Chapter 5: Spatial Awareness
Beads of sweat was pouring down her brow as she stared intensely at the field before her. All the pieces were in place and her plan was coming together. All that was left was the execution. She had been trying repeatedly for this to work and she was running out of time. It all rested on this one important, and crucial, moment.
Rainbow stared at her opponent intensely, her magenta eyes narrowing as they met the other's emerald green eyes. Finally, she put her plan into motion, and with a confident smirk, she moved her pawn to the end of the board and replaced it with a new queen.
"Ha!" Rainbow shouted triumphantly, "Ya know you really need to pay more attention to- "
"Checkmate," Applejack said plainly.
Rainbow looked back at the chessboard and was in utter disbelief at the sight. Her king was cornered trapped in all directions by two pawns and a rook on the far side of the table. Whichever direction she moved in it wouldn't matter.
"Ugghhhhh…" Rainbow let out as she slumped back in her chair and let her head hang over the back.
As she did so, she got a good look at what had changed since she started playing. They were all still in Twilight's equivalent of a living room, aside from their new visitors and the princess herself. Silver and Blaze, as she remembered them by, had left to get something ready for when they go check out this 'new world' they were going to and Twilight had rushed back to her library to, in her words, "Get ready for the trip". Rainbow shuddered when she heard that. The rest of them had stayed here to pass the time until then. Rarity was currently in the kitchen in the next room with Spike. She wanted to show him how tea was meant to be made, much to the excitement of the little dragon. Fluttershy was up by the window sill tending to some of Twilight's flowers, a watering can in hoof as she hummed to herself. Pinkie Pie was…somewhere. She herself had challenged Applejack to another one of their infamous chess matches. The wins so far: 0 to 5…
Rainbow sat back up and said while pointing at the cowpony, "Best out of 11!"
Applejack let out a sigh as she tipped her hat over her eyes as it was her turn to lay back into her chair. "Sugarcube," she said, "ya sure your feelin' ok? Ever since those other varmints left ya been real…umm…what's the word?"
"Really, really testy!" echoed Pinkie's voice from above them.
They looked up to see the party pony looking down at them from a small balcony. As quickly as she came however she disappeared back over the edge going who knows where. Rainbow drew her attention away from whatever her crazy friend was up to and focused back on Applejack.
"Why does that surprise you?" she asked in a neutral tone.
Applejack wasn't really expecting a response like that. Normally Rainbow would just lash back at the pony who said something like that. Here however, she was acting like it was nothing out of the ordinary?
"Maybe cause ya agreed to help 'em," said Applejack. "Ya havin' second thoughts er somethin'?"
"Well kind of," answered Rainbow Dash. "How do we know they're telling the truth about this whole thing? That whole other world stuff seems like a bunch of pony feathers if you ask me."
Rainbow looked at her fallen chess pieces with an impassive look before she started stacking them up again in their appropriate places. "Or maybe it's just that I'm still trying to wrap my head around this whole thing," she said.
"About what darling?" Said the familiar voice of Rarity as she walked in from the kitchen. "You mean you still don't trust them, even after what they said?"
"Kind of," said Rainbow. "Plus, how we go from being enemies at one point to being besties in the span of an hour or two. Until I see all this for myself, they're still gonna be iffy to me."
"I actually really liked the stories they told us of their world," said the quiet voice of Fluttershy as they turned to face her hanging the air behind them. She shrunk back a little, but only slightly. "I mean, I'd just like to get a good look at it if I could…"
"SONIC! DON'T FORGET THE STORY ABOUT THE SONIC GUY!" yelled Pinkie's echoed voice from somewhere in the massive castle.
"Oh, that's right," spoke up Rarity. "The way they were talking they made him out be quite the knight in shining armor."
"Plus, they said he was much like yourself Sugarcube," Applejack said with a smile. "Maybe ya'd get along with him."
"Meh," Rainbow shrugged off with a wave of her hoof, "he didn't sound that impressive to me."
"Even the part bout him bein' the fastest thing alive?" asked Applejack with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.
"Please," said Rainbow, "I'm the fastest pegasus pony in Equestria! Plenty fast to outshine what some rodent could ever do."
Before the conversation went any further there was a massive crash and the sound of a low rumble coming from somewhere above them. Their eyes quickly darted to the balcony that Pinkie was at moments ago, with looks of curiosity mixed with nervousness. Spike hearing the commotion rushed out of the kitchen still wearing his pink 'Best Assistant' apron as he looked around the room with a terrified expression.
"What's happening!" he yelled.
"I think it came from upstairs," said Fluttershy with a slight shudder.
"Upstairs? But…" he stopped himself as his eyes shrunk. "Where's Pinkie Pie?"
Rarity was the one to answer, but at the same time she understood why he was getting a little worried. "Upstairs…"
Without another word, Spike zoomed off, his apron still in the air before it fell to the ground. In a purple blur, he rushed up the nearby spiral staircase at a speed that even Rainbow was impressed with. Once he reached the top he disappeared through the doorway and everything went silent. Nopony downstairs said a word. They all just looked up at the stairs in both curiosity, and slight fear.
"Maybe one of us should…" Applejack started before the sound of a massive explosion echoed throughout the castle. The shockwave shook the floor, the shelves, the tables, everything. The ponies all jumped in worried surprise before large plumes of black smoke leaked out from over the balcony and through the door above them. Rainbow took flight, about to rush up to help her friends from whatever that could've been. Before she got the chance, however, through the smoke they all noticed a very cheery Pinkie Pie bouncing down the stairs without a care in the world, block soot covering most of her body.
"It broke itself!" she said about halfway down.
Another figure came through the doorway. This time it was Spike in the same situation as the party pony. He closed the door as to try and stop the massive amounts of smoke before coughing up what literally sounded like a storm. Rainbow flew up to the tiny dragon and just hovered next to him, making sure to avoid what smoke was still there.
"Spike what happened!?" she asked worryingly.
"Don't *cough* ask… *cough*" he said nearly out of breath.
