(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).