Universe 260822

Izzy leaped into the cave and dashed towards Sunny as she ran towards her unicorn friend. The two met in the middle and pulled each other into a hug.

Over by the entrance, three more pony heads poked into the opening, which belonged to Zipp Storm, Pipp Petals, and Hitch Trailblazer. Pipp flew over to Sunny immediately, while Zipp, hovering just above the ground, helped Hitch into the cave.

"Sunny!"

"What are you guys doing here?" Sunny asked, letting go of Izzy to embrace her other friends.

"Did you seriously think that we would let you just disappear like that?" Pipp asked, holding up Sunny's note that she had left in the Crystal Brighthouse. "Zipp did some investigating and used her spy gear to find some kind of magical energy leftover from whatever took you, and Izzy cast some kind of finder spell, and we've been following you ever since." She looked around, just noticing where they were for the first time. "Um… where exactly are we?"

"And who is that?" Zipp asked, pointing behind Sunny to where Twilight Sparkle was standing, looking at the group of friends with a forlorn look on her face, like she remembered having something like this but had it taken away from her.

Hitch tilted his head at the alicorn. "Is it just me, or does she look kind of familiar…"

"Oh!" Sunny shook her head, and her wings and horn disappeared in small bursts of golden light. "Guys, this is Twilight Sparkle. She's the pony my dad told me about, who saved Equestria with her friends and created the crystals. She lost her friends and was so sad that she basically forgot who she was, but I think she's okay now. We've been talking for a while." She grinned bashfully. "Twilight, these are my friends that I told you about: Hitch, Izzy, Zipp, and Pipp. If it weren't for them, magic never would have been brought back, and ponies would still be divided, and I wouldn't be an alicorn."

"And…" Twilight's emotions flashed across her face, and she firmly held them back. "They followed you all the way out here? Because they care about you?"

"Yeah!" Hitch said at the same time Pipp said, "Of course," Zipp said, "Totally," and Izzy said, "Abso-tooty-lootly! Sunny's our friend!"

Twilight looked from each of their shining faces to the look in Sunny's eyes that hadn’t been there when she first met the earth pony, but had begun to show when she was talking about her friends, and now her face was practically glowing with love and affection for these four ponies. It reminded Twilight so much of how she and her friends used to be that she almost sank into the nothingness again, the loneliness again, but she held herself back. Her friends were still with her, even if she couldn't see them. They loved her too much and she loved them too much for that to ever happen.

Izzy leaped towards the cave exit again. "Come on, Sunny, everypony's been wondering where you've been! And it's going to be Maretime Bay Day in, like, two weeks, and we have to be getting back!"

Twilight was about turn around when she saw Sunny getting disappointed on Izzy's words... But right when she did that, her eyes widened, because she felt something wrong... Something strange she couldn't explain just like that, but she did knew that whatever it was, it was wrong...

"M-Maybe we could stay a little longer?" Sunny stepped towards Twilight, and her voice took the Alicorn out of her thoughts.

However, she didn't turned around, and that confused and concerned Sunny.

"...P-Princess?" Sunny called out, confused and concerned for her idol.

"...Something's wrong..." Twilight muttered.

"Huh?" Sunny said confused.

"Something's wrong... Something's out of place, something's not––"

Yet whatever Twilight was going to say, it died the moment the whole ground rumbled and startled the six ponies inside of the cave, as they almost lost their balance.

Then, the "ceiling" of the cave began to crack and rumble, which made Twilight had some instinct that made her create a shield not only around herself, but also around the group of five ponies, since they all huddled together when the rumble began a few seconds ago.

Not so long after the rumble ended, the upper place of the cave was now exposed, and the ponies felt horrified when they saw the sky broken, showing the shape of an X.

Meanwhile, somewhere else in that same universe, Opaline was keeping the portal in the sky open, with the objective of startle everyone in that universe. If she was lucky enough, someone's Canon Event will get altered, and said universe will unravel while she leaves.

Now, at the same time, she was following a green line launched by her horn, because she tracked down a green Shard of the Paradox Prism to this universe.

Finally, after at least two or three hours of following her own horn's trial, she found her price buried in the sand of this universe's Maretime Bay. She levitated the shard and attached it to her left frontal bracelet, feeling the energy of the Prism spreading around her body with glee.

Soon, she heard screams coming from town, and she was going to check on what was happening, but just with seeing that one of the poles was glitching, she grinned sinisterly.

