My Little Pony: Friendship has a Dark Side.

Luna's eyes snapped open.

High atop Canterlot Castle, the Night Princess was lost deep in thought. Understandably, as there was much to think about as of recent. The red lightning bolt, that darn hedgehog, the Chaos Emeralds, that damn hedgehog, what happened to Rainbow Dash, that lord forsaken hedgehog, that awful hedgehog, THAT MOTHERFU-!!

...

Luna took a second to regain her train of thought.

But with all the things on her mind, she'd give anything for a distraction. She was hoping Twilight would be a source of distraction, but it was only the beginning of her frustration. Since when does her sister's apprentice not respond to a letter, especially one of such urgency as this? Perhaps she had a matter to deal with and Spike couldn't find her, but it just made Luna more frustrated and desiring of a distraction.

And just now, a distraction came in the form of an oddly familiar feeling. Luna sensed something she hadn't felt in such a while, but wasn't happy to have it return. It was the sickening feeling of a soul leaving it's vessel, moving to a world beyond that of the living.

Luna sensed death.

But this feeling...she hated the feeling of death, but this was just so strange. The soul departing...it was as if it was struggling. It wasn't controlling it's vessels actions, and was struggling to regain control. So when it suddenly departed, it seemed...happy. But not just for itself, but for those close to it. And then there's the matter of how abruptly it had departed...this death was no natural occurrence.

Not only a death, but a killing had taken place in Equestria.

It didn't take a pony of Luna's power to know that something was wrong here. Hardly any killings had ever taken place in Equestria, and now that one had happen, on top of all that's happened, it wasn't exactly the distraction Luna was looking for. In fact, it only served to further increase her frustration! If that hedgehog was involved in this, then may the celestial beings help him, because when she finds him-!

...

Luna took another second to regain her train of thought.

Actually, why was she thinking of such things? It's very true that she doesn't trust the hedgehog, but that was no reason to blame him for all the problems in Equestria. In fact, why didn't she trust her so much? He saved Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash, didn't he? Even if he was the cause of the problems, he fixed them. So why did he make her so angry?

All the questions were only giving Luna more of a headache. Casting the hedgehog out of her mind, Luna tracked the essence of death to the Everfree Forest, then teleported towards it, hoping her suspicions were incorrect, but somehow knowing the opposite was true.

No one takes the death of a friend well.

This shouldn't come as a shock to anyone, but it's true. No matter how distant you appeared to be, if a friend died, anyone would take it the hard way. Even if you're mad at a friend and thought 'I wish he/she was dead,' you don't mean that. If anything, you feel even worse because your last encounter was an unpleasant one. Just a fact of life.

Raiden knew this firsthand. He had killed many people's friends before, and he himself had lost certain people. He had seen and felt the unchallenged sadness that comes from the death of someone you care for. But, while this wasn't exactly an accomplishment, Raiden was sure he was the first to get the bragging rights in saying he killed a sentient robo-zebra who was the friend of a bunch of sentient ponies.

And in their eyes, there burned a rage surpassing even the unrivaled pain of sadness.

Applejack was unconscious, of course, and Fluttershy had opted to join her, but then there were the rest. Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash surrounded Raiden and tried to look as intimidating as possible. And it was working. They all looked like they were going to pounce Raiden and beat the the crap out of him. Raiden certainly knew for a fact that they couldn't, he was far too strong, but still. Props to them. Even Rarity. Now Raiden understood why she cared so much about her appearance. Apparently some ponies could look terrifying with a messed up mane.

For his part, Raiden was struggling to keep his rings on.

"Not. One. Move. Raiden." stated Twilight menacingly, "We expect you to talk, and you are staying. Right. Here.

Raiden looked at Twilight with a blank expression. Her horn was overflowing with magic, her mane was shaggy and messed up, and her pupils had shrunk, filling the majority of her eyes with flames of anger. The very Underworld may have trembled from her rage.

But Raiden was not the Underworld. He knew he could take her if he wished, but that was far from the wisest course of action, so he decided to indulge her. "What do you want?"

