Sonic and Equestria Girls: Journey into Dreams

Chapters

Into Dreams Part 1
Into Dreams Part 2
Into Dreams Part 3
Into the Nightmare Zone
The Nightmare Zone Part 1
The Nightmare Zone Part 2
The Nightmare Zone Part 3
Nightmares Become Dreams
The Red Courage
The Last Nightmare
Sweet Dreams
Facing the Nightmare

Into Dreams Part 1

The Night Dimension, a realm that serves as the place where both dreams and nightmares occur. The area of peaceful and joyful dreams is known as Nightopia. It makes up the majority of the Night Dimension. On the other hand, the nightmare section of the dimension, simply known as Nightmare, makes up a small portion, roughly equal to a quarter of the dimension and is presented as being far away from Nightopia. Despite its small size, it still has a significant presence in the Night Dimension. Nightmare was shown as a wavy mixture of dark purple, pink and blue colors that moved around in a distorted manner. It was impossible to see if anything actually resided in there from the outside. But upon entering, the floor was covered in dark blue ominous fog known as the dark ocean. In a certain section, there were two over-arching dark gray pillars with thin red curtains hanging from them with a black sky. In the middle of this section, was a large figure, 10 meters tall, donning a blue cape decorated with ancient sun patterns and small stars. He had a smaller red cape in the center with two silver pointy shoulder pads. He wore a small golden circular pointed necklace with two green jewels and a blue one in the center. On his back, was a larger, spiked golden semi-circle. His face was silver, but in the place of eyes, he had two thin black lines going down his face. There were many sharp tendrils coming out of his head and he was surrounded by six floating hands, each with a menacing purple eye in the center. He was Wizeman, the creator of Nightmare. In front , Reala, a gray skinned being who had a black and red striped jester hat pointing downward while wearing red and black arm guards, hip plates, fingerless gloves and a vest closed over his chest bowed before him.

“Reala, I see you haven’t taken action lately. Care to explain?” Wizeman asked in a very deep and mysterious voice that echoed throughout the area.

Reala looked down on the ground as he winced at the thought of his previous failure. He slowly stood up straight and faced Wizeman, revealing his golden mask, one with a pink jewel in the centre and black feathers on the edges. His lips were colored black as he grit his sharp teeth while two dark and faint teardrops drooped down from his eyes.

“Wizeman, please forgive me for not informing you of this earlier. The truth is, I suffered quite a heavy defeat a while back when I attempted to gather some Ideya.” Reala explained in an ashamed tone. “Without NIGHTS’s interference.”

“No NIGHTS? Then how so? Explain.” Wizeman demanded.

“Yes, sir. While I was looking for dreams to visit, I came across the dreams of a particular girl. These dreams were different from the rest. It was soaked in magical energy. It was astounding.” Reala started.

“High magic? Go on.” Wizeman urged, now very intrigued.

“I was able to enter the dream and I visited it frequently, trying to find a way to rob it of its magical energy. However, before I could, the girl’s friends took notice of my presence. It seemed that me being there had an effect on her in the real world. They found a way to enter the dream and I was banished before I could take any magic. It was so humiliating.” Reala continued. His voice was quite bitter. “I’m sorry, I should have you informed you earlier.”

“Magical energy in dreams…...This has my interest. Reala, are there any more like her?” Wizeman responded.

“Yes. Two of her friends had magical abilities similar to hers.” Reala said.

“Good. Reala, you might have a chance to redeem yourself. We could use their magic to finally take over the Night Dimension fully. I request that you bring me one of the girls at once!” Wizeman instructed.

“Of course. I won’t let you down.” Reala said. He then turned around and flew out of the section of Nightmare very quickly before he left the entire area.

In the afternoon in the city of Canterlot when the school day had ended, Rarity entered the living room of the Carousel Boutique very quickly as she burst through the door in happiness. She looked extremely cheerful as her face shone very brightly. She looked like nothing could ruin her mood. Shortly after, Silver entered in after. He was out of breath and he placed his hands on his knees as he huffed loudly.

“Even….Sonic….would...be...impressed.” Silver managed to say through a series of wheezes. “I….could….barely...keep...up.”

“Silver, you have no idea how much today means to me!” Rarity exclaimed as she sat down on her couch and pulled out her white laptop from her bag. “The Canterlot theater is preparing a new play and they said they were willing to look at designs submitted by fans! I entered a few of mine a week ago and today is the day they’re going to reply!”

“Cool….makes sense...why..you’re so..pumped.” Silver responded as he managed to stand straight and regain his breath.

“Yes! If they accept my designs and use them in the play, then the whole world will see my talent! This could really help in launching my career!” Rarity squealed in awe at the thought. “That’s why I asked you to come here. I want one of my close friends to be around when I get the news of my success.”

Hearing that made Silver a little red-faced. He did a small nervous smile and looked on the floor shyly.

“Well, I’m just glad that I can support you.” Silver said.

Rarity opened up her laptop and then went to her email. As it was loading, Rarity could barely contain her excitement as she rocked back and forth rapidly. Compared to her, Pinkie Pie looked calm. When it finished loading, Rarity saw a new email that read, ‘Response to your submission.’

“Here it is!” Rarity shrieked loudly as she opened the email and began to read through it. Silver expected to hear a deafening scream as she did, but instead, there was just silence. As Rarity looked through the email, all the excitement was drained from her as her smile faded and her face fell. Silver saw tears began to form in Rarity’s eyes before she placed the laptop down on the ground and buried her face in her hands as she began to sob. Silver came up to her, confused as to why she was crying instead of celebrating.

“What’s wrong? Didn’t they accept your designs?” Silver asked. Rarity just pointed to the laptop as she continued to cry. Silver picked it up and looked at the email.

“Dear Miss Rarity, while we appreciate the effort put into these designs, we, unfortunately, cannot use them for our play. Many of our staff found them to be very mediocre. We hope you find success elsewhere in submitting your designs. Sincerely, the Canterlot theater group.” Silver read out loud as Rarity’s crying became louder. “Oh….”

“They rejected me! My career is ruined!” Rarity yelled as she did a dramatic faint on her couch, revealing the black mascara running down her face as she continued to cry. Rarity lifted herself up and headed into the kitchen as Silver watched. She came out, holding a tub of vanilla ice cream and a spoon as she sat down. Rarity began to take bites out of the ice cream between sobs as Silver observed her. He felt terrible seeing her in this state. Earlier, she was happy as can be. Now, she was a wreck.

“Hey, Rarity. Don’t feel so bad. It’s not the end of the world.” Silver said in an attempt to cheer her up.

“Oh...NOM NOM, Silver, it, is! NOM NOM.” Rarity cried. “This was a chance, NOM NOM, for me to hit it big! NOM NOM NOM.”

“I understand you’re upset, but you can’t just let one bad experience ruin your career. There’ll be other chances.” Silver reassured as he sat down next to her.

“But what if, NOM NOM NOM, there aren’t!? NOM NOM.” Rarity said. “I’m ruined! NOM NOM NOM.” Rarity finished the tube of ice cream and threw it to the floor. She then went back to the kitchen and came back with two more tubs. She then began to eat one of them rapidly as she lied down on the couch in sorrow.

“Rarity, come on. You’re gonna get sick if you eat all of that.” Silver told her.

“I don’t, NOM NOM, care! There’s no future, NOM NOM NOM, for me!” Rarity said in despair as she managed to finish the tub much faster this time. Rarity reached for the other one, but Silver lifted it up with his psychic powers and pulled it away from her, making her reach out for it as a baby would for its bottle and she began to whimper.

“Rarity, listen. I’ve failed plenty of times of before, but instead of giving up, I just press on.” Silver said, trying to encourage her.

“Oh, but you’re used to failing!” Rarity said in a whiny tone. Silver wasn’t sure how to interpret that as he sighed slightly. “Leave me and go. I need some alone time.”

Silver rose up from the couch reluctantly and he headed for the door. Before he left, he turned to Rarity.

“Ok, you need some time to get over. Just don’t eat any more ice cream, ok? In fact, why don’t you take a nap? A nap always helps.” Silver suggested. Rarity let out a small whine at this. Silver didn’t want to leave her like this, but he had no choice as he exited the boutique. Rarity turned around on her stomach and placed her head on a pillow.

“A nap doesn’t sound too bad.” Rarity said sadly and tiredly before her eyes closed and she began to doze off.

Rarity then was in a pitch black area. She couldn’t see anything at all. Suddenly, a bright light shone upon her. Rarity covered her eyes from the brightness of the light. In her hands, she found that she was holding several pieces paper, each of them containing a design of hers. Then, in the darkness around her, many purple eyes began to glow, each of them looking at her with judgemental looks. This caused Rarity to become timid as she shrank away from the eyes, her anxiety began to rise as they all stared at her. She was surrounded.

“Well? Show us your designs!” A voice from the eyes said impatiently in a snobbish manner.

“Y-Yes!” Rarity said nervously. Suddenly, the papers were blown out of Rarity’s arms for the eyes to see as they flew around. The eyes looked at them with disgust before glaring at Rarity, who was desperately trying to catch the papers as they floated away.

“Garbage, Garbage and more Garbage!” Many voices said in unison. Rarity became alarmed at what they said as her face filled with panic.

“W-wait! Give me another chance, please!” Rarity begged as the eyes began to vanish, ignoring her pleas and eventually leaving her alone. Rarity fell down to her knees and she began to weep softly.

Reala flew through a giant pink mist, searching for any dreams as his eyes darted around. Just then on the side, Reala noticed a white twinkle nearby. He then turned in its direction and flew towards it.

“Aha!” Reala said. He then approached it before he was engulfed in a white flash as he got too close to it. When the flash died, Reala saw Rarity beneath him, still crying softly under the only light in the dream. He stopped flying and began to observe her.

“Hmmm, she looks like an associate of that pink girl. Excellent, this was easier than I thought.” Reala said as he flew down and grabbed the unsuspecting Rarity suddenly. Rarity became surprised as she realized that she was now being carried by Reala into the pink mist.

“What’s this?! A kidnapping?! Let me go, whoever you are!” Rarity demanded as she pounded on Reala’s back. He just ignored her and continued to fly.

“Silence! You have caught the interest of my master. I am simply bringing you towards him.” Reala explained.

“Master?” Rarity said confused. She then became silent for a while as she observed Reala’s outfit from the behind. She formed a look of disapproval as she frowned.

“I must say, does your master pick out your outfits? Because you have the absolute worst sense of fashion ever! The whole jester motif died out ages ago!” Rarity criticized. “ And why aren’t you wearing any pants? Don’t you have any sense of dignity? Also, when was the last time you got a manicure? Your fingernails are disgusting!”

Reala began to fume at Rarity’s constant complaining, but he just remained silent.

“(I know Wizeman said to take any one of them, but I should’ve picked one less obnoxious! Does this girl ever shut up?!)” Reala thought angrily.

“Hey, are you even listening?” Rarity complained.

“Silence! We’re almost at my master’s quarters!” Reala informed her.

Rarity turned and she saw Reala entering the outside of Nightmare. She formed a frightened look upon seeing it.

“What is that?” Rarity asked.

“You’ll see soon enough. Also, mind your manners. I don’t think Wizeman will appreciate your whining.” Reala warned as they entered Nightmare. As they did, Rarity closed her eyes and when she opened them, she now looked at the inside of Wizeman’s quarters. Wizeman was in the center, waiting. Reala approached him and stopped.

“Wizeman, I brought one.” Reala said.

Rarity looked up at Wizeman and she was taken aback. She knew instantly that getting on his bad side wouldn’t be so wise with her criticism. He gave off an aura of intimidation and authority.

“Excellent work, Reala.” Wizeman praised.

Reala released Rarity and she began to float slightly. She flayed her arms around before one of Wizeman’s hands gripped her and she yelped. The hand brought her in front of him and he began to inspect her. At least, she thought he was. It was hard to tell without his eyes.

“You were right, Reala. I feel an incredible magic coming from this girl.” Wizeman said.

“W-What do you want with me?” Rarity managed to say.

“I feel as if though your magic could be of great use .” Wizeman said.

“I’ll-I’ll never help you! You had me kidnapped. As well, are you the one who picks out the outfits of your servant? Because, I have a lot to complain about!” Rarity declared, forgetting the fear she initially had.

“Reala, did you have to pick one...so vain?” Wizeman asked, not impressed with Rarity's attitude.

“Forgive me. She was the only one asleep.” Reala answered.

“No matter. Anyway, you don’t have a choice. Now, let me try this.” Wizeman said. He then released Rarity from his palm and she floated mid-air. Th eye on his hand began to glow and it charged. Rarity floated back away upon seeing this in fear.

“Wha-” Rarity began before the eye fired a purple beam which engulfed her entirely. Reala looked in shock after the beam was finished and purple smoke came from it.

“Sir-” Reala said before Wizeman cut him off.

“Observe Reala, my new servant.” Wizeman said.

Reala looked and he saw the smoke clearing from where Rarity was. Rarity appeared, but she looked unrecognizable. Her skin was now a deep, dark purple color. Her sclera was now light blue to match her light blue eyes. Her hair was wavy and larger and was now a light lavender color along with a few white stripes along with small white twinkles in it. Her boots were now golden and armored and she wore golden armoured arm bands . She wore a single dark purple dress with a golden chest plate in the center and a purple jewel on it. She looked up to Wizeman and smirked.

“What shall I call you?” Wizeman asked the new Rarity.

“Nightmare Rarity will do.” Rarity responded with a sinister smile as she bowed down him.

Into Dreams Part 2

Into Dreams part 2

Nightmare Rarity admired herself with awe as she examined her entire body with a delightful smile. Reala looked on, with a slightly confused expression at what had just happened. He then turned around to face Wizeman.

“Sir, what have you done exactly?” Reala questioned.

“It is simple. I infused her body with some of my power, combining it with the magic inside of her body. This has transformed her into my loyal servant. Her power is equivalent to that of a level 1 Nightmaren such as yourself.” Wizeman explained.

“I see now! Ingenious!” Reala praised.

Nightmare Rarity was so focused on her new look, she didn’t even seem to notice Reala or Wizeman. She stared at her arms, legs, examined her skirt and the new armor around her. She was visibly pleased with what she saw.

“Wow, I just feel incredible! I must look as good as I feel!” She said as she looked down at the golden band on her arm in order to see her reflection. She saw her face and she beamed. She flipped her hair back a little bit.

“I’m just gorgeous!” She squealed.

“Are you finished yet? There’s work to be done.” She heard Reala say to her. She turned towards him and when her eyes landed on him, all the delight faded from her face. She eyed him up and down and looked disapprovingly.

“Who are you supposed to be?” She said in a snobbish tone filled with distaste. Reala gave her a slight glare due to the way she spoke.

“I am Reala. I-” He started before Nightmare Rarity cut off as she waved her hand in his face.

“Yeah, I don’t care.” She dismissed and she turned away from him condescendingly. Reala’s reaction was filled with a mixture of slight astonishment and anger. He hated being disrespected and he glared at her more intensely. Nightmare Rarity didn’t notice him at all. Her attention was now towards Wizeman, who she gave a sinister smile.

“Master Wizeman, I have just the idea to help you take over Nightopia.” She proposed.

“Continue.” Wizeman said, open to hearing her suggestion.

“Where I came from, there are these objects known as Chaos Emeralds. They are absolutely fabulous to look at! And they are just as powerful as they are beautiful. I still have access to my waking body. I could retrieve them for you.” Nightmare Rarity suggested.

“Hmmm, this plan of yours shows much promise. Very well then, go fetch these emeralds at once. Your talk of their power interests me.” Wizeman responded. Nightmare Rarity bowed at his response.

“Of course sir. I won’t let you down.” She promised. Nightmare Rarity turned around to make her leave, but before she did, she looked at Reala again. He folded his arms at her with displeasure.

“Just a heads up. If you and I are going to work together, you sooo need a wardrobe upgrade. I can’t have you looking like that while you’re with me. I’ll make you look good. Not as good as me of course, but I’ll see what I can do.” Nightmare Rarity informed him. Reala didn’t know how to respond to her attitude. This time, he was more confused than angry as he gave her a look of uncertainty. Before he could respond, Nightmare Rarity vanished in a swirl of dark mist, glittering with small stars.

“Master….” Reala said, not having confidence in his newest partner.

“Patience Reala. Let us see what she is capable of.” Wizeman said.

Back in the real world, Rarity’s eyes opened up after they flashed dark purple. She rose up from her couch quickly and smirked.

“This mortal body does indeed serve a good purpose. And plus, I still look great in it! Now, to claim those emeralds for Wizeman.” She declared as she headed towards the door of her home and exited it.

In his workshop, Tails was making adjustments to his Miles Electric. The back was opened up and Tails was screwing in some screws inside it as he sat at his desk. He was extremely focused on his work. He then heard a knock at his door, making him drop the screwdriver and turn towards it.

“It’s probably Sonic checking up to see how the Tornado’s coming along. I told him I’d get to it.” Tails said with a slight sigh as he walked to up to the door. When he opened it, he saw, much to his surprise, Rarity in front of him. She stood there with a warm smile.

“Oh, hi Rarity. What brings you by?” Tails asked.

“What, I can’t just come and see how my favorite genius is doing?” She replied as she gave Tails a slight wink. Tails didn’t expect this and his eyes darted to the floor, filled with embarrassment.

“Oh, favorite huh?” Tails said, slightly flattered.

“You heard me. So, can I come in?” Rarity said.

“Yeah, uh, sure thing.” Tails awkwardly responded. He really was shy around girls.

Rarity then entered in, not taking her eyes off Tails as her look developed into a slightly flirtatious one. Tail’s cheeks turned slightly pink and his eyes once again examined the floor.

“You must be working soooo hard, you should relax a little.” Rarity suggested as she looked around the workshop. (“Where does he keep those emeralds?”)

“Well, you know us geniuses, we gotta keep our work up.” Tails said proudly.

“If that’s the case, then you don’t mind doing me a small favor, do you Tails?” Rarity requested as she approached him and rubbed her finger alongside his arm. The pink on Tail’s cheeks turned a brighter red. He was really trying to avoid eye contact as his eyes darted around the room.

“Uh,, y-yeah, sure!” Tails said, trying to keep cool.

“You are such a dear.” Rarity added as she placed her hands on his chin and looked him directly in the eye. Tails was lost with how pretty her clear, blue eyes were and he got a silly smile. “You see, I was hoping I could perhaps take a look at the Chaos Emeralds you have. I want to design some new clothes and I think seeing how beautiful they are would give me the right inspiration.”

“I don’t know if I should. I mean, the emerald should only be use-” Tails began to say as he turned away from Rarity to think about her request before she turned his head toward her. She gave him such beautiful smile and Tails felt butterflies in his chest.

“It would make me very happy.” Rarity said in a seductive tone.

“While I get that you would love to see them, I still gotta say...... no. The emeralds should only be used in case of an emergency. Sorry, hope you're ok with it.” Tails finally decided as he rubbed the back of his head, making Rarity let him go. He didn't notice the frown she formed on her face. This was not what she wanted to hear.

"(What's with this geek anyway?! He should be like putty in my hand! He should be glad that I'm even speaking to him. Doesn't he see that there's a ten standing right in front?!)" Rarity bitterly thought as she silently grit her teeth. She changed her frown to a forced smile.

"Oh, but Tails, it would just only be for a second. And besides, wouldn't it be good for you to take a break from the responsibility of guarding the emeralds?" She suggested.

"Well, responsibility's just part of being a hero." Tails said, trying to sound very heroic as he rubbed his fist on his chest. Rarity's frown became less discrete upon hearing this.

"Ugh, I sooo do not have time for this!" She suddenly declared, making Tails puzzled by her statement. His eyes focused on her.

"Wait, what?" Tails said. He then noticed the malicious smile form on Rarity's face.

