Phoenix Equestria

Chapters

Chapter two: Back in action
Chapter three: Flames of a Displacer
Chapter four: Night watch
Chapter six: Insanity always wins
Chapter seven: Decisions, decisions
Chapter eight: Let the battle begin
Chapter nine: A thing of the past
Chapter ten: Meanings in the song
Chapter eleven: Chilling with a crimelord
Chapter twelve: A step too far
Chapter thirteen: Battle of giants and meeting the twins
Chapter fourteen: Homebound
Chapter fifteen: A new mission
Chapter sixteen: Smooth sailing
Chapter seventeen: Old friends
Chapter eighteen: Fun and Gun
Chapter twenty: Reunion
Chapter twenty one: The future is bleak
Chapter twenty two: Home again
Chapter twenty three: Preparations
Chapter twenty four: The question
Chapter twenty five: Delivery
Chapter twenty six: Plague, Amnesia and Epidemic
Chapter twenty seven: Phoenix Family vs Epidemic
Chapter twenty eight: Reality Star
Chapter twenty nine: The fight continues
Chapter thirty: Legendary Lyric
Special chapter: Easter
Chapter thirty one: Rage defeated
Chapter thirty two: Dealing with Thane
Chapter thirty three: Sapphire's manipulation
Chapter thirty four: Metal vs Nightmares
Chapter thirty five: Lyric takes charge
Chapter thirty six: Zanes decision
Chapter thirty seven: Mutual anger
Chapter thirty eight: Wonderous devastation
Chapter thirty nine: Zane and Luna
Chapter forty: Meltdown
Chapter forty one: The hunt
Chapter forty two: Connecting
Chapter forty three: The second bomb
Chapter forty four: Electricity
Chapter forty five: Living life without worry
Chapter one: Put on your war paint
Chapter five: Not really a big deal
Chapter nineteen: Ruby and Metal

Chapter two: Back in action

Over the years Twilight visited Nathan in the caves many times, she would talk about stuff like what new spells she learned or how her studies were going and he'd tell her of missions that he and the squad went on in the past, although whenever he talked about the squad he seemed to get a bit depressed. When she asked him about it he told her that a few things happened between him and his friends.

"Do you know they way I know about your future?" She nodded. "Lets just say I had to let a few bad things happen for the sake of the future."

"What kind of things?"

"I can't say, some things are better left forgotten...for now at least." He walked over to a curtain and pulled it away, revealing a large emblem with the letter 'M' written in a circle of fire. "Twilight, if you ever see this emblem on a monster or building that is inhabited, you let me know."

"Wh-"

"Don't ask questions, just promise me that you'll come get me if you see this emblem."

She looked at her giant friend and nodded. He sighed in relief and sat back down beside her. "Can I ask you something that's been bothering me for awhile now?"

"Sure."

"How come you're so big, even the other Rangers were taller than the princess, you're as tall as a young adult dragon." He looked at her with his huge eye before standing up and pointed to his waist.

"There is a device on my waist called a Size-O-Matic, it allows me to change from my original size to giant."

"Then why stay giant?"

He sighed and placed his hand on the floor for her to walk onto. He lifted her to eye level and she sat down. "I stay this size to feel strong, like I can do something. There's a lot of personal reasons behind it, the other rangers don't even know about it since I always stayed the same size around them." She placed a hoof on his giant eye and looked at him with caring eyes. "You should go, you've got more studying to do for that test in a few days." She nodded and hugged his eye, the jumped down from his hand and walked out the door.

He sighed and rested his back against the wall. "how the hell am I gonna explain the Maniacs to her?"

11 years later

After sending the now Alicorn Twilight off with their alicorn magic, the three princesses sighed in relief. Celestia looked to Cadence and them to Luna who was looking at her sister with a worried expression. "What's wrong Luna?"

"I was just thinking, maybe...just as a precaution...we should activate Phoenix Squad."

Celestia took a minute to think about it, she had no doubt her student would prevail in her task, but she had to be careful when the fate of the world was a stake. "Alright, we will activate the rangers." Luna nodded and the three alicorns shakily proceeded to the old hallways.

"Should we use Nathan or the squad?"

"The squad, Nathan would probably try to stop them from destroying Tirek. I don't want to have another feud on my hooves like years ago." Luna nodded and opened the large stone doors. They walked over to capsules and pressed large buttons on the bottom of each pod. Steam escaped from the pods as the three royals stepped back.

A black metal hand moved the glass door out of the way and Thane stepped out, his black body blending into the darkness, the only visible part of his body was his large Crimson eye. The next ranger stepped out of his pod, he was noticeably smaller and his blue metal could be seen through the darkness. The next two rangers stepped out at the same time, one had a slimmer figure with yellow metal and the other was a rather blocky looking ranger with purple armour. The yellow one had a much longer arm cannon and the blue one had a smaller cannon and the black one had two hands with no cannon.

The robots looked to each other then to the princesses and noticed that they looked pale. Thane ran over to Celestia and began looking her over as the others did the same with the two other mares. "What happened to you?"

"Tirek, has returned. We expelled our magic into my student in hopes of hiding it from him."

"Why didn't you just awake us up first, we could have taken him on."

"No, that wouldn't have worked. There are certain things that have to happen, you know this."

"That's exactly what Nathan said when Nightmare Moon was banished."

Celestia nodded and turned to the others. "Here are your orders, you are to assist my student Twilight Sparkle in ponyville, but you are only to engage Tirek if all else fails." They saluted and made their way out of the room. Thane picked up the tired Celestia while Zane and Katie carried Cadence and Luna.

Meanwhile, Nathan's eye lit up and his programming told him the other rangers were awake. "Tirek..."

After an intense battle Tirek and Twilight stared each other down. "It appears we are at an impass." He clicked his fingers "How about a trade, your friends, for all the alicorn Magic in Equestria." Twilights friends kept telling Twilight not to do it, but she let her emotions get the better of her.

she agreed to his demands and Tirek let her friends go. After a heartwarming scene with Discord they figured out that the necklace was the last key, but before they could run to the tree of harmony a force field surrounded them, trapping them inside. They turned to see Tirek twice the size he was when he fought Twilight. "You didn't think I'd just let you go, did you? I've learned my lesson from those accursed galactic rangers!"

Twilights ears flicked up at the sound of the robots names. "You know the rangers?"

(Music)

Tirek raised a brow at Twilight. "Wait...how do you know about them? They aren't still around are they?" The smug look on Twilights face confirmed his fears. "Doesn't matter, with all of this alicorn Magic they are no match for me!" Just then, multiple missiles shot into the air and landed oh Tireks back, causing him to grunt in pain.

He turned to see three of the rangers standing there with different rocket launchers from the RYNO(1) series. Just then a sharp pain cut through his neck. There was Thane with two energy blades coming from his wrists had used a camouflage belt to sneak up on Tirek and cut his neck. He jumped out of the way as Tirek tried to swat him and turned invisible to get away.

"DONT YOU HIDE FROM ME COWARD!!!" Tirek started wildly shooting huge beams of energy at the ground around him. While he was distracted Katie aimed her cannon with a scope and shot Tirek straight in the eyes, temporarily blinding him. He screamed in pain, taking advantage of his disability, Krystal got up close and personal with her shock cannon as she shot his legs with charged blasts, sending him to the ground. Zane, feeling a bit brave, ran up to Tireks horns and started shooting them to disable the field around Twilight and her friends. "ENOUGH!!!" Tirek grabbed the rangers in his magic and held them in the air.

They struggled against the force but their resistance was futile. Tirek looked around for any other rangers and turned with fury in his eyes.

"WHERE IS HE!?!" He roared in the Rangers face. Twilight noticed something on Tireks arm, it was the same emblem that Nathan had shown her.

"Where's who, you pathetic crossbreed?" With Krystals little quip, Tirek sent the Rangers flying off in the direction of the girls, they landed just in front of the group and got to their feet. They felt the ground shake as Tirek charged towards them, but the way the ground shook, it felt like there was another giant running towards them.

Twilights face brightened up as she remembered the only other giant she knew. They then heard a loud robotic voice yell something out. "LEROYYYYYY JENKINS!!!" Just as Tirek was about to hit them a huge purple and silver fist hit him square in the jaw, sending him flying. "And it's good!"

The ponies jaws dropped as they gazed upon the towering robot that sent Tirek face first into a mountain.

Tirek got to his feet and stared at Nathan who had moved to a more open area to draw fire away from the girls. "So, you've shown yourself, my old nemesis. It's been a long time."

"And your still as ugly as the day I kicked your pathetic hybrid ass."

"You're as vulgar as ever."

"Awww, you remembered." They charged at each other and their fists collided, sending a shockwave over the large clearing. Nathan grabbed Tirek by the horns and swung him around until he smashed him into the ground. "I'll give credit where credit is due, you've gained a whole lotta weight from being in Tartarus, by the way, how's the Dogfather been?" Tirek roared in anger and swiped at him, he dodged and hit Tirek up the jaw.

He kicked Tirek away and charged up his arm cannon. "Kame-hame-ha!" He shot a huge purple beam at Tirek that hit him square in the chest. He then turned to Twilight. "Don't you have somewhere to be!?" He watched as the ponies snapped out of their trances and ran towards the tree of harmony.

Taking advantage of Nathan's distraction, Tirek pinned his arms behind his back and charged a beam of magic.

"Ohhhhh no, I am not getting buttraped by a monkey-horse!" Nathan swung his foot back and kicked Tirek in the groin, causing him to squeal like a girl. While Tirek fell to the floor, Nathan put his cannon to his mouth. "You wanna know what death tastes like?" He shot a powerful beam of magic down Tireks throat. "Y'know now that I think about it, this can easily be misinterpreted as something else."

Tirek grabbed the cannon and threw Nathan off of him. "Enough playing around!"

"Oh this isn't playing, this is a little thing called a distraction." He shot a barrage of rockets from his shoulders onto Tirek which caused him to wince and backpedal. "Ah, such a shame. A G1 villain returned from a forgotten age, put into writing perfection. But why Larson, why give us such filth to work with, and now good ol'Tirek pays the price." Nathan glanced over to the cliff where he saw Twilight and the girls in their rainbow forms. "I believe my work here is done, say hi to Cerberus for me, I did always love that dog."

The girls shot their rainbow deathbeam at Tirek and freed all the magic in Equestria. As Tirek was thrown into the portal to Tartarus Nathan looked in and waved at him. "Eat me, don't forget to write."

The crystal castle appeared and the three princesses were freed. After a really catchy musical number, Twilight ran out of the castle and into a shrunken Nathan's arms. "Nathan, it's so good to see you again!"

"Good to see you too squirt, what's it been a year?" She nodded and hugged him. "Look at you, a princess now, what did I tell ya huh?"

"Yeah yeah, destined for great things yadayada." He chuckled and set her on his shoulder. The rest of the main six walked up to him with great interest. "Ah, the rest of the elements, I was wondering when I'd get to meet you lot."

"Nathan, this is Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. Girls, this is my childhood friend I told you about, Nathan." Pinkie began jumping all around Nathan's body while Rainbow looked over his weapons. The rest of the Rangers were inside the castle talking to Celestia."

"I'm sorry we failed Celestia, we didn't anticipate Twilight giving up the alicorn magic." Thane apologised.

"One of us did." Zane pointed out. "Somehow Nathan knows what will happen."

"And he still refuses to explain how, all he says is 'some things need to happen, so don't interfere'."

Celestia looked at the group unsure then noticed Katie was missing.

As Nathan began making his way back to the castle he was stopped when he heard a familiar voice.

"Hey there Nate, long time no see." He turned and looked down to see Katie standing there waving.

"Yeah...a thousand years is a long time."

"You haven't been online for the whole time have you?"

"What do you want Katie, I'd rather avoid Thane for now, as it looks like you guys are staying online for awhile."

"How so?"

"Didn't you see the mark on Tireks arm, that wasn't there the last time we fought. Katie, the Maniacs are back." She stayed silent and he walked away. "Say hi to Zane for me." Katie reached her arm out but he ignored her and walked off.

She sighed and began walking back to the party.

While Nathan was walking he was stopped by Twilight who sat in the middle of the path. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Um, back to my cave in Canterlot, I don't have anywhere else to go." She flew up to him and stared him in the eye.

"Oh yes you do, you're living with me now, I have a large empty castle now with only Spike and Owilicious to share it with. I have plenty of room. Besides, we haven't seem each other in a year." He sighed and looked at her.

"I'm not getting out of this am I?" She shook her head. "Thought so."

She lead him back to the castle where they found out that the rest of Phoenix Squad had returned to Canterlot. Nathan was fine with that, the further they were away from him the better.

Chapter three: Flames of a Displacer

The ponies of ponyville set about repairing the damage caused by Tirek very quickly, and Nathan's presence only quickened the process. He used his strength to lift fallen walls and roofs at his smallest size, which was still as big as a house. The other rangers had returned to Canterlot with the princesses and Cadence returned to the crystal empire.

As Nathan set a roof back onto a house he heard someone walking up behind him. He turned around to see none other than one of his old foes, the spirit of chaos.

"Ah, I was wondering when I'd get to talk to you Discord. It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

"Indeed, I appreciate you not shooting me on sight."

"I already knew you were reformed. You should be surprised that the other rangers didn't blast you."

"I should, but there was something else that surprised me. You didn't assist the squad, you saved the ponies. When the battle was over you turned and walked away from the rangers. Why is that?"

Nathan sighed as he lifted a pile of rubble and set it in a huge pile. "A lot of stuff happened, my beef isn't with the rangers, it's with Thane." Discord gestured for him to continue. "You know how Celestia knows what will happen in the future?" Discord nodded. "I do too. So I know about the events that need to happen, so I have to sometimes turn against Thanes orders to insure the squad doesn't interfere with destiny."

Discord scratched his chin and looked at Nathan with a raised brow. "That would cause some problems if you were the only one of the group that knew all that, haven't you explained it to them?"

"I never got the chance to, Thane avoids me, Krystal just downright ignores me, Katie would listen and so would Zane, but if they tried to tell Thane he would brush it off." He sighed and looked through his weapon inventory. "When did he become so damn stubborn?"

"Well, I'll leave you alone then, good day to you Nathan."

"You too John."

"Not that nickname again. It doesn't even make sense!"

"What's the fun in making sense?"

"...touché Nathan, touché."

Discord teleported away while Nathan looked through his storage. "Ok, I need to see if I have a flame weapon...nope, don't have one." He reached behind him and pulled out an orange cube, he set it down and a hologram appeared at the top of it as antennas sprouted from the sides.(1)

He touched the hologram and a menu appeared in front of him, he looked through the selection of weapons until he came across two weapons that would suit his needs. "Ok, lava gun or plasma whip?" He looked to the top of the screen to see his current bolt balance(2).

Bolts: 256,540

"That much? I guess that fight with Tirek topped up my balance. Lava gun it is then, I'm sure Thane wants the whip since he prefers melee weapons." He selected the Lava gun and it appeared in his inventory. He picked up the vendor and put it in his storage unit. "There, now the bonfire tonight can go ahead. Well, a unicorn could just use magic...eh whatever, new gun."

The town was rebuilt in hours, the leftover rubble was being used in a bonfire at night. The townsfolk gathered around the pile and sat on blankets they set on the grass. The main six sat on top of Nathan, he walked over to the pile and pulled out the lava gun. He pulled the trigger and a small amount of lava shot out of the mussel, which quickly set the rubble on fire. The ponies cheered and all gathered around the flames with marshmallows on sticks.

Nathan chuckled as he saw a few foals approaching him with curiosity. He looked through the small crowd and saw the CMC, he placed his hand on the ground and the three fillies climbed on. He held them up to his top so they could sit with their sisters (for the sake of keeping this simple I'm calling Scootaloo Rainbows sister). The rest of the foals sat on his legs and looked over him in curiosity.

He smiled internally and watched the fire. You know when people say they see things in a fireplace? Well, he saw himself and his group of friends when they were human, when destiny didn't matter, there was no direct path to follow. He chose to keep the timeline on course, he chose to go against his friends. He could have easily interfered with the planned course of events, but he didn't. Instead of creating an alternate Equestria, he chose to make it as normal as possible while he was present.

Twilight noticed he was deep in thought and flew in front of his eye. "Are you ok Nathan?"

He snapped out of his trance and rubbed his face. "Yeah, just thinking of old times is all."

"You mean before Nightmare Moons banishment?"

"No, before I was sent here, to this world I mean." Twilight sat down in his open hand and placed a hoof on his face, giving him a caring smile.

Meanwhile in Canterlot, Katie watched this happen through her scope while Zane watched with zoomed vision.

"He may be a giant, but he's just a big softy on the inside, right Zane?"

"O-oh, uh yeah..." Zane stammered, even though they were robots Zane still held his childhood crush on Katie. The only other ranger that knew of his crush was Nathan, years ago Nathan would give him advice on subjects like that because Thane would always try to be subtle, while Nathan was blunt and got to the point. "I'm just going to go for a walk, need to get used to the area again."

"Ok, don't get lost this time."

Zane walked through a door and into the castle. As he shut the door he sighed, he began walking down the long hallway and he checked his nanotech(3) supply. "Still at a good level, I'll have to get more from the Gadgetron Vendor." Zane was the teams medic, so it was his job to keep all medical devices in his storage and monitor everyone's nanotech levels. "Thane's a bit low, I better stop by his chambers to heal him."

He sighed and walked towards a flight of stairs. He looked at his arm cannon and to his hand. "I still remember the days when we would all hang out back on earth like they were yesterday. There's no reason to return to our world now anyway, it's been nearly three thousand years, all of our families and other friends are all gone." Zane may be a young boy, but he was mature enough to know the consequences of entering this world. The day that the merchant sent them to Equestria was the last day they ever saw their loved ones.

"Curse that damned merchant."

"Why, he hasn't been to this multiverse."

Zane looked behind him to see a man in a white coat and black spiky hair leaning against a wall with a book in his hand. "Who are you, and what do you mean 'why'?"

The man closed the book and looked to Zane. "My name is Author, and to answer your question, the merchant wasn't the one who sent you here, I was."

Zane looked at Author with disbelief, he pointed his cannon at him and charged a shot. "Do you have any idea how much you've screwed us over?!" Author clicked his fingers and Zanes cannon became a hand.

"Correction, I saved you." Author snapped his fingers again and a screen appeared in front of Zane, showing a large meteorite striking the earth. "Your world was destroyed a week after you were sent here, all the inhabitants were either killed or sent to another world in a new body."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because no one will believe you if you tell them, don't worry though, the others will find out soon enough." He snapped his fingers and Zanes arm cannon reappeared. Zane looked to his cannon then back to Author, but found no one there.

"I think things are gonna start getting strange around here."

Chapter four: Night watch

As the ponies all made their way back to their respective homes Twilight and Nathan walked towards the new castle. Along the way Twilight noticed that Nathan was keeping an eye on the Everfree Forest. She had no idea why, the forest was more or less tamed with the exception of the few Timberwolves and Hydras. When they reached the castle Nathan stopped.

"If it's alright with you Twi, I'd like to sit out here for awhile."

"Um...that's fine, just don't stay up to long, you need to recharge soon." He nodded and she walked inside. Nathan began walking over to the forest of thorns and sat down on the outskirts of ponyville, keeping his cannon aimed at the forest.

"I know you're out there...I'm not letting you harm another pony while I'm here." He stated quietly as he scanned the woods, only picking up some of the local wildlife. "Coward..."