"WHY!?!?" The angry shout made Raiden turn his head, only for Rainbow Dash's hoof to meet his face. The attack sent him stumbling back, but before he could recover Rarity from behind him kicked his legs out from under him. Raiden couldn't get up before he felt himself restrained by some foreign energy. Raiden didn't try to fight it. Twilight walked in front of Raiden, her glowing horn being an indication that she was restraining Raiden. Or at least trying to. Raiden had a surprise that he wouldn't quite reveal yet. "Just let them believe they have the upper hand," he thought.

"SHE NEVER HURT YOU!!!" Rainbow Dash shouted, slapping Raiden across the face. She was going to do it again, but Pinkie Pie and Rarity restrained her and pulled her back. "YOU KILLED HER!!!" Rainbow Dash shouted and struggled to break free.

"LET GO OF ME!!! LET GO!!! ZECORA IS DEAD BECAUSE OF HIM!!! HE KILLED HER!!! I'M GONNA GET BACK AT HIM!!! COME ON, LET ME GO NOW!!!"

As Rainbow continued to struggle, Twilight stood glaring at Raiden. Raiden met her eyes with his own stoic stare. A loud *SMACK* resounded throughout the Everfree Forest as Twilight brought her hoof across Raiden's face. Still, the hedgehog didn't change his expression. He glanced back at the purple Unicorn, and she spoke, "You barge into our world, injure an innocent filly, and now you kill our friend without even trying to save her from..." she gestured to the metal corpse of Zecora, "...that." Her glare hardened. "What you say about this Emerald had better be true."

The fire within Rainbow's eyes burned stronger than before, "WHO CARES ABOUT SOME DUMB EMERALD ANYMORE!!! HE KILLED ZECORA!!! LET ME AT HIM!!! SEE HOW HE LIKES IT!!!"

"I'm starting to wonder why we're holding her back," commented Rarity.

Raiden scoffed. "Let me show you." Suddenly a thin red aura surrounded Raiden and dispelled Twilight's magic. Twilight stumbled back, caught off guard by this resisting power. The other conscious ponies also stared in disbelief. Twilight shook her head. "How...how did you do that?!"

"You can't restrain me," Raiden half-answered, "I'll leave it at that for now. Maybe you'll get an answer one day, but for now..." The red hedgehog walked over to Zecora's remains and kneeled over the body. He picked up his other sword. "about that Emerald..."

He picked up his two scabbards, both having triggers on the underside.

"...Zecora's durability struck me as odd."

Raiden held both scabbards in one hand and both swords in another. He slowly slid the swords in their proper resting places.

"And since the Emerald is here..."

The swords clicked into place.

"...I see only one logical explanation." Raiden raised a hand over his head like a claw about to swoop down and grab its prey. Before the ponies could wonder what he was doing, Raiden swiftly shot his hand down, straight through Zecora's metal chest. The ponies gave a collective 'eep!' of shock. Before they started to get the wrong idea, Raiden ripped his hand away from Zecora. From her metallic remains, Raiden produced a glowing green gem, shaped exactly like Raiden's red one. The ponies all stared at it in wonder.

"I-Isn't that..." Twilight didn't know how to finish.

"Yes, Twilight," Raiden replied, answering her unfinished question, "this is a Chaos Emerald." He gave his full attention to the group of ponies, "This would explain her large amount of durability." He stored away the other Emerald in...who knows where. "I thought it was weird. His robots don't usually last this long."

The ponies looked terrified and awestruck all at once. Twilight's voice was shaking with fear, "S-So, that thing...it wa-it was inside her!?" The lavender Unicorn placed a shaky fore-hoof over her head. She suddenly felt very ill.

"Wait a minute!" demanded Rainbow Dash. Suddenly she became the center of attention. Now free from Pinkie and Rarity's grip, she flew up to Raiden, staring him dead in the eye. "Am I the only one who noticed what he just said?"

Raiden blinked. He put a hand to his chin, recalling his last sentence. He blinked. And blinked again. It was at the third blink that he realized his mistake, and the other ponies seemed to catch on.

"His robots don't usually last this long."

"Who is this 'he' that you mentioned?!" Rainbow Dash demanded.

Raiden almost looked inpressed. "Y'know, for a hot head, that's rather astute of you."

