//------------------------------// // The Power of Teamwork // Story: Sonic and EQG: Fiendship is Magic. // by SonicAKG //------------------------------// Everyone looked on as Shadow pursued Pinkie through the entrance. There was a brief pause as they did. Sunset then gave her group a look, which signified the motion to attack. Rainbow Dash then moved as a rainbow-colored streak and grabbed Sonic, dashing far away with him. “Sonic!” Manic called as he looked at Sonic being taken away. Applejack charged forward and threw a punch at Manic, but Knuckles held it. Rarity threw diamond daggers at Manic along with Applejack, and Knuckles, forcing them to break their powers struggles to dodge it, with Manic dashing away to safety. “Hey! I’m on yer side, ya idiot!” Applejack shouted at Rarity. “It’s not my fault you’re in my way. Besides, you should feel honored to assist me in my victory!” Rarity responded. Silver then grabbed Rarity in a psychic aura, holding her in place, causing her to grow a smug look on her face. “You think your puny powers can stop the all-powerful Rarity!” Rarity shouted. A black/purple aura surrounded Rarity, giving Silver a struggle as he tried to hold her in place. Manic ran towards Sunset Shimmer at the top, but Fluttershy came in front of him, making him stop in his tracks. “Oh, it’s you.” Manic said with a bored tone. “Get out of my way, Fluttershy. I don’t want to hurt you.” “Considering how things went last time, I should be worried about not hurting you.” Fluttershy said. “Well, I wasn’t serious that time.” Manic responded. Twilight looked on as her friends battled the evil Rainbooms. She didn’t know what to do. Twilight looked up at Sunset who gave her a sinister smile. Sunset snapped her fingers. The platform which held Manic, Silver, Knuckles, Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy flipped over. Twilight looked on in shock at this happened. Now it was just her, and Sunset, making Twilight gulp nervously. Manic, Silver, Knuckles, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy began to fall. Fluttershy used her wings to stop her fall, and Rarity conjured some diamond steps to walk on. Silver used his psych powers to stop his fall, but then Applejack suddenly punched him, sending him along with Manic crashing towards the ground. Knuckles attempted to glide his way to safety, but Rarity sent a diamond-shaped barrier to crash into Knuckles causing him to hit the ground as well. The room in which they fell in was all silver, and very large. The walls were painted with Eggman’s symbols. “Ow. That was not fun.” Manic said as he got up, and rubbed his head. Knuckles also rose up as well as Silver rubbed his cheek as when rose up. The 3 Rainbooms were looking down at them. “Curse that Sunset!” Rarity said annoyed. “How dare she subject me to this humiliation, and stick me with these fashion atrocities. Once I dispose of them, she will suffer my wrath! “Hey, yer not disposin’ of anyone!” Applejack told her. “I’m gonna use these 3 varmints as workers for expandin’ my business. If you could actually think, you’d know it’s stupid to waste good help. “I don’t want to hear any talk of stupidity coming from an uncivilized, brute as yourself!” Rarity shouted at Applejack. “Silly humans, and their pointless squabbles. These three will make excellent food for my friends.” Fluttershy said. Rarity and Applejack looked at her. “Rarity finds your repulsive!” Rarity shouted at Fluttershy. “No one cares about some dumb animals!” Applejack also shouted. “Apologize at once for insulting my friends, you human scum!” Fluttershy yelled. Soon all three of them were arguing, and yelling at one another. Silver observed this with curiosity. “It looks like their having trouble getting along.” Silver said to himself. “This is perfect. If we use teamwork, and exploit their dysfunction we can have a chance at beating them and turning them back to normal. Knuckles, Manic, follow my-.” Knuckles jumped in the air and did a punch at Rarity who quickly used a diamond shield to block it though the force did blow her away. Applejack grabbed Knuckles by his feet and threw him towards the ground, making a small dent in it as he hit it. Knuckles got up as Applejack came towards him, and punched the ground, her fist making a small crater as Knuckles dodged it. Knuckles punched Applejack making her slide away. Knuckles and Applejack then ran towards each other, with their fist-clashing making a shockwave which blew both of them away. Silver groaned in annoyance. “I probably should’ve expected Knuckles not to listen. Manic-.” Silver began to say when Manic jumped in the air and grabbed Fluttershy. Manic then landed on the ground holding Fluttershy by the arms. “All right. I