He continued scanning for awhile before lowering his gun. Looking at the moon he sighed as he looked back on the past.

The group walked through a large golden door and into the throne room where Celestia sat. She looked over the machines and raised an eyebrow, obviously confused. Nathan walked to the base of the throne and bowed, signalling for the rest of the group to do the same. "Good day princess Celestia, it is an honor to meet you."

"Rise, you need not be so formal."

"Of course." He got to his feet, which made him twice as tall as Celestia.

"Now, tell me, what are your names? And what are you exactly?"

"My name is Nathan. These are Thane, Zane, Krystal and Katie. We are machines from another world, we were taken from our home against our wills and have no way to return be it by magic or some other means, we are stuck in Equestria. We are the galactic rangers, at your service."

Celestia frowned at hearing this, to think that someone would force others off of their own worlds and trap them there. "Well I am terribly sorry to hear that Nathan. I for one welcome you and your friends to Equestria, it's actually a good thing you are here." Nathan looked at her confused. "There is a group of criminals and beasts known as The Maniacs, we cannot defeat them and our most powerful ally is currently away on important business."

"I see..." He looked at his arm cannon and back to his friends. "...well, we are built for combat, and we don't have anything else to do."

"If you help us take these monsters down, you will be given Equestrian citizenship and a home in the castle. If it is any help."

Nathan thought about it before nodding. "Alright, we'll help you. However, these ones only activated and lack combat training, give me a three weeks to get them ready then we will aid your cause." Celestia nodded and called for a guard to escort them to a training area suitable for their size, that being the Minotaur grounds. She gave them a deed to one if the abandoned towers in the castle, satisfied with what he could get for the group Nathan began training the group. Also practicing hand to hand combat with the minotaurs who had befriended Nathan.

A few days later Nathan was sparing with a huge Minotaur that matched his height, Iron Wills ancestor Solid Will. Solid was a grey Minotaur with large horns and muscles.

Nathan blocked a punch with his arm cannon and threw a counter at Solids chest, causing him to skid backwards a bit. "I actually felt that one." He smirked and charged Nathan with his horns, at the last second Nathan stepped to the side and tripped him up. While he was on the ground Nathan placed his foot on his back, holding him down.

"That's 14 to 6 Solid, you sure you're the toughest soldier here?"

"Yeah yeah, ha ha, you win." Nathan rolled his eye and helped his friend up.

"Those were the days, I miss all of the minotaurs. I wonder if I'll come across Iron Will some time." He sat there and looked at the stars. "Luna went all out tonight, beautiful as always."

"Why thank you Nathan."

He looked back to find Luna giving him a warm smile. "Hello again Lulu, it's been a few centuries since I've seen you."

"Yes, and not a day goes by that I don't regret my actions that caused that interval." She squeaked as Nathan scooped her up in his hand and held her up to his eye.

"Now don't you be going and guilt tripping yourself, you weren't in control back then. Besides, your banishment caused a thousand years of peace."

"I'm sorry, it's just I do regret it all."

"I know you do Lulu, but you can't beat yourself up about it. It's not healthy."

"Once again...you are right." She placed a hoof on his eye and smiled. "I really missed you Nathan, and the other rangers."

"I missed you too Lulu, and I'm sure the others did." Just then Nathan got an alert on his HUD that he was low on power. "I'd love to continue this Luna, but I need to get some sleep." She nodded and hugged his eye, waving goodbye she flew off to scout for nightmares.

Nathan got up, shrunk down and made his way to the castle. Once inside he sat down against the wall of the main hall and shut down. His power slowly started recharging as he drifted into a dreamless sleep.

Chapter six: Insanity always wins

After a quick debriefing about the situation Twilight and Nathan sat in thought. Twilight looked over to see Nathan grinning like a psychopath. He got out of his chair in the cafe they had gone to and made his way towards the school.

"Where does he think he's going, wasn't he supposed to help us out?" Asked Rainbow in an irritated voice.

"From the way he was smiling I think he's going to get into some form of combat." Stated Twilight as she looked over a counter spell for the sirens curse.

"What?!" The human five all yelled at once.

"Would you believe me if I told you that Nathan is actually a giant warbot in Equestria?" They all looked at her with blank expressions. You could hear a pin drop over the silence that had overtaken the group.

"Nathan...is a robot...from another world?" Rainbow asked with excitement and disbelief. Sunset pulled out a photo of her as a filly with Nathan beside her in the shot, she was in his hand and the camera was being held in Sunsets magic. They all gawked at the size of the robot and the sheer adorableness of the little pony. "Awesome..."

"We should probably follow him, he can get a little...totally insane when he's fighting." Twilight got up and they all began following Nathan back to the school. He held his sadistic smile with shadows over his eyes.

"This is gonna be gooooooooooddd."

The dazzling wandered the school looking for a suitable place to sleep when they heard a familiar psychopathic laugh echo amongst the hallways around them. Arias eyes widened, Adagio started shaking and Sonata just smiled. Adagio frantically looked around, trying to pinpoint the location of their past enemy.

"No no no no no! You can't be here!" She shouted in panic.

"Oh and why is that Dagi? I don't remember there being any sort of barriers blocking me from entering this world!" They heard footsteps coming from behind them and quickly turned to see a figure in the shadows walking towards them, a screeching sound could be heard as the figure dragged some kind of weapon along the ground. A weapon Adagio and Aria knew all too well.

"Did you girls miss me?" Nathan stepped out of the shadows and stared at them with the most insane smile. "I missed you."

"Natty!" Sonata ran forward and hugged him.

"Ah, little Sonata, as lovable as ever I see." Nathan had nothing against Sonata, she wasn't purposely evil, only led astray by her sisters because she couldn't make it on her own. When Starswirl and Nathan had battled the sirens no harm came to Sonata as she was given a choice of wether or not to follow the others, plus Nathan kinda had a crush on her due to her playful and carefree personality.

He gently pushed Sonata to the side and looked to the other two.

"So...nice school you got here..." He said in a dark voice.

Adagio winced and stared daggers at him. "We have no reason to be scared of you here, you are just human now without your mechanical body to project you from our spell! You sexist..." She launched a small ghost siren at him.

"Ow..."

"...Insane..."

"Ow..."

"...insubordinate, gun fetish crazy monster!" As the last ghost siren reached him he grabbed it in his mouth.

"You know the funny thing is..." He chomped the siren causing it to disappear. "...in any other circumstance, you might have had a point there. Except my boss is a mare, I'm a only semi-insane, I'm loyal to my country and beliefs..." He slowly walked up to Adagio. "...and there is no one alive who could possibly understand my sexual preference." He clenched his fist. "So in other words Miss Adagio..." He reeled his fist back and punched her full force in the face. "Ch-Ch-Ch-Check your privilege!" She slid across the ground while holding her cheek. "Now, are you going to surrender and hand over those amulets, or do I have to bring out a certain gun that I know you absolutely love?" Her eyes widened. "RYNO...Two." Aria and Adagio both looked at each other and nodded.

"We will never surrender to you!" Nathan's features softened as he turned away.

"Good luck you two, I hope ya die." They looked at him with confused expressions before they began to sweat at the voice of a familiar robot.

"Mr Zurkon no like siren ladies, Mr Zurkon kill!" The two ran down the hall and out the front doors, the robot chasing them. Sonata looked to Nathan with a huge smile.

"Don't worry, I set him to stun." She raced over to him and wrapped her arms around his left one and rested her head on his shoulder. "I missed you too Nata."

The group looked on as the events took place and watched as the couple walked out of the school.

"Well...that went cleaner than I expected." Muttered Twilight and Sunset at the same time, they looked at each other and backed away until they heard Nathan shout at them.

"OH MY GOD JUST BUCK ALREADY!!!"

With Sonata now siding against the Dazzlings, Adagio and Aria were left on their own. "What now Adagio, we can't do this without that idiot." Aria looked at her sister expecting a new plan.

"I don't know..." Adagio sunk down low and shook her head. "I honestly don't know."

"Perhaps I can be of assistance..." They both looked behind them to see a cloud of purple mist floating just above the ground with two glowing yellow eyes.

"What are you?" They both asked.

"I am known as...Nightmare Fuel."

Chapter seven: Decisions, decisions

Meanwhile in Equestria

Thane looked out at the setting sun, leaning on railing by the canterlot gardens. Noticing a lack of activity in Ponyville, especially since Nathan was supposed to be there, raised a few suspicions. He also felt that something big was about to happen, a feeling he had felt before Nathan 'betrayed them' as Thane would put it.

"Thane?" He looked back to see Celestia walking up to him.

"Good evening princess, what can I do for you?" Celestia shook her head.

"Stop playing soldier for a minute would you? It makes me uncomfortable."

Thane sighed and looked back out to the sunset. "Fine, what do you want?"

"I want you to stop being so moody all the time." He was about to counter when she got up in his face. "No, don't you dare give me the 'he betrayed us' excuse, that won't work anymore, in fact it never worked."

Just then another ranger entered the conversation. "Yeah Thane, why can't you get over something that happened a thousand years ago?" He looked over to see Krystal leaning against a tree while polishing her mini-turret glove. "The rest of us have."

Thane just sighed and looked to his hands. "I don't know, maybe it's something stupid or something legitimate. I just don't know why I can't forgive Nathan for attacking us like that."

"He didn't straight on attack us you idiot he warned us that some things had to happen and we would have gotten in the way, you were the one that threatened him." Krystal quickly snapped back, catching both Celestia and Thane off guard. "Think about it, 'cause if you don't figure something out soon, I'm leaving the squad and joining Nathan in Ponyville." She straightened herself and began walking back towards the castle.

Thane only looked at his friend in shock, not willing to believe what she had just told him.

"Celestia...was what she said true?"

Celestia just frowned. "I detected no lie in her voice, I would recommend you choose your next actions carefully. Otherwise the entire squad could fall apart before the Maniacs even show themselves." She walked away, leaving a confused and conflicted Thane behind.

Zane had finished repairing Katie and decided to pay an old friend a visit. The small timid robot slowly made his way up the long spiral staircase that lead to the top of a certain princess's tower. Waiting until the sun had gone down and the moon was in the sky, he knocked on the door and patiently waited for an answer.

"Who is it?"

"Um...it's Zane."

"Zane! Please do come in!" He opened the large door and was immediately tackled by the night princess who proceeded to hug him.

"Hi Luna." She nuzzled his eye and sat on top of him.

"Hello again my old friend, what brings you to my tower?" She stepped off of him and allowed him to stand.

"I actually wanted to talk to you about something, something really important."

"Oh then please, do come in." She led him into the room and lit a candle before they both sat down at a table in the corner of the room, the only light being the candle and Zanes glowing blue eye. "Tell me, what is it you wish to talk about."

"Ok, but you have to promise you won't tell anyone else." She rolled here eyes before making the pinkie promise. "Alright. I recently came across the one responsible for bringing us here." Her eyes widened in shock.

"That means there is a way for you to return to your homeworld right?" He shook his head.

"No, awhile after we were sent here our planet was hit by a huge meteorite that destroyed it. Some of the population was sent to other universes entirely while most...you know." Luna's smile turned to a frown.

"So even if there was a way to send you back there is nothing to go back to." Zane nodded.

"The one that sent us here saved our lives, but I can't help but feel there is some other reason he sent us here." Luna placed her hoof on Zanes hand.

"Well, I think it's best that you have to stay here, I would miss our talks too much." They both stared at each other before Luna cleared her throat. "I hate to cut this meeting short but I have some rather painful duties to attend to."

"If you'd like I can help you with them." Luna just looked to him curiously.

"Are you sure?"

"I don't have anything else to do right now." Luna smiled and began leading the young robot to her night courts.

Katie and Krystal sat on the rooftops of the buildings in Canterlot, looking up at the night sky.

"You're really going to leave the squad if Thane doesn't come to his senses?" Katie asked her sister in concern.

"Yeah, things are getting stale around here with him being all serious 99% of the time, plus I miss spending time with Nathan." This got Katie to giggle as she looked up at the stars.

"Yeah, I miss the big guy too, he was the only one that actually made things fun here."

"Remember when he tried to test out his suck-cannon and accidentally launched Clover the Clever into Starswirls library?"

"How can I forget, he immediately threw the gun at Thane and bolted. Clover would have killed him if it didn't get her the job as Starswirls assistant." The two shared a laugh before laying down. "I wonder what he's doing right now."

Outside Canterlot High

Nathan and Sonata walked hand in hand down the pathway leading to the park. Just then a portal appeared in front of them and a man walked out. He wore a green tracksuit with a metal sash over his torso. He also had a scarf that covered his mouth. His hair was comprised of large spikes, much like Vegeta's from Dragon Ball Z, except it was green. The man looked at them and smiled.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Roden Godswell, and I am your displacer."

Chapter eight: Let the battle begin

Nathan stepped in front of Sonata in a protective manner. "You...you're my displacer?"

The glowing green figure nodded. "Yes, I am the one that sent you to your version of Equestria. I'm assuming you already know how the multiverse works?"

"I'm somewhat familiar with it, I've never come across a token before though, and I have little interest in creating one." Roden nodded in understanding.

"I understand, it's common to see a displaced weary about what the multiverse holds. Be warned though, there are displaced that can enter your world through other means. Like shall we say...Jack of Blades."

Nathan's expression became furious. "I am not having that insane bastard near my friends again."

"You may not have a choice in the matter, just be glad you found a way to drive him back last time."

Sonata placed a hand on Nathan's shoulder and looked to him worriedly. "Natty? Are you ok?"

He sighed and placed his hand on hers. "I'm fine Nata, just...memories." He shook his head and looked to Roden. "So, why show yourself now?" Just then he felt a massive surge of dark energy. "Well...that answers that question." The three of them looked over to the school and a large cloud of dark purple smoke. "How are people not noticing that?!"

"It's a trick that the monster behind it developed, only people that have ever used magic can see and feel it!"

Nathan growled and pulled out his wrench. "So what type of creature we dealing with here exactly?"

"It's a creature known as the Nightmare Fuel, a parasite across the multiverse."

Sonata hugged Nathan and looked up at the cloud. "That's a whole load of dark energy, if my sister come into contact with it then they'll be unstoppable!"

Nathan just held her close. 'I've known Sonata for over a thousand years, even though most of that time was spent apart I already know she's the one for me, and I'm not letting anything harm her!' He kissed Sonata on the lips and ran towards the cloud.

"Nathan no!" He pulled out the RYNO 2 and RYNO 5 as he turned the corner.

'Something's already messed with this moment in the timeline, that means I can go all out." Grinning like a madman he sprinted head first into the large cloud that was quickly spreading over the city. Roden just shook his head.

"I lose one bet with Author and I have to displace the trigger happy one, why couldn't I have Krystal or Zane?" He snapped his fingers and sent Sonata to safety. Pulling his scarf up a little he began sprinting towards the cloud and disappeared inside it.

Twilight and the others all ran out of the school and found the area surrounded by purple fog. Looking around they noticed that time had stopped around them. They looked over to the centre of the clearing to see Adagio, Aria and a new strange girl glowing. The new girl looked like Sonata but with a different colour scheme. Her hair was pitch black, her skin was purple and her outfit was black. Her eyes glowed hello and she had four dark tendrils growing out of her back.

The new girl, who shall be called Nighmare for convenience, looked at the girls and smirked. She held up her hand and a ball of dark energy began to form. Before she could throw it she was blasted by a barrage of plasma rockets, bullets and missiles, causing her to be flung across the clearing into a brick wall, looking as if she hadn't taken any damage at all.

The girls looked over to see Nathan holding two massive guns and shaking his head. "Seriously? Of all the beings you could shape into it had to be a crappy recolour of my little Sonata? That's just hurtful." Roden appeared beside him and crossed his arms.

"You should probably continue blasting it while it's unable to move."

"Yeah but that takes the fun out of it, I haven't had a good fight since I visited the land of behemoths. Speaking of which I wonder how Scorpan is doing these days." While he was side tracked a dark tendril shot towards him and hit him in the face. Nighmare smirked until she noticed that his head had only shifted slightly. "Hm, I actually felt that one...a little." He grinned like a psychopath and charged the she-demon.

"WAIT!!!" The both came to a screeching halt and looked to Sunset. "You guys can't fight like this here, there is too many people living in the area!"

Nightmare just looked at her with a raised brow. "And I should care why?"

"You wouldn't be killing them on purpose?" She guessed.

"Fair enough. We will settle this their way, in the battle of the bands."

Nathan just put his guns away and flipped her off. "Bring it on bitch." The fog lifted and time returned to normal. Nightmare smirked and teleported her along with the two sirens out of t he area. Nathan sighed and looked to Roden. "And here I thought I'd get to finally kill something that was worthy of being destroyed by the RYNO's."

"You'll get your chance Nathan, for now you have to prepare for the concert. Sonata is waiting for you in the Evermoon Hotel a few miles down the road, a little gift from me to you, as it took me so long to finally meet you."

"Well, gee thanks Roden." Roden handed him the key to the room and vanished. 'I'm going to be in a fancy hotel sharing the same bed with Sonata throughout my entire stay here...something better fucking happened because this is the first time I've gotten my dick back for centuries! Plus I want at least one kid before I die...don't you look at me like that, when you spend a thousand years alone then you'll know what I'm talking about.' He waved goodbye to the girls and began walking towards the hotel.

Chapter nine: A thing of the past

Nathan stood on the roof of the Evermoon Hotel, his coat flapping in the wind. He had his arms crossed as he stared up at the moon, thinking about his past and what he was going to do about the new threat. Sonata was fast asleep by the time he had got there, he was fine with that. Although he did wish that something would happen in the time he spent in this world, like he said, he wanted a child.

He stared down at the city bellow him, watching the street lights flicker on. Soon the city was lit up like a beautiful light show. He closed his eyes and began to remember the day he left the squad.

(music)

Around 1500 years ago

Discord was wreaking havoc across Equestria, buildings were floating and some were upside down, the fields of grass were turned into multicoloured checker boards, ponies were being changed and corrupted and so much more was happening to the once peaceful land.

Phoenix Squad watched this from a cliff overlooking the town that the spirit of chaos was currently in, Nathan being his minimum size as to avoid detection. The rest of the Rangers still had not learned of his growth abilities. He looked worriedly out at the town, he looked over to the Everfree Forest and spotted the young Celestia and Luna walking into the cave of the Tree of Harmony. Looking back he saw his team getting ready to fight.

They were about to charge down the cliff when he stepped in front of them. "Nathan, get out of the way, we have to finish Discord before he causes actual harm to the residents!" Yelled Thane. Nathan shook his head.

"It isn't our place to fight him again, we may have stopped him from reaching the castle of the two sisters but we can not interfere in what is going to happen." They all looked at the huge robot in question.

"And you would know this how?" Asked a slightly annoyed Krystal.

"I can't explain that right now, you have to trust me on this. We can't get involved further!" Thane shook his head and tried to walked around his cousin, only to be stopped as a blast shot in front of him, hitting the ground. "That was a warning Thane, we can't get involved anymore."

"Why?" Thane asked in an authoritative tone.

"Some things need to happen, please, stand down." Nathan begged.

"Not happening, we swore to protect these ponies, and that's what we're going to do." Thane tried walking around again only to be flung at a rock as Nathan smacked him with his arm cannon. Thane just sat up and looked at Nathan in anger.

"I'm sorry Thane, but if I need to fight you to make sure the sequence of events remains, I won't hesitate." Nathan began to grow, surprising the group. Once he reached three times his normal size he slammed his fist into the ground.

