//------------------------------// // Chapter 18: Race Against Time // Story: The Phantom Filly // by Lucar //------------------------------// Almost immediately after the end of the battle of Egg Fortress, Scootaloo asked for an emergency meeting with the princesses and other leaders. Since Luna was still leading the assault of the West, however, she couldn't attend it, as well as Chrysalis, but Scootaloo insisted on being in contact with them during the meeting. They needed to hear what she was about to reveal. Even the leader of the yaks, Prince Rutherford, was included. The meeting took place in Dodge Outpost, like the previous one, and began once everyone was present or in contact, ready to listen. "So," Celestia started. "Zero, why did you ask for this meeting?" «Be quick so yak can return to smashing metal bugs!» shouted Rutherford through a radio. Scootaloo took a big breath to calm her nerves, then explained. "In the previous battle, Discord talked to me and gave me some information. If this info is true, then they are very serious." «Why would Discord give you this information?» Luna asked through another radio. «Whatever he said, I don't trust it.» Scootaloo shrugged, even if she knew that Luna couldn't see her. "Apparently, he doesn't like ponies getting killed because of Eggman, so he hopes to limit them thanks to this info. He revealed that Eggman is developing a way to absorb the magic of everyone in the world which, obviously, would be very bad for the pegasi living in Cloudsdale." Many faces paled at this revelation. "So... He wants us to stop Eggman from developing whatever will absorb our magic?" asked Celestia. "Nope. He wants us to evacuate all cities like Cloudsdale. He said that we wouldn't be able to stop Eggman in time. Whatever he's doing, it will be finished in about a week." «Of course we will stop him!» Chrysalis shouted. «I already have an idea of where is whatever Eggman is creating thanks to my spies!» "Where?" Ember asked. «Right in the middle of the Bone Dry Desert! My spies reported that a giant cyclone suddenly appeared here, creating a huge sand tornado dozens of miles wide! This tornado is probably hiding a base.» "A base where Eggman is developing this way to absorb all our magic," Celestia concluded. «Exactly. My spies reported a lot of movements from Eggman's troops, transporting tons and tons of resources from all over his empire into this tornado.» "It probably has something to do with the Staff of Sacanas," the representative of Abyssinia, a bipedal cat, suddenly said. "The what?" Ember asked. "The Staff of Sacanas. Since the Storm Creatures joined our ranks, they told us some precious informations about their previous master, the one who conquered our lands before he was defeated by Eggman, the Storm King. The Staff of Sacanas was where he got most of his powers, a powerful staff that could control the weather and absorb magic." «A staff that can control the weather, and coincidentally, a giant tornado appears in the middle of the desert,» Chrysalis said. "Eggman obtained this Staff of Sacanas, and it is the key for him to absorb everyone's magic," Celestia concluded again. "Doesn't he already have Tirek for this?" Cadance asked. «He won't let Tirek take all the magic. It wouldn't be better than giving Tirek a dagger to backstab him,» said Chrysalis. «But now, how does he attend to absorb the magic of everyone on the planet with this staff?» Luna wondered. "Maybe he's building a giant device for it?" proposed Twilight. «It would explain all the materials transported into the tornado,» Chrysalis said. Scootaloo gulped. "Infinite, do you think...?" Yes. The Death Egg. It's the most obvious way. "Could you...?" Infinite sighed. Fine. Scootaloo made noises with her throat to gain everyone's attention. "Infinite knows what Eggman is probably doing. I will have to leave him in control of my body so he can explain to you." "Are you sure?" asked Celestia with worry. "Don't worry, he won’t try anything. With almost everyone in the room possessing a Phantom Ruby, it would be suicidal. And he doesn't like the idea of Eggman getting everyone's magic as much as us." "Eggman would become so powerful that nothing would be able to stop him, not even the Phantom Ruby," Twilight agreed. "Very well, you can let him out," Celestia said. Scootaloo nodded, then let Infinite take control, his mask appearing on their head. Everyone immediately tensed as he floated above the round table in the center of the room. "You have seen many things from Eggman since he appeared in this world," He began. "But you haven't seen everything yet. No matter his plans, Eggman always has three goals: get his hands on a great source of power, defeat his enemy, and build his worldwide empire, Eggmanland. For this last goal, there was almost always a key element: the building of the Death Egg." «What? Like this Death Egg Robot we fought in Manehattan?» Luna asked. "No. It has nothing to do with that. The Death Egg is a space station." "A space station?!" everyone shouted. Infinite nodded and materialized above the table a metallic ball with Eggman's face. "Here's the Death Egg. Of course, the real one is much, much bigger. The Death Egg is a key part of Eggman's empire, to give him total control over the population of the world. Few would dare to resist him with a station that could fire city-wiping lasers from thousands of miles above their heads, without forgetting all the robots that it could produce and send everywhere. When I helped my Eggman defeat Sonic and take control of Mobius, he even used it as a prison and a