didn’t want to have to do this, but Fluttershy since you’re acting really crazy, I have to knock you out. Please forgive me.” Manic said as he reluctantly raised a chop. “I promise this won’t hurt that much.” “Oh, Manic. Your ignorance is something that will never cease to amaze me.” Fluttershy said with a smile. She then pressed a button on the wristband Sunset gave her. A hole in the ground opened up. One of them was a large gray armored robot. The greek letter Eta was on both of its shoulders, and the number 106 was on its side. It had 4 large spikes for hands with piston-like arms. The robot then charged, and swatted Manic to the side, making him crash towards the wall. He groaned as he struggled to get up. “Manic, meet E-106 Eta Mark II. This will be the instrument of your demise.” Fluttershy said the robot came behind her. “So you have a robot. Big deal. I’ve smashed plenty of those before, and this one won’t be any different.” Manic said as he rose up, and cracked his knuckles. Manic charged forward with his eskrima sticks “Before you do, I should tell you that this robot has my animal friends instead. While I know you’re eager to smash this fellow, I should warn you that destroying the robot will most surely result in unpleasant feeling for my friends as Sunset made adjustments to connect them to it more strongly. While they have more control over it, damage done to it could damage them.” Fluttershy said right as Manic went to strike Eta. “What?!” Manic said as he stopped at the last second, inches away from Eta. Eta took this chance to hit Manic again, making him roll against the ground as Fluttershy smiled. “Okay, what is is with you?” Manic said as he rose up, holding his sides in pain. “I mean you say you hate humans, but you are one. You say you want to protect your animal friends, but you’re putting them in danger. Can you make up your mind?! Why would you agree to put your animals at such a big risk like this?!” “Well, it was done to ensure no resistance in my plan for revenge against humans. I know you won’t hurt poor innocent animals. This plan makes perfect sense.” Fluttershy said. “It really doesn’t as it looks to me that I, a lowly human by not wanting to hurt your animal friends cares more about them than you do, who is putting in danger.” Manic responded. Enough your imprudence! Destroy him!” Fluttershy shouted. Eta then rushed towards Manic. Rarity turned towards Silver. “You!” She shouted making Silver turn towards her. “I made the mistake of sparing you for your fashion sense! It is sooo out of style! Prepare to die!” Rarity conjured a storm of diamonds and launched them at Silver who lifted up metal from the floor and used the shrapnel to counter them. Silver then teleported behind Rarity and launched a psychic knife, but Rarity blocked with a diamond shield and launched a diamond, which Silver dodged, but it gave him a small cross across his cheek. Rarity then conjured a pair of diamond claws and launched at Silver. “Oh, not this again.” Silver said as he avoided Rarity’s claws, and used a psychic field to blow her away. Applejack threw a punch at Knuckles, who avoided it. Knuckles then came behind Applejack and put her in a full nelson hold. “Let go of me.” Applejack struggled. “The longer you hold on, the more I’ll charge you for it.” “Oh come on, now you’re just being-.” Knuckles started to say before Applejack grew a dark/purple aura around herself. “(What’s this feeling. This is-).” Knuckles was then blown away as Applejack increased the force of the aura, and freed herself. She then punched Knuckles, who managed to block it, but the force was still strong enough to send him into the wall. Applejack then lifted a large piece of the floor and threw it at Knuckles. Knuckles punched through it, which sent pieces towards Applejack, who managed to evade them. The aura surrounding Applejack grew larger, and she charged at Knuckles. Knuckles then surrounded himself in a red aura(Maximum Heat Knuckles attack), and also charged at Applejack. When they clashed Knuckles overpowered her, and blew Applejack away, sending her crashing on the ground. “You’ll be payin’ for my medical bills!” Applejack said angrily. Knuckles then stood over her. “I think I just felt some negative Chaos Energy from you.” Knuckles said as lifted Applejack by the collar. “How is it that you possess that kind of power?” “I’ll be more than happy to tell ya. For the right price.” Applejack said, making Knuckles roll his eyes. While he was distracted Applejack head butted Knuckles, causing him to stagger back. She then uppercutted him in the air. Eta was using his drills to try, and attack Manic who was using his super-speed to easily dodge them. “(All right, I have to destroy this