The Phantom Filly

by Lucar

Chapter 19: The Death Egg

The Death Egg revealing itself and firing at the Alliance's airships, followed by the countdown starting, caused the real battle to begin. Thousands and thousands of robots were coming out of the space station to assault the attackers, and with the destruction of all the Phantom Rubies by Discord, the situation was really dire.

Yet, the princesses didn't lose hope. They had to win. When the Death Egg spun to follow the airships and be able to target them, Celestia yelled "Don't stop moving! But if the worst happens, spread out as much as possible, and as far away from the ground as possible!" She then turned to Luna. "Let's do IT!"

"Are you sure? It will cost us a lot," the little sister warned.

"But it will help us regain the advantage, as much as we can have against the Death Egg," Celestia replied.

"Very well," Luna said.

The two sisters then used their magic to move the sun and the moon at the same time until both celestial bodies were high above them in the sky, the Moon eclipsing the Sun. Then, they charged a vast quantity of magic in their horn, and the Sun and the Moon glowed. A few seconds later, the two bodies unleashed a huge energy beam, extremely powerful that nopony had seen in millennia.

The legendary Eclipse Cannon.

The beam hit the ground in a giant explosion, destroying a huge part of the fortress and countless enemies, then swept the base around the Death Egg, causing even more destruction. For many long seconds, the beam moved, destroying more of the fortress and causing Eggman's army to visibly shrink. By the time the beam disappears, easily one third of the fortress was destroyed, most of Eggman's airships were wiped out, and his robots dropped to a more manageable number. Oh, and everywhere the beam passed, the metallic ground had disappeared and the sand under it had been turned to glass.

But now, Celestia and Luna were almost out of energy. They could still fight, but they’re forced to be more careful.

Then, the Death Egg fired again, but thankfully, the targeted airships were able to move out of the range of the explosions in time. In the end, they caused more of the fortress to be destroyed.

More enemies were however coming from the Death Egg, stopping any tentatives of the Alliance to approach it and attack. But without the Phantom Rubies, would they even be able to destroy something that huge in time? Scootaloo seemed now to be their best chance.

But right now, there was another danger than the Death Egg, much closer, and very deadly.

Rainbow Dash, right now, hated her life. She was facing a mad hedgehog robot who was now sentient and possessed crazy electricity powers as well as great magic. To make things worse, said robot possessed a Phantom Ruby that gave it even crazier powers.

And her own Phantom Ruby was destroyed.

Immediately after that it was destroyed, Metal Sonic laughed at her, making the pony growl in rage. Deciding to act despite her now very clear disadvantage, Rainbow Dash flew away, then flew back, gaining speed. Seeing this, Metal Sonic stopped laughing and flew up to avoid the Sonic Rainboom Punch. It then went after Rainbow Dash, and with the power of the Phantom Ruby, it did its own Sonic Rainboom almost immediately. Despite her surprise, Rainbow Dash barely avoided the attack by flying to the side, only for Metal Sonic to suddenly stop beside her and punch her.

Placing her front legs to block the punch, Rainbow Dash was sent flying far in the air, thankfully not toward the ground or any of the buildings. She used this to recover while moving at high speed. As the Death Egg then fired for the first time, and the countdown began, she circled it, Metal Sonic teleporting in front of her. Still moving at the same speed as her, the robot then turned to face her and caused electricity to rain randomly in her path while sending some of those Phantom Cubes in small groups to home in on her.

Rainbow avoided all of it as best as she could, especially the cubes, then gained speed to try to catch the robot only for it to match her speed, making sure that it would always remain far enough in front of her.

"You do know your fighting is pointless?" it asked her.

Rainbow couldn't hope to answer it. With how fast they were moving, her words would never reach it. Instead, she just made a rude gesture with her front legs, hoping that the robot would understand.

It got a chuckle out of it. "You are just like him, never willing to give up despite everything."

Metal Sonic then used the Phantom Ruby to move buildings, forcing her to move up, down, left, and right to avoid them. At a time, she was forced to pass through a window to traverse one of the buildings that she couldn't avoid in time, getting herself some cuts.