Thane got up and activated his energy blades, the other rangers taking defensive stances. They all stared each other down until Thane charged forward, causing the rest to do the same. Nathan held out his cannon and shot a large beam at the group, hitting them all. Thane jumped out of the blast with his shield generator and continued to run at the giant robot.

Nathan noticed this and swung his cannon at Thane, only for him to jump over it. Expecting this, Nathan grabbed Thane in the air and slammed him into the ground. Thane them sunk his blades into the robots hand and cloaked. Running up Nathan's arm he began to furiously swipe at his torso. Nathan quickly turned causing Thabe to be flung off and be hit with a barrage of missiles, heavily damaging him and rendering him unable to move.

Nathan turned to the three others who looked at their friend in shock. Krystal growled in anger and pulled out her gravity-bomb launcher. As she charged she felt something grab her shoulder. Looking back she saw it was Katie who was shaking her head. They all looked to Nathan who had an ashamed look on his face. He waved at them before jumping down the cliff and landing with a resounding clang.

He began walking towards the chaotic town. 'If I let the group fight Discord they'd kill him, I can fight him to stall for the sisters.'

Nathan came face to face with Discord in the middle of the town. Both stared at each other before charging forward.

He snapped out of his vision and stared at the moon. "I may be a little gun crazy, can become insane during battle, even get a little insensitive. However, I still care for my friends and family. I will always regret that day, it still haunts me up to now." He turned away and began heading to the door he had found that led to the roof in the first place.

As he was walking he felt a presence in the wind, one that haunted him ever since he had landed in Equestria. Turning around he saw the see-through glowing figure standing there. It was wearing a blue dress with a small white apron, it's hair was long and brown at it had a sad smile on its face.

"Of course you'd still be around. Why wouldn't you be...mother?" The figure just continued to give him that small sorrowful smile. It then burst into flames and slowly began to become ashes that blew away in the wind.

"I've never fallen so far from where I've been, this road is ending, but a new one begins. I try to wash way my sins, like ashes in the wind." With that line said he turned away and walked down the stairs, leaving the burning ghost to fade away.

Chapter ten: Meanings in the song

The stage was set, the Dazzlings and other students had sung their opening songs, all that was left was the Rainbooms, who had chosen Bathan to be their opening act so he could face off against the Nightmare Sonata in the first round. Sonata kissed him on the lips and wished him good luck. Walking up to the stage he signalled the DJ, who was Vinyl Scratch's brother who had electric red hair instead of blue.

The DJ nodded and flipped a switch, starting Nathan's song. 'Put meaning into it, it may be from a franchise that has been run into the ground but it holds meaning to your past.' He thought before he started singing.

Youtube Video

[Verse 1]

I, I've been waiting a long time

For someone to discover me

Why, you ask?

It's because I'm getting

A little claustrophobic in here

I see how you get ideas

About how I really came to be

Well I guess I can see

How you think I am mean

Golden green

All machine

Cause it's me

I've been stuck here all alone

No one to tell the things I know

Well I guess I can see

How you think I am mean

Golden green

All machine

Cause it's me

Suddenly four ghostly figures appeared and circled Nathan, a look of shame and sorrow as he looked at each of them. They all had golden suits on with their faces blurred

[Background]

You are never going back

Cause you got springtrapped

You are never going back

Cause you got springtrapped

You are never going back

Cause you got springtrapped

You are never going back

Cause you got springtrapped

[Verse 2]

Well deserved

I paid the consequence and

I have learned

That I'm twisted

But it still hurts

Why do they get to go and I have to stay

They moved on

But I am stuck in here

Well they're not wrong

But I'm asking for some peace of mind

If I could rewind

I would never come back

To the place at the time

[Chorus]

This is it

The big finale

But they never quit

They were out to get me

What I did is unforgivable

And I will pay the price

Golden suits

Are now my curse

So now I walk towards you

Can you get me out of all my troubles and

All my past mistakes

All the sadness and

Please all of the hate

I see how you get ideas

About how I really came to be

Well I guess I can see

How you think I am mean

Golden green

All machine

Cause it's me

[Background]

You are never going back

Cause you got springtrapped

You are never going back

Cause you got springtrapped

You are never going back

Cause you got springtrapped

You are never going back

Cause you got springtrapped

[Verse 3]

I guess I'm all alone

And I don't think I move on

I'm forever stuck in gold

To live the life of an animatronic

Fright attraction

Someone please prove me wrong

Suddenly a ring of fire appeared around Nathan as he sang with upmost emotion.

[Chorus]

This is it

The big finale

But they never quit

They were out to get me

What I did is unforgivable

And I will pay the price

Golden suits

Are now my curse

So now I walk towards you

Can you get me out of all my troubles and

All my past mistakes

All the sadness and

All of the hate

The song ended and Nathan had a few tears forming in his eyes, unnoticeable by the crowd that cheered for him. He waved to the crowd and walked off the stage. Sonata immediately rushed over and brought him into a meaningful hug. "Thanks Nata, I just need a minute to myself." He kissed her forehead before walking out and off the school grounds.

"What's wrong with him?" Twilight asked Sonata. "And how come you two are so close?"

"Nathan acts tuff and strong, but that's a mask. He's actually really intelligent and sensitive, due to something that happened in his past life, he started acting like a big deal because when he needed to be strong he was weak. Lang we are so close, we were best friends one thousand years ago, if we hadn't been separated we probably would have been married by now, we always did like each other. I know Nathan better than anyone, I trust him and he trusts me." Sonata explained as she put a hand to her chest and closed her eyes. "He's unstable with his emotions, I need to make sure he's alright. I'll see you girls later." With that Sonata ran after her significant other.

Equestria

Krystal sat looking out at the sunrise. Over the course of the night she had been thinking about what happened with Nathan in the past, she was the only person other than Sonata and Katie that knew of the giant's background.

She shook her head and watched as the sun peeked over the horizon. He thoughts soon turned to her situation with Thane, she had been thinking about the certain topic of leaving the squad for years. She saw how happy Nathan was living with the ponies, maybe she could find that joy too. She had very little that would even make her crack a smile, Nathan was the one that made life with the squad fun, but when he left Thane changed. He became strict and moody, and no one knew why.

Krystals mood went from depressed to determined. "There's a chance at happiness with the ponies of Ponyville and Nathan, if I can find a place there I can be happy." She looked to the Phoenix emblem on her cannon. "I've decided...I'm leaving the squad."

Chapter eleven: Chilling with a crimelord

A few hours after Sonata had caught up with Nathan and calmed him down, Nathan had learned of a crime family that was oppressing the nearby areas. Thinking of it as a good opportunity to blow off some steam, Nathan went after them. Sonata returned to the hotel to think about something important while he 'cleaned up' the mess in the backstreets.

After gunning through a few dozen guards and thugs, Nathan opened the door to a room when a man was sitting in the shadows.

"Chill Ice, you reign of awesome terror is over, I'm taking these streets back."

"Woah woah, don't stress out your servos brobot, what ya bettin about?" The lights went on and revealed the man, he was in his early twenties and wore a blue jacket and grey jeans.

"Well, your gang is slowly taking over this city that apparently has no law enforcement."

"Whaaaat? Dude, take a look around, I already gots everything I need right here. Bricks, floor, hook..." He pointed to a large hook hanging from the ceiling. "...man I love that hook, so chill."

"Quit stalling, I'm taking you down right here and now." Nathan readied his wrench.

"Ok, cool, I dig it. But check it, better plan. I grab some nachos, put some Flux Pavilion on the old iPod and you and I cool our hard drives and just veg out for a bit." Chill walked over to a coffe table with two beanbag chairs, an iPod hooked up to a stereo and a bowl of nachos.

"Um, wow, seriously? I mean, your guys out there tried to kill me."

"Oh, sorry about that Nathabrah. They do their thing and I do mine, chill and let chill y'know?"

"Look, you seem cool, but I have to beat you, gotta get rid of the crime here."

"Ohhhhh, you want us to stop all that heisting? Sure, we'll stop. In fact take this diamond to show that we made peace with y'all."

"Uh, really?"

"Micasa sucasa my robo ombré, you seem stressed out anyways." Chill sat down on one of the bean bags and started strumming on his guitar.

"Uh I am far beyond stress, there's this demon I have to fight by singing an-"

"Dude, if ya keep focusin on it you're never gonna calm down. Now kick off those fancy boots and chill for awhile. I got Hoodie Cobra and Bong Raccoon coming over later, we're gonna watch Big Lebowski on my dads flatscreen." Nathan lay back in the other bean bag and sighed happily.

He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. "Wow...that is a nice hook."

"I know right?"

After a moment of silence Nathan asked a question that I think all of us are wondering. "How do you know I'm a robot?"

A few hours later Nathan made his way to his and Sonatas hotel room. "I should visit those guys some time, they seem alright." As he opened the door and closed it he looked around to find the room was only lit but a few candles that were scattered around the room. He felt something grab his shoulder and looked to his side to see Sonata there wearing...AND WE ARE GOING TO LEAVE THEM ALONE FOR NOW!!!

The next day

Nathan walked towards the school with a goofy expression and holding Sonata close. After their...eventful night together, they had both agreed that their relationship should move at a faster pace to make up for the years apart.

"Thanks for last night Nata, it really cheered me up." He said as he kissed her head.

"So I take it that we'll make it a regular thing?" She asked with a sultry gaze.

"I love you so much right now." She stood on her toes and kissed his cheek.

"We gotta make the most of our time here Natty, when we get back to Equestria we won't be able to do anything like that."

"I'm sure I can find a spell or something to turn myself into a pony or something." She wrapped her arms around his waist and held him close as they walked. 'At the rate we're going I'm gonna end up proposing by the end of this...and she knows it too.' He looked at her from the corner of his eye and saw she was deep in thought and allowing him to lead her to the school. He felt a sense of responsibility, like he had to protect her, he always had that instinct around her but now it was stronger. 'Oh God is she...?'

She looked up to him and smiled.

'Oh my God...'

She nodded and tears welled up in her eyes.

"That fast?" He asked in disbelief.

"There is a lot of weird things about siren anatomy, one of thos things being quick pregnancies." He smiled happily and spun her around on the air.

"I'm going to be a dad?!" He asked with hope in his eyes.

"Yep, we're going to be parents!" She replied with tears of joy. Nathan set her down and immediately placed his lips on hers. Then one question came to their minds at the same time.

"What's it going to look like?" They both asked at the same time.

Nightmare watched the couple through a small portal and growled. "Great, now that annoying ranger has offspring." She slammed her fist into the table she was sitting at and turned to Adagio and Aria. "Have you two got any ideas?"

Adagio closed her eyes in thought before smirking. "How about...we use this situation to our advantage?" Nightmare motioned for her to go on. "That ranger has always been protective of those dear to him, now that Sonata is going to bare his child he'll do anything to keep her safe. So what if we kidnapped Sonata and forced him to surrender...or we kill her and his child."

Aria just looked to her sister in shock. She knew Adagio was evil but to actually kill someone, that was going to far, even for her standards. Nightmare rubbed her hands together with anticipation.

"Very good Adagio, very good indeed."

Aria managed to slip away and run out of the building. "I don't care about ruling the world or anything like that, I just want to do what I want when I want. And right now, I want to protect Sonata and my future niece or nephew."

Chapter twelve: A step too far

Twilight and the girls sat in front of the school. "What do you think Nathan needs to talk to us about Twilight?" Asked Sunset.

"I don't know, but he seemed very excited about it." As soon as she said that Nathan appeared with Sonata close to him.

"Hello everyone, I have two very important announcements to make." The girls all leaned forwards. "First off...Sonata and I, are having a baby!" Everyone gasped and immediately went up to hug the two. Twilight had immediately ran over to her friend and looked him in the eye.

"Congratulations Nathan. Looks like your dream will come true after all." The girls all looked to him confused, all except for Sunset and Sonata.

"What dream?" Asked Applejack.

"As you know, in Equestria I am a giant warbot, therefore I don't have any organic body parts, making it impossible for me to have any offspring. I spent a thousand years alone in a small cave, waiting for when I would next be needed. Over that time I had only one thing to do...think. Day in and day out I would think about my life, the world, anything. There was one thing that was on my mind frequently though...the thought of raising a family. It started with a fascination, then a dream, then an obsession. During my time in the cave I would look out into the world from the cave and watch the inhabitants, mainly those with happy families. It soon became a mission in my coding to start a family. And now..." He wrapped an arm around Sonata and smiled warmly. "...I can complete that mission." The girls, even Rainbow, gave 'awww's at the small tale and hugged them once again.

"Wait, you said there was two things that you wanted to tell us. What's the other thing?" Asked Sunset.

"Oh right! I have a plan to take down the Dazzlings!" The group all gasped. "What?" He asked in confusion.

"Why is Aria limping?" Asked Rainbow as she pointed towards an injured Aria. Nathan ran up to her and caught her before she could collapse in the middle of the road.

"Aria, what happened to you?" Nathan looked over her body, she was badly bruised and cut in many places and she appeared to have a sprained ankle and a broken arm.

She coughed and looked to him. "You need...to get...Sonata...somewhere...safe. Nighmare...knows about...the...baby. She's coming...for it." After that Aria fell unconscious, but not dead. Nathan held her bridal style and ran back over to the girls.

"Get her inside and find somewhere safe, take Sonata with you." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny disco ball(1). "If Nightmare or Adagio finds you toss this in the air, it should give you time to escape." He was about to shoot off when Sonata grabbed his arm.

"Wait! What are you going to do?" She asked with worry. He turned around and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"I'm going to do what I should have done two days ago..." He kissed her on the lips and let her go. "...I'm going to go kill Nightmare." With that he began running towards a tall building. 'I'm coming for you, you bitch!'

Nightmare watched as Nathan approached the tower with a burning rage, literally burning. Smoke emitted off of him as he sprinted towards his target. "I should have just killed Aria when I had the chance, but you had to try and stop me, didn't you?" She looked back to an exhausted Adagio that was on her knees breathing heavily with a good amount of injuries.

"I said we'd threaten to kill Sonata, not actually do it. Then you try and kill Aria...that's two of my loved ones you've tried to kill in the span of a day. So if I die here, then I have one thing to say to you...I hope that Nathan swings his wrench right between your legs." Nightmare slapped her with a tendril, knocking her unconscious.

"Foolish girl, I should have just killed you all when I had the chance two days ago." She thought for a moment before smiling evilly. "I won't kill you though. My master could use another breeding sow!" Nightmare laughed like a psychopath before teleporting to where Nathan was. He came to a screeched halt and pulled out his wrench. "If you insist on fighting then let us both battle at our full strength, not in these limited bodies."

With a flash of light Nathan found himself on a large circular platform in a black void, being lit by one large ball of light high in the sky. He looked at himself and saw he was in his ranger body again. Looking around he saw Nightmare start to change. She burst out of the Sonata copy and emerged as a large beast made of a dark purple liquid fog with two glowing yellow circles for eyes. It's body was muscular and it had multiple large tendrils. "Now then, shall we begin?" (we will call it a he now) His voice was now crackled and echoed.

Nathan stared at the beast with an unholy rage. "You threatened my girlfriend...my unborn child...you made a mockery of me by assuming I would fall for such an idiotic trap...you made a mockery of my girlfriend by changing into a crappy recolour of her...and you had the gall to hurt my future sister-in-law!" Nathan's body became black and grey, his eye turned orange and smoke began to emit from him. "I WILL MAKE SURE YOU CAN NEVER HARM ANYONE DEAR TO ME!!!" Blood red fire exploded from his body, outlining him and his power increased by rapidly. "I WILL PROTECT MY FRIENDS!!!"

Nightmare twitched in anticipation. "Ah, so this is what you used to drive back Jack of Blades when he entered your world! Very well, let us begin!"

Chapter thirteen: Battle of giants and meeting the twins

Equestria

Thane and the other Rangers were saying their goodbyes to Krystal as she was about to leave for Ponyville when they all shuddered as a long forgotten feeling made its way into their bodies. They felt an unbalance, a dark power and at the centre was Nathan in what they had called 'Devil Mode.'

"Oh no..." Katie muttered as she brought up a screen. "Please don't do this again Nathan!" They all gathered around the screen and looked at their former weapons specialist in horror. The blood red fire that outlined his now black and grey amoured body bringing memories of what had caused him to achieve that mode.

"What made him go berserk this time?" Asked Zane as Katie swiped the screen backwards, playing the events that had transpired before Nathan had activated his Devil Mode.

"He's dating that siren?" Asked Krystal with a hint of disbelief in her voice. "More importantly...HE'S HAVING A KID WITH THAT SIREN!?!?"

"Calm down Krystal, there are more important matters at hand here. Like why Nathan would even consider returning to that form." Snapped Thane.

"Maybe it's because it was a danger to Twilight?" Suggested Katie.

"Maybe it was going to come kill us?" Guessed Krystal.

"Whatever the reason he shouldn't have returned to that form at any cost." Said Thane in an authoritative tone. At this point, Zane had had enough with his brothers attitude and think headedness.

"It's because that...thing, threatened his significant other and unborn child you idiot!" Yelled Zane, causing everyone to look at him in shock.

"Zane, what t-"

"No Thane! I have had enough of this fake persona you have! Why can't you just accept the fact that Nathan left the squad because you refused to listen!? He didn't 'betray' you or any of us! He was protecting the natural order of this world! Then there's you! You act the strong leader when you can't even admit you feel guilty about Nathan leaving because you refused to listen to him!"

Thane was taken back by his brothers words, never before had he seen Zane angry or hear him raise his voice. "Zane I..." He sighed and turned to the screen, watching the battle his cousin was fighting.

Nathan held up his cannon and charged up a large energy ball. He swiped the cannon and five energy balls appeared in front of him and shot orange beams at Nightmare, hitting him head on. Nathan then charged forward and slammed his fist into Nightmares face, sending a huge wave of energy with the punch.

Nightmare staggered before launching multiple huge tendrils at the warbot. Nathan quickly batted them away with punches if blinding speeds. He then charged another energy ball before leaping into the air and throwing it to the ground, causing a compressed nuclear explosion that was contained by a small energy field. He then fell down onto the injured Nightmare and stomped him with his giant feet.

Nightmare grabbed Nathan by the arm and started slamming him into the ground multiple times before summoning a large ball of dark magic and bringing it down onto the warbot. Nathan leapt out of the blast and pulled out the RYNO V which now was jet black and the gun mussels were seeping red mist. He aimed at Nightmare and pulled the trigger, sending a huge wave of glowing red bullets and missiles at his opponent.

Nightmare staggered before charging the warbot. The then began a battle of strength as they each tried to push the other over the edge of the platform. Their hands were interlocked, but with one of Nathan's arms being a cannon he could still attack. He fired a beam into Nightmares palm and smacked him across the face with it. He then held the monster down and rapidly shot him in the chest with powerful lasers.

Nightmare roared and pushed Nathan off of him, he then leapt to the edge of the platform and began charging one last final attack in the form of a huge ball of dark energy and it only continued to grow. "SAY GOODBYE TO ALL YOU HOLD DEAR WARBOT!!! BECAUSE ONCE I FINISH YOU I'M GOING STRAIGHT AFTER YOUR PARTNER AND CHILD!!!"

This only added more wood the the bonfire that was Nathan's rage, which in turn increased his power. He then placed his hand over his cannon mussel and started charging his own attack. The two stared each other down before launching huge lasers at the other which collided and started forming a ball of conflicting energies. The two poured more and more energy into their attacks.

