Within the hour, the group, joined by Selia Fukuro, a pair of shinobi in more traditional garb, one colored yellow and the other colored gray, were standing outside of a fortress on Earthrealm in a remote Chinese mountain range. With a look between themselves, the Bages and Sweetie Belle, the filly in her natural form, flew up, Rota calling back, “We’ll try to keep attention on us for as long as possible.”

Meanwhile, inside the fortress as the heroes gained entry, Shang Tsung and Quan Chi stood before a well, watching as the soul magic coalesced into the form of a golden crown. Shang Tsung, seeing that the infusion was complete, then took the crown and admired it.

“We are ready,” he told Quan Chi.

“And the soul stealers?” The pale sorcerer wondered.

“Keep them running,” the shapeshifter responded. “If nothing else, the collected souls will be useful to keep Bojack and his underlings around. Speaking of which.” As he spoke, another shape formed from the soul magic. In mere seconds, Bojack reformed in front of the sorcerers before descending to the ground in front of them.

“I presume from the fact you came here through the Soul Stealers that the General’s attempt for the throne was unsuccessful?” Shang Tsung asked the marauder.

“Not only that, but the Bages are much stronger than the last time I faced them, to say nothing of the alicorn,” Bojack answered. Then, turning his gaze to the battlements, he gave a slight glare. “Additionally, they seem to have already arrived,” he said as he nodded where he was looking.

Turning to look for themselves, the sorcerers spotted the source of the marauders ire.

Floating above the battlements were the four figures who had given their plans the most trouble of all.

Rota, her purple aura encompassing her.

Marko, his red blade drawn and flaming magic wreathing his body.

Nikoletta, her ghostly green aura and glowing eyes making her seem akin to a spirit of vengeance.

And Sweetie Belle, dressed in an armored pink bodysuit with a star at each flank, four golden gauntlets with embedded gems for each of her hooves, a neckerchief and a crown made to look like some form of stalk with a flower on the front and a red cape with white trim billowing in the wind beside her.

Nikki gave the crown Sweetie Belle wore a raised eyebrow, but shrugged it off. She’d explain when it became relevant.

Bojack flew upward to meet them, his underlings, and fellow remaining members of his race, the Hera Clan, coming up from behind the opposite battlement while Shang Tsung and Quan Chi hurriedly made their way inside the fortress’s depths.

“Four vs five. Heads on swivels, girls,” Marko advised as everyone readied to fight.

“The numbers will only be a momentary problem. Just need to hold out a bit, meine geschwister,” Nikki said, her scouter pinging a powerful source of energy that Rota also noticed.

“I thought I had some weird timing,” The Saiyan muttered to herself, just loud enough for Sweetie Belle to catch, before the aerial battle began in earnest. Sweetie Belle managed to send a telepathic message to the royal family and Liu Kang that the Sorcerers likely knew about Shao’s failed grab for the throne before she clashed with the sole female in the opposing group, Zangya.

Sweetie Belle and her opponent met with a clash of elbows, sending a shockwave of energy pulsing outward on impact. Sweetie Belle, however, smirked as she called the energy to her, absorbing it, causing the Hera Clan woman’s eyes to widen in shock before the alicorn filly swept her foreleg out sending her opponent flying backwards. Sweetie Belle then flew past her, hitting her with a spin kick from the opposite side that sent her flying again upward. Zangya recovered and surged her power, seeming to kick off a transformation, turning her blue skin to green and her orange hair to red, her muscles and energy respectively swelling and surging as her vest and sleeves burst from the force of the transformation.

Sweetie Belle surged her power in kind, coating herself with a green aura akin to the one from the Living Forest, then rushed forward at the same time as her opponent. Zangya managed to beat Sweetie Belle to the punch, literally as the Heran woman’s longer arm let her punch strike the alicorn filly’s cheek, sending her reeling back. Recovering, Sweetie blocked the next blow and stretched her hind leg out to kick Zangya in the gut. As the Heran woman tried to catch her breath, Sweetie Belle grabbed her by the head and dove toward the ground at an angle, before suddenly stopping halfway and then throwing Zangya the remaining distance.

The Heran woman’s body carved a trench across the mountain range before she crashed into the ground a long distance away. Before Sweetie Belle could do anything else, her limbs were suddenly restrained with some kind of wire, some of it even squeezing around her horn. Looking around, she saw that the only unoccupied Hera Clan member, Bujin, had decided to try wrapping her up. A simple burst of energy saw the wire destroyed and the Hera Clansman bracing himself from the blast. Bujin, after the brief gale, transformed like Zangya and engaged the filly, managing to hold his own better than Zangya had.