Rarity looked up at Tails. A dark mist enveloped her entire body suddenly, revealing herself as Nightmare Rarity. Tails looked on in shock as he gasped in panic and backed away slightly from this new Rarity. He definitely wasn't expecting this to happen.

“Rarity?! What’s going on?!” Tails cried.

“I'm taking the emeralds, whether you like it or not!” Nightmare Rarity declared as her hand glowed a dark blue color and she pointed it towards Tails, making him glow like her hand and he levitated above the ground. Tails flailed his limbs around before he was slammed into the wall with great force. He struggled, but he couldn't move. Her grip was too strong.

"Where do you keep the emeralds kid? I won't ask twice." Nightmare Rarity said in a menacing tone as she closed in on Tails.

"Rarity....why are you doing this?" Tails asked, his voice full of fear.

"My master needs those emeralds. Your little brain wouldn't be able to understand his great plan, so no need to explain. Now, be a dear and give me the emeralds." Nightmare Rarity responded. Her grip became tighter and Tails grunted. His eyes darted to a yellow safe placed on top of a counter on his left. Nightmare Rarity noticed his eyes and she smirked.

"Oh, what's so important in there?" She questioned.

"N-Nothing!" Tails lied. He wasn't very good at lying either.

Nightmare Rarity extended her other hand towards the yellow safe and it glowed blue and was brought close to her. Tails watched helplessly as she tore off the door of the safe and pulled out a clear container. In it were the 6 emeralds. Nightmare Rarity almost gasped upon seeing them. They were all so magnificent.

"These are amazing! Not as much as me, but they come close! Wizeman will be so pleased!" Nightmare Rarity said as she let Tails go as she grabbed a hold of the container, dropping him to the floor with a loud thud. Tails lifted himself up to see Nightmare Rarity with the emeralds. She turned to him.

"Thanks for the emeralds kid! See you around!" She gloated.

Nightmare Rarity then disappeared in the same dark mist with the emeralds, leaving behind an upset Tails as he watched her leave. Tails hit himself in the head hard due to what just happened.

.“I need to call Sonic and the others. This isn’t good.” Tails realized as he took his phone out his pocket.

“YOU LOST THE EMERALDS!!!!???” Knuckles shouted at Tails, who winced slightly at how loud his yell was. Tail’s face was filled with a shame as he rubbed his arm and looked down at the ground nervously. Inside his workshop was Sonic, Silver, Manic, Shadow and the Rainbooms as well, crowded around him.

“Easy Knux, how about we let Tails explain what happened?” Sonic suggested as he placed his hands on Knuckles’s shoulder. Knuckles did a slight sigh as he calmed down and he crossed his arms, still not too happy with Tails.

“Thanks, Sonic.” Tails said as he managed to lift his head up to explain to the others.

“Start from the beginning. How’d you lose them?” Sunset said.

“Ok, so this morning, I was just working in my shop. When all of a sudden, Rarity came there.” Tails began. Hearing Rarity’s name, made everyone perk up.

“Rarity? Last time I was with her, she seemed really down because her designs got rejected? What does she have to do with this? Did whoever take the emeralds hurt her as well?” Silver suddenly said, his voice full of concern.

“I’m getting to that. The thing is, Rarity was the one who stole them.” Tails explained, making the rest of them look at him with astonishment and confusion, except for Shadow, who just raised his eyebrow with interest.

“Rarity? That makes no sense.” AppleJack pointed out.

“Are you sure you’re not talking about another Rarity? Our Rarity would never ever, ever, ever, ever, do something like that.” Pinkie Pie added.

“I know it doesn’t make any sense, but believe me, it was her. There was something different about her. First, she looked normal, but then when she got the emeralds, her appearance changed. She looked well...evil.” Tails said.

"Evil? Oh, no! Has Rarity been taken over by some kind of evil magic!?" Sunset asked him, clearly troubled by the idea.

"Sunset, I think that could be the case. She wasn’t being herself. I think she's in trouble. ” Tails informed.

“Of course, she is. We need to find to her now!” Silver declared. (“Man, I shouldn't have left her by herself.”)

“Yeah, but we don’t have any idea where she went.” Rainbow Dash brought up.

“That’s true. All she mentioned about was having some kind of master who she took the emerald from. All I got was that his name is Wizeman. That’s still pretty vague.” Tails agreed and he slumped down to the ground and held his head. “I'm sorry I couldn't stop her.”

Sonic came down to Tails and he placed his hand on his shoulder reassuringly, making Tails look up at him. Knuckles looked down at Tails and his expression softened. He gave Tails a slight smile, over his anger for Tail's loss. Tails slightly smiled as well.

“No worries. We’ll just have to get the emeralds back and save Rarity at the same time. Just another Tuesday.” Sonic told him. “Besides, she didn’t get all the emeralds, remember?”

Sonic looked back to Shadow, who took out his pocket the green Chaos Emerald he normally had. Tails' face brightened up.

“Of course! It’s a good thing Shadow keeps holding onto that one. Let’s do it, bro.” Tails said his voice, now full of hope and he and Sonic fist-bumped.

"We'll find whoever's behind this and 'ask' for the emeralds back." Knuckles said as he hit his fist together, prepared to bust some heads.

“But first, we need to find Rarity. Tails said he no idea where she was. I hope she’s ok.” Fluttershy said, greatly worried about her friend.

“I think I have the answer that.” Manic gladly announced as he leaned against the door, making all eyes turn on him. “I myself had to deal with Rarity missing across dimensions. It’s a long story, I’ll explain some other time. But the point is, in order to find out where she was, I just took an item of hers and used Chaos Control while holding it. Led me right to her.” Now he was met with looks that were both surprised and impressed at the same time.

“I must admit. That’s pretty smart of you, Manic. I’m impressed.” Shadow admitted.

“Hehe thanks.” Manic simply responded. He wasn't used to being praised by Shadow of all people.

“An item of Rarity’s? I guess anything could work.” Rainbow Dash said.

“I’ll be back.” Silver said suddenly as he lifted himself up with his psychic powers and he flew out of the door quickly. Silver flew across the city and he came across Canterlot High School. He floated down in front of the window to the band room. Silver opened up the window using his powers and saw Rarity’s keytar. Silver brought it towards himself and he then closed the window. Silver flew back to Tail’s workshop and he landed back in front.

“This should do it.” Silver said as he held it up.“Shadow, pass me the emerald.” Silver added, making Shadow throw it to him as he caught it.

“Ok then. Hold tight everyone.” Silver said. Sonic and the others then crowded around Silver as he held the emerald above the keytar.

“Group hug!” Pinkie said as she gripped Fluttershy, Shadow, and Knuckles in her arms, making them groan at how tight and strong she was. The latter two placed their hands on Sonic and Sunset, who held on to Silver directly. Rainbow Dash and AppleJack held onto to Knuckles and Shadow, leaving Tails and Manic to place their hands on their two shoulders.

“Chaos...Control!!” Silver yelled, making a giant green aura envelop him and the others before they disappeared in a giant green flash.

Into Dreams Part 3

A giant green flash appeared suddenly and then ended, revealing Sonic and the others holding onto each other's shoulder with Silver in the center, clutching the emerald down on Rarity's keytar. Everyone let each other go.

"That worked. So, where are we?" Silver wondered as he put the emerald in his pocket and strapped Rarity's keytar around him.

All of them began to look around to where they had entered. The sky was a deep blue color with many twinkling stars in the background. The area they were in was covered by many tall green pine trees. They appeared to be in some kind of garden as there were small 4 bushes around the corners. They were standing in a circular pathway with red stripes on its exterior with a large fountain in the center, making the sound of water pouring heavily. Next to it were two tall green statues of two women holding water bearers. Around them were 6 brown doors floating, each with a few small steps leading towards them. It was a magnificent sight to behold as they were in awe of the location's natural beauty. Even Shadow couldn't help but admire it.

"This place is so beautiful." Sunset managed to say.

"I know. Just being here makes me want to lie down and take a looong nap." Sonic said as he stretched his arms.

"Well, we're not here for sightseeing. We're here to take back the emeralds, remember?" Shadow firmly reminded him.

"And save Rarity." Silver added.

"That too." Shadow reminded Sonic. Sonic sighed at Shadow's uptight attitude.

"I know, I didn't forget. Just making a joke. You need to lighten up sometimes." Sonic replied, making Shadow turn away and fold his arms.

"Uh, wasn't this supposed to take us to where Rarity is? I don't see her around anywhere. In fact, I think we're the only ones here." AppleJack said as she examined the area. She was right. Aside from them, it was empty.

"Oh, hehe, maybe I should have mentioned that when I did this, it didn't take me to Rarity's exact location. Just the dimension to where she was taken." Manic said with slight embarrassment as he rubbed his neck, making him the receiving end of many irritated glances.

"That would have been nice to know. Great, so Rarity's in an entirely new world and we don't even know where to begin looking for her!" Rainbow Dash said as she flayed her arms up in frustration.

"And I don't sense the emeralds presence at all." Shadow said.

"No sign of Rarity or the emeralds. Great start." Knuckles complained.

Suddenly from the sky, a small sound of what appeared to be a flute was heard, grabbing everyone's attention as they looked around for the source. It was a soft and smooth melody, and it was very relaxing and pleasing to the ears.

"What's that song. It's soooo nice." Pinkie happily noticed as she began to nod her head to the sound of the music.

"Where's it coming from?" Tails wondered.

The music of the flute began to increase into noise and Sonic and the group managed to notice that the melody was coming from the sky as they raised their heads up to find its origin. Coming down to them, was a figure who didn't even have a flute at all. They had their hands into the position of a flute, yet the music still appeared. They wore a purple suit with pink covers on the feet with yellow stripes around them. They had a small pink vest with yellow stars. They had large white sleeves with cuffs decorated with purple and yellow triangles upside down of each other. They were wearing a red jewel in the center of their chest and on top of their head, they wore a large purple jester hat with lavender stripes. They had a large purple collar where their neck should have been. Their eyes were closed as they descended down in the middle of everyone, still airborne and they stopped moving their fingers and the music ended. They opened their eyes, which were large and clear blue and they had no nose as well. The figure gave a welcoming smile.

"I've never seen this many visitors at once." They said.

Before any could ask the purple jester about their identity, Pinkie dashed in front of them and eyed them up with a big and excited smile on her face.

"How did you do that?!! You were making music without an instrument! You've gotta teach me!" Pinkie shouted, bursting with energy as she peered into their face. The jester let out a small chuckle and slightly drifted away from her to get back some space.

"Just a special talent I have. Here in the dream world, anything is possible." They informed her as they floated upside down with their hands behind their head. Hearing the phrase 'dream world' made Shadow raise an eyebrow and he turned his attention to the jester as he began to inspect them with suspicion as he squinted slightly. There was something familiar about this jester.

"Uh, yeah, before we start doing anything, who are you? And where are we exactly?" Silver said as he spoke up and approached the jester. They turned right side up after hearing him.

"Oh, introductions are due. Pardon me. I'm NiGHTS." The jester said with a bow. "And you visitors are in Nightopia, the realm of dreams. This location is known as the Dream Gate, the starting place of every dreamer."

"We're not dreamers. We're not even sleeping." Fluttershy informed NiGHTS, causing him to float up in a sitting position and examine her and the others with curiosity.

"Not dreaming? That's odd. Then how'd you arrive here?" NiGHTS asked.

Shadow continued to eye NiGHTS and this talk of dreams jogged his memory a bit. It then hit him why NiGHTS seemed so familiar and Shadow's eyes widened. He then marched up towards NiGHTS through Sonic and the others and gave him a slight glare.

"I have a question. You wouldn't happen to know anyone by the name of Reala would you? You look a lot like him." Shadow demanded to NiGHTS, causing Sonic and the others to face NiGHTS with slight surprise at Shadow's assessment. NiGHTS stood or rather, floated straight quickly when he heard this.

"Reala?! You know Reala?!" NiGHTS said, bewildered.

"I remember him! He was the meanie who tried to take over my dream!" Pinkie remembered. "Come to think of it, Shady's right. You look like him, except more fun and a whole lot nicer!"

"Same old Reala." NiGHTS said with a disappointed sigh. "Yeah, I know Reala. I guess he's sort of my sibling in a way. We were both created to serve this evil guy called Wizeman and take over Nightopia. Reala liked the idea, but I didn't, so I betrayed him. Ever since then, I've been defending visitors and Nightopia from their threats. And having a little fun along the way." They added as they stretched their face into a large toothy grin, making Pinkie laugh slightly.

The name Wizeman made Tails speak up suddenly as well.

"Wizeman? I remember Rarity mentioning that name when she told me she was stealing the emeralds for her master!" Tails explained.

"You've even heard of Wizeman too. What brings you to Nightopia?"NiGHTS asked with great interest.

"Our friend Rarity wasn't being herself. Like she was some under kind of evil spell. She came and took 6 of these powerful gems known as Chaos Emeralds and disappeared. We managed to trace her here using the only one she didn't take." Sunset said.

"Yep, that sounds like something Wizeman would do." NiGHTS nonchalantly said as he rose up slightly. "Anyway, seeing as he's behind your missing emeralds and friend, you don't mind if I join your little journey, do you? I'd never miss up an opportunity to make Wizeman mad."

"Sounds good to me. You seem way past cool." Sonic agreed. NiGHTS floated down. They fist bumped in agreement.

"Besides, you seem to know your way around here. We're kinda lost. We're really in need of a guide." Silver added.

"A pleasure." NiGHTS said, giving him the thumbs up.

Pinkie suddenly came behind NiGHTS and she gave them a bone crushing hug, making them slightly amazed at the strength of her grip.

"Eeeeehhhh! This is so great! Welcome to the group! I'm Pinkie Pie!" Pinkie said. " And that's Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Manic, Silver, Sunset Shimmer, Rainbow Dash, AppleJack, Fluttershy, and Shadow!"

NiGHTS turned and he noticed all of them, giving him welcoming looks of approval, well except Shadow, of course. Pinkie let NiGHTS go and they were approached by the others.

"Now that introductions are done and over with, let's get started! Where to first, NiGHTS?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Well, seeing as Wizeman made your friend and stones disappear, they'll probably in Nightmare. That's his headquarters." NiGHTS deduced.

Speaking of Nightmare, in the location, Wizeman and Reala waited in Wizeman's chamber.

"Sir, I fear she's been gone for too long. What if she failed?" Reala said, his voice full of concern.

"Patience Reala. I have faith in my new servant." Wizeman calmly responded.

Suddenly, a glittering dark purple mist appeared, revealing itself to be Nightmare Rarity. In her hand, she was holding the emerald canister with 6 Chaos Emeralds, Red, Grey, Blue, Cyan, Purple, and Yellow. She came down on her knees and presented them to Wizeman.

"Master Wizeman, here are the emeralds as you requested." Nightmare Rarity, said.

"Excellent. I told you she wouldn't fail Reala." Wizeman said, causing Nightmare Rarity to turn to him, who folded his arms with displeasure and he grumbled a bit. He was hoping she would fail.

"You thought I would fail?! As If! I'm not like you for starters! 2nd, when you're as talented as me, there's only one-way things end. With success!" Nightmare Rarity told him as she did a conceited hair flip. Reala looked as if he wanted to tear her to shreds, regardless of what Wizeman thought but he just remained silent and clutched his arms more tightly. Nightmare Rarity then turned her attention back to Wizeman and she opened up the emerald canister, making the 6 emeralds rise up in the air. Wizeman observed them, impressed with the power he could sense. They then each floated into the palm of the 6 hands surrounding Wizeman. After this, Wizeman felt a surge of energy through his body as each of the hands glowed the color of the respective emerald they possessed. Reala looked on, astonished at the new power his master possessed.

"I can feel it.....these emeralds......I've never known a power like this before!" Wizeman exclaimed.

"It is truly a pleasure to please you master." Nightmare Rarity said with a bow.

Wizeman suddenly felt a disturbance in Nightopia and his hands stopped glowing. Both Reala and Nightmare Rarity noticed this.

"Master, what is the matter?" Reala asked.

"It appears that we have visitors." Wizeman said. He then formed a small hole from behind Reala and Nightmare Rarity, making them turn towards it. In it, they saw Sonic and the group with NiGHTS in the Dream Gate, chatting about their next move. Nightmare Rarity gasped and she formed a look of panic. Reala turned towards her and he gave her a smug smile.

"So, things only end in success, do they?" He taunted.

"I don't understand. How could they have followed me here?" Nightmare Rarity wondered. Suddenly, the color drained from her face and she formed a dejected look as her shoulders sunk. She turned towards Wizeman.

"Master Wizeman, please forgive me! It appears that I forgot to bring you one emerald. I forgot the black visitor called Shadow always keeps it in his possession. I am so ashamed sir. They followed me and now are going to disturb your excellency." Nightmare Rarity apologized, her voice full of regret and remorse and she hung her head in shame.

"Let that be a lesson to you. Don't be so cocky!" Reala scolded as he floated around her slowly before he faced Wizeman. "Master, allow me to correct Nightmare Rarity's mistake. Let me deal with NiGHTS and his new companions. I owe Shadow and the pink one for my humiliation."

Hearing this suggestion made Nightmare Rarity raise her head and she looked at Reala as if that was the stupidest idea she had ever heard.

"And have you mess everything up again like last time?! I don't think so!" She snapped as she pointed towards Reala with aggression, taking him back. Before he could respond, she turned around and faced Wizeman.

"Master, I think I can correct my mistake. With an emerald, an individual is granted the ability to perform something called Chaos Control, allowing one to bend time and space to their will. Seeing as you possess six, why don't you try dealing with our unwanted guest by doing the technique yourself? The results would be beneficial. " Nightmare Rarity suggested.

"How dare you suggest Master Wizeman having to deal with such unworthy beings himself!? He-"Reala began before Wizeman spoke.

"Reala. Enough. Nightmare Rarity, your suggestion sounds extremely promising. I would like to test the power these emeralds have now bestowed me with. I say, allow our guest to approach me and then I will make use of this Chaos Control. Excellent plan." Wizeman decided, making Nightmare Rarity beam with joy and Reala speechless and stumped as he sighed in defeat.

"Thank you master." Nightmare Rarity said.

"Yes, I have a new Nightmare in mind which would preoccupy our visitors." Wizeman cryptically added. His hands began to glow the respective color of the emeralds again.

Into the Nightmare Zone

"Nightmare huh? Well then, let's get going!" Silver declared as his body began to glow green and he started to rise up before Manic pulled his sleeve, preventing him from going anywhere. Silver looked down at him impatiently.

"Dude, we just got the name of the location. We still don't even know where it is. " Manic pointed out, making Silver's body lose its glow and he came down.

"Someone's eager for adventure." NiGHTS said, making Silver rub the back of his head.

"So, how in the hay do we get to this Nightmare place anyway?" AppleJack asked.

"Normally, visitors are supposed to be having nightmares to enter it, but seeing as you guys are awake, looks like we'll have to travel there. It's about on the edge of Nightopia. It's pretty far actually." NiGHTS explained.

"No problem. I could use a good run anyway. Besides, with my speed, it should probably take only a few minutes." Sonic said as he started to do leg stretches.

"Nice. Now, we can begin." NiGHTS said as he turned to Silver with a slight smile, making Silver turn away, a little embarrassed at how impatient he had been.

"Wait, guys, we should pony up first." Sunset said as she turned to the Rainbooms. Hearing this caught NiGHTS attention and he floated towards them.

"Pony up? What's that?" NiGHTS said, his voice full of curiosity.

"It's this magical thing we do! Our hair gets longer, we get these little pony ears and we became really floaty like you!!!" Pinkie explained as she made the motion of her hair extending, made two ears with her fingers and she jumped up high before she landed down on the ground.

"Sounds cool. I'd love to see a demonstration." NiGHTS eagerly said.