guy to save Fluttershy, but how can I do it without hurting her animal friends? She’ll hate me forever if anything happens to them. But I can’t let this guy crush me to pieces. What should I-.)” Manic thought to himself as Eta hit him in the air, making him hit the ceiling. As Manic fell, Eta launched two lasers from his eyes at him, but Manic spun around, and became a tornado mid-air, using his eskrima sticks to deflect them back at Eta, hitting him. A surge of electricity then hit Eta, and Manic could hear the screams of animals. He then rushed towards Eta. “Oh man, I didn't mean to-.” Manic said as Eta got up, and tried to smash him, which Manic dodged. “You’re weak Manic.” Fluttershy said as she observed the fight. “Your pathetic compassion will be your downfall. But we are strong. This is why we were here long before civilization and will be here long after!” “Yeah, yeah, and then everything will be magical as you, and your friends frolic through the rainbow meadows,” Manic said mockingly. “Though I’m not sure if they still want to be your friends, after all, you’re doing to them.” Eta then tried to hit Manic with his drill, but Manic jumped over it and landed on Eta’s head. Eta then used jet boosters to fly in the air towards the ceiling to crush Manic, but Manic jumped off, and Eta crashed into the ceiling, causing another surge of electricity to hit him, and again animal screams were heard. Manic winced at this. “I’m sorry. I promise when this is over, I’ll make it up to you. Blame the evil Fluttershy.” Manic said. At the sound of her animal friends screaming, Fluttershy’s eyes briefly went from red to their usual cyan color, and a hint of tears was seen, but then Fluttershy shook her head, and her eye color returned to red. Manic noticed this. “Fluttershy are you-.” Manic began to say as Eta jumped down, and punched the ground creating a shockwave which blew Manic away and made him roll on the ground. “Listen, Rarity you’ve already been evil once before, and I’m not really in the mood to go over it all over again. Just return to normal.” Silver said as he created a psychic shield that Rarity was trying to claw her way through. “Impudent fellow. Rarity will crush you in an instance!” Rarity said. She then formed a diamond around the shield Silver was in, and then attached them to shield completely until it appeared that the shield itself was made of diamonds. “Nice, try Rarity but this isn't going to work.” Silver said. He then extended the psychic aura around the diamonds, but the diamonds were surround by a dark purple aura, which overpowered Silver’s aura. Rarity then had control over the shield and using it, she then smashed Silver all around the room many times into the floor, ceiling, and walls. Rarity then spun Silver around and threw him hard to the ground causing the shield, and the diamonds to disperse as Silver sprawled across the ground. Silver struggled to get up as Rarity approached him. “This is exactly where you belong Silver. Beneath me as everyone should. All will bow to Rarity.” Rarity shouted. “Since when did Rarity turn into Trixie?” Silver quipped weakly. Rarity grew a large diamond shield and prepared to crush Silver with it. Silver continued to struggle to get up, when Manic crashed into him, sending both of them on the ground. “Who is the interloper who interferes with Rarity’s victory?!” Rarity shouted annoyed. Eta then marched over to where Manic, and Silver with Fluttershy floating behind him. Rarity looked annoyed at Fluttershy and prepared to scold her when Knuckles also came crashing into Manic, and Silver as they began to get up. Applejack then appeared as well. “Both of you nuisances get out of my way as I teach these varmints a lesson.” Applejack said to Rarity, and Fluttershy, making both of them turn to her. “This is my fight, and you’re the ones ruining it!” Fluttershy said. “Please, you’re not even fighting. It’s those pests that you keep with you in that hideous robot. But it’s not as hideous as your outfit. And that goes double for you Applejack!” Rarity shouted. “I’m gettin’ really tired of hearin’ you yappin’ all the time. What I was about to do Knuckles when I’m done with him, I’ll do it 3x as worse to you two, and make you work so hard to pay off the trouble you’ve caused me that your grandchildren will still be payin’ this debt!” Applejack shouted. The 3 of them then turned their attention on each other, and an argument again erupted. “Ugh.” Manic said as he rose up. “Can those 3 argue somewhere else? My head is killing me.” “Well, that was a good rest.” Knuckles said as he pushed Manic off him. He then prepared to charge at Applejack(who was still arguing with Rarity, and Fluttershy) before Silver trapped him in a green