The Phantom Filly

by Lucar

Rating: teen
Tags: Violence, Crossover, Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Death, Other, Sonic the Hedgehog, Science Fiction, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Scootaloo, Adventure
Length: 76101

Scootaloo finds a mysterious ruby with the power to manipulate reality. She will have to learn to use its power to save Equestria from a mad scientist from another dimension.

After a good day passed crusading, Scootaloo is napping before returning to her home when a rift suddenly opens before her. Out of the rift comes a strange ruby followed by a bipedal moustachioed being. Scootaloo quickly discovers that the ruby possesses great powers but before she knows it, she accidentally merges with it.

Now, she has to learn to control her new phenomenal powers, fight the moustachioed being who reveals to be a mad scientist who wants to use the power of the ruby to return home (and conquer Equestria on the way), and deal with the spirit of a sicko trapped in the ruby calling himself Infinite.

Perfect setting for the rising of a new, awesome super hero: Zero.

Crossover with Sonic the Hedgehog. Starts during season 4 of My Little Pony and after the events of Sonic Mania Plus.

Published 2020-02-11 03:30:01 UTC
Last updated 2020-06-04 01:23:09 UTC

Chapter 2: Infinite Power

It was quickly clear that whatever this place was, this wasn't something like in dreams where ten minutes equals an entire night. No, time passed as quickly in this place than in Equestria, and Scootaloo rapidly got bored, having nothing to do here. She tried to think of what she will do now that she merged with a powerful ruby and got stuck with some villain in her head threatening to take control of her body if she lowered her guard, but she came with nothing. If what this Infinite guy said was right, then nothing she could do could rid her of him. She was stuck with him forever. So the best she could do about this was to hold on and not let him take control.

She could go to Twilight to tell her everything, and maybe she would find something, but the situation was just so unusual that the chances were really low. And truthfully, she was scared that Twilight would go cuckoo at her new powers and would spend the next following days or weeks studying them, and her.

Speaking of powers, she could try to learn to control them, but she had absolutely no idea of what were the ruby's powers. All she knew was that the ruby seemed to have some way to teleport, which was probably also the reason why Eggman wasn't here anymore. It may also be the ruby that opened that rift, so it meant that it could travel to other dimensions, which was VERY powerful. But was that all? She could ask Infinite, but seeing how this place was made partially of her dream, then those burning buildings were probably Infinite's dream, and somepony whose dreams were to see cities burn was NOT somepony who would kindly help others when asked.

So she stopped thinking about what she will do, only to get bored. Infinite was just remaining on his side looking at her, which was really creepy, but he wasn't trying anything, so Scootaloo stopped paying attention to him. She just lied down and looked up at the purple and black sky, and at the floating red cubes.

So fuuuun...

"Uuuugh... Will this be like that every night from now?" She asked, turning to Infinite. "How can you stand it?"

Infinite chuckled. "A good mental exercise and a lot of patience. Also, I can do things here to pass time."

"Really? What?"

He didn't answer.

"Ugh! Like I thought! You won't answer just to let me suffer. So I suppose there's no use to ask you what are the ruby's powers? You would rather see me try to discover by myself so that I take the risk to screw up and to accidentally blow up Ponyville?"

"Exactly."

"Ugh!" groaned Scootaloo again. Then, she got an idea. "But you must have been very powerful with it. I mean, with this ruby, you can easily conquer the world, right?"

Infinite chuckled. "I could, and I did. I was the most powerful being in the world. Even the Chaos Emeralds were no match against me."

"Chaos Emeralds?"

"Seven gems of unlimited power that use chaos energy to do whatever the user wants, to the point of giving them invincibility. Well, thanks to the reality bending powers of the Phantom Ruby, I could bypass even this! I was the ultimate being!"

Scootaloo smiled widely. "Reality bending powers? Really? This is the power of the ruby?"

Infinite visibly frowned at Scootaloo. "Did you use my ego to make me reveal the power of the Phantom Ruby?" he asked slowly, menacingly.

Scootaloo nodded proudly. "Yup. That's, like, Bad Guy 101: bad guys will always have a big ego and will always gloat about how great they are at the first occasion."

".....I would kill you right now if I could."

"Uh... You can't?" asked hesitantly the filly.

"Now that you are part of the ruby, your mind’s trapped here. At best, I can torture you, but you would probably trigger the power of the ruby like last time and wake up."

"Oh... Well... That's nice to know..." said Scootaloo, sweating. "So... Reality bending powers?"

Infinite rolled his eye. "I might as well say this now. To be more exact, they are augmented reality manipulation based on illusions. It takes control of people's senses to feed false information to the brain, and thus create a new reality to them, and make it real. It can also create projections of those new realities that can interact with the world."

Seeing Scootaloo's look of confusion, he groaned. "Idiots... Here is an example." Infinite raised a hand, sending some energy toward the sky. The next instant, a sun appeared, so close that it was taking most of the sky!

"WHAAAAT?!!" yelled Scootaloo in panic.

"This sun is an illusion. It shouldn't be here. Yet, not only you can see it, but you can also feel it. You can feel its warmth, right?"

Scootaloo nodded, not stopping looking at the sun in awe.

"That's because even if this sun is an illusion, for you, it is real. If I let it fall, it would burn you until not even ashes remain. And if I wanted, I could project it to the normal reality to burn everything." He made the sun disappear, and created then some weird black hedgehog-like animal walking on two legs, its body glitching a little before stabilizing. "Here is another example. It is a duplicate of someone... I despise. It isn't real. And yet..." The hedgehog went to pick a small rock on the ground. "It can interact with the environment. If it punched you, you would feel the punch. And you can also..." He kicked the hedgehog, sending him flying into a building that crumbled after that. "do that to them."

Scootaloo gulped at seeing Infinite sending somepony flying like that with a simple kick.

"You can even use this power to enhance your own body..." continued Infinite as in a glitching effect, his body was suddenly three times his original size. "like this for example."

"Woah... So cool... But even with all that power, you still lost? Or you wouldn't be trapped here."

Infinite almost flinched at that, but returned to his normal size. "I underestimated my enemies."

"Ah! Of course! Bad Guy 101: because of his ego, the bad guy will always underestimate the hero, or heroes, leading to his downfall."

Infinite materialized a red sword. "You really want me to behead you."

"Sorry!"

"Anyway. The Phantom Ruby only has one limit: people need to be in its control to be affected by the illusions. Outside this place, creating a sun to fall on your enemies won't work unless you have them in your power."

"And how do I do that?" asked Scootaloo.

"By doing this!" shouted Infinite before he expelled some weird glitching energy out of his body that caused the surrounding reality to take on weird colors with that same sound. It even propelled Scootaloo backwards a little. "It isn't useful to do this here, but in the real world, this is what you will have to do each time you will want to use illusions to defeat someone. However, it uses a lot of energy, so you can use another method that asks less but is less effective." At this, he gathered some of the red cubes floating around. "Like them. If someone touches those cubes, they will be in your power for a limited amount of time. With the real Phantom Ruby, you can also create other shapes. The only limit is your imagination."

"I see. Well, I don't know about fighting enemies, but I know how I will use the ruby."

"To conquer the world?"

"What? NO! I will use it to reach my dream: join the Wonderbolts with my sister Rainbow Dash! All I have to do is grow my wings."

"Mph. What a waste. You have the power to change reality, and all you will do is grow your wings to enter some team?"

Scootaloo put a hoof under her chin. "When said like that, you're right. It would be a waste. I will think of something, but no conquering the world! Until then, I will train to control this power. Wouldn't want to accidentally activate it and hurt somepony. But then, I would need to go far enough to train without risking to hurt somepony too. Wait... Of course! I can train here!" She then started laughing. "I can train in my sleep! Ah! We will see who's a chicken now!"

Infinite chuckled. "This will be interesting."

“Hmm... Maybe I should warn Twilight about this Eggman guy once I wake up, he could cause some problems" Scootaloo thought

This got the interest of Infinite. "Eggman is here?"

"You know him? He was transported here with the ruby. I think I accidentally teleported him away with the power of the ruby."

"He was the one who gave me the power of the Phantom Ruby to help him conquer the world. Eheheheh. I would watch my back if I were you. The doctor will do everything to get back the power of the ruby."

"Yeah. Definitively gonna warn Twilight."

As soon as Scootaloo woke up once the morning came, she immediately prepared herself to visit Twilight before going to school. But before that, she had to find an excuse to explain to her aunts why she didn't eat dinner last night and entered so late only to directly go to bed. She said that she was very exhausted after her crusades and took a nap only to oversleep. Seeing that it was already almost time to go to sleep, she then decided to skip diner and to directly go to bed. To make up for it, she took a big breakfast before going out. Pretending to go to school, she eventually hid between two houses, then used the power of the Phantom Ruby to appear between two other houses not far from the Golden Oak Library, Twilight's home.

Rapidly, she went to the literal tree-house and opened the door. "Twilight! I have something to say! It's urgent!"

"I'm right here," said the lavender alicorn mare sitting on a chair reading a book not far. "What is it? Shouldn't you be on your way to school?"

"I will be once I have said what I need to say. Listen, Twilight. There's a new bad guy on the loose somewhere in Equestria!"

"A new bad guy?" asked Twilight with a frown. She closed her book (marking her page before) then turned fully toward the filly. "What happened? This is not a prank, I hope."

"No prank. You see, I was napping yesterday in Sweet Apple Acres when, suddenly, a rift opened in front of me and an alien dropped out of it!"

"An alien?!" shouted Spike from his ladder as he was organizing books.

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Really? Are you sure this wasn't a dream?"

"No dream!"

"Alright..." said the mare skeptically. "Describe this alien to me."

"Uh... Tall. Very tall. Like, two times taller than you. He looked like a minotaur, but with a round body, and there was no neck between the body and the head. He had no fur, too, only a very big brown moustache. No mane or whatever. Little round glasses also hid his eyes. He was also wearing clothes, not sure what they were, but they made his upper body red with some yellow and his lower body black with two white buttons. And he called himself Eggman. Dr. Eggman."

"Pffff Eggman? Really?" asked Spike about to laugh.

"This wasn't his real name. I think he was called... Hum... Something like Robot... Robot... Just let's call him Eggman."

"Alright. But being an alien isn't enough to be a bad guy. Did he do something?" asked Twilight as she noted Eggman's description on a parchment.

"Yeah, he talked about conquering the world, and even worlds. Then he tried to attack me because I saw him, so I ran away. I wanted to warn you then, but it was late, so I didn't know if you were asleep. So I waited today. I don't know where he's now or what he's doing. But apparently, he isn't at his first try conquering worlds and even managed to conquer one once before being defeated."

"And how do you know all this?" asked Twilight with an eyebrow raised.

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "The guy had, like, the biggest ego ever. He was going on and on about all he did, trying to convince me that it was no use to resist his attempt to conquer our world. He also seemed to be the manipulator kind, trying to convince me to join him by promising me to fix my wings. I refused, of course."

Twilight nodded. "Any powers you saw him use?"

"All I know is that he's very smart, and rather fast. Like, when I ran, he was able to keep up with me for a time despite having only two legs. Since he calls himself a doctor, I wouldn't be surprised if he can build stuff. You know, Mad Doctor style.”

"So, an alien mad scientist?" resumed Twilight. "If it's true, then this could be bad."

"Yeah! We must find him before he builds an army of robots or of mutants! In my comics, alien mad scientists are always the worst!" Spike then looked at Scootaloo in confusion. "Wait. He was alone? He didn't have robots or whatever with him?"

"No, I think he was transported here by accident," answered Scootaloo.

"Then it gives us time," said Spike. "It will probably take a few months for him to build a lair and an army."

"But if this Eggman is real, he can be anywhere now," said Twilight. "I could write to Princess Celestia about this, but I don't think she will send the entire army to search every corner of Equestria based on just the words of a filly. However, if I go to the place where the rift appeared, I may be able to find some traces of whatever energy was used to open it. I will need you to guide me."

"Mmh... But then, I will be late to school."

"I will make a word for you."

"Alright."

"Let me get something first."

A little later, Scootaloo reached the exact place where the rift appeared, not far from the clubhouse, followed by Twilight and Spike. Twilight was holding a device that could measure the quantity of magic in a place, but like she said, "Magic is a form of energy, so maybe it will be able to measure the energy of the rift."

And, indeed, as soon as she activated the device upon reaching their destination, it started reading a bigger concentration of energy than normal slowly diminishing. No way to know if that energy was magical or not however. But this was proof enough that something happened here.

"Thank you Scootaloo. I will write to Celestia about this, and maybe she will be able to do something."

"Okay. Well, I'm going to school then. Thanks for the word," said the filly before she started to walk away.

"You're welcome Scootaloo," replied the mare. But then, as she slightly turned the device toward Scootaloo while saying this, she saw that it was starting to read something. Looking at it curiously, she moved the device around. Then, when it was facing the departing filly, the reading went off the chart, and the device exploded. "What the?!" She looked back at Scootaloo, the filly disappearing between the trees.

"Something is definitely going on."

Author's Note

Reminder: the Eggman in this story is the Classic Eggman from Sonic Mania and Sonic Mania Plus, not the Eggman from Sonic Forces.

Chapter 3: Zero

Celestia took in what Scootaloo said, supported by Twilight's readings, very seriously and immediately sent Royal Guards to search for this Dr. Eggman, and even distributed wanted posters with a drawing of the being based on the description given by the filly.

And it certainly worked during the following days. A couple of pegasi coming home from a late party spotted him lurking in an alley of the suburb of Manehattan from the sky. Of course, by the time guards came here, the guy was gone, but it confirmed the words of Scootaloo, and security was increased in the city. But for such a tall creature with an appearance easily identifiable, this Eggman was revealing to be very sneaky, because nopony spotted him anymore after that.

The truth was that Eggman was able to find a good hideout: an old abandoned factory near the port. He also hit the jackpot: a lot of metal and other materials left here. Thanks to some rummaging in the garbage during the night and a captured rat, he was able to get everything needed to build his first robot, giving the design of a big rat.

He then used the robot to continue to rummage through the garbage and other abandoned buildings in search of more materials while remaining hidden in the factory where he continued to capture rats, thus continuing to grow his small army of robot rats, the pace increasing with each robot built.

Soon enough, he had enough robots to start to focus on other tasks, starting with building a temporary HQ slash robot factory under the abandoned factory, and scouting the world to find information and resources. And more of all, find that filly who stole his ruby.

"So, what did you want to show us?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"I'll show you. Wait a moment," answered Scootaloo with a big smile.

A weekend some time after merging with the Phantom Ruby, Scootaloo told Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle that she wanted to show them something super secret, and so asked them to come to the clubhouse. A few minutes later, they were in the small tree-house, Scootaloo looking very excited.

"But before I show you, I want the both of you to Pinkie Promise that you will not tell anypony what you're about to see. I want this to remain between us. I don't want to think of what Twilight would do to me if she discovered," she said with a shiver.

The two other fillies looked at the pegasus in curiosity, but accepted and did the promise, becoming very excited too.

"Alright!" shouted happily Scootaloo. "Well then! Show time!"

Then, the pegasus filly spread her wings, and before Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle's amazed eyes, her wings suddenly glitched. The next instant, they looked like the wings a pegasus her age should have rather than the small foal wings that she usually had. Then, she flapped them, and she started flying, hovering just above the ground with the biggest smile ever.

"O... Oh my gosh!" shouted Sweetie Belle.

"Scootaloo! That's amazing!" shouted Apple Bloom. "But how?"

Scootaloo laughed. "Wait, this isn't over." At this, she stopped flapping her wings. And yet, she was still flying, forehooves proudly crossed.

The two other fillies were too flabbergasted at this to say anything, making Scootaloo laugh again.

"Scootaloo, what the heck's happening? How are ya flying like Discord?" asked Apple Bloom.

"And how did you make your wings grow?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"It's a long story, so you should sit," said Scootaloo before she proceeded to tell everything about the Phantom Ruby, from how she merged with it to its powers and how she trained during her sleep to control them. She told them too about Eggman and Infinite. They already knew about the existence of Eggman (all of Equestria knew about him by now), but learning that their friend now was stuck with a psycho in her head horrified them. Scootaloo quickly told them that it was alright, that as long as she was careful, Infinite was not a threat to her, but more like a weird, edgy, murderous, scary teacher.

"Okay, if ya say so..." said Apple Bloom. "So... Can ya show us more of those powers?"

"Of course. But first, do you want to eat anything?" asked Scootaloo.

"An apple."

"Chocolate ice cream."

"Okay, your commands will quickly come. But first..." She materialized two red cubes. "Touch these."

They nodded and did as she said. Upon touching the cubes, the world around them took on the weird color with that sound that Scootaloo now knew very well. Speaking of, the pegasus filly was now holding an apple and a chocolate ice cream that were not here before.

"And here are your commands," she said while giving the apple and ice cream to her friends.

"Thanks," said the two others before they started eating.

"Oh, my gosh! It's really as if I was eating a real ice cream! I can feel the cold, and all!" shouted Sweetie Belle.

"And the juice of the apple as I bite in it!" continued Apple Bloom.

But then, the world returned to normal, and the apple and the ice cream disappeared.

Scootaloo shrugged. "Yep, sorry, this was temporary."

I can't believe it. The Phantom Ruby, an all powerful artefact that can bend reality, used to serve food... she heard Infinite say.

Hush you! I do what I want! And it was only to show them, she thought, annoyed

"So, it's nice for ya to have all those cool powers, but what'll ya do with them?" asked Apple Bloom.

"I'm still not sure," answered Scootaloo. "I know I will already use them to make it look like my wings are growing over time so others think that I have normal wings instead of... these," she said as she showed her wings without illusions. "Like this, I will be able to fly with Rainbow Dash and eventually join the Wonderbolts, like her. But other than that, I'm not sure. What I'm sure, however, is that I can use them for our crusading."

"Hey, you are right! Thanks to those powers, we could do many things that we couldn't before," said Sweetie Belle. "Like, uh..."

"Like being lumberjacks. Nopony would let us use an axe, and it's not allowed to cut trees from the Everfree Forest to not disturb it or something like that. But thanks to those powers, I can create an axe to use and a tree to cut! We will just need to get away enough so nopony will see us by accident," said Scootaloo.

They nodded, then each placed a hoof together. "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS: LUMBERJACKS! YEAH!"

Infinite groaned.

Unknown to the fillies, a robotic bird spotted them as they left the clubhouse. The robot immediately turned around, flying back to Manehattan.

"Yes! I found her!" shouted Eggman. "Now, to capture her... Mmh... I first need to see how well she controls the ruby. Going with everything I have without knowledge of what I am up against is too risky. The horned ponies' magic may already be a big problem with my limited resources." He smirked. "Magic or not, my robots should be able to get the upper hand until the filly decides to come out and to fight them. Then, either they win and capture her, or she wins and I have a better idea of how much she controls the ruby. Then I will act accordingly."

The next instant, two dozens of the robot birds flew out of the factory one after another to not gain attention. Each were holding another robot. Half of them were robot rats while the other half were looking like giant ladybugs on a wheel. A dozen blue wasp-like robots also flew out of the factory.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders returned in Ponyville, exhausted after all the crusades they did with the help of Scootaloo's new powers. Again, none of them worked, and they even ended covered in sap once when trying to be lumberjacks. Thankfully, the sap was just an illusion, so it disappeared.

Best powers ever.

But now, they weren't sure what to do. They still had a few hours to pass before they had to return home.

"I'm wondering, Scootaloo, will you also show these powers to Rainbow Dash?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"I was thinking to do it, yes. I'm sure she won't mind keeping it from Twilight," answered Scootaloo. "Maybe tomorrow if I can."

"Is there anypony else ya're thinking to tell?" asked Apple Bloom.

"Maybe my aunts, but I fear that they may freak out. Outside of them, I have nopony else in mind."

"Hey! What is that?" they then heard somepony shout while pointing at the sky.

Everypony who heard her looked at where she pointed and saw a rather big group of weird animals approaching. At first glance, they looked like birds, but something was clearly wrong with them. Then, as they approached, they saw what was wrong: they weren't flapping their wings. They were actually metallic birds flying thanks to small reactors in their wings, and each of them were holding another metallic creature. Metallic wasps were also among them.

Then, as they reached Ponyville, the birds came down, and once close enough to the ground, they dropped the metallic rats and ladybugs they were holding with their claws. Everypony too close moved away from them, but seeing the robots not doing anything, remained to look in curiosity.

One of the rats then dropped some device on the ground, and the device projected the image of a being that everypony now recognized as Eggman.

The image started talking. "Greetings, inhabitants of this little peaceful town. By now, you probably know me, but alow me to present myself. I am the Dr. Ivo Robotnik, better known as Eggman, future ruler of this world."

While the image talked, Scootaloo quickly went to hide behind a nearby wall, followed by the other crusaders. "It's him," she whispered.

This is not the Eggman that I know, said Infinite.

"Really?"

They have some differences. This one looks more round, and his moustache is bigger. The clothes are also different, and Eggman never changes clothes. Probably an Eggman from a different dimension than the one I come from.

"I am here in search of a certain pony. That's right, there is, among you, a pony who took something very precious to me," continued Eggman. "What I ask is that this pony comes to me, or else..." He snapped his fingers, and cannons appeared out of the maws and beaks of the rats and birds while the wasps also revealed that they had cannons instead of stingers. Ponies immediately started panicking and ran away.

"Hey!" suddenly yelled somepony before Eggman could order the robots to fire. The next instant, one of the birds was destroyed by a rainbow maned cyan pegasus mare ramming it. A real rat was dropped from the explosion, and it quickly escaped. The mare, seeing this, became even more angry. "Oh! So, not only you threaten innocents, but you also use animals to power those things? Wait until I get my hooves on you!"

Eggman smirked. "Eh. As I thought. Badniks! Attack! Fire at anything that move! Destroy this town!" he yelled before the image disappeared.

Immediately, the robots fired at everypony still present, most of them focusing on Rainbow Dash who flew around to escape the projectiles. The ladybugs, the only ones not armed, charged at ponies, ramming them head first.

Applejack and Pinkie Pie quickly joined the battle to try to protect ponies, but there were so much robots, it was just impossible, and before long, ponies dropped badly injured. Applejack herself rapidly got hurt by a projectile hitting her leg, but she still managed to buck a ladybug, freeing another rat.

Twilight then appeared, her magic working better at protecting the last ponies escaping the area, but the birds and the wasps started to spread all over Ponyville, firing at everything they could. Many of them were destroyed by Rainbow Dash, but despite all her speed, more ponies were getting injured. The robots were just too many, and the flying ones were rather fast.

As Scootaloo watched, she knew that she had to intervene. She didn't want to reveal herself to Twilight, but Eggman is leaving her no choice. The robots are too many for Rainbow Dash and the others. The mares will probably be able to destroy all of them, but ponies may be killed before that. Once she showed up, the robots would probably stop firing on ponies and focus on her.

But... maybe she could reveal herself, but not as Scootaloo.

So, using the power of the Phantom Ruby, she changed her body. Her fur became black with some white strips at her sides. Her mane became white. Her forelegs turned into arms with black-gloved hands. Feet with shoes appeared instead of her hooves on her back legs. And a silver-colored mask with a left red visor and a black piece covering the right eye appeared on her head.

Now looking like Infinite, she said with his voice "I'm going!" before she ran.

Only to fall on her face. She could hear Infinite facepalm in her head.

Groaning, she said. "Darn it. I forgot I don't know how to walk on two legs. And I can't see anything with this mask!" she yelled before taking off the mask. "Okay. If I can't run, then I will just fly."

So she flew toward the sky, making sure that all the robots could see her. "Hey! You moving pieces of junk!" she yelled, not only gaining the attention of the robots but also of the ponies. Then, she expelled a wave of energy, getting all the robots under the power of the ruby, as well as the ponies.

Darn. I don't know how to avoid hitting allies with it. That's okay, I will just be careful and not accidentally attack them.

"I'm the one you're looking for! Come get me!"

The flying robots immediately started flying toward her while firing, but she moved out of the way as a glitching cloud before she moved from robot to robot, destroying them one after another with either a punch or a kick. All the flying robots were rapidly destroyed, and she landed to deal with the rats and ladybugs that remained. To rapidly destroy them, she decided to drop spikes on them. One of the ladybugs was able to avoid the spike destined to it, only to have its head grabbed and crushed by her.

With all the robots destroyed, she deactivated the power of the ruby, returning the world to normal. The fight lasted ten seconds.

All the ponies looked at her in awe, not believing what they saw. Pinkie Pie was the first to recover.

"Woah! That was super duper awesome! Thank you for the save! I feared that we wouldn't be able to stop those meanybots from killing somepony! Who are you? Are you new to Ponyville? If yes, then I must throw you a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party as well as a 'Thank you for saving Ponyville' party! Or you are somepony we already know who's disguised, then I will just need to throw the second! Come on! Tell us your name!"

Scootaloo started thinking. "Just call me..."

Zero.

She raised an eyebrow at Infinite's proposition, but quickly smiled. Floating up, she crossed her arms, smirking at the ponies while taking a cool pose. "Just call me Zero."

And with this, she teleported away.

Eggman rubbed his head at what he saw.

"Mmh... She's better controlling the ruby than I thought. How did she progress so quickly? I probably can not attack her before I have a proper stronghold with a real army. If only I could find a way to harness the magic of this world."

"Maybe I could help with this," said an unknown voice from behind him.

"What? Who's here?" asked Eggman as he turned around, spotting a cloaked being approaching him. "Who are you? How did you find me?"

"I just followed the rats. As for who I am..." The being took off his cloak, revealing himself to be an old frail centaur. "Call me Tirek." He gave the doctor a smirk. "If you need magic, I can give you some."

Chapter 4: Putting Things in Place

Eggman stared at the mysterious being who named himself Tirek, eyebrow raised. "Why would you help me?" he asked.

"I saw everything. We have the same goal: the world. And we can benefit each other. You are smart enough to be able to build robots and who knows what else. I can absorb the magic of any beings and grow stronger thanks to it. You need magic for your robots to be able to defeat this creature possessing strange powers. Your robots can help me get it. You know nothing of this world. I can give you this knowledge. What do you think, Doctor?"

Eggman started rubbing his chin, thinking. It's obvious he intends to use me as a pawn to grow stronger and backstab me at the first occasion. I would do the same. Maybe he even knows that I could, and will, betray him once he isn't useful anymore. But he's right. Thanks to him, I will be able to add magic to my arsenal, and it may be my best weapon against the ruby. He smirked. I will just have to be the better backstabber.

At the same time, Tirek was thinking He knows. He is not an idiot. His expression is obvious. And he probably knows that I know. He smirked. This will be interesting.

Eggman reached out to Tirek. "I accept."

Tirek took his hand and gave to him a handshake. "I'm glad, partner."

Already, in their mind, plans and counters were forming to best the other.

"So the threat was very real," said Celestia once Twilight told everything to her.

"Yes. It's a miracle nopony was killed. But there were many injured, some very badly," said the lavender mare. At her words, she couldn't help but to look at Applejack who now had a leg bandaged. The poor mare will not be able to do much work in her farm for a while.

Celestia, Twilight, and her friends were gathered in the library. After the battle, the lavender mare immediately sent a message to the sun princess relating everything that happened, and Celestia came as soon as possible with a platoon of Royal Guards to help transport the injured to the hospital, to clean the streets from the remains of the robots, and to calm the ponies.

Celestia shook her head in disbelief. "To think that this Eggman was able to build so many robots so rapidly... And using animals to power them?" She frowned. "He's not just a mad scientist. He's an evil genius." She looked back at the mares. "I will do everything in my power to find him and stop him. I will also try to find a way to protect ponies from his robots. I am already planning to put my best scientists to the study of those remains of robots. If we are fast enough, we will be able to reproduce his technology, without the animal powering them, and use it against him."

"So we will have robots in our side too? Cool!" said Rainbow Dash.

Celestia smiled at her before becoming serious again. "Since whoever he's targeting seems to be somepony living in Ponyville, the chance for him to attack him or her again are high, so I will let some guards here. As soon as we can produce robots, Ponyville will be one of the first places where they will be sent. Speaking of, what about this Zero? I would like to thank him for his help."

"That's the thing, Princess. We know nothing about him. Eggman said that a pony was his target. And yet, Zero, who wasn't a pony, was targeted almost immediately after he appeared. He looked like nothing we knew, and his powers were just... It wasn't magic! And if something like him lived in Ponyville, I would have certainly known," said Twilight.

"Unless this is a pony who used that weird power to disguise himself into this Zero," said Pinkie. "Like a superhero's secret identity."

"But why take on the appearance of... whatever he was?" asked Rarity.

"He looked like a weird dog, but with a body like a minotaur," said Applejack. "And ya're right. It's a weird appearance to take."

"Maybe he took it after one of those comic characters?" wondered Rainbow Dash before she turned to Spike. "Is there any weird black dog on two legs in your comics?"

"Not that I know, but he may come from a comic that I don't have," answered the drake.

"Well, whatever reason this pony disguised himself as a dog, he sure took his time to come and save the day," said the cyan mare. "Why did it take so long for him to come out? Somepony could have been killed."

"We can only speculate," said Celestia. "But if you find this Zero, or whatever his real name is, I would like you to ask him to help us find Eggman. I don't know what are his powers, but he revealed to be very effective against the robots."

"We will try, Princess, but the problem is that he could be anypony," said Twilight with a sigh. But I may have an idea...

Scootaloo was back in her chamber, looking at a mirror at herself. After teleporting away from Rainbow and the others, she reappeared beside her fellow crusaders back as a pegasus filly. Once they stopped congratulating her and telling her how awesome she was, they ran together to the mares doing as if they didn't know what happened. Apple Bloom then decided to go with Applejack as she went to the hospital while Rarity asked Sweetie Belle to return to their parents just in case more robots came. So Scootaloo returned to her home too. As soon as she was in her home, she waited until everypony was sleeping and went to her mirror where she turned back into her Zero persona.

"You know, even without your mask, you look cool. I like your eyes."

Infinite just huffed in answer.

"But... why Zero?"

He was a weakling that I got rid of.

Scootaloo frowned. "I don't know how to take that... Are you meaning that I am weak?"

Yes.

She rolled her eyes. "Sure, call me a weak after I just destroyed dozens of robots like they were no big deal."

That's nothing. I was able to stop the Resistance army from taking over my Eggman's capital almost by myself. They were thousands, and very well armed, but in just a few seconds, I almost wiped out their army.

Scootaloo gulped. "Wiped out, as in..."

Killed, destroyed, exterminated, whatever you prefer. What, are you surprised that I killed?

"........Not really, actually. I just saw what Eggman was capable to do, so as his ally who helped him take over the world, you were certainly no better. But, killer or not, it doesn't change the fact that I am stuck with you in my head and that I will have to put up with you for the rest of my life. And I already knew that you were evil. You did threaten me to behead and torture me."

Infinite chuckled. Anyway, those robots were also some of Eggman's weakest. Wait until he sends against you robots the size of buildings.

"He can build robots that big?!"

He built a giant space station many kilometers wide.

Scootaloo's jaw dropped. "How?"

Beat me. Even I wonder where he got all that metal. This wasn't even the first time he built this space station. I think it was the... fourth?

"So if we don't stop Eggman quickly, we may find ourselves with a giant space station above our heads?"

Yes. And an armada of spaceships, and thousands of robots. Eggman has no limit with how much he can build an army. And when he needs to get his own hands dirty, he can build powerful mechas for him to pilot too. I don't know about this Eggman, but mine's favorites were the Egg Dragoon and the Death Egg Robot.

Scootaloo could feel the corners of her mouth move up. "And how does he name the space station?"

The Death Egg.

She couldn't resist anymore and started laughing out loud, quickly covering her mouth with her hands to not wake up her aunts. "I... I just can't take those names seriously! Death Egg..." She walked to her bed and placed her face against the cover to muffle her laugh while hitting it with her fist. Just as she calmed down, she then said "Boo! Fear my eggs!" causing her to restart, to Infinite's annoyance. "Ok. Ok. I'm done," she eventually said once she calmed, retaking her breath. "Well, time for me to train. I must be ready if I ever end up fighting those mechas. Could you create replicas of them so I could train to fight them?"

No.

"Please?"

No.

Scootaloo huffed, then returned to her pegasus self before she climbed her bed and went to sleep, or rather, to train.

The next day, as Scootaloo was going to school, she saw many ponies gathered around the board near the town hall where important messages were put, like the weather schedule. Thinking that it had something to do about what happened yesterday, Scootaloo decided to go look and see what the princesses decided to do.

There were actually two new messages. The first was to announce that Royal Guards will be posted here to protect the town from potential new attacks. The second interested the filly, because it was a letter asking whoever was Zero to come to the Golden Oak Library (as Zero or not, their choice) as soon as possible to discuss important matter concerning Eggman.

Probably to ask him to help them.

Scootaloo wasn't sure if it was a good idea to go to Twilight, even as Zero. The chances for her to go Doctor Mad Science on her after witnessing her powers were high. But at least, coming as Zero meant that she could escape and Twilight wouldn't know that he was her, so the mare wouldn't pester her.

So, while in school, she discreetly told the Crusaders about it, warning them that she won't be able to remain with them. Then, after school, she went with them to the clubhouse, then took her Zero persona and teleported to the Golden Oak. She still left a Scootaloo replica behind just in case.

Now that she thought about it, she could have created a Scootaloo replica to go to school in her place! Darn it! Well, she didn't master yet the whole replica thingy, so it may not have worked correctly.

She opened the door, but couldn't see Twilight anywhere. Spike was here however, and when he spotted her entering, he immediately passed the door to the basement, screaming Twilight's name. Said mare came from this door a few seconds later, looking excited, Spike following her.

"You're here! I wasn't sure you would see the message!"

"If that wasn't for the big crowd around the board, I would have passed beside it without glancing at it," she replied. "Maybe you should have placed a big, red 'Important' or a big 'For Zero' on it."

"Eheh... Yeah, maybe I should have. We... We should go sit," she said as she pointed at a table with three chairs she prepared. They went to sit, but Scootaloo stopped and looked at her chair with uncertainty. She was about to jump on it to sit like always, but with those legs, she understood that the usual way will not work. So she just followed Spike's example. Another thing to get used to as Zero. It was not the first time that she sat with her back legs dangling from the chair (ponies sometime sit like that too), but she was more used to the other position.

She then looked back up at Twilight still smiling excitedly at her and groaned.

"Alright. One question. Just one question. I didn't come here to pass all day answering a Q&A."

Twilight almost jumped out of her chair in excitement. "Yippee!" She then calmed and cleared her throat. "What are your powers?"

Scootaloo sighed. "I should have known... What were they named already? Ah yes. They're augmented reality manipulation. It means-"

Twilight gasped. "You can change reality as you desire! Like, this body is not yours, you're actually a pony under it! And you changed reality so your body wasn't the one of a pony anymore but... whatever you are now!"

"Wow! If that's true, then it's very overpowered!" shouted Spike. "It's almost like Discord with his chaotic powers!"

"A jackal. But yes, that's it. But it's a little more complicated. Yes, there are some things that I can do just like that, like change my body, make myself fly, or create replicas, but there are other things where I need ponies to be under my power to work, like I did with the robots."

"Oh! You mean that wave of energy that caused the world to become... strange?"

"Yes. If that wasn't for that wave, I couldn't have attacked those robots with those spikes. And that is the difference with Discord's powers. Discord can just snap his fingers and change reality. Me, I need ponies to be under my power to be able to create illusions that, for them, become real. And then only, if I want, I can project that new reality into the original one to interact."

"Oh! I see! So you trap ponies in your power so you don't change reality, but their reality. So if you were to hit just one pony with that wave, that pony would see and feel things that others couldn't because they wouldn't be in your power."

"Exactly. If I hadn't hit you with my wave when I used it against the robots, you wouldn't have seen me create spikes to impale them, you would have just seen them getting impaled without reason unless, again, I decided to make them real in our own reality."

"That's so impressive! And I suppose those powers have something to do with that 'precious thing' you took from Eggman, right?"

Scootaloo looked at Twilight with a deadpan look. "I said that I would answer just one question." She sighed. "But I suppose that I should answer this one too. Yes, it has something to do with it. Eggman came in this world with a special ruby. I saw the ruby's power, saw how evil Eggman was, and took the ruby from him before he could use it. You saw what Eggman could already do without augmented reality manipulation powers, so imagine what he could do with them."

Twilight and Spike gulped. "Yes, you did good. Can we see this ruby?"

Scootaloo smiled sheepishly and rubbed her head. "I can't. There was an accident, and I accidentally swallowed the ruby. Now, it, and its powers, are a part of me, literally."

Spike burst into laughter. "Wow! Good way to gain powers! 'I find a powerful artefact, I eat it, I gain its powers.' I should send the idea to the scriptwriter of the Power Ponies."

"Well, at least, Eggman won't be able to get his hands on the ruby," said Twilight.

"No, he still can. You saw that he uses animals to power his machines. All he has to do is capture me and use me as a power source."

"Oh... Is this why you disguise yourself? So Eggman wouldn't know who you are and put your family and friends in danger?"

Scootaloo sighed. "No. He knows who I am. He saw me take the ruby as myself."

"Then why...?"

"Alright... I will answer this one too. It's to not get ponies on my door all the times."

"I know what you mean. They wouldn't leave you alone. They would come to know everything about your powers like Twilight here, or be like fanfillies and try to follow you wherever you go just to have the chance to be with their hero. There are also some ponies who would certainly treat you badly because you're different, or to use you for their gain," said Spike.

I didn't think about all that. I had mainly Twilight in mind. "Exactly."

Twilight lowered her ears, understanding. "Yes... In my excitement to learn about something new, I would have probably come to your home to ask you to take part in some... experiments."

"More like 'ask you for the heck of it before forcefully dragging you to her lab,'" said Spike with a smirk at Twilight. "Or stalk you with binoculars."

Twilight took a big breath at being reminded of the 'Pinkie Sense Incident' then said "But I know better now. I still want to learn how this ruby works, but I promise that I will restrain myself if you don't want me to experiment. So you can remove your disguise, Scootaloo."

“What?” Spike shouted

"What?!" yelled Scootaloo, almost toppling her chair in her shock. "No! No! I'm not Scootaloo! I'm... somepony else!"

Twilight giggled. "This is not what your reaction says."

Scootaloo groaned as she returned to normal, Spike staring at her in awe. "How did you find out?"

"Remember that device I used to detect the energy used to open that rift? When I turned it toward you, it exploded, so when Zero appeared with all those powers, it wasn't hard to guess. But it's not just that. Somepony in Ponyville took something from Eggman, and you were the only pony who was in contact with him. Also, you came almost immediately after school hours. It wasn't hard to put two and two together. But don't worry, your secret is safe. Right, Spike?"

"Uh? Oh! Yes yes! I won't tell anypony!"

"Pinkie Promise?" asked Scootaloo.

"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," they both said with the corresponding movements. "Who knows beside us?" asked then Twilight.

"Only Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. I was also planning to tell Rainbow Dash."

Twilight nodded. "It would be nice if you could at least tell my other friends and Princess Celestia too, and also your family, but if you don't want to, I won't force you."

"I will think about it."

"Good! Now lets talk of why you are here: Eggman."

"Of course I will help you."

"It's not just about that. Eggman will probably attack Ponyville again to get you, but he may attack other towns too. We want to know if you will be able to defend them, or even to join the assault against Eggman when we find him."

"Count in me. Thanks to the power of the Phantom Ruby, I can go anywhere in no time without even needing to take the train. The instant I started fighting those robots as Zero, I told myself that I would stop him."

Twilight smiled. "Glad to hear. I don't enjoy sending a filly fighting murderous robots, but your powers will really help us save ponies. I'm also glad to have found out who you are, because it will be easier to contact you when the time comes. But what if you are in school?"

"Mmh... You could try to sign to me through a window without being spotted, and I will come."

"What? Just like that? But you will have to justify your absence!"

"No need. Remember, I can create replicas," Scootaloo said before she created a replica of herself standing on the table, the replica glitching a little before it stabilized.

"Woah! It looks as real as you!" shouted Spike. He then poked the clone. "It's real!"

Scootaloo nodded. "It's like I said. This is actually an illusion, but thanks to the power of the Phantom Ruby, it is as real as me. I can even make it act like me, give to it my memories and all. So once you sign to me, I will pretext that I need to use the toilet, then I will create a replica..."

"...And I will take Scootaloo's place while she goes to kick some metallic butts," suddenly said the replica with a smirk.

Twilight looked at the replica, then smiled widely. "Wait a minute. Those replicas are made from the ruby's power you said. So what if I use one to study in your place?"

"If it can satisfy your thirst for knowledge, then why not?" the real Scootaloo said.

"Yes yes yes!" shouted Twilight as she took the replica who looked at Scootaloo with a pleading look. "Between this and Eggman's technology, maybe I will be able to find a way to replicate this power! Oh yeah, we're studying the remains of the robots to create our owns, so don't be surprised if you soon see robots roaming the streets. Now I must go thankyouforeverything!" she finished in one breath before she ran back to the basement with the replica.

The filly and the dragon looked at the door where she disappeared for a moment, then looked back at each other, Spike groaning. "Now she will probably remain down here all night, and maybe even all week..."

"Sorry."

"Because of all this, I forgot to ask you: who is Zero? You didn't take his appearance just like that. Is he a comic character that I don't know?"

"Uh no. He's my original character. There was a moment where I wanted to make my own comic, and he was supposed to be the villain."

"Then why not transform as the hero?"

"The hero was Rainbow Dash."

"Oh! Of course!" laughed Spike.

Me... An original character... Really... said Infinite with a groan.

Chapter 5: Revealing her Powers

Author's Note

I did some edit in the previous chapters. After rereading the wiki of Infinite and the Phantom Ruby, I saw that I forgot an important aspect of the ruby's power: the power to project the newly created, fake reality into the real one. This explains how the monstrous Infinite clones in Capital City were able to destroy parts of the city despite only being illusions.

Chapter 5: Revealing her Powers

The building of Eggman's HQ under Manehattan was going well. Very well. More robots were built each second by his factories, and tunnels were dig and built so his troops could exit outside of the city to gather more resources and even transport them so they could go build secretly his new, real HQ in a place called the Badlands that Tirek informed him of. Once this new HQ will be advanced enough, Eggman and Tirek will move to there, and this place will become a simple outpost for the conquest of Equestria.

"It's really impressive to see how fast you advance knowing that you started from nothing just a few weeks ago," said Tirek.

Eggman cackled. "And again, you saw nothing! Wait until my HQ in the Badlands is finished!"

That was when some robots came, dragging a small group of tied ponies. The unicorns among them were unconscious, the robots not knowing how to stop them from using their magic. The others were looking around in panic, and when they saw Eggman, they started stepping back, only to be pushed by the robots.

"Ohohohoh! Here's your dinner, Lord Tirek."

The centaur rubbed his hands before he approached the ponies. Then, he opened his mouth, and one by one, the ponies were drained of their magic, their fur becoming pale and their Cutie Marks disappearing. Tirek, him, became a little taller, a little more muscled, and his fur became less pale, turning to red. "Yes! I can feel my power grow!" He turned back to Eggman. "I will need much more, but a deal is a deal. I will let you study some of my magic so you can find a way to use it for your robots."

Eggman smirked. "Perfect!" He then turned to the ponies. "They can't get out of here. Badniks! Send them to work! They should be a nice bonus workforce."

"Are you still sure Scootaloo?" asked Twilight.

"Yeah," answered Scootaloo with a sigh. "I have no real reason to hide my identity from them. Well, Rarity may ask me to use my transformation power for her clothes, Applejack will certainly not be happy about me going to fight robots, and Pinkie will probably need a Pinkie Promise to not blabber my secret to the whole town, but I know that they will not be invasive."

"And why not tell your aunts too?" asked the mare.

"I'm already revealing my identity to five mares and this will be hard enough with how some of them will react. I can't deal with my aunts at the same time. The moment I reveal to them that I've got reality bending powers and that I'm planning to use them to risk my life, they will probably want to ground me for life, and it will take a lot to convince them not to! But with your help and the help of Princess Celestia..."

"Oh, I see. You want us to back you up against your aunts."

"Yep!"

"Normally, I would say that we wouldn't intervene in such family matter, but this is about saving lives so I suppose that this is for the best."

Scootaloo sighed. "The only problem is that if they accept, they will be really worried, and I don't like the idea of making them worry so much. This is also why they aren't here, I'm still hesitating to tell them because of that."

"Aww. That's sweet of you Scootaloo. But they need to know. It wouldn't be fair for them."

"I know. And I have to hurry, because Auntie Lofty will soon leave back to her town, leaving only Aunt Holiday to watch me."

Twilight nodded. "Understood."

That's when the door opened, letting enter the five mares that were Twilight's friends: Rainbow Dash, Applejack (slowly limping because of her still injured leg), Fluttershy (helping Applejack), Rarity, and Pinkie Pie.

"Hey Twilight! You said you wanted to see us?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"News about Eggman?" asked Applejack.

"Unless this is about the news I got about ponies starting to disappear in Manehattan," said Rarity.