"Then observe!" Pinkie replied as she got into a circle with the rest of the Rainbooms. They each closed their eyes and focus respectively on their elements of Laughter, Loyalty, Kindness, Redemption, and Honesty. Their bodies glowed pink, cyan, yellow, light pink and orange as they rose up in the air and their hair grew longer and they grew ears. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy gained wings on their back. NiGHTS looked on with Sonic and the others. They were was amazed at what had they seen as they had a wide smile full of delight. The Rainbooms now floated above and descended, except for Pinkie. NiGHTS rose up to join her.

"Awesome!" NiGHTS said as they and Pinkie Pie gripped each other arms and both did excited squeals.

"NiGHTs and Pinkie seem to be getting along well." Fluttershy noticed.

"Wonderful. We meet another of Reala's kind and their basically another Pinkie Pie. I'm in for the headache of my life." Shadow said as he sighed and placed his hand over his head.

"Now that we're all set, lead the way NiGHTS!" Rainbow Dash said.

NiGHTS then approached one of the floating doors and opened it up, revealing a dark blue area with many twinkling stars in the background. It contained a yellow glittering long road for travel by foot which appeared to be endless as it extended throughout the area. It had various loops as well.

"Let's do it to it!" Sonic exclaimed as he grabbed Tails's arm suddenly, catching him by surprise. He then rushed towards the door and then was shortly followed by NiGHTS and the rest of the group.

On the pathway to Nightmare, Sonic holding onto Tails took the yellow road along with Manic and Shadow. NiGHTS, Knuckles, Silver and the Rainbooms flew above them or glided in Knuckles's case as they made their way.

"By the way, what exactly are these Chaos Emeralds that Wizeman had your friend steal?" NiGHTS asked.

"The Chaos Emeralds are seven powerful artifacts that give the user complete control over time and space. Even just having one lets a person have limited power over those two areas." Tails explained to them. "With the only Wizeman didn't get is how we were able to get here." NiGHTS grew a worried look on their face, quite contrary to their usual happy expression.

"They let you control time and space and Wizeman has six of them? That's really bad. Wizeman's always looking for a way to travel to the world of visitors. With these emeralds, that might actually be possible." NiGHTS said, deeply troubled by the thought.

"Don't worry, we ain't gonna let that happen." AppleJack reassured.

Suddenly, a loud distorted ominous laughter was heard throughout the area, stopping everyone in their tracks suddenly. The laughter left an echoing effect as well after it was finished.

"Wh-What was that?" Fluttershy nervously said as she looked around, her face full of fear and she gripped herself.

In front of them, a dark blue mist formed and a large blue holographic figure flashed three times before it revealed itself to be Wizeman himself in front of them. Sonic and the others looked on in astonishment at his size as they slightly moved back while NiGHTS glared heavily at him.

"Wizeman!" NiGHTS yelled.

"That's Wizeman?!" Silver exclaimed.

Wizeman didn't respond to them at all. He flashed three times before his image faded back into the dark blue mist, which disappeared, leaving everyone back to the way they were. They eased up after seeing his image leave.

"I'm confused. What just happened?" Pinkie wondered as she scratched her head.

"Of course, only you would be with your below average intelligence" A conceited voice suddenly said from above, causing the group to look to its source. Descending towards them was Nightmare Rarity, looking down at them smugly, making them gasp in surprise, except for Shadow and NiGHTS.

"Rarity!" Rainbow Dash called out.

"Hello, my useless former friends. And Silver. Hiii Silver." Nightmare Rarity said as she waved her fingers at him in a flirtatious manner. Silver eyes darted back and forth and he remained silent. He didn't really know he was supposed to respond to that. Her expression then changed into a menacing one as she drew her finger across her neck in a menacing manner, taking Silver back.

Shortly after, Reala descended next to her and his eyes focused on NiGHTS as he and Nightmare Rarity looked down at NiGHTS and the others.

"Greetings NiGHTS. I see you've allied yourself with our unwanted visitors." Reala said.

"I see you've made a new friend as well Reala." NiGHTS responded. "What's wrong? Are you getting too scared to fight me alone?"

Reala glowered heavily at NiGHTS after hearing his taunt.

"Of course not! I could handle you and your allies on my own if necessary!" Reala declared. Nightmare Rarity turned to Reala and looked at him with distaste.

"No, you couldn't! I mean, I definitely could, but seeing as you've failed so many times, there's no way that would ever happen!" She told him haughtily. Reala clenched his fist and did his best not to try and attack her first before he stared at NiGHTS and the others.

"Rarity." Nightmare Rarity heard Sunset say and she turned around to face her. Sunset's face was full of concern over her friend's state. Nightmare Rarity studied her with a disinterested expression.

"Rarity, listen, you're not being yourself. The dark magic is clouding your judgment. I know what's it like, I've been in your position before. You have to try and resist its influence." Sunset pleaded.

Nightmare Rarity let out a small noble woman's laugh at Sunset's attempt.

"Oh dearie, why would I do that? I've never felt better! You're just jealous that I can pull off looking evil and hot at the same time!" She told her as she did a supermodel pose. This made Sunset's mouth slightly drop in disbelief at her vanity.

"Rarity, you have to listen to her. She's right." Silver interjected as he floated next to Sunset. Nightmare Rarity turned her focus towards him. She gave him a malicious smile.

"Awww, you're worried about me Silver? That is sooo sweet!" She said in a mocking tone, making Silver slightly annoyed as he gave her a focused glare.

"Ok, talking things through isn't working. Let's get to the hitting already!" Knuckles said as he stepped forward and cracked his knuckles.

"I wouldn't be so confident. You have no idea what you're up against." Reala informed them.

"Do you know what you're up against? The two of you are outnumbered." Shadow reminded him.

"We know that, you idiot. We can count. But we're not going to be fighting against you. Toodles." Nightmare Rarity said as she disappeared into a dark cloudy mist which enveloped both her and Reala.

"Wait, Rarity!" Silver called out, but it was too late, they were already gone as the mist cleared. NiGHTS put their finger on their chin and went over what just happened.

"It's not like Reala to come to me and not start a fight. Somethings not right here." NiGHTS said.

"NiGHTS is right. I don't like this." Sonic said as he looked around, waiting for something to jump out underneath or above them.

In front of them, giant versions of Wizemans six hands projected themselves around them, making everyone back up to each other as they were surrounded by. Each hand held the six stolen emeralds in their palms, catching everyone off guard as they saw what they possessed.

"The emeralds!" Tails yelled.

The hands began to glow the color of the respective emeralds in their palms and cackled with dark purple electricity in the center.

"Chaos...Control!" Sonic and the others heard Wizemans voice call out.

"Chaos Control?!" Shadow said, not expecting Wizeman to have any knowledge of it.

The area around them suddenly became introverted with black and white colors as a black and white wave was sent through it. Everyone felt their entire bodies becoming heavy and slow as it was a struggle to move their mouths, much less their limbs.

"What's happening?" Rainbow Dash said with a slow and distorted voice as she tried to fly but her wings barely flapped.

Above them, a large dark swirling vortex formed. The vortex began to draw the group in as they floated up against it towards their will. They couldn't resist its pull no matter how hard they tried to move away from it and one by one, they each entered the vortex. The last two to enter where Silver and NiGHTS as they both stuck their hands out with anguished faces as they were swallowed by the hole. After they were inside it, the vortex vanished in a black and white flash.

The Nightmare Zone Part 1

The Nightmare Zone part 1

Knuckles felt his eyes beginning to flicker before he managed to open them fully. He felt his body laid down on some kind of cool metal surface and he lifted himself slowly and managed to get his balance. Knuckles rubbed his head slightly as his eyes shut.

"What just happened?" He groaned.

When Knuckle's eyes opened again, he saw Sunset on the floor right across from him. Her eyes were closed, showing she was out cold. Knuckles eyes widened with a worried look when he saw her and quickly rushed to her side. When he came next to her and knelt, he began to shake her slightly.

"Sunset, Sunset. Wake up." He urged, causing her body to stir with slight movement and her eyes began to open slowly. Knuckles let out a small sigh of relief and Sunset began to rise from the ground. She gripped her head in pain and turned to Knuckles.

"Knuckles? Where's everyone else?" She asked tiredly.

"Beats me. Looks like you and I are the only ones here. Speaking of which, where the hell are we?" Knuckles responded.

He and Sunset began to examine their location. In it, there was a large red moon in the background with a purple-blue sky. They were on a golden platform decorated with a brown center with copper symbols around it. There were many large sharp looking pendulums with golden tops and silver symbols swinging slowly. There were golden chains extended throughout the area alongside many caged golden goblets with greenish-blue flames and three tipped spears as well. There was a blue square shaped clock tower in the background as well which had two clocks on its two side faces and a slightly opened blue eye in the middle face. To Knuckles and Sunset, the area was indescribable. It was so...crazy looking as they tried to make sense of what they were witnessing.

"This place is weird. I think we might be in that Nightmare place NiGHTS was talking about." Sunset said as she looked around with an uneasy expression. "I don't like it. It's giving me the creeps. Especially that clock eye. "

"I'm with you. Let's get out of here." Knuckles agreed.

"Yeah, but where do we even start?"

"Good question."

Knuckles and Sunset walked a little further along their platform, trying to see if it would lead anywhere, but it looked like there was no exit ahead. Or above.

"Perfect. Now we're even more lost than before and we've lost the others!" Knuckles said in frustration as he clenched his fist.

"Take it easy. We just need to think of a plan. Somehow." Sunset said. But Knuckles was right. It looked like they were sitting ducks here. They had no idea where to even start moving.

"So, are we supposed to just wait for something to happen or what?" Knuckles said as he sat down on the floor and crossed his arms.

"I-" Sunset began before she was interrupted by a very strange loud noise. It sounded very similar to that of the singing of an opera woman. Sunset became startled by the noise and she nervously tried to find the source while Knuckles jumped up from the ground and put his fist together.

"What now?!" Knuckles said annoyed.

"Where's it coming from?" Sunset wondered.

Above them, the origin of the sound came down. It had a large balloon-like lower half with the bottom part having pink and blue sections. It was separated from the upper half by 4 golden circles and a golden circle with a large red jewel in the center. The top part had orange and yellow sections. The figure wore long pink gloves with golden rings and blue fingertips. They had a large chest which was covered by a pink breastplate with different jewels on them. They had bright red lips and a pink mask with blue mascara. They had large two pink bunny-like ears. It was a Nightmaren known as Puffy. Knuckles and Sunset looked up at Puffy with disgusted and shocked looks as they squinted and their mouths were slightly open. They were speechless at their sight.

"Well, now we know why this place is called Nightmare." Knuckles managed to say.

"This thing doesn't look like much. I got this." Knuckles confidently said. He clenched his fist and he jumped up towards Puffy and he delivered a hard punch to their lower half. However, instead of Puffy being blown back, their lower half absorbed the impact of Knuckles blow as his fist extended into it. Knuckles was then launched back onto the ground and he landed hard. When he rose up, he was dumbfounded by what had just happened.

"What the hell?" Knuckles said with surprise. "Alright then. A little more force should do it!"

Knuckles jumped right back to Puffy and he released a series of punches in the same area he had hit before. Each blow had no effect as they were just being absorbed by Puffy's body and only made ripples. Knuckles's punches became harder with each strike but the result didn't change. Puffy then let out a loud opera like yell, releasing a loud pink soundwave, making Sunset cover her ears and Knuckles did the same, trapped in mid-air as the soundwave echoed through him. Puffy then backhanded Knuckles onto the ground back next to Sunset, leaving him stunned as he laid on the floor.

"Knuckles!" Sunset yelled as she ran over and checked to make sure he wasn't too hurt. She then turned to Puffy and gave her a glare. Her hands became surrounded in a swirl of flames. Sunset then fired a stream of fire at Puffy, which engulfed her completely. When the flames stopped, Puffy appeared, unscathed, leaving Sunset surprised at the ineffectiveness of her fire.

"Nothing?!" Sunset exclaimed.

Puffy responded by releasing another opera-like soundwave which sent Sunset and Knuckles both sliding against the floor. The two then rose up, a little dazed and they saw Puffy beginning to sing a harmless opera song loudly.

"Now what's it doing?" Knuckles said as he recovered from Puffy's soundwave.

"Probably some kind of victory song. How do we fight this thing?" Sunset replied.

"Whenever I fight against something I just punch its lights out. That's not working here." Knuckles realized.

"Then we'll have to change our strategy. It has to have some kind of weakness." Sunset said, analyzing Puffy's appearance and trying to see if they had a weak spot.

Puffy then stopped their opera singing and began to fly towards the two of them. Knuckles and Sunset braced for a collision but instead, Puffy just flew over, not even touching them.

"What is it up to?" Sunset asked as she noticed what had just happened

Suddenly above them, three giant rectangular gems appeared which were yellow, purple, and red. The gems then began to fall towards Knuckles and Sunset. Sunset gasped while Knuckles grinned widely.

"Finally, something I can hit!" Knuckles shouted with glee as he jumped up and shattered each of the gems into pieces as his fist broke through them like nothing. Knuckles landed on the ground with many broken gem shards around him as Sunset covered her head to prevent them from hitting her. Sunset gave him a slightly annoyed look and Knuckles noticed this.

"Sorry. I'm just glad that I was able to punch something. That things body is like a balloon." Knuckles said with a shrug. The word balloon made Sunset put her hand on her chin and she began to think.

"Balloon..." Sunset pondered. She then snapped her fingers. She had an idea.

"I got it! Knuckles, since her body is like a balloon, instead of hitting her, why don't we try popping her instead?" Sunset suggested.

"Popping? Hmm, that could work." Knuckles said as he now examined the spikes on his gloves. He then turned to Puffy and gave them a menacing grin. Sunset picked a large sharp piece of the leftover gems the size of a sword.

"When she comes by again, let's pop it." Sunset instructed. Knuckles gave her the thumbs up.

Puffy then began to float down towards the two of them again and Knuckles and Sunset got ready. When Puffy approached them closely, Knuckles and Sunset both moved on the opposite sides of them and headed towards their lower half. Knuckles pressed the back of his hand on the right while Sunset jammed the gem shard into Puffy's left, piercing through their body. The two of them then removed themselves from Puffy, causing air to quickly leave their body and they began to fly around and deflate quickly like a popped balloon. Their hands gripped their face in anguish as they flew. Knuckles and Sunset landed on the ground.

"Yeah!" They said as they high fived.

Puffy's body began to fly around the area crazily for a while until their deflated form suddenly draped over Knuckles. Sunset let out a slightly disgusted gasp while Knuckles blinked twice and was silent for a moment before he yelled out loud and threw Puffy off him as fast as he could. He began to breathe in deeply and he shivered with distaste.

"I need a shower." Knuckles said as he rubbed his arms. Sunset put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

Tails and Pinkie Pie began to fall through the section of the Nightmare Zone they were trapped in. Tails was yelling out loud for his life and his limbs were scrambling about. Pinkie was screaming too, but her yells were more excited ones. Tails turned to her as they fell.

"Pinkie, can't you fly!? Why are you falling with me?!" Tails shouted.

"Because, falling is so much fun!" She shrieked.

The falling came to a stop as the two of them landed on a surface with a heavy impact. Tails groaned in pain as he got up while Pinkie shot up from the ground, perfectly fine.

"That was fun!" She exclaimed.

"Not really." Tails said as he straightened his back.

Tails took a look at where he and Pinkie Pie were. They landed on an egg-shaped sphere which was covered with red and blue tiles shaped like diamonds while the top they were on was a golden surface. The zone contained a starry night sky on one side, which was covered in a variety of oddly shaped mirrors with purple cloudy surfaces. The other side seemed to have a purple wall-like structure similar to one that someone might find in a house in the background and it contained the same oddly shaped mirrors as its opposite side. It contained caged goblets of fire like the previous section of the Nightmare Zone. Pinkie began to observe the zone and she was in awe at how unique it was.

"This place is freaky." She commented.

"Freaky is an understatement. We need to be careful. We've already lost everyone else. We need to stick together and -"Tails began to say before he noticed Pinkie wandering off on the sphere, making him yelp out of concern.

"Pinkie! Come back! You could -" Tails tried to warn until he saw Pinkie walking on the side of the sphere and not fall off it at all. She walked on it like she normally would over any path. Tails couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"-Fall...off." Tails finished. He ran over to join her and he noticed that he was able to travel all over the sphere without any danger of coming off it. Tails was stumped.

"Ho-how is this possible? This defies logic in all shapes and forms." Tails said, trying to understand the Nightmare Zone.

"It's a dream silly! Anything's possible!" Pinkie said as she suddenly appeared behind and gave him a poke in the back. Tails tried to figure out how she was able to move behind so fast, but he decided it was best just to leave it.

"Ok, ok. I'll figure this out later. Now we need to find a way out of here and find the others." Tails decided.

"Okey-dokey! Uh, how do we do that?" Pinkie asked.

Just as Tails was about to respond, suddenly he and Pinkie Pie felt the sphere shake with great force. The two of them struggled to maintain their balance and wobbled.

"W-wwww-wwwoowwwww! S-s-s-soo sh-sh-sh-shakey!" Pinkie yelled.

The two of them turned and they saw a giant blue fish creature approaching them with a wave of water underneath. It had sharp teeth and red glaring eyes. It had yellow spikes with orange tips along its back and three spikes surrounding its head. It was a Nightmaren known as Gulpo. It stopped in front of them and the sphere stopped shaking. Tails and Pinkie saw it looking at them angrily as they regained their balance.

"If we want to go ahead, I suppose we need to beat that thing first." Tails said.

"Time for a boss battle!" Pinkie said as she began to jump and down, bursting with excitement.

"This is the perfect time to test out an invention of mine I've been working on." Tails said as he pressed a button on the side of his wristwatch. Tails's watch began to grow larger and it turned a bright red color as it engulfed his entire arm and it gained a hole surrounded by yellow accents. It was now an arm cannon. Tails aimed it Gulpo, whose glare intensified at him.

"I call this my Miles Buster!" Tails announced proudly

"What a rip-off." Pinkie muttered under her breath in an unimpressed tone.

Tails arm cannon began to gather yellow energy and it began to charge a yellow sphere the size of Tails's head. Tails then launched the energy ball directly at Gulpo. When it reached Gulpo's head, the ball disappeared into harmless sparks of light. Pinkie looked at Gulpo then at Tails, who stared down at his Miles Buster.

"It didn't work." Pinkie pointed out.

"Hehe...that's because that was just a warm up. Try this!" Tails said as he re-aimed the cannon at Gulpo and began to fire a barrage of spheres at the Nightmaren. Each of them just dissipated again upon contact. Gulpo just waited for an actual attack to happen. Pinkie looked down at a watch on her hand, not impressed with what was going. Tails began to sweat slightly as he saw that each shot was useless. Tails then lowered the cannon and looked at down it again, very disappointed.

"Oh..." Tails said with a defeated expression.

Gulpo then let out a large roar, making Tails and Pinkie Pie jump back suddenly. A stream of water appeared underneath it again, indicating that it was beginning to move and it started to approach them as it opened it's mouth up wide. The two of them gasped in fright.

"Run for it!" Pinkie yelled as she grabbed Tails and the two of them began to run or rather fly away from the Nightmaren that was hot on their tail, trying to catch them with its teeth. Luckily, they were too fast and managed to get far ahead of it and nearly reached the other side of the sphere.

"Well, that failed! My attacks were like nothing to it! Pinkie, any ideas?" Tails asked her as they flew.

"I'm more a partier than a fighter." Pinkie admitted.

Gulpo then appeared behind the two of them almost in an instant and let out another roar, stunning the two of them in place as they landed on the ground due to the power of its roar. Gulpo appeared before them and it looked as if they were at its mercy. Tails closed his eyes as Gulpo charged towards them with its teeth when Pinkie felt her nose itch. It began to twitch for a while and Pinkie let out a large sneeze, which appeared in the form of a pink sparkling powder which came over Gulpos eyes, preventing it from eating them. Gulpo flailed around due to Pinkie's sneeze and Tails opened his eyes and saw this.