Nathan closed his eyes and started to look deep for any emotional connection he could find. 'Sonata...Twilight...Sunset...Celestia...Luna...Girls...Zane...Krystal...Katie...Thane...Solid...Starswirl...My Child...Scorpan...I will protect you and your memory!' His fire burner brighter and he began walking towards Nightmare slowly, pushing the ball of energy towards his foe as he went. 'I will protect what I have...I've lost too much already...I will not allow a repeat of the golden suits incident!'

Three streams of red energy shot out of Nathan's back and added to his attack. "NO!!! How are you this powerful all of a sudden?!?!"

Nathan stared at him. "Memories." With one final push Nathan launched his attack forward and the ball of conflicting energies swallowed Nightmare.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" The energy started destroying Nightmare, turning him into purple mist. The energy ball exploded. Nathan fell to his knees and the Devil Mode deactivated. He looked up to see the two types of energies absorbing the purple mist. The energies turned blue and yellow. Both separated and formed two small figures.

The glowing figures gently floated to the ground and lay on their sides. The glow died down and revealed two small children. One was a boy with bright yellow hair, three freckles under each golden eye, he was wearing a yellow jacket, yellow jeans and yellow sneakers, he looked no more than nine years old. The other was a girl with long sapphire blue hair and eyes. She wore a small blue dress with patterns of white flowers and wore blue slippers. Again only looking around nine years old.

"What in the world?" Nathan sat down and watched the two carefully as they slowly sat up. They rubbed their eyes and yawned. They looked around confused before laying eyes on him. He was about to say hi when he was asked a question that he did not expect to hear.

"Daddy?"

He was completely taken back by what the little girl had said.

"Are you our daddy?"

He heard the sound of a portal opening and turned around to see Roden walking to him. The children noticed Roden and ran behind Nathan to hide. "Roden, do you know something about this?"

Roden sighed and nodded. "I do. When a Nightmare is destroyed it turns into purple mist and then into a small purple orb. With that blast of two opposite energies separating, the life force of the Nightmare was absorbed by the two energies and gave life to two new beings, created from your energy. The girl is made from your negative energy, and the boy is positive. They are your children now."

Nathan couldn't form words. He turned back to look at the children who were hugging his back for protection. "It's alright little ones, he's a friend." He said in a slightly unsure voice. The two trusted his word and walked around and sat in Nathan's lap. Roden looked up to Nathan and nodded.

"Take good care of them, I have altered a few things so that they recognise Sonata as their mother, they can turn into ponies, humans or rangers. I must be going now." With that Roden stepped through a portal, leaving Nathan to get familiar with the two children.

"Hello there little ones, what are your names?" He asked in a calm soothing voice. The girl looked up to him and smiled softly.

"I'm Sapphire."

Nathan looked to the boy who was twiddling his thumbs.

"Um...I'm...Lyric."

"Well then, it's lovely to meet you children."

"It's nice to meet you too daddy." Sapphire walked up to his eye and hugged it, Lyric following his sister's actions. Nathan felt a great sense of pride and fulfilment with them calling him their father. He put his hand up to them and held them close.

"Come on, let's go see mommy." Both of the children smiled as Nathan led them through a portal. 'Looks like the baby will have some older siblings to play with.'

Chapter fourteen: Homebound

Nathan had returned to his human form, Lyric and Sapphire at his side holding his hands. He looked down at them and smiled, he had noticed a few things about them as they walked down the street. Lyric seemed to be extremely shy, while Sapphire seemed to be more open, she was still shy though, after all the two of them were only born. He also noticed a soft glow came from their hairs and clothes.

"Daddy?" He looked to Sapphire who was looking at him with curiosity.

"Yes Sapphire?"

"Why did you change?"

He looked at her and tried to for the words. "Well, this is what the people of this world look like, when we get to our world I will change back."

"Do we have to change?" Asked Lyric.

"Not if you don't want to son, you can stay this way, turn into a pony or look like me when we get back."

"I don't want to change." Lyric mumbled quietly. Nathan pulled him close to reassure him, earning a small smile from the boy.

"Daddy, are we going to see mommy?"

"Yes Sapphire, we're going to go get mommy and then we're going home."

"Is mommy pretty?" Nathan smiled warmly at her question.

"Yes, she is very pretty." As they turned the last corner they began walking straight for the front of Canterlot High where the girls, Aria and Adagio were sitting. Sunset noticed Nathan walking towards them and alerted everyone. Once he reached the statue the twins hid behind him.

"Nathan! We were so worried." Sonata took him into a warm hug and kissed him on the lips. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Sapphire peeking under Nathan's arm. "Who's that?" Nathan smiled warmly and turned to the twins.

"It's ok, they're all daddy's friends." They looked at each other and looked back at him with unsure looks. "It's ok, I promise." He walked behind them and placed his hands on their shoulders to reassure them. "Everyone, this is Sapphire and Lyric, my children." They all gasped.

"But how?" Asked Sunset.

"After I defeated Nightmare I was rewarded with these two, they're created from my positive and negative energies." He looked up to Sonata. "Looks like Junior will have some playmates." Sonata looked to the two children in shock.

"Mommy?" Sonata placed a hand to her chest in disbelief.

"Yes Sonata, they recognise you as their mother." Nathan pushed the twins gently towards her with a smile.

Sonata got on her knees and looked at the two children.

"Mommy?" Sonata started to tear up and nodded, she opened her arms and the twins rushed into them.

Nathan stood up and looked at the sweet sight before him. The sense of fulfilment returned at seeing the complete family, with another member on the way. He joined in on the hug and kissed Sonata. The girls all looked at the new family with soft smiles on their faces.

"Well then girls, looks like it's time for us to go." Twilight hugged the human five and Sunset, she then looked to Aria and Adagio. "So, what do you two have planned then?"

"We'll just stay at Canterlot High and try to blend in with the crowd, try and live normal lives for once." Adagio answered with a honest smile, earning a nod from Aria.

Sonata got up and walked over to her sisters. "I'll try to visit as much as I can." They hugged and Aria ruffled her hair.

"Just get going you goofball." Sonata smiled and walked back over to the twins. Nathan then walked over to Sunset.

"Make sure Adagio and Aria get settled in ok, I'll keep in touch through the book in Equestria." They hugged and Nathan walked over to the portal. Twilight waved goodbye and walked through the portal with Spike. Sonata waved back and walked through with the twins. As Nathan was about to walk into the portal he turned back. "Good luck in the Frienship Games." With that he leaped through the portal.

When Sonata had exited the portal she had pink see-through wings and her hooves were shaded pink as well, her mane was flat and was missing her ponytail. The twins had remained the same, they sat with Twilight as they waited for Nathan to come through the portal. They had cleared the way for his size as they weren't sure if he would be shrunken by Twilights spell or if he'd come out full size. After a few seconds the portal glowed and a glowing white blog was at out of it. The blob then grew and formed Nathan in his ranger body. "Ok...that was a terrible experience."

He shrunk down to his smallest size and looked to his family. "Looking good Sonata." She smiled and flew up to rest on his shoulder. He turned to the twins. "Well Sapphire and Lyric, welcome to your new home." Sapphire looked around the large library in wonder while Lyric walked over and sat beside his father, looking around in caution. 'He's extremely shy, he'll get better over time...I hope." Nathan set his hand down in front of Lyric and the boy climbed into it.

"I'll go set up one of the guest rooms for the twins." Twilight said, leaving the family alone for awhile. Nathan watched as Sapphire walked around and looked at the stacks of books, occasionally stopping to look at a few covers. She looked around for a bit before taking two books and holding them under her arm.

"Will Twilight mind if I took these books to read?"

"I'm sure she'll let you borrow them for awhile, as long as you give them back when you're done." He answered in a soft but stern voice.

"Ok daddy." Nathan moved his attention to Lyric who had found some sort of amulet. It was purple with a white gem in the shape of a four pointed star in the medallion.

"Lyric, where did you get that?"

"The green man gave it to me...he said it was for you when we got here." Lyric gave his father the amulet before walking off to join his sister in the hunt for a book to read.

'Green man? Must be talking about Roden.' Nathan held the amulet up to his eye to inspect it. "What is this thing?" He took a chance and focused some energy onto it. Sure enough there was a flash of light and he started to change. When the light died down Nathan was now a tall white earth pony stallion with a thin waist and small mussel. His cutie-mark was a bullet with purple fire. His eyes were dark purple and his mane was spiky and also purple. His hooves were solid black and he wore the amulet around his neck. He got up and placed a hoof to his head.

Sonata glided down and looked over her partners body. "Well, looks like we've solved that problem." She walked over and put a hoof to his cheek. "You alright there handsome?" He looked at her and smirked.

"Never better." Just then a note floated down and he caught it in his hoof.

Dear Nathan

The amulet you are wearing can transform you into your human, ranger and pony form at will. When you are in ranger mode it will appear as a gadget in your inventory, as a human it with be a bracelet and as a pony it will be an amulet. When in pony form you can change into an earth pony, Pegasus or unicorn depending on what you need, you cannot however turn into an alicorn.

Sincerely, Roden Godswell

Nathan smirked at the letter. "That magnificent bastard." He handed the letter to Sonata, once she read it she looked at him with a sly look. "What's that look for?"

"Oh you know perfectly well what it's for." She passionately kissed him and looked at him with half lidded eyes.

"Can you at least wait until the kids are asleep first, don't want them seeing anything." She rolled her eyes and Twilight walked into the room. She froze when she saw Nathan's new form. "See something you like?" Twilight snapped out of her trance and starred daggers at him.

"The guest rooms are ready, there's one for the twins and your room has been converted to suit Sonata being there." Nathan smiled and walked over to nuzzle Twilight.

"Thank you Twi, I appreciate it." Her features softened and she rolled her eyes.

"Ok ok, don't you go soft on me."

"I'm a dad now, I'm probably going to change a little bit." Sonata walked to his side and called the twins. "Hey Twi, the twins were wondering if they could borrow a few books to read. That ok with you?"

"Sure it is, just make sure they aren't damaged." Nathan nodded and the twins came back, Sapphire had five books in her hands while Lyric had one book on magical places in Equestria.

"Alright you two, let's get you into bed." They both nodded, not questioning their fathers new form and they follow ed Twilight to their rooms. Sonata waited at the door while Nathan tucked the two into their own separate beds in their plain room, he'd get them new bed covers and some furniture later. He kissed the, goodnight before blowing out the candle that lit the room and closed the curtains.

He and Sonata then walked to their room. As Nathan closed the door he turned and saw Sonata laying across the bed with a 'come hither' look. He smiled and walked over to her.

Chapter fifteen: A new mission

Krystal stood at the door of the Castle of Friendship the next morning. She had wanted to make sure that Nathan was OK after activating Devil Mode the previous day. She wasn't able to view the rest of the battle as she had a train to catch, so she was going to find out what had happened. She knocked on the door and stood back, soon heavy footsteps could be heard and the door opened revealing Nathan at a semi-medium size.

"Oh, Krystal, hi." Nathan shrank to his normal size and stepped out closing the door. "What brings you by?"

She sighed and looked up at him. "I left Phoenix." Nathan just stared at her in silence, not expecting something like this first thing in the morning.

"Oh...well, come on in. We're just sitting down to breakfast, we can talk more inside." He held the door open for her. She thanked him and walked with him to the dining room. "Take a seat, I'm just going to go wake up the twins." She looked at him confused as he walked out. As he reached the door Sonata fluttered up to him and planted a kiss on his eye. "Good morning Nata. I'll be back in a second, we have a guest." Sonata looked over Nathan's shoulder and noticed Krystal.

"Oh, Krystal. I haven't seen you in centuries." She flew over and sat opposite her.

"It's good to see you too Sonata, congratulations on the baby by the way."

"Thanks, I'm really excited about it. I know Nathan is too, although we have some other members of the family now." Sonata said with a smile.

"What do you mean?" Krystal tilted her eye in confusion.

"Come on Sapphire, your brother is up and ready. We're waiting on you." The two of them heard Nathan say from down the hall.

"Five more minutes..." A soft feminine voice complained.

"That's what you said five minutes ago, come on."

"Do I have to?"

"That's it, dragging you out." The was a few giggles and multiple protests from the small voice until heavy footsteps could be heard. "Sorry about that Krystal, someone didn't want to get up this morning." Krystal looked to the two children, one was on his shoulder while the other was in Nathan's closed hand with a grumpy look on her face. "Krystal, meet Sapphire and Lyric."

"Um...hi."

"Hello."

Krystal just looked at Nathan in question. "They're my kids." He explained. This just caused more confusion, Nathan then explained what had happened with the battle against Nightmare and what had happened after. "Sonata, could you go get the twins some breakfast, I need to talk to Krystal in private for a moment." Sonata nodded and led the kids out of the room. Nathan changed to his human form and sat down opposite Krystal.

"Didn't take you for a family man Nathan, I'm honestly surprised."

"A lot can happen over a full millennium." His smile faltered and he leaned back in his chair. "So, what happened with Phoenix?"

Krystal sighed and looked to the table. "I just couldn't put up with Thane and his fake attitude anymore. You don't know it but Zane, Katie and I were watching when you were at the bonfire. We've been watching ever since you moved to Ponyville. You looked like you had found happiness in this town, so I thought I could find that happiness too." Nathan placed a finger to his chin in thought.

"That makes sense I suppose, but what do you plan to do here exactly? I'm sure I can find room to put your capsule into in the castle, but what do you plan to do in your own time?"

"I figured I'd just let life take its course, maybe fight some creatures in the Everfree to earn bolts for weapons. You must have a ton after beating that Nightmare thing."

"Yeah, nearly a million." There was a moment of silence before a letter appeared in front of Nathan. "A letter from Celestia?" He took the scroll and undid the seal, reading over it his smile returned. "So that's it."

"What?" Nathan changed back into his ranger form and made his way to the door.

"Got our first mission from Celestia. Just for me and you... And the twins, can't leave them here with just Sonata, gotta let her get settled in."

Krystal got out of her chair and followed him to the kitchen where Sonata and the twins were eating waffles.

"Get your stuff together kids, we're going sailing!" Sonata just looked at him with a raised brow. "We're going to the land of behemoths, we got a mission from Celestia. Thought I'd give the twins an adventure while you settle in." Sonata smiled at her partner.

"Ok, but I don't want them coming back with a giant pet centaur."

"Fine, I promise it won't be bigger than a kraken." Sonata shook her head and flew up to him to kiss his eye.

"No pets. When you get back we'll talk about it." Nathan nodded and the twins finished their meals.

"Alright, let's go pay your uncle Scorpan a visit."

Nathan and Katie began walking towards the shores of Equestria, with Sapphire and Lyric riding behind Nathan's eye. Celestia had arranged a ship to cross the ocean separating Equestria from the land of behemoths.

"So Nathan, mind explaining to me what we are going to do when we get there?"

"I figured I'd pay a visit to Scorpan and see how he's doing. After that we get on with the mission."

"And what is that mission?" Nathan's composure became hostile.

"The Maniacs emblem has been spotted in the countries near the land of behemoths, we have to go investigate."

Chapter sixteen: Smooth sailing

Meanwhile in the land of behemoths

A man in a dark purple tailcoat, dress pants and a top hat looked through a liquid screen as Nathan, Krystal and the twins reached the ports of Equestria. The mans hair was messy and golden while his eyes were pure white and his teeth were razor sharp, giving a Cheshire Cat kind of smile. His focus was on the twins as he twirled his black cane and tapped his black leather shoes.

"Well well well, looks like our favourite tin man has a few brats now." He gave an evil chuckle before turning to a group of shadowy figures. "What do you all make of this my fellow Maniacs?" He asked while leaning on his cane.

"I think we could use this to our advantage." A slim cloaked figure stated as his two golden eyes pierced through the shadow that his hood created over his face.

"Oh and what makes you think that Carnage?" The man asked while pacing back and fourth on the red stone table that the he group had been sitting at.

"From what we can tell those children are still developing in their minds, if we can convince them that their father is evil and that we are good, we can have them turn on him."

"And he wouldn't fight back because he would never want to harm his own brats!" The man applauded his colleagues plan. "Very good Carnage, now, how do you suggest we go about this?" Asked the man as his body bent in a 90 degree angle in front of Carnage.

"Well Hack, I was thinking that you and Psychopath could draw Nathan's attention away from our base while Mist kidnaps the children, then leave the rest to me." Hack smiled so hard Pinkie would be jealous,

"Very well, come along Psychopath." A tall muscular cloaked figure stood up and followed Hack out of the liar.

Nathan sat on top of the mast of the large ship in his human form. He stared up at the sky as the waves rocked the ship gently back and forth. He looked down and saw Sapphire and Lyric playing pirate with some of the ships crew, Sapphire had won them over in mere minutes and had them catering to her every whim. Chuckling at his daughters antics he turned to see Krystal tinkering with a Mr Zurkon robot. He watched as she dismantled it completely along with a few agents of doom(1) began building another small robot.

Shrugging Nathan went back to cloud watching.

After a few more minutes he got bored and hopped down to the deck. Switching to his pony form, which had attracted a few of the mates on boards attention, he made his way over to where his children were playing.

"Fire the cannon!" Chuckling at Sapphire he was about to pull out his Gravity Bomb launcher to give her some form of cannon he was surprised to hear somethings being launched. Walking over he saw that Sapphire had in her arms his Negotiator, looking in his inventory his weapon had indeed been taken by the little psychopath.

"Sapphire, how did you get my gun?" He asked walking over to her.

"When we were riding behind your head on the way to the boat I got bored and looked around your storage unit, I only took the one gun though." She pulled the trigger on the rocket launcher and blew up a nearby rock.

"Ok, I'm happy you're using some weaponry and all, but you should have asked me first." He stated in a firm voice, causing her smile to falter.

"Sorry daddy." She picked up the gun and handed it back to her father.

"It's ok sweetheart, you just wanted to blow something up."

"It is fun."

"I know right? Anyway, if you wanted a gun so bad, I'm sure I can find one best suited to you." Sapphire beamed with a huge smile. Nathan laughed and ruffled her hair. Changing to his human form he began looking through his inventories. As he reached the end he frowned. "Hold on a second." Pulling out the Gadgetron vendor he looked through the selection until he came across the perfect weapon for his daughter. Clicking the purchase button the weapon made its way into his inventory. Packing the vendor away he pulled out the Telsa Claw.

"Here, this should do nicely for your first weapon." He handed the claw to her and she looked at it confused, looking for a grip. "You wear it like a glove, slide it onto your right hand." Doing as instructed, Sapphire put on the claw and smiled. Nathan then set an apple on a barrel. "Ok, give it a shot... and try not to hit the barrel or I have to pay for it." Nodding Sapphire pointed the claw at the apple and pulled a trigger on the inside. A steady stream of electricity shot out and zapped the apple, causing to cook then explode.

"This gun is perfect! But it's got limited ammo..." Nathan patted her back and opened up the vendor again.

"There, any time you run out of ammo it'll automatically refill as long as there are bolts in my account, that should take care of it since a full clip in that thing costs like a hundred bolts at most." Sapphire smiled and hugged him.

"Thank you daddy." Nathan always felt a sense of pride and fulfilment whenever Sapphire or Lyric called him that.

"No problem Sapphire, just don't go around randomly zapping people, ponies or whatever other creature you come across... unless they're evil then go nuts." As Sapphire ran off to find something to test her new weapon on Nathan turned around and saw Lyric sitting on a small crate reading a children's book. Nathan pulled up another box and sat down beside his son. "Hey son, how're you doing?" Nathan placed a hand on his sons back and gave the timid boy a comforting smile.

