We start in the heart of Ponyville in the middle of the day. Seeing sights of the mayor's office, clerk stores, the business street carts, and the small cafes; all of them serving the smiling faces of the ponies. The sun is high and bright, and the residents are busy with their daily routine. As the ponies are crossing the streets minding their own business, we are reintroduced to our crimson unicorn with black hair, white bangs, and the cutiemark of a hot rod flaming tire. Fast Track enters the crowds of Ponyville on his newfound mission; recovering the lost fragments of the Amulet of Harmony & Discord before all Tartarus breaks loose. He got a good view of his surroundings, from the town fountain all the way to the royal crystal castle of the princess of friendship herself (which still stuck out like a sore thumb).
"I can't believe I'm the one putting all these innocent ponies' lives in danger." Fast Track sighs to himself as he trots through the streets of town. The burden of his actions weighing him down as he reminisces of how he was the one who fragmented the magical artifact.
As Fast goes on, a disembodied voice of Princess Celestia could be heard within his head. "Do not fret just yet, Fast Track," she says trying to lift his spirits, "You still have the chance to make this right again by collecting the broken pieces."
Fast Track's expression of hearing Celestia's voice in his head was like the feeling of horse flies buzzing around his ears, he shakes his head and ears out of habit but to no avail. "I don't think I'm ever going to get use to hearing you inside my head." Fast Track says to himself.
I'm your guide on this mission, Fast Track." Celestia replies, "You and the other Tracks will need me in order to find the fragmented pieces. So until the amulet is back in one piece again, you're stuck with me in your head."
Fast sighs in disgust, "Uh, fine. So how is this supposed to work anyways?"
"I have given you and the other Tracks of the different worlds the ability to sense the presence of the fragments when they are nearby. Think of it as like an extra natural sense."
Fast ponders, "Cool beans. Oh! I think I'll call it my 'Track Sense'!"
"Uh, will you just get to it already?!"
"Sorry about that." Fast Track continues through the streets until he senses something in the distance. He looks overhead, trying to figure out what it could be. "Hey, I'm starting to feel something. It's coming from up North, it might be the fragment." Fast rushes through the crowds until he comes across a large crater in the ground. The hole was enormous in it's width, and the perimeter was covered in black ash. "What is this place?" Fast ask as he looks at the hole.
"This place is..." Celestia's voice pauses, then continues, "I mean, this place was the Golden Oak Library. It was formerly the home of Princess Twilight Sparkle herself. Before it was demolished by the villain known as Lord Tirek."
"I see, I'm so sorry." Fast Track says mournfully. "Anyways, back to finding that fragment!" Fast climbs down the hole into the crater pit and looks around. He views a familiar looking purple glow that showed just beneath some of the ash and dirt. "X marks the spot!" Fast Track said as he started digging. In ten seconds flat, he unearthed the fragment and held it up with his magic. "Yes, I found one!" The amulet fragment soon after disappeared into thin air. "Whoa, what just happened?" Fast Track quickly checked his surroundings, making sure he didn't loose sight of it. "I didn't mean to make it disappear."
"You didn't," Celestia's voice said calmly and collectively, "When you had the piece in hoof, I was able to use my magic to have it teleported directly to myself. So you need not to worry, it's safe and sound with me."
"Good to know." Fast Track said with a feeling of relief. He hopped out of the crater and continued on his way through Ponyville. "Well then, one fragment down, and..." Fast pauses, then continues, "Uh, how many left to go, your highness?"
"Hmm... Twenty-One."
"Oh, well great!" Fast says sarcastically as he rolls his eyes.
Celestia chuckles for a moment, then says, "Well, 'A job well begun is only half done'! Now on to another Track, and to bestow a different gift upon her..."
* * * * *
We find ourselves in the Castle of the Two Sisters, surrounded by it's decaying walls, the towers in ruin, and several leaks coming from what's left of the ceiling. The rising morning sunlight peers through holes in the walls and the broken glass windows. Tiny animals from rodents to small birds to the spiders are the only living things that still roam the hallow halls. In the main throne room, we come across a stranger trotting in the castle. A pink earth pony with a black mane and tail and pink highlights and a vinyl record cutiemark surrounded by strobe lights of pink, blue, and yellow.