"You are loyal, willing to give your life for others, just like him. You are fast, just like him. You are arrogant... Just. Like. Him!"

Metal Sonic materialized more cubes, these forming even bigger cubes as obstacles in Rainbow's path. They were too many, and Rainbow touched one of them, getting her sent to a reality where the cubes were replaced by floating saws. Not wanting to finish like a log, she carefully avoided them until they disappeared with the fake reality.

"This is probably why I despise you more than anything else in this world!" Metal Sonic yelled.

Just then, the Sun and the Moon moved above their heads in the sky, the second getting in front of the first, and a huge beam came from them and destroyed the fortress and Eggman's army.

Making sure to remain away from it, the two of them continued their fight, Metal Sonic using the ruby to create clones of itself. The clones then spun, surrounding themselves in electricity, and one after another, they charged at Rainbow Dash, who got a few close calls out of this. The giant beam passed just at their left at this moment before it disappeared.

"I was made by Eggman to fight Sonic as a more powerful copy of him. I had all the advantages. Power, speed, intellect... I could even copy his own attacks! I was made to copy, and perfect what I copy!"

This time, using magic, it formed a magic ball between its claw-like hands. From the ball, a dozen beams came out at once and swept the air, and again, Rainbow could only dodge. Eventually, Metal Sonic fired the ball at her, forcing her to avoid both it and the lasers it fired around it, which became harder as the ball came closer. She was hit by one, but she quickly recovered and continued her course after Metal Sonic.

"And yet, I always lost against him, somehow. Despite my superiority, he still managed to destroy me, like you did in the jungle."

"Sucks to be you," said Rainbow Dash, even if she knew that Metal Sonic couldn't hear her.

"But now, I finally have the power to defeat him! I don't even have to follow Eggman's orders anymore! Thanks to this ruby, I'm now my own master!"

It turned its two arms into gatlings guns and fired at Rainbow Dash, the mare rapidly moving around to avoid the bullets.

"So I will kill you, then Eggman, Tirek, and Discord, and be the one at the head of this world! Then, I will return to my world, and kill Sonic and his friends, and conquer it too! This will be MY empire!"

Gosh... Will this guy just stop? It's 'alive' since just a few minutes, and it already has a bigger ego than me! Probably takes it after its 'father', Rainbow Dash thought.

She had to avoid a few more attacks consisting of Phantom Cubes, electrical, and magical beams, as well as one where Metal Sonic levitated pieces of destroyed buildings around it before throwing them at the mare. Metal Sonic was losing patience.

"I compared you to a hedgehog, but I should rather compare you to a cockroach! You're as hard to kill as one! And as annoying! Just die already!"

With its magic, seemingly boosted by the Phantom Ruby, it levitated hundreds of debris, including some huge ones, then sent all of them at once. Rainbow Dash had to use all of her hard training to avoid this cloud of debris, doing maneuvers worthy of the Wonderbolts. She still got hit by some of them, but she avoided all the more dangerous ones.

Just as it saw that she survived, Rainbow gave it a smug smile. That's all?

Metal Sonic suddenly stopped, taking Rainbow Dash off guard. The robot then moved to the side to avoid her as she passed. While the mare turned around to charge back at it, Metal Sonic then used the ruby again to levitate pieces of buildings again. It created a tornado around itself with them, forcing Rainbow to fly away to avoid it, and the mare could only watch as the pieces of buildings merged with the robot, helped again by the Phantom Ruby.

Metal Sonic grew in size and in bulk until becoming as big as a small building, keeping the familiar shape of its head with the five sharp quills, but losing its hedgehog-like form to take on a more dragon-like one. Or rather, some kind of weird hedgehog-dragon centaur thing. Its eyes changed, now lining vertically on its head, the one above smaller than the other, the right hand was replaced by a flamethrower, spikes appeared on its back from the shoulders to its new tail, and two huge wings grew from its lower body. However, it didn't possess legs anymore.

