Several weeks have passed since Twilight discovered one of the shards of the Lost Crystal of Power and showed it to her friends, and since then she has uncovered little else about it. Even with the help of her friends, she has been unable to find answers to important questions about it like where it came from and what its purpose was. She continued to conduct experiments on it, but much like when Sunset was attempting to better understand the Equestrian magic that had been brought to their world, her experiments were typically unsuccessful and revealed nothing new.
The last few weeks hadn’t been entirely quiet, however. News outlets and websites were reporting that other crystal shards were being found in the city and the outlying areas, most of them being found by other Canterlot residents either by accident or due to damage they caused and being reported to the police. Twilight wanted to turn her crystal over when she saw the reports on the news, but her friends convinced her not to do it, Sunset even suggesting that they might be able to learn more if they could get their hands on another crystal. To that end, she suggested building a device that could pick up the energy signatures of the crystals, much like Twilight’s old magic meter. But while the girls were caught up in the growing mystery of the crystals, there was something else that had been slowly building up over the past few weeks that was about to be established in the city.
Dr. Eggman stood proudly in front of what was no doubt the first of many ‘Robotics Manufacturing Enterprises’ buildings with Orbot and Cubot floating by his side, his two assistants waving at the photographers as they took pictures. These last few weeks of digging around, salvaging what he could find to meet demands, and putting on a constant nice act had taken quite a bit of effort even for his genius, but it was finally paying off. His first new building had been built and this was the ribbon cutting ceremony.
Eggman looked to his right over at the mayor of Canterlot, who was talking to the press and answering questions before the ceremony began. Having talked to her before, he knew her name was Marey, spelled exactly that according to the name plate in her office. It was an odd way to spell it, but he supposed it went along with all of the other horse name puns he’d encountered so far in this strange world. She was an older woman, or at least that was the image she was trying to put on with her gray hair, glasses, and purple suit with a white collar and green tie. As a master of deceit himself, Eggman was well aware that she was trying to give herself a more professional image, though he wasn’t sure he wanted to know what exactly she did in the morning before coming in to work.
After she was finished taking questions, Mayor Marey walked over to Eggman and told him, “I must admit, Dr. Kintobor, I was not expecting the turnout to this event to be quite this large. It’s clear to me more than ever that your robotics have been making quite an impact on our fair city.”
Eggman smiled, thinking to himself once again how brilliant his fake name was as he said, “Well, I have been fighting so hard for so long to get others to recognize what I can do and see the wonders of my inventions, Ms. Mayor. I’m very fortunate that the people here are so, er, friendly and accepting. I have them to thank for this day and this new beginning.”
Marey asked, “Beginning?”
Eggman replied, “Oh yes! This fine building is just the first step towards making my dreams become a reality! I have such big plans… for future projects. Of course, giving the people what they want is going to remain my primary goal, but I have so much more that I’d like to share with the world. I’ll be talking about that more about that in the future when I’m ready to unveil my ideas, and I think you’ll be quite impressed when I do.”
Marey smiled, “I see. Well, I’m sure I will, so long as you have the people’s best interests in mind and your robots don’t, ah…”
Eggman interjected, “Run rampant? Turn evil? Well, I can understand you having such concerns, but I assure you, there’s nothing to worry about. I am most certainly a ‘people’ person; I certainly have their best interests at heart.” He paused to glance back at Orbot and Cubot with an annoyed expression, the two robots snickering to themselves. “What are you two laughing about?! Have some respect; this is an important day!” he said. He turned back to the mayor after they straightened up and finished, “I promise you right now, Ms. Mayor, nothing I ever build… will do something that it was not meant to.” As he spoke, he held his left hand behind his back and crossed his fingers.
The way he snapped at his assistants surprised Marey a bit, but given what she’d seen of their intelligence and capacity to voice their thoughts, she supposed it wasn’t uncommon for them to anger him. She smiled, “I see. Well, I look forward to learning more about what you have planned for your business.” She then turned to the crowd and gave one last speech before taking the ceremonial scissors and cutting the ribbon, turning to Eggman afterwards and shaking hands with him.