"Um, I'm feeling fine... thanks for asking daddy." Nathan had already figured out Sapphire and Lyrics personalities. Lyric was the shy and quiet one, while Sapphire was the adventurous and loud one. As he thought about it he realised they really did represent two parts of his being, Sapphire being the mask that he puts on to act strong and Lyric being what he really was on the inside.

"Want me to read this to you, maybe help you sound out a few words you have trouble with?" Lyric nodded and handed his father the book. Nathan lifted him into his lap and began reading the book to his timid son, making sure to make him feel safe with a soothing voice.

Meanwhile Krystal had been watching him interact with his children. "Those two are going to do him wonders, maybe someday they'll help him break out of the shell he's formed." With that she went back to building her own little robot.

Chapter seventeen: Old friends

Nathan, Krystal, Lyric and Sapphire looked up at the vast red mountain ranges that they had come face to face with. Nathan looked around and took in a breath of air. "Ahhhh, I've missed this place." He stepped a bit away from the group and started to grow until he was the size of the fully grown Tirek.

"Why'd you need to grow?" Krystal asked as the group walked onto Nathan's open hand.

"It's easier to traverse the rough terrain at the size, this is a country that houses Gaia's largest beings, hence the name." He set them all behind his eye and started walking. "We're stopping by Scorpan first then we move on to investigating the Maniac sightings." Nathan walked over what was a hill to him but a mountain to the rest of the group effortlessly. Lyric sat comfortably between two large wires that emitted a soft wave of heat while reading his children's book. Sapphire was using her modified Telsa Claw to zap small critters to pass the time, the modifications added a larger range of fire and conserved ammo. Krystal continued to tinker with her soon to be robot companion. "Hey Krystal, whatcha building this time?" Nathan asked as he moved a house sized boulder out of his way.

"Well, I've been wanting to try building a robot for some time now, figured I'd try building my own version of Clank before moving onto bigger machines." Nathan chuckled, ever since the day that Krystal had gained access to her hidden programming that gave her vast knowledge on tech and sciences she had been working on small projects like this one.

A half hour later Nathan walked to the top of a large mountain and looked down at the land bellow.

The many gigantic creatures that housed the mountains that they had created and turned into homes walked about with their daily routines. Things were peaceful with the village of Giants, no one disturbed their lands or territories other than a few passing travelers or explorers, even then they mainly avoided the behemoths that populated the land. One giant half snake/ half bear looked to the ground and spotted a shadow in the shape of a familiar figure. Looking up at the mountain that separated the village from the wastelands he spotted the giant silhouette of Nathan standing at the top of it, the sun rising behind him.

The snake/bear smiled and rushed towards the tallest mountain, home to Scorpan, the King of the land of behemoths. He entered through the large entrance and stopped as he reached the room that Scorpan was currently resting in. "Sire!" Scorpan sat up at the sound of his friend.

"Yes Talonor?"

"Sire, 'he' has returned." Scorpan smiled at this and got to his feet.

"Well then, I should go greet him then shouldn't I?" Talonor led Scorpan out of the cave and pointed to the silhouette on the mountain. Scorpan squinted his eyes and chuckled. "He certainly knows how to be dramatic about these things doesn't he?"

Spotting his old friend Nathan slid down the mountain on his feet, jumping before reaching the end and landing while skidding to a halt.

"Nathan my friend!" Nathan chuckled at his name being called and turned to the approaching Scorpan.

"Scorpan old buddy!" The two entered a strong hug that was also a test of strength. "I missed you."

"As did I you, it has been far too long since our last encounter. I wish we had parted on better terms though." The two separated and Nathan placed his hand onto his friends shoulder.

"Hey, what your brother did is not your fault. Be glad you realised the beauty in Equestria before you did something that I would have to beat you for." Scorpan chuckled and grabbed Nathan's hand in a firm respectful grip.

"You always know what to say, I am surprised the females are not throwing themselves at your feet yet." Both looked over to the female giants who were whistling innocently.

"Well I'm glad they aren't, I managed to find my soulmate and she is already with child." Krystal was confused at this news, and the way he was speaking.

"Is that so? Well then congratulations are in order. I wish for your young to be born with great health. Tell me, who is the one that managed to steal your heart of metal?" Scorpan asked, wrapping an arm around Nathan's shoulder.

"One of the sirens, Sonata Dusk. It is quiet the tale, it actually took place in another world where the sirens had been banished."

"It sounds as if this will take an entire feast to tell the full tale." Nathan laughed.

"Always with the food Scorpan, soon you will lose your prime if you continue to eat so much." Scorpan looked to his stomach and patted it, causing every giant present to start laughing.

"You are lucky that you're one of my spirit brothers, or else I would have tore you apart centuries ago." Scorpan said as he patted Nathan on the back. "Come, we must celebrate your return. I trust you will be staying for longer than last time?"

"It seems to be that way, I am actually here on a mission from Princess Solena herself." Scorpans smile faltered.

"What has happened now?" He asked.

Nathan sighed. "There has been reported Maniac sightings in the lands near here."

"That is not proof enough that those monsters have returned."

"Tirek had the emblem on his arm Scorpan." The giant froze and looked to his necklace that he his mother hand made for him and his brother.

"I see..." Nathan placed a hand on Scorpans back to reassure him.

"Don't worry, we won't let another incident like what happened with your father ever come to play again."

"We?" Nathan reached behind his eye and pulled out the three passengers. Scorpan looked down at the tiny figures.

"Yes, we. Your remember Krystal don't you?" Nathan asked.

"How could I forget, she aided you and I in the battle against my foolish brother. I do not however recognise the two children." Lyric cowered slightly while Sapphire looked up in awe.

"Well let me introduce you. Scorpan, these are my children, Sapphire and Lyric. Kids, this is your uncle Scorpan."

Scorpan just looked to Nathan confused and raised a finger. "I have several questions."

Chapter eighteen: Fun and Gun

A large beam of energy shot towards a mountain, causing it to crumble. Hack sprinted away from the barrage of gunfire as Nathan chased him down in a mighty rage while firing the RYNO V. Switching to his lava gun he sent a wave of the molten rock at the fleeing Maniac. "Where did you take them?!" He reached down and grabbed Hack in his hand, bringing him up to his eye.

"Whatever do you mean?" Hack asked sarcastically while grinning.

"You know damn well what I mean, where the hell did you take my children?!" Nathan smashed him into the ground and held him back up. "Tell me or I'm tossing you into the magazine of the lava gun!" Nathans purple eye turned red and his voice was filled to the brim with pure rage.

"Sorry, I can't remember." Nathan roared and repeatedly smashed him into the ground before unloading a full clip of RYNO V ammo into him (2500 bullets and rockets to be exact, yeah, that's the kind of weaponry that you find in Ratchet and Clank).

"I am going to ask one more time... Where... THE FUCK... Did you take my children?!" Hack shakily got to his feet with a weak smile.

"I'll answer your question with a question... What's the last thing you'd expect to see me use?" Nathan looked at him confused.

"I gun I guess?"

"Right on the money." Hack pulled out a huge cannon and blasted Nathan off his feet and he landed on his back, causing the ground to shake under his huge weight. Scorpan rushed over to Hack and knocked him towards a mountain.

"Are you alright Nathan?" Scorpan asked, helping the large robot to his feet.

"Yeah." Nathan dusted himself off and aimed his arm cannon towards the direction of Hack. "What the hell took you so long?" He charged up a large ball of energy and shot it, causing a huge purple mushroom cloud as it hit its target.

"I was dealing with his goons with Krystal, any luck finding your children?" Nathan shook his head.

"I should never have kept my eyes off them, especially here. I don't even know why I brought them somewhere so dangerous." He placed his face in his hand and shot another blast at Hack.

"OWWW!!! QUIT IT!!!" He was met with another blast.

"Let's just finish him off and get back to finding the kids." Scorpan nodded, charging his own ball of energy as well. As they were about to fire they saw a flag with the Maniacs emblem on it where Hack should have been. "The hell?"

"Yoohoo!" Both of them turned to see Hack standing at the top of a mountain twirling his cane. "I hate to run like this but I have some important things to attend to, if you survive this please come visit our hideout if you can find it!" Pointing his cane towards the two a huge wave of force threw them backwards. Then a huge creature made of rock emerged and roared.

Nathan and Scorpan looked to each other and nodded. Nathan cocked his arm cannon and Scorpan opened his claws.

Sapphire and Lyric were running down a vast hallway in the Maniacs hideout, trying desperately the find a way out. Sapphire ran in front, pulling Lyric as they fled from Psychopath, a tall muscular figure in a black cloak. Sapphire turned around, equipped her Telsa Claw and fired a steady stream of electricity at their pursuer. Psychopath stopped and put his red scaly arms up to defend against the beam. Taking advantage of this Sapphire grabbed Lyric and turned a corner at a connecting hallway.

Running into a random door she quietly shut it and listened to Psycopath growling in confusion as he tried to figure out where the two children had gone to. Walking down the wrong hallway his footsteps became fainter until they were only distant clinks. Breathing a sigh of relief Sapphire turned to her brother. "You ok there bro?"

Lyric looked over himself and nodded.

"Good, I think we can hide in here until dad comes to find us. We just need to stay quiet and they won't find us."

"It's too late for that." Both froze as Carnage lit an oil lamp, brightening up the lab within. Both children looked up at the tall cloaked figure in fear. "Now now, no need to be scared if me. I just want to have a little chat with you." Both looked at him with cautious looks. "I'm sorry if my associate out there frightened you, here, have a drink of chocolate milk." Carnage motioned to two stools on the opposite side of the table he was sitting at with two glasses of brown liquid sitting waiting for them.

"Well... I am kinda thirsty." Both children climbed up the stools and sat sipping their chocolate milk.

"Thank you. Now, let me ask you a question." Both looked at him with confusion. "What do you think your father is?"

Sapphire raised a brow. "He's a robot, duh."

Carnage shook his head. "I know that, what I meant is, what is he inside that metal shell?"

Lyric and Sapphire looked to him confused. "I don't get it."

"You don't need to." Just then Carnage was blasted by a small wave of fire bullets. Looking over the twins saw a tall, thin young woman with long rose red hair, a red long sleeved shirt with two black stripes across the chest. She also wore a pair of black skinny jeans and red shoes. She held in one hand a gun with two barrels.

He ruby eyes looked down at the twins as she smiled. "Hi there."

"Who're you?" The woman kneeled down and looked Lyric in the eyes.

"My name is Ruby, I'm your sister."

Chapter twenty: Reunion

Blasting there way out of the underground base the group reached the outside, where a large group of enemies ranging from symbiotes to crystal-like wolves was waiting for them. Ruby picked up Sapphire and Lyric, allowing Metal to stand. Metal looked out at the horde of the creatures and snarled. "Pathetic." Ruby brought the twins behind cover as Metals body glowed red. "Chaos... Blast!"

A huge red explosion of fire and energy swept across the horde, destroying every last one of them. As the fire dispersed, Metal found himself out of breath.

"Always takes... too much energy... to do that." He retracted his spikes again and the twins got back on. "Come on, it's a clear shot from here to the village."

As they were about to take a step they froze at who they saw. Hack Wonder was standing a few feet away from them twirling his cane. "Well well, what have we here?" He looked Ruby over and smirked. "Another of that annoying ranger's young, you don't look like you're from around here."

Ruby smirked and pulled out her wrench. "You could say that, I'm not really from this moment in time."

"Say what now?" As Hack was distracted by her words Ruby smirked and swung her wrench like a boomerang, hitting Hack in the face. It came right back to her and she repeatedly threw it back.

"Get them out of her Metal, I'll deal with tophat here."

Metal nodded and began running away from the battle. "You come back to me, you hear?" He said before he took off.

Hack regained his bearings and held his jaw. "Y'know somethin? I was in a really good mood today, until you showed up and nailed me in the fucking nose with that oversized can opener!" The ground shook and Hack started to seep dark red mist. "I'll kill you and then go right after those little brats!"

Ruby's smirk faded into a frown and she glared at her opponent, pulling out her RYNO VII. "Threaten me, I'll laugh it off, threaten my friends, I'm pissed, threaten my family..." She readied the gun and aimed it at Hack. "... then you better be fucking praying for mercy."

"Bring it on." They glared each other before charging forward.

Nathan ran with Krystal on his shoulder through the thick forest that surrounded the villiage. "You sure you picked up a signal Krystal?"

The blocky ranger nodded. "I definitely picked up a surge of strange energy coming from this direction, and the source is approaching us a few hundred feet ahead." Nathan came to a screeching halt as he heard his children calling him.

"Dad!"

"Over here!"

He continued by walking until he came across Sapphire and Lyric in a clearing with Metal. He set Krystal on the ground and immediately turned to his human form, rushing over to his children. They ran to him and he brought them into a tight protective hug. "Oh thank God you're safe." He kissed ther heads and held them close. "I am never letting you two out of my sight again. If I let something like this happen again your mother would kill me." He pulled away and started looking them over. "Are you two ok, did they hurt you?"

"We're fine dad, Ruby and Wolfy saved us." Sapphire pointed to Metal who was sitting like a wolf, watching the family with a strange look in his eye.

"Another displaced?" Nathan got up and walked over to the metal hedgehog. "Who are you?"

"I am Metal Sonic, and yes, I am a displaced."

Nathan just looked him over. "What the hell happened to you?"

"It's a long story, I'll just say that I got a taste of something called Apocalypse Magic back on my world." Nathan nodded and looked back to his kids. "Um, could you tell your daughter to stop calling me Wolfy please? It's kind of embarrassing."

"Sorry, once she gives a nickname to someone there is no escaping it."

Metal facepalmed and looked in the direction of the ongoing battle. "The Maniacs hideout is up there, as well as my friend who is currently fighting their leader, I suggest you go and assist her, I'll guard your kids."

While hesitant to leave his children again he knew they'd be safe with Krystal and this newcomer. "Alright, I've been meaning to get even with Hack Wonder anyways." He changed to his pony form, specifically his Pegasus mode. He took to the skies and flew to the battle, getting a great view of the intense struggle below.

Ruby was blasting Hack with everything she had, holding down the triggers of the RYNO VII and her lancer with an extreme glare. Hack disappeared into a puff of smoke and fled the area. A large amount of mist clouds left the cave leading into the hideout and followed Hack. Nathan pulled out the suck cannon and tried to pull them in with the vortex, but they were too far out of range. Growling at the fact he let his sworn enemies slip away he all but crushed the grip on his weapon.

Looking down at the girl below he turned into his ranger form in mid air and landed in front of the Ruby who looked up at his massive size in awe, with a few tears in her eyes at the sight of him. "You there, what is your name?"

Ruby struggled to hold back her tears of joy as she looked him over. "M-My name is... Ruby."

Nathan looked down at her and noticed her tears. "Why are you crying?"

She slowly started walking towards him. "I was told so many stories, about your appearance, your capabilities, your adventures and the love you had for your children. After all these years in that sanctuary, I finally get to see you alive, in person." Nathan watched as she walked right up to his eye and let a few tears roll down her cheek. "I finally get to meet you... Daddy." She hugged his eye and opened the floodgates.

Nathan could only stare in confusion. He decided to scan her energy readings and w as surprised at his findings. 'She... She's my daughter?'

Chapter twenty one: The future is bleak

Nathan just stood there, frozen. He couldn't make sense of it, how could this girl be his daughter? Sonata hadn't layed her eggs yet and this girl was way too old to be any sort of newborn, even when compared to how Sapphire and Lyric were born.

"You... You're my daughter?" He asked with both confusion and shock.

Ruby pulled away and looked at him with a tearful smile. "Yes, I am." She whiped her tears and looked at him with a great load of joy. "You have no idea how long I've waited for this moment, when I could finally see you in person, while you were alive."

This only caused more confusion. "Wait what? While I was alive? What are you talking about? How are you my daughter?"

"That will take... a lot of explaining, but I can give you the short explanation." Ruby sighed and turned away slightly. "I'm... I'm from the future."

Nathan blinked and just stared at her. "Sorry could you repeat that?"

"Metal and I are from the future."

Nathan stood up and looked down at the girl with caution. "I find that very hard to believe. I'm gonna need some proof." Ruby nodded and began fumbling around her pockets until she pulled out Nathan's amulet. Nathan blinked and checked his inventory, finding that his amulet was still there. "How?"

"You gave this to me, well, Metal gave it to me after you gave it to him to give to me." Ruby explained with a bit of sorrow.

Nathan looked at her, finding it increasingly difficult to deny what she had told him. "Roden, I need you for a moment!" On que the man in green stepped out of a portal and looked up at him.

"What do you need Nathan?" The ranger pointed to Ruby. As Roden set his sights on her his eyes widened. "Wait... how are you here? You aren't even born yet." Roden closed his eyes for a moment before opening them and frowning in disapproval. "You won't be born."

"Hey, can I get some clarification here?" Nathan asked but was ignored.

"I know that, I didn't know that would be a side effect when I came here."

"Hello?!"

"You should have been more careful or studied up on it more, who sent you back?"

Are you even listening to me?"

"You know who sent me, who else would do something like this?"

"Seriously, can I get an answer please?!"

Roden groaned and rubbed the side of his face. "It was Symbol wasn't it?"

"Who?!"

"It was, he's the one that taught me how to fight in the first place."

"Can someone explain to me what in the fuck is going on?!"

"Of course, but he would have seen what the consequences would be, unless he planned for you to stay here that is."

"HEY!!!" The two looked up at the now annoyed warbot. "CAN SOMEONE EXPLAIN TO ME WANT TGE FUCK IS GOING ON?!?!"

Roden and Ruby looked to each other and nodded. "Nathan, this girl is your daughter and is from a different time. It would appear that something will happen in the future and this caused Ruby here to travel back in time through the future version of my apprentice."

"How do you know all that when she never said that?"

"I can read minds." Nathan facepalmed and sighed, not surprised by anything at that point. "Now, whatever happened caused my apprentice to take drastic measures and sent one of your children from the future to try and prevent the event. By doing this he has trapped her in this time period. Nathan, when you scanned Sonata the other night to count the amount of eggs she was producing, how many was there?"

Nathan looked back on the memory. "Six."

"There are now only five." Nathan froze in shock and his anger quickly grew. "Now calm down, the one that would be in that missing egg is Ruby. Now that a version of her is in Equestria that egg had no reason to exist because of a certain rule of the methods of time travel that Ruby used."

"What was the rule?"

"That even if you change the future in your own timeline you will remain the same and will be trapped in that time period. When I entered this time period the egg I was developing in disappeared since there is a full grown version of me, I still exist because I was cut off from the timeline, my timeline no longer exists because I changed the way Sapphire and Lyric were saved." Ruby explained.

Nathan shook his head and sighed. "Ok, I don't wanna know any more details. Just tell me why you came back here."

Ruby rubbed her arm nervously. "You know about the Nightmare Fuels right? Well, the King of the Nightmares had joined forces with another great evil by the name of Xram. Everyone in the Chaos Family went after them, but most of them were killed in battle."

"The Chaos Family?"

"It's the name of the displaced family you belong to, Metal is part of that family. Metal was one of the few that survived, after the battle was won he found you near dead with me as an infant in your hand, you told him to take care of me and then you gave him the amulet, before you passed on. There were only a few other survivors, they were Plague and Amnesia, Symbol, Marx, Metal and me. Everyone else including Roden, Sapphire and Lyric were killed." Ruby started to tear up and Roden comforted her.