The remaining debris dropped to the ground, and the robot levitated the now fully depleted Phantom Ruby, and destroyed it.

It seemed like not just the rubies had been destroyed, but the generators too. Not like it will change much against that thing!

It immediately attacked Rainbow Dash with its flamethrower, forcing the mare to retreat before it unleashed electricity in all directions, attacking everything! While doing so, it also fired crystal projectiles from its mouth at Rainbow Dash as she circled it.

Having making itself known by attacking both the Alliance and Eggman's army, both armies targeted Metal Sonic with their respective airships, hitting the robot from all directions with lasers and other projectiles. However, they barely phased it, and it countered by firing its spikes as homing missiles.

Twilight came to stop it, but the robot revealed to be faster than someone would think because of its size, and it charged at her, giving her a giant headbutt that sent her flying. Metal Sonic then charged a huge laser inside its mouth, and Twilight was barely saved by Rainbow Dash.

The Death Egg then faced it and fired its two giant lasers from its eyes, only for the robot to surround itself with its familiar shield, blocking the lasers as well as the resulting explosions.

While holding a now unconscious Twilight, Rainbow Dash stared at Metal Sonic in despair. "How can we face that thing?"

"Dashie!" Pinkie Pie suddenly yelled from the roof of one of the surviving buildings. The pink pony was waving at her, and Rainbow Dash landed beside her, slowly laying down Twilight.

"You have an idea?" she asked.

Pinkie nodded, then raised a hoof, revealing a Phantom Ruby! "What?! How did-?!"

"Pinkie Sense! Now, take it, and kick this meanie's robotic butt! But remember, the generators were destroyed!"

"Thank you, Pinkie! I think that we will all owe you one!" Rainbow Dash said happily as she took the ruby.

"Then be at my victory party once this is over!"

"Do you even need to ask? Of course, I will be here!" the pegasus said. "Take care of Twilight."

Pinkie saluted. "I will!"

Rainbow then flew back toward Metal Sonic and used the ruby to turn herself into an alicorn. Boosted by the ruby, she charged at Metal Sonic, did a Sonic Rainboom, and hit it on the torso, slightly damaging it and gaining back its attention.

"Back for more?" it said. It then saw that she now possessed a Phantom Ruby. "What? Where did you-? I thought that they had all been destroyed! Nevermind, this won't change anything! Prepare to die!"

"If this changes nothing, then what is this hole that I just caused in your torso?" replied Rainbow Dash with a smirk before she flew away to avoid being slapped by its left hand.

Metal Sonic unleashed dozens of attacks at her with its magic and its inner capacities. Electricity, giant fireballs, thrown giant debris, lasers, crystals, and so on, and Rainbow Dash dodged all of them thanks to her enhanced speed, but couldn't approach because of the continuous barrage. Many of the attacks continued to cause huge destruction around them, and it led the Death Egg to fire at it again.

Seeing the two lasers coming, Rainbow Dash flew away to be out of the ranges of the explosion as one of them hit Metal Sonic, the robot being surprised. The lasers were powerful enough to damage Metal Sonic a little, but not enough to destroy it. However, it took some time to recover, and Rainbow Dash took the occasion to charge at it again, targeting the same hole she created earlier in its torso.

Metal Sonic immediately used its flamethrower at her, and Rainbow Dash was slightly burned before she could get away. However, the robot sent the four claws of its left hand at her, and the claws trapped her in some crystal cage. Metal Sonic then charged energy in its mouth, and Rainbow Dash struggled to escape the cage before it could fire. She succeeded and was able to avoid the laser.

Dozens of airships from the Alliance then fired at it at once, giving Rainbow a new opening to charge at it, again targeting the hole she caused. All the while, Eggman's army continuously fired at it. Getting annoyed by them, Metal Sonic forced Rainbow away, then charged energy again before firing a laser. It swept the air all around it with it, destroying countless airships, mainly from Eggman's army as the Alliance's airships were too spread out. Rainbow Dash, again, used this opportunity to attack it another time, this time using the Phantom Ruby to send a powerful bolt of electricity inside the hole she caused, badly damaging Metal Sonic's circuits.