"Come on, let's go!" Pinkie yelled as she grabbed Tails and then flew him over to the bottom part of the sphere quickly, leaving Gulpo behind. When they reached it, the two of them saw a purple swirling pool of darkness in the center.

"Wow!" Pinkie said as she peered into it with interest. She saw a swirling version of her reflection and she giggled.

Tails studied the portal and then he remembered what happened with Pinkie's powder and Gulpo. He then formed a smile. He had a plan.

"Pinkie, I think I know what to do." Tails announced, making Pinkie turn to him.

"I need you to make the biggest powder cloud you can." Tails told her.

"Sure thing!" Pinkie eagerly responded.

Pinkie closed her eyes and her body began to glow a light pink color. She then transferred the energy around her body into her two hands, which began to flash pink. The flashes grew larger and larger until they were almost the size of Pinkie herself. She then clapped her hands together, creating a giant pink sparkly cloud which began to spread around the sphere until it covered it completely. On the other end, Gulpo managed to recover from the powder in its eyes and opened them again. When it did, Gulpo saw itself covered in the pink cloud. It looked around with a confused expression, not sure where to begin looking for Tails and Pinkie as it couldn't see at all. It let out a roar and then decided to move forward, hoping to catch them in its jaws. Gulpo moved across the sphere until it reached the bottom. As it was near it, it heard voices in the mist.

"I hope we managed to get away from that thing." Tails voice said.

Gulpo let out a small laugh. It followed the sound of Tails's voice and increased its speed and charged rapidly. It let out an even louder roar when it reached the source of his voice, but when it did, it saw itself headed straight towards the dark swirling whirlpool. Gulpo's face broke out into one of horror as it dove into the pool. It began to flail around in panic as it was sinking into the vortex before it was fully engulfed. The cloud then cleared, revealing Pinkie Pie holding Tails hand as they floated just right above the sphere.

"Perfect." Tails said as he landed back on the sphere and dusted his hands. "Great job Pinkie!" He didn't' hear a response to his compliment and he became a little confused.

"Pinkie?"

Tails looked and he saw Pinkie looking down into the swirling pool again. She began to ooh and awe as she saw her swirling reflection again.

"Heelloooo? Mr. Fish?" Pinkie called into the vortex.

The Nightmare Zone Part 2

The Nightmare Zone part 2

Rainbow Dash flew through the area of the Nightmare Zone she was in. Half of the sky was the night filled with bright stars while the other half was a large purple mist. It contained a large bright yellow sun like object which separated the two sections. It too had the caged goblets of fire as the previous parts of the zone except that they had long extending golden chains which slowly moved around, pulling the goblets either up or down. It had many golden rings which had slowly rotating blades on the outside. In the center of each ring was a red jewel which was in a smaller ring. Seeing all those blades made Rainbow Dash nervous and she tried to hurry her way through the zone, but it was no use. She didn't know where to go. She began to look around to see if there was an exit maybe.

"I don't even know how long I've been flying. What's wrong with this place?" She irritably said.

Rainbow then noticed another sphere shaped like the one where Tails and Pinkie meet Gulpo. On it, she saw Shadow laying on top of it, unconscious.

"Shadow?" She said and then she quickly descended down to his location and came next to him. Before she could touch him, Shadow's eyes began to open and he picked himself up from the ground slowly. He was a little dazed but he clenched his fist and regained his focus.

"Shadow, are you ok?" Rainbow asked him, causing him to realize that she was next to him and he turned to her.

"What kind of question is that? I'm the Ultimate Lifeform. Of course, I'm fine." He responded, making her lower her eyelids.

"(Yeah, he's fine. Same ego as usual.)"

Shadow began to study the Nightmare Zone after he took notice of where he was. There was silence for a while between him and Rainbow Dash before Rainbow decided to speak up.

"So, any idea where we are?" She asked.

"How am I supposed to know that?" Shadow snapped, making her lift and eyebrow and she folded her arms.

"Do you always have to be so grumpy?" She asked with an annoyed tone.

"Not now Rainbow Dash. I need to concentrate and I don't need the female Sonic distracting me." He responded.

The words 'female Sonic' made took Rainbow Dash back and she made an offended sound. She couldn't believe he had just said that. She put her hands on her hips and gave Shadow a heavy glare.

"Well, I don't need any attitude from the fake Sonic!" She shot back, making Shadow turn to her quickly with an infuriated look. She gave him a smirk and Shadow sighed. He placed his hand over his face.

"I don't have time for this. Anyway, I wasn't expecting that Wizeman figure to be able to use Chaos Control. If had the last emerald, I could warp us out of here, but Silver still has it." Shadow explained.

"So basically, there's no way out." Rainbow said with a heavy sigh. "I've been flying around for what seems like forever and I haven't been able to find an exit."

Shadow resumed looking out towards the Nightmare Zone. His eyes darted across it as if he was looking for something.

"What are you doing? I already said that there's no exit."

"I know. I'm looking to see if Reala pops up. I need to hurt something."

Shadow's need was answered when suddenly another Nightmaren came down in front of the two of them. It was a large cat with dark blue fur with bright orange stripes running down its back. Bright red stripes decorated its arms and legs. It had large blue stripes near its crystal blue hands, which possessed 3 sharp claws. Two blue spikes protruding out of its back. It had a yellow star on its forehead with red eyes and yellow sclera. Sharp yellow teeth were shown through its wide grin. It was known as Clawz. Rainbow Dash got into a defensive stance while Shadow did a small cocky smile upon seeing it.

"Oh well, I guess I'll make do with this one." He decided.

Rather than attack them, Clawz did a large leap away from Shadow and Rainbow Dash onto the bottom part of the sphere, making the two of them pursue it. They reached the other end in no time, but when they were there, Clawz was nowhere to be found. Rainbow Dash became confused while Shadow just looked around.

"Hey, where'd it go?" Rainbow asked.

Suddenly, many rockets which had pink mice heads attached to the top of them began to pop up, circling them. Rainbow Dash lost her caution and was even more confused than before while Shadow still kept his guard up.

"What are these? They look like toys. Is this supposed to be an attack?" Rainbow questioned as she approached one of the heads and tapped it slightly. Shadow still searched for Clawz, but there was no sign of it. He felt it was up to something.

The end of the rocket which Rainbow Dash touched suddenly began to spark up, surprising her as she stumbled back. The other rockets began to spark up as well and they all launched themselves up in the air. Shadow and Rainbow Dash looked up and saw the rockets take off. Once in the air, the rockets suddenly turned around and aimed towards the two of them. Rainbow Dash gasped in panic as the volley of rockets headed their way. They both dashed off quickly with the rockets in pursuit.

"Just toys huh?" Shadow told Dash as they fled.

"I was wrong, ok? Just run!"

"I have a better idea."

Shadow stopped in his tracks, making Rainbow do the same thing suddenly.` He turned and faced the rockets. Shadow generated a Chaos Spear in his hand and he launched it towards the rockets, expecting a large explosion as his spear collided with them. However, the rockets dispersed themselves, each avoiding Shadow's spear. Shadow formed a shocked look at what had just happened while Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped slightly.

"Ineffective?" He said before he and Rainbow resumed heading away from the rockets. They two of them went around the spheres around 4 times rapidly. It looked like they were stuck in an endless loop.

"This is ridiculous! This can't go on forever!" Shadow yelled.

He was right. They were bound to slow down eventually. Rainbow Dash thought hard of a way to get rid of the rockets. She then turned to Shadow.

"You're right. We need to find that cat thing. I'll leave that up to you." Rainbow said as she diverted into the same direction as the missiles. Rainbow Dash managed to fly above them, causing them to chase just her, letting Shadow come to a stop as he observed her flying from them.

"Fine." Shadow agreed. He then thought of where Clawz could be. They had circled the sphere many times and they didn't find it anywhere. Shadow looked up from the sphere and at the surrounding area, specifically the golden rings with blades. Shadow squinted and he noticed in the corner of his eye what appeared to be a small bright orange end of a cattail behind one of them on his left.

"Got you." Shadow said as he jumped up and became a yellow streak.

Shadow streaked behind the ring and he found himself behind Clawz, who was in a pouncing position as they watched the rockets chase Rainbow Dash. Shadow landed down with a large stomp, startling Clawz who turned and saw him as it formed a worried look. Before Clawz could respond, Shadow dashed forward with a strong kick, which knocked it off the ring and it started to fall through the zone. Rainbow Dash noticed Clawz coming down towards her as she still flew and changed her direction towards him, with the rockets following. She then grabbed the Nightmaren by the tail and held it up in front of the approaching missiles. Just as they almost reached her, she threw Clawz with great force in front, making it collide with the missiles and causing a large explosion to occur. However, Rainbow Dash was quite close to the explosion and she was blown back due to its force. She began to head down towards the sphere, almost unconscious. Luckily, Shadow dashed and grabbed her before she hit the ground and they landed together. Shadow gently placed her on the floor. Rainbow Dash took some time to recompose herself and she sat up. She gave Shadow a grin.

"Thanks! We were pretty awesome out there, right?" She said as she stuck out her hand for a fist bump.

"I'm going to try and find some way out of here." Shadow simply said, leaving her hanging. He stood up and went back to staring at the zone. Rainbow frowned and she lowered her hand.

"Remind me again how you and Sonic ended up being friends?" Rainbow Dash asked him.

"'Friends' is pushing it." Shadow explained, still looking out.

Manic laid down on the floor of the Nightmare Zone he was in with his hands behind his head while AppleJack looked down at him with a look of disapproval. The two of them were on a circular golden platform with 4 jewels on its corners. The center was a hole which revealed there to be a dark purple mist underneath it. It had three giant torches with blue flames. The background had another red moon as well. There were many golden spiked gates around it and the platform had two golden chains attached to it. The clocktower with the eye was present again as well.

"Manic, what do you think yer doin'? We need to go and find everyone else." AppleJack reminded him.

"True, but do you even remember our way into this place? Cuz I sure don't. I hate to admit it, but we're probably stuck here." Manic calmly replied.

"How do you know if you haven't even tried?" AppleJack said.

"I said probably. Look around, I don't even know which way is left or right. In the meantime, I think we should just wait around and see if something happens." Manic insisted.

AppleJack didn't get how laidback Manic could be, but everything he said was true.

"That could take forever. We have to do something." She pointed out.

"Like what? Is wandering around aimlessly any better than being just stuck in one place." He replied. She couldn't argue with him there. He was right again.

"I hate this!" AppleJack said as she stomped her foot down.

"Lighten up. While we wait, we could get some R and R." Manic suggested.

"Manic, we're not here on vacation, remember?"

"Just a suggestion."

In the center of the platform, a creature began to slowly rise, getting Manic's attention as he stood up. AppleJack saw him do this and she turned around to see what Manic was looking at. In the center, was a giant jester of some sort. It had large orange shoes with yellow stripes. Beneath it was many floating cards. Two orange gloves with stars on them and blue and orange cuffs covered its hands which were crossed. The strange thing about was that it other than hands, feet, and head, it had no body. It had a spread out spiky cape which looked like a dark swirling portal on the inside. An orange and yellow large collar was where its neck should have been. Its head had a black face with two large blue eyes. Its jester hat was pointed forward and inward with the hat being red and its extensions were red with golden stripes at the top. They were separated by white stripes from the main hat. The jester wore a crazy toothy grin. This Nightmaren was called Jackle. Manic looked disappointed by its appearance and AppleJack slightly smiled, amused by it suddenly showing up.

"Well Manic, there's yer something." She said as she placed her hand on his shoulder.

"So much for R and R." He muttered.

Jackle made a card appear between its fingers. The back of the card showed the Ace of Spades, which had a skull in the center of the spade.

"Ace of Spades....the death card?" Manic said confused.

Jackle turned the card around which then revealed an image of Manic trapped in it. His face cried out for help as his hands were pressed against the card. AppleJack turned to Manic, who gave Jackle an intense glare.

"What? Is that supposed to scare me? You're going down!" Manic declared as he pointed to Jackle. "AppleJack, step back. This guys mine."

Jackle let out a mad yell and tossed the card towards Manic as if it was a boomerang. Manic dashed towards the card and he stopped it mid-air as he placed his foot on it. Manic then kicked the card hard with his other foot, sending it hurling back towards Jackle's head.

"No thanks. Keep this!" He called out

When the card reached Jackle, it simply caught the card, much to Manic's dismay. Jackle then generated a second card in its other hand and displayed the cards to Manic.

"Two? So what? Bring it on!"

Manic rushed to Jackle who then sent the two cards to Manic after it let out a crazy laugh. Manic got close to the two cards and he slid underneath them. He then dashed towards Jackle.

"Gotcha Bi-" Manic yelled but when he reached Jackle, he was suddenly blown back and he spun around to the ground with a thud. Manic then saw the two cards headed towards him from both sides. Before they touched him, AppleJack lassoed the one on the right and she sent it towards the other card, making them explode in a puff of smoke.

"Thanks for the assist, but that should do it. I have this under control." Manic said as he turned to her.

"Sure ya do." She said, not convinced.

Jackle let out another made cackle. This time, it sent out multiple cards towards Manic. Manic leaped towards them and he jumped off them one by one before he again dashed towards Jackle and again, he was sent back to the ground. Manic didn't get what was going on. The cards then approached him, but he dodged each of them, making them hit each other. Manic then dashed behind Jackle.

"(From the behind should do the trick!)" He thought as he charged towards the Nightmaren's back. The same result happened as Manic was repelled back to the floor.

"You want some help now?" AppleJack called to him.

"No! This is just a minor setback!" Manic insisted and he looked up at Jackle. "What cheat tool are you using?"

Jackle let out a mad whoo sound and launched three cards to Manic. Manic dashed away as the card began to pursue him and he ran around the platform many times as Jackle observed him.

"(How am I supposed to hurt this guy?)" Manic thought.

AppleJack began to focus on Jackle as Manic continued to run from the cards.

"Nothin' seems to hurt this fella....what could its secret be?" AppleJack said to herself as she studied Jackle. Her eyes landed on its arms, feet, and head.

"Its body looks pretty normal. Maybe its somethin' that its wearin'.....I think I got!"

AppleJack then rose up and she began to fly towards Jackles back, passing Manic by as she did. Jackle didn't notice as it was focused on Manic.

"Hey, what are you doing? I already called dibs!" He said.

"You'll want my help, trust me, partner." She replied as she reached behind Jackle.

AppleJack took out her lasso and swung it around before she released. The lasso landed on the top of Jackle's cape, making it fumble around as it noticed that it was caught by something. AppleJack struggled to keep her lasso on and she gave a mighty pull, which pulled Jackle slightly back. AppleJack continued to pull with great strength and then she managed to remove Jackles cape which she threw down into the purple mist. Jackle began to spaz out due to the loss of its cape, leaving it wide open.

"Manic, try hittin' it now!" She instructed.

Manic stopped running and faced the three cards headed towards him. Manic jumped and he stopped the first card with his foot again and he kicked it towards Jackle. It exploded when it the Nightmaren, causing it to stagger. Manic then did the same to the other two cards and they headed straight to Jackle. They both hit it at the same time, making a large explosion the size of Jackle's head. Jackle fell back into the dark mist below.

"Ah, that wasn't too difficult. Knew I could handle it." Manic said as he dusted his hands.

"Ahem." Manic heard and he turned and saw AppleJack giving him an annoyed look as she crossed her arms. Manic let out a small groan.

"Ok fine, maybe I couldn't handle it alone. Thanks for the assist." He admitted, making her lighten up.

"So what do we do now?" AppleJack then asked.

"This." Manic responded as he laid back down on the ground with his earlier position, making AppleJack let out a sigh. She expected something like that.

The Nightmare Zone Part 3

The Nightmare Zone part 3

The final section of the Nightmare Zone had the same golden sphere in the center like ones before it. Floating in it were different colored distorted mirrors as well. Golden chains moved up and down around it with many golden rings. Some large and thick, while others smaller and thin. It sky was again split between a purple mist and star-filled darkness with a yellow sun. Fluttershy sat down on top of the sphere and rubbed her head. When her eyes opened, she looked around the zone and seemed quite frightened and confused by where she was. She grabbed her arms in order to feel safe, but it didn't really work. She was scared out of her mind.

"W-where's everyone else? Am I the only one here?" Fluttershy wondered out loud in a very worried tone.

"No." She heard a muffled voice respond from underneath her, making her perk up. Fluttershy looked down and then realized that she was sitting on top of Sonic, who was face down on the ground. She gasped with embarrassment out loud and she quickly got off him, giving him the chance to get up. When he did, Sonic shook his head a bit and then he turned to Fluttershy, who turned bright red and she looked down away from him.

"I-I'm so sorry, Sonic! I-" She began before Sonic came over and put his hand on her shoulder.

"No problem. I'm fine anyway. Besides, I didn't really mind being a seat." He playfully said, making her smile slightly. It faded when she remembered their situation.

"We're lost and separated from the others. I hope they're ok." She said with concern.

"Oh, yeah. Now that is a problem." Sonic agreed as he looked around the Nightmare Zone. "Sheesh, this is like the Special Zone on steroids. I just hope there isn't any giant panda thing or whatever.

"Panda? What are you talking about? Panda's are adorable."

"Not when they've deluded themselves into thinking they're gods.It's a little adventure I had one time in a place like this. I'll tell you about it when we get out of here."

"If we get out of here."

"Cheer up. We'll make it out this situation like always." Sonic said reassuringly with a thumbs up. Fluttershy liked how optimistic he always was. "Now, where to start?"

As Sonic and Fluttershy were looking out of the zone, they didn't notice the face of the giant monster appearing behind them, which was a frog-like dragon one with sharp teeth decorated its mouth. Two purple large bat wings extended from the top of its head in the place of ears, which was blue on the top and light green on the bottom. Its tadpole-like green body was covered with blue stripes and red spikes on the top. Gillwing was its name. Sonic and Fluttershy noticed its shadow covering them and turned around. Fluttershy gasped loudly with fright when her eyes landed on it, while Sonic's eyes widened.

"You know, I think I prefer the egomaniacal panda." He said.

Gillwing lunged at them, but Sonic dashed both of them away on its right, making Gillwings teeth land on top of the sphere. Sonic put down Fluttershy and he faced Gillwing and hopped in place.

"Let's have some fun big guy!" He shouted, making Fluttershy turn to him. She didn't get how he could actually be excited at a time like this.

Gillwing opened its mouth and launched three giant fireballs. Fluttershy floated above to avoid them, while Sonic jumped and he landed in front of Gillwing's face.

"Hey, you're too slow!' He taunted as he waved his finger.

Gillwing responded with a roar and its body began to slither in motion. Sonic noticed this and he dashed off with Gillwing in pursuit.

"Sonic, is provoking it really a good idea?" Fluttershy called down to him.

"No, but it makes things more exciting, don't ya think?" Sonic said as he was chased.

Gillwing fired fireballs at Sonic, who easily moved from side to side to dodge them as they exploded on the sphere. Fluttershy looked on as Sonic led Gillwing in a circle around the sphere. When he came back to the top. Sonic stopped running and he watched as Gillwing approached him.

"Thanks for the exercise, but I think that's enough for today." He decided as Gillwing again tried to bite him as he stood still, but Sonic dashed up in the air. Mid-air, he looked down at Gillwing and became a blue streak towards its neck. Just before he reached it, Gillwing's entire body began to crackle with white electricity. When Sonic touched it, he received a large electric shock throughout his entire body as he stopped mid-air. Fluttershy looked on with panic as Sonic was electrified and he began to spaz out as his x-ray flashed a few times. When it was over, Sonic was left with smoke coming from his body and his eyelids began to close as he landed on the ground. He didn't move. He was completely knocked out. Fluttershy flew down to him as fast as she could.

