My Little Pony: Friendship has a Dark Side.

by PokeSEGA64

Rating: teen
Tags: Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Princess Luna, Original Character, Adventure, Princess Celestia, Crossover, Main 6
Length: 36984

"I've been taught what friendship means...And these lessons are exactly why I can't lose!"

One day, what started out as a perfectly casual day in Ponyville, Equestria, the ponies of the town were gathered around a small crater with a strange creature, certainly not a pony, was injured. He later claims himself to be a hedgehog, and claims that he tried to avoid any connection to friendship or harmony. Any hopes to make friends with the visitor are dashed away from Twilight, as he always leaves trouble following in his footsteps. It also doesn't help that the hedgehog always seems to bring out the worst in ponies.
The worst and darkest in ponies.
But this seems to phase everyone but the hedgehog. "I find it important to recognize the bad in things.
"After all, everyone and everything, including friendship, has a dark side."

Published 2013-12-15 04:20:05 UTC
Last updated 2014-09-12 03:04:26 UTC

Chapter 1: The Red Lightning Bolt.

It was a perfectly normal day in Ponyville, Equestria.

And you really can't go wrong with these kind's of days. No storm was scheduled to happen today, so the sky was a beautiful blue, the sun shining valiantly in the sky. It was a Saturday, meaning that all thought of school was gone from all the little fillies mind's. The Pegasi were flying about, the couples were out for dinner dates, and the animals were going about their business.

In short, the day was as close to perfect as possible.

And who are we to find on this impossibly close to perfect day but everypony's favorite lavender unicorn? Nopony could even begin to describe her love for books, so of course she was reading a book under the shade of a tree, her dark mane and tail blowing in the cool but not chilly breeze, with the pink and dark purple streaks especially noticeable. Even in the shade her cutie-mark of stars seemed to shine.

Her name was Twilight Sparkle, and everypony in Ponyville knew her name.

Which, on it's own, is not saying much. Ponyville was a small town. A town where everyone could get around and get to know each other. There was hardly a pony who didn't know the next. But the name "Twilight Sparkle" was one in particular that stood out. After all, she was one of the six heroines that turned Nightmare Moon back into Princess Luna. It was thanks to her that the evil of the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony, Discord, was stopped. She played a very major roll in the defeat of the Changelings and their queen, Queen Chrysalis. And it was thanks to her that the evil King Sombra had been defeated for good. Needless to say, she had made quite a name for herself.

Oh yeah. And she was the Element of Magic and possibly the most important Element of Harmony, so there's that. That was always important...really important.

But none of that was going on right now. There was no evil to fight, and Twilight was grateful for it. There were no possessed princesses, spirits of chaos, or evil rulers to deal with. It was just another normal day in Ponyville. A day where Twilight had more than enough time to read her book...

...Is what she kept telling herself until she heard a thunderclap.

Twilight couldn't stop a little scream as she jumped up and hid behind the tree that was giving her shade, wanting anything to hide her away from any apparent danger that might come from the lightning bolt.

It took a moment to realize that nothing was going to hurt her, and she came out from behind the tree. She thought she had a pretty good idea who caused that. "Rainbow Dash! That's not funny!" exclaimed Twilight, who was ready to give her friend Rainbow Dash, the Element of Loyalty, a good scolding. But, to Twilight's surprise, Rainbow Dash wasn't there...In fact, looking around, nopony was there. The park was completely abandoned.

To say the least, this struck Twilight as odd. Creepy, even. Almost scary. Where had everypony gone? could the thunderclap have scared them off? No, it couldn't have been that alone. One simple prank wouldn't send everypony running. So maybe it wasn't a simple prank. Maybe the thunderclap was something more.

Then Twilight caught the sent of smoke. Smoke? where did that come from? Her mind was immediately brought back to the thunderclap. She thought that where's thunder, there's usually lightning. She turned her head towards the source. It was coming from the center of the town.

Twilight's curiosity and suspicion became one to create panic. Had a lightning bolt hit the center of town? It had to have been strong if the smell of smoke reached all the way over here in the park. Twilight ran as fast as she could to the center of the town.

When she got there, Twilight saw that everypony was gathered the source of the smoke. So that's where everypony ran off to. Twilight looked around and spotted her a light blue Pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail flying above her. The Pegasus's cutie-mark of a cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt confirmed that she was Twilight's friend, Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty, head weather pony, and fastest flyer in all of Equestria.

Twilight called out "Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow Dash's attention was caught as she noticed Twilight. She flew down to greet her friend. "Hey, Twilight," said Rainbow Dash. "Did you see that lightning bolt? I just figured that was one of your magic practices gone wrong."

"It couldn't have been," said Twilight. "I was reading in the park the whole time. I thought it was caused by one of your clouds giving off a bolt."

"Heck, no!" replied Rainbow Dash immediately. "That was a red lightning bolt. No cloud could have possibly given that off!"

Twilight was surprised. A red lightning bolt? This was the first she had heard of that. Now Twilight had to know what was going on. She along with Rainbow Dash pushed her way to the front of the crowd. When she was there, she couldn't believe what she saw. The bolt certainly was powerful, because the crater it left was huge. But the center of impact was what really caught her eye. "What is THAT!?" Asked a surprised Rainbow Dash.

Twilight had no idea. At the center of the crater was a...something. It certainly wasn't a pony, but it was a creature. It was tall. It was covered with completely red fur, except for it's stomach, which had no fur. It wore red shoes with white straps. It had two legs and two arms, and it's hands had damaged white gloves. It had a somewhat big head with spikes on the back. It also had a sharp tail and spikes on it's back.

Twilight noticed that it looked wounded. As strange as the creature was, this worried Twilight. She wanted to help it. She got closer to the creature. "What are you doing, Twilight!?" she heard Rainbow Dash say. Twilight didn't listen. She reached the creature. It was definitely unconscious. Twilight knew she had to help it, and began to touch it.

The creature twitched and groaned. It was gaining consciousness. This caused Twilight to take a step back, but not run away.

And then, suddenly, It woke.

Author's Note

Well,here's the first chapter of my first fanfiction.
Criticism is welcome, but no downright insults.
Enjoy!

Chapter 2: Origin of the Red Lightning Bolt.

30 minutes earlier...

Elsewhere...

The red hedgehog, simply called Raiden, Stood in front of the massive metal door.

Raiden had gone through far too much to get here. The robots guarding the way here were little more than nuisances. Nothing could have stopped him from arriving at this moment. His body was covered in wounds, to the point of being practically torn apart. But that didn't slow him down. Once he starts moving, nothing ever slowed him down. And now here he was: at the end of the race. The man beyond this door was the man that had taken over his world, and tyrannically ruled over it with an iron fist. The man that had been responsible for the deaths of the ones Raiden had held dear.

The villainous King Solidius Armstrong.

But Raiden had made it here: to where Armstrong resided. And his reign of tyranny ended here. "His grip on this world may be 'iron'," thought Raiden, "but my blades can cut through anything."

Raiden wasted no more time. He pushed the huge doors open, and entered the room. It looked like a generator room; The room was circular with something floating in the middle. But that floating thing was no generator. It was the king himself, Solidus Armstrong.

Armstrong was dressed in a blue coat that stretched all the way down to his feet. Under that, he was wearing a pitch black tuxedo and army boots. He was a muscular man, wore glasses, and had a sword attached to his belt. The combination really didn't go well together, but that's what made it somehow terrifying.

Armstrong noticed Raiden as soon as he entered the room, and roared a mighty laugh. "Raiden," he bellowed, "I expected you to come, but I'll admit that I'm impressed that you've made it this far. Well played, boy."

"We both know why I'm here, Armstrong", Raiden shouted. "The time for commentary is over!" Raiden drew one of his swords: a High-Frequency Muramasa Blade. It was like a red katana, except indestructible. Also, all High Frequency blades could emit electricity. Raiden spoke again "Today I take you down!"

Once again, Armstrong laughed, but it wasn't a mighty laugh. This one was smaller. He spoke again. "Ah, I admire your persistence; you've been after me for 23 years, and now here you are, standing in front of me, finally ready to face me. But I don't know why you persist. If you defeat me today, there will be more to rise up and take my place. If I defeat you, your legacy is done. There will be no more souls brave enough to challenge me, and if there were to be, it would be too late. My legacy - my mark - is permanent! You cannot defeat all of us! Ti's the endless cycle of kings!"

Raiden didn't miss a beat. "If it truly the fate of the world to be ruled king after king, then I'll be there to stop all of them, one by one!"

Raiden was now in front of Armstrong. "And if I do die here today..."

Raiden got into a stance, readying himself.

"...then the least I can do is take you down with me!"

Armstrong laughed once more before speaking. "Than face me, Raiden the Hedgehog. Today..."

Armstrong unsheathed his blade: A High Frequency Rapier. He got into a stance.

"We will end this!"

The two swordsman charged each other. Blades clashed at impossible speeds. You could practically feel shockwaves with each strike.

Raiden came into the fight thinking that his speed would give him the advantage. He has been known to break the sound barrier, both with his running and his strikes. But he wasn't prepared for Armstrong's reflexes. Somehow, he could bend his body at nearly impossible angles, moving at speeds that even matched Raiden's standards. Raiden had to rely on both his speed and agility to keep up with him, constantly jumping and ducking and doing his quick-step technique.

Raiden realized that his usually effective style wouldn't work against this guy. He needed a strategy. Needed to get creative. He tried a spin-dash. Armstrong kicked the speeding ball that was Raiden away, and Raiden exited his ball form just in time to block his next strike.

Raiden was shocked. Armstrong was able to just kick away Raiden's spin-dash attack like a soccer. How? That attack could slice through metal robots like butter. No human should have been able to block that. It was just impossible, simple as that.

Raiden tried one of his favorite moves: the homing attack. Raiden jumped into the air and entered his ball form. Then, in a movement that every known aspect of physics, he sped towards Armstrong in mid-air. The homing attack was always a clean hit. There was no way it would miss.

And it didn't. The attack certainly hit it's target. But something else happened that was just as impossible as it missing: Armstrong caught it.

He freaking CAUGHT IT! He caught something that should have split him in half! Not only that, but sparks were flying as Raiden was GRINDING against Armstrong's apparently very solid hand!

Raiden jumped back. He could not even begin to express his shock. "I-I-Im-Impossible" said Raiden. "Impossible. Why aren't you dead?" He shouted this last part "You should be dead!"

Armstrong only grinned. He grasped his shirt, and with a swift movement tore it from his chest. Raiden didn't know what he saw: it appeared that his heart was practically bulging from his chest, but at the same time it looked armored, along with the rest of his body, which was covered in bulging veins. "What!?" was all Raiden could get out.

Armstrong flexed the muscles on his arm, causing it to be covered in some black, armor like substance unknown to Raiden. Armstrong explained: "Nanomachines, son. They harden in response to physical trauma. You can't hurt me, boy."

Raiden couldn't believe what he had just heard or saw. There was no way! He had to hurt this guy. He had to KILL this guy! The thought that he couldn't hurt Armstrong only made Raiden angrier. Raiden charged Armstrong and tried to strike him with his sword. Every hit bounced off Armstrong, but Raiden didn't care. He would keep attacking 'till his blade broke, then he would use his fists 'till they bled. He would use his head if he had to.

But at some point, when Raiden was preparing another strike, he felt a sharp pain in his chest and stomach. The pain was strong enough to keep Raiden from moving. He felt something warm trickle from his stomach, and he realized what had happened. He looked down anyway.

Armstrong's Rapier was stuck straight through Raiden, blood coming out of his body very quickly. Raiden coughed, causing more blood to come out.

Armstrong was smiling "Heh, what did I just say? It's over, boy!"

Was it really? Raiden was basically on the verge of death. He couldn't move. Was he done for good? Had he really been at the end of his rope?

No! There was no way! Raiden had gone to far to fail. There was no way death would take him here. He couldn't give up. He wouldn't give up! He would win...someday. Raiden knew he had lost this fight, but if he didn't win here, than he would be back. Raiden summoned the Chaos Emeralds.

Armstrong looked shocked and confused. "What?"

Raiden couldn't turn into his super form in this weakened state, but there was something else he could try. He began to concentrate as hard as he could. "Chaos..."

Armstrong realized what he was doing. "NO!" he screamed. He had his blade create electricity, in hopes that it might stop him.

The pain was almost enough to break Raiden's concentration. He shouted one last word "...CONTROL!" The room was exposed to a flash of light. Electricity flew. Raiden had just enough time to be confused. "That's never happened before", he thought. But as soon as the thought popped into his head, Chaos Control activated, sending him through time and space.

Author's Note

Man, this one took way longer, but it was worth it, hopefully. Also, have you figured out who my OC is based off of yet? Anyway, I hope you enjoy. Peace out.

Chapter 3: Where am I?

All Raiden saw was a world of eternal blackness. He was confused, and a bit freaked out. He wanted to know where he was. He then saw images fly buy him. He saw himself, standing above a bunch of destroyed robots, in front of his comrads, lying in pools of blood. Some had missing limbs, but the most hurtful was the head of a green fox, one that he almost called a friend, right next to his foot.

He saw himself, standing across from King Solidius Armstrong. He saw them fighting, and he saw that he was no match for Armstrong. He saw himself being stabbed by Armstrong, then he teleported away, a look of shame on his face. The images stopped, and then he saw the seven Chaos Emeralds surrounding him before splitting away and flying in different directions. Raiden felt like he remembered this all happening. Then, suddenly, he saw a giant red lightning bolt and heard the loud boom of a thunderclap.

Raiden jolted awake.

He felt hazy. He remembered the images he saw. "A dream" he said. "It was all a dream." He tried to tilt his head away from the sun in his eyes.

He heard voices. He could barely make out what anyone was saying, but he heard somethings about "it" being awake. He assumed he was being referred to. He also heard something like "Get away from it...!" He couldn't make out what the name being said. But there was one voice he could hear clearly. It said "Are you okay?" It was a female voice. The voice was friendly, and it sounded concerned, almost in a motherly sense. Raiden turned his head toward the sound of the voice.

"Yeah," he said. Yeah, I think I -" he cut himself off at the sight of the one who delivered the voice: It was a horse... no, wait. It was too small to even be a horse. The term "pony" would be more accurate. But it definitely wasn't a normal pony. This one was lavender colored with purple iris's. Its mane was a dark blue color with dark purple and pink streaks, and its tail was the same scheme of colors. It had a mark on it's flank, looking like a big purple star surrounded by many other stars. Lastly, it had a horn on its head, signifying it as a unicorn. Yes, a unicorn. As in the kind that you would hear about in a kids fairy tail that your mom read to you.

It looked...pretty. And not in the attractive female figure kind of way. Just...pretty.

The unicorn's expression of worry now mixed with confusion. "Is...something wrong?" she asked.

"Hell yeah, something's wrong: I'm in the presence of a talking purple unicorn!" Raiden wanted to say, but he thought better of it, so all that came out was "Um...*gulp* uh...". Raiden started to notice that his strength was draining fast, and realized the limit of energy he had. He first used his reserves to look around, and boy, was what he saw a treat.

Everyone around him was a pony. And everyone around him was a very colorful pony, with some mark on his/her flank, each mark different from the last in some way or another. Some were unicorns, like this purple one, but others had wings - pegasi, he noted - and some had neither wings nor horns, but were just normal ponies. But they weren't the only things that were colorful: this whole place was vibrant with shades of color. From what he could tell, he was in a small village. A small and - surprise - colorful village. This whole place was odd. It felt too friendly. Too...happy.

"Um...well okay, I'm certainly not in Armstrong's castle anymore", Raiden thought. But if that's the case, then where is this? I know I used Chaos Control, but I've been around the world, and this place is definitely not familiar." Raiden looked back at the lavender unicorn next to her. "Miss, I have no idea who you are, but I need you to tell me something: tell me where -"

Raiden was cut off by a sharp pain in his chest as he tried to rise up. for a moment, he clutched his chest, then he looked down at it. As he did, he remembered getting stabbed by that bastard Armstrong, because there was a big, gaping hole going through him.

Raiden looked at it for a second of painful terror before looking at the unicorn again. Her look of concern evolved into full on horrified panic.

"Heh", he chuckled. "I guess I'm not so okay after all..."

That was all he managed to say before going into a coughing fit, then falling into unconsciousness.

The quilled creature fell back down, the hole in his chest now visible, and suddenly the crowd exploded in a fit of non-stop talking.

Twilight was extremely worried for the creature. She had seen some pretty crazy stuff in her adventures, but this creature had a giant, bloody, gaping hole in his chest. She had never seen anything like that before. She knew nature could be cruel to ponies, but this was just downright brutal. She knew she had to help it in some way or another. Whatever this creature was, or WHOever it was, she had to take responsibility for its well being.

At least for now.

Twilight turned around and called out "Rainbow Dash, come down here!" The cyan Pegasus hovered towards her friend. Rainbow Dash was obviously a bit freaked out by the very presence of the odd creature. "Rainbow, I know how fast you can fly. You need to get this creature to a hospital and fast." Twilight realized she was panicking.

"What!?" Rainbow Dash replied, a bit shocked. "But Twilight, we don't know anything about it. How are we even supposed to know if it's trustworthy?"

There was a bit of a flare in Twilight's eyes. "I don't care! Not one little bit! Would you leave it here to die like this? Would you!?"

That one hit home. Rainbow Dash thought about if she were to see something dying in the forest. She would definitely want to save it. She immediately felt guilty for even beginning to think to leave it here. "You're right, Twilight" she said. "We need to save it." Rainbow Dash immediately picked it up and flew to a hospital.

Twilight smiled. She knew she could count on Rainbow Dash. Whatever that was, something in her told her that it could be trusted. Even if it couldn't, there was no way she could leave it there. That was against her nature. Now she could rest easy knowing that it would be okay.

Twilight walked home, thinking of the creature that had came from a red lightning bolt the whole way back.

Rainbow Dash had already gotten the creature to a hospital bed, ten seconds flat. As she flew away from the hospital, she wondered about where the creature had come from. It came from a red lightning bolt, but that was impossible. She was head weather pony, and she didn't see any clouds get kicked. And of course, no lightning bolts were red.

So where did it come from? And what was it, for that matter?

Rainbow Dash could only wonder as she flew off to continue her duties. But all the while, she couldn't shake the strange creature from her mind.

Chapter 4: Welcome to Equestria!

Raiden was awake. He had been awake for about seven minutes, but didn't show it. He kept his eyes closed but the light from outside his his eyelids his vision anyway. He felt he had time to rest, so he used that time to regain his energy. But it took him the seven minutes of being awake to realize that just lying here(wherever "here" was) wasn't going to help him any. His recollection of what happened before he was unconscious was fuzzy but good enough to know the first order of business: figuring out where he was.

Raiden slowly rose from his bed. From the softness he felt while lying down, it was clear he was in a bed. He had to use most of his willpower to force his eyes open. He immediately tried to direct his gaze away from the light from a lamp, but he was too slow, and had to wait for his vision to be cleared. Once he could see again he scanned his surroundings.

He was clearly in some sort of hospital, and it was pretty much what anybody would expect a hospital room to look like: lamp light overhead, heart beat monitors, medical supplies, a big window next to his bed, you know, basic. But, much like the village he woke up in, it was too colorf-

A bit of a ping went off in Raiden's head; the village he woke up in! He still had no idea where he was! Could he have been on a part of the world nobody knew about? He's experienced inter-dimensional travel before. Is it possible that he was in another world? Well whatever happened, he needed to get to know his surroundings to figure it out. But to do that he needed to get out of this bed and, for that matter, out of this hospital. The ladder might be a chore, but he's gone through worse.

