A Tale of Many Worlds

"Three... Two... One..." Bill said, before going silent, which was noticed by Bowser, Vexus, and Wilfre who had begun to play cards. "PARTY TIME! Launch R-57! Send it to attack Ponyville!" Bill shouted.

"I was winning though..." Wilfre groaned, but he got up from the table and slammed one of his hands onto a large button, activating R-57. R-57 quickly began to take flight, crashing through the metal ceiling, while letting out a loud and angry roar.

Sonic stood at the center of Ponyville, watching the last of the civilians move towards the trains and ships, hoping to find some point of refuge until Ponyville would be safe from this R-57. He let out a sigh as Dipper and Mabel approached.

"Sonic! Where do you want us?" Dipper asked.

"Yeah! We're ready to kick some robot butt!" Mabel yelled, she held a grappling hook in her hand.

"I want you two and your Grunkle on one of those trains or boats." Sonic replied, which confused the twins.

"What do you...?" Dipper began, but Sonic cut him off.

"I mean that you two aren't fighting. You're getting on a boat to Station Square, or you're getting on a train to Canterlot, where you'll wait for R-57 to be destroyed, or where you'll see Ponyville reduced to a crater in the earth." Sonic replied, his voice had a certain harshness that the twins had never heard before.

"Sonic are you feeling okay?" Dipper asked, grabbing the hedgehog's wrist. Sonic quickly pulled it away at the sound of Stan calling for them.

"There's Stan. You two are leaving. End of story. Not up for debate." Sonic said, and Dipper thought he heard sadness mixed with the harsh tone, almost as if he didn't want to do this.

"Sonic? Are you sure that everything is fine?" Mabel asked, and Sonic started to nod slowly, but then stopped.

"No. I'm scared... Scared that I won't be able to win this fight. Scared that I'll fail... Scared about what will happen... Scared for my wife... For my children... For you two..." Sonic said, wiping tears away from his face. "You two... You two are..." Sonic began, but stopped almost as if he didn't know how to word his next sentence. "As far as I'm concerned... You two are family." Sonic knelt down and pulled the two into a hug. "Just promise me... Promise me you wouldn't do anything I wouldn't do." Sonic said, giving the twins a soft smile. They nodded, and felt Stan's hands grab their shoulders. Sonic waved as they left, as they boarded a ship to Station Square, as they saw R-57 land in the center of town.

At the very sight of R-57, Dipper let out a loud gasp, which got Mabel's attention. "What is it?" She asked, and Dipper quickly bolted off the ship, back onto the dock, which shocked Mabel. She quickly took off after her brother, and they both turned to see Stan calling their names, for the ship had begun to depart. "Dipper! Look what you did! We're trapped in the middle of a war zone!" Mabel shouted.

"Well, I didn't tell you to follow me!" Dipper yelled back, unaware of the approaching Space Pirates. They glared at the twins and rushed forward, with their energy scythes ready to slice through their flesh. However they were quickly knocked over by Sonic who glared at the twins with twice the anger of the Space Pirates.

"What are you two doing here!? I had you sent off so you wouldn't get killed! This is a war!" Sonic shouted, only pausing to kick a Space Pirate in the jaw. "Didn't I tell you not to do anything I wouldn't do!?" Sonic asked, and the twins quickly screamed. Before Sonic could question them, a large clawed metal hand smacked him to the side.

"You have no hope. I am this world's ultimate weapon! Nothing can compare to me!" R-57 shouted, and Dipper felt the journal vibrate. He quickly opened it as R-57 began to back them into a wall.

R-57 was once the Space Pirate leader known as Ridley, but through the slick and tempting words of Bill Cipher this creature was quickly altered and made into a large robot, having nearly all organic parts replaced with metal counterparts, and had several weapons added onto its back. This monstrosity is currently attempting to destroy Ponyville and all of Equestria. For more information on Ridley see Pg. 307

"Oh great, no weaknesses mentioned!" Dipper shouted, and looked up to see a large pair of claws heading right for his head, however he managed to duck in time and avoid the attack. Mabel had also avoided the attack and the twins then began to run.

