"You aren't coming, Scootaloo?" asked Sweetie Belle.
"Nah. Go ahead," answered Scootaloo with a yawn. "Today's crusading wore me out, and I still have some time before I have to return home. So I will catch some shut eye under one of those trees."
Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. "Yer becoming too much like Rainbow Dash. Ya know she sometimes nap in our trees?"
"Exactly. But since I can't fly to go sleep in a tree, then I will be satisfied with just sleeping under it. See you tomorrow, girls."
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle waved goodbye to Scootaloo before they went to their house, leaving behind the pegasus filly to nap against a tree not far of the clubhouse.
About half an hour later, she was suddenly awakened by a strange sound.
"Woah! What? What is it?!" she shouted while rapidly getting up and looking around.
Then, not far before her, a purple rift opened, and Scootaloo immediately went to hide behind the tree beside which she napped. She looked from behind the tree at the rift, and watched as two things came out of it before it disappeared: a weird ruby, and a weird... round being with a red top and a black bottom, as well as glasses and a big brown moustache under a big pointed pink... Uh... Muzzle? No. Whatever.
Scootaloo remained behind the tree for almost one minute after the disappearance of the rift, looking at the being in wonder and waiting for it to move, but the being wasn't moving. Thinking that it was unconscious, Scootaloo slowly approached it to verify. She probed it quickly with her hoof, but the being didn't react.
Yep, unconscious.
Not sure what to do with the being, she turned then to the ruby that landed not far and went to take it to look closer.
But then, when she touched it, the world around suddenly changed. Where before there was Sweet Apple Acre, there was now Cloudsdale's Cloudeseum, full of ponies cheering her name. Looking around in surprise, she briefly saw that she was now wearing the uniform of the Wonderbolts, and that her wings were also a more normal size.
But as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared almost as soon as she stopped touching the ruby in her surprise, and she was back in Sweet Apple Acres. After looking around again in wonder at what happened, she looked back at the ruby. Slowly, she touched it again, but this time, nothing happened.
"What was that?" she asked to herself.
Picking up the ruby, she studied it. It was a twenty-faced (whatever it's called) purple ruby with strange black ripple patterns on the surface, and it was a little bigger than her hoof, about as big as an apple. She could also feel a powerful energy coming from it.
She then started to hear the round being groaning, and she quickly turned to it while walking backward as he started rubbing his bald head.
"Ngh... What... happened?" he said. He suddenly gasped and got up on his back legs, looking around. "I can't believe it!" he yelled before he started pounding the ground with one of his legs. "How could that rodent dare pushing me inside a rift?! Now who knows where I am?!" He then calmed and started to better look around. "Mmh? An apple orchard? So I may still be on Mobius. But is it at least my Mobius?" That's when he spotted Scootaloo who remained silent until now, not sure what to do. His attention then got focused on the ruby, giving another gasp. "The ruby! Hey! You! You stupid animal! Give this ruby to me! It's mine!"
"Hey!" yelled back Scootaloo. "I'm not an animal!"
The being raised an eyebrow. "Oh you can talk? I never saw a talking horse before. And a winged one, too? Finally, I may not be on Mobius."
"I'm not a horse! I'm a pony! And this is Equus!"
"Equus...?" asked the being, putting a... paw? Under his chin (or where his chin would be if he had even a neck). He then gave what Scootaloo recognized as the 'evil smirk' that Diamond Tiara often used. This raised a red flag inside the filly.
"Who are you?"
"Who I am?" he asked back before he bowed. "I am Dr. Ivo Robotnik, but you can also call me Dr. Eggman." He smirked again. "The future ruller of this world and of many others."
Scootaloo looked back and forth between this Eggman (trying not to laugh at his name) and the ruby on her hoof. "And... to conquer worlds... you need this ruby?"
Eggman frowned. "So you understands that this is no ordinary ruby. Give it to me, and I will be merciful. I could even help you reach whatever the ruby has shown to you. With my genius, nothing is impossible for me."
Scootaloo looked at her wings. "Even... fixing my wings?"
"Even that."
"But... But then, you would use whatever powers this ruby possesses to conquer Equus, and you're clearly evil. You will probably do very bad things to everypony, and I'm not even sure you would respect this deal if I give it to you." She looked back at Eggman, slowly walking back. "So I refuse."
Eggman visibly frowned. "So you want to play heroes? You don't understand the extent of the powers of this ruby! Only I, with my genius, can use this ruby to its full potential! Anybody else will just wast it! So last warning, give me this ruby NOW or you will regret it!"
At this, Scootaloo turned around and ran as fast as she could, holding the ruby with her mouth.
"Nooo! Come back here, you little pest! GIVE ME THIS RUBY!!!"