Raiden slowly got up from his bed and walked towards the door, but stopped. He didn't want to be seen exiting the hospital. No doubt there would be those that would tell him to go back to his bed and let his wounds heal(which, he admitted, might be a good idea, but the faster he got to know his surroundings, the better). Raiden didn't want anyone to get in his way. If anyone did, he would either be made to go back to his bed, or do something stupid and have his actions look like an escape, which would unsettle some of the other patients and make getting out of here a massive pain in the neck. The door was a bad idea.

Raiden looked around for another potential exit and his eyes settled on the nearby window. Raiden hesitated. A jump wasn't exactly the best idea either, but then he remembered that he had survived some pretty harsh falls before. Not only that, but he had no other options. The window would have to do for now.

Raiden walked over to the window and opened it up. He took in his surroundings; the town he landed in was across a fairly big gap connected by a bridge. It was walking distance away and he could definitely make it there. He realized what the tough part was when he looked down. He was at least 4 stories up. Though he had fallen from much higher heights before, his wound had drained much of his abilities. There was no way he could make this jump all on his own. Raiden had to think. How could he get down there safely?

"Derpy! What are you doing!?"

Raiden jumped at the scream he heard behind him, coming from some tomboyish voice. He was impressed by the fact that someone could scream so loudly, and that voice sounded pissed. He took another look out the window.

His eyes fell on two...pegasi. He remembered seeing some pegasi when he woke up in the town. The first he saw was a cyan shade and had a rainbow mane and tail. Rainbow? How unusual. She also had a mark on her flank that looked like a cloud producing a rainbow colored lightning bolt. What was this ones deal with rainbows? She had magenta colored eyes, but they were almost red in annoyance.

The second Pegasus had a less flashy appearance. Most of its color was gray with a blonde tail and mane. The mark on her flank was a few bubbles, and he had no idea what to make of that. But the most distracting part of her was her eyes; this Pegasus was cross-eyed. Normally Raiden would ignore this. Some people were cross-eyed. It sadly happens. But everyone in this world seemed to have unusually big eyes, so even from a distance they stuck out like a sore thumb. This Pegasus had a frightened yet confused look on her face.

Raiden eavesdropped on them as they continued to talk. The angry one - the one apparently in love with rainbows - continued to speak. "Derpy, you are going in the completely wrong direction! Do you want to set off lightning and thunder right in front of a hospital!?"

"Sorry, Rainbow Dash," said the blonde one - Derpy, he noted. "I just don't know what went wrong."

"Rainbow Dash, huh?" thought Raiden. "Well, aren't you subtle."

The cyan Pegasus - Rainbow Dash - started to calm her nerves, though she still looked a bit annoyed. "Yeah, it's a mystery," said Rainbow Dash. "Anyway, bring this cloud southeast this time, and try not to screw it up."

Derpy gave a solute before moving the cloud southeast. Wait a minute, they could move clouds!?" Raiden made a note of that. Any information he could find would likely prove useful.

An idea suddenly struck him. Raiden had walked on clouds before. He had learned to work with the winds at a very young age. Sure enough, that grey Pegasus was moving the cloud fairly close to the ground. Low enough for a safe landing.

Raiden was leaning a bit out the window. This was a dangerous stunt, and he had to time it carefully. He watched the Pegasus get closer...

Closer...

Closer...

NOW!

Raiden leaned his hands against the window sill and flipped out the window before dropping onto the cloud. Derpy squeaked in surprise and was so startled that she fell to the ground. She looked up at Raiden with wide eyes.

Raiden gave a mock smile. "Thanks for the cushion."

And then Raiden jumped off the cloud and ran for the small town

Rainbow Dash was just as surprised as Derpy, if not more so, but managed to stay in the air.

Wasn't that the...thing that appeared in Ponyville from a flash of lightning 3 weeks ago? After a couple of days, the whole village, including Rainbow Dash, had forgotten about it and went about their daily lives like it never happened. Well, except for Twilight, who just refused to let it go, the egghead.

But now that she saw it running around, she began to remember everything about that day. She also remembered that she had several questions about the creature. Questions that wanted answering. And this was the perfect time to have them answered. Rainbow Dash gave a command. "Derpy, keep getting that cloud to where it needs to be. And do. Not. Screw. It. Up." Derpy recovered from her initial shock, gave a salute and flew off with the cloud in hoof.

Rainbow Dash flew off after the surprisingly fast creature heading for Ponyville.

Raiden was not going as fast as he normally would.

This annoyed him. Raiden hated running any slower than his usual pace. But this stupid wound was still causing him pain, and it hurt way too much to run to fast. Luckily his practically limitless stamina seemed to be intact, likely due to his long sleep, but he was barely moving faster than any fairly fast car. It was a downright embarrassment, really. Usually he could have made his way to the...oddly...colorful...village in three seconds, easy. Though he was still moving fast, he felt like something could catch up to him at any moment.

"Wow! You move fast for somepony without wings."

...Case in point.

Raiden turned his head to find the cyan Pegasus called Rainbow Dash flying beside him. Just her body language showed that she could easily fly past him in his current state. Her speed might even be on par with Raiden's in good condition.

"But of course," continued Rainbow Dash, "I'm sorry to say that you could never be as fast as me." She kept a cocky grin on her face as she did a loop in mid-air. "The best flyer in all of Equestria: Me! Rainbow Dash!"

Raiden noted the apparent name of the land and thought "Equestria, huh? Again, how subtle. He spoke. "Is that so? Well, isn't this an honor."

Rainbow Dash continued to look smug from her ego being stroked. "I'm glad that you're honored. You'll be even more honored when I talk to you as an honorary Wonderbolt."

Raiden could barely stifle a laugh. "Wonderbolt? Really? Is that some kind of action figure?"

Rainbow Dash's eyes widened and she couldn't hide a gasp. "WHAT!?!?!? You don't know who the legendary Wonderbolts are!?!?!? The most elite of elite fliers in all of Equestria!?

Raiden scoffed. "Well, my fangirl senses are tingling. Kid, I don't even know my location, much less what a 'Wonderbolt' is supposed to be, or who you are. Leave me be."

But Rainbow Dash refused to let up and still had not recovered from her shock. "What about Daring Doo? Please tell me that you've heard of Daring Doo, the bravest, most adventurous pony in all of-"

Raiden began to get annoyed. "Kid! Look! I have things to figure out, and you're a distraction to me. Now take your Daring-dunce stories and leave me be."

Rainbow Dash's eyes widened and she immediately came to a halt. Raiden sighed in relief. She must have heeded my advice. Good, she really was getting annoying. Now I can-"

Wait a second.

Raiden stopped. He thought about something for a minute. Experience taught him that if unless he really pushed his words, nobody just simply stopped if he told them 'stop'. For anyone else, this would have been something to just shrug off. But not Raiden, who grew up in a world where one needed to be cautious about everything. He remembered how Rainbow Dash widened her eyes, but not in surprise. They seemed...angry.

Dammit! Raiden turned around to see one very angry cyan Pegasus flying toward her, hooves raised in a battering ram form. Raiden raised his arms in front of him, with just enough time to block the attack. Even so, it sent him sprawling across the ground a few feet.

Raiden got up slowly to see Rainbow Dash seething with rage. "If anypony insult Daring Doo," she started, with murderous intent practically pouring from her mouth, "That somepony insults me in the worst, and I mean the WORST way!!!"

Raiden was confused. Even for a fangirl she was overreacting. Nobody usually got this angry at a petty insult unless-

Raiden's eyes widened at a possible realization. He looked down at his wrists and, sure enough, his rings were gone.

"Ah, s**t!", Raiden thought. "Look kid - Rainbow Dash, was it - don't get this angry over nothing. I don't want to start something. If you just calm down, I-"

Clearly, Rainbow Dash wasn't willing to listen to reason. She flew high into the air and went into a speedy dive, leaving a rainbow trail behind her. Raiden dove to the side, narrowly avoiding the attack. Rainbow Dash then tried to punch Raiden in the face. Raiden easily dodged, but to his bad luck his battle instincts kicked in and he delivered a soaring uppercut to Rainbow Dash's chin, which sent her flying back several yards.

Raiden landed on the ground and realized his mistake. "I should not have done that."

Rainbow Dash was crouched over in a battle ready position. Steam flared from her nostrils. Her eyes looked feral. She was furious. Beyond furious. Her energy and rage were radiating from her body. Raiden needed to calm her down quickly.

But Raiden made the mistake of attacking Rainbow Dash with his rings off. Raiden's rings had an odd affect on people. If they were off, people's anger became uncontrollable. Piss them off a little, and they go on a rampage. Calming the Pegasus down was not going to be simple.

He had to subdue her first. Knock her out, then get his rings back. Raiden's eyes widened at the late realization that his rings were probably back at the hospital.

Raiden applied his palm to his face.

"I should have just stayed in bed".

Chapter 5: How to Train Your Pissed Off Pegasus.

Twilight had just woken up. She was up pretty late in the day, and it was far from any reasons of her being lazy. Ever since that red...thing had appeared in Ponyville, she was constantly thinking about where it might have come from, and she couldn't sleep for most of the night. She's been visiting it in the hospital on a daily basis, hoping that it might wake up. She was giddy with the excitement that it might one day wake up. She had so many questions that she always had to say them to herself out loud, much to her assistant Spike's annoyance. She had also sent a message to Princess Celestia regarding the incident, and Twilight imagined that her mentor would want to see this...whatever it was.

Twilight couldn't wait any longer. She quickly combed her mane and rushed downstairs. She decided to take a flower with her to leave by the creature. She read somewhere that it was customary to do that whenever somepony was in the hospital. Once she was sure she had done everything, Twilight ran out.

Moments later, the ground shook.

Raiden wished he could be impressed.

That sounds so odd to say, but it's true. This cyan Pegasus he was fighting was incredibly tenacious. Raiden could tell that she was nothing like a superhuman. Pony. GAH! He didn't know what to say! But the pony could break the sound barrier and was quite strong...actually, she was very strong. Raiden had barely dodged that dive attack, and it still rattled the land. In his current state, the pony called Rainbow Dash was actually faster than him. Not only that, but she possessed incredible combat prowess, using some form of pony karate pretty masterfully. Again, Raiden wanted to be impressed.

And he would be...if Rainbow Dash wasn't basically trying to kill him!

He didn't have time to be impressed when a freaking rabid Pegasus was out for his head. And to make things worse, the wound he had received was still giving him pain and was a fairly vulnerable spot, eating away at his stamina. He was to focused on not dying to be impressed.

So he decided to focus on not being impressed and being in battle.

Rainbow Dash had immediately recovered from her diving attack and dashed towards Raiden, who was struggling to dodge her attacks. Raiden was always too slow to move in for a counter attack(again, wound and all), and he was pretty sure blocking her attacks while they were still each in the states they were in would hurt more than help. At one point Rainbow Dash did a mid-air flip and tried to bring her hoof down upon Raiden's skull, but raiden backed away in time to dodge that. But then Rainbow Dash recovered from her flip, planted her front hooves into the ground, and spunaround so that her backside was facing Raiden. Rainbow Dash than reared her hind legs back before delivering a devastating buck to Raiden's chin, which caused him to fly back several yards.

Raiden slowly got up. As he was rising from the ground he had enough tome to think about something.

"It probably would have been easier to ask her for the information. Than we wouldn't be having this fight."

Raiden mentally face-palmed himself. Because if that face-palm was physical, his head would have flown right off his shoulders. There was nothing he could do now. In a way, his carelessness is what started, and now a weak Raiden stood no chance against one very angry Rainbow Dash...Although, he had an ace up his sleeve. something that was guaranteed to scare her s***less.

Raiden got back up to his feet and spoke. "Let's try that again, shall we?"

"Stop it..."

That was what Rainbow Dash was saying in her head. She was angry, but she didn't want to be. She was definitely surprised that the creature didn't know anything about the Wonderbolts, her life long heroes, and undoubtedly a bit angry that he insulted one of her idols, but this was something that she could easily get over in a few minutes. But once Rainbow Dash was feeling the slightest trickle of anger, it began to consume her, eat at her better judgement. That's never happened before. She felt powerful, and that felt good. The rage gave her power that made her feel like she could take on all of Equestria and then some. And this creature made her angry, so why not start with him?

"Stop it..."

At the same time, she wanted to stop. Rainbow Dash knew that she wasn't in control of herself, and that her anger was controlling her. Who knows what she could do in this state? She could cause harm. Somepony could get hurt. This angry side of her wanted to take its anger out on everything and everypony. She knew she needed to stop, and she was desperately trying to retake control of herself.

"Stop it..."

But the rage was too much for her. She could not fight it. It was several times more powerful than her, and to many-a-pony, that spoke volumes. She could only watch as her rage controlled body suddenly dashed towards the creature. Rainbow Dash gasped in horror.

"No! Please, stop!"

Rainbow Dash was practically begging at this point, but her pleas fell on deaf ears. She rammed into the creature, but it gripped Rainbow Dash's body and only slid back a few feet, standing its ground. Rainbow Dash was relieved at this, but her moment of respite ended as soon as it began. Rainbow Dash's body reared a hoof back, getting ready to throw a punch as powerful as she could make possible. The creature was already hurt badly and was recovering from his weakened state. It may not survive Rainbow Dash's most powerful punch! Rainbow Dash began to cry

"STOP IT!!!"

But as she was about to deliver the final blow, Rainbow Dash's body did something that stopped her dead in her tracks, and saw something that she would live to never forget.

She looked into the creature's eyes...

...And saw a living hell.

Twilight had her assistant Spike gather her friends and meet up in front of her library. She had a bad feeling about this, and her instincts told her that she would need help from all the Elements of Harmony. A tremor doesn't simply happen, after all, and she knew what direction it was coming from. A living being caused it. That was the only logical explanation, so whatever it was must have been strong. It was something that she could not take care of on her own.

As her patience began to wear thin, she heard Spike's voice yell "Twilight!"

She turned her head to the right and saw Spike, a very small dragon with purple scales along most of his body. His back and the top of his head was aligned with dull green spikes, and his belly was a very, very light shade of green, almost yellow. Lastly, he had two green feathery ears.

Behind Spike were four of Twilight's best friends. The first was Applejack, an orange earth-pony with white freckles and large emerald eyes, as well as bearer of the Element of Honesty and co-owner of Sweet Apple Acres. She wore a light brown cowboy hat and kept her blonde mane and tail tied back at the end. She bore a cutie-mark of three red apples on her flank.

The second, bouncing alongside Applejack, was the Element of Laughter, Pinkie Pie. Her name matched her looks; she was a bright pink earth-pony with a puffy, dark pink mane, tail, and blue eyes. Her cutie-mark consisted of two blue balloons with yellow strings, surrounding a yellow balloon with a blue string. Plus, she had an almost permanent smile on her face.

Third was the beautiful Element of Generosity, Rarity, owner of the Carousel Boutique. A white unicorn with light blue eye-shadow and sapphire eyes, she wore her purple mane and tail in a stylized curled fashion. Her cutie-mark was simply three blue gems. Spike had a massive crush on her.

Lastly was the animal caretaker and the adorable bearer of the Element of Kindness, Fluttershy, a yellow Pegasus with a long, flowing, bright pink mane and tail and ocean-blue eyes. Her cutie-mark consisted of three butterflies with wings as pink as her mane and tail.

Spike ran up to Twilight and said "Here we are, Twilight. I gathered them as fast as I could."

Applejack had a questioning but serious expression on her face. She spoke. "Ah heard the crash from th' barn, Twi. What do ya think it was?"

"What ever it was, it had to have been a powerful creature," Twilight replied. "No tremor is that sudden."

Rarity joined in on the conversation. "Oh, I'm sure it's nothing threatening, dear. It was most likely Rainbow Dash performing one of her reckless stunts."

"I'm not so sure..." Twilight trailed off before coming to a late realization. "Hey, where is Rainbow Dash, anyway?"

Pinkie bounced in. "Oh, I heard she had weather duty today. Had to move some clouds out of the way, since today was supposed to be sunny."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Is that the whole story? If so, she should have been done with that by now." Twilight was a bit worried.

Then, as if on cue, a blood curdling scream could be heard from the area of the crash. Everypony turned towards the noise. It sounded like...

"Rainbow Dash!" Everypony cried out before galloping towards the noise.

Rainbow Dash's head was resting in the palm of Raiden's right hand, and Raiden's left was over her heart. Raiden sighed. He felt sorry for the poor girl. She was still fairly young, and should not have witnessed what she did. He never liked using 'that' on people, but it was the only way to stop her from going on a rampage - and for that matter, killing him.

What made him feel all the more guilty was Rainbow Dash's eyes; they were still open, and they were cold, tear stained, and devoid of much emotion except for one thing. One thing that everyone hated experiencing, and brought everyone to the near breaking point:

Fear.

Raiden dreaded what he had done to the cyan Pegasus, but his thoughts were interrupted by a familiar feminine voice. "Rainbow Dash!" it screamed.

Raiden turned around to see the purple unicorn she remembered seeing when he had woken up in that town, along with four other multi-colored ponies and a purple...whatever the little guy was. "They must be friends of her's", he thought, looking down at Rainbow Dash again.

They all ran up to Raiden and Rainbow Dash. The purple unicorn's eyes widened at the sight of Raiden. "Hey, you're-"

Raiden cut her off. "No time for that. This girl is hurt."

One of the other ponies, a pink one with a puffed-up mane and a mark of balloons on her flank, walked up to Rainbow Dash especially with an worried look in her face. "What happened to her?" she asked, almost sobbing.

Raiden opened his mouth, but hesitated. He saw what had happened with Rainbow Dash, and he wasn't ready to fight four angry ponies at the same time. Who knows how strong they might be? "I...found her like this", he said. "She's in a state of serious shock, but she'll live."

Raiden got up with Rainbow Dash in arms. The purple unicorn asked "Hey. Where are you going?"

"Back to the hospital", Raiden replied. "I can probably get there faster than any of you, and she needs help. If only she knew", he thought before continuing. "Besides, there's some things that I need there."

The purple unicorn's expression looked reluctant. Raiden could understand; she was Rainbow Dash's friend, and she just met Raiden. She had no idea if he was trustworthy.

Heck, even if they did know each other, she might not trust him.

But her expression softened and she slowly stated "All right. Get her there safely."

Raiden nodded and, without warning, dashed off. He could hear the unicorn yell "Hey, wait a minute!" But he was already gone.

He didn't know this world, and he didn't know anyone here, but one thing was for certain: The creatures here were powerful when angry. They seemed to have a lot of built up rage within them so he had to be extra careful with his rings.

If he wasn't, it could mean certain destruction.

Chapter 6: This Time Let's ACTUALLY Welcome You to Equestria.

Three minutes earlier...

Twilight was panicking. Before you ask, yes, she knows this. Before you ask, no, she did not care. Aside from the previous tremor that rocked the earth and the dust cloud it spawned, she heard her friend Rainbow Dash scream. The fact that these things happened in the same area could not be coincidence. Then there was the scream itself. Not only was it absolutely blood curdling, but it was filled with terror. If a brave Pony like Rainbow Dash was terrified, something was definitely wrong. She wouldn't be able to bare it if her friend was hurt, nor would Applejack, Rarity, and especially not Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. So yeah, she was panicking, but she had every right to panic. So caring was not her top priority.

Twilight and her previously mentioned friends, along with Spike the dragon, were running towards the apparent crash site.When they got there, they were shocked to find multiple holes in the ground. Whatever caused that tremor, it had hit the ground multiple times, explaining why it lasted so long. But at that moment they turned their heads and were shocked and horrified to find a very familiar figure.