Nikoletta, meanwhile, was facing Bido, both in their respective transformed states. The German Phantom phased in and out of corporeality as she dodged the bearded Hera Clansman’s barrage of energy bullets. She returned fire with a volley of ecto-energy blasts, forcing the pirate to dodge and allowing her to teleport in front of his path to send him crashing into the mountainside opposite the fortress with an energy punch from her left hand.

As Bido recovered, Nikoletta dashed towards him, charging up energy in her robotic right hand. The Hera Clansman guarded his head, but Nikki just targeted his torso instead, punching him in the chest and driving him through the mountain. As Bido came flying out the other side, Nikki flicker-stepped ahead of him and slammed a double axe-handle blow into his back, sending him careening into the ground.

Nikoletta then charged ecto-energy and ki into a large ball and launched it at Bido. However, the pirate had recovered enough to deflect the ball away from himself, sending it toward Sweetie Belle! However, instead of detonating on the filly, the energy ball seemed to be absorbed by her body. As she absorbed the energy, Sweetie’s power spiked to a level that gave even the pirates and the Bages pause for a brief moment as most eyes went toward her. Her attire also seemed to shift in color, but with the aura around her, it was hard to tell. With a wink, the filly clapped her forehooves together, causing a sonic boom right in the face of her current opponent. Opening her forelegs revealed a rift in space from which shot a large laser, burning Bujin away.

Marko only took a brief glance at the filly before he took advantage of the distraction offered by the display of power to run his opponent through with his blade. With an echoing incantation, the Dragon Soul cast a spell that caused the Hera Clan swordsman to begin to burn away starting from the wound caused by Marko’s red blade. As his flesh turned to ash, Kugo tried to take one last swing with his own sword, only to be engulfed from his right, Marko’s left, by a large blue beam finishing the pirate off.

Looking to his left, he saw another Saiyan woman, this one dressed in a modified chest plate with a purple underlayer, with a skintight pair of pants, boots and wristbands that all matched the coloring of the underlayer for the torso, save for the boots, which had a trim to match the chestplate. Her hair and tail were brown with her irises a shade of brown so deep, they might as well have been black, with red lipstick. Marko addressed her as he recalled his sword from its plummet to the ground.

“Nice to see you again, Diane,” he said in greeting. “Thanks for finishing that guy.”

The Saiyan smirked as she replied. “Marko, wasn’t it? No problem. You seem to have gotten stronger since we last met.”

Any further discussion was cut off by a series of impacts close to the mountainside that the fortress was built into. Turning their attention that way, Marko, Diane and Nikki, the last one pulling her boot out of her now-very-dead opponent’s chest, saw that Rota was currently in her Saiyan God form, her hair, tail, eyes and aura all glowing with a fierce crimson light, and battling Bojack, who had taken on his own Full Power transformation. Additionally, Sweetie Belle, her mane and tail alight with green fire as her own eyes glowed with power, had joined her in battle.

The Saiyan-Filly Duo collided with the Marauder in a clash of pure power, sending both sides flying backwards for a second. As Bojack caught himself, Marko’s blade came at him like a buzz saw, cutting off his arm while Marko appeared behind him and caught the blade and slashed him across the back. The Soul Stealers had been destroyed, but that didn’t stop Bojack’s regeneration as his arm began to grow back with a purple glow.. But before Bojack could even flex his newly regrown arm, Sweetie Belle tackled into him, her horn piercing into his gut. The filly kept flying as she charged a ball of energy at the tip of her horn, burning the Marauder from the inside as she dragged him towards the mountain.

With a shout of determination, Sweetie Belle launched the energy as a beam, sending Bojack crashing into the mountain side.

As the dust cleared around Bojack, the last thing he saw before his life ended was the sight of two Saiyans charging at him, both glowing with blue light of the Super Saiyan God.

“How is it they’re unaware that the Soul Stealers are shut down?” Mileena asked as she and the rest of her group snuck up on Shang Tsung and Quan Chi.

