Part 2: Dark Side - Chapter 3: Eggman In Equestria
Eggman put a hand over his eyes as he stepped out of the TARDIS into the bright and sunny courtyard. After he got used to the light, Eggman looked around, soaking in his surroundings. The ground of the courtyard was gray stone and, surrounding the courtyard, were knee-high stone walls, on top of which were beautiful rosebushes; each rose was a very vibrant red, much more vibrant than any color he had seen in his universe. Now he truly understood what the Doctor had said about this universe being colorful. Looking past the rosebushes, he could see a large castle a small ways away and a bunch of smaller buildings all around the courtyard. Even the duller, more muted colors of these buildings were more vibrant than anything he'd seen before.
"Impressive, isn't it?" asked the Doctor, leaning against the TARDIS's door.
Eggman adjusted his glasses. "This was all built by ponies!?" he exclaimed incredulously.
"Yes, but don't forget that the unicorns can use magic," the Doctor replied. "Magic can make things faster and easier."
"Are all pony cities like this?" Eggman asked, turning back towards the Doctor.
The Doctor laughed. "Of course not! This is the capitol, obviously it's going to be more regal than everything else. Ponyville is probably more your speed. Oh, before we go anywhere," the Doctor said, pulling a key out of thin air, "you should probably take this." He handed the key to Eggman.
"And what might this be exactly?" questioned Eggman, turning the key over in his hands and examining it. "It looks like a regular old key."
"Well, it is a key; a key to the TARDIS," the Doctor explained. "But it's also a perception filter. Basically, it makes it so that people, or ponies in this case, don't notice you so long as you don't draw attention to yourself. If you didn't have one, everypony would probably freak out."
"That's pretty-- did you just say 'everypony'?"
"Yes," replied the Doctor, "it's what the ponies say instead of everybody." He paused and thought for a moment. "Which, now that I think about it, doesn't make much sense. Everybody should still work, I mean, the ponies have bodies right? In fact, everypony is downright unfair to all the other sentient creatures in this universe... so is the town name Ponyville actually. Wow! How on earth did I not think of this before!?"
"Anyway," said Eggman, slipping the key into his pocket, "I'm assuming you gave me this 'perception filter' because you're going to take me into a populated area, correct?"
"You know what? These ponies are downright ra-- huh? Oh, yes, right you are," the Doctor said, snapping out of his ramblings. "I'm taking you on a tour of Canterlot! After that, if you want, I can take you to Ponyville as well." He began walking towards one of the courtyard's exits. "C'mon Eggman; let's see the sights!"
"Yes Doctor," said Eggman, following close behind and wondering what wonders this crazy world of techni-color ponies had in store.
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Spike's head drooped a fraction of an inch closer to the counter and his eyelids fluttered. he'd stayed up all night helping Princess Celestia clean up after the wedding in hopes that he might be able to throw a bachelor party, even though he had no idea of what that was; he'd even sent his 6 friends back home so that he'd get a better chance for Celestia to say yes since he'd have done it all by himself. But no. When Spike had asked, the Princess had laughed and said that he couldn't because Shining Armor and Cadence were already on their honeymoon, whatever that was.
Needless to say, Spike was exhausted.
"Pony Joe, more coffee," he said. sitting straight up again. He'd gotten here about half an hour ago and had 2 cups of coffee. He needed more caffeine.
Pony Joe gave Spike a skeptical look. "Don't you think you're a little young to be drinking this stuff?"
"I said more coffee!" the purple dragon insisted, pounding his fist against the counter.
"Fine," Pony Joe sighed in defeat, going off to get the coffee.
A few minutes later, he came back with the beverage. Spike took it and chugged it immediately, ignoring the searing pain of his tongue from the hot coffee. He needed as much caffeine as he could get, for today was his trip back to Ponyville and he wanted to be wide awake when he greeted his friends. After finishing with the coffee, Spike left a few bits on the counter and umped off the high stool, beginning to walk towards the door.
"See you around Joe!" Spike called back over the counter.
"Yeah, yeah," said Pony Joe, taking the bits that Spike had left on the counter and putting them into a pocket on his apron.
