MLP EQUESTRIA GIRLS X RWBY: Locked Frequencies

The science wing of Canterlot High was deathly silent, save for the rhythmic, low-frequency hum coming from Lab 102. Inside, Twilight was hunched over a flickering monitor, her purple hair pulled back into a messy bun.

​"The atmospheric pressure is dropping again," Twilight whispered, tapping a gauge. "Sunset, are you seeing this? The air density is fluctuating as if the room is... breathing."

​Sunset Shimmer stood near the center of the room, her arms crossed over her leather jacket. She looked uneasy. "I feel it, Twi. It’s like static electricity, but it’s heavier. It makes the hair on my arms stand up."

​Nearby, Applejack was helping Rarity move a heavy crate of lead-lined shielding. "I don't like it," Applejack grunted, wiping a bead of sweat from her brow. "The air's gettin' thick. Feels like a storm's about to break right inside the building."

​Rarity fanned herself with a manicured hand. "It is rather stifling, isn't it? My skin feels positively... prickly. It’s quite a chore just to keep one's focus."

​Twilight didn't look up, her eyes locked on a surging wave on her screen. "I’m trying to tune the spectrometer to the exact frequency of the rift I detected last week. If I can just stabilize the oscillation..."

​Suddenly, the machine let out a sharp, metallic whine. The lights in the lab flickered and died, leaving the room bathed in the eerie, pulsing glow of the device.

​"Twilight, turn it off!" Sunset yelled, but the air was already beginning to swirl.

​"I can't! It’s drawing energy from somewhere else!" Twilight reached for the manual override, but a sudden jolt of energy shot through the floor. It wasn't a shock; it was a wave of pure, radiating heat that hit her square in the chest.

​She gasped, her knees buckling for a split second. It was an overwhelming sensory spike—a sudden, intense awareness of her own body that made her breath snap back quickly.

​Before she could recover, the center of the lab tore open.

​A jagged rift of silver light and rose-scent erupted with a sound like a thunderclap. The force of the displacement threw everyone backward. Then, with a violent shove of reality, four figures were ejected from the light, crashing into the lab tables and the linoleum floor.

​The portal snapped shut, and the room plummeted into a heavy, ringing silence.

​Twilight groaned, her head spinning. She tried to push herself up, but she was pinned to the floor. A girl in a tattered red-and-black outfit had landed directly on top of her.

​Ruby Rose was a solid, warm weight, her face buried in the crook of Twilight’s neck. As Ruby groaned and tried to find her bearings, her movements were clumsy and frantic. Her thigh slid firmly between Twilight’s legs, pinning her down.

​"Ugh... my head..." Ruby rasped, her voice a low, dazed mumble.

​Twilight froze. The heat from the portal hadn't dissipated—it seemed to be radiating off the girl on top of her. The physical contact was jarringly intense. Every place their skin met felt like it was sparking.

​"Who... who are you?" Twilight managed to squeak out, her heart hammering against her ribs.

​Ruby pulled back just enough to look at her. Her silver eyes were wide, the pupils blown as they tried to adjust to the dim light. "I... I'm Ruby," she whispered, her breath warm against Twilight’s face. She didn't move to get up. Instead, she seemed mesmerized by Twilight’s purple skin. "Everything... everything feels so heavy here. And so warm."

​Across the room, Yang Xiao Long had skidded across the floor, coming to a stop against Applejack’s boots. Yang shook her head, her blonde hair glowing faintly. She looked up at the cowgirl, her eyes clouded with confusion and a sudden, sharp intensity.

​"Did we hit a mountain?" Yang panted, her voice dropping. She didn't move to stand, her eyes locking onto Applejack’s flushed face. "Because I feel like I just got hit by a sunbeam."

​Applejack stared down at her, her jaw tight. She could feel the heat radiating off Yang in waves of magnetic energy that made her own pulse jump. "N-not a mountain, Sugarcube," she drawled, her voice unusually high.