The group of Earthrealmers and Outworlders had managed to sneak into the fortress and destroy the Soul Stealers while Sweetie Belle and the Bages fought the Hera Clan before making their way down to the depths with Ermac in tow. The addition of Ermac had come about from Mileena’s aid… by which, she beat the tar out of him until his soul was able to take control. Regardless, the reunion between the Empress and Emperor and their children had been grand, if short-lived. Now that they were down here, they could see that Shang Tsung was now wearing a crown he had forged with soul magic, allowing him to bring the warrior statues that the heroes were hiding amongst to life. A set of them stood before him and Quan Chi, going through some basic martial arts motions in unison.

“We’re deep within the mountain,” Smoke replied. “Nothing outside of it would be noticed unless it affected the interior.”

Liu Kang looked at the sight with contempt. “Look at them conspiring. It is history we should not be repeating.”

“We must take the crown,” Scorpion said. “Without it, he can’t raise more warriors.”

“Our odds will improve if we can surround them,” Sindel observed.

A couple seconds later, the cavern shook as a portion of the ceiling behind the soldiers in front of the sorcerers suddenly collapsed. A cloud of dust and dirt obscured the vision of the sorcerers for a moment. But just as the cloud began to clear, Bojack’s head came falling out from it, bouncing off the debris before coming to a stop right in front of Shang Tsung and Quan Chi.

Looking up from the severed head, the pair saw the sight of the four most powerful fighters they’d ever seen in front of them, along with another newcomer who seemed to be just as powerful.

Rota and Diane, standing side-by-side.

Marko at Rota’s left, his blade resting on his shoulder.

Nikki at Diane’s right, her eyes and hands glowing with ecto-energy.

And Sweetie Belle, standing in the center of the group, seemed like a Goddess as her uniform seemed to shift to better reflect her current self, as opposed to her past. The symbol on the cape, formerly depicting a peace sign, now showed a rainbow tree-like flower growing from a black heart, with the same heart now adorning each flank. The armored heart on her chest and gauntlets turned from red to black. Her flower on her crown was now rainbow colored, and her cape and gauntlets were now a dark shade of pink, the cape now lacking the white trim. Pure Void Energy pouring from her eyes, glowing with power, completed her look of wrathful divinity.

Shang Tsung raised his hand to his crown to draw on its power, but before he could get halfway, Nikoletta used her telekinesis to pull it off of his head to her hand and grabbed it. With a wave of her other hand, she sent a wall of energy balls that destroyed the no-longer animated warriors.

Sweetie Belle gave her wings a magic-infused flap and caused a gale of wind that nearly sent the sorcerers off their feet to clear the cloud. As the wind swept up the cavern to the opening at the top, the rest of the group came out from their hiding spot behind the sorcerers. Finding themselves surrounded and outnumbered, Shang Tsung and Quan Chi, seeing no feasible alternative, surrendered.

“Thanks to Sweetie Belle and her companions, this fight is won before it can begin,” Liu Kang declared as he descended the stairs to confront Shang Tsung.

“The fight, perhaps,” Shang Tsung retorted smugly, “but not the battle.”

“Speaking of which,” Sweetie Belle said, suddenly right in front of the sorcerers, making them both jump. “Who is this mysterious benefactor of yours?”

A sudden burst of energy from the crown in Nikki’s hand interrupted any response. The burst freed it from her grasp and sent it clattering to the floor beside the severed head of Bojack.

Everyone watched it as it began to glow with soul magic, Shang Tsung chuckling at the sight.

“Speak of the Devil” the sorcerer said. “Sweetie Belle, Liu Kang. Meet Damashii.” (“Sweetie Belle, Liu Kang. Meet Deception.”)

“Who uses the word Deception in any language as a name?” Rota blurted out in wonder, her autistic mind only subconsciously remembering the translator microchip currently embedded into it.

Rota’s comment came as a mass of mystic sand coalesced around the crown, solidifying onto the form of some… uncomfortably familiar faces. Namely, Geras, Sindel, Raiden, and an android with a brain for a powersource and large claws that didn’t sit quite right with Nikki… and at the front, holding the crown was…

Another Shang Tsung.

“One who intends to deceive their own pawns.” Liu Kang answered before addressing the local Shang Tsung. “You are the victim of such deception, sorcerer.”

“You are not Damashii…” the local Shang Tsung said in wonder, “You’re me.”

“More accurately, you are me,” the invader corrected. “A poor facsimile, anyway, made lesser by Liu Kang’s meddling.”

As both Shang Tsungs looked at Liu Kang, Sindel stepped forward, demanding, “What’s happening here? Who is he?!”