generator for my Phantom Ruby Prototype. But in this case, I suspect that he will use it with this Staff of Sacanas to absorb everyone's magic. If that thing is launched into space, we lose. So we must destroy it before." "In only one week..." Celestia said. "We still have to link the three armies before fighting our way through the desert. If we want to make it in time, we will have to constantly advance with everything we have." "But then comes a second warning that Discord gave," Infinite said. "He warned us to keep all the cities guarded, even the ones that are safe. Eggman must be preparing something to send troops even behind the frontline. Maybe by sending airships from space." «But we can't hope to reach that tornado in one week while leaving troops to defend ALL our cities!» Luna shouted. "Then we will use Phantom Rubies. More and more Phantom Rubies. We will multiply their production," Celestia said. "And... In the eventuality that we fail to stop Eggman from absorbing all our magic, then we will start to evacuate the cities at risk, like Cloudsdale. And no, if Eggman absorbs our magic, this will not mean our defeat. The Phantom Rubies will still work even without magic. Another reason to multiply their production. And we now have a technology that can oppose Eggman's. With magic or not, we will win this war." Then, the representation of the Death Egg disappeared, the influence of the Phantom Ruby stopped, and Infinite screamed as he fell on the table on his butt. Giving a small hiss of pain, he then got up, his mask disappearing. "Next time, a warning would be nice, Infinite," Scootaloo said. You know me, I'm not nice, replied Infinite with a chuckle. "Ahem! So, I think we all agree with this plan: we continue to work to link the three armies, but we will send troops to guard our cities while will increase the production of Phantom Rubies. Equestria is even ready to give some rubies to its allies so they can better protect their cities. Until now, Eggman mainly targeted Equestria, but I wouldn't put it past him that he will target all the peoples who joined us. Once the three armies are linked, then we will start a general assault toward the center of Bone Dry Desert with the goal to reach it in less than a week to destroy the Death Egg before it can take off," said Celestia. All the representatives of the Alliance present in the room nodded. "A plan simple, but probably the most effective we have, given the fierce resistance the robots are giving despite our Phantom Rubies." Shining Armor said. «And I also received reports that Eggman has built a vast fortress in the tornado and many others all across the desert. We will have to fight day and night to succeed,» said Chrysalis. "This will be a long week..." Scootaloo sighed. The two next days, the assaults led by Luna and Chrysalis were finally able to join the armies of West and East, accomplishing the first objective. While this happened, the equestrians reconverted the Egg Fortress, or what remained of it, for their own use, and thanks to it, were able to capture the old territory of Arimaspi as well as most of the forest and jungle north of Bone Dry Desert. With their position on the mainland assured, the Saddle Arabians, minotaurs, and zebras, helped by the hippogriffs, sent an assault on the island that was once the realm of the Storm King, south of the mainland. The island was converted into a base that produced submarines, which would have been very bad news for the hippogriffs if left unchecked. But this worried the hippogriffs because more submarines could be elsewhere. They scouted the oceans after that, discovering some submarine bases between the south coast and the Iceberg Barrier, and with the help of Phantom Rubies, worked in destroying them. By the third day, the general assault toward the center of Bone Dry Desert began, the East army going by the south through the Sea of Clouds to cut any possibilities for Eggman to escape. The closest to the center of the desert were the equestrians and other peoples forming the North army, but they still had to capture the south part of the jungle and the forest before entering the desert itself. This left the West army, but from the Nightmare Cliffs, they had to cross hundreds of miles of desert full of well-defended fortresses. Them reaching the tornado in time was pretty much impossible. Without forgetting that there were the Caves of Conundrum on the way, and who knew what Eggman did with them. Nobody was looking forward to entering this maze of caves, probably full of robots. If Eggman played it smart, those robots could be giant worm-like robots that could devour everything inside those caves. In the end, only an assault from the south of the Forbidden Jungle could hope to reach the tornado in time. But then, a dozen of Eggman's airships suddenly appeared above Canterlot. A similar number appeared above the Crystal Empire. More above Griffonstone. Also above the Changeling Hive. This was what Discord talked about: Eggman found a way to teleport small armadas of airships everywhere. Airships appeared above the capitals and major cities of all the members of the Alliance. If it wasn't for Discord's warning, the number of casualties would have reached the millions, and the Alliance would have been destroyed. Thankfully, all the airships were destroyed, not without causing some destruction. However, airships continued to appear here and there, constantly causing problems to the Alliance, attacking convoys, forcing the armies to spread to defend as much land as possible, and making the Alliance lose