"Wait, really?" asked Rainbow.

"Ponies are disappearing?" asked Twilight.

"Yes. A customer from Manehattan told me this morning. The poor dear was so scared that she decided to remain in Ponyville for a few days."

"Eggman's last seen in Manehattan, so he probably's something to do with this," said Applejack.

"Eggman is foalnapping ponies? Why?" wondered Scootaloo.

Probably to use them as slave labor or as lab rats, said Infinite.

Twilight frowned. "I will have to talk to Celestia about this. But no, I didn't ask you to come here to talk about this." She smiled at them. "I found Zero. He's here."

"Really?! Where?!" shouted Pinkie as she looked around. "Oh! Hi Scootaloo!" the mare quickly said upon spotting the filly before she continued to search. But then, she stopped, putting two and two together as the others did the same.

"SCOOTALOO?!" yelled the five mares (or half yelled in Fluttershy's case).

Scootaloo slowly raised her hoof to wave at them, giving a sheepish smile. "Hey! Surprise?"

"Oh, my gosh! Scootaloo is Zero!" shouted Pinkie excitedly.

"Scootaloo is Zero?" asked Rainbow Dash and Rarity in disbelief.

Applejack looked at the filly in doubt. "Are ya really?"

Well... Here we go... thought the filly before she transformed herself into Zero. "Yes, I am Zero."

"Oh, my gosh!" shouted Pinkie before she jumped beside Scootaloo to look at her. "So you're a superhero now? It's so cool! And I love your new transformation! So dark and cool! So how did you get those powers? Were you bitten by a mutant spider? Wait, no. Were you given a serum that turned you into a supersoldier? No, this can't be that. So was it-"

"I ate a ruby that gave me those powers," said Scootaloo.

"A ruby?" Pinkie Pie took a ruby from Spike's stash of gems.

"Hey!" shouted the drake.

"So if I eat this ruby, I will get powers?"

"What? No! This was a special ruby that possessed those powers! I ate it, it merged with me, and now, here I am!"

"Aww... But I wanted superpowers too..."

"Don't you already have some sort of superpower with your Pinkie Sense?" asked Spike as he took back his ruby.

"Silly! My Pinkie Sense isn't a superpower! It's just my Pinkie Sense!"

"But you can practically predict the future with it! And nopony else has it!"

What are they talking about? asked Infinite.

"I don't think you're ready to know."

While Spike and Pinkie were arguing about whether or not the Pinkie Sense was a superpower, the other mares approached Scootaloo.

"So... Sorry for not telling you," said Scootaloo. "I swear I was planning to tell you, Rainbow Dash! I just needed some time to learn to control those powers." She turned to the others. "And Twilight convinced me to tell you too after she discovered." She approached her face to whisper to them. "The truth is that I was scared that she would lock me in her basement to experiment on me."

Rainbow Dash and Applejack burst into laughter at this. "I totally understand what you mean!" said Rainbow. "Don't worry, I'm not mad at you for hiding this. I least, you told us. I'm just curious."

"And we must thank you for helping us against those robots," said Rarity before she frowned. "But I'm not sure I can approve of you risking your life, even to save others. You are just a filly."

"Rare's right," said Applejack. "It's nice of ya to help us, sugarcube, but fillies shouldn't go fighting."

Scootaloo crossed her arms. "Maybe, but when that filly has powers and can save lives, it's better for her to do something rather than remain behind and leave ponies get killed." She frowned. "Dare to contradict me."

"Wow... Uh... You know that you're very intimidating when you frown like that in that form?" said Rainbow Dash.

"Oh! Sorry!" Scootaloo said sheepishly before she returned to her filly form. "But yeah, I can do this!" Suddenly, after a wave of energy, gravity was reversed, and everypony was walking on the ceiling. "And this!" She created twenty replicas of herself as Zero. "And this!" Suddenly, the inside of the library was ten times bigger. "And also this!" She turned herself into an alicorn, and she used her new horn to levitate a book. "And so much more!" Everything returned to normal. "It wouldn't be fair for me to have so much powers and not use them to help others against that mad egg guy!"

Everypony, even Twilight, stared at her in awe after this display of power. For Twilight, it was one thing to be told about these powers; it was another to see them in action and doing such feats as to change gravity and change space. Feats that only archmages, alicorns, and Discord could do!

"Dude..." said Spike.

"Also, I heard that Princess Celestia herself wants me to help her fight Eggman. So, filly or not, I'm going," finished Scootaloo.

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Does the princess even know that ya're Zero?"

"Uh... Not yet. She's the next in the list. Twilight will send a letter to her explaining everything."

"So what says she'll accept to send a filly to fight a dangerous guy?"

Scootaloo gave her an 'are you serious?' stare. "The lives of her ponies and the future of this world and many others."

This closed Applejack's muzzle.

"Also, Eggman wants my powers, and he knows about me, so I'm his target, so I'm already in danger. Going to fight Eggman and his robots will change nothing. Either way, I will have to defend myself. At least, in the second case, I'm doing something in return."

Applejack sighed. "Okay... Ya convinced me..."

"Me too," said Rarity.

"If it is for the best, then I suppose this is ok," said Fluttershy. "But I don't like it..."

"Me too," said Applejack.

Scootaloo just shrugged in reply.

"But seriously! What are those powers?!" asked Rainbow Dash. "What you did was awesome!"

"Augmented reality manipulation. Thanks to illusions, I can change your reality and project it to the real one if I want. It's what I did with my body. I changed my reality to become Zero, and I made it real. And so..." Suddenly, she looked like Rainbow Dash. "I can change my reality so I can be like you, both in appearance and skill!"

"Wait, so you mean that you can be as fast as me?" asked excitedly the rainbow maned mare.

"Yeah!" shouted excitedly the filly before calming down, returning to normal. "But this is a little cheating because I could make it so I am faster than you. I pretty much have no limit."

"So, no race?" asked Rainbow, disappointed.

Scootaloo shook her head. "No race. But I can make it so I have normal wings, then train to fly the normal way. It will just take a little longer."

Rainbow smiled. "Eh. I can wait. I will even train you myself."

"Really?!" asked Scootaloo, looking at the mare with stars in her eyes.

"I promise," said Rainbow, rubbing the filly's mane.

Pinkie then approached. "I have a question!" She then looked seriously at Scootaloo. "Can you turn all the houses into gingerbread house?"

"I could," answered Scootaloo with a laugh.

"BEST POWERS EVER!"

Celestia read Twilight's letter telling her about Scootaloo being Zero and her powers. She frowned at the revelation that Zero was a filly, not liking it at all, because it meant that she would have to send a child risking her life. But Scootaloo's powers, rivaling the ones of Discord himself, were needed. Ponies started disappearing in Manehattan, and she could only imagine what Eggman was doing to them.

At least, Scootaloo was ok with this. That filly was very courageous.

And they were also able to convince Scootaloo's aunts to let her go. That was nice to know. But what about her parents? Wherever they are, she would have to go talk to them so they know about this.

Twilight studied the power of that Phantom Ruby too. If she could replicate them somehow, they won't have to send a filly risk her life anymore. So Celestia hoped that her research would be a success. Meanwhile, the study of the remains of the robots were advancing well. The main problem was that building their own robots would take a while. One at a time. Eggman must have a way to build them rapidly, probably a factory (already).

Wait...

If Eggman built a factory, then where did he build it? He was last sighted in Manehattan, and ponies started disappearing in Manehattan, so he was probably somewhere in the city, or close to it. But they searched everywhere, and found not a trace from him.

This meant only one thing: he was underground.

If that's the case, then this would leave them no choice but to probe the entire island in search of a 'hole' under the ground big enough for at least one factory, and it may take a while because there were many basements. But Eggman probably hid the entrance to his base, so if they find a building with a basement, but with no known way to reach this basement, it would be the jackpot.

This may still take some time. Meanwhile, she would send more of her guards to Manehattan and try to build their first robots.

Chapter 6: Manehattan

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 7: Weak

Infinite woke in the mindscape and immediately roared in rage.

"Wow. She got you good," said Scootaloo. "I don't know if Discord planned it, but he was a really good distraction."

Infinite growled. "That clown... The next time I'm out, he's dead."

"Next time? There won't be a next time," said Scootaloo with a glare. "You almost killed Fluttershy. You can be sure that I won't let you out anytime soon."

Infinite glared back at her and chuckled. "With how weak you are, I don't think so. Sooner or later, you will encounter Eggman again, and he will be in command of a mecha even more powerful than this Death Egg Robot. You put up a good fight against it, but you still lost. So how do you think you will fare against his next creation?"

Scootaloo looked down. "Then I will become better at fighting and make sure that what happened today never happens again." She stared back at Infinite. "And I'm sure that Rainbow Dash and the others will do the same. Now that they know what they're up against, they will get better. And together, we will defeat Eggman, no matter what he will send at us."

Infinite huffed. "And what if you can't?"

"Well..."

"That's the thing, chicken. You can work together to try to defeat Eggman, but all it would take is a robot too powerful, and it would kill you. And you know why? Because they are limited. They don't have this unlimited power that we possess. So if you continue to count on them to be at your side to win, you will just go down with them. You can't count on them. You can count only on you and your power. If you don't want what happened today to happen again, then become THE strongest, most powerful being in the world. With the power of the Phantom Ruby, you can, unlike them."

Scootaloo frowned. "Speak... Speaking from experience?"

Infinite turned his back to her. "Teamwork isn't always the solution. That's all you need to know." He took a big breath. "However... While I was in control, something was wrong..."

"What?"

"I didn't have control of all the powers of the ruby. It felt like I only had half of them."

"Uuh... Maybe because it wasn't really your body, but mine?" wondered the filly.

Infinite shook his head. "This can't be that. Since we are both merged to the ruby, your body is also my body. Remember, I can see, hear, smell, taste, and feel everything you see, hear, smell, taste, and feel. Same for you when I was in control. We are two minds in one body." Infinite closed his eyes to think, only to open them suddenly. "Wait... Two minds... We merged to the ruby, but..."

Infinite turned back toward Scootaloo and approached her. Scared, the filly backed, but Infinite teleported in front of her. "I won't hurt you. I just want to test something." At this, he placed his hand on her forehead.

Scootaloo immediately had flashes.

She landed on a pillar at the entrance of a base, spotting a bipedal black hedgehog partially hidden behind another pillar.

"You. You destroyed my squad. I'll show you why they call me the ultimate mercenary!" she, no, he yelled at the hedgehog in rage. "Take THIS!"

He charged at the black hedgehog, only for him to disappear in a blue flash, to his surprise. "What?"

Suddenly, the hedgehog appeared behind him and kicked him to the sky, then teleported above him to smash his back to the ground. With another teleportation, the hedgehog appeared again as he crashed and kicked him toward a wall beside a pillar. Groaning in pain, he tried to get up, but couldn't, rubbing his head.

"Worthless," Said the hedgehog. "Don't show your pathetic face around me ever again." With this, the hedgehog teleported away.

This hedgehog... He outclassed him totally. He could do nothing. He was so... strong... That's when he saw his hands. "I... I'm shaking... Me?! Me... Afraid...?! Urgh. Pathetic?! Me... he's calling ME weak?!" At this point, as he was getting up, hate and anger totally invaded him. How dare he?! "No! I am not weak! I'm... I'm not. I'm not weak! I AM NOT WEAK!" he shouted with a roar.

In a flash, he was now looking through the eyes of a familiar mask, a Phantom Ruby different from the normal one on his torso. He was on a long-suspended roadway inside a huge futuristic fortress that was actually the field of a terrible battle. Above him, two armadas, one made of red ships with symbols based on Eggman's head, the other made of blue and white ships, were firing at each other. Debris and projectiles were raining around him, but he didn't care. What he cared about right now was the blue hedgehog he was actually fighting. The hedgehog was running after him at high speeds as he was rapidly floating backward, and hundreds of red cubes were following the hedgehog, threatening to engulf him if he stopped too long. Following the hedgehog was a red cat in some uniform and armed with some weird weapon.

To them, he said, "Friends are nothing but a fleeting illusion. You can count on nobody but yourself!"

To this, the hedgehog replied, "Your mask can't hide how sad and lonely you are! That Phantom Ruby virtual reality of yours is the real illusion!"

And then, in another flash, the hedgehog and the cat were now charging at him at unbelievable speed. Together, they jumped in the air and spun toward him, sending him flying, defeated.

Slowly, he got up. "Impossible. I cannot be defeated."

"Wrong, loser!" replied the hedgehog. "The things that can't be defeated are heart, soul, and the bonds of friendship. Three things you and your counterfeit cronies lack!"

He punched the ground in rage, only to feel himself being pulled. "No, wait! I can still fight!" he shouted as his body was disappearing.

To no avail. He was absorbed inside the Phantom Ruby, and the next thing he knew, he was trapped inside it.

It suddenly ended, Infinite removing his hand from her forehead while using the other to rub his head. "This is what I thought... Ugh... What a pathetic life you have... No wonder you're so weak." He shook his head. "Whatever. It turns out we aren't fully merged."

"What do you mean?" asked Scootaloo while she processed what she saw.

"We are merged with the ruby, but because we are both in it, it divides the ruby between you and me. We each have access to only 50% of its power. You control the first half, I control the other half."

"I see... But what was that with the flashes? Were they your memories?"

"Of course... If I saw yours, you saw mines... Yes, those were my memories, whatever you saw. And if it happened, it is because the instant I touched you, we started merging. This is what I meant by 'we aren't fully merged', we are one with the ruby, but our minds are still separated. The full merging would be one mind in one body." He growled. "It means that, unless we decide to merge ourselves to become one new being, we won't have access to the full power of the ruby." He stared at Scootaloo. "And I refuse to lose myself."

"Well, I certainly don't want to become partially you either! You are still a mass murderer that helped a mad scientist to conquer the world and led it to a global war! And you also almost killed Fluttershy, and would have if Discord hadn't come!" yelled the filly.

"At least something we agree upon. But now, tell me, what memories did you see?"

"Uh... The 'I'm not weak' part and the part where you got your butt kicked by a blue hedgehog and a red cat."

Infinite groaned. "Of all my memories..."

"And you know what?" continued the filly. "You are right. But you are also wrong." She lowered her ears, looking down in sadness. "Your whole squad was killed despite facing a single being because he was too strong." She looked back at him. "But then, despite your immense power, you lost because a hedgehog and a cat worked together to defeat you." She sighed. "In the end, I suppose it just depends, but at least, I know that when facing a stronger enemy, the best thing to do is to ally yourself with someone to better your chances. Yes, it means that we're weak, but at least, it works. You saw it first hoof... Uh... First hand."

Scootaloo then walked away. "So I am not ashamed to say that I will not hesitate to call for help if I need it, but I will also continue to train to become better myself. And not just at using the Phantom Ruby's powers, but also at fighting, to be ready next time I encounter Eggman."

Infinite stared at the filly walking away, then huffed, turning around.

Scootaloo awakened and felt her body aching everywhere.

Right, her body was engulfed from head to feet in a giant magical beam fired by Celestia. Frankly, it was a miracle that her body hadn't been turned to ashes. Maybe she had the Phantom Ruby to thank for this.

She quickly discovered that she was in a hospital bed with a monitor regularly beeping in the rhythm of her heartbeat. Her body, which was still Infinite's but without the mask, probably removed, was almost entirely covered in bandages. Her head was actually the only place not covered, thanks to the mask having protected it.

And sitting on chairs beside her bed were Twilight and Rainbow Dash, the first one reading a book and the last one sleeping. Twilight must have heard her moving, because she looked up from her book. However, while Twilight looked at her, the mare seemed tied between a happy expression and an unsure expression.

"Uh... Scootaloo?" she asked hesitantly.

Scootaloo understood why. "Yes, it's me, don't worry." At this, she used the Phantom Ruby to take back her normal appearance, and also to heal herself.

Twilight sighed in relief. "Oh, thank Celestia... Discord really did it."

Scootaloo looked at her in confusion.

"Discord gave you back the control of your body, or this... Infinite would still have been the one in control," she explained.

Right. I should be the one in control. Curse that clown!

Scootaloo facehoofed. "Of course! I forgot about that!"

"And about that, you owe us an explanation."

Scootaloo flinched. Something else she hadn't thought... What will happen to her, now? What will they do? Will they put her in an asylum? In a dungeon? Or will they assign a platoon to watch her over for the rest of her life? No more freedom and/or privacy!

What was she thinking? With the power of the Phantom Ruby, she could just go out of whatever will happen with just a thought. But then, her life would be over... She would become a fugitive. She wouldn't be able to see her friends again. Rainbow Dash... Her family... her dream...

Twilight looked at the filly with worry when she saw her starting to shake and to cry. She put down her book and approached. Placing a hoof on her chin, she said gently, "Hey... Stop crying. It will be alright."

Scootaloo shook her head. "No, it won't. Now that you know about Infinite... I... I..." She looked at Twilight with pleading, scared, teary eyes. "What will happen to me?"

With an unsure expression, Twilight thought a few seconds before she answered. "I'm... not sure... We will have to talk about this with Celestia and Luna." She then hugged Scootaloo.

Scootaloo accepted the hug, still crying, and remained like this until they both heard Rainbow Dash wake up. After a yawn, she rubbed her eyes and said, "What's all that noise...?" That's when she saw Twilight hugging a crying Scootaloo, and almost flew to the bed. "Scootaloo! Why're you crying? What's wrong? If this is about what happened, I'm not mad! Well, maybe a little because it would have been nice to know about that psycho who seems to now live in your head. But it's okay! It's not that bad!"

Twilight sighed. "She fears what we will do now that we know about Infinite."

At this, Rainbow looked at Twilight with suspicion. "And what will you do?"

"Like I said to Scootaloo. We will have to talk about this with Celestia and Luna." Twilight releases Scootaloo. "Now that she's awake, I should go search them. Wait for me here." And at this, she teleported, leaving Rainbow alone with the filly.

They didn't talk for a few seconds, not sure what to say, until Rainbow just hugged Scootaloo while asking, "What do you think they will do?"

"Send me to a dungeon, or an asylum, or send guards to watch me every time."

"Asylum, I don't think so, you aren't crazy. Dungeon, heck no! Even if you have a psycho in your head, and he almost killed Fluttershy, you aren't a criminal! As for the guards..." She frowned. "This is the only thing I'm not sure about. But I know it would be wrong. It would be barely better than being sent in a dungeon. And you can be sure that I will do everything to avoid this."

Then, after a few more seconds of silence, she asked, "So... How did this happen?"

Understanding what Rainbow was asking, Scootaloo answered, "It turns out I am not the first one to merge with the Phantom Ruby."

“Talk about rotten luck…”

"Yeah... But the good news is that as long as I don't give him the control of my body, he can't take control of it."

"Really? That's good news! But then, how did he take control back then?"

"You... You were all about to be killed by Eggman... I knew Infinite would also try to kill you, but I thought that you would have better chances against him than against that giant robot. At least, Infinite was vulnerable."

"Yeah, but he could teleport and manipulate reality. That's not better."

"You're right, but I didn't know what else to do..." She sighed. "When I saw Infinite destroy that robot so easily, I understood that I was really not ready. I understand how to use the ruby's powers, but contrary to Infinite, I don't know yet how to use them that well. My mind is still not used to the full extent of possibilities I have. And also, I don't know how to fight. Infinite was apparently a mercenary back then, and a very skilled one, but me, I'm just a filly whose only skill is to do stunts with a scooter..."

Rainbow sighed too. "You aren't the only one to feel this way. I mean, I don't know if you saw, but I was flying when SLAP! And I was out! We were all getting our butts kicked back then, even the princesses and Shining Armor. None of us were ready. None of us thought that Eggman could build a robot that strong." She smiled at Scootaloo. "But as we say, we learn from our errors. The next time will be a different story. We will make sure that you aren't forced to call Infinite for help ever again."

"Well said, Miss Dash," suddenly said somepony.

Surprised, Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash turned around to see that Rainbow's friends, Celestia, Luna, and Shining Armor were now in the room. The one who talked was Luna.

"Uuh... How long have you been here?" asked the cyan mare.

"We came about the time you said, to repeat your words, 'we were all getting our butts kicked'," answered Luna before she frowned. "And I still can't believe that we were really getting our butts kicked. We were three alicorns plus the captain of the Royal Guard plus dozens of experienced royal guards against a single robot, for mother's sake! Yes, we were holding back to avoid collapsing the city on our heads, but still!"

"It sure is frustrating," said Celestia. "But like Miss Dash said, we now know better. We will be better prepared." She cleared her throat. "But we aren't here to talk about this." She looked at Scootaloo. "We are here to talk about this Infinite who may be a danger to everypony."

Scootaloo lowered her ears.

"Is it true that he came out only because you were forced to call him for help?"

The filly nodded. "Yeah. He can't take control of my body as long as I don't let him. I only let him out because... Well..."

"We were all getting our butts kicked," repeated Luna.

"Yeah... At worst, all he can do while trapped is make me lose focus by trying to forcefully taking over, but he can never take over this way. Unless I get too mentally weakened, I suppose..."

"Then why not warn us?" asked Applejack.

"I was scared. I thought that if you knew about Infinite..."

"We would try to control you to make sure that Infinite never gets out for the safety of everypony else," finished Celestia with a sigh. "Who is Infinite?" she then asked.

"Uh?"

"What do you know about him?" asked the princess.

"Oh. Well, not much. I only know that he is from another world, an alternate version of the world Eggman comes from, because he was an ally of an alternate version of Eggman and helped him conquer his world with the Phantom Ruby. At first, he was apparently a mercenary that Eggman probably recruited with his squad, only for his squad to be exterminated by some black hedgehog very strong. Infinite was easily defeated too. I don't know what happened after, but I suppose that was when Eggman gave him the power of the Phantom Ruby to make him stronger, so he could have his revenge and help him by the same occasion. The next thing I'm sure is that Infinite was defeated, and his mind was absorbed and trapped inside the ruby."

"I see... Anything more?" asked Celestia.

Scootaloo smirked. "A good way to resume Infinite is... He's a lonely bully who hates being called weak and wants to see the world burn and everyone suffer. Probably got a heck of a bad childhood.”

You. Did not. Just say that.

"I did and don't say I'm wrong. Even the blue hedgehog could see it. You are acting all edgy and strong and all, but deep down, behind this mask and those illusions, you're just a poor guy who needs a hug. Too bad I can't give you one, and not just because you would behead me."

I. Don't. Need. A hug!

"Yes, you need one, but you don't know it. You're too proud for that. But come on. The moment Twilight and Rainbow Dash hugged me, didn't it feel good?"

...

"Hello?"

...

"Still in there?"

...

"Okay, give me the silent treatment. It just proves to me that I'm right." Scootaloo looked back at the ponies in the room. "So yeah. It's Infinite," she said with a shrug. "I wouldn't be surprised to learn he's jealous of everyone having a better life than him."

I'M NOT JEALOUS!

"Okay, I just got confirmation. He's jealous."

She punched herself on the muzzle.

"Ow! Hey! Did you just take control of my hoof to punch me?! I thought you couldn't!"

Seems like when I'm determined enough, I can temporarily take control of a part of your body. I REALLY wanted to punch you right now.

"Great... Okay, note to self, avoid making Infinite too angry," said Scootaloo while rubbing her muzzle.

"Well... This happened..." said Twilight.

"I like comic duos, but it's less fun when we only hear one of the two," said Pinkie.

"Anyway," said Scootaloo. "Infinite is also a mass murderer. When he helped his Eggman conquer the world, he killed a lot. He told me that when Eggman's capital was attacked by a resistance army, he almost killed all of them in a few minutes. But he's also a kinda nice teacher. I had to trick him, but once he started talking about how the Phantom Ruby's powers worked, he told me everything. And every now and then, he helps me in his own weird way. Like he says how weak I am, but at the same time, he gives me advice or encourages me, again in his own weird way. I think he likes teaching his way. Probably helps him feel stronger. Oh, yeah, and he absolutely hated when Rarity made me try her dresses."

"I can guess," said Rarity with a giggle.

"That's all I know about Infinite," finished the filly.

"So, to resume, he's a very dangerous individual who would not hesitate to use the power of the Phantom Ruby to kill and destroy just to make himself feel better about his loneliness and to satisfy his strong inferiority complex," said Celestia. "That's quite the villain... I don't know if I should be disgusted or if I should pity him."

"Why not both?" asked Luna.

"I DON'T NEED YOUR PITY!" suddenly yelled Scootaloo before she put her hooves on her mouth in shock. "That wasn't me..." I'm starting to wonder if Infinite touching me isn't the cause... He did say that it caused us to start to merge.

Celestia started thinking. What should she do? Infinite was clearly a danger, and even if Scootaloo said that he couldn't take control by himself unless maybe if she's mentally weakened, the risk still existed. Scootaloo clearly needed to be watched over. But she could see that the filly was scared. And Rainbow Dash was giving her the death stare. If she didn't want to have the Element of Loyalty on her back, she had to watch out what she said.

"How can you assure me that Infinite will not come out again to kill everypony?" she asked.

Scootaloo frowned. "I will become stronger. I will train to fight and to better use my powers. If I can avoid a repeat of what happened, then I won't need to let Infinite take control anymore."

"This is not enough. It could still happen. Eggman, with Tirek at his side, will become more dangerous as time passes," said Celestia. She then smiled. "But I know of a way to make sure that Infinite wouldn't be a threat anymore without having you being watched over."

"Really? What?" asked Scootaloo.

"Try to reform him."

"What?"

What?

"If you can convince him to give up his hate and to not try to kill anymore, then we wouldn't need to be careful of you."

Scootaloo frowned again. "Easier said than done. This guy is more stubborn than Applejack. I already told him that it's okay to ask for help when fighting a stronger enemy, but it was like talking to a brick wall."

"Then it may take a while... But I'm sure that he can be convinced. Until then, I charge Twilight and her friends to keep an eye on you." She looked at Twilight. "Is it alright for you?"

"Of course!" replied the lavender mare. "We won't mind! Right, girls?"

The five other mares all agreed, especially Rainbow.

"What do you think, Scootaloo?" asked Celestia.

"If it's by them, then I suppose that I don't mind."

Celestia nodded. "And you said you wanted to train to fight." She turned to Shining Armor. "Then you could train her."

Shining Armor smiled and nodded. "Don't expect me to go easy on her."

"I don't expect less. You are the captain, you know how to best train ponies." She then turned to Rainbow. "And I suppose that I can count on you to help her become better in the air."

“You bet!” shouted the pegasus, to Scootaloo's joy. “I will be her Spitfire!”

"Then it's settled. I will leave you to discuss the details. Now, is there anything you want to know, Scootaloo?"

"Uh... Yeah. What happened after I was knocked out?"

"Not much. All of Eggman's robots in Manehattan are destroyed, and we have taken control of his factory. We are planning to convert it to our own usage. Sadly, we don't know where Eggman and Tirek are now, so this isn't the end. But I charged Discord to find them. If Tirek absorbs magic from somepony, he will feel it immediately. Hopefully, he will be able to capture them. We also have started to rebuild Manehattan, and we are studying Eggman's technology to upgrade our own again. The number of robots in our army should multiply in the following days, and they will be of better quality."

Scootaloo nodded. "That's good!" But then she frowned. "But I fear this won't be enough... You see, while I was sleeping, me and Infinite discovered that if we touch each other in the mindscape we share, then we start merging. The touching only lasted a few seconds, so nothing bad happened, but I saw some of his memories. And in one of them..." She used the Phantom Ruby to transport all of them in a virtual version of what she saw when Infinite was fighting the blue hedgehog and the red cat.

They were now standing on a floating platform made of purple cubes, and all around them, to the ponies' amazement, they could see the fortress, and the two armadas battling in the air above them.

Scootaloo pointed at the red airships. "Eggman can build airships like them. Against them, we wouldn't stand a chance. We will need something to counter them..." She pointed at the white and blue airships, "like our own armada. And I'm talking about airships as advanced as them. They would destroy the ones we have in a few seconds. And that's not all! Infinite even told me that Eggman can build a giant space station given enough time!" She brought them back to the hospital chamber. "We will need much more than just robots to fight Eggman if Discord isn't able to stop him." Scootaloo then pointed at herself. "There's another problem. I also discovered that I only control half of the Phantom Ruby. Infinite has the other half. So I won't be able to use the full power of the ruby to fight. Things like materializing a sun to burn an entire army may be out of my reach."

Some ponies gulped at this.

"W-well... I'm sure that Discord will be able to stop them," said Fluttershy. "I-it's Discord... after all..."

"Yeah... This is why I fear that we may have to start building an armada of those advanced airships..." said Luna.

Chapter 9: Study Your Enemy

They failed. They couldn't believe they failed. They had everything. Number, robots, weapons, armor, the Phantom Ruby, the alicorns, enemies mostly not ready...

And they failed... because Discord joined Eggman and Tirek, changing everything. Discord was too powerful. By himself and just the snap of his fingers, he could change the tide of the battle in just a few seconds. And since the Elements of Harmony, Discord's main weakness, were back in the Tree of Harmony to give it back its power to stop the plunder vines from spreading, the only way to face him they had was the Phantom Ruby that possessed powers that could counter his. But if Scootaloo had to be honest, she wasn't sure that she could defeat him. She could fight him, but with only 50% of the ruby's power in her control, an actual victory would be extremely hard to obtain against him.

At least, a good thing in this was that they countered each other. As long as Scootaloo and Discord were ready to answer the call of the battle, they would make sure that the other couldn't use his/her powers to destroy the other's army. Scootaloo could already see many fights against the draconequus in the future just to make sure of this. She would keep Discord occupied while the others tried to win the battle.

This greatly annoyed Scootaloo because this meant that she couldn't participate too much in the actual action to destroy Eggman's robots. Thankfully, she believed in the others. They won't need her to fight Eggman's robots. Not now that they were used and had the means to face them.

Still, because of this fail, the mood was very gloomy as she and the mares returned in Ponyville. Fluttershy was so heartbroken by Discord's betrayal that she locked herself in her home, but Rainbow quickly flew through one of her window to remain with her.

The worst was that because of this failure, because of Discord's betrayal, a war certainly started. Celestia already went to start the building of a second robot factory, a weapon factory, and a construction site for airships, while Luna went to start the preparations for an all out war. Recruitment, training, fortifying the cities, sending ponies to build an outpost near the Badlands to keep watch of Eggman, and so on.

The near future will be a dark one...

Scootaloo returned to her friends, taking the replica's place, and told everything to them. Despite the bad news, they decided to continue crusading to get their mind out of it.

Infinite was curiously silent.

Tonight, when Scootaloo slept, like usual, she appeared in her mindscape shared with Infinite where she found him back against one of the burning buildings, arms crossed in apparent thought.

"A bit for your thought?" asked Scootaloo. "You've been curiously silent since the battle."

"I have nothing to say. You failed."

"Really? No speech like 'mouahaha! You shouldn't have trusted others! Now this clown betrayed you and you lost because of this'?"

"First, I don't laugh like that. It's more Eggman's thing. Second, no need to say what you already understood. The only thing I should say is 'I told you so'."

Scootaloo huffed. "I never really trusted Discord in the first place. I was just willing to trust him because Fluttershy trusted him, and the princess seemed to think the same thing. But it doesn't mean that I will stop trusting Rainbow, Fluttershy, and the others. On the contrary, I must trust in them, because with Discord joining Eggman, this isn't a war that I will be able to win by myself. Not until I manage to defeat him."

"But he's too powerful. You said it yourself. And as much as it pains me to say it, I concur with what you said. With just 50% of the ruby's power, winning against him will be tough. We aren't powerful enough. We would need the ruby's power at its 100%."

"But for this, we would have to merge..."

"Something I still refuse," They both said at the same time.

"But this means that we will have to find something else to defeat him than power," said Infinite.

"Really? What?" asked Scootaloo.

Infinite groaned. "I don't believe what I'm about to say... We will have to be like Sonic."

"Who?"

"The blue hedgehog you saw in my memories. The one who defeated me. Remember, he defeated me despite my overwhelming powers. And against Eggman's robots, no matter their firepower, no matter their resistance, no matter their size, no matter that they fly or swim, Sonic always manage to destroy them. And yet, all he has is his speed."

"So we must be fast?"

"Partly. We must also be smart. I don't doubt that the cat helped him a lot in defeating me, but a big part of my defeat was that he managed to understand my powers and how I used them. So he was able to counter and dodge anything I threw at him. It's the same against Eggman's robots. He always analyses how they work, how they move, how they attack, where they're weak, and in the end, he runs, he dodges, he waits for the opening, and he strikes. It's no use to be powerful if you can't hit your enemy."

"The problem with Discord is that he's random. He's the Spirit of Chaos, there's no way to understand him."

"And yet, remember what you did in your fight against him. When he dropped that giant ball on you, you immediately acted to counter it. This is the key. You will have to counter and avoid whatever he will throw at you using what little power from the Phantom Ruby you have, work your way to find an opening, and strike. You don't understand him, but you understand his powers, and you have the power to counter them. It's enough."

Scootaloo looked down in thought. "Yeah. This is also what I understood from Shining Armor's training. 'Study your enemy.' But I still have a lot of training to do. I don't think I will succeed in the first try." She looked back at Infinite, determined. "Until I manage to defeat Discord, I trust everypony to be able to win this war even without me. Actually, I may repeat to them what you just told me. I'm sure that this will help them a lot against Eggman's robots, even the most powerful ones. Thank you, Infinite."

At this, Scootaloo went to train, leaving Infinite by himself. He frowned.

'Study your enemy'... No wonder I was so weak. I was putting everything in my strength and my power. If I had stopped to think before acting harshly... Maybe... He closed his eyes with a sigh. What an 'Ultimate Mercenary' I was... I hate this place. It causes me to think and to question myself...

"He said that?" asked Rainbow Dash.

Scootaloo nodded. "Yup. ‘Study your enemy'. This is the lesson he gave me tonight. Shining Armor was already giving it, but Infinite helped to make me understand how important it is. If we want to defeat Eggman and his army, we will have to read his creations and act in consequence to be able to destroy them. Like, with the Death Egg Robot, its weakness was its head and its bottom. If we had remained calm, focusing on its attacks to understand them and better avoid them, we would have eventually won without Infinite. Of course, this will need some training, but if you want, I can create a replica of the Death Egg Robot, and we can train against it. It should be easy, we already know all its attacks.”

The six mares in front of her looked at each other in thought.

"Look. I'll go first to show you," said Scootaloo before she created a Death Egg Robot replica.

Thankfully, they were far enough outside of Ponyville, so they won't risk causing any damage. The ponies still moved away to not be caught in the crossfire. Just in case, Scootaloo created a dome shield around her and the replica. Scootaloo then took her Zero persona and started floating in front of the robot.

DEATH EGG MAGICAL ROBOT REPLICA

The robot attacked her by sending its left arm, and Scootaloo avoided it by flying to the side. It then attacked with a magical beam, and Scootaloo flew away from it as it chased her while approaching the robot. When she was close enough, the robot stopped firing its beam and tried to smash her with its right arm, only for Scootaloo to fly out of the way again before successfully hitting the head.

She quickly flew away before the robot could counterattack, and it jumped at her, only for Scootaloo to fly under it, so she was behind it when it landed. She then hit its bottom violently, sending it flying a couple of feet to land loudly on its belly.

To the ponies' amazement, Scootaloo continued to hit the robot again and again without getting hit in return, and without even using much of the Phantom Ruby. She just remained focused on the robot and its attacks, avoided them, and attacked when she had an opening. She wasn't rushing the fight. And after two minutes of fight, the robot fell to the ground and exploded.

"See?" said the filly. "Of course, we won't know what future robots will be able to do, so this will be harder, but you get the gist. So who wants to try now?" she asked as she created a new Death Egg Robot replica.

"Me!" shouted Rainbow Dash determinately.

"I knew you would be the first," said Scootaloo before she left Rainbow to fight the replica.

Rainbow had it easy against the robot. She was fast, and she could fly, so all she had to do was passing the robot's defense and hit the head. The fight was over in a little over one minute. She actually complained that she didn't manage to beat it in ten seconds flat.

Applejack went next. Contrary to Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash, she couldn't fly, so she had to be even more careful. Her primary ways to attack the robot were either to wait for it to fire an arm at her so she could climb on it and reach the head, or wait for it to jump in order to go behind it and hit its bottom.

Pinkie Pie came next. Being Pinkie, she had no problem avoiding the attacks and reaching the weaknesses, and she ended the fight almost as rapidly as Rainbow Dash using a squeaky hammer.

Twilight decided to be the next one. She had both flight and magic, powerful magic, so she just had to remain at a distance to avoid the attacks and fire magical beams at the weaknesses in return.

Rarity also used magic, but went with throwing gems, many gems, that were like big bullets that easily perforated the bottom and the head.

Hesitantly, Fluttershy decided to come after Rarity. She wasn't one to fight, but thinking about the poor critters trapped in Eggman's robots, she wanted to join in. She already proved in Manehattan and in the Badlands that she could be a dangerous foe. But there, she remained calm and repeated the methods used by Applejack and Rainbow Dash, but slower and more carefully. Her fight took the longest, but she was still effective with a minimum risk taken.

Scootaloo smiled. With some more training, those six will become Eggman's nightmare. Especially Rainbow. The poor guy will regret Sonic.

As for her, she had a draconequus to defeat.

Chapter 10: Beginning of the War

Time passed surprisingly calmly. Eggman didn't attack Equestria, leaving them to prepare. The ponies worked as quickly as possible to have the army to counter the mad scientist helped by Tirek and Discord. The outpost near the Badlands was the first to be finished, now keeping a constant watch for any enemy assault. Dodge City, because of how close it was of the Badlands, remained deserted after what happened to its inhabitants. And Scootaloo continued to train, using Death Egg Replicas to better her skills and the ones of Rainbow Dash and the others.

Everypony was nervous. The war against Eggman could start anytime, and they weren't sure what would be Eggman's first move.

But something unexpected led to the Equestrians doing the first move: the changelings.

If there was something that nopony expected, it was for Queen Chrysalis, followed by some guards, to suddenly come to Canterlot wishing to talk with Celestia. They warned the four princesses of this and they quickly gathered in the throne room with the help of teleportations as the changelings were heavily escorted here.

Almost as soon as they entered the room, Chrysalis said "Let's pass the formalities and the chitchat about how you are surprised to see me here, I will not lose time. Do you know about the Storm Empire? No, I suppose. You're blind to everything that happens outside of your kingdom."

Luna groaned. "Please, don't tell us we have another army to deal with besides the robot army."

"The Storm Empire is a powerful army commanded by one Storm King that has conquered all the lands in the South. My changelings kept watch of it, knowing that I would probably end up fighting it after taking over Equestria." Her frown became deeper. "And now, that Empire is being destroyed by this army of robots you talked about. I know about the robots and Eggman, I had some spies who reported to me everything that happened, so I know how bad news they are, especially after learning that Tirek and Discord of all beings are now working with him."

"And you won't join them?" asked Celestia in confusion.

"Are you kidding? I can already tell that Eggman is planning to keep the world for himself if he wins. Same for Tirek. And Discord being Discord, he will just fool around without caring for the others. We changelings can't transform into robots, so we can't put a trap to backstab them in case of victory. Tirek and Discord would be too powerful, and Eggman would be too well protected. We would be at their mercy. There's no chance for us if we side with them."

"So you will side with us?" asked Celestia.

Chrysalis growled and almost spat. "As much as it sickens me, yes, I will side with you. Trying to fight them by myself would be suicidal. I saw how you improved your armies, I know that my only chances are to help you, or to flee. And I would prefer remain and fight, even if I must side with you, than flee."

The four princesses looked at each other, knowing how risky it was to accept the changelings. They could easily infiltrate their ranks and backstab them once it was over.

Chrysalis understood this. "And don't expect me to backstab you when one of your ponies now possesses the power to bend reality. What would I be able to do against this? I may want to conquer Equestria and to imprison all the ponies for their love, but I'm not stupid. I can't fight this power. Also, it's in your best interest to accept me and my changelings. We may not be able to turn into robots to infiltrate Eggman's army, but we can still turn into animals. As birds, we could watch them from the sky, and in the jungles around the Badlands, we could be anything."

While still unsure, the ponies knew that Chrysalis was right, and Celestia nodded. "Very well. Welcome to the Alliance. We're hoping to make other races join us, such as the griffons."

Chrysalis huffed. “Those greedy birds? Good luck on that. Anyway, I have some info about what's happening.” She signed one of her guards to approach, and the guard gave her a big parchment. “Here's a map that includes Equestria and the lands in the South.” The guard then gave another parchment, smaller. “And here's a map of the lands that include the Dragonlands and the kingdom of Abyssinia, at the other side of Celestial Sea and South of Griffonstone." She displayed the two maps for the princesses to see. “The Storm Empire managed to conquer all those lands in the South, from the Storm King's lair in this island at the extreme end to most of the Bone Dry Desert. Beyond the sea, they conquered all of Abyssinia, at the South-east of the Dragonlands, passing by the Ice Barrier where they probably come from in the first place.

I don't know if Eggman is planning to try to conquer Abyssinia too, but right now, he spread his robotic empire all the way from the swamps at the East to the old territory of Arimaspi, conquering all the jungles there. And yes, this includes the small piece of jungle between Dodge City and Horseshoe Bay. Eggman certainly knows about the outpost you built there, so he built a base in this part of the jungle from which he's planning to attack the outpost from behind at the first occasion, once he's finished with the Storm Empire. Last I heard, both Eggman and Tirek are busy directly fighting the Storm King's troops in the desert, so my advice would be to attack this base first, and to spread the guards from all the Macintosh Hills to San Palomino Desert that is also very vulnerable, without forgetting the South of Rockville's territory. You should also send a part of your army to Baltimare. This city is also very vulnerable against an attack from the jungle and could become an important place from which to send troops to the lands beyond the Celestial Sea if Eggman decides to invade them. Las Pegasus could have a similar role if he decides to invade the lands beyond the South Luna Ocean.”

The princesses looked at the maps, following Chrysalis' words. Once she had finished, Celestia pointed at a mountain at the far South. "Mount Aris... What happened to the hippogriffs? Were they invaded by the Storm Kind?"

Chrysalis nodded. "Yes, but they disappeared. Nobody knows what happened to them. You can try to find them, but since it's in the territory of the Storm King, it will be extremely dangerous."

Celestia rubbed her chin. "I think that I may know what happened to them. Queen Novo possessed this Pearl and..." She smiled. "Your changelings can transform into anything, right? Does this include fishes?"

"Of course."

"Then, you should send some of your changelings as fishes to travel to Mount Aris, but instead of exploring the mountain, you will send them exploring the depths."

"The depths? What would they found there?" asked the queen.

Celestia smirked. "The hippogriffs."

"Last I knew, hippogriffs aren't fishes. But you seem to know something. Very well, if they can be found there, they could be useful to attack from the South. You can also try to convince the griffons to join you, but I don't believe this will work unless you propose millions of bits to them. You should rather try to convince the people of the West, you will have more luck. This is where you will find the zebras, the minotaurs, and Saddle Arabia. There's also the Yaks that you should easily convince, these brainless mountains of muscles can't refuse to be part of a war."

"And then, there are the dragons..."

"Unless you have a death wish, you should leave them alone. They don't like anyone entering their territory, and they can perfectly well defend themselves against any invasion. They won't need us to curb Eggman's progress over there for many months, which should leave us, hopefully, enough time to defeat him. And if we can find the Hippogriffs like you think we will, we could try to outdo Eggman and join Abyssinia from the South to recruit it. We would first need to kick out any storm troops still there, unless we can convince them to stop following the Storm King and to join us instead. This way, with us at the North, the zebras, minotaurs, and Saddle Arabians at the West, and the dragons and Abyssinians at the East, Eggman will only be able to spread his empire to the South where the Ice Barrier will give him a hard time."

"I just hope we won't have to go to the Ice Barrier to fight him there," said Luna.

"I can try to go and convince the Yaks. The Crystal Empire is just at their door," said Cadance.

Celestia nodded. "And I will send emissaries to talk to the Zebras, Minotaurs, and Saddle Arabians. And I can still believe that we can convince the griffons without having to pay them. The fate of the world must matter more than some gold coins."

"Believe it if you want," said Chrysalis. "Meanwhile, I will send my changelings to Mount Aris to search for the Hippogriffs."

"I will send guards to watch from the Macintosh Hills to San Palomino Desert," said Luna. "Maybe build another outpost at the South of Rockville, in front of the jungle there."

"As for me, I will prepare an assault of Eggman's base in the jungle between Dodge City and Horseshoe Bay," said Twilight. "Me and my friends will be going, as well as Zero to distract Discord if he comes. We have been training for this."

"So we have our plan of action," said Celestia. "I will send Shining Armor to help you. We must destroy that base," she said to Twilight.

"Or make it ours," said Chrysalis. "A base in the jungle between Dodge City and Horseshoe Bay will ensure that Eggman won't try again without us knowing, and it would be our spearhead to assault Eggman's bases in the jungles surrounding the Badlands without having to pass by the hills."

"Good idea," said Celestia with a nod.