“This Shang Tsung is whom I battled for the Hourglass.” Liu Kang answered. “I thought him dead.”

“As I did you, Liu Kang.” The invading Shang Tsung responded. “It turns out, our battle released mammoth energies which ripped apart our universe fabric of time apart. The fight had at least two conclusions. In one, I was the victor,” the titan sorcerer explained. “In the other, it was you.”

He turned back to his minions as he continued explaining. “Bojack and his underlings' arrival in my timeline made me learn of the Greater Omniverse relatively early into my reign as Keeper of Time. Even then, it was eons still before I discovered the truth of the outcome of our battle. Once I did, I knew the path forward.” Titan Shang Tsung shifted into his disguise before continuing in the feminine voice he'd used in it. “I took this form and infiltrated your timeline. I elevated these wretches, giving them great power.” He said, referring to the local Shang Tsung and Quan Chi. “Together, they sowed discord among the realms, and assembled for me the Dragon Army. I led them to believe they were aiding my conquest of Earthrealm and Outworld. But my intent is to exterminate all life in this timeline, and then merge it into my own.”

“You promised us realms.” Local Shang Tsung questioned as his Titan counterpart shifted back to his natural form. “Now you leave us to slaughter?”

“You were pawns, not partners,” the Titan sorcerer clarified. “Your purpose served, you will be sacrificed.”

“We served you loyally.” Quan Chi retorted. “Built you the Dragon Crown!”

“This?” Titan Shang Tsung asked with a chuckle. “It is a toy. I do not need it to control the Dragon Army, only the souls contained within.” With no further explanation, he crushed the crown, freeing the trapped souls and directed them to the Dragon Soldiers.

“Goodbye, Liu Kang.” Titan Shang Tsung said as he and his Geras prepared to leave. “Neither you nor your timeline will be missed.” With that, the two teleported away in mystic sand, barely avoiding an energy ball that Rota sent out of impatience. The android wasn’t so lucky, as it was directly impacted by the energy. But the blast didn’t seem to do anything, besides push it back a few steps.

As the android recovered, Dark Sindel and Dark Raiden (as categorized in Sweetie Belle’s mind) prepared for kombat.

And then Diane flicker-stepped between the two and knocked their heads together hard enough to cause both to explode.

“Fuck those two wastes of time.” She said as she shook the blood off her hands. She then noticed a discrepancy. “Where’d the android go?”

An energy blast suddenly pierced Sindel from behind, revealing the android now at the far end of the room before it disappeared in a pulse of light. Sindel dropped to her knees before being caught by Jerrod. Kitana and Mileena were beside them in moments.

“Mother, you can’t go.” Kitana pleaded. “Not yet.”

“It’s my time, dear,” the dying empress comforted her younger daughter, before addressing her husband. “At least… we had a few hours more.”

“Mother!” Mileena said as Sindel reached for her.

“You are now Empress.” Sindel told her oldest daughter. “Rule well.”

With teary eyes, Mileena answered. “I will. Father and Kitana will help me.”

With those words, Sindel breathed her last breath.

Jerrod closed her eyes in respect, only to notice her soul seeming to meld with his form. “Of course.” He said in realization.

“Vhat did you just do, Herr Jerrod?” Nikoletta asked.

“I collected her soul.” He answered with a comforting look to his daughters. “It resides within me. She is safe.”

As the Dragon Army began to move, Sweetie Belle decided to just mass teleport everyone out of the fortress. So she grabbed everyone in the group with her magic and did exactly that. Reappearing on a cliff outside the fortress, the group caught their breath and got some manner of proper introductions for those necessary sorted when they spotted the Dragon Army beginning to march out of the Fortress.

“Moving an army that large throughout the realms isn’t gonna be easy, even with magic.” Marko noted.

“Indeed, he would need a portal of some kind,” Kitana agreed.

“More than one.” Liu Kang clarified. “He will need a nexus of portal gateways.”

“It must be nearby.” Mileena proposed. “We follow them, they’ll lead us to it.”

“Agreed,” Liu Kang answered. “But we cannot strike until Raiden and Kung Lao arrive.”

“That the Lin Kuei won’t aid us is unforgivable.” Smoke lamented. “Bi-Han has corrupted them totally.”

“When this crisis ends, we’ll deal with that one,” Scorpion assured him.