Rainbow Dash was lying in a crumpled heap on the ground, with some...creature looming over it.

"RAINBOW DASH!!" everyone yelled, already running towards her. They got to her and saw that Rainbow Dash's body was shaking, her eyes still opened. Twilight then took the time to look at the creature and her eyes widened. She recognized it as the creature from three weeks ago. "Hew, you're-"

"No time for that" the creature interrupted, clearly not having the patience for formalities. "This girl is hurt."

Twilight's attention was brought to Pinkie Pie, who had walked over to Rainbow Dash. Her eyes told all: she was horrified. Her voice showed that she was on the verge of tears: "What happened to her?"

Twilight noticed the creatures hesitation before speaking. "I...found her like this. She's in a state of serious shock, but she'll live." Twilight immediately grew suspicious, but didn't have time to dwell on it before the creature picked up Rainbow Dash.

"Hey. Where are you going?" asked Twilight.

It replied "Back to the hospital. I can probably get there faster than any of you, and she needs help. Besides, there's some things that I need there."

Twilight hesitated and thought about it. She had no idea who or what this creature was, and she didn't know if she could trust him with one of her best friends. Not only that, but she still had her suspicions about Rainbow's current state. She had a feeling that the creature knew something, and might even had had something to do with it. On the other hand, if what it said was true, than the creature cound go faster than any of her friends. Also, if it had business to attend to, than having him go there was probably for the best.

After a few more seconds, she came to a decision; "Alright", she said. Get her there safely."

The creature nodded. But just as it dashed off, a thought occured to Twilight: what stuff did he need there? If he did need some things there, than did that mean he hadn't gotten them beforehand? And did that mean he escaped from the hospital?

And for that matter, what was it's name?

But as Twilight cried "Hey wait a minute!" he was already gone.

Everypony stood there in stunned silence. Spike was the first to speak. "Um, Twilight, wasn't that...?"

"Yeah," she replied, answering his unfinished question. "Yeah, it was."

As Raiden ran towards the hospital with Rainbow Dash in arms, he was going over just what he knew:

"Let's see...it appears that the inhabitants of this place are mostly talking ponies, but there are also other species here, hence the purple...whatever it was. Some of them have wings - Pegasi - and I saw the purple one with a white one beside her. They had horns, so they're Unicorns. Though the pink one had neither, so this place has at least three different kinds of ponies. They appear to be intelligent, hence the hospital and the village. What was this place called? Equestria? I've been around the world, and I've never heard of this place. The likeliness of this being another world seems to be increasing by the moment."

Raiden had reached the hospital by the time he was done thinking. He looked down at Rainbow Dash. She didn't look like she had improved much. She shivered and caused Raiden to shiver himself. He felt guilty. Guilt felt uncomfortable.

He hated feeling guilty.

But he wasn't going to stop to think about it. Slowly, he entered the hospital. There wasn't much to see. The lobby had nothing in it but a few chairs and the front desk. The color wasn't all that impressive either. Just white and teal walls. Raiden thought grimly "My hospitals would be much more full than this." He walked up to the front desk and leaned on his arm. He saw a bell and rang it. A light purple pony with a mane and tail colored with purple and white stripes appeared.

She spoke. "Can I helllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllluuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhh...?"

Raiden knew she was cut off at the sight of him. He imagined that she must be twice as shocked to see him again after being delivered to the hospital and never being checked out. Raiden answered her unfinished question. "Keep this girl in the hospital for now. She needs help, and I know what can cure her, but for now, keep her under wraps here."

The purple pony recovered from her initial shock to look down at Rainbow Dash. Her eves got wide again. She immediatley ran off and brought back a sick bed. "Put her on here."

Raiden gently laid Rainbow Dash on the sick bed, and Rainbow Dash shivered. The n he spoke. "Do whatever you can. Feed her, give her water, keep her warm, but don't try to cure her. It won't work. I'll be back in a few days."

Raiden was about to run out again when the pony stopped him. "What about your condition?" she asked.

"I'll be perfectly fi-" Raiden was cut off by the sharp pain in his stomach. He put a hand over his stomach and grunted in pain. His vision grew blurry and his breathing heavy. The nurse pony ran off, likely to get some help. Raiden heard the sound of the door opening and hooves running along the floor before slipping into unconsciousness.

Raiden groaned. He had a headache. He recalled what had happened and groaned again, this time out of frustration. "Not again" he thought. He prepared himself to wake up in the hospital again in a similar, if not the same, room.

But that's not what he got. When he opened his eyes he was in a bed, but it seemed...royal. Top of the class. Like the kind of room and bed that a little girl in love with her dolls would dream of. The bed was soft. Very comfortable. But that only rose Raiden's suspicion. It was too comfortable, and like the rest of this place, to colorful. The room itself was white ad shining yellow all over. The windows were stained glass, and had a bunch of colors on them. Odd.

Raiden let out a frustrated sigh. "Where am I now?"

"Canterlot Castle."

Raiden jumped at the sound of a feminine voice. It was full of authority. He knew that kind of voice. He hated that kind of voice. But as he turned his head around, his thought's of hatred were replaced with that of awe and astonishment. What he saw was one of those pony creatures, but this one was much taller than the others that he saw. Her coat was white, except for around her hooves, which had an interesting, golden spaded pattern. She wore some kind of golden collar around her neck with a shining purple diamond on it and a crown on her head with the same accessory. Her flank had a mark of the sun on it, which somehow radiated a sense of glory. Her mane and tail were beautiful, carrying colors of cyan, light-green, dark-blue, and pink, and the colors became brighter as his sight was traced farther down the mane and tail. And they were flowing. Literally flowing, like a stream of color. Her eyes were a magenta color, which brought his attention to the horn on her head. But then he noticed the wings on her back. A horn AND wings? "A fourth kind of pony perhaps? Interesting..." he thought.

"It is good to see that you are awake" she said, interrupting Raiden's thoughts. "There is much to discuss."

"There always is" Raiden thought before speaking. "And who might you be?"

The tall pony's expression softened. "Forgive me," she said "where are my manners?" She rose to her full height. "My name is Princess Celestia, the ruler of all of Equestria."

Raiden raised an eyebrow and took note of the words 'princess' and 'ruler'. So this...'Equestria' ran under a monarchy of sorts. Was she the only ruler?

The one calling herself Celestia set her magenta gaze back on Raiden, now looking more serious. "Now it's your turn. Tell me your name. Immediately."

Raiden noted the hint of distrust in her voice. "You don't trust me" he said. "Why should I trust you with my name?"

"I trusted you with mine. Is that not enough?"

"No, it isn't." Raiden got up from the bed. "Trusting me is the last thing you want to do."

Celestia raised an eyebrow in curiosity at that remark, but kept on topic. "Very well. If you are not to be trusted, than if your name were known, it would be easier to find you and apprehend you should you cause an outburst."

Raiden thought about that. This place seemed peaceful, and if he were to cause something, it would probably be best if he were to be apprehended. Raiden scoffed. Even if someone were to try to catch him, it's not like they could. Hm...in that case, no harm should come from this.

Raiden sighed. He hesitated before finally speaking. "Call me...Raiden. Raiden the Hedgehog."

Celestia, once again, raised an eyebrow. "Hedgehog? Interesting. I've never seen any hedgehog like you."

Raiden scoffed again. "That could be taken two ways," he muttered to himself. Raiden turned to face Celestia. "Now if you would be so kind, tell me-" Raiden was interrupted at a late realization. He put a hand over his stomach. The pain was gone. "-how I recovered so fast. The pain in my stomach is gone!"

Celestia's face lit-up with pride. "Here in Canterlot, we have only the finest healers in Equestria. Once my student told the healers of your wound, they could fix you up right away."

Raiden looked up. "Your student?" he asked, now curious.

Celestia's eyes shot open. "Ah, of course. You haven't been properly introduced, have you? Come with me. I shall acquaint all of you."

Celestia left the room and Raiden followed. Raiden took in his surroundings. He was going through a hallway with the same colors as the room he was in. There was on difference, however. The stained glass windows appeared to be showing events throughout a timeline, like some giant church. Many of them had to do with the purple pony he had seen before. Interesting.

After some time, Raiden and Celestia came to a large door. Celestia's horn glowed with a golden light as it opened. Raiden's interest was peaked. "So that horn has a purpose. Psychokinesis? Magic, perhaps?

Raiden considered asking before he entered the room.The room looked just like the hallway, except at the end, which had stairs leading up to a magnificent throne. Two thrones, actually. one seemed darker, light the night sky. Several of the pony creatures were on either side of the red carpet stretching across the room, all wearing armor like a royal guard. They all seemed to bow their heads at the sight of the princess entering the room, but some gave a suspicious glance in Raiden's direction. Figures.

But there were also six ponies at the center of the room. five of them were the purple unicorn and the friends she had with her, but the sixth was a sight to behold. Her coat color was dark-blue. Very dark-blue, but around her hooves had a spiky, silver pattern. She also wore a collar around her neck, except this one was black, with the image of a crescent moon in the center. The mark on her flank looked similar, but the night like darkness seemed more spread out. her eyes were light-blue, and her mane and tail were like the night sky, dark with stars and everything. She, like Celestia, also had a horn and wings. She wasn't as tall as Celestia, but still dwarfed all the other ponies. The last thing Raiden noticed was the she was the only pony not bowing.

Celestia stopped in front of the six ponies. "You may rise, my little ponies" she said. Raiden held back a laugh. For some reason, that sounded funny. "Our friend has awakened." Raiden's expression darkened. He would have prefered it if he were not called a friend by these ponies. That term usually meant trouble.

The five ponies rose from their bow and they looked at Raiden. They had looks of awe and curiosity in their eyes, with a hint of fear, as if they were afraid to know the answers to their questions. They should be.

The tall dark mare, however, was eyeing Raiden with a look of defiance and authority, and almost anger. Raiden couldn't help but smile at that, which only caused her expression to darken even further. "She's strong" he thought. "In all aspects."

Celestia stood beside the other ponies. She spoke. "Now that we are all here, let's get to introductions. I have already introduced myself, so who would like to go first."

All of the ponies were hesitant to make the first move. Eventually the purple pony spoke up. "Sir, I would first like to thank you for helping out our friend. That means more to us than you could know, And I would like to thank on behalf of all of us." She lifted her hoof towards him. "My name is Twilight Sparkle. It's a pleasure."

Raiden was somewhat taken aback by this one's behavior. "Polite, if seeming a bit smug, judging by the way she carries herself. Very friendly as well." Raiden held out his hand and took 'Twilight's' hoof. "You too" was all he said.

Twilight stepped back, a smile formed on her lips, if not entirely an honest one. Before anyone else could speak, the pink pony standing in the back bounced over the others - yes, bounced over them - to Raiden. "Hi!" she said enthusiastically, a permanent smile on her face. "I'm Pinkie Pie. You're not like anypony I've ever seen before. You look funny. Do you like red? YouseemtolikeredIguessedbecauseyouhaveredalloveryourbodyheymaybeIcanthrowapartywithlotsofthecolorredforyoudoyoulikeparties?

If Raiden was 'somewhat taken aback' by Twilight's behavior, than the behavior of this 'Pinkie Pie' had him up against the wall. All he could do was stare. "Very eccentric. Seems to always be happy most of the time. She's able to keep up that constant bouncing, so obviously very active. She seems to be the type to like parties, apparently. As if her hair wasn't enough of a givaway. Maybe I should humor her. Uh...sure?"

Pinkie's smile widened. "REALLY!? Ohboyohboyohboy! I promise you, as soon as we're done here, I'll through you a big party! No, a HUGE party!"

Pinkie bounced back to her friends. Everyone stood staring at her for a few seconds before Celestia cleared her throat. "Yes, well...anyway. Next?"

The orange pony with the blonde mane and tail walked up. Something told Raiden that she's pretty attached to that cowboy hat. "Mighty sorry 'bout mah friend there" she said in a southern accent. "She's easily amused. Names Applejack." She tipped her hat. "t'sa pleasure t' meet ya'll."

"Obviously from foreign descent. She seems a bit dirty. Must work in a ranch, on a farm, perhaps in a factory or in the excavation division. Seems to be fairly polite and friendly."

'Applejack' motioned her hoof in a 'come closer' gesture. Raiden did, and she whispered "Now don'tcha go 'round thinking ya'll can fool everypony. Ah know ya'll had somethin' ta do with Rainbow Dash's accident, and ah'm gonna find out what, ya hear?"

"...Smart girl. Also very straightforward. Well, at least she's honest." Raiden backed his head away and said half jokingly "The pleasures all mine."

Applejack backed off, still a bit of a grudge in her eyes. The next to walk up was a white pony with a curly purple mane and tail. "Clearly passionate about the way she looks."

She opened her mouth to speak, but then hesitated when she got a better look at Raiden. "My word, you look terrible, dear!" she said in a somewhat British accent. "I swear, as soon as we're all done here, I'll fix you right up. You look filthy. I imagine you would look rather dashing in a tuxedo. Or maybe..."

She continued her rant, but Raiden was hardly listening. "Okay, has an eye for fashion, if a bit obsessive. Interesting how she cares for the looks of everyone around her, not just herself."

"...Yes, that would be perfect!" When she stopped talking, she looked back up at Raiden and realized she was rambling. She blushed. "Ahaha...sorry." She picked herself back up. "I'm Rarity. A pleasure to make your acquaintance." she held out her her hoof.

Raiden took the hoof in hand. " The pleasures all mine. I humbly accept your generosity." he said, and lightly kissed her hoof.

'Rarity' blushed again. "Oh, well, aren't you quite the gentlehog. Charmer." She stepped back to her friends. She looked to the yellow Pegasus and spoke "Dearie, I believe it's your turn."

The Pegasus just hid behind her mane. "Uh, um, I'm Fluttershy.

Raiden raised an eyebrow. "What did you say?"

The Pegasus hid further behind her mane. "I'm Fluttershy.

Raiden tilted his head. "Huh?

The Pegasus took a step back, and spoke a word that could not be understood. Raiden stood their awkwardly . "Okaaaaay...very shy, obviously doesn't do well around different people...well different from talking ponies. Fine. I can work a crowd pretty good. I'll make the first move." Raiden stepped forward. The Pegasus became very nervous now. Raiden spoke in a calming voice. "Look, I mean no harm. If you're nervous, I'll start." Raiden knelt down and gently brushed his hand through Her mane. The Pegasus shuddered. "My name is Raiden. Raiden the Hedgehog."

Suddenly, the Pegasus immediately perked up and looked at Raiden with an excited smile. "Oh! You're a hedgehog?" she said in a shrill little voice.

Raiden was taken aback at the sudden change in behavior. "Um...yeah."

"And you can talk?!"

Raiden gathered his words. "Uh, yes I can, why? You're a ta-"

Raiden was interrupted when she squeaked in excitement and got uncomfortably close. "Hi! It's so nice to meet you. My name's Fluttershy." 'Fluttershy' backed away, suddenly embarrassed. "Sorry for my manners. Please accept my apology, if it's okay." She got close to Raiden again. "But please, tell me what you're thinking!"

Raiden had to take time to process everything. Fluttershy stood there with a cute smile. "I'm assuming that means she likes animals. Seems to have varying levels of courage. Clearly she's far more comfortable around what she knows. Also very polite. Very kind...Almost too kind."

Before anyone could continue, Celestia pulled Fluttershy back. "Another time, dear. You will all have time for questions later."

"But..." Fluttershy began. She was almost pouting. She let out a disappointed sigh in defeat and walked slowly back towards her friends. Raiden recovered from that little bit of excitement. There was one more. He turned to the dark horse, so to speak, and found that she was staring very intently at Raiden. He walked up to her and they just stared at each other for a few seconds. Raiden slowly raised his hand, but Luna did not take.

Raiden saw in her eyes that she would need a little provoking. to make a move, and saw this as an opportunity. "Heh, why so shy, lady? Would you like me to rub your mane, too? You look like you need it."

There was the attention he needed to grab. The dark mare's gaze hardened and she looked up at Raiden. Suddenly her voiced boomed. "HOW DARE YOU SPEAK THAT WAY TO PRINCESS LUNA, YOU VULGAR MOUTHED PLEBEIAN! SHOW RESPECT TO YOUR RULER OF THE NIGHT!"

The Sudden burst of anger caused all the ponies in the room to jump back, and made Raiden's rings spark, which made Raiden realize that his rings were back on. Raiden let out a sigh of relief. He could only imagine how ugly this could have gotten. Raiden only flinched a little but kept his cool. Her voice literary sent a large shock-wave throughout the room. She called herself a princess. "So, there's another ruler here after all. Noted."

"Woah. Calm down, lady - Luna, was it? - It was only a joke."

"Well, keep your jokes to yourself, peasant. Learn to show respect to the ruler of the night, or there will be severe punishment!"

Raiden was almost amused. "Try me." There were practically sparks between the two sets of eyes.

"That's enough!" exclaimed Celestia in a harsh tone. She glared at them both. "You too will get along! There will be no violent interactions here!"

Both Raiden and Luna glared back at Celestia before glaring at each other. Both of them sighed. She was right. Any violence started here would not end well for anyone. Besides they didn't want to get off on a bad start. Raiden extended his hand again. "Sorry. Let's try again, shall we?"Luna glared at his hand for a moment before extending her hoof to shake it.

Celestia smiled in satisfaction. "Good. Now that we've gotten introductions out of the way, let's get to more important matters." She looked back at Raiden. "First, where do you come from?"

"First tell me where I am, then I might be able to help you there."

Celestia was annoyed by the hedgehogs defiance, but she complied. "This is the city of Canterlot, in the vast land of Equestria."

Raiden cringed. "Canterlot?! Dear Lord, that is the the worst!" He spoke up. "Equestria, huh? Is that located on planet Mobius?"

Celestia, along with the entire room aside from Raiden, raised a questioning eyebrow. "I don't know of this 'Moe-be-us' you speak of."

"Well, that seals it." Raiden voiced his thought. "Well then, my suspicions are confirmed. I come from a place far away from Equestria. I wasn't sure of what I'm about to tell you, but it's now become obvious. This...'Equestria' is not of my world."

Everyone's eyes widened as they realized what he was saying. Celestia was the first to voice eyeryone's question. "Are you suggesting that-"

"Yes," Raiden cut her off. "I've been transported here from another world entirely."

Stunned silence greeted the room. Raiden didn't expect them to believe him right away. To be honest, he wouldn't either. Comes from another world? The very idea is ridiculous.

Which is why he was shocked when Celestia's expression softened and she said "I believe you."

Everyone in the room turned to stare at Celestia, all surprised. Though Raiden noticed that Luna did not share as great a surprise as every other pony. Raiden broke the silence. "Really?! You just accept that no questions asked?"

Celestia nodded. "You are the first of your kind to have ever appeared in Equestria, so it doesn't come off as an invalid explanation. Besides, me and my sister are aware of the existence of other worlds."

"YOU ARE?!?!" said the five pony friends, their disbelief clear.

"Another time, my little ponies," replied Celestia. "We will look into the matter later." Raiden raised an eyebrow at how quickly she was able to drop the subject. "There is another matter I wish to address. Can everypony on your world do what you did to Rainbow Dash?"

"WHAT?!?!?!" The five ponies look at Raiden, their expression's a mix of shock and anger.

Raiden himself was quite surprised that Celestia knew what she knew. "I'm impressed, princess. Tell me, how were you able to figure it out?"

"My student Twilight informed me of what she saw. You were the first to have seen Rainbow Dash in the condition she was in. Twilight also informed me of the hesitation in your eyes when you said you found her like that. It's clear that you saw what happened to her. If something else had happened to her, why would you just sit there and watch her suffer? The only other alternative is that you put her in that state."