She immediately flew away to avoid a slap from the now smoking robot just as the Death Egg fired again. This time, Metal Sonic saw the lasers coming and used the same shield as earlier to protect itself. Rainbow Dash, however, used her ruby to teleport inside the shield, and used Metal Sonic's surprise to attack it again. She spun, then used the ruby to surround herself in electricity while immediately doing a Sonic Rainboom, passing right through the robot by the hole she caused. The electricity spread everywhere in its body, roasting its insides as it spasmed.

The shield disappeared, and Rainbow Dash rapidly moved far enough above it as it was still paralyzed. She then spun again and used all of the ruby's remaining power to create the most powerful electricity around her body ever while doing another Sonic Rainboom.

Still paralyzed by the electricity and all the damage it took, Metal Sonic couldn't avoid the attack, and it was pierced from the head to the bottom of its body, the electricity finishing it.

"N... No... How...?" Metal Sonic asked before it exploded, the explosion as big as the ones caused by the lasers of the Death Egg.

"Ah!" Rainbow Dash in victory shouted  as she turned to the remains of Metal Sonic, her body returning to normal. "You were wondering why you lost? Because you suuuck, and we're aaaawesoooome! Ahahah! Wait until I tell Scoot! Speaking of, I wonder how she's faring..."

Back when the Death Egg fired for the first time and the countdown began, Discord was still growling at Eggman's act.

"Why are you still working for him if you hate his actions so much?" asked Scootaloo.

Discord huffed. "I don't work for him. I'm helping Tirek, and Tirek has a partnership with Eggman, so I have no choice but to help him too if I want to reach my goal."

"Total liberty, uh?"

"Oh! You remembered! Good job!" Discord said while clapping. "Yes, to regain my liberty, I'm willing to work for Eggman. But don't worry, once we reach our goal, me and Tirek will make Eggman pay for everything he did. If everything goes to plan, then Eggman will be history today! But for this, I must stop you from destroying the Death Egg. It's an important part of our plan."

"Sorry, but I'm not too keen in letting everyone's magic getting drained."

At this moment, the Sun and the Moon moved to create an eclipse, and a huge beam came from them and destroyed the fortress.

"And it seems that Celestia and Luna aren't okay with it too."

"Like I care if you are okay or not."

"Even Fluttershy?"

Discord let a small growl escape before he calmed down. "Even her. Now..."

Snap!

Bubbles suddenly appeared everywhere around them.

Snap!

Fishes now appeared, swimming in the air like they normally swim in water.

Snap! Snap! Snap!

Clouds of cotton candy appeared, the buildings in the area floated, and random objects appeared, also floating in the air among the bubbles and the fishes.

"Shall we dance?" he finished.

Suspicious, Scootaloo sent a small projectile at one of the bubbles, and the bubble exploded, letting out some powder.

"Oh! Scraping powder! Too bad you didn't get it," Discord said.

Scootaloo pointed her lightning spear at Discord, used the power of the Phantom Ruby to trap him in a reality where he was vulnerable, then charged. "Let's finish this once and for all, Discord!"

Remember our strategy, said Infinite.

Scootaloo didn't reply, instead avoiding a cotton candy cloud that Discord sent in her path to block her. She teleported and charged again. When she reached Discord, she thrusted her spear, only for the Spirit of Chaos to move his body like a snake to avoid it. She did a couple more thrusts that Discord avoided the same way, then teleported back and threw the spear that Discord also easily avoided.

Some fishes went to attack her, but Scootaloo surrounded herself in a shield of electricity that electrocuted all of them. Meanwhile, Discord took a pogo stick that floated nearby and bounced randomly in the air before suddenly going after Scootaloo.

She avoided him with another teleportation, materialized a new lightning spear, then charged at Discord again despite him continuing to bounce around. Anticipating this, Scootaloo thrusted her spear again, but Discord teleported before that, and only the pogo stick was destroyed.