"So, I go first, spread havoc, and once Discord appears, I distract him until you're done with the base," resumed Scootaloo with a nod. "Alright. Count on me. Oh and count on me to make sure that the changelings don't try anything funny behind our back."

All the other ponies in Twilight's library nodded.

"We will take a train to Dodge City and go to the outpost from here. Once in the outpost, we will launch our assault on Eggman's base. Five minutes before we reach it, you will start attacking it. Don't forget your headset to warn us of anything that may be important for us to know, like if Eggman is actually here, or if there's some secret weapon," said Twilight.

“Of course,” said Scootaloo as she took the headset made for her Zero persona with a combination of Eggman's technology and of magic.

Eggman's base was a classic one, with some factories, storehouses, some defenses, buildings where the robots were gathered in wait of being sent to action, a building where there were some airships, and power plants. A simple assault outpost.

Nothing prepared it to receive an assault from the Phantom Ruby. In just a few seconds after Scootaloo activated its power, hundreds of robot replicas appeared among the buildings and attacked everything, many enemy robots were destroyed, the majority of the defenses as well as all the airships were gone, and some of the buildings were damaged, especially the factories.

Then, all the robot replicas were turned into gingerbread robots, and Discord appeared.

"Typical. We turn our back five seconds and the mice start dancing. Couldn't you ponies remain peaceful a few more weeks? We're kinda busy."

"Exactly. We discovered this base, we found out that you were busy against the Storm King, so I decided to destroy this base before it could unleash its robots."

Discord raised an eyebrow. "How did you find out about the Storm King?" He noted something on some paper. "Note: there may be a spy, somehow. Could you tell me?"

Scootaloo gave him the middle finger.

"Ouch! No need to be vulgar! Who is the irresponsible adult who made you learn about it?"

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Infinite, who else? Have a bad guy stuck in your head, and you eventually learn some stuff... very bad. Don't ask me the number of insults I learned since I merged with the ruby."

"Of course, with the Edgelord himself in your head, it was stupid to ask."

Infinite growled.

"So, how about we stop chatting for nothing and we directly go to the point where I turn you into a garden ornament for birds to poop on?" proposed Scootaloo.

"Ooh? You think you can do it?" asked Discord smugly, arms crossed and eyes closed.

He was suddenly hit by a wave of Phantom Energy, and the next instant, gravity multiplied by one hundred, and Discord found himself against the ground like a pancake. The ground was then turned into a quicksand that sucked Discord in before solidifying. With a stomp of her feet, Scootaloo then caused a big block of stone to come out of the ground, and she punched it, destroying most of it, leaving only a stone statue of Discord.

Scootaloo gave a couple of taps on the statue to get rid of some dust. "Perfect."

Discord stepped out of the statue as if he was a ghost and looked at the result. "I must admit, I look good. Too bad for you, this isn't like with the Elements of Harmony."

Scootaloo shrugged. "Yeah, I thought so. I still had to try. Now..."

The statue suddenly gave Discord an uppercut, sending the draconequus flying to the sky. Scootaloo flew after him and tackled him, sending the both of them away from the base just as the equestrian army reached it.

Since Scootaloo already destroyed a good part of its defenses, they didn't have much to worry about. A lot of robots remained however, and attacks were rapidly exchanged a little everywhere among the building and the trees. But the equestrians came prepared, and with Twilight among them, they rapidly got the upper hand.

But then, a blue hedgehog robot, exactly like the robot fought back in the Badlands, came out of one of the buildings and started to rapidly fly around, spreading destruction in its path among the equestrian ranks.

"A Metal Sonic spotted! I repeat, a Metal Sonic spotted!" shouted a soldier.

"Darn. Eggman built another one?" asked another.

"Nothing stopped him, so... yeah, of course he built another one," said Applejack.

"Metal Sonic is that robot built after that Sonic guy that Scootaloo told us about, right?" asked Rainbow Dash. "So it's all speed! Then leave it to me! Where is it?" she asked just before she saw a blue thing fly not far in front of her. "Forget it, I saw it!" she shouted as she started chasing it.

The robot spotted her as she caught up to it; the mare smiling smugly at it. "Hey, ugly!"

METAL SONIC

Metal Sonic accelerated through the trees, and Rainbow Dash followed it, only for the robot to strike some of the trees, causing them to topple on the pegasus who had to move up or down while accelerating or slowing down to avoid them. The robot then turned around and charged energy in the intake in its stomach before it fired a big plasma laser.

"Woah!"

Rainbow Dash aileron rolled to the side, avoiding the laser, then quickly rolled to the other side to avoid a tree before she accelerated again to catch up to the robot. Metal Sonic's arm then turned into a gatling gun and it fired countless of bullets at her, but Rainbow accelerated again while maneuvering around to avoid them, and soon reached the robot. So Metal Sonic tried to claw her, only for Rainbow to suddenly rise before she dropped back on it, smashing her hooves on its head.

Metal Sonic lost speed as a result and crashed through some trees before it recovered. Rainbow Dash could now feel the robot's glare at her back, and the pegasus saw it turn into a ball before it suddenly accelerated, its metallic spikes ready to turn her to shreds. Rainbow Dash flew to the side and punched the ball as it passed, sending it crashing into more trees. Metal Sonic quickly came back, and the two of them were now flying side by side.

Again, Metal Sonic fired a plasma laser that Rainbow easily dodged by flying around it before she tried to stomp it again, only for Metal Sonic to form an octahedral energy shield around itself that stopped her. It then lowered the shield and tried to claw her again, succeeding only in hurting one of her hooves. In return, Rainbow punched it on the face, and it counterattacked by turning its arm into a gatling again. As it fired, however, Rainbow Dash punched hard the jet on its back, causing it to lose control of its flight for a few seconds.

Metal Sonic recovered and flew up beyond the trees, toward the sky, quickly followed by Rainbow Dash. It then accelerated to the point of creating a sonic boom, going supersonic, and Rainbow Dash followed its example with a Sonic Rainboom. To her disbelief, Metal Sonic remained faster than her, and so, it remained in front of her as it got surrounded by a pulsating electrical field. Then, a huge and powerful electrical field was unleashed around Metal Sonic as it suddenly slowed down, and before Rainbow knew it, she flew right in it, getting herself badly electrified.

But the mare was used to electricity and quickly recovered. However, the robot was now terribly slowed down, and she used the occasion to ram it and to send it to crash into the ground, badly damaging it. It wasn't enough to destroy it however, and Metal Sonic returned above the trees, returning to its previous speed, causing another sonic boom, followed by Rainbow. But then, Metal Sonic decelerated enough to get behind Rainbow, and it fired a few more plasma lasers at her, only for her to dodge all of them while she decelerated too, eventually stomping on Metal Sonic, only for it to reform its shield before accelerating.

Then, it faced her while flying backward, turned both arms into gatling guns, and fired at her with both of them while also firing more plasma lasers. This forced Rainbow to return under the trees, leaving Metal Sonic to blinding fire through the leaves. It returned under the trees too to spot the mare, only for her to come from the side and to slam it through many trees before she returned above the jungle, followed by Metal Sonic, the robot now sparking electricity.

"You're a tough one, but I'm still the best!" yelled the mare with a smirk.

This infuriated Metal Sonic even more, and suddenly, an electrical field appeared around it as it started spinning and its speed became so much that Rainbow barely had time to roll out of the way before the robot passed her, and in just a few seconds, it was miles in front of her. But she saw the robot charging back at her, and she decelerated below sound speed before accelerating again, remaining at the limit, with the cone of air surrounding her. Then, just as the robot was about to hit her, she performed the Sonic Rainboom, suddenly accelerating. The electrical field hit her, but she still hit Metal Sonic with the full power of the Sonic Rainboom backing her. As the electrical field disappeared, leaving Metal Sonic seemingly worn down, Rainbow Dash then flew high into the sky, decelerating again with the robot in her hooves. Then, she dropped back toward the ground, gaining speed more and more, and just before she hit the ground, she performed another Sonic Rainboom, and they both hit the ground in a huge explosion leaving behind a rainbow cloud.

All that remained of Metal Sonic after that were broken pieces littered around Rainbow Dash in the crater they formed.

Rainbow Dash recuperated her breath, exhausted by the fight. "Huff... Huff... Eheheh... Told you. I'm the best. But now, I want to face this Sonic in a race. If you're based on him, he must be really fast."

Back at the base, all of Eggman's robots were destroyed.

It was a victory.

Scootaloo was told so through her headgear, and she smiled smugly at Discord.

"Why this smile?" he asked.

"I won. We took the base."

Discord opened his mouth, then closed it, understanding. "You were just a distraction."

"Yup!"

"The ponies came after you to finish what you started."

"Yup!"

"You were there mainly to stop me from stopping them."

"Yup!"

"Clever girl."

"Yup!" she said a last time before she disappeared, leaving behind Discord.

"Eggman won't like it..."

"THEY WHAAAAT?!!"

The war was on!

Chapter 11: Counterattack

Inside one of Eggman's airships, above the Bone Dry Desert near Klugetown.

Eggman, Tirek, and Discord were now around a table with a map of Equestria on it, Discord disguised as a general. Eggman slammed a fist on the table in rage.

"I can't believe they ruined my plan before I could even start it!" he yelled. "And they destroyed Metal Sonic, again!" He looked at Discord. "How did it happen?!"

Discord saluted. "The chicken distracted me while the ponies attacked the base, sir! I could do nothing, sir! The chicken had badly damaged the defenses of the base before I came, so they almost just had to walk in and claim the base for themselves, sir! I don't know how they defeated Metal Sonic, sir!" He snapped his fingers, and Metal Sonic's remains appeared on the table. "I gathered its remains in case they could be useful, sir!"

"They're as useful as scrap metal! But at least, I can use them to rebuild it."

"I also learned that there may be a spy, sir! They discovered about us being busy fighting the Storm King and took the occasion to attack us from behind!"

"A spy?! How is this possible?! No spy can infiltrate my army!"

"They probably used magic, sir! One way or another, I will try to find what they used!"

"So, what is the plan now, doc?" asked Tirek.

"We can't leave our business with the Storm King unfinished, but we can't leave what the equestrians did unpunished," said Eggman before he smirked and pointed at the jungle between Dodge City and Horseshoe Bay. "I will send an assault to retake my base or build a new one." He pointed at the outpost near the Badlands. "And at the same time, I will send an assault from the Egg Fortress to their outpost. Let's see how they will fare against two assaults at the same time."

"Then I will participate in the one in the jungle," said Tirek. He then looked at Discord. "As for you, you will participate in the one against the outpost."

"Yes, sir!"

"You all did a good job," said Celestia as she walked among the captured buildings of Eggman's base with Luna, Twilight and the others, including Scootaloo in her Zero persona. "Especially you miss Dash. I saw how powerful the robot hedgehog, Metal Sonic, was back in the Badlands, and yet, you destroyed it by yourself."

"Ahah! You should've seen me! Sonic Rainboom in its face!" replied proudly Rainbow Dash. "But I must admit, I would've never won without Scootaloo's training." She turned to the filly currently black jackal and bumped her. "Thank you, Scootaloo."

Scootaloo looked back at her as if she had just given her the best Hearth Warming gift ever. Oh, my gosh! Rainbow Dash thanked me! "You're welcome, Rainbow Dash! We will continue to train and become even stronger and win this war together!"

"Darn right!"

Luna looked around at the ponies starting to work on the buildings to convert the base for their use. "With this base, we will have direct access to anything Eggman built in the jungle around the Badlands. We will be able to surround his fortress and attack it from all sides. Discord or not, victory will be ours. However, we must be ready. I imagine Eggman will try to recapture it."

"It will take time to rebuild the defenses of this base," said Shining Armor. "We aren't working as quickly as Eggman and his robots. Ours aren't that effective yet. So we will need troops."

"The army is already spreading from Baltimare to the West coast of the San Palomino Desert," said Celestia. "The most we can bring to this base are more robots."

"We must wait for news of the other species," said Luna. "With them joining us, we could bring much more soldiers here. Until then," She turned to Scootaloo, "...we will have to count on you to support our defense."

Scootaloo sighed. "Excepted that if Discord comes, I won't be able to support anything. He will do to me what I did to him: he will distract me and let Eggman's robots deal with our troops. I won't be able to protect this base or anything alone."

Luna nodded. "True. But you will be able to count on me to help you. I will remain on the frontline with Captain Armor. And the Wonderbolts will be ready to come and help anytime."

"And chariots with our best pegasi will be ready every day to transport Twilight and the others if their help is needed," said Celestia. "Sadly, I must remain in Canterlot. Even in time of war, I must manage the kingdom. And I will probably have to discuss a lot with the leaders of the other species for our Alliance and to decide the actions we will take together." She chuckled. "It will be a hard battle in its own way." She looked at Luna. "Unless you want to exchange?"

"No thanks. I prefer to battle with a sword... or a gun rather than with words."

"Princesses! Captain!" suddenly yelled a stallion running toward them. "We just received a call from Dodge Outpost! They spotted a huge army of robots approaching them from the Badlands! Discord is among them!"

The ponies looked at each other.

"They didn't waste time," said Applejack.

Then, a bird came to them, only to transform into a changeling.

"An army of robots is approaching the base," he warned. "We spotted Tirek among them."

"Two attacks?!" asked Twilight.

Luna cursed. "We will have to divide ourselves. Zero, you will fight Discord while me, Captain Armor, and three of the Elements will protect the outpost!"

Celestia nodded. "And the three remaining Elements, including Twilight, will remain here with me to protect the base!"

"Very well," said Twilight before she turned to her friends. "Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, you should be the ones remaining here."

"Why us?" asked curiously the yellow pegasus.

Twilight giggled. "This jungle is perfect for Pinkie. She has all those trees and bushes to hide in, disappear, and somehow reappear thanks to her Pinkieness to attack the robots by surprise."

This made Rainbow and Applejack laugh.

"As for Fluttershy..." She smirked, approached the pegasus, and whispered something to her.

Fluttershy's eyes widened, and after some hesitation, she nodded. "I will do it. It shouldn't be hard."

"So, this leaves me, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack to come with Princess Luna," said Rarity.

Twilight nodded. "Rainbow will get them from the sky, you will attack them from the wall with your magic, and Applejack will smash any robots that enter."

"But what about Tirek?" asked Scootaloo.

"Tirek shouldn't have yet the power to forcefully drain an alicorn," said Celestia. "Me and Twilight will fight him together. Or at least one of us, if the other cannot fight him for some reason. It's why I asked Twilight to remain here." She looked at Twilight. "And it would be better if we fight him backed by robots. I know that he can't drain non-living things."

"The hardest to deal with will be Discord. Sc-Zero alone may not be enough to force him to give up," said Rainbow Dash.

"If we destroy the robots, he may retreat," said Luna. "Unless he wants to fight her, me, and our soldiers and robots at the same time."

"And me and Twilight," said Celestia. "As soon as we are done here, if we learn that the battle at the outpost is not over, we will come, and not even Discord could face all of us at the same time."

Luna nodded and turned to Scootaloo. "Go ahead and stall Discord. We will hurry to join the outpost."

"Yes, princess," said Scootaloo before she disappeared.

Discord, at the head of the army of robots, still out of reach of the cannons of the outpost, raised a sword and yelled "CHARGE!" before flying towards their target, followed by the robots. But then, a wave of energy came out of nowhere, and the next thing he knew, a giant STOP sign appeared just in front of him, and he crashed head first on it. The STOP sign then slammed itself on the ground, crushing him. The sign then disappeared, leaving behind a very hurt, flattened Discord. "Oww..." He peeled himself from the ground, and with a shake, he returned to normal.

He looked up, seeing Scootaloo floating in the air. "Already here?" he asked.

"Of course," she answered. "As soon as I learned about an army approaching the outpost with you at its head, I teleported here."

Discord shrugged. "Oh, well, I knew this would happen." He turned to the robots. "Leave her to me, boys! Go attack the outpost!"

Scootaloo landed in front of him, materializing a sword before Discord turned back to her and took position.

Then, two life bar appeared above them, and a voice coming out of nowhere said, "READY? FIGHT!"

"Really?" asked Scootaloo with a deadpan look.

"What?"

Seriously... said Infinite with an audible facepalm followed by a groan.

In the jungle, the equestrian army joined Eggman's army before it could reach the base, not wanting to add in the damage already done by the previous assault. Because of the trees, there was a lot of cover for both armies to use to protect themselves against projectiles, and as Twilight planned, Pinkie had a field day using her Pinkieness to go from tree to tree without even having to move between them, as if she was teleporting. The poor robots had no chances. The changelings joined in the middle of the battle, jumping from the branches of the trees or out of bushes disguised as animals, only to return to normal before attacking the surprised robots.

However, three airships quickly came to support the robots, forcing Celestia to go destroy them and leaving Twilight to deal with Tirek. The lavender alicorn found the centaur as he smashed an equestrian robot. Tirek was a little bit bigger and more muscular than back in the Badlands, but nothing dramatic. Twilight should still be able to fight him. However, he still had this armor.

Tirek spotted her and smirked. "Ah, the new princess. Twilight Sparkle, if I remember. So, you will be the one facing me?"

"Seems like it," replied Twilight, her head lowered, ready to fire magical beams at the centaur. "Celestia is busy with the airships, and the others couldn't fight you without getting their magic drained."

"Eh! From what I learned about you, you are not experienced at all in fighting. You are more an egghead who became an alicorn only a few months ago. Just a newbie. It will be easy."

"You are right, I don't know much about fighting, but I know a lot about magic! Prepare to be surprised!"

"I'm surprised you even think you can win against me! I drained a lot of magic, and I'm now as powerful as an alicorn! And just look at this body!" shouted Tirek as he flexed his muscles. "And that's not counting the nice toys Eggman gave to me with this armor! You're doomed, Twilight Sparkle!"

TIREK

Tirek found himself slapped by a vine, and he looked around to see more vines manipulated by Twilight. Another tried to slap him, but he caught it and tore it off before he blasted another. A dozen vines then went to attack him at the same time, but he surrounded himself with a magical shockwave that destroyed all of them, only to be hit on the torso by a rather strong magical beam.

He fired back his own magical beam at Twilight, and the mare went to hide behind a nearby tree before she charged magic in her horn. She then stepped away from her cover and unleashed her magic into a salve of smaller magical beam that homed in Tirek. The centaur created a shield to protect himself from the beam, but then felt the ground under his hooves turning into mud, and he lost balance. Twilight then appeared on his back and fired a beam at the back of his head, sending him faceplanting in the mud as his shield disappeared.

Twilight jumped on his head, using it to bounce away from him and get him even more in the mud before he could get up, but just as she bounced, Tirek caught her tail and he slammed her in the mud. Before Tirek could fire a beam, Twilight flashed her horn, blinding Tirek with the light, causing him to free her before she flew away and fired a few more beams until he recovered. She immediately went to hide behind another tree, avoiding a beam from the centaur.

Tirek tried to go after her, only to discover that the mud around his hooves had turned back into solid ground, trapping him. Growling, he opened a part of his armor, revealing a rocket launcher that he used on the tree behind which Twilight was hiding, only to discover that the mare wasn't here. Twilight then came out from behind another tree behind him and fired a bigger beam at his back before returning behind the tree.

Tirek smashed the ground to free his hooves, turned around, and fired another rocket to destroy the tree, but again, Twilight wasn't here, and she came out from behind another tree at his left, firing yet another beam. The thing was that she was using the cover of the trees to teleport from tree to tree to surprise him, but Tirek eventually surrounded himself in a shield, stopping her beams. But to his surprise, Twilight planted her horn in the ground and fired a beam in it, only for the beam to come out of the ground under him, hitting him despite the shield.

Growling, Tirek revealed a flamethrower in his armor, and turned around while firing, putting all the surrounding trees on fire. Twilight flew up to avoid the stream of fire, and fired a beam to destroy the flamethrower, making Tirek growl again. As the fire was spreading around them, he used his magic on a tree to make it fall on Twilight, but the mare flew to the side to avoid it and used her own magic to push the tree so it would fall on Tirek, but the centaur destroyed it with a rocket, only for a beam to hit the rocket launcher, causing a big explosion in his torso that destroyed his armor and badly injured him.

Putting a hand on his torso, Tirek stared at Twilight and grabbed her in his magic before throwing her toward the surrounding fire, but Twilight surrounded herself in a shield to protect herself and teleported only to receive a beam that slammed her against a tree. She quickly flew away to avoid another beam, then avoided more beams as she used her magic to manipulate the fire and sent it toward the centaur as a stream. Tirek was badly burned, but he quickly created a magical shockwave to push away the fire, only to be hit on the head by a small boulder.

He shook his head to recover, and they both fired beams at each other again.

As Scootaloo and Discord continued to fight each other, giving a really chaotic battle in the distance, the Gorge Outpost was still under the assault of the badniks. However, the robots were quickly joined by five airships raining destruction on the outpost, forcing Luna and the Wonderbolts (who answered the call) to go and destroy them, the Wonderbolts launching bombs. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity were forced to fight the robots without the help of the princess, Rainbow Dash destroying the flying ones, Rarity attacking them from the walls, and Applejack attacking the ones that passed the door at the wall protecting the outpost.

However, Applejack ended up fighting a stronger robot than normal that was designated as an alicorn, a Mecha Alicorn, that could use magic and fly with jet wings.

The Mecha Alicorn was constantly attacking the mare by firing magical beams of various power levels, by levitating objects (often remains of other robots) to throw them, or by firing magical balls, the bigger ones exploding into dozens of smaller ones raining on Applejack. All the while, it continued to fly, remaining out of range of Applejack, so she couldn't buck it.

However, the mare didn't give up, and using Scootaloo's training, remained far enough of the robot to dodge its attacks, waiting for an opportunity, and approached before using her lasso to force the robot to come to her and buck it before it would free itself and fly back.

Meanwhile, Rarity was running on the walls, helping the allies here fighting enemies that managed to get on them either by flying or by being carried by others, or even by jumping. To attack them, she used a dozen of gems that she levitated, piercing the robots with them while using a big one as a shield against any projectiles fired at her.

She also ended up facing a Mecha Alicorn, but thanks to her gems, the only problem she had while facing it was that it could create a shield to protect itself from them. However, it couldn't keep its shield and attack at the same time, so Rarity waited for it to attack to throw her gems at it.

Rainbow Dash also faced her own Mecha Alicorn, but it was nothing compared to Metal Sonic.

A few more of those Mecha Alicorns were encountered here and there in the outpost, causing a lot of problems to the equestrians.

Mecha Alicorns were also causing a lot of problems back in the jungle, and with only Pinkie managing to easily destroy them, it was a matter of time before ponies and changelings would be forced to retreat to the base, and maybe even to give it up.

But then, hundreds of animals, from tigers to wolves and much more, came from the depths of the jungle and attacked the badniks. In the sky, clouds made of birds, including many big ones, engulfed the flying robots, leaving only scrap metals to rain into the jungle. Among the birds, Fluttershy was riding on the back of a roc.

"Good job, everyone."

Back at the fight between Twilight and Tirek, it was now raining, pegasi using rain clouds to put out the fire and stop it from spreading. Under the rain, the two adversaries were taking heavy breaths, both exhausted. Twilight wasn't as injured as Tirek, but she used a lot of magic to fight him, the centaur being really resistant.

Then, they both fired at the same time a huge magical beam, the two beams clashing. But then, two birds came and pooped right in Tirek's eyes, breaking his focus. Thus, Twilight won the beam clash and Tirek was thrown back against a tree, toppling it. That was when the animal stampede reached them, and Tirek found himself bitten and clawed all over his body. Just as the last airship in the sky started to drop, smoke and fire coming out of it, Tirek teleported away.

They won the battle of the jungle.

"Back in formation!" shouted Spitfire, prompting the Wonderbolts to fly after her in a triangle formation, each holding a bag full of bombs. Using all their training, they flew toward one of the airships still in the air above Dodge Outpost while dodging the lasers from the cannons firing at them. As they flew above the airship, Spitfire yelled "Now!" and opened her bag of bombs, followed by the others. Bombs rained on the airship from the bow to the stern, destroying a lot of cannons as well as the bridge and some other important parts. It left the way open for some ally robots to finish it. Another airship, the last one, was then traversed from end to end by a powerful magical beam fired by Luna, and it started to drop, exploding.

Discord saw this and frowned. "This is bad..." He said then before dodging an energy ball before he caught it, bounced it on the ground like a basketball, and kicked it back at Scootaloo, only for her to disappear as the ball was about to hit her. She reappeared just in front of Discord, and punched him in the gut, only for Discord to disappear in a cloud of smoke, leaving behind only a log with a troll face. Scootaloo quickly looked around to see where he would reappear, only for Discord's claw to come out of the ground to punch her between her legs.

But Scootaloo then felt Infinite taking control of her right arm, using it to rapidly grab the claw and stop it.

Never again!

Recovering control of her arm, Scootaloo rapidly pulled on the claw, only to discover that there was nothing at the end. She then felt something grab her tail, and the next instant, she was spun around before being thrown, Discord shouting "So long-a chicken!" Before she could understand what was going on, she hit a bomb that exploded, sending her flying to the air to land in front of Discord, the draconequus now having a mustache, a red hat, a red shirt, and blue overalls.

As she groaned, Discord laughed, only for Scootaloo to turn the ground under him into lava. Discord fell in it, only to jump out of it, butt in fire, screaming in pain before running around uncontrollably. She then hit him in the face with a bat.

Why a bat? You could have used a sword and beheaded him! screamed Infinite.

"Despite making him vulnerable thanks to the Phantom Ruby, I'm not sure that beheading him would work. He's still the Spirit of Chaos. Also, I would rather avoid killing if possible."

"Ow... That hurt..." said Discord as he rubbed his bleeding muzzle. He snapped his fingers, healing himself, only to be hit from behind by a powerful magical beam from Luna, sending him on the ground.

Scootaloo quickly acted, created four replicas of herself, and they each fired a powerful energy beam at Discord, leaving him badly burned. Despite the injury, Discord snapped his fingers, healing himself again, before he teleported away.

Scootaloo waved at Luna. "Thank you, princess!"

Luna nodded in return, smiling.

The Battle of Dodge Outpost was won too.

Chapter 12: The Plan

Bone Dry Desert, inside one of Eggman's airship near Klugetown.

Discord was alone around the round table, boringly playing some chaotic card game with a clone of himself. Then, Tirek entered the room, and Discord looked at him with a smile, the clone disappearing, only to frown at his state.

"They defeated you?" he asked.

Tirek growled. "Yes..."

"Who did you face? Sunbutt?"

"If only. No, she was busy with my airships. I was defeated..." He growled again. "By Twilight Sparkle."

Discord stared at him in silence for a few seconds. One of his ears then grew in size, and he asked, "Can you repeat? I think I didn't hear correctly."

"To be more exact, I was hoof to hoof against Twilight Sparkle, but then, as we were in the middle of a beam clash..." He growled yet again. "Birds pooped on my eyes... And I took the beam in the face. And then, all those animals came and attacked me while I was down. The battlefield was overrun by them. Somehow, they weren't attacking the equestrian army, only our robots, as if someone was commanding them."

Discord's jaw dropped. "Wow... I know only one pony who can get animals to follow her like that: Fluttershy."

"Isn't that the pony you mentioned the first time? The one you..." He spat, "befriended?"

"The very same. She's the Element of Kindness, an animal caretaker who wouldn't hurt a fly. Normally. She's very good with animals, she can tame the wildest beasts." Discord laughed. "She even tamed me, for a time." He waved at the map on the table. "Maybe we should have avoided the jungle. If she can assemble an army with the animals, then she could destroy all our bases here just by herself. Wait, no, she won't because it would be too risky for the animals." He sighed. "Between Eggman using animals to power his robots, and me betraying her, I guess I shouldn't be surprised she took such an active role. I heard stories of her staring down a full-grown dragon and make him cry for his mommy, or even a cockatrice. So, now?"

"Don't tell me you're having regrets."

"What? Me? Having regrets? Never! Anyway, what do we do, now?"

"We wait for the old man, he should come anytime."

"Ugh! More waiting!"

Thankfully for Discord, they didn't have to wait for long. Just a few minutes later, Eggman entered the room, smiling widely.

Discord ate a carrot. "What's up, Doc?"

"Some good news?" asked Tirek.

"Very good news! I finally defeated this Storm King! All the South is in our control! So I could finally start our project!"

Tirek smiled. "The building of the Death Egg?"

"Yes! Also, the Storm King and his second are now waiting for you to drain them in Klugetown. However, what can you tell me about this scepter?" asked Eggman as he showed a dark purple scepter with a long crystal at the end.

"Oooh! The Staff of Sacanas!" said Discord. "Powerful magical artifact. It can manipulate the weather, do some weather-related magic like firing lightning, and absorb magic to become even more powerful."

"Absorbing magic?" said Tirek. "We already have me, this won't be needed."

"True," said Eggman. "But the weather manipulation could be useful. I could create a cyclone around the Egg Fortress to better protect it. Or better, create a cyclone around the Death Egg as we build it. No! No! Better! I will build a new fortress and create a cyclone around the construction site of the Death Egg! Gotta make sure that those equestrians don't destroy the Death Egg before we launch it!"

"Perfect!" shouted Tirek before he sighed. "If only we had more good news to give."

Eggman groaned. "They defeated the both of you? What about the Mecha Alicorns?"

"Oh, they worked well, but not well enough," said Discord. "While I was busy with the chicken, again, and Luna was busy with the airships, the Element Bearers who came to protect the outpost destroyed them, letting the outpost resist long enough for Luna to destroy the airships and return to deal with what remained, me included."

"I was facing Twilight Sparkle the majority of the battle, so I can't tell how well they worked in my end," Tirek began, "but they certainly didn't resist the assault of the animals."

"Animals?" asked Eggman with an eyebrow raised.

"One of the Element Bearers reveals to be very good with animals, even the ones of the jungle," said Tirek. "That Fluttershy gathered them and sent them to destroy your robots and attack me."

Eggman growled. "Those Element Bearers are starting to be as annoying as Sonic! I will have to deal with them quickly!"

"I have more bad news," said Tirek. "I spotted changelings in the enemy's ranks."

"Changelings?" asked Eggman.

"Changelings? Really?" asked Discord with a groan. "This may explain our spy problem, then..."

"What are they?" asked Eggman.

"Shapeshifters," answered Tirek. "They can transform into other creatures. As Discord said, this could explain our spy problem. Some of those changelings are probably disguised as animals and spying on us. They can be anything. The birds passing above our heads, or the giant scorpions digging in the sand under our hooves or feet. And let's not talk about how they must be like fishes in water in the jungles. How did the equestrians manage to convince them to join them? Last I heard, they were enemies!"

"Queen Chrissy probably saw us as a bigger threat," said Discord. "It's the only reason I can see that would push her into accepting an alliance with the ponies. And that's very bad news to us. Not only changelings are perfect spies, one of their particularities is that they eat love, and all excess love is added to their magical power. In clear, the more they eat love, the more powerful they can become. Their queen can even surpass the power of an alicorn. And ponies have a LOT of love to freely give. A few hug sessions before a battle, and our robots will have a very bad time. And that's not counting if ponies and changelings start to get together in a more... romantic way... as a result. The lucky lings will become real powerhouses."

Eggman rubbed his face. "So, you're telling me that we're now facing a species that can become very powerful just by being hugged?"

"Or by being kissed. Or whatever other lovey-dovey stuff you can think of. Or just by being in company of a friend. Friendship, while less powerful, is some form of love."

"I hate this world..." groaned Eggman. "At least, the magic is worth it." He looked at the map, deciding of their next move. "Our goal is to build the Death Egg and launch it into space. Until then, we have to do everything in our power to make sure that the ponies and their allies don't stop it. Conquering Equestria would be a big plus, but it's a more secondary objective to make our lives easier at this point."

"So... We remain in defense in the lands we took over until you finish the Death Egg?" resumed Tirek.

"No. This would give the equestrians the time to gather the necessary power to roll over our defenses despite us. We will need to harass them with as much of our forces as we can give. Make sure that they are too busy defending themselves to do anything too quickly." He gave a big wave over the map. "All our factories will be working continuously to build an army that will constantly attack the frontiers of Equestria. At worst, they resist until we launch the Death Egg. At best, they tire and we conquer them."

"If we could deal with the Elements Bearers and the filly possessing the ruby, our chances would rise greatly," said Tirek. "I propose that, just before we launch this general attack, we send an assault where they live to capture them. With the three of us, and Metal Sonic when you rebuild it. This way, they won't join the front and help the equestrian army again, and we should finally be able to win this war."

"So, a big assault on Ponyville?" said Discord, ears lowering. "I suppose that... it's our best bet. If we deal with the Elements and the chicken, then the rest will be a piece of cake."

He snapped his fingers, materializing some pieces over the map. Seven pieces were on Ponyville, each representing the Cutie Mark of one of the Element Bearers, as well as the Phantom Ruby. Two more pieces, a Sun and a Moon, were on Canterlot, representing Celestia and Luna. Another, a crystal heart, appeared on the Crystal Empire for Cadance. There were two castle-like pieces, one near Dodge City and another at the South of Rockville, representing the outposts, and a shield on the castle near Dodge City represented Shining Armor (where Discord thought he still was). From Horseshoe Bay in the West coast to the San Palomino Desert, equestrian flags appeared, representing the position of equestrian troops. Factory pieces with Equestria's flag, one at Manehattan, and one in the jungle between Dodge City and Horseshoe Bay also appeared to show the position of known factories/bases in Equestria's possession.

Then, from the Hayseed Swamps to the West of Arimaspi's old territory, from the Badlands and the South of the Macintosh Hills to the Basalt Beach at the extreme South of the continent, dozens of factories with Eggman's symbol appeared, with a castle-like piece appearing at the center of the Badlands to represent the Egg Fortress. At the center of the Bone Dry Desert, a piece representing a spherical space station with Eggman's face appeared. Finally, three pieces with Eggman, Tirek, and Discord's face appeared not far from it, along with hundreds of pieces with Eggman's symbol representing Eggman's troops a little everywhere. Many triangular pieces with Eggman's symbol also appeared, Eggman's airships.

Then, the majority of the pieces with Eggman's symbol moved toward the pieces with Equestria's flag.

"You know," said Discord. "With our overwhelming force, we may not actually need to attack Ponyville. Just look at what we have compared to them."

"True," said Eggman with a smirk at seeing the display before he took the piece with the Phantom Ruby. "But I still would like to get my hands on the ruby as soon as possible. And I created a new robot that I just want to try on her. A little gift that I got from my future self."

"Oh yes, that mecha," said Discord as he snapped his fingers again, creating a new piece looking like a dragon beside Eggman's piece. "So we still attack Ponyville. Very well..."

Three dozens airship pieces gathered around the pieces of Eggman, Tirek, Discord, and the dragon. A metallic blue hedgehog piece then appeared among them before they all moved above the Macintosh Hills, above Appleloosa, above the Everfree Forest, before they stopped at Ponyville, beside the Element Bearer pieces.

"They will see us coming," warned Discord. "The princesses will probably come to help. If we're unlucky, a love boosted Chrysalis will be with them." He moved the Sun and the Moon to Ponyville and created a black piece with a crown between them.

"Then we will bring a lot of Mecha Alicorns! More powerful ones, who can better use their magic!" shouted Eggman with a cackle.

Hundreds of pieces representing metallic alicorns appeared all over the frontline, and among the airships attacking Ponyville.

"Right, I forgot about them," said Discord.

"Then let's prepare! In a few days, we will attack Ponyville!" shouted Eggman before he left with another cackle.

"I will drain every prisoner we made in our little war against the Storm King," said Tirek with a smile. "If I face Twilight again, I will destroy her." At this, he left the room too, leaving Discord alone.

Discord sighed and took the piece with three pink butterflies, staring at it. Then he closed his eyes and crushed the piece in his claw.

"No regrets..."

Chapter 13: Alliance

Cutie Mark Crusaders Clubhouse.

Scootaloo groaned, rubbing her head.

"Discord still making your brain melt?" asked Apple Bloom.

"Ugh... Yeah... I just can't come up with a way to defeat him. No matter what I do, he counters it, then I counter his counter. Then he counters my counter to his counter. And so on, until one of us finally manages to catch the other off guard for one reason or another. But it isn't enough and it restarts. And because of it, at best, we're equals." She sighed. "I now understand it. I can't defeat him alone. I need help. Like Luna who fired a beam at him from behind." She sighed again. "But each time, everypony is too busy fighting, and they can't help me before a long time. So, by the time we force Discord to retreat, the battle is pretty much over. I want to be able to defeat Discord at the beginning of a battle so I can return to destroying robots!" She groaned. "And even the method I've been using, waiting for an opening and hit, doesn't work. He leaves a lot of openings, but he's so unpredictable and so powerful that nine times out of ten, it doesn't work."

"So the only time you really manage to hit him is when you catch him off guard?" asked Sweetie Belle. "How do you do it?"

"I do something he wasn't expecting. Or he becomes so arrogant that he starts acting stupidly, letting me get a hit. It's how he was defeated by Rainbow Dash and the others the first time, but they had the Elements. I don't have them."

"So you hit him by becoming unpredictable, then continue," said Sweetie Belle. "Become as unpredictable as him!"

Scootaloo laughed. "I try, but it's harder than it sounds! I'm not crazy enough!"

Sweetie Belle raised an eyebrow. "You? Not crazy enough? Must I remind you of all the crazy ideas you gave for our crusades?"

Scootaloo gave her a deadpan look. "My ideas are not-"

"With most of them, we risk our lives and end up grounded for a week or two."

"Uuh... That's not the same kind of crazy," said Apple Bloom with a laugh. "Scootaloo's craziness is a reckless craziness, while Discord's craziness is a chaotic craziness. '2 and 2 equals apple' kind of craziness." She looked back at Scootaloo, who was pouting. "Maybe you should start thinking like that to defeat him. When you attack, just do something crazy and random."

"Yeah! Like, imagine... I'm Discord and I'm about to hit you with a... Er... With a rubber chicken! What will you do?"

"I would... Hum... I would... Well, first, I would dodge the hit just in case there's a brick in it, and then..."

"Too predictable! I would hit you with something else as a result!" shouted Sweetie Belle.

"Then... Then..."

Stop thinking about it, it wouldn't work, suddenly said Infinite.

"Huh?"

Trying to become like Discord won't work. At best, like you said, you would end up toe to toe with him. But he's clearly a master of unpredictability, so he could probably predict your unpredictability, or some of it, and you still wouldn't be able to predict him because you aren't used to predict something that can't be.

"But-"

I remarked that it wasn't because you were unpredictable that you hit him, but because you did something you never did before, taking him by surprise. You never turned the ground into lava before the previous battle, so when you did it, he fell in it. Before that, when you managed to hit him by turning your hand into a cannon, it was because you never did it before too. The reason is that you developed some kind of pattern with the power of the Phantom Ruby; you have a tendency to repeat the attacks you're most used to, only changing them a little, and each time you do something out of this pattern, you take him by surprise.

The gears turned in Scootaloo's head. "Waiiit... are you saying that I can defeat Discord... by becoming deceptively predictable?"

Exactly. But this won't be enough. You will need to create many layers of predictability, so once you break a layer, when Discord just understands and gets used to your new predictability, you break another, forcing him to learn again. Each layer breaking will be an occasion for you to seriously injure him before you have to pass to the next. You may only have 50% of the ruby's power in your disposition, but this is more than enough power for you to develop those layers, and a plan.

"So to defeat Discord, I must become like a boss from a video game... Okay.. This... could actually work. But I will need to talk to you once I'm asleep to get more in depth with this plan. Aaand I may have to talk to Button Mash."

"Err... Could you tell us what Infinite told you?" asked Sweetie Belle. "How could you defeat Discord by becoming as predictable as a boss from a video game?"

"Let me explain," said Scootaloo before she repeated what Infinite said.

Tonight, as Scootaloo said, once she fell asleep and appeared in the mindscape, she went to talk with Infinite. She looked at the jackal who stared back, waiting for her to start.

After a minute of silence, she eventually said, "I need your help."

She could clearly see him raise an eyebrow behind his mask. "Really now?"

"Yes. I thought about this all day since you told your idea, and the truth is that even with your idea, it probably won't be enough to defeat Discord by myself. Because, yes, I can create new patterns to take Discord by surprise, but there is one problem: I am limited. I'm not talking about the power of the ruby, but about my imagination, my style... About me! I am not somepony like Discord, who can come up with an infinite number of ideas at once! I am just... somepony normal with more power than I know how to use because of my normal brain."

She pointed at Infinite. "I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. Or else you wouldn't have lost to Sonic. You had infinite power, but because you were just a normal guy, with a normal mind, a normal imagination, a style, and all, you were limited. We aren't Gods or Spirits or whatever! We are just mortals with godly powers!"

She flew to Infinite's face, or mask, making sure to not touch it (she wasn't sure if touching the mask would cause the merging) as she glared at him. "You understand, Infinite? We are strong, powerful, and everything you can think of, but in the end... We. Are. Still. Weak! That's why I need your help to defeat Discord! Our minds are as opposite as they can be! Your ideas of attacks are different of mines! Your manner of using the Phantom Ruby is not the same as me! If the two of us work together and fight Discord together, then I'm sure that we can win”

“And don't talk about you killing everypony and taking over or destroying the world once you have control of my body! I'm sure you aren't that dense! If you turn against us, we will defeat you one way or another! If not by us, then by Eggman and his allies! And look where it already led you to act like you did! You joined Eggman, and you lost your squad, your friends, as a result, before being defeated! Then you helped Eggman by conquering the world, and you were defeated again! You lost your body, and your mind merged with the Phantom Ruby, getting yourself trapped in it! What will it be next time? Getting sealed for eternity? Becoming a power source for Eggman? How about you stop being a bastard?! Trust me, it will be better for your health! And it will make everything much easier! For you, for me, and for everypony! So you listen! You will join me! We will buck the teeth out of Discord's mouth! We will end this war! We will become heroes! And we will use those awesome powers we have to show any villains that will try their luck that we mean business! UNDERSTOOD?!!”

By the time she was finished, Scootaloo's muzzle was almost touching Infinite's mask, her right eye facing his left eye. Her body and the surrounding space were glitching, and she felt as if she could breathe fire at him.

Infinite stared back at her, silent and not moving.

"You're done? You emptied your bag?" he eventually said. "You finally said all you had in your mind?"

"Not really. I also want to thank you for helping me despite yourself. That advice you gave. I know you're doing it only because you hate Discord and you want to see him defeated, but it's still nice." She sighed. "But like I said, unless we work together, I don't think I can defeat him, no matter how helpful your advice is. I really need you, Infinite. Please... Help... Eggman's robots are becoming more powerful, Tirek too. I can't just continue to fight Discord. They will need my help. Our help."

Infinite stared again at Scootaloo for a few seconds. Then he closed his eyes, turned his back to her, and took a few steps away, arms crossed. "I'm no hero..." he then said. "I don't want to be one." His hands tightened on his arms. "I hate heroes. They come, save the day, and leave, making it look like everything is alright. Well, if everything was alright, then why did I have to live by myself since I was as tall as you? Why didn't the heroes come to save me from the starvation, the loneliness, the violence? Answer: because they're just people. They can't be everywhere to save everyone. And yet, they still think that they make a difference. And reassured by their presence, the 'good people' just forget about the rest. They forget about the ones who, like me, have to fight to survive, and who don't have a hero to make the pain end. They forget what it is to suffer."

Scootaloo, who stopped flying, looked at Infinite, thinking. "Is this why..." She waved at the burning buildings. "You want to see the world destroyed? Why you want everyone to suffer? You want them to understand what you went through?"

Infinite didn't answer, so Scootaloo sighed.

"You are right, we can't stop the suffering. I can't even think of what must be going on out there. We have it easy in Equestria, with our magic, with the princesses. Many probably hate us for this, like you. And... I'm sorry for this. And now that you said it, it sounded... Uh... Pre... Presomp... Presimp..."

"Presumptuous."

"Thanks. It sounded presumptuous to tell that I would be a hero without really thinking about it. You see, since I first saw Rainbow Dash, I always dreamed to become like her, even if I knew that I couldn't because of my wings. So yeah... A dream..." She looked at her hooves. "But with the powers of the Phantom Ruby..." She looked back at Infinite, then teleported in front of him so she could look at him in the eyes. "I could become a hero, but this would be a waste. You're right, I would be stopping Eggman, Tirek, and Discord from conquering the world, but then what? I would use it only to fight villains? To play games with my friends? To become a Wonderbolt? No. I will use it to help others. Like I did, back in Manehattan. And not just ponies. I will explore the world and try to help as many people as I can. Of course, I won't be able to help everyone and to stop the suffering, but I will do my darn best! And you could help me!" She gave a soft smile. "You lived through this, so I'm sure there's nopony better than you to understand them, and help them."

"Do you really think that just by giving a smile and some nice words, you will convince me to become a benefactor?"

"Worth a try. Right, you want people to suffer, not not suffer. Everyone will feel my pain yada yada." Scootaloo rubbed her face. "But, again, can't you think about it? Is it worth it to continue to try to make everyone suffer? To make the world burn? Look where it led you! And this won't stop the pain and the loneliness."