Meanwhile, Pinkie finally reached the bottom still as happy as can be before vibrating her entire body, starting from her head to the tip of her tail, and shaking all the soot off of her pink coat before going to join Fluttershy and Rarity, who looked at her with very perplexed looks. Pinkie stopped and looked at her two friends.
"What?" she asked. "Do I have something on my face?"
"Just…" Rarity started, but didn't know if she even had the strength to start something with her, "nothing dear."
Interrupting the chaos, Twilight burst through the door, causing everypony to look at her. On her back was a saddlebag with all sorts of papers, writing utensils, books and other assortments of items that were too big to stay inside the limiting pockets. On top of that was her trusty pet owl, Owlicious, who simply looked at the group with giant curious eyes. She walked in with a smile as Owlicious flew off her back and onto his perch in the corner of the room. Spike and Rainbow were now at the bottom of the stairs, Spike still covered in all the soot, however.
"All right everypony," said Twilight with confidence, "I take it you're all ready to get going?"
"We've been ready for about an hour now," Rainbow said with a deadpan expression. "What were you doing anyway?"
"As a princess of Equestria, it is my duty to represent our world in the most presentable way possible," Twilight said as a matter of factly. "I need to ready myself."
"Yeah right!" exclaimed Rainbow. "Maybe if you were Rarity I'd believe that."
"It's only proper!" said Rarity.
"But you look the same as you did when you left!" finished Rainbow.
"It's not just about looks Rainbow," said Twilight. "A princess needs to know how properly address others as well. I was simply readying myself for the situation in which I must confront the dignitaries."
"But Blaze was princess in their world Sugarcube," stated Applejack. "Ya got her favor, I'd say ya got the kingdom's favor, right?"
"It's just a precaution Applejack," said Twilight.
"Then what pray tell is with all the books darling?" asked Rarity. "It's just a little…excessive."
"And if anything, that's what took you so long to get back," said Rainbow.
"This is just all the necessities," Twilight said gesturing to the saddlebag. "We have no idea what this world is like. It may be only a little, but whatever knowledge I can get over the topic of space and time will probably be of use to us in the long run. Plus, being a new world and all it's important that I'll be able to take plenty of notes on our findings."
"I'm sure you'll have no trouble with that," Rainbow mumbled.
"Anyways, I'd say we better get going," said Twilight. "We don't need to keep them waiting."
Before she even got to turn back to the door, she noticed a weird smell in the air. It smelled like something was burning a little and was giving off a smoky smell. She looked out to the source and saw the large amounts of black smoke and soot coming out of the balcony upstairs before looking back at the group, immediately noticing the soot covered Spike.
"Spike, could you clean up your mess while we're gone?" she said to the little dragon.
"What!" yelled Spike.
"Owlicious?" she questioned.
"Hooo?" the owl asked.
"Make sure Spike cleans up his mess," she said.
"WHAT!" he yelled again.
"All right everypony," she said to the rest of group, "let's get going."
All at once they rushed out the door, leaving a baby dragon with his jaw nearly hitting the floor, and an owl simply watching the door with beady eyes.
"Hoooooooo," Owlicious exclaimed.
"Oh, don't you start with me," said Spike with slumped shoulders.
The group was now nearing the Everfree for forest for the second time today. Thankfully the meeting point was just on the edge of the tree line, so no need to go and get lost in the winding woods. Already they could see two figures coming into view as they approached. One was Silver sitting on the ground with his hands behind him holding him up. He appeared to be cloud watching as a way to pass the time. Blaze, on the other hoof, was leaning against a tree with her arms crossed and her eyes closed. They looked like they've been here for a while, waiting for the group to show up.
Silver's left ear seemed to twitch a bit before he turned to see the mane six approaching them. Pushing himself up from the ground, he waved Blaze over, catching the attention of the purple cat as she walked over. Together they met up with the group al little ways away from the dark tree line.
"Good you made it," Blaze said calmly.
"Sorry we're late," apologized Twilight. "It took longer to get ready than we thought."
"That's an understatement," Rainbow whispered to Fluttershy.
Silver just shrugged it off. "Well as long you're here, at least we can get started."
"Umm…Mister Silver?" said the meek voice of Fluttershy causing the group to face her.
"Hmm? What is it?" he asked.
"Well…how are we going to get back to your world? If you don't mind me asking," she asked.
"That's right," said Applejack. "Before ya said yawl got here usin' that gem of yer's. We usin' it to get back?"
"We are," explained Blaze. "But we all need to make sure to stay as close as possible to one another. We don't want to have to come back because we left someone behind."
"I'm still not used to how you guys keep saying someone instead of somepony," Rainbow mused. "Just sounds weird when you say it like that."
"Believe me, it took some getting used to vice versa too," said Silver.
Blaze chuckled to herself at that before going back to her explanation. "Just be sure that me and Silver are in the middle of the group and we shouldn't have any trouble getting there."
"Oooohhhhh, I'm so excited!" exclaimed Pinkie as the group got together around the visitors. "Just think of all the new friends we'll be able to make here! It's literally a world of endless possibilities!"
Silver shifted uncomfortably a bit. Rarity noticed this as she joined the group and noticed a sweat drop on his head.
"What's the matter dear?" she asked.
"It's nothing. Just…nostalgia…" he said a little unsure sounding.
"Is everyone ready?" asked Blaze as she looked around the group making sure everyone was there.
Twilight got a good look at the group herself before saying, "We're all accounted for."
"Good, then we can get going," said Silver. "Blaze."
"Of course," she said.
Blaze then put her hands together as if she was about to start praying as she put her feet together both the ankles, making sure to stand straight up. Blaze closed her eyes before going silent. A feint blue glow began to surrounded her body, like tiny flames flickering around her. The ponies all backed away slightly at the sight and none of them were too sure what to make of it.
"Don't move away," said Silver. "This is normal. Nothing will happen. We promise."
Taking his word for it, they all grouped back around the glowing cat, although somewhat hesitantly. Finally, after ages of silence, Blaze opened her mouth to speak.