"Sonic, Sonic!" She yelled desperately as she shook his body. He didn't respond. She continued to shake him, alarmed. As she did, Gillwing came up behind her, causing her to yelp as she noticed it above them. Gillwing brought down its jaws near them and Fluttershy closed her eyes in fear. As she did, three pink butterflies emerged from her body as she glowed bright pink and began to circle her. A round pink barrier was then formed, repelling Gillwing. It became confused and shook its head. Fluttershy's eyes opened and she saw the barrier.

"Thank goodness. This'll keep me safe for a while. But I need to help Sonic." She said with relief as she turned her attention back to Sonic and continued to shake him. As she did, her body still glowed and her hands began to release a pink sparkling wave over Sonic. The wave continued to cover his body and Sonic's eyes began to flicker and his hand twitched. Fluttershy saw this and she stopped moving him. Sonic woke up and he rubbed his neck.

"Wow. I feel great. Fluttershy, how'd you do that?" He asked her with an impressed tone, making her look down at her hands, which were still releasing the wave.

"I-I don'-. " She began to reply before Gillwing released a large fireball from its mouth, which caused a giant fire explosion where the barrier once was. When the smoke cleared, Sonic and Fluttershy were gone from their previous location. They were now on the left of Gillwing thanks to Sonic's speed.

"Ok, so touching its body was a 'shocking experience'." Sonic quipped and Fluttershy lowered her eyelids. "Sorry, I couldn't resist. So, now what should we do?"

Gillwing noticed the two of them on its side and it began to move towards them. Sonic prepared for another fight, but Fluttershy floated up to it with a stern and angry look. It roared again but this time, Fluttershy didn't flinch. She gave it the 'stare', making Gillwing stop its roar suddenly and it looked up at her.

"Now, you cut that out! My friend and I were just trying to find our way out and then you come up and suddenly decided to attack us?! What kind of behavior is that!" She scolded as she pointed towards it, making Gillwing look at her confused.

"If you were stuck in a strange place, would you like it if suddenly something came up and attacked you? I don't think so! My friend and I are guests here! You should treat us as such! I think your mother would be very ashamed of you!" She continued. Gillwing eyes moved down, looking a little guilty while Sonic watched the whole thing. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"You have got to be kidding me..." He said as he facepalmed. "(Actually this is a good plan, now that it's distracted, I can maybe look for a weak point.)"

Sonic dashed off, not being noticed by Gillwing and Fluttershy, who was still giving it a piece of her mind. Sonic ran around Gillwings body and at the end, he saw a red sphere on its tail which caught his interest and he stopped to look at it.

"Could it be? Well, only one way to find out!"

Sonic became a blue streak and he hit the orb once, causing a red crack to appear on it. Gillwing didn't seem to notice as its body didn't even flinch once. Sonic continued to dash through the orb, making larger cracks appear each time with each strike. Eventually, he came crashing down on it, causing the sphere to crack into pieces. As it did, Gillwings eyes widened as its body began to disappear, section by section. Fluttershy became surprised and she turned around to see it vanishing before Gillwing popped out of existence and she floated down where its head used to be. Sonic then dashed next to him. Fluttershy gave him a slight glare.

"What? I beat it." Sonic asked.

"Was that really necessary?" She answered, mildly displeased as she folded her arms.

Silver and NiGHTS floated through the smallest section of the Nightmare Zone. It was a purple mist surrounded by many golden rings and the two headed deeper into it.

"I have to hand it to Wizeman. He can be creative when he wants to be. And not in a fun way." NiGHTS said as he looked around.

"Creative is one way of putting it. I've time traveled and that was nothing like this. Are you sure we're going down?" Silver replied. "I've seen that golden ring like three times. I think we're going in triangles."

"The whole place is covered in golden rings. You have to be more specific." He pointed out. "Anyway, I think...we should take a left here."

"Are you sure that's even left."

"I think it's the only direction we can go in here and its left. I think."

Silver sighed and just continued to follow NiGHTS. NiGHTS took a notice of the keytar strapped to Silver and flew back to him.

"Been meaning to ask, how come you keep carrying that around with you?" NiGHTS questioned.

"Oh, this thing belonged to Rarity. We used it along with emerald to come here." Silver explained. Hearing this made NiGHTS slightly smile to Silver, who looked at him confused.

"Oh, so it's hers then. She must be important if you're holding on to it. You seemed pretty ready to come to her rescue." NiGHTS teased, making Silver get slightly flustered nd he stopped flying suddenly.

"Well, yeah, as a friend she is, I mean, all friend are important of course! Not that it makes her any less important! It's that her importance level is that of a friend! You know, a 'friend' friend, not a 'friend' friend." Silver fumbled as he rubbed the back of his neck, making NiGHTS stare up at him strangely as he floated upside down, making Silver sigh again.

"Well, let's keep moving." Silver said.

"Ok, but now that we've stopped moving..which way is up or down?" NiGHTS now asked.

"Oh, well..." Silver said as he looked around. NiGHTS had brought up a good point.

Beneath them, a dark blue mist began to form, grabbing their attention as the two saw it began to take shape. It formed a five-fingered hand and the smoke dispersed, revealing itself to be a giant version of one of Wizeman's hands.

"Just a hand? I'm insulted Wizeman. I think I deserve something special. You didn't give anyone else more exciting threats,
did you?" NiGHTS called out to the hand.

"You're complaining?" Silver said, bewildered.

The eye of the hand began to flash purple and it fired a large white glowing sphere towards the two of them. NiGHTS headed straight towards it, much to Silver's surprise. Before they touched the sphere, NiGHTS flew around it, leaving a trail of starry dust as they did. The dust formed a swirling hole around the sphere and caused it to vanish, leaving Silver in awe at NiGHTS's feat with flying. NiGHTS continued to fly down to the hand, which generated five smaller spheres from its fingertips. NiGHTS quickly managed to perform the same maneuver as before on the spheres, rendering them harmless. NiGHTS was now even closer to the hand, which charged up another larger sphere. NiGHTS again flew around it, but this only 4 times, making a sort of starry cross on it. They then proceeded to spiral dash towards the top of it, sending it back down towards the hand. When it collide with the hand, there was a large purple explosion, destroying it. Silver covered his face due to the explosion and when he lowered his hand, he saw NiGHTS ahead of him, performing a bow. Silver then joined them shortly.

"Wow...just wow. I've never seen anyone fly like that." Silver praised.

"That was nothing too special. Just a practice fly at best. Wiseman's going to seriously need to try better if he wants to take us out." NiGHTs said.

A red glowing dusty circle appeared behind NiGHTS immediately after they said that, making Silver look past NiGHTS to see it. NiGHTS turned around and saw it as well. Rising from it was Reala, who floated above the two of them, putting them on the defensive.

"Don't worry my dear sibling. You haven't even seen a fraction of Master Wizeman's new power." Reala warned.

"So, finally decided to stop hiding, huh? Let's go Reala." NiGHTS insisted.

"Believe me, I'd love to. But.....my new 'partner' insisted on dealing with you." He said with a slightly bitter tone, which didn't go by unnoticed by Silver and NiGHTS. They lowered their hands and NiGHTS put theirs on their hip.

"You don't like her much, do you?" NiGHTS realized.

Reala sighed heavily.

"Of course not! She's vain, condescending and petty! All she does is belittle me and admire herself! She's driving me insane!" He complained as he put his hand on his face. NiGHTS chuckled a bit and Silver did a slight smile.

"You know, if you defected from Wizeman like me, you wouldn't have to deal with her." NiGHTS offered.

"That's a good point." Silver agreed.

Reala glared heavily at them and took his hand off his face.

"Nice try, but it's a small price to pay in the long run. Farewell." Reala said as he descended back into the red circle, which then disappeared.

Shortly after the circle vanished, a large dark blue glittering mist began to form in front of Silver and NiGHTS. The two exchanged glances before they turned back to the mist.

"That's probably where Rarity is." Silver guessed. He then took out the green Chaos Emerald from his pocket and offered it to NiGHTS, making the latter look at him with uncertainty.

"Why are you giving me this?" They asked.

"Remember when Tails explained how having an emerald lets one travel through dimensions? Well, I saw your flying skills and I figured if you had an emerald, you could combine the two and travel out of here and find the others." Silver explained as NiGHTS took the emerald.

"That sounds like it might work and pretty fun! I wonder what'll it feel like?" NiGHTS pondered as they stared off into space and began to daydream the feeling. They then turned to Silver with a stern expression quickly.

"Wait, then what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to Rarity. I'll try and bring her back to her senses."

"Are you sure you'll be fine? I'm not really ok with leaving you alone." NiGHTS replied.

"I'll be fine. I have this planned out. Besides, you can just come back for me if I'm in trouble." Silver reassured.

NiGHTS looked at Silver for a while before they floated up away from them.

"Ok. Anyway, I hope you have luck with your 'friend' 'friend' NiGHTS finally said as they winked at Silver, making Silver sigh again.

"Haha. Anyway, good luck NiGHTS. I'm counting on you." Silver responded.

"Same to you." NiGHTS said as they clutched the emerald in their hand and began to perform their paraloop. As they did, their body was enveloped in a green aura and they teleported in a green flash after flying around 4 more times. Silver was now alone and he turned towards the dark mist. He clenched his fist.

"Ok Rarity, here I come." Silver declared as he flew inside the dark portal.

Nightmares Become Dreams

Nightmares Becomes Dreams

Silver emerged from the dark portal he entered and he came down on his knees. He began to cough heavily and he had his eyes shut.

"*Cough* Uggh, that portal *cough* smelled like perfume!*cough" He complained as he managed to lift himself up and he opened his eyes.

Silver first looked down on the ground and he saw that he was standing on a dark floor that was covered with many glittering stars. It was the exact image of the night sky. Silver raised his head and he saw that he was in some kind of throne room. Dark blue pillars with diamonds on them decorated the room. There were dark purple curtains with the same diamonds as well in the background. Silver looked straight ahead and he saw many blue stairs leading to a black throne with golden highlights. Next to it was another throne with silver ones. Sitting in the first throne was Nightmare Rarity, with her legs crossed. She looked directly at Silver and she gave him a welcoming smile. Silver noticed this and became surprised before he regained his focus and he gave her a glare and he crossed his arms.

"Silver, thank you for coming! It's even better that you came alone. It's great to see you." Nightmare Rarity stated as she gripped her hands.

"Is that so? Well, I can't really say the same thing." He replied.

"But I thought you wanted to see me? Isn't that why you came here?"

"True. But I want to see you when you're you and not well, psychotic."

Nightmare Rarity let out a small laugh, making Silver uncomfortable as his eyes darted around.

"You say the funniest things. Why don't you come next to me and sit?" She offered as she pointed to the empty throne.

"No. I didn't come here to sit and relax. Listen, Rarity, you're not-" Silver said before Nightmare Rarity lost her smile and she gave Silver a glare. Her eyes flashed blue and suddenly, Silver's body did as well as he was trapped in a blue aura. Silver was completely frozen in place and his body stood straight. He couldn't move a muscle, no matter how hard he tried. Her grip was so strong.

"I said sit." Nightmare Rarity firmly said as she motioned her fingers and Silver began to float towards her against his will.

"(Wow, I've never felt a psychic grip this strong before! She makes me look I'm taking baby steps. Ok then, I can't rush into a fight for now or she'll mop the floor with me. I need to plan ahead.)" Silver thought as he approached Nightmare Rarity. She pointed her finger to the chair and Silver descended into it. When he entered, Silver's body stopped glowing and he fumbled forward a bit as he gasped. He regained his posture and turned to Nightmare Rarity, who again smiled at him as she placed her hands on her chin. Silver did his best to avoid eye contact.

"You know, Wizeman said to destroy all of you, but you're just too cute to destroy! So, I have an offer instead." Nightmare Rarity said in a condescending tone, making Silver, look away from her, slightly embarrassed. When he did this, her eyes flashed blue again and Silver forcefully turned to her as his body regained the blue aura and he grunted.

"Eye contact darling. Mind your manners. As I was saying, I propose you join me . It's obvious that Wizeman is going to win anyway. You might as well give up." Nightmare Rarity said.

"Sorry, I'm not interested in going supervillain. And I won't give up just because I hear something discouraging. You should know that." Was Silver's reply. Hearing this made Nightmare Rarity frown and she pulled Silver's face directly towards her's. She gripped his cheeks tightly.

"Don't be so quick to turn me down. You haven't even seen what it could be like." She informed him. She let his cheeks go so he could speak properly.

"Nothing could ever convince me to join you. Nothing." Silver firmly replied.

"You sure?" Nightmare Rarity said. "I think you should check it out."

Nightmare Rarity snapped her fingers and the room began to fill with a dark glittering mist. Silver's eyes darted around as he noticed the mist was beginning to envelop the room entirely.

"What did you-" Silver said as the mist reached him and began to cover his body before it reached his face. Silver couldn't see anything now. It was pure pitch black.

"Rarity? Where are you? What's going on?" He called out.

Suddenly a very bright light flashed and Silver closed his eyes due to its brightness. Silver blinked a few times before he opened his eyes again and he saw that he wasn't in Nightmare Rarity's room anywhere. Above him was the clear blue sky with the shining sun. He saw that he was floating as well. His body was now transparent, like a ghost. Silver examined himself in confusion.

"What the?" Silver said as Nightmare Rarity descended down behind him. Silver turned around to face her.

"Where are we?" He demanded.

"Your dream Silver." She said.

"My dream?"

"Look down."

Silver did as he was told and what he saw was something he never expected to see. He saw a beautiful city with many tall clear buildings with shining windows. In the background was a grassy tall mountain. The roads were filled with futuristic glowing cars hovering about. On the sidewalk, Silver saw the city was heavily populated. There were people walking around, chatting, sitting down for drinks, playing sports, reading newspapers and just having a good time. People were also laughing and smiling. It was amazing. Silver was astonished.

"This city....everyone is so happy....it's wonderful!" He managed, making Nightmare Rarity nod in agreement.

"Now, look up." She instructed.

Silver did and he saw something even more shocking. In front was a giant white statue...of him standing in a green park! He was standing triumphantly with his hand raised above and he had a victorious smile. A caption underneath read....THE HERO OF THE FUTURE in green glowing letters. Citizens stood up and admired the statue. Silver was now lost for words.

"Hero? Rarity....is this my future?!" He asked as he formed a big smile on his face.

"Of course, it is! I asked Wizeman to fix it up for you and voila, here it is. The best future anyone could ask for!" She explained.

"This is amazing! After all my attempts to fix it, you just..." Silver said as he was in awe and he looked around.

"This isn't even the best part." Nightmare Rarity said.

"Are you kidding?! What could be better than this?!" Silver said as his hands extended out to the city.

Nightmare Rarity snapped her fingers and she and Silver disappeared in a blue flash. The two of them reappeared in a small suburban neighborhood. They floated above a small white house in the center that stood out amongst the rest due to its color. The rest were pinkish/reddish.

"Why are we here?" Silver questioned.

"Don't you want to meet your family?" Nightmare Rarity asked.

The word 'family' echoed throughout Silver's ears. Family. As in, his own. The one he never got to know in his own timeline or couldn't even dream of knowing. Silver couldn't believe what he had heard. He slowly descended down into the front of the house door.

"My....family?" Silver slowly said, coming to terms with the idea.

"You heard me. Why don't you open the door and say hello?" Nightmare Rarity suggested.

Silver stood in front of the door motionless. His family. It still was something so incredible. He could actually meet one that belonged to him. Where he belonged. Silver's hand began to slowly rise as he reached for the knob and he had the happiest smile he had ever made. It was almost too good to be true.Nightmare Rarity gave a wicked one as she watched him.

"Yes. Go on. Be happy Silver. You deserve it. Forget about the others. Focus on yourself." She urged.

Silver's hand almost reached the door handle as her words reached him. 'Forget about the others. Focus on himself.' The words played in his mind like a record over and over. As they did, Silver began to recall why he had chosen to travel in the past. To save his future. No, not just his own future, a future for everyone. He wasn't in it for himself or for the glory at all. He wanted a bright future where everyone could be happy, not just him alone. That's why he took the risk of time traveling. For the sake of others. Precisely, for the sake of others! Silver's hand stood in front of the handle. He wasn't one to put himself before others, no matter what. He would always help someone in need, even a stranger. It was who he was. Sonic, Sunset, Shadow, Rainbow Dash and the others were his friends, not strangers at all!He just couldn't selfishly throw them away like that. Silver's fingers struggled to reach out to the knob before he clenched his fist tightly. Silver slowly and very reluctantly, forced himself to turn around to Nightmare Rarity. The glare he gave her was full of sheer willpower and determination, surprising her as she gave him a puzzled look.

"Is something wrong?" She asked confused.

"Yeah, there is. This place....I admit, it really is my dream world. My saved future with no problems. The problem is, it's just my dream world at the expense of others. Sonic and the rest are out there trying to bring Wizeman down and I can't just abandon them for my own sake. That's not me. I thought you knew that." Silver declared as he pointed to her sternly. "So, I'm going to snap you out of your evil trance and then we're going to take Wizeman out!"

Nightmare Rarity let out a large sigh. She began to shake her head in disappointment.

"What a shame. I was hoping you would have at least some brain cells. If you were as good looking as me, I might have even shed a tear. Oh well, if that's what you want, then I guess I should show you the result." Nightmare Rarity said.

She snapped her fingers again and the same mist began to surround the area. Silver looked around as the mist closed in on him and again, he saw nothing but darkness.

"Now what?" He wondered out loud.

Suddenly, a burst of flames erupted in front of Silver and he covered his face with his arm to protect himself. When he brought it down, Silver's face broke out into one of horror at what was before him. Silver was now looking at the city, except all the buildings were now in ruins with broken glass and dull colors.. The sky was a lava red color with dark gray clouds. There was a giant fire tornado in the place of where the statue of Silver was. The road and the ground were cracked, revealing a fiery floor with pillars of fire bursting up, destroying ruined cars. Silver was shocked at this and he was speechless. This future...was....terrible, even worse than the state his future was in.

"This is the same...future?" Silver said as he examined the city with dismay.

Nightmare Rarity appeared behind him in a swirling portal. She looked at him smugly.

"Yep. All because you couldn't save it. I offered you a chance but you said no. Congratulations, you've now doomed your future. I hope you're happy. You won't ever save it alone. You just can't." Nightmare Rarity berated.

Silver's will was utterly crushed. Seeing this was awful. And he had himself to blame. He really was too powerless to save his future, no matter how many times he tried if this was the result. He began to float down to the bottom.

"It's no use......" He muttered softly as he sank lower and lower and began to approach the fiery bottom. As he did, another pillar of fire came forth, engulfing him in it. Nightmare Rarity did a victorious smile.

"Adieu, Silver. "Nightmare Rarity said as she did a mocking farewell salute

In the pillar, Silver was faced with swirling flames. Was this it? All of his work for this? Maybe she was right.....maybe. Silver's eyes closed and he thought about his previous times. He remembered discovering a way on how to fix his future from his master. He recalled reading through all the old history books he could find, despite how vague they were. He had spent days in ruined libraries trying to find any clues. He thought about all the times he practiced his skills in order to be of any help. He thought about how difficult it was at times. He remembered reaching dead ends. This same feeling of giving up now felt familiar. It wasn't anything new. And despite that, he had overcome it before. This time was no different from the ones before. He couldn't accept that he was destined to fail. He had never before, so why now? This 'nightmare' or whatever wasn't going to stop him! Silver's body began to glow green as he regained his calm. As he did, a red light appeared from him before it formed a giant red flash that began to surround the entire area after it exited the tornado. Nightmare Rarity saw this and she looked at the red flash with surprise and fear.

"What is that?!" She exclaimed as she made a blue barrier to protect herself from the flash as it covered her. She made a yell as it overcame her.