They stared at each other again before Infinite huffed. "Right now, all I want is to see Discord get what he deserves. If it means that I must work with you and not attack your allies, then fine. I can accept those terms."

"Thank you, Infinite. That's all I ask for now."

"Anyway, I have an idea of how we will proceed against Discord. If it works, then in a few battles, Discord will be defeated."

The days following the double battle at Dodge Outpost and in the jungle, a good deal of good news came to Celestia. She was able to convince the griffons to join them... in exchange of some thousands of bits. Hopefully, some weeks passed among the ponies will make them less greedy, like it was making the changelings more friendly (despite Chrysalis remaining cold with the ponies).

Cadance also convinced, really easily like they thought, the Yaks. They now had to make sure that they won't get killed by charging heads lowered toward the enemy's ranks. They will probably equip them with heavy armors with gem-powered front shields.

They then got news front Mount Aris: the Hipogriffs, as Celestia thought, left the mountain to hide in the ocean to escape the Storm King. Queen Novo used the Pearl of Transformation to turn all of them into seaponies, and created a new, hidden kingdom: Seaquestria. Now, they needed to open back communication with them to convince them to help. Celestia admitted that it will probably be difficult. Queen Novo probably felt betrayed that the ponies never came to their help against the Storm Empire.

Chrysalis was right, Celestia had really been blind to what happened outside of the borders of Equestria.

But the threat of Eggman's empire helped a lot there, so Novo agreed to reopen relations between their kingdoms, and to join.

Luna went to the Dragonlands to try her luck with the dragons. It was hard, and Luna had to do a few fights, but she was able to convince Torch, the Dragon Lord, to fight Eggman. She then had to convince him to not immediately start an assault, judging preferable to wait for news of the zebras, minotaurs, and Saddle Arabians while she went to Abyssinia to free them from the Storm King and see if they would join the Alliance too. Behind her back, the dragons still attacked Eggman's troops, only to suffer a serious defeat. Apparently, when you have dragons face heavily armed and advanced airships, the airships win. This definitively convinced Torch to see Eggman as an actual threat and to join the Alliance.

While this happened, Luna convinced Abyssinia too. Apparently, Eggman defeated the Storm King (bad news), so Abyssinia was able to rebel and to regain its freedom from the storm troops that hadn't given up following their king's orders. The remaining storm creatures joined the kingdom's army, Storm Empire technology included. Between the dragons and the storm airships, it was a big bonus for the East!

West was also very good. The zebras, minotaurs, and Saddle Arabians took Eggman's threat very seriously and immediately accepted to join the ponies to fight him.

But now came the hardest part: making sure that all those peoples would work together. They all had a common enemy, but it didn't mean that they will accept to form a single army. Not with such colorful personalities. Celestia informed all of them of who else joined the Alliance and asked all of them to bring a leader with some troops to Canterlot so they could discuss together and truly form the Anti-Eggman Alliance (AEA).

The griffons were the hardest because they didn't have any leader. Since it was for a war, in the end, they sent a group of griffons that knew some stuff about it. For the dragons, because of his size (close to a small mountain), Torch couldn't come and sent instead his daughter, Ember.

This went as well as Celestia thought it would go...

But then, in the middle of this, very bad news came: Ponyville was attacked.

It was almost immediately followed by more bad news: Eggman began a general assault all over the frontline from the West to the East.

The reports talked of hundreds of thousands of robots and hundreds of airships, and thousands of those Mecha Alicorns.

If Celestia's fur wasn't already white, it would be now.

Author's Note

So, yeah, in this chapter, I reversed the roles. Scootaloo is the boss, and Discord is the player. And how does a boss defeat a player? By changing patterns, catching the player off guard.

Also, sorry if the end seemed a little rushed, but me and politics...

Chapter 14: Ponyville Part 1

It was quite the sight for the ponies of Appleloosa to see thirty futuristic airships fly above their town. Unbeknown to them, they were lucky that the armada passed without paying attention to the little town.

The armada then went to the Everfree Forest, and in a few minutes, they traversed it, and the first pony of Ponyville who spotted them in the distance was Rainbow Dash as she was in the middle of bucking some clouds.

She paled. "Oh, buck!"

Twilight was in her underground lab, rereading some notes. She could feel it, she was getting closer to make a perfect one. She could finally make one stable enough to be safely used, she just needed to find a way to get rid of that annoying defect, making that only the first user of one could use this same one.

Then Rainbow slammed open the door, barreled down the stairs, and yelled, "Twilight! Twilight! Eggman's robots are coming! Come quick!"

First annoyed that one of her friends suddenly entered her lab while she was busy, she was then horrified at what she heard. Eggman's army was coming? Here, to attack Ponyville? Or maybe even to attack Canterlot?

"I'm coming! Go first to warn as many ponies to shelter in basements as possible! And try to gather our friends!"

"Aye!"

Rainbow flew out of the basement and out of the library to do as she was told. Meanwhile, Twilight took a pouch and put it in it.

"Scootaloo! Look!" shouted Sweetie Belle as she pointed through a window of the clubhouse, turned to the Everfree Forest (the forest wasn't visible behind the apple trees), in panic. Both Scootaloo and Apple Bloom looked out the window and saw the many red airships approaching in the distance.

"Oh no..." said Scootaloo in horror before she quickly turned to her friends. "Go to the Apples' basement! This will be ugly!" After saying this, she transformed into Zero and flew through the window toward the airships.

She rapidly reached them, and as she charged toward the first one, she started spinning. With her body, she then pierced the ship from bow to stern, destroying it. The other airships fired at her, forcing Scootaloo to maneuver to avoid all the projectiles while she approached a second airship, materialized a sword, and cut it clean in half. Hundreds of flying robots came out of the ships to stop her, but she easily destroyed them as she went to a third airship and threw at its bridge a very powerful bomb that she created, destroying the bridge and damaging the ship so much that it started to drop to the forest below. Scootaloo then manipulated the gravity of a fourth ship to make it crash on two other ships.

Already six ships down. It would be fast, but she knew that Discord will probably appear anytime now to stop her.

But then, as she charged toward another ship to cut it, she saw an electrified drill coming from above and barely avoided it with a teleport. When she appeared, she flew rapidly while moving left and right to avoid more drills. The attacks eventually stopped, and Scootaloo looked up, then quickly teleported a few steps back to avoid being rammed by something huge and red.

Scootaloo was now facing a red mecha even bigger than the Death Egg Robot, seemingly designed after a dragon, with a bulky torso with many highlights, spiked shoulders, disembodied flamed wings made of blue energy, a drill for a left arm, a huge six-barreled cannon for a right arm, and a lower belly much smaller ending with two talons-like cannons for feet, and a tail. There were two cockpits: one as the head, and another above the feet, between two protrusions. There was also a glass dome in the lower belly.

EGG MAGICAL DRAGOON

In the head's cockpit, there was Eggman.

"Eggman?! You're the one fighting me?!" shouted Scootaloo. "I thought it would be Discord! Again!"

"Ahahahaah! Not this time! Discord will be busy dealing with your little quadrupedal friends!"

"Oh no... They've no chance against Discord!" She was about to fly back toward Ponyville, where the airships had continued to advance, only for the mecha to teleport in front of her, blocking the way.

"Where do you think you're going?!" shouted Eggman. "Don't think you will get away from me! This mecha is the pinnacle of years of research that I received from my future self! And I modified it with the magic of this world to make it even more powerful! This time, not even this Infinite guy in you will be able to destroy it! I will defeat you and get my hands on the powers of the ruby! And this world, and many others, will be mine! Nothing will stop me!"

"I will stop you!"

"You're as bad as Sonic! Don't you remember what happened the last time?! Don't be so confident!"

"A lot happened since the last time! This time, I'm ready!" shouted Scootaloo before she looked worriedly toward Ponyville. Hold on, everypony. I deal with him, and I'm coming.

"Then let's see if you're ready against this!"

Watch out. It's an Egg Dragoon. Eggman wasn't joking about it being the pinnacle of his technology, warned Infinite.

Magical energy charged at the two big spikes on the shoulders, and they fired toward the sky, exploding into dozens of huge magical beams that rained all over the area. Scootaloo flew around to avoid the magical beams while Eggman charged more magical energy in the spikes and unleashed it as dozens of smaller beams that homed in on her while he started to fire fireballs with the arm cannon.

Scootaloo teleported to avoid the homing beams, then charged toward the cockpit, hitting it only to hit a protective shield. The Egg Dragoon teleported, and Eggman moved to the lower cockpit, starting to control the feet. From them, he fired ice waves while firing powerful magical beams from the protrusion. Scootaloo slalomed between the waves and the beams while approaching, only for the tail to suddenly fire a burst of electricity, electrifying her. While she was stunned, the tail then slapped her, and Eggman returned to the head cockpit to fire a drill at her. She recovered and avoided the drill, only for it to chase her, and Scootaloo had to destroy it with an energy beam, then quickly teleported to avoid a stream of fire from the arm cannon.

"Maybe I should leave it to you..." Scootaloo told Infinite.

Better this way. You became strong, but this mecha is on another level.

In an instant, Scootaloo and Infinite switched control, Infinite's mask appearing on the head. Eggman immediately teleported behind him, drill ready to gore him. Infinite teleported and slashed at the Egg Dragoon with his sword, only for the Egg Dragoon to teleport away. The mecha then continued to teleport around randomly, leaving at each teleportation a magical ball that slowly floated toward Infinite, exploding after a few seconds. As Infinite avoided the explosive balls, Eggman stopped teleporting and fired the cannon, many bursts of magical beams homing in on him while also firing an electrified homing drill.

Infinite destroyed the drill while avoiding the rest, then teleported beside the Egg Dragoon and slashed, only for his sword to barely cut it, the robot revealing to be even more resistant because of a defensive magical boost.

As I thought! You must focus on the cockpits! shouted Scootaloo.

Before he could do so, the Egg Dragoon teleported away. Cursing, Infinite sent Phantom Cubes toward the mecha, getting more serious as the mecha began to use magic to create and gather storm clouds, the clouds firing lightning bolts at him while partially masking what Egg Dragoon was doing. At least, some of the cubes hit the mecha, trapping it in a reality where laser cannons fired at its cockpits, but the protective shield around it revealed to be extremely resistant too.

As Eggman cackled at this, Infinite cursed again. "This will be a long battle."

Leave the clouds to me! I know how to get rid of them!

So Infinite let Scootaloo taking control of their body, the filly getting rid of the mask (still not used to it). While the change happened, a lightning bolt hit her, but she quickly recovered and avoided the many other lightning bolts while approaching the clouds. Partially masked by the clouds, the Egg Dragoon began to use its feet to fire ice waves at her while firing magical arrows from the protrusions beside the lower cockpit.

Scootaloo had to teleport a lot to avoid them while she kicked the clouds, destroying them. Once enough clouds were destroyed, she sent Phantom Cubes at the Egg Dragoon only for it to teleport. She knew it would happen, so she sent cubes in all directions, and some of them hit the mecha as it reappeared. It was then sent to a reality where it was surrounded by a very dense fog, and Eggman couldn't see Scootaloo coming as she charged at the lower cockpit and rammed it, followed by replicas of her doing the same. In total, the cockpit was hit five times at a speed superior to sound, and yet, the surrounding shield still resisted as the Egg Dragoon returned to the normal reality.

Then, the Egg Dragoon's wings quadrupled in size, the blue energy becoming magical energy, and it charged toward Scootaloo. She flew up to avoid it, only for the Egg Dragoon to teleport, and it appeared just above her. Not prepared for this, it rammed her with one of the wings. However, she still managed to grab the wing, and she threw the mecha to the ground. Despite the wings being disembodied, they still seemed attached to the main body by some force.

The mecha teleported back, and Scootaloo let Infinite take control again as the Egg Dragoon did the magical beam rain while firing fireballs from the arm cannon and lightning bolts from the drill.

Twilight came out of the library as the airships reached the edge of the Everfree Forest and dropped hundreds of robots while firing at the buildings. In just a few seconds, Ponyville passed from a peaceful little town to Tartarus, buildings burning, ponies running left and right to find shelter or escape, and equestrian soldiers and robots guarding the town readying themselves for the oncoming enemy robots. As robots dropped directly on the streets, she attacked them, protecting the ponies.

Before long, she saw Tirek drop from one of the airships at the edge of the town, and as she advanced toward his position, she was joined one by one by her friends.

"Don't come with me!" she ordered. "Tirek is in this direction! You would be drained! Just continue to fight the robots and protect the ponies"

"Where's Scootaloo?!" asked Applejack.

Fluttershy pointed toward the Everfree Forest, where they could see Scootaloo, as Zero, battling a giant red dragon-like mecha. "Occupied..."

"Wait? She isn't fighting Discord? Then where is he?" Asked Rainbow Dash as she looked around.

"I found Discord!" shouted Pinkie as she pointed at a draconequus wearing a red and white striped shirt, a similar bobbled hat, blue jean, brown boots, round glasses, and a cane partially hidden in the chaos.

"D'oh! How did you find me so quickly?!" shouted Discord.

"Because you stood out too much!" answered Pinkie.

"YOU!!!" yelled Rainbow Dash as she charged toward Discord in rage.

Discord materialized a red cape that he put on the path of Rainbow, and moved it at the last second while moving to the side with an "Olé!" Rainbow found herself entering a cannon, and Discord appeared behind it disguised as an officer, holding the rope of the cannon. "Fire!" He pulled on the rope, making the cannon fire Rainbow Dash right back at the ponies.

She was caught in Twilight's magic before she could ram anything or anypony.

"Are you alright, Rainbow?" asked the alicorn.

Rainbow Dash sighed in relief. "Yes, thanks."

The ponies then turned back toward Discord, glaring at him in anger.

"Ooh. We could cut the tension," said the draconequus.

"And I think you know perfectly why," said Twilight.

"Hey! It's not my fault that I betrayed you, it's your fault!"

"Say that again?! How can it be our fault?! Ya betrayed us!" yelled Applejack.

"Because I'm the Spirit of Chaos. I don't know if you remember. Chaos is in my nature. It's part of me. And yet, you who wanted me to become your friend, you hated it. Each time that I used it, it annoyed you! You refused it!"

"I... didn't mind it... as long as it didn't do any harm..." said Fluttershy.

Discord looked visibly guilty for a second and quickly turned his head to not face her. "You were the only one with Pinkie. And even then, I felt very... limited."

"It's part of being friends," Said Twilight. "You have to control yourself to not hurt the ponies around you, and it means imposing some limits."

"And yet, despite me imposing myself those limits, outside of Fluttershy and Pinkie, none of you accepted me."

"You weren't helping too, like when you faked this sickness and spread it to the entire town," Said Rarity.

"I was still learning! Okay? A Thousand years of being me doesn't go away in a few days. I was new to that friendship stuff. And again, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, but mainly Fluttershy, were the only ones who supported me."

"Then why?" asked Fluttershy.

"Like I said... I felt too restricted, even by you. When Tirek told me that he would become my friend and leave me to do all the chaos I want, giving back the freedom I lost among you, I couldn't refuse." Discord showed them the medallion around his neck. "He even trusted me enough to give me this medaillon that was given to him by his own brother."

"So... You didn't like the time we passed together?" asked Fluttershy as her expression became somber.

"I... liked it... But..."

"Is it worth it? Is your chaos worth all that suffering that your new 'friends' are spreading?" she asked as she advanced. "The animals imprisoned and used to power the robots? The ponies hurt? Captured and enslaved? Drained of their magic? Becoming miserable?"

"Fluttershy?" called Twilight.

Hearing her, Fluttershy turned her head toward her, showing her tear-stained face, her anger, her pain...

"You... want to have a 'talk' with Discord, right?" asked the lavender mare. "Then take this." She gave Fluttershy a pouch. "You will probably need it." She then looked at Discord. "What you said about us was right. We were... too hard on you. I'm sorry... for failing you."

Fluttershy looked at what was inside the pouch, and her eyes widened. Understanding what was in it, she nodded at Twilight in thanks and advanced again toward Discord.

"What did you give her?" asked Rainbow.

Twilight smirked at her. "The result of my research."

"Mmh... I don't know what you have in mind, but..." Discord snapped his fingers, and the ponies were all trapped in cages, without horns or wings. "You will all come with me. You caused too many problems to Eggman and Tirek."

Fluttershy dropped the content of the bag on her hoof, revealing what was inside to be a magenta icosahedron ruby with black ripple patterns along its surface, small enough to fit on her hoof.

Then, with a familiar sound, space distorted, and suddenly, the cages were erased, and the wings and horns returned on everypony. Actually, a horn also appeared on Fluttershy's forehead.

Discord's jaw dropped, and his eyes popped out of their sockets.

The same for the ponies, less literally, excepted for Twilight who bounced in joy, shouting "Yes! Yes! Yes!" Twilight then stopped and looked at her friends. "Let's go. Fluttershy can deal with Discord. I'll stop Tirek while you go destroy the robots. Explanations later!" she finished just as her friends were about to ask something. "Oh! Right! Fluttershy! Watch out what you do with this ruby! Its energy is limited, and slowly recharges with time! So avoid using too much of its powers at once!"

"Understood," replied Fluttershy as she glared at Discord.

Twilight nodded, "Let's go," she told her friends before she flew toward Tirek. The other ponies nodded and separated to fight the robots.

When they were gone, Fluttershy began to talk. "Discord... I'm sorry for what I'm about to do... But you leave me no choice... I must save everyone." She looked at him sadly. "Maybe I can even save you..."

Discord shook his head, recovering from his surprise, and said, "Save me? I don't need to be saved!"

"That's what you think..."

Discord looked at Fluttershy, then closed his eyes and lowered his head in sadness.

DISCORD

He then readied his claw to snap.

Rainbow didn't go far before a familiar hedgehog robot appeared in front of her, stopping her.

"Oh? You want more?" asked Rainbow Dash.

Metal Sonic readied himself.

"Very well. Time for me to kick your shiny metal butt for the second time."

"WAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIT!!!" a yell suddenly interrupted them. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie came out of nowhere, flying on the back of one of those Eggman-looking robots, and jumped down, leaving the robot to crash into a building. "You already had your boss fight, Dashie! My turn!"

"What? Uh... Are you sure? This robot is very strong and fast and... Right. That's you. Alright, have your fun!" She turned back to Metal Sonic. "Sorry buddy! Maybe next time!" At this, she flew to the nearest robot.

Metal Sonic was beginning to follow her, only to be tripped by one of Pinkie's hooves, making it faceplant on the ground. "Oops. Silly hoof getting in the way," said Pinkie with an innocent smile.

Metal Sonic made a sound like growling and got up to face the pink pony.

METAL SONIC

Spreading its arms, hands open facing up, it then created two magical balls.

"Hey! You got magical powers! So cool!"

Metal Sonic threw the balls at her.

Twilight reached Tirek, the centaur draining two Royal Guards at once while destroying an equestrian robot. He had changed a little since last time. He had almost doubled in size, his horns were much longer, and his skin had turned from red to magenta.

As Tirek spotted her, Twilight gulped.

TIREK

If only she had created a second stable Phantom Ruby Prototype...

Chapter 15: Ponyville Part 2

Infinite moved between ice blasts fired by the ice cannons of the feet of the Egg Dragoon as he approached the mecha. He readied his sword to pierce the shield around the cockpit of the head, only for the arms of the Egg Dragoon to suddenly transform into two giant blocks threatening to flatten him. Infinite quickly teleported, appearing behind the cockpit. He thrusted his sword, only to be parried by the tail of the mecha. However, he charged energy in his left hand and fired an energy blast at the cockpit, but the mecha teleported away and immediately used magic to fire from its arm cannon a dragon made of fire that flew toward the jackal. Infinite teleported to attack the Egg Dragoon again with his sword, only to be parried by the drill before the mecha teleported again. Infinite immediately followed it with a teleportation, and the two clashed, teleported, and clashed again a few times. Suddenly, as the two clashed, a second Infinite came from above, three times bigger than usual, and hit the shield around the cockpit with his sword, revealing the first Infinite to be a replica who disappeared afterward. Infinite hit the Egg Dragoon with such force that the mecha was sent crashing into the forest in the blink of an eye.

By the time the Egg Dragoon came back, Scootaloo had taken Infinite's place and used her power to create a huge storm. She then rapidly flew around the Egg Dragoon, trapping it in a tornado that made it spin, getting Eggman confused. Then, Scootaloo disappeared, and charged through the cloud coated in electricity before hitting the cockpit with the power of 1000 lightning bolts, and the Egg Dragoon crashed again in the forest with the filly. Finally, the shield around the cockpit was destroyed, but before Scootaloo could do anything, the Egg Dragoon's drill turned into a hand and grabbed her before throwing her to the air, and it immediately fired a fire dragon that hit her, badly burning her. The Egg Dragoon then teleported among the clouds and destroyed them with a shockwave that Scootaloo avoided with a teleportation.

Scootaloo appeared in front of the Egg Dragoon, far enough to think of her next action to attack the now vulnerable cockpit, only to discover that the Egg Dragoon was now missing its lower part, and Eggman wasn't in the head cockpit. Suddenly, she was slapped from behind and sent flying toward the upper body of the Egg Dragoon who prepared its drill. She quickly let Infinite take control, and the jackal parried the drill only to be hit at the same time from behind by an icy projectile, freezing him. The arm cannon was then about to smash him, but Infinite broke the ice covering him, and he caught the arm cannon in his other hand, stopping it with difficulty thanks to his strength boosted by the Phantom Ruby. He then threw the upper body behind him, right towards the lower body, only for it to teleport. While the upper body recovered, the lower body teleported at the opposite side, and Infinite looked back and forth between the two of them, spotting Eggman in the cockpit of the lower body laughing maniacally.

It can separate in two?! shouted Scootaloo.

Not answering, Infinite created hundreds of Phantom Cubes and sent them at both parts of the Egg Dragoon.

Metal Sonic was throwing magical balls after magical balls at Pinkie Pie, but the pink pony was constantly bouncing around seemingly randomly, somehow avoiding all the projectiles with her eyes closed! Quickly having enough of this joke, Metal Sonic charged at her, claws ready, only for Pinkie to sidestep in the blink of an eye, only leaving a hoof to trip the robot, again.

When it got up, Metal Sonic turned to face her, only to see that she had vanished. It turned to search her, but it saw her nowhere. As it thought that Pinkie ran away, it was suddenly bumped two times on the back of its head.

"I'm behind you!"

Metal Sonic immediately turned around, swinging its claw to attack her, only for her to duck. When it looked down, however, she wasn't there anymore! It was then bonked from behind by a squeaky hammer, sending it to slide face first on the ground.

"I told you I was behind you!" shouted Pinkie, using her squeaky hammer as a cane.

Metal Sonic stared at her. Where did that hammer come from? No matter! It got up and charged back at her, only for her to sidestep and trip it for the third time. This time, however, it was smashed by the hammer. Metal Sonic used its magic to grab the hammer and force it out of Pinkie's hooves. It then got up and crushed the hammer in its claws.

"Hey! That's not nice! I liked this hammer!" She took another hammer out of her mane. "You're lucky I have more of them!"

Metal Sonic twitched before teleporting. Pinkie ducked just as it appeared behind her, avoiding its claw, then grabbed said claw with her tail and slammed Metal Sonic with it before crushing it with her hammer. Metal Sonic quickly teleported and reappeared further before it jumped, curled into a ball, and dashed toward Pinkie Pie, only for her to hit it with her hammer, sending it crashing into a building.

Pinkie quickly used her mane to dig a tunnel just before Metal Sonic came from above and smashed the space where she had been the previous second. Metal Sonic then turned its arm into a cannon and fired a powerful magical beam in the tunnel, hoping to get the pink pony this way. It didn't work, because Pinkie partially came out of the ground beside it, waving at it with a big smile. She ducked back in the tunnel, avoiding another magical beam, and came out elsewhere, only to immediately duck back in the tunnel to avoid another beam. Pinkie then came in and out of tunnels all around Metal Sonic, and the robot eventually roared and rapidly fired dozens of beams one after another at the pink pony each time she came out of the ground, but she was so fast that she avoided all of them. And yet, he was fast! Metal Sonic eventually decided to just charge a powerful explosive ball and to throw it in one of the tunnels. The blast spread to all the tunnels, and it sent Pinkie flying out of one of the tunnel. Metal Sonic quickly charged toward her and rammed her, sending her crashing into a building, causing a cloud of dust to rise.

Metal Sonic flew after her, only to be blasted by a cannon, ending up buried in a pile of dough. Pinkie then kicked her party cannon now on wheels to make it advance toward the pile of dough, and she jumped on it. When Metal Sonic came out of the dough, she grabbed its leg with her tail and put it in her cannon. She then targeted an airship just above them and fired, sending Metal Sonic crashing into the airship, apparently hitting something important because it caused a big explosion that sent the ship crashing on another beside it, and both ships dropped on some houses at the outskirt of Ponyville.

Then, a house beside Pinkie blew up partially because of a laser fired by one of the airships, and Pinkie quickly put a hoof to cover her eyes before she looked at what remained of the house.She then looked around, and climbed on a roof not burning yet, seeing that most Ponyville was now in the same state. The town had become a giant inferno, and the airships were continuing to rain lasers everywhere, destroying what hadn't been destroyed yet. In the distance, she could see Twilight fighting Tirek, avoiding his beams again and again, and not far, space distorted, the sign of a Phantom Ruby being used. Far in the forest, Scootaloo was still busy fighting the red mecha, now separated in two. Scootaloo levitated a tree and slammed it against one of the parts. Everywhere, she could hear the sound of battles between the equestrians and Eggman's robots, with explosions, and screams... and ponies dying...

Not far of her position, she spotted Berry Pinch beside her mother, Berry Punch, who was partially buried under a pile of remains of one of the destroyed houses, and she immediately went to help them. The filly was shaking her mother, trying to wake her, when she saw her coming. Rapidly, she moved the pieces of the house trapping the mare, freeing her, and she shook her too.

However, she quickly understood that Berry Punch will never wake up again...

And things like that were probably happening a little everywhere, friends dying... killed by those metallic monsters, and their creator.

As her expression became somber, tears streaming on her cheeks, she suddenly moved her head to the side, avoiding Metal Sonic's hand that was about to pierce her head. Her mane becoming flat, she then grabbed the arm and kicked the robot away, tearing the arm off it. She then signed Berry Pinch to hide somewhere before she fully turned to face Metal Sonic, now very damaged. Beside its now missing arm, many pieces making up its 'skin' were now destroyed, leaving its inner circuits for everyone to see, including one of its eyes. A part of the back of its head was also missing, and electricity was constantly coursing through the robot. Pinkie then approached the corpse of an equestrian soldier lying not far and took his weapon, one of the newly made magical guns, designed after Eggman's own weapons from his robots with some modifications.

The truth was that Pinkie was trying to hide from reality behind jokes and her usual pinkieness, but she couldn't hide anymore. Her town was attacked and being destroyed, friends were being hurt, or killed. It wasn't time for jokes anymore.

She fired at Metal Sonic, a small magical blast coming out of her gun, but Metal Sonic created a shield and protected itself. When the shield disappeared, it then fired its own magical beams at Pinkie. The mare grabbed her gun with her tail, then took her hammer from... somewhere, and avoided or parried all the beams while approaching the robot. Again, Metal Sonic created a shield to protect itself from Pinkie's hammer, which wasn't a squeaky hammer anymore, and surrounded itself in an electric forcefield that forced Pinkie to jump away. The mare then jumped again to avoid electricity coming from the forcefield and sweeping the ground until the forcefield disappeared, leaving Metal Sonic vulnerable. Pinkie took her chance and hit Metal Sonic with her hammer, sending it in the air. She then jumped after it and smashed it with her hammer, and Metal Sonic crashed. As Metal Sonic got up, Pinkie then placed the barrel of the gun in front of its face and fired.

Metal Sonic took a few steps back from the hit, missing a few more pieces, but quickly recovered and turned its remaining arm into a gatling gun. However, as it was about to fire at her, Pinkie slapped the arm away and fired again with her gun. Metal Sonic levitated chunks of ground to protect itself from the magic blast, and sent the chunks at Pinkie, hitting her with them before it fired its gun. Pinkie however dropped her hammer and grabbed two chunks of ground, then used them as shields, moving them rapidly to intercept all of the gun’s bullets. When Metal Sonic stopped firing, Pinkie threw the two chunks of ground at it, and while it recovered from them hitting its face, she grabbed its remaining arm and teared it off.

Growling, Metal Sonic levitated its arm (still in gatling mode but not working anymore) as well as the other back at it, and attacked Pinkie with them, using the gatling arm like a bat and trying to claw her with the other, but Pinkie used both hammer and gun to protect herself against the onslaught. So Metal Sonic fired all kinds of magical projectiles, but Pinkie either avoided them or used her hammer to deflect them. All the while, Metal Sonic stepped back as Pinkie tried to hit it with her hammer, and it avoided the magical blasts from her guns, but eventually, Metal Sonic flew away, only for Pinkie to fire at its jetpack, making it crash.

Before it could get up, Pinkie put a hoof on its back, placed the barrel of her gun against the back of its head, targeting the missing part, and fired, and fired, and fired.

Metal Sonic stopped moving.

Sighing, Pinkie looked around, seeing Berry Pinch coming out of her hiding place and approaching her mother again. As she shook her mother again, Pinkie went to her and placed a hoof on her back, gaining her attention, before hugging her.

"I'm sorry..." She then placed Berry Pinch on her back. "Come on. We must find a shelter for you."

"But, and mommy?"

Pinkie said nothing. The filly seemingly understood, as she looked at her mother, and started crying. Actually, she probably understood before, but refused to believe it. Like Pinkie, who refused to believe that her happy world was disappearing in flame.

With Berry Pinch crying on her back, Pinkie advanced, gun ready to fire at any Eggman robots showing their face.

Discord snapped his fingers, and dozens of chains appeared to immobilize Fluttershy. But she easily destroyed them with the Phantom Ruby in her possession. Another snap, and Fluttershy's hooves were stuck in stone, but the stone broke. Another snap, and Fluttershy was trapped in a giant snow globe, but it broke too. Another snap, and a giant cake fell on her, only for the cake to disappear and reappear above Discord, falling on him before disappearing again.

"Discord! Stop this!"

"I can't! I can't let Tirek down!"

"What about me?"

At her question, Discord closed his eyes and snapped again, and Fluttershy was suddenly a rabbit. But again, with the help of her Phantom Ruby, she turned back to her alicorn self in just one second.

"You are having second thoughts," she said.

"Ah! As if!"

"Then why aren't you attacking me? Why are you only trying to stop me?"

"Erh..."

"You don't want... I don't want too..." Fluttershy looked around at what was happening, then at her Phantom Ruby, then at Discord. "But I must. If you still want to help Eggman and Tirek, if you still want to stop us from fighting back and defeat them, then I have no choice." She gave him a pleading look. "So, please, stop."

"I... can't..."

Fluttershy sighed. "Then..." She activated the Phantom Ruby, and Discord was sent to a reality where he was vulnerable. Discord quickly acted and snapped his fingers, creating a spear of energy that flew toward the ruby to destroy it. However, Fluttershy jumped to the side, avoiding the spear, and placed the ruby in a necklace that she created. She then turned into a lion and ran toward Discord. The draconequus teleported away and snapped his fingers, and dozens of spikes came out of the ground randomly, but Fluttershy turned into an eagle and flew up to avoid the spikes. Discord then created a strong wind to force her back toward the ground, but she teleported. The next thing Discord knew, a gigantic snake wrapped itself around him and constricted him.

Discord, however, made himself a new arm and grabbed the snake by the neck before doing a knot with her body. But the snake then turned into a bear and slapped him. Just as he was sent flying, the bear, Fluttershy, grabbed his tail and slammed him on a stone appearing right on the way. She then materialized a boulder in her paws and smashed it on him. Fluttershy then turned back into an alicorn, levitated Discord, and Stared at him, crying.

"Please, Discord! Give up! It hurts me as much as it hurts you! You aren't even really fighting! You could go hoof to hoof against Scootaloo! You don't want this!"

Discord freed himself from the Stare and from the levitation, teleported back, and with a determined expression, rained hundreds of energy balls all over the area around Fluttershy. However, when the rain stopped, almost none of the balls reached her, and the few that did were easily avoided. Because of this, the whole area was destroyed except Fluttershy's position.

"See?" she said.

With a snap of his fingers, the ground turned into ice, and Fluttershy slipped, taken by surprise. Discord then teleported and appeared in Rainbow Dash's position, in the sky above Ponyville. The mare was destroying many flying robots by herself, including dozens of Mecha Alicorns, with her speed, before Discord decided to stop her.

"Woah! What are you doing there? I thought Flutters was dealing with you!" she shouted in surprise when she saw him.

As if his fight with Fluttershy never happened, he answered, "Oh, you know, I just-" only to be suddenly slapped by an ursa major, sending him crashing miles away like a meteor. Then, the ursa opened her mouth and gathered energy in it before firing a powerful beam in the direction Discord crashed, causing a huge explosion in the distance.

Rainbow Dash yelled in panic at seeing an ursa major in Ponyville, but to her surprise, the ursa turned to her with a gentle look and began to talk. "It's okay Rainbow, it's me." Recognizing Fluttershy's voice, Rainbow's jaw dropped. The ursa then disappeared, leaving in her place Fluttershy back to a simple pegasus. She looked at the Phantom Ruby in her necklace, frowning. "I used a lot of energy because of this..." She looked at the airships. "That's sad. I could have used this form to destroy some of those airships." She looked back at Rainbow, seeing that she was still staring at her with her jaw dropped. "What?"

"YOU TRANSFORMED INTO AN URSA MAJOR!!! THAT WAS SO AWESOME!!!"

Fluttershy blushed and looked away, hiding her face behind her mane. "It... It was nothing..."

Before they could say more, robots fired at them.

"It was not nothing! I would like to talk more about this, but we should deal with those guys first! Come on!"

"I will attack the airships," said Fluttershy.

They both nodded and went to attack.

Despite a brief interruption because of the shock of seeing an ursa major suddenly appear in the middle of Ponyville, slapping something, and firing a laser before disappearing, the fight between Twilight and Tirek was a really brutal one, as somepony could judge by the state of the surrounding area. Nothing remained, not even rubbles!

Twilight jumped left, and left, and left again to avoid a succession of beams fired by Tirek, and fired back, only for the centaur to protect himself with a shield. He then caught Twilight in his magic and slammed her at the ground, but she teleported and fired another beam, this one hitting Tirek directly on the head. But the centaur was now so powerful that he just flinched in pain a couple of seconds before he recovered, and fired dozens of magical beams in all directions, only for the beams to home in Twilight, trapping her. Again, she teleported, but Tirek teleported too, punched her, and quickly fired another beam after her. After crashing because of the punch, Twilight couldn't avoid in time the beam and was not only hit but also propelled in the air by the explosion it caused.

Despite this, Twilight quickly recovered and faced Tirek, panting. The fight was too uneven; it was clear from the start. In their previous encounter, they were tied, but now, Tirek had gained in power again, and so in strength and resistance too. Twilight still managed to land a lot of hits compared to him, but they were mere slaps compared to his attacks that were more effective. As a result, she was now hurting all over her body, almost drained of her magic and energy, while Tirek was in much better shape. He was also hurt and breathing strongly, but it wasn't as bad as the alicorn.

In the distance, Fluttershy saw this.

Twilight used her magic to cover the area in a cloud of dust, blinding both her and Tirek. The centaur quickly blew the cloud away, only to see that Twilight wasn't there anymore. He looked around, even up in the sky in case she flew, but she was nowhere to be seen. But then, he was hit in the belly by something powerful enough to propel him a few feet in the sky before he dropped back, and he saw that it was a giant beam fired by Twilight who had been between his legs. This one really hurt.

Tirek got up and slammed a hoof, creating a shockwave that forced Twilight to fly, and he followed it by beams that the mare avoided with more or less difficulty while firing back. Tirek eventually caught Twilight in his magic and made her approach him, ready to punch her. Twilight teleported, avoiding the punch, and appeared in front of his eyes before she flashed her horn, blinding him. She then fired a point-blank charged beam before teleporting away. Growling, Tirek levitated dozens of chunks of ground, but before he could throw them at Twilight, something rainbow-colored of unimaginable speed rammed him in a huge rainbow explosion.

Twilight looked in surprise as Rainbow Dash came out of the rainbow explosion. "Rainbow?! What are you- Are you an alicorn?!"

"Yup!" shouted Rainbow Dash, proudly rubbing her new horn only to wince. "Wow. It's more sensitive than I thought."

While she talked, Tirek recovered, bleeding from the head and growling in rage, only for something to strongly hit one of his front leg, making him fall. Pinkie, now also an alicorn and still flat-maned, jumped in front of him and hit him in the face with her hammer, sending him flying a few feet away right toward Applejack, who was also an alicorn. As Tirek fell toward her, she bucked him on the head, sending him flying again. While in the air, Rarity, an alicorn too, came followed by hundreds of gems floating in her magic, and she fired them at the centaur, leaving him no chance. As he crashed and got up, Fluttershy appeared, and with the Phantom Ruby still in her possession, created dozens of ferocious animals that charged at Tirek to attack him. There was even an elephant who charged him!

Twilight looked in awe. "Girls! What...?"

Rainbow Dash answered her. "Fluttershy saw that you had problems against Tirek, so she warned us, and used what you gave her to turn us into alicorns so Tirek couldn't drain our magic! Oh, don't worry about Discord. Fluttershy took care of him."

"And I took care of Metal Sonic," said Pinkie Pie as she approached.

When she saw her, Twilight got worried. "What happened, Pinkie? Are you alright?"

"No..." answered Pinkie with a sigh, tears in her eyes.

Before she could say more, Tirek roared, sending the replica animals flying with a powerful shockwave. The six ponies immediately went to surround him. Seeing that Applejack was the closest, Tirek tried to punch her, but she avoided the punch and climbed the arm before kicking his head while Rarity fired her gems at him, not stopping. Already having enough of her gems, Tirek fired a beam at her, only for Fluttershy to use the ruby to raise a part of the ground and to use it to shield Rarity. Tirek was then rammed in the head by Rainbow before he took a beam from Twilight. Pinkie Pie then teleported behind his head and fired her gun.

In this onslaught, Tirek roared again and fired electricity from his horns, the electricity spreading into several arcs that swept across the area randomly, forcing all the ponies to move to avoid them while Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie continued to fire at him with magical beams, gems, and gun. Fluttershy eventually charged at Tirek and rammed him in the belly, sending him crashing many feet further. He got up again only for Rainbow to force him back on the ground with a charge from behind, and Applejack hit him many times on the head. Tirek slapped her before getting up, also slapping Rainbow, who was charging at him again.

But then, he was hit by a large and powerful magical beam that caused an explosion that badly burned him while also sending him crashing again. When he looked at the origin, he saw Celestia approaching while an army of equestrian robots led by Luna came and began destroying Eggman's army. For the first time, a new equestrian airship also came attacking enemy airships. A magical shield surrounded it, protecting it. It wouldn't be enough against the many enemy airships remaining, but they were already busy fighting back the hundreds of equestrian robots overwhelming them.

Tirek teleported away, and the ponies cheered. Their cheer didn't last long however, they quickly separated to destroy the remaining enemy robots, Twilight and Celestia moving toward Eggman still fighting Scootaloo.

Scootaloo flew rapidly to avoid a storm of fiery projectiles from the arm-cannon of the Egg Dragoon's upper body, then spun while moving to the right to avoid an icy wave from the ice cannons of the lower body. She eventually flew right between the two parts of the Egg Dragoon and caused them to fire at each other, and she used the occasion to materialize bombs above them. Some bombs hit, but she had to teleport to avoid a tree levitated and thrown toward her. She then appeared above the upper body a ball of electricity in her hand, and she was finally able to pierce the head cockpit with it. The electricity spread to the whole body part, damaging it to the point that it began to explode while dropping toward the forest below.

"What?! That's impossible!" yelled Eggman from the cockpit of the lower body. The lower body was also rather damaged, the cockpit had lost its shield, and there were some cracks.

Scootaloo used his shock to teleport behind the lower body and grabbed the tail. She spun, and threw the body part before teleporting on its way and prepared to punch the cockpit, only for the body part to spin, avoiding the attack. But before Eggman could do anything, Scootaloo fired a beam that homed in the cockpit, but Eggman used the tail to stop it.

"Eggman!" suddenly yelled a familiar voice from the forest, gaining the attention of the two fighters. Looking down, they saw that it was Tirek, very injured. "We must go!" he shouted before teleporting away.

Eggman looked toward Ponyville and saw his army being destroyed, as well as Twilight and Celestia approaching. "What?! We lost?! How could we lose?! What happened to Discord?!" Growling, he then said to Scootaloo, "You somehow win this battle, but you will not win this war! In a few weeks, this world will be mine!"

Then he teleported just as Scootaloo fired a beam. As Twilight and Celestia joined her, she cursed.

"He escaped again!"

"At least you defeated him," said Twilight. "Now let's return to Ponyville and help the others finish what remains of Eggman's robots."

Scootaloo sighed and nodded before they returned to Ponyville, Eggman's airships dropping one after another.

Meanwhile, all over the frontline now assaulted by Eggman's troops, reinforcements came to help the ponies and changelings. All the ally troops that came to Equestria, griffons, zebras, yaks, and so on, joined forces to help stop the advance of Eggman's troops and avoid that the two outposts fell. Baltimare was saved from destruction by dragons, storm airships came to fight Eggman's troops above the desert of Appleloosa, and Chrysalis herself came to help the outpost South of Rockville.

Now, they had to act quickly, or they won't resist long against the endless assault of the robots.

Chapter 16: Aftermath

They won the battle of Ponyville.

But at what price?

Almost nothing remained of the town but ruins. The townhall, Sugarcube Corner, the Golden Oak Library... Even Sweet Apple Acre got ravaged. Almost no apple trees survived. Ponyville was absolutely destroyed.

But it wasn't the worst part.

They installed tents beside the ruins to shelter the now homeless inhabitants. Celestia promised them all the help of the crown to rebuild the town as rapidly as possible. Until then, if they can't find family or friends to receive them, Celestia will ask hotels to welcome them freely. The princess of the Sun then had to return to Canterlot to continue her talk with the leaders of the other races. Thankfully, this drama seemingly opened their eyes, so they should now be able to work together. They already sent their armies to help at the frontline. Luna also went to help in the jungle beside Dodge Outpost, to keep the captured base in it.

But among the tents, there was one tent.

A tent full of covered, aligned bodies of ponies who didn't survive the attack.

The robots didn't target the civilians, but in the blind destruction they caused, especially the airships, there were many collateral victims.

Scootaloo, in her normal pegasus appearance, entered the tent, and gave an once-over, looking at the bodies, and at the ponies still alive surrounding them, mourning. It was the first time she entered the tent because, as Zero, she had to heal the injured, and there had been many. So she discovered the full extend of the horror that happened. The dead. And to think that the majority of those deaths were ponies she saw regularly when she moved around on her scooter. Her heart hurt.

Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were walking among the mourning ponies, trying to comfort them. Pinkie wasn't even bouncing or talking excitedly. She was just walking from one group of ponies to another group of ponies, hugging them, talking calmly to them, and just being there for them. It was so surreal to see the pink mare so calm, but it was just a different way to bring back smiles when joking and being goofy would be too much. She remained a lot beside Berry Pinch, the poor filly having lost her only family, her mother, in the attack. Sadly, a few other fillies and colts lost somepony dear to them, and a few more became orphans like Berry Pinch.

She wanted to go and hug all of them, but she couldn't bear to remain in this tent, so she left, and once she was sure nopony looked at her, she teleported on a cloud above the ruins of the town, and she sat on it, looking emotionlessly at what remained.

"What do you think, Infinite? Do you like it? This is the kind of thing you dreamed."

Honestly, yes. I like it. I wasn't expecting less of Eggman. He's good. This is why I allied myself to him, or the other him, in the first place. If this one wasn't trying to use me as a power source, I would gladly join him. I would even put up with Discord if I had to.

Scootaloo frowned. "I thought so..." She sighed. "You really are a broken guy. But I don't care what you think. As long as you continue to help me to stop Eggman and his allies, it won't matter."

But once we're done with Eggman, our alliance is over. Remember this.

"Yeah, yeah. But remember what I said. Stop clinging to your past. You are seeing the world through new eyes, mines, so why don't you try to learn from this new experience and change? Like, learning what it's like to be loved. I know you aren't directly the one receiving the love when I'm hugged and all, but it should give you an idea."

I learned that love is nothing to me. I don't care about it.

Scootaloo groaned. "Such a stubborn idiot... You have some of my memories, right?"

I ignore them.