The Canon was broken, and her mission in this universe was over. So, she lightened her horn again and made a yellow portal appear, which she crossed to exit this universe forever. Soon, the portal closed, while the universe was left behind to unravel and die.

Opaline exited that universe, as it began to unravel because of its Canon getting altered.

She was beyond happy with all the catastrophe she has unleashed across the multiverse, and now that she has obtained her 15th shard of the Paradox Prism... And she wasn't planning on stopping anytime soon.

Soon, she lightened her horn, and it shot a blue line against one of the universes, meaning that a blue shard of the Prism was located in there. So, Opaline grinned and headed towards said universe, entering in by making a blue portal with her Prismatic Magic.

Universe 151222

"I can't believe I let you girls talk me into this," Anon said with frown.

"Come on, Anon," Sunny pleaded. "You have to do it! The three pony races are nearly at war over this! Friendship and harmony in all of Equestria is falling apart because of this! You are the only one who can put an end to this question once and for all!"

"It just seems weird. And more than a little creepy."

Zipp snorted. "You let my sister sit on your face. And you think this is weird and creepy?"

"Zipp!" Sunny and Pipp said at the same time. Both cast a glare at the pegasus. Anon could only guess his own glare at Zipp was just as intense.

Sunny sighed and turned her attention back to Anon. "Look, all you have to do is smell me and let me know if I really do smell like rotten sardines or not."

"I thought Izzy already settled that question and said you didn't?"

"But they all think Izzy is biased because she's my friend. You are the only unbiased pony … I mean human in all of Equestria. We need your unbiased opinion."

"I'm your friend too. But I'm not gonna sniff your ass if that's what you want."

"You don't have to sniff my ass!" Sunny said, rolling her eyes. "All you have to do is smell my neck or something."

"Fine … I'm still not sure how I let you talk me into this. But I'll do it to save Equestria from total war." With a deep breath, he put his nose close to Sunny's neck and inhaled, then pulled back. "You do not smell like rotten sardines. Are you happy now?"

"Unfair!" Zipp shouted. "I mean I know Sunny used to be an earth pony, but she's an alicorn now! Of course she wouldn't smell like rotten sardines anymore! Go smell Hitch!"

"Oh, no no no," Hitch said, taking a couple of steps backwards. "Like Anon said, it's weird, and more than a little bit creepy."

"Come on Hitch, it's for the good of Equestria," Sunny said.

Hitch looked around. All of the mares were staring at him now.

"Ugh … Fine … Just make it quick."

With a heavy sigh, Anon walked over to Hitch. The stallion winced as if the human were holding a whip or something. Hitch closed his eyes as Anon leaned in towards his neck and once again, inhaled deeply. Pulling away, he looked at the mares.

"Hitch doesn't smell like rotten sardines either. Are you all happy now? Can I please go back to doing … just about anything other than this?"

Sunny suddenly produced a notebook that seemed to come from nowhere. "Not quite yet. I have questions. If we don't smell like rotten sardines, what do we smell like? Strawberries? Or maybe blueberries? Or maybe roses? What does an earth pony smell like to a human?"

Anon's heart sped up as he got more and more nervous... But before he could form any kind of reply, the entire ground started to shake violently.

This wasn't the first time that it happened something similar. Even if they didn't felt anything a few weeks ago, they did knew that it rumbled all across Equestria when Sonic came around. The ponies were mad with him and wanted to make him face consequences for what he did to Anon...

Yet Sonic managed to free himself from that by running away, taking advantage of the fact that the ponies were too stunned to react back then. But now, if the ground trembled again, it could only mean that he was back...

But they were wrong. They were very wrong.

While yes, the sky has opened with a massive X, Sonic wasn't the reason why it opened in that way, but instead a Fire Alicorn that was planning to soon conquer the entire multiverse.

She flew down towards a lake, and she saw that her horn was pointing at the very deep zone of the lake. Yet Opaline wasn't in the mood to go and swim, so she simply rolled her eyes and then lightened her horn with regular magic, catching the shard from underwater and levitating it towards her.

She grinned for ear to ear once she looked at the blue shard, then she attached it to her bracelet, and once she felt its power running through her veins, she felt glee once more.

Then, Opaline kicked a rock near by, and that was enough to make this whole universe unravel, meaning it was her time to leave. So, she opened a green portal with her Prismatic Magic, and then she crossed said portal, which closed behind right before the glitching effect of this universe reached it.

Opaline came out of that universe, as it glitched in sign that it was unraveling.