“This is just the opening skirmish in a war.” Rota said. “I’d bet ‘Titan Shang Tsung’s prepared his timeline for it, meaning that, as we are, we are outnumbered. While Diane, my siblings, Sweetie Belle and I are powerful, that doesn’t mean it’d be easy.”

“I might have some friends willing to help, but I don’t know how many would be available right now,” Sweetie Belle said as she took off the crown she’d been wearing the whole time.

“My counterpart stated that your battle with him ripped time’s fabric, creating, and I quote, ‘AT LEAST two timelines.” Shang Tsung said to Liu Kang, almost as if in thought. “How likely is it that it wasn’t torn apart further? If there are two timelines, can’t there be more?”

“Thank you for the explanation of how an individual universe becomes a self-contained multiverse, Sherlock.” Rota said with an annoyed tone. “Now can you tell us how this is relevant to our problem?”

“You said we lack numbers as we are,” Shang Tsung answered. “We might find them in other timelines, not just other universes.”

“OK, allow me to indulge with a counterpoint.” Rota retorted. “Even if there are more timelines making up this multiverse, the only one who can make that kind of search is the deity who CREATED one of those timelines, provided they have the power of a Keeper of Time. And last time I checked, Liu Kang specifically GAVE UP his power over time so he could just be the guardian of Earthrealm, and while, yes, there are ways for a God or God-like being to regain that power, those ways typically have some kind of drawback.”

“Regardless, that is a moot point. I left my power to fade when I first surrendered it,” Liu Kang confessed.

“That may be so Liu Kang,” Geras said, almost hesitantly. “But I, for one, could not leave such things to chance.”

“Geras?” Liu Kang questioned his old friend.

“When you gave up control of the Hourglass,” Geras explained. “I worried that one day, you would find you needed it. So rather than take the chance you wouldn’t need it and let your power dissipate, I collected it. To this day, it remains safely stored.”

“Why did you never tell me this?” Liu Kang asked in surprise.

“Because the process of restoring your power is likely irreversible.” Geras explained. “Returning to the life you have now as Earthrealms Protector, a life you cherish, may be impossible.”

“And you did not want me tempted to make that sacrifice…” Liu Kang interjected in understanding. “Unless it was absolutely necessary.”

“Correct,” Geras confirmed.

“Thank you Geras.” Liu Kang said. “You have saved us with your wisdom.” He then asked, “Now. Where have you stored my power? We must retrieve it.”

“It is at the Fire Temple.” Geras answered. “Stored in the Jade Jaguar gifted to you by the Great Kung Lao.”

The Android reappeared in the fortress right where it had been before. It moved to make it's way out of the fortress and into the valley nearby. It's slender frame allowed for quick traversal of it's environment. The few beasts that attempted to trouble it were quickly put down by it's mechanical crustacean-eque claws.

Once in the valley, the android admired the work it's client had going, even as it continued it's march to Titan Shang Tsung.

"Doctor Wheelo," A voice greeted the android.

Looking to the side, the robotic Doctor Wheelo turned to see the version of Geras loyal to Titan Shang Tsung.

"Geras," Wheelo replied and he stopped. "I trust that you are aware of my report?"

"I will speak to Lord Shang Tsung of it. For now, aid in overseeing and protecting the construction of the gateways," the construct ordered as he marched forward.

"Gladly," the synthetic voice of Doctor Wheelo dripped with delight. "I was hoping for the chance to test my new strength."

With little more fanfare, the robotic doctor went to carry out his orders, as Dark Geras climbed a set of stairs to meet Titan Shang Tsung.

"Yes, Geras?" The Titan Sorcerer asked his servant.

"Liu Kang and the Alicorn have proven more powerful than anticipated. They and their allies have escaped the fortress," The construct said.

"Forget the others, find Liu Kang and the Alicorn." Titan Shang Tsung demanded. "They alone threaten my plans."

Author's Note

And to the surprise of, I'm gonna guess exactly no one, I've had some troubles getting the motivation to write this.

The new OC introduced, Diane, actually belongs to a friend of mine on Discord, used with permission. If you see this Alex, please let me know how I did writing her, I'm somewhat scared I screwed up a bit.

For reference on the Dialogue in Parenthesis, that's basically the version that anyone with the translator hears as it's being spoken.

Shang Tsung said "Meet Damashi."

What Sweetie Belle, Rota, and Marko all heard was "Meet Deception."

Because Damashi is Japanese for Deception.

Also, yes, Rota's autistic like me.

Might explain why she's more willing to talk before fists start flying.