Rainbow Dash's eyes instantly blazed as she brought a hoof across Raiden's face. Once again, Raiden's expression didn't change. "NO DODGING QUESTIONS HERE!!!" the Pegasus shouted, "WHO WERE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?!?!?"

"I must agree with Rainbow Dash, hedgehog."

The sound of a newcomer's voice made all members of the group turn their heads to behind Raiden. Walking towards them was the Princess of the Night herself, Luna, carrying herself royally but seeming less than happy. In fact an angry fire burned in her eyes, though her expression remained stoically unamused.

Raiden scoffed. "Yeah, that figures." He turned to fully face Luna. "How may we be of assistance, Princess?" he asked sarcastically, though everypony could tell he already knew the answer.

Luna stopped in front of Raiden. Both individuals gave each other challenging glares, staring each other down. Luna nuded her head towards Zecora's remains, "I assume that this is your responsibility?"

Raiden sarcastically smirked, "That's a rather harsh assumption, Princess. But, unfortunately, it's the correct assumption. That right there..." he pointed to Zecora, "is my kill."

Luna's eyes flared at his nonchalant tone, though she kept her quiet demeanor. "Your kill!?" she said in a heightened voice, "Is murder such a common occurrence for you!?"

A cloud formed over Raiden's eyes. "I wouldn't call this 'murder'" he seethed, "Even so, I shall politely refuse to answer this question. So answer mine: what business do you have here?"

"I think you should first answer ours," Luna retorted, "Do you know who caused this?"

Raiden was going to retort, but a thought struck him. He looked over to Zecora's metal body, separated from the head thanks to his actions. His expression softened. These ponies just lost a friend thanks to him, but he didn't take the zebra's life from her. He invaded this world, and it was their's to protect. Their's to live in. Their's to look after. These ponies deserved to know. He made a promise. The least he could do was fulfill it.

Raiden stood in silence for a moment, whittling away the patience of the ponies. Finally he turned over to the Night Princess. "...Alright. Yeah, I know who did this. But he won't be easy to get to."

Twlight walked beside Raiden. "It was this 'he' you were talking about, right?" The hedgehog nodded.

Rainbow Dash couldn't resist poking at the matter. "Well? Who is it, huh?"

For a moment, Raiden continued to say nothing, contemplating the best way to explain. Considering that he hated this man with every fiber of his being, he saw no reason to hold back his bias. Even then, he was sure that everyone would agree with him anyway. Everyone already had in his world. Besides, these ponies saw what he turned their friend into. It would take a true monster to do this. But how would they take this news. "Well, let's see."

Finally, Raiden snapped out of his thoughts and spoke. "Well, his name is-"

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

The sound of an interrupting explosion interrupted Raiden and the whole group to turn their head. A massive smoke cloud formed from across the Everfree Forest. It came down from the pathway to out of the area of Zecora's hut. In fact to the ponies it seemed to be come from...

"Ponyville!" exclaimed all the ponies.

Raiden's eyes widened. He immediately knew the one responsible. He turned his head towards Luna. "Princess, I need you to take Applejack to a hospital. I know who this is."

Luna raised an eyebrow towards Raiden. "Is it 'him'" The hedgehog nodded in answer. The Night Princess lokked over to the two unconscious ponies. "What of Fluttershy?"

"Fluttershy's just passed out from shock." He turned over to the other four ponies. "I need one of you to carry her."

For once, no one questioned the hedgehog. "I'll go get her!" declared Rarity, and she ran over to Fluttershy.

Raiden looked back to Luna. "Well?"

Luna didn't want to take orders from this...cretin, but she assumed he would know how to deal with whoever 'he' was. Besides, Applejack needed help. What kind of Princess would she be not to defend her subjects? She nodded and levitated the farm pony onto her back. "Okay, hedgehog, now what?" she asked, though it seemed like more of a taunt than a question.

Raiden brushed off the mockery and replied "Now you get to a damn hospital! As for you all," he pointed at the ponies, with Rarity now carrying Fluttershy over her back, "I'm going to teleport us back to Ponyville. When I do, find a safe place to hide."

"Hide!?" Rainbow Dash asked, sounding offended, "And what are you going to do, huh?"