aura. “Hey, what gives?” “This is exactly what happened when we first got down here, and look how it turned out.” Silver said as he released Knuckles. “Look, notice how the 3 of them can barely be around each other without wanting to rip the other’s head off. They lack teamwork. We can use that against them or just repeat the same thing over, and over again.” Both Knuckles and Manic looked at Silver and then nodded. “We don’t have much time before they notice what we’re up to. Let’s compare notes.” Silver suggested. “When I was fighting Applejack I noticed that negative Chaos Energy was emitting from her.” Knuckles explained. “I think that might be the source of her behavior along with Rarity, and Fluttershy.” “Negative Chaos energy. Since you’re a guardian or whatever, do you have any ideas?” Manic asked Knuckles. “I have one, but it’ll take some time to prepare. You two will need to keep them distracted until then.” Knuckles said. “Okay then, Manic follow my-.” Silver began to say. “Hey, what are you 3 doing?!” Fluttershy shouted, causing Manic, Knuckles, and Silver to turn towards them. “It looks like their planning something!” “ Ahm tired of you three causin’ me so much trouble!” Applejack shouted. She then pressed a button on the watch Sunset gave her. The floor opened, and a large robot appeared. It had a red chest, and with gold/blue metal arms, but the right hand was a spiked mace. The robot had a face shaped like Eggman but with a silver pointed noise, very sharp silver teeth, and green eyes. “Only you two would resort to using cheap technology to get a job done.” Rarity said. “Rarity needs no such things!” Rarity then tore off the watch Sunset gave her, and crushed it in her hand. She then launched two large diamond shield at the trio who dodged them. “Knuckles, start with whatever you have to do!” Manic shouted. Knuckles nodded, and then put his palms in front of him as he closed his eyes. He then started to say “The Servers are the Seven Chaos. Chaos is power. Power is enriched by the Heart. The controller is the one that unifies Chaos.” He then began to recite this over, and over again. Applejack lifted up her fist, and so did the Eggbreaker with its mace hand. She brought her fist down, and so did it, making the mace hit the ground, and shooting a shockwave. Silver used a psychic shield to block the attack. Eta then appeared, and tried to crush Silver with his drill, but Silver flew away. He then restrained Eta in a psychic hold. “Don’t try to hurt that robot too much.” Manic said to Silver. “Fluttershy’s friends are in there, and damaging the robot hurts them.” “What?” Silver said as he briefly loosened his grip on Eta. Eta then hit Silver, but Silver lifted some debris to be used a shield which sent him moving back. Manic ran towards the Egg Breaker at blinding speed. It tried to smash him, but Manic jumped and ran on its arm. He then leaped off its arm, and towards Applejack. Manic then kicked her, but she used her arms to block it. Manic then springboard of her, blowing himself away, and towards Rarity with his arms outstretched. Rarity conjured a diamond shield to block him, but Manic instead grabbed the diamond shield and used it to throw Rarity(who was holding the shield) into Applejack, sending both of them towards the ground. Rarity roughly shoved Applejack off her as she rose up. “How dare you force Rarity to have contact with this lesser being!” Rarity shouted as she conjured two diamonds on her arm, and charged at Manic, trying to hit him with it as he dodged them. Silver dodged another one of Eta’s blow, and then grabbed him in a psychic hold. “(What should I do? I have him in a hold. I could tear him apart to free the animals, but I don’t how they are connected to it, and I might hurt them).” Silver thought to himself. Just then the Egg Breaker controlled by Applejack tried to punch Silver with its mace, who barely dodged it. Silver lifted some debris and threw it at the Egg Breaker, who crushed it easily. As Silver lifted up more debris to throw at the Egg Breaker, his grip on Eta was loosening at it started to move again briefly. Silver quickly resumed his grip on Eta, but this distracted him and allowed the Egg Breaker to smash him into the ground, releasing Eta. Manic continued to dodge Rarity’s attacks, and then he ran around her, forming a tornado that blew her away. Manic then noticed Fluttershy in the air looking down at him. Just then the Egg Breaker spun around, and shot 6 bombs everywhere. 