"Dipper, why did you run off the ship?" Mabel asked, narrowly avoiding a large blast from one of R-57's cannons. She felt the heat from the attack shoot past her face, before it exploded onto the side of a building, sending bits of wood and stone raining down on them.

"Do you remember the night I was stuck in that dream loop?" Dipper asked, and Mabel nodded. "Well, I saw that... That... Thing in my dream! It had... Killed Sonic... Slashed him in half with its claws! I just couldn't let that happen!" Dipper yelled, while R-57's footsteps could be heard getting closer and closer. Dipper and Mabel turned corners, doubled back, and used every trick in the book, but were unable to lose the large metal dragon on their tail, and it seemed that their luck eventually ran out, for they found themselves in a dead end. The twins turned to face the now slowly approaching monstrosity as it chuckled in its deep, robotic voice. Dipper opened the Journal and quickly began to flip through its pages, hoping to find something, anything that would help them, and he came across and interesting entry.

The Eclip... The Journal was knocked out of his grasp by R-57, who now stood nose to nose with the twins.

"I hope you've enjoyed the nine years of your pathetic little lives, for you will never see another sun!" R-57 yelled, lifting one massive clawed hand into the air.

"For the record we aren't nine..." Dipper began, before grabbing Mabel's hand and quickly shooting the grappling hook past the R-57. "We're twelve!" Dipper yelled, quickly getting pulled along the wire with Mabel in tow, they both laughed in relief and satisfaction. Satisfaction that they got away from the robotic dragon that for the past ten minutes had been chasing them. Their humor was short lived when R-57 took off into the sky after them.

"How did we forget he could fly?!" Mabel asked, before looking at Dipper. "This might hurt!" Mabel shouted, before biting down onto the thin wire that pulled the twins upward, severing it. The descent was quick, with both of them letting out loud horrified screams as they both plummeted towards the earth. Before they hit the ground, something grabbed both of them, and their fall was cushioned by Sonic.

"Geez you two are a lot heavier than you look..." Sonic groaned, forcing himself to sit up.

"Sonic!" The twins shouted, quickly hugging the hedgehog. Sonic held the Journal out for Dipper who quickly took it and began to flip through the pages until he found the entry that he had begun to read.

The Eclipse Cannon is a massive weapon capable of piercing stars. It was originally created by Prof. Gerald Robotnik. One of Dr. Eggman's ancestors. The Eclipse Cannon had been used by Shadow the hedgehog, Dr. Eggman, and Rouge the Bat to intimidate Earth into surrendering to their demands, but it was later used to destroy the Black Comet, home of the evil alien race known as the Black Arms. See Pg 103 for Shadow. See pg 104 for Rouge. See Pg 105 for Eggman. See Pg 106 for Prof. Gerald. See Pg 107 for the Black Arms.

"Sonic, would this thing be of any help?" Dipper asked, showing the entry on the Eclipse Cannon to the blue hedgehog.

"The Eclipse Cannon? Not at this range it wouldn't... If R-57 was closer to it, then maybe..." Sonic said.

"Why wouldn't it be useful now?" Mabel asked.

"Well considering it would probably destroy all of Ponyville, and us, the aftershock would destroy any cities in at least five thousand miles." Sonic replied. He began to think and nodded.

"That may actually work... Listen, you two gotta get to me and Fluttershy's house, there's a communicater there. Speak with Shadow and tell him to track R-57, and I'll let him know when to fire the Eclipse Cannon. If we can get R-57 high enough into space, then he may be weak to the Eclipse Cannon without destroying everything!" Sonic said, and the twins nodded in understanding. The three were about to break off, when Mabel grabbed Sonic's hand and looked him in the eyes.

"Be careful. Don't do anything we wouldn't do." She said. Sonic nodded with a smile and ran off, to distract R-57 while the twins hopefully were able to get a hold of Shadow. For the fate of the world was lying on their shoulders.