Eggman stared at the mysterious being who named himself Tirek, eyebrow raised. "Why would you help me?" he asked.
"I saw everything. We have the same goal: the world. And we can benefit each other. You are smart enough to be able to build robots and who knows what else. I can absorb the magic of any beings and grow stronger thanks to it. You need magic for your robots to be able to defeat this creature possessing strange powers. Your robots can help me get it. You know nothing of this world. I can give you this knowledge. What do you think, Doctor?"
Eggman started rubbing his chin, thinking. It's obvious he intends to use me as a pawn to grow stronger and backstab me at the first occasion. I would do the same. Maybe he even knows that I could, and will, betray him once he isn't useful anymore. But he's right. Thanks to him, I will be able to add magic to my arsenal, and it may be my best weapon against the ruby. He smirked. I will just have to be the better backstabber.
At the same time, Tirek was thinking He knows. He is not an idiot. His expression is obvious. And he probably knows that I know. He smirked. This will be interesting.
Eggman reached out to Tirek. "I accept."
Tirek took his hand and gave to him a handshake. "I'm glad, partner."
Already, in their mind, plans and counters were forming to best the other.
"So the threat was very real," said Celestia once Twilight told everything to her.
"Yes. It's a miracle nopony was killed. But there were many injured, some very badly," said the lavender mare. At her words, she couldn't help but to look at Applejack who now had a leg bandaged. The poor mare will not be able to do much work in her farm for a while.
Celestia, Twilight, and her friends were gathered in the library. After the battle, the lavender mare immediately sent a message to the sun princess relating everything that happened, and Celestia came as soon as possible with a platoon of Royal Guards to help transport the injured to the hospital, to clean the streets from the remains of the robots, and to calm the ponies.
Celestia shook her head in disbelief. "To think that this Eggman was able to build so many robots so rapidly... And using animals to power them?" She frowned. "He's not just a mad scientist. He's an evil genius." She looked back at the mares. "I will do everything in my power to find him and stop him. I will also try to find a way to protect ponies from his robots. I am already planning to put my best scientists to the study of those remains of robots. If we are fast enough, we will be able to reproduce his technology, without the animal powering them, and use it against him."
"So we will have robots in our side too? Cool!" said Rainbow Dash.
Celestia smiled at her before becoming serious again. "Since whoever he's targeting seems to be somepony living in Ponyville, the chance for him to attack him or her again are high, so I will let some guards here. As soon as we can produce robots, Ponyville will be one of the first places where they will be sent. Speaking of, what about this Zero? I would like to thank him for his help."
"That's the thing, Princess. We know nothing about him. Eggman said that a pony was his target. And yet, Zero, who wasn't a pony, was targeted almost immediately after he appeared. He looked like nothing we knew, and his powers were just... It wasn't magic! And if something like him lived in Ponyville, I would have certainly known," said Twilight.
"Unless this is a pony who used that weird power to disguise himself into this Zero," said Pinkie. "Like a superhero's secret identity."
"But why take on the appearance of... whatever he was?" asked Rarity.
"He looked like a weird dog, but with a body like a minotaur," said Applejack. "And ya're right. It's a weird appearance to take."
"Maybe he took it after one of those comic characters?" wondered Rainbow Dash before she turned to Spike. "Is there any weird black dog on two legs in your comics?"
"Not that I know, but he may come from a comic that I don't have," answered the drake.
"Well, whatever reason this pony disguised himself as a dog, he sure took his time to come and save the day," said the cyan mare. "Why did it take so long for him to come out? Somepony could have been killed."
"We can only speculate," said Celestia. "But if you find this Zero, or whatever his real name is, I would like you to ask him to help us find Eggman. I don't know what are his powers, but he revealed to be very effective against the robots."
"We will try, Princess, but the problem is that he could be anypony," said Twilight with a sigh. But I may have an idea...
Scootaloo was back in her chamber, looking at a mirror at herself. After teleporting away from Rainbow and the others, she reappeared beside her fellow crusaders back as a pegasus filly. Once they stopped congratulating her and telling her how awesome she was, they ran together to the mares doing as if they didn't know what happened. Apple Bloom then decided to go with Applejack as she went to the hospital while Rarity asked Sweetie Belle to return to their parents just in case more robots came. So Scootaloo returned to her home too. As soon as she was in her home, she waited until everypony was sleeping and went to her mirror where she turned back into her Zero persona.
