Equestrian Forces

Chapters

Prologue: Chaotic Arrival
Chapter 1: Starving Syracuse
Chapter 2: Manehatten Madness
Chapter 3: Everfree Envy and Ponyville Predicaments
Chapter 4: Railway Review
Not-a-Chapter: Rewrite in progress

Prologue: Chaotic Arrival

(Rookie POV)

To say I’ve had a crazy set of days before I ended up where I am now...oops, got a bit ahead of myself.

My name is Carter “Rookie” Tomcat/Thomson, though I prefer Rookie. Now, the reason for the two last names is that I am a personality formed from two fused consciousnesses. One, a somewhat naive human from Earth killed in a mugging, and the other, a Mobian Freedom Fighter after dealing with Eggman and the Phantom Ruby. To say that my Mobian half was shocked that, technically, he was part of a video game is an understatement...again, got ahead of myself

Anyway, let’s start where stories should start...if you are thinking beginning, you are right, but I was going to say a hospital. The Ponyville hospital to be specific.

Waking up to the bright lights of the hospital got me to wince a bit, but not that much. I had stared down a sun that was on a collision course...granted it was technically an illusion, but it was real too. Anyway, I noticed that the voice mask I had after a bad encounter with Infinite wasn’t on my face, leaving my face open and keeping me from being able to speak. My blue kimono shirt was removed and replaced with a hospital gown that was kinda too small, but since when did Mobians care about clothing outside of shoes.

Speaking of shoes, looking down to where my cybernetic feet should have been, I saw that the ankle couplings were sparking a bit, meaning that whoever brought me here must have thought those were shoes until they started to spark a bit. They must have connected the dots with my cybernetic hands, seeing as they had a similar design to the feet. ‘Gonna have to fix my feet...for the umpteenth time.’ I thought to myself.

The door to my hospital room opened, revealing a white quadruped pony with a light pink mane and tail in a nurse hat and carrying a food tray on her back. When she saw I was awake, she smiled and spoke. “You’re awake! And much sooner than anticipated. How are you feeling?”

I opened my mouth to answer, but as soon as I made the attempt to speak, raspy sounds came out instead of my voice. Whoops, forgot I didn’t have my voice mask. The pony heard my voice and saw my somewhat shocked and distressed face.

“Are you okay? Can you speak?” She asked, to which I shook my head. “Oh dear. This will make things hard. How do you communicate with others?”

I mimed the shape of the voice mask over my mouth, but it was ineffective. “You hungry?” She asked, getting an ‘are you kidding me’ look. I then mouthed, “I need the green and yellow mask I was wearing when I came in, assuming you still have it.”

“Oh, that mask? What do you use it for?”

“It’s the only way I can actually speak.” I mouthed to her. She nodded her head and placed the tray of food she had on her back onto the bed.

“I’ll be right back. I’ll get your mask and there is someone who wants to meet you.”

“Who?” I ‘asked’.

“The one who brought you in.” The nurse answered. “She found you in a small crater out in the Ponyville Meadow just outside of town. Do you want to see her?” I nodded vigorously. Thanking my rescuer...or at least, the person who got me to proper medical care, should be one of my top priorities. “I’ll bring her in once I get your mask. In the meantime, eat up. If you need anything more, voice it when...oh...oops.” She smiled sheepishly before quickly closing the door and trotting off.

Lunch was simple, but slightly confusing. Hay was on the tray, but it could be either a cultural thing or dietary. Seeing as a pony was the first creature I just met, it could be both the previously mentioned things, as well as the fact that they may not have met or encountered a Mobian before.

After I had eaten everything on the tray, minus the hay, the nurse came in with my mask and a chubby red pegasus behind her. She placed my mask on my bed and took the tray. Just as I was about to pick up my mask and put it on, the pegasus spoke.

“Hey…glad to see you’re awake. Are, uh, are you feeling alright?” She asked. I nodded and she seemed ready to ask another question, but I held up my finger in the ‘one moment’ gesture.

I slipped my mask on, causing it to seal to the hidden magnets in my jawbone. I then let out my test breath, making me sound like Darth Vader for a few seconds before returning to normal. “Okay, I’m good now.” I said, my synthetic voice working as it should. “You were going to ask something?”

“Oh, uh, right.” She stammered slightly before grabbing a pencil and paper pad from a set of saddlebags I didn’t notice on her. “I hope you don’t me asking, but what are you and where are you from? And please speak as honestly as you can. I want my readers to be fully informed so that we don’t have a repeat of the Zecora incident...which I will explain later.”

“Understood. My name is Carter ‘Rookie’ Tomcat, or Rookie if you prefer it that way.” I answered. “As for what I am, I’m a Mobian Cat.”

“Mobian?” Both the pegasus and the nurse asked in slight confusion.

“I come from a planet...or would it be dimension?...called Mobius.” I explained. “And no, I didn’t come here on purpose, if that is what you may have been thinking.”

“Oh, well, I’ll scratch that question out then.” The pegasus muttered to herself. “Well, maybe you can tell us how you got here, if you’re okay with sharing it.”

“I’m okay with sharing it, but it will require a bit of an open mind, as most of what I will say might sound impossible.” I said.

“In what kind of way?” The nurse asked.

“Think of a set of emeralds that have phenomenal, cosmic power when gathered together, and a reality bending ruby.” I explained.

“Well, we have things here called the Elements of Harmony, which are six powerful gems. So powerful emeralds and a powerful ruby aren’t too far fetched. But emeralds with phenomenal, cosmic power, and a reality bending ruby? That’s a bit much, don’t you think?” The pegasus asked.

“I wish it was. I know three separate Hedgehogs that could use the emeralds to their max potential, and I was on the receiving end of the ruby’s power.” I continued. “Anyway, I was doing research on the ruby in question when I came here. I was trying to figure out how to properly use it without dying or vanishing like the last user of it. I had one of the emeralds on me when I was doing some testing. I’m thinking the two gems didn’t ‘agree’ with each other and they tore a hole in space-time or whatever. They then tossed me through and here we are.” I reached into my personal hammerspace (somehow hidden behind my back) to see if they were still there, but I couldn’t feel them. “By any chance, did you see a red and black striped ruby and a white emerald where I appeared?”

“More like landed, but yes, though I was more focused on getting you to help as soon as possible.” She said.

I jumped off the bed, but I fell to my knees, having forgotten my busted foot. “Daggamit! Do you guys have a screwdriver and some surgical tape or rubber?” I asked as I carefully stood up and limped to a chair.

“Why the sudden haste? I don’t think you should be leaving just yet.” The nurse said as she looked me over.

“Screwdriver and surgical tape or rubber please?” I asked, with a little added emphasis to show the urgency. “And to answer your question, we need to get that ruby and emerald I mentioned. Those gems are too dangerous to be left out for anyone to pick up.”

“Aren’t you blowing things out of proportion?” The pegasus asked. “I mean, you did hit your head, so-”

“The Phantom Ruby and the Chaos Emeralds are no joke!” I exclaimed, as I pulled my foot off and began messing with some of the internal wires and mechanisms. “The reason behind me needing this mask and these robotic limbs is because of a direct encounter with the ruby’s previous bearer, Infinite.”

The pegasus jumped a bit at my interruption and partial explanation of my battle scars. “You’re serious? They can be that dangerous?”

I placed my foot back on and removed the hospital smok I was placed in. “It’s not the gems themselves that are dangerous, it’s who might pick it up and use them that can be dangerous.” I looked in the nearby closet, grabbed my light blue kimono shirt and was in it instantly. “Now, if I need to do any ‘signing out’ papers, I’ll be back to do them. I need to find those gems.” I then turned to the pegasus. “Lead the way...Miss?”

“Oh, I’m Redbow Rose. I’m a reporter for the local paper ‘The Trot Street Journal’.” She said as she opened her wings and took flight, a little shakily at first, and began to lead me to my landing spot.

(Discord/3rd POV)

At the crater of Rookie’s arrival laid the Phantom Ruby Prototype and one of the 7 Mobian Chaos Emeralds. “And I must say, they are just brimming with power.” Discord. “What?” Did you just break the fourth wall? “And hacked into your keyboard to insert my own conversation bits.” Well, if you are going to do that, at least do proper paragraph structuring.

“Oh, you are no fun.” Discord complained. “Now, what was I doing again?”

You were looking at one of the most powerful gems on Mobius and one of seven emeralds that are similar to the Elements of Harmony.

“Oh, well, when you put it that way.” Discord muttered as he reached down to pick up the ruby and emerald.

“Hey! Stop!” He heard from off to the side. He looked that direction, just to barely dodge getting hit from a grappling claw shot at him by Rookie. Using his chaos magic, Discord separated his own ‘hands’ from his arms to collect the two gems and jumped back to avoid Rookie as the claw pulled him past. “What in the world?” He said as he passed the draconequus.

Rookie was able to recover from his fly-by and settled back onto the ground as Discord’s ‘hands’ reattached themselves to where they belonged. “I must say, you are rather rude.” Discord said, twirling the two gems on his ‘fingers’ as if they were basketballs. “Attempting to take something that rightfully belongs to someone else.”

“Hey!” He heard behind him. Turning around, Discord saw Redbow barely landing, taking deep breaths as she recovered from her flight. “If anything, you are taking something that belongs to someone else.”

“Finders keepers, losers weepers.” Discord said. “I didn’t take them directly from him, I found them.”

“You tell yourself that to sleep at night?” Rookie asked.

“I haven’t had a good night’s sleep for over a thousand years.” Discord said as he levitated up the Chaos Emerald. “And that’s what I plan on doing...after I do this.” The Chaos Emerald suddenly ‘folded open’, revealing two Chaos Emeralds. He sent the original off into a portal, while holding the copy before ‘fanning it out’ to reveal seven more that he then tossed into the sky, each leaving a colored trail, one of each color of the rainbow.

Discord then held up the Phantom Ruby Prototype. “One more thing before my nap.” He tossed it into the air and let it fall into his mouth. “Huh...tastes more bland than I expected. Like watered down cinnamon. Anywho, enjoy the Easter Egg Hunt.” Discord said, snapping his fingers, causing a massive wave of red energy to radiate out of him, covering and altering the land, giving the terrain a familiar look.

Rookie growled. “Great.” He said sarcastically. “Another Infinite to deal with.” The sound of teleportation happened, causing Rookie to glance at the group of six familiar mares led by a familiar lavender unicorn. “Oh, Hello.”

The unicorn, Twilight Sparkle, looked around the crater. “What happened here?” She asked. After a moment of looking around while expecting an answer, she noticed Rookie. “What is that?”

“Try ‘Who is that?’ rather than ‘what’.” Rookie retorted. “And I have a name. Carter ‘Rookie’ Tomcat. Or Rookie, if you prefer.”

“What are you a rookie for?” The pink pony, Pinkie Pie asked.

“Being a soldier, a freedom fighter, a mechanic...take your pick.” Rookie listed off. “Anyway, I’d love to chat, but I have some Emeralds I need to track down.”

“What’s so important about finding these emeralds?” The white unicorn, Rarity, asked.

“Talk with Redbow, she’s probably got most of the details written down or memorized for the paper.” He said, turning to leave.

“Umm…” The yellow pegasus, Fluttershy, spoke up, barely loud enough to catch his attention and get him to stop. “I don’t mean to be a bother, but do you know where the emeralds are and the lay of the land?”

Rookie paused in thought before shaking his head. “Truth be told, I only know a base minimum about this world, thanks to some convoluted timespace stuff that merged two minds into one and placed it into this body.” He explained.

“I have no full clue what you said, but you sound honest in your words.” The orange pony, Applejack, said while nodding.

Rookie began patting himself down, seemingly looking for something before pulling out a small handheld device. “Ah, thank you Tails.” He muttered to himself as he began typing something into the device.

“How did you just pull that out of nowhere?! That action alone just broke so many laws of physics and science!” Twilight asked, her eye twitching slightly.

“This coming from the unicorn that can perform feats of magic that, technically, can break as many, if not more, laws of physics and/or science than my hammerspace.” Rookie said without looking up. “And...got it! I’ve locked onto the chaos energy that the emeralds emit. For now, general directions may work-”

“What about where specifically?” The blue pegasus, Rainbow Dash, asked? “I mean, I know that with flying, a general direction can work, but on the ground, you’d probably have more obstacles to deal with that would cause you to get lost quite easily.”

“Then, do you have a map for me to hold onto and match up with my scanner?” He asked.

Pinkie Pie stuck a hoof into her mane and ruffled around in it for a bit before pulling out a rolled up map. “Here, a map of all the known areas of land.” She said, handing it to me.

Rookie took the map and began comparing it to his scanner before pulling out a pencil and circling a few spots on the map before putting both away. “Thanks, now I’m off to Syracuse to find the first Emerald.”

“Syracuse?” Redbow asked. “Is that to the east of here?” Rookie nodded. “Well, I hope you don’t mind me tagging along then. That’s my hometown and it’s been a while since I’ve visited my parents. Hay, if we’re lucky, my sister will be there as well.”

“That...actually sounds like a good idea.” He said. “I spent most of my soldier and freedom fighter time having to be constantly on the move, so maybe a more relaxed mission is in order.” Redbow smiled and fluttered up into the air.

“Hey! What about us?” Rainbow complained. “I’m not sure what these emberals-”

“Emeralds.” Rarity corrected.

“Whatever-are, but with how you’re acting, we should probably come along.” She continued.

“Or, if I’m thinking correctly, you and your friends are better off preparing for a being known as Discord and what craziness he will cause...if changing the landscape to match Mobius wasn’t enough.” Rookie advised.

“That does sound best.” Twilight agreed. “And while I have more questions, I’ll ask them later. You sound like finding these are more important, so I’ll leave you be.” She then started trotting back into the town, her friends following.

Rookie and Redbow looked at each other with determination in their eyes. “Ready to get going?” Redbow asked.

“Lead the way.” Rookie answered. “Go as fast as you can.” And with that, Redbow began flying towards her hometown, with Rookie following behind.

Author's Note

This idea was inspired my the March 2020 PS+ Free Games (primarily Sonic Forces).

Chapter 1: Starving Syracuse

(Rookie POV)

The past few hours of travel towards Syracuse had been a bit stop-and-go. We’d run...or fly, in Redbow’s case...for about half an hour. Then rest a little by walking for a bit, before we got back to running or flying. To ease the boredom of the walking moments, I decided to strike up a conversation with her, to get to know her...and not in that kind of way.

“So, Redbow, what’s your family like?” I asked her as we slowed to a walking pace.

“Well, it’s not easy to describe my family, because we’re not ‘one thing’ like most families are.” She explained. “I mean, um, you remember seeing Applejack with those ponies we left?”

I could see where she was going with this, and decided to fill in the blanks for her. “So her giant family is all about apple farming, but your family is more of a mishmash of everything, and yet nothing.” I answered, getting her jaw to hit the ground (not literally; MLP may be a ‘cartoon world’, but at least some laws of physics and science are followed).

“How in Eques did you know all of that?!” She exclaimed.

“I’ll tell you, but until this crisis is over, it stays between us. Understand?” I said, stopping to fix a serious look on her. “And to make sure you keep your promise, do a Pinkie Promise.”

She shivered and then sighed. “Okay. I promise to keep your secret a secret, until you tell me It’s okay to talk about it. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” She said, making sure to close her eye so she didn’t poke it.

“Okay. Now to start, I have two sides to my mind.” I began to explain. “One is Mobian, the other is Human.”

“Wait, human? As in those silly theories that Lyra talks about?” Redbow asked in surprise.

“Oh, that actually happens?” I asked out loud. “Huh, I’ll have to keep fan theories in mind.”

“Fan theories?” She asked in confusion.

“I’m getting there.” I said, using the ‘calm down’ gesture. “The human side of my mind has watched, or at least read, a lot on a show that features certain bits of this world. Mostly focusing on the misadventures of those six mares we left back in Ponyville. They are jokingly called ‘The Mane Six’ back on Earth.”

“So, this world is part of a show and, thanks to that, you know all about this world?” She asked, a hint of suspicion and fear in her voice.

“Only the bare minimum.” I said to her. “Remember what I told Fluttershy about the whole timespace convolution stuff, that merged two minds into one?”

“Oh, right, that.” She realized. “How did that happen anyway?”

“On the Mobian side of things, I had that Phantom Ruby Prototype-”

“Prototype? It wasn’t a real Phantom Ruby?”

“Oh, it’s real.” I said, quickly rubbing my tail, feeling a scab hidden under the fur. “Just slightly defective. Anyway, I had it too close to the Chaos Emerald you saw. But they didn’t seem to agree with each other, and I was forced here with them.”

“And the human side of things?” Redbow asked.

“Killed in a mugging.” I said, feeling the phantom pain from being stabbed. “And the kicker there, it was all for a simple wedding band I found on-” I paused when I felt something in a hidden pocket on my shirt. I found the pocket opening, and pulled out a ring. And it wasn’t a ring like a wedding band, it was a ring like from the various Sonic Games, and the recent movie about him. “Huh, will you look at that?”

“What? Is that the wedding band that was ‘stolen’ from you?” Redbow asked.

“No. This is a Power Ring.” I said, marveling at how these seem to pop up everywhere.

“What does it do?” Redbow asked.

“It has protective properties, and I’ve found it helps me keep up with one of my Hedgehog friends.” I explained. “And I think it might help us get to Syracuse faster.”

“How can it help us get to Syracuse faster?” She asked. I responded by tossing the ring to her. The suddenness of my action nearly got her to miss the catch. When she caught it, she was shocked when it vanished in a golden sparkle. She twitched slightly before looking up at me. “What just happened?”

“You ‘collected’ the ring.” I told her simply. “Where it goes is unknown, but with you ‘carrying’ that, you should be able to have the speed and stamina to fly the rest of the way to Syracuse.”

“You know I’m not the fit kind.” She complained.

“And I didn’t say you were.” I said, smiling under my mask. “Heck, Big the Cat back on Mobius is less fit than you, but with ring power, he has managed to keep up with Amy Rose.”

“You act like I should know who they are.” Redbow deadpanned.

“Fat cat twice my height and more obese than you managing to keep up with a sub-Sonic hedgehog. That’s the simple way to see it.” I said. “So with ring power on your side, you, a chubby pegasus, can lead a sub-Sonic cat to your hometown faster than what we’ve been doing.”

Redbow looked like she was about to protest, but paused, seeming to think about what I said about the fact that she would have the ring’s power on her side. She took flight into the air and then shot off into the distance, briefly surprising me before I started running after her. This new pace and, from what I could tell, her lack of exhaustion, seemed to confirm my hidden suspicion of it being able to grant Redbow stamina and speed comparable to a Mobian. The trip went rather quickly after that.

(3rd POV)

The two arrived in the town of Syracuse, only to find the place seemed abandoned. “Where is everyone?” Redbow asked out loud.

“Not just everyone, almost everything is gone.” Rookie commented, seeing almost all forms of plant matter was stripped from the ground, trees, and certain parts of buildings.

“It’s almost like how parasprites nearly ate up Ponyville after Twilight magically changed their diet.” Redbow said. “It took my boss forever to get the printing press looked over, repaired and any stray parasprites cleared out.”

“Now, I just hope no one was harmed in that incident and whatever happened here.” Rookie said as he kicked a stray basket to the side, as they walked further into town. “If I recall some details from the show concerning that incident, Twilight changed their diet to ‘not food’, causing them to eat things that weren’t food...so, were ponies eaten or no.”

“Now that I think about it, you saying that makes me think that the Ponyville residents were lucky they weren’t targeted by those pests.” She contemplated out loud. “I mean, ponies could be considered as ‘not food’.”

“So, we explore the town and hope we find someone?” Rookie asked, getting a nod from Redbow. The two began knocking on doors, hoping to find someone. However, rather than getting any answers to what happened to the town, they saw movement in the houses’ windows, indicating that people were inside and afraid. After an hour of just knocking doors and getting nothing, Rookie looked to Redbow, and voiced his opinion. “I don’t think we’re getting anywhere.”

“Yeah.” She said with a sad sigh. “I’m not sure what changed and when, but maybe if we head to my parent’s place, they might have some answers for us.” She started trotting to a building that seemed to be a business with living quarters on the second floor. She walked up the stairs on the side of the building and knocked on the door.

The door creaked open, revealing a pegasus with a turquoise coat and a thinner physique than Redbow, but sharing a similar face. “Redbow!” She exclaimed quietly, opening the door a bit wider to check the area before standing aside. “Quick, you and your...whatever your friend is, get inside before she sees you both outside.”

“Who?” Redbow asked, before the pegasus groaned and grabbed her and Rookie, then pulled them inside. After she closed the door, she hugged Redbow.

“It’s good to see you again, Redbow. I just wish it wasn’t under these circumstances.” The pegasus said.

“Cloudbow, what’s going on? What’s got the town spooked and locked indoors?” Redbow asked, carefully dislodging herself from her sister’s hug.

“Cloudbow? Who’s there with you?” A female voice was heard from a different room.

“Mom, Dad, Redbow’s visiting.” Cloudbow called out. Two more pegasi walked out from a hallway area. One of them was a brown, female pegasus with rosy red mane and tail. The other was a lighter brown, male pegasus with bright blue mane and tail. Both of them had a somewhat shocked expression that turned to happiness.

“Redbow!” the two exclaimed, rushing up and latching onto her in a hug. “What are you doing here? Didn’t you get the letter to stay away?”

“What letter?” Redbow asked, carefully pulling the two pegasi off of her. “I visited you guys yesterday, and everything seemed fine. Barely less than 24 hours later, the town is in shambles.”

“A day? It’s been a week!” Cloudbow explained in slight confusion. Redbow was about to say something, but the house shook briefly, causing the other two pegasi to lock the multitude of locks (that seemed recently added) on the door and cover all windows.

“What’s going on?” Rookie asked. The group, minus Redbow, shushed him. He carefully peeked his head through the drapes to look at what was happening.

What he saw was rather confusing, but terrifying at the same time. A bright red, almost pink, unicorn with mint-green mane and tail was accosting an earth pony that was attached to a wagon carrying what seemed to be a ridiculous amount of food. He couldn’t hear the conversation, but could generally get the idea of what was happening.

The unicorn was obviously wanting the food that was on the cart all to herself, but the cart’s owner was refusing, trying to get past her to take it to market or something. Before the earth pony could tell her off or shoo her away, the unicorn demonstrated some hidden strength by snapping the wooden pieces of his harness off with her bare hooves and then delivered a roundhouse kick that sent the earth pony flying into the exterior wall of the building, causing the building to shake again, but slightly harder than last time.

The unicorn then stood on her back legs and walked to the back of the cart. She eyed the food (heck, the whole wagon) with a hungry look, rubbing her hooves together as she did so. Her horn was enveloped in a combined green and pink aura, as if casting a spell, but then, just like that, the aura was gone. At first, nothing happened, but then the unicorn’s body began to swell. In less than a few seconds, she became a behemoth of a fat pony, reaching two stories tall. The unicorn behemoth then inhaled and all the food, barrels, bags, and wagon itself was sucked up into her mouth, all somehow managing to fit through the mouth. After she had finished chewing and swallowing the food, she seemed to have enjoyed the meal, a content look on her face. Her horn then lit back up again, and she shrunk back down to her ‘normal’ form, allowing her to trot away.

“What in the name of all that is holy and sacred did I just see?” Rookie asked, pulling his head back from the window and drapes.

“That is what has been happening here this past week.” Cloudbow said. She quickly turned to Redbow and interrupted her before she started. “And I heard what you said, but I think some sort of time magic or something has hit the town.”

“Why do you think that?” Rookie asked.

“Well to start, most food crops have begun to grow significantly faster than should be possible.” The male pegasus said. “By the way, before we get too far into this discussion, we should introduce ourselves.”

“That is better than thinking of each other with somewhat vague nouns.” The Mobian said as he stood up from the window and extended his robotic hand. “Carter ‘Rookie’ Tomcat, but Rookie is fine.”

“Calorie Crunch, Syracuse Dietician.” The male pegasus responded, shaking the offered hand with his hoof. “You probably know Redbow, might have caught Cloudbow’s name. And this pretty filly here is my wife, Primrose.” He introduced his family.

“Nice to know you all.” Rookie said, giving a light bow. “Anyway, accelerated crop growth...any further evidence of a time spell or something?”

“Well, I’ve never known Redbow to lie.” Cloudbow said. “So we can probably take her word on the timing of things. It has barely been a day for her, while a literal week passed for us.”

“Two points of evidence is better than no evidence at all.” Rookie said as he pulled out his scanner and started entering information of some kind into it. “Anything of note concerning your gluttonous unicorn ‘friend’ outside?”

“Mint Berry.” Cloudbow answered. “The ‘day’ this all started, I saw her at the edge of town, talking with some weird, serpent-like, mishmash of animals, dragon thing.”

“Discord.” Rookie grumbled.

“And it seems that Mint’s bullying ways never really changed.” Redbow muttered. “Did you hear any of the conversation?”

“No, I couldn’t, but I could tell she seemed to be in awe of something that Discord told her, and then showed her a red gem of some kind.” Cloudbow said.

“Probably the Chaos Emerald we came here for.” Rookie said, inputing a bit more info into the device. The device beeped and Rookie’s ‘invisible’ eyebrow raised as he looked at the device’s results. “And the guess of the town being under a time spell isn’t too far off. From what I can tell, the time spell, some sort of soil enrichment spell, and whatever has Mint Berry able to eat her giant meals is powered by some sort of Chaos energy.”

“So, we find the Emerald, somehow disconnect it from the spells and then take care of Mint Berry?” Redbow asked.

The Mobian nodded. “That is a good base plan to work with.” He said. “But we need to know where the Emerald is and how to fight against a kung-fu unicorn with a size ability.”

“Actually, I think Redbow and I can distract Mint while you search the town for the Emerald.” Cloudbow suggested. “After all, she has the biggest bone to pick with us for some reason.”

“Sounds like a plan. Let’s get started-” Redbow’s stomach grumbled, interrupting her and getting her to blush a bit. “-after we eat something. I don’t want her to mistake my grumbling stomach as a competitor’s claim to the area.” The whole group laughed and entered the kitchen to eat.

(One meal later, Rookie POV)

After a rather enjoyable, and somewhat overfilling meal, Cloudbow, Redbow, and I left the house and went our separate ways. They began walking down some of the street areas, while I took to the rooftops. “I gotta thank Rouge for this...if I ever get the chance to do so.” I muttered as I used my grappling hook to jump between buildings, while scanning the area for the Emerald’s Chaos energy.

The scanning, however, wasn’t going as I had hoped. The entire town seemed saturated in Chaos energy, causing my task of pinpointing the darn gem to be more difficult than it should. So, I decided to rely on my eyes and ears for locating it.

I landed on the roof of what seemed like the town hall when I started hearing a rather heated argument in front of the building. I was able to see Mint Berry being confronted by the two Bow pegasi sisters. I tuned out the conversation while I used the tall town hall to try to see if there were any visual clues as to the Emerald’s location.

Just as I was about to give up for the day, when I passed one of the hall’s windows, I saw a brief flash of red from the inside. I looked in the window properly, and I saw the Emerald sitting on a small pedestal, which was in some sort of spell circle. I carefully opened the window and went to take the Emerald. However, as soon as I touched it, I was shocked so violently that I was shot out the window and just barely past the three ponies and their argument.

I picked myself carefully from the ground and went to check on my robotic parts for damage. I heard a sniff from where the three ponies were arguing, so I paid them a quick glance. Neither of the Bow Pegasi Sisters were harmed, but I noted that Mint had teary eyes hidden in an angry glare.

“So, you guys had the nerve to try to distract me to allow that...thing to steal the Emerald from me!?” She half yelled, half cried out. “Well, I’m afraid I can’t let you take it. I spent too much of my life starving to give up actually having a full stomach!” She charged at me and I was barely able to dodge the kick she sent my way. After she flew by, I did a quick reset on my robot parts and stood up, ready to fight.

“Redbow, Cloudbow, the Emerald is on a magic pedestal on the third floor. Do what you can to grab it while I hold off Mint Berry.” I told the two pegasi. “And be careful, I think there might be a defense spell or something like that in place.”

Got it!” They both said and rushed into the building.

“So, you probably know about my powers granted by the Emerald?” Mint said to me as we circled around each other.

“I have a few ideas.” I answered. “The Emerald keeps you thin unless you want to be bigger, in which case, it keeps the deadly side effects of being that big away.”

Mint Berry suddenly lashed at me with a punch, which I was barely able to redirect with my arm into the ground, causing a shallow indent on the ground. “It also gives me a lot more strength than I should have, as a unicorn.”

“That explains the fact that you managed to indent a compacted dirt road.” I commented. “Anyway, was there anything in particular that was said in your conversation with Discord just before you started terrorizing the town?”

“He brought up memories of my youth.” She said, throwing another punch which I dodged. “From the time I was born to just before meeting Discord, I’ve never had a full belly. I pretty much starved most of my life. You could call it jealousy, but I joined with a bunch of bullies in school to pick on Redbow. They were picking on her because she was fat, as if she could completely control that. I picked on her because she pretty much had a decadent life that I never was able to have...until now.”

“And you are going to fight to try to keep it that way?” I asked, to which she nodded and sent a kick at me. I blocked the strike with my metal foot, using it’s ankle hinge to grab the attacking limb. “Are you aware that I’m pretty much a distraction while the Bow Pegasi Sisters work to claim the Emerald?” Her eyes widened slightly before she nodded and made to punch me. I caught her hoof with my hand, and locked the hand joints in a firm grip. “That punch attempt was slightly weaker than what you demonstrated.” I commented.

“I’m getting hungry.” She too quickly blurted out.

“Or maybe, it’s because you know, deep down, that this is wrong.” I said, causing her struggle a little less. “It’s one thing to be a glutton, but another thing to lose yourself to it and do who knows what to satisfy your hunger. You are disgusted by the unicorn you became in order to feel something you never felt before.” I commented, slowly releasing her legs and letting her settle down on the ground, her eyes starting to tear up.

“You’re right.” She cried as she hugged her legs and rocked back and forth. “I disgust myself, but it’s like I’m addicted. I don’t know any other way to deal with the withdrawal other than just raiding more food.”

“Well, I can at least see if I can help fix your problem, once the Chaos Emerald is no longer trapping this town in time.” I assured her, patting her back. “Heck, keeping the town’s soil’s fertility will be something I’ll try to keep in place as a means for the town to recover, as well as letting you have a decent portion of what’s left.”

Mint Berry’s eyes showed gratitude as she nearly knocked me over in a hug. As she was hugging and thanking me, I saw Redbow and Cloudbow exiting the town hall with the Chaos Emerald. When they saw Mint hugging me, they both stopped at the steps as I shushed them with my hand. I then beckoned for Emerald, which Redbow gave to me with a bit of hesitation.

Upon grabbing the gem, I carefully pried the crying and thankful unicorn off of me so I could try something. Now I both had a fair idea of what Shadow does with his power over the Chaos Emerald, and I saw him doing it. Now I just had to take what I saw, and replicate it to the best of my abilities.

I held the Emerald, thinking, for a few minutes before I held it to the sky and felt some of the Chaos Energy flowing through me. “Chaos Control!” Three beams of red light then flowed from the Emerald to its targets. The first being Mint Berry. It caused her form to shimmer like a summer heat mirage, before she swelled back up to her two story tall fat form.

The second target was the ground itself. The ground started glowing red briefly, before the grass started to grow back and the fields all around the town turned a rich brown color.

The third target seemed to be the sky, but it stopped short and seemed to cast a red dome over the town. After a few seconds, the dome came down and the sky changed from roughly noon to late afternoon. Once the fixes were done, I suddenly felt exhausted...beyond exhausted, actually. It was like I did all the missions of Sonic Forces in real life with literally no breaks between them, and was thrashed to within an inch of my life by Infinite.

I collapsed on the ground, losing my grip on the Emerald as I landed. My vision started to blur as Redbow and Cloudbow rushed to me, trying to say something to me, but their words were garbled up. I then saw black, and was out.

Author's Note

If you guys want pictures (like a picture to start each chapter), vote yes or no in the description. I'm trying to learn myself how to do pixel art that way I can save money for things I need in life (like a car).

Chapter 2: Manehatten Madness

(Rookie POV)

Using Chaos Control with only one Emerald to undo a time spell, and rework the reality of a few things was a mistake. I ended up exhausting myself to the point that while I was unconscious, I was sleeping three times over in dreams within dreams. It didn’t help that the dream where I was awake, I was confronting a Super Infinite (think Infinite with the Ruby AND the Emeralds).

However, I seem to be lucky, as I ‘fought’ Super Infinite. The moon was visible in the dream and while I was in it’s light, I was stronger, faster, and more aware of myself and the surroundings. Eventually, after a while of ‘fighting’, Super Infinite vanished, leaving me to rest and recover.

As I started my rest, the moon glowed brighter for a few seconds before a blue alicorn, Princess Luna, appeared. I briefly looked up and gave her a tired wave. She approached me and sat next to me, observing the area of the Eggman Empire Fortress we were on. “Intriguing location.” She commented. “It has an air of cleanliness, but seems unclean at the same time.”

“No surprise there.” I said as I managed to regain my breath, but still was exhausted. “This place was the seat of an evil empire. An empire that has no appreciation of life and was as lifeless as it’s Emperor’s Heart.”

“I also noticed that your dream was stronger than I had ever seen.” Luna said, looking up at the dream moon. “I only had the ability to give you a boost in the fight.”

“Understandable.” I responded. “First time using a Chaos Emerald and had to use it to fix a time anomaly around a town, help a mare live out her dream of having a forever full stomach, and over-charge the town’s soil.”

“Chaos? Are you a servant of Discord!?” Luna shouted while moving away and readying herself for combat.

“No, I am not.” I calmly answered. “If anything, he’s a thief and a troublemaker of epic proportions. He’s the cause of the town’s time anomaly, and messed with a mare’s mind.”

Luna settled down and approached. “Sorry. My sister and I had a few bad experiences with that Spirit of Chaos.”

“It’s okay.” I reassured her. “Anyway, Luna, are you able to help me wake up from this dream or coma or whatever this is?”

“Of course, but I just want to know: who are you and how did you know my name when we haven’t met before?”

“I’m Carter ‘Rookie’ Tomcat, or Rookie for short.” I answered. “As for how I know your name, that will have to wait until this crisis is over and all seven Chaos Emeralds are properly gathered.”

“Of course.” She said, lighting her horn to send me back to the waking world.

“Also, the first Emerald is going to be held by a Ponyville Reporter in Syracuse.” I told her. “If I go unconscious after obtaining another Emerald, I’ll update you in my dreams.” Luna nodded and cast her aura over me, causing me to black out briefly.

(Mint Berry POV)

After that cat, Rookie, fell unconscious and was carried away by the Bow Pegasi Sisters to their home, I suddenly felt worried for him. The emotions and thoughts caught me off guard, getting me to think. Most of my life, I had little care for anyone but myself, but Rookie’s actions seemed to have struck me to my core. During my gluttonous reign over Syracuse, I had felt some sort of emptiness in me, one I tried and failed to fill with my gorging. But when he showed me kindness, it seemed to fill that emptiness.

Anyway, lovestruck words aside, my immobile form just sitting in front of the town hall prompted the many scared citizens of Syracuse to slowly exit their homes and watch me. I’d say an hour had passed before a few began cheering my ‘defeat’, bringing me to the attention of the Mayor. To say he was angry would be both an understatement and, oddly enough, an overstatement as well.

He did a big speech, talking about how with their new found freedom from my reign that they would see to the recovery of the town. But when he looked at me, as if trying to challenge me to stop them, I saw a flicker of fear in his eye. I didn’t meet his gaze with anger, like most villains do when their plans are foiled. I met it with a shrug and a light smile, glad that my ‘plans’ were foiled.

“You guys do what you need to recover.” I told them. “I have truly seen the error of most of my ways. I still intend to have an almost constantly full stomach, but I think I should do it through more legal means.” My words shocked them, but while they did have some skepticism, they all came forward for a giant apology hug.

I then asked for help getting onto my back hooves, and with the help of my magic, I walked to Calorie Crunch’s office/house and carefully leaned against the building, waiting for word on Rookie. The wait took most of the day, so I took some time to discuss with the Mayor about food for a trip I planned on going. Thanks to the enriched soil, and because I was pretty much homeless and without money, he decided to provide a full day’s worth of harvests in an enchanted bag by the end of the day at no charge.

When I got back to Calorie Crunch’s place, I saw Redbow walking with her family back home from wherever they had gone while I was getting food ordered. I also noticed that she was wearing a chain with the Chaos Emerald on it, but I didn’t think about it.

I cleared my throat to get their attention, causing three of the four pegasi to briefly jump in fright. “Sorry, I’m just wanting to check on that cat fellow.” I told them.

“His name is Rookie, and I’m kinda wondering why you wanted to check.” Redbow, the only pegasus not scared by my size, half-asked.

“Well...it’s complicated, and I wanted to talk with him about it.” I said, rubbing the back of my head with a hoof. “Is he awake?”

“You actually just barely missed him.” Cloudbow answered, still shaken from the scare. “He just woke up and was ready to hunt the next Chaos Emerald.”

“Wait, what?” I was dumbfounded, almost rolling onto my back in shock. “I thought whatever thing he did with that Emerald left him weak! He shouldn’t be traveling!”

“He said a proper amount of sleep would fix his low energy and most of his weakness, so he planned on sleeping on the train to Manehatten.” Calorie Crunch said, trying to calm me down.

I growled deeply in frustration just as the Mayor showed up with the enchanted bag of produce. I quickly took the bag and stomped as fast as I could to the train station. My ground shaking pace drowned out most of what everyone was saying to try to either stop me or calm me down. It was obvious that I wasn’t thinking clearly until I reached the station. I had realized too late that I missed two things. One, I missed the train itself, and, two, even if I was on time to obtain a ticket and get on the train, I was too big for it.

“Crabapples.” I muttered while looking at the train tracks. “This is going to take a while.”

(Rookie POV)

Thank Chaos for enchanted sleeping cars. The pure soundproofed and shake-free cars allowed me to sleep the entire 8 hour trip. However, something seemed to have happened in Manehatten to prevent the train from actually pulling into it’s train station.

I exited the train at the makeshift station that was set up just outside of the town. Everything was set up almost like a refugee camp, everything being directed by Royal Guards and Local Law Enforcement. I approached a nearby guard and spoke to him. “Excuse me, sir?” The guard turned to me. “What is going on that’s stopped the train early?”

“There’s been a series of kidnappings and beatings that have been happening in the past week.” He reported. “Also, the Royal Mages that were deployed with us have pointed out a time anomaly had developed around the town recently, so technically, those crimes started yesterday.”

“Huh, I was just in Syracuse and they had a similar problem.” I told him. “I was able to remove the time anomaly by using a gem called a Chaos Emerald. It was taxing on me, but that was partially because I never used one before.”

“So, you are saying that someone in town set up a Chaos Emerald somewhere in Manehatten, and it is making time go faster there?” The guard asked.

“Pretty much. How did you manage to guess that from just a few things I said, and not all of it?” I asked.

“I tend to jump to conclusions a lot.” He admitted, rubbing the back of his head. “It’s been a bit annoying to some of my fellow guards.”

“But it at least confirms what I think is going on.” I said. I turned to the city, giving the guard a brief look. “I’ll see what I can do in terms of finding the Chaos Emerald and stopping whoever’s behind this.” I then took off at my sub-Sonic speed, time warping slightly as I entered the city.

I kept myself on the roads and weaved my way to the ‘Times Square’ of Manehatten. Upon arrival, I would have fallen down laughing at the funny scene, if the scene I stumbled upon wasn’t so grave looking as well. A singular earth pony with a hairstyle that made me think of as a ‘teenage singer look’ was being chased by a giant mob of mares, all ranging from late teenage to who knows how old.

Without thinking twice, I rushed past the mob, grabbed the stallion, and booked it across the city as fast as I could. Thankfully, I lost them at the first turn I took and we both hid in a dumpster in an alley as the mob began to break up and spread out. After a few minutes, the stallion couldn’t hold his terror and disgust back any longer and jumped out of the dumpster. He was about to start screaming like a mare, but I managed to clamp my hand over his mouth to prevent the mares from discovering us.

As he started to slowly calm down and ‘scream’ a bit quieter, I turned to him with a concerned look. “You okay?” I asked him, to which he nodded. “Good. Now, I’m Rookie and I’m trying to find out what’s going on here and find the thing to fix it.”

I took my hand off of his face and after a few deep and somewhat anxious breaths, he spoke. “I’m Feather Bangs. Thank you for saving me from those mares. I usually have a fair mix of both mare and stallion fans chasing me, but those mares both didn’t seem like fans and seemed to act more...violently? Aggressively?” He wondered out loud. “And both of those combined made me think they were bent on either kidnapping me or murdering me.”

“I doubt they’d murder you.” I commented, pushing him out of site as a mare passed our alley. “I spoke with a guard that was outside the city’s ‘time bubble’, and he said that kidnapping and beatings have happened. He didn’t mention any killings or murders.”

“That’s a relief.” Feather muttered quietly to himself. “Um...so, what’s a ‘time bubble’?”

“Time in the city literally goes faster in the city than outside it, because magic and a gem of almost ultimate power.” I explained. “Add to that, a pony that is probably somewhat insane is doing something to the place as a means to boost their own ego or fulfil some fantasy of some kind.”

“What kind of pony would find pleasure in-” Feather began to say, but I quickly shushed him and pulled us out of sight again as a pair of mares stopped just outside the alley.

“Did you find the Pop-Star?” One of the mares asked.

“No, he has escaped. And he had help from a cat looking thing.” The second mare asked, her voice in monotone. A magical blast struck and obliterated the dumpsters we hid behind, which covered us both in enough garbage to keep us hidden.

A growl was heard from the first mare. “How is he able to avoid getting caught?!” She bellowed, getting Feather to huddle down and whimper quietly in fear. “No matter. I already have 100 stallions ready for me to marry. All I need to do is finish the decorations and the cake, and I should be a married mare by tomorrow morning.”

“Understood Mistress.” The monotone mare said. “Anything more you want us to do?”

“For now, no.” The ‘Mistress’ answered. “I’ll be heading back to my suite, so you’re off duty.” A pop followed by a body collapsing was heard.

I took a peek out of our garbage pile and saw a mare unconscious on the ground just outside of the alley. I pulled Feather out so he could try to clean himself while I checked on the mare. “I have a theory.” I muttered out loud.

“What are you talking about?” He asked as he pulled a few fruit pieces out of his tail.

“Didn’t you notice that only one of those mares spoke with a normal tone, while the other was monotone?” I asked while checking her pulse, thankfully normal...I think it was.

“Are you implying that the normal mare is the one behind all of the mares chasing me and the rumors of kidnapping?” He asked.

“Yes.” I answered simply, taking a peek around the alley corners. “A similar thing happened in Syracuse, except the insane mare there used the power of a Chaos Emerald to become a bit of a glutton. This mare seems to be using the Chaos Emerald she has for more lustful reasons.”

“Kidnapping stallions and forcing them to marry her?” The now ‘clean’ Feather Bangs asked. “I’m sure there are things more lustful than that, but hay, what do I know? For all we know, she is against intimacy before matrimony.”

“Could be, but not our biggest concern.” I reminded him.

“Our concern?” Feather asked in confusion. “I was planning on getting myself packed up and out of the city.” He started to walk off.

“I’m sorry, but your move can wait.” I said, grabbing his tail. “I’ll probably need extra help to get the Emerald. I can already see a bit of a pattern. A town or city gets placed in a time bubble and a crazy mare goes on a power trip with the Emerald is the main similarities. All that is needed is for the Emerald to be protected by a shield of some kind, and the messed up mind of the crazy mare is just broken in a specific way that I can ‘fix’, for me to expect the same for the other Emeralds.”

“But I...you...me?” Feather stuttered before he slumped and nodded. “Okay, I’ll help. However, don’t expect me to help you after this. I love mares, I’ll admit that much, but I’m scared of them. If you’re going to be dealing with more mares that are crazy as the one we’ll be dealing with, I don’t want to deal with them.”

“Agreed.” I said, then pulled out my scanner. “Now, the Chaos Emerald emits a form of Chaos Energy, but I can’t seem to pinpoint its location with my scanner.”

“Hmm…” Feather sounded out. “Have you tried adjusting it to ‘hear’ its general direction?”

“Wha?” I eloquently asked.

Feather sighed in slight annoyance. “Ever play Mareco Pony?” He asked.

It took me a few seconds to get what he meant. “Oh! I get it.” I messed around with the scanner’s radar function, taking a few pieces of metal that Feather missed in his mane to cobble together a small spinning receiver dish. A few rotations and it started to show Chaos Energy everywhere. “It’s still a bit of a dud.”

“Can you work in a ‘sound filter’ of some kind?” He suggested. I had to hold back my attempt at a face palm. Following his suggestion, I reduced the scanner’s sensitivity to allow only the stronger Chaos Energy bits to be seen. And the Chaos Energy seemed to originate from...

“What is that statue in the harbor?” I asked, seeing the pony version of the Statue of Liberty, and comparing it to the scanner’s radar.

“That’s the Statue of Friendship.” Feather said. “It was built some time ago as a monument to our kingdom’s belief of friendship and to encourage immigration at most, trade deals and alliances at least.”

“Well, from what my scanner is saying, the Chaos Energy is coming from that direction.” I said. “I’ll let you lead the way. You sound like you know these streets better than me.”

Feather sighed and began walking towards the statue, following the roads and occasionally weaving into alleys to avoid any mares walking around (brainwashed or not). While we were walking, I struck up some small talk with him. I explained part of who I was, and gave him a ring for when sub-Sonic speed and Mobian stamina would come in handy next time he has to deal with a crowd of mares...like the crowd we’d be dealing with at the crazy mare’s ‘wedding’.

After an hour of walking, we arrived at the ferry that would take us to the island that the statue was on. Just before we boarded, I took a quick peek at the scanner, only to notice that it showed another Chaos Energy source. I quickly grabbed Feather’s tail to stop him from boarding the boat. “My scanner is picking up an additional Chaos Energy source.” I told him. “And with the fact that the Statue’s Island is more than likely the wedding location, I think we should check this source before we head over there. The Chaos Emerald could be this source.”

“Huh...and you aren’t worried about all the stallions that crazy mare will marry?” He asked, giving me a look that conveyed his skepticism.

“With how she’s basically forcing them to marry her, no matter what she does, said ‘marriage’ won’t be legally binding...I hope.” I said.

“Well, then let’s get going before anything bad happens.” Feather said with some frustration in his voice. I noted the frustration and picked him up, causing him to briefly freak out before I shot my grappling hook out to swing and parkour through the city until we arrived at a run down apartment building.

Looking at the building, I saw a yellow light shining from the top of the building. I grappled me and Feather to the top and we saw the Emerald on a pedestal similar to what I recall from Syracuse, except the Emerald was Yellow. Surrounding the pedestal was what seemed to be a library’s worth of love novels, personal journals, and… “I’m not even going to touch those.” I muttered, walking past those magazines.

“Huh, I envisioned the Chaos Emerald to be a bit...smaller and more...ordinary looking.” Feather commented.

“Not sure what you were thinking, but I shouldn’t be asking that.” I said, partially snapping at myself for getting distracted. “Anyway, I think this will reject me from grabbing it off the pedestal. If it does, I want you to try it...but don’t fear it rejecting you.”

“I-What?” Feather said as I carefully approached the Emerald. I moved one of my hands forward to grab it, but I was zapped back, just like the last one. I was able to use my grapple to stop myself from flying out of the building, but it was clear that it wouldn’t let me remove it.

I gave Feather a subtle nod, to which he nervously nodded and moved toward the Emerald. He placed his hoof on it and was surprised at the lack of reaction from the gem. He then slid it off it’s pedestal, causing it to stop glowing. “Now what?” He asked.

“Well, let’s get an understanding of the mare behind the crazy.” I said as I picked up one of the journals. “If we know why she is crazy, we can be a step ahead of her and maybe calm her down enough to stop and see clearly.”

Feather Bangs shrugged and picked up one of the other journals. It took us close to half an hour to sift through most of her love-mad scribbles and piece together a semi-cohesive ‘story’. Apparently, this mare, a unicorn named Desire, was well off in her life and was soon to be married to a stud of a stallion (name is unknown...literally, she never wrote his name down). However, due to a...betrayal, the wedding was broken off and she was heartbroken beyond repair. She then met Discord, who gave her the Emerald and gave her a ‘literal’ crash course on how to use it and she is now ready to ‘marry’ 100 stallions for her to...well, you get the idea from there.

“This mare is insane.” Feather said in shock, after we pieced together the story. “However, I can’t help but feel bad for her.”

“Yeah.” I agreed. “She loved and then was broken. Through Discord’s manipulations, she has now confused Lust for Love.” I paused for a moment. “First Gluttony, now Lust...if the next Emerald is associated with another of the deadly sins-”

“Dare I ask?” Feather asked.

“For now, best not. I can explain later.” I told him, picking him up and setting him on my back. “In the meantime, off to crash a wedding.” I then grappled us away towards the Island of Friendship.

(3rd POV)

The Island of Friendship was in complete chaos, and not like what Discord usually liked. The grounds were a battleground between a mob of brainwashed mares and a contingent of Royal Guards. While the two groups fought outside the Statue area, inside the statue, the 100 kidnapped stallions were chained to the walls and a well dressed pony was chained to an altar.

“Start the ceremony.” Desire, a pink unicorn with a black mane and tail, commanded the well dressed pony.

“But, there needs to be-”

“NOW!!” She bellowed, cutting him off. “The battle outside isn’t going to last forever, and I want to be wed before the battle is won or lost.”

The well dressed pony jumped a bit at her yelling, and obeyed. After rushing through the vows, with Desire saying all the stallions agreed. Just as the ceremony was about to end, there was a *thump* sound from the wall behind the well dressed pony. Sparks suddenly started flying as a hole was being cut into the metal wall.

“What?!” She bellowed, teleporting the pony to the other chained stallions and approached the soon-to-be opening. “How is someone managing to get to the Statue so soon!? None of the the guards should have been able to break-”

The hole was then kicked in and two figures, Rookie the Cybernetic Cat and Feather Bangs, ‘flew’ in through the hole. “Who said we were guards?” The cat said, giving her a bit of a glare.

Desire breathed heavily in anger before speaking. “You do know, it is bad luck to crash a wedding.”

“This isn’t even a real wedding.” Feather said. He then stepped back in fear as she looked at him in anger.

“Say That Again!” She growled out.

Rookie stepped between the two. “Feather, work on getting the stallions freed and outside. I’ll talk with Desire here.”

Feather nodded and began working on the various chains while Desire sneered at Rookie. “So, you hoping to try to talk me out of this?” She angrily asked.

“That’s part of it.” Rookie said, pulling out the Yellow Chaos Emerald. “The other part is trying to balance your mind, since Discord isn’t the best therapist to consult for a broken heart.”

“Trying to take away my chance of Love!?”

“No! Trying to help you return to normal, but still be yourself.” Rookie interjected. “Trust me on this. It’s one thing to lust after and/or love others, but to be consumed by it to the point of committing crimes to get what you want. Is that what you truly want, or is that Discord’s influence?”

Desire looked ready to yell a ‘yes’ answer back, but she paused and seemed to be thinking over her decisions. Just as the last stallion was freed from his bonds and sent down a set of steps, the madness in her eyes slowly faded and her face changed from rage to concern. “You make sense. I feel like I’m not one to do crime for lust and love, but another part of me is saying the opposite.”

“Probably Discord’s influence is fighting the real you to try to keep you in madness.” Feather commented.

“Then I’ll need to act fast to purge his influence from you.” Rookie said, raising the Emerald up. “Chaos Control!” The Emerald glowed brightly and shot out two light beams. One went for Desire, cleansing Discord’s influence from her mind. The second beam curved through the hoof of Lady Friendship to it’s torch, making a multitude of beams. A big one went into dispersing the time anomaly from around the city, and all the smaller beams removed the mind control from all the mares that were fighting the guards.

After the wrongs were fixed and chaos was no longer reigning over the city, Rookie stopped the energy flow and fell to his knees. Feather and Desire managed to catch him before he could fall onto his face. “Wake me when morning comes.” He said before he slumped over, unconscious. Both Desire and Feather looked at each other briefly before they began to carry him out of the statue to a spot to rest.

Author's Note

This took me "forever" to write. The COVID-19 quarantine sucks, but it's neccesary. Does it mean I have to like it, no.
Anyway, enjoy, and I hope you all haven't gone stir crazy yet.

Chapter 3: Everfree Envy and Ponyville Predicaments

(Rookie POV)

Waking up in a dream is an odd experience. It’s like waking up in a blizzard while somehow staying cozy and warm. The location of my waking dream was in the Resistance base, but the place was seemingly shut down and a few plants had started to overtake sections of the base.

In the center of the room was a plant that stood out from the rest. It was a blue flower that was in full bloom in the moonlight shining into the room from the fractured ceiling. I took a moment to carefully clip the flower and put it into a discarded vase. Upon doing so, the flower bloom glowed a light blue color and Princess Luna appeared.

“I take it you were successful in acquiring the second Chaos Emerald?” She asked.

“Yep, and I think I might have found a slight pattern, but until the third Emerald, it’s just a coincidence.” I said, booting up the main computer screen, images of Mint Berry, Desire, and their respective Emeralds showed up on screen. “Mint Berry was overcome with a gluttonous hunger that I managed to put on a slight leash, while Desire confused lust with love after Discord took advantage of her heartbroken state.”

“How are those a correlation?” Luna asked, looking between the various pictures.

“Back where I come from, Gluttony and Lust are two of seven ‘Deadly Sins’.” I explained. “They’re not literally deadly, but it’s just what they’re called. The other sins are Greed, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, and Pride.”

“So when going for the next Emerald, we should keep our minds open to what they are doing and find out how to undo the damage Discord does to their minds.” She commented.

“Right...and I find it odd that when I undo the damage to their minds, it seems more like I’m putting their carnal desires on a leash, rather than snapping them out of it completely.” I commented.

“The mind is a fragile thing.” Luna said. “It’s very rare for a mind to instantly recover from addictions or trauma. So, in a way, you are undoing the damage, but only to the point where they can be comfortable and can work things out one way or another.”

“That’s good to know.” I closed down the computer and turned to Luna. “So, what’s the ‘damage report’ for this coma moment?”

Luna smiled and was about to answer, but she suddenly gasped and began to shout in pain. I was about to run to her and try to help, but she grabbed me in her magic. “Carter, I’m imprinting my magic signature into your mind! I’m being kidnapped by Discord as we speak! Track me and save my mind! I can feel the power he’s-” She then vanished, leaving me with a magic signature etched into my brain and blacking out in the dream.

I then woke up in a cold sweat. I instantly got up and started tinkering with my scanner so it could track magic energy and signatures of such. Using the information I was given, and looking between my scanner and map, Luna was taken to...

(Desire POV)

“THE EVERFREE FOREST!!!” I bellowed as I constantly reread the note Rookie left for both me and Feather Bangs to find. “Is he out of his mind!?”

Umm...getting ahead of myself for a moment….*ahem* When I woke up that morning, I took some time to go through my head a little to think about what Rookie said about lust and love. It only took me a few seconds to realize that he pretty much had me figured out. I was so desperate for love after my breakup with my ex-fiance, that Discord got me to lash out and grab any stallion I could see in attempts at love. Those were acts of lust, not love. If anyone showed a form of love, it was him. He was blunt and willing to go against me to help me in his own way.

I had then gone from my bedroom to the now much cleaner living room to talk to him, but all I could find was Feather Bangs still asleep on one of the couches I had and a note on the couch that Rookie was set on. I won’t go into details, but the note had him apologizing for suddenly vanishing and that he had to save Princess Luna from whatever Discord had planned for her.

He, unfortunately, had placed the location that he had to head to save Luna. My bellow woke up Feather Bangs and before he could get properly oriented after that jumpscare, I picked him up in my magic and bolted for the Outer City train station...but it was too little, too late. The train was gone and so was my chance to pour my heart out to him.

“He left.” I said, my eyes tearing up. “I know he had to do something that was important, but I just…” I collapsed onto the platform and just began sobbing. I felt heartbreak again, but it was less so.

I felt the ground shake a bit, but at first I thought it felt like that because I was upset. It wasn’t until Feather said something that I came to my senses. “That is one big mare.” He said in shock. His words caught me off guard so much that I had to get up and look where he was looking, only to see what he saw: One big mare somehow lumbering in from the countryside wearing a unique harness that had a much smaller, but still big mare in it.

“I hate to sound like I know everything, but her appearance here just as Rookie leaves is almost too coincidental to be one.” Feather commented as the giant approached them. I simply nodded.

(Rookie POV)

A short trip and a nap was enough to allow me to get to Ponyville quickly. I had very little, but oddly a lot, of trouble walking through the town to get to the Everfree. Between Pinkie Pie being...her, and Twilight attempting to drag me to the library to ‘interrogate’ me for all the knowledge she thirsted for…...yeah, you kinda get how I would have taken almost an hour just to get to the forest’s edge.

Anyway, as soon as I got to the forest’s edge, I switched my scanner to the ‘radar’ function, I then traveled through the forest with amazingly little problem. No Manticores, Timberwolves, or any wild beasts were in the area. “If this were a chapter in a book, I’d say the author is starting to become lazy.” I mumbled to myself as I arrived at the rope bridge just outside the Everfree Castle.

Crossing the bridge and entering the castle, I came across Luna in the middle of the entrance hall attempting to mold something out of clay. She noticed me walking in and gave me a quick nod before turning back to her project. This set off a few red flags in my mind and I approached slowly.

“Are you okay, Luna?” I asked her. “You aren’t acting like yourself...then again, I don’t even know how you act in general.”

“Understandable in many ways.” She said, her mane and body slightly changing them to wave harder and be darker, respectfully. “A similar case for Discord. He brought Nightmare Moon out from the depths of my mind and soul, but he didn’t anticipate her year-long isolation there to be worse than the thousand years I spent with her, thus facilitating a means for her to decide to be reformed.”

“That is oddly convenient.” I commented, taking a seat on a loose stone near the clay. “So, what’s the clay for?”

“A technique of Necromancy so ancient it’s been forgotten by almost everyone, including Celestia.” She answered.

“Including your sister?” I asked in confusion.

“She and I endured a different set of thousand years.” She said, her clay molding seeming to start shaping into an alicorn of similar size and stature as herself while she spoke. “While I was able to spend time with Nightmare and keep our “stores of knowledge” intact, Tia was running a country...and I think she has lost her touch at combat and has gotten a bit…”

“Lazy? Compulsive? Plush in the Tush?” I suggested.

“All three, and I won’t blame her for such.” She agreed. “She spent over a thousand years racked with the guilt of banishing me, just as I had to spend over a thousand years on the Moon. Of the two of us, she deserves some cake for a break.”

“Right...anyway, jumping back on topic, this Clay Necromancy...I’m going to assume what you’re gonna do, so correct me if I’m wrong.” I spoke. “You are making a body for you to transfer the mind and soul(?) of Nightmare Moon into.”

“Pretty spot on.” Luna complimented, flashing me a brief reptile eye and fanged smirk. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d guess you were a necromancer in your past life.”

“No, just a lot of games with too much lore.” I answered.

“Okay.” She acknowledged. “The Emerald is inside the clay, it’ll serve as an artificial heart for a time.”

I nodded in understanding while Luna prepared to cast a spell over the clay. I then remembered. “By the way, did my deadly sins link actually ring true?” I asked.

Luna paused in her spell. “Yes. Discord pulled out my Nightmare and attempted to sway us both to give in to our envy.” She answered. She then wasted no time and cast her spell.

When the clay was hit, it rippled like water as its surface turned to flesh and started growing hair/fur. Eventually, the rippling stopped and the figure opened her eyes, looking to Luna with a smile. “Thank you, Sister. You have my gratitude and I’m in debt to you.”

“The only debt you have to pay won’t be to me...or anyone.” Luna said. “Dedicate yourself to living a full and happy life, within the bounds of the law, and the debt will be considered paid.” The figure teared up and quickly hugged her, sobbing out her thanks. “Go forth, Nightshade, and be free of our envy. I must return to Canterlot to speak with Celestia on this matter, both your new life, and what Discord is doing.” Luna then vanished in a flash of bright blue light.

The newly named Nightshade turned to me with a small smile. “So, what now?”

I shrugged. “Well, three Emeralds in three days is a fair amount of work, and for the third one, I didn’t even have to use it.” I recounted. “So, I’m in the mood for some relaxation. Maybe we can visit a spa. What do you think?”

“Sounds...nice?” She partially asked and said. “I never experienced a spa.”

“Neither have I, but there’s a first for everything,” I said in a chipper voice and led her out of the castle ruins towards Ponyville.

(Third POV)

Meanwhile, just on the outskirts of the town’s, a quartet of ponies was just barely arriving. Said arrival was practically announced to the whole town by means of the biggest of the four, who was ‘carrying’ the other three.

The announcement, however, was pretty much ignored by most of the townsfolk as there were a good amount of problems happening simultaneously to their arrival. Spike, through the power of a Chaos Emerald and the corruption of Discord, he had given in to his greed and went through a growth spurt that practically turned him into a kaiju. Meanwhile, in the middle of one of the streets, despite the kaiju dragon rampaging around and through the town, a brawl was happening between three people. Rainbow Dash, her former ‘friend’, Gilda, and a random drunken Earth pony were all practically just a tangle of limbs in a dust cloud.

Needless to say, the three newcomers to Ponyville and one resident could only take in the chaos the town seemed to naturally ooze out of its streets.

Feather Bangs seemed the most put off from this. “I don’t want to sound mean, but is this common?” He asked. “Because I would have thought I would have seen most of this in the various newspapers across the nation while on tour.”

“It’s a local thing.” Redbow said, as she pulled out a notepad and began jotting down something. “It’s become so commonplace here since the Elements of Harmony were found that the government decided to simply make a simple ‘insurance’ for the town, levied from the town’s taxes after collection. Part of said ‘insurance’ is that most news of the crazy things that happen here doesn’t spread far, depending on the crazy news.”

“Like news of six non-military types going to handle a dragon and nearly dying in the process?” Desire said, getting the rest of the group to look at her in confusion. “I was dating a Royal Guard at the time that took place. He and a good amount of the Guard didn’t really like that.”

“Well, yeah. Compare that to Nightmare Moon’s return and freedom of Princess Luna, and you can spot the differences.” Redbow said.

“One was a more need-to-know basis event, while the other one was meant to be common knowledge.” Mint Berry said. “I both like and hate this. It makes it sound like a conspiracy theory concocted to hide clues of humans.” [On the other side of town, a mint unicorn sneezed, much to the annoyance of her Earth pony girlfriend.]

“It’s meant more as protection for the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony when they are dealing with more small scale threats to Equestria.” Redbow said. “Although, Celestia did give the few local newspapers a sizable amount of funding to at least allow news to keep flowing into Ponyville and for the general history of this place to be recorded.”

“I hope you aren’t gonna be getting into trouble for the few days you were away.” Mint commented, while barely managing to scratch her head with her hoof.

Redbow looked towards where the Trot Street Journal building would be and saw smoke coming from that direction. “I’m sure I’ll be fine.” She said with some regret in her voice.

In their conversation, the group somehow didn’t see Greedy Spike ‘sneak up’ on them. Before any of them knew it, Mint Berry was picked up by him. “Big Ball! Spike Want!” He said as he lifted her towards his junk horde.

Mint, however, wasn’t having it and immediately shot a bolt of magic at his eye, causing him to drop his horde, destroying a building (and not killing anyone, thankfully) in the process. “You want Big Ball, you have to do more than pick her up!” She taunted, which caught his attention.

He brought her closer to better examine her. “Big Ball Living! Big Ball Thief! Spike Wants Thief To Leave!” He then ‘gently’ tossed her towards the edge of the Everfree Forest...right on top of Rookie.

The toss and landing didn’t hurt Mint, but the same couldn’t be said for the Mobian she landed on. He struggled for a few seconds, which alerted her to his distress. As quickly as she could, and with Nightshade’s help, she moved off of him. “I’m so sorry! I was thrown against my will!”

Rookie raised his hand up, cutting her off. “I’m not blaming the throw on you.” He said, his voice muffled by the dirt his head was partially planted into. “But I will say this: next time you get into a situation that causes you to fall from a great height-” He pulled his head out of the ground. “-at least give a warning. Please?”

Mint nodded rapidly before she looked over to Nightshade. “Who is this?” She asked.

“My name is Nightshade.” Nightshade answered, bowing a bit. “I once was an envious part of Luna’s mind, but I’m now my own self, free of her mind and her free of me.” Feather Bangs, Desire, and Redbow arrived as she said that.

“Wait, you’re Nightmare Moon!?” Desire asked in shock, getting herself and Feather to back away in shock and fear. The action got a depressed look from Nightshade, and the two received a harsh glare from Redbow.

“While that is technically true, she has established that she isn’t the mare she once was, ie. ruled by envy.” The chubby pegasus explained. She then flew down to the dark alicorn and gave her a hug. “Sorry about them. Don’t know much about them, but you can count me as a friend.”

“Just like that?” Nightshade asked in shock and slight confusion.

“Well, there are a few requirements, but we can discuss those later.” Redbow commented. “Currently, Ponyville is going through a bit of a-” Greed Spike roared from the town, briefly interrupting her. “-issue.”

“Seems to be a bit early for him to be going through greed growth.” Rookie commented, getting odd looks from everyone gathered. “I’ll explain when we get the three Chaos Emeralds that are in Ponyville.”

“Speaking of Chaos Emeralds, here.” Redbow removed a bag from her side and handed him the Chaos Emeralds in them. “I think you’ll have more use of these than we will.”

Rookie took them and placed them in his hammerspace. “That’s three, four left. Let’s see the dragon problem and find the other Emeralds.” He said and began leading the group out of the Everfree and towards the town.

Author's Note

I just recently learned about Grammarly. It'll save me a few headaches and moments of rage...and might improve the general quality of these chapters, even with this COVID-19 quarantine driving me up the wall.

Chapter 4: Railway Review

(Rookie POV)

The three mares and Feather Bangs informed me of the situations that had cropped up in Ponyville as we walked. However, despite being prepared for a fight, the situations seemed to have solved themselves as we got into the town. Greed Spike was gone and the brawl that was happening had stopped and was replaced with a drunken griffin and earth pony leaning next to a tree while Rainbow Dash sat nearby, examining two Chaos Emeralds with visible confusion on her face.

I looked to Redbow and gave her a brief nod. She nodded back in understanding and led most of the group off towards where Spike was last seen. Mint Berry and I approached the confused pegasus. “Hey, Rainbow Dash,” I called out, gaining her attention.

“You have very good timing,” She dryly commented. “Just as Spike settles down and the fight I was in turns into a drinking game, you arrive. If it weren’t for the fact that a few bits of news made it in from Manehatten and Syracuse, I would have thought that you had planned your arrival.”

“That can only happen in stories or with people much smarter than myself,” I joked. “Anyway, what’s up with you looking at these two Emeralds as if you are confused?”

“Oh yeah! I noticed that they seem to have...I don’t know, emotions?” Rainbow explained. “The one my...friend, Gilda, had in her talons seems to have a feel of anger. The one Berry Punch had is like the exact opposite. As if it’s laziness in gem form.”

“And the correlation is now proven correct,” I mumbled to myself. Rainbow was able to hear me, giving me a confused look. “I noticed a type of ‘sin’ correlation between the various Emeralds. So far, there has been Gluttony, Lust, Envy, and, by going off your descriptions, Wrath, and Sloth.”

“Are there others?” Rainbow asked with genuine curiosity.

“There are seven Emeralds, so there are seven sins. The last two I never mentioned is Greed and Pride.” I explained. “And I might have an idea of who has the Emerald with Greed vibes.”

“Who?” I looked over to her with a deadpan look and waited. It took a moment, but she managed to connect the dots. “Wait, are you talking about Spike?”

“As far as I’m aware, he either gave into his greed or was brainwashed by Discord to follow his greed.” I guessed. Before either of us could say anything further, the mentioned drake just barely walked around a corner.

Just as he came into listening range, Spike fell to his hands and knees, and burped a cloud of smoke that revealed another Chaos Emerald. “Speak of the Dragon, and he shall appear.” I joked, walking up to the young drake and giving him a bottle of water to clear the lingering taste of smoke from his system. “How did you overcome your Greed?”

“It took me seeing Rarity and remembering a number of fond times I gave of myself with no real expectations to knock me back to myself.” He said, accepting the water I offered. “Don’t know how or why I listened to Discord, but I’m glad to be free.”

“Right, now let’s get ourselves ready to head to Canterlot,” I called out.

“Wait, what?!” Most of the gathered asked in complete shock. Pinkie was the only one who wasn’t surprised and decided to speak her mind.

“It shouldn’t be that surprising.” She said while hopping over to Rookie’s side. She then placed her front leg over his shoulder and explained. “It should be a natural place to go when considering bringing the Princesses up to speed, and his device managing to ‘ping’ the last Emerald in Canterlot!”

Just as she finished, my scanner pinged from my hammerspace. Pulling it out, indeed, the screen placed the last Chaos Emerald in Canterlot, the Capital of Equestria. “What she said.” I agreed. “And I think it would be a good idea for Twilight and her friends to come along as well.”

“Want us to come help get the last Emerald?” Rarity asked, stars twinkling in her eyes.

“That’s one part, but the other is so I can explain a few things...even if you weren’t wondering about them,” I said. “So get the essentials, just in case we stay there for an extra day or so, and we’ll meet at the train station in five minutes...and Spike.” He paused in following Rarity. “As much as you love her, make sure she only packs one bag. Time is of the essence.” Spike nodded and hurried off after Rarity.

(3rd POV)

Five minutes after the group separated, everyone arrived at the Ponyville Train Station. With difficulty, everyone was loaded onto the train (a cargo flat for Mint Berry, and an entire passenger car for everyone else). Once the train was on it’s way to Canterlot, Rookie got Twilight’s attention, which in turn, got her to cast a spell to allow Mint to listen in and contribute to the conversation. She then pulled out a pile of paper with a quill and inkwell, which silently signaled for the rest of the passengers to move their attention to Rookie.

“I’m not sure how long it’ll take us to get to Canterlot-” He started, but was briefly interrupted by Twilight.

“It should be between an hour to two, depending on any delays we may have.” She said in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Thank you,” I muttered to her. “Anyway, I’ll try to be brief, but I’ll probably need to make sure you understand some of the details I’ll be explaining. So, to start, do any of understand what the Multiverse is?” Twilight raised her hoof. “Except you Twilight.” She lowered her hoof.

Spike raised his hand. I pointed to him and gave the wordless instruction for him to explain. “I’ve read a few comic books-”

“Now’s not the time, Spike.” Twilight reprimanded, receiving a glare from the young dragon.

“Let him speak,” I said. “He deserves to be heard.”

“Thank you,” He said to me. “Anyway, the concept of the Multiverse is mentioned on occasion in my comics. Its the idea that whatever can happen, regardless of possibilities or reality, has happened in one way or another.”

“I’m not really following.” Rainbow bluntly commented.

Spike sighed. “What did you have for breakfast today?”

“Uh… a few hay cakes, and a chug of milk?” Rainbow answered with confusion on her face.

“Did you have other ideas for what to have for breakfast?” Spike asked. “And say roughly how many.”

“I don’t know...about two or three I think?” She answered. “You have a point to those questions?”

“I can see part of his point,” Twilight spoke up. She was about to continue, but Rookie quickly and quietly shushed her.

“My point is that every choice that everyone makes, a new universe is created, at least in theory,” Spike explained. “Hay, even certain things we can’t control can make new universes. If I was born a dragoness, or Twilight was born a stallion, the ‘timeline’ can deviate greatly. But with that also comes the idea that other worlds can exist, like how Rookie is a cat from a different world that could easily have us as a form of fiction like how my comic books are.”

Rookie’s eyes widened briefly before nodding. “You hare two-thirds correct, young drake.” He said. “I’m actually from two worlds. Oddly, in both worlds, my first name is Carter, and my last has ‘Tom’ in it.”

“Can you get to the point?” Applejack interrupted. “I don’t mean to be rude, but most of us don’t speak fancy...or science.”

“Getting to that,” Rookie reassured. “Anyway, one ‘half’ of me comes from a world where you guys are a form of entertainment. However, I only have basic information from said entertainment, since I had work...and the fact that I ended up here after a mugging over a simple golden ring.”

“What about the other half?” Fluttershy asked.

“The world of Mobius, where I was pretty much instrumental in defeating a mad scientist.” He answered. “The way I came here from there was a bit of an energy conflict between the Phantom Ruby and one of the Chaos Emeralds.”

“If it was one of the Emeralds, how are there now seven?” Twilight asked.

“He made imperfect copies.” Rookie explained. “Imperfect copies can corrupt the minds of those with weak wills...no offense to those who were corrupted by said Emeralds.” The mentioned individuals shook their heads, seeming to forgive the cat’s comment. “Anyway, the main point is that I know most of what has happened, and what should have happened.”

“Should have happened?” Gilda asked.

“Basically, my appearance and Discord’s use of the Phantom Ruby and making the fake Chaos Emeralds has thrown a bit of the ‘planned timeline’ for a loop.” Rookie pointed out. “In that timeline, the Mane Six, or the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony dealt with Discord on their own.”

“You make it sound like it isn’t us,” Twilight commented while finishing a note in her notes. “Wouldn’t that be us?”

“Yes...if this was a television show or book series,” He answered. “Frankly, the way I see things, games, shows, movies, etc are based on real things, like a dimension full of sentient, technicolor ponies, or a dimension full of anthropomorphic animals. Not the other way around. So while you may be the Mane Six, I won’t identify you as such.”

Pinkie suddenly jumped up from out of nowhere and gave me a bit of a bored look before looking off in a random direction. “I’m starting to think that you readers are starting to get bored by this boringly boring exposition, so I’m just gonna get us skipped past this and to where Discord is.”

“Wait, what?” Rookie said in confusion just as she pulled on something unseen and blacked out.

(Canterlot Gardens, Rookie POV)

“How in Equestria did you get here so fast?” I heard Discord ask as soon as I was aware that I was awake. I only pointed at Pinkie Pie, which got him to droop in realization. “And I forgot that Dionysus decided to start causing some chaos without me a few years back.”

“I’ll inquire later,” I said nervously. “Anyway, the last Chaos Emerald. You know where-” I was interrupted by the violet gem landing at my feet.

“Pride has many forms,” Discord began to monologue. “Like how a teacher can have pride in a student, or a person being proud of a worthy accomplishment. While I can say that I had a good amount of pride in my works of chaos, destructive as they may or may not have been, I have issues with other forms of pride. Primarily, the kind that makes one feel invincible and/or never wrong.”

For some reason, his monologue seemed less of that and more of a confession that didn’t sound like one. “I can relate,” I said, catching the whole group of ponies (including the Princesses) off guard.

“Uh, you okay there partner?” Applejack asked.

“Yeah, because agreeing with a villain is pretty much a sure sign of being mind-controlled,” Pinkie said in her usual happy-go-lucky voice.

“His ‘speech’ about pride isn’t a villainous monologue,” I pointed out. “He is somewhat subtly admitting to a problem and amazingly more subtly, asking for help.”

“More like a final request, but you get the idea,” Discord said, with his choice of words catching my attention. Discord didn’t give me a chance to continue as he snapped his fingers, causing all seven of the fake Chaos Emeralds to appear around me. I immediately felt intense concern for Nightshade, but looking to her, she wasn’t in any pain.

“Don’t worry too much,” Discord quipped. “I made sure to give her a real heart to work with...and laced it with some chaos energy to keep her going until she is more alive than when she was stuck in Luna.” Everyone except Luna and I had a look of confusion, to which he answered, “You’ll find out soon enough.”

“Indeed, we shall,” Celestia said, while giving Luna a look of combined mischief and sternness. “So, what is your last request, as you put it?”

“Simple.” He points at me. “I want him to fight me with the power I infused in those Emeralds. To show you that Chaos isn’t an evil force...it’s just a force.”

Before anyone could attempt to protest, I jumped in. “I accept.” I then extended my robotic hands towards the Emeralds and began to absorb the Chaos energy. However, what seemed to be small lasers of light shot from the hearts (chest areas) of most of the gathered group, seeming to cause all of the Chaos Energy to become stronger.

With a flash of light, I was enveloped in the energy, and my red fur spiked up slightly and turned a golden color. I felt my robotic hands, feet, and mask shatter from the pure energy, but I had a golden aura that seemed to form hard light limbs for the time I would have in my Super Form. “No Looking Back! Full Speed Ahead!”

The Clash of Chaos had begun.

Author's Note

It took me forever to get this written.

Not-a-Chapter: Rewrite in progress

after reading another story based around Sonic Forces, I've decided to rewrite this story and rework things to be less fetish and more story