As he shook hands with her, Eggman’s thoughts turned to his new ‘company’. The building was bigger than a typical outlet store to give the impression that the robots were being made in the back, but it was certainly nothing compared to his island lair. For the time being, though, it would do. No one but him, Orbot, and Cubot knew about the secret lab built underneath the building. This secret facility would be where his new Badnik army was going to be built up, the money he made from selling his ‘new and improved’ products going towards their production. As his business continued to thrive, he would soon be able to build more buildings with their own secret labs and really make his army grow while the people remained blissfully unaware his inevitable takeover was coming.
His thoughts also turned to how he got his start in this new dimension. It all felt like it happened yesterday.
Yesterday…
Yesterday…
*insert argument with Sticks that I chose to move to the author’s notes below this time because I’m already sick of her butting in here*
Yesterday…
Yesterday…
Flashback to not-yesterday
Eggman gingerly sipped the coffee from the mug he was given, partly because he was trying to keep up his act and partly because he couldn’t stand the taste of it. Orbot and Cubot sat on the chair next to him, the latter quietly tapping his fingers on his empty mug as Officer Colten attempted to look up Eggman’s personal information. The evil genius kept shooting glances over at his two robot assistants, remembering his rude awakening and how they’d told him not to disclose his real identity to the police. He tugged on the blanket over his shoulders as they all waited to hear what the officer had to say.
After a minute more, Officer Colten looked up from his computer and asked, “Hmm… Dr. Ovi Kintobor?” Eggman quickly nodded at the name he’d made up on the fly. Officer Colten looked back at his computer for a moment before saying, “I’m afraid I can’t seem to find any of your records in our database, sir.”
Eggman replied, “Well, that’s no surprise to me.” At the officer’s questioning look, he quickly added, “Er, I mean, I seem to… just have the strangest luck so often! I try to have a normal day, go about my business, and boom! Suddenly something unexpected happens to me. I don’t know how to explain it.”
Orbot jumped to his defense, “It really is just the strangest thing how it keeps happening. And this time it happened when he was just going to the store!”
Cubot nodded, “Yeah, it’s just like we told your buddies in the car.”
Officer Colten deadpanned, “It’s still not a very convincing story.”
Eggman sat up against the back of his chair and sarcastically said, “Oh sure, look at me all weird because I can’t help you write a good report, like I’m the one doing something wrong. Clearly you’ve never had anything unexplainable happen in your life.”
Officer Colten gave him a level stare as he replied, “Now sir, that is not true. I don’t think you’re guilty of something; I’m just trying to understand what happened to you so I can help the others understand. And I can safely say we’re no strangers to odd occurrences here in Canterlot. We’ve had quite a number of reports of strange occurrences here in recent times.”
Eggman spoke, “Just recently? They seem to happen all the time back home. This is hardly anything new for me. I like the island I live on, but all the strangeness does make it difficult for me to get my work done.”
Officer Colten asked, “And what sort of work do you do, Doctor?” Eggman gestured at Orbot and Cubot, prompting the officer to ask, “You build robots?”
Eggman replied, “Yes, but not just any robots. I like to think of them as… specialized robots.”
Officer Colten asked, “And what do you mean by that?”
Eggman looked down at his mug for a moment before getting an idea and saying, “Hmm… It would seem I’ve drank all the coffee you gave me, which is perfect. If you’d be so kind as to escort me and show me where to get some more, I’d be happy to give you an example that I think you and your fellow officers could relate to.” Although confused, Officer Colten stood up and moved out from behind his desk, gesturing for Eggman to stand as well.
As he did, Orbot commented, “Maybe the two of us should just stay here.”
Cubot nodded, “Yeah. This chair’s kind of comfy. I could go for a nap right now.”
Officer Colten spoke, “I’m sorry, you two, but you cannot be here unsupervised.”
Cubot whined, “Aw, why not? We’re not gonna do anything; I’m just gonna take a nap! Its been a long day for us, you know!”
Officer Colten leaned over them, “Be that as it may, we do not allow visitors to wander unsupervised or leave them to their own devices here. Therefore, you have to come.” While Orbot and Cubot continued to try to persuade him, Eggman noticed the way he was leaning just about made him unable to see him. This was his chance! He looked to the left and right a few times before his eyes settled on a nearby potted plant. He stared at it for a few moments… before flicking his left hand to his left, dumping his remaining coffee on Officer Colten’s desk.