"...She's smarter than she looks. A regular Sherlock, this one. I'll need to watch myself around her."

Raiden cleared his throat. "All right, you got me, detective. Yes, I did that to Rainbow Dash." Raiden's rings sparked, and he knew the anger was coming from Rainbow Dash's five friends. He continued "But, to answer your question, no, I'm the only one who can do that."

"And why might that be?" asked Celestia.

Raiden frowned. Anyone looking at him could see sadness in his eyes. He thought about his past...He got a headache. "Irrelevant. Let's not talk about it."

Princess Luna immediately got in his face about it. "YOU WILL ADDRESS OUR SISTER WITH THE GREATEST OF RESPECTS! ANSWER HER QUESTION!!" She spoke in that shock wave-ish voice again. Raiden's rings sparked.

"Enough, Luna! We will respect his wish." Celestia's expression was stern, and seemed to shut Luna up.

"Thank you, Princess." Raiden gave a smug grin to Luna. "That's more like it." Luna glared at Raiden out of the corner of her eye.

Celestia cleared her throat. "However, this presents a problem. Rainbow Dash will not be able to interact with the other Elements of Harmony."

"'Elements of Harmony?'...I'll need to look into that later."

"This will pose a great risk should any threat be shown in Equestria. Not only that, but Rainbow Dash has shown herself to be a small time hero as well. We must find a way to speed up her recovery. If we cannot, then I'm afraid-"

"I know how to fix her" Raiden intruded.

Every head in the room snapped to Raiden. Everyone had the look of surprise in their eyes, and Raiden saw a trickle of relief as well. Celestia was the first to regain her composure. she looked hopefully at Raiden. "You do!? Are you sure?"

Raiden nodded. "I can fix her and I will. I need an item."

Celestia raised an eyebrow. "An item? How vague."

"Yes, an item. I'll need a gem. One certain emerald, to be specific."

"An emerald?!" Luna was annoyed. "Somepony could be in severe need and you want to hunt for jewelry?!?!"

"This 'jewelry' is what can save the 'somepony in severe need'. It holds power. A power that can save her. It won't be easy to find."

"I beg to differ, young hedgehog." Raiden turned his head. The one called Rarity had spoken up. She had a confident look on her face. "If that gem is out there, I can find it. And for the sake of a friend, I'll find it no matter the cost."

All of her friends walk up and stood with her. "We all will. We're going to save Rainbow Dash one way or another." said Twilight.

"...Very good" said Raiden. He admired their courage and their passion. He could tell that there was no stopping them. "If you insist, you will assist in the search for the emerald. It should stand out. It will glow."

Celestia smiled. "Very good. We now know what we're looking for. I will send a search party to help find this emerald. You will all search for it as well, but in the meantime, I encourage you all not to stray from your daily lives. Do you need a place to stay, hedgehog?"

"Just call me Raiden" replied the hedgehog. "And trust me, I'll find a place to stay."

Celestia stared for a while before nodding. "Very well, Raiden. I hope you do. I ask that you devote most of your spare time to finding the gem to save Rainbow Dash. And...I thank you."

Raiden was surprised at that last remark. This princess was so forgiving. So caring. So...friendly.

He didn't like it.

"No need to thank me" said Raiden. "It's what I do."

Celestia smiled again. "Very good. I will teleport you all back to Ponyville now. You are dismissed."

"Teleport? Is that part of their magic, I wonder?" Raiden nodded. Celestia's horn glowed with energy. Soon, Raiden and Rainbow Dash's five friends were wisked away to Ponyville.

But not before Raiden stole a glance at Luna, and saw a feeling he was familiar with:

Corrupting anger.

Raiden's rings sparked.

Chapter 7: Unwanted Obsession

"THREE WEEKS!?!?!?"

The force of Raiden's yell and the shock behind his voice was enough to make Twilight jump back, hit a bookshelf, and cause a book to fall off and hit her in the head. She couldn't help letting out a small "Ow." She rubbed her head to recover from her small daze before looking back at Raiden. Now the hedgehog's fur wasn't all that was red. His eyes were completely bloodshot.

You see, when Celestia teleported everypony back to Ponyville, most of them had all gone their separate ways. Raiden, however, wanted to talk with Twilight. Being a student of the princess of this land, he figured that she would be the most knowledgeable. Raiden didn't know much about this world, so he would ask her how things worked around here. Twilight accepted the favor, and they talked when they got to the library. However, the exchange of information eventually led to how long Raiden was asleep.

Needless to say, he didn't take it too well.

"Are you seriously telling me that I have been laying in that hospital bed for THREE DAMN WEEKS?!?!?!"

Despite the current situation, Twilight's objective side could not help but kick in. "Raiden! Language!"

Raiden was angry. Very angry. Almost too angry for his own good, and he knew it. In fact, he could almost laugh because he knew he was overreacting. Slowly, he took deep breathes and started to calm down. "Excuse my behavior. It just...came as a shock to me, that's all." That was only half the truth. In reality, he hated the thought of his world being without his protection from Armstrong for three whole weeks. He shuddered at the thought.

Twilight gave Raiden a narrow eyed, annoyed stare before sarcastically saying "No, really?" She regained her composure. "Anyways, yes, you have been asleep for three weeks. During that time, everyone had almost forgotten you had ever showed up. I don't see how anyone could forget a red lightning bolt out of nowhere, but that's how it went."

Raiden thought of something. "That reminds me, are you really so willing to believe that I came from another world?"

Twilight stared thoughtfully at Raiden. She was reminded of some of her earlier misadventures in Ponyville. "...I'm an open-minded individual. Very crazy things have happened here before, after all."

Raiden raised an eyebrow. "But isn't there such a thing as being too open-minded?"

"Perhaps," Twilight replied, "but the princess said she knew of other worlds, so I'd believe anything, really."

"...And are you always so willing to believe your princesses?" Raiden retorted, the fact a bit annoying to him.

Twilight didn't seem to hesitate."Well of course. They are over one-thousand years old, after all."

Raiden's eyes widened. How many years old? He, to, had seen some pretty ridiculous stuff, but that was just nuts. They barely looked in their twenties. Was that some kind of magic to? Did it just apply to the type of pony they were? "Alicorn's" he remembered Twilight telling him.

"...I see. Very well." Raiden turned towards the door. I have all the information I need. I thank you for your cooperation. I'll now take my leave."

Raiden started to walk towards the door, but Twilight held out her hoof and stopped him. "Wait. Where will you go?" Despite what she knew he had done to Rainbow Dash, she was worried for Raiden's safety. That was just in her nature. She couldn't help but worry for others.

Raiden, however, knew what he was doing, and just found her worrying as a distraction. "I told you and your princess, I'll be able to find a place to stay. I'm just going to get to know my surroundings first. I'll be perfectly fine. If you'll excuse me."

Raiden didn't say another word and left the library. Twilight decided against going after him; his back alone told her that he was not stopping. Twilight shivered. She was indeed worried for the hedgehog's safety, but the whole truth was that she was also worried for the town. If he did that to Rainbow Dash...

"Than he could do it to anypony" she thought fearfully. She shivered again.

As stated before, Raiden went out to get to know his surroundings, but quickly found that there was not much to 'get to know.' That is to say, it was a small town. It would only take him about three hours to walk all around the town and back, and about four and a half to detail his surroundings.

Actually, he took that back. The village was big. Big for a village. Especially for a village built by ponies. He had just never seen a place this small before. All his life he had been traveling in big cities. This was just...unfamiliar. Normally it would take him all day - sometimes longer - to navigate a city. This wouldn't take long at all.

"Okay," he thought, "first stop is the center of town. Good a place to start as any."

Raiden walked for about five minutes before he found a cylinder-shaped two-story building with a pointed crimson roof."Some kind of town hall, I guess." Several things surrounded it like a fountain and some flags, but the area it was in was an open circle. The residence all seemed to hang out here often. "Hmm...definitely the center of town, if I knew any...which, admittedly, I don't, really, but it seems to make sense. Definitely looks the part."

Raiden looked around. Now that he was here, he needed to do a survey of the village. He decided to take the path leading southeast of the building. He moved slow to take in his surroundings. It was easy remembering what everything looked like. The hard part was ignoring the looks everyone gave him. The residence of this village didn't even try to be subtle, always glancing in Raiden's direction, curious and somewhat intimidated by the sight of the walking, talking red hedgehog. Some of them actually looked disgusted or horrified. But those that did had something in their eyes more than just 'Holy s**t, there's something that walks, talks, and isn't a multicolored pony.' They looked at him like he had done something. something that had affected them personally. Was it Rainbow Dash? It was the only thing that really made sense. "Word travel's fast, I suppose."

Fortunately though, Raiden was able to make it past all the unpleasant looks and eventually stumbled upon a rather grand looking house. Two massive windows with skilfully woven yellow curtains stood surrounding the purple door, under a sign that looked like a horse that was part of a carousel. Above that was a second floor on top of a roof, and the outside of the second floor looked like an actual carousel. There was a smaller roof to that with the same pattern as the first roof, finally leading to a flag at the top of the house. Also, he noticed, every inch of the house was covered in some kind of pattern. "Geez. Whoever this pony is clearly tries to live up to some standard. Seems to me like he/she tries a bit to hard to look good."

Raiden noticed several different ponies enter and exit the building. It was clear that this was some kind of public place, but what for? He was getting to know his surroundings, so there was no harm in checking this place out. He walked up to the place, inevitably getting more bad looks, and opened the purple door to enter. Inside was several purple-ish crimson curtains. On the right was several mirrors surrounding a stand, all in front of a door leading to a dressing room. On the left was a work table, and it looked like someone was sewing clothing. "Oh, I see. This place is a boutique - a place for selling fashionable clothing or accessories. Hmm... I bet I can guess who lives here."

As if on cue, a familiar white pony ran from upstairs to the front of the store. Raiden recognized her as the pony that had identified herself as Rarity. She seemed to...sparkle. and that wasn't a euphemism to say that she was pretty. She literally sparkled upon entering the room. "Is that some kind of trick?" What is up with this world?"

"Good day to you," said Rarity, in a cheery voice and slightly British accent. "My apologies for the minor delay, but welcome to the Carousel Boutique!" Raiden quickly took note of that name. "How may-" It was only now Rarity took the time to notice who was in front of her, and her gleaming smile faded. "Oh, it's you, Raiden." Her voice was lower when she said that. She clearly held a little grudge from the Rainbow Dash incident, and there was a little venom in her tone.

Raiden scoffed "And good day to you too, Ms. Rarity."

Rarity regained her initial demeanor. "Don't bother with the formalities. Just 'Rarity' is fine." Her gaze regained that initial venom. "Now would you mind telling me what business you have in my home?"

"This is a public enough place, is it not?" replied Raiden. "What did you call it? The 'Carousel Boutique?'"

Rarity's pride and ego began to swell a little, quickly taking in the opportunity to boast about her business. Her eyes gleamed. "Why, yes, that is its name. This is a shop existing for those who seek my aid in freshening up and looking their best." Rarity then frowned at Raiden a bit...disapprovingly. "It appears that you yourself could use some help in that department."

On the outside, Raiden only frowned, but on the inside, he was banging his head against the wall. "A pony! I seroiusly just got told by a freaking pony! If anyone was able to find that piece of my dignity, please return it to the front doorstep of my remaining sanity's house."

Although, looking down at himself, he did see that he was rather filthy. The hair on his body was rather shaggy, he some dirt on him, and he...well...smelled bad. "I suppose I could use a little wash off."

"A LITTLE wash off!?" Rarity actually looked surprised at Raiden's statement. "Dear, you look terrible! You could a long shower. You can't go out in public like this!"

Raiden raised his hands in a 'back it up' gesture. "Jeez, Rarity, calm down. It's not a big deal. I'll just find a river and wash my-"

Rarity place a hoof over Raiden's mouth. "Oh, no no no, dearie, that simply won't do. You must get cleaned up the proper way. I know an excellent spa that would be perfect for you. I'll even pay. Come, let me show you the time of your life." Before Raiden could protest, Rarity grabbed his hand with her hoof and pulled him out the door.

"Wait, what ar-AGH!" That was all he could say before he was dragged off to the supposed time of his life.

In the northwestern end of Ponyville, school for young fillies and colts alike had just finished. Everyone had left the school being very cheery, since today was an absolutely beautiful day, and a perfect day to have fun and just go with the flow. No disasters, no major events, no distractions, no nothing. All signs of a perfect day.

Three particular little fillies were especially energetic. One had a bright yellow coat and a fiery red mane and tail, along with shiny orange eyes. The second had a coat as pure white as Rarity's with a curly mane and tail with a nice color contrast of pink and purple, her eyes a tinted green . The third and final had a very stand out orange coat and violet shaded mane and tail, her eyes matching that color. Their names were Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, collectively known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Well known around town, their goal was to find their calling's in life, with little success. Often times they caused mischief and mayhem in their crusading, but their resolve was unbreakable, and they never gave up their quest, nor would they until the day they died. And if their goal wasn't met by then, they would keep searching in death.

Today was no different. They hadn't come up with any new idea for gaining their cutie marks quite yet, but no matter what it was going to be, they could not wait to carry this one out. Why? Because that was the case for all their escapades. Why should this be any different?

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle had gone their respective homes and agreed to meet up with Scootaloo in the Cutie Mark Crusaders clubhouse later in the day. Scootaloo had mounted her scooter and rode off to the clubhouse on the outskirts of Ponyville. Scootaloo was always confident that her cutie mark would come to her no matter how many times she failed. Perhaps she had gotten her unbreakable determination from her idol, Rainbow Dash. Nopony really knew for sure. Although it is likely that Rainbow Dash had given her the brash and rebellious nature she was so known for. Her rebellious side had gotten her in trouble before, but often times she didn't care; for nothing was going to stop her from obtaining her cutie mark.

She continued riding towards the clubhouse when she saw a red glint out of the corner of her eye. She stopped, curious. The glint had come from behind a bush. She went closer, her curiosity now at its peak. Slowly she pushed aside the leaves of the bush, and what she saw made her eyes widen in bewilderment.

What she saw was a red gem. It sounds unimpressive, but this one was crafted perfectly into an emerald shape and seemed to...radiate some sort of energy. Scootaloo smiled. It felt strange but nice. She liked the energy it gave off. It made her feel good. Feel powerful. She touched the gem.

It sparked. Scootaloo jerked her hoof back out of instinct, but the spark didn't actually hurt. In fact, it felt good. Great even. She smiled. She brought her hoof closer to the gem more carefully. She picked it up. It felt warm. Scootaloo smiled at the gem again. Suddenly the gem flashed, causing Scootaloo to shield her eyes. It flashed again. Scootaloo began to worry. "Is it some kind of trap? Is it going to explode!?"

Fortunately for her, the gem did not explode. It flashed and flashed and kept flashing until a red stream of energy came streaming from the gem. Right then and there, Scootaloo probably would have dropped the gem and ran. But something about this energy...it felt good. It felt warm. It started to seep its way up Scootaloo's right foreleg. Scootaloo shivered and forced herself to keep her grip on the gem. It eventually found its way to the area of Scootaloo's heart and began to seep into her chest. Scootaloo welcomed the energy into her heart. It was warm. It was powerful. She loved it. She felt like she was being lifted off the ground. It took her a moment to look down and realize that she was.

Scotaloo gasped. Was she flying?! She tried to control her self in mid-air, and even did a few tricks. She was! She was actually flying!! She couldn't believe it. "I love this gem!!" she thought. "Imagine what else this could do for me! Wait until the other Crusaders find out. This could help me get my Cutie Mark!"

After that she couldn't contain herself. Abandoning her scooter, she flew off at speeds matching Rainbow Dash's towards the clubhouse, leaving a magnificent red streak behind her.

Raiden was exhausted.

After Raiden and Rarity had got done with their time at the spa(where Raiden had forced every part of his body not to scream) Rarity had been kind enough to show Raiden around town so Raiden could map out Ponyville. In about two hours, Raiden had the names and locations of all the important places. Unfortunately, Rarity had insisted that Raiden had come back to her place. Why? Well, why else? Raiden didn't look 'ideal', and Rarity needed his measurements for an outfit for him. Now this wouldn't be too bad, but...

"Does everyone in your world look the same as you? If so, I feel very sorry for you. But no matter. In a few days, I will have an outfit for you, and you will look absolutely dazzling! Perhaps you could even have an outfit for the gala. That is coming up soon. I can just imagine it: you being a bright star among those in your current primitive fashion. This will most certainly be my most unique creation. What an odd race you are! I do wonder why other hedgehogs don't have the same level of intelligence as you. Or for that matter, the same-"

"Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!!!" This pony could not help but voice her every. Single. Thought. Raiden was used to dealing with that, but this pony just seemed...well...racist. Was it even possible to care about fashion this much? Even seeing it now, a part of him was still convinced that it wasn't, and that he was hallucinating all of this. He almost wished that he was.

After a few more minutes of frustration, to the point where Raiden could memorize Rarity's speech patterns, she was talking so much, Rarity finally stopped. "Well, I do believe that I have everything that I need. Thank you, Raiden. You may take your leave, now. Check back with me in a few days, and I'll have a perfect outfit for you."

Raiden fought not to breath a long sigh of relief. He was about to walk out when he just remembered something. He turned his head back and asked "What do I owe you?"

Rarity looked at, slightly confused. "I beg your pardon?"

It was Raiden's turn to look confused. "I mean what do I give you in return for your services? You know, like money."

Rarity's confusion was now gone, replaced with a look of understanding and then a...smile? "Oh, don't you worry, dear,"said Rarity, "You are a guest in our town. I ask for nothing in return."

Raiden raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me? I'm sorry, but you can't expect me to just accept that. I need to pay you back in some way."

Rarity was actually shocked. Was somepony actually denying her generosity? Normally, anypony would be happy to just walk out without owing her anything, but this hedgehog, he was determined to give her something in return. Rarity cleared her throat. "Raiden, dear, I assure you, there is nothing you could give me that I really need. You need not give me anything other than privacy to do my work."

Raiden could only stand there for a few seconds. This pony not only did everything she could to help her, but asked for absolutely nothing in return. Forget the fashion sense, was it even possible to be this generous, because this time most of Raiden was convinced that it wasn't. Had he really gone to another mortal world, or did that fight with Armstrong really kill him and he had gone to ponified heaven? Given his track record, he was very strongly convinced that Rarity would later ask for something in return.

Raiden finally made contact with his brain and spoke. "Alright. I thank you for your generosity. I will now be taking my leave."

Rarity gave another smile. "You are most welcome, dear Raiden. Come by any time you need help. Now I-" Rarity stopped when her horn flashed. Both Raiden and Rarity at the horn curiously. Rarity was completely confused. "Now that is odd. That was my spell for detecting gems. Why is it acting up?"

Raiden's eyes widened. "Detecting gems?" Suddenly Raiden felt a spike of energy coming from outside. Although this energy seemed familiar. Raiden looked out the window. His eyes widened once again. What he saw was a red pillar of massive amounts of energy coming from the edge of Ponyville. Everyone in town was looking at it Raiden thought that there could only be one thing that could release that kind of power. He looked back at Rarity. "Rarity, are you seeing this!?"

Rarity's eyes were glued to the scene before her. "How could I not? What is it? It's incredible!' Rarity put a hoof on her horn. "My spell seems to act up more when I face it."

That was all Raiden needed to confirm his suspicion. His face was plastered with worry. "It only gives off that much energy when in someone's possession. That means...Oh no!"