"Scepter of the ancients. Relic of time and space," she said as the flames grew slightly larger, "hear my voice. Return us to whence we once came. Let the worlds bridge!"
In an instant, the blue flames formed a circle around the group, causing all the participants save two to shrink toward the middle. Fluttershy attempted to hide herself behind her long mane and tail.
"What's going on!?" yelled Rainbow Dash.
"I don't know!" Twilight responded. "But to be honest, I'm not sure I want to know!"
"Silver," said Blaze.
"Got it," he said as he took out his blue Sol Emerald. He held it high above his head as it began to glow as bright as the flames all around them.
"Chaos…control!" he yelled as the emerald grew brighter. And brighter. And brighter still.
The ponies finally tore their eyes off the flames and now looked at the emerald in the hedgehog's hand. At this point it was brighter than even Celestia's sun in the sky. The entire area around them was now glowing the same color as the flames and the emerald. Rainbow was about to comment on it, but in an instant, she felt a sudden burning sensation in her chest.
There it was again. The same feeling she got when she was fighting Silver in the Everfree. Only this time it felt much stronger than before. She clutched her chest tightly as the glow from the emerald eventually forced her to shut her eyes. All at once, her body suddenly felt weightless, like she was nothing more than a feather in an empty space. Her whole body at this point was feeling warm. She couldn't see what was happening, but she didn't like what was going on at all. It didn't even feel natural. Eventually, she tried to open her eyes back up, only to see the flashes of blindingly fast colors fly by her.
Rainbow, still clutching her chest, fell to the ground with a light thud. The feeling that coursed through her body seconds ago had vanished and the weightless feeling has been replaced with the familiar feeling of soft grass against her hooves. She quickly opened her eyes and was thankfully not seeing any flashing colors this time. Instead she was greeted with the sight of emerald green grass and a blue afternoon sky in the horizon. She turned onto her back and saw the rest of the group, some better off than others.
Blaze was just now lowering her hands and going to a more relaxed position as she broke out of whatever she was concentrating on. Silver just got to putting his emerald away when they both finally got a good look at they're guests. Aside from Twilight and Applejack, who still looked very perplexed and were wobbling a bit, all the ponies were either on the ground or were already picking themselves up. All of them were breathing hard, and Rainbow noticed that some of them had their hooves on their chests as well.
"Whoa!" Silver exclaimed as he leaned down help up Fluttershy as she was the closest. "Are you guys ok?!"
"I feel a little lightheaded," said Fluttershy as she excepted the help.
"Woooo!" yelled Pinkie Pie as she jumped off the ground. "That was a doozy! Do it again! Do it again!"
"I don't think everypony else is thinking along those same lines darling," said Rarity as she brushed off the dirt on her white coat.
Blaze saw Rainbow still on the ground and walked over to the rainbow maned pony. To offered Rainbow her hand, which she gratefully accepted before being pulled back on all four hooves.
"How are you feeling?" asked the cat.
"I'm fine now!" said an agitated Rainbow Dash. "But what was that?! Why didn't you tell us that would happen?!" she said gesturing to Silver and Blaze.
"I don't even know what you're talking about?!" defended Silver.
"Sugarcube," started Applejack, "I don't know what yawl call normal in yer world, but I felt like I was bein' hurled through the air after bein' bucked off at the Appleoosa Rodeo Jamboree."
"I suppose the first trip through chaos control can cause some disorientation," explained Blaze in her normal monotone voice. "It should pass."
"It felt like a lot more than that," said Twilight. "And what did you just say? Chaos control?"
Silver nodded to the purple alicorn. "Right. It's what we used to get to your world originally. Basically, we can use it to teleport ourselves and anyone around us to another location, and it gets more powerful the more emeralds you have."
"I understand that part…mostly," said Twilight. "But what kind of energy does it use? By the name, I'd have to assume it uses chaos magic to distort space around the area it's used."
"I wouldn't exactly call it magic," said Blaze, "but you're correct. When chaos control is activated, both the user and the area around them are taken into was it essentially a break in space time. In this space, time slowed to the point where everything and everyone not caught in it might as well be frozen. However, what was caught in it can move freely through the space for a brief amount of time before they return to normal time. Wherever they go in that amount of time is where they'll be when this happens."
"And if given the right amount of power, they can even be used to go through time, and as you already know, to other worlds," finished Silver.
"But it uses chaos energy?" asked Twilight.
"Yes," Silver answered a bit unsure of what she was getting at.
Suddenly, he was gripped hard by the shoulders by a very agitated pegasus, who was looking him dead in the eye with a glare.
"Why!? Didn't!? You!? Tell!? Us!? That!?" Rainbow asked as she shook the grey, haired hedgehog.
Silver managed to break loose from Rainbow's iron grip as he put his hands up defensively in case she decided to charge him again. "What does it matter?! It's never had an effect on anyone like this before! Why would it do it to you guys all of a sudden?!"
"Our world doesn't view chaos like you seem to dear," spoke up Rarity. "We never really have any comfortable experiences with."
"What? Why?" asked Silver.
"Back in Equestria," explained Twilight, "me and my friends all represent what are known as the Elements of Harmony: Magic, Honesty, Generosity, Kindness, Laughter, and Loyalty. Each of us are tied to an element, and it's usually through us that harmony and friendship are spread throughout Equestria."
"So, chaos is looked down upon?" questioned Blaze.
"Just when it causes the fate of Equestria to hang in the balance," said Rainbow. "Take our best frenemy Discord. He tried to turn the place into a giant sandbox for him to play in a few times. He's cool now though…I think."
"I'll have you know that Discord is very sorry for what he's done and that he's taken many steps in the right direction since last time," Fluttershy said with an assertiveness that was unusual for her.
"Just because he's taken steps, doesn't mean he's all over the whole chaos trip," said Rainbow. "I once woke up with a cotton candy cloud under my sheets and a drawing of me with crazy glasses on my cutie mark! Reformed, maybe. Normal member of society, still working on that."