"You know, even without your mask, you look cool. I like your eyes."
Infinite just huffed in answer.
"But... why Zero?"
He was a weakling that I got rid of.
Scootaloo frowned. "I don't know how to take that... Are you meaning that I am weak?"
Yes.
She rolled her eyes. "Sure, call me a weak after I just destroyed dozens of robots like they were no big deal."
That's nothing. I was able to stop the Resistance army from taking over my Eggman's capital almost by myself. They were thousands, and very well armed, but in just a few seconds, I almost wiped out their army.
Scootaloo gulped. "Wiped out, as in..."
Killed, destroyed, exterminated, whatever you prefer. What, are you surprised that I killed?
"........Not really, actually. I just saw what Eggman was capable to do, so as his ally who helped him take over the world, you were certainly no better. But, killer or not, it doesn't change the fact that I am stuck with you in my head and that I will have to put up with you for the rest of my life. And I already knew that you were evil. You did threaten me to behead and torture me."
Infinite chuckled. Anyway, those robots were also some of Eggman's weakest. Wait until he sends against you robots the size of buildings.
"He can build robots that big?!"
He built a giant space station many kilometers wide.
Scootaloo's jaw dropped. "How?"
Beat me. Even I wonder where he got all that metal. This wasn't even the first time he built this space station. I think it was the... fourth?
"So if we don't stop Eggman quickly, we may find ourselves with a giant space station above our heads?"
Yes. And an armada of spaceships, and thousands of robots. Eggman has no limit with how much he can build an army. And when he needs to get his own hands dirty, he can build powerful mechas for him to pilot too. I don't know about this Eggman, but mine's favorites were the Egg Dragoon and the Death Egg Robot.
Scootaloo could feel the corners of her mouth move up. "And how does he name the space station?"
The Death Egg.
She couldn't resist anymore and started laughing out loud, quickly covering her mouth with her hands to not wake up her aunts. "I... I just can't take those names seriously! Death Egg..." She walked to her bed and placed her face against the cover to muffle her laugh while hitting it with her fist. Just as she calmed down, she then said "Boo! Fear my eggs!" causing her to restart, to Infinite's annoyance. "Ok. Ok. I'm done," she eventually said once she calmed, retaking her breath. "Well, time for me to train. I must be ready if I ever end up fighting those mechas. Could you create replicas of them so I could train to fight them?"
No.
"Please?"
No.
Scootaloo huffed, then returned to her pegasus self before she climbed her bed and went to sleep, or rather, to train.
The next day, as Scootaloo was going to school, she saw many ponies gathered around the board near the town hall where important messages were put, like the weather schedule. Thinking that it had something to do about what happened yesterday, Scootaloo decided to go look and see what the princesses decided to do.
There were actually two new messages. The first was to announce that Royal Guards will be posted here to protect the town from potential new attacks. The second interested the filly, because it was a letter asking whoever was Zero to come to the Golden Oak Library (as Zero or not, their choice) as soon as possible to discuss important matter concerning Eggman.
Probably to ask him to help them.
Scootaloo wasn't sure if it was a good idea to go to Twilight, even as Zero. The chances for her to go Doctor Mad Science on her after witnessing her powers were high. But at least, coming as Zero meant that she could escape and Twilight wouldn't know that he was her, so the mare wouldn't pester her.
So, while in school, she discreetly told the Crusaders about it, warning them that she won't be able to remain with them. Then, after school, she went with them to the clubhouse, then took her Zero persona and teleported to the Golden Oak. She still left a Scootaloo replica behind just in case.
Now that she thought about it, she could have created a Scootaloo replica to go to school in her place! Darn it! Well, she didn't master yet the whole replica thingy, so it may not have worked correctly.
She opened the door, but couldn't see Twilight anywhere. Spike was here however, and when he spotted her entering, he immediately passed the door to the basement, screaming Twilight's name. Said mare came from this door a few seconds later, looking excited, Spike following her.