"Well, don't! I don't know what memories you got from me, but you shouldn't ignore them! I'm sure you will learn what it feels like to be loved from at least one of them!" She then thought of something. "Wait a minute. You can't ignore them. If it was like what happened to me, then you lived those memories. You already know what it's like to be loved. Are you ignoring it because you refuse to give up your 'all dark and mighty' act? Unless..." She raised an eyebrow. "Unless this is the actual reason you helped me all this time. You actually started to care, but you were too proud to show it and you gave those stupid excuses to keep up your act... and maybe even to convince yourself that you still don't care. And before you say anything, I know what it's like to be too prideful to admit something. Me and Rainbow Dash often have this problem. And I know you have a LOT of pride, so I know you will probably never admit it. But hey!" She smiled. "If you really care, then thanks for caring! That's nice of you!"

...

"Hello?"

...

"The silent treatment again?"

I saw the memory of where Rainbow Dash became your surrogate sister... Infinite said. And the one where you formed your club with your two friends...

"How did they feel?"

...

"Understood. Don't worry, it will be our little secret."

"Scootaloo!"

Scootaloo looked at the direction of the voice and saw Rainbow Dash approaching. Smiling, she waved at her. "Hey!"

Rainbow Dash landed on the cloud. "Hey. I searched you everywhere."

"Sorry. I was having a little talk with..." She chuckled. "My soulmate."

In her head, she heard Infinite sputtering, and she fell in laughter.

Rainbow Dash had a bewildered expression for a few seconds, then she understood. "Oh! Because you two share the same body so... Pfff... Bwahahahahaha! But wait, shouldn't it be 'bodymate' or something like that?"

"It would have been less funny."

Rainbow laughed again. "Good point. Anyway, we received a message from Princess Celestia. She and the other leaders finally decided on a plan, and frankly it was so obvious that I wonder why they took so long to decide. But it will take a few days for it to start, so we will need your help in the frontline."

"Ok. What's the plan?"

Meanwhile, in some room, somewhere.

"I don't believe it! How could we lose?!" Eggman yelled. He pointed at Tirek and Discord. They were both healed now, thanks to the draconequus. "Scootaloo was busy fighting me! You could have easily defeated the ponies! Especially you Discord! What happened?!"

"An unexpected development," Discord answered. "But really, coming from Twilight, I shouldn't be surprised. She somehow managed to make a copy of the Phantom Ruby."

Tirek looked at him. "So it really was what it was," He said. "This explains everything." He looked back at the doc. "The Element Bearers used it to turn themselves into alicorns. I was no match against all of them at once. This also probably explains the ursa major suddenly appearing and disappearing in the middle of the town."

"Yeah... It was Fluttershy giving me the biggest slap of history. I still feel it. She was probably waiting to give me one after I betrayed her."

Eggman was pulling his mustaches by now. "You're telling me they can now copy the ruby?! This is the worst scenario for us! If they produce more of them, we won't stand a chance!"

"I can try to stop the production," Discord said before he took a top hat, put his claw in it, then pulled Twilight out of the hat. However, she had now a necklace with a Phantom Ruby around her neck. Seeing this, and seeing her expression turning from shock to rage, Discord yelped and put Twilight back in the hat. "This is getting out of hand! Now there are two of them!"

"Why didn't you do that before?!" Eggman yelled.

"Because I thought it would have been too boring to win this way."

Eggman facepalmed.

"So what now?" Tirek asked.

"I will speed up the construction of the Death Egg. Meanwhile, we will return to the frontline as much as we can to slow the equestrians and their allies. We must keep them away from the Death Egg until it's launched!"

The three villains did as Eggman said. For the following days, they went to the frontline, were forced to retreat, only to return a few hours later recovered. Thousands of robots and dozens of airships were constantly coming from all over the occupied territories to continue the fights without stopping.

On the Alliance side, they didn't have a constant supply of troops despite the robot factories working at 200%, but the presence of the princesses, Chrysalis, the Element Bearers, Shining Armor, and Scootaloo/Zero almost always made up for it, especially with the addition of the Phantom Ruby Copies. Now that Twilight had created some, scientists followed in her steps to continue her work (helped by her when she could) and produce more copies while searching for ways to make said copies as perfect as the original. Their production was slow, only one every few hours, but each added Copy was a tremendous boost for the Alliance.

The problem was that the Copies needed a way to recharge their energy. Twilight had at first created a generator in her basement lab under the Golden Oak Library, but it quickly revealed to not be enough to supply all the rubies. So Twilight was forced to build a bigger, more powerful generator somewhere safe but close enough of the frontline. In the end, they built a Phantom Generator in the two outposts, building the one in Dodge Outpost first for the future assault on the Egg Fortress in the Badlands.

But first, they were waiting for something else to happen.

And it happened.

South Luna Ocean, Nightmare Cliffs.

With most of Eggman's troops going to the frontline to fight the Alliance, there weren't many robots present on the Cliffs to witness the apparition in the horizon of an armada of flying battleships. They weren't as advanced as the ones from Eggman's army or the ones that the equestrians now used; they were just normal ships of various designs, with sails and oars, somehow floating in the air. And on those ships were zebras, minotaurs, and Saddle Arabians. The cause of the ships flying was revealed when some of them raised Phantom Ruby Copies, ready to use their mighty powers.

In the Celestial Sea, in the East Coast of the Bone Dry Desert, something similar was happening. An armada of Abyssinian ships and Storm Airships, followed by a small army of dragons with at their head the Dragon Lord Torch as well as a small army of hippogryphs and some changelings, appeared too, some of them possessing Phantom Ruby Copies.

In the West, as in the East, they didn't possess any Phantom Generators, but those rubies will certainly make Eggman turn pale before they run out of energy.

The last phase of the war, the attack, began.

Chapter 17: Egg Fortress Assault

"At least half of Eggman's robots left the frontline," reported Shining Armor as he entered the war room of Dodge Outpost, a large room with in its center a map of Equestria and the lands in the South. Around the map were Celestia, Chrysalis, Twilight, Cadance, Scootaloo (as Zero), Ember, and some chief officers from all the races part of the Alliance (excepted the yaks. They were all in the frontline smashing robots).

Celestia acknowledged him with a nod. "Thank you, Captain Armor. As we expected."

Scootaloo laughed. "After how Eggman left the frontline in panic, it's no surprise."

"Tirek left too," said Twilight. "Only Discord remains to cause us problems."

"But thanks to your Phantom Rubies, he's just a nuisance," Chrysalis said. "Now that there are fewer enemies facing us, it's time for us to push them back."

"Luna is already at it," Celestia said.

"But now, we must act quickly," Twilight said. "We gave the armies of West and East Phantom Rubies, but they don't have generators yet and it will take time to build one under the constant assault of the robots, Eggman, and Tirek. Their rubies will probably deplete before. We must help them."

"It shouldn't be a problem for you now," Ember said as she traced with a claw, a line from the captured base in the jungle passing through the Hayseed Swamps and finishing in the east coast of the Bone Dry Desert where the army of East accosted. "You fight your way through the swamps as rapidly as possible until reaching us. Same for the West through the forest here and the old territory of Arimaspi."

Celestia hummed and nodded. "And once it's done, we will link West and East by the South, circling Eggman's forces and making sure he won't be able to escape to the Iceberg Barrier. Luna will lead the assault to the West."

"And I will lead the one to the East through the swamps," said Chrysalis.

Celestia nodded again. "However, we will focus a big part of our army in a third assault..." She pointed south of Dodge Outpost. "To the Badlands, or what remains of it."

Everybody shivered when remembering what Eggman did to the Badlands since their failed assault.

"Yes. It's probably better to deal with this problem as quickly as possible," said Cadance.

"It's Eggman's main fortress from which comes a huge number of robots and airships. Destroying it, or capturing it, will greatly diminish the number of enemies the other two assaults will face," said Twilight. "And I suppose I will be the one leading the assault here with Shining Armor."

Scootaloo frowned. "We will also need a few dozens of your Phantom Rubies if we want to limit the deads in our side." She made circles around the Badlands with a finger. "Eggman turned the entire land into a fortress after all, who knows how many robots will defend it. Probably in the hundred of thousands. And let's not talk about the airships and whatever other defenses are in place."

"Of course. I already know how we will use them to pass the first wall without losing anyone," replied Twilight.

"Really? How?" asked Scootaloo.

"We will levitate the section of wall we will be facing and all the traps and defenses defending it, and we will throw them at the fortress. This will be costly on the rubies, but at least, we will be in the fortress, and the fortress will take some damage thank to that."

Not bad, said Infinite. And I have a little trick that should help after that.

Scootaloo raised an eyebrow.

A few days later, not long after the beginning of the assaults to join the East and the West armies, hundreds of the newly made transport vehicles having working engine without needing anypony to pull them left Dodge Outpost, followed by some of the new equestrian airships. Already, in the distance, the drivers could see the wall surrounding the Egg Fortress.

Thanks to the changeling spies keeping an eye from the sky, they knew how bad the Egg Fortress now was. Where before, it was just a small fortress in the middle of the Badlands mostly hidden behind the rock formations, it now spread out the whole land. To be more exact, the whole Badlands were now the Egg Fortress. All the rock formations were destroyed to leave place to buildings and roads, not a single trace of anything natural remained. What constituted the original fortress, with the tower with Eggman's face on top, was still surrounded by the original wall.

Whether they destroyed the Egg Fortress or took it over, it will be a huge hit to Eggman. Without it, it will be much easier defeating what will remain. And if they could actually take it over, then it will be a huge boost for the Alliance's army, making this war even easier. But this will be a hard battle. Right now, Eggman and Tirek were busy pushing back the armies of East and West, but Discord was still around, and Metal Sonic still returned regularly. The fortress, covering the whole Badlands, was HUGE, a maze of buildings and roads, full of robots, airships, traps, and other dangers. The battle will probably last for hours, even with the Phantom Ruby Copies they were bringing.

In one of the transport vehicles, the Bearers and Scootaloo were gathered, mostly recovered from what happened at Ponyville, but Pinkie's mane, still a little droopy, showed that there were some scars. Twilight opened a bag and levitated from it six Phantom Rubies, each shaped exactly like the Elements of Harmony after the Bearers' Cutie Marks, so a star, a lightning bolt, a butterfly, an apple, a balloon, and a diamond. Each inserted in a necklace. Her friends looked at her in curiosity.

"More Phantom Rubies for us?" Rainbow Dash asked. "We all already have one now." She pointed at her necklace with a Phantom Ruby around her neck.

"I know, but these are special. After so much research, and with the help of the scientists, I was finally able to develop copies that are probably the closest from the original Phantom Ruby we can get. Those six rubies are the first six of the last generation of Phantom Ruby Copies, perfect ones. They are almost as powerful as the original, don't crumble if overused, and can be used by more than the first pony using them. The only default remaining compared to the original ruby is that they aren't self-recharging. We still need a Phantom Generator nearby and we must still try to not overdone using them. I don't think we will be able to create better copies than these."

"And we get to be the first ones to test them?!" Pinkie asked excitedly.

"Awesome!" Rainbow Dash yelled.

Twilight gave every ruby to the respective ponies and asked, "You remember the plan?"

"Of course," Scootaloo answered. "We wait for the signal, we fly out of the vehicle, and we destroy the wall so the army can enter the fortress without suffering any losses."

Rarity nodded. "We will use the combined power of all the Phantom Rubies we brought to levitate the wall and any defense with it."

"And then we throw them at the fortress," Applejack finished.

"Easy peasy," Pinkie said.

"Are you okay, Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash asked. "You aren't forced to come."

Fluttershy took a big breath. "No. I'm okay. I'm just terrified, but I'm okay. I can do it. For our friends back in Ponyville."

"Princess Twilight!" the driver suddenly yelled. "It's time!"

"Ready, everypony?" Twilight asked.

They all nodded, gave a group hug, Scootaloo hugging Rainbow Dash, then opened the back door of the vehicle and, with the power of the rubies, flew out and flew in the wall's direction with a few dozens soldiers (mainly officers) including Shining Armor, leaving behind the army of vehicles that stopped for now, not wanting to get in range of the turrets or to risk rolling on a mine.

As the Phantom Ruby users approached the wall, thousands of robots were coming out, dozens of airships were taking off from behind, and the hundreds of turrets on the wall fired. In return, some of the users created replicas to lure the turrets and lower the chance to be hit, while others dodged or used shields to protect themselves.

Once they judged they were close enough, the Phantom Ruby users activated their rubies, distorting the entire area. Then, innumerable mines floated out of the ground with the robots, and a huge portion of the wall followed. Once nothing remained on the ground, they threw everything at the fortress and the airships, causing untold damage as thousands of explosion happened and many airships crashed.

Scootaloo then flew forward. "Your call, Infinite!"

Infinite's mask appeared on their head. "Perfect. Even with just 50%, I still should be able to do this."

Reaching where the wall was, Infinite activated the power of the Phantom Ruby again, and suddenly, a few dozens of giant monsters in the likeness of Infinite appeared in a large area, and they began to spread destruction among the robots.

Woaaaa...

Rainbow Dash came beside him, looking in worry at him but giving him a smug smile. "Don't think you can take the spotlight like that."

She then flew ahead toward the armada of airships still in the sky. Activating her Phantom Ruby, she flew at a speed unseen until now, and she flew through the airships one after another, destroying them. While she did it, strong winds appeared, blowing at hundreds of miles per hour. Even the airships couldn't resist them, and they were swept and thrown into each other. For the ones that survived, giant clouds gathered above them, and a rain of extremely powerful lightning bolts hit them.

"HECK YEAAAH!!!" yelled the pegasus.

Back on the ground, Applejack whistled. "That show off sure knows how to give a show!"

Pinkie Pie smiled widely. "But we can show off too!"

At her words, Pinkie flew further into the fortress and hit the ground, creating upon impact a tsunami of chocolate that swept the robots off the roads. Out of the chocolate came spider cupcakes that devoured the robots.

The other bearers followed her example and separated to cover more ground.

When she landed, Applejack yelled "That's for Sweet Apple Acres!" before she used her Phantom Ruby to make hundreds of apple trees grow through the metallic ground, their roots spreading and causing havoc while they rained giant apples that crushed the robots.

Fluttershy used hers to materialize all kinds of animal that trampled the robots, and Rarity used giant scissors to cut anything like paper while firing many gems in everything that was metallic and that moved. Finally, Twilight used pretty much everything she could think of to destroy a maximum of robots, from raining beams to sending meteors to crash to increasing gravity to the point of crushing the robots.

The soldiers were also doing their part. Shining Armor and some of the others used their own Phantom Rubies to create many replicas of the equestrian airships, increasing their normally small number. One of the soldiers at the front materialized a vehicle with giant swords at the sides. As the vehicle rolled, the swords cut the robots. Another soldier became a giant and materialized on himself a huge armor possessing dozens of cannons that fired in all directions. Some turned themselves into alicorns and used their increased powers to destroy the enemies.

By the time the rest of the army reached the fortress, a big part of it was already destroyed by the Phantom Ruby users, but it was a small part compared to the entire fortress.

Metal Sonic came out of wherever it was to deal with them, and it encountered Rarity.

METAL SONIC

"Oh! It seems like it's my turn to destroy you, you metal ruffian!"

Rarity levitated two giant needles linked to each other by a thread, and she sent them to attack Metal Sonic from the left and the right. Metal Sonic flew up to avoid them, then charged at Rarity who surrounded herself in dozens of gems forming a sphere. She then fired some of the gems at Metal Sonic while the robot attacked her with its gatling arm or its magic, firing beams or fireballs or lightning bolts. All the while, it had to dodge the two needles that continued to attack it from left and right. Unbeknown to it, the needles were entering the buildings at the sides of the road they were in, and exited them continuously. Because of this, the buildings were now linked to each other by the thread, as if sewn.

After a few minutes of this, Rarity smirked, then grabbed the two needles. She then materialized a gem from behind Metal Sonic and hit its jetpack with it, making it lose control. Rarity then flew up above the buildings, and pulled with the needles, causing the buildings to close on Metal Sonic. Rarity then quickly fired hundreds of gems all over the buildings, and the gems exploded, destroying everything in a big radius.

Rarity flipped her mane. "Stylish, and deadly."

She then saw something teleport behind her, and she could barely turn her head before Metal Sonic prepared to impale her with its sword-arm. But suddenly, it was sliced in half from behind. The two pieces fell, revealing Infinite, no, Scootaloo who used a lightning bolt as a sword.

"Thank you, darling."

Scootaloo nodded as Rarity moved to continue to attack the enemies, then looked around at the battle. Here, she saw a hydra ridden by Fluttershy devouring robots. There, there was a giant cake monster (a cakezilla?) throwing a piece of building at an airship. A giant explosion happened further, and in the distance, the main tower fired home in beams from the eyes of its Eggman head.

There was something missing.

"Where the heck is Discord?"

"I'm right there," a familiar voice answered from behind.

Turning around, Scootaloo saw Discord lying on a lounging chair eating popcorns. She immediately pointed her lightning sword at him.

"Lower your sword, I'm not there to fight, just to admire the spectacle."

"Yeah. Right."

"Really! What do you think I could do against all those Phantom Rubies? Whether or not I fight, this will change nothing. I will barely slow down your victory by a few seconds. I will be trashed. From this point forward, there's no way to stop you and your Alliance from advancing. This will not stop Eggman and Tirek from trying to at least slow you down, but I'm a realist. Just go satisfy your destructive drive, you have nothing to worry about me."

Scootaloo looked at him with suspicion, making him sigh.

"Alright, I will tell you. I don't need to fight anymore. You are already bound to lose this war."

"Did you not just say that our advance couldn't be stopped anymore?"

"I said that, yes. But, you see, Eggman is developing a way to absorb everyone's magic in one go. And by everyone, I mean every single living beings in this world."

"What?!"

"As fast as you are destroying his empire, you won't be able to stop him in time. His little thing will be finished in about a week. And then, it will be game over for you. Little advice, you should evacuate Cloudsdale and other cloud cities, or this could get quite messy once the pegasi lose their magic."

“I... We will not let him!” Scootaloo yelled, scared.

“Then be faster,” Discord replied casually before he got up from his chair. “Now that I said my warning, I can go. But one last little thing before I disappear, the Alliance should watch its back. Don’t leave any cities unprotected. Even the ones that shouldn’t worry from being attacked like the Crystal Empire.”

“Why are you giving these warnings?”

Discord looked at her sadly. “To limit the deaths. I am who I am, but I don’t like Eggman’s actions killing ponies. Don’t worry, once this war is over, he will regret all this. I promise.”

He then teleported away.

“Well... Buck...” Scootaloo said eventually. “I must warn everypony!”

Let's finish this battle first. You will warn them after.

“Yes. You’re right. But after that, it will be meeting time, again.”

At this, she flew to the nearest Mecha Alicorn.

Meanwhile, some of the soldiers encountered a giant centipede robot, as big as a house and as long as a hoofball field.

CENTIPEDE MECHA

The giant thing was running down the road like a train, trampling everything on its way, while dozens of cannons lined on its back fired homing missiles at anyone who avoided it.

It was promptly beheaded by Shining Armor.

Not long after, Rainbow Dash attacked the central tower that fired continuously at them.

EGG TOWER

The tower targeted her, countless weapons coming out of its walls to attack her with beams, missiles, bullets, without forgetting the homing energy projectiles from the eyes.

Rainbow Dash avoided the onslaught and flew vertically above the tower, gaining height before charging back at the tower from above on the verge of doing a Sonic Rainboom. She pierced the head of the tower in a big rainbow explosion, going from top to bottom in less than one second. The tower was obliterated.

Then, Applejack found herself face to face with a giant Eggman-like robot possessing four arms, each ending in a giant cannon.

EGG GUARDIAN

Every cannon fired giant fireballs that caused a gigantic explosion upon impact, totally incinerating Applejack’s trees. One of the cannons fired at her, but thanks to the Phantom Ruby, Applejack bucked the fireball back at the robot, damaging it. The robot still continued to attack her, and she repeated her action, eventually destroying it.

Pinkie Pie and some soldiers were dealing with some giant purple octopus robot, each of its tentacles ending with a cannon.

OCTOPUS MECHA

Pinkie materialized a giant gingerbread sword and cut the tentacles one by one before she sliced the main body vertically in half.

Some special airships fused to form a giant Eggman-like mecha.

MEGAEGG

Infinite’s giant monsters tore it apart.

And it continued.

LION MECHA

A big robot lion with claws that could cut diamond.

EGG BALL

A big floating ball full of hidden weapons and that tried to roll on the ponies.

HYDRA MECHA

A robotic four-headed hydra that could fire giant laser beams from its mouths.

MECHA TURTLE

A robotic giant turtle with a hard shell full of hidden cannons and that could spin to ram its enemies.

And many, many more.

They were all easily destroyed.

As the battle continued and lasted for hours, Eggman and Tirek eventually came.

EGG DRAGOON

TIREK

But they barely lasted a few minutes before they were forced to retreat because of the dozen or so Phantom Rubies they were facing.

Of course, the Phantom Ruby users were regularly forced to pause so their rubies recharged, but they always made sure that there were a few users fighting, so there weren’t many problems when a powerful enemy appeared.

In the end, the battle lasted a whole day, ending with the clear victory of the Alliance. A good part of the fortress was destroyed, but many factories were still in working condition.

This day, the Alliance won a major battle.

But not the war.

Author's Note

Sorry it took so long, but I struggled a lot with this chapter (I even had to rewrite it because I didn't like the first version). Then I played some games, Ghostbuster the video game, Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order, and Okami HD. But finally, it's done.

Chapter 18: Race Against Time

Almost immediately after the end of the battle of Egg Fortress, Scootaloo asked for an emergency meeting with the princesses and other leaders. Since Luna was still leading the assault of the West, however, she couldn't attend it, as well as Chrysalis, but Scootaloo insisted on being in contact with them during the meeting. They needed to hear what she was about to reveal. Even the leader of the yaks, Prince Rutherford, was included. The meeting took place in Dodge Outpost, like the previous one, and began once everyone was present or in contact, ready to listen.

"So," Celestia started. "Zero, why did you ask for this meeting?"

«Be quick so yak can return to smashing metal bugs!» shouted Rutherford through a radio.

Scootaloo took a big breath to calm her nerves, then explained. "In the previous battle, Discord talked to me and gave me some information. If this info is true, then they are very serious."

«Why would Discord give you this information?» Luna asked through another radio. «Whatever he said, I don't trust it.»

Scootaloo shrugged, even if she knew that Luna couldn't see her. "Apparently, he doesn't like ponies getting killed because of Eggman, so he hopes to limit them thanks to this info. He revealed that Eggman is developing a way to absorb the magic of everyone in the world which, obviously, would be very bad for the pegasi living in Cloudsdale."

Many faces paled at this revelation.

"So... He wants us to stop Eggman from developing whatever will absorb our magic?" asked Celestia.

"Nope. He wants us to evacuate all cities like Cloudsdale. He said that we wouldn't be able to stop Eggman in time. Whatever he's doing, it will be finished in about a week."

«Of course we will stop him!» Chrysalis shouted. «I already have an idea of where is whatever Eggman is creating thanks to my spies!»

"Where?" Ember asked.

«Right in the middle of the Bone Dry Desert! My spies reported that a giant cyclone suddenly appeared here, creating a huge sand tornado dozens of miles wide! This tornado is probably hiding a base.»

"A base where Eggman is developing this way to absorb all our magic," Celestia concluded.

«Exactly. My spies reported a lot of movements from Eggman's troops, transporting tons and tons of resources from all over his empire into this tornado.»

"It probably has something to do with the Staff of Sacanas," the representative of Abyssinia, a bipedal cat, suddenly said.

"The what?" Ember asked.

"The Staff of Sacanas. Since the Storm Creatures joined our ranks, they told us some precious informations about their previous master, the one who conquered our lands before he was defeated by Eggman, the Storm King. The Staff of Sacanas was where he got most of his powers, a powerful staff that could control the weather and absorb magic."

«A staff that can control the weather, and coincidentally, a giant tornado appears in the middle of the desert,» Chrysalis said.

"Eggman obtained this Staff of Sacanas, and it is the key for him to absorb everyone's magic," Celestia concluded again.

"Doesn't he already have Tirek for this?" Cadance asked.

«He won't let Tirek take all the magic. It wouldn't be better than giving Tirek a dagger to backstab him,» said Chrysalis.

«But now, how does he attend to absorb the magic of everyone on the planet with this staff?» Luna wondered.

"Maybe he's building a giant device for it?" proposed Twilight.

«It would explain all the materials transported into the tornado,» Chrysalis said.

Scootaloo gulped. "Infinite, do you think...?"

Yes. The Death Egg. It's the most obvious way.

"Could you...?"

Infinite sighed. Fine.

Scootaloo made noises with her throat to gain everyone's attention. "Infinite knows what Eggman is probably doing. I will have to leave him in control of my body so he can explain to you."

"Are you sure?" asked Celestia with worry.

"Don't worry, he won’t try anything. With almost everyone in the room possessing a Phantom Ruby, it would be suicidal. And he doesn't like the idea of Eggman getting everyone's magic as much as us."

"Eggman would become so powerful that nothing would be able to stop him, not even the Phantom Ruby," Twilight agreed.

"Very well, you can let him out," Celestia said.

Scootaloo nodded, then let Infinite take control, his mask appearing on their head. Everyone immediately tensed as he floated above the round table in the center of the room.

"You have seen many things from Eggman since he appeared in this world," He began. "But you haven't seen everything yet. No matter his plans, Eggman always has three goals: get his hands on a great source of power, defeat his enemy, and build his worldwide empire, Eggmanland. For this last goal, there was almost always a key element: the building of the Death Egg."

«What? Like this Death Egg Robot we fought in Manehattan?» Luna asked.

"No. It has nothing to do with that. The Death Egg is a space station."

"A space station?!" everyone shouted.

Infinite nodded and materialized above the table a metallic ball with Eggman's face. "Here's the Death Egg. Of course, the real one is much, much bigger. The Death Egg is a key part of Eggman's empire, to give him total control over the population of the world. Few would dare to resist him with a station that could fire city-wiping lasers from thousands of miles above their heads, without forgetting all the robots that it could produce and send everywhere. When I helped my Eggman defeat Sonic and take control of Mobius, he even used it as a prison and a generator for my Phantom Ruby Prototype. But in this case, I suspect that he will use it with this Staff of Sacanas to absorb everyone's magic. If that thing is launched into space, we lose. So we must destroy it before."

"In only one week..." Celestia said. "We still have to link the three armies before fighting our way through the desert. If we want to make it in time, we will have to constantly advance with everything we have."

"But then comes a second warning that Discord gave," Infinite said. "He warned us to keep all the cities guarded, even the ones that are safe. Eggman must be preparing something to send troops even behind the frontline. Maybe by sending airships from space."

«But we can't hope to reach that tornado in one week while leaving troops to defend ALL our cities!» Luna shouted.

"Then we will use Phantom Rubies. More and more Phantom Rubies. We will multiply their production," Celestia said. "And... In the eventuality that we fail to stop Eggman from absorbing all our magic, then we will start to evacuate the cities at risk, like Cloudsdale. And no, if Eggman absorbs our magic, this will not mean our defeat. The Phantom Rubies will still work even without magic. Another reason to multiply their production. And we now have a technology that can oppose Eggman's. With magic or not, we will win this war."

Then, the representation of the Death Egg disappeared, the influence of the Phantom Ruby stopped, and Infinite screamed as he fell on the table on his butt. Giving a small hiss of pain, he then got up, his mask disappearing.

"Next time, a warning would be nice, Infinite," Scootaloo said.

You know me, I'm not nice, replied Infinite with a chuckle.

"Ahem! So, I think we all agree with this plan: we continue to work to link the three armies, but we will send troops to guard our cities while we increase the production of Phantom Rubies. Equestria is even ready to give some rubies to its allies so they can better protect their cities. Until now, Eggman mainly targeted Equestria, but I wouldn't put it past him that he will target all the peoples who joined us. Once the three armies are linked, then we will start a general assault toward the center of Bone Dry Desert with the goal to reach it in less than a week to destroy the Death Egg before it can take off," said Celestia.

All the representatives of the Alliance present in the room nodded.

"A plan simple, but probably the most effective we have, given the fierce resistance the robots are giving despite our Phantom Rubies." Shining Armor said.

«And I also received reports that Eggman has built a vast fortress in the tornado and many others all across the desert. We will have to fight day and night to succeed,» said Chrysalis.

"This will be a long week..." Scootaloo sighed.

The next two days, the assaults led by Luna and Chrysalis were finally able to join the armies of West and East, accomplishing the first objective. While this happened, the equestrians reconverted the Egg Fortress, or what remained of it, for their own use, and thanks to it, were able to capture the old territory of Arimaspi as well as most of the forest and jungle north of Bone Dry Desert.

With their position on the mainland assured, the Saddle Arabians, minotaurs, and zebras, helped by the hippogriffs, sent an assault on the island that was once the realm of the Storm King, south of the mainland. The island was converted into a base that produced submarines, which would have been very bad news for the hippogriffs if left unchecked. But this worried the hippogriffs because more submarines could be elsewhere. They scouted the oceans after that, discovering some submarine bases between the south coast and the Iceberg Barrier, and with the help of Phantom Rubies, worked in destroying them.

By the third day, the general assault toward the center of Bone Dry Desert began, the East army going by the south through the Sea of Clouds to cut any possibilities for Eggman to escape. The closest to the center of the desert were the equestrians and other peoples forming the North army, but they still had to capture the south part of the jungle and the forest before entering the desert itself. This left the West army, but from the Nightmare Cliffs, they had to cross hundreds of miles of desert full of well-defended fortresses. Them reaching the tornado in time was pretty much impossible. Without forgetting that there were the Caves of Conundrum on the way, and who knew what Eggman did with them.

Nobody was looking forward to entering this maze of caves, probably full of robots. If Eggman played it smart, those robots could be giant worm-like robots that could devour everything inside those caves.

In the end, only an assault from the south of the Forbidden Jungle could hope to reach the tornado in time.

But then, a dozen of Eggman's airships suddenly appeared above Canterlot.

A similar number appeared above the Crystal Empire.

More above Griffonstone.

Also above the Changeling Hive.

This was what Discord talked about: Eggman found a way to teleport small armadas of airships everywhere. Airships appeared above the capitals and major cities of all the members of the Alliance. If it wasn't for Discord's warning, the number of casualties would have reached the millions, and the Alliance would have been destroyed. Thankfully, all the airships were destroyed, not without causing some destruction. However, airships continued to appear here and there, constantly causing problems to the Alliance, attacking convoys, forcing the armies to spread to defend as much land as possible, and making the Alliance lose time. This also caused the populations to be constantly in fear of seeing the airships of doom appearing above their head, greatly decreasing the moral already low after the destruction caused to the cities and farms.

For the next three days, the Alliance had to fight the constant assaults of teleported airships and the beginning of a famine while trying to reach the tornado and finish this war. The West Army was advancing slowly, but surely, the East Army took most of the South, and the North Army almost reached the fortress surrounding the tornado.

It seemed like the North Army would be able to destroy the Death Egg in time.

But then, as the North Army reached the fortress and began the, hopefully, final battle...

The fortress wasn't as huge as the one that the Badlands became, but since it surrounded a sand tornado dozens of miles wide, it was still HUGE, and extremely well protected by a sea of airships. The Alliance countered by creating its own sea of airships replicas thanks to the Phantom Rubies, and in just a few seconds, the battle became the most violent of the war. Explosions littered the sky, and all kinds of powerful robots like in the Egg Fortress came to add their touch. Half the robots mastered alicorn-level of magic while, at this point, half the attackers possessed a Phantom Ruby, the copies that Twilight was able to perfect, and the battle took proportions where it was a wonder that the universe didn't collapse.

In this chaos, Rainbow Dash encountered an old rival of hers: Metal Sonic. She saw it, its back to her, as it just impaled a pegasus with its arm turned energy sword.

"Hey! Tin can!" She yelled. "It is time for us to have our round two!"

Hearing her, Metal Sonic turned its head to look at her, then let the pegasus drop as it faced her.

It was now holding a Phantom Ruby in its left hand.

"Uh oh..."

The ruby activated, and Metal Sonic disappeared in a flash of light that forced Rainbow Dash to close her eyes. When she opened them, she saw that Metal Sonic had transformed.

It was now taller, possessing five sharp quills instead of the three usual ones it had on its head, and there were white stripes on them. It now had black and curved shoulder plates, an also black spiky belt with a black cape at the back of its waist, and larger gauntlets and leg armor with white spikes coming out of its knees. The Phantom Ruby was now inside its torso.

All in all, Metal Sonic now possessed a much more menacing appearance, and as it gave itself a look, it began cackling madly.

NEO METAL SONIC

"Well... Buck..."

Metal Sonic eventually stopped laughing and raised its arms, sending powerful lightning bolts all over the area, destroying everything, both friends or foes, giving another cackle.

Thinking quickly, Rainbow Dash used the Phantom Ruby to give a Sonic Rainboom kick in Metal Sonic's face, gaining its attention. "I'm your opponent! Stop attacking everyone!"

Metal Sonic rubbed its slightly damaged face, chuckling. "Rainbow Dash... Prepare to suffer for eternity."

"You can now talk? Woah!"

She moved her head, barely dodging Metal Sonic's punch. However, as she flew back and readied her Phantom Ruby to attack, a sudden beam came out of nowhere and destroyed it, to her horror.

"WHAT?!"

A few minutes earlier.

The battle quickly turned for the advantage of the Alliance. Surprisingly, neither Eggman nor Tirek appeared to try to stop them.

But as Scootaloo almost reached the tornado, preceding everyone else, she encountered someone: Discord.

"You finally decide to do something?" she asked.

"Yeah. Surprisingly, you reached this fortress in time, so I have to act. Sorry to say, but your advance stops here," said the draconequus very seriously.

He then snapped his fingers.

And everywhere, beams suddenly appeared and took everyone by surprise, destroying every single Phantom Ruby Copies excepted the one in Metal Sonic's torso. Even the ones used by the other armies, or the ones that were still being produced, were destroyed. Not a single ruby was left.

And as the replicas disappeared, the situation became less advantageous for the Alliance.

"EEEEHHHH?!!" yelled Scootaloo in horror.

"Oh my, did I say that I could do nothing against all those Phantom Rubies?" said Discord before he raised a sign with "I lied!" written on it. "I just needed to lower your guard. And now, once I'm done with you, the Alliance will be at my mercy."

DISCORD

"If you think you have won, think again!" Scootaloo shouted as she materialized a lightning spear.

But then, before the fight could start, the sand tornado behind Discord disappeared, revealing a fully finished Death Egg, exactly as Infinite described it. A giant metallic sphere with Eggman's face, actually half buried in the desert's sand.

"THAT'S THE DEATH EGG?!!" Scootaloo yelled.

"What is this idiot doing?" Discord growled.

Green energy gathered in the eyes of the Eggman face, and everyone understood what was going on as the airships moved. Then, two giants green beams were fired from the eyes and destroyed everything in their path before they hit the ground, causing two tremendous explosions that caused more destruction. Nothing was left of the few airships that were caught in them.

As Scootaloo stared in horror at the two craters that were formed where nothing remained, Discord growled and yelled "Eggman! I’ve had it! You didn't need to go that far!"

The airships of the Alliance moved to avoid being in front of the Eggman face next time it could fire when, suddenly, an alarm started blaring all across the fortress. Then, on various screens, a countdown appeared.

Five minutes before launch.

Chapter 19: The Death Egg

The Death Egg revealing itself and firing at the Alliance's airships, followed by the countdown starting, caused the real battle to begin. Thousands and thousands of robots were coming out of the space station to assault the attackers, and with the destruction of all the Phantom Rubies by Discord, the situation was really dire.

Yet, the princesses didn't lose hope. They had to win. When the Death Egg spun to follow the airships and be able to target them, Celestia yelled "Don't stop moving! But if the worst happens, spread out as much as possible, and as far away from the ground as possible!" She then turned to Luna. "Let's do IT!"

"Are you sure? It will cost us a lot," the little sister warned.

"But it will help us regain the advantage, as much as we can have against the Death Egg," Celestia replied.

"Very well," Luna said.

The two sisters then used their magic to move the sun and the moon at the same time until both celestial bodies were high above them in the sky, the Moon eclipsing the Sun. Then, they charged a vast quantity of magic in their horn, and the Sun and the Moon glowed. A few seconds later, the two bodies unleashed a huge energy beam, extremely powerful that nopony had seen in millennia.

The legendary Eclipse Cannon.

The beam hit the ground in a giant explosion, destroying a huge part of the fortress and countless enemies, then swept the base around the Death Egg, causing even more destruction. For many long seconds, the beam moved, destroying more of the fortress and causing Eggman's army to visibly shrink. By the time the beam disappears, easily one third of the fortress was destroyed, most of Eggman's airships were wiped out, and his robots dropped to a more manageable number. Oh, and everywhere the beam passed, the metallic ground had disappeared and the sand under it had been turned to glass.

But now, Celestia and Luna were almost out of energy. They could still fight, but they’re forced to be more careful.

Then, the Death Egg fired again, but thankfully, the targeted airships were able to move out of the range of the explosions in time. In the end, they caused more of the fortress to be destroyed.

More enemies were however coming from the Death Egg, stopping any tentatives of the Alliance to approach it and attack. But without the Phantom Rubies, would they even be able to destroy something that huge in time? Scootaloo seemed now to be their best chance.

But right now, there was another danger than the Death Egg, much closer, and very deadly.

Rainbow Dash, right now, hated her life. She was facing a mad hedgehog robot who was now sentient and possessed crazy electricity powers as well as great magic. To make things worse, said robot possessed a Phantom Ruby that gave it even crazier powers.

And her own Phantom Ruby was destroyed.

Immediately after that it was destroyed, Metal Sonic laughed at her, making the pony growl in rage. Deciding to act despite her now very clear disadvantage, Rainbow Dash flew away, then flew back, gaining speed. Seeing this, Metal Sonic stopped laughing and flew up to avoid the Sonic Rainboom Punch. It then went after Rainbow Dash, and with the power of the Phantom Ruby, it did its own Sonic Rainboom almost immediately. Despite her surprise, Rainbow Dash barely avoided the attack by flying to the side, only for Metal Sonic to suddenly stop beside her and punch her.

Placing her front legs to block the punch, Rainbow Dash was sent flying far in the air, thankfully not toward the ground or any of the buildings. She used this to recover while moving at high speed. As the Death Egg then fired for the first time, and the countdown began, she circled it, Metal Sonic teleporting in front of her. Still moving at the same speed as her, the robot then turned to face her and caused electricity to rain randomly in her path while sending some of those Phantom Cubes in small groups to home in on her.

Rainbow avoided all of it as best as she could, especially the cubes, then gained speed to try to catch the robot only for it to match her speed, making sure that it would always remain far enough in front of her.

"You do know your fighting is pointless?" it asked her.

Rainbow couldn't hope to answer it. With how fast they were moving, her words would never reach it. Instead, she just made a rude gesture with her front legs, hoping that the robot would understand.

It got a chuckle out of it. "You are just like him, never willing to give up despite everything."

Metal Sonic then used the Phantom Ruby to move buildings, forcing her to move up, down, left, and right to avoid them. At a time, she was forced to pass through a window to traverse one of the buildings that she couldn't avoid in time, getting herself some cuts.

"You are loyal, willing to give your life for others, just like him. You are fast, just like him. You are arrogant... Just. Like. Him!"

Metal Sonic materialized more cubes, these forming even bigger cubes as obstacles in Rainbow's path. They were too many, and Rainbow touched one of them, getting her sent to a reality where the cubes were replaced by floating saws. Not wanting to finish like a log, she carefully avoided them until they disappeared with the fake reality.

"This is probably why I despise you more than anything else in this world!" Metal Sonic yelled.

Just then, the Sun and the Moon moved above their heads in the sky, the second getting in front of the first, and a huge beam came from them and destroyed the fortress and Eggman's army.

Making sure to remain away from it, the two of them continued their fight, Metal Sonic using the ruby to create clones of itself. The clones then spun, surrounding themselves in electricity, and one after another, they charged at Rainbow Dash, who got a few close calls out of this. The giant beam passed just at their left at this moment before it disappeared.

"I was made by Eggman to fight Sonic as a more powerful copy of him. I had all the advantages. Power, speed, intellect... I could even copy his own attacks! I was made to copy, and perfect what I copy!"

This time, using magic, it formed a magic ball between its claw-like hands. From the ball, a dozen beams came out at once and swept the air, and again, Rainbow could only dodge. Eventually, Metal Sonic fired the ball at her, forcing her to avoid both it and the lasers it fired around it, which became harder as the ball came closer. She was hit by one, but she quickly recovered and continued her course after Metal Sonic.

"And yet, I always lost against him, somehow. Despite my superiority, he still managed to destroy me, like you did in the jungle."

"Sucks to be you," said Rainbow Dash, even if she knew that Metal Sonic couldn't hear her.

"But now, I finally have the power to defeat him! I don't even have to follow Eggman's orders anymore! Thanks to this ruby, I'm now my own master!"

It turned its two arms into gatlings guns and fired at Rainbow Dash, the mare rapidly moving around to avoid the bullets.

"So I will kill you, then Eggman, Tirek, and Discord, and be the one at the head of this world! Then, I will return to my world, and kill Sonic and his friends, and conquer it too! This will be MY empire!"

Gosh... Will this guy just stop? It's 'alive' since just a few minutes, and it already has a bigger ego than me! Probably takes it after its 'father', Rainbow Dash thought.

She had to avoid a few more attacks consisting of Phantom Cubes, electrical, and magical beams, as well as one where Metal Sonic levitated pieces of destroyed buildings around it before throwing them at the mare. Metal Sonic was losing patience.

"I compared you to a hedgehog, but I should rather compare you to a cockroach! You're as hard to kill as one! And as annoying! Just die already!"

With its magic, seemingly boosted by the Phantom Ruby, it levitated hundreds of debris, including some huge ones, then sent all of them at once. Rainbow Dash had to use all of her hard training to avoid this cloud of debris, doing maneuvers worthy of the Wonderbolts. She still got hit by some of them, but she avoided all the more dangerous ones.

Just as it saw that she survived, Rainbow gave it a smug smile. That's all?

Metal Sonic suddenly stopped, taking Rainbow Dash off guard. The robot then moved to the side to avoid her as she passed. While the mare turned around to charge back at it, Metal Sonic then used the ruby again to levitate pieces of buildings again. It created a tornado around itself with them, forcing Rainbow to fly away to avoid it, and the mare could only watch as the pieces of buildings merged with the robot, helped again by the Phantom Ruby.

Metal Sonic grew in size and in bulk until becoming as big as a small building, keeping the familiar shape of its head with the five sharp quills, but losing its hedgehog-like form to take on a more dragon-like one. Or rather, some kind of weird hedgehog-dragon centaur thing. Its eyes changed, now lining vertically on its head, the one above smaller than the other, the right hand was replaced by a flamethrower, spikes appeared on its back from the shoulders to its new tail, and two huge wings grew from its lower body. However, it didn't possess legs anymore.

METAL OVERLORD

The remaining debris dropped to the ground, and the robot levitated the now fully depleted Phantom Ruby, and destroyed it.

It seemed like not just the rubies had been destroyed, but the generators too. Not like it will change much against that thing!

It immediately attacked Rainbow Dash with its flamethrower, forcing the mare to retreat before it unleashed electricity in all directions, attacking everything! While doing so, it also fired crystal projectiles from its mouth at Rainbow Dash as she circled it.

Having making itself known by attacking both the Alliance and Eggman's army, both armies targeted Metal Sonic with their respective airships, hitting the robot from all directions with lasers and other projectiles. However, they barely phased it, and it countered by firing its spikes as homing missiles.

Twilight came to stop it, but the robot revealed to be faster than someone would think because of its size, and it charged at her, giving her a giant headbutt that sent her flying. Metal Sonic then charged a huge laser inside its mouth, and Twilight was barely saved by Rainbow Dash.

The Death Egg then faced it and fired its two giant lasers from its eyes, only for the robot to surround itself with its familiar shield, blocking the lasers as well as the resulting explosions.

While holding a now unconscious Twilight, Rainbow Dash stared at Metal Sonic in despair. "How can we face that thing?"

"Dashie!" Pinkie Pie suddenly yelled from the roof of one of the surviving buildings. The pink pony was waving at her, and Rainbow Dash landed beside her, slowly laying down Twilight.

"You have an idea?" she asked.

Pinkie nodded, then raised a hoof, revealing a Phantom Ruby! "What?! How did-?!"

"Pinkie Sense! Now, take it, and kick this meanie's robotic butt! But remember, the generators were destroyed!"

"Thank you, Pinkie! I think that we will all owe you one!" Rainbow Dash said happily as she took the ruby.

"Then be at my victory party once this is over!"

"Do you even need to ask? Of course, I will be here!" the pegasus said. "Take care of Twilight."

Pinkie saluted. "I will!"

Rainbow then flew back toward Metal Sonic and used the ruby to turn herself into an alicorn. Boosted by the ruby, she charged at Metal Sonic, did a Sonic Rainboom, and hit it on the torso, slightly damaging it and gaining back its attention.

"Back for more?" it said. It then saw that she now possessed a Phantom Ruby. "What? Where did you-? I thought that they had all been destroyed! Nevermind, this won't change anything! Prepare to die!"

"If this changes nothing, then what is this hole that I just caused in your torso?" replied Rainbow Dash with a smirk before she flew away to avoid being slapped by its left hand.

Metal Sonic unleashed dozens of attacks at her with its magic and its inner capacities. Electricity, giant fireballs, thrown giant debris, lasers, crystals, and so on, and Rainbow Dash dodged all of them thanks to her enhanced speed, but couldn't approach because of the continuous barrage. Many of the attacks continued to cause huge destruction around them, and it led the Death Egg to fire at it again.

Seeing the two lasers coming, Rainbow Dash flew away to be out of the ranges of the explosion as one of them hit Metal Sonic, the robot being surprised. The lasers were powerful enough to damage Metal Sonic a little, but not enough to destroy it. However, it took some time to recover, and Rainbow Dash took the occasion to charge at it again, targeting the same hole she created earlier in its torso.

Metal Sonic immediately used its flamethrower at her, and Rainbow Dash was slightly burned before she could get away. However, the robot sent the four claws of its left hand at her, and the claws trapped her in some crystal cage. Metal Sonic then charged energy in its mouth, and Rainbow Dash struggled to escape the cage before it could fire. She succeeded and was able to avoid the laser.

Dozens of airships from the Alliance then fired at it at once, giving Rainbow a new opening to charge at it, again targeting the hole she caused. All the while, Eggman's army continuously fired at it. Getting annoyed by them, Metal Sonic forced Rainbow away, then charged energy again before firing a laser. It swept the air all around it with it, destroying countless airships, mainly from Eggman's army as the Alliance's airships were too spread out. Rainbow Dash, again, used this opportunity to attack it another time, this time using the Phantom Ruby to send a powerful bolt of electricity inside the hole she caused, badly damaging Metal Sonic's circuits.

She immediately flew away to avoid a slap from the now smoking robot just as the Death Egg fired again. This time, Metal Sonic saw the lasers coming and used the same shield as earlier to protect itself. Rainbow Dash, however, used her ruby to teleport inside the shield, and used Metal Sonic's surprise to attack it again. She spun, then used the ruby to surround herself in electricity while immediately doing a Sonic Rainboom, passing right through the robot by the hole she caused. The electricity spread everywhere in its body, roasting its insides as it spasmed.

The shield disappeared, and Rainbow Dash rapidly moved far enough above it as it was still paralyzed. She then spun again and used all of the ruby's remaining power to create the most powerful electricity around her body ever while doing another Sonic Rainboom.

Still paralyzed by the electricity and all the damage it took, Metal Sonic couldn't avoid the attack, and it was pierced from the head to the bottom of its body, the electricity finishing it.

"N... No... How...?" Metal Sonic asked before it exploded, the explosion as big as the ones caused by the lasers of the Death Egg.

"Ah!" Rainbow Dash in victory shouted as she turned to the remains of Metal Sonic, her body returning to normal. "You were wondering why you lost? Because you suuuck, and we're aaaawesoooome! Ahahah! Wait until I tell Scoot! Speaking of, I wonder how she's faring..."

Back when the Death Egg fired for the first time and the countdown began, Discord was still growling at Eggman's act.

"Why are you still working for him if you hate his actions so much?" asked Scootaloo.

Discord huffed. "I don't work for him. I'm helping Tirek, and Tirek has a partnership with Eggman, so I have no choice but to help him too if I want to reach my goal."

"Total liberty, uh?"

"Oh! You remembered! Good job!" Discord said while clapping. "Yes, to regain my liberty, I'm willing to work for Eggman. But don't worry, once we reach our goal, me and Tirek will make Eggman pay for everything he did. If everything goes to plan, then Eggman will be history today! But for this, I must stop you from destroying the Death Egg. It's an important part of our plan."

"Sorry, but I'm not too keen in letting everyone's magic getting drained."

At this moment, the Sun and the Moon moved to create an eclipse, and a huge beam came from them and destroyed the fortress.

"And it seems that Celestia and Luna aren't okay with it too."

"Like I care if you are okay or not."

"Even Fluttershy?"

Discord let a small growl escape before he calmed down. "Even her. Now..."

Snap!

Bubbles suddenly appeared everywhere around them.

Snap!

Fishes now appeared, swimming in the air like they normally swim in water.

Snap! Snap! Snap!

Clouds of cotton candy appeared, the buildings in the area floated, and random objects appeared, also floating in the air among the bubbles and the fishes.

"Shall we dance?" he finished.

Suspicious, Scootaloo sent a small projectile at one of the bubbles, and the bubble exploded, letting out some powder.

"Oh! Scraping powder! Too bad you didn't get it," Discord said.

Scootaloo pointed her lightning spear at Discord, used the power of the Phantom Ruby to trap him in a reality where he was vulnerable, then charged. "Let's finish this once and for all, Discord!"

Remember our strategy, said Infinite.

Scootaloo didn't reply, instead avoiding a cotton candy cloud that Discord sent in her path to block her. She teleported and charged again. When she reached Discord, she thrusted her spear, only for the Spirit of Chaos to move his body like a snake to avoid it. She did a couple more thrusts that Discord avoided the same way, then teleported back and threw the spear that Discord also easily avoided.

Some fishes went to attack her, but Scootaloo surrounded herself in a shield of electricity that electrocuted all of them. Meanwhile, Discord took a pogo stick that floated nearby and bounced randomly in the air before suddenly going after Scootaloo.

She avoided him with another teleportation, materialized a new lightning spear, then charged at Discord again despite him continuing to bounce around. Anticipating this, Scootaloo thrusted her spear again, but Discord teleported before that, and only the pogo stick was destroyed.

One of the bubbles then floated toward her from behind and touched her before exploding, and she found herself trapped in stone. Discord appeared beside her with a hammer and a chisel, but she was able to escape thanks to the power of the ruby before he could do anything, and she teleported away.

When she appeared, she materialized Phantom Cubes that she sent in wave patterns by groups of three, first three vertical waves horizontally, then three horizontal waves vertically, then three horizontal waves vertically. Again, Discord easily avoided them, took a cue stick floating around, and used it to send a bubble into another bubble, creating a chain reaction of bubbles hitting bubbles. Scootaloo tried to avoid them, but she was eventually hit by one. When the bubble exploded on her, she wasn't sure what it caused until Discord took a floating body mirror and turned it toward her.

While still in her Zero persona, she was now physically younger, much younger. Like, around five years old, maybe.

"Uh. You were adorable when you were a child, Infinite," she said before she used the ruby to return to normal.

Infinite groaned. Just hurry up. We're losing time.

Rapidly, Scootaloo attacked again with her lightning spear, doing three thrusts before throwing it. This time, however, she teleported before throwing a second spear, and teleported again before throwing a third one which didn't do much in the end. Discord was even looking bored.

She began to attack more rapidly, repeating the three lightning spear thrusts followed by the throw, and occasionally doing the wave attack. She, however, diversified the first attack, doing for example the three thrusts, and teleporting only to appear behind Discord before doing a fourth thrust. This one took him by surprise and actually hit Discord, showing that the strategy worked.

Discord healed himself, then finally used his magic to exit the reality where he was vulnerable, only for Scootaloo to send him back in it immediately. So the draconequus did a flick with his claw, and the various floating objects, bubbles, clouds, and buildings moved rapidly and erratically.

Scootaloo decided that she did enough and left Infinite in control, his mask appearing on her head. Infinite immediately began by using strong gravity to force all the floating stuff to drop on the ground, then sent groups of Phantom Cubes homing in on Discord one by one. As Discord avoided them, Infinite spun while surrounding himself in electricity, then charged at him. Discord let himself drop to avoid him, then materialized a wall made of steel in his path, and Infinite crashed headfirst into it.

Infinite didn't lose time however and quickly recovered, repairing his damaged mask. A square of Phantom Cubes then appeared directly under Discord, and he moved aside just beside it as it turned into an immense column. However, more squares appeared under Discord as he continued to move. The draconequus then saw Infinite suddenly drop toward him and a cask materialized on his head, diminishing the effectiveness of the hit. Despite his foot hashing, Infinite then levitated debris around him and sent them at Discord one by one before he repeated with the groups of Phantom Cubes homing in.

After repeating those attacks a few times, he gave Scootaloo control again, and the filly repeated her attacks, starting with the three spear thrusts before throwing it.

"I didn't know that I was fighting a boss from a video game," Discord said as he avoided more lightning spears thrown as Scootaloo teleported repeatedly. "I'm disappointed. Our previous fights were more entertaining. I don't even have to be serious."

"Like you were ever serious," Scootaloo said.

"I was serious, back when you were really fighting."

Scootaloo didn't reply to that, and after a few more attacks, left her place to Infinite who repeated his attacks, but adding a little something: when he dropped on Discord after the columns of Phantom Cubes, if the draconequus dodged, then a clone secretly materialized would drop too. It took Discord by surprise the first time, giving him a serious headache.

Infinite didn't pay attention to the big blue dragon robot that appeared in the distance. He will have to trust the Alliance to deal with it while he fights Discord. Scootaloo, however, was worried.

Discord dodged again the debris that were levitated and thrown by Infinite, then yawned. But then, he found himself impaled by a lightning spear, to his shock, literally and figuratively.

Infinite used one of Scootaloo's attacks? Okay, they got him good this time. He quickly destroyed the spear before healing himself, but didn't see the square of Phantom Cubes appearing above him. The square turned into a column, and he was caught in it, finding himself in a reality with a wall of huge cannons firing alternatively. Again, because he was caught off guard by this, he couldn't avoid in time the beam fired by the cannon facing him.

Growling, he healed himself as the mask on Infinite's head disappeared, showing that Scootaloo was back in control. The filly charged at him with a lightning spear, and Discord moved his body to dodge, only for the lightning spear to turn into a familiar red sword, and Discord was badly cut as a result. He quickly created a shockwave that threw the filly away, giving him space to heal, again.

However, Scootaloo- No, Infinite, he had the mask- Infinite appeared behind him ready to attack with the red sword. He quickly materialized a rod to parry the sword. But again, he didn't see the square of Phantom Cubes forming under him, and it was only at the last moment that he saw it. He was transported in another reality, but instead of finding himself in front of a wall of cannons, Scootaloos on flying scooters with reactors were charging at him from all sides. He quickly turned the scooters into duck buoys, and all the Scootaloos dropped before the reality disappeared.

And again, Infinite, no, Scootaloo came from behind with Infinite's sword, and Discord decided to teleport away. Scootaloo... Infinite, the mask appeared again, then sent after him those groups of Phantom Cubes homing in on him, and also threw lightning spears.

Scootaloo charged at him and thrusted her lightning spear three times, then teleported behind him, the spear turning into the red sword. Discord quickly materialized a knight shield to block it, only for Scootaloo to teleport again, and Infinite appeared yet again behind him and impaled him with a fire spear! Infinite immediately sent a Phantom Cube and sent Discord in a reality where it rained spiked balls. Still impaled and burned by the fire spear, he couldn't avoid the balls hurting him even more.

When he came back, Scootaloo was here and immediately impaled him with her lightning spear, then Infinite slashed him with his sword before giving him an uppercut, then Scootaloo kicked him strongly, sending him flying before throwing another lightning spear and impaling him again. Infinite then teleported near him and attacked again, slashing with his sword all over his body.

During a brief moment, Discord recovered his senses enough to roar and punch Infinite in the mask, destroying it and sending him flying away. Breathing heavily, Discord then healed himself.

In the distance, the blue dragon robot exploded.

Scootaloo was back in control when she attacked again using Infinite's sword, and Discord quickly teleported away before he said, "Trying to out-trick me, huh? Good job, you almost got me. Now, I am angry."

Scootaloo smirked. "Angry at us, or angry at yourself for hurting Fluttershy?"

Discord growled. "I don't care about her anymore!"

"Then explain how she defeated you so easily with you barely putting up a fight."

"I... I wasn't in top form that day! I was sick!"

"Probably sick of yourself. You are nothing more than a brat spoiled with enormous power and the freedom to do what you want thanks to it. When you don't get what you want, you start a tantrum. You are millennia old, but you are no better than a child who refuses to change even knowing that it would be for the better, because you are too attached to what you already have. Ironic. Isn't chaos about change?"

Discord growled again, louder. "Shut up..."

"No wonder you disgust yourself... You contradict your very nature with your actions."

"SHUP! UP!"

Scootaloo gave the smuggest smirk she could give. "Make me Lord of Idiots."

Discord roared, and he unleashed a wave of magic that spread over a vast area, altering everything in it except Scootaloo. The area was now pure chaos and insanity, impossible to describe.

Good job, said Infinite. We made him so angry that he won't think what he will do. It will be easier to defeat him.

"Let's make sure that he doesn't calm down," Scootaloo said as she charged at Discord.

Only for him to snap his fingers, and time was suddenly slowed down. Discord then created a ball of pure chaotic energy and threw it at Scootaloo. Despite being slowed down, Scootaloo managed to teleport. Using a vast quantity of the energy of the Phantom Ruby that she can use, she then forced her time to return to normal as she appeared behind Discord.

"The trust hurts," she said before she impaled him with two lightning spears.

You used a lot of energy. Leave the fight to me while you recover it.

"Very well."

Thanks to Discord being impaled, time returned to normal, and Infinite tried to attack with his sword, but Discord hit it with his lion paw, and the sword was turned into particles. The draconequus then tried to hit Infinite too, but the jackal quickly teleported before getting the same fate. He appeared further and fired a beam that sent Discord crashing.

Easier to defeat, but much more dangerous, said Scootaloo.

Infinite nodded. "If he hits us once, we're dead. We must be careful."

Suddenly, the ground moved as if it was alive, and parts of it rose to attack Infinite, who was left with no choice but to fly further in the sky. Midflight, Discord appeared in front of him and tried to hit him again, but Infinite skillfully avoided the eagle claw before rematerializing his sword and cutting Discord with it.

Discord teleported away, then sent all the buildings in the chaotic area... or what they transformed into, toward Infinite, who teleported away again and again and again to avoid them. Eventually, Infinite levitated some of the 'buildings' and threw them at Discord, who destroyed them with his balls of chaotic energy. Discord then assembled all the 'buildings', including the remains of the ones he destroyed, into a giant ball in the sky before he let it drop on Infinite.

Infinite waited, and at the last moment, he used the power of the Phantom Ruby to alter reality so he was now in the place of Discord, and Discord was in his place. The draconequus was crushed by the ball. For good measure, Infinite then created a giant energy ball, about one tenth of the size of the sun he created back in his world, then sent it toward the mess of 'buildings', and it was destroyed in an enormous explosion.

Taking back his breath, Infinite stared at the smoke remaining after the explosion, daring Discord to survive this. Meanwhile, in the distance, he could see that some of the airships of the Alliance finally fired at the Death Egg.

5
4
3
2
1
0!

The alarm blared again as the countdown finished, and the ground shook.

Shit! We must destroy the Death Egg! Now!" shouted Scootaloo.

But suddenly, a portal opened at Infinite's left, and out of it came Discord's upper body who grabbed Infinite's left arm.

The arm turned into particles.

Acting quickly, Infinite sliced his arm with his sword, then slashed at Discord's head, giving him a severe cut before he disappeared back in his portal.

AAAAARGH!!! IT HURTS!!! yelled Scootaloo, not used to the pain.

Infinite huffed in return before, in the familiar glitchy way of the Phantom Ruby, the arm reappeared.

As the Death Egg took off, another portal opened at this moment, and Discord came out of it. This time, Infinite was prepared, avoided Discord's attempt to grab him, and sliced his right arm, making the draconequus yell in pain. Infinite then materialized a chain and wrapped a part of it around Discord's neck before pulling, forcing the draconequus entirely out of the portal. After spinning him for a few seconds, he then sent him crashing to the ground.

Sword ready, Infinite then went after him to finish this!

Only for a certain yellow pegasus to place herself between him and Discord yelling, "STOP! PLEASE!"

If it wasn't for Scootaloo forcing him, Infinite wouldn't have stopped.

"What are you doing?!" shouted Infinite.

"Stopping you from killing a friend," replied Fluttershy calmly, shocking Discord who looked at her in disbelief from the ground.

"A friend?" Infinite repeated. "A friend?" He laughed. "You call him a friend after everything he did?"

One by one, Fluttershy's friends came, including Twilight, who had awakened.

Seeing what was happening, Twilight placed herself beside Fluttershy and talked. "We haven't really been good friends to him too... Chaos is in his nature, but we tried to force him to become someone he isn't. Even if I accepted some of his chaos, I understand that I was putting too many limits. We put too many limits." She looked at her friends one by one. "Discord wouldn't change in one day, and yet, from the first day, we asked too much from him. Instead of moving slowly, we forced him directly to be what we wanted him to be." She looked at Discord. "It's no wonder that he followed Tirek. We really were like jailers to him."

Infinite stared at Twilight, then at Discord, then turned to look up at the Death Egg that was already far in the sky. "Fine. Whatever. I don't have time for this. Don't come crying when he backstabs you again," He finally said before taking off after the Death Egg.

Everypony watched him fly away until Discord asked, "Why?" gaining back their attention.

Twilight smiled sadly. "It's like I said, Discord... Yes, we are angry that you betrayed us. You hurt Fluttershy a lot. But..." She sighed. "We really didn't help. Some of us even outright refused to trust you. We... I failed. I was too forceful toward you, and I barely put any effort in return. At best, you were a nuisance that I tolerated because Princess Celestia asked me to."

"He didn't really help, like when he faked that sickness that turned him blue," said Rarity.

"Of course. Like I said, he wouldn't change in one day. And we have to accept it. It's a work for all of us, not just him."

Discord looked at her, then sighed. "The truth is... I was barely putting any effort too... I wanted to try friendship. It felt... nice..." He looked at Fluttershy with a small smile at this. But his smile disappeared. "But at the same time... I refused to give up what I had. The possibility to do what I want, without caring what ponies were thinking." He pushed a small laugh. "Scootaloo was right. Chaos is change, and yet, I refused to change. How ironic. I'm really just a spoiled brat with a lot of power."

"She said that? Ouch..." said Rainbow Dash.

Twilight smiled and raised a hoof. "Then, how about we retry from the beginning? You can do what you want with your chaos as long as it doesn't harm ponies or other living beings. Of course, it would be best if you could avoid being annoying. In return, we will accept what you are and put our trust in you, and help you learn about friendship."

"Twilight. You know me. I can't stop being annoying. But at least, I will try to control myself and learn what it is to be a good friend. So... Deal!" He tried to shake Twilight's hoof, but he then remembered that he didn't have a right arm anymore. "Oh, right..." With a snap, the arm was back, and he shook Twilight's hoof. "Deal!"

He was immediately hugged by Fluttershy.

As a warm smile appeared on his face, he then took the necklace that Tirek gave him. "Tirek gave this necklace to me when he convinced me to join him to show that he was trusting me. He told me that it was his own brother who gave it to him. I... I don't know how to feel about breaking that trust... He even told me his plan."

Twilight shook her head. "He manipulated you. Scorpan, Tirek's brother, was the one who revealed to Celestia and Luna Tirek's intentions, which led to him getting imprisoned in Tartarus. Tirek hates his brother. That necklace means nothing to him. He used it to make you think that he was your friend when, in reality, he probably planned to backstab you when you would stop being useful."

Discord huffed. "I should have seen that coming... The puppeteer puppeted like an idiot. I'm really the Lord of Idiots."

"Something that Scootaloo also said?" Twilight asked.

"Yes. She was really spot on. Well, this revelation made this necklace lose all its symbolism, but I hope that you will still accept it as proof of my friendship. True friendship." At this, he placed the necklace around Twilight's neck.

Then, for an instant, a rainbow shimmer traversed the necklace.

"Uh? Why did it glow rainbow?" Twilight wondered.

"Oh, right, you didn't find out because of all those events..." Discord said. "No time to turn around the spot. Tirek is about to absorb everyone's magic, so I will have to be more direct than usual. This necklace is one of the keys to open the chest that the Tree of Harmony gave you. To think that I would be the one giving the last key..."

"The last key? What? And what about Tirek?"

"No time to explain! Let's go to the chest!"

And with a snap, he teleported all of them.

Flying after the Death Egg, Infinite eventually flew so far in the sky that he passed what no other ponies passed excepted probably Celestia and Luna: a magical veil surrounding the world forming the sky that the inhabitants of the planet saw. Traversing it was like traversing water, except that it wasn't wet, and beyond it was the real sky: space. An infinite and mysterious space full of real stars and other real celestial bodies that were out of Luna's power.

The Death Egg was further ahead, still moving, having not yet reached its intended position to absorb the magic of everyone in Equus. It seemed like Eggman prepared for the eventuality of someone chasing the Death Egg, because a giant armada of airships, or rather, spaceships moved to block Infinite's path and fired at him while sending countless robots.

"I don't think I will have enough energy to destroy all of them," said Infinite begrudgingly.

Then once you feel that you're almost out of juice, switch with me. I think that I almost recovered entirely, Scootaloo said.

"Once this happens, avoid using your energy too rapidly. I will have to recover my own."

Of course!

Inside his mask, Infinite smirked. In his mind, Scootaloo smirked too.

"It's show time! they both shouted.

Infinite charged toward the first spaceship that blocked his path, avoiding all the projectiles fired by its cannons, then sliced it in half with one slash. With more slashes, he cut the ship into smaller parts. One by one, he then threw the parts at the other spaceships near enough, destroying many robots in the way.

Not stopping moving to avoid the storm of beams and other projectiles fired his way, he then fired his own beam toward a spaceship at his right, piercing it from part to part, destroying it, before he used that same beam to sweep the space from his right to his left, destroying more robots and spaceships and creating a giant field of explosions.

But there were still a lot of them, and the Death Egg was moving further and further.

We will never catch the Death Egg at this pace!

"We will have to move and attack the ships only when we're left with no choice. I leave this to you, I almost used everything I have."

Okay! Count on me!

So Scootaloo took Infinite's place and flew as fast as she could thanks to the Phantom Ruby without using too much energy. A Spaceship placed itself in the way, so she spun while surrounding herself in electricity and passed through it. While inside it, she left a bomb powerful enough to destroy it; the spaceship exploding behind her.

More spaceship moved to block the way, and she had to slalom between them, continuously attacking them and the robots they sent with beams and other projectiles, or with her lightning spears. Then, the Death Egg, its Eggman head facing her, fired its two giant beams at her, and she quickly moved out of the way as the two beams destroyed many spaceships in their path.

More and more, she approached the Death Egg as it continued to fire until, suddenly, it stopped moving, and a 'mouth' opened.

"Oh no..."

And, as she feared, Scootaloo could feel, and see, her magic being drained out of her. From Equus, countless streams of magic were coming toward the mouth of the Death Egg.

They couldn't stop it in time...

Everyone's magic, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, the others, Celestia, Luna... even Discord, was taken and disappeared inside the space fortress.

"We... We failed..."

Not completely. We still have the Phantom Ruby's power. We can still destroy that fortress!

More determined than ever, Scootaloo flew toward the Death Egg, passing the last few spaceships on the way.

But then, the Death Egg cracked, cracked, cracked... and exploded.

Out of it came... Tirek, now almost as huge as the fortress had been, now possessing long white hairs with his white beard.

He admired his now huge body, then shouted "Yes... YES!!! I have the POWER!!! AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" While laughing, he stared at what remained of the armada of spaceships, and fired dozens of huge magical beams and thousands of smaller one, destroying everything, both ships and robots. "Thank you, Eggman! I would have never succeeded without you! Ahahahah!"

Gulping, Scootaloo took Infinite's sword and charged toward Tirek. With the power of the Phantom Ruby, she could still slice him! But Tirek saw her coming, and with a smirk, fired another giant beam. Scootaloo avoided it, barely, but she didn't see coming the huge fist that followed with surprising speed for its size. She was Punched, so strongly that she was sent flying back toward Equus. As she entered the atmosphere, she recovered her senses and quickly used the ruby to avoid being burned, then used it to avoid being turned into paste upon crashing, wherever she crashed. She still was hurt a lot, and as she slowly recovered in the center of the crater that she formed, she used more energy of the ruby to heal the injuries she got.

She was almost out of juice now, already.

Then, with a big earthquake, Tirek landed behind her, as big as a mountain.

The centaur was giving her the biggest, evilest, most superior smirk he could give.

L O R D

T I R E K

Chapter 20: Phantom

Scootaloo stared up at the mountainous centaur, and couldn't stop herself from gulping. Tirek now possessed the magic of everyone in the world. She didn't know how much it was, but she didn't doubt that it was enough to overpower anything she could throw with the measly 50% that she controlled of the Phantom Ruby. Discord was already a close call, and Tirek was at least one thousand time more powerful now. And she was almost out of energy, and she wasn't sure that Infinite recovered enough.

The situation was definitively not in her favor, and she could count on nobody to help her. Everyone lost their magic, and all the Phantom Ruby Copies were destroyed because of Discord. Their armada of airships would be wiped out in an instant, and any weapon would be simple insect bites against him.

"Uh... Any idea, Infinite?"

... He probably doesn't control his new powers yet, so we may have a chance... A very small chance... If only we had full control of the Phantom Ruby...

"You aren't thinking that we should...?"

No.

While they talked, Tirek lowered himself like someone lowered themselves to look at an ant, still smirking.

"Hello there. If I'm not mistaken, this is the first time we're facing off each other in battle. All the other times, it was against at least one of the Elements or the princesses."

"Uh... Well, Discord always made sure that I couldn't ruin your fun."

"He did. But now, here we are..." He looked around, seeing that they were now among the frozen mountains of the North, "in the Frozen North, me possessing everyone's magic and about to conquer the world." He looked back at Scootaloo. "You know what, I'm in a good mood, so I'll let you go if you decide to not try to stop me. As powerful as you are thanks to your ruby, you can't expect to win against me now."

"And let everypony down? Like hay!"

Tirek gave a resigned shrug. "As you wish."

He rose back to his full length, rose his right arm, and attacked.

Scootaloo quickly flew away, and the giant fist impacted the ground without hitting her. However, the force of the blow caused strong winds that almost swept her, and cracks spread all around as the area shook, avalanches beginning and mountains crumbling!

Scootaloo flew along the arm to Tirek's shoulder, then sent a wave of Phantom Energy to get Tirek in her power before she materialized one of her lightning spears, then threw the spear at Tirek's head. The spear pierced the right cheek, and electricity spread in Tirek's body, but the centaur barely felt it and fired a huge magical beam in return. Scootaloo teleported to avoid it, the beam leveling an entire mountain.

When she reappeared, Scootaloo sent some Phantom Cubes at Tirek, sending him in a reality where dozens of laser cannons continuously fired at him, but again, the cannons were too small to do any real damage and he made it known by smashing Scootaloo as soon as the alternate reality disappeared, sending her crashing at his hooves. He then rose a hoof to crush her, and Scootaloo, coughing blood, quickly let herself pass through the ground like a ghost.

She then came out of the ground behind Tirek and rose dozens of giant spikes of rock under his lower body's belly. This had an effect on Tirek, but only a small one. The centaur just let escape a small groan of pain before he recovered and sent a magical shockwave that destroyed the spikes and sent Scootaloo into a mountain. Tirek then tore off a huge piece of ground and threw it after the filly.

Let me in control! Quickly ordered Infinite when they saw the mountainous boulder coming at them, and Scootaloo wordlessly accepted, Infinite's mask covering their head as he took control. Infinite then charged toward the boulder and drilled through it as the boulder hit the mountain in a huge crash that caused tons of rock to fly in all directions. Once out of the boulder, Infinite continued charging toward Tirek who levitated more giant boulders before throwing them one by one. Infinite also drilled through them, then quickly teleported to avoid a surprise beam from Tirek. Reappearing, Infinite continued his charge, and hit Tirek in his upper body's belly, giving in enough power to actually get the breath out of the centaur. Infinite then sent Phantom Cubes to transport Tirek to a reality where dozens of seesaws cut him a little everywhere and even threatened to cut their way to his brain and his heart, but Tirek destroyed all of them with another magical shockwave that even destroyed the reality created by the Phantom Ruby.

Caught off guard, Infinite couldn't avoid the beam that followed, and it was only thanks to the Phantom Ruby that he wasn't totally disintegrated, and after some glitching, he was totally healed. He fired back his own beam at Tirek using a lot of energy from the ruby, and it was powerful enough to force the centaur to take a step back, grunting in pain before he came back and kicked him toward another mountain. Tirek then fired another beam at the mountain, totally destroying it.

But just as Tirek laughed in victory, he saw a group of six familiar ponies approaching from the air, surrounded by a rainbow aura. It wasn't just that; the ponies had changed, gaining colors in their manes and tails, and even in their feathers for the ones possessing wings. Some of them even had actual longer manes and tails.

"What? How is this possible? I absorbed everyone's magic!"

"Maybe, Tirek," answered Twilight, "but there's one magic that you couldn't absorb, and it's the most powerful of all: the Magic of Friendship!"

At this, the six mares fired a powerful rainbow beam at the centaur who immediately fired his own beam. While at first, the two beams clashed without any winner, Tirek eventually smirked and put more magic in his beam, beginning to overpower the beam from the mares. The Bearers gasped at this, then put more magic into their beam, only for Tirek to put even more magic into his beam. The mares were forced to disperse.

"Ah! As powerful as it is, your Magic of Friendship can't hope to overpower the magic of all the beings in the world!" shouted Tirek.

Twilight growled, not able to stop sweating in worry. "Speaking of," she started, "how could Eggman let you have it? I'm sure that he knew that you would use it against him! He's not stupid! Did you sneak in the Death Egg?"

"Not at all," answered Tirek with a shrug. "As unbelievable as it sounds, he actually let me have it. Maybe he's really that stupid but, hey, I'm not one to look at a gift horse in the mouth."

The ponies looked at each other. This was weird. Something was going on.

Whatever, they now had to deal with Tirek, and it wasn't looking good for them.

"What do we do?" asked Rarity.

"We don't give up," answered Twilight. "We must defeat Tirek, for Equus."

"Where's Scootaloo? Shouldn't she be here?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"There was a big explosion earlier. I hope she's alright," said Fluttershy in worry.

"Don't worry! I'm sure that if we fight long enough, she will come back with a power up and kick Tirek's butt!" shouted Pinkie Pie.

"It doesn't mean we won't try to kick his butt before," said Applejack.

"Of course! We will do our best!" replied Pinkie.

The six ponies then attacked Tirek, circling him and doing what they could, using magic, charging at him, throwing stuff at him as strongly as they could, and so on.

Meanwhile, Scootaloo and Infinite were in a really bad shape. Their unconscious body was constantly glitching, trying to repair itself with the little Phantom Energy that remained.

Infinite destroyed one of the burning buildings with an explosive beam.

"I can't believe I was defeated that easily!" he yelled.

"What did you expect?" asked Scootaloo. "The guy has the magic of everyone in the world, and we only have 50% of the Phantom Ruby at our disposition. It's like asking a bee to fight a full-grown stallion. Yes, the bee will sting, but the stallion will easily crush it in the end. And again, we weren't in top form after our fight against Discord."

Infinite glared at her, then destroyed another building. Comparing him to a bee! The nerve! And the worst was that she was right!

Scootaloo watched Infinite as he let out his frustration, then sighed. Slowly, she walked toward him, then sat beside him, the jackal looking at her.

"Infinite... I don't think we will be able to win this one... Not in our actual situation..." she said.

"..."

"You know I'm right."

"..."

She sighed again. "We... We need to..." She took a big breath. "We must defeat Tirek! But he's too powerful! We must merge!"

"....... Yes... We must merge," finally replied Infinite after a small sigh. "But you know what this means..."

Scootaloo nodded. "We will become one, forever."

"Are you sure you want this?"

"No... I don't want this... I don't want to lose myself and become a part of you, or you a part of me. But we aren't really given a choice, are we?"

"We have. We could simply forget about Tirek, your friends, the world, everything, and just go live our life without care."

"Is this what you want?"

Infinite chuckled. "No. This would mean giving up, and I never give up. But I don't want to lose myself too..."

"But you prefer kicking his ass," said Scootaloo with a smirk.

"And take him down from his pedestal."

"Well, I think this settles this. I want to save everyone, and you want to show Tirek who's the boss and beat him back to Tartarus." She presented her hoof to Infinite with a determined expression. "Let's do this, partner."

After staring at the hoof for a few seconds, Infinite took it.

Scootaloo closed her eyes as Infinite's memories entered her mind.

Sorry everyone... I will not come back... kinda. I hope the new me will be ok.

Twilight teleported to avoid being slapped like a fly and immediately countered with a magical beam that hit Tirek in the left eye. The centaur yelled in pain, putting a hand to cover his eye, then rained thousands of powerful lightning bolts all over the area as retaliation. The ponies tried to avoid them, but it was like trying to dodge rain drops, and one by one, they were hit.

Rainbow Dash, despite this, did a Sonic Rainboom (she stopped counting how many times she did one today, especially since the fight started) and hit Tirek in the back of the head. Pinkie followed it by hitting Tirek on the cheek with her hammer, and the others all charged at him one after another. In return, Tirek sent a storm of magical balls in all directions, forcing the ponies to back away to better dodge them.

"I-I don't know how long I can keep up..." said Rarity.

"Me too," said Rainbow Dash. "My wings are killing me. But... But we can't give up!"

Suddenly, a wave of Phantom Energy spread everywhere and hit everyone, ponies and centaur, sending them in a reality where the frozen mountains were replaced by volcanoes, rivers and lakes of lava appearing everywhere on the ground. One of those rivers appeared around Tirek's back legs, and he quickly moved them to stop the burn.

"What the...?!"

"Woah!"

"Eep!"

The earth then shook, and giant boulders began to rise from the ground. Then, a vast quantity of lava rose too and gathered above a lake before separating to form a tunnel, and out of the tunnel came... someone who looked like Scootaloo, but had the body shape of Infinite.

The being was a bipedal orange furred, purple maned/tailed pony possessing black-gloved hands and feet covered by black shoes. She seemed female, and had her arms crossed, slowly floating forward, eyes closed. She had a similar mane style as Scootaloo, but her hairs were the same length as the ones she possessed as Zero. She possessed no wings, however.

Then, she opened her eyes, revealing that the left one had a yellow iris while the right one had a blue iris.

"Scoot?" said Rainbow Dash in wonder.

"Mph! So you survived. What is with the new appearance?" asked Tirek.

"The one that I decided best suited me," answered Scootaloo(?) with a shrug. With a wave of her right arm, she then sent the lava toward Tirek, and the centaur quickly put on a shield to protect himself. But then, Scootaloo(?) teleported just in front of his face. "Call me Phantom," she said before causing an explosion of energy in Tirek's face, forcing him to take a step back, causing one of his back hooves to step into a river of lava. Burned, he quickly got it out with a growl.

"Phantom?" asked Twilight, gaining Phantom's attention, who nodded at her. Where before Zero was a little taller than Twilight, Phantom just reached her muzzle.

"Scootaloo and Infinite merged to be able to use the full potential of the Phantom Ruby. I'm the result. I'm Scootaloo, but also Infinite, and yet, I am none of them, not really." She gave the ponies a small smile. "I decided to call myself Phantom. I thought that it was a really appropriate name for me, and it sounds cool."

Pinkie Pie waved at her. "Nice meeting you, Phantom who's also Scootaloo and Infinite but not really!" She then looked at Phantom's thighs and gasped. "Oh my gosh! Look!" she shouted while pointing at them.

Phantom looked down at her thighs, then gave a small gasp. On the side of both thighs was now the image of the Phantom Ruby. "Is that my Cutie Mark? O-oh my gosh! It is! I have my Cutie Mark! I have my Cutie Mark!"

Just as it seemed that Phantom was about to fly in all directions in joy, she saw a huge magical beam come at them, and she quickly used her power to teleport everyone out of the way, and they reappeared behind a boulder further away.

She cleared her throat, calming herself. "As awesome as it is, the celebration will have to wait. Let's deal with Tirek first. By the way, how did you get... like this?" she asked while waving at the mares, referencing to their new appearances.

"A power that we got from the Tree of Harmony after opening a chest," answered Twilight. "It would be too long to explain, but to make it short, we had to collect six keys, and Discord gave the last one when he finally accepted Friendship, just after you... Erh... Infinite left. Gosh, this will be awkward..."

"And yet, that darn centaur's still more powerful than us," said Applejack.

"So, you can, like, send a rainbow beam?" asked Phantom.

"Yes. We could use it on Tirek to force everyone's magic out of him and send him back to Tartarus," said Rarity.

"But he totally overpowered us!" shouted Rainbow Dash.

"But if you could hit him, then it could work, right?" asked Phantom.

"Yes," answered Twilight. "No matter how powerful whoever we target is, as long as our beam hits, it's over for them."

"Alright then. You wait out of the way and fire the beam when you have the occasion, I will gain Tirek's attention," said Phantom.

Without giving time for the ponies to reply, she teleported and reappeared behind Tirek. She then created a column of lava and sent it at his back, badly burning him. Tirek immediately turned around and caught Phantom in his magic, immobilizing her. He then fired another beam, only for Phantom to teleport again despite the magic, freeing herself. Phantom then materialized a meteorite that Tirek punched into dust before she sent more lava toward him from his sides.

Tirek had enough of the lava and used his magic to lower the temperature, turning all the lava in the area into stone, only for Phantom to finally send all the floating giant boulders. After getting hit by a few of them, Tirek quickly surrounded himself in a shield, then formed two walls from the ground at both sides of Phantom. He tried to crush her between them, only for Phantom to destroy them.

Then, reality changed, and the chain of volcanoes turned into a desert, the mountains replaced by mountainous dunes. Phantom then created a giant quicksand under Tirek, and the centaur sank, but Tirek quickly levitated himself out of it. He then blew strong winds, creating a huge sandstorm hoping to blind Phantom, but she used this at her advantage and used the sand to create a huge sand fist that she used to punch Tirek.

Tirek easily destroyed the sand fist with a swing of his arm, then he manipulated the sand like tentacles to try to hit Phantom. One of them slapped her, but she quickly recovered and sent a huge wave of sand at Tirek like a tsunami, sweeping him. With a roar, Tirek used a magical shockwave to free himself from the sand, then moved the Sun and the Moon so the Moon faced the Sun, firing Celestia and Luna's Eclipse Cannon at Phantom. The anthropomorphic filly didn't stop moving to escape the powerful beam that easily turned the sand into glass and she created more sand fists that she used to punch Tirek in return.

Seeing that Tirek wasn't stopping his Eclipse Cannon, Phantom changed tactic, and the following moment, water suddenly flooded the desert coming from nowhere, the only thing remaining out being the dunes that turned back into mountains. Then, out of the water came a creature made of water almost as tall as Tirek! The creature resembled a giant snake of water with its head, back and sides covered in dark blue reptilian skin with liquid spikes protruding from its back. Despite its liquid nature, the thing possessed green slit eyes, green sharp teeth, and even a long green tongue and green horns on its head and green arteries along its back. They could also see an organic brain inside a 'fin' on the head.

Around the creature, several tentacles of water rose from the newly formed ocean and wrapped themselves around Tirek.

"What is that thing?!" asked the centaur as he struggled against the tentacles of water.

Phantom appeared above the snake thing and landed on its head. "Meet Perfect Chaos. Or rather, a replica. It's not as powerful as the original, but..." She snapped her fingers, and Perfect Chaos fired a powerful energy beam at Tirek that sent the giant centaur flying. "It's still good enough to hurt you."

Now would be a good time, girls, she thought. She used a lot of energy to create that powerful replica, and she wasn't sure if it would last long against Tirek.

Well, as long as Tirek didn't understand Chaos' only weakness, it should be ok.

Tirek got up, then fired at Perfect Chaos with his own powerful beam. Phantom quickly teleported away as the beam hit Chaos, and its water body exploded. However, it quickly reformed as if it was nothing and fired green energy bullets from the spikes on its back while also sending its water tentacles to attack the centaur. Tirek put on a shield to protect himself, then fired back dozens of magical bullets that turned Chaos' body into swiss cheese, but again, it quickly reformed. However, one of the bullets managed to hit the brain in the 'fin', and Chaos shrieked in pain as its body crumbled a little before recovering.

Tirek saw it, because he targeted the brain more precisely.

"Crap," said Phantom at this.

Chaos immersed himself in the ocean, avoiding the many bullets targeting his brain, and came out of the water directly in front of Tirek, biting his right arm with its sharp teeth while firing more energy bullets. Tirek tried to hit it with his other arm, but a water tentacle wrapped itself around it. Tirek growled as more energy bullets and clusters of energy balls hit him, and more tentacles wrapped around his body, and he sent a magical shockwave that destroyed Chaos' body, sending the water composing it far away.

Chaos reformed out of the ocean again and fired another beam that Tirek dodged before firing a beam too, targeting the brain. Chaos dodged it too, and fired a second beam at the same time as Tirek, the two beams clashing. But then, in the middle of the clash, Tirek teleported just beside Perfect Chaos, taking it by surprise. Tirek then punched the brain out of the 'fin' and immediately fired a beam at it, disintegrating it. Perfect Chaos' body crumbled, disappearing in the ocean, never reforming.

Tirek then charged a vast quantity of magic and expelled all of it, breaking the reality formed by the Phantom Ruby, returning him and everyone else in the frozen mountains.

Recovering his breath, he said "Not bad. I don't know what was that thing, but it gave me quite the workout." He turned to face Phantom, who was growling. "That Phantom Ruby really is an amazing artifact. Too bad I have to destroy it to ensure my supremacy."

Girls! Where are you?!

Tirek formed a new beam, and Phantom prepared herself to use the Phantom Ruby again.

But then, several little orbs possessing glowing green cores came from nowhere and impacted here and there Tirek's body. From where they impacted, obsidian began to spread and cover Tirek's body.

"What the...?! The Storm King's obsidian grenades?!" exclaimed Tirek before he panicked. He tried to stop the obsidian from spreading, but failed, and could only repeat "No!" as he was turned into a giant obsidian statue.

"What happened?!" asked Phantom to nobody in particular.

"MOUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

"That laugh. Eggman! Show yourself!"

"With pleasure!"

A huge robot suddenly appeared beside Phantom, and before she could act, she was slapped hard and sent crashing into a mountain. She quickly came out of the crater she formed and looked at Eggman's new robot.

It looked like a Death Egg Robot, but at least five stories tall and less bulky. It actually resembled more Eggman himself, with a round body with a spherical head possessing the features of Eggman's head, two arms finishing in sharp claws, and two long legs finishing in clawed feet. The robot possessed also wings similar to the ones that the Egg Dragoon possessed to let it fly. However, on the head, there was a big golden crown possessing eight protrusions, including one three times bigger than the others at the front. Each of the protrusions possessed a slot excepted the big one, which possessed three slots one above another in decreasing size. The middle slot, of medium size, already possessed an object, some kind of staff with a crystal.

"Mouahahahaha! Surprised?" asked Eggman, spreading the arms of his robot.

"Not really. I knew that you were preparing something."

"But you didn't know what! Ah!"

Phantom huffed. "How could I? With you, everything is possible."

"Why! Thank you! I do my best! That colossal idiot certainly didn't see this coming! He really thought that he had gotten the upper hand on me when I had actually planned it! He took me for a fool! But seriously, who would be stupid enough to send a potential backstabber to take all the power without a plan? What an idiot! And now, the magic he absorbed will be mine!"

"And how? Last I know, you have no way to absorb magic."

"I have one! See?" He pointed at the staff in the crown. "The Staff of Sacanas! A little gift that I got from the Storm King along with the obsidian grenades. Thanks to it, I will be able to absorb all the magic and make it mine!"

Phantom frowned. "And you think that I will let you?"

"Yes, because you will be too busy trying to catch them," said Eggman before he teleported the obsidian statues of six familiar ponies beside the robot, making Phantom gasp. The statues were then thrown far away in the sky, and Phantom quickly teleported among them. She caught them in her telekinesis, then teleported all of them on the ground where she slowly dropped them. Finally, she used her power to return them back to normal, the ponies still in their rainbow form.

"Are you alright, girls?" she asked.

As the ponies hugged each other, recovering, Twilight answered. "Yes, we are alright. I'm so sorry, Sc-Phantom. He got us by surprise."

"I know. Okay, now that you're alright, I must return. He's absorbing all the magic from Tirek."

"What?!" shouted everypony.

"No time to explain."

"We're coming!" shouted Rainbow Dash, the others nodding.

"Very well."

Phantom teleported all of them back toward Eggman and Tirek, only to see Eggman just finishing absorbing the magic.

"MOUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! YOU'RE TOO LATE!" he shouted before he fired a powerful magical beam at the obsidian statue of Tirek, destroying it and making the ponies gasp. "You did your job well, Tirek! Now you can rest... IN PIECES! AHAHAHAHAH!!"

"You monster!" yelled Fluttershy.

Eggman turned toward them. "Come on! I get you rid of a monster, and this is how I'm treated? I'm hurt! Anyway, I would like to start our little dance right now, but I'm not finished powering up. I need to be ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that I will win! And for this..." Using the magic he absorbed, he opened a portal. "I need to return home! See you quickly once I conquered my homeworld!" He flew through the portal.

"Oh no you don't!" shouted Phantom before she flew after the robot.

"Wait for us!" shouted Twilight as the six ponies followed her, and together, they passed the portal before it closed.

They came out of the portal in the sky not far of a huge floating island, and as they chased Eggman, the robot suddenly teleported. The ponies stopped and looked around, expecting to see the robot reappear, but it didn't.

"Where did it go?" asked Applejack.

Phantom looked toward the floating island and growled. "Angel Island... He's on that island! I know what he's after! Quick!"

Again, she teleported all of them toward the island, and they appeared above an altar surrounded by seven pillars. On the altar was a giant green gem, and seven smaller gems, each of different colors, green, red, white, yellow, purple, blue, and turquoise, were on the pillars. At the base of the altar was a strange red bipedal creature knocked out, and beside the altar was Eggman's robot.

Phantom quickly acted and fired an energy beam, but the robot dodged it, and all eight gems levitated toward the crown, the seven slots in the small protrusions and the big slot under the one containing the Staff of Sacanas opening. Just as Phantom and the ponies charged to stop Eggman, the robot teleported again, this time with the gems, and it appeared far in the sky.

As the island fell from the sky, the gems entered the slots.

"I suppose that this is bad news that he got those gems?" asked Twilight.

"Very bad news," answered a very sweating Phantom. "The small gems are called Chaos Emeralds, and the big one is the Master Emerald. To put it simply, anyone possessing the seven Chaos Emeralds becomes nearly invincible. Add in the Master Emerald, and we could compare the being possessing them to a God. Normally, the Phantom Ruby is powerful enough to deal with the emeralds, but with the magic of everyone from Equus added in..."

"We're bucked up," concluded Rainbow Dash.

"This is quite the understatement!" shouted Eggman as he returned to them. "But I still have an empty slot in my crown, and I think that you guess what it is for."

Phantom teleported away with the ponies.

"Ah! You can try to escape! But I will eventually find you!" shouted Eggman.

The group reappeared back near the altar of the emeralds on the now crashed island, Phantom thinking that Eggman will not expect them to teleport there.

Twilight immediately began pacing while muttering how much they were doomed. The others weren't really much better.

"Don't worry, I have a plan," said Phantom.

"Really?" asked Twilight hopefully.

"Yes. However, the Infinite part of me hates it. But it doesn't matter. The problem is that I have to leave you in this place while I go search for... new allies."

"What? You can't leave us in those... ruins," said Rarity worriedly.

"I won't be long. Give me a few minutes. Meanwhile, how about you help the knocked out echidna over here?" she said as she pointed at the unconscious red animal near the base of the altar.

Fluttershy immediately moved to help him.

Phantom then teleported, leaving the ponies. Making some quick teleports around the world, it didn't take her long to find her first target: a blue blur that was actually a blue hedgehog running at the speed of sound in an area she knew was called the Green Hills. Phantom teleported in his way, and the hedgehog who was actually the Sonic of this world, seeing her, immediately stopped in front of her.

"Sorry to stop your run, but we have an emergency," she began. "Eggman got the seven Chaos Emeralds AND the Master Emerald. More than that, he now possesses powerful magic. Come with me."

Sonic immediately turned serious and nodded before Phantom opened a portal and flew the both of them through it.

They appeared in an exact similar world, but a few years in the future, and Phantom immediately explored it in search of her two targets. She quickly found the first one: Sonic, again.

She found him outside of what was known as Sonic's home in the Green Hills, relaxing on a chair while eating a chili dog. This Sonic differed slightly from the other. The past Sonic was smaller and rounder.

When the filly suddenly appeared beside him with his counterpart from the past/another dimension, he was so startled that he bounced out of his chair and dropped his chili dog.

"Aw man!" wailed the hedgehog before he looked at Phantom annoyed. "Good job, you made me waste a good chili dog!" He then saw the other Sonic beside her who waved at him. "Hey! That's you! Already back?"

"Listen, I don't have much time," began Phantom. "My name is Phantom, and I need your help. The Eggman from this Sonic's world has gained too much power, and we need you and the Chaos Emeralds of this world to deal with him. Do you know where they are? Oh, and could you tell me where your friend the red cat is? He could be a good asset against Eggman."

Sonic crossed his arms in thought. "Uh... Tails may know where they are, both the Emeralds and Leo, but the problem is that Leo stopped the fighting after the end of the war. I'm sure he would accept if we asked him to join us, but I feel guilty to take him away from his peaceful life that he deserves after what he went through. I would suggest that we take Shadow instead."

"Shadow, uh?" asked Phantom in an annoyed tone. "Is there anyone else?"

Sonic shrugged. "He's the most powerful that I know that's available. Silver is back in his time."

Phantom groaned.

"You seem to have a problem against Shadow."

"You can say that. One of the two beings I'm formed of hated him with all his guts."

"What do you mean? You are... two persons who merged together?"

"Yes," answered Phantom with a smirk before she materialized a certain mask on her head. "Remind you of something, Blue Buffoon?"

The two Sonic gasped and immediately put themselves into position to attack.

"Infinite! You survived?"

Phantom dematerialized the mask. "Hey, remember what I said, Infinite is a part of me, but I have another part who was much nicer. You have nothing to fear from me. Trust me, if I was Infinite, I would never lower myself to ask for YOUR help, even if it meant becoming a power source for Eggman."

"Uh. True. Well, let's go search Shadow and the emeralds. Meanwhile, you can tell me what happened. Looks like quite the story. But it's nice to have you on my side."

A few minutes later, a portal opened beside the altar of Angel Island, back in the other Sonic's world. Out of it came Phantom, the two Sonic, a black hedgehog with red strips on his quills, and seven emeralds exactly like the ones that Eggman took.

"Woo! The Altar of the Emeralds! It's been a long time!" said the taller Sonic as he looked at where they were.

"Sonic!" shouted someone, gaining the attention of the group toward an approaching two tailed bipedal fox. The fox hugged the smaller Sonic and spoke rapidly. "I couldn't find you! I thought that Eggman had gotten you!"

The younger Sonic patted the fox's back reassuringly.

"You are back," said Twilight as the ponies approached behind the fox. "Those are the allies you talked about?"

"Yeah," answered Phantom before she presented the three hedgehogs. "Sonic, Sonic, and Shadow."

Young Sonic waved at them, Shadow gave a nod, and the older Sonic said "Sup?"

"The first Sonic is from this world, and the second Sonic and Shadow are from the same world that Infinite came from," explained Phantom.

"You can go to other worlds?!" asked Twilight in shock.

“Of course. Reality bending power, I can open portals,” answered Phantom. “Anyway. Sonic, Sonic, Shadow, those are the ponies I talked to you about. Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy.”

The ponies greeted the hedgehogs and talked to them.

"So you're Sonic? I heard that you were fast!" said Rainbow Dash.

"And you must be Rainbow Dash. Phantom told me about you. Apparently, you are quick too."

"Fastest flier in the world!"

"Fastest runner in many worlds!"

"Not in mine!"

"Alright! We will have to see this in a race once this is over!"

"Eh! I will totally beat you!"

"In your dreams!"

The two stared at each other, then smirked before shaking hand/hoof.

"Ya aren't big talkers, are ya?" asked Applejack to Young Sonic and Shadow.

Older Sonic put an arm around the back of his younger self. "Yeah, I was more the kind to let my actions speak for me when I was young. I got better with time. As for Shadow, he's just shy."

"I'm not," shouted back the black hedgehog.

Phantom rolled her eyes and whispered to the ponies "He's an edgelord, like Infinite."

They understood.

"So, what is Tails doing here?" she then asked, pointing at the fox.

"He came in panic with his flying vehicle... Uh... A plane, I think he called it," explained Twilight. "He arrived just a few minutes ago. He expected to find his friend there."

"I thought that Sonic would have gone for the Chaos Emeralds to stop Eggman," said the fox.

"Speaking of, what is the situation with the rotten egg?" asked Older Sonic.

"He's devastating everything in his path to force the world into submission! Nothing can stop him! Entire cities already fell!" Tails told them.

"Well, that sucks. But now, thanks to Phantom, we're here, and we have Chaos Emeralds." He looked at the other hedgehogs. "What are we waiting for? Let's take our Super States and stop Eggman!" He turned to face Phantom. "You're in, I suppose?"

Phantom nodded. "I am, as well as these six." She pointed to the ponies. "Eggman ravaged their world, they also want a piece of him."

"Darn right!" shouted Rainbow Dash.

"And we will all have a big victory party once we're done!" shouted Pinkie Pie.

"A victory party? If there are chili dogs, I'm in," said the older Sonic.

"Deal!"

"There's one problem," then said Shadow. "I don't think the emeralds possess enough Chaos Energy for all of us. That times against Metal Sonic was already stretching their power."

"Easy," said Phantom. "I will turn myself into a Super State first, which will enormously boost my Phantom Energy. I will then use my boosted Phantom Energy to give all of you a Super State."

Shadow frowned at her. "If you try anything..."

"You could do nothing," replied Phantom. "You will have to trust me."

After a moment of silence, Shadow huffed. Phantom took this as his sign, and she levitated the Chaos Emeralds around her.

"I will remain behind to keep an eye on Knuckles," said Tails as he stepped back. "Good luck."

"Excuse me to ask just now, but what is exactly the Super State?" asked Rarity.

"The state we used to kick the butts of Gods and god-like beings," simply answered Older Sonic. "As long as we have rings to power it, we are near invincible."

"Speaking of," said Phantom before she materialized six bags in front of the ponies. "Here are rings for you. They possess their own energy, and when you absorb them, their primary use is to protect you from harm, but in our situation, they will fuel the Super State."

"Great!" shouted Rainbow and Pinkie before the ponies opened the bags and took the rings.

Meanwhile, Phantom absorbed the positive Chaos Energy of the emeralds, and with a big flash of light, her body entirely turned golden. Quickly, she then used her Phantom Energy to give the others that same Chaos Energy and turn their bodies golden too, some of them keeping some special features like the red stripes for Shadow and the colors given by the Tree of Harmony for the ponies (in Rainbow's case, her mane and tail remained rainbow colored). The ponies, including Phantom, also kept their Cutie Marks.

"That's awesome!" shouted Rainbow Dash.

"Yipee! I feel like I could party with the entire world!" shouted Pinkie Pie.

"Yikes. The gold is terribly clashing," commented Rarity. "But I feel great!"

"Come on girls, we must go. I can already feel the energy of the rings diminishing," said Twilight.

"Yeah, we can't enjoy our Super State unless we have tons of rings. Let's go find Mr. Egghead," said the older Sonic.

It didn't take them long to find Eggman, they just had to follow the explosions. He was destroying a small city of anthropomorphic animals when they reached him. However, he saw them coming, and he turned to face them.

"Well, isn't that a surprise? I was expecting you, Sonic, but not the other you! And in Super State!"

"You have me to thank for this," said Phantom with a smirk.

"You know, I almost forgot how round you were back then, Eggman," said the older Sonic "At least, your future self improved his look."

"And I prefer you when you shut up! So you think you can stop me? You may be ten in your Super States, and you may have the Phantom Ruby in your side, but I have the Chaos Emeralds, the Master Emerald, and the magic of an entire world! I will crush you, then take the Phantom Ruby and make it mine, and I will be truly invincible! And Eggmanland will be an interdimensional empire!"

"Poor guy, you are blind. We clearly have the advantage!" shouted Older Sonic.

Eggman growled, and the slots containing the emeralds and the Staff of Sacanas glowed. The robot then flashed, and before everyone's eyes, it doubled in size, gaining a glowing body that made it look like it was made of pure energy. The wings were now like two giant veils actually made of energy.

GOD EMPEROR
DEATH EGG

"Who has the advantage now?!" shouted Eggman.

Phantom huffed, and her body began to glow red-purple. Then, reality around them disappeared, replaced by a dimension of nothingness, a purple void with floating cubes and net-like grids extending into infinity in all directions.

The Null Space.

"This place is giving me the creep..." commented Rainbow Dash.

"I know..." replied Older Sonic.

"So you think you can still defeat me," said Eggman. "Then... Come at me!" he shouted as he flew backward.

"Alright! Let's go everyone!" shouted the older Sonic as he readied his hand.

Everyone saw what he wanted to do, and while some hesitated, in the end, they all did it.

A fist bump.

Chapter 21: Fist Bump

The God Emperor Death Egg was flying backward as it faced the team of heroes that chased it at unimaginable speed, the giant mecha having its arms spread, ready to attack.

"Ahahahah! I am so close! Once I defeat you and get my hands on the Phantom Ruby, nothing will be able to stop me!" shouted Eggman.

"Don't count on it, Eggman!" shouted back Phantom.

"We won't let you continue your madness! For all the harm you did to our world, we will defeat you and put an end to your evil!" shouted Twilight.

"All those ponies... All those poor animals who suffered... Who died... NEVER AGAIN!" shouted Fluttershy. Yes, shouted.

"Well, doc, seems like this time you did a really bad thing. I will have to give you a big spanking," said the older Sonic.

"You will have to reach me first!" shouted Eggman before, suddenly, a shield appeared around the mecha.

"Well, that's annoying," said Older Sonic.

At this moment, Eggman began to attack, firing a total of ten lasers from the fingers of the mecha that randomly swept through the air.

Then, Phantom used her powers to materialize groups of rings in the path of the heroes. "There, so we don't lose our Super States in the middle of the battle. Make sure to collect them."

"Great! You know, it's nice to have the Phantom Ruby in our side. It's like using cheat codes in a video game," said Older Sonic.

"Ugh... You're as exasperating as I remember."

"What? You can't change what is already perfect."

"Oh boy, he's like a Rainbow Dash number 2," said Applejack.

"Hey! I'm hurt! It's her who's a Sonic number 2!" replied Older Sonic.

"Hey!" shouted Rainbow Dash.

Twilight groaned. "Please! Focus on the fight! It's already hard enough to avoid those lasers!"

That was when Eggman stopped firing the lasers and then used magic and Chaos Control to materialize and send a huge number of meteors at the heroes.

"Woah! There're too many! No way to dodge!" shouted Rainbow Dash.

But then, Phantom, Twilight, and Shadow fired energy beams, magical bolts, and red energy bolts powerful enough and in enough quantity to destroy many of the meteors and let the group pass through unharmed.

Eggman then sent a meteor two times as big as his mecha. This time, Older Sonic grabbed his younger self and Rainbow Dash, to her surprise, and together, they spun in front of the others while gaining speed. Thanks to the Sonics, Rainbow Dash immediately knew that she had to draw the energy of the emeralds from within her to help power the move, and together, they pierced the giant meteor, breaking it into smaller pieces that the others could pass between.

"What was that?!" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Chaos Power," answered Older Sonic. "Using the Chaos Energy of the Chaos Emerald, we can use various powers, like what we just did, or the bolts that Shadow fired earlier."

"We can bend space-time thanks to it," continued Phantom. "However, since you aren't specialized in its control, you are very limited so, most of you, don't expect to be able to fire powerful bolts like Shadow. It will be easier to use powers more related to your skills, like speed for Rainbow Dash, or strength for Applejack."

"I think I see what you mean," said Rarity as dozens of pieces of meteors were now levitating around her, ready to be thrown.

"So we're using chaos. I know a draconequus who would love it," said Twilight.

"Giant energy balls incoming!" yelled Pinkie Pie as Eggman sent a group of energy balls with the wave of an arm. She then took her hammer from nowhere and shouted, "Leave them to me!" before she moved in front of the group. Using her hammer, she then sent some of the energy balls back at Eggman, only for the shield to stop them.

"Wooh! You go! But... Where did that hammer come from?" asked Older Sonic. "It reminds me of Amy."

"Don't question it," said the ponies in unison.

"Uuuh... Alright."

"We must destroy that shield," Shadow said.

"Ah! Admire my power!" shouted Phantom before she sent an enormous wave of chaos boosted phantom energy. Then, far above, a space station looking like it was built in a half of a giant spherical meteor appeared. Onto the front of the space station was a giant cannon that was pointed right at Eggman.

"Wait. The space colony ARK?" shouted Older Sonic in surprise.

Then, a vast quantity of energy gathered in the cannon, and it fired a humongous laser that hit the shield around the God Emperor Death Egg, successfully destroying it! Even after the destruction of the shield, there was enough power left in the laser to hit the mecha and make it wobble, causing it to lose speed as Eggman screamed.

"Woah, dude..." said Older Sonic in awe.

"Now is the time to attack!" shouted Shadow.

Hearing him, Rarity threw the meteors that she was levitating, targeting the wings to make the mecha slow down even more. Fluttershy joined her by firing, to everyone's surprise, the same red bolts than Shadow used at the wings and at the slots in the crown.

Not stopping to question this, Twilight fired hundreds of magical beams that homed in on the slots in the crown while the others charged and also attacked the slots, Shadow and Phantom did the same in their respective ways, and the others charged, Applejack bucking the slot containing the Master Emerald, Pinkie hammering the one containing the Staff of Sacanas, while the others rammed the remaining slots until Eggman recovered and teleported the God Emperor Death Egg away, the wings regaining their power.

"I must say," began Eggman as the shield reformed around the mecha. "you took me by surprise!" He then fired a huge beam at the space station, destroying it. "But even boosted by the Chaos Emeralds, it must have cost you a lot of energy! You won't be able to do it again anytime soon!"

Phantom huffed. "I will just have to survive until I can do it again. It recharges quickly."

"Well, try to survive that!"

Eggman suddenly clawed the air in front of him, leaving scratch-like lines of energy that remained behind, forcing the heroes to move between the lines to avoid them. Eggman rapidly repeated it, clawing the air in different directions, creating lines going from horizontal to vertical, passing by everything in between. The distance between the different groups of lines was so small that there was almost no time for the heroes to position themselves to avoid the next group. Sometimes, Eggman clawed the air with both hands at the same time, making it even harder. In the end, some of the heroes got hit and hurt despite the Super State, causing them to lose some of their rings, which made Eggman laugh.

"Ah! I can even hurt someone in Super State! As I thought! Nothing resist me anymore! I am a god!"

"Hey, your head is already big enough, no need to make it bigger!" said Older Sonic.

"You're one to talk," said Phantom with a smirk.

"Say you," returned Older Sonic. "And at least, I don't compare myself to a god."

"CHAOS CONTROL!" suddenly yelled Eggman, and then time stopped. The mecha then charged energy in front of its torso, only for Shadow to break free of the time stop thanks to his control of chaos energy.

"CHAOS CONTROL!" He warped everyone just before a giant blast of energy hit them, and they appeared slightly to the left. Older Sonic then also broke free too, followed by Younger Sonic, Phantom, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy, and together with Shadow, they used Chaos Control again to return time to normal before Eggman could attack again.

"What happened?" asked Twilight.

"Isn't it obvious? Eggman stopped time," said Shadow.

"And only the ones that are used to control chaos energy and have enough power can hope to break free," said Older Sonic.

"That, or use phantom energy. It's the same," said Phantom.

"Easy to say when ya're the only one who can use that phantom stuff," said Applejack.

"But how did the pink one escape? She isn't used to chaos," asked Older Sonic.

"Don't question it," answered the ponies.

"Pinkie is probably the most chaotic being in our world under Discord, the Spirit of Chaos himself," informed Twilight.

"It makes others laugh, so it's natural for the Element of Laughter!" Pinkie said.

"IT DOESN'T EXPLAIN HOW YOU CAN BREAK THE PHYSICAL LAWS WITH NO APPARENT POWERS!" yelled the alicorn.

"Woah! Easy there, sugarcube!" said Applejack.

"Okaaay..." said Older Sonic.

While they talked, Eggman restarted firing sweeping lasers from the fingers of the mecha's right hand, but this time, he fired homing projectiles of energy that targeted the heroes randomly, eventually succeeding in hitting Rainbow Dash.

"Drat! I'm almost out of rings!" she shouted!

"Then collect the ones that I materialize!" Phantom said.

"Hard to do when I'm constantly moving to dodge!"

"Anyway. What about... uh... Fluttershy, that's it? First you use the same attack than Shadow which asks some control of chaos, then you can break free from a Chaos Control Time Stop," asked Older Sonic.

"Good question," said Twilight.

"Yes, darling, you surprise us," said Rarity.

Fluttershy hid her eyes behind her mane. "Well... After passing all this time around Discord... I suppose that I... got a couple of things about chaos..."

...

"Makes sense," said Pinkie.

Suddenly, Phantom sent a wave of phantom energy, materializing the space colony ARK again far above. However, as the space colony charged energy, the God Emperor Death Egg fired at it its own energy beam, destroying it before it could fire.

"Did you really think you could use the same trick twice?" said Eggman after guffawing.

"Crap..."

Eggman then sent energy balls that moved up, down, left, or right before they fired a moving laser in the path of the heroes, creating an obstacle course where the heroes had to avoid dozens of those moving lasers.

"Welp. That was a bust. Any ideas, guys?" asked Older Sonic.

"Erh... How powerful the attack needs to be to destroy the shield?" asked Twilight.

"The cannon of the space colony ARK could destroy an entire planet," said Phantom.

"Oh, alright! We have to use something that could destroy a whole planet! That's easy!" said Twilight in obvious sarcasm.

"Really easy actually!" said Older Sonic. "We're ten in Super State, and one of us possesses the Phantom Ruby. I'm sure we can find something."

"Like we could charge at the shield all together," said Pinkie Pie.

"Yeah, like that," said Older Sonic. "But we will need to approach first."

"He won't let us. He can teleport," said Shadow.

"We can teleport too!" said Twilight.

Following her words, she teleported everyone in front of the shield of the mecha, only for it to immediately teleport away. Annoyed, Twilight teleported them again, but Eggman teleported too.

"Well, this doesn't work," said Rainbow Dash.

Phantom then sent Phantom Cubes at all of them, sending everyone in a different reality. Different as in Eggman's mecha disappeared, but they were still in Null Space. For a moment, this confused everyone.

"He won't see us coming!" then said Phantom. "Be ready!"

"Uh, smart," said Older Sonic.

"Next time, warn us, or I'll kill you," said Shadow.

"Noted," said Phantom before she teleported all of them far above what she supposed was Eggman's position. Then, they all gathered and charged, accumulating energy, and when they returned to the previous reality and the God Emperor Death Egg reappeared, they hit the shield just above the crown, piercing it.

"What?!" yelled Eggman.

Before Eggman could react, they hit the head of the mecha, right in the center of the crown, causing it to lose control. The heroes then took the occasion to attack the slots in the crown like they did previously, Twilight and Rarity using magic, Shadow and Fluttershy using Chaos Powers, and so on. Eventually, Eggman recovered and teleported away before reforming the shield.

"Alright!" shouted Phantom. "Let's repeat that!" She materialized more Phantom Cubes and sent them at the group to send them in another reality again.

"I won't let you!" shouted Eggman before he accumulated energy. Then, just as the heroes changed reality, he unleashed it, breaking the reality!

"Damn it!" yelled Phantom.

Then, to everyone's surprise, Eggman actually charged at them!

"Woah! Watch out!" shouted Older Sonic before the group quickly dispersed, breaking the formation.

The heroes were now separated all around the mecha as it stopped among them, and it tried to slap them with its giant claws. The mecha also fired lasers from its eyes and from the slots in the crown, and it fired dozens of energy balls from all over its body, turning the situation very chaotic.

The heroes tried to regroup to destroy the shield, but Eggman just wouldn't let them, always moving where they were gathering to force them to disperse again before they could act. But then, when Eggman tried to slap them again with the mecha's left claw, the two Sonics, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie suddenly gathered and charged at the claw together. After a small clash, they managed to push it back. Then, Eggman tried to slap them with the right claw, only for Phantom, Twilight, Shadow, Rarity, and Fluttershy to gather together and use their powers together to hit the claw and push it back too after a small clash. Then, the two groups reformed as one, and they charged at Eggman. But the mecha then teleported behind them before they could hit the shield, and it unleashed an enormous wave of energy, forming an actual storm of energy blasts that left little place to avoid them. The heroes simply avoided them with a Chaos Control Warp, teleporting behind the mecha to try to charge it again. But Eggman wasn't stupid, and he teleported away, understanding that they were attacking from somewhere he couldn't see.

But the heroes saw this coming and teleported at the same time, so when Eggman reappeared after his teleportation, he was very confused to not see them, and by the time he understood, it was too late. Again, the heroes pierced the shield from above and attacked the slots of the crown before Eggman teleported away.

"Rrrngh! You're giving me more trouble than I expected!" shouted Eggman. "I should have seen that putting the emeralds and the staff in the crown would make them too vulnerable! Well, time to change that!"

In a flash of intense light, the God Emperor Death Egg transformed. When the light disappeared, the emeralds and the staff were now in the mecha's torso, all grouped together, with an emplacement left for the Phantom Ruby. Eggman then accumulated energy and unleashed it!

As the heroes screamed or groaned, fighting against the enormous quantity of energy, they looked in horror as the Null Space broke apart around them, and they were all back on Mobius.

"No! Not there! Such a fight could destroy Mobius!" shouted Older Sonic.

Shadow looked at them, and they all knew what they had to do. Rapidly, all together, they used Chaos Control, and they all warped, including God Emperor Death Egg, anywhere, everywhere but on Mobius. In the end, they warped in space, in the middle of nowhere.

"Better," said Phantom.

Eggman gave a huff. "You know that I would never destroy Mobius! I want to conquer it, after all! I would have teleported us! But thanks for doing the job for me. But... I still have something to do to make it better. CHAOS CONTROL!"

And so, in a flash, where before there was nothing, a planet appeared.

"CHAOS CONTROL!"

A second planet appeared.

"CHAOS CONTROL!"

A third.

"CHAOS CONTROL!"

A fourth.

"CHAOS CONTROL! CHAOS CONTROL! CHAOS CONTROL! CHAOS CONTROL!"

A fifth. A sixth. A seventh. An eighth.

"Are you kidding me?" asked Shadow.

"CHAOS CONTROL!"

"Stop that!" shouted Twilight as she looked at the planets that already began to collide between each other.

"MAKE ME! MOUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! CHAOS CONTROL!" yelled Eggman before he flew backward again, facing the heroes as he flew toward two planets that were dangerously approaching each other, repeating "CHAOS CONTROL!" all the while.

"Okay. He lost it," said Older Sonic.

A boulder the size of Equestria coming from two planets colliding was suddenly about to hit them, and Phantom teleported them out of the way.

"What are we waiting for?" she shouted, "After him!"

They nodded and chased after Eggman. They caught him at the icy surface of one of the two planets about to collide, and Eggman immediately attacked them by sprouting giant spikes of ice from the ground before sending giant boulders of ice while regularly firing lasers or energy balls.

The heroes avoided all those attacks as best as they could, the ones who could use magic, Chaos Power, or phantom energy using them to destroy the spikes of ice and the icy boulders. Applejack even developed the power to send small shockwaves while punching the air to help.

As the second planet, a dead rock, was closer and closer, Eggman flew toward it, using the mecha's power to levitate huge pieces of ground from the two planets and throw them. Again, the heroes used all the powers they had to avoid them or destroy them, even drilling through them.

Eventually, they left the two planets behind just before they collided, causing thousands of giant boulders to be sent in all directions, including toward the heroes who had to avoid them, then avoid more boulders coming from other planets colliding. By now, space was filled with boulders going in all directions because of collisions, or because they were caught in the gravitation of this or that planet.

All the while, Eggman continued to bring more and more planets with Chaos Control while attacking them, using energy balls that acted as bombs, firing homing blasts of energy, sending shockwaves, or simply throwing boulders.

The heroes had to redo their stocks of rings a lot of time.

They tried to use the boulders as cover to teleport and approach Eggman by surprise, but he always had enough time to teleport away. Even when they teleported behind him, as soon as they disappeared from his field of view, he teleported, and there was no way to know where he would reappear, so it was impossible to predict him.

Eventually, they flew toward another planet that had an atmosphere so thick that they couldn't see the surface. But when they entered it, they were immediately subjected to winds going at hundreds of miles per hour, and it was impossible to count the number of lightning bolts that they could see in just one second. They had to constantly move to avoid them and the powerful tornadoes that Eggman created in their path, and the boulders constantly falling from space.

The problem was that because of the thick atmosphere, they could barely see anything, so they rarely saw the lightning bolts, tornadoes, and other attacks before the last second. They weren't even sure that Eggman was still before them. The attacks seemed to come from all directions. So the phantom and chaos users used their powers to blow the atmosphere away, creating a pocket empty of air around them.

This let them see that Eggman was tricking them by teleporting in all directions while attacking and used attacks with wide range to be sure to hit the heroes despite the atmosphere that was also blinding him. Seeing that he was discovered, Eggman stopped and flew up back toward space, and the heroes pursued him, seeing that he was going toward yet another planet that was approaching the one they just left, this one volcanic.

It didn't take them long to reach the surface of the planet covered in volcanoes and oceans of lava, and Eggman immediately sent streams of lava at the heroes. Again, space boulders from other planets rained along with boulders of solid magma sent in the atmosphere by the volcanoes, and Eggman added his touch with boulders levitated out of the ground. Starting to lose patience, some of the heroes hit the boulders to send them at Eggman, not doing much because of the shield.

However, this gave Phantom an idea. "Listen, everyone. I think I know how we will reach Eggman."

As she told them her idea, however, Eggman used the mecha's powers to change the landscape by causing pieces of the ground to randomly move up and down, so the heroes had to avoid newly forming cliffs and the resulting lavafalls and rains of boulders they caused. Eventually, Eggman simply separated the ground in two and flew in the formed path, and as the heroes followed him there, he sent more magma at them from the lavafalls at both sides, and even created pillars of stone connecting the two sides in the path of the heroes.

Then, in a mighty crash, they heard the planet finally collide with the one with the thick atmosphere, and both Eggman and the heroes quickly moved back into space, just in time as a second planet collided with the volcanic one.

"Alright! Let's start it!" shouted Phantom.

She then materialized a real armada made of Eggman's own spaceships, or rather, replicas that fired at him. Twilight then fired hundreds of homing magical beams. Rarity threw boulders. The Sonics and Rainbow Dash charged at boulders to send them at Eggman. Pinkie hit boulders with her hammer. Applejack bucked boulders. And Shadow and Fluttershy fired the red bolts of energy. Eggman's shield was absolutely pummeled, and he was guffawing at their attempt to destroy it.

"Are you becoming that desperate that you think that it will be enough to destroy my shield?"

He then saw a boulder many times bigger than the God Emperor Death Egg approaching. Smirking, he punched it, easily reducing it to dust, and he laughed again.

But his laugh didn't last as something suddenly pierced the shield before hitting the torso of his mecha where the emeralds and the staff were gathered.

"WHAT?!"

What happened was that all those attacks on the shield were just to blind Eggman, so he couldn't see Phantom materializing the giant boulder around the heroes. When Eggman destroyed the boulder, the heroes came out of it and pierced the shield before hitting the mecha's torso.

"Thanks for making our victory easier by gathering in the same place the emeralds and the staff, Eggman!" then shouted Phantom as the glass covering the emeralds and the staff was destroyed, letting the heroes grab them. Without its power sources, the God Emperor Death Egg turned back to normal as Eggman shouted, "NONONONONONO!!!"

Older Sonic gave the Staff of Sacanas to Twilight before giving Eggman a smug smile. "You compared yourself to a god earlier. Well, too bad for you, I'm a god killer."

Adding the power of the second set of Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald to what they already had, the heroes used a Chaos Control to bring everyone back to Mobius. There, Eggman tried to escape with his mecha.

Older Sonic turned to his younger self. "The honor is yours. He's your Eggman after all."

Young Sonic gave him a thumb up in thanks before he charged toward the fleeing mecha. With the power of two sets of Chaos Emerald and one Master Emerald, he easily and rapidly pierced the mecha.

With Eggman screaming in horror and rage, explosions littered the mecha, and after a few seconds, the God Emperor Death Egg exploded.

Eggman ejected himself with his Egg Mobile just before the explosion, but as he started his escape again, he was surrounded by the ten heroes still in Super State, Twilight pointing the Staff of Sacanas at him.

He raised his arms in surrender.

Chapter 22: Uncertainty

"And remember. Lock him in your best cell," said Older Sonic.

"Of course," answered the officer of the G.U.N. while soldiers escorted Eggman inside the prison.

"This is not over, Sonic!" yelled Eggman. "I will be back! Nothing can lock me for long! I'll be out before you know it!"

"Silence!" shouted one of the soldiers as he violently tugged on Eggman's chains to force him to advance.

At this, the two Sonics, Tails, and Knuckles walked away to join the others who had remained in the jungle outside the prison. After all, who knew how the G.U.N. would react to aliens from another dimension using magic, without forgetting Shadow, who was still supposed to be locked by the G.U.N. in Prison Island in this universe, the very island where they were now. It was weird for Older Sonic to see this island in its normal state again after Eggman destroyed it in his universe, and to be able to explore it without having to fight the robots of the G.U.N.

When the four joined the ponies (who were still in their Rainbow Form), Phantom, and Shadow in the jungle outside the prison, the black hedgehog was the first to talk. "I maintain that we should have killed him. You know as well as me that he will escape, eventually."

Older Sonic shrugged. "Maybe, but then, we wouldn't be better than him."

"Like I care," said Shadow.

Phantom shook her head. "I'm with Shadow," she said, making the ponies gasp. At this, she shrugged while looking at them. "Remember. I may be part of Scootaloo, but I'm also part Infinite." She looked back at Older Sonic. "It's good to have morals, but when you know all the wrongs Eggman can do, wouldn't it be best to put a definitive stop by killing him? Do you really want to let this universe go through everything he caused in our universe? Chaos' rampage? Blowing up half of the Moon? Almost causing the ARK to destroy the world? The enslaving of the wisps? Or everyone almost being killed because of his Life Energy Extractor? Do you know how many people died directly or indirectly because of our Eggman? At least, by killing this Eggman, we would ensure that all those deaths would never happen."

"Except that this universe differs from ours," said Older Sonic. "Events are already happening differently after the Time Eater and the Phantom Ruby. Heck, you just spoiled our friends from this universe with some of what Eggman will do in the future. With this knowledge, you can be sure that history will not be the same." He pointed at Shadow. "Also, Eggman needs to be alive to bust Shadow out of the prison where he's kept. That is, if Eggman decides to bust him out, who knows how things will go after the recent events. Maybe he will have different plans in mind."

"Plans that will probably cause people to die. No matter how different his plans may be from the ones of our Eggman, those will still be plans to conquer the world and cause untold suffering to the people of this world and maybe of others like he did on Equus."

"And I... Well, the other me will be there to stop them, like always."

Phantom rolled her eyes. "And what about the people that will be killed before he's able to stop Eggman's plans?"

"What about Shadow then? He killed people too, but now, look where he's."

"Shadow had the occasion to redeem himself, and he took it without returning to the path of evil when he could have. Eggman had many occasions to redeem himself. He helped to stop Chaos' rampage and the ARK's crash, both events that he caused, and yet, he didn't stop his schemes. This guy is irredeemable, and the world would fare better with him gone forever."

"Phantom!" shouted Twilight. "No matter the reason, as much as someone deserves it, killing is bad."

"Tell that to the staff of the G.U.N. on this island. I'm sure they'll be happy to hear that they could all die because you refused to do the right thing. It's bad killing someone, yes, but isn't it even worse to let someone live when we know that as long as they live, they will cause death and destruction?"

"That's not fair Sc-Phantom!" shouted Rainbow Dash. "You know that there is no right answer to this!"

Phantom shrugged again. "In my opinion, there's a right answer. There's the good thing: not killing Eggman, and there's the better thing: kill Eggman and save the lives of all the people that will die because of him, morality can go to Tartarus."

Tails placed himself between Phantom and Older Sonic. "Hey. Hey. Everyone here has good points, but I think that my Sonic and Knuckles will agree with what I will say. This is the Eggman of our world, so we decide of what we will do to him. And we decide to not kill him. We know that we will probably regret this later, but we refuse to become like him."

Phantom sighed. "Alright. But don't come crying when someone eventually dies because of him. But at least let me tell this. If becoming a hero forces you to have this stupid moral that stops you from doing what is right, then I refuse to become a hero. I would rather be, well, like Shadow actually. Someone who knows that, in this world, to do what is right, you must sometimes dirty your hands. Someone that I would call a REAL hero."

Older Sonic gave a small wince. "Ouch. Harsh."

Shadow laughed at this. "I think this is the first time that I hear someone saying that I'm a better hero."

"Yeah, rub salt in the wound..." grumbled Older Sonic.

"So you're saying that it's better to be a killer?" asked Rainbow Dash as she stared at Phantom in the eyes.

Phantom hesitated for a few seconds, then answered, "Yes. If it's to save lives."

"You... You really aren't Scootaloo. She would have never said that," the cyan pegasus said, tears appearing in her eyes.

"No, she wouldn't," confirmed Phantom with a nod. "Scootaloo was a naive child who knew nothing of the world. Like most ponies, she thought that everything was black and white, and heroes were the best things ever. I'm Phantom. I'm the result of the merging of the mind of said child with the mind of a full-grown adult who had to live by himself since his childhood, who learned that the world wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, that heroes were jokes, and who thought that since the world was cruel, then you had to be cruel to live. You can guess what won out between the naivety of a child who lived in peace and the reality of a grown adult who lived in difficulty."

"So, what does this make you?" asked Rainbow Dash as she wiped her tears.

Phantom thought a moment before answering. "I'm barely one hour old. I have yet to fully discover who I am. But I already know this: I'm someone who's ready to give her life to save who she loves and who will do everything to protect the innocents even if it means that she has to break some necks. I'm also someone very prideful, something that Scootaloo and Infinite had in common, but I will not hesitate to put my pride aside when needed, like when I have to ask for help to defeat someone more powerful. I'm also someone lost because, like I said, I'm barely one hour old, so I have no idea of where my life will go from there. I know that I want to remain in Equestria with the people that I love, but I know that those people were the people that Scootaloo loved, not me, and those people loved Scootaloo, not me, so this may not be possible. At least I haven't that problem with my Infinite side. The only people Infinite cared about a little were killed by Shadow."

Nobody was sure what to say to this, but Fluttershy was the one to eventually tell something. "We... We would like then... to know more about you and be your friends."

Phantom sighed. "Thank you... Let's... just forget this whole discussion and return to Equus to give their magic back to everyone."

"Before that, bring me back to my world," ordered Shadow. "I have done my part."

"WHAT?!" yelled Pinkie Pie. "No, you haven't yet! You still have to come to my victory party! Everyone here is invited!"

Shadow gave her his best "I don't care," look and said, "You will have to do it without me."

"But-"

"Don't mind him," said Older Sonic. "This guy is allergic to fun, and nothing you say will change his mind."

"BOOOOOHHH!!!"

"Hey. To make up for it, how about I invite my friends from my worlds? I can't go to a party without them." He turned to Phantom. "Of course, I will have to return to my world first too."

"And we will do the same!" said Tails.

"Yay!" shouted Pinkie. "This means more friends for us to encounter!"

"Uh... Wait," said Applejack. "If Ah follow it correctly, it means there'll be two of each. Like, two Sonic, two Tails, two Knuckles."

Older Sonic became pale. "Two Amy..."

Younger Sonic became pale too at this.

"This will be an interesting party..." said Rarity.

"Wait wait wait," said Knuckles. "Sorry, but I must refuse. I can't leave the Master Emerald."

"Aww please," pleaded Pinkie, only for Knuckles to shake his head.

"Don't insist, Pinkie, it's his choice," said Twilight.

Pinkie pouted. "Fine."

"So, how about we do like that," said Phantom. "First, I bring Sonic and Shadow back to their world, then I bring the ponies back to Equus, so they can give the magic back to everyone. Meanwhile, in your respective worlds, you warn your friends about the party. Then, once we have destroyed Eggman's remaining robots in Equus, I come pick you up for the party. Is that okay?"

Both Sonics answered her by doing a thumb up.

"But where will we do the party? Ponyville is still in ruins," wondered Rainbow Dash.

"Come on, isn't it obvious?" asked Pinkie. "It will be a party to celebrate our victory in the war against Eggman! So there will be things like a military parade and all that stuff! So it will take place in Canterlot! As in, in the entire city, not just in some building! But I'm sure that a big part of it will take place in the castle! And then, it will spread to the whole Equestria and even to other kingdoms because everyone will want to celebrate our victory! The griffons, the yaks, the zebras..."

"So, in one word, 'everywhere'," said Twilight.

"Exactly!"

Phantom gave a small smile, then looked at Older Sonic and Shadow. "Let's go."

The last robot fell under Celestia's sword, freeing a small rabbit that was trapped in it. Without their magic, and with all the Phantom Rubies destroyed, they had to fight with weapons and the technology they developed in this war. It was trying; it was long, many sadly died, but finally, victory was theirs. All factories were captured or destroyed. They destroyed all robots. Eggman's ultimate fortress had fallen. She didn't know what was the situation with the other armies, or with the element bearers and Scootaloo, but here, they won.

When she was joined by Shining Armor, she asked him "How bad is it?"

Shining Armor sighed. "If it wasn't for our robots, many pegasi would have fallen to their death. But that's probably the only good thing that happened. Not used to fighting on the ground, many pegasi were rapidly killed. Same for the unicorns, who were too used of magic. The ones who fared better were the earth ponies, the yaks, and the griffons. Over half of the changelings were slaughtered. Chrysalis herself was badly hurt."

Celestia shook her head. "It's in situation like these that we see how much we became too dependent of magic..."

Shining nodded. "If it wasn't for the new weapons we developed thanks to Eggman's technology, the majority of the unicorns, pegasi, and changelings would have probably been exterminated."

"One thing we can thank Eggman about... What is that?" suddenly asked Celestia when she spotted a purple hole appearing in the sky, above the crater left behind the Death Egg.

Then, out of the hole came the element bearers who looked more colored as well as who she assumed was Scootaloo in a different form than her usual ponyself or her Zero persona. As Celestia and many others watched, Scootaloo then moved away of the element bearers as Twilight let a staff levitate in the air. The bearers then gathered close to the staff and used the power of Harmony to fire a magical beam at it. The staff was destroyed, and the magic it absorbed was released in a huge rainbow explosion that spread everywhere with the bearers. As the explosion reached them, everyone could feel their magic returning, proved by the Cutie Marks reappearing on the ponies' flanks.

Celestia smiled. "They did it!"

Luna teleported to her side. "Do you think it means it is over?"

"I hope so," answered Celestia. "But what happened to Eggman and Tirek? And Discord?"

"I have no idea where Discord is right now," answered someone. When Celestia, Luna, and Shining Armor followed the voice, they saw that it was Scootaloo who had joined them. "But you will be happy to hear that Fluttershy and Twilight were able to convince him to return to our side for good, and I was told that he even helped Twilight and the others unlock this power they just used. As for Eggman and Tirek, Eggman is now in jail in his home dimension and Tirek is dead, killed by Eggman."

At hearing of Tirek's fate, Celestia gave a small sad frown, but quickly stopped thinking about it and gave a smile. "So the war is over."

"Almost. There are some robots of Eggman remaining, but now that the bigger threats are gone, it should take me only a few hours to deal with them. By the way, my name is Phantom."

"Phantom?" asked Luna in confusion. "Are you not Scootaloo? You clearly have her powers, and a very close appearance."

"To fight Tirek, Scootaloo and Infinite had to merge to use the Phantom Ruby at its full power."

Again, Celestia gave a sad look. "I see. I'm sorry it came to this."

Phantom gave a shrug. "What is done is done. Now, excuse me, but the sooner those robots are destroyed, the better. I'm sure Twilight won't mind telling you what happened in my place. They should finish soon." she said before disappearing.

As Phantom said, Twilight and her friends rapidly finished with the task of giving the magic back to everyone. Almost immediately after they finished, the Tree of Harmony used the Chest to literally make a crystal-tree-palace grow out of the ground beside the ruins of Ponyville. Celestia and Luna found Twilight and her friends at its base, looking at it in awe. And so, it was in one of the new palace's rooms, one with a big enough table for all of them, that Twilight told the princesses how the final battle went on. Discord, Spike, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle quickly joined them (the three last ones after wandering the halls of the palace for a dozen minutes).

Once she finished, Sweetie Belle immediately asked "So, does this mean that Scootaloo is gone?" on the verge of crying.

After exchanging looks with her friends, Rarity answered "It's complicated... But yes, the Scootaloo you knew is gone. The new one is more... adult, and ruthless..."

"Yeah, she thought that it was better to kill Eggman than to let him live," said Rainbow Dash. "And she made it clear that she didn't like heroes like us because of our moral stopping us from doing "what is right". Scootaloo loved Batmare, but Phantom wouldn't hesitate to insult her."

"Oh yeah, I totally see how she would go," said Pinkie Pie before she imitated Phantom. "Batmare is an idiot. She should just kill Joker so people would stop suffering from his 'jokes'. The second Robin wouldn't have become who he's now, the commissioner's wife would still be alive, and batfilly wouldn't be in a wheelchair. Talk about a hero."

Spike winced at hearing one of his favorite heroes being so harshly criticized, even if it was just an imitation. "She would really say that? Batmare was her favorite hero."