The red pillar shrunk back down to nothing and Raiden looked to Rarity. "Rarity, I know what that is! Can you track that gem's exact location?"

Rarity looked back at Raiden, slightly curious. Raiden's face was showing worry and determination. Rarity nodded and ran outside the house. Raiden followed her.

Back outside the Golden Oak Library, Twilight and Spike were one step ahead of them. They had already begun running towards the disturbance. Twilight, like everybody else, had saw the red pillar of energy, but the odd thing for her was that she felt no magic. This was not caused by some unicorn having a magical overload, but by something else. Some foreign power. This is what made her worry more than anything. Never before had such a phenomenon occurred. Never before did she even consider something non-magical could be so powerful. Not only did the worried part of her tell her that this power was dangerous, but the curious part of her wanted to know what kind of power this was. Or what could have caused it.

Twilight's thought's were interrupted by Spike's voice. "Hey, Twilight! Look!"

Twilight turned to the left and saw Raiden running in the same direction as her, carrying Rarity on her back, with Pinkie Pie bouncing close behind.

"Raiden!" Twilight called out. Raiden looked over to Twilight and gave a nod before running over to her. He then put Rarity down, and Rarity could only wobble due to dizziness.

It took a moment for Rarity to be able to speak. "Well, that was...that was quite an experience, Raiden."

"You were going to slow," said Raiden without looking back at her.

Rarity looked at Raiden annoyed. "Well, excuse me, sir, but some of us like to run at a normal pace."

This time Raiden looked back at Rarity. "It isn't my fault you aren't as fit as I am."

Rarity and Raiden proceeded to glare daggers at each other before Twilight interrupted them. "Raiden, Rarity, Pinkie! Do any of you know what that red energy was?"

Both the red hedgehog and the white unicorn looked at Twilight in confusion. "Pinkie?" they both said in unison. They both looked behind them. Pinkie Pie was bouncing right behind them with a big smile on her face.

"Hi, guys!" she said happily.

"GAH!" Both Rarity and Raiden screeched and fell back. Both of them pointed at Pinkie. "When did you get there!"

Pinkie tilted her head in confusion. "I've been here since you started running," Pinkie said. "You didn't notice me?"

Raiden got up. "But you were- we just...never mind." He looked back at Twilight. "Look, Twilight, that was-"

He was interrupted by a boom and he felt another spike of that power he felt before. Rarity's horn glowed again. Everyone turned towards the direction of the sound. That red pillar had appeared again coming from the same area, though it seemed twice as powerful as it was the first time. This time it ceased to die down, so Spike was the one to speak, "Okay, does anybody know just what that's supposed to be?"

Raiden was the one to answer, "What we need to save Rainbow Dash."

Everyone looked at Raiden, first with surprise, then with a look that said 'you are freaking crazy.' Though Raiden didn't look back at them. He seemed determined and sure of himself, so Twilight was ready to meet him half way. She looked back at the red pillar, then back at Raiden. "Are you sure?"

Raiden nodded. "I'm sure," he said, "so if you want her out of a hospital bed, let's stop gawking and start running!"

Raiden starting running at sonic speeds, faster than anypony could ever hope to run. For a moment, Twilight, Spike, Rarity, and Pinkie could only stand there and stare. After a few seconds, Twilight was the first to regain her senses. She shook her head and said "He's right. Let's head over there now!" The others looked over at Twilight and nodded before running behind Raiden.

Raiden had already made it there. The red pillar was much bigger up close, and he could make out a detail he hadn't seen before: the energy wasn't rising from the ground. It instead seemed to be...spreading out. A part of it was going up, and a part of it was going down, hitting the ground. But it was all coming from a point of origin, floating in the middle of the air. Raiden could make out the shape of another pony, but no details beyond that. Raiden was correct: it was in someones possession. Whoever was using it clearly didn't know how to use it's power.

Raiden had noticed that he wasn't alone. Behind the pillar of energy from his view was a tree-house that could actually pass for a decent living space, and two other ponies. They were small, and couldn't have even been out of third grade. One a yellow coat and fiery mane and tail, her mane being in a bow. The other looked like a mini-Rarity, but her mane was curlier, and both her mane and tail had lighter shades of purple and white in them. They looked scared. Clearly they had seen what had happened here.

Raiden dashed over to them. Both their eyes widened at the sudden sight of him. He crouched over the ponies. "Sorry, but can you tell me what happened here?"

For a moment, a bit more of that fear flashed in their eyes. They clearly didn't want to relive those moments again, and they were at first too afraid to speak. Eventually, the white pony worked up the nerve to speak. "...Our friend...she had messed around with gem, a shiny red gem, and it could help her do a lot of things. She could even fly with it! Me and Applebloom had asked for a turn with, but she had accused us of stealing it. She kept saying 'it's mine, it's mine,' and she tried...she tried attacking us for it!" Both ponies shivered at the memory.

"Damn. She's fallen that far already." Raiden got to his feet. "You girls get out of here. I'll talk to her."

Both ponies look up at Raiden. The one called 'Applebloom' tried to protest. "But she's-"

"Now!" said Raiden a bit forcefully. The ponies saw a flash of...something in his eyes, and whatever it was, it was enough to send them running to hide. Raiden looked back at the pillar of energy. Without fear, he walked inside the pillar.

The energy would usually make anyone who wasn't used to it nauseous, but not Raiden. He had experienced this kind of energy before, and was more than just used to it. He was practically a part of it. Compared to the kind of power he had experienced, this was nothing at all.

Walking farther into the pillar, he eventually found who he was looking for. This pony was about as old as the other two ponies he had seen before. Her coat was a light shade of orange, and her mane and tail were both shaggy and purple. There were a few abnormal features about her. Her coat was covered in red, veiny lines, the ends of her mane were red and glowing, and her would-be small wings were surrounded in a red, wing shaped aura.

"Damn! She's way too overexposed! I need to get that emerald! Raiden attempted to talk to the pony. "Excuse me. If I have your attention, could you tell me your name?"

The orange pony lanced towards Raiden. He now noticed that the eye was glowing red as well. She just stared at him for a few seconds before speaking "...Scootaloo."

Raiden tried to hold back a laugh. "Okay, she just tried way to hard to make that sound intimidating." Raiden looked back up at 'Scootaloo,' immediately serious again. "Okay, Scootaloo, you mind telling me what this is all about?"

Scootaloo's expression became angry suddenly. "This was supposed to protect me from those evil thieves that would dare try to take away my precious emerald. Your just like them, aren't you? You want to steal what's mine!"

Raiden wasn't affected by her words. "Actually, that's mine."

Scootaloo's eyes widened. "What did you say?" She asked.

Raiden replied "That's mine. I dropped it on a walk and have been looking for it ever since. I'd like it back. Please?"

Scootaloo was still surprised from the first time he said it. She looked down at the gem in her hooves. Her eyes softened. There was a look disappointment in her eyes, but also a look of understanding. For a moment, Raiden thought he actually might have gotten through to her. But just as that thought started to hit him, her eyes grew dark again, and Raiden's rings began to spark.

"I get it..." she said in a low voice. "Don't you ever try to fool me." She looked up at Raiden, very angry. "I see right through your lies! This gem is mine!"

Raiden's rings sparked again. He continued to try to reason with her. "Scootaloo, it's not a lie! I need that back! I need-"

"SHUT UP!!" Scootaloo screamed back, sparking Raiden's rings again. "You can't fool me! You hurt Rainbow Dash! i can't trust you at all!"

Raiden made one last ditch effort. "Scootaloo, i can save-"

"IT'S MINE!!!!" Scootaloo took to the air and flapped her transparent wings, causing a massive gust of wind. Raiden tried to hold his ground. His rings kept sparking, until at one point they snapped off.

"What!?" Raiden exclaimed. He couldn't contain his surprise. While he was distracted, Scootaloo flapped her wings again, this time sending Raiden flying back. He flew out of the pillar and was skidding across the ground before coming to a halt when he crashed into a tree.

Slowly, Raiden got up, rubbing his head. He looked at his wrists in awe. "Impossible! How!? That's never happened before! He looked back up at the red pillar of energy, only to see that it was dying down, the energy retreating back into the emerald. He heard Scootaloo speak "I understand now...Everyone wants it."

"Raiden!" He heard a voice behind him. He turned to see Twilight, Spike, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie all running towards him, and it appeared that they ran into Applejack along the way. They came to a halt in front of him. "Raiden, what happened?"

Raiden waited a while before replying "Someone - or rather, somepony, I suppose - got her hands on a Chaos Emerald."

Twilight tilted her head in confusion. "Chaos Emerald?" she asked.

"The source of all that power," Raiden replied, "I'll explain later, but that pony is named Scootaloo. Do you-"

"WHAT!?" everypony exclaimed, answering Raiden's unfinished question: they definitely knew each other. Everyone looked in the direction of what was left of the pillar of energy.

They heard Scootaloo's voice, "And the only way to prevent anyone from taking it..."

The pillar subsided completely and revealed the form of Scootaloo. Now her sclera were completely black, and she herself seemed to radiate darkness, a sore reminder of Raiden's rings. She looked up at Raiden and the ponies.

"IS TO KILL THEM ALL!!!" she completed. She screamed and let loose a shock-wave of pure power. Everyone tried to hold their ground. Raiden looked at Scootaloo with dread. Her mind was almost completely taken. He didn't want to have to fight a kid, but...

"Fine," Raiden said, "I'm sorry, but this is the only way." He crouched into a stance. "Let's do this!"

At that moment, Both Raiden and Scootaloo charged each other, and a battle ensued.

Author's Note

Sorry for the wait. Yeah, I'd hate to leave you on a cliffhanger, But If I was ever going to get this done, I had to. But of course, next chapter is a FIGHT SCENE! Stay tuned for that. Laters.

Chapter 8: Where Things Get Started.

Green is start music and red is stop.

Ten minutes earlier...

High up in Canterlot Castle, the alicorn pony that many know as Princess Luna, ruler of the night itself, looked quietly upon a balcony. She stood there every night, looking upon her many subjects, protecting her beautiful night. But that's what made this moment odd: It wasn't nighttime. Normally she might be taking a much needed rest, and Celestia would be doing her duties, watching over the kingdom during the daytime. So what could she be doing here now?

This balcony was also a good place to get some fresh air, or to sort out your thoughts. And currently, Luna's thought's really needed sorting out. She had certain thoughts that were weighing heavily upon her.

Particularly thoughts for a certain red anthropomorphic hedgehog...named Raiden.

Luna clenched her teeth. That name made her angry. She didn't like thinking about that hedgehog. He made her angry. The very thought of him made her angrier than she thought she could be at one living being. But that was the thing that was plaguing her mind.

"Why?" she asked herself.

That was just it. The red hedgehog made her angry, but she didn't know why. Luna didn't want to get very angry at him, and even thought she overreacted when she yelled at him the way she did. She could even understand Raiden's attempts at humor, even if it was annoying. So what about him made her mad? He just seemed to radiate something that she didn't like. But what? She didn't know what she hated about him so much, and she hated that fact itself.

Luna screamed, her frustration reaching it's peak. In her growing combination of emotions, she stomped her hoof to the ground, causing a large crack to be formed beneath her hoof.

At that same moment, she heard a massive BOOM coming from the direction of Ponyville, causing her to jump slightly. She turned towards Ponyville, and her eyes could only keep getting wider. What she saw was a red pillar of...something. Some kind of energy, but unfamiliar energy. It wasn't magic. It was much more chaotic. It also seemed connected to something. It was as if there were two things harnessing this power. Luna didn't know what it was, but it felt unnatural, and that unnerved her. Whether it was dangerous or not, it needed investigating.

The red pillar receded, and Luna ran to find her sister.

Present time...

Raiden was sent several feet back, his feet sliding against the ground before eventually being halted. He looked towards his opponent, Scootaloo, with a glare. "I shouldn't underestimate her," he thought, "especially with that emerald. Still..." He looked down at his wrists, reminding himself that they had somehow snapped off. He had never seen anyone angry enough to do that before. He looked back at the corrupted young filly. Her anger was beyond reasoning.

"This should be a cakewalk." he told himself. Raiden once again charged at Scootaloo, and she responded, both arms pulled back, ready to deliver a destructive blow.

Raiden was just about to attack when he heard Twilight's voice shout "Raiden, wait!"

"Huh?" Raiden turned his head back, which proved to be a grave mistake as Scootaloo's hoof met Raiden's cheek, sending him flying back towards the other ponies. Twilight used magic to stop him before he could crash into them, and gently placed him down.

Raiden stood back up and rubbed a sore spot on his head before turning around and glaring at Twilight. "You'd better have a good reason for interrupting me." he spat at Twilight.

Twilight ignored the threat. "Raiden, please! Don't hurt her!"

Raiden raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, what!?" he replied stunned.

Rarity spoke. "Dear, you can't just harm her. She's only a little filly."

Raiden turned to Rarity, completely baffled at these ponies. "Uh, yeah; a 'little filly' who's trying to tear us inside-out!"

Applejack stepped in. "That can't be 'er own thinkin'! 't's gotta be that there gem thingamajig she's holdin' on ta!"

"It doesn't matter who's thinking it is," Raiden retorted, "she's too far gone! I can't save her!"

Spike stood on Twilight's back and then jumped over to Raiden. "And you're not even going to try!" he shouted, anger resonating in his voice. "She's still a pony, and she's just a kid!"

Raiden remembered that his rings were off. "Damn! Can't piss 'em off too much. Choose your words carefully, Raiden." He looked Spike in the eye. "I truly am sorry, but I've tried this sort of thing before, and if there was any way for me to save her, than I would. But there isn't, so I can't."

Pinkie Pie pointed a hoof towards Scootaloo's direction and asked "You mean it isn't as simple as taking that em from her hoof?"

Raiden began to reply by saying "No it-" but cut himself off as he processed what Pinkie had said. "Wait...what?"

"Ah already tol'ja'll," answered Applejack, "that there gem thing's gotta be controllin' 'er."

Raiden turned around. Scootaloo was seething with anger, and in her hoof was the gem. Raiden's eyes widened. "That's impossible! She should have already bonded with it by now. Something must be holding it back." He then turned towards the ponies and Spike, who all had hopeful looks in their eyes. "Then...she can be saved!"

Raiden looked at Pinkie Pie and answered her question. "Pinkie, you're half right." He pointed towards Scootaloo. "We're gonna need to get that gem away from her."

"Then...there's still a chance?" asked Spike, relieved.

His relief was quickly replaced with worry when Raiden turned to him with a worried expression of his own. "There is," said Raiden, "but it won't be simple. She's really strong, and she won't just hand it over. If we want her back to normal, we need to be careful." Raiden turned around and pointed towards his rings lying on the ground. "We can make this easier if I get my rings back, so I need all of you to draw her attention from me. Then going for the emerald will be the easy part. Were on a time limit, so let's do this."

"Hold on there, pardner," said Applejack with slight annoyance. "Why're ya 'spectin' is ta just follow long with this 'ere plan?"

"Why?" repeated Raiden as if Applejack had just asked the stupidest question in the world. "Because you have no choice in the matter."

Applejack was about to protest when Scootaloo shouted "Enough talking!" and charged towards the group. "Now you all die!" She flew high into the air and reared hoof back. Raiden and the ponies just barely jumped out of the way before Scootaloo crashed into the ground, leaving a surprisingly large crater under her front fore-hoof.

Raiden landed gracefully on his feet while the ponies stumbled and were made to skid to a halt. "You still feel like arguing?" asked Raiden sarcastically. "This is the only shot we have. Now MOVE!"

Though reluctant to trust Raiden, the ponies realized that they really did have no choice. They all nodded and crouched down in defensive stances. Scootaloo turned her head towards the group with a glare that could stun the Devil. She didn't hesitate for a second and immediately rushed towards the group. She reared back her hoof, and just as she was about to deliver a punch to Raiden's face - who was currently at the front of the group - a force field of purple energy appeared in front of Raiden and blocked Scootaloo's punch. The impact was still felt however, as a massive pattern of cracks was formed on the force field and a small shockwave was formed in between it and Scootaloo's hoof. Twilight grunted from the massive strain of keeping the shield up, but she stood standing.

For a moment, Scootaloo was shocked at the sudden appearance of the force field, but was suddenly snapped back to reality when a pie hit her in the face. Everyone looking at Scootaloo turned in the direction the pie came from, and saw Pinkie holding another pie in her left hoof, standing on her hind legs.

"What'cha waiting for, Rai?" asked Pinkie in a surprisingly cheerful tone, "Were distracting her. You gotta get those rings back, right?"

Resisting the urge to cringe at his new nickname, Raiden stood up straight and nodded. He looked across what was now the battlefield for his rings, as they got scattered in the shock waves of the fight. Scootaloo had already gotten the pie off of her face, and was now even more angry. She reared her hoof back once more, but when she did, it was caught by a rope. Scootaloo tried pulling free, but this was an unbelievably strong rope, and someone had an unbelievably strong grip. She turned around to see Applejack pulling the rope towards her to prevent Scootaloo from going any further. "Sorry, Scoots," she said, "but no one's dyin' t'day!"

Scootaloo's eyes flared in anger. She increased her efforts to free her hoof from the rope, but was stopped when the rope seemed to gain a mind of it's own, and the end of the rope slowly snaked it's way around her body before getting taught. Scootaloo gritted her teeth and struggled to break free with no success. She only now noticed the light blue magical energy surrounding the rope, and found that Rarity was using her magic to control it. She only got angrier as she fell to the ground, her wings restrained.

Applejack wiped the sweat from her brow and walked over to Rarity. "Whoo!" she gasped, "Thanks, Rar'. Dunno how much longer ah could've hel'don there."

Rarity dusted herself off and said "Well, a lady never keeps anypony waiting," she said, "unlike Raiden over there." She turned towards Raiden and asked "Have you found those rings yet, dearie?"

Raiden never lost focus from the task at hand, but after a few more seconds of scanning the battlefield, he spotted the two rings - luckily not to far away from each other - and answered "Yeah, I just did. Keep Scootaloo tied up and try to take that gem out from under the rope, if you can."

"Yessir, Rai," said Applejack. This time Raiden could not hold back the cringe from his nickname as he walked over to his rings. Applejack was oblivious however and looked over to Twilight. "Y'all feelin' good there, Twi?"

"Yeah," she replied, "yeah, I'm fine. Still a bit wobbly in the knees, but I think I can get that gem." She walked over to Scootaloo, tied up and grounded. "Hang on a second, Scootaloo. This will only take a second." Twilight's horn glowed with a familiar purple glow, showing that she was working her magic.

But Scootaloo wasn't going to give up so easily. Nopony was going to take her precious gem from her. Not without a fight. She looked over at the first one to defy her: Raiden. Her eyes flared with pure anger. She raised her back right hoof before quickly bringing it down.

As Raiden approached his rings, he noticed a rumbling sound. He looked over to the where it was coming from, and saw a concentrated mass of earth speeding towards his direction. "What!" was all he had time to say before he jumped out of the way and the mass of earth spawned a massive pillar of rock, scattering his rings across the battlefield once again. Raiden landed gracefully on his feet and looked towards the direction the attack came from. He saw Scootaloo at the end of the trail that the attack left behind, though now she was untied and standing up, the gem still in hoof. Twilight had been knocked down, likely from the quake that had come with the attack, and Spike and Rarity were now helping her up. Applejack and Pinkie Pie were standing in front of her, likely preparing to defend. Just under Scootaloo was a mark that looked like the edge of a hoof, coming just before the trail of destroyed ground.