Celestia's voice breaks the silence as she speaks to her in a pleasant tone, "Ah, you must be Sound Track. Please to make your acquaintance."
Sound Track shakes her head in annoyance, "Yeesh, I'll never get use to this. How does anyone one get use to an annoying voice in their head?"
"I beg your pardon?" Celestia says with a sudden snap of seriousness in her voice, "Did you just call my voice 'annoying'?!"
Sound gasps and covers her mouth with her ponytail mane, "Uh, he-he, sorry. I'm not use to having a random disembodied voice in my head." Sound Track pauses, then continues, "Well, except for when I'm high."
Celestia's voice calms down and continues, "Could you please return to trying to find the amulet fragment so that we may both move on?"
As Sound Track traverses the maze-like castle, she responds with, "Your highness, remind me again why I'm searching for these random magic fragments?"
"An alternate reality version of your brother shattered the Amulet of Harmony and Discord, creating a multidimensional chain reaction, causing the fragments of the Amulet to be scattered to different dimensional planes of existence. And if the fragments of the Amulet were to fall into the wrong hoofs, the power would warp the minds and bodies of anypony who has them in their position. And if the fragments are not returned and back in one piece in time, their unique energy signature would create a dimensional attraction field that would force all the worlds to violently collide with each other, destroying all of ponykind as we know it!"
Sound Track stops walking through the halls trying to process everything that she just heard. "So what your saying is 'It's Fast Track's fault', right?"
Celestia's voice sighs in disappointment, "Sure, close enough. Now please get going."
"Alright, I've got this." Sound returns to searching the castle ruins. "So princess, how am I suppose to find this fragment anyways?"
"Using my own magic, I've given you the ability to sense the presence of any nearby fragments in your area."
Sound Track face beams with delightment when she hears that, "Coooooool! I've always wanted my very own Track Sense! Uh, did one of the other 'Tracks' make that joke already?"
"Yes. And it was no funnier then."
Sound Track sighs and presses on. She moves through the hall until she reaches a doorway blocked by heavy wood and stone debris, it looked like all together it weighed a ton. "Oh great, a huge hunk of junk blocking my path. Luckily, I've got just what I need to get through." Sound Track's ponytail mane slowly splits and extends as it goes under the ruble, lifts it up with ease, and simply chucks it out the way. The debris lands to the side with a loud hard thud, as the dust clears, Sound makes her way inside the room. "Too easy!" she proclaims.
"Very interesting." Celestia's voice says with much intrigue. "Tell me, what was that you did with your mane?"
"That was my telekinetic hair, a natural magical ability that I was born with, though my friends call it the 'wicked weaves'. Think of it as like Bayonetta, but I don't use my hair for clothing and don't instantly go to 2nd base."
Celestia didn't quite get what Sound was talking about from her description. "I'm sorry, but who, or what is this Bayonetta?"
"Oh right, you probably don't have Nintendo consoles in your world, don't you?" Sound Track lets out a light chuckle when she comes across a large, barely lit room with a single grand organ in the center. "Okay, now my Track senses are tingling. Ha! That's from Spider-Man!"
"Spider...who?" Celestia's voice asks Sound Track
Sound Track replies, "You know, the famous comic book Superhero that this My Little Pony fan fiction story just so happens to be based on."
Celestia has no clue what was going on. "WHAT?!"
"Never mind that now, look!" Sound sees a purple glow coming from inside one of the brass pipes from the organ. She goes over to the organ, pulls up a seat, and stretches her front legs outward as her hooves cracked. Then she presses against the note keys, the organ pipes let out high pitched hums as the fragments pops out the pipe and starts flying across the room. Sound Track gets out of her seat and darts to the other side of the room, yelling, "I've got it! I'VE GOT IT!!!" Sound's hair extends up and over, and catches the fragment just above her head. "Yes! That's a keeper!" The amulet fragment soon after disappears, returning to Celestia, and Sound Track makes her way out of The Castle of the Two Sisters. "These fragment things, they're all gonna be this easy to find, right?" Sound Track asks Celestia.
