled out a small red pebble. The Maiden took it from her and inspected closely. "We use their blood to make these. We call them Red Stones, they're artificially synthesized copies of the pendants they used to wear."

"How do you know about the necklaces? Neither the authorities nor the press were informed of the Battle of the Bands incident!"

"We had several interview sessions. They told me everything about themselves. Their race, their homeland and their pendants. They also told me that the Stones used to be part of their real bodies, so I theorized that even if they were destroyed, they would probably regenerate sooner or later. With the help of some blood samples, I was able to recreate one! But I believe some biological process is involved because, according to both of them, these copies 'felt wrong' and couldn’t be used for the same purpose.

"They also said that even if the energy emanating from them was different, they were still pretty powerful. President Sombra saw this as an opportunity and ordered us to harvest more blood. He then ordered us to find a way to attach them to normal human bodies, so they'd be able to harness their power. That’s how the Project Red Stone came to be!"

"Why? Why would you do such a thing?"

"They were merely doing what I ordered them to do!" a new voice - a very deep and intimidating male voice - joined the conversation.

A man with dark grey skin, pitch black hair and crimson red eyes appeared from behind the machine. His business attire was black, with the sole exception of the blood red shirt. His presence was enough to make Dr. Zecora start trembling and Dr. Sparkle lose balance and fall on her rear.

"Wh-Wh-When did you get back?" Twilight stammered.

"In time to save my company from your betrayal, and that's all you need to know." he said.

"President Sombra, I presume?" the Maiden asked, crossing her arms.

"The Mysterious Maiden Do Well. It's an honor to meet you in person! Welcome to my palace. I would offer you a tour, but it seems you are far too busy."

"Cut the crap, Sombra, and let them go!"

"Why don't you ask those two to help you?" he said while motioning to the two scientists. "They won't be able to help you anymore after they disappear!"

"You are not going to hurt anyone else. I won’t let you!"

"Oh, I won’t hurt anyone." President Sombra pointed at the machine he was hidden behind moments ago, and a fifth figure showed up.

A girl with long, orange hair wearing a security uniform joined them. Her eyes were glowing red and she had a wicked smile on her face. Her tie was missing and her shirt wasn’t buttoned all the way up, revealing the Red Stone attached to her chest.

"But she will!"

Author's Notes:

Why did I HAD to choose Zecora?! You probably already noticed that I suck at rhyming...

Also, this was supposed to be uploaded yesterday, but FiMFiction wasn't working, so it got postponed. Anyway, as an apology, here's Adagio wearing the security guard uniform: