Video Game Journeys: Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time

Chapters

Epilogue
22 Years Later
Sunset in the Hazardous Wastes
A Different Tawna?!
N. Brio Lays An Egg
Kupuna-Wa, the Mask of Time
4th Time's A Charm
Pinkie Pie and the Mask of Gravity
Blast to the Past

Epilogue

Back in Sunset's room, the girls all exited the Quantum Rift that brought them to the world of Crash Bandicoot, finally relieved that they were back in Canterlot City.

"Okay. THAT was pretty awesome," Rainbow said.

"Makes me wonder, though. Just how long have we actually been gone?" Twilight asked.

Looking up at the clock, they saw that the time read 6:30 PM. They were originally sucked into the GameStation's world at about 3:00. In other words, they had only been gone for about three and half hours.

"We've only been gone for three and a half hours THIS WHOLE BUCKING TIME?!" Sunset exclaimed.

"But it seemed like years, though!"

As the Rainbooms tried to figure out how that all worked, they were unknowingly being watched by a strange man wearing a teddy bear-like mask. The girls didn't know it then, but they were eventually about to embark on another adventure sometime soon.

22 Years Later

Author's Note

Hello again, everyone! Here we are continuing the story of Crash Bandicoot in another video game journey. Before we begin, I would like to thank roxas2017 for suggesting this story to me way back when I was originally writing the Scooby-Doo! Mysteries on this website. I know that some of you are anxious to know when that particular series will go up on FanFiction.net under my Supermunk47 username. I would rather like to finish at least half of season 1 this year of Video Game Journeys, since it is the Chinese New Year of the dragon, before starting on it. I'll let everyone know in a blog when the very first chapter goes up on that site. Also, I would like to thank all of you fellow readers who have been with me since the N. Sane Trilogy and are still with me, as well as those who are new, as we now go on a trip through the multiverse.

With all that out of the way, let us begin a new journey in the world of Crash Bandicoot.

Game... Start!

22 Years Later

It had seemed like an eternity since the Time Twister machine imploded on itself. In fact, it had seemed like 22 entire years had passed. Yet, Twilight and her friends hadn't aged at all, due to reasons that had not been explained to them, although Pinkie immediately referred to it as video game logic. Despite that, they had spent the last 22 years searching high and low for Sunset, but to no avail. Twilight hoped and prayed that they would one day find her so that they could all go home.

Elsewhere in the volcano they were imprisoned in, Cortex and N. Tropy were up to some evil scheme. Or rather, at least N. Tropy was. Cortex, on the other hand, was busy attacking a makeshift dummy of Crash that he had made with a stick.

"Hush, simpleton," N. Tropy hissed as Uka Uka tried to help everyone escape.

"Face it, N. Tropy. It's going to fail... again," Cortex groaned, noting the markings he made. One for every year they tried.

"At least Uka Uka and I attempt to free us from this prison! I won't sit idly by and listen to you inane ramblings for another decade!"

N. Tropy slowly leaned towards Cortex complaining about how he chewed his food. Cortex was about to come up with a retort, when suddenly, Uka Uka finally got enough strength to levitate the rocks in front of him and create a rift in time and space. After doing that, Uka Uka had used up so much energy over the course of 22 years that he collapsed from exhaustion.

"Is he... dead?"

"Leave him. He's served his purpose."

N. Tropy was so happy, that he let out a crazy laugh that echoed throughout the volcano.

Meanwhile, back on N. Sanity Island, Crash was resting on a blue couch near his house. Aku Aku, on the other hand, sensed that a great power had somehow awoken. It wasn't just him, though, Twilight felt it, as well, thanks to her geode glowing.

"Twilight, do you feel that?" Aku Aku asked.

"Yes, Aku Aku. I do. It's as if something powerful has just awoken," Twilight replied.

"I fear it portends an event of reality-shattering proportions."

"And it's coming from N. Sanity Peak way up there!"

She pointed towards a mountain that was the source of the power that she felt.

"Come on, Crash! We have to..."

She noticed that Crash was still sleeping, much to her annoyance.

"Crash? Craa-aash! CRASH BANDICOOT! GET UP THIS MINUTE!"

Thankfully, her yelling got Crash up and ready to go do whatever it was that needed to be done.

"Ugh! Come on, lazy bones! We don't have time for your constant sleeping habits. We need to get up to N. Sanity Peak, now!"

She dragged him by the arm and forced him up towards the temple in front of them beyond the beach.

As soon as they reached the bamboo balcony on the other side of the temple, Twilight noticed that her geode was starting to flash rapidly, due to a raging blue storm over at N. Sanity Peak.

"Okay, now this is weird. Why would my geode be reacting to that raging storm over at N. Sanity Peak? It just doesn't make any sense! Unless..."

She was soon cut off by the sound of mysterious-looking natives behind both her and Crash. These weren't the same natives from before, however. Rather, these were mysterious energy-based mask-wearing creatures that were hostile towards outsiders.

Both Twilight and Crash were so startled that they ended up unintentionally jumping off the balcony.

"Oh, CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPP!"

Thankfully, the two of them landed on a vine and started grinding towards the nearby village, which was inhabited by the Jungle Spirits. After making their way through it, they passed through a cave and saw N. Sanity Peak just in front of them. As they were nearing it, Twilight's geode started to flash even faster. It was as if her geode had some sort of radar to let her know when a mysterious magic-like power was nearby. The sight of the raging storm at the top of N. Sanity Peak was enough to make anyone squirm. Still, Twilight knew that she had to get there with Crash in order to find the source of the mysterious power. Eventually, they made it to the entrance of a cave, where the mysterious power was emanating from.

Upon entering the cave, though, both Crash and Twilight could hear a deep growling noise that shook the cave.

"Did you hear that, Crash?" Twilight asked.

Crash nodded his head fearfully.

"Come on, we can't stop now. We're almost there."

Despite being a bit on edge thanks to the mysterious growling, the two of them eventually made their way to a podium. On the podium, they found a sleeping light blue-colored mask that was making platforms disappear and reappear. The mask was an hourglass shape with a fan-like crest at the top. The top half seemed to be made of stone, while the bottom half looked like it was phased out of existence.

Curious, Crash took the mask from the podium. As soon as he did, however, the mask woke up and started getting nervous.

"Uh, sorry. We didn't mean to disturb..."

Suddenly, the podium began to sink, opening a hole underneath them. They all fell down a floor and landed with a thud. Thankfully, no one was hurt.

Just as Crash and Twilight got up however, the mask noticed a giant menacing monster-like spirit emerge from behind them.

"I don't know what that thing is, but I know what we need to do... RUN!"

Twilight dragged Crash by his arm and started running after the mask until they eventually reached the edge of a cliff. They stopped dead in their tracks before they could fall off to their potential deaths. Suddenly, they heard the growling of the guardian coming closer. Crash looked down, knowing that, at this point, their only option was to jump.

"Nononononononono! Don't even think about it, Crash! Our chances of survival of a height this high are extremely slim!"

Just then, she noticed that the hand was getting closer.

"On second thought, screw probability at this point!"

She grabbed onto the mask with Crash and started to fall towards the beach where the whole thing started. Down below, the others were huddled around Coco's new pink tablet, with Coco herself having a slightly new look. Instead of the pink flower in her hair, she now sported a pair of goggles on her forehead. She also had a pink utility belt with an item pouch attached to it and a heart-shaped patch sewed to the right knee of her overalls.

Eventually, Crash and Twilight landed on the beach with a thud. Miraculously, no one was hurt, but Twilight ended up with a bunch of sand in her mouth. Getting up, she spat out all of the sand in her mouth in disgust. As she did, Crash pulled his out from underneath the sand, only to discover that the mask was somehow stuck to his face.

"Yiiii! Get him off! Get him off! Get him off!" the mask whimpered.

"My word! Who in heaven's name is that?" Rarity asked as Crash tried to get the mask off of his face.

"Lani-Loli?" Aku Aku exclaimed in surprise. "If the Quantum Masks have returned, then..."

Just before he could finish, Crash finally got Lani-Loli off of his face, who then proceeded to make small talk.

"Hey Aku, how's it g-g-gah?! Is that a QUANTUM RIFT?!"

Right before everyone was a hole that seemed to rip the very fabric of space and time itself. The Rainbooms all gasped in horror upon seeing it.

"Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-THAT'S THE VERY THING THAT BROUGHT US HERE!" Rainbow stammered.

"What?! How?! How were brought here through a Quantum Rift?"

"Dude, we're not even from this world. We got sucked into our friend's new GameStation after some weird voice told us that we had to fix the game's ending."

"Hold on! You were brought here by someone who had control over the Quantum Rifts?"

"Weird as it may seem, partner, that's exactly the gist of it," Applejack confirmed.

"Um, excuse me. If you don't mind me asking, what exactly are these Quantum Rifts and why are you so concerned about that?" Fluttershy asked.

"Okay, well, if you really want to know, these rifts are basically a means to travel to different universes," Lani-Loli explained.

"Like some kind of multiverse?" Twilight asked.

"Exactly. Thing is, though, me and the other Quantum Masks have to keep these rifts closed so that the boundaries of the multiverse don't end up changing the course of history. But if what you say is true about how you got here, then that means that someone has definitely brought you here for reasons other than fixing our world! For now, though, we have to go through this portal, find my siblings, and fix this Quantum Rift situation in this world before some putz with a big evil plan and a bigger ego does something monumentally stupid!"

Everyone glanced at each other worriedly, knowing very well who would probably be behind this scheme: Cortex.

Speaking of Cortex, he was in a laboratory called the Rift Generator with Dr. N. Tropy, helping with the evil plan to take over the multiverse.

"Uka Uka unknowingly paved the way for our bright future," N. Tropy said, smiling.

Cortex proceeded to make some adjustments to the machine and even had a chance to mock N. Tropy behind his back as he kept on rambling.

"Once my Rift Generator is complete, dominion over all of time and space not only of this world, but worlds even beyond our reach, including those brats' own world, will be within our grasp!"

Just then, both of Cortex's assistants, N. Gin, and his former colleague, N. Brio, walked up to him tell him about their projects. N. Gin had a new giant robot ready to hypnotize people for Cortex to use as his minions, whereas N. Brio had a potion for said minions to make them and himself more powerful. Cortex, however, couldn't care less at the moment, as he was far too busy working on the Rift Generator.

"Have fun with your... ray guns or whatever," Cortex said dryly as he worked on the machine.

As N. Gin and N. Brio were getting ready to leave, N. Gin bumped into N. Brio, causing the two of them to start fighting each other.

"Hasten your steps!" N. Tropy barked, breaking them up.

Both N. Gin and N. Brio decided that fighting each other wasn't worth the time and instead went into separate Quantum Rifts to prepare for the arrival of their enemies.

"By my calculations, our enemies are already moving against us. And this time, We. Will. Prevail."

He smiled sinisterly as he finished his sentence. Just who was it that was controlling the Quantum Rifts that allowed the Rainbooms to be transported into this video game world, anyways, and why? And what of Sunset Shimmer? Will the girls be able to find her before it's too late? It looks like their journey through the world of Crash Bandicoot is far from over. In fact, it was only just beginning.

Sunset in the Hazardous Wastes

Despite having questions about the rifts and why it brought them into this video game world, the Rainbooms knew that it wasn't exactly the right time to be asking. For now, their goal at the moment was to close the rifts in this world in order to fix the ending, reunite with Sunset, and return home to Canterlot City. They soon found themselves in a dimension known as The Hazardous Wastes 2084.

"So, we need the other masks to close the rifts?" Coco asked.

"Correct!" Lani-Loli confirmed. "Now my brother Akano is around here somewhere..."

Just then, N. Gin made his presence known by flying towards everyone on a jet pack.

"Welcome to the show, vermin and friends!" N. Gin exclaimed. "Looking for your precious mask?"

"Behold the aforementioned putz," Lani-Loli sighed.

"Don't worry. We have a thing where we fight, he loses. It's a well-established dynamic," Coco said reassuringly.

"Not this time!" N. Gin retorted. "I've got a backstage pass for you to get up close and personal with my weapon of mass percussion!"

As he left them, Rainbow groaned at his bad pun.

"Oh, my God! That has to be the WORST pun I've ever heard!" she groaned.

"Yeah, that was pretty distasteful, not to mention a bit corny," Pinkie said in in agreement.

The group continued onward, all while having to listen to N. Gin's constant chatter over the loudspeakers. Eventually, they came up against a muscular minion that was about to hit them very hard until Applejack decided to give him a low blow so hard that he died of embarrassment.

"FRANK! You cowgirl brat! Kill my favorite minion, will you?!" N. Gin yelled over the loudspeakers.

"For the love of... JUST SHUT UP, ALREADY!!!" Rainbow shouted, covering her ears in annoyance.

Eventually, they came up towards a garage and sat down to rest, as they were all getting exhausted.

"Damn! I cannot take another step!"

"Just hang in there, Dash. We'll stop that crazy robot-obsessed lunatic and get the mask, while we're at it," Applejack said.

"Well, we better. Otherwise, who knows what might happen?" Twilight said as she sat down to rub her sore feet.

"I simply do not understand why this N. Gin character would pick such a desolate wasteland to use as his base!" Rarity complained.

"And why would he use people for his army? It's just so gruesome," Fluttershy cringed.

Meanwhile, on the inside of the garage, a tall, female bandicoot with yellow-and-blue hair, along with a very familiar red-and-yellow haired girl with orange skin climbed on top of a huge makeshift monster truck called the Doom Rig. The girl in question, was in fact, Sunset Shimmer, who was somehow travelling with this bandicoot to find her own friends.

"Woah! This has to be one of the coolest looking pieces of transportation I've ever seen!" Sunset whispered gleefully.

The bandicoot immediately shushed her, to keep them from getting caught.

"Here, help me with this hook," the bandicoot said as she started moving said hook into place.

Sunset pushed with all of her might to get the hook onto the monster truck. Once it was in place, the garage door started opening and the truck started up. While the bandicoot managed to get out in time, Sunset wasn't so lucky. The shaking of the monster truck made her fall onto her knees while still on top of the truck.

"Uh-oh."

Back outside, the garage door opened and everyone noticed the Doom Rig with a mutated human called a Rambler in the driver's seat, while N. Gin was in the passenger's seat. Everyone got up and instantly knew that N. Gin was going to try to run them over with that truck. Darting her eyes, Twilight instantly noticed a few go-karts conveniently placed in front of them next to two atlaspheres.

"Okay, I don't know how those got there, but I'm not complaining. Everybody except the bandicoots, get in a go-kart!" Twilight said.

As if by instinct, the girls all got into the vehicles and started the engines.

"Are you ready?" N. Gin announced over the speaker, which was in the monster truck. "Start! Your!"

As soon as the Doom Rig roared to life, however, it stopped dead in its tracks from going too far out, thanks to the hook. Seeing an opportunity to escape, Crash and Coco leapt into the two atlaspheres and started running away while the girls drove off in their go-karts. While all of this was happening, no one was aware that Sunset was hanging on to the top of the Doom Rig for dear life as N. Gin chased them down the road. They eventually made it inside another garage, where they were all able to rest from the rampaging Doom Rig. The girls turned off their karts as they stopped to catch their breath. Just then, they heard the Doom Rig start back up again. That was their cue to skedaddle. Turning their karts back on, the girls sped off as Crash and Coco got in brand new atlaspheres.

"Run run Vroom vroom! Ehehehehehe!" N. Gin taunted as the monster truck continued to chase them.

Up ahead, Twilight noticed a ramp that led to the other side of a cavern.

"Everyone, full speed ahead on that ramp!" Twilight yelled.

She slammed on the gas pedal and drove as fast as she could, with the others following close behind. Soon, the Rainbooms and the bandicoots all took the ramp and made it to the other side, while the monster truck managed to destroy the ramp, as it could take both of the roads and not be affected by the gap. Seeing her friends in the air made Sunset realize that she had to make her presence known.

"GET ME OFF THIS CRAZY THING!" she screamed at last.

"Well, looks like we have an unwanted passenger," N. Gin said, referring to Sunset. "Too bad this vehicle wasn't built with a handicap in mind. Ehehehehehe!"

Upon hearing the voice, Twilight immediately turned her head and saw Sunset dangling from the top of the truck for dear life.

"SUNSET! HANG IN THERE, WE'LL SAVE YOU AS SOON AS WE CAN!" Twilight shouted.

"DO I HAVE MUCH OF A CHOICE?!" Sunset shouted in response.

"What's taking you imbeciles so long?! Two of your targets are caged, for cripes sake!" N. Gin roared as the karts and atlaspheres took the final ramp.

After doing so, their rides exploded and everyone landed on the other side with a thud. Shaken, but thankfully, no one was hurt. As the truck tried making it over, it hit the edge of the road and knocked Sunset off of the vehicle towards the others. Seeing that Sunset was falling fast, Rarity used her magic to create a diamond-like platform for Sunset to safely land on. Sunset slowly got up and saw her friends around her.

"Guys? You all saved me!" she cried, giving everyone a hug.

"Woohoohoo! Everyone's reunited again!" Pinkie shouted excitedly.

"Aw, how sweet," Coco cooed.

Upon seeing both Crash and Coco in front of her, Sunset raised an eyebrow.

"Uh, guys? Who and what are they?" Sunset asked.

Everyone let go of each other, ending the hug. Twilight then walked over to Crash and Coco and introduced them to Sunset.

"Sunset, this is Crash and Coco Bandicoot. If it wasn't for them, we never would've found you," Twilight explained.

"Okay, but what about those floating masks?"

"I am Aku Aku and this is Lani-Loli, one of the Quantum Masks," Aku Aku said.

"Wow. First I meet some edgy bandicoot with a personal goal, now I'm talking to two masks with two other bandicoots."

"You saw another bandicoot?" Coco asked.

"Well, yeah. She never gave me her name, but she seemed kind of nice. So, what have you guys been up to?"

Later, the girls, along with Crash, Coco and their mask friends settled down over a campfire. Sunset explained to them how she managed to survive all this time in this parallel universe.

"And then, that's when I met her and eventually met up with you guys, again," she said as she roasted some marshmallows with the others.

"Wow. You're lucky to be here in one piece, Sunset. A lot of us probably wouldn't last a day in this environment," Twilight said.

"Yeah, well, when you're from a place where magic is pretty much abundant, you learn to pick up a few things when you're in the Everfree Forest."

"You have magic, too?" Coco asked.

"Yeah, but where I'm from, it's actually natural. See, the truth is, I'm not even from this world or the world we came from. I'm not even a human."

"What?"

"If you're not human, then what exactly are you?" Aku Aku asked.

"I'm what's called a unicorn. I studied under Princess Celestia until my ego got the better of me. I ended up only wanting power until the princess of friendship, who's also named Twilight, came along and taught me the true values of what it means to be a friend."

"Wow. That's... amazing," Coco gasped.

"I know, but it's true. So what about you guys?"

Twilight sighed heavily. She didn't really want to talk about it, but knew she didn't really have a choice. She told Sunset everything that had happened when they all got separated. Sunset was in shock. She didn't expect her friend to actually form a close bond with Coco, who was originally created to help Cortex take over the world, during her time in captivity. And yet, despite their heartwarming reunion, they all knew that the only real way for them to get back home was to truly fix the game's ending so that the hero would win and the villain would lose, just like it should be.

Author's Note

For those wondering, the karts shown in the chapter are karts from Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled. Here's who has what kart.

Twilight Sparkle: The Champion
Fluttershy: The Cabrio
Pinkie Pie: The Roadster
Applejack: The Dusty Rider
Rarity: The Doom Buggy
Rainbow Dash: The Rocket

I gave them these specific karts, because the default color schemes of those karts resemble the colors of their geodes.

A Different Tawna?!

After a while of catching up on recent events, our heroes decided to press onward and find N. Gin, who had the second Quantum Mask. As they continued to trek across the wasteland, they suddenly heard a peculiar sound close by.

"Y'all hear that?" Applejack asked.

Everyone listened closely to find out what was making that sound.

"It sounds like someone's playing the drums," Pinkie responded.

"Sounds awfully close," Sunset said.

"Look! Over there!" Rainbow exclaimed, pointing towards a huge robot.

Everyone ran towards the robot and stopped when they got close to the stage. Inside the robot's glass dome was N. Gin with a drum set. Lani-Loli gasped upon seeing what else was on the robot.

"Look! There's Akano! On the large drum!" he yelled.

Pinkie reached into her hair and pulled out a pair of binoculars to see better. Sure enough, the Quantum Mask known as Akano was stuck to N. Gin's bass drum.

"Alright, you bloodthirsty lunatics! Put your freaky little hands together for... RAWK-IT HEAD!" N. Gin proudly exclaimed.

"Rawk-It Head?! Are you serious, right now?!" Sunset snapped.

"What's the matter? Don't like DEATH METAL?"

"For the love of Celestia, JUST SHUT UP!"

"Just for that, I'm going to make sure that all of you get a beat-ing! Ehehehehehe!"

"ENOUGH WITH THE PUNS, ALREADY, YOU ROBOT-OBSESSED MISSILE-HEADED JERK!" Rainbow screamed.

"I don't know about the rest of y'all, but I think it's time we finally shut this feller up!" Applejack said, cracking her knuckles.

"How? I don't even see a weak spot?"

Just then, a Rambler with a flame helmet started charging towards them. Thinking fast, Crash slid into it, which launched it towards the stereo. The impact was so hard that it broke the equipment.

"My equipment!" N. Gin wailed as various stereo boxes landed, some of which were phased out of existence.

"Quick! We've got to get to that robot and free that mask!" Twilight exclaimed.

"How? Some of those boxes are practically invisible! I can only see a light blue outline around them!" Rainbow responded.

"Use my power! I can help you get up to that robot in no time!" Lani-Loli said.

"Leave that to me!" Applejack said.

Lani-Loli swirled around her and created a light-blue suit that resembled his face. He then stuck himself onto her back, giving her his power. The others gazed at her with their mouths on the floor.

"That... Is... So... Awesome!" Rainbow squealed.

"Alright, so what do I do, now?"

"Once you get up to a phased platform, you yell the word PHASE and I'll pop it into existence. Just be sure you're jumping right over it, first," Lani-Loli explained.

"You got it, partner."

Applejack ran over to the shortest stereo box, then climbed up onto it.

"Stay away from my robot! He's fragile!" N. Gin warned as Applejack leapt to the next platform, which was phased.

"PHASE!"

As soon as she said the word, the platform underneath her became solid. She did this two more times until she got onto the massive drum set. She bounced on one of the drums, then gave the robot a fierce kick. Thanks to her geode giving her super strength, she was able to instantly destroy the robot.

"Noooooo! My Weapon of Mass Percussion wasn't supposed to go down that easily!"

Applejack landed in front of her friends just as Lani-Loli relieved her of his power.

"Guess ya didn't count on me having super strength!"

"WOO-HOO! Way to go, Applejack!" Pinkie squealed.

Just then, the robot began to severely malfunction, resulting in an explosion that ejected both N. Gin and Akano. Thankfully for N. Gin, the large drums managed to break his fall, bouncing him straight onto the floor in front of everyone. Despite the impact looking somewhat painful, everyone managed to laugh at his unfortunate predicament.

"Looks like you lost again, N. Gin," Twilight said smugly as she folded her arms.

"My beautiful creation," N. Gin groaned.

"That's seriously all you're worried about after we just kicked your sorry behind?" Rainbow snapped.

Suddenly, Akano fell down and whacked N. Gin on the head. The impact sent him flying into the nearby Quantum Rift, causing Lani-Loli to freak out. They were so close to getting Akano and now it looked like they had to go find him once again. Knowing that they didn't have a choice, our heroes headed towards the Quantum Rift and eventually entered a new era. That era was Salty Wharf 1717.

Meanwhile, back at the Rift Generator, N. Tropy was quite unhappy at N. Gin's failure to stop everyone from progressing.

"I had a feeling that missile-headed moron wouldn't be able to pull off even the simplest of tasks! One such as to eliminate those bandicoots and their human friends!" N. Tropy snarled.

As he was talking, Cortex slowly walked up behind him.

"What is it this time, Cortex?"

"Uh, I believe that someone is calling you, N. Tropy," Cortex said nervously.

"Now? Of all the times for her to call, it has to be now! And when we're so close to finishing the Rift Generator!"

N. Tropy made his way towards the other side of the generator and switched on the monitor. As soon as he did, a silhouette of a cloaked figure appeared on the screen.

"What is it that you want?"

The cloaked figure began to speak in an electronic-like voice.

"Is it finished?" the figured asked.

"It is nearly complete, my liege. Soon your army can begin the invasion of the various universes you so desire."

The figure let out a sinister chuckle, as if it was pleased by the news.

"Excellent work, N. Tropy. You may continue on with your duties."

As he turned away, another thought crossed the figure's mind.

"Oh, and one more thing. I want you to keep a close eye on those seven girls that thwarted Uka Uka. Especially the purple one. She may be hiding the certain someone of whom I seek."

"As you wish."

The figure nodded their head and the screen returned to its idle green state.

"So, they want me to spy on those seven brats, eh? Ehehehehehehehehehehe! This just gets more fun by the moment."

Speaking of our heroes, they weren't having the best of luck against various Pi-Rats in the Salty Wharf. See, the friends managed to stumble into a cave that contained truckloads of pirate treasure a little while ago. This, of course, caught everyone's attention, especially Rarity's. Even though Applejack was skilled with a sword from her time with Cortex's lab assistants, the Pi-Rats managed to outsmart her. After a fierce battle, though, the Pi-Rats managed to capture everyone and left them dangling from their ship's mast. This didn't last long, however, as they were soon rescued by a tall female bandicoot. The same one that Sunset was with earlier, in fact. She had on a pink top, a blue bandana around her neck, a brown short-sleeved leather jacket with spikes on the shoulders, fingerless leather gloves with metal braces, blue pants with two brown leather belts, dark brown steel-toed boots with pink legwarmers, and three gold earrings in her right ear.

She cut the rope with a cutlass that she had, lowering everyone down to the mast.

"OW! That really hurt!" Rainbow winced, rubbing her butt.

"Thank you so much-- wait. Tawna?!" Coco gasped.

She did not expect her old friend and Crash's ex-girlfriend to suddenly rescue them. That's when she realized something. This wasn't the same Tawna that was from their universe. Crash was extremely curious and observed her to confirm that it wasn't the same Tawna he had once rescued. Eventually, Tawna whacked Crash on the head, knocking him out.

"It's good to see you guys," Tawna said. "It's been a long time for me."

"More like forever! You just... ditched me back there!" Sunset scowled, folding her arms.

"You kind of brought that on yourself when you didn't jump out of the way in time."

"Not to change the subject, but I assume that means we lost touch in your universe, too?" Coco asked.

Tawna turned the other way, as if she was trying to hide something.

"Yeah, you could say that."

"Just what are ya hiding, sugarcube?" Applejack asked suspiciously.

"Applejack, please. If she is trying hide something, then it must be something extremely sensitive," Rarity interjected.

Applejack sighed heavily.

"Alright. I guess it's not my business to pry into other people's own personal troubles."

"So, what, did we like die or something?" Coco asked jokingly.

"What? No! Nope! No! What! Ha! No! Definitely not! So how are things in your dimension? Ahem!" Tawna said, trying to hide the fact that they did, in fact, die.

"The usual. A bunch of evil scientists attempting interdimensional domination."

"And to stop them, we need to collect these masks called the Quantum Masks. It's really weird, but it is how it is, I guess," Rainbow explained.

"Ooh, fun. Well, good luck with that," Tawna said, turning away.

"What?! You're leaving again?!" Sunset snapped.

"Sorry, Sunset, but, I fly solo. But I'll-- I'll lend a hand where I can. In fact, I already have..."

Twirling her hookshot, Tawna latched it onto a pole and swung away, leaving Sunset cross at her.

"Is there something y'all want to tell us, sugarcube?" Applejack asked.

"She's the reason I was able to survive this long in this universe. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be with you guys again," Sunset explained.

"Still, we could've used her help finding the rest of the masks," Coco said disappointingly.

"I know. But it's like she said, she's going off alone. And if my friends and I want to get home, then we need to find those masks, even with all of this crazy stuff that's happening right now."

As soon as she finished saying that, Twilight's left eye started twitching and she started laughing like she was going crazy.

"Um, you okay, Twilight?" Fluttershy whimpered.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Twilight said crazily. "So many things happening all at once. My geode reacting to the masks, karts appearing out of nowhere, Applejack suddenly gets these weird video game powers, it's just another regular day. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

*SLAP!*

*HARDER SLAP!*

"Snap out of it, Twilight!"

Everyone's mouths hung open in shock. Fluttershy just slapped Twilight. That was an action that no one was expecting to happen. To think that Fluttershy, the element of Kindness, would suddenly get mad enough to slap somebody. They couldn't believe it. And yet, she actually did it. Anyways, after that little awkward moment, Twilight finally came back to her senses and rubbed her left cheek to ease the pain from Fluttershy slapping it so hard.

"Sorry, guys. Guess I'm just overwhelmed with all of the weirdness going on in this world."

"We all are, darling, but you don't see us going feral, do you?" Rarity chastised.

"No, Rarity. I'm sorry. I'm just not used to everything being so weird to the point that science can't even explain it."

"Twilight, look. Science is great, but you can't possibly explain everything with it. It's just not possible," Coco said. "Sometimes, you just have to accept things for the way they are and not question them... Like us."

Crash put his hand on Coco's shoulder and gave Twilight a smug reassuringly smile.

"You're right. Well, I feel better now. Let's go find that mask!"

Everyone unanimously agreed with her on that comment. Looks like they were off once again to find the second mask, Lani-Loli's brother, Akano, who was somewhere on the nearby island. But what dangers lie ahead for them once they finally obtain the mask and venture into the next world? They'll just have to wait and see for themselves.

Author's Note

The character who is talking to N. Tropy belongs to Dragonknife5. I'm keeping them in the shadows until the right moment. The only people who know this character's true identity as of this point are myself and Dragonknife5.

If anyone asks me about this mysterious character in this story, don't expect me to say very much.

Also, the part where Fluttershy suddenly slaps Twilight is a reference to the 1987 film, Moonstruck, starring Nicholas Cage and Cher. In one scene, Cher's character slaps Cage's character in the same manner, telling him to snap out of it.

N. Brio Lays An Egg

After traveling far and wide on the island where the next mask rested, they finally came face-to-face with Akano, the Quantum Mask of dark matter. Akano was a mask that was comprised entirely of multiple dark purple rocks. He was shaped like a beaker with a thinner top that widened out with a large chin at the bottom.

As Crash tried lifting him up, he realized that the mask was heavier than he looked. So heavy, in fact, that he ended up dropping him on his foot.

"Ooohh! That's gotta hurt," Pinkie cringed.

Suddenly, Akano woke up and stared at everyone intently. They didn't know what it was, but there was something about Akano that gave off a very scary and unsettling vibe to him. Thankfully, Lani-Loli came between them and explained to Akano that they were there to help.

"Follow," Akano said, floating off.

"Short and to the point. Love this guy!" Lani-Loli said excitedly as he followed his brother through a Quantum Rift.

Knowing now that Akano was actually very friendly, the others followed the masks through the Quantum Rift all the way to a place known as Tranquility Falls 1402.

Once they entered the area, though, Crash got stuck in the rift and ended up flying face-first into a nearby gong. The ringing was so loud, that all of the girls, including Coco, covered their ears.

"Man, and I thought Bulk Biceps was loud," Rainbow groaned.

Crash then stumbled back over to them, feeling dizzy from the impact of the gong.

"So, where's the next mask?" Coco asked.

"Not here," Lani-Loi replied. "If these chucklenuts weren't punching holes in reality, we could make our own rifts."

As he spoke, he failed to notice a certain green-clothed man behind him. Pinkie tapped Twilight's shoulder and pointed in the general direction of the man. It was N. Brio, Cortex's former colleague who was reluctant to work with him again. As Lani-Loli finally turned around, the sight of N. Brio's ugly mug terrified him so much that he leapt in Crash's arms. Crash, being Crash, was just as startled. This was only because N. Brio had managed to catch him off-guard when he least expected it. Terrified, he jumped into Coco's arms, much to her annoyance. Rainbow, on the other hand, couldn't help but laugh at how ridiculous she thought they looked being terrified by N. Brio. Just then, she felt Rarity angrily slap the back of her head.

"You think that's funny?!" she snarled.

"Come on, Rares. You should've seen the look on their faces!" Rainbow laughed.

"Will you can it, Dash?! Now's not the time to be fooling around!" Applejack chastised.

"Hello, Brio," Twilight said suspiciously.

"Well, hello, Twilight," N. Brio said in response.

"I thought you hated Cortex's guts. Why are you working for him again?"

"Only so I c-c-c-c-c-c-can prove that I'm b-b-b-b-b-b-better than him. Ha! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Friends, I have a fun little game for you to play."

"Look, Brio, we don't have time for this! We're trying to..."

"I've got a reward for the clever people and bandicoots that can reach my testing grounds."

"Testing grounds? Have you been conducting your potion experiments again?!"

"What do you think? Anyways, be warned that you'll have to defeat my deadly diabolical creations along the way! Muahahahaha!"

After laughing, N. Brio threw an explosive potion at his feet, causing him to disappear in the blast as if it were a smoke bomb.

"Ugh! That guy really breaks my beakers!"

"Come on, Twilight, there's no time to waste! We have to get to N. Brio as fast as we can!" Coco said as she ran off with Crash lagging behind.

Knowing fully way that she was right, Twilight and the others ran after them and eventually made their way to N. Brio's testing grounds.

"Oh, good! You've arrived!" N. Brio exclaimed in excitement. "And now for your reward! It's to battle me! Muahahahahahahahaha!"

"Shut up! FOR GOD'S SAKE, JUST SHUT UP, N. BRIO!" Twilight roared.

"My, such strong words coming from someone so young. I guess I'll have to teach you all a lesson!"

He threw a few beakers at them, creating the slime monsters he used on them before once again. Thankfully, this time both bandicoots were able to damage him by spinning into them, as well as sliding. Eventually, N. Brio got fed up with them ruining his little moment that he became a hulking monster again. This time, however, the entire world became inverted, in terms of the color schemes.

"What the hell is going on?!" Rainbow asked, panicking.

"Rainbow Dash! Language!" Rarity scolded.

"Um, excuse me. Did you guys not see the rating?" Pinkie asked.

"Uh, what are you talking about, Pinkie?" Sunset asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, nothing," Pinkie said smiling slyly.

CONTINUE
LEVEL STATS
OPTIONS
PASS N' PLAY
RESTART LEVEL
QUIT

What the? Damnit, Pinkie!

What? What did I do?

You know what you done did, Pinks! You broke the fourth wall again!

Aw, come on, Mr. Gamer! I was just trying to explain why we were using such minor foul language.

I know you were! The story clearly has the Profanity warning for those who are about to read it. This game was actually rated PEGI 12+ in the UK because of it being darker than most Crash games!

WHAT?!

Pinkie, Just get off of the pause screen so the readers can enjoy the story. My goodness, I bet their laughing at this conversation right now. Either that, or they're feeling bad for me again just like in the last story.

Alright, alright! I get it! Sheesh! When are you going to do the...

Pinkie! Don't even think about spoiling it.

*Pinkie pouts annoyingly*

Alright, fine. Party pooper.

Ahem! Sorry about that. At least the wall's still okay. Anyways, Akano decided to give Coco a suit that matched his appearance. He then attached himself to her back, giving her Dark Matter powers. After N. Brio got dizzy from smashing the ground too much, Coco activated the Dark Matter Spin and started spinning as if she had the Death Tornado Spin again. The spin was so powerful that knocked N. Brio off of the platform. He soon landed on the one below. Just as he hit the ground, one of his beakers broke directly on him. Everyone celebrated their victory, which was short-lived thanks to N. Brio leaping back onto the arena, now as a green Pteranodon.

"And for my final t-t-test. Face my reptilian wrath!" N. Brio said smugly.

Suddenly, he felt something building up in his stomach and covered it with his wings.

"My cloaca..."

Hearing this made Fluttershy, Applejack and Twilight grimace.

"Did he just say what I think he said?" Fluttershy cringed.

"Yeah. He said cloaca," Twilight responded.

"Oh, boy," Applejack groaned. "That's how ma chickens lay their..."

Before she could finish, as if on cue, a purple-and-green egg with blue spots and two electrical bolts appeared in front of him. Horrified by this experience, N. Brio flew away in embarrassment.

"Oh my," Rarity said nauseously. "I think I'm going to... ULP!"

She quickly covered her mouth with her hand as her face turned green. Thinking fast, Pinkie took out a brown paper bag from her hair and gave it to Rarity. Rarity then vomited inside the paper bag about four or five times. She was absolutely disgusted at what she saw.

"Yeah, that was pretty gross. I'm glad we're the only ones that saw it," Pinkie cringed.

"Oh... My!" Fluttershy whimpered.

"I don't think I needed to see that," Rainbow said.

"You and me both, Dash," Applejack agreed.

"Yeah, that was pretty disturbing," Twilight said.

"That was really uncomfortable, even for me," Sunset shivered.

Coco, on the other hand, was actually the most traumatized by what she saw. N. Brio just literally laid an actual egg. It managed to really creep her out. Crash, however, thought the egg was cool-looking and held it up like a trophy.

"Let's get out of here," Coco said, not wanting to stay around the egg any longer.

As she dragged Crash towards a nearby Quantum Rift, Fluttershy grabbed the egg and tossed it away. She never wanted to see an egg like that one ever again. After that, everyone followed Crash and Coco through the Quantum Rift towards their next destination, which was actually an event that happened only a few days earlier.

Kupuna-Wa, the Mask of Time

After stepping through the Quantum Rift, everyone saw an entire city around them. There was music and lights all during the night time. The area they were in was also a good place to toss the paper bag that Rarity used to vomit in after the little episode in Tranquility Falls. As Pinkie and Rarity were throwing it away, Twilight realized exactly where they were. New Orleans, close to Mosquito Marsh.

"Oh! My! Gosh! This is amazing! We're actually in the middle of the Party Gras festival!" Twilight squealed.

"Did you just say Party Gras?!" Pinkie asked excitedly. "I love that festival!"

"Come on, let's go find a good place to watch for a while! After all that's been happening to us, lately, I think I we could all use a break."

"I can attest to that, Twilight," Applejack said as she pointed to Rarity who was still a little queasy from seeing N. Brio lay an actual egg.

"Here, here," Rarity said weakly as she held her stomach.

The friends eventually found a good place where they could watch all of the festivities. They even got some crazy outfits to show their spirit for the festival.

It was an extremely fun time for all of them. Everyone danced to the music that was being played by the ghosts and skeletons. As all of the balloons were passing by, one in particular caught their eye. It was a purple dragon with yellow horns, yellow spikes, a yellow underbelly, and orange-and-yellow wings.

"Hey, look at that one!" Rainbow exclaimed as she pointed to the balloon.

"Woah! It's a dragon!" Sunset said in awe.

Where she came from, dragons lived in the same world as ponies. Plus, it reminded her of Spike, the assistant of Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship.

"Do you think that we might be able to meet this dragon someday?" Fluttershy asked.

"We might," Sunset said with a smile.

"Feels nice to relax for a bit, but we still need to find the other masks," Lani-Loli said.

"Kupuna-Wa this way," Akano said, flying through a nearby Quantum Rift.

"Aw, bummer. I really wanted to show off my new dance movies," Pinkie said disappointedly.

"Pinkie, you'll have plenty of time to do that when we get back home," Sunset said reassuringly.

"And who knows, you might some kind of strange power like I did," Applejack added.

Hearing those words got Pinkie all excited. Gaining actual video game powers was an exhilarating thought for anyone. It sounded pretty amazing. So amazing, in fact, that Pinkie gained a huge burst of energy and zoomed right into the Quantum Rift.

"Typical Pinkie," Rainbow said rolling her eyes with a smile.

She ran after her using her super speed, creating a rainbow trail behind her. Everyone else soon followed suit, with Crash going in last before the rift closed.

While all of this was going on, Dingodile, the half-dingo half-crocodile that faced off against Crash in their last adventure, was enjoying the retired life somewhere in Mosquito Marsh. He even had his own diner that he opened to rival Papa Batfield, a Wumpashiner bat. Dingodile at the moment was watching a commercial that he created for his own diner in his trailer. The trailer was located just somewhere across from his diner somewhere in the bayou. As he watching it, he heard a noise outside. Going up to the window, he saw Papa Batfield's Wumpashiner lackeys carrying TNT crates inside his diner. This did not please him one little bit.

"Oi, you buggers stay outta my diner!" he growled, grabbing his new vacuum cannon instead of his flamethrower.

Dingodile was determined to keep the Wumpashiners out of his own personal diner. He had spent a long time to create something that would atone for his past evil deeds. Plus, his flamethrower now functioned as a way to cook food instead of being used to burn people to a crisp. When he got to his diner, though, it was too late. An explosion went off and the diner was up in flames. That made Dingodile very cross.

"Argh! Bastards! I'll get every last one of yas!"

Everything was ruined, including his very own homemade table cloths. Eventually, he got to Papa Batfield's place and wrecked the entire wumpshining operation, causing it to go up in flames as well. Satisfied with his handiwork, Dingodile blew some dust off of his vacuum cannon as if he were in the wild west. After doing so, however, a Quantum Rift opened up from underneath him and sucked him into a different dimension.

Meanwhile, Crash, Coco and the others found themselves in the bayou. Traveling down the area, they eventually found the third mask, Kupuna-Wa. She was a round mask who's headpiece had symbols that resembled the various phases of the moon. Stick out from the headpiece were objects that appeared to be both the hour and minute hands on a clock. Her earrings resembled that of hourglasses. As they approached her, she yawned as she slowly woke up.

"What time is it? Oh, goodness. I ought to know," she said. "Crash! Coco! And Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Sunset Shimmer, and Twilight Sparkle! Hehehee! C'mon, give old Kupuna-Wa a kiss, eh?"

As everyone raised their eyebrows, wondering how she knew their names, she gave Crash a grandmotherly kiss.

"Wait, how do you even know who we are, let alone our names?" Rainbow asked.

"Well, I am time! I see everything. And I mean everything."

"Ooooooohhhh... Fancy!" Pinkie said.

"Oh, Pinkie, dear, you never change. But you will learn to take this video game situation seriously in the future. There will be some unexpected developments in the future for you seven girls. Your very near future. SHOCKING events that will CHANGE THE COURSE OF YOUR LIFE--"

"Yeah, just gonna stop you there before you tell us how we all die!" Lani-Loli interjected.

"Well, if you'd rather not know about the red lady with an evil mask threatening to destroy all existence as you know it, that is your choice! Hehehee!"

As she finished, everyone glanced at each other and shrugged their shoulders. Then they followed the masks through the next Quantum Rift towards their next location.

4th Time's A Charm

The group soon found themselves in the next area, which was The 11th Dimension 1954 in an arctic region. Surprisingly, everyone had on winter clothes to keep themselves warm. This included Crash and Coco, as well. All except for the masks, of course. Masks don't wear clothes. It's just not practical.

As soon as they entered, both Crash and Pinkie slid on the ice, as neither of them were wearing ice skates. The two of them then fell on their stomach as a hologram of Cortex suddenly appeared before them.

"Crash Bandicoot! You banished me to the past, but all it did was give me more time to plan your doom. Doom for you and your friends. Especially you, Twilight," Cortex said.

Twilight gulped. She was scared of what Cortex had in mind for her possible end.

"Where are you, you jerkbag?!" Rainbow snarled.

"You'll find me up the mountain. Don't freeze on the way!"

The hologram disappeared and the projector that was, well, projecting it, flew off towards its master.

"Wow, you know, I'm sensing a real fraught history here," Lani-Loli said feeling a little bit perplexed. "How many times have you beaten this clown, anyway?"

"Three," Coco said bluntly.

"Really? Only three?"

Crash nodded his head in agreement.

"Funny. Seemed like more."

"Maybe that's because all of those other times might not have happened yet, or...? You know what? It's not important. Let's just go kick his butt again!" Pinkie exclaimed.

Crash nodded and started running off towards a nearby ship.

"Crash, wait!" Twilight called.

But Crash didn't listen. He just kept running towards the nearby ship that was suspended over by the falls. As soon as everyone caught up with them, the ship somehow detonated right in front of their eyes. Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight managed to get a glimpse of who caused the explosion: Cortex himself. This made her extremely mad.

"CORRRRRTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEXXXXXXX! YOU DESPICABLE, VILE, UNCARING, CHURRO-LOVING, ANIMAL HATING PIECE OF SHIT!" Twilight screamed. "YOU'RE LUCKY YOU'RE UP THERE, YOU ASSHOLE! OTHERWISE, I'D GIVE YOU WHAT FOR! RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!"

The others hung their mouths open in shock. Twilight, who was usually the calm and rational one, had finally snapped.

"Woah, woah. Twilight, calm down," Rainbow said.

"Twilight, breathe!" Sunset pleaded.

Twilight took a deep breath and then exhaled.

"You feel any better?"

"A little," Twilight said.

She was still angry, but nothing like she was just a few moments ago.

"You okay?" Fluttershy asked meekly.

"Yeah. It's just that... I really needed to get that out of my system."

"Oh, it's alright, dearie. It's perfectly understandable why you would be upset," Kupuna-Wa said gently.

"And you oughta know, since you literally see everything that was and will be."

"Mmhmm. Now then, back to the matter at hand. If we are to cross these gaps, then one of you will have to slow down time. And that's where I come in."

"No offense, lady, but I can probably get across there in at least ten seconds flat," Rainbow boasted.

"While it may be easy for you, the others might have trouble, Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment.

"Oh. Right."

"So, who would like to be the one that slows down time long enough for everyone to cross?"

"I'll do it," Twilight said.

"As I knew you would."

Kupuna-Wa spun around Twilight and created an outfit for her, complete with a headpiece just like hers. She then stuck herself onto Twilight's back, giving her her power.

"Not to be a skeptic or anything, but how will slowing down time allow all of us to cross that gap?" Rainbow asked.

Suddenly, two chunks of ice that resembled platforms flowed down the waterfall at an incredible speed. That's when Rainbow realized why time needed to be slowed down for the others. Even though she might be able to clear those platforms thanks to her super speed, the others need more time to clear them, lest they fall into the icy cold water below.

"Okay, everyone. When I slow down time, stay close! We don't want to risk falling off of the waterfall."

Everyone nodded in agreement as they heard more ice breaking. As soon as the platforms came close, Twilight put her hands up to her head in a stance.

"TIME SLOW!"

As soon as she said those two words, time slowed down tremendously. Knowing the effect wouldn't last long, everyone quickly jumped across the gap and made it to the other side in one piece.

"Now that. Was. So. Awesome!"

Just then, Twilight lost the outfit and went back into wearing her winter clothes again.

"Hoo! What a rush! Now that that's all over, let's go find Cortex and give him a beating he'll never forget!"

That was one statement that everyone could agree on. Cortex definitely needed to be taught a lesson in meddling with the multiverse.

Eventually, everyone made their way up the mountain and boarded Cortex's newly improved blimp.

"Well, hello, everyone. It's about time," Cortex said smugly.

Twilight gritted her teeth and angrily narrowed her eyes at the diminutive scientist.

"This is going to be just like the old days... except this time, everything will go according to my plan! Hahahahahahahaha!"

Just as Crash was about to step forward, Twilight held up her hand in front of him.

"What are you doing?!" Coco asked.

"Stay out of this! This is personal!" Twilight snarled. "KUPUNA-WA!"

She extended her arms out and the outfit from before formed right onto her.

"So you have the power of one of those masks now? Big deal. I'll still destroy all of you!" Cortex shouted.

He then activated a bunch of giant deadly missiles that rained down onto the arena. Thankfully, Twilight dodged all of them by the skin of her teeth.

"Punchbot MK II: Deploy!"

A robot with boxing gloves came out of one of slots and started rotating extremely fast, trying to punch something. Twilight, however, was prepared for this.

"TIME SLOW!"

Right on cue, time slowed down tremendously, allowing Twilight to run up to the robot and kick right into the control panel. Once time resumed to normal speed, it was revealed that the boxing glove on the robot had also hit Cortex in the face.

"Ow! Punchbot MK II is for hitting YOU, not ME! Raaa!"