Nathan sat down and began to process what he had just been told. The thought of Sapphire and Lyric being killed was enough for him to almost activate devil mode, but he held it in. He looked down at the crying girl that claimed to be his daughter and began thinking. 'If what she said is true, then we need to get a message to the rest of this 'chaos family' and prevent that future from happening, but that means entering the multiverse, and after what happened with Jack of Blades I'm not to sure I want to risk it. But if it means I'll be saving a good bunch of people, I guess I should do it.' Nodding Nathan stood up. "Roden, can you bring me to those other displaced so we can warn them?"

Roden shook his head. "Not at the moment, there are a few things happening in their universes that we need to stay clear of for now. There will be a gathering in a few days because one of them is getting married to his worlds version of Twilight though."

Nathan scooped the pair up in his hand. "Well then, looks like I need to get a tux, cause I've got a wedding to attend."

Chapter twenty two: Home again

After making sure any Maniac strongholds were destroyed and any monsters dealt with, Nathan and Scorpan stood at the entrance to the giant village. Nathan extended his hand and Scorpan took it in his with a tight respectful grip. "Goodbye for now Scorpan, one day I will return and hopefully on more friendly terms. I would stay longer but I have a pregnant partner to get back to."

Scorpan nodded knowingly. "That is understandable old friend, I wish you luck on your travels and that your young are born healthy." The two leaned back and headbutted each other, laughing as they both held their foreheads afterwards.

"Well then, farewell until next time." With that the metal giant picked up the twins, Ruby and Krystal. Metal flew beside Nathan as he began walking away from the village and towards the coast. Scorpan and the other giants watched as his faded into a silhouette, stopping at the top of the mountain and raising his fist in the air as did the giants, then his figure faded into a thick cloud passing over the mountain. When the cloud passed Nathan was gone, the sun shining down on the village bringing a smile to all those in it.

Scorpan sighed and turned around, walking back towards his home.

A few days later

Sonata sat on a hill with the mane six and Spike, enjoying a relaxing picnic while looking over the luscious landscape. Sonatas pregnancy was beginning to show a bit more, in a few more days she would lay the eggs and a few weeks after that they would hatch. Although she felt lighter for some reason, like an egg was taken out of her body. Shaking off the notion she took a bite of her daisy sandwich and returned to her conversation with the girls and Spike.

As she was about to lift her drink she saw the liquid in the cup ripple slightly, the ripples started to become bigger as she felt the ground shake slightly. A huge smile made its way to her face as she immediately knew who was approaching. Turning to the other end of the hill she saw the antenna of Nathan's body appear over the side as the rest of his body came into view.

Sonata flapped her wings and flew up to meet her significant other. Reaching his eye she kissed it and nuzzled his face. Nathan set his passengers down and switched to his pony form, greeting his partner with a meaningful kiss. The separated and smiled at each other. "Hello again Nata, looking radiant as always."

Sonata giggled and hugged him. "Welcome home Natty, I missed you." As she pulled away from the hug Sapphire and Lyric ran up to her and tackled her with a hug.

"Mommy!"

Sonata smiled warmly and returned the hug. "Hello dears, how was your trip?"

Sapphire pulled away and smiled widely. "It was awesome! We sailed on this huge boat, met uncle Scorpan, daddy gave me my first gun, we got kidnapped but then were rescued, we got to ride Wolfie, big sis beat up this weird guy and then we sailed on the boat again!"

Sonata and the girls all looked at her in shock. Sonata turned to Nathan with a raised brow. "What's this about giving our child a gun and letting them get kidnapped?"

Nathan sighed. "It's a long story, and it was either give her her own gun or she'd try to steal the RYNOs."

Sonata then turned to Sapphire. "What's this about a 'Wolfie' and 'big sis?'"

Sapphire motioned to the two newcomers. "My name is actually Metal, Wolfie is just what she called me." Metal explained.

Ruby struggled to hold back her tears as she looked to Sonata. "Nathan dear, who are they?"

Nathan sighed and sat down. "You might all want to sit down for this."

Nathan explained everything to the group, what happened with The Maniacs, the kidnapping, Metal and Ruby showing up, what Ruby and Roden had told him and what he needed to do. Sonata was shocked and confused at some points but Metal explained things more clearly for her if that ever happened. Ruby remained silent through the explanation while trying to keep her emotions in check. The fate of her family and the displaced family depended on her and Metal, dealing with that and the fact she was meeting her parents for the first time without seeing Nathan and a lifeless robotic corpse in the void and Sonata being in a grave.

As Nathan and Metal finished explaining everything, Sonata looked over to Ruby and approached her. "You're really my daughter?" Ruby remained silent and nodded. As Sonata thought about the paradox of Ruby's existence in this timeline her head began to hurt, but she understood it enough.

Nathan looked at Ruby and sighed. "I still find it hard to understand all of this nonsense, but..." He got up, changed to his human self and walked up to his future daughter. "... That doesn't mean I won't accept you as my child."

Ruby looked up at him in shock. "R-Really?"

Nathan smiled. "It may take some getting used to, but I see no reason for denying that you are one of mine, you have my amulet, my energy readings, my dna and my fighting spirit. If that isn't proof that you came from me I don't know what is."

Ruby started to tear up and threw herself into her fathers arms. "Daddy..."

Although you couldn't tell, Metal smiled at the scene. Sonata and the twins got in on the hug, the family being complete at that moment. Metal had been raising Ruby in place of Nathan, his own children had perished with the fall of the displaced as well as his partners (he has more than one romantic partner in his story) so he felt a bit of envy and jealousy by watching the family. He would never seek out another romantic partner, he loved his late wives too much to do that. He still wore the rings on his claws, one cyan, one dark blue and one lavender (not representing Twilight.)

Nathan broke away from the hug and turned to Rarity. "Rarity, do you think you could have a suit ready for the wedding in a few days?"

The fashionista smiled. "Yes I believe I can darling, just come with me to the boutique and I'll take some measurements."

Nathan nodded and looked back at his family. "I'll see you all in a bit." Before he departed with Rarity he whispered into Sonatas ear. "Meet me back here in an hour." With that he walked off.

Chapter twenty three: Preparations

Later that day

Nathan stood in his human form in the Carousel Boutique with his suit on. It consisted of a silver tailcoat with a purple dress shirt underneath with a grey bowtie, silver dress pants and shoes made of an artificial leather. "It looks great Rarity, thank you so much."

The fashion pony smiled. "You're welcome darling, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to work with a unique figure such as yourself."

Nathan rolled his eyes, still not used to having two, and looked to his amulet which was a bracelet in his current form and raised a brow. "I wonder." Switching to his pony form he found that the suit had morphed to suit his new body, causing Rarity to tilt her head and lean forward in interest. "Huh, so that does work." He walked into a changing room and took off his suit. Walking out in his human form in his usual wear he approached Rarity. "So, how much do I owe you? And don't say that there is no payment needed, I want to pay you back for this."

Rarity stood frozen, shocked that he immediately knew what she was going to say. "Well... If you insist... it will be-"

"Wait, I forgot my bit bag, I guess this will have to do." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a gem. It was shining blue and the shape of a crescent moon.

"Wh... Where did you get this?" Rarity asked in shock and disbelief.

Nathan looked to Rarity then to the gem. "In the Land of Behemoths, why? What's so special about it?"

"That my dear is a Lunar Stone, only twenty were ever crafted, by Princess Luna herself for that matter before her banishment." Rarity stared at the gem in wonder. "I'm sorry darling but I cannot accept this as payment, you should... No, you MUST give this to your lover."

Nathan blinked and looked down at the gem. Suddenly, an idea came to his head which caused him to smile brightly. "Thank you for the info Rarity, I'm gonna make sure this goes to good use. I still need to pay you though..."

"Why don't you foalsit Sweetie Belle sometime, then we'll call it even?" Rarity suggested.

Nathan nodded. "Sounds good, again, thank you so much Rarity." He hugged the mare and walked towards the front door, as he was about to open it Sweetie Belle threw it open and knocked him across the room. As Rarity ran up to him he simply got up and dusted himself off. "Man, she may be small but she's got some strength."

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry mister." Sweetie Belle apologised as she ran up to him.

"It's alright Sweetie Belle, I'm not hurt and to be honest I'm impressed with your strength."

Sweetie Bell just looked at him with confusion. "My strength?"

"Sweets, you were able to throw a door open so hard it launched me across the room, and I am not the lightest human I'll tell you that, I use the big guns for a reason." Nathan kneeled down to her. "Just make sure if you ever pat someone on the back that you maybe do it a bit gently, I know at your age you can be a bit... energetic."

Sweetie Belle smiled at the praise. "Ok mister, and thank you." Nathan scratched her ear and made his way to the door, first making sure that no other energetic fillies were about to throw it open, and made his way out into the streets of Ponyville.

Sonata flew high above the cloud layer with a smile on her face. "Hahahaha, this is so much fun! I can't believe how much I actually missed flying!" She did a few spins before becoming tired and floating elegantly down to a nearby cloud to rest. She wiped some sweat off of her forehead and looking around the beautiful landscape. The sun was in a position where it shone off of waterfalls and lakes, the sky being a soft orange. The lush green fields appeared to have soft waves in the grass as the gentle breeze pushed the small plant life. "I really missed Equestria, the human world is nice and all but..." She looked down and saw Nathan walking towards the castle in his ranger form. "... there are some things that I just missed too much."

As Sonata wiggled herself to get more comfortable she heard the sound of wings flapping. Turning she saw a mare with a blood red fur and a long ruby red mane, her cutie mark was a ruby gem with a bullet going through it. "Hello mother."

"Hello Ruby, you look very cute as a pony."

Ruby blushed and sat down beside her mother. "T-Thank you. Mind if I join you?"

"Not at all." The red mate got comfortable and stared out at the magnificent landscape with her mother. The two remained silent as they watched the sunset. "Ruby?"

"Yes mom?"

"In the future, how far do Nathan and I get?" Ruby just looked at her with confusion, unable to answer. "I mean how far did our relationship go. We have the twins, you and another batch on the way. However we spent a thousand years apart, I'm just afraid that something has changed that will cause us to drift apart." Ruby took note of the look in Sonatas eyes,money were filled with doubt and worry.

Ruby sighed and smiled. "I won't spoil anything for you, but I want you to know this. When the 'incident' happened and when you were injured father refused to leave your side, he chose to die by your side so you would die with someone you loved."

Sonata couldn't form words, too many thoughts rushed through her head at that moment. Looking down at the ground she saw Nathan walking out of the castle with a checklist, he was planning something. Sonata smiled and brought Ruby into a hug. "Thank you."

Ruby smiled and wrapped her wings around Sonata.

Meanwhile in Canterlot, Thane was watching the sunset alone. He, as usual, felt conflicted. He didn't know where his anger towards Nathan came from, why he couldn't let go of that one event. "I just... It doesn't make sense!" He slammed one of his fists into a nearby rock. "Why?! Why do I hate him so much?!"

Little did he know, there was a cause for this anger. Something that had made its way into his body, something evil, something dark... something nightmarish.

Chapter twenty four: The question

Unkown location

Hack Wonder sat in a dark room with only light shining on the table in the centre of the room. His body covered by the darkness while his feet that were resting on the tabletop were visible. He sat looking to the figures in front of him both concealed by the shadows. One was a cloaked figure and the other was a Nightmare Fuel, it's glowing red pupils and dark purple arua being the only things visible.

"So, you are the two bringers of destruction that I've heard so much about through my 'friends' in the void? I'll say that I'm not impressed by your appearance, but your power, ooooooohhh your power! That is something to be impressed about. Tell me, what do you manipulators want from little old me and my gang of psychopaths?"

The cloaked figure cleared his throat. "Well, we have noticed a lot of activity of a certain Roden Godswell in this world, and that worries us. We cannot stay too long in a lesser known universe like this, if we do the Displacers Council will notice and send in one of their powerful operatives. You on the other hand have been in this world for a few millennia and the Council leaves the displaced of this world to fend you off."

"So what you're asking me is to take out this displacer that has no business being here? That's something I don't want to get involved in I'm afraid." The two figures glared at him. "You see, The Maniacs and I are a little fish in the vast ocean that is the Void, we have no desire to venture towards the waters that the bigger fish inhabit, we simply wouldn't survive especially someone like Roden Godswell."

"We weren't asking you, we were ordering you. You will assist us or be destroyed." Nightmare snapped while extending a tendril with a sharp end over to Hacks face.

Hack merely smirked and moved the tendril away. "You wouldn't risk that, if the main baddie of a universe mysteriously disappeared that would attract unwanted attention to you wouldn't it?" Nightmare and the hooded figure stayed silent until Nightmare retracted his tendril. "Looks like we're at an impasse here boys, we aren't going to get anywhere if these are the terms we're working under. If you have no more business here then make yourself scarce or I'll have Psycopath and Carnage show you the door."

As Nightmare went to get out of his seat the hooded figure put his skeletal ha d on his shoulder to,stop him. "If you will not assist us with Roden then maybe you can assist us with another thing, specifically what we were talking about through the mirror."

Hack shook his head. "I have no desire to become involved in the affairs of Lee Connors, you two can take your business elsewhere, we're done here."

Nightmare and the hooded figure teleported to a platform in a black void, looking into the portal to that world. "It was unfortunate that we could not secure their assistance to our plan. Is your backup plan ready to go?"

"Not yet, it's still brewing inside the vessels body, it will take a little longer to complete, but it will be done."

Ponyville

Sonata sat on the hill that Nathan had told her to wait at earlier that day, the sun had set and the moon began to rise over the horizon. Stars painted a beautiful picture in the sky, making a vast sea of relaxing colours. She gave a happy sigh as she enjoyed the peace of the moment, waiting for her partner to appear.

A few moments later she saw the tall white stallion walking up the hill with a soft smile on his face. Smiling Sonata stood up and walked to meet that father of her children. As they reached each other they brought each other into a loving kiss. As they separated they both looked to each other lovingly. "Hey Nata, hope I didn't keep you waiting too long."

"It's fine, I actually enjoyed the peace I got from the wait. Guess I'm just enjoying these moments while I can until the hatchlings start waking us up in the middle of the night." She replied, rubbing a hoof on the noticeable bump on her stomach.

"I hear that, but if they have their mothers grace and kind heart then they might not give us such a challenge."

Sonata giggled. "That's so cheesy, even for you!"

"I know, it's like I'm trying to come up with the sappiest things to say to you." They both sat down next to each other, Sonata leaning on Nathan as they looked out at the stars.

"So what did you want to do out here other than stare out at the stars?" Sonata asked with curiosity.

Nathan smiled and stood up, switching to his human form. "Well since you asked, I was thinking that we'd do something as a couple that didn't involve a bed. So my dear , please stand up, this is gonna take a little help from a certain item I have acquired." He held a glowing green gem in his hand and his clothing changed to a fancy tux, not the one that Rarity had made him, and also began to turn Sonata human with a sparkling blue dress.

Music began to play and Nathan bowed to Soanta with his hand held out.

"May I have this dance m'lady?" He asked with a smirk.

Sonata recovered from the shock of the transformation and smiled, placing her hand in his. "I don't see why not." With that Nathan stood up, placed a hand on Sonatas hip and gripped her other hand and began to dance with her in the moonlight.

'I need to think of a way to thank Luna for doing all this for me.' He thought as he slowly moved with his partner. As the song ended the pair shared a passionate kiss, savouring the moment they were sharing. As they stood there under the stars, they failed to notice Sapphire, Ruby, Lyric, Metal, Celestia, Luna, Discord and the main six hiding in the trees watching the pair.

"You sure he's gonna do it?" Twilight asked Ruby.

"Positive, I've learned all of the important events in my parents lives and this is the time and date where he does it." The future girl replied.

Nathan pulled away slightly and began to think about what he was about to do. 'Jist do it you idiot, it's gonna happen anyway so you might as well do it now!' Nodding in confidence he looked to his partner. "Sonata?"

"Hmm?" She looked at him in question as he took one of her hands and held it in both of his.

"You are the most important person in my life, being parents may have changed both of us in a few ways but my feelings for you only grow with each passing second, and considering that we've spent over a thousand years apart I'd say my feelings for you have probably reached the moon at this point." This got her to giggle adorably and he smiled. "When we had to part, something inside me just went away, waiting for the day we'd be reunited. When I saw you again in Canterlot High, that something came back. I was filled with so much joy I had to think of the most awful things just to keep myself focused on beating Adagio and Aria. You're my everything, I will do anything you ask of me and I will protect you from the devil himself if I have to." He took a deep breath and continued. "What I'm trying to say is, you are my life, my soul, my love, my happiness, my hopes and my dreams. I want to make you mine, and make me yours." He slowly got down on one knee, causing her to gasp as she realised what was happening. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small dark blue box, inside was the Lunar Gem made into an engagement ring. "Sonata Dusk, I ask only one thing from you, the answer to a question that I need to ask...will you marry me?"

Sonata held a hand over her mouth in shock as she looked at the ring with tears in her eyes. "Yes..." Nathan smiled wider than he ever had before. "Yes! Yes! A thousand times yes!" Nathan got off his knees and Sonata brought him into a very passionate kiss. The group in the trees all cheered while Ruby and Sapphire high fived.

Nathan placed the ring on his fiancés finger and they brought each other into a tight, meaningful embrace. "I love you Sonata Dusk."

"I love you two Nathan Phoenix."

A love between a Siren and a Warbot, just another day in Equestria.

Chapter twenty five: Delivery

A few days after the proposal

Nathan sat in his pony form at the side of his shared bed while holding Sonatas hoof as she lay on her back. The time had come, Sonata was now going to lay the eggs that would develop their future children. It would take from a few weeks to a few months for the eggs to hatch, but it only took a few days for them to be ready to lay. It wasn't as painful as childbirth, far from it, but it still did put a strain on the siren. Adagio and Aria had come through the mirror portal, that was now able to open on comand thanks to Rodens modifications, to see their sister for a few days and to help take care of her.

Nathan and Sonata looked at each other with soft smiles, a slightly pained expression on Sonatas face. "You doing alright there Nata?" Nathan asked softly.

"Y-Yeah, it hurts a little, but I'll be fine...as long as you get me a taco after this."

Nathan chuckled. "Don't worry, Lyric is making you some right now, he's trying his hand at cooking."

"He has been reading a lot of books lately, it's good that he's trying something productive...unlike Sapphire who just likes to shoot things and make stuff explode."

Nathan wiped a tear of pride from his cheek. "She makes me so proud." Sonata just looked at him questioningly. "What? She's following in my footsteps...or is it hoofsteps now? I can't remember. Either way, she's taking after her father and I couldn't be happier."

"She tried to blow up the Everfree Forest two days ago."

"She didn't know there was anyone living in there and she felt it was dangerous for the eggs to be near so she tried to remove the danger, I can't blame her for trying to look out for our safety." He countered with an honest smile.

"You're a real piece of work you know that?"

Nathan just smirked and pointed to the ring on her hoof. "Well you best get used to it, cause you're going to be married to this piece of work very soon."

Meanwhile Adagio looked to Aria. "Is it just me or is Sonata...mature?"

Aria just shrugged. "Being a parent can change someone, priorities change and sometimes to look after your kids you have to mature yourself."

Adagio just looked to Aria in shock. "And how do you know this exactly?"

"I was bored and read a random book I found in the library." Adagio nodded and they turned their attention back to Sonata who was now groaning with the now growing pain.