Raiden's eyes clouded. "I'm going to take responsibility." His eyes flashed with that frightening something again, "Now when we get back, you HIDE! Understand!?" Rainbow Dash and the other ponies backed away, but reluctantly nodded. "Alright, good." Raiden turned towards Luna. "When you're done, I want you to meet me in Ponyville. Got that?" Luna was annoyed by the hedgehog's attitude, but nodded. "Okay."

Hesitating no further, Raiden pulled out his red Chaos Emerald from who knows where and held it over his head. "Chaos..." the Emerald began to glow, before Raiden finally shouted.

"CONTROL!"

In a flash, Raiden vanished along with the Elements of Harmony. Luna took the time to look down at Zecora's remains, the opening of her neck and below her head sparking with remaining electricity. Before she could allow sadness to cloud her mind, she flew off towards a hospital, carrying Applejack on her back.

Somewhere in the heavens above, Zecora could only hope.

Meanwhile in Ponyville...well, it's faring about as well as you'd suspect.

An onlooker would be able to see several pony citizens running and hiding from an odd-looking army. The army consisted of round mechanical beings with short arms and legs. Some were red and about the size of an average pony. Others were larger, either silver or green. These robots held either blasters, rocket launchers, spears, or large hammers.

The robots were called 'Egg Pawns,' and they appeared to have the simple mindset of 'destroy everything in sight.' Houses were blasted or smashed into oblivion, several structures also being smashed through. Ponies attempted to run away from the chaos, but not all of them escaped. Some were caught and imprisoned in an odd-looking metal capsule.

A standout figure among the chaos was a cloaked figure standing in a floating spherical pod, muscular arms crossed and having a small smirk on his face, but eyes that showed a bit of impatience.He was clearly looking for something, and he would do anything to find it.

"Egg Pawn Unit G-37: grab the nearest resident and bring him/her to me," ordered the figure. One of the giant, green, hammer wielding Egg Pawns walked over to a small house and, with a mighty swing, smashed the front wall into oblivion. Inside the house, a light-blue Unicorn with a dark-blue and white mane and tail shrieked and cowered away from the massive robot. Nevertheless, the mindless robot only lived to serve, and grabbed the pony with its massive hand, its iron grip making all attempts of escape futile.

The Unicorn was made to come face-to-face with the hooded figure, staring into his eyes in shivering fear. "Tell me, young lady, where can I find Raiden the Hedgehog?" the figure asked.

The pony was now confused and frightened. "I-I-I don't know wha-what you're t-t-t-talking about," she fearfully replied.

The figure frowned, obviously dissatisfied with the answer. He sighed and shook his head. "Young lady,' he calmly said, "I have no interest in your games. I have lost something of mine, something very important, and I believe that the one I'm looking for knows where it is." The figure pushed his cloak away from his hip, revealing a sword within a scabbard strapped to his belt. "So I must ask again..." grabbing the sword hilt, he instantly slid it out and had it against the pony's throat, revealing it to have a black blade, and appearing to be a katana. "Raiden the Hedgehog. Tell me where he is."

The Unicorn, now scared to tears, just vigorously shook her head. "I don't know! I'm sorry, I don't know!! I swear I don't know what you're talking about!!!"

The figure's frown remained. With the Unicorn still shaking in terror, he sheathed his blade. "Egg Pawn Unit G-37: execute her," he ordered. The Unicorn's eyes bulged open in fear, but only for an instant before the massive Egg Pawn threw her to the ground. She looked up to see the robot slowly raising his hammer to bring down. Seeing nothing else to do, the Unicorn curled into a ball and closed her tear-filled eyes, accepting her fate.

But before the deed could be done, a slashing sound could be heard through the air. A silence fell over the scene, and the cowering Unicorn looked up to see that the robot was standing completely still. The lights that were the robot's eyes began to flicker on and off until completely dimming to permanent darkness.

Without warning, the Egg Pawn was suddenly slashed into two pieces, both of which fell to the ground in opposite directions, leaving a massive cloud of dust to cover its remains.

Though the Unicorn lay on the ground in confusion, the hooded figure gave a wide smile. "So you finally showed up."

"Look who's talking," replied a voice from the dust cloud.