Not listening to him, she continued to run without stopping. After a moment, thinking she lost her pursuer, she looked back, only to discover that the guy was still after her!
Darn! For a doctor, he is fast! But I'm almost at Apple Bloom's house. Applejack will buck him to next week! she thought. However, not looking where she was going, by the time she turned her head to look back in front of her, she couldn't avoid the tree approaching rapidly. She hit it muzzle first, and the hit was enough to stun her long enough for Eggman to catch her. She also coughed, the hit making her swallow something big.
Wait...
Before she could think what happened, she was grabbed from the back of her neck and lifter in front of Eggman's face.
"I got you! Now giv- Wait a minute, where's the ruby? I didn't see you dropping it!" He then saw Scootaloo clutching her belly, the filly feeling something happening in her. "Don't tell me... YOU SWALLOWED IT?!!"
Before his eyes, a purple glow was starting to spread through Scootaloo's body, starting with her belly. As her body started 'glitching', red cubes forming, a pink-purple mist started escaping her and quickly enveloped Eggman who dropped her. Before he knew it, he was transported to a different area, at the edge of a forest, the filly nowhere to be seen.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"
Scootaloo gasped, suddenly awakening. She quickly looked around, and saw no trace of Dr. Eggman. However, she saw that she was back in the Cloudeseum, only, this time, it was wrong. It was... glitching, the sky was purple with black ripples, thousands of red cubes were floating around, and there was also some pink-purple mist. She also wasn't possessing the uniform of the Wonderbolts like the previous time.
But it wasn't just that. One half of the Cloudeseum was missing, and in its place, there were buildings in ruin and burning, as if a war happened.
"Mph. Seems like I am not alone here anymore," she suddenly heard someone say from this war-side, and in a glitching cloud of cubes and mist, a new being appeared.
Seeing it, Scootaloo immediately gulped and walked back.
This was another creature walking on two legs, but it was very different from Eggman. It was smaller, about the size of an adult stallion, while Eggman was easily the double. Its body was also covered in black fur with white fur at the end of a tail. She could see that it possessed a white mane, some black clothes covering its paws, or rather, claws on its forelegs, and metal shoes on its back legs. But what really freaked Scootaloo was that this being was wearing a very scary silver-colored mask with weird ears. Its right eye was hidden behind a black lightning bolt-shaped piece while the left one was behind a red visor letting only see a yellow iris around his slitted pupil.
The being took one step forward, and the next instant, it was right in front of Scootaloo, looking down at her. She was so surprised by this that she fell on her rear, looking up in fear. She then looked right and left, wondering if she could escape.
The being chuckled. "There is nowhere to go. Not now that you are trapped with me in the Phantom Ruby," it said before it started to approach a claw toward her neck.
She screamed.
With a familiar sound, the whole reality around her started to distort, taking on weird colors, taking the being by surprise.
And then, she was back in Sweat Apple Acres, seated on the ground. Confused, she looked around, seeing more of that pink-purple mist slowly disappearing. It was now almost night, and Eggman was nowhere to be seen.
Mentally exhausted by everything that happened, lost, hurt on her muzzle, tears started to appear in her eyes.
"Was... Was it a dream? No, it felt too real... What happened?"
Lucky you, you seem to still have your body she suddenly heard the masked being say in her head. Maybe this is my chance.
She then could feel something trying to take control, but she was able to push it back. After a small pause, it tried again, and again, she pushed it away.
"Stop it!"
By now, the voice in her head was growling, but it seemed to understand that it couldn't take control and didn't insist.
"You're another evil guy, right? I won't let you take control of my body to hurt everypony else!"
She could hear the being chuckle. I will. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but one day, I will. You are now a part of the Phantom Ruby like me. I am now a part of you. For the rest of your life. I will have more than enough time to take control.
Hearing this, she started breathing rapidly, panicking. Getting up, she then tried to force herself to vomit the ruby, hoping to get herself rid of... of... of all this!
This just led to the masked being to laugh even more. So this is how you were able to merge with the ruby! You ate it! More laughter. Don't lose time trying to get it out of your body! It probably fully merged with you by now! You are now the Phantom Ruby! There's nothing you can do against this!
"Nonononono!"
Maybe we should try to know each other? My name is Infinite. Remember it, because you will not get rid of me anytime soon.
More laughter followed. Scootaloo put her hooves on her head to make it disappear, but it continued. I want to go home... she thought.
The next thing she knew, she was in her room, residues of pink-purple mist disappearing. She immediately jumped on her bed and put her pillow on her head, hoping to stop the laughter.
The laughter eventually stopped on its own, leaving her to fall asleep.
Only to return to that place with the Cloudeseum and the destroyed city.
That place with him.
However, he was now just looking at her, forelegs crossed, not attempting anything. So she remained far enough of him and just waited, thinking of what she will do.