As they discussed this, Pinkie was a few feet away from them giggling to herself as she stuffed a piece of cotton candy into her mouth and put a black permanent marker away in her fluffy mane.
"I know he likes to prank ponies a lot," said Fluttershy, "but he really is trying. Just give him a little more time and I'm sure he'll-"
"SWEET CELESTIA!" yelled Rarity at the top of her lungs.
The group turned to the white unicorn who was now looking over the edge of what looked like a cliff. They all made their way over to her side and saw just what was catching her attention.
"Holy horse apples," Applejack managed out at the sight.
It was at this point that the ponies all realized they were at the top of a massive plateau, them being able to see the massive expanses of land and sea all over Sol. The afternoon sunlight did a good job of brightening up the land below. Forest, massive flower gardens, and many villages dotted the landscape. What really caught their attention, however, was what was in the horizon. Large, gargantuan mountains were suspended in midair, some with vines and greenery completely covering them, while others were topped with thick layers of snow and ice, as they were much higher. Clouds parted and broke up as they brushed by them, giving them an even greater majestic look than they already had.
Silver and Blaze looked at the ponies with hints of amusement at their dropped jaws. They've been here so long they've kind of gotten used to the looks of the Sol Dimension. They forget that what they're so used to wasn't something that most get to see every day.
"It's so beautiful," Fluttershy trailed off.
"Ok, I take back what I said about this place," said Rainbow with a smile. "This place is awesome!"
"But…I…that shouldn't…it's…they're…wha…" Twilight stuttered as she tried to form words.
"Wowwy!" exclaimed Pinkie. "Have you have seen something so amazing Twilight?! Those mountains are floating!"
"Floating…mountains…why are they floating? They shouldn't be floating…" Twilight struggled out.
"Good job guys," Rainbow said to the hedgehog and cat. "I think you broke her for good this time."
"Will she be all right?" asked Silver.
"Ahhh just give er some time," Applejack waved off. "Jus' be ready for a wagon load of questions once she's back at 'em."
"Well, it'd be best if we continued our previous conversation later," said Blaze. "Right now, we need to get started with the plan."
"I don't think you really told us the whole plan to be honest," Rainbow pointed out.
"Just give me a second," said Silver as he walked toward on empty space on the plateau.
He pulled out the blue Sol Emerald as it started to faintly glow blue again. He stopped once he got to a large, but flat grassy area. With the emerald in hand, he extended his arm and the emerald made a clanking noise against what seemed to be an invisible entity. Suddenly, a dome made of pure light formed around the area he was looking at. It flickered and hummed before disappearing once again. However, the once empty space from before was now occupied.
It was replaced with a circular stone pavilion with 7 stone pillars surrounding it. There was no top to it, but on the top of each pillar, save one, were emeralds that were practically identical to Silver's, but each one was colored differently. All of them were glowing like his and the ponies could feel the power they held from where they stood. At the far end of the pavilion was what looked like stone gateway that lead to nowhere and on either side of it were a pair of light blue, jagged crystals that were floating above their own respective pedestals. At the very center of it all was another pedestal, but this one held up what looked like a large scepter with a sideways crescent top and several glowing crystals adorning it.
Silver looked back at the ponies as Blaze walked onto the pavilion. As expected, it was met with a few mixed reactions. On one hand, Twilight starting to look like she was about to blow. Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity and Rainbow Dash were looking at the newly revealed structure with awe. Pinkie Pie, however, was wasting no time at just rushing over to the pavilion and doing her absolute best not to try and touch anything important. She simply zipped around with a torrent of oooo's and awww's at it all.
"What is all this," Rarity asked still looking at the architecture with amazement.
"This is what we know as the Time Gate," explained Blaze. "For as long as our history goes back, my family has guarded over this structure with great secrecy. Only those within my family itself and their closest friends even knew of its existence. Its original purpose was to be able to allow someone to see into different timelines, including their past, present and future. With right amount of power, it can also activate its gate and allow passage though time itself. At one point, someone in my family decided that the world wasn't ready for what this place could offer, so it was hidden away, never to be used again. Now though, it may be the only thing we can use to fix this mess."
"I'm still not following where this is going," Rainbow said in a confused tone. "What mess needs to be fixed?"
"Well, that other world we talked about before," began Silver with a grim tone, "someone, or something, has started attacking its timeline. Whatever it is, and for whatever reason, it's going into the past and changing key events, completely changing the course of history. If it's not stopped soon, I…I don't really want to think of what would happen if it wasn't."
A series of gasps were heard among the group of ponies as Twilight finally shook herself from her stupor and asked, "But why can't you do anything? The way you make it sound you make it seem like you can't even get involved."
"That's because we can't," said Blaze as she disappointingly crossed her arms.
"Why not?" asked Applejack.
"I've already tried going through the moment I discovered the anomaly," explained Blaze. "But the second I entered, the portal it threw me back out. It wasn't subtle either. Whatever kind of barriers have been placed there were meant to keep interlopers like us out of the equation."
"Then what would you need me for?" asked Rainbow Dash still confused to the whole situation. "Why would I be able to do anything if you guys couldn't?"
"After my initial attempt, I tried anything I could think of to bypass the barriers," Blaze explained, "and eventually I thought of something."
"And what would that be?" asked Twilight.
Instead of providing a clear answer, Blaze reached into her coat pocket and revealed a flower will a yellow center and purple petals that grew lighter in color as they reached the tips. She presented it to the ponies as if this was her response.
"A flower?" Rainbow said with a deadpan. "What does that even have to do with this?"
"It's a flower that I got from our parallel universe," said Blaze. "I got it back when I last visited."
Rainbow looked back to her friends as if to ask if they got where she was going with this. All she got in response was all of them shrugging.
She turned back to Blaze and said, "And this has to do with anything because…?"
"After many failed attempts of breaking through," she elaborated, "I wanted to see what would happen if I tried sending something that was originally from that world through. As a test, I threw this flower through the gate only to have it be thrown back out as I was."