Upon reaching it, the purple dragon opened the door and immediately slammed into something. He picked himself up off the ground, glancing at what he'd run into. His mouth dropped open at what he saw. Standing in front of him was a tall, two-legged creature with pale skin and a large mustache wearing black pants, a red jacket with gold... button things, gloves, and glasses. The creature had a panicked look on his face. Standing beside it was a spiky-haired brown pony.
Spike gulped. "Uh, sorry for running into you mister but, um, I need to go... now."
As soon as the words left his mouth, he bolted past the creature and the brown pony without giving either of them a chance to reply. He wouldn't stop running until he got to the castle; he needed to tell the Princess about this right away!
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Eggman stared in the direction the little purple creature had run off in. "That's not good, is it?"
"No, no it isn't," said the Doctor, frowning. He was silent for a moment before adding, "I don't know why he's still in Canterlot though. He should've went back to Ponyville with Twilight Sparkle."
"That creature knows the Elements of Harmony?" Eggman asked.
"That creature is a dragon and yes, he's Twilight's assistant," the Doctor replied.
"He's a dragon!? But he's so small!"
"Well, he is a baby dragon after all," the Doctor said.
"A baby dragon? But--"
"Are you guys coming in or what!?" asked a voice from inside the donut shop.
Eggman glanced back inside and was surprised to see that he was holding the door. When did that happen?
The Doctor leaned around Eggman and shouted back, "No, we're just seeing the sights!"
The pony behind the counter glared at them. "Then shut the damn door!"
"How rude!" exclaimed the Doctor as Eggman closed the door. He sighed and shook his head. "Anyway, I think it's time we visit the castle. Well, to be more accurate, the grounds around the castle. The interior of the castle is only for the Princesses or guests of the Princesses."
"Bu what about the baby dragon? He saw me!" Eggman said loudly. Hadn't the Doctor given him the perception filter key so that situations like this couldn't happen?
"I don't think we need to worry about that too much. Pony Joe in there didn't really care about you so I don't think anyone that he tells will react any differently," the Doctor explained.
"Maybe he didn't care because of the percep--"
"No," said the Doctor, cutting Eggman off. "You drew attention to yourself so anyone who saw you during that moment won't be affected by the filter... at all."
"I see. Well, I guess if you don't care, then I don't care either," replied Eggman, rubbing his head. "The castle grounds then?"
The Doctor nodded. "The castle grounds. Follow me."
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"Princess! Princess!" yelled Spike, barging into the throne room where the royal wedding had been held the previous day. A few decorations still hung around on the walls that Spike had missed during his cleanup. The Princess was sitting in her throne, reading a book; two guards were stationed on either side of her.
"What is it Spike?" asked Celestia, looking up from her book.
Spike ran until he was a few feet from the throne. "Princess there's this..." He paused when he saw the book she was reading. "Are you... are you reading Daring Do?"
"Yes I am. Twilight introduced it to me yesterday, it's actually a good read. Anyway, back on topic, what did you want to tell me?" the Princess asked again, levitating the book down onto the floor beside the throne.
"When I was leaving Pony Joe's, I ran into this... creature," Spike began. "It was horrifying! It had pale skin, a large mustache and wore a red jacket, black pants, glasses, and white gloves on his hands."
Celestia's eyes widened. "Is that... is that all you remember?"
Spike thought for a moment. "Well... oh! He walked on two legs!"
The Princess's usually flowing mane froze midflow. "Did his red jacket have golden bumps on it?"
"Yes but... how did you know that?" asked Spike. Celestia hadn't been anywhere near Pony Joe's, at least, he didn't think so anyway.
Celestia got up from the throne and walked over to the window overlooking Canterlot. "Guards, leave us!" she commanded. As the guards took their leave, Spike could hear the Princess whisper, "How in Equestria could he be here?"
"Princess..." Spike said tentatively.
"Spike, have you ever heard of humans before?" asked Celestia, turning to face Spike.
"No... should I have?"