When the flash died, Nightmare Rarity found herself back in her throne room. The throne next to her was now empty. She looked in front and saw Silver in a green aura as he floated above her with his eyes closed and a calm face. He opened them and he gave her a smirk. Her glare became more serious and menacing.

"How did you get out of my nightmare?!" She demanded.

"It's not a nightmare if it's something you've faced before. I've had to deal with the idea of failure more times than I can count. So, are you done with the mind games and ready to take me on?" Silver challenged.

Nightmare Rarity did a hair flip and let out a small laugh.

"As if! Fighting is so beneath me!" She stated arrogantly.

"Yeah, I knew you'd respond like that. Being like this has been a downgrade." Silver said as he shrugged. Nightmare Rarity ears perked up after he said this and she firmly turned to him with great fury quickly.

"Downgrade?! Are you blind?! Look at me, I'm perfect! She declared as she rose from the throne.

"Perfect? I wouldn't say that. Honestly, I think your fashion sense is pretty poor now. I mean, who combines gold and dark purple?" Silver replied as he placed his on his chin.

Nightmare Rarity did not believe what Silver had just and she gasped, highly offended. Her body began to glow dark blue and she clenched her fist.

"Ohh, you shouldn't have done that!" She said infuriated as she raised her hand and Silver was slammed against the wall as his body radiated with blue once more. Her grip was stronger than before.

"Ok, I see I've touched a nerve." Silver said as he winced.

"You are sooo going to regret this!" She said as she floated towards Silver.

Silver closed his eyes and began to focus. His aura began to glow and conflict with Nightmare Rarity's. Silver concentrated harder and he began to sweat slightly as his aura began to expand while Nightmare Rarity began to find it difficult to hold him in place. Silver clenched his fist and he released a large green wave from his body, freeing him from her and she floated back. Silver began to take deep breaths while Nightmare Rarity looked stunned at first before she gave a sinister smile.

"Hmmm, this might be good exercise." She said as she flew towards Silver and he did the same.

Nightmare Rarity formed a long chain of black diamonds and tried to hit Silver as she cracked it. Silver evade her strikes before he held the chain in place above him before it touched his head. With great strength, Silver hurled Nightmare Rarity towards his right and she crashed into a pillar. Before she could react, Silver lifted up the rubble from the pillar and formed a ball around her. Silver held it in place with hands for a while until the sphere began to give off blue lights. Silver tried to contain her but Nightmare Rarity released a dark blue shockwave, setting her free and Silver was sent flying into the throne. Nightmare Rarity fired an array of diamonds from her hand but Silver placed the throne in front of him and they impaled it rather than him. Silver threw the throne to her but she formed a giant diamond and it pierced through it and headed for Silver, who flew above it. Suddenly, Nightmare Rarity teleported in front of him. She eyed him up and down.

"Not bad. But check this out." She said.

Nightmare Rarity snapped her fingers and a dark purple cloud appeared above Silver, catching his attention. Suddenly, the cloud began to release a diamond shower headed towards Silver, making his jaw drop.

"Don't you think that's a little overkill?!" He yelled.

As the diamonds closed in on him, Silver took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a second. When he opened them, Silver stuck both his hands out as his aura grew larger and the diamonds above him came to a sudden stop. Silver shook as he tried to hold all the diamonds in place before he released them and they harmlessly fell to the floor. When he did, Silver's aura faded and his eyes drooped as he landed on the floor.

"Ok....not doing that again..."Silver said. Stopping so many things at once had taken a lot out of him.

Before Silver could rise, he suddenly was pinned to the ground by Nightmare Rarity's boot on his chest. Silver tried to lift her foot off with his hands, but he was too tired from halting her diamonds. Nightmare Rarity dawned before him and she gave him a menacing grin. She raised her right hand, and when she did, her five fingers became coated in diamond claws which shined. Silver's eyes widened when he saw that.

"Now....uh.....listen....Rarity..." Silver nervously said as Nightmare Rarity brought the claws closer to him.

"It was a little fun, but now you're boring me. Don't worry, I won't scratch your face. I'll at least let you keep your looks." She said as she aimed the claws at his chest.

'(Uh, I'm pretty exhausted. But I can't let it end like this.)"

"Later Silver! I'll name one of my conquered worlds after you!"

Nightmare Rarity moved her hand to Silver's chest and at the last second, Silver desperately used his psychic powers and lifted Rarity's keytar from his back and in front of him as a shield. When her fingers touched the keyboard, they played a melody, making her hand glow white and Nightmare Rarity recoiled her hand suddenly and away from Silver. She gripped her hand in pain as if it had been severely burnt. Silver looked down at the keytar, not expecting that to happen. Suddenly, he put two and two together.

"(I got it. Anytime she plays her keytar, she ponies up! What if)" Silver planned as he managed to rise up.

Silver lifted the keytar in front of him using his powers and he used the all the power he could to grab Nightmare Rarity's hand. She noticed that she was being pulled to the keytar as her hand glowed green.

"What are you doing?!" She screamed as she tried to pull away, but Silver was fully concentrated on her hand, which was weakened by the earlier glow she experienced and with all his might, he made her fingers connect with the keytar.

"Why don't you play this?!" Silver cried out as he now used his powers to move her fingers across the keyboard and she began to play it.. As Nightmare Rarity did, the glow extended from her hand and began to reach her body. She looked on, terrified.

"No, you can't!" She yelled before her body was now fully shining white as she continued to press the keys. She began to rise up as the glow became brighter. Silver was sweating like crazy and looked like he could fall over any second, but he still pressed on as hard as he could.

Nightmare Rarity's glow began to grow larger and larger before she wasn't visible due to it anymore and the glow released a brilliant white flash which sent Silver crashing into a pillar and covered her entire throne room. When the flash died down, Silver slumped against the wall almost out cold. His eyes flickered and he barely raised his head. When he looked up, he saw Rarity, now back to normal and ponied up as she glowed and floated in the air with her eyes closed as the light died down. She came down to the ground and opened her eyes. She looked around, not sure what had just happened.

"What is this place?" She said as she saw the rubble. "Was there rough housing here?"

Rarity eyes then landed on Silver, who was beginning to lose consciousness. Her memory became jogged as everything that had happened flashed in her mind upon seeing him. She gasped out loudly in worry and rushed over to his side.

"Silver, Silver!" She called out as she grabbed him and shook him slightly to wake him up. Silver's almost closed eyes focused on her

"Oh, Rarity...you're back to normal....that's cool....but...when were there ever four of you?" Silver asked dazed.

The Red Courage

The Red Courage
Back in the Nightmare Zone, Fluttershy sat down on the sphere as she watched Sonic walk back and forth rapidly and impatiently with his hands crossed behind his back. He had a heavy scowl on his face and his breathing grew louder as he trotted. Fluttershy just looked on before Sonic came to a sudden stop. He began to tap his foot very quickly in an irritable manner. Sonic stopped tapping suddenly.

"Arrghh!!!! I can't take waiting around like this anymore! I'm gonna jump!" He declared out loud, making Fluttershy slightly gasp and rise up.

"Sonic, you need to calm down. I understand you're upset, but jumpings not going to do anything." She said. Sonic turned around to face her.

"I know, but all this staying still and nothing happening is driving me insane! I'm not as patient as you! I need to jump or any kind of movement! Who knows, maybe I can get us out of here?" Sonic stated as he approached the end of the sphere. Sonic extended his arms behind him and began to do stretches.

"Sonic, jumping isn't going to get us out of here."

"You're probably right. But, it'll make me feel better."

Just before Sonic could leap, he and Fluttershy saw a green swirling portal appear above them. Fluttershy slightly shrank back while Sonic formed a smile on his face.

"Finally! Anything's better than standing like this! Bring it on monster thing!" He declared with his fist up.

What emerged out of the green portal wasn't a monster, but it was NiGHTS who soared down to them. Sonic lost his defensive and Fluttershy looked relieved.

"What's up?" NiGHTS asked them.

"NiGHTS? How'd you get here?" Sonic replied.

"Thanks to this. It was pretty fun." NiGHTS said as he displayed the Chaos Emerald before them.

"Oh right, Chaos Control lets you travel through dimensions! Nice!" Sonic said as he gave the thumbs up.

"I'm glad you came before some of us did something reckless." Fluttershy said as she gave Sonic a slight smile. Sonic rubbed the back of his head.

"I was under a lot of pressure." Was his excuse. "But thanks, NiGHTS! Just standing around with nothing to do was horrible!"

"I know right? That's the worse!" NiGHTS agreed, making Fluttershy smile again due to their similarities.

"So, let's get moving!" NIGHTS said as they gripped Sonic and Fluttershy's arms and flew up with the two of them. They then did a paraloop four times. Doing this was making Fluttershy dizzy as her head began to spin and she turned a little green in her cheeks. Before she could react, the three of them were covered in green aura and they vanished in a flash.

The three of them reappeared in the section of the Nightmare Zone where Manic was lying down and taking a nap. AppleJack saw the three of them appear after the green flash died down and she gave a grin.

"Well, I'll be! I was hoping someone would come get us out of here." She said with delight as she flew up to meet them.

"No problem. Though, someone should probably go wake him up." NiGHTS said as they pointed to Manic, who was still dozing off. He didn't even notice what had just happened and continued to snore. NiGHTS chuckled while Sonic and AppleJack didn't look too impressed.

"Ma-" Fluttershy started to say before Sonic put his hand on her shoulder.

"I know how we can wake him up. AJ, take out your lasso." Sonic said with a mischevious smile.

Manic started to stir before he started to open his eyes. When he did, he saw that he was looking down at the purple mist from the Nightmare Zone...midair and upside down. Manic yelled out in panic as he saw this and he began to move around.

"What the hell?? What gives?" He cried out.

As he moved, Manic noticed a yellow lasso tied to his foot. He then heard snickering coming from above him and he stopped moving around and he folded his arms and lowered his eyelids. He looked up to see, Sonic, AppleJack, NiGHTS and Fluttershy laughing while AppleJack held him with her lasso

"Ha Ha Ha. Not funny, Sonic." Manic grumbled.

"You're right, it's hilarious!" Sonic said as he wiped his nose. "I think that's enough fun, let's go find the others!"

NiGHTS again did their signature paraloop and a green aura covered the five of them. As they began to teleport, Manic was swung around like a pendulum and he let out a yell before the green flash covered them.

While Shadow still stood out looking at the Nightmare Zone, a green flash suddenly appeared in front of him. Just then, Manic appeared upside down, making him jump back startled to where Rainbow Dash was. She then looked at Manic confused and surprised.

"Manic?!! How'd you get here?" She asked.

Manic pointed up and Rainbow and Shadow looked up to see NiGHTS with Sonic, AppleJack, and Fluttershy.

"It's about time." Shadow said.

"Nice to see you too Shadow." Sonic responded. "Grab on to Manic and let's get out of here."

Rainbow Dash wasted no time grabbing on Manic's arm while Shadow reluctantly did the same.

"Thank you. I have no idea how you and Sonic deal with Shadow." Rainbow Dash whispered to Manic.

"You get used to his attitude."

Again, NiGHTS did his paraloop along with the emerald and the group popped out of that section of the Nightmare Zone into the one where Tails was trapped with Pinkie. They floated above and they looked down to see Pinkie, who was still looking at her reflection in the swirling portal while Tails was sitting with his hand on his face, looking bored.

"Yo Tails!" Sonic called out, making Tails look up and he saw Sonic and the others. Tails formed a smile of relief and he rose up.

"Sonic? You guys are here?! How?" Tails called back.

"Emerald and my awesome paralooping." NiGHTS quickly explained. "So, come on."

"I'm happy to, but I'm not so sure about Pinkie." Tails said as he looked back and saw Pinkie, who was giggling and laughing heavily as she watched her reflection swirl around.

"I got this." Rainbow Dash said. "Hey Pinkie, look at what Manic's doing! It looks like more fun!"

Hearing this made Pinkie turn away and she saw Manic upside down, gripping Shadow and Pinkie. Pinkie's face broke out into a large grin.

"Wow! That looks....funmazing!" Pinkie declared as she dashed and took Manics place in the lasso, as she now held on to Shadow and Rainbow as she hung upside down. She then turned to Shadow.

"Hi, Shady! Good to see that we're hanging out. " She cheerfully said. Shadow just rolled his eyes.

Manic was launched up in the air due to Pinkie and again, he yelled as he was launched up. Before he could go any higher, Sonic grabbed his arm, putting him to a stop. Manic gave Sonic a slight glare.

"What? I think this makes up for my prank." Sonic said.

"All aboard? Cool!" NiGHTS checked as Shadow grabbed Tails. They paralooped once more in the green aura.

Knuckles and Sunset sat down back to back with their arms folded, bored out of their minds.

"275..." Sunset said.

"What?"

"That pendulum just swung for the 275th time."

"You've actually been keeping count?"

"What else is there to do?"

"This!" The two of them heard NiGHTS voice say, making them look up. From the emerging flash, NigHTS and the rest of them showed themselves. Knuckles and Sunset saw the human ladder started by Pinkie and became puzzled.

"I'm so glad you guys are here! And uh...nice ladder you're making Pinkie." Sunset said.

"Wanna join?!" Pinkie enthusiastically asked.

"It looks like our only way out anyway." Sunset said as she approached Rainbow Dash and took her hand. Knuckles did the same as he went to Tails. With them on, NiGHTS did one last emerald powered paraloop and they all teleported away.

Where they ended up next was the starry space and road they were traveling before they were separated. When they were above, everyone let each other go as they landed on the road. AppleJack firmly pulled her lasso, releasing Pinkie from its grip as she turned her right side up and she landed down.

"Awwww." Pinkie said with disappointment.

"Hey, where's Silver?" Sunset asked as she took notice that he was absent.

"He went off to deal with your friend. He's one who gave me the emerald so I could free you all." NiGHTS said. "I'll go check in on him."

NiGHTS tossed the emerald up and prepared for one last paraloop. Before they could catch the emerald, a dusty dark red portal appeared before them, and suddenly, Reala emerged, flying at high speed as they snatched the emerald from NiGHTS and took off, leaving everyone astonished as they gasped.

"You're too careless, child!"Reala taunted as he flew away.

"He's getting away!" Pinkie cried.

Before anyone, even Sonic, could react, Shadow became a yellow streak and pursued Reala as he went alongside the road. Shadow dashed below Reala. Reala noticed Shadow following him and he frowned slightly.

"Give back the emerald!" Shadow demanded.

"Never!"Reala declared.

"I was hoping you'd say that..." Shadow said as he formed a smile. Shadow streaked ahead of Reala before he turned around and dashed mid air towards him. Reala's eyes widened out , but he barely managed to avoid Shadow as he ducked. Shadow landed down on the floor and continued his pursuit.

"Not bad. It takes good reflexes to dodge my speed." Shadow admitted.

"Don't underestimate me! I lead Wizeman's army for a reason!" Reala replied.

Shadow generated a Chaos Spear in his hand and launched it at Reala, who evaded it easily. Shadow continued by firing more spears, but Reala looped to avoid each of them, but barely.

"I admit, you're quite skilled." Reala praised.

"Of course, I am. I am the Ultimate Lifeform!" Shadow informed him.

"Ultimate? You know, you would be useful for Wizman's army. Think about it, that pink girl would never bother you again." Reala offered.

"You haven't even spent a day with her and you think she's annoying? Please, you don't even know the half of it! I'll pass. As the Ultimate Lifeform, I can deal with anything." Shadow boasted.

Shadow then teleported, surprising Reala, who stopped flying and searched around for him. Suddenly, Shadow teleported down in front of him, catching him off guard. Shadow released a punch, but Reala caught it. Shadow then gripped Reala's hand which held the emerald and the two began to tumble down as they spun around.

"I must admit, I'm impressed. Aside from NiGHTS, you're the only one who's matched my skill." Reala said.

"You were expecting less?" Shadow asked.

"But as I said before, don't underestimate me!" Reala said as he then kicked Shadow away from him slightly. Reala, still holding the emerald, did a quick paraloop and he disappeared into a green portal.

"Later, so-called 'Ultimate Lifeform'." Reala yelled.

Before Shadow could react at all, he fell face first on the road with a large thud. When Shadow lifted himself up, he saw that Reala was gone and with the emerald. Reala's insult hit Shadow. He had tricked and humiliated him. Mocked his status as the Ultimate Lifeform. Anger swelled inside Shadow as he clenched his fist and he began to seethe. As he was, Sonic and the rest were coming up to him. Sonic saw that Shadow's body was trembling and he was beginning to glow red. Sonic stopped suddenly and he put his hand out to stop the others.

"Wait. Give him a minute." Sonic said.

A giant red flash appeared along with Shadow screaming at the top of his lungs, which then died down.

"Ok, he's good." Sonic said as he lowered his hand. He and the group went to approach Shadow, who was huffing. Shadow saw them and he lowered his head. He was ashamed at his failure.

"He got away with the emerald! Damn!"Shadow said in frustration.

"Don't be so hard on yourself. It's my fault too. Reala was right. I was too careless. I'm sorry." NiGHTS said with remorse as they lowered their head, making Fluttershy and Tails put their hands on their shoulders.

"So, that means Wizeman has all the Chaos Emeralds. And we can't get to Silver or Rarity without an Emerald either. Man.." Knuckles said, realizing how grave their situation was.

"Things just went from good to bad real fast." AppleJack agreed. "So, now what do we do? What can we do?"

Back in Nightmare Rarity's lair, Rarity held Silver, who was beginning to get his strength back. Silver managed to sit up and he held his neck. Rarity beamed after seeing he was alright.

"Thank goodness. I'm glad you're alright!" Rarity said.

"Yeah and I'm glad you're not evil anymore." Silver replied.

Rarity looked around the room and her smile faded.

"Silver, do you have any way to get us out of here?" She asked him.

"I wish. I handed my emerald to NiGHTS so they could get the others. Without an emerald, we're sitting ducks." Silver said with a sigh.

"We can't just stay here! There has to be some way!" Rarity said.

A glimmering red light began to flicker above Silver's head, catching both their attentions as they looked up to examine it. Rarity recognized it from her time under Wizeman's control.

"Silver, that red light was there when you escaped the nightmare. Do you think it means anything?" Rarity commented.

Silver studied the red light. Silver then gripped it with both of his hands, causing the red light to shine even more. Silver and Rarity shut their eyes to avoid the glimmer. When they opened them, Silver now held a crystal red sphere with many white spikes inside. They both looked in awe at the sphere.

"Silver?"

"I-I don't know?"

The crystal began to glow again before it covered the two of them in a brilliant red glow. Silver and Rarity teleported, leaving behind white sparkles.

While Sonic and the rest were on the road, feeling sorry for themselves due to their loss as they moped around, the red light flashed in front of them, making everyone's heads turn.

"(That light...could it be?)" NiGHTS thought.

The red light reduced itself back to the red sphere in Silvers' hand, presenting himself and Rarity. Upon seeing them, everyone formed wide smiles, except Shadow and crowded around them.

"Rarity!!!!!!!!!!!!" Pinkie yelled as she lunged and crushed Rarity with a giant bear hug. Rarity winced due to how tight her grip was.

"Yes, it's nice to see you too, darling. But could you please put me down?" Rarity requested. Pinkie let her go.

"Rarity, how'd you get back to normal?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I owe it to Silver." She said, making him get a little shy. Sonic ruffled his hair a bit, much to his slight annoyance/

"Nice job Silver! Way to go!" Sonic congratulated.

"How'd you get back without an emerald?" Shadow asked.

"This." Silver said as he held up the red crystal for everyone to see. Seeing it up close made NiGHTS recognize it immediately.

"That's Ideya!" They exclaimed, making everyone turn to them.

"What's Ideya?" Sunset asked.