The dust cleared to reveal the figure brought up in recent interrogation. In all his short and furry glory.

Glancing behind him, his eyes locked onto the Unicorn, who shivered in fright at his gaze. "Run away," he ordered, snapping the Unicorn out of her fear-induced trance. She hastily nodded and stumbled back up to her hooves, running away as fast as she could.

The hooded figure now had his full attention on the red hedgehog, making very tense eye-contact. "Well, this seems like a very typical meeting for us, doesn't it, Raiden?" he stated more as fact than question.

For his part, Raiden scoffed. "Surprised you didn't attack this place sooner. Thought I made myself pretty obvious, and you're not really one for subtlety." His glare darkened, "Are you, Armstrong?"

The hooded figure smirked. He removed his hood to reveal the face of the man that Raiden hated the most; Solidus Armstrong.

"Do I really make myself that obvious?" he asked sarcastically. "But enough small talk. I think it's time to get down to the usual business." Armstrong raised an arm and held it up in Raiden's direction and issued a command, "All units: initiate priority one!"

Suddenly, every Egg Pawn perked up and snapped their mechanical heads towards Raiden. "TERMINATE HEDGEHOG: PRIORITY ONE." their robotic voices screeched. All the small Egg Pawns aimed their blasters at Raiden, charging them with an energy that made them glow.

Raiden smirked. "Y'know, Armstrong, in the very little time I've been here, I've spotted some similarities to Mobius." Armstrong raised an eyebrow, now curious. "One of them being that residents aren't exactly tolerant of people trying to take over their world."

In that instant, a barrage of purple lasers rained down from the sky, all aimed for Armstrong's army. The robots were instantly annihilated, leaving several craters and a cloud of dust in the wake of the aftermath. Armstrong flinched and quickly looked to the sky. He smirked when he saw the Ruler of the Night slowly descending before him.

"Nice shot, Luna," commented Raiden.

Luna looked back at Raiden with a quick glare. "My concern is not with you right now, hedgehog." She looked over to Armstrong, floating at the same height as her. "So I assume you're behind this destruction?"

Armstrong scoffed. "Me? Oh no, that was the other guy. His name was 's**t, Sherlock.' First name 'No.'"

Luna's glare darkened. "You're arrogance does not amuse me, fool." She blasted a large ball of magic at Armstrong, which promptly exploded in his face. The smoke cloud that spawned disappeared to reveal Armstrong, a strange barrier of energy preventing any harm from being done to him. Luna flinched in surprise. "What!?"

"You call me a fool, and yet you continue to underestimate your enemies," Armstrong stated with a confident smirk. "Just wait till the day you fight Raiden. That will be your undoing."

"That's enough out of you, Armstrong!" shouted Raiden. "You wouldn't just come here to spit in our faces. Where's the rest of 'em?"

Luna raised an eyebrow at Raiden. "Rest of them?"

Armstrong on the other hand showed no confusion and smiled. "You know me far too well, Raiden. Though I suppose that is to be expected. Alright. I won't keep you waiting."

Armstrong revealed a glove on his left hand, on which he just pushed a few buttons. Suddenly the sound of heavy hoof-steps filled the ears of both Raiden and Luna, while simultaneously they two of them felt a rumbling beneath them. Both Raiden and Luna stood back to back, scanning the area for potential threats in the area, but the loud clang of metal was the only indication.

"Hedgehog," Luna breathed through clenched teeth, "have you any indication of what's to come?"

Raiden took a moment of pause before answering her question. He would have immediately assumed more Egg Pawns, perhaps some Motobugs, Catterkillers, Buzz Bombers, Swat Bots...or perhaps some of the newer model stuff. But before he did, he took the time to notice the ponies in the area. Or rather lack thereof. For a typical Armstrong robot invasion with a side of some damaged and burning buildings, you'd think that there'd be more citizens screaming and running in terror. Sure, some could be hiding, but Raiden had expected more then this. The only time when towns were this empty during invasions were either when everyone was already dead or after-

Raiden's heart stopped cold.

"Yeah," he finally responded to Luna's question, "I know exactly what's coming."

"Well, a small indication would be rather helpful," Luna sarcastically pleaded.