A few minutes later

Sonata and Nathan both sat on the bed, looking down at the batch of five eggs. Each was a different colour, one green, one purple, one white, one orange and one black. They both looked to each other with a small loving smile before lying down surrounding the eggs with their bodies. "So, what do you think names should be?" Sonata asked.

"We know one thing, there's two girls and three boys there, I think I can determine which one is which by looking at their energy readings." He slid off the bed, switched to his ranger mode and scanned the eggs before returning to his pony self and back to his spot on the bed. "The purple and white ones are girls, I think we should call the purple one Amethyst and the white one Diamond."

Sonata nodded in agreement and looked towards the green egg. "I think we should call this one Bass."

Nathan smiled and looked to the orange one. "This one will be Chord."

"And the last one will be Treble." They both smiled and looked to the eggs. Just then Lyric walked in with a small tray with a plate of tacos, he walked over to his parents and set the plate in front of Sonata.

"Here you go mom, I hope you like them..." Lyric said quietly.

Sonata smiled softly and kissed Lyric on the forehead. "I'm sure they're delicious sweetie." With that she picked up one of the tacos and took and bite out of it, Lyric waiting patiently for her response. "They're lovely, thank you Lyric."

Lyric gave the smallest of smiles. As he was about to leave he spotted the eggs, his curiosity drawing him towards them. "It's alright son, you can see them." Nathan reassured him.

Lyric climbed up on the bed and crawled over to the batch of eggs, looking at them with interest and from what Nathan could tell from his expression almost judging them in a way. "They look too small to hold a baby in them..."

"They grow over time." Adagio stated, earning everyone's attention. "They come out small but over the course of their development they grow with the infant inside until it gets to the point where it can't grow anymore and the hatchling breaks out of the shell."

"I want to see them!" Sapphire yelled from the down the hall, she burst into the room and came to a screeching halt just before she hit the bed. Nathan chuckled at his daughters antics before standing up.

"I've gotta go take care of something, I'll be back in awhile." He kissed Sonata and rubbed a hoof over one of the eggs before switching to a Pegasus and flying out of a window.

Thane sat going over his weapons in the squads chamber in Canterlot. He heard heavy footsteps coming from down the hall and stopped what he was doing. The large chamber door opened and Nathan poked his head in, now in his ranger mode. "Hey..."

"Hey..." Thane replied.

"Mind if I come in?" Nathan asked.

"Come on in..."

Nathan nodded and walked the rest of his body in before closing the door behind him. "Look, I'm not gonna beat around the bush here, I know this is awkward for you just coming in here all of a sudden."

"It's fine...I need to learn to let the past go." Thane sighed. "What do you want?"

Nathan rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Well...Sonata and I are...getting married."

Thane noticed the golden ring on Nathans huge finger. "I guess congratulations are in order, you finally have that family you've always dreamed of."

"Thanks." Nathan cleared his throat and resumed. "Anyway, with the wedding and all happening I was...I was..."

Thane looked at him curious. "You were what?"

"I was...wondering if you'd like to be the best man." Nathan said, surprising Thane in the process.

"You...want me to be your best man?"

Nathan nodded. "Had to think a long time on it, I don't have that many guy friends, and with the few I do have only you, Zane and Scorpan really know me well enough to fit the bill. I can't ask Scorpan because he's busy with repairing his village and destroying Maniac outposts, and I wasn't sure about Zane with his shyness...that only left you."

Thane was about to agree but then something in his body made him say the opposite. "I'm sorry Nathan, but I can't do that."

Nathan sighed. "I should have known, but what kind of man would I be if I didn't give you a chance eh? Anyway, thanks for listening, I'll get out of your hair now." With that Nathan left the ranger in silence.

"Why? Why did I just say that?" Thane whispered as he turned away from the door.

Meanwhile Nathan was flying back to Ponyville. "I guess I'll ask Zane or Discord if something, or maybe Roden, he's helped me out so much, he deserves to be at least asked."

Chapter twenty six: Plague, Amnesia and Epidemic

{Third POV}

It was currently nightfall in Ponyville. Tomorrow was the big day. The day when Twilight and Alduin would finally be wed. The Twins were sleeping soundly with their father and soon-to-be mother. Suddenly, Plague woke up, unfused with Alduin, and rubbed his eyes. Amnesia, noticing that her brother was up and about, woke up as well. She unfused with Twilight and approached her brother.

“Plague? What are you doing?”

“Hey, do you feel that?”

“Feel what?” Suddenly, Amnesia felt a sudden pulse of energy, like something was calling to her.

“That.”

“Yeah, I do. What is it?”

“I don’t know but it sure feels, familiar.” The Twins tried to recall where they had felt this feeling before. Then, out of nowhere, a portal opened up underneath them and they feel through. “Oh wait, I remember now. This is what we felt like before we first meet Symbol!”

…

“Ok you two, your mother and I are going out to Canterlot for the evening, you two behave yourselves until either Ruby, Krystal, or Twilight gets back.” A tall white stallion with spiky purple hair said to two small children. One was a young girl with long blue hair, a small blue dress with slippers on her feet. The other was a small young boy with messy golden yellow hair, he wore a yellow jacket with jeans and sneakers. “And no Sapphire, no blowing things up while I'm gone...I wanna watch as well.” The stallion smirked as the girl rolled her eyes.

”Do I really need to be watched while I test out my weapons dad? It's a lot more fun to be able to just fire away.”

“Sadly yes, it makes your mother feel better about me allowing you two to have my guns and weapons at your disposal. Also, no buying a new weapon from the Gadgetron Vendor! I'm saving up for the Zodiac.” With that the stallion walked out of the castle of friendship with a pony Sonata Dusk following him who turned back to the children.

“Please take care of the eggs children, make sure they're safe and sound.”

”Don't worry mom, we'll keep our little brothers and sisters safe!” Sapphire said as she brought out a huge gun.

Sonata groaned. “Honey...did you give Sapphire the RYNO 2?”

“No, it should be in my inventory-ohhhhhhhh you sneaky little-!” Before her father could come back to retrieve the weapon Sapphire slammed the door shut and locked it.

”Goodbye have a good time!”

“Sapphire! Open this door...so I can give you a hug!”

“Nathan! You're supposed to punish her for stealing one of your weapons of mass destruction, not reward her.” Scolded Sonata.

“She just reminds me so much of myself, so eager to wreak havoc with quality weaponry *sniff* she makes me so proud sometimes.” With that the couple took to the skies and began flying towards Canterlot.

”Why do you always have to steal the guns from dad sis? Didn't he give you a few guns to start off with?” The boy asked shyly.

”Well he did Lyric, but he only stuck me with the bomb glove, devastator and Telsa Claw, I love them and all but sometimes I just want something with a little more firepower.” Sapphire began walking, carrying the huge weapon that was almost twice the size of her body effortlessly as she hummed a merry tune. Lyric sighed and began following his sister. Suddenly they both felt a small surge of energy in the castle.

“Mmmm… huh, wha? Where are we?” Plague sat up and looked around, his sister doing the same. They were in Twilight’s castle, but for some reason now it was day time. The two got up and began walking around, wondering what the heck was going on. They didn’t notice that behind them was a little gold necklace with a purple and green orb.

As they walked around, they noticed the door to a room was open. Deciding to investigate, they found a bedroom. Everything looked pretty normal, well except for the group of eggs in front of them. There were five of them, all different colors.

“Huh? What are these?” Plague and Amnesia were about to step into the room to get a better look, when suddenly a blast of energy knocked the both of them away from the door.

”Yeah, I'm gonna have to ask you not to enter this room.” Plague sat up and looked at his attacker. It was some girl, looking to be around his age, with long blue hair. She had a small blue dress on and some slippers. Behind her was a boy, also looking to be around the same age, with messy golden yellow hair. He had a yellow jacket with some jeans and sneakers.

“Ouch, hey what was that for?”

”You were about to attack my little brothers and sisters!”

“Little brothers and sisters? All I see is a bunch of eggs.” The blue girl fired another shot, hitting her target dead on.

Sapphire lowered her weapon after that last shot and sighed. No intruders were going to hurt her unborn brothers and sisters.

”Well, that takes care of that.”

”Um, sis? Shouldn’t we have tried to figure out why they were here? I mean, maybe they got sent here on accident.” Sapphire looked at the smoke build up and shrugged.

“Eh, too late to worry about that now.” Sapphire began to walk away, but Lyric just turned to look at the plume of smoke. As he was about to leave as well, he did a double take.

”Huh?” If he looked closely, he could see a figure in the smoke. It was much taller than the two Sapphire had just blasted. As the figure became more defined, he saw it raise up its hand, before a red light started charging up. Lyric’s eyes widened before he dove at his sister. ”SIS LOOK OUT!”

Sapphire just barely looked behind her before Lyric tackled her, and then a large amount of magic was blasted at them. There was a loud explosion and the Twins were thrown out of the castle.

”Ow… what happened?” Sapphire and Lyric got up and looked around. When they turned to the castle, there was a giant, smoldering hole in the side of the structure. Everypony in Ponyville was wondering what was going on. As they looked, Lyric could see that figure from before approaching the edge of the hole. The smoke cleared around it, revealing a human that looked to be eighteen. He had blood red hair that was spiked back, a blood red jacket with black stripes, and blood red jeans. He had a black undershirt, and black shoes as well. His eyes were blood red, and gleamed with rage and hate. He was probably one of the most intimidating things they had ever seen.

”W-Who, are you?” The mysterious person’s glare shifted to Lyric, causing him to flinch.

“I, am Epidemic, and you’re going to tell me why you brought me here.”

Sapphire stood up and glared at Epidemic. ”What are you talking about, we didn't bring you here. Our parents literally just left a minute ago, you are the one that's trespassing, so why are you here?” She demanded sternly. Lyric started getting a bad feeling and slipped by the two of them and back into the castle to move the eggs away from the approaching battle that his sister was sure to start.

“You’re in no position to demand anything from me, answer my question or die.”

Sapphire chuckled and readied her gun. ”Try me red boy.”

Epidemic rolled his eyes and blasted Sapphire with a large beam. “Now, where did that other one get off to?” As he was about to walk away a wave of blue energy rockets were shot out of the dust cloud that had been created from where Sapphire was standing.

The girl proceeded to keep the trigger held down, the energy rockets shooting out rapidly. Epidemic put up his arms to block the blasts but found himself flinching as each blast hit. ”I can tell this is gonna be a good fight.”

“You really want to throw your life away little girl?”

”Somethin you better remember pal, never, call me, little, girl!” Sapphire put the RYNO 2 away and pulled out a new weapon that she wore on her right hand.

Epidemic looked at the claw confused slightly before a stream of lightning shot out from the tips of the claw that shocked him. Sapphire continued holding down the trigger before stopping and charging forward with a different weapon in her left hand.

”I really need to thank daddy for giving me my own omniwrench.” She said as she knocked Epidemic over the head with it as he was paralysed by the lightning. Her strength surprised Epidemic as she was able to knock him to the other side of the hall at an impressive speed.

As Sapphire was about to fire another wave of lightning she was knocked back by Epidemic blasting her with a beam of magic that hit her stomach. As she recovered she received a punch to the face that knocked her through a wall.

”Ow…” Sapphire lifted herself up and knocked Epidemic away with her wrench as he charged her again, but then received a few blasts that knocked her backwards. ”Ok it started out fun but now it's just annoying.”

“Then let me cure your boredom!” Sapphire didn't have time to react as Epidemic backhanded her into a wall and furiously blasted her.

As the dust settled Sapphire was stuck in the wall with only a few burns and her dress having a few tears. ”Aww, I like this dress…”

’Hmm, she's stronger than I thought. Guess I should quit holding back and end her quickly.’

’Don’t kill her Epidemic!’

’Yeah! She has a family!’

’Ugh, fine. I won’t kill her, but that doesn’t mean she’ll get out of this still conscious.’ Epidemic looked up as Sapphire leaped at him with her Tesla claw. He dodged to the side, slightly surprising her, before he brought up his knee into her stomach. He then grabbed the back of her dress and threw her into another wall before he unleashed a huge blast of magic and fire on her. There was an explosion and Epidemic threw an arm in front of his face. Once the smoke cleared, he brought his arm down and saw Sapphire, pretty hurt but still conscious.

”You’re gonna hafta…” She spat out some blood before she continued, ”try harder than that.”

“Kid, I recommend that you give up now. I’m not going to kill you, but that certainly doesn’t mean I won’t hurt you even more so. Give up now, or suffer the consequences.”

”Why are you even here?”

“You’re the one who summoned me, so you tell me.” Sapphire was about to tell him that they had done no such thing, but then out of nowhere a bullet of energy came straight at Epidemic. He raised his arm and blocked it without a second thought. He turned and glared at the one who had fired that shot. Sapphire did too, and she saw that it was a robot aiming it's arm cannon at Epidemic.

It had purple metal and its body was a block design. “Look I'm gonna have to recommend you stop hurting my niece, not because of what I'm gonna do but of what her father will do if he comes home to see her hurt, trust me, you won't survive that.” It spoke in a female voice, giving the impression of a tomboy.

”Auntie Krystal!” Sapphire exclaimed in joy.

“Sapphire, go find some Nanotech and go to your room for awhile and let me handle this, it's been years since I've had a good fight.” She fired her arm cannon again and it shot a wide blast of energy, almost like a shotgun. Sapphire nodded and began running through the hole in the castle and down the hallway. Epidemic had dodged the shot that had been fired at him and he glared at his new opponent.

“So, this is your world.”

“It’s not just mine buddy, and if you don’t back down now I‘ll call in the others.” She fired another shot which hit Epidemic.

“Pathetic.” Suddenly, Epidemic appeared behind Krystal and she was knocked sideways. “Hmm… you seem to be weaker than that child.”

Krystal got up and fired more shots at Epidemic, which he continuously dodged. Epidemic then charged her and kneed her where her stomach would have been if she was organic.

“And I think I know why.” He then kicked her, sending her flying into a wall.”She’s a Nightmare, or at least she used to be. Her attacks are stronger, her instincts make her a natural born fighter, and she can endure more...that, and something else I can't put my finger on.”

Epidemic charged at Krystal again, then pressed her into the earth with his foot.

“So in all reality, it should be her protecting you.” Krystal knocked Epidemic off of her before turning and getting a shot point blank. Epidemic was thrown back a bit before he recovered. His glare hardened before he outstretched his arm. “Hmm, but you are still strong. I suppose I will have to end you quickly as well.”

A blood red scythe formed in Epidemic’s hands and he spun it around. He then dove at Krystal, but she dodged before she switched her weapon and began firing it at him.

She began to rapidly shoot fireballs out of the pistol that started causing some serious damage. As Epidemic rolled out of the way and charged Krystal, he was shot by a powerful shot of energy that knocked him off the ground. Krystal looked to her left and saw another robot standing there. It had yellow metal, a slimmer design and its arm cannon was longer. “I was handling it Katie.”

“Sorry, I just wanted to make sure you didn't end up like scrap just yet.” The robot spoke in a relaxed female voice. “Wanna tell me why there's a gender swap of Ruby attacking this place?”

“I don't know, but I say we put him down before anything happens to Nathan's kids, God only knows what he'll do if that happens.” Krystal replied as she began shooting Epidemic with both her cannon and her gun, with Krystal using her sniper cannon to deal heavy blows to him.

After the barrage ended a smoke cloud had built up. As the smoke cleared, Katie and Krystal could only look in shock to see that Epidemic had taken little damage.

“Pathetic.” He then dove at the two and swung his scythe, knocking them both into a nearby building. They both recovered and began unleashing their weapons on him, trying to land as many hits as possible. However, it seemed to be that Epidemic was done messing around, and now was fighting with the intent to kill. He dodge most of the shots, though a few still hit him, before he returned fire with his own blast of magic, forcing the two female robots to run for cover.

“Who is this guy?” Krystal looked at her companion and shrugged.

“No idea, but we better find a way to take him out, fast.” As Epidemic prepared another blast of magic he was interrupted by gunfire from the side. He turned and saw Sapphire coming back into the battle with the RYNO 2. Epidemic turned and focused his attention on her, giving Krystal and Katie a quick breather before Krystal tapped a button on her arm, and called Nathan.

“Nathan?!”

“Huh? Krystal? What’s up? And why do you sound panicky?”

“There’s some sort of displaced here! We don’t know what happened, but when I got here he and Sapphire were going at it before I rushed in to stop him. Katie then came in too and we were able to buy Sapphire enough time to heal up and get back into the battle. He’s really powerful and is causing a lot of destruction! We need your help!”

“Wait, you’re letting Sapphire fight him?”

“She’s doing it on her own, and this guy seems to let up when he’s going against her. With Katie and I it’s clear he doesn’t care whether he kills us or not but with Sapphire it seems like he’s trying to make sure he doesn’t kill her.”

“...”

“Nathan?” Krystal asked in a cautious voice.

“Did you just say…a displaced, is fighting my daughter?” He asked with a dark tone.

“Oh crap! I forgot about what happened with the last one! Never mind! I'm sure if we get Ruby we can take him down!”

“No Krystal, I'm handling this myself, I'm not having a repeat of the Jack of Blades incident, especially now that I have kids in this world. Clear out of the castle, protect the eggs and twins, but keep the displaced in the castle until I get there.”

“Wait!” Nathan stayed on the channel while waiting for her to continue.”Get Thane and Zane if you can. We’ll need their help too!” Krystal could hear Nathan pause before he continued.

“Alright fine, I’ll get them...but don't get your hopes up on Thane though, he's still not talking to me.” Nathan then hung up and Katie and Krystal turned their attention back to the battle. Sapphire was currently attacking with her Tesla claw, with Epidemic countering it with his scythe. The battle was a bit one sided, as Epidemic clearly had more experience in combat. He was slightly annoyed at the fact he couldn’t just finish the little girl off, but he made sure she would survive.

’You know, I could drain her of her strength and finish this battle quickly.’

’No way Psychotic. This kid is pretty young, probably younger than the Twins. If you drain her, you could cause some permanent damage to her. I don’t care if she’s the enemy, I’m not gonna let you cripple a child.’

’You’re no fun.’ Epidemic just ignored their conversation. He didn’t really care if this kid’s leg got broken in this fight, but obviously the Twins wouldn’t be too particularly happy if he or any of the fusions crippled her so he knew he had to deal with this himself.

Sapphire was doing a lot better off this time around, but that doesn’t mean she was winning. She was able to endure more hits, and was landing more attacks on Epidemic as well. It was probably her Nightmare natural instincts allowing her to adapt to her opponent to an extent. She swung her Tesla claw at him and Epidemic dodged it. He then swung his scythe but Sapphire blocked it with her claw. As their weapons clashed, Epidemic noticed her weapons had gotten a bit darker too, and were doing a little more damage. Epidemic could only assume that Sapphire’s instincts were causing her to subconsciously increase her weapon’s power by adding her own Nightmare energy into it. This battle was bringing out her combat instincts, that was for sure. How powerful she could get from this was anyone’s guess.

“I’ll admit kid, you're a powerful adversary, but you aren't the kind of challenge I'm looking for.” Epidemic grabbed Sapphire by the throat and slammed her against the wall.

”Then why don't you fight someone who can give you a real challenge?!”. A voice shouted from the other end of the hallway. Epidemic growled in annoyance and turned to the new arrival...but stopped as he saw her. She had ruby red hair that was tied into a ponytail, she wore a red hoodie and red jeans with sneakers. Her eyes seemed to shine like rubies, much like Sapphires gleamed like sapphire gems. For some reason, Epidemic couldn't stop looking at her, she looked around eighteen.