"Ideya are orbs that represent dream energy. There are five specific types. Normally, each dreamer has them when they enter the dream world. Seeing as you're not dreaming, you must have accessed it somehow. The one you have is the most powerful and rare. The Ideya of Courage." NiGHTS said.

"Courage? That explains why it appeared when you escaped the nightmare." Rarity realized.

"Can I see it?" NiGHTS asked. Silver then handed the Ideya over to NiGHTS, who gripped it in their hands. Nights closed their eyes and the Ideya began to glow once more. As it did, first, Knuckles, Sunset, Tails, and Pinkie began to glow blue. Shadow and Rainbow Dash were enveloped in a yellow aura, while Manic and AppleJack turned green. Sonic, Fluttershy, and Rarity lastly glowed white. From each of their aura's, a crystal that looked like the red Ideya, except those respective colors, was formed. These Ideya were in order, the Ideya of intelligence, Hope, Growth, and Purity. The 4 crystals surrounded NiGHTS.

"Pretty!!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"This....it's not like any magic I've ever known." Sunset observed as she felt the energy flowing through her body.

"NiGHTS, could you explain what just happened?" Tails asked.

"The Red Ideya being the rarest and powerful,it resonates with the others. Each of you had traces of these elements during your journey here and I used the Red Ideya to fully bring it out. Listen, Wizeman, may have the emeralds, but we have Ideya, which is the next best thing!" NiGHTS said.

Hearing NiGHTS word's, seeing the newly created Ideya and Silver back with Rarity had restored the confidence in Sonic and the others. They each smiled, even Shadow doing a small victorious one.

"You're right NiGHTS! Come on guys! Let's show Wizeman what Ideya can do!" Sonic said with the thumbs up, making NiGHTS do the same.

Back in Nightmare, Reala appeared before his master in a green aura. He came down before Wizeman and presented the Emerald to him.

"Master Wizeman. The last Emerald." Reala said.

The emerald floated above to Wizeman, who held it up in front of his face. Again, his body began to glow, but this time, with all emeralds, it glowed white.

"Excellent Reala. It appears as if though I have lost my new servant. Oh well, she played her part. Now, it is time for the finale. But before we start, Reala, a gift from me." Wizeman said.

Wiseman's body released a ray of light which surrounded Reala. Reala's body was covered with a glowing coat, flashing the color of the emeralds before the glow surrounded his mask, making it now flash. Reala was dumbfounded. The power...it was magnificent.

"Incredible...Master...I feel amazing! Hahahaha! Let us show those fools a real Nightmare!" He stated as he raised his hand to the sky.

The Last Nightmare

"Begone!" Wizeman declared as from his chest, a giant red flash appeared, causing NiGHTS and the others to disperse themselves to avoid it. As they did, they were scattered around Nightmare. Wizeman observed them as they flew around. To him, they resembled small flies. Only a nuisance, not a threat to his mighty power.

"So many choices.." Wizeman pondered as he was deciding which of them to attack first. "Better yet.."

Wizeman's hands glowed and suddenly, an array of giant black meteors began to surround him, crackling with dark blue electricity. Wizeman launched them throughout the area, aiming to the team.

"Watch out!" NiGHTS warned as the asteroids closed in on them. NiGHTS was swiftly able to dodge any incoming meteors as they flew past them.

As the boulders came close to Knuckles, rather than dodging them, Knuckles charged straight towards them, taking everyone else by surprise as they looked on as he did.

"Bring it!" He yelled as his fist began to glow blue and eventually, two large energy circles surrounded them. Knuckles stuck his hand out to throw a punch, but instead, he fired a sphere from his hand which collided with a meteor, destroying it completely in a blue explosion. Knuckles looked down at his hand and he grinned.

"This is some real firepower!" He said as he recharged another sphere on his fist and began to launch them from his hand, destroying Wiseman's' meteorites while Sonic and the others avoided them.

"That's Knuckles for you. Hit first." Tails said, expecting Knuckles strategy.

"Flea." Wizeman said as he noticed Knuckles. Wizeman let three meteorites remain in front of him and he launched dark lighting from, striking randomly. The group was barely able to dodge the incoming lighting as it took them off guard due to how fast it was. One bolt headed straight for Knuckles, who didn't notice as it came to him. Rainbow Dash saw this and she gasped as she headed to Knuckle's direction, leaving behind a starry rainbow trail.

"Hey Knux, heads up!" She called out as she pulled Knuckles out of the way. As she did, the rainbow trail she left behind was struck by lighting. The trail began to crackle before it launched back rainbow colored lighting towards Wizeman. Wizeman made a dark shield defend himself and the electricity clashed with it. Rainbow Dash looked back in awe.

"Awesome!" She yelled.

Wizeman began to glow again and this time around NiGHTS and the others, four swirling black holes appeared suddenly. Rainbow Dash struggled to fly with Knuckles as she, like the others, was being pulled towards the black holes.

"The pull...." Sunset said as she tried her best not get sucked into the black hole by attempting to fly in its opposite direction.

"I can handle this!" NiGHTS yelled out as they began to fly up away from the black holes. They looked down at one of them and headed straight towards it. As they did, NiGHTS began to fly around the vortex, paralooping it as it became surrounded in multi-colored stardust before it vanished, completely. That was one down and everyone could feel the pull had weakened as they each flew a bit forward.

"Thanks, Nights! Now, let me try this.." Tails called out as he looked down at his hands and towards a nearby hole. Tails stuck his hands out and he released three blue star-shaped ring bombs which were swallowed by the hole. Immediately afterward, the hole exploded, weakening the pull even further.

"I wanna blow one up two!" Pinkie yelled. Pinkie saw two vortexes on her left and right. Pinkie stuck her hands out and suddenly, two blue starry versions of her party cannon appeared. She giggled after seeing them.

"Glittery!" Pinkie said as two-star shots were fired as they headed for the black hole. Upon contact with them, the black holes exploded into blue dust.

"Tch..."Wizeman said with annoyance. From his body, six golden razor blades emerged behind him. The blades began to rotate at high speed and Wizeman released them. As they got closer, Manic dashed ahead.

"Ok, let's see what I can do!" Manic said as his body radiated and he hit his eskrima sticks together. Doing this made a giant, star-filled shockwave which passed through Nightmare. When it reached the blades, they shattered into pieces immediately. AppleJack took out her lasso and began to swing it. As she did, the lasso released 3 glittering yellow rings, taking her back slightly.

"I wasn't expectin' this, but it'll have to do!" She declared as the rings headed in Wizeman's direction. Wizeman formed a barrier and the rings were destroyed as they made contact with it.

"We have to do something about that barrier." Rarity realized and then she turned to Silver. " Silver, come with me." Silver nodded and the two of them flew to Wizeman.

Rarity raised her hand and above her formed a giant, sharp diamond. The diamond was almost as large as Wizeman himself. Rarity glared at Wizeman with intense anger and she hurled the diamond.

"That's for using me!" She screamed as the diamond was directed to Wizeman. Silver looked on, slightly impressed.

When the diamond reached Wizeman, his eyes flashed the colors of the emeralds and the diamond froze mid-air. Wizeman turned the diamond around and he fired it back at Rarity. Rarity looked shocked as the diamond was headed her way and she braced for impact. Luckily, Silver came in front of her. Silver stuck out his hands and the diamond was surrounded by a red aura. Silver then split the diamond into hundreds of smaller ones.

"A trick I learned from evil you." Silver told Rarity, making her smile.

"Let me add to it." Rarity said as she made the inside of the diamonds glow white. Silver then shot them towards Wizeman, who again, formed a barrier. When the diamonds hit the barrier, they each formed large explosions. So many explosions made Wizeman grunt and his barrier began to crack with each explosion before it was destroyed, making him move back. Silver and Rarity smiled with victory.

"Yes!" They yelled.

"Now that the shield's gone, we can damage him!" NiGHTS said.

"You won't even get the chance. Fade into oblivion!" Wizeman responded as his hands began to glow. Energy was drawn into them as Wizeman charged up dark lasers.

Seeing this made Fluttershy yelp and she shrunk back. As she did, 4 purple butterflies, each surrounded by a white aura, left her body and flew towards Wizeman. They flew above him and began to release a shower of stars, covering his vision as he prepared his beams.

"Pest! Begone!" Wizeman barked. He couldn't see through the shower. Seeing this gave Sunset an idea.

"Now, what would this do?" Sunset said as, in her hands, she began to form a large flashing yellow-orange star. Sunset then shot it to Wizeman, who didn't even see it coming due to his blocked vision.

The star passed through the shower of stars and Wizeman saw it before it exploded into a large blinding light, making the group cover their own eyes.

"Arrgh!!!!" Wizeman yelled as the flash blinded him.

"Now's our chance!" Sonic said.

Sonic's body was enveloped in a white aura and dashed to Wizeman with high speed. As he did, Sonic began to resemble a shooting star and he crashed into Wizeman's center, blowing him back slightly.

"Gurrhrhh!" Wizeman grunted.

NiGHTS then floated next to Sonic and they gave him a wink.

"Try this." NiGHTS said as they began to paraloop around Sonic, making him surrounded by different colored dust. Sonic could feel more dream energy into his body and he gave NiGHTS a thumbs up.

"Got it!" Sonic said as he charged into his shooting star boost again. This time, the boost flashed the five colors of Ideya. As Sonic crashed into Wizeman, a five colored shockwave was formed and Wizeman was blown away even more.

"How's that, no face?!" Sonic taunted as the rest of the group cheered at Sonic's blow.

Wizeman stopped himself from moving. He began to chuckle, causing everyone to lose their feeling of victory and turn to him, puzzled. They had just damaged him. Why would he laugh? Wizeman's laughter became louder and it boomed throughout the area. NiGHTS and the rest focused on Wizeman, slightly troubled by this.

"We hit him and he's laughing....I don't like that." Rainbow Dash said with worry.

Wizeman's laughter stopped and his vision landed on the group.

"It is just as I hoped. With these emeralds, I truly am invincible. Your feeble attacks have done nothing to me!" Wizeman informed them, making the hope they had beginning to fade.

"What?! That can't be!" NiGHTS said.

"It is as I said. Now, feel my wrath!" Wizeman declared as he released a large multi-colored energy pulse that struck everyone, sending them deeper into Nightmare with intensive force as the pulse grew larger and larger.

"Hehehe.."Wiseman laughed as he watched them be swallowed by the darkness of Nightmare.

In the deeper part of Nightmare, NiGHTS's eyes began to flicker and they opened them fully. NiGHTS looked around to see Sonic and the others floating around, almost unconscious. Wizman's strength was incredible. NiGHTS had never even thought about encountering something so powerful.

"Sonic...Silver...Pinkie Pie...?" NiGHTS said with concern as they floated towards them.

NiGHTS's words caused Silver to began to stir and then everyone else moaned. NiGHTS looked relieved as the group managed to get themselves together as they floated above.They were all stunned by Wizeman's blow and quite dazed. NiGHTS floated in the center.

"He was just playing with us the whole time." Manic said as he rubbed his head.

"I hate to admit it, but we're outclassed. As long as Wizeman has the 7 emeralds, he's unbeatable." Tails said, his voice lacking any hope.

"Well, there has to be a way! There's no way we're quitting now!" Silver announced.

"Silver's right! We haven't come all this way just to lose in the end. We can't let Wizeman succeed." Rarity said.

"I like your enthusiasm, but Tails is right. The emeralds make Wizeman unstoppable." Sonic pointed out.

NiGHTS began to think as their hand rested on their chin. As long as Wizeman had the emeralds....the possession of the emeralds....that was the source of his power...NiGHTS lifted their face up and snapped their fingers loudly.

"I got it!" NiGHTS suddenly said, making all eyes land on him.

"I need all of you to transfer your Ideya to me." NiGHTS instructed.

"What? But we need this new dreamy stuff to help stop Wizeman." Pinkie protested.

"Without it, we won't be able to face him." Fluttershy added.

"That's exactly what I want. Trust me, please, I need your Ideya." NiGHTS said as they stuck their hand out.

NiGHTS was met with looks of uncertainty. Why would they ask them to give up their Ideya? It was risky. Without it, they would be left at Wizeman's mercy. After quite a bit of silence, Silver stepped forward and gave his hand to NiGHTS.

"Ok, I trust you have this under control." Silver said.

"Thank you. Everyone, do I have your Ideya?" NiGHTS said as they looked past Silver to the others, still looking unsure as they turned to each other. Immediately, Rarity offered her hand as well.

"You have mine." Rarity said with a smile.

Sonic just shrugged and he placed his hand on NiGHTS.

"I've always been one to follow crazy plans anyway." Sonic said, making NiGHTS smile.

Seeing the three of them place their trust in NiGHTS, removed the doubt that the rest of the group was feeling. They each approached NiGHTS and gave them their hands. NiGHTS and everyone else closed their eyes and NiGHTS received the Ideya as their body flashed red, yellow, blue, green and white as they began to rise. NiGHTS floated in a giant aura and they looked down at the others.

"So, here is the plan....."

Wizeman patiently looked out to Nightmare, waiting for his foes to show themselves.

"Were they destroyed by just a fraction of my power?" Wizeman wondered. "I was hoping to show them true despair."

Suddenly, Wizeman noticed something in the corner of his eye. He looked forward and saw something that stood out among Nightmare due to its colors. It was NiGHTS heading towards him at high speed, their look full of resolve while surrounded in an Ideya-powered glow.

"NiGHTS? So, only you survived? Shame, then I'll have to subject you to my full power!" Wizeman said.

"Bring it on Wizeman! I'm not afraid of you!" NiGHTS retorted.

"You fool, even with your Ideya, it pales compared to my might! Observe!" Wizeman said as his hands glowed once more as they were filled with dark purple energy. Wizeman fired six beams which then combined into one giant one as NiGHTS charged into him.

NiGHTS collided with the beam and struggled to move against it. He and Wizeman were at a stalemate. NiGHTS's aura expanded to move against Wizeman's beams.

"Futile!" Wizeman called out.

Wizeman wasn't kidding. Even with the Ideya, NiGHTS realized how outclassed they were due to the emeralds. NiGHTS tried to push against the beam, but it was no use. Wizeman was too strong. NiGHTS began to grunt and their aura grew smaller and smaller and Wizeman's beam was getting closer.

"NiGHTS, you and your persistence have been a thorn in my side long enough! Die!" Wizeman said.

As the beam began to push NiGHTS back, NiGHTS let out a small laugh, catching Wizeman's attention.

"Why do you laugh at your destruction?"

"Actually...I'm laughing at yours!"

Suddenly, two blue streaks appeared at the top at one of Wizeman's hands and they dashed forward and took the blue Chaos Emerald from it. Holding it, were Sonic and Rainbow Dash as they descended down beneath Wizeman, Sonic waved his finger at Wizeman while Rainbow Dash stuck her tongue out. Wizeman's beam became slightly smaller.

"What????!???" Wizeman cried out in astonishment as they saw their missing emerald.

In the next hand, the red emerald was wrapped around by a lasso and Knuckles glided on to the hand and held on to the emerald. AppleJack pulled her lasso back alongside Knuckles, taking the emerald away from the hand. Wizeman turned to it.

"No!" He yelled. He now was missing two emeralds.

The hand that had contained the cyan emerald was suddenly in contact with a green streak. The streak was Manic, who was pulling Fluttershy alongside him. Fluttershy closed her eyes as they came close to the emerald and she stuck her hand out. The two of them grabbed the emerald and escaped Wizeman's clutches. Wizeman turned with anger as his aura became weaker and began to flicker. NiGHTS could feel his beam becoming weaker and began to move forward. At one of the hands near the bottom of Wizeman, Sunset flew towards, holding Tails as she did. As they reached the emerald, she let Tails go and he fell down and snatched it. Before he could sink into the dark ocean, Sunset swooped him up quickly. Wizeman's power began to drop even more as now only his head glowed. Then, Wizeman felt a strong grip on the gray emerald. He looked and saw a chain of diamonds were surrounding. Rarity held on to the chain and Silver's body began to glow and so did the chain and the emerald. Rarity and Silver both pulled forward and the emerald escaped from Wizeman and towards them. With only two emeralds left, Wizeman's beam was now only slightly larger than NiGHTS, who was easily able to pass through it.

"You can't do this!" Wizeman screamed as NiGHTS approached him.

"Yeah, we can!" Wizeman heard Pinkie cheerfully say. He turned and saw her falling towards his hand that had the purple emerald. As she fell through it, Pinkie took the emerald before Wizeman could even react.

Wizeman was so distracted by Pinkie, that he didn't notice that NiGHTS had reached his center. By the time he noticed, he saw NiGHTS's hand grab hold of the green emerald and fly right through him. All the power Wizeman had left him and Wizeman's head lost its glow.

"NOOOOO!" He cried out due to the loss of his emeralds.

NiGHTS and the others regrouped themselves in front of the depowered ruler of Nightmare. He looked at them with bewilderment and disbelief. They looked at him triumphantly and holding the emeralds, making him rumble with anger.

"How? How can this be?! Give me back my emeralds!!!" Wizeman demanded.

"Sorry no face, they aren't yours, to begin with." Sonic told him.

"You are but mere insects..." Wizeman started before NiGHTS cut him off.

"That was your mistake Wizeman. You thought yourself as being so invincible that nothing could harm you. It's true that we couldn't physically do anything to you, but we could outsmart you. We just needed you to let your guard down." NiGHTS mocked as he flashed the emerald to Wizeman.

"I AM THE RULER OF NIGHTMARE! I CONTROL ALL NIGHTMARES!!!! YOU ARE NOTHING!" Wizeman boasted with fury. Silver shook his head at his statement.

"Didn't you hear what I said before? You can control nightmares, so what?" Silver calmly responded.

"That means nothing when it comes to dreams. Allow us to demonstrate." Rarity said as she and Silver both placed their hands on the emerald.

Sonic, Rainbow Dash, Tails, Sunset, Knuckles, AppleJack, Manic, and Fluttershy did the same with the emeralds they had. Pinkie came next to NiGHTS and they both held out their individual emeralds next to each other towards Wizeman. NiGHTS grinned to Pinkie and she did the same.

"I'll try it your way." NiGHTS said as all of them began to glow with the emeralds. Wizeman looked on in horror. This was something he had never felt before. It was now his nightmare.

"CHAOS...CONTROL!" Everyone yelled as they clutched the emeralds and released a giant white energy wave throughout Nightmare.

"ARGGGGGGGGGGGHH!!!!!!!" Wizeman screamed as he was engulfed by the light. The light began to shine throughout the dimension....

Sweet Dreams

When the flash had died down, Nightmare was nowhere to be found alongside Wizeman. NiGHTS and the group looked around to find themselves back in the Dream Gate where they had started their journey after they opened their eyes. It was all peaceful and quiet.

"So...I guess we won then?" Knuckles said.

"We're out of that awful place and I don't see Wizeman anymore..so I think so." Fluttershy said.

NiGHTS looked down at the emerald they held, completely dumbfounded at what had just occurred. Wizeman was right. These emeralds were no joke.

"I can barely feel Wizeman's presence. Whatever happened, we won't have to worry about him for a looooong time." NiGHTS said as they floated up.

"Sweet! The good guys win as usual!" Sonic said as pointed himself.

NiGHTS did a paraloop of victory while everyone else celebrated happily with Knuckles and Sunset fist bumping and Pinkie jumped up and down excitedly. Rainbow Dash put her arms around Tails and Fluttershy while AppleJack adjusted her hat and Manic twirled his drumsticks. Rarity turned to Silver and she gave him a smile and Silver did the same as he folded his arms. They had overcome the nightmare and gotten back the emeralds. Suddenly, Pinkie stopped jumping and her face turned serious as she gasped loudly.

"I almost forget! Shadow!" Pinkie exclaimed, making everyone face her.

"Oh, right. He stayed behind to face Reala...did he make it out?" NiGHTS wondered as they floated down to Pinkie.