One of the bubbles then floated toward her from behind and touched her before exploding, and she found herself trapped in stone. Discord appeared beside her with a hammer and a chisel, but she was able to escape thanks to the power of the ruby before he could do anything, and she teleported away.

When she appeared, she materialized Phantom Cubes that she sent in wave patterns by groups of three, first three vertical waves horizontally, then three horizontal waves vertically, then three horizontal waves vertically. Again, Discord easily avoided them, took a cue stick floating around, and used it to send a bubble into another bubble, creating a chain reaction of bubbles hitting bubbles. Scootaloo tried to avoid them, but she was eventually hit by one. When the bubble exploded on her, she wasn't sure what it caused until Discord took a floating body mirror and turned it toward her.

While still in her Zero persona, she was now physically younger, much younger. Like, around five years old, maybe.

"Uh. You were adorable when you were a child, Infinite," she said before she used the ruby to return to normal.

Infinite groaned. Just hurry up. We're losing time.

Rapidly, Scootaloo attacked again with her lightning spear, doing three thrusts before throwing it. This time, however, she teleported before throwing a second spear, and teleported again before throwing a third one which didn't do much in the end. Discord was even looking bored.

She began to attack more rapidly, repeating the three lightning spear thrusts followed by the throw, and occasionally doing the wave attack. She, however, diversified the first attack, doing for example the three thrusts, and teleporting only to appear behind Discord before doing a fourth thrust. This one took him by surprise and actually hit Discord, showing that the strategy worked.

Discord healed himself, then finally used his magic to exit the reality where he was vulnerable, only for Scootaloo to send him back in it immediately. So the draconequus did a flick with his claw, and the various floating objects, bubbles, clouds, and buildings moved rapidly and erratically.

Scootaloo decided that she did enough and left Infinite in control, his mask appearing on her head. Infinite immediately began by using strong gravity to force all the floating stuff to drop on the ground, then sent groups of Phantom Cubes homing in on Discord one by one. As Discord avoided them, Infinite spun while surrounding himself in electricity, then charged at him. Discord let himself drop to avoid him, then materialized a wall made of steel in his path, and Infinite crashed headfirst into it.

Infinite didn't lose time however and quickly recovered, repairing his damaged mask. A square of Phantom Cubes then appeared directly under Discord, and he moved aside just beside it as it turned into an immense column. However, more squares appeared under Discord as he continued to move. The draconequus then saw Infinite suddenly drop toward him and a cask materialized on his head, diminishing the effectiveness of the hit. Despite his foot hashing, Infinite then levitated debris around him and sent them at Discord one by one before he repeated with the groups of Phantom Cubes homing in.

After repeating those attacks a few times, he gave Scootaloo control again, and the filly repeated her attacks, starting with the three spear thrusts before throwing it.

"I didn't know that I was fighting a boss from a video game," Discord said as he avoided more lightning spears thrown as Scootaloo teleported repeatedly. "I'm disappointed. Our previous fights were more entertaining. I don't even have to be serious."

"Like you were ever serious," Scootaloo said.

"I was serious, back when you were really fighting."

Scootaloo didn't reply to that, and after a few more attacks, left her place to Infinite who repeated his attacks, but adding a little something: when he dropped on Discord after the columns of Phantom Cubes, if the draconequus dodged, then a clone secretly materialized would drop too. It took Discord by surprise the first time, giving him a serious headache.

Infinite didn't pay attention to the big blue dragon robot that appeared in the distance. He will have to trust the Alliance to deal with it while he fights Discord. Scootaloo, however, was worried.

Discord dodged again the debris that were levitated and thrown by Infinite, then yawned. But then, he found himself impaled by a lightning spear, to his shock, literally and figuratively.

Infinite used one of Scootaloo's attacks? Okay, they got him good this time. He quickly destroyed the spear before healing himself, but didn't see the square of Phantom Cubes appearing above him. The square turned into a column, and he was caught in it, finding himself in a reality with a wall of huge cannons firing alternatively. Again, because he was caught off guard by this, he couldn't avoid in time the beam fired by the cannon facing him.