A few minutes later…
The three officers sitting in the break room stopped what they were doing, their attention being drawn to Officer Colten when he stepped in with Eggman and his two assistants. There’d been murmurs going around the station about the strange man and his robots ever since they were brought in, but them being escorted into this private area by a fellow officer was something the three officers had not expected to see. After a minute of watching them make their way over to the coffee maker and stand around it while Eggman watched Colten refill his mug, one of the officers asked, “Colten, why did you bring that man in here?”
While refilling his mug, Colten replied, “Because he suggested that we get some more coffee. He also said he had something to share that he thought we’d all be interested in.” The other officers looked intrigued at that, looking at Eggman as he examined the coffee maker. Once Colten was done refilling his mug, he took it out from under the machine and looked at Eggman expectantly. After a few moments, he asked, “Doctor?”
Eggman looked at him, “Hmm? Oh no, I’m actually good. I mostly wanted to see what your coffee maker was like. It’s not bad, just rather unremarkable.”
One of the other officers asked, “And what is that supposed to mean… sir?”
Eggman stood up straight and said, “Well, I mean so much of it involves manual input. You have to put grounds in, you have to set it, you have to pour yourself a cup…”
Another officer asked, “What’s wrong with that?” Eggman’s only response was to gesture towards Orbot and Cubot. “What?”
Eggman said, “I have an incredible gift for creating new things and improving old things, yet no one seems to understand my genius. It’s not just limited to these two either; I look at things and try to create new ways to con- er, I mean, help people and they don’t seem to realize it. Now that I’ve finally found a place to start fresh, I was hoping others could warm up to the many ideas I have in my head.”
Officer Colten spoke, “I’m sure we and everyone else would be willing to give your ideas a chance, Doctor, but you haven’t shared anything with us. And what do your two, uh, robots have to do with our coffee maker?”
Eggman answered, “Well, let me ask you all something. Have you ever come in to get a cup of coffee, only to realize that the last person to get a cup left just an inch at the bottom of the pot so they wouldn’t have to brew more?”
Colten groaned, “Oh, I hate when that happens.” The other officers echoed his thoughts.
“Happens all the time around here.”
“It’s a simple thing that can be avoided!”
“I sometimes feel like the coffee maker needs someone to guard it.”
Eggman nodded, “Yes, I thought you’d all feel the same way I do about it. It’s annoying, it’s a waste of everyone’s time, and it creates trust issues.” He gestured at his two assistants again, “Now imagine if the coffee maker were like these two. Sentient, aware, able to act on its own… I can already picture it: a coffee maker with something like these two built into it. Why, that inch would never come up in a coffee maker like that; it would be able to sense when the coffee was low and immediately start brewing fresh coffee. Doesn’t that sound like it would be amazing?”
Officer Colten replied, “I’d want something like that for home as well.”
One of the officers said, “Yeah, good luck finding someone who could make that, Colten. Besides, you’d still have to load the grounds into it before it would make more coffee.”
Eggman spoke, “Well, I could certainly make it. I built my assistants all by myself. And you wouldn’t even need to do that. I would certainly make it so it would do everything for you, from loading the grounds all the way to pouring you your coffee. And I haven’t even begun to discuss possible custom options. Like, we all enjoy our coffee a specific way, right? What if there was a feature where you could set the machine to recognize you and give you your coffee exactly the way you like it? And that’s not all!”
All of the officers eventually had to get back to work, but while they were there, Eggman continued to give them a taste of the different ideas he had when it came to making ordinary living better. It all felt like pointless talk to him and it was a bit annoying that he had to get so chummy with the local authorities, but he kept it to himself. He was gaining their trust after all, trust that he would have so much fun damaging later.
End flashback
________________________________________
Twilight finished getting her lunch and made her way through the cafeteria to the table she and her friends usually sat at. She saw them waving to her as she approached and she set her tray down in front of the open seat next to Sunset when she reached them. “Sorry I’m a little late. That test ran a little long,” she said as she slid her backpack off and set it on the table, allowing Spike to poke his head out.
As she sat down, Applejack asked her, “You didn’t have trouble, did ya, Twilight?”
Twilight replied, “No, no. It just took a little longer to get out of class than it should have.”