"But what does this have to do with me?" asked Rainbow.
"I'm getting to that," said Blaze. "Afterwards, I picked a flower that bloomed here in Sol. I threw that one in, and it never came back out."
"I'm starting to see what you're getting at," Twilight said as she made her way forward. "Everything that had something to do with that world was automatically being rejected because they are the most immediate threats. But when something that had no correlation with it goes through they aren't stopped."
"In a way, yes," said Blaze. "Although, we think it also may have something to do with the timeline itself."
"In what way?" asked Twilight.
Blaze looked over to Silver and nodded, like she was signaling him to do something. Silver nodded back as he made his way over to the closed gateway and extended his hands. The two crystals at either side lit up and made a gentle humming noise. The emerald that Silver had on him floated away on its own, gently floating up towards the empty pillar before settling on its perch. All seven of the emeralds were glowing now as thin beams of light connected all of them in rough circle around the pavilion. Even the scepter at the center of it all was glowing. The ponies said nothing as they watched the spectacle with a sense of awe, nearly mesmerized by the display. The crystals by Silver started to glow brighter as a steady stream of light from either one began pouring out, like a light mist at the break of dawn. The light began to form into a perfectly shaped sphere above their heads, right in front of the top of the gateway.
Silver finally put his hands down as he observed the newly formed entity. Everyone/everypony, looking at it could see it clearly from where they stood. It was almost like looking into the crystal ball at a visit to Zecora's. Inside the ball, they could see what looked like many metal corridors of the interior of structure. Vents, pipes, and wires were completely visible along their walls. On the outside of the ball, however, it was giving of a very eerie, purple glow. A mixture of red and dark purple aura circled the sphere, almost like it was trying to seep inside of it. Just looking at though, for some reason made their very will seem to fail a bit.
"What is that," asked Fluttershy with a slight shudder in her voice.
"What you're looking at right now is a glimpse into the past," explained Silver. "And all that on the outside, it whatever is corrupting that part of history."
"I don't know what in Equestria that may be," said Applejack with unease, "but whatever all that is ain't natural. Mah whole body's shakin'."
"Maybe it ate just something weird," Pinkie said.
"There's more to it," Silver said before swiping his hand to the right.
The sphere hummed shortly afterwards before a plethora of other spheres copied themselves out of it. The group of spheres formed a circle over their heads, each one showing a different picture. Some showed cities and urban environments, while others showed large amounts of greenery and other areas none of the ponies recognized. Strangely enough though, aside from the first one, none of them had the same evil aura surrounding them. Just a natural looking blue glow.
"So far, this part of the timeline is the only one being attacked," said Silver as he pointed to the first one. "This is also the earliest point of the timeline in which key events start taking place. When it started, we could tell some of the other ones were different. They weren't being tampered with though. It was almost like they were being observed. After some time, whatever was there eventually settled in the earliest point it could find and started from there."
"It was almost like it was very carefully deciding where it should start, instead of just choosing a random spot and going from there," interjected Blaze. "If we're correct, it's bound to time once it starts somewhere. Once it begins, it can't go back until it finds whatever it's after."
"And this could also relate to the barriers," added Twilight. "I'm guessing that you two were involved pretty recently in the timeline. So, in theory, you could go into the future, but the past would be completely off limits."
"Exactly," said Silver.
"So, you need me to go in because I'm not you," said Rainbow.
"I guess that's one way to put it," answered Silver. "None of you have had any involvement in this timeline, past or otherwise. If we're right, you can go in and fix this before it gets out of hand. That is, as long as we fix things in the order they happen if it needs to be. So, you can't go into a future time and then hop back to a previous time."
Rainbow put on a grin as she pretended to pop her non-existent knuckles. "Don't worry. We'll have your little time hopper in our hooves before you can even blink."
"Well, that leads into another problem we have," said Blaze.
Rainbow stopped and looked at the cat. What else could there be?
"Crossing over to another dimension in one thing," explained Blaze. "Traveling to its past is a whole other story. The Time Gate can achieve this with the power with of the seven Sol Emeralds and the scepter in the middle, the Jeweled Scepter."
"I've been meaning to ask darling," said Rarity, "but what exactly is it?"
"The Jeweled Scepter is an artifact of immense power here in Sol," Blaze explained. "It allows parallel dimensions to even exist in the first place, and it keeps the geography of our world in its place."
"It's also what we used to get to your world in the first place," finished Silver.
"Furthermore," Blaze started, "whoever wants to use the Time Gate has to use these artifacts to power it and sync themselves to the structure themselves. Whoever goes through the portal is synced."
"And the Time Gate will only do this with one person at a time," Silver finished off her point.
There was a short silence in the whole group after that last bit of information. No one said a word until Twilight spoke up.
"You mean Rainbow's going in by herself?!" she yelled.
"Yeah! What the hay!" Rainbow agreed.
"I'm sorry, but we can't do anything about that," Blaze said almost apologetically. "If there were another way I'd take it, but this is our only option."
"Unless you all have something back in your world that can help with this?" Silver suggested.
Twilight just sighed at that. She had no idea of they had anything of the sort. "I really should've messaged the princesses before I left. Maybe they could've helped with this."
"Don't sweat it Twi." she heard Rainbow say.
She looked up and saw Rainbow hovering in the air with a cocky grin on her face.
"I can handle whatever challenge comes my way," she said with confidence. "It'll take more than some time monster, whatever it is to take me down."
"Rainbow," said Twilight with a hint of respect in her voice.
"You know this could be dangerous, right?" asked Silver. "The enemies you could face aren't your run of the mill bad guys you know."
"Pease, danger is my middle name. Rainbow Danger Dash," she said emphasizing every word. "Besides, it's not like we haven't taken on some evil super villains before. This is just another ball game. Now where do I start?"
Silver and Blaze smiled at the pegasus's confidence for the situation. Maybe they really did make the right choice bringing her for this.