Growling, he healed himself as the mask on Infinite's head disappeared, showing that Scootaloo was back in control. The filly charged at him with a lightning spear, and Discord moved his body to dodge, only for the lightning spear to turn into a familiar red sword, and Discord was badly cut as a result. He quickly created a shockwave that threw the filly away, giving him space to heal, again.

However, Scootaloo- No, Infinite, he had the mask- Infinite appeared behind him ready to attack with the red sword. He quickly materialized a rod to parry the sword. But again, he didn't see the square of Phantom Cubes forming under him, and it was only at the last moment that he saw it. He was transported in another reality, but instead of finding himself in front of a wall of cannons, Scootaloos on flying scooters with reactors were charging at him from all sides. He quickly turned the scooters into duck buoys, and all the Scootaloos dropped before the reality disappeared.

And again, Infinite, no, Scootaloo came from behind with Infinite's sword, and Discord decided to teleport away. Scootaloo... Infinite, the mask appeared again, then sent after him those groups of Phantom Cubes homing in on him, and also threw lightning spears.

Scootaloo charged at him and thrusted her lightning spear three times, then teleported behind him, the spear turning into the red sword. Discord quickly materialized a knight shield to block it, only for Scootaloo to teleport again, and Infinite appeared yet again behind him and impaled him with a fire spear! Infinite immediately sent a Phantom Cube and sent Discord in a reality where it rained spiked balls. Still impaled and burned by the fire spear, he couldn't avoid the balls hurting him even more.

When he came back, Scootaloo was here and immediately impaled him with her lightning spear, then Infinite slashed him with his sword before giving him an uppercut, then Scootaloo kicked him strongly, sending him flying before throwing another lightning spear and impaling him again. Infinite then teleported near him and attacked again, slashing with his sword all over his body.

During a brief moment, Discord recovered his senses enough to roar and punch Infinite in the mask, destroying it and sending him flying away. Breathing heavily, Discord then healed himself.

In the distance, the blue dragon robot exploded.

Scootaloo was back in control when she attacked again using Infinite's sword, and Discord quickly teleported away before he said, "Trying to out-trick me, huh? Good job, you almost got me. Now, I am angry."

Scootaloo smirked. "Angry at us, or angry at yourself for hurting Fluttershy?"

Discord growled. "I don't care about her anymore!"

"Then explain how she defeated you so easily with you barely putting up a fight."

"I... I wasn't in top form that day! I was sick!"

"Probably sick of yourself. You are nothing more than a brat spoiled with enormous power and the freedom to do what you want thanks to it. When you don't get what you want, you start a tantrum. You are millennia old, but you are no better than a child who refuses to change even knowing that it would be for the better, because you are too attached to what you already have. Ironic. Isn't chaos about change?"

Discord growled again, louder. "Shut up..."

"No wonder you disgust yourself... You contradict your very nature with your actions."

"SHUP! UP!"

Scootaloo gave the smuggest smirk she could give. "Make me Lord of Idiots."

Discord roared, and he unleashed a wave of magic that spread over a vast area, altering everything in it except Scootaloo. The area was now pure chaos and insanity, impossible to describe.

Good job, said Infinite. We made him so angry that he won't think what he will do. It will be easier to defeat him.

"Let's make sure that he doesn't calm down," Scootaloo said as she charged at Discord.

Only for him to snap his fingers, and time was suddenly slowed down. Discord then created a ball of pure chaotic energy and threw it at Scootaloo. Despite being slowed down, Scootaloo managed to teleport. Using a vast quantity of the energy of the Phantom Ruby that she can use, she then forced her time to return to normal as she appeared behind Discord.

"The trust hurts," she said before she impaled him with two lightning spears.

You used a lot of energy. Leave the fight to me while you recover it.

"Very well."

Thanks to Discord being impaled, time returned to normal, and Infinite tried to attack with his sword, but Discord hit it with his lion paw, and the sword was turned into particles. The draconequus then tried to hit Infinite too, but the jackal quickly teleported before getting the same fate. He appeared further and fired a beam that sent Discord crashing.