​Sunset was already on her feet, helping a dark-haired girl with cat ears—Blake—who was crouched in a defensive position, while Rarity was fussing over a girl in white—Weiss—who had tumbled into a display of fabrics.

​"Twilight," Sunset called out, her voice strained. "Something's wrong. The air... it’s not cooling down."

​Twilight looked back at Ruby, who was still pinned over her, their bodies tangled in a way that was becoming increasingly, undeniably distracting. The initial shock was fading, replaced by a deep, pulsing awareness of the stranger's warmth.

​"It’s the Phase-Shift," Twilight whispered, her hands trembling as they rested on Ruby’s waist. "Our worlds... they haven't finished merging. We’re... we’re grounded to each other."

Twilight gasped, her voice cracking as she looked up into Ruby’s silver eyes. "A Phase-Shift is—it’s a literal overlapping of two distinct dimensional fabrics. Right now, our molecules are trying to occupy the same relative space. The heat you’re feeling isn't fire, it’s… it’s atomic friction!"

​Ruby’s brow furrowed, her hands tightening on Twilight’s shoulders. "I don’t know what any of that means, but you feel like a cooling gel pack and a heater at the same time."

​"We have to break the circuit!" Twilight scrambled, finally finding the strength to push upward.

​As they untangled, both girls let out a synchronized breath. The loss of contact felt like a physical sting—a cold, hollow ache that made Twilight’s skin crawl. She ignored it, her scientific mind screaming louder than her body, and she sprinted toward the manual override at the back of the lab.

​Ruby didn't hesitate. She didn't know this girl, but her body felt an invisible, magnetic tether pulling her toward the purpke skinned scientist. She was on Twilight’s heels in a second, her red cape fluttering like a heartbeat behind her.

​"Sunset! AJ! Keep them back!" Twilight yelled as she reached the master console.

​The machine was glowing a blinding, neon white now. Twilight slammed her palm onto the manual override, and for a terrifying second, the room groaned. Then, with a heavy, metallic thunk of a circuit breaker, the light vanished. The screaming whine of the spectrometer died into a low, cooling hiss.

​The oppressive, unnatural heat began to drain from the room, replaced by the cool, night air of Canterlot High. Twilight leaned her forehead against the cool metal of the console, her chest heaving.

​"Is it… is it over?" Weiss asked from the corner, her voice trembling as she clutched a tattered white sleeve.

​Twilight turned around, her glasses sliding down her nose. She looked at Ruby, who was standing less than an inch away from her. Even though the machine was off, the air between them was still shimmering with a faint, hazy distortion.

​"No," Twilight whispered, her eyes wide as she looked at the rest of the girls. "The rift is closed, but the energy didn't dissipate. It… it bonded."

​"Bonded?" Applejack asked, "Twi, speak English."

​Twilight swallowed hard, her gaze darting between Ruby’s inquisitive face and the others. "Because the Phase-Shift was interrupted mid-merge, the 'Magnetic North' of your, I guess you would call some sort of "aura", has been recalibrated. To this world. Specifically… to us."

​She pointed to the girls from Remnant. "You four are essentially 'unanchored.' If you move too far away from the person you first touched—your primary contact—your molecular structure will start to oscillate. You’ll experience a rapid spike in body temperature, nausea, and… well, eventually, you’ll just flicker out of existence."

​The room went silent.

​"So, what you're saying," Yang said, looking at Applejack, "is that for my own health and safety, I have to stay near Miss Sunshine over here?"

​"Precisely," Twilight said, her face flushing as she realized Ruby was still staring at her with an intense, silver-eyed focus. "Until I can recalibrate the spectrometer to safely 'detach' your signatures, you have to stay close. Very close."

​Ruby tilted her head, a stray lock of black hair falling over her eyes. "How close is 'very close'?" she asked, her voice hushed and curious.