"No." Celestia simply replies.
"Son of a..." Sound Track mumbles in frustration.
"But now, I must turn my consciousness to the future. And to..."
* * * * *
We find ourselves high in the skies of bright, bustling, futuristic city. All the building were over 1,000 feet tall and towered over everything. The sounds of heavy motor engines hummed as high tech cars flew through the sky past the buildings at high speeds. Through the city there were many floating holographic billboards that showcased this worlds movies, products, and political poster. Every single one of them had the logo "Flim-Flamex" on them as they are randomly projected through the city. As the sun slowly starts to set of in the distance, the buildings themselves start to glow as the entire city lit up like a giant neon sign. The city was lit so bright that you could hardly tell it was close to nighttime, other than the blue colored glow in the air. As the holoboards float off and the cars fly by, we see a figure perched upon the top of one of the colossal buildings. A cyan coated pegasus with a reddish-magenta mane and tail with sea green highlights styled into pig tails sat perched on the edge of a glowing skyscraper. Her cutiemark was a heart of different layered colors; hot pink on the outside, light blue in the middle, and lime green in the center of the heart. The perched pegasus dove off the edge of the building, jetting through the flying cars and holoboards as a rainbow trail of pink, blue, and green followed her down. She then opened her wings, slowing her decent, and lands on a large elevated bridge connecting two glowing towers together.
Celestia's voice is soon heard, "Neon Track, of the year 2110."
"That's me. Ready to save the universe and looking good while doing it." Neon boasters.
"The next fragment is close. Just ahead in fact!" Celestia says with strong sense of urgency.
"I'm on it, your highness." Neon exclaims. "Though I have to be careful. This building is owned by the Flim-Flamex corporation, that means that the R.O.D.E.O. will be around here!"
"And what, pray tell, is this rodeo?" Celestia asks.
Neon Track explains, "The Radical Operatives Department of Equestrian Order, the police force owned by Flim-Flamex, and it's probably just as corrupt as them!" Neon Track makes her way across the bridge to the giant bay door. As she makes her way to the entrance, a camera above the door starts to lock in her position. Neon smiles and waves at the camera shouting, "Hi mom, I'm on TV! This is totally crash!"
Just then a group of three flying carrier cars with loud wailing sirens made their way to the building where Neon was. On the sides of the flying carriers read "R.O.D.E.O." printed in bold white letters. A stallion on a microphone shouted, "Attention, this building is under extreme supervision of the Radical Operatives Department of Equestrian Order, leave now or we will open fire!"
Neon pondered, "Hmm, let me think about that." Then Neon turned around, bent over, and shook her flank and tail at the officers. "Come and get me, R.O.D.E.O. clowns!"
The officer in one of the carrier cars immediately shouted, "FIRE!" A concentrated blast of magic energy was shot from the first carrier. Neon jetted into the air, missing the blast by only a few inches away as the beam misses her and instead blasts the door down behind her. As the dust clears, the fragment could be seen sitting on the floor among the supply crates.
Neon Track quickly flies over and grabs the fragment. "Thank you!" she shouts sarcastically as she flies around the building at top speed with her rainbow trail racing behind her.
"Don't let her escape!" The stallion on the mic shouted. The three floating carriers make their way around the building trying to catch up with Neon Track. Before long, the cars make a complete circle of the building with Neon nowhere in sight. "NO! How the shock did we lose her?!" The officer shouted. The cars split apart and flew in separate directions from the building to look for the thief.
"Are they gone?" Neon's head pops out from underneath the sky bridge she originally landed on. "We lost them, nice! One wrong move, and I'd be totally shocked!" Neon takes a breath in relief. She takes another glance at the amulet fragment before it soon disappeared and was sent back to the princess. "Well, that was a good warm-up. So when do we get a real challenge?"
"I fear it'll be sooner than you think!" Celestia's voice says in a warning tone. "And finally, I turn my attention from the future to a world set in the past..."