‘Uh...you alright there Epidemic?’ Psychotic asked in Epidemics head.

The girl looked to Krystal, Katie and Sapphire. ”You three get out of here and get the eggs some place safe, I'll hold him off until dad arrives.”

As Sapphire was about to run past the girl she looked up at her with confidence. ”Kick his ass sis.”

The girl smirked and turned her attention back to Epidemic who was just staring, a blank look on his face. ”Alright handsome, you gonna stare at me until the rest of the family get here or are you gonna fight me? Because with what I've been told about you from my teacher I expect you to be a challenge.”

Epidemic shook himself back to reality and took a fighting stance. “And who would this teacher of yours be exactly, and what is your name?” He asked in monotone.

The girl smirked before taking a fighting stance that Epidemic recognised from somewhere. She had turned her body to the left slightly, bent one leg that she had put forward and had one hand on the ground while the other was clenched in a fist. ”The name's Ruby Phoenix, eldest daughter to Nathan Phoenix. As for my teacher, I think you'll find out during our little session here.”

With a grunt, Epidemic dove at Ruby and swung his scythe. Ruby however, blocked it with an omni wrench. They started swinging at each other, neither one able to overpower the other. Epidemic dodged one of Ruby’s swings and blasted her with magic, sending her flying back. She recovered and charged, slamming her omni wrench into Epidemic’s scythe. He pushed her back and fired another blast of magic. Ruby however, was ready for it this time. She dodged the strike and pulled out a gun, then proceeded to fire at Epidemic. He closed the distance and struck her with his scythe, cutting her across the chest. She was sent flying back and into a wall.

“Is that really the best you can do?” Ruby smirked as she detached herself from the wall.

”Damn, my teacher told me you were good, but he didn’t say you were this good. Guess I’ll have to crank it up a notch.” Suddenly, Epidemic could feel an increase of energy in Ruby, causing him to take a step back.

Soon her body became outlined in red flames, her eyes glowing as she smiled at the natural feeling of power flowing through her veins. She held her hand out and shot three spears of red fire at Epidemic who recovered from his shock in time to avoid the attack. “Wait a minute...”

”Still not remembering this power fully? Ok then, maybe this will help.” She blasted him a few times before joining her hands and closing her eyes. ”Mode three, level one.”

Epidemics eyes widened at the phrase she spoke as her body changed, her hair became dark grey as did her clothes. Her fingers shaped to claws and her eyes had dark grey mist coming from the corners of them. “What?! How?! Why?!” Epidemic growled in rage and clenched in anger, causing the crystal floor below him to crack as his power rose with his anger. “HOW DO YOU HAVE THIS POWER!?!?”

Ruby smirked in her new form and spoke with an echoed voice. ”Well I guess I'll tell you.” She held out her hands and two dark grey fire blades appeared in them. ”I am the personal apprentice of the hero of the multiverse, Symbol Shattered, or in this case...Perfect Symbol.”

“What do you mean?!”

”Here's a news flash for ya handsome, I'm from the future.”

Chapter twenty seven: Phoenix Family vs Epidemic

{Third POV}

Epidemic didn’t know whether or not he could take her seriously. Did this girl just say she was from the future? How could that be? Granted, it did explain how she had Symbol’s power, considering Epidemic was pretty sure Symbol wasn’t training anyone right now. Epidemic grunted as he let the thought flow out of his head. He needed to focus on the battle right now.

He dove at Ruby, scythe at the ready, and swung. Ruby blocked the attack with her fire blades and knocked him back.

“You know, Symbol told me that you could only beat him a few times when he got like this. Any other time and he kicked your ass.” Epidemic ignored the comment as he recovered. Ruby leaped at him and thrust one of her flaming swords forward, but Epidemic managed to dodge. He grabbed her arm, swung her around, and tossed her into a wall. Or at least, he attempted to. She recovered mid air and flew at Epidemic, slashing him across the chest. He was sent flying back into a wall. Ruby just smiled as he pulled himself out of the rubble before disappearing. ”Do you still remember what mode three does to the user's body?” Her voice was echoed.

Epidemic remained silent, keeping himself prepared for any surprise attack. Suddenly he was struck out of nowhere which pushed him to the side. He was struck again in the back which made him stumble forward and as he regained his bearings he was hit right in the face resulting in him flipping over and landing on his back against the crystal floor.

”Converts most of the user’s energy and focuses it on speed and agility. If used in small doses like level one has an amazing effect. Load it with most of your energy with level two and it becomes extremely powerful. With level three it will exhaust the user but works extremely well against the likes of you. However I think I'll stick to level one for now.” Rudy then appeared behind Epidemic and swung both swords at his back.

Epidemic grunted in pain as the fire in the blades coated the newly formed wound. Ruby then grabbed him and slammed him into the ground before blasting him with magic. Rudy smirked at the plume of smoke that held her opponent.

“”Now I see why Symbol would have trouble beating you at times, but at the end of the day he's still stronger than you.”

“That may be true. However...” Suddenly Epidemic was behind her, his red eyes glowing with power and hate. “I’m not fighting Symbol, I’m fighting you.”

Ruby was blasted with a beam of magic and thrown into a wall. Epidemic leaped at her and plowed his knee into her stomach, pushing her further into the wall. He then grabbed her by the neck and threw her down the hall before blasting her once again.

’What the hell? Why’s he suddenly so fast and so powerful?’ Epidemic began walking to her, his scythe at his side.

“You may have Symbol’s power, but nowhere are you near him in skill. If you were, I would have fighting for real a long time ago.” Ruby was shocked. He hadn’t been going at full strength all this time? Ruby could only wonder what kind of power Epidemic really had. Ruby knew how strong Symbol was going to become from her future. But even at that strength Symbol had told her that Epidemic could match and sometimes even beat him in battle. Ruby knew she had to be prepared for a tough fight, but she didn’t expect him to be this strong so early in time!

”Symbol told me that you would be strong, that at almost any point in time you could match him. But he never told how powerful you would be in the past. I thought you would be a lot weaker.”

“You were foolish to assume. You don’t have Symbol’s skill, nor the experience. This battle, will be your last.” Ruby got up and charged at Epidemic. Somehow, he dodged her, and kneed her in the stomach. He then grabbed her and threw her into a wall. Ruby separated herself from the indent and flew at him. She swung her swords, but Epidemic blocked them with his scythe. She then threw a knee into his face, sending him back a bit. He quickly recovered and managed to block her swords.

“Your fighting style is similar to his, but there’s more openings. I’m guessing he wasn’t able to complete your training?” Ruby just grunted as she attempted to kick Epidemic. He grabbed her leg with his right arm and tossed her behind him. She quickly recovered and fired a beam of magic at him. Epidemic countered it with his own blast before he rushed her, and slicing at her with his scythe. He cut across her chest and she was thrown back. She slammed into the floor before rolling a couple of feet away. She slowly got up, breathing heavily, blood dripping down her torso.

As she held her wound she stared down her opponent. Suddenly her body was enveloped in a light blue glow and her wounds healed. Looking over her shoulder she spotted another robot. He was slightly smaller than the others and his cannon was shorter as well, he was coloured light blue and was shooting out small blue balls of transparent energy into Dubys body. “I don't know what's going on here or who you two are, but Katie told me you needed help.” His voice sounded like a young boy.

Krystal and Katie ran up to them and held their cannons up at Epidemic while standing beside the third robot. “Zane, glad you could make it.” Katie said as she focused her scope on Epidemic.

“Is Thane coming too?” Krystal asked.

“I don't know, the only reason I was able to get here so quickly was because Nathan threw me from Canterlot, thank goodness for my shield generator.” Zane replied.

Epidemic was about to fire a beam when all of a sudden he felt a sharp wave of pain. He looked to his chest and saw two blood red energy blades sticking out. He felt his body being torn in two as the new attacker pulled the blades away from each other. He managed to dislodge the blades and stumbled forward as the blades had went straight through his lungs. Looking back he saw a fourth robot, this one had no arm cannon but had two hands, it had black metal and a crimson glowing eye. “How many of you robots are in this world?”

The new arrival just swung his blades, that were generated from his wrists, and sliced Epidemic over the shoulder before becoming invisible. Epidemic frantically looked around for his opponent but was surprised as he was blasted in the back by the returning Sapphire. He was then stuck by another blade from the invisible robot bit grabbed it while he was nearby and smashed it into the ground.

He was then blasted by Katie from one side, Krystal on another, Ruby on another and Sapphire on the last side, they had him surrounded. They just continues blasting away, moving closer with each shot. He wasn't given enough time to dodge any of the attacks as they were constant and were powerful enough to make him stumble. As the group closed in on him to robot beneath him disappeared and reappeared behind him. The robot brought one blue back before slicing Epidemics neck before pushing him down with a foot, causing his head to roll off.

“Thane! You actually came.” Krystal said surprised to the new arrival. “You agreed to help Nathan.”

“I wasn't doing this for that traitor Nathan Phoenix, I was doing this to protect you three.” Thane said as he looked to the three robots. “Now that this is done I'm heading back to Canterlot. Come on Zane, Katie.” He said as he began to walk off.

”This is far from over.” Rudy said as she looked down at Epidemic who had turned all black and formed into a black liquid with a blue outline as did his dismembered head. The goo formed together in a puddle and slowly began to shape into a regenerated Epidemic. Everyone was shocked. Even though Epidemic kept a straight face, he was surprised too.

’How in the hell?’

‘Can’t have you dying on us can I brother?’ Now Epidemic understood. In that moment he was dying. Because of that, Psychotic was able to take full control for a second to regenerate the body before partial control was handed back to Epidemic. Taking advantage of the confusion, Epidemic charged up a giant red ball of magic before firing it out at his enemies. The blast threw everyone back.

“What the hell? How is he alive? I cut off his head!”

”Epidemic isn’t normal. Killing him will be especially difficult.”

“Wait, you know who he is?”

”Yes but we don’t have the time right now. With all of us gathered, there’s a chance we could win this battle.”

“Well that’s good.”

”Not necessarily.”

“What do you mean? With our numbers and combined power we’ll surely beat him.”

”Yes, but that’s the problem. With our numbers and combined power, Epidemic going to go full power now. This will be by far the most difficult enemy any of you have ever faced.”

They all watched as Epidemic stood there, glaring. Suddenly, he was gone. He then appeared behind Thane before he grabbed his arm and slammed him against his allies. Everyone except Ruby was thrown to the side. Ruby tried to strike at Epidemic’s back, but he turned around and caught her arm as if it was nothing. He then punched her in the gut, sending her flying back into the wall. Thane grunted as he got up. He leaped at Epidemic, two energy swords at the ready, and swung. Epidemic blocked them both with his scythe. His glare shifted to Thane, his eyes glowing with hate and power.

“Pathetic.” He forced Thane’s blades back before he turned and swung, slicing across Thane’s chest area. He was thrown back as the others recovered and readied their weapons. They all began firing. But, to their shock, Epidemic started moving around extremely fast, as if he was teleporting. First he was in one spot, the suddenly the next. Each and every bullet was dodged before he stopped and fired a blast of magic at them. They were all blasted out of the castle and onto the streets. Epidemic hopped out of the second hole in the structure, landing on the ground a couple of meters away from his opponents. Ruby tried to surprise him by diving at Epidemic form above, but he just blocked her attack with his scythe before grabbing her and tossing her at her comrades. She recovered along with the rest and they all stood at the ready.

“Is this really the best you all can do. Fine then, I’ll end you here and now.” Epidemic began charging up a huge ball of red magic. He pointed it at the group, ready to end their lives. “Good bye. I hope you have fun in hell.”

Suddenly Epidemic stopped as he felt a strong presence in the area, far more powerful than the rest of the group. Ceasing his attack he looked to the ground, finding that a huge shadow was being cast down on the area. Turning around and slowly looking up he found himself face to face with a robot that was larger than a fully powered Tirek. It was heavily armoured, it's metal being purple with silver platings. It reeled it's huge fist back before crushing Epidemic under it.

“No one, and I mean NO ONE, hurts my friends or family!” His voice was that of a young man but with his robotic form there was a metallic buzz.

”Dad?”

“Ruby, are you okay?” He asked with concern.

”Yeah I’m fine, but you might want to look down.” Nathan had no idea what she meant, until he felt his hand shift. With a shocked expression, he looked down to see his hand being lifted up from the ground. Thane, Zane, Krystal, and Katie, also had shocked expressions as they watch Epidemic slowly lift the giant fist off of him with a single arm. There was a red aura around him, that just kept building as he lifted the massive fist off the ground. Suddenly, he threw Nathan’s fist away, causing the giant ranger to stumble back in surprise. The red aura around Epidemic had grown a considerable amount, and now his dragon wings, tail, and horns were out. His red eyes glowed with even more anger, hate, and power as he glared at his opponents with an emotionless face.

“If this is the best you weaklings have, then your fate will remain unchanged.” He began walking towards Ruby and the others. “I’m going to kill each and every one of you.” His glare focused on Ruby. “Starting with her.”

“You, will, not, touch, my, daughter!” Nathan attempted to punch Epidemic once again, but he disappeared from the attack’s path. He was suddenly behind Nathan, a giant ball of red magic in his hand.

“So you want to go first. Fine then.” He blasted Nathan with a massive beam of magic. “It makes no difference in the end.”

Nathan took the hit, then turned around with the RYNO 2 at the ready. He blasted Epidemic at point blank, sending him flying back. Epidemic recovered and dove at Nathan, scythe ready to strike. Zane watched as the conflict between two powerful warriors began.

“I don’t understand how someone could be this powerful. What is he anyways?”

”Epidemic is a symbiote.”

“A what?”

”A symbiote. And a very powerful one at that.”

They all looked back out at the battle, which appeared to be and even match between the two fighters. “Well Nathan is our strongest fighter, if he can't beat that guy no one can.” Krystal said as she sat down to watch the fight.

As Epidemic charged Nathan he was grabbed by the huge robot who began to repeatedly crush him in his palm before spinning his upper body and furiously tossing the raging symbiote into a mountain. He then aimed his huge cannon at the mountain and began firing a steady stream of energy blasts.

Epidemic shot out from the dust cloud and flew towards the faint warbot with his fist charged with energy. As he reached his target he was surprised as Nathan quickly dodged to the side and smacked him with his arm cannon. As Epidemic crashed into the ground he looked up at the machine towering over him. “It would seem that this world actually has some challenge to it. What is your name? I wish to know the identity of my adversary.”

Nathan just glared down at him. “My name is Nathan Phoenix…” He grabbed Epidemic in his hand and pulled him up to eye level, the symbiotes head only visible as the rest of his body was trapped in the huge metal hand. “...and I am sick and tired of displaced like you coming into my world and attacking my family!”

Nathan began to crush Epidemic with his strength, causing the symbiote to yell in pain only causing his anger and power to grow.

Nathan realised what was happening and threw Epidemic away before pulling out a new weapon.

Nathan aimed the now giant gun in the direction of Epidemic. “So sorry about this forest.” He pulled the trigger and held it down. Waves upon waves of huge bullets and rockets shot out of the weapon, the multiple barrels spinning, the weapon being a mixture of a rocket launcher and a mini gun.

As he took his finger off the trigger Nathan looked out to the destruction he had caused, an entire part of the forest had been completely destroyed.

“Ok, I now know not to use this when I'm huge like this...I'm sure I can restore the forest somehow.” Putting the weapon away he began walking over to a large crater that had been the focus point of the destruction. As he slid down the slope he looked to the centre to not see an injured Epidemic, but injured Plague and Amnesia. He felt a wave of guilt and regret. “Shit! Two kids got caught in the crossfire?!”

He frantically looked around the battlefield in search of Epidemic but found nothing. Looking back to the two unconscious children he rubbed his face with his hand.

“Fuck...what am I gonna do?” Suddenly an idea came to him. He reached into his storage unit and pulled out a bundle of small boxes.

“God I hope this works on you two.” He walked over to the two, knelt down on one knee, crushed the boxes in his hand and let the blue energy balls inside travel down to the twins. They absorbed the energy and their wounds started to heal, but slowly. “It's better than nothing.” He at them apologetically. “I'll get you to the castle where you can rest up, I'll see if I can find your parents or something. I'm sure Sapphire and Lyrics would like some other kids to talk to anyway. If it takes a while you can stay with me and Sonata. I'm sure whatever happened here was just a big misunderstanding.”

Meanwhile inside the twins mindscape, Epidemic couldn’t believe what he was looking at. When the RYNO 5 had been used on him, Epidemic had been forced to separate back into the Twins. However, the firing had not stopped, and now they were incredibly hurt. In fact, the looked like they were dead.

“No. No.”

“Epidemic? What happened to them?”

“That bastard. He killed them.”

“Epi they’re not-”

“HE KILLED THEM! I’LL MAKE THAT BASTARD PAY FOR WHAT HE’S DONE! I’LL MAKE THEM ALL SUFFER!” Patron went to calm her brother’s rising anger, but it was too late. There was a blast as everything in the mindscape was tinated a blood red. Both Patron and Psychotic felt Epidemic’s pain, anger, and pure rage spill into, overwhelming their minds and forcing them to the will of Epidemic's anger. The three stood side by side in the mindscape, their eyes completely red and glowing.

”WE WILL MAKE THEM ALL SUFFER!”

Nathan reached down, attempting to pick the two unconscious children up. But then, their eyes opened. They were completely red and glowing with power and anger. Nathan could sense the hate and anger, oozing out of them like a waterfall. They became all black before they fused.

Then, they fused with him.

“Ruby will Nathan be okay?”

”Yeah, Dad’ll be fine. Epidemic may be tough, but Dad’s even tougher. Besides, even if things got out of hand I’m sure that-”

“AAARRGH!” Everyone turned in shock to see Nathan stumble out of the destroyed forest, a black substance seemingly wrestling with him. He tried to pry it off, but the substance only grabbed his arms before it continued to fight him. “GET THIS THING OFF OF ME!”

”Dad! No!” Ruby dove at her father, determined to help him get this black stuff off. However, the substance seemed to sense her, and reacted violently. It forced part of itself out like a fist, and nailed Ruby in the face, sending her flying back.

“RUBY!” Nathan reached out towards her, but the black substance enveloped his arm, and converged on his body. It covered him completely and began to shift around, as if changing the body shape of its captive. Then, an arm shot out.

It was huge, about the size of Nathan’s when he was full size. A body began to form as a massive creature seemingly pulled itself out of the black blob. It started to grow and grow and grow, until it was just as big as Nathan was at full size. The body began to take shape. It formed into a bipedal dragon, with massive wings. Its right arm had deadly claws, while its left was an arm cannon. Its chest and lower body had the armor that could be found on a ranger, and on the center chest piece was a giant orange oval, looking just like Nathan’s eye when he was in ranger form.. Its scales were blood red.

It opened its red eyes, and roared.

”GRRRROOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRR!!!” The cry was deafening. Everypony in Ponyville ran away in fear, and the gathered fighters could only look at the mighty beast in horror.

“What… the hell… is that thing?”

”That is Epidemic’s rage, possessing my father’s body.

Meanwhile, a strange figure was watching these events unfold. “Hmmmm, this won't do...this won't do at all.” The figure turned away from the battle and sighed. “I should have completed her training before sending her here, then this wouldn't have happened...yet another thing to add to my list of failures.”

Chapter twenty eight: Reality Star