​Twilight instinctively took a half-step back, trying to reclaim some of her professional composure. As she moved, she felt a faint, tugging warmth in her chest—like a rubber band being stretched—but it wasn't painful. Not yet.

​"Actually," Twilight said, adjusting her glasses and raised her voice so the whole room could hear. "The initial calculations suggest that as long as the machine is powered down, the 'tether' is relatively flexible. You don't necessarily have to be... touching. But to be safe, everyone should stay within a ten-yard radius of their primary contact. If you go further, the molecular friction will start again. You'll feel it as a sharp spike in body temperature. It will be... very uncomfortable."

​"Ten yards, huh?" Yang remarked, leaning back against a lab table and crossing her arms. She shot a wink at Applejack. "I've had shorter leashes. I think I can manage that."

​Applejack just huffed, though the tips of her ears were still pink. "I reckon we can make it work. But Twi, is it safe to leave this room? My skin is still feelin' like I'm standin' too close to a campfire."

​"Yes," Twilight nodded, checking her handheld scanner. "The lab is stable. In fact, getting some distance from the localized static here might actually help regulate your heart rates. We should head home. I'll need to start working on a permanent solution in the morning."

​As the adrenaline began to fade, the reality of their situation set in. The girls began to move toward the exit, the pairs naturally gravitating toward one another as they navigated the darkened hallways of Canterlot High.

​"So," Ruby said, walking at Twilight’s side, her heavy combat boots clumping softly on the linoleum. "You're a scientist? Like, a real one? With the lab coats and the 'do-not-touch' buttons?"

​Twilight chuckled nervously. "I'm a student, mostly. But I prefer the lab to the cafeteria. It's... predictable. Or at least it was until fifteen minutes ago."

​"I like it," Ruby chirped, her energetic personality finally bubbling to the surface. "I'm Ruby. I'm a Huntress-in-training! I fight monsters, carry a giant scythe that's also a high-impact sniper rifle, and I really, really like cookies."

​"A scythe-rifle?" Twilight’s eyes lit up despite her exhaustion. "The mechanical engineering required for a transformable chassis of that scale must be—"

​"See! I knew we’d get along!" Ruby laughed, bumping her shoulder playfully against Twilight's.

​Further back, Rarity was already deep in conversation with Weiss. "I simply must insist, darling, that we find you something more... intact to wear. That combat skirt has seen better days, and your color palette is just screaming for a touch of Canterlot flair."

​Weiss sighed, though there was a hint of a smile on her lips. "It's called 'functional armor,' Rarity. But... I suppose a change of clothes wouldn't be the worst thing. Your world is remarkably devoid of Grimm, isn't it?"

​"If Grimm are those monsters you mentioned, then yes," Rarity shivered. "We prefer our drama to stay on the stage or in the fashion magazines."

​Meanwhile, Sunset and Blake walked in a comfortable, guarded silence. "You're not from a 'normal' world either, are you?" Blake asked quietly, her cat ears twitching at every echo in the hallway.

​Sunset shook her head. "I'm an outsider here, too. I know what it's like to feel like you don't belong in your own skin. We'll get you home, Blake. I promise."

​By the time they reached the school parking lot, the plan was settled. To keep the "anchors" secure, the pairs would stay together overnight. Applejack led a smirking Yang toward her truck, Rarity guided Weiss toward her pristine car, and Sunset offered Blake a ride on her motorcycle.

​Twilight looked at Ruby, who was staring up at the moon with wide, silver eyes. "I guess... you're staying with me tonight, Ruby."

​Ruby turned, a bright, slightly mischievous grin on her face. "Lead the way, Twilight. Just a warning—I move around a lot in my sleep!"

​Twilight’s face flushed as she led Ruby toward her own car. "I'll... keep that in mind for the data logs."

​As the four cars pulled away from the school, the night air was cool, but the "tethers" between the eight girls were already beginning to hum with a heat that had nothing to do with science.