They all became worried, especially Pinkie as she began to look around desperately. The others looked towards each other. It wouldn't be much of a victory if they lost Shadow in the process.

The team heard slight groaning behind them and they turned around to see Shadow lying against the fountain, with his eyes beginning to open. Shadow rubbed his forehead. Pinkie lost her worried look and she formed a huge smile.

"Shadow! You're ok!" She yelled as she rushed towards him and threw her arms around him, catching him in a giant hug. Shadow groaned even louder than before.

"What were you expecting from the Ultimate Lifeform?" He managed to say as Pinkie's hug grew tighter and he winced.

"By the way, heads up." NiGHTS said as they tossed the green emerald back to Shadow, who caught it. He looked down and smirked.

"It's good to have this back." He said. He then teleported out of Pinkie's hug, making her blink twice. He ended up next to Sonic when he reappeared.

"Great, we're all back to together and with all the emeralds. "Silver said as everyone huddled together.

NiGHTS floated down into the middle of the circle and they looked around at the group. They gave them a grateful smile.

"I want to say, thank you all for helping me stop Wizeman. And for making this my best adventure yet! It was awesome!" NiGHTS praised.

"No, thank you, NiGHTS. We wouldn't have been able to do this without your help. And you helped save me. I am so grateful." Rarity said as they took their hand.

"No problem."

"Well, I guess we should get headed back to our world now. Again, NiGHTS, thank you so much." Sunset said.

"Anytime! If you guys ever want to come back to Nightopia, feel free to drop in and I'll be waiting." NiGHTS promised.

"It's a pinkie-promise! We need to have the best party ever!" Pinkie declared, causing NiGHTS to chuckle.

Sonic and the group clutched the emeralds in their hands and they all looked to NiGHTS, who waved farewell to them.They each smiled save for Shadow, who just turned away. They began to glow and they then vanished into a white flash, leaving Nightopia. NiGHTS stopped waving and looked up to the sky.

"See you guys soon."

The next day at the Carousel Boutique, Rarity was in her room at her desk. She was wearing her eyeglasses as she was sketching on a blank piece of paper. She was heavily concentrated on what she was doing as she drew like crazy. Suddenly, she heard a loud knock at her window, causing her to fumble as she dropped the pencil. Rarity sighed.

"Oh, what could that be?" She said mildly annoyed as she headed to the window.

When Rarity looked out the window, she saw Silver floating there in a green aura, much to her surprise. She opened the window up.

"Silver?! Why didn't you use the door?"

"I knocked for like 10 minutes, so I figured you would be here. Can I come in?"

Rarity stepped back, allowing Silver to enter her room. He floated down next to her and lost his glowing aura.

"So, what brings you by?" Rarity asked.

"I just came in to check on you, see how you were doing after going all evil-overlord."Silver explained.

"Oh, well I just needed to lie down for quite a bit after that whole fiasco. But I should be fine. I've been through worse." Rarity replied.

"Don't know what could be worse than having your will taken from you and becoming an evil maniac, but if you say so." Silver responded. He turned to her desk and he noticed the drawings. He approached one and he picked it up.

"Back to work already? What's this for?" He asked her.

"New designs for the Canterlot theater. If they didn't like my old ones, I'll just make them better. As you would say, never give up, even if you're told to." She reminded him.

Silver slightly smiled and he placed the drawing back down. He was glad to see Rarity had gone back to her passion for fashion.

"Well, if you're doing fine, then I'll just be on my way." Silver said as headed to the window.

"Silver..wait."

Silver turned to see Rarity, who was looking down on the floor as she tugged her skirt. It was if she was ashamed to look him in the eye. She had a look of guilt on her face.

"I...do remember my time under Wizeman's control...the things I said and did...." Rarity started." Like...showing you a happy future."

Silver winced at the thought of that. He had really tried his best to forgot about it. Honestly, giving it up was the hardest thing he had ever done in his life. In fact, he was still wondering if he made the right choice in that direction.

"...I just wanted to say....I'm sorry. I know it was a dream come true for you...and giving it up must have been awful. I can't help but feel terrible for what I did.. Rarity continued, her voice full of remorse and she looked firmly down at the ground.

Rarity felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked up to see Silver, giving her a look of reassurance.

"Listen, you don't need to apologize. It wasn't your fault, it was Wizeman's. I admit, while practically erasing him from existence did make me feel better, it really did suck giving up that dream." Silver admitted. "But, I'll just have to keep aiming to make it happen on my own. Besides, right now, even if I don't have my dream world, I have some nice things here. Like you."

Hearing Silver's words made Rarity blush like crazy as she slightly turned away from him. Silver realized what he said, and his cheeks turned red as well as he stepped back from Rarity a little bit. He began to tap his fingers together nervously. Now it was awkward between the two of them.

"And Sonic, Sunset and the others!" He quickly added, but it was too late. It was still pretty awkward as Rarity continued to tug at her skirt. Silver sighed.

"W-well. Glad to see you're doing good! I'll just be on my way." Silver said as he opened the window.

"Uh, Silver?" He heard Rarity call again and he turned back to her.

"While I'm working on my designs, I could use some company if you don't mind? Maybe you could have some ideas?"

Silver beamed slightly and he closed the window. He walked over to Rarity as she sat down at her desk.

"Sure, why not?"

It was later nighttime in Canterlot. Citizens were now planning to sleep as they headed to bed as they lights turned off in many houses and the city was quiet. In her house, Pinkie entered her room wearing her pajamas and she yawned loudly. She then switched off the light of her room and she climbed into bed.

"Sleepy time now..." Pinkie murmured as she closed her eyes and before she knew it, she was fast asleep.

When Pinkie next opened her eyes, she saw that she was back in the Dream Gate. Pinkie looked surprised as she examined the area again. Suddenly from the sky, she heard the sound of a flute playing. When she looked up, her face broke out into a large smile. She saw NiGHTS coming down, playing their imaginary flute. NiGHTS stopped playing when they approached Pinkie and returned her smile.

"Hey, Pinkie, nice to see you back so soon!" NiGHTS greeted. "Let's have that party!"

Just then, the two were joined by many small creatures. They all had cone-shaped heads, red cheeks, and pink wings with white collars while as they purple outfits and orange sleeves. They wore white shoes as well. These were Nightopians. Pinkie watched them in awe as they flew around.

"Say hello to my friends." NiGHTS said as the Nightopians began to giggle.

Pinkie began to jump around excitedly as she made a springing noise. This was almost perfect! She stopped jumping mid-air and she came down.

"There's just one thing missing!" She declared as she disappeared in a pink flash. NiGHTS turned to the Nightopians, wondering what she meant.

Pinkie reappeared and this time, she was holding Shadow's arm. Shadow began to look around frantically as he realized that he was back in the Dream Gate.

"What the? How the? How am I back here again!?" He wondered out loud.

"Now that Shady's here, let's party!" Pinkie said as she, NiGHTS and the Nightopians rose up in the air and began to fly around happily. Seeing them made Shadow sit down on the ground and he folded his arms with a frown.

"This is a nightmare...." Shadow groaned as Pinkie and NiGHTS continued their air party.

THE END.

Facing the Nightmare

NiGHTS floated in the center, surrounded by the Ideya and Sonic and the group. They then turned ahead of them and formed a look of determination.

"Ok, now let's head to Nightmare!" They declared as they pointed ahead.

The moment they said that, Sonic and the others began to glow again the color of their respective Ideya and they slowly began to rise up in the air towards NiGHTS. They each examined what was happening to them with curiosity.

"This feels so natural" Tails observed.

"Is this what it feels like whenever you guys pony up?" Manic asked Fluttershy

"Sort of. But this is different...somehow. I just can't explain it." Fluttershy responded, trying to understand what was happening.

"Of course, you can't silly! It's a dream! You can't explain dreams!"Pinkie yelled.

"Ok, then let's go!" Sonic announced.

Rarity thought about her time in Nightmare and she looked down with an uneasy expression. Silver noticed this and he floated closer to her.

"Rarity? What's wrong?" He asked.

Rarity sighed. "It's just that, I was in that awful place from before and I'm not too keen on going back. I know we have to, but..." She explained as she rubbed her arm.

"Hey, this time, there's nothing to be afraid of. You're with us, remember? " He said reassuringly with a smile.

Rarity managed to form a small smile and her worried expression began to fade.

"You're right about that. Thank you, Silver."

Rarity then looked forward with a serious look while Silver's expression changed to a focused one as he clenched his fist.

NiGHTS took the lead and looked straight ahead towards Nightmare. NiGHTS dispersed the Ideya, making it surround Sonic and the rest instead of just them. After it did, the aura's they were enveloped in became larger and all of them suddenly burst forward as beams of light, leaving a trail throughout the road. The speed they were traveling even impressed Sonic. The immediately entered the dark void that was Nightmare in no time.

In Nightmare, Wizeman sensed a disturbance as his body stopped glowing and he raised his head. Reala noticed this and he looked up to his master.

"Master Wizman, what is the matter?" Reala asked.

"Our visitors have entered Nightmare. And this power with them.....it's..Ideya!" Wizeman realized, shocking Reala.

"Ideya?! But how?! Only dreamers possess Ideya!" Reala responded.

"I do not know, but the fact that they have it troubles me." Wizeman said.

"Master, there is no need. They may have Ideya, but you have these 7 emeralds! Ideya pales in comparison. You know it as well. I assure you, you won't have to deal with them. I shall finish them off myself!" Reala announced and he prepared to take his leave.

"Wait, Reala. Do not underestimate them, especially NiGHTS." Wizeman warned.

"Have no fear." Reala said with a bow. He then vanished in a white flash.

Throughout Nightmare, NiGHTS and the team couldn't see anything. It was a completely dark fog. The only light there was the one they had given off.

"We can't see a thing! Hey NiGHTS, you know the way to Wizeman, right?" Knuckles asked.

"Oh well, uhh, not really..." NiGHTS responded nervously as they rubbed the back of their head.

"What? But haven't you been here before?!" Knuckles yelled.

"Attention to details isn't exactly my strong point." NiGHTS admitted, making Knuckles groan.

"I'm tired of just wanderin' around. Let's hope we find Wizeman quickly." AppleJack said.

"You won't get the chance!" Reala's voice echoed throughout the area, stopping everyone in their tracks.

"That voice...Reala!" NiGHTS said.

"Hahahahahahaha!"

Suddenly, the area began to flash rapidly the colors of the seven different emeralds. Sonic and the others covered their eyes to avoid the blinding lights except for Pinkie who looked on as her eyes began to flash the colors as well. She was stuck in a trance with a silly smile on her face. Shadow then covered her eyes with his free hand.

When the light died, the location had changed. The group was now in a place with a starry night sky and dark brown misty clouds. Above them was a glowing giant red symbol. It had two three-fingered hands with black highlights coming to grip a red crescent moon at the top. The center resembled a shadowed version of Reala, lacking his facial features and looking much more menacing. The bottom was a red ring decorated with black symbols. There were black floating goblets with red flames around. The bottom was a red and black floor, like a checker board. Coming out of it, were black and red curved hills, looking quite sharp. In the center, one hill looked like a throne with golden spikes coming out from behind it and it resembled Reala's jester hat. Sitting in it, was Reala, with his fingers locked and legs crossed.

"Welcome, visitors. And my dear sibling." Reala said as he rose from the throne. His eyes then landed on Rarity, who glared at him.

"Such a shame you had to defect, my dear. If you had stayed with us, it would have been much better for you." Reala said.

"Oh please. You couldn't stand me when I was with you." Rarity responded, making Reala chuckle.

"True. But now, you all will pay for defying Master Wizeman." Reala said as he began to tap his mask. "Take a look at my mask, NiGHTS. Notice anything different?"

All of them noticed the flashing colors on Reala's mask. Shadow's eyes widened when he realized why.

"Those colors..I'm sensing...Chaos energy coming from him!" Shadow pointed out.

"Very good!"Reala said as he began to mockingly clap. "Master Wizeman as we now speak is preparing to use the emeralds to take over Nightopia. He has now bestowed me with a fraction of his power. With this, I'll crush you all in an instant."

"What?!" NiGHTS exclaimed with a horrified expression. "We have to stop him!"

"You won't get the chance! As long as you have me to deal with!" Reala said.

"We can't stay here and fight him. By the time we're done, Wizeman could have already moved on to our world." Sunset explained.

"Then leave this to me." Shadow suddenly said, making everyone turn to him. They looked at him as if he had said the stupidest thing in his life.

"What?! You can't stay here alone." Rainbow Dash said.

"Yeah ,Shady! He has all his freaky powers and the emeralds as well!" Pinkie yelled.

"Hmph. I am the Ultimate Lifeform! Besides, I have this Ideya power now as well. Anyway, I owe him one." Shadow insisted. "What are you waiting for? Go on!"

Everyone, especially Pinkie, looked at him with uncertainty. Sonic simply shrugged.

"Ok then faker, We'll leave it to you. You better not lose or you'll never hear the end of it." Sonic jokingly warned with the thumbs up.

Shadow folded his arms and gave Sonic a small smirk.

"Are you sure, Sonic?" NiGHTS asked.

"Yeah, they don't call him the Ultimate Lifeform for nothing. Let's go!" Sonic said.

Pinkie Pie stared intensely at Shadow and then she spoke before she left.

"Ok....but once this over...we're going to have the biggest party in this place ever!" Pinkie shouted.

"Yeah sure, whatever." Shadow said dismissively. "Just go!"

Shadow slightly floated away from the others, allowing them and NiGHTS to rise up slightly. NiGHTS began to do a paraloop, followed by everyone else. Reala saw this and he rose up from his throne.

"I don't think so!" Reala said before Shadow teleported in a blue flash in front of him, allowing NiGHTS to paraloop them and the others out as they flashed the five colors of the Ideya and vanished in a light. Reala then turned to Shadow and growled.

"You....you're insane." Reala said. "You must remember our last encounter. I now have the power of the emeralds! What do you have?"

"Aside from being the Ultimate Lifeform, this Ideya!" Shadow shot back. "(I hope it's useful.)"

"Not this Ultimate Lifeform nonsense again. I thought I had disproved that claim earlier. Anyway, Ideya is nothing! Observe!"Reala said as he raised his hands to the symbol above and from it, many large giant spheres called mare balloons each flashing the color of the emeralds and twice Reala's size appeared and surrounded him. Shadow stood his ground and observed them as Reala smiled victoriously.

"Try this!" Reala said as he launched a volley of balloons to Shadow.

Shadow evaded them as he left behind a blue trail due to his superior speed. When the balloons missed him, they formed large flashing explosions. Shadow was too quick to hit and as he dodged the spheres, he closed in on Reala.

"I'm still not so used to this flying." Shadow muttered as he moved left and right to avoid the balloons.

Reala clenched hist fist and teleported in a red flash, making all the spheres around them do the same. Shadow came to a halt and he looked around for anyplace Reala could show up. Suddenly, Reala appeared on the left and launched two spheres. Immediately after doing this, he vanished again and appeared on the right and did the same. He did the same maneuver as he teleported around Shadow and kept shooting mare balloons at him, leaving him surrounded.

"Dodge this!" Reala yelled.

Shadow knew he was in trouble. The balloons were coming in to quickly for him to dodge. He looked down at his hand and clenched his fist.

"Ok, let's put this Ideya to use!" Shadow decided.

Shadow's hand became enveloped in a blue sphere and he launched it towards an incoming sphere. The blue orb collided with the mare balloon, trapping it in place, frozen. The orb then expanded and absorbed the balloon next to it, freezing it as well. Reala looked astonished as Shadow looked down at his hand and grinned. He formed two more blue orbs and released them towards Reala's attacks, stopping them. Reala looked on in frustration.

"Impossible!" Reala cried out.

Reala teleported in a red flash and Shadow followed in a blue one. They each appeared and vanished, firing their energy spheres at each other, which collided. The two of them were at a stalemate. In the inverted hyperspace, Reala began to think to himself.

"(This is absurd. How can his puny Ideya match the power of Master Wizeman? I need to take him out now!)"

When he and Shadow reappeared, Reala launched an orb at Shadow, who countered it easily. When the sphere was put in place, Reala flew ahead towards it and placed his hands on it. With a mighty shove, Reala launched it towards Shadow suddenly, who was caught off guard by Reala's change in strategy. The orb hit Shadow and made a white explosion as blue shards flew everywhere and Shadow was blown down towards the ground and crashed there. Shadow struggled to get up before Reala lifted him up by his neck.

"This was a mistake. What else were you expecting to happen?" Reala asked in a condescending tone. He then palm struck Shadow against a hill. Shadow's back collided with it and Shadow began to slump against the floor. Shadow managed to lift his head up to see Reala triumphantly standing over him.

"Well, I suppose I should at least give you credit for trying. What a waste of talent. With you out of the picture, the title of Ultimate Lifeform shall belong to me!" Reala informed him.

"Ha....don't .....flatter yourself!" Shadow yelled as his hands glowed blue suddenly and he used his speed to dash towards Reala unexpectedly. Shadow placed his fist on Reala's chest and released two orbs at the same time, launching the Nightmaren directly up in the air as if he was a rocket. As he was heading up, Shadow began to teleport towards the frozen spheres he had trapped. Shadow kicked each of them towards Reala as he headed up. The spheres then crashed into him, making a giant white explosion that covered the area and sending Shadow towards the ground again.

"GUAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Reala screamed as he was engulfed in the white flash.

"I told you...I am the Ultimate Lifeform!" Shadow weakly said as he laid down on the ground and the flash overcame him as well.

Sonic, NiGHTS and everyone else reappeared back in the void of Nightmare.

"I hope Shadow'll be ok." Fluttershy said softly as she looked down on the ground.

"He can take care of himself, don't worry about it." Manic said.

"We need to stop Wizeman!" NiGHTS said. "Come out, Wizeman!"

A loud, ominous laughter was heard throughout Nightmare, causing the team to come closer together, and they began to search for their source as their heads turned. On the side, two pillars, each with a red curtain, appeared. In the center, a large dark mountain formed suddenly. Lastly, in the dark ocean, a mysterious bubbling sound was heard a figure began to emerge from the ground slowly. It was Wizeman himself, not simply a projection like the time before. NiGHTS grew focused as they faced them and Sonic and the others looked up in awe at his presence. He gave off such an intimidating force. With him, they could feel that the tension had skyrocketed. He wasn't to be taken lightly like the Nightmarens before. He was on a totally different level. 6 emeralds were in his palms and one floated in his chest.

"Wizeman! Finally, you show yourself!" NiGHTS yelled.

"So you're the boss huh? We've been wanting to settle things with you for a while!" Sonic called out.

"You're going to pay for taking our friend and the emeralds!" Sunset angrily told him.

"Such foolish beings. You honestly believe you can defeat me? I pity you. I am beyond you and with these emeralds, I am even more powerful than before. What hope do you have?" Wiseman questioned.

"Enough! You have no idea how tired I am of people telling me to give up or that I'm destined to fail! I've worked too hard to call it quits! It's true, failing is a nightmare for everyone. But, you just have power over nightmares. That's too easy. A nightmare is a simple thing to manipulate and even come true. But you can't take over dreams! You have the power of a weaker aspect, Wizeman!" Silver boldly announced as he pointed to him and stepped forward.

"Silver's right! You may have been able to control me because of my nightmare, but it's gone now! You can't control me through my dreams!" Rarity agreed as she joined Silver, losing the fear she was feeling before.

"You dare mock my power? Insolent beings, it appears that I must show you the error of your ways! Prepare to face my judgement!" Wizeman declared as his body began to shine brightly again. As it did, NiGHTS turned back to Sonic and the others.

"Ready?" They asked them.

NiGHTS was met with confident nods from them, even from Fluttershy. NiGHTS grinned and turned back to face Wizeman. The Ideya surrounded the group and they began to glow once more.