"Well, if you're ready, we should probably get started," Silver said before walking up to the cyan pony and holding his hand out with something in it.
Rainbow got a good look at what he was showing her and saw that the object was quite small. It was a tiny, blue device that was no bigger than a close pin, maybe even smaller. On the side of it she just barely makes out a logo of two orange tails.
"It's a communicator," Silver explained to the perplexed pony. "Both me and Blaze have one as well."
Using his free hand, he reached into his right ear and pulled out the same type of device between his thumb and index finger.
"They were made by a good friend of ours a while back, and they've been made for interdimensional communications," Silver explained before putting his communicator back in.
Rainbow took the communicator he was offering to her and looked at it somewhat skeptically in her hoof. "Inter-what now?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Basically, we'll be able to communicate with you even when we're not in the same dimension," Blaze joined in.
"As long as we're connected to you through the Time Gate we should be able to get to you even in another timeline," finished Silver.
Rainbow nodded understandingly before taking the communicator in her hoof and attempting to stick in her right ear. For once she was wishing she had fingers like Silver or Blaze, as it was nearly impossible for her to position it right with just hooves. Before long, however, she finally managed to get it in just right and could leave it sitting comfortably in her ear.
"I'm ready!" she said punching one hoof into another.
"Rainbow," she heard Twilight call.
Rainbow turned to face her and was met with the faces of all her friends huddled around her.
"Are you sure about this?" Twilight asked. "It could get pretty dangerous if aren't careful."
"Not that we doubt ya or nothin'," added Applejack, "but we just want ya to come back in one piece."
"Guys," Rainbow started with a smile, "I'll be perfectly fine. I signed up for this, and I'm gonna see it through. Besides, I can handle myself."
"We just care for your wellbeing darling," said Rarity. "None of us have a clue as to what you'll find there."
"I'm just sorry we can't go with you Rainbow," said Fluttershy quietly. "I mean, I wouldn't really want to go through there, but if it's for one of you I'd definitely try."
"Why you all acting so gloomy?!" Pinkie exclaimed excitedly. "Dashie's gonna have a blast! Ohhhhh I wish I could go! I could throw everyone there one big 'Hello from Equestria!' party! Dashie! You need to send me postcards if you can!"
"Pinkie!" Rainbow exclaimed. "I'm not gonna be there for long! As soon as I'm done, I'm coming right back."
Pinkie Pie's mane deflated slightly at those words as she put on a very saddened expression. "Oh…ok," Pinkie said dejectedly.
Rainbow let out a sigh at her friend. At times this pony could be far more than just a handful. "But…if I get the time I'll find you a post card…or something at least."
Pinkie's mane instantly shot back to its normal proportions as her smile grew practically wider than her face. "You're the best Dashie!"
"I'm sorry to rush you," started Blaze, "but I'd be best if we started as soon as possible.
"Got it," responded Rainbow before turning back to her friends. "I promise guys that I'll be fine. Pinkie swear."
Rainbow did a series of hoof gestures, involving crossing her heart, moving her hoof, like it was flying, and then pretending to stick something in her eye.
Twilight gave a genuine smile at her friend. "We'll hold you to that I guess." She then made a quick glace to Pinkie Pie. "Some more than others."
Rainbow gave on last nod to her friends before looking over to Silver and Blaze. Silver extended his hands to the gate once more as the crystals and the dark covered sphere glowed brighter. An ominous, windy noise was heard before the portal sprang to life, the inside glowing light blue and looked to have a watery texture to it.
Silver lowered his hands and looked at Rainbow Dash. "It's ready."
Rainbow slowly walked over to the now opened portal with a little hidden nervousness. On the outside, she looked determined, but on the inside, she was defiantly starting to wonder what was in stored for her. What was she going to find through there? Could she really just blow through this like it was nothing? She wasn't getting any of those answers here. She stopped just short of the blue portal before her. For some reason, she felt like this was the final line of the contract. Once you went through here, you couldn't turn back. She took a deep breath as she steadied herself.
"Whelp…here goes nothing!" Rainbow said to nopony in particular as she charged straight into the portal, the blue energy rippling around her body like liquid.
After her rainbow tail disappeared, the rest of the group simply waited to see if she made it through. The waited, and waited. After almost a minute, Rainbow was still gone.
Silver let out a heavy sigh, as if he was holding in his breathe the entire time he here. "Ok, good. Looks like she made it through. Now we get to work."
As Silver went over to the gate, Twilight came up next to Blaze and put on a somewhat cheery expression. Blaze looked at the unicorn with curiosity before Twilight spoke up. "So, about those floating mountains…"
Rainbow Dash landed hooves first on the cold, hard ground, her hooves making a clanking noise as they touched down. Right away she could tell she was standing on some kind of metal floor before even looking at it. She took in her new surroundings and saw that her trip through the Time Gate had worked. She was now standing in the middle of a long hallway that was fairly well lit by the ceiling lights overhead. Every part of it was just like the one they saw in the sphere; everything was made of metal, pipes and wires were visible through places where panels weren't placed, and the air around her felt cold.
"Ok, well now what?" Rainbow asked herself. "Everything here looks exactly the same."
Without warning, the sound of static filled her right ear. Flinching, she quickly tried to cover up her ear to be rid of the offending noise, but that only seemed to have made it louder. She uncovered her ear and before she cold to anything else, a voice replaced the sound of static.
"Hello? Hey, do you read me?" the she recognized as Silver's said.
"Yeah, I hear you, I hear you," she said still twitching her ear. "I think this thing you gave me is busted. I'm surprised I can still hear."
"What?" Silver asked in confusion. "You mean the communicator? Don't worry. I think it was just trying to get a signal through to you. It should be fin from here on out."
"OK, then what.-" Rainbow started before being cut of abruptly.
"RAINBOW DAAAASSSSHHH!" the voice of Pinkie Pie screamed in a sing-song voice through the mic.
Rainbow jumped in response and tried to cover her ears again, but then was painfully reminded that it only made the sound of her crazy friend even more unbearable as her ear felt like it was being turned inside out.