time. This also caused the populations to be constantly in fear of seeing the airships of doom appearing above their head, greatly decreasing the moral already low after the destruction caused to the cities and farms. For the three next days, the Alliance had to fight the constant assaults of teleported airships and the beginning of a famine while trying to reach the tornado and finish this war. The West Army was advancing slowly, but surely, the East Army took most of the South, and the North Army almost reached the fortress surrounding the tornado. It seemed like the North Army would be able to destroy the Death Egg in time. But then, as the North Army reached the fortress and began the, hopefully, final battle... The fortress wasn't as huge as the one that became the Badlands, but since it surrounded a sand tornado dozens of miles wide, it was still HUGE, and extremely well protected by a sea of airships. The Alliance countered by creating its own sea of airships replicas thanks to the Phantom Rubies, and in just a few seconds, the battle became the most violent of the war. Explosions littered the sky, and all kinds of powerful robots like in the Egg Fortress came to add their touch. Half the robots mastered alicorn-level of magic while, at this point, half the attackers possessed a Phantom Ruby, the copies that Twilight was able to perfect, and the battle took proportions where it was a wonder that the universe didn't collapse. In this chaos, Rainbow Dash encountered an old rival of hers: Metal Sonic. She saw it, its back to her, as it just impaled a pegasus with its arm turned energy sword. "Hey! Tin can!" She yelled. "It is time for us to have our round two!" Hearing her, Metal Sonic turned its head to look at her, then let the pegasus drop as it faced her. It was now holding a Phantom Ruby in its left hand. "Uh oh..." The ruby activated, and Metal Sonic disappeared in a flash of light that forced Rainbow Dash to close her eyes. When she opened them, she saw that Metal Sonic had transformed. It was now taller, possessing five sharp quills instead of the three usual ones it had on its head, and there were white stripes on them. It now had black and curved shoulder plates, an also black spiky belt with a black cape at the back of its waist, and larger gauntlets and leg armor with white spikes coming out of its knees. The Phantom Ruby was now inside its torso. All in all, Metal Sonic now possessed a much more menacing appearance, and as it gave itself a look, it began cackling madly. NEO METAL SONIC "Well... Buck..." Metal Sonic eventually stopped laughing and raised its arms, sending powerful lightning bolts all over the area, destroying everything, both friends or foes, giving another cackle. Thinking quickly, Rainbow Dash used the Phantom Ruby to give a Sonic Rainboom kick in Metal Sonic's face, gaining its attention. "I'm your opponent! Stop attacking everyone!" Metal Sonic rubbed its slightly damaged face, chuckling. "Rainbow Dash... Prepare to suffer for eternity." "You can now talk? Woah!" She moved her head, barely dodging Metal Sonic's punch. However, as she flew back and readied her Phantom Ruby to attack, a sudden beam came out of nowhere and destroyed it, to her horror. "WHAT?!" A few minutes earlier. The battle quickly turned for the advantage of the Alliance. Surprisingly, neither Eggman nor Tirek appeared to try to stop them. But as Scootaloo almost reached the tornado, preceding everyone else, she encountered someone: Discord. "You finally decide to do something?" she asked. "Yeah. Surprisingly, you reached this fortress in time, so I have to act. Sorry to say, but your advance stop there," said the draconequus very seriously. He then snapped his fingers. And everywhere, beams suddenly appeared and took everyone by surprise, destroying every single Phantom Ruby Copies excepted the one in Metal Sonic's torso. Even the ones used by the other armies, or the ones that were still being produced, were destroyed. Not a single ruby was left. And as the replicas disappeared, the situation became less advantageous for the Alliance. "EEEEHHHH?!!" yelled Scootaloo in horror. "Oh my, did I say that I could do nothing against all those Phantom Rubies?" said Discord before he raised a sign with "I lied!" written on it. "I just needed to lower your guard. And now, once I'm done with you, the Alliance will be at my mercy." DISCORD "If you think you have won, think again!" Scootaloo shouted as she materialized a lightning spear. But then, before the fight could start, the sand tornado behind Discord disappeared, revealing a fully finished Death Egg, exactly as Infinite described it. A giant metallic sphere with Eggman's face, actually half buried in the desert's sand. "THAT'S THE DEATH EGG?!!" Scootaloo yelled. "What is this idiot doing?" Discord growled. Green energy gathered in the eyes of the Eggman face, and everyone understood what was going on as the airships moved. Then, two giants green beams were fired from the eyes and destroyed everything in their path before they hit the ground, causing two tremendous explosions that caused more destruction. Nothing was left of the few airships that were caught in them. As Scootaloo stared in horror at the two craters that were formed where nothing remained, Discord growled and yelled "Eggman! I’ve had it! You didn't need to go that far!" The airships of the Alliance moved to avoid being in front of the Eggman face next time it could fire when, suddenly, an alarm started blaring all across the fortress. Then, on various screens, a countdown appeared. Five minutes before launch.