"Did she really do that?" Raiden wondered in awe. "No one's ever been that strong without being bonded before. Must be something amplifying it."

Scootaloo rose her her head and once again glared at Raiden. She stomped her back left hoof, raising a large circular wall, cutting of the other ponies from her and Raiden. "I have yet to be proven wrong," thought Raiden.

Scootaloo hovered in the air, snarling at Raiden. "You're the first to die," she growled.

"Just you and me, huh?" Raiden sarcastically asked. He crouched in a battle stance. "You're going to regret that decision. A lot."

Scootaloo's eyes flared a very angry look, and she reared back her back right hoof while flying towards Raiden, and unleashing a side kick at Raiden's head, which he easily ducked. Scootaloo then ax-kicked at Raidens head, but Raiden stepped to the right, easily avoiding the attack. Scootaloo dashed over towards Raiden and unleashed three lightning fast punches, though Raiden blocked those before raising his left arm, stopping a roundhouse kick. Scootaloo's hoof went towards Raiden's face, and Raiden caught it, while at the same time catching a hoof heading towards his stomach. "I recognize a feint when I see one," said Raiden.

With each attack that failed to land, Scootaloo just got angrier and angrier. She rose her back right leg upward in a powerful kick towards Raiden's jaw, but Raiden just tilted his head back and let go of her front hooves, causing Scootaloo to miss her attack and awkwardly flail in midair. Raiden then grabbed her leg and threw him over his shoulder, and Scootaloo regained her balance in midair and hover.

"Your form is surprisingly good," Raiden admitted, "but none of your attacks look quite right. It's as if you lazily copied someone else's moves."

Scootaloo's anger was now mixed in with embarrassment, for in fact, she had copied those moves from Rainbow Dash, her idol. "Enough avoiding me!" she shouted, "Fight me properly!"

Raiden stood up straight. "Fight you? Oh, no no no. If I even began to think of attacking you, I'd be public enemy number one through six. I'm not gonna fight you." Raiden then smirked. "I was just stalling until the cavalry arrived."

Before Scootaloo even had time to be confused, a portion of the wall containing the two blew up. Both Raiden and Scootaloo looked at where the blast came from, the ladder being surprised and confused. Through the dust cloud that had formed, a beam of yellow energy blasted towards Scootaloo, immobilizing her when it hit it's mark.

"What!?" Scootaloo cried out in frustration as she tried to move but found the spell to be beyond any kind of power she had. This couldn't have been Twilight. As the dust settled, Princess Celestia could be seen, firing the blast from her horn.

"'bout time, Princess," said Raiden, "I assume Luna's here as well?"

"She is currently attending to Twilight," replied Celestia, "but how did you know?"

"I don't think the rulers of this land would miss out on a light show like that. Seriously, that could have been seen from another kingdom away." Raiden walked up to Scootaloo. "She's immobalized?"

"For the time being, but not for long." As she said that, Celestia grimaced in effort.

"I don't need long," said Raiden. He reached a hand towards the gem in Scootaloo's hoof.

But Scootaloo's hoof emitted a wave of energy that caused Raiden's hand to be pushed back and Celestia to strain a bit more. "What the-?" was all Raiden said before another wave of energy more powerful than the last. Raiden and Celestia had to struggle to hold their ground. But the third one that came was massive, crumbling the arena around them and sending the hedgehog and the alicorn flying back several feet.

Raiden was barely affected and quickly got up. He looked to where Celestia was. The other ponies including Luna felt the need to tend to her, though she was perfectly fine. At first he went back to the current danger. A massive pile of rubble had collapsed on Scootaloo, but Raiden knew that she had survived. However, looking past the rubble, he spotted a golden glint in the distance. He remembered what he was initially looking for and immediately knew what it was. he scanned across the battlefield and, near his position, found a gold ring. His eyes widened for a moment and he dashed over to it and picked it up. "Not gonna get cocky this time," he said, snapping the ring back onto his left wrist. He turned over to where he saw that flash of gold. Now that he was closer he could see that it was indeed his second ring. Not taking any more chances, he rushed over to the ring and picked it up. He was about to snap it back on when he felt a rumble. He immediately knew what it was and turned back to the pile of rubble that contained Scootaloo.

Everyone in the group of ponies was in a defensive stance, with Celestia, Luna and Twilight already charging some sort of spell with their horns. Suddenly, Scootaloo burst out of the rubble, releasing massive amounts of energy as she does so, which breaks the concentration of the princesses and Twilight and throwing them off balance. Applejack and Pinkie Pie tried to throw their lasso/pie at the young peasus, but Scootaloo immediately looks over to Raiden, the anger in her eyes practically it's own entity. She flapped her transparent wings and rushed over to Raiden in midair, avoiding Applejack and Pinkie's attempts at subduing the threat.

At that moment, Raiden smirked and snapped his other ring onto his right wrist.

Scootaloo's formerly narrowed eyes snapped wide open before they slammed closed as she stopped going towards Raiden and clutched her head between her hooves. She screamed towards the sky in frustration and agony. Raiden felt his rings spark heavily and remembered how they had gotten off before. "Right. Gotta concentrate on keeping her in check," he thought. Raiden fought to keep Scootaloo's anger in check while Scootaloo tried to fight him off. Raiden eventually extended his arms towards Scootaloo and suddenly strands of black electricity trailed its way out of Scootaloo's body, finding it's way to Raiden's rings. Scootaloo's eyes shot open as she once again rose her head towards the sky and screamed in pain.

Eventually, Raiden quickly pulled his arms back and the last of the black electricity seemed to find it's way to Raiden's rings. Scootaloo close her eyes and hung her head while still in the air, and her wings of energy seemed to flicker on and off. She slowly opened her eyes and blinked twice. "Huh?" was all she said.

Raiden dashed over to Scootaloo and punched her in the gut, snapping her eyes wide open and knocking the wind out of her. She looked over at Raiden in surprise before her eyeballs rolled into the back of her head and she closed them, unconscious. She dropped the emerald and Raiden caught it.

"Glad that's over," said Raiden, gently laying down Scootaloo's body. He looked down at the pony before him. He pitied Scootaloo. He wondered if her life could ever be the same after this.

Raiden heard foot...uh, hoof steps coming from behind him, and then he felt his rings spark. He turned to see, as expected, the other ponies. Celestia and Luna in particular stood in front of him, glaring down upon him, while the other ponies stood behind them wearing their own angry glares. Apparently they didn't take to kindly to Raiden knocking out Scootaloo. Raiden didn't falter, however. He wasn't intimidated by these ponies. Hell, he could probably take them down.

Before Raiden could indulge in any fantasies about fighting anyone, Luna spoke, "You have much to explain." The other ponies and Spike nodded in agreement. Raiden held up the gem he had gotten from Scootaloo.

"First we need to see Rainbow Dash," he stated simply.

Nearby, at the top of a tree, a two-legged figure clad in a brown robe was watching the whole scene. He had been the first to see the gem take hold of the orange filly. When he saw the red hedgehog enter the fray he smiled, always enjoying a good show. The princesses had been an expected turn. He was disappointed when the fight ended and Scootaloo was returned to normal. He would have hoped for a little more chaos. Though he was pleased to find that those other ponies weren't to happy with Raiden's choice to knock-out Scootaloo. He watched the group of ponies, dragon and hedgehog walk away, and a devilish smile entered found it's way to his face.

"Well, Raiden," said the figure in a very masculine voice, "looks like were going to have some fun here, aren't we?"

He made his way back into the forest, looking forward to how things here would play out.

Twenty minutes later...

The group found themselves at the hospital, and Raiden could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Along the way here, there had been many stares, and while that was understandable, it didn't mean he had to like it. Really, what's so strange about four famous ponies and a baby dragon walking alongside two princesses and an anthropomorphic hedgehog carrying an orange filly towards a hospital? Nevertheless, he was relieved when they finally got to the hospital.

His relief diminished when he opened the doors and eyes continued to stare at them. Raiden suppressed a groan as he and company entered the hospital. He looked to the pony at the desk. "I think you know the drill," he said. The nurse snapped out of her trance and nodded, running off to get something. Probably a sickbed.

Raiden looked around uneasily. Half the eyes in the room seemed to be on him, and he didn't like it. The princesses, he could tell, were used to the attention they were receiving, particularly Celestia, as he remembered Twilight telling him that she ruled over the day. Raiden, however, was never a fan of too much attention, and preferred to be on his own. Back on Mobius, a talking super fast red hedgehog that walked on two legs was perfectly normal. Why can't it be the same here?

The nurse ran back to the group with a sickbed, a doctor, and two paramedics. Raiden placed Scootaloo on the sickbed and the paramedics pushed it away. The doctor ran off with them, and the nurse stayed behind and bowed before Celestia and Luna. "Is there anything we can do for you, your majesties?"

Celestia didn't bat an eye. "We wish to see the patient Rainbow Dash."

Within a minute and a half, that's where they were: Rainbow Dash's room.

As the group entered the room with the unconscious cyan Pegasus, they found Fluttershy already there delivering a few flowers - roses, to be specific - to the jar at the side of Rainbow Dash's bed. When they entered, Fluttershy turned around and flinched in surprise. Her eyes landed on Raiden and her eyes showed an interesting mix of fear and happiness. She then turned to the princesses and her eyes widened as she bowed.

"You may rise, dear Fluttershy," said Celestia, "this is no time for formalities."

Fluttershy hastily rose and said "Oh, of course, Princess Celestia." She alternated between looking at Raiden, the princesses, and her five friends. "But...what's going on here?"

"We are not entirely sure yet," said Luna, "the hedgehog has yet to explain anything." She added that last bit with a hint of disdain in her voice.

Raiden noticed and looked back at her, only slightly annoyed. "You're right, Luna, I haven't" he said, "so it's time to get on that." He showed the gem he had gotten from Scootaloo to the rest of the group. "This is what I needed to wake up Rainbow Dash," he announced.

The room went completely silent, all eyes of disbelief on Raiden. That was until Raiden felt his rings spark, and he knew what was coming.

"But...didn't we just see that thing possess Scootaloo?" asked Pinkie Pie.

Raiden didn't falter. "'Possessed' isn't really the right word, but yes, I suppose your in the ballpark."

The group then looked back and forth between Raiden and the gem with looks of confusion and distrust, both of which Raiden was very familiar with. "They never trust you the first time around," he stated mentally.

His rings sparked again.

Luna stormed up to Raiden until she was right in his face, a familiar hurricane like trace of anger in her eyes. "Do you expect us to trust your word that this is some kind of cure!?" she yelled out, "After what we just saw!?"

Raiden didn't flinch and said "At some point, yes, you are going to trust me."

"And what makes you so sure?" Luna asks defiantly.

Raiden smirked. "What else can you do?" he asked sarcastically.

Luna was about to give an angry retort when Celestia intervened, saying "Stop Luna, I shall now speak." Luna hesitated before begrudgingly backing away. Celestia now stood before the foreign hedgehog. "I must agree with Luna, however. We witnessed with our own eyes the effects that gem had on the young filly Scootaloo. Why should we be under the belief that this should be any different with Rainbow Dash?"

"Because this time, I'm in control." Celestia and Luna each raised an eyebrow, and the other ponies and Spike also looked confused. Raiden sighed. "Alright, time for a lesson." He once again showed the gem off. "It's time I explained just what these are."

Raiden sat in a chair next to Rainbow Dash's bed. The group of friends gathered around him with curiosity. Raiden cleared his throat and explained.

"This thing is called a Chaos Emerald, and there are seven of them in total. They are special gems from my world. The myth is that when all seven are collected, a miracle will happen, however this is not entirely true. With just one Emerald, the holder can unlock unlimited power, so imagine what having all seven could accomplish. If put in the hands of a pure heart, they could create paradise; they could become the answer to all that is wrong in the world. If in the hands of evil, however, the Emeralds could create a living hell, spreading terror and chaos, like it's namesake.

"However, this is also dependent on how one handles this power. If in the hands of an inexperienced user, the power could consume them, controlling them rather than the other way around. I believe you witnessed firsthand what that could result in. I, however, am far from inexperienced. I have actually developed a connection with this power. You might even call me an embodiment of the energy - chaos energy. I'll be the one in control of this energy this time, and I'll be the one who uses it, not Rainbow Dash." Raiden leaned forward in his chair. "You get it?"

The seven ponies and one dragon all stared at the gem in bewilderment. Raiden waited patiently for a reply. He actually couldn't recall going through this routine before, though anyone would have a similar reaction to first being introduced to a Chaos Emerald...at least he assumed so. "Wow," he thought, "never thought anything else could surprise me."

Twilight was the first to speak "Wait, you said there were seven of them in total?"

Raiden nodded. "I did."

"So...it's fair to assume that the other seven are in our world?" asked Twilight.

Raiden raised an eyebrow and cupped his chin in his hand. As if to add to the ponies impatience he tapped his finger on his chin. after a few seconds he finally spoke "No, that's not 'fair to assume'... it's actually a certainty. I'm one-hundred percent sure that the other emeralds are in Equestria."

The group now had a massive cloud of worry over their heads. Fluttershy in particular was shuddering over the thought of the power that the emeralds might hold. "Their right to be afraid," Raiden thought, "Hell, in their position, I'd probably piss myself too."

Luna once again spoke up "And what makes you so sure that we can trust you in particular with this power?"

Raiden thought about it for a moment, than he smirked. "Simple: because you don't have a choice."

Celestia rested a hoof on Luna's shoulder. "Raiden is unfortunately correct, sister. This could be our only chance to wake Rainbow Dash up."

Raiden raised an eyebrow. "Unfortunately?"

Everyone ignored his question, all seeming to focus on Luna. They were obviously waiting for her answer. She looked reluctant. "She obviously doesn't trust me...good, that means she's smart." Luna had a gleam of anger in her eyes. She didn't want to put her subjects fate in this stranger's hands, deduced Raiden.

Luna looked Raiden in the eye. "Are you sure you're someone who can be trusted?" she asked.

Raiden didn't think about the answer for too long. "No, I'm really not sure."

Luna continued to stare at him, her eyes filled with a blend of unreadable emotions. Finally she spoke "...Very well, hedgehog. I will have you hold the responsibility of Rainbow Dash's life." She regained her familiar threatening tone "But if-"

Raiden cut her off with a mocking voice "If anything should happen to your precious subject I will be blah, blah, blah." Raiden got in Luna's face. "Been there, done that, sweetheart."

Raiden got up from his chair, but not before taking notice of the electricity in Luna's eyes. With all eyes in the room on him he walked over to the side of Rainbow Dash's bed. Her eyes were still wide opened, showing a chilling terror that would scare anyone who looked at her. The sudden pang of guilt that Raiden felt was instantly gone. He would not let petty emotions such as guilt prolong him any further.

Raiden began by taking his Chaos Emerald and raising it above Rainbow Dash, closing his eyes. After a few seconds of nothing happening, the Emerald began to glow. Raiden opened his eyes. He let the gem go while still keeping a hand outstretched, and the gem continued to glow while floating in midair. The group of ponies all had loose jaws as they gaped at the spectacle before them.

Suddenly, some form of black electricity seemed to pass between the Chaos Emerald and Raiden's hand. In a few seconds, that same electricity passed between the hand and Rainbow Dash, causing the other ponies to gasp. They couldn't hide their worry any longer as Rainbow Dash began to slightly convulse. She, along with the Emerald and Raiden's hand, began to radiate some sort of...darkness. That was the best word that could be used to describe it, whatever it was. Then, in a spectacle that simply looked nightmare inducing, Rainbow Dash's eyes turned completely pitch-black, and that 'darkness' made it's way out of the corners of Rainbow Dash's eyes. And then as Rainbow Dash started coughing that same darkness came out of her mouth, rising up slowly like smoke.

On instinct, the five friends shouted "Rainbow Dash!" and began to rush towards their friend, while Celestia kept a firm expression on her face, and Luna bellowed "YOU TRAITOR!" before they both joined the other five.

In what sounded like utter fury, Raiden turned his head and shouted "DON'T YOU DARE INTERRUPT ME!!!" There was something that could not be identified in his eyes, but whatever it was caused the ponies to all put on the same horrified expression and back off. Raiden's expression calmed down as he turned back to his task. The strands of darkness continuously rose from Rainbow Dash's body into Raiden's hand and, through that, to the Chaos Emerald. The more the darkness made it's way out of Rainbow Dash, the more she coughed and convulsed. However, just when it seemed like she was going to cough up blood, it appeared that the last of the darkness drained from her body, made it's way to Raiden's hand, and finally into the Chaos Emerald.

Rainbow Dash lay still and slowly closed her eyes. It must have been the first time she's done that in a while. The Chaos Emerald stopped glowing, and Raiden put his hand under it before it fell. Raiden closed his eyes and took a deep breath before releasing it. He turned his head towards the expectant looks on the other ponies. There was a moment of silence, then...

"She's fine," spoke Raiden, "She just needs to rest. She should wake up tomorrow. You can breath now."

At that moment it seemed that all the ponies realized that they were holding their breath and finally let it go. At that point, Raiden was already walking towards the exit. "Take all the time you need," he said, "I'll wait outside the hospital."

It seemed to take the ponies time to register what he had said, and when they did, he was already gone.

It only took the ponies a minute to follow Raiden out; not long at all, and Raiden could understand. What was there to say? Rainbow Dash was out cold, unable to talk or listen to anyone. There was nothing to say. When outside, Twilight was the first to speak. "Raiden, I can't tell you how-"

Raiden held up a hand to interrupt her. "You're welcome," he said, "but we have some more important matters to deal with." He lifted his gaze from an annoyed Twilight to looked towards the two princesses. "Isn't that right, Your Majesties?"

Neither princess broke their hard stares. Celestia was the first to speak "Indeed, hedgehog. If these 'Chaos Emeralds' are truly as powerful as you say - and they seem to be - than we must find them all as soon as possible. They are far too dangerous to be near anypony! Raiden, I plead that you assist us in discovering their location."

Raiden nodded. "You could never find them without my help, princess. I'm in."

"And how!" Spike shouted, determined and somewhat exited, "Wherever Twilight goes, I follow!"

Celestia nodded and looked at the other ponies. "And all of you?"

Twilight had a determined gaze locked on her mentor. "Of course will help, Princess! This could decide the fate of Equestria!"

Rarity bowed her head. "Now what kind of lady would I be to refuse?"

Pinkie started bouncing happily. "Woo-hoo! I bet it's gonna be super-duper fun! I'll help too!"

Applejack scratched the back of her head. "Well, land's sakes. Ah can't j'st leave mah friends hangin', now can ah?" She them pounded her chest with her right hoof. "Y'all can count on me!"

Fluttershy was shaking a bit, but had a surprisingly determined look in her eyes. "Y-yeah...I'll help too!"

Celestia smiled. "I knew you would help. I'm very happy" she said. She lost the smile as she looked over to the red hedgehog again. "Do you have a plan?"

"Only to search every inch of Equestria," replied Raiden, holding up the glowing red jewel, "Chaos Emeralds attract to one another, so as long as we have one, they should be easy to find."

Applejack spoke up, slightly annoyed at Raiden's lack of much of an answer, saying "That ain't mucha'va plan, ain't it boy?" The other ponies and one dragon nodded agreement, Luna seeming to be the most eager.

"No, it's not," he conceded, "but that's not all of it. I have a bit of a...connection with the Emeralds and Chaos energy. I can find them by letting the energy become one with my mind and letting that energy spread. Any Chaos Emeralds nearby will react to that field of energy, allowing me to trace the other Emeralds locations. Call it a form of meditation. Only someone with my kind of connection to these things could pull it off."