"No, I was just wondering," she replied. She looked out the window once more. "Humans are, to put it bluntly, tall hairless monkeys that walk on two legs and are extremely smart. The creature you saw today was a human."
"Really? That's pretty cool," Spike said. He couldn't wait to tell Twilight about these humans. She'd probably be jealous that he saw one and she didn't.
Celestia shook her head. "No, it isn't. This is bad. The human you found is evil. He goes by the name of Dr. Eggman."
"You know, now that you mention it, he did look kind of egg-shaped."
"Spike, this is serious!" shouted Celestia, turning back to Spike, a fierce look in her eye. "Everypony is in danger!"
"He didn't look all that dangerous," Spike retorted, crossing his arms.
"Oh, he is," said the Princess. "He takes small woodland creatures and uses them to power his machinery... against their will! He's even tried to enslave an entire alien race!"
"Now that does sound evil," Spike said, his eyes widening. "But Princess... how do you know this? I've never heard of this before and this sounds like stuff that would've been big news!"
"That, young one, is a secret," Celestia answered.
"Well, shouldn't we go after this guy if he's so evil?" Spike questioned. "What if he tries to enslave all of ponykind!?"
Celestia shook her head once again. "We will not be the aggressors; we will wait until he does something first." She paused a moment before adding, "Besides, he might've forgotten everything he once did. He might even be good now, we just have to wait and see."
"Why would he forget all that evil stuff? How could someone forget all that?" Spike asked, getting confused.
"That too is a secret," said the Princess.
"Well, I've got to warn Twilight! She'll want to--"
"No," she said, cutting off the purple dragon. "This must be kept a secret between us. Nopony else can know about this."
"But-- fine, if you say so," Spike sighed in defeat.
"I'm sorry for all these secrets Spike, but this is how it must be," Celestia said, smiling a sad smile. "Come sit with me and we'll watch together."
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"This world is so colorful!" Eggman exclaimed as he and the Doctor walked into a statue filled courtyard adjacent to the castle. "It's much more vibrant than anything in my world."
The Doctor laughed. "Yes, well, you're very lucky you remember anything from your world at all, actually."
"What do you mean?" Eggman asked, stopping in front of a tall statue and turning to face the Doctor.
"Well, if you travel into a universe unprotected, you forget everything that happened in the last universe you were in," the Doctor explained, looking up at Eggman.
"How exactly do you know that?" questioned Eggman, leaning against the base of the statue. "You couldn't have done it yourself, you wouldn't have remembered what happened in your home universe then."
"Quite right," the Doctor said, frowning. "You see, after I figured out I could travel between my universe and this universe, I went back to my world to see if any event like mine had occurred before."
Eggman was intrigued. "Did any?"
The Doctor nodded. "Yes. A human, who's nickname was 'Derpy' because of how klutzy she was, tried to build her very own time machine. When she tested the prototype, something went horribly wrong. I'm not entirely sure what went wrong, but whatever it was sent her here unprotected." The Doctor's eyes turned sad. "The poor thing could only remember her mean old nickname 'Derpy'. When the ponies found her, she told them that and it stuck. Derpy Hooves." He shook his head and looked up at the stature they were standing next to. "The accident had a couple of side effects: it made her eyes permanently crossed and it made it so that she could never age. All this happened around ten years ago. Since then, she's gotten a job in Ponyville as the town's mailmare and has had a daughter, a little unicorn named Dinky."
Eggman looked up at the statue. It looked like a long dragon with a pony's head and a mish-mash of different creatures for the other body parts. It seemed to have a very distressed look on it's face.
"What's this statue supposed to be?" Eggman asked, pointing up at the statue.
"That is Discord, the spirit of chaos and disharmony. He's a draconequis," the Doctor explained. "Before Celestia and Luna ruled over Equestria, Discord was king. Equestria was in a state of total chaos. The two sisters used the Elements of Harmony to seal him in stone. A few months ago, he got free. Since the Princesses were no longer connected to the Elements, the 6 ponies who now represented them had to seal Discord. And they did, so here he sits."
Eggman's glasses flashed. "Interesting..." he said, putting his hands on the base of the statue, memories flooding into his head.