"Heeellllllooooooooo!" Pinkie's voice echoed through the device. "Can you hear me?! Can ya?! Dashie?!"
"Pinkie!" Silver said as if he sounded like he was in a struggle with the pink mare. "Stop yelling in my ear! She can hear you just fine!"
"Oops," Pinkie said innocently before yelling once again. "SORRY RAINBOW DASH!"
Rainbow just held her head like she as being tortured. Not even a minute into this adventure and she was already regretting it.
"Pleeease don't let her do that again," Rainbow pleaded through the throbbing headache she felt.
"Let's focus on the mission," she heard Blaze say through her communicator.
Rainbow recovered enough from her headache, although still present, and asked, "What even is the mission?"
Silver, Blaze, and the group of ponies were all huddled around the dark, glowing sphere that they looked into beforehand. It was now floating at eye level with the group so they could see what was going on. They all saw Rainbow Dash standing in the middle of the metal hallway rubbing her head and ears.
"Right now, it's important for you find out what is causing the disturbance in time and stop it from continuing," explained Blaze as she crossed her arms.
In truth, she had no idea what they were looking for exactly. They knew something was messing with the timeline, just not in what way, shape or form. It was all guess work until they saw it for themselves.
"Where do I even start?" asked Rainbow through the communicator. "Everything looks the same in here. I don't even know where I am!"
"We weren't involved in the timeline till a few years from then," said Silver. "But if I'm right, I'd say you're on board the Death Egg."
Rainbow cocked an eye brow at what Silver just said. "That's a stupid name. What even is that?"
"We'll explain on the way," Blaze said. "Right now, I'd suggest looking for Sonic. He's in the most danger if someone is looking to change the future."
"And where would that be?" asked Rainbow as she looked back and forth between both ends of the hallway.
Both seemed to go on quite some ways away and there was no indication of what was in each direction. Everything in here looked so similar.
"You'll just have to start looking," answered Silver. "Just pick a direction and stick to it."
"Gee, got any more useful advice?" Rainbow asked with a bit of sass in her voice.
Instead of listening to Silver's retort, she just picked a random direction and started flying down it. Flying through here felt much different from flying through open air. None of the air in here felt natural. It felt unreasonably cold and heavy. It didn't hinder her flying in any way, it just wasn't something she was used to back in Equestria.
"So, what's up with this place?" she asked. "The Scrambled Egg."
"It's called the Death Egg," Silver corrected. "It's a station created by the maniacal Dr. Eggman, Sonic's arch-nemesis. He's a crazy scientist who wants to take over the world."
"Ok, what's this guy's deal with eggs?" asked Rainbow as she finally reached a right turn in the hall and made a sharp right.
"It's something we haven't quite figured out as of right now," said Blaze. "Just know that he's dangerous given the right amount of time and planning. He has entire armies of robots at his command."
"Robots?" Rainbow asked as if a bit confused by the word.
"Rainbow Dash look out!" Silver yelled urgently through her earpiece.
Rainbow looked further down the hall and saw a yellowish glow rapidly approaching her. She turned her body to the left and managed to nimbly dodge what looked like a laser shooting right past her. She looked towards its source and saw something she couldn't quite identify. It was an orange, round and bipedal creature with a head that looked like it was halfway embedded into its fat body. Its arms and legs were slim and flimsy while its hands and feet were the same color as its body. Its face had round, beady eyes and a nose that looked like you could lose an eye on. It even had what seemed to be a toothy mouth that reached all the way to the sides of its face. It its right hand was an unreasonably large pistol like weapon that had a small amount of smoke leaking from its barrel, obviously where shot came from.
It fired the weapon again, a thin yellow beam shooting out of the barrel at the pegasus. Rainbow spun her body clockwise and flew to the left to dodge the shot once again. She landed on her four hooves before flaring her wings and dashing towards her attacker at breakneck speed. Whenever a shot was fired she quickly managed to spin out of the way of each one until she reached her assailant and delivered a powerful punch with her hoof to the center of its round body. Unexpectedly, its body dented upon impact like it was tinfoil. A very hard tin foil. She quickly noticed that this thing was completely made of metal, and it hurt a little bit to hit it.
Upon being hit by the powerful strike, the creature's metal body was propelled through the air until it hit a wall behind it, its gun flying out of its hand and its head popping out of its socket as it dropped to the ground. Rainbow landed it front of it rubbing the hoof that she hit it with, waiting for any kind of movement. Thankfully, all its body did from that point was spark constantly at the impact point and its neck from where its head had popped off. Currently, the head was on the ground with its lit-up face flickering as it continually died down.
"Robot…got it…" Rainbow said as she let out a sign of relief.
"Rainbow! Are you all right?!" she heard Twilight say through the earpiece.
"Guys! Just talk normally!" Silver was heard. "If you keep this up I'll go deaf!"
Rainbow chuckled a bit at the hedgehog's misery on the other end. "Tell them I took care of it. Hoof hurts a bit, but its nothin to worry about."
Rainbow was about to start her fly back through the hallway, but she suddenly stopped. In front of her was a fair large window next to the wall the robot smash against. Only it's what she thought she saw outside that was catching her attention. She trotted up to it and eyes grew wide with shock.
"Whoooaaa…" she managed out.
Her mouth at this point was hanging open in total disbelief. Outside she saw layers and layers of fluffy clouds. This wasn't anything new to her. She saw this daily back in Equestria. What really shocked her was the fact that she was looking down at them all. Plus, every second she could see that they were getting farther and farther away from them, not only suggesting that whatever see was in was flying the air, but that it was continually getting higher and higher without any sign of stopping. Already she could see what she could only guess was the horizon line getting darker and darker as the blue color of the spy slowly faded to a dark color. Finally, Rainbow managed to form some words in her stupor.
"What kind of place is this?!" she yelled, her voice echoing throughout the expansive halls of the station.
As if a response to her question, an alarm rung out. The red flashing lights on the walls were in perfect sync with the obnoxious sound.