Easier to defeat, but much more dangerous, said Scootaloo.

Infinite nodded. "If he hits us once, we're dead. We must be careful."

Suddenly, the ground moved as if it was alive, and parts of it rose to attack Infinite, who was left with no choice but to fly further in the sky. Midflight, Discord appeared in front of him and tried to hit him again, but Infinite skillfully avoided the eagle claw before rematerializing his sword and cutting Discord with it.

Discord teleported away, then sent all the buildings in the chaotic area... or what they transformed into, toward Infinite, who teleported away again and again and again to avoid them. Eventually, Infinite levitated some of the 'buildings' and threw them at Discord, who destroyed them with his balls of chaotic energy. Discord then assembled all the 'buildings', including the remains of the ones he destroyed, into a giant ball in the sky before he let it drop on Infinite.

Infinite waited, and at the last moment, he used the power of the Phantom Ruby to alter reality so he was now in the place of Discord, and Discord was in his place. The draconequus was crushed by the ball. For good measure, Infinite then created a giant energy ball, about one tenth of the size of the sun he created back in his world, then sent it toward the mess of 'buildings', and it was destroyed in an enormous explosion.

Taking back his breath, Infinite stared at the smoke remaining after the explosion, daring Discord to survive this. Meanwhile, in the distance, he could see that some of the airships of the Alliance finally fired at the Death Egg.

5
4
3
2
1
0!

The alarm blared again as the countdown finished, and the ground shook.

Shit! We must destroy the Death Egg! Now!" shouted Scootaloo.

But suddenly, a portal opened at Infinite's left, and out of it came Discord's upper body who grabbed Infinite's left arm.

The arm turned into particles.

Acting quickly, Infinite sliced his arm with his sword, then slashed at Discord's head, giving him a severe cut before he disappeared back in his portal.

AAAAARGH!!! IT HURTS!!! yelled Scootaloo, not used to the pain.

Infinite huffed in return before, in the familiar glitchy way of the Phantom Ruby, the arm reappeared.

As the Death Egg took off, another portal opened at this moment, and Discord came out of it. This time, Infinite was prepared, avoided Discord's attempt to grab him, and sliced his right arm, making the draconequus yell in pain. Infinite then materialized a chain and wrapped a part of it around Discord's neck before pulling, forcing the draconequus entirely out of the portal. After spinning him for a few seconds, he then sent him crashing to the ground.

Sword ready, Infinite then went after him to finish this!

Only for a certain yellow pegasus to place herself between him and Discord yelling, "STOP! PLEASE!"

If it wasn't for Scootaloo forcing him, Infinite wouldn't have stopped.

"What are you doing?!" shouted Infinite.

"Stopping you from killing a friend," replied Fluttershy calmly, shocking Discord who looked at her in disbelief from the ground.

"A friend?" Infinite repeated. "A friend?" He laughed. "You call him a friend after everything he did?"

One by one, Fluttershy's friends came, including Twilight, who had awakened.

Seeing what was happening, Twilight placed herself beside Fluttershy and talked. "We haven't really been good friends to him too... Chaos is in his nature, but we tried to force him to become someone he isn't. Even if I accepted some of his chaos, I understand that I was putting too many limits. We put too many limits." She looked at her friends one by one. "Discord wouldn't change in one day, and yet, from the first day, we asked too much from him. Instead of moving slowly, we forced him directly to be what we wanted him to be." She looked at Discord. "It's no wonder that he followed Tirek. We really were like jailers to him."

Infinite stared at Twilight, then at Discord, then turned to look up at the Death Egg that was already far in the sky. "Fine. Whatever. I don't have time for this. Don't come crying when he backstabs you again," He finally said before taking off after the Death Egg.

Everypony watched him fly away until Discord asked, "Why?" gaining back their attention.

Twilight smiled sadly. "It's like I said, Discord... Yes, we are angry that you betrayed us. You hurt Fluttershy a lot. But..." She sighed. "We really didn't help. Some of us even outright refused to trust you. We... I failed. I was too forceful toward you, and I barely put any effort in return. At best, you were a nuisance that I tolerated because Princess Celestia asked me to."