"You're here! I wasn't sure you would see the message!"
"If that wasn't for the big crowd around the board, I would have passed beside it without glancing at it," she replied. "Maybe you should have placed a big, red 'Important' or a big 'For Zero' on it."
"Eheh... Yeah, maybe I should have. We... We should go sit," she said as she pointed at a table with three chairs she prepared. They went to sit, but Scootaloo stopped and looked at her chair with uncertainty. She was about to jump on it to sit like always, but with those legs, she understood that the usual way will not work. So she just followed Spike's example. Another thing to get used to as Zero. It was not the first time that she sat with her back legs dangling from the chair (ponies sometime sit like that too), but she was more used to the other position.
She then looked back up at Twilight still smiling excitedly at her and groaned.
"Alright. One question. Just one question. I didn't come here to pass all day answering a Q&A."
Twilight almost jumped out of her chair in excitement. "Yippee!" She then calmed and cleared her throat. "What are your powers?"
Scootaloo sighed. "I should have known... What were they named already? Ah yes. They're augmented reality manipulation. It means-"
Twilight gasped. "You can change reality as you desire! Like, this body is not yours, you're actually a pony under it! And you changed reality so your body wasn't the one of a pony anymore but... whatever you are now!"
"Wow! If that's true, then it's very overpowered!" shouted Spike. "It's almost like Discord with his chaotic powers!"
"A jackal. But yes, that's it. But it's a little more complicated. Yes, there are some things that I can do just like that, like change my body, make myself fly, or create replicas, but there are other things where I need ponies to be under my power to work, like I did with the robots."
"Oh! You mean that wave of energy that caused the world to become... strange?"
"Yes. If that wasn't for that wave, I couldn't have attacked those robots with those spikes. And that is the difference with Discord's powers. Discord can just snap his fingers and change reality. Me, I need ponies to be under my power to be able to create illusions that, for them, become real. And then only, if I want, I can project that new reality into the original one to interact."
"Oh! I see! So you trap ponies in your power so you don't change reality, but their reality. So if you were to hit just one pony with that wave, that pony would see and feel things that others couldn't because they wouldn't be in your power."
"Exactly. If I hadn't hit you with my wave when I used it against the robots, you wouldn't have seen me create spikes to impale them, you would have just seen them getting impaled without reason unless, again, I decided to make them real in our own reality."
"That's so impressive! And I suppose those powers have something to do with that 'precious thing' you took from Eggman, right?"
Scootaloo looked at Twilight with a deadpan look. "I said that I would answer just one question." She sighed. "But I suppose that I should answer this one too. Yes, it has something to do with it. Eggman came in this world with a special ruby. I saw the ruby's power, saw how evil Eggman was, and took the ruby from him before he could use it. You saw what Eggman could already do without augmented reality manipulation powers, so imagine what he could do with them."
Twilight and Spike gulped. "Yes, you did good. Can we see this ruby?"
Scootaloo smiled sheepishly and rubbed her head. "I can't. There was an accident, and I accidentally swallowed the ruby. Now, it, and its powers, are a part of me, literally."
Spike burst into laughter. "Wow! Good way to gain powers! 'I find a powerful artefact, I eat it, I gain its powers.' I should send the idea to the scriptwriter of the Power Ponies."
"Well, at least, Eggman won't be able to get his hands on the ruby," said Twilight.
"No, he still can. You saw that he uses animals to power his machines. All he has to do is capture me and use me as a power source."
"Oh... Is this why you disguise yourself? So Eggman wouldn't know who you are and put your family and friends in danger?"
Scootaloo sighed. "No. He knows who I am. He saw me take the ruby as myself."
"Then why...?"
"Alright... I will answer this one too. It's to not get ponies on my door all the times."
"I know what you mean. They wouldn't leave you alone. They would come to know everything about your powers like Twilight here, or be like fanfillies and try to follow you wherever you go just to have the chance to be with their hero. There are also some ponies who would certainly treat you badly because you're different, or to use you for their gain," said Spike.
I didn't think about all that. I had mainly Twilight in mind. "Exactly."