She couldn't believe how easy it was to make worlds destroy themselves by just entering them, but it was also a great sensation, to be above anyone else and see how they hopelessly tried to save themselves.

What made everything even better is the fact that she now had 16 shards of the Paradox Prism. It was also draining trice as magic as in the beginning when she first found the first red shard, but she didn't minded. She stole enough magic across the multiverse, she could resist the effects.

Now she only had to find 4 shards more, one of each color of a fragment... Once she had all the Paradox Prism completed, she would take over the entire multiverse and be every reality's queen...

Soon enough, however, her horn lightened up on its own, and then, it shot a red line towards another universe near by, meaning that the last red shard of the Prism was there. She grinned sinisterly at this, then she flew towards said universe and made a red portal to enter it...

Universe 170119

It was later in the afternoon at the Canterlot Mall.

The mall itself was busy as many young customers go to one store to the next, getting their shopping done for the day. Somewhere in the mall was a food court, where some shoppers hang out to get a bite to eat or to rest. One particular group who were sitting around the table at the food court was seven teenaged girls from Canterlot High, known as the Rainbooms. They were known to have Equestrian Magic and used them to save the day whenever something weird is going on at their school or around the town. But today, the girls decided to shop around the mall to do some 'Retail Therapy', as Rarity likes to call it, after their tough day at school to do a big test after days of preparing for it. It was thanks to Twilight of not only help them study, but also able to pass with a high grade.

Rarity took a sip of her soda through a straw and let out a satisfied sigh. "Ah… there's nothing better than to do some retail therapy after studying for days!"

"I hear ya Rares!" said Applejack before she took a quick sip of her own drink. "And a little splurging at the food court doesn't hurt either."

"Except maybe our hips," Rarity commented, causing others to chuckle at her joke.

Sunset turned towards her spectacles wearing friend with a warm smile. "On behalf of everyone here, we wanted to thank you again for helping us studying for that big test Twilight. I don't think we could've pull off easily without your help."

"Oh it's not that big of a deal," Twilight responded modestly with a blush on her cheeks.

"Are you kidding? Of course it's a big deal!" Pinkie chirped, nearly leaping out of her seat. "You used the things we love to do normally as a way to help us studying! Your method even helped Rainbow Dash!"

"HEY!" Rainbow cried indignantly. "I have you know, I got As in the past before Twilight came along!"

Applejack smirked. "Yea sure did… one time when you made that tree painting back at second grade!"

"It was supposed to be a person!" Rainbow argued, not helping her case as the others laughed at her expense before she laughed as well with no hard feelings.

While they were laughing, two more teenaged girls were walking by their table, only to stop and waved at them.

"Hello girls!" greeted Bon Bon.

"Oh hey Lyra and Bon Bon!" Pinkie greeted back on behalf of the group. "Doing some retail therapy after that big test?"

"You know it Pinks!" Lyra responded before walking away with their best friend. "Catch ya later!"

They only took a few steps away from the gang, only for them to suddenly stop and then turned to face them again. "Oh, and Twilight?"

"Yes Lyra?"

"Be sure to tell Spike we said hi and that we requested him to open up packages of those cute swimsuits for pets next!"

"Yeah, and maybe we would like to see him wearing them too! I bet he'll look sooo cute!" Bon Bon gushed.

Twilight nodded. "Oh okay, sure thin––" She stopped for a moment after she registered what they had said. "Wait… what?"

Before she could ask them what they mean, her attention and her friends' was dragged away when they heard people screaming outside of the mall, as well as some cars crashing.

That freaked out the Rainbooms already, but the cherry on top came when one of the walls of the mall was suddenly blown up and pushed down, which made everyone in the mall panic and either cover themselves or run away, in case they just heard the explosion and didn't straight up saw it.

Soon, from the massive hole made in the wall, a floating girl came and looked down at the ground with a stoic expression, as she looked around at all the chaos that her explosion caused, before floating ahead.

From behind her, several machines that looked like animals entered to the place as well, and after the animal-robots came in, a giant robot with a face and a mustache came in as well. This last machine was definitely the most menacing and concerning of them all, specially since who was riding it didn't gave a damn about all the damage they were causing.

"What the hell is that thing?!" Rainbow asked freaked out, as she and her friends hid behind their table, which they purposely pushed to use as a hiding spot.

"I have no idea!" Sunset said with concern, before she took a moment to look over the table and see the animal robots do all the dirty job, while the big robot and the floating girl did nothing. "But I bet those two are behind this!"