Celestia and Luna look genuinely curious, and Twilight's geek-instincts were taking over. "This...connection," she asked, "is it what enabled you to cure Rainbow Dash as well?"

Raiden gave a simple nod "Yes. Only I could have pulled that off."

Twilight couldn't stop herself now. "And how did you become this 'connected' with the Emeralds?" This question brought Raiden's mind back to the past...which gave him a headache.

"Irrelevant," he stated, avoiding the question, "Something more important needs our attention."

Before Twilight could press further for information. Celestia placed a hoof over her student's chest. "I feel that it would be best if we respected his wishes..." Celestia turned to give a half glare half curios look to Raiden "...for now." Twilight hesitated in submitting for a moment, but decided, with a look of annoyance and disappointment, to respect her mentor's wishes. Spike jokingly patted her head, which caused Twilight to give him a sidelong glare.

Raiden nodded "Thank you, Princess." He turned his attention to the entire group. I would like to wait until tomorrow to set out. By then I'll definitely have found an emerald, and I have a feeling that will need the help of that Rainbow Dash girl. You can fill her in tomorrow. Is that something we can all agree on?" He added that last part with a greater hint of authority.

The five ponies and Spike nodded agreement, and Raiden looked to the princesses for conformation. Luna closed her eyes and turned her head before nodding, and Celestia voiced a thought. "Will you need a place to meditate?"

"I will," Raiden confirmed, "but I already have a place in mind."

Celestia nodded, satisfied. "Very well." She turned towards the other ponies, "I put my deepest trusts in your care. The fate of Equestria is in your hooves."

All the other ponies bowed. Spike leaped off Twilight's back and bowed as well. "We would never let you down, princess," stated Twilight.

Celestia nodded and turned "Raiden, I-" but when she looked, her eyes widened in shock as He was gone. The other ponies shared her surprise, and anger bubbled within Luna.

"HOW DARE THE FOOL LEAVE OUR PRESENCE!?" she shouted angrily, "WHERE IS ANY RESPECT FROM HIM!? IF I HAVE TO, I-"

"Leave him be, Sister," calmly stated Celestia, "He now has duties to attend to, as well." Luna glared at Celestia, then to the spot where Raiden once was, before finally releasing a frustrated sigh in defeat. Everyone had there eyes on where Raiden once was.

"Raiden the Hedgehog," thought Celestia, "just who are you?"

In the dark location known as the Everfree Forest, a bulky man in a brown cloak was walking away from a hut hidden in the trees. The hut looked foreign, made of sticks and leaves, like a tribal home. The man didn't even sheathe the Rapier that he had drawn, now stained with blood. The man had made his first kill in this mysterious new land, though it wound certainly not be his last. Of that, he was certain. All he had done was ask the local for directions, though they were directions eventually leading him to great power. He couldn't have the local be a tattletale, now could he?

He gave a soft yet sinister laugh. soon, no one could 'tattletale' on him. Soon, all would bow before him, Soon, all would fear him.

Soon, the world would cry his name.

He laughed again, and this time, it carried throughout the entire forest.

Author's Note

Oh my god, I am SO sorry this took so long, but I have a lot of s**t on my plate. As of now, updates could take a while. But anyway, hope you enjoyed.

(P.S. I know, underwhelming fight was underwhelming, but trust me, they'll get better.)

Chapter 9: We're Going on an Emerald Hunt.

Slowly and reluctantly, Twilight began to wake up.

Her vision was hazy, though that was to be expected from someone who had just woken up against her will. Yes, you heard right, someone had woken her up. Yesterday, after Raiden had ran off on his own, there was nothing much else to say. All the other ponies had gone their separate ways, impatiently waiting for tomorrow. Of course, the whole ordeal had Twilight pacing around her house, thinking way to hard about everything that was going on. By the time that she did finally decide to go to bed, it was already late in the night, though she was at least quick to fall asleep.

Needless to say, she wasn't to happy to be woken up.

"Spike," slurred Twilight's drowsy voice, "if this isn't important, I swear on-"

"Spike's already awake," said an uncomfortably familiar voice.

Twilight's eyes shot opened. She began to slowly turn her head to eventually see the red-furred form of Raiden the Hedgehog standing next to her bed. Twilight took a few seconds of silence to blink twice, then gave a frightened squeak and jumped out of bed. "Raiden!" she shouted pointing an accusing hoof at Raiden, "Why did you wake me up!? And, more importantly, WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE!?!?"

Raiden acknowledged his rings sparking, though he didn't even flinch. In fact, he found her sudden outburst almost amusing, though he still kept a stoic expression. "To answer your first question," he said, "It's almost noon."

Twilight's eyes widened. She ran over to her to her window, and sure enough, the sun was up in the sky, shining all over Ponyville. Twilight's left eyelid twitched. How long how she been asleep. It only felt like a few hours.

Raiden seemed to read her mind and said "Yes, Twilight, you have been asleep for that long. Spike is done with most of his chores by now. What kept you up all night?"

Twilight glared at him. "Who's question is being answered here?"

Raiden grunted and shrugged. "I get it if you don't want to talk about it. Anyway, the answer to your second question is that you were near my location of meditation, so I decided to get you first."

Twilight's expression became one of confusion. "Go for me first?" she asked.

Raiden nodded "I'm gathering you and your other friends. Meet me at the hospital."

Twilight's eyes widened and she immediately stood up completely straight. "That's right! Rainbow Dash! She should be awake by now!" She then pointed a hoof towards Raiden, "And you must have found that Emerald, right?"

Raiden nodded. "I've found it, and 'Rainbow Dash' needs to be caught up on what's going on here." Raiden then turned around and walked towards the exit. "I'll see you and the others at the hospital. Spike should be finished by the time you're fully awake."

Twilight nodded "Alright," and began walking downstairs. Just as Raiden was about to leave, she had remembered something he had said. "Raiden," she called out, "where exactly was your meditation spot?"

"Your freakin' basement," Raiden called back before exiting and closing the door.

Twilight stood on the steps leading downstairs, completely stunned and dumbfounded. After a few seconds of an odd silence, she bellowed out "WHAT?!?!"

Rainbow Dash instantly sat up from her bed.

She was inhaling and releasing very deep and very quick breaths. Her vision was hazy, but she could tell from the feeling under her that she was in a bed. Looking around, she was at least able to make out a blurry outline of the oh so familiar Ponyville Hospital. If she was here, than that meant that somepony had brought her after something had happened to her.

But what was that something?

Suddenly, memories came flashing back into her mind. She saw a strange creature standing on a cloud Derpy was moving. She saw herself flying after the creature. She saw herself attacking the creature over a rather trivial matter. She saw herself look into the creatures eyes. And then she saw...nightmares.

A living hell made of nightmares.

Rainbow Dash gave a pained grunt and put a hoof over her throbbing forehead. That's right! It was because of that whatever-it-was that she was in here, wasn't it? Didn't he hurt her in some way? Weren't his eyes-

Rainbow Dash shuddered. His eyes...his eyes showed her a hell that she would never want to see again. Rainbow Dash suddenly felt angry. So he was the cause of her being here! "Why that little rat!" She flapped her wings and flew out of bed. "When I find him, I oughta-"

She blinked. "Wait a minute..." she thought, and looked at her wings. She was flying perfectly okay, without any pain. In fact, no part of her was hurting. She was without physical injury of any kind. Rainbow Dash was now hopelessly confused. "If I'm not hurt, then does that mean that...thing didn't hurt me?"

She shook her head. No, that couldn't be right. "How else would I have gotten in here?" She landed on the floor to the left of her bed, than rubbed her temples with both her fore-hooves. "But if he did hurt me, than why-"

"RAINBOW DASH!!!"

"Huh?" wondered Rainbow Dash as she heard a familiar cheery voice. Before she could even look at the door where it came, a very much familiar pink blur rammed into her and knocked her to the ground. Lying on her back, she placed a hoof over her forehead and looked down at the bright-pink, fluffy-maned pony latched onto her waste, tears falling from her eyes onto Rainbow Dash's stomach. Rainbow Dash was quick to recognize her appearance and gave a small chuckle. "Jeez, Pinkie, calm down a little, will ya? What's got you so worked up anyway?"

Pinkie Pie said something unintelligible, covered by her sobs and her muzzle being buried in Rainbow Dash's stomach. She then looked up to look at Rainbow Dash, teary-eyed yet smiling, and repeated "You're finally awake," before nuzzling her way back into Rainbow Dash's stomach.

Rainbow Dash scratched the back of her head and gave an awkward chuckle. "Jeez, Pinkie," she started, "this isn't like you." Rainbow Dash slipped out of Pinkie's grasp and hovered in the air. "Rainbow Dash is back! This is something that you should be partying over!"

Pinkie Pie, now looking up wide-eyed at Rainbow Dash's hovering figure, blinked twice, sending the tears away from her eyes. Then that familiar bright, goofy looking smile returned to her features. Pinkie Pie instantly got up to her hooves and started bouncing, reaching Rainbow Dash's height of elevation. "You're right, Rainbow Dash," she stated in that perky voice, "I should act happier now!"

Rainbow Dash chuckled and raised her right hoof, which Pinkie slapped with her own. "There's the Pinkie I know," she stated in her usual overly confident voice.

Pinkie Pie then stopped bouncing and had a look of realization on her face. "Oh, that's right! I don't have time to throw the party. we have to go see Raiden."

Rainbow Dash stopped flying and dropped to her hooves, a confused look on her face. "Raiden? Who's that?" she asked.

"Oh," Pinkie gave an embarrassed facehoof, "Silly me, you two haven't even met yet." Pinkie grabbed Rainbow Dash's hoof with her own. "C'mon. There's something really important happening, and you two need to get introduced."

Rainbow Dash was now even more confused than before. "Pinkie, who-GAH!" She was interrupted when Pinkie suddenly dashed out of the hospital, dragging Rainbow Dash with her.

Outside the hospital, A group of four ponies - one very tired looking - and a tall red hedgehog stood by the door, waiting for Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash to exit the building. An air of impatience was cast over the group, everyone wishing that they would just come out and let them get started. Rarity was in a particularly grouchy mood, as she didn't expect to leave the house so soon. "Ugh!" she groaned in frustration, "it would only figure that those two would keep a lady waiting."

Raiden raised an eyebrow and remarked "Funny, Rarity, you seem to like keeping people waiting yourself."

Rarity shot a glare in the hedgehog's direction, replying with spite "I will have you know, Raiden, that I was making necessary preparations for this upcoming journey before you so rudely hurried me out of my own house!"

"There's a difference between necessary preparations and idly giving yourself a pointless makeover," retorted Raiden, slightly annoyed, "What you were doing was the latter, Rarity!"

Rarity, now very peeved, was about to give her own retort when the door to the hospital opened. The air of tension between the red hedgehog and the white pony was now almost completely gone, replaced with a sudden sense of anticipation.Everyone was staring at the door for several seconds that felt like a full minute, when suddenly a ball of multiple bright colors tumbles out of the hospital, leaving behind a large cloud of dust in it's wake. Everyone gave a gasp, except Raiden, who remained stoic. The dust settled, revealing the bouncing figure of Pinkie and a cyan Pegasus identified as Rainbow Dash, holding a hoof over her clearly pained head.

"Ugh," she grunted, "Pinkie, what's the rush?"

"RAINBOW DASH!" shouted a chorus of four distinct voices. Rainbow Dash looked up and turned her head in the direction the voices came from, only to be instantly tackled by a colorful mass of ponies.

Raiden observed the spectacle from nearby, not daring to go anywhere near them. He was never good with emotional moments, and interrupting them would not be doing anyone or anypony any favors. Raiden cringed. He hated this world's grammar.

It took a while, but Rainbow Dash managed to get her pile of multi-colored friends off of her. "Jeez, girls," said Rainbow Dash with a chuckle, "I guess I can't blame you for missing me, but give me my space when I need it."

Twilight wiped the tears from her eyes, saying "Sorry, Rainbow, it's just...there's been cause to worry, you know. For all we know, you could have been lost forever."

Rarity gave a scornful expression and commented "Yes, no thanks to that ruffian hedgehog, Raiden."

Rainbow was a bit confused now, "Raiden?" she asked, "Is that...?"

"Oh!" Pinkie said with realization in her voice, "That's right, you still haven't been introduced yet. Pinkie put one foreleg around her companions shoulder, lifting the other in a seemingly random direction. "Rainbow Dash, meet Raiden the Hedgehog."

In the direction that Pinkie Pie threw her hoof, Raiden came into view. Rainbow Dash glanced at the bizarre creature's face, and instantly her pupils seemed to shrink a considerable few sizes. For a moment, anyone seeing through her eyes could only see a monster that created her greatest nightmares and could do it again without a moment's notice. She felt fear. She hated fear. She had trained herself since the day she could fly not to give in to fear.

But she felt it. And it was sickening.

"Rainbow Dash?"

She was suddenly snapped back to reality by the voice of the hedgehog. Rainbow Dash blinked and looked at Raiden, standing right in front of her. Once she linked, her yes regained their trademarked defiant flame as she flew right up to Raiden's face. "Hey!" she exclaimed angrily, "You did it! you're the reason I was in the hospital in the hospital in the first place, aren't you?!"

Raiden's rings sparked as he met her challenging gaze with an unmoving expression. "I may have had something to do with it, yes," he admitted. "Problem?"

Rainbow Dash's eyes flared with anger, practically firing heat vision. "You'd better believe I have a problem! I oughta throttle you, mister!"

Raiden decided to humor her for just a little while longer. "You think you can, lady?"

Rainbow Dash gave an angry snort, steam forming from her nostrils. "Lady!? Oh that is so it! You're gonna-"

A purple flash appeared between the two, revealing itself to be Twilight, holding her fore-hooves towards the both of them on either side of her. "That's enough, you two!" she declared in a stern tone, "There are more pressing matters to deal with! Why don't you two just shake on it, and we can get to the matter at hoof!'

Raiden and Rainbow Dash continued to stare each other down for several seconds. Finally, Raiden let go a sigh and extended his hand. "Sorry," he said, "let's just get these formalities out of the way. Raiden the Hedgehog. A pleasure." That last part was a lie.

Rainbow Dash looked down at Raiden's hand, glaring at it for a moment before letting go of her own sigh. She raised her hoof and placed it in the hedgehog's hand. "Rainbow Dash. Ni-" she stopped herself from saying 'Nice to meet you.' "...Interesting to see you here."

Raiden raised an eyebrow. He looked around, finally taking time to assess his situation. "...Yes, I would agree with you," he admitted.

The comment confused Rainbow Dash, but it was left to hang in the air as Twilight spoke, "Good, we've all reached a temporary agreement. Now," she then turned her head towards Rainbow Dash, "Rainbow, there are some things you need to know."

Ponyville Station was completely silent.

There was nothing special about Ponyville Station. After all, it's just like any other old train station in Equestria. Hell, it would look normal even for someone from outside of Equestria. But - also like any other train station - for it to be completely silent was indeed an oddity. Usually, there would be at least a few ponies conversing in one way or another. Everypony always seemed to have somewhere to go. So what happened to a these ponies?

Well, actually, all the ponies were still at the station. If one were to walk into Ponyville Station, they would see several ponies all over the place...or, rather, pony like figures. They did indeed seem like ponies, but something about them was different, making them not quite ponies.

Namely, they were robots.

Everypony seemed to have a distinctly mechanical appearance. There eyes all had a screen-like appearance, with a pixel-like 'iris' in the center. Each leg had a titanium armored plating above and below the area of the knee, each robot-pony having a different color. Each ponies torso had the same color and material plating as on their legs. Their muzzles also had similar plating, but instead of a mouth, each robot-pony had a vent-shaped piece used to released any kind of sound. On their flank, where a cutie-mark would usually be, was the black shape of a rather rectangular head with white spots for eyes in the center of a red circle. The only natural looking part of the robots was the mane and tail.

In the area that can be considered the center of Ponyville Station was the cause of all these robot ponies: the same brown-hooded man. If this man had a smile that could be defined as 'goofy,' he would have it on his face. The man felt giddy, elated that his experiment had worked. In his right hand he held a circular object with a red outline and a blue gem in the center; the same device that was on each robot-pony's chest. Perhaps it's easy to figure out what happened here: these devices were created by this hooded man, and they created these robot-ponies.

The hooded man's smile was now sinister. The process was one of his most brilliant creations. This was the process of turning a living being into a robot minion.

This was the process known as roboticization.

There was one pony that the hooded man had let go. The pony knew about this. Word would get out, and even faster when the hooded man roboticized more ponies. As it turns out, the Equines of this world had DNA that allowed them to become easily roboticized. Either way, word would get out, but by then, it would be too late.

The land of Equestria would soon bow to him.

The hooded man gave one of those sinister laughs he was so fond of.

"Wait, wait, wait," said a confused Rainbow Dash, shaking her hooves in front of her, "So are you expecting me to just buy that?!" she asked in disbelief.

This reaction is pretty much what Raiden expected. While he was bit irritated that Rainbow Dash didn't believe him, he was also somewhat relieved that someone had the good sense to realize that his story was a bit less than normal. Still, he was going to be blunt, deadpan and honest on this one. So he said "Yes, yes I am, actually."

Rainbow Dash put on an annoyed expression. "You must think I'm dumber than you look if you think I'm believing that for even a second."

Raiden rose a hand in defense, "No, no, not at all." That he put on a smug expression, saying "I think that you'll believe that for much longer than a second because you're exactly as dumb as you look."

A tick mark appeared on Rainbow Dash's forehead and her face became fuming red. "Listen here, you, are you looking for a beat down? Because if you-"

She was going to continue but an undefinable flash entered Raiden's eyes, causing her to stumble back and put a hoof over her head. All her friends flinched and looked at her in concern. "Are you okay, Rainbow Dash?" asked Twilight, putting a hoof over her shoulder.

Rainbow Dash shrugged her hoof off. "I'm fine," she claimed.

"Those headaches should be fairly common," explained Raiden, drawing attention back to him. "They should pass at some point." Rainbow Dash glared at the hedgehog who responded in kind. "But we're not looking for a fight, now are we?"

The two continued to glare at each other, both just as stubborn as each other until Rainbow Dash looked away and gave an annoyed 'tsk' noise. "Whatever," she said stubbornly, "this doesn't mean I believe you any more than I did."

Raiden shook his head, "I thought as much." He got down to eye-level with Rainbow Dash, making a vow, "so I'll prove it to you."

"And how do you plan to do that?" Rainbow Dash challenged.

Raiden stood back up and looked around at the other ponies. None of them challenged him, though they all seemed to look more doubtful now. All of them except Twilight, at least. "Well at least someone's on my side...sort of. "Watch," he stated, and reached somewhere behind him, pulling out a Chaos Emerald. Rainbow Dash put on a confused expression, while the others had a mixture of confusion and slight fear. Raiden raised the Emerald high into the air. "Chaos..."

Twilight suddenly got very worried, "Raiden maybe you shouldn't-"

"Control!" shouted Raiden. A ray of light surrounded Raiden and the six ponies, and in an instant, the all disappeared.

Just as they disappeared, however, the dragon known as Spike arrived at where the group once was. He was breathing heavily, and he looked absolutely horrified. He held a scroll in his left claw that appeared to have been previously unrolled. Spike clenched his teeth and fists in frustration. "Dang, I was too late!" He began punching his forehead. "Stupid, stupid Spike! That's what you get for thinking you can take a nap after your chores! Twilight always leaves without you, idiot!"

It went on like this for half a minute before Spike decided to stop punishing himself. He fell down on his rump and released a worried sigh. He unrolled the scroll again and reviewed it's contents.