"Give it up, Cortex! You know you're going to lose no matter what!"

"You honestly think that's the only Punchbot I have?"

Just then, three more Punchbots appeared and spun towards Twilight at impressive speeds. Thinking fast, Rainbow Dash used her super speed to run towards one of them and kicked it into the control panel.

"What? Two against one? That's not fair!"

"Make that four against one!" Coco exclaimed, joining them.

"I told you guys TO STAY BACK!" Twilight snarled.

"No way are we letting you do this alone, Twilight. Friends stick together no matter what, remember?" Rainbow said.

"You're right, Rainbow Dash. Alright, everyone, let's finish this!"

Just before the Punchbots could hit them, the two remaining ones got dizzy.

"Hit them now! HIT THEM NOW!"

Crash and Coco both spun the remaining Punchbots into the Control Centre and ended up destroying it. Cortex was once again beaten... For the fourth time.

The Command Centre exploded, launching Cortex into the air and back onto the floor of his blimp. While this was happening, Twilight's suit disappeared and she went back into wearing her winter clothes again. After Cortex landed, she slowly walked up to him and she was extremely mad.

"Was it really worth all of this, Cortex?" Twilight asked gravely. "Mutating and brainwashing poor Australian animals, collecting crystals for your own personal gain, TWICE, and now, attempting to rule over EVERY SINGLE UNIVERSE THAT'S EXISTED?!"

Cortex looked up at his former assistant. What he saw terrified him. It was the same look he had once given her when both her and her friends first arrived. Only this time, the tables had turned. Twilight was now the one who was talking down to him.

"Please, Twilight! Have mercy!"

Twilight yanked Cortex's lab coat and brought him up to her face.

"Mercy?! You never showed me any mercy! Why should I show you any? I should take that laser of yours and disintegrate you right this minute! But luckily for you, I'm not that cruel."

She let go of his lab coat and threw him to the ground.

"I hope you've learned your lesson by now, Cortex. Because I am getting sick and tired of your constant bullshit!"

Just then, a hologram of N. Tropy appeared between the two of them, sending them jumping in a shock.

"I knew you would be unable to handle this simplest of tasks, Cortex. You couldn't even take care of your former assistant," N. Tropy gloated.

"Gloat all you want, I quit! If you need me, I'll be on a tropical island somewhere. Alone," Cortex grumbled as he stormed away from the hologram.

"How fortunate. You see, I no longer have need for our alliance. I found a new partner... for my master's plan."

"Wait! You mean this whole time you were scheming behind my back?!"

"Of course! The Rift Generator has capabilities far beyond your meager imagination. You were content to simply rule over space and time, but I'd rather help my master start from scratch. Erase it all. Wipe the slate clean. With my master in charge of everything, no one will be safe from their wrath! All will bow down to them and there will be no one left powerful enough to stop them. I'm going to reset the timeline to their liking. Which means YOU won't exist, and neither will those featherbrained masks, or those meddling marsupials, or those multi-colored magical girls and their pony friend! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!"

As he laughed, the hologram disappeared into the projector, ending the transmission.

"Wiped from existence by that pompous peacock?! I'd like to see him try after I shove that tuning fork up his--"

"BUT, not if we get to him first," Coco interjected.

"It appears we have a common enemy. Perhaps there is a way out of our endless cycle after all."

Twilight marched up to Cortex and glared at him intently.

"You better not be lying, Cortex. Or else you're going to regret it," she growled.

It looks like Twilight still doesn't fully trust Cortex, but as of right now, they need him in order to stop N. Tropy. Is Cortex really turning over a new leaf? Or is this just a cover-up for him to wait for the right moment to eventually resume his evil ways? With only one mask left to find, our heroes can only hope that Cortex doesn't end up stabbing them in the back again.

Author's Note

The stance that Twilight does is a reference to Dragon Ball's Solar Flare technique. Characters like Tien Shinhan and Krillin often assume that pose just before they use the technique.

Pinkie Pie and the Mask of Gravity

Our heroes made their way into the next era, which was the Eggipus Dimension 88 Million B.C.B. Upon arriving, thought, Rarity looked down and freaked out at her clothing ensemble. The Rainbooms were all wearing outfits made out of leopard skin. Crash and Coco, on the other hand, looked more like their prehistoric ancestors than anything else.

"Oh, my goodness! What is it with these outfits we are wearing?! They're downright atrocious!" Rarity cringed.

"Quit yer bellyaching, Rarity. It's only for this one specific era," Applejack chastised.

"Besides, we need to find that last mask. That's more important than how we look right now!" Twilight added. "So, what is the name of the last mask we're looking for?"

"Oh! His name's Ika-Ika. He controls gravity," Lani-Loli said.

"Ooohh! Sounds like my kind of mask," Pinkie said slyly.

"Alright, look. We'll find the mask a lot easier if we split up. I'll go off with Cortex to make sure he doesn't do anything that'll cost us the mission. The rest of you, go on ahead the other way. We'll catch up with you when we can."

"Okie-dokey-lokie," Pinkie said, giving a salute.

As Crash, Coco, and the rest of the Rainbooms headed off into the jungle, Twilight and Cortex made their way towards a volcano.

"Why did you insist on teaming up with me?" Cortex asked.

"You know EXACTLY why!" Twilight growled. "I'm not letting you out of my sight even for a minute, little man! If you so much point your laser gun at any one of us, you're going to wish you would've went to that tropical island instead of teaming up with us!"

Meanwhile, Crash, Coco and the others were stopping to rest, as their feet were really starting to hurt, as most of them weren't wearing shoes.

"Wow. No wonder shoes were invented," Rainbow groaned as she rubbed her feet.

They didn't stop to rest for long, however, as they suddenly heard a thunderous roar nearby.

"What was that?" Fluttershy gulped.

"Uh-oh. I hope it ain't what I think it is," Applejack shivered.

She slowly turned around and was face-to-face with a red Tyrannosaurus Rex.

"I hate it when I'm right!"

"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" Pinkie shouted.

Everyone ran from the T-Rex as fast as they could.

As they were running, no one seemed to notice that Dingodile managed to find his way into the era, as well. Seeing the T-Rex just as he was about to enter another Quantum Rift made him panic. Luckily, he used his vacuum cannon to float across to the other side. He climbed the rock structure in order to get into the rift before the T-Rex could have him for dinner. Once he got in, the structure collapsed, stopping the T-Rex dead in its tracks.

"Woah. What just happened?" Sunset asked.

Pinkie thought hard for a while, but came up empty.

"I got nothing," she said, shrugging her shoulders.

Eventually, both groups reunited and found the last mask, Ika-Ika, sleeping in a nest. He was shaped like a double-sided arrow, with two faces being on both sides. One side had a turquoise color with markings that resembled mountains. The other side was more blue in color and had markings that resembled the ocean.

"WAKE UP!" Lani-Loli screamed.

The scream was so loud that it managed to startle Ika-Ika and caused everyone to flip up onto the ceiling of the cave.

"Bwah? Goodness, if it isn't Lani-Loli! How are you brother?" Ika-Ika greeted politely.

"Uhhh, sorry to interrupt, but existence could end at any minute, so can we hurry?" Coco interjected.

Ika-Ika flipped over 180° and instantly changed personalities form happy-go-lucky to a downer.

"When's existence ever done anything for anyone, anyway?"

"Hey there, Mr. Grumpy Mask, quit being a downer. Turn that frown upside-down!" Pinkie said happily.

Suddenly, Ika-Ika flipped over again and managed to flip gravity back to normal for everyone.

"Don't mind Grumpy Gus, he's always a downer."

"Yeah. Don't mind me. I don't matter. Nothing matters."

"Can this guy be any more negative?" Rainbow groaned.

Just then, Applejack elbowed her in the stomach.

"Ow! What was that for?!"

"Be nice!" Applejack hissed.

"Now that we found Ika-Ika, that's all four! What's next?" Coco asked.

"We can't close the rifts in this world until we stopped whatever is opening them," Lani-Loli said.

"That would be N. Tropy and his precious Rift Generator," Cortex said, making quotations on the last two words.

"If I understand correctly, YOU had a part in that, as well!" Twilight scowled.

"Wow. And I thought I had anger issues," Sunset muttered under her breath.

"Guys, can we not be at each other's throats right now?" Coco asked sternly.

"Sorry, Coco," Twilight apologized. "You're right. We should focus on going after N. Tropy and giving him the beating of a lifetime!"

"Hell, yeah! Let's do it!" Rainbow exclaimed.

Everyone entered a Quantum Rift and ended up in an outpost near Bermugula's Orbit, somewhere in space. Once they entered, they finally came face-to-face with Dingodile. Thinking he was still an enemy, they all prepared to take him on in a fight.

"Easy, chums. If I was here to fight you, you'd be cactus," Dingodile said.

Just then, Tawna appeared from right behind him.

"He's with me. Found him lost out there. Caught up in the whole... time, space, y'know, thing," she said.

"I'm just trying to get home. I was enjoyed to retired life, see? Like Crash does every day."

Satisfied with that answer, Crash ran up to Dingodile and gave him a hi-five. The two of them then belly-bumped each other. Since Dingodile was larger than Crash, he ended up knocking Crash right into Applejack.

"You're lucky I believe you on this one," Applejack said gravely.

Just then, everyone heard a voice that was awfully familiar.

"Silence, whelp!" the voice commanded.

"But, sir!" another one said.

Everyone then realized that the voice was coming from a nearby monitor. Walking over to it, they saw N. Tropy with what appeared to be a female version of himself ordering an alien-looking creature known as Nitros Oxide.

"You try my patience, Oxide!"

"But--!"

"Now, now. I'm sure this insect knows how to obey an order," the female N. Tropy said, pulling on Oxide's snout.

"N. Tropy!" Tawna and Cortex both said.

Tawna pointed at the female one, whereas Cortex pointed at the N. Tropy that he was familiar with.