"W-What do we do?!" Fluttershy asked with concern, trembling in fear and being only slightly comforted by Applejack, who side-hugged her and rubbed her back to calm her down.

"How about you 7 start with showing up?!" A male voice spoke suddenly, startling the Rainbooms.

Soon, their table was levitated in the air by the floating girl, who simply used one hand and then tossed the table away, as she looked down at the 7 teenagers, still with the same stoic expression she had when she arrived.

"Well, well, well!" The male voice from before spoke, this time from inside the robot. "Look what the Egg had found, right, Sage?!" The robot's head turned to the floating girl, who simply nodded. "And here I thought that some nasty talking rats got into my suit... But it was you!"

"Stand back, pal!" Rainbow spoke with anger as she stood up. "We literally have magic and we can kick your butt hard enough if you don't retreat!"

As Rainbow frowned and stood to fight, her friends imitated her action, although Fluttershy hid behind Applejack out of fear, but the cowgirl didn't seemed to mind.

"Ugh... Why is there always some stubborn pain in the ass that wants to get in my way?" The male inside the robot asked with a bored expression. "New universe, same ol' problem..."

Twilight's eyes widened after hearing that last sentence. "New universe?"

"Who the heck are you? Who is she? And why does she has magic?!" Sunset asked in panic, pointing at the floating girl, which the man referred to earlier as Sage.

"This is Sage, my daughter," The man explained. "She has no magic, but she does posses an extraordinary power that can put you all on your places! As for me?" The capsule of the robot slowly opened to reveal who was inside... It was Dr. Eggman himself. "Name's Dr. Ivo Robotnik, but everyone calls me Dr. Eggman!"

"Eggman?" Pinkie snorted, but Rarity slightly pushed her from her shoulder and denied with her head, obviously saying that now wasn't the time for jokes, even though they all found the name 'Eggman' pretty funny.

"Eh... Feel free to laugh, if you want..." Eggman said with a bored expression, before grinning sinisterly again. "It could be the last time ever you do it, anyways!"

After that, Eggman closed the capsule of his robot and turned around.

"Sage... I detect they have magic... Take it. Catch up with me later!" Eggman instructed, as he walked on his robot away.

"Wait... He told her to do what?!" Twilight asked with panic and wide eyes.

However, her answer came when Sage snapped her fingers, and just like that, she made the Rainbooms' geodes appear in front of her, as she began to extract their magic thanks to her Phantom powers.

Of course, this made the Rainbooms panic and even scream at her, trying to make her stop, but it was a hopeless effort. In the end, Sage left the geodes with no magic, then she let them fall to the ground and shatter into a million pieces, right before turning around and float after her father.

This was bad enough for the Rainbooms already, since now they lost their magic and all possible chance to fight against upcoming Equestrian magic's problems... But the worse was yet to come.

Meanwhile, Eggman walked on his machine across the mall, and while he did encountered the amazed expressions of kids that looked up at his robotic suit like if it was the best real life-sized action figure they've ever seen, there was still people running away from him.

This is what he needed, anyways. After all, his mission is to find the red shard of the Prism that's located in here, since he has one already.

But then, as he passed by a toys' store, his sensors started to send alarms like crazy, and Eggman looked down at his computer, noticing that the signs of Prismatic Energy had increased significantly after passing by that store. He slowly turned to it, but he also raised an eyebrow confused.

"...Why would there be a shard in a store where they sell toys?" Eggman questioned.

"The multiverse works in mysterious ways, father..." Sage pointed out, as she appeared suddenly at Eggman's side. "You never know in which strange way it is going to surprise you."

"I guess that makes sense..." Eggman admitted with a sigh. "Did you stole their magic?"

"Affirmative!" Sage nodded constantly.

"Splendid job, Sage!" Eggman congratulated, before turning again to the toys' store. "Let's start to search for the shard on this place... Still feels odd that such a powerful artifact ends in such a place, but I guess I cannot judge the methods if the results are acceptable."

Sage nodded, and soon, she entered the toy store to look after the red shard.

Not so far from the Canterlot Mall, a heptagon-shaped portal opened over a hill.

Soon, Team Dark came out of same portal, as Shadow wore the watch that Dr. Hooves gave him earlier when Team Anomaly explained the whole plan to track down Eggman and Opaline, as well as to save Sonic.

"I'm impressed you learned how to use that thing, Shadow!" Rouge confessed with a mocking smirk.

"The technology used on it isn't so different from the one I used to see all the time in the ARK," Shadow replied. "I guess that FS guy also has one if the watch controls in such a similar way."