"Just make it back soon, guys," he said to himself, "this is seriously messed up."

In a sudden flash of light, the group appeared to be in an open area of a dark forest. All the ponies had to steady themselves, feeling dizzy after the transportation. Except for Pinkie Pie, of course.

"Woo-hoo!" she shoted, completely eccentric. "That was so fun! Let's do it again!"

Rarity regained her footing and put a white hoof over Pinkie's shoulder. "I'd prefer if we didn't, dear," she said in a woozy voice, and the other ponies groaned nodded their agreement.

"It'll pass," informed Raiden, "everyone feels a little woozy their first time teleporting."

Twilight suddenly looked confused, and voiced her feeling, "But I teleport all the time."

Raiden shrugged and looked at his Emerald, "Must be because it's a different kind of teleportation," he reasoned, "Magic and Chaos are energies that seem to be at odds with each other." Twilight seemed to lose all signs of dizziness and looked genuinely fascinated. She made a mental note to look into that later.

"Ah beg yer pardon, Raiden, but where are we exactly?" asked Applejack, just now looking around.

Pinkie Pie glanced over to Applejack, "You don't know?" she asked, sounding confused. Then she pointed a hoof towards a particularly large tree. What made this tree stand out was that a shaman-like mask hung just above a door in the tree, with several potions hanging over the large branches by what must have been very strong string. two large holes were cut on the side of the trees, resembling windows. "Because I'm pretty sure that's Zecora's hut," Pinkie confirmed.

The group all turned their heads towards the tree. The hut didn't look familiar to Raiden. Who's this 'Zecora?'" he asked, turning to Twilight.

She was still looking at the hut when she answered "She's a friend of ours. She's a zebra." She decided to look at Raiden before continuing "She's also an expert doctor and shaman. We go to her often when we have some kind of medical emergency." She looked back to the hut in confusion. "But what are we doing here?"

Raiden shrugged, "I just tracked the Chaos Emerald's energy here and teleported to it's area."

Rainbow Dash swooped next to Raiden and asked "So now what? How are we supposed to find this thing, huh?"

"Easy," replied Raiden, pulling out his Emerald once again, "these Emeralds are drawn to one another. As long as we have at least one, finding another shouldn't be too challenging." Raiden raised the Emerald in front of him. "If I had to guess..." He held the Emerald in the direction of Zecora's hut. The Emerald began to glow, confirming Raiden's suspicion. "The other Emerald is inside the hut."

Twilight gave Raiden a skeptical glance. "Wouldn't that mean that Zecora has it? Why her, of all ponies?"

"It could happen to anyone," Raiden reasoned, walking towards the hut, "Remember, Scootaloo had the last one, and she's just a kid."

"Wait, what!?" Rainbow Dash flew in front of Raiden, stopping him just as he got in front of the hut's door, "What exactly happened to Scootaloo? What did you do!?" She sounded angry, but there was a touch of worry in her voice.

"Hopefully not the same thing that happens to this 'Zecora' friend of yours," answered Raiden, not missing a beat. Before Rainbow Dash could press for further details, Raiden pushed her to the side.

"HEY!" Rainbow Dash shouted in utter rage, causing Raiden's rings to spark, "I want answers! What-!"

"Rainbow Dash!" The cyan pegasus turned around to see Twilight giving a worried yet bashful look. "Not now. Calm down." Rainbow Dash wanted to retort, wanted to shout, but for her friend's sake, she didn't. She gave a defeated sigh but still kept a glare in her eyes. Twilight look at her friend in relief

Raiden stood in front of the door to Zecora's hut. "Best to make sure if anyone's home," he thought, and he cautiously knocked on the door. There was no answer. "Fair to assume that no one's home." Wasting no more time, he reached for the doorknob...

...only for the door to blow up in his face.

Raiden, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash, who were closest to the door, were sent flying back, earning a collective shriek of fright from the other ponies. Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and hovered in midair, Raiden placed his hands on the ground before pushing himself off and flipping back on his feet, and Twilight landed on her hooves, but stumbled and lost her footing(hooving?). Pinkie Pie caught her before she could hit the ground.

"What the hay was that?!" Applejack shouted in confusion and panic.

"Does the door not like us?" Pinkie Pie asked, but it sounded like a genuine question. Raiden looked at her dumbfounded.

"Is she serious?" he had to ask in his head.

Pinkie Pie than shouted in mild frustration "What did we ever do to you, door?! Did we slam you too hard once? If so, we're sorry!"

Raiden blinked. "...My God, she's serious." Raiden didn't know how to react. "She's going to be hard to deal with."

Raiden snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a heavy thump. Everyone's head's snapped in the direction of the hut. The sound was made again. Raiden crouched in a defensive stance. The other ponies did the same, though Rarity was a bit more shaky, and Fluttershy instead chose to hide behind Rainbow Dash, who gave a fierce glare towards the hut. Twilight's horn began to glow, along with Rarity's to a lesser extent, Pinkie Pie pulled a large pink cannon seemingly out of nowhere, and Applejack had equipped her rope from her saddle.

They heard the noise again.

And again.

And again.

Until finally a figure appeared from within the hut, and the ponies gave a collective gasp, while Raiden's glare became like sharp, cold steel.

Before the group was a four-legged mechanical being, it's eyes not unlike a screen with it's glowing red pixel iris. The figures titanium plating on the torso and above and below the knee was of a light gray color, though the legs each had three dark gray horizontal stripes, with the left foreleg having five gold rings latched on to it. On it's back plating the stripes began at a large black area before being pointed downward. It's tail was tied in a knot before flowing downward, and it's mane was in the form of a distracting striped Mohawk. On it's neck were five more golden rings, and on it's plated ears were two golden earrings. In place of a mouth was a metal vent on it's muzzle. But the think that set Raiden off was what was on the titanium plate that could be considered her flank. On it was a symbol he was very familiar with.

The silhouette of the head of the man he hated the most.

"Armstrong..."

"ZECORA!?!?" shouted the ponies in confused terror.

The metal being continued to stand there as it made a noise in a robotic voice "Identity: Zecora: Not Found." It's eyes seemed to flash as it stared at Raiden. "Target Located. Terminating Now!"

Despite the situation, Raiden couldn't help but blink. "Hey, that rhymed. Sort of. Maybe...well, almost." Raiden shook his head and glanced at Twilight. "So, this your friend?"

For a moment, Twilight couldn't answer. She looked positively terrified. She didn't even know the answer. Was this really her friend? Was this Zecora? It couldn't be. Zecora was a zebra, not a robot; not this...thing. This...this was terrible! When she finally could answer, her voice was shaky and slow "No. Well, I-I mean, Zecora, she-she's not...She's suppose to-"

"No," Raiden answered for her, causing her to snap her head towards him in shock, "it isn't." He glared back at the robot that was once Zecora. "Not anymore."

As if fate chose to disagree with Raiden, Zecora's eyes became blue for a moment, and for eyes on a screen, they looked genuinely sad, causing the ponies to double take in terror. And to even Raiden's shock, a strained voice came from the vent on it's muzzle, saying "My little ponies...you must...run..." but almost immediately, the eyes turned red once again. A compartment on Zecora's back opened, revealing a small Gatling gun pointing at Raiden. The robotic voice spoke once more. "Terminate Hedgehog: Priority One!"

Raiden's eyes widened when the gun started to spin, prompting him to shout "GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

On instinct, Raiden jumped out of the way, while the ponies all shrieked and ran out of range of the dangerous weapon. Rainbow Dash flew high into the air with Fluttershy cowering after her, while Rarity and Pinkie Pie chose to hide behind two different trees, leaving Twilight to put up a magical barrier in front of herself and Applejack, stopping any lead projectiles that meet it's front. Despite this, Zecora's only intended target was Raiden, only shooting in any direction he was weaving away from.

Eventually, Raiden had enough of the game he was playing and chose to ran towards the robot. The spectating ponies didn't know what to be more shocked at: the fact that he even began to think of running straight towards such a weapon, or the fact that he seemed to make it in front of the robot before anyone could even begin to blink. Once in front of Zecora, he drove his fist into the robot's titanium plated would-be jaw, leaving a small but visible dent in that area and sending Zecora sliding back a few feet, leaving two parallel dirt trails in the ground.

Zecora didn't even begin to deter, as her cybernetic body turned while her Gatling gun fired, the path of bullets making it's way towards Raiden. For a second, Raiden ran away from the bullets, but they just kept following him. Raiden jumped over the line of bullets, and ducked as he landed. Crouching low, he curled into a ball and began to spin much to the confusion of the ponies. Before long, he launched his ball form towards Zecora, zooming his way past all the bullets being fired at him. When in front of her, he jumped in the air in his ball form and brought her with him, essentially drilling Zecora into the air. At the peak of his jump, Raiden exited his ball form and kicked off of Zecora's chest higher into the air. When right above her, Raiden delivered a bone-crushing axe kick to her head, sending her rocketing towards the ground.

Raiden landed on his feet in front of the massive dust cloud that had formed. He very cautiously looked at the dust cloud, waiting for any signs of movement and ignoring the baffled onlookers surrounding him. He stood as he was for a few more seconds, but nothing happened. He began to slowly and carefully walk towards the dust cloud...

But as he got close, from the dust cloud emerged Zecora's mechanical body, only difference was that time seemed to slow down as something familiar to Raiden were attached to her hooves. Quite literally latched onto her hooves were two katanas, both surrounded by electricity, as if it were being created from the katanas themselves. But the familiar part was that the very sharp blades were both a bright red, and on Zecora's sides were two open compartments, both containing scabbards for the blades that had triggers like guns. Yes, Raiden knew these blades.

High-Frequency Muramasa Blades.

"Those are my blades!" shouted Raiden mentally. Raiden was snapped back to reality when Zecora pulled her right metal foreleg back, ready to swing her sword. Raiden wasn't prepared for the swords and didn't have time to react. But before Zecora's attack could connect a rainbow blur smashed into Zecora's right side, sending her crashing into a tree in her path. Raiden's eyes widened as he looked at the spot where Zecora once was, in her place a smirking Rainbow Dash, crossing one foreleg and backleg over the other. Raiden stood up straight. "She's fast. She might even match my speed." Raiden's demeanor didn't change, saying "You sure took your sweet time."

Rainbow Dash gave an annoyed yet cocky glance towards Raiden. "You didn't expect me to watch and let you die, did you?"

Raiden matched her smirk, "I had my suspicions," he replied. It wasn't a joke.

Rainbow Dash, however, seemed genuinely offended by the comment. She got in front of Raiden's face. "Listen you, I never leave anyone hanging, even in I don't-"

"New Threat Detected: Pegasus Pony." The sound of Zecora's robotic voice snapped the heads of the red hedgehog and cyan Pegasus towards the sound. The metal zebra had already gotten up from it's damage, now standing on it's hind-legs, it's forelegs held out holding the blades in a reverse grip. From her back opened a compartment that revealed two rocket devices on each of it's sides. "Flight Systems: Activated. Terminate Accordingly."

Intense streams of fire exploded from the bottoms of the jets, causing Raiden and Rainbow Dash to crouch in defensive stances. The fire from the jets bursted once more before Zecora rushed through the air towards the pair, the rockets speeding her in her desired direction.

However, when Zecora came close to the pair, Twilight appeared in front of her in a purple flash, causing even Zecora to flinch. Twilight surrounded Zecora in an aura of purple energy, stopping her in midair. Twilight flung her to the left, where Applejack could be seen. As Zecora flew past Applejack, the orange Earth-Pony threw a lasso around her mechanical neck. When the rope became taught, Zecora stopped flying, and before she could react, Applejack flung her by the rope back towards Raiden.

In a moment of foresight, Rainbow Dash flew up into the air, while Raiden crouched low to the ground. When Zecora got close, Raiden delivered a bone-shattering back-flip kick to Zecora's jaw, sending her flying through the air. Above her, Rainbow Dash was prepared and flew downwards with her fore-hooves outstretched to crash into her. However, Zecora was prepared this time. She activated her back rockets, and flew out of the way of Rainbow Dash's attack. Rainbow Dash flew past her before righting herself in midair. She looked up only to have her face meet Zecora's metal hoof, sending her crashing through the roof of Zecora's hut.

Zecora was ready to follow up, as she pointed her forelegs towards the spot where Rainbow Dash crashed. Compartments on her hooves seemed to open up, releasing two small Gatling guns. The guns started to rotate, but before they could fire, Fluttershy crashed into Zecora in a yellow blur. The metal zebra could do nothing as Fluttershy actually broke her right foreleg, following with a knee to the gut that left a dent, and finally grabbing her by the leg, spinning her around several times, and throwing her at rocketing speeds to the ground. Fluttershy then flew to Zecora's hut to help Rainbow Dash in any way.

Meanwhile, despite the beating received, Zecora righted herself in midair and landed on her hooves, the supposedly broken leg seeming not to affect her at all. Raiden gritted his teeth in frustration, Applejack and Twilight panting heavily beside him. "Darn toot'n," heaved Applejack, "how tough is she?"

"We need to stop fooling around," advised Raiden, "You've all been hesitating. We need to destroy her as fast as possible!"

Twilight snapped her head towards Raiden with a look of surprise, and maybe a hint of disgust. "Destroy her!?" she shouted, "Why would you even say that!? That's still our friend in there!"

Raiden turned his head towards her, "Not anymore. She's a robot and her mind is useless. We'd be doing her a favor by destroying her."

"A favor!?" Twilight exclaimed in frustration. She straitened herself in a firm stance. "A FAVOR!?!? How can you say that!? How could you expect us to destroy our friend without hesitation!? Is it that simple for you!?" Tears now stained her eyes, crawling down her enraged face. "Would you do it if it was somepony you cared for was like this!? WOULD YOU!?"

Raiden continued to stare at her, not visibly phased by her outburst, and not noticing that similar tears threatened to fall from Applejack's eyes, before looking back at Zecora, still unmoving. "Never stopped me," he stated quietly. Twilight blinked at, forgetting her state of rage, and stared at Raiden in wonder. For the first time since she saw him, Raiden had genuine sadness in his eyes.

"Raiden?" Twilight questioned cautiously. Applejack looked just as confused.

Before they could think in the subject any further, Zecora charged at the the three, spinning her blades into a reverse grip. Twilight put a shield in front of the group and Applejack got in front of Raiden. Zecora crashed into the shield and she staggered, but her head created a sizable crack in the defense. Twilight then lowered the shield, and while Zecora was open, Applejack turned around, reared back her hooves, and bucked her chest with enough force to send her sprawling on the ground.

Zecora attempted to stand up, but before she could fully gain her footing, her metal face was met with the left fore-hoof of Rarity. Zecora shook her head and slashed at Rarity, but Rarity ducked under the slash. Zecora attempted to follow up with an above slash with her other sword, only for Rarity to sidestep, now standing on her hind-legs. Rarity gripped Zecora's still outstretched foreleg and flipped Zecora over her shoulder. Rarity attempted to stomp Zecora, but Zecora twisted her body enough to sweep her leg under Rarity, causing her to fall to the ground. Zecora jumped to her feet and got ready to stab the grounded Rarity, but she soon had a pie blasted in her face. Rarity was surprised, but smiled when she looked up to see Pinkie Pie waving at her with her Party Canon aiming at Zecora.

"Optical Receptors: Compromised!" Zecora announced, "Targets: Unable To Identify!

"Before Zecora could do anything about it, Raiden rushed up to her and kicked her in the side, sending her flying into a nearby tree. Raiden held out his hand to Rarity, which she took, albeit not very gladly, and was supported up. Raiden looked at Rarity rather impressed. "To think, out of anyone on this world, you and Fluttershy can fight."

Rarity brushed some dirt off her shoulder and corrected the position of her mane, saying "Self defense class, dear Raiden. You never know when a lady could need to fight. As for Fluttershy...I've heard that comes with the territory of massaging a bear."

At that moment, many unsettling images of what massaging a bear must be like past through Raiden's head.

Raiden couldn't dwell on it, however, as Zecora dashed towards Rarity, delivering a hoof to her gut and roundhouse kicking her in the face, sending her soaring past Raiden and crashing her into the dirt. Raiden glared at her and tried to punch her, only for Zecora to dodge to the left and stomp on Raiden's hand, keeping him on the ground.Zecora then slammed her other hoof into Raiden's face, raising her right hoof off of his hand, and sent him sprawling in the dirt.

Zecora felt a large cake hit her in the back. She turned around to see Pinkie Pie aiming her Party Cannon at her. The Cannon then shot a punch bowl, which Zecora easily slashed in half. She opened the compartment in her left fore-hoof and revealed her Gatling gun before firing it at Pinkie Pie. In a panic, Pinkie jumped out of the way, but her Party Cannon was not spared from being covered in holes, annihilating it. Pinkie looked upset from that. "Aww. Now I need a new cannon," she said depressed.

Zecora aimed her gun at Pinkie, but before she could fire, Applejack wrapped her lasso around her leg and pulled it away from Zecora's target. Applejack charged at Zecora, but before she could even get close Zecora shot her left foreleg, eliciting a scream of pain and terror from her and causing her to fall to the ground.

"APPLEJACK!" shouted Twilight in horror. In a rage, she charged her horn with a powerful magic blast. Before she could fire however, Zecora grasped a rock and threw it at Twilight's horn. The rock hit it's mark and interrupted Twilight's spell, giving Zecora the opening the shoot at her and graze her side. Twilight shrieked in pain and fell to the ground, clutching her wound. Zecora aimed the gun at her head and prepared to finish her. Twilight closed her eyes and awaited her end at the hand's of her own friend.

But before Zecora could shoot, Raiden ran up to her and punched her in the face. the force of the punch caused Zecora's body to turn, but she swung it back around and tried to hit Raiden. Raiden caught Zecora's hoof and kicked her across the face. He took the opening and dashed to Zecora's side, grabbing one of the scabbards, and then grasped Zecora's left foreleg, taking the first blade from her hoof. Zecora spun around and slashed at Raiden with her other blade, only for him to block the attack and fiercely swing upward, sending the blade flying from her grasp. Raiden kicked Zecora's leg out from under her, causing her to begin to fall to the ground. Finally, before she could hit the dirt, Raiden swung his blade upward, aiming for her neck.

Before the blade could hit, however, time seemed to stop for both Raiden and Zecora. They looked at each other eye to eye, and Raiden saw that her screened eyes had become blue once more. Somehow, through the screen, Raiden could see sorrow behind her eyes. The two had a mental exchange in their time stopped world. "Thank you for destroying what I came to be," Zecora said gratefully, before her tone became serious, "Now stop the madman that did this to me!"

Raiden mentally nodded and said to her "Yes. That's a promise."

With that, both fighters snapped back to reality, and in that exact moment, Raiden's sword moved upward and decapitated Zecora's metal head.

The former battlefield was completely silent. You could hear a pin drop on the grass, the only sound being a small breeze. The spectating ponies all seemed to stop breathing. Even Rainbow Dash, having just stood up, saw the whole thing, barely standing up and being supported by Fluttershy, though she herself looked like she was about to faint. Everypony else seemed to be unable to keep their eyes off of the scene, except for Applejack, who, after bearing witness to her friend's decapitation, fell unconscious from the pain and shock.

Finally, after what seemed like a frozen eternity, Metal Zecora's head hit the ground, before her screen-like eyes blink out, confirming that she was.

It seemed that the only sound able to be heard were the screams of the horror stricken ponies.

"ZECORAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!"

Author's Note

Oh Celestia, I'm gonna get so much crap for that. Though to be honest, I'm proud of how the fight scene turned out. See you next chapter(whenever that might be).

Chapter 10: Our Enemy.

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."