Applejack shrugged, “Okay.”
Pinkie piped up, “So… how’s the shiny doing?”
Twilight spoke, “You mean the crystal? I didn’t get a chance to do anything with it last night, but I didn’t really have anything in mind for it as far as tests I could do.” She rested her head on her hands on the table, “I really think I’ve hit a dead end with how much more I can learn about it.”
Sunset put her hand on her shoulder and said, “That’s why I think we should get a hold of another one while they’re still out there. Putting two in the same place could reveal something new about them.”
Twilight raised her head up and looked at her, “I still don’t know about that. I mean, these crystals… Are they really safer with us than with the police?”
Rainbow spoke, “I think so, all things considered. You put the one you found in something to contain it and are actually trying to learn more about it. Have you checked some of the places where they found the others? A bunch of them are still out in the open with yellow tape around them and sometimes cops. Any weirdo could get over the tape when the cops aren’t there, take the crystal, and run off with it. That can’t be better, right?”
Twilight let out a sigh and said, “Still, even if they haven’t been moved yet, they’re technically under police custody. I don’t think we know enough to be able to convince the police to give them to us.”
Sunset replied, “Well, that’s fine, Twilight. Unless we find a compelling reason for the police to turn them over, they can keep them, whether that involves putting tape around them or putting them in an evidence locker or whatever. Rainbow does have a point, though; if we had a way to track these things down and find the ones the police haven’t yet, then there would be fewer crystals out there for random people to snatch up.”
Rainbow added, “Or, you know, I could just run all over the city and find them all myself. That would probably be faster.”
Rarity remarked, “Hm. It might be, Rainbow; that’s the kind of detail work you’d excel at.” As she pulled out her phone, she muttered under her breath, “At least I hope some of your test scores aren’t accurate to real life.” As she scanned her latest news articles, her eyes stopped on one and she said, “Hm. That Dr. Kintobor fellow certainly is making the news lately. The latest news is that his first building opened today.”
Rainbow asked, “Oh, you mean that guy whose been selling people robot dogs and smart ovens or whatever?”
Rarity nodded without looking up, “That’s the one.”
Spike uttered, “I’ve never been a big fan of those robot dogs, but we did run into one of the ones made by that guy and…” He shivered, “There was just something different about the way it looked at me. It was really creepy.”
While Twilight comforted him, Fluttershy spoke up, “Um… well, I haven’t seen any for myself, but I do know the animals I’m with generally don’t seem to get along with robot pets. It’s nice that Dr. Kintobor’s, um, first robots are small animals that people can buy. That’s good for people who aren’t sure about having pets or have allergies, but… I kind of hope they don’t start bringing them to the shelter or the vet.”
Rainbow asked, “Why would they, Fluttershy? They’re robots; they don’t have needs like regular pets do!”
Rarity added, “And I’m sure they don’t have the same maintenance requirements either. If they need anything or something goes wrong, they can simply take it back to the store and get it all sorted out. There’s no food bill, no vaccinations, nothing to clean up after…”
Fluttershy asked, “But aren’t those all the best things about owning a pet?”
Rarity glanced at her for a moment before replying, “Well, I don’t think so, dear. Especially that last one…”
Applejack rolled her eyes, “That is the one you’d focus on, isn’t it, Rarity?”
The girls and Spike continued to pass the rest of the lunch period with small talk, though an odd look appeared on Sunset’s face when the subject turned to Kintobor. She kept talking, but in the back of her head, she was mulling over something that had been there for a while, a mystery of her own. She was still quietly thinking about it even as lunch ended. As they all left the cafeteria, Pinkie asked if they were still on for their sleepover at her house that night. They all agreed and some of them split off as they headed to their next classes.
Later that evening, they all met up at Pinkie’s house for their sleepover. They all had fun sharing stories, eating the apple treats that Applejack had brought over, and playing games. But as the evening wore on, Sunset found herself unable to keep the question she’d been mulling over all day in the back of her mind. It was starting to bother her that she couldn’t come up with an answer to it and felt like she needed to actually address it if she was going to enjoy the rest of the sleepover.