"While I'm glad our mission is to track down Eggman, I'm concerned on how the hell we're going to do it." Omega informed, before he turned to see his teammates. "The instructions of our task are quite incomplete."

"Can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree... They sent us blindly to a mission where there's no guarantee that we'll succeed..." Shadow confessed with a frown.

"Just say that you're mad you were not paired with Sunny, Shadow~" Rouge mocked up with a smirk. "We won't judge!"

Shadow rolled his eyes annoyed and crossed his arms. "Let's say for a second that such a thing is true... Knowing me, I'll be regretting not coming to kick Eggman's ass as well. Besides, I promised Sunny that I would kick him hard for her if we do encounter him... Expect me to be the second one to hit him right where it hurts."

Shadow began to walk ahead, while Rouge felt confused by his declaration. "Why second?"

"Because I will be the first one to do it!" Omega declared, as he followed Shadow along.

Rouge smirked, rolled her eyes and shook her head, before following her teammates as well by flight.

As they walked towards the Canterlot Mall, even though they had no idea of how it is called, they decided to talk to kill some time as they approached the place.

"Is crazy to think that all this time, we've been visiting dimensions among our same universe, and not actually traveling the multiverse as we thought..." Shadow commented.

"Is crazy that we've been and seen a lot of crazy stuff on our lives, yet knowing that there are more of us out there gets the reward of the rarest thing..." Rouge pointed out. "We literally had to deal with two Sonics before Boom and Young, remember?"

"Doesn't make finding out about other realities' existence any less weird." Omega pointed out. "I always thought I was the only one in my kind... Now I have what you would call a "existential crisis"."

"Don't be so dramatic..." Rouge deadpanned at him, before smirking mockingly. "I'm pretty sure Eggman has a bunch of Omegas hidden somewhere as well... You just have to find it still."

"And I know I will one day!" Omega declared with confidence.

"Good for you, Meg..." Shadow said sarcastically, also rolling his eyes.

"Don't be a party pooper, Shadow," Rouge mocked him up as well. "Or are you too jealous to know there's other "Ultimate Life Forms" out there?"

"If there truly are, they're probably even more emo than me..." Shadow commented with a bored expression.

"Dude, I know we all wanna be better in life, but don't be so ambitious on wanting to brake a record..." Omega kind of deadpanned as well, and while Rouge tried not to burst out laughing, Shadow rolled his eyes again, but he also smirked.

Once they went silent again, Rouge looked concerned at the ground for a moment, before looking back at Shadow. "...How are you feeling? Regarding this whole thing of the multiverse, whatever the "Canon" is supposed to be, Sonic being the first anomaly... All that stuff."

Shadow felt a bit strange when Rouge asked that, but he still decided to reply. "Well... There isn't anything I can say about the multiverse... Is just you but from other world. Remember what Boom Sonic said the first time he saw me? I thought for a second he was going to attack me..."

"I'm actually convinced he wanted to, but decided not to just to be polite!" Rouge confessed with a smirk.

"If that's the case, he did good. I don't think he'll had won, anyways." Omega commented.

"For once, I agree with Omega." Shadow said with a smirk, and Rouge rolled her eyes and shook her head with a smile. "Jokes aside, I don't feel anything knowing there's other Shadows out there. As for the "Canon" thing? I'm convinced is just a stupid excuse so those who had a tragedy can justify it and feel less guilty about it... Besides, how is FS so sure that altering Canon is bad if he's been proved wrong several times already? And how does he even knew the Canon didn't had to be affected before doing it himself?!"

"Sunset told us that when she explained the plan, remember?" Rouge pointed out. "She said that he never wanted to change any Canon because he wasn't sure how good or bad it could be, then he did it himself, and that led to that universe to unravel... I think you know the rest..."

"While I do see the tragedy behind it, is still not a good excuse to stand there and let others die just because of his own experience." Omega pointed out. "He wants to justify his mistakes so badly he cannot see the flaws on his own theories."

"I'm agreeing with you too much today, Meg... Maybe I should see a doctor..." Shadow mumbled, and Rouge chuckled, while Omega deadpanned at him. "As for Sonic being the first anomaly... I've been tolerating that hedgehog for years. He might be stubborn, too selfless and happy for my liking, and he gives his enemies way too much second chances..."

"But?" Rouge said, knowing very well what he was going to say next.