2 bombs went towards Knuckles, who was still doing his meditation, but Silver rose up, and caught them with his psychic powers. He then threw them at the 3 other bombs to minimize damage, but one bomb was headed towards Fluttershy. Manic jumped in the air and shielded Fluttershy from the bomb with his body, but the blast still sent both of them heading towards the ground, and they crashed into it. “Manic!” Silver shouted as the Egg Breaker and Eta both went to punch him, but then he used his psychic powers to stop both of them, which also stopped Applejack as well due to her controlling the Egg Breaker. Silver sweated and groaned as he struggled to hold them. Rarity appeared behind Silver and generated a diamond blade. “Finally the moment I’ve been waiting for!” Rarity shouted as she brought down the blade on Silver, who again used his psychic powers to stop her, but the strain was evident given his groans, and the veins appearing on his head. Manic rolled on the ground, his whole body smoking from the explosion, and his clothes were in tatters. Manic groaned as he lied on the ground. “Why did I do that?” Manic groaned. Just then Fluttershy came over him. She looked at him for a while and then kicked him hard in the stomach. Manic grunted as this happened. “Like I said Manic, your weakness will be your downfall.” Fluttershy sneered. She then kicked him again, and he rolled. Angel then fell out of Manic’s hair. He had some bruises from the blast and was unconscious. “He was in my hair, the entire time? I was wondering where he was.” Manic said weakly. Fluttershy then came over to Angel, and lifted up her foot. “This traitor. I’ve been waiting to crush him for a long time. Goodbye, Angel.” Fluttershy said darkly. “Go ahead do it.” Manic said, making Fluttershy turn towards him. “What?” Fluttershy asked. “I mean go ahead, do it. Stomp on him. After all, you’re no longer the Fluttershy I know, who is kind, and caring to everything she meets. You’ll do anything to get revenge or justice or whatever even if it means hurting the ones you love. Now's your chance to prove you’ve changed completely. Do it.” Manic said rather harshly. Fluttershy gave him a twisted smile. “I knew it. When push comes to shove, you humans will betray animals. When I’m done with him, you’re next.” Fluttershy warned. Fluttershy lifted her foot up, and went to stomp on Angel, but she couldn’t. No matter how hard she tried she couldn’t bring her foot down. In fact, she was paralyzed. “What’s this? Why can’t I-.” Fluttershy said to herself as she still struggled to do it. “I’m waiting. Do it!” Manic shouted. Fluttershy closed her eyes and tried to bring her foot down but she couldn’t. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she struggled. “I-I-I-I-I!!!!” Fluttershy struggled with herself. A black/purple aura surrounded her as she struggled to do the deed, and attempted to muster enough strength to do so, but she still resisted. Silver was also struggling with Rarity, Eta, and Applejack. He was falling towards the ground, and he closed one of his eyes. His aura was flashing as all of them struggled to move. “Knuckles! How’s that plan!?” Silver shouted. ““The Servers are the Seven Chaos. Chaos is power. Power is enriched by the Heart. The controller is the one that unifies Chaos. “The Servers are the Seven Chaos. Chaos is power. Power is enriched by the Heart. The controller is the one that unifies Chaos. “The Servers are the Seven Chaos. Chaos is power. Power is enriched by the Heart. The controller is the one that unifies Chaos.” Knuckles repeated to himself. Suddenly green chaos energy surrounded his arms and spread out. As it did, black/purple chaos energy came out of Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy as well. The two energy’s combined into a sphere, which was half of both of them. Knuckles struggled to keep the sphere stable as energy broke out from parts of it. He then grunted and groaned as sweat came down his face. His veins became visible due to the stress. “The Servers are the Seven Chaos. Chaos is power. Power is enriched by the Heart. The controller is the one that unifies Chaos!” Knuckles shouted. The sphere glowed a white color, and then a wave of Green Chaos Energy covered the room. It struck Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy. All of them were surrounded by a green aura as the wave struck them and screamed as energy emitted from them. Soon, the aura’s died down, and all of three of them fell on the floor unconscious. Eta then shut down along with the Egg Breaker. Noticing they had shut down, Silver released them and fell to the ground as well. Knuckles realizing his plan had worked, dropped to his knees. “It worked…..my plan to use my connection to the Master Emerald to purify the negative energy in them worked…..though it took a lot out of me….”Knuckles said weakly. “Yay for teamwork.” Silver also cried out weakly. Manic simply raised a thumb ups, before his hand slipped down again in weakness.