While they were all in Pinkie’s room, Sunset excused herself and quietly grabbed a notebook and a pen from her backpack before heading downstairs. She went to the kitchen and set them both down on the counter in the middle of the room, where she opened up to a fresh page and wrote the name “Kintobor’ in the center. She then rested her elbows on the countertop and placed the bottom of her head in her hands, looking down at it.
After several minutes of her standing there staring, she was startled out of her thoughts when she heard Twilight say, “Sunset?” She looked up to see the other girl standing in the kitchen doorway.
“Oh, hey, Twilight,” she said, looking a bit nervous.
“Are you okay? You were just standing there for almost a whole minute,” Twilight noted.
“Oh… yeah, I guess I was. I’m fine, though,” Sunset replied, the irony of the situation not being lost on her.
Twilight shrugged, “Okay.” She walked over to the refrigerator and pulled the door open. She peered inside and remarked, “Wow, she still has a lot of whipped cream in here.” Sunset couldn’t help but smile at that. Twilight soon pulled her head out, now holding a small container of juice in her right hand, and turned back to Sunset. “The girls are still playing Tirek’s Revenge. Are you going to come and watch? Or play a bit?” she asked.
Sunset smiled, “Yeah, sure.” She grabbed her notebook and pen and followed Twilight back up to Pinkie’s room. There, they joined the other girls sitting on and around the bed, Twilight sitting on the bed with Fluttershy and Spike while Sunset sat on the floor next to the bed near the door. Rainbow and Applejack sat at the foot of the bed, focused on the game, while Rarity sat on the other side of the bed applying polish to her nails and Pinkie moved around the room, unable to sit still due to all the action on the TV.
Spike soon noticed the Sunset had turned her attention back to her notebook and pulled himself free of Fluttershy’s petting to pad over to her. “What are you looking at, Sunset?” he asked. His words prompted the others to look at her as well, the sounds coming from the TV abruptly stopping.
Sunset looked back, unsure what to say,” Um, I, uh…” she stammered.
Fluttershy leaned over the side of the bed and peered at the notebook. “Why do you have ‘Kintobor’ written in there, Sunset?” she asked.
Sunset sighed, “I’m sorry, girls, Spike. It’s just… there’s something about that Dr. Kintobor guy that’s been bothering me.”
Applejack raised an eyebrow, “What are ya sayin’, Sunset? That the guy’s up to somethin’?”
Sunset looked over at her, “No, Applejack. At least I don’t think he is. It’s just…” She looked down at her notebook again, “I’ve never heard the name Kintobor before, but when I see his name spelled out, I always get this weird feeling, like I’ve seen it somewhere before.”
Pinkie hopped over and knelt down next to her, “Ooh! If it looks familiar to you, then that could mean one of two things: either Dr. K’s name has shown up elsewhere because he has a twin somewhere in this world… or you’re just not looking at it right! Here!” She reached over and grabbed Sunset’s notebook. She then turned it upside-down and handed it back to her, “There! How does it look now?”
Rainbow deadpanned, “Pinkie… I seriously doubt turning it over is gonna change anything.”
Sunset might have initially agreed with the rainbow-haired athlete, but at the moment, she was looking down at the name intently. It was still the same, but somehow, Pinkie’s simple solution had given her a different way to see it. She flipped the notebook back over after a few moments and looked at the name again before wondering, “What does it look like backwards…?” She grabbed her pen and wrote it out underneath Kintobor.
Twilight peered over her other shoulder at the reversed name after she was finished writing it out. “It looks like… Ro… Robotnik?” she asked.
Both Applejack and Rainbow laughed at that, the former saying, “Now that just sounds like a plumb silly name!”
Rainbow laughed, “Silly? It sounds really stupid! Who would want to be named that?”
Spike and the other girls, meanwhile, noticed that Sunset was once again looking intently down at the page, this time at the new name. “Robotnik… Robotnik…” she muttered, trying to place it. Suddenly she looked up as she had a thought and looked over at her backpack. She dropped her notebook and pen and crawled over to it, reaching into it and pulling a book out. The other girls instantly recognized it; it was the journal she used to send messages and letters to Equestria, specifically to Princess Twilight.