"No," Raiden answered, surprising Luna. "It's better that you see for yourself."

"For myself?! What are you-?!"

Before Luna could finish her exclamation, Something popped out from the ground, catching Raiden and Luna's attention as they saw something that looked like a metal hoof. The hoof placed itself on the ground and something pushed itself out from under. Luna gasped when it looked like a metal pony, similar to how Zecora looked. Following it, many more mechanical equines pulled themselves from the ground. Not only that, but they seemed to be surrounding them by jumping from the windows of nearby houses. Some descended from the sky, flames spraying from their mechanical hooves. Within a few seconds, Robot ponies were surrounding the duo on both sides.

Armstrong was all confidence now. "You like, Raiden?"

"You...what did you do!?!?" Raiden shouted in pure rage.

Armstrong spread his arms and shrugged in response. "You seem shocked! What does it look like I did? These ponies are even easier to roboticize than Mobians!"

Raiden's eyes flared. His memories flowed back to him. Armstrong had roboticized before. So many times. So many times he used friends and family to his advantage. So many times he had killed with someone else's face. So many times Raiden had been forced to cut them down. So many times families hadn't forgiven him for it.

So many times. It was always Armstrong.

On Luna's side, she was frozen. What was this? These things...they looked so much like the zebra from Everfree. But the zebra...was that really a zebra? Did she turn into that? Is that why Raiden killed her? Is that why it's soul felt relieved to die? Then what about these ponies? Did they become turned to? If so, would they have to die to be at peace? A ruler of Equestria couldn't kill her subjects. But were they really? Why did this happen?

Why? Why!? WHY!?!?

Armstrong grinned and scoffed. "Heh. Looks like you're both speechless. Let's see if you can keep that up." He jestured an arm towards them. The robot ponies marched forward.

Raiden was about to lash out at Armstrong when a strong glow radiated from behind him. Raiden and Armstrong looked over to see Luna radiating a massive amount of magic from her horn. Armstrong raised an eyebrow, though if Raiden looked over, he could tell that he had an idea of what was going on. His voice confused Raiden even more, saying "Alright. I have all I need, Raiden, so I'll let you go this time. But we'll see each other again very soon." The light flashing out at them was almost blinding, and Luna opened her eyes to reveal bright white light. Before Raiden or Armstrong could be confused, Armstrong and the robot ponies were gone in a flash.

Raiden stood still. He heard Luna plop to the ground, but he opted to just go brain dead for a moment. He took deep, slow breathes, letting reality process itself back into his brain, bit by bit. He looked around. He say ruined buildings. He say fire. He saw lifeless streets. But he heard nothing.

He blinked.

"What did you just do!?" Raiden exclaimed. His eyes were on Luna, who lay panting on the ground in strained breathes. Raiden ran over to her side and crouched down, but there eyes didn't meet. "Luna, where are they!? Why'd you do it!?"

"Raiden," Luna panted. The hedgehog blinked. That was the first time she called him by his name. Not only that, but she sounded afraid. Almost sad. "What was that?" She looked up at Raiden with desperation in her eyes. "Why? Why did they look like ponies!? What were they!?!?"

Raiden stared into her eyes. For the first time, he saw another side of Luna. The cold, hard, regal demeanor shattered, in it's place a worried, desperate mare. Someone who wanted answers and didn't know what to do if she heard something wrong. Someone who wasn't sure if she just made the right decision. Seeing this mare, Raiden didn't want to tell her the truth. The oh so painful truth. But she would immediately know a lie. There was no other choice.

"Luna," Raiden answered, putting a hand on her shoulder, "you won't like this, but I'll give it to you straight. Let's find the ponies and go back to Canterlot. They need to hear this."

Armstrong looked around. He was in some kind of forest location. There was no life around here, and only his robots surrounded him. It was a small world, however, and in the distance of the very small hill he was on, he could see very tall buildings peeking over the tree tops. Armstrong smirked at his convenience. "Eq-Pawn-001C, nearest populated location." A robot pony had a screen appear from his back, showing the word 'Manehattan.' Armstrong smiled, finding the pun rather stupid.

Then he looked at the distant city and smiled away for a completely different reason. "Time to get to work."