"Oops…" Rainbow said a bit meekly.
"HALT!" a synthetic voice commanded her from behind.
Rainbow turned and saw three more robots, all already taking aim at her. Rainbow got back in a squatting position in prep to take flight once more. She wasn't too worried about these guys. If they were anything like the last one, she'd be able to clean them up quicker than the barrels at Applejack's Cider Sale.
"IN THE NAME OF THE GREAT DR. ROBOTNIK, WE ARE TO ELIMINATE ANY AND ALL INTRUDERS WHO DARE INTERFERE WITH HIS PLANS," the middle robot said with a monotone voice. "PREPARE TO BE VAPORIZED."
"Well that doesn't sound very nice," said a completely new voice.
Rainbow and the robots stopped for a moment, all trying to identify the owner of the voice. Rainbow pondered a bit. It definitely wasn't another robot. It sounded to like it actually had brains of a sort.
Before she thought on it further, a blue blur shot right into her view in an instant. Before she could even react properly, it crashed into the first robot, completely shredding it in half. The other two attempted to shoot their assailant as it sped away. It was all futile as the blur was easily able to move to the side in many near misses. Keeping to their guns, quite literally, they kept shooting and shooting even as it sped right back at them, jumping in the air above them. The second robot's head was bashed in as the blur land on top of it, causing the bot to topple over in a shower of sparks. The final robot saw what had just became of its comrades and dropped its weapon as it booked it for wherever it could go. It was short lived. Before it got even a few feet, there was now a massive hole in its chest where the blur had gone straight through. After sparking a couple of times, the bot finally exploded, the smoke from the explosion causing Rainbow Dash to cover her face with her hoof.
Rainbow coughed profusely as she tried to wave it away with her hoof. The smoke managed settled somewhat as she could finally view at what just took place. As the smoke cleared, she saw all the remains of the once intact robot minions lain across the metal floor. Some of them even had pieces lodged in the walls from the explosion. She was lucky none of those pieces came her way. In the middle of all, however, she could make out a silhouette in the remaining layers of smoke.
"Who's there?!" she asked trying to be intimidating. "Show yourself before I come in there and give you what for!"
"Geez, calm down lady," the same voice from before said.
As the last of the smoke disappeared, a lone figure walked calmly out of it. It walked on two legs and its arms were thrown behind its head in a lazy manner. It wore red shoes with white stripes on them and what she could only guess to be white gloves on its barely concealed hands. That's not what caught her attention though. The figure was a hedgehog like Silver was, but his one was blue and had a patch of tan fur on its stomach. On its head were about six small quills that hung off the back. It had emerald green eyes that were locked onto her, and it had a cheeky smirk on its face the entire time it walked toward her.
"I was just saving your sorry butt was all," he said, confirming that he was the owner of that voice. He looked down and saw the remains of one of the robots he just destroyed before giving it a light kick. "I just came by and thought, 'Huh, she looks like someone askin' for trouble. Maybe I'll lend her hand.' You could be a bit more grateful that I'm such a nice guy."
Rainbow put on the face of someone who was being agitated beyond end. If there's anything she's learned about this world so far, it's that everypony in it drives her crazy the moment she meets them.
"I could've taken them myself!" she defended. "I was just about to when you showed up buddy!"
The hedgehog finished his walk up to her and for the first time she noticed just how short he was. He was only about half the size of Silver. In fact, he looked really, really young. If she was right, he was about the same age as Scootaloo!
He just shrugged at her and said, "Meh. You were too slow to get to it. I just took the opportunity."
At this point a small red tick mark had appeared on her forehead. It was one thing to consider her some damsel in distress. But no pony said she was slow.
"I'll have you know that I'm the fastest flyer in Equestria!" she yelled getting up in the young hedgehog's face, not causing him to flinch in the slightest. "I've already had to deal with enough annoying hedgehog's in one day. I'm not gonna let one start calling me slow." She swore she could hear Silver groan a bit through the earpiece after that one.
The little hedgehog simply looked up at her with a raised eyebrow. "Equestria? Never heard of it. And I've been everywhere there is to be. Must not be that impressive," he said as if he had no interest in her previous threat.
"Why-You!" Rainbow was already not liking this little punk. She was already starting to clench her teeth and a twist her hooves as if they were fists.
"ALL FORCES HEAD TO LEVELS B3 AND D12!" said a booming voice over the intercom.
Rainbow and the hedgehog stopped their intense staring contest and looked up curiously to a speaker on the wall next to them.
"WE HAVE INTRUDERS IN ON BOARD THE FACILITY!" the voice said. "ANY OF MY BADNIKS WHO DO NOT WISHED TO BE USED AS SCRAP FOR MY NEXT PROJECT, GET DOWN THERE AND STOP THEEEMMMM!"
The intercom hung up on that line and the only sound was now that of the alarm still ringing throughout the halls.
"Well, that sounds like my cue lady," the hedgehog said gesturing to himself as he walked away. "Hope to see ya again when you're less crazy, but I got to juice."
Rainbow was completely fine with letting him go. She had enough of him as it is and she had her own mission to complete. She was about to take flight, but was stopped by her own thoughts. Her face had a look of worry on it as she started sweating bullets. She slowly looked back over to the hedgehog and saw that he was doing some legs stretches before he went any further.
'It couldn't be…could it? Oh, please don't let it be…' she thought to herself has she walked back up to him.
"Hey kid," she hesitantly called out, getting his attention. "What's your name?"
The hedgehog got into a runner's position as he turned his head to look at Rainbow out of the corner of his eye and gave her a toothy grin.
"Sonic," he said with confidence. "Sonic the Hedgehog!"
On que, he dashed off at lightning speeds, causing a gush of air to blow through Rainbow's mane; his blue streak disappearing into the long distance of the hallway. Rainbow just stood there in a mix of shock and awe. One at how fast this kid was on foot, but also at the name he just gave her.
"Horse apples…" she swore.
To be continued…