Sunset sat on her knees as she quickly flipped through the pages of the book, searching. She soon stopped on a page and traced her finger across it as she scanned the words Twilight had written to her. It didn’t take her long to stop and tap the page with her finger, “Yeah, that’s it! Right here!” She read aloud, “‘…Dr. Ivo Robotnik, better known as Dr. Eggman…’” She looked up, “That’s why it looked so familiar: Ovi Kintobor is Ivo Robotnik spelled backwards.”
Rainbow spoke up, “Wait, wait. Are you saying this Kintobor guy might actually be this ‘Robotnik’ guy?
Sunset looked over at her, “I don’t know. It could just be a weird coincidence, but there are some similarities between them. Dr. Kintobor is building all these new robots no one’s ever really seen before.” She gestured towards her book, “This Dr. Robotnik, or Eggman, builds armies of robots to help him take over his world.”
Twilight asked, “His world? So… he’s not from your world?”
Sunset nodded, “Right. He’s not from Equestria.”
Rarity asked, “Then how does Twilight- I mean, the OTHER Twilight, know him? And when did she tell you about this?”
Sunset stood up and walked over to the bed and sat on the side of it as she explained, “We were talking fairly recently. It was… before those crystals showed up. We were talking about that little adventure in Equestria when she mentioned an adventure to another alternate world she had before she became a princess. After his most recent defeat, Dr. Eggman came across a strange creature that he named the Time Eater for its abilities to erase time and space. He planned to use it to erase all of his previous defeats, but his first attempt at using it caused him to rip a new time-space hole to Equestria. He managed to get it under control with some help and decided to make a historically rewritten Equestria part of the new Eggman Empire he was creating.”
Fluttershy murmured, “Eggman Empire…?”
Applejack asked, “Somebody was actually willing to help him do that?”
Sunset gave her an odd look, “Wouldn’t surprise me. Equestria doesn’t exactly have a shortage of creeps.”
Rarity asked, “But, everything worked out, right? Nothing was changed, right? I mean, you’re still here in our world, Sunset.”
Pinkie chirped, “Yeah! I bet Not-Yet-Princess Twilight totally sent that time eating machine packing with the magic of friendship!”
Sunset looked down at her journal as she resumed, “Well, that’s partly right, anyway. She said after the Time Eater was destroyed, all the damage was repaired, including the hole to Equestria. But she did say that Dr. Eggman was still out there somewhere in his world.”
Spike asked, “So… is this Kintobor guy really this Eggman guy?”
Rainbow spoke up, “Why don’t we ask Princess Twilight to come pay us a visit and get a look at him? She should be able to recognize him right away if he really is the same clown.”
Sunset looked up and said, “We could, but… that might get her hopes up. She’d probably be disappointed if it turned out to not be Dr. Eggman.”
Applejack asked, “What do ya mean?”
Sunset answered, “Well, she and her friends didn’t send Eggman and his helper packing all on their own. They met new friends from that other world, friends who were the ones responsible for foiling his previous schemes and were instrumental in stopping the Time Eater.”
Twilight had an idea of what she was getting at and asked, “You think if it is him, they might be somewhere in Canterlot too?”
Sunset replied, “Well, one or more of them, anyway. If that strange vortex that was reported that night was something that Dr. Eggman had a hand in creating, I’m sure they would’ve followed him to try to stop whatever world conquering scheme he had in mind.”
Rainbow asked, “So what do you want to do? Wait and see if they show up?”
Sunset said, “Well, it shouldn’t be too hard to recognize them when they do show up. Spike can obviously hide the fact that he’s able to speak, but these guys…” She glanced down at her journal as she flipped forward to another page before finishing, “Considering how they look and what most people typically think of when it comes to their animal species, it shouldn’t take them long to show up in the news as well.” She handed the journal to Twilight, who took it in both hands and, after a moment, adjusted her glasses to make sure she was actually seeing what she was seeing as Spike climbed up onto her shoulder and the other girls gathered around to look.
At the bottom of the second page, just below where the writing ended, there was a photograph. The picture wasn’t completely clear, likely due in part to some of the clarity being lost during the sending and also partly due to the fact that it looked like it had been salvaged from a fire or explosion or both, but they could still make out what Sunset was getting at. In addition to the baby dragon, griffon, and all the ponies in the picture, including a certain lavender unicorn that surprised Twilight a little, there were a number of different animals standing around a picnic table that was clearly set up for a party, all of them looking considerably human-like.