"Take your ship to planet Bermugula and be on the lookout for ships approaching the Rift Generator. We can't afford any unwanted visitors."

The female N. Tropy let go of Oxide's snout so that he could obey her orders.

"At once, your foulness!" Oxide grumbled.

"You manage our affairs with such poise," N. Tropy said slyly.

"Naturally. As do you," his female counterpart remarked.

It was then clear to everyone what was going on. Both versions of N. Tropy were flirting with each other.

"Oh... my!" Fluttershy whimpered.

"Blaurgh!" Coco said in disgust.

Rarity tried to keep herself from vomiting again by holding her hand up to her mouth.

"That's... really creepy," Pinkie cringed.

"Ugh. Barf," Tawna said in disgust.

Twilight hung her mouth open in disbelief. She could not believe what she was seeing.

"They're literally the same person!" Rainbow exclaimed.

"Now that is just wrong," Applejack said, shaking her head.

Dingodile, on the other hand, found the exchange to be hilarious. As such, he was the only one who ended up laughing, due to how stupid he thought the N. Tropys looked.

After all of that, everyone headed towards the direction where Oxide's ship was located, which was the location of the Rift Generator. Just as before it could get away, though, Cortex barely managed to activate the tractor beam in time, resulting in the ship to stop dead in its tracks. Crash, Coco and the Rainbooms came towards the docking area and saw Oxide's racing kart. Coco made the assumption that the kart would be a lot faster to travel in in order to get to the Rift Generator. Before anyone could get in, however, Tawna tied them up.

"I'm not losing you guys in this dimension, too!" she said.

"So, what? You're just going to leave us here while you go and possibly sacrifice yourself to a couple of psychos?!" Rainbow chastised.

"I'm not willing to take any chances. I'll handle this."

Tawna hopped into the green hovercraft-like kart and took off.

"But... I thought we were a team," Pinkie said tearfully.

Just then, Dingodile and Cortex showed up just in time to untie everyone.

"Oi! What'd I miss?" Dingodile asked.

Once they got untied, everyone decided to go forward and find another spare kart for the bandicoots to use. Pinkie, who wanted to test out the new mask's power, decided to go on ahead. Eventually, she came to an area that looked like a puzzle of some sort. Pinkie loved puzzles. To her, they just added fun to everything.

"Time to put that new mask to use," Pinkie said in determination.

She stretched out her arms and Ika-Ika created an outfit specifically for her. He then stuck himself to her back, giving her his power to flip herself upside-down onto the ceiling.

"GRAVITY FLIP!"

As soon she exclaimed those words, she instantly flipped onto the ceiling and was standing upside-down. Looking around for a solution, she then spotted an iron exclamation crate on her right. She went over to it, deactivated her gravity flip, then bounced on it, causing several of the large crates to move.

"GRAVITY FLIP!"

She flipped herself upside-down again to get back towards the middle. She then spotted another iron exclamation crate on the other side. Upon reaching it, she deactivated the gravity flip again and hit the switch. As soon as she did, the large crates started moving towards her. Thinking fast, Pinkie jumped onto the nearby vertical crate just before the smaller one could squish her. She flipped gravity again upon seeing another iron exclamation crate directly above her. She made her way over to it and activated it, moving more of the large crates.

"GOING DOWN!"

The large crate she was on moved down, making her act like she was on a very old elevator. She then saw the final iron exclamation crate on the other side. She had to flip gravity several times for herself before she could actually hit the switch. As soon as she did, however, the path was clear and the way to the ship's main controls were right in front of her. Upon making her way there, she noticed that they were just coming out of hyperspace and headed towards the planet, Bermugula. Just then, the voice of Oxide came over the intercom.

"Attention crew: asteroid field ahead, buckle your seatbelts!"

"That can't be good."

Indeed it wasn't. The ship managed to get hit as soon as Crash and the others arrived.

"Not good! Crash, Coco! Find an escape pod! Ships like this always have an escape pod of some kind!" Twilight said.

"But what about you guys?" Coco asked worriedly.

"Don't worry about us! Just go!"

Both Crash and Coco took the elevator down and raced towards the escape pod that looked like a yellow version of Oxide's hovercraft kart. While the bandicoots managed to escape to Bermugula, eventually finding a Quantum Rift to take them to the Rift Generator. They are extremely unsure about what happened to their friends. Did they survive the crash? Actually, yes, they did, thanks to a random Quantum Rift that managed to pull them in just in time. But who or what managed to make that appear? Was it the same mysterious being that urged them to fix the game's ending? Or was it something else?

Blast to the Past

At the Rift Generator, Tawna was having a very difficult time against two N. Tropys. One was bad enough for her, but going up against two managed to be even more difficult than she had thought.

"What's the matter, hero? Couldn't solo this one?" the female N. Tropy mocked as she held Tawna between the prongs of her tuning fork.

Just then, they all heard a familiar voice call out to them.

"LET HER GO!"

From out of a Quantum Rift jumped Crash, Coco, Dingodile, and Cortex. They were ready to help Tawna beat both of the N. Tropys. Just then, another Quantum Rift appeared and Twilight and her friends emerged, safe from harm, with Pinkie now back in her normal everyday attire.

"You guys! You're alright!"

"Of course we are. Although, we did have a little help," Pinkie said.

"Help? Help from who?"

"I dunno. Call it fate or maybe just a coincidence."

"Well, look who finally decided to show up," the female N. Tropy said smugly. "The last time I killed her friends, her screams were exquisite."

"I knew it!" Applejack exclaimed. "That's why you lied to us back in Salty Wharf, isn't it? It's 'cause you saw Crash and Coco die right in front of you!"

"It's true. It's because my N. Tropy murdered them in cold blood," Tawna strained.

"You monster!" Fluttershy growled.

"Well now, I do believe that instead of killing them on the spot, how about we make this fun?" N. Tropy suggested. "Give them a sporting chance?"

The female N. Tropy was intrigued by his suggestion and released Tawna from her tuning fork, throwing her in front of Crash and Coco.

"Let's see what you mongrels can do as a pack," the female N. Tropy dared.

Both N. Tropys then slammed their tuning forks into the ground. This created a huge burst of energy that went towards everyone. To their surprise, however, the Rainbooms were still in the same area with them.

"Impossible!" N. Tropy gasped.

"How are you seven brats still with us right now?" the female N. Tropy snarled.

"Because our magic keeps us protected from life-threatening powers such as yours!" Sunset said in determination. "Try as you might, you won't be able to stop us from defeating you and destroying that Rift Generator!"

Suddenly, a huge bright light emitted from all seven of them and everyone started emitting laser beams that fired at the Rift Generator. While all of this was happening, Crash, Coco and the others managed to find their way back after being transported somewhere else from the energy blast.

"Woah!" Crash exclaimed.

"No kidding," Coco said in awe.

The beams hit the Rift Generator, which caused a shockwave that sent both N. Tropys flying towards the machine like a couple of magnets.

"Curse you--!" N. Tropy groaned as he slid off.

"Equestria Girls," the female N. Tropy said as she did the same.

After that was over, the girls returned to normal and saw what had just happened.

"Did we win?" Fluttershy asked.

"I think so," Sunset confirmed.

"YES! WE DID IT! WE DID IT! WE DID IT! WE BEAT THE BAD GUYS!" Pinkie squealed as she jumped up and down.

Crash was so happy that he taunted the N. Tropys by dancing in their faces.

Cortex smugly walked up to N. Tropy and started to mock him.

"What's the matter? Unable to handle the simplest of tasks?" he mocked. "I no longer have need for our--"

Before he could continue, however, a Quantum Rift opened up behind both of the N. Tropys. From it emerged a male warrior-like figure unlike anyone had seen before. He wore armor that was both black and blood red. His helmet had four spikes poking out from the top and his visor emitted a blood red aura. He had a flowing cape that was as red as Sunset's hair. The insignia on his chest resembled the head of a dragon. He also had a sword that was sheathed in the scabbard on his back.

It was hard to explain, but there was just something about him that gave off a menacing vibe.

"W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-Who is that?" Fluttershy shivered.

"I don't know, but he manages to creep me out," Rainbow responded.

"What do you want, Algomak?" N. Tropy growled.

The figure known as Algomak lifted both N. Tropys up with his hands by their necks, then stared intently at the Rainbooms. His presence alone was enough to make Pinkie start shaking uncontrollably. Algomak then set his gaze back towards the N. Tropys.

"Master wishes to see you," he said slowly.

Algomak slowly turned towards the Quantum Rift he came through and started walking towards it. After taking a few steps, he stopped to look back at the Rainbooms again. After about a minute of looking at them, he stepped into the Quantum Rift, which closed behind him. As soon as he left, Pinkie abruptly stopped shaking and nearly lost her balance. Luckily, Twilight caught her just before she hit the floor.

"Pinkie! Are you alright?" Twilight asked.

"I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I don't know, Twilight," Pinkie stammered as she held her head. "I've never had my Pinkie Sense go off like that before."

"Whoever that man was, he was sure scary," Fluttershy whimpered.

"No doubt," Applejack agreed.

"Well, let's not worry about him now," Kupuna-Wa said. "Come on, boys. Let's plug up these holes in our world!"

Lani-Loki, Akano and Ika-Ika all nodded and joined Kupuna-Wa around the Rift Generator. All of them focused their power, then spun around the generator, creating gold bolts of energy that closed all of the Quantum Rifts in the world. At least, the world that they were in, anyways. After their work was done, the four masks stopped spinning, as they were now exhausted from using up a lot of their power.

"Y'know, not that being stuck isn't fun, but how the heck are we supposed to get home, now?" Rainbow asked sternly.

"Right! Now that we've mended things, we can take you anywhere, anywhen... after we rest. For now, I can only get us as far as the culinary capital of the universe: Neon City!"

"Culinary capital of the universe?!" Pinkie asked, licking her lips. "Count me in!"