"...But... I know for a fact that Sonic can't be a mistake... If he was, he would've died long time ago... Specifically the moment he was supposed to die... But he's to stubborn, even for that..." Shadow pointed out, surprisingly even for himself, with a smile. "I don't know what is that FS guys baffling about, but I know that the Sonic of our world is anything but a mistake... is just a matter of time before he realizes that."

"And here I thought you didn't had a soft spot for Sonic!" Rouge mocked up with a smirk.

Shadow rolled his eyes and shook his head in disappointment after hearing that. "I respect that hedgehog, but it doesn't mean I like him..."

"It doesn't mean you dislike him, either," Omega pointed out and made a fake laugh, while Rouge did bursted out laughing.

Shadow had to gain strength from Chaos knows where to not strangle his teammates, so he placed his hands together and took a deep breath so he could calm down.

Suddenly, however, Team Dark heard a lot of screams of fear coming from the mall, and Shadow didn't even thought twice before boosting on said direction to see if anyone got hurt. Of course, Omega and Rouge immediately followed after him to make sure he wouldn't do anything stupid.

When they arrived to the mall, they saw that the whole place was destroyed, there was ruble around, and they even saw a group of girls huddling together around some broken things on the floor.

That was weird for Shadow, but he decided to ignore it for now... What he couldn't ignore, thought, was the fact that he could see the Egg Breaker in the distance, as it had its hand on a toy shop, before pulling it out to show that it was holding a red shard of the Paradox Prism.

Having Eggman and the Prism in one place was enough to let Shadow know that trouble was sure going to take place, so he boosted away again.

This confused Rouge and Omega, but as soon as they saw that Shadow was heading towards Eggman, Omega immediately followed by boosting with his own rockets. Rouge rolled her eyes at their lack of thinking when they got mad, but still decided to go after them.

Meanwhile, Eggman himself took out his so desired prize from the toys' store and looked at it with a huge happy grin. "Ah, my beautiful treasure... At long last you're in my hands!"

"Father..." Sage called out, as she stared into certain direction with a frown. "We should go... Now!"

"Why?" Eggman asked confused.

"Because we have very undesired company..." Sage replied with anger.

Eggman was about to ask what she meant, but then she teleported away, and right then, Shadow jumped and hit the Egg Breaker with his shoes, sending the machine a bit backwards.

Eggman groaned and shook his head a bit confused, but when he looked ahead, he first felt surprised and startled to see Team Dark in front of him, with Omega pointing his weapons at him, but then his surprise shifted into anger, and he approached the Mobians with a frown.

"Great... Just great!" Eggman groaned. "When I finally can be away of rodents that get in my way, they still find the way to get in my way anyways! WHY CAN'T YOU LEAVE ME ALONE?!"

"How stupid do you think we are to let you conquer the multiverse, Doctor?" Shadow asked with a frown. "Because if you believed we wouldn't come, then see how wrong you are!"

"You think I'm afraid?! Oh, no, no, no, no!" Eggman said with a grin. "I know for a fact I'll win! Doesn't changes the fact that I hate you for coming here and mess with my plans! And where the heck is Sonic? I honestly expected him more than any of you today!"

"Sonic is busy with more important stuff than you, Eggman!" Rouge declared with a frown as well. "Is just you and us!"

"And we're gonna take you down, stupid, rotten egg!" Omega declared confidently.

"Then BRING IT ON!" Eggman shouted with a smirk, before preparing the Egg Breaker to fight.

Just like Shadow said before, the first one to launch against the doctor was Omega, who launched a bunch of homing lasers against the Egg Breaker.

This did little to nothing, but it was just a distraction, because Omega's real objective was to jump and beat the crap out of the robot's face, as it twirled around wildly and made Eggman feel dizzy. He still stopped the face from moving and then aimed the spiked ball at Omega.

To this, Omega jumped backwards and then moved aside, dodging the ball right in time, before switching his arms to launch fireballs against the Egg Breaker.

These fireballs hit the spiked ball and made it turn on in flames, startling Eggman a lot, as he shook the ball to try and turn it off, while Omega came and jumped again, before charging up his flamethrowers and then burn down Eggman's vision radar on the face.

This was a big problem, so Eggman had no choice but to open the capsule that protected him and frowned down at Omega, who prepared to charge his regular rotary cannons.

However, Eggman moved the normal arm of the Egg Breaker and began to move Omega wildly across the room, as he smashed the Ultimate Weapon against several walls and even swept the floor with his body, finishing off this combo by throwing Omega against a window, which the robot shattered in lots of pieces.