"I would have exactly said that, yes," answered who the mares recognized was Phantom before she entered the room. "Sorry Spike. I'm now more 'Punisher' than 'Batmare'."

"Oh, well, that's okay, if you now prefer antiheroes," replied Spike awkwardly.

Phantom then looked around the room, trying to avoid eye contact with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. "Nice castle. I won't ask how it appeared and will just go with 'shut up, it's magic'." She then looked at Celestia. "Anyway. All of Eggman's robots are now destroyed. The war is definitely over. Losing magic didn't really cause problems to the other species except the hippogriffs, so they could continue destroying the robots without too much difficulty despite the lost of the Phantom Rubies."

"Sorry about that," said Discord.

Phantom stared at him. "You have a lot to be sorry for, but it won't bring back everyone who died because of your betrayal. At least, you helped stop the war at the end. Just make sure it never happens again." At this, she teleported away.

Discord gulped. "If looks could kill..."

Apple Bloom looked down, depressed. "She didn't even look at us..."

"I'm sorry, Apple Bloom," said Fluttershy. "I think she's scared of what you think of her now that she's... not Scootaloo. There's still some Scootaloo in her, so she still sees you as a friend, but she doesn't know if you still see her as a friend. Maybe if you and Sweetie go talk to her..."

"Uh... Alright," said Apple Bloom. "But where? She just teleported, and she'd be anywhere."

"Easy," said Pinkie. "At the victory party in Canterlot. She will be there."

It took a few days for the party to be ready. The news of the end of the war had to spread, the troops had to return from the desert, the injured had to be treated, the dead buried, they had to deal with the small famine caused by Eggman with the help of kingdoms that weren't touched, and they had to do all the preparations. They also had to deal with the Storm King who had been saved from Eggman's prison in Kludgetown, and he was sent to Tartarus, much to Phantom's exasperation. They used that time to begin the post-war reparations, including the rebuilding of Ponyville. Phantom's powers helped a lot.

But eventually, the party began with a huge military parade in Canterlot assembling members of all the species that took part in the war, but having mainly ponies because the other species were busy doing their own parades (or equivalent) in their kingdoms. Even the changelings took part. As they thought, a powerful bond of friendship appeared between the ponies and the changelings during the war, and so, many of them refused to return to fighting ponies. Besides, Chrysalis was still injured, and the queen decided to stop messing with the ponies, not wanting to take any risk with Phantom around. She understood that her chances against her were close to null, and the bipedal filly(?) wouldn't hesitate to end her life, contrary to the ponies. She wasn't stupid; she knew a lost cause when she saw one, and she didn't want to die.

The parade was a suitable occasion to show to the population how much the military had advanced in this war, the weapons, the vehicles, the robots. Bad guys will have to think again before trying to conquer Equestria. And already, seeing the new technologies, many were thinking of how they could use it to advance Equestria and improve everyday life.

As Pinkie said, the celebration quickly spread to the rest of Equestria, and everywhere, equestrian airships could be seen in the sky with banners and dropping confetti while thousands and thousands of ponies were out in the streets screaming their joy. The festivities then turned into a more normal looking party, with games, food, and all.

As they promised, the two Sonics came with most of their friends. Of course, Phantom had to pick them up, being the only one with Discord who could go to other dimensions at will. Younger Sonic didn't bring many people, only Tails, a pink hedgehog girl named Amy Rose, a red armadillo named Mighty, and a yellow flying squirrel named Ray. Older Sonic, however, came with quite a cohort. His world's Tails and Amy Rose, but also an adorable young bunny girl named Cream with a strange blue and yellow flying creature named Cheese, a big purple cat named Big who came with a frog (a normal frog, not a bipedal one) named Froggy, a crocodile named Vector, a chameleon named Espio, a bee named Charmy, and a red cat named Leo. This last one, the ponies quickly recognized thanks to Phantom telling them Infinite's story before the party, including how Leo helped Sonic defeat the jackal.

When Older Sonic saw Mighty and Ray, he got a guilty look. He had totally forgotten about them. He hadn't seen them in years.

Understandably, some of Older Sonic's friends from his world had doubtful expression when they looked at Phantom. Older Sonic obviously told them about who she is, and the only reason why they hadn't jumped at her was probably because he also told them about how she helped fight Eggman. But Vector really seemed ready to punch her if she did anything wrong, and she didn't doubt that Espio would spy on her to ensure that she was clean.

Not like it would matter if she wasn't 'clean'. If she ever found herself fighting Sonic again, she wouldn't let herself be blinded by her pride and her ego like Infinite. She wouldn't underestimate him anymore. So they could consider themselves happy that she wasn't planning to burn the world anymore. She would have been their worst nightmare otherwise.

Anyway, while the ponies got to know them and made friends, Phantom decided to stay away. She still wasn't sure what to do. It was so weird... Were they her friends or not? Things became awkward after that whole 'We should kill Eggman' discussion, and it seemed like even the ponies weren't sure what to think of her. Since the end of the war, she didn't talk to them much, mainly busy coordinating the reconstruction of Ponyville. She hadn't even seen her... Scootaloo's family yet. Her parents and her aunts. As the hours passed, the party continued, and the day turned to night, Phantom remained by herself, not even really participating, barely eating or drinking anything as she sat on a bench.

She was really starting to feel lonely. Maybe, once this party was over, she should just move to another dimension and have a new start.

"There she's!" she suddenly heard. When she looked at the origin of the voice, she saw Apple Bloom pointing at her, followed by Sweetie Belle and Rainbow Dash.

Older Sonic was also with them, eating a chili dog. "Finally! Well, what are you waiting for? Go talk to her before she decides to teleport! I will remain here for now."

Following his words, the fillies ran toward her. Rainbow Dash followed them at a slower pace while Sonic went to a nearby stand. Sonic, however, darted around the bench, looking like a blue blur, before returning to his previous position, now seemingly holding something invisible under his right arm. The invisible thing then became visible, revealing himself to be Espio who was struggling to escape as Sonic went to the stand. When the fillies reached the bench, they both jumped on it, Apple Bloom at Phantom's left and Sweetie Belle at her right. Phantom didn't object. She knew why they were there, and it was really time to have this talk. Enough putting it off.

"Hey... um... girls..." she greeted.

"Hey..." they both replied at the same time.

An awkward silence followed, with Rainbow watching beside the bench. She wasn't sure what to say too.

Apple Bloom then looked at Phantom's thigh and said, "Hey, ya got yer Cutie Mark! That's great!"

Phantom chuckled. "Yeah. That's great. I just had... Scootaloo just had... Ugh!" She rubbed a hand on her face. "Scootaloo just had to merge with someone and become me to get it, losing herself in the process..."

...

"I hope we won't need to merge with somepony too to get our Cutie Mark. I don't want to lose myself..." said Sweetie Belle.

"I don't think you have to worry about that. Unless another Phantom Ruby pops up and you eat it, I don't think it will happen."

"But it'd happen with magic, right?" said Apple Bloom. "Like, a magical accident, and bam! Fusion!"

Phantom smirked. "Then avoid being near Twilight and you should be okay."

This almost got a laugh from Rainbow while the fillies giggled.

Another awkward silence followed this.

"So... You aren't Scootaloo anymore?" eventually asked Sweetie Belle.

Phantom took a few seconds to answer. "She's a part of me, but yeah. I have all her memories, and when her minds merged with Infinite's to form mine, I kept some of her traits, but I'm my own person... Sorry..."

"Oh..." they both said before Sweetie continued. "But you said you're part Scootaloo so, what does this mean about..." She pointed at herself and Apple Bloom. "Us?"

"That is the one million bits question," answered Phantom. "I have been wondering this ever since Eggman's defeat..." She got up from the bench, then materialized a second bench that she sat on to look at both fillies at the same time. "Listen... There's a reason why I kept an appearance close to Scootaloo's when I could turn into anything I want. Scootaloo's life was shorter than Infinite's, but..." Tears began streaming from her eyes. "Infinite... He was just loneliness, anger, hate, suffering... And Scootaloo... Her life was everything that Infinite unconsciously wanted. I... Every part of me wants to be Scootaloo, but I know that I can't be Scootaloo. As Rainbow Dash said, Scootaloo would never support the idea of killing Eggman. I want to be your friend, I want to be Rainbow Dash's little sister, I want to be Snap Shutter and Mane Allgood's daughter, and Holiday and Lofty's niece... But I don't know if I have the right just because I'm part her... I don't want to feel like I'm stealing her life... And I'm not even sure if you will accept the new me... That darker me..."

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle exchanged a look, but Rainbow Dash was the first to say something as she went to sit on the first bench, between the fillies, facing Phantom. "You know what? You are wrong. I was wrong. You ARE Scootaloo. You are different. You are more mature. You are more serious. More thoughtful. And you are now ruthless. But you are still her. Being part Infinite won't change that. You still love your friends and your family. You said it, you are ready to do anything for them. And you clearly fear losing them. That's called loyalty, and I don't know a filly more loyal than Scootaloo. Than you." She pointed a hoof at Phantom. "So call yourself whatever you want, but for me, you will always be Scootaloo, my little sister. I'm still not okay with what you said about killing Eggman even if you gave some good points, but I can accept it because I know that you only have the best interest of everypony in mind. Just avoid killing him, please. And try to avoid killing villains if you can."

Phantom stared at her in shock. Rainbow Dash still thought of her as Scootaloo, even if she was different? Even if she had a different mind? Even if she was now part Infinite?

Then… Rainbow Dash hugged her, and the dam broke before Phantom hugged her back. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle exchanged another look before they nodded, smiling, and jumped to the second bench, at both sides of Phantom, before they also hugged her.

"And you will always be our friend!" they both said, making her cry even more.

Some distance away, Sonic looked at the scene with a small smile before he said to Espio who was still with him "There. See? You can go tell Vector and the others that they've nothing to fear from her. Monsters don't cry."

Espio gave a smile and nodded before walking away.

In the sky, the fireworks started.

Author's Note

Yeah, I said that this would be the last chapter, but it revealed to be longer than I thought. The next one will be the real last chapter, the epilogue.

Chapter 1: The Mysterious Ruby

"You aren't coming, Scootaloo?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"Nah. Go ahead," answered Scootaloo with a yawn. "Today's crusading wore me out, and I still have some time before I have to return home. So I will catch some shut eye under one of those trees."

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. "Yer becoming too much like Rainbow Dash. Ya know she sometimes nap in our trees?"

"Exactly. But since I can't fly to go sleep in a tree, then I will be satisfied with just sleeping under it. See you tomorrow, girls."

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle waved goodbye to Scootaloo before they went to their house, leaving behind the pegasus filly to nap against a tree not far of the clubhouse.

About half an hour later, she was suddenly awakened by a strange sound.

"Woah! What? What is it?!" she shouted while rapidly getting up and looking around.

Then, not far before her, a purple rift opened, and Scootaloo immediately went to hide behind the tree beside which she napped. She looked from behind the tree at the rift, and watched as two things came out of it before it disappeared: a weird ruby, and a weird... round being with a red top and a black bottom, as well as glasses and a big brown moustache under a big pointed pink... Uh... Muzzle? No. Whatever.

Scootaloo remained behind the tree for almost one minute after the disappearance of the rift, looking at the being in wonder and waiting for it to move, but the being wasn't moving. Thinking that it was unconscious, Scootaloo slowly approached it to verify. She probed it quickly with her hoof, but the being didn't react.

Yep, unconscious.

Not sure what to do with the being, she turned then to the ruby that landed not far and went to take it to look closer.

But then, when she touched it, the world around suddenly changed. Where before there was Sweet Apple Acre, there was now Cloudsdale's Cloudeseum, full of ponies cheering her name. Looking around in surprise, she briefly saw that she was now wearing the uniform of the Wonderbolts, and that her wings were also a more normal size.

But as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared almost as soon as she stopped touching the ruby in her surprise, and she was back in Sweet Apple Acres. After looking around again in wonder at what happened, she looked back at the ruby. Slowly, she touched it again, but this time, nothing happened.

"What was that?" she asked to herself.

Picking up the ruby, she studied it. It was a twenty-faced (whatever it's called) purple ruby with strange black ripple patterns on the surface, and it was a little bigger than her hoof, about as big as an apple. She could also feel a powerful energy coming from it.

She then started to hear the round being groaning, and she quickly turned to it while walking backward as he started rubbing his bald head.

"Ngh... What... happened?" he said. He suddenly gasped and got up on his back legs, looking around. "I can't believe it!" he yelled before he started pounding the ground with one of his legs. "How could that rodent dare pushing me inside a rift?! Now who knows where I am?!" He then calmed and started to better look around. "Mmh? An apple orchard? So I may still be on Mobius. But is it at least my Mobius?" That's when he spotted Scootaloo who remained silent until now, not sure what to do. His attention then got focused on the ruby, giving another gasp. "The ruby! Hey! You! You stupid animal! Give this ruby to me! It's mine!"

"Hey!" yelled back Scootaloo. "I'm not an animal!"

The being raised an eyebrow. "Oh you can talk? I never saw a talking horse before. And a winged one, too? Finally, I may not be on Mobius."

"I'm not a horse! I'm a pony! And this is Equus!"

"Equus...?" asked the being, putting a... paw? Under his chin (or where his chin would be if he had even a neck). He then gave what Scootaloo recognized as the 'evil smirk' that Diamond Tiara often used. This raised a red flag inside the filly.

"Who are you?"

"Who I am?" he asked back before he bowed. "I am Dr. Ivo Robotnik, but you can also call me Dr. Eggman." He smirked again. "The future ruller of this world and of many others."

Scootaloo looked back and forth between this Eggman (trying not to laugh at his name) and the ruby on her hoof. "And... to conquer worlds... you need this ruby?"

Eggman frowned. "So you understands that this is no ordinary ruby. Give it to me, and I will be merciful. I could even help you reach whatever the ruby has shown to you. With my genius, nothing is impossible for me."

Scootaloo looked at her wings. "Even... fixing my wings?"

"Even that."

"But... But then, you would use whatever powers this ruby possesses to conquer Equus, and you're clearly evil. You will probably do very bad things to everypony, and I'm not even sure you would respect this deal if I give it to you." She looked back at Eggman, slowly walking back. "So I refuse."

Eggman visibly frowned. "So you want to play heroes? You don't understand the extent of the powers of this ruby! Only I, with my genius, can use this ruby to its full potential! Anybody else will just wast it! So last warning, give me this ruby NOW or you will regret it!"

At this, Scootaloo turned around and ran as fast as she could, holding the ruby with her mouth.

"Nooo! Come back here, you little pest! GIVE ME THIS RUBY!!!"

Not listening to him, she continued to run without stopping. After a moment, thinking she lost her pursuer, she looked back, only to discover that the guy was still after her!

Darn! For a doctor, he is fast! But I'm almost at Apple Bloom's house. Applejack will buck him to next week! she thought. However, not looking where she was going, by the time she turned her head to look back in front of her, she couldn't avoid the tree approaching rapidly. She hit it muzzle first, and the hit was enough to stun her long enough for Eggman to catch her. She also coughed, the hit making her swallow something big.

Wait...

Before she could think what happened, she was grabbed from the back of her neck and lifter in front of Eggman's face.

"I got you! Now giv- Wait a minute, where's the ruby? I didn't see you dropping it!" He then saw Scootaloo clutching her belly, the filly feeling something happening in her. "Don't tell me... YOU SWALLOWED IT?!!"

Before his eyes, a purple glow was starting to spread through Scootaloo's body, starting with her belly. As her body started 'glitching', red cubes forming, a pink-purple mist started escaping her and quickly enveloped Eggman who dropped her. Before he knew it, he was transported to a different area, at the edge of a forest, the filly nowhere to be seen.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

Scootaloo gasped, suddenly awakening. She quickly looked around, and saw no trace of Dr. Eggman. However, she saw that she was back in the Cloudeseum, only, this time, it was wrong. It was... glitching, the sky was purple with black ripples, thousands of red cubes were floating around, and there was also some pink-purple mist. She also wasn't possessing the uniform of the Wonderbolts like the previous time.

But it wasn't just that. One half of the Cloudeseum was missing, and in its place, there were buildings in ruin and burning, as if a war happened.

"Mph. Seems like I am not alone here anymore," she suddenly heard someone say from this war-side, and in a glitching cloud of cubes and mist, a new being appeared.

Seeing it, Scootaloo immediately gulped and walked back.

This was another creature walking on two legs, but it was very different from Eggman. It was smaller, about the size of an adult stallion, while Eggman was easily the double. Its body was also covered in black fur with white fur at the end of a tail. She could see that it possessed a white mane, some black clothes covering its paws, or rather, claws on its forelegs, and metal shoes on its back legs. But what really freaked Scootaloo was that this being was wearing a very scary silver-colored mask with weird ears. Its right eye was hidden behind a black lightning bolt-shaped piece while the left one was behind a red visor letting only see a yellow iris around his slitted pupil.

The being took one step forward, and the next instant, it was right in front of Scootaloo, looking down at her. She was so surprised by this that she fell on her rear, looking up in fear. She then looked right and left, wondering if she could escape.

The being chuckled. "There is nowhere to go. Not now that you are trapped with me in the Phantom Ruby," it said before it started to approach a claw toward her neck.

She screamed.

With a familiar sound, the whole reality around her started to distort, taking on weird colors, taking the being by surprise.

And then, she was back in Sweat Apple Acres, seated on the ground. Confused, she looked around, seeing more of that pink-purple mist slowly disappearing. It was now almost night, and Eggman was nowhere to be seen.

Mentally exhausted by everything that happened, lost, hurt on her muzzle, tears started to appear in her eyes.

"Was... Was it a dream? No, it felt too real... What happened?"

Lucky you, you seem to still have your body she suddenly heard the masked being say in her head. Maybe this is my chance.

She then could feel something trying to take control, but she was able to push it back. After a small pause, it tried again, and again, she pushed it away.

"Stop it!"

By now, the voice in her head was growling, but it seemed to understand that it couldn't take control and didn't insist.

"You're another evil guy, right? I won't let you take control of my body to hurt everypony else!"

She could hear the being chuckle. I will. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but one day, I will. You are now a part of the Phantom Ruby like me. I am now a part of you. For the rest of your life. I will have more than enough time to take control.

Hearing this, she started breathing rapidly, panicking. Getting up, she then tried to force herself to vomit the ruby, hoping to get herself rid of... of... of all this!

This just led to the masked being to laugh even more. So this is how you were able to merge with the ruby! You ate it! More laughter. Don't lose time trying to get it out of your body! It probably fully merged with you by now! You are now the Phantom Ruby! There's nothing you can do against this!

"Nonononono!"

Maybe we should try to know each other? My name is Infinite. Remember it, because you will not get rid of me anytime soon.

More laughter followed. Scootaloo put her hooves on her head to make it disappear, but it continued. I want to go home... she thought.

The next thing she knew, she was in her room, residues of pink-purple mist disappearing. She immediately jumped on her bed and put her pillow on her head, hoping to stop the laughter.

The laughter eventually stopped on its own, leaving her to fall asleep.

Only to return to that place with the Cloudeseum and the destroyed city.

That place with him.

However, he was now just looking at her, forelegs crossed, not attempting anything. So she remained far enough of him and just waited, thinking of what she will do.

Chapter 8: Betrayal

There were many inhospitable places in Equestria. The Everfree Forest was at the top. The Frozen North was a close second. And the Badlands came third.

Present at the South East of Equestria, behind the Macintosh Hills and surrounded by dangerous swamps and jungles, the Badlands were a vast expanse of lands devoid of plant life and full of rock formations forming many natural pillars among small mountains. It wasn't one of those deserts where it's as hot as in an oven; it was just a place where it never rained and where there was absolutely no water present, no lakes, rivers, or whatever. And yet, many predators could be found in this place, hidden in the many caves or underground, and not small ones, making it a place where if you didn't die of dehydration, you would almost certainly end up in the belly of something.

Nothing problematic for someone like Eggman. His robots could easily deal with any predators, even hidden ones, and they didn't need water to survive. As for him, his robots protected him all the time and made sure that he was never running out of water.

It was also a perfect place for his HQ. None of those ponies would dare to come here, and the mountains were a great cover. He could see Canterlot from here, but where he placed his HQ, surrounded by mountains, the ponies of Canterlot won't be able to spot it. A small observation post at the top of one of the mountains, and done! And of course, all those mountains just asked to be dug and be turned into factories and laboratories. The whole land could be turned into a stronghold, and the ponies wouldn't even see it.

After escaping Manehattan, Eggman immediately came here with Tirek. The HQ was far from being finished, but it was largely advanced enough for them. As they entered the iron fortress hidden among the mountains, countless robots were still hard at work, building the structures around a tower with Eggman's face at the top, including a giant wall to push back potential assaults and some of the predators.

Tirek was really impressed at the work done by Eggman and his robots in so little time. The underground factory in Manehattan was really just the tip of the iceberg of what the man could do.

Once they're installed, Tirek eventually asked "What now, old man?"

"Truth be told, I wasn't expecting to lose back here. You saw me. I was in control until... THIS happened! A second personality appearing out of left field! And experienced enough with the ruby to destroy my Death Egg Robot in a few seconds! If it wasn't for it, the Phantom Ruby would be in my possession, and the world would already be mine!"

"You mean 'ours'?"

"Yes, ours," corrected Eggman before sighing. "Thankfully, I am a genius, and I already remade my plans. I will turn my back to Equestria and focus elsewhere. There are many other lands easier to conquer, and more lands under my... our control means more resources, more places to build our army and our weapons, more power! And then, we will crush Equestria!"

"What about the filly with the ruby?"

"Yes. She could still cause a problem for us, especially that other personality, that Infinite." Eggman started walking in circles, deep in thought. "Magic worked well, so I suppose that magic is the best way to defeat that filly, Infinite or not."

Tirek smirked. "Then continue to give me creatures to drain from their magic, and I will gladly deal with this filly. Actually, I have an idea that will assure our victory, but it may be hard to do."

Eggman looked at the centaur. "Tell it."

He told it, and Eggman smirked. "I like it. Perfect. And I already know how I will do it. The only problem is that it will take a lot of time and resources, which brings us back to the conquering of more land. All that remains is to find a way to defend ourselves against the overwhelming power of the ruby until we can put our plan into action."

"So we should wait until we find something?"

"We better, yes. Beside, I still need to finish the Egg Fortress. I will think of something."

A few days later, they found this way.

The robots had attacked a tiny town not far from the Badlands and captured its entire population for Tirek to drain before they would be sent to work.

But just as Tirek started to drain them, however...

"You know, I should have expected that you were hiding in the Badlands," suddenly said someone behind Tirek.

Surprised, Tirek immediately turned around while the robots surrounding him pointed their weapons at the origin of this voice: the Lord of Chaos Discord.

"Discord?" asked Tirek in disbelief. "You are free?" He quickly turned to the robots. "Lower your weapons. They are no use against him."

Despite the robots being Eggman's, the doctor programmed them to also follow Tirek's orders (but Eggman's orders remained the priority), so the robots lowered their weapons.

While this happened, Discord looked around at the fortress. "You know, I really don't like what I'm seeing. It's so... bland! Bleh! But, luckily, I'm here to stop that!"

"What?!" shouted Tirek just as Discord turned into a cowboy and wrapped a lasso made of chains around him. Again, the robots pointed their weapons at him, but with just one snap of his fingers, he turned all the weapons into equivalents that fired bubbles.

Then, he said, "This statement is false!" causing all the robots to start to spasm because of the paradox before they deactivated. The captured ponies all started cheering before they were teleported away with another snap. "And Discord saves the day again!"

"What are you doing?!" shouted Tirek.

"You haven't heard? I save the day! I stop the bad guys, save everyone, and all is well that ends well! Speaking of, I must now find Mister Egg Moustache."

"Wait! You are working for the ponies?!"

"Of course!"

"Why?!"

"Because they're my friends! But, between us, I do it mostly for Fluttershy."

"You? Friend with ponies?"

"Yeah. I know. News of the millennia. Who would have thought?"

Tirek frowned. "So even you fell to that trap..."

Discord took a step. "Which trap?" he asked before falling through a trapdoor that wasn't there before.

"Really, Discord, I'm surprised," said Tirek as Discord reappeared beside him. "Aren't you the Lord of Chaos? Freedom incarnate? I am sure that the ponies aren't letting you act like you desire, so why be friend with them?"

Discord put his paw under his chin. "It's true that they don't let me work my art," he said as he started painting a chaotic picture, "but when you aren't a jerk to them, they can be good company, if a little boring and annoying."

"But don't you miss it? Being able to do what you want with no one giving you limits? You are superior to them. You don't want to follow them. They should be the ones following you." Tirek gave then a smile. "Listen. I have a plan that could make us the master of this world, and Eggman is unknowingly helping with it." He then revealed what he was planning, to Discord's surprise.

"Why reveal this to me?" asked Discord.

"Because, contrary to those ponies, I entirely trust you. Join me, and you will be able to do all the chaos you desire as long as it doesn't cause a problem to our plan. Once every single pony is drained of their magic, nothing will be able to stop you. You will be free. Truly free. Isn't it what you want, to be free?"

"And what about Eggman?"

"Once he stops being useful, we will get rid of him. And the world will be ours to do like we want. You will have all the fun you want, and nothing will stop you. And as a proof of my trust..." Using his magic, he levitated a necklace with what looked like a golden triangle missing its top, with three holes, a triangle at the center, and two oval at the sides. "I give you this necklace that my own brother gave me long ago. It's precious to me."

Discord took the necklace. "And yet, you give it to me?"

"Like I said. I trust you. So, what do you think, partner?"

Tirek entered the room where Eggman was doing some experiments with magic. "Guess what, Eggman! I found us a way to fight back the ruby!"

Interrupting his experiment, Eggman turned toward him. "Really?"

That was when Discord popped from Tirek's back, waving at the doctor. "Helloooo!"

Taken by surprise, Eggman asked, "Who is this?"

"A new ally!" answered Tirek. "Discord, the Lord of Chaos himself! Probably the most magically powerful being of this planet! One snap of his fingers, and he can bend reality to his will!" Tirek frowned. "But those pesky ponies are stopping him from having his fun, so he decided to join us." He smiled back. "He will be our mean to defend ourselves against the ruby!"

"And I totally can," said Discord. "I calmed down Infinite before he could go on a murderous rampage and brought back the weak chicken in control."

"That's great news!" shouted happily Eggman. "Now I can finally focus on spreading my... our empire without risk!"

"However..." started Discord as he began rubbing his fingers. "I may have caused a little problem..."

"What problem?" asked Eggman with a frown.

"Well, I was kinda working for the ponies before joining you, so I freed the ponies your robots captured when I came here. As we're talking, they're probably telling Princess Sunbutt about your not so hidden anymore fortress," finished Discord before giving a sheepish smile.

Eggman facepalmed.

Scootaloo, as Zero, was in Canterlot training with Shining Armor when she was called by Celestia to meet her in the throne room for an important last-minute reunion. When she entered the room with the stallion, the Elements Bearers were already here, along with Luna and some ponies she didn't know. Those last ones got scared when she entered, but the others quickly reassured them. The worst was that some of them looked pale and hadn't their Cutie Marks, like the ones in the factory that Tirek had drained.

Not long after she entered, and once the ponies were calmed, Celestia started speaking. "Now that everypony is here, let's start this emergency meeting." She looked at the ponies Scootaloo didn't know.

Understanding that it was their cue, one of them talked and explained what happened. Dodge City, the town they came from, was attacked, and everypony here had been captured to be drained by Tirek and enslaved by Eggman. Thankfully, Discord saved them.

"So Discord found Tirek and Eggman and captured them?" asked Fluttershy happily.

"That's the problem, miss Fluttershy," said Celestia. "They saw Tirek being captured, but not Eggman. And if Discord had succeeded, then he would be there with the both of them in chains."

"But he's not," continued Luna. "So we believe that something happened, and that Discord failed."

Fluttershy put her hooves on her mouth in worry.

"But, at least, we now know the emplacement of Eggman's new HQ in the Badlands, and it's not finished yet. It is another chance for us to end Eggman's actions and capture him and Tirek."

"And of course, you can count on me to be here to assure our victory," said Scootaloo. "I trained hard with Shining Armor, so what happened in the factory won't happen again. I promise."

Celestia nodded at her. "Thanks to Eggman's factory, hundreds of robots are now part of our army, and we’ve equipped all our soldiers with weapons and armor equal to Eggman's robots. We sadly couldn't build yet the airships like you showed us, Zero, but I don't think Eggman had time to build them either." She looked at everypony. "Victory is within our reach. We can't let pass this chance. If we fail... I fear that this situation may turn to a real war. We must avoid this."

"But what about us, Princesses? We are not soldiers," said Rarity.

Celestia nodded. "But you are very resourceful. You proved it again and again. I'm sure you will find a way to help in this battle."

"We can do it, just like against the changelings!" Pinkie Pie said before she put a hoof under Twilight's neck and grabbed her tail with the other. "Remember?"

"Totally!" shouted Rainbow Dash before she hoofbumped Applejack.

"For civilians, we sure showed them," said Applejack.

"I... I want to see if Discord is alright..." said Fluttershy, shaking.

Celestia smiled. "Then we will all go to the Badlands and, hopefully, end this."

"And this time, end this for real," said Luna.

In the Badlands, the Equestrian army advanced toward Eggman's fortress, with the princesses, Shining Armor, and Scootaloo at its head. Scootaloo couldn't help but gulp as she saw thousands of robots waiting for them in front of the unfinished wall surrounding the fortress. The battle in Manehattan were just skirmishes compared to what was about to happen. A real, total battle between thousands of soldiers that will certainly result in a lot of deaths. At least, they had now a lot of robots on their side.

The equestrian robots had various shapes, but the most common was the pony model that constituted the first line. They were earth ponies made of metal with a cannon in their mouth to fire energy projectiles. The more advanced also had a horn to use magic. Sadly, they couldn't reproduce pegasus robots yet. Instead, they had the second most common model: spherical drones flying thanks to propellers with a single cannon at the front. Some other models consisted of minotaur-like robots heavily armored with Gatling guns instead of arms very hard to produce, and robots rather small but quick with wheels under each leg and a big horn on the head, not to use magic, but to impale anything on their way.

There weren't many of them, just a few hundreds, but thankfully, Scootaloo knew of a way to make that number grow to a few more hundreds. So, just before the battle started, she rose in the air and used the power of the Phantom Ruby to create hundreds of replicas of the robots. This slightly drained her, but at least this should reduce the number of deaths on their side.

Then the battle began. The robot replicas were the first to charge, followed by the real robots, and finally by the ponies who went to covers to fire at Eggman's robots while remaining protected from their projectiles. Shining Armor and other unicorns used shields as cover to slowly advance on the enemies while attacking, pegasi were raining destruction from the sky, dropping hundreds of bombs, and the alicorns used their vast magical power to destroy huge numbers of robots very rapidly.

Rarity's multitasking with her magic revealed to be formidable in this battle. Thanks to it, she could wield many guns at once. Rainbow Dash was a real superbomber, and Pinkie Pie was... Pinkie Pie, enough said. Applejack, her, climbed on one of the equestrian wheeled robots and used it as a ride to quickly approach the enemies and destroy them one after another with her strong hooves. As for Fluttershy, again, to save the little critters trapped in Eggman's robots, she was a real tiger, easily dodging the robot's projectiles before opening them to let the animals out.

And in the middle of all this, there was Scootaloo and her Phantom Ruby, who destroyed half of Eggman's army in just a few seconds. But then, just as she sent hundreds of spears to rain on more robots, her spears were turned into streamers.

"What?!"

Then, she was hit by something, and she found herself bouncing from pegasus to pegasus and even from Celestia, each bounce followed by a 'ding', before she ended inside a cave in one of the mountain, a giant 'TILT' appearing above the entrance of the cave. Scootaloo rapidly came out of it and spotted Discord smiling smugly at her while twirling a hammer.

"Hello there."

"Discord? YOU!!!" Scootaloo put her hands on her mouth. "Calm down Infinite!"

Let me out! I will kill that clown!

"Seems like someone isn't happy to see me," said Discord. "Meh. I'm used to that."

"Discord? Did you attack me? Why?!"

"Sorry, chicken, but the bad guys proposed a juicy offer to me that I couldn't refuse."

Scootaloo growled. "So you're betraying us?"

"In one word... Yes."

"I knew we couldn't trust you!"

"You never trusted me in the first place."

"Fluttershy trusted you!"

Discord winced at this, but quickly recovered. "I don't need her. What I need is chaos, something that I was really missing while on your side."

At this moment, a Death Egg Robot came out of the fortress, followed by Tirek and a robot looking like the blue hedgehog from Infinite's memories, but a little smaller and rounder. The three of them quickly began to spread destruction among the equestrian army, with Tirek draining ponies left and right, turning the tide of the battle despite the alicorns' quick intervention to fight them. Surprisingly, Luna, who was fighting Tirek, was the one having the least amount of trouble, Eggman's robots constantly helped the centaur who was still not powerful enough, but Tirek was wearing a strong armor.

Scootaloo charged toward them to help, only for a brick wall to appear just in front of her, stopping her on the spot, only causing some bricks to move to form her body-shape.

"Already wanting to leave me? Come on, we aren't finished yet," said Discord with a laugh.

DISCORD

Scootaloo turned to him. "Darn! I don't know if I can deal with him yet!"

Then let me out, and I will deal with him.

"No!"

Scootaloo looked at the battle in worry, then turned back to Discord, readying herself. She must at least try!

Discord gave another smug smile. "So you think you can defeat me? Very well. Let's see if you can do better than Edge Emperor."

He snapped his fingers at the same time that Scootaloo sent him to a new reality to make him vulnerable, and a giant ball appeared in the sky and dropped toward Scootaloo. The filly changed gravity to send the ball dropping toward Discord, only for the draconequus to invoke a giant baseball bat and to hit the ball with it, sending it back at Scootaloo. So the filly created a hole in the ball so it passed through her without hitting her, and the ball went to hit a mountain.

"Home run!" shouted Discord.

Scootaloo then appeared beside him to punch him on the head, and while she succeeded, Discord's neck stretched like rubber, and the head suddenly came back to headbutt her, sending her flying while Discord rubbed his head. "I felt it..." He snapped his fingers, returning to a more normal reality where he was invulnerable. "Better."

"Discord!" he suddenly heard someone shout. He immediately recognized the voice and turned.

"F... Fluttershy..."

Here she was, tears streaming from her eyes, looking pleadingly at him. "Discord... Please... Stop... Why are you doing this?"

Discord quickly looked away from her, frowning. "So I can do all the chaos I want with no one telling me to stop. I felt too imprisoned among you, too limited. Now, I'm taking back my freedom."

Fluttershy looked at him, heartbroken. Before they could say more, a new wave of energy from the Phantom Ruby caught Discord in another reality, immediately followed by a giant cannon firing a huge laser that engulfed him, the draconequus yelling in pain.

Scootaloo then appeared beside Fluttershy and grabbed her. "I don't think it will be enough against him. We must go."

They teleported to Celestia just as the princess avoided a magical beam from the Death Egg Robot. Scootaloo then raised a part of the floor under one of the feet, toppling the robot on its side.

"Celestia! We must go! Discord has joined them, and I don't think I can defeat him yet!"

Celestia bit her lips, not wanting the battle to stop like this. But if Discord joined Eggman, then things could turn for the worst, and they were already having difficulties dealing with Eggman, Tirek, and that hedgehog robot.

"Very well." She fired a black magical projectiles toward the sky, signaling that they must retreat.

Discord, after snapping his fingers to heal himself from the laser, stared at the ponies retreating, then teleported beside the Death Egg Robot.

"What are you waiting for?!" yelled Eggman. "Go after them!"

"It would be too risky for me. I can fight the ruby, but I can't fight the ruby, three alicorns, and an entire army at the same time by myself," replied Discord.

The hedgehog robot went after them, only to be easily destroyed by Scootaloo and the three alicorns.

"See?" said Discord.

"Damn it!" shouted Eggman before he took a big breath. "At least, we pushed them back. Good job. Tirek was right. Thanks to you, we will be able to defend ourselves against the ruby." He then looked at his army, frowning. "But they destroyed a lot of my robots." He huffed. "Using my own technology against me! The nerves! Even the people of Mobius hasn't gone that far! Normally, they destroy what I create!"

Discord shrugged. "Yes, ponies are paradoxical this way. They can take stupid decisions, like sending me to deal with you, and take smart decisions, like repurposing your factory for their use." He sighed before stretching his arms. "Well, I'm gonna rest a little. I need to recover after that huge laser I took."

Epilogue: Prelude to New Adventures

One year later.

Tick tock, tick tock

DRIIIIIIIING!

An orange hoof slammed on the alarm clock to stop it, thus beginning Phantom Scootaloo Zero's day as she awakened. After getting rid of some dust in her eyes, she jumped out of her bed and started her morning ritual before school. Not much. Thanks to her power, she didn't need to do things like brushing her teeth or taking a shower. A bit of self-reality warping thanks to her Phantom Ruby, and she was all clean. This way, she could also avoid having to eat breakfast, but in her mind, nothing beat a good bowl of cereals with a glass of fresh fruit juice in the morning, so she refused to stop having them. In the end, most of her morning before school was passed, either discussing with her aunts or doing some exercises. Again, she didn't need to do exercises, but she didn't want to stop doing them.

And yes, she still went to school. Despite her adult mind, she still needed to go there, as much as it annoyed her. Infinite, or rather Zero, never went to school in his life, and he certainly knew nothing about Equus' History and geography. Besides, going to school meant spending time with her friends.

Breakfast over, she took her saddlebag, shouted to Aunt Hollyday that she was going, and exited her house.

Ponyville had changed a lot. When the town was rebuilt, it was with the new castle in mind. While the castle wasn't in the center of the town, like the castle of the Crystal Empire, the town was built so it was pretty much its heart. All the main streets now started from the place around the castle, and the city hall was just beside it. Most of the businesses were closer to the center of the town, but many decided to open near the castle.

Some of Ponyville's most symbolic buildings were rebuilt like they were, like Sugarcube Corner, the spa, or the Carousel Boutique, and the city hall, and generally, the town kept its original architectural charm, but now, the town had actual roads like in bigger cities like Canterlot and Manehattan for the circulation of the vehicles, much more numerous.

This was the major change: the technology. Carriages had now mostly given their place to cars, motorized vehicles. While most still possessed wheels, the most advanced could fly, or at least hover over the ground. Even the trains were different, now able to traverse Equestria and reach neighboring countries in just a few hours. Ponyville also now had access to electricity, the nearby dam having been upgraded to be a hydroelectric generator. As a result, automatic street lights were now present among other things. Some factories could already be seen in the outskirts of town, and most important of all, robots were now present a little everywhere, helping the ponies in everyday tasks.

And with the help of magic, all of this was eco-friendly, contrary to Eggman's technology. They made sure to not become technological obsessed monsters like him. Each time there was something polluting, they immediately searched for a solution, technological or magical, to make it non-polluting. Or at least to limit the pollution, and then they would try to find something to counterbalance that pollution.

It wasn't just Ponyville. All of Equestria, and the entire world, was changing, entering a new era of technology which led to a massive economical boon greatly helped by the friendlier relationships formed in the war against Eggman.

In all this, a portal to both Sonic's worlds was secretly built with the help of both magic and technology and a lot of studying Starswirl's portal. The Tails, little technological genius that they were, also helped a lot. This way, the otherworldly friends could continue to see each other without needing to call Phantom or Discord each time. Among other news, Twilight now had a protégée named Starlight Glimmer, Cadance was now pregnant, and some changelings physically changed when they discovered that they could give love, forming a new people.

As for the Phantom Rubies, they decided that they would stop producing them. In wrong hooves, they could be too dangerous. They destroyed any rubies that had survived Discord, along with all written knowledge of how to produce them.

And all this time, Phantom Scootaloo Zero just lived her new old life. Since she was told that she was Scootaloo despite also being Zero, then she decided to continue to live as Scootaloo. Following the victory party, she talked to her family, parents and aunts, who accepted the new her. So she continued to live in Ponyville with her aunts, going to school, and helping her friends finding their Cutie Mark.

Speaking of which, Scootaloo joined her friends in front of the school, which was built in the same place as before, but bigger, because they didn't doubt that in the following years, the number of students will grow a lot.

Despite the world changing around, the ponies didn't change, and this included Scootaloo's fellow Crusaders. The two fundamental changes about them were that they had grown a little, and they now had a Cutie Mark: an apple made of wood for Apple Bloom and a music note for Sweetie Belle. After that she merged with Zero, Scootaloo gained enough maturity to understand how stupid they had been with their Cutie Marks. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle's Cutie Marks had been so obvious that she had to stop herself from slamming her head in a wall. Apple Bloom was good in carpentry, and Sweetie Belle was good at singing. How did they not see that before? Answer: because they were children. Of course, Scootaloo had her Phantom Ruby Cutie Mark. She wondered what would have been her Cutie Mark if she hadn't found the Phantom Ruby. Maybe something to do with her scooter, or with speed. Or maybe the CMC's destiny would have been different, and they would have gotten different Cutie Marks.

After school, they went to Sugarcube Corner to have a little snack, followed by Berry Pinch.

"Here you go," said Pinkie as she dropped three milkshakes.

"Thank you, Pinkie," they all said.

Pinkie then nuzzled Berry Pinch. "How was school my little cupcake?"

"Moooom. I told you, don't call me that in front of others," said Berry Pinch with a blush.

"Ah, yes, you prefer when I call you my little pinchy."

Berry Pinch pouted and booped Pinkie on the nose. "Stop that!" But finally, she laughed and continued. "School was alright, like always. Today, we learned about..."

As Berry Pinch began recounting what they learned today in school, Scootaloo couldn't stop herself from giving a warm smile. Poor Berry Pinch lost her mother in the attack of Ponyville and became an orphan. The filly was inconsolable. But then, after the war, Pinkie Pie adopted her and did everything she could to give Berry Pinch back her smile. Now, those two really were mother and daughter. Pinkie knew she will never replace Berry Punch, but she worked hard to be the family Berry Pinch needed. A good example was that Pinkie was now living in her own home beside Sugarcube Corner so the filly could have her own chamber.

Tragically, Berry Pinch was far from being the only foal who became an orphan in this war, and a couple of orphanages had to be built here and there. The good news was that none of the orphans from Ponyville had to leave town to go live in an orphanage. They were all quickly adopted. Despite all their defaults, the ponies of Ponyville really had the biggest heart of Equestria.

And among the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, Pinkie Pie wasn't the only one who adopted one. Fluttershy just couldn't bear to leave a foal alone without doing anything and decided to adopt one: Lily Longsocks. The filly loved animals almost as much as Fluttershy, and her unnatural strength helped her greatly with the bigger ones like Harry the bear. Even Angel didn't dare messing with her. Rarity also adopted one, none other than Silver Spoon. This made things really awkward between her and Sweetie Belle, but eventually, the two warmed up despite the bullying, and Silver Spoon stopped following Diamond Tiara and became friends with them. This made the situation with Diamond Tiara worse, but things got better since they helped her against her mother, Spoiled Rich.

When they finished their milkshakes, the Crusaders left Berry Pinch with her adopted mother and exited the bakery to go to their 'new' clubhouse. Thanks to Scootaloo's power, she was able to create a new one exactly identical to the previous one that had been destroyed with the rest. On the way, Scootaloo waved to Rainbow Dash as the mare passed above them, pushing clouds. They then passed Applejack's stand of apples and said a quick hello to her and Fluttershy as the pegasus was buying some apples. Lily Longsocks was also there with Discord, a little to the side arm wrestling. Despite making himself even more buffed than Bulk Biceps, Discord was losing, so he was doing funny faces to make Lily lose her focus. But even if this made her laugh, he was still losing. This filly could be the daughter of Supermare. The Crusaders also crossed paths with Twilight and her protégée Starlight Glimmer, the princess probably giving her another tour of Ponyville to help her make friends.

Yes, things changed a lot, but this remained the peaceful Ponyville.

And of course, since it was Ponyville, something was bound to happen to interrupt this peace.

And that something was an airship suddenly coming from the sky. This wasn't an airship like the ponies were now used to, this one looked like an actual seafaring blue-white ship, with oars, a keel, and a mast, but it also possessed engines at its aft flanked by two wings. There was also a star emblem on its bow, and its sail had the drawing of what looked like a vortex.

Curious, everypony followed the ship as they saw that it was going to land beside Twilight's castle. Scootaloo teleported herself and her friends. When the ship landed and an entrance appeared on its side with a ramp, she made sure to be at the front of the forming crowd, ready to intervene if it revealed to be a threat.

But then, out of the entrance, walking down the ramp, came Sweetie Belle.

Scootaloo could only say one thing at this.

"What?"

Discord put a phone on his hear. "Hello Discord, it's to confirm that she arrived."

«That's splendid news! Let the chaos begin!» answered Discord.

"Ohohohohoh! I can't wait for them to meet the third one."

«Oooh the sweet, sweet chaos those three will create.»

To be continued

Author's Note

This ends The Phantom Filly. Scootaloo's adventures will continue in Ultimate Multiverse Explorers.