Twilight lowered her ears, understanding. "Yes... In my excitement to learn about something new, I would have probably come to your home to ask you to take part in some... experiments."
"More like 'ask you for the heck of it before forcefully dragging you to her lab,'" said Spike with a smirk at Twilight. "Or stalk you with binoculars."
Twilight took a big breath at being reminded of the 'Pinkie Sense Incident' then said "But I know better now. I still want to learn how this ruby works, but I promise that I will restrain myself if you don't want me to experiment. So you can remove your disguise, Scootaloo."
“What?” Spike shouted
"What?!" yelled Scootaloo, almost toppling her chair in her shock. "No! No! I'm not Scootaloo! I'm... somepony else!"
Twilight giggled. "This is not what your reaction says."
Scootaloo groaned as she returned to normal, Spike staring at her in awe. "How did you find out?"
"Remember that device I used to detect the energy used to open that rift? When I turned it toward you, it exploded, so when Zero appeared with all those powers, it wasn't hard to guess. But it's not just that. Somepony in Ponyville took something from Eggman, and you were the only pony who was in contact with him. Also, you came almost immediately after school hours. It wasn't hard to put two and two together. But don't worry, your secret is safe. Right, Spike?"
"Uh? Oh! Yes yes! I won't tell anypony!"
"Pinkie Promise?" asked Scootaloo.
"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," they both said with the corresponding movements. "Who knows beside us?" asked then Twilight.
"Only Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. I was also planning to tell Rainbow Dash."
Twilight nodded. "It would be nice if you could at least tell my other friends and Princess Celestia too, and also your family, but if you don't want to, I won't force you."
"I will think about it."
"Good! Now lets talk of why you are here: Eggman."
"Of course I will help you."
"It's not just about that. Eggman will probably attack Ponyville again to get you, but he may attack other towns too. We want to know if you will be able to defend them, or even to join the assault against Eggman when we find him."
"Count in me. Thanks to the power of the Phantom Ruby, I can go anywhere in no time without even needing to take the train. The instant I started fighting those robots as Zero, I told myself that I would stop him."
Twilight smiled. "Glad to hear. I don't enjoy sending a filly fighting murderous robots, but your powers will really help us save ponies. I'm also glad to have found out who you are, because it will be easier to contact you when the time comes. But what if you are in school?"
"Mmh... You could try to sign to me through a window without being spotted, and I will come."
"What? Just like that? But you will have to justify your absence!"
"No need. Remember, I can create replicas," Scootaloo said before she created a replica of herself standing on the table, the replica glitching a little before it stabilized.
"Woah! It looks as real as you!" shouted Spike. He then poked the clone. "It's real!"
Scootaloo nodded. "It's like I said. This is actually an illusion, but thanks to the power of the Phantom Ruby, it is as real as me. I can even make it act like me, give to it my memories and all. So once you sign to me, I will pretext that I need to use the toilet, then I will create a replica..."
"...And I will take Scootaloo's place while she goes to kick some metallic butts," suddenly said the replica with a smirk.
Twilight looked at the replica, then smiled widely. "Wait a minute. Those replicas are made from the ruby's power you said. So what if I use one to study in your place?"
"If it can satisfy your thirst for knowledge, then why not?" the real Scootaloo said.
"Yes yes yes!" shouted Twilight as she took the replica who looked at Scootaloo with a pleading look. "Between this and Eggman's technology, maybe I will be able to find a way to replicate this power! Oh yeah, we're studying the remains of the robots to create our owns, so don't be surprised if you soon see robots roaming the streets. Now I must go thankyouforeverything!" she finished in one breath before she ran back to the basement with the replica.
The filly and the dragon looked at the door where she disappeared for a moment, then looked back at each other, Spike groaning. "Now she will probably remain down here all night, and maybe even all week..."
"Sorry."
"Because of all this, I forgot to ask you: who is Zero? You didn't take his appearance just like that. Is he a comic character that I don't know?"
"Uh no. He's my original character. There was a moment where I wanted to make my own comic, and he was supposed to be the villain."
"Then why not transform as the hero?"
"The hero was Rainbow Dash."
"Oh! Of course!" laughed Spike.
Me... An original character... Really... said Infinite with a groan.