Of course, Omega tried to stand up and keep up the fight, but all those hits the Egg breaker give him left him on a very damaged state, so he simply lay on the ground painfully.

Eggman laughed out loudly when he saw this, but then, his face suddenly got hit, this time by Rouge, who flew right in front of him with a frown and then launched herself towards him with a warrior cry. Eggman tried to block her attack with the spiked ball, but Rouge made a smart move by moving aside and then hit the robot on the back with her feet.

Friendly reminder for you, readers: Much like Knuckles, Rouge possesses enormous strength, but Knuckles' strength lies in his upper body, while Rouge's strength lies in her lower body, particularly in her legs and feet, which provides her with incredible kicking power.

Taking advantage of this, Rouge simply flew around the Egg Breaker like an annoying mosquito, and she always took any change she could take to use her feet and kick the Egg Beater where it really hurts.

Eggman groaned in anger and attempted to get her off, even multiplying the spiked ball on his right hand on some occasions to try and hit her. "You know what they say: The more, the merrier!" He mocked up, but that didn't seemed to irritate nor take Rouge out of her focus.

Now, she decided to replicate a bit of Sonic and Shadow's arsenal of moves, like charging up a Spin Dash while still being in the air, and even making a Homing Attack that could sent Eggman backwards.

This last thing was because anytime she made her Homing Attack, she kind of "cancel it" on the last second, just to use her legs instead and kick the Egg Beater backwards, making it crash against the wall and take damage on multiple occasions that irritated and angered Eggman even more.

So, the doctor tried to make the exact same thing he did before with Omega... But here's the thing: Rouge is flying, meaning she's more agile and can dodge Eggman's attempts of grabbing her like nothing.

She even made fun of it by dodging, and then making a Spin Attack, followed by a single kick that sent Eggman so backwards, to the point he even tripped with a fountain that was in the mall and fell on his back on the ground, also groaning in pain as he did so.

"Seems like you're getting rusty, Doctor!" Rouge mocked up with a confident smirk.

Yet it was her confidence what finally settled her doom, because Eggman launched the spiked ball against her, and she couldn't think twice to dodge it.

She wasn't hit by any of the spikes, thankfully, but she was still sent backwards against a store, and she crashed against the crystal, then rolled in the ground painfully, and then hit her back and head with the counter, falling unconscious in the ground after said hit.

Eggman stood up with his Egg Breaker and grinned, but he knew the thing wasn't over, so he started to walk around the mall, waiting for the last member of Team Dark to show up.

"Come here, Shadow... I know you wanna do it!" Eggman called out with a grin and a maniac laugh.

And then, Shadow teleported right over the shoulder, before charging up a Chaos Blast and then release it over the Egg Beater, causing a massive explosion that left the mall even worse looking, but it also sent the Egg Beater flying and crashing against another wall.

Tired, Eggman made the Egg Beater stand up, and then he looked ahead with a frown: Shadow was standing in front of him... But then the doctor got scared when the Black Blur retired his Inhibitor Rings.

Shadow adjusted his gloves and then looked at Eggman with anger. "My turn!" He stated with a determined look.

After that, the Ultimate Life Form boosted towards the doctor, and even if Eggman was still freaked out at the fact that he had to fight against Shadow using all his power, he still frowned and got the Egg Breaker moving. If he was going down, he wouldn't do it without a fight!

First off, Shadow jumped and created several Chaos Spears in a row, which he launched wildly against the Egg Breaker, which managed to dodge them all but one that scratched the left side.

Still, Eggman managed to make the machine jump, which made it create several shockwaves that were sent against Shadow. Of course, Shadow dodged this like nothing and proceed to launch a powerful Homing Attack that sent the Egg Breaker traverse several walls in one row.

This was bad enough already, but Shadow didn't stopped there: He stood on his place, ducked down, then charged up his Spin Dash, and then boosted against Eggman.

Speaking of the doctor, he had barely any time to get back into his senses, because the Spin Dash that Shadow launched against him was now pushing them both across more walls in the mall, until they ended up exiting it and rolling down the streets of Canterlot City.

Eggman groaned again, but then Shadow charged against him again by kicking the Egg Breaker's chest and sent him rolling backwards, crashing with several cars and damaging the machine even more.

The doctor was reaching a desperate point, although he wasn't surprised that he couldn't fight back. After all, Shadow is the Ultimate Life Form, and when he unleashes his true power, no one can stop him, not even a genius like him. That doesn't mean he isn't going to try, though.