Lani-Loli opened a Quantum Rift that allowed everyone to go to the place called Neon City. It turns out that even masks have to eat, as well. As strange as that may sound.

"Mmm... nachos," Akano said hungrily.

Everyone headed through the Quantum Rift and proceed to the Sn@xx Dimension 3023, where Neon City was located. One look at Neon City and everyone could tell that they were definitely somewhere in the future. The look of the place managed to amaze them.

"Woah!" Crash exclaimed.

"You said it, Crash," Coco agreed.

"This! Is! So! Totally! Awesome!" Rainbow squealed.

"So much beauty! I think I've just had a huge spark inspiration for a new line of fashion for my outfits!" Rarity squealed. "I've got to see what it'll look like once we get home from this adventure!"

For once, Rarity, I highly agree with you," Applejack said. "This place just speaks for itself."

"Not to mention that the technology here is so far advanced!" Twilight squealed.

She had a huge cheshire-like grin on her face.

"We can meet with the others after we've explored," Aku Aku said. "Now, which way to the food trucks?"

"Oh, I hope they some delicious sweets!" Pinkie said, barely able to contain her excitement.

Meanwhile, in an area that was covered in complete red, both of the N. Tropys were brought towards a red throne by Algomak.

"Let us go, you ungrateful brute!" N. Tropy snarled.

Algomak tossed the N. Tropys onto the floor right in front of the throne. On it was the shadowy figure from before.

"Master, why have you summoned us?"

The figure was silent for a moment. After about two minutes of awkward silence, the figure finally spoke in the same electronic voice from before.

"So, it seems you have failed in keeping the Rift Generator open?" it said.

"Master, please. It wasn't our fault."

"Silence! I am well aware that you were beaten by those seven brats you have encountered before, N. Tropy. Despite your abrupt failure, I would say that it is only a minor inconvenience."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that, thanks to you, some of my minions were able to pass through a few of the Quantum Rifts that you and your counterpart generated around Bermugula's orbit. And for that, I very much pleased."

"Well, that's a relief," the female N. Tropy sighed.

"HOWEVER! That doesn't excuse the fact that you lost to a group of adolescent brats! I should exterminate the both of you where you stand. But because of your efforts allowing my minions to pass through some of the rifts, I'll let you live... for now."

The figure struck its staff, signaling for Algomak to come to their side.

"Ready yourself for the Medieval world, Algomak. If my predictions are correct, we won't be needing to follow those girls on their next journey."

"Why do you say that, master?" Algomak asked.

"Simple, Algomak. There is already an enemy that will prove to be quite a challenge for them. Let's let them have some fun with them, shall we?"

"As you wish, master,"

"You may go now,"

Algomak descended from the throne and the figure let out a laugh so evil that it caused both N. Tropys to let out nervous chuckles. The laugh ended up echoing throughout the throne room as the figure continued to cackle in delight.

Back in Neon City, Crash, Coco and the others were voicing their opinions on the food that they just ate.

"That Shnurgle shank was killer!" Tawna said.

"Ugh! Strewth! Who cooked it?!" Dingodile complained. "Heat was too high. S'why it was all rubbery inside. subpar grill marks, too."

"Really? I thought it was absolutely fine," Rarity said. "However, my favorite has to be the soufflé. It was absolutely delightful."

"I loved the banana split they had," Pinkie said, licking her lips.

"I liked the pickled wumpa leaves," Coco said.

While they were all talking, no one seemed to notice that Cortex was once again hatching another evil plan.

"Cortex, you CAD! Why did you not see it before?" he asked himself.

He then pulled out his laser gun and kidnapped Kupuna-Wa.

"KUPUNA-WA! CORTEX! I KNEW YOU COULDN'T BE TRUSTED!" Twilight snarled.

"Catch me if you can, Twilight Sprinkle!"

Cortex then ran off, holding Kupuna-Wa like a child with a balloon on a nearby blimp.

"How the hell are we going to follow him now?!" Rainbow asked.

Just then, a Quantum Rift opened behind them and they heard the same voice that brought them to this world in the first place.

"Quickly. The seven of you must go through this portal," the voice said. "Let the bandicoots follow Cortex aboard that blimp. The game must play out like it should or else the digital world could be doomed to collapse."

"You two, follow Cortex aboard that blimp! We'll meet up with you when we can!" Twilight said as she and her friends went through the rift.

Crash and Coco obeyed by having both Tawna and Dingodile give them a boost towards the blimp.

"Give him hell!" Tawna shouted.

Later, Crash and Coco made their way back in time to the year, 1996. It was when Crash was first created. Eventually, they met up with the Rainbooms, who were just in time to witness past and future Cortex argue over Crash's creation.

"Why won't I listen to me?" Cortex sighed as he ended his hologram message.

"Maybe because you're too stubborn to realize it!" Twilight snarled.

Twilight then looked around and saw that they were in the exact place where she entered: Cortex Castle. Upon inspection, however, she realized that her past self was nowhere to be found.

"Where am I in the past?"

"I must confess that due to circumstances beyond your control, that your intervening does not technically exist in the past," the voice said.

"But why?"

"Because it was actually by someone else's hand that made Crash into what he is today. You must stop Cortex in order to find out who it was."

"Got it. Come on, you guys. Let's go stop Cortex once and for all!"

Everyone made their way through the Castle until they finally came face-to-face with the present-day Cortex, who had his past self locked in a cage.

"Do you have any idea how stubborn I used to be?!" Cortex asked.

"Yes," everyone said bluntly, except for Crash, who just nodded his head.

"Cortex, if you're thinking of stopping yourself, you can think again! Because we're going to stop you from stopping yourself once and for all!" Twilight shouted.

Using her geode's magic, Twilight yanked Kupuna-Wa back to her side from Cortex's machine and donned the outfit again.

"Come on, everyone! Let's show Cortex what it really means to work together as a team!"

As if on cue, both Applejack and Pinkie donned their outfits from the masks again, while the others readied themselves in fighting stances.

During the fight, Cortex harnessed the dark matter ability of Akano and tried to use it against his opponents. Using Akano's power, the machine spun around like mad as Cortex fired deadly lasers at them. Applejack then noticed a device that was sticking out from the floor. It was phased out in one area, giving her the perfect opportunity to use Lani-Loli's power.

"PHASE!" she yelled.

The word activated the platform, allowing it to be visible. She then slammed down on the device, which shocked Cortex's machine. After that, Pinkie looked up and saw another similar-looking device on the ceiling and decided to flip gravity in order to activate it. After doing so, she slammed down on it, which once again, shocked Cortex's giant machine.

"Stop that!" Cortex pleaded.

There were two more devices sticking out from the floor. Twilight knew they had to activate them, but the lasers were moving too fast for her to safely jump over. As Pinkie descended back onto the arena, Twilight decided that she had no other choice.

"TIME SLOW!" Twilight shouted.

The command slowed down time just long enough for Twilight to slam down on one of the square-shaped devices. With one remaining, Crash decided to take the risk and slam down on it himself. The impact from the device shocked Cortex's machine once again. Desperate to get rid of his opposition, Cortex called for four of his lab assistants to take care of things.

Unfortunately, he didn't count on the others kicking them into his machine. After doing so four times, the shock ejected Cortex out of the machine, causing him to land in front of everyone. As he wallowed in defeat, the machine ended up exploding due to an overload. The resulting explosion caused some wooden crates above him to fall down and hit him on the head. Once the last crate hit him, Cortex collapsed from getting hit so many times.

"Oohh! That's gotta hurt!" Pinkie cringed.

After the battle was over, Applejack, Pinkie and Twilight were relieved of the masks' powers as Crash lowered the past Cortex down onto the floor via a lever. Happy that his future self had been beaten, the past Cortex celebrated, then ran into his lab to get the past Crash ready for the Cortex Vortex.

Everyone watched as past Cortex and N. Brio got Crash's past self ready for the Cortex Vortex. Unfortunately for everyone, though, Crash leaned his arm against the exact switch that Twilight pressed when the Rainbooms first arrived in the world. As expected, the same result happened, again.

"Explains a lot," Coco sighed as she cracked a smile.

Just then, a Quantum Rift opened up behind the Rainbooms and the same voice from before was heard.

"You have done well, Rainbooms. You helped this video game world get its proper ending," the voice said. "And for that, I am grateful. Because this world has seen the ending that it was meant to have, you are finally allowed to go home."

"We can go home?!" Rainbow squealed.

"Yes. But be aware that there will be other video game worlds that will also need your help someday. And when the time comes to journey into the gamingverse again, I will send one of my messengers to let you know."

"How will we know who this messenger is?" Twilight asked.

"You will know when the time comes. For now, you all deserve to return to your own dimension for a well-deserved rest."

"I heartily agree. This hold adventure in this world has really taken its toll on my stress levels," Rarity said.

Before walking through the rift, however, Twilight walked over to Coco and gave her a big hug.

"I'm going to miss you," she said as tears trickled down her face.

"Me too, Twilight," Coco said.

As they let go of each other, Twilight reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a blue flower hairpin.

"Here, take this. This used to be mine when I was little. It's a little something to remember me by."

Coco took the hairpin and smiled at Twilight.

"I'll never forget our time together, Coco. Ever."

Twilight then turned away and walked towards the Quantum Rift. As soon as all of the Rainbooms were through, the rift disappeared. Unbeknownst to them, Cortex attempted to follow, but was stopped by Akano. The Quantum Masks decided to banish him at what they called the end of the universe. It turned out to be similar to a tropical island, where Cortex could finally be alone and at peace. Or... so it seemed.

Author's Note

The shadowy cloaked figure is an OC of Dragonknife5, whereas Algomak is my own creation. I didn't make the art, though. I'll admit this, I'm not good at drawing, or creating art in general.

I simply found a good-looking image online and thought that it would look really good for an antagonist.