* * * * *
We finally find ourselves inside an old-timey station square in the middle of the night. From the outside of the building, the sounds of train engines and steam whistles could be heard in the distance. But on the inside, the station was overrun with a group of goons, each one carrying a pistol and a flashlight in the darkness. There was also a few spotlights shining overhead, yet even with extra light there was no color in this world, everything seen was just black, white, and grey. All of the station gates were closed shut and locked tight, with thug guards at the perimeter and inside. From at the far side of the building, near an open window, a mysterious figure is seen. Sneaking in through the window was a grey earth pony with black and white hair ,wearing a black fedora with goggles and a long grey trench coat. His cutie mark was a slightly muted red rose, the only color that shows on his body.
"Say your prayers, punks - here comes Noir." he said quietly as he shimmied across the wall ledge. He then perched himself to get a good view of his surroundings. "What do we have here? A couple of stallions packin' heat."
Celestia's voice was soon heard by Noir Track, "Looks like criminal forces have already taken over the station, they must've already found the fragment."
"Don't have to be a flatfoot to know that." Noir stated. He looked down from where he was perched and saw that he was right above lone thug, unaware that Noir Track was there.
"See if you can get the jump on this stallion silently." Celestia's voice insisted.
"You read my mind, doll." Noir said with delight in his voice. Noir Track tossed his hat to the ground, which caught the attention of the pony beneath him. He bent down to check it out, but as he did Noir leaped on top and body slammed him to the floor, knocking him out cold in that instant. "Thanks, you twit." Noir said sarcastically as he put his hat back on. "Mind if I borrow your 'Negotiator'?" Noir pulled out the goons pistol and aimed at the spotlights. He shot them all out, leaving the room nearly pitch black dark with only the thug's flashlights providing any sight in the room.
The thugs in the station start to panic, as they can barley see what's happening around them. "What the...? Who shot out the lights?"
"Where's the new guy? He was supposed to be watching that entrance."
"Oh cripes, it's the colts in blue. We need to split this joint now!"
"We can't man, do you want the boss to know you ditched the job."
"I don't want to end up in the big house, do you know what they do to colts in there?!"
"HEY GUYS! I found Greaseball's body! He's out cold and his gun is...WHOA!" His voice was suddenly interrupted as he was knocked to side my a mysterious shadowy figure.
"What was that?!" a guard said in worry.
"It's Track, let's light him up boys!" The thug guards started firing off their pistols every which way, only firing anywhere they can see with their lights. The flash from the gunfire made the entire station flicker with bright light. As the thugs were distracted with where he was, Noir started to perform a series of quick stealth take-downs on each pony. One by one, the sound of the guards' gun fire started to decrease and the lights were going out as more and more of them were brought down. The 1st guard took notice of the missing guards, soon realizing that Noir Track was taking them out. "Hold your fire!" The fire in the station stops, there were only two guards left standing.
"Where is everypony?" the 2nd guard said with much worry.
"It's Noir Track, he's in here roughing up our poses." The 1st guard looked all over, trying to get any sign where Noir was. Any sight, any sound. "HEY NOIR!" he started yelling at the top of his lungs, "We know you're in here! You might have taken out these colts, but ya think you're able to..." A slight muffled mumble was heard as his voiced stopped.
The 2nd guard was all that remains, panicked and terrified. "That's it, I'm blowing this stand!"
As he turned around, his light shined on somepony standing behind him. Noir simply said "Boo!" The last guard screamed like that of little school girl at the sight of his pursuer. He turned around to try and make a break for the exit, but without looking where he was going, slammed his face in the door of an open station locker, knocking himself out cold as he fell to the floor. "Well, that was easy. Sleep tight, little Bruno" Noir Track said with a grin on his face. "Now where is that fragment I was looking for?"
Celestia's voice broke the silence, "Well done Noir Track, performing stealth attacks on these dirty louses. The fragment is just behind that station gate."
"I read ya," Noir said, "I'm getting one heck of a vibe coming from there." He made his way to a closed gate and shot the lock with the pistol he had stolen from the 1st goon before. He made his way inside and found the fragment sitting on a reception desk. Noir Track picked it up, and allowed Celestia to transport the amulet fragment back to her. Noir takes a breath in relief and says, "And that's the end of that!"
"On the contrary, Noir," Celestia's voice said with a despairing tone, "This is just the beginning."