So, with effort and pain, Eggman got the Egg Breaker back to stand up, and he glared daggers at Shadow, who was now rolling skating at top speed towards him, while a barrier was formed in front of him.

Eggman made the Egg Breaker jump higher this time, and when he made the machine go back to the floor, it released a very powerful shockwave, one that managed to brake Shadow's barrier and finally sent him backwards, but it also made several more cars and windows around brake because of the impact of the shockwave.

Still, Eggman grinned victorious and sighed in relief, thinking that he was done. The machine couldn't keep fighting back, anyways, since it was starting to shut down.

It was at this point when Eggman realized how he was looking physically: His suit was ripped apart in the arms and some zones of the chest, half of his googles over his head was broken, and he was bleeding on his left arm, as well as through his mouth.

Every scar was worth it, in the end... He cancelled Shadow's attack, and he knows for sure that he gets tired when he removes his Inhibitor Rings and uses more power than he's used to...

But he couldn't be anymore wrong if it was possible.

Shadow suddenly teleported right in front of him and started to growl in anger, before he began to charge up energy on his body... That was bad enough of already, but when he started to charge more power than his body can support, Eggman was already regretting all his sins in life.

As for Shadow, he knew that he was doing something reckless, but he wanted to make sure that Eggman stood defeated, so he didn't minded using more power than usual.

Rouge, on the other hand, did minded, because as soon as Omega and her arrived and saw what Shadow was doing, her eyes widened in panic.

"SHADOW, NO!!!" Rouge shouted desperate.

Yet it was too late to go back: Shadow had already so much energy that he could feel like if his body was going to explode at any second. Then again, he's willing to go beyond his limits if that means he can defeat Eggman, and he was more than glad to be the one making the killer punch.

"Chaos.... BLAST!!!!" Shadow shouted.

With that, he released his energy, and caused a massive explosion that reached 20 yards across Canterlot City. It's safe to say that his attack killed a bunch of people, as well as destroyed everything on its way.

As for Eggman and the Egg Breaker, well, the machine slowly leaned ahead, falling in front of Shadow, who was breathing heavily after that attack, but he was also smiling at his accomplishment. Yet that smile didn't lasted, because he soon collapsed in the ground.

He used more energy than he's used to, and now he had no strength left to keep fighting.

Rouge and Omega rushed as fast as they could to him, and Rouge kneeled to grab Shadow and place him on her legs, which made the Ultimate Life Form open his eyes slightly.

"D-Did... Did I did it...?" Shadow asked weakly.

"Kinda..." Rouge replied, before frowning at him. "What were you thinking?! You know you can't use more power without getting killed, you idiot!"

"Not to mention, your full strength drains all your energy..." Omega pointed out with concern.

Shadow chuckled and sat down painfully in the ground. "I did what had to be done... Anything to get the job done, right?"

"Yeah, about that..." Eggman's voice spoke, and Team Dark's eyes opened wide.

They turned upwards and saw Eggman, intact and alive, over his Eggmobile, while Sage floated at his side, and Eggman grinned from ear to ear.

"Thanks to my daughter, I've survived!" Eggman said with glee. "And even better: I have two shards of the Paradox Prism now! Once I have finished you three, I'll leave this universe and will invade the next world!"

"Not if I can do something about it!" A female voice spoke, one that Eggman recognized, and it made him growl.

Not so far from Team Dark and Eggman, Opaline landed in the ground and showed off her ignited horn and wings, as well as the sixteen shards of the Paradox Prism she has obtained so far.

"If you truly believe you can get in my way, then let me remind you who I am, Ivo!" Opaline declared with anger.

"Like if I gave a damn!" Eggman said with anger, before grinning again. "Although, thinking about it, this is perfect: I can kill two birds in one shot!"

"W-We'll see about that, doctor..." Shadow said, as he placed his Inhibitor Rings back and then stood up.

Now a massive battle approached in this universe: Queen Opaline Arcana, Team Dark, and Dr. Eggman against each other for the control of the Paradox Prism's shards... This cannot end well, can it?

Author's Note

Things are getting bad, people...

We have three sides: Team Dark, Eggman and Opaline's... This cannot end well...

Anyways. Let's see which stories were featured today: The first universe Opaline invaded is this story made by bookhorse125; and the second one is this story that Melody StormRunner created. As for the world that Eggman was invading, well, it's this one-shot written by sonicfan05.

Thanks so much for reading up to this point! I'll see you all next chapter, where Future Sonic finally snaps and decides to take care of Sonic once and for all.

Bye, bye!