"He didn't really help, like when he faked that sickness that turned him blue," said Rarity.

"Of course. Like I said, he wouldn't change in one day. And we have to accept it. It's a work for all of us, not just him."

Discord looked at her, then sighed. "The truth is... I was barely putting any effort too... I wanted to try friendship. It felt... nice..." He looked at Fluttershy with a small smile at this. But his smile disappeared. "But at the same time... I refused to give up what I had. The possibility to do what I want, without caring what ponies were thinking." He pushed a small laugh. "Scootaloo was right. Chaos is change, and yet, I refused to change. How ironic. I'm really just a spoiled brat with a lot of power."

"She said that? Ouch..." said Rainbow Dash.

Twilight smiled and raised a hoof. "Then, how about we retry from the beginning? You can do what you want with your chaos as long as it doesn't harm ponies or other living beings. Of course, it would be best if you could avoid being annoying. In return, we will accept what you are and put our trust in you, and help you learn about friendship."

"Twilight. You know me. I can't stop being annoying. But at least, I will try to control myself and learn what it is to be a good friend. So... Deal!" He tried to shake Twilight's hoof, but he then remembered that he didn't have a right arm anymore. "Oh, right..." With a snap, the arm was back, and he shook Twilight's hoof. "Deal!"

He was immediately hugged by Fluttershy.

As a warm smile appeared on his face, he then took the necklace that Tirek gave him. "Tirek gave this necklace to me when he convinced me to join him to show that he was trusting me. He told me that it was his own brother who gave it to him. I... I don't know how to feel about breaking that trust... He even told me his plan."

Twilight shook her head. "He manipulated you. Scorpan, Tirek's brother, was the one who revealed to Celestia and Luna Tirek's intentions, which led to him getting imprisoned in Tartarus. Tirek hates his brother. That necklace means nothing to him. He used it to make you think that he was your friend when, in reality, he probably planned to backstab you when you would stop being useful."

Discord huffed. "I should have seen that coming... The puppeteer puppeted like an idiot. I'm really the Lord of Idiots."

"Something that Scootaloo also said?" Twilight asked.

"Yes. She was really spot on. Well, this revelation made this necklace lose all its symbolism, but I hope that you will still accept it as proof of my friendship. True friendship." At this, he placed the necklace around Twilight's neck.

Then, for an instant, a rainbow shimmer traversed the necklace.

"Uh? Why did it glow rainbow?" Twilight wondered.

"Oh, right, you didn't find out because of all those events..." Discord said. "No time to turn around the spot. Tirek is about to absorb everyone's magic, so I will have to be more direct than usual. This necklace is one of the keys to open the chest that the Tree of Harmony gave you. To think that I would be the one giving the last key..."

"The last key? What? And what about Tirek?"

"No time to explain! Let's go to the chest!"

And with a snap, he teleported all of them.

Flying after the Death Egg, Infinite eventually flew so far in the sky that he passed what no other ponies passed excepted probably Celestia and Luna: a magical veil surrounding the world forming the sky that the inhabitants of the planet saw. Traversing it was like traversing water, except that it wasn't wet, and beyond it was the real sky: space. An infinite and mysterious space full of real stars and other real celestial bodies that were out of Luna's power.

The Death Egg was further ahead, still moving, having not yet reached its intended position to absorb the magic of everyone in Equus. It seemed like Eggman prepared for the eventuality of someone chasing the Death Egg, because a giant armada of airships, or rather, spaceships moved to block Infinite's path and fired at him while sending countless robots.

"I don't think I will have enough energy to destroy all of them," said Infinite begrudgingly.

Then once you feel that you're almost out of juice, switch with me. I think that I almost recovered entirely, Scootaloo said.

"Once this happens, avoid using your energy too rapidly. I will have to recover my own."

Of course!

Inside his mask, Infinite smirked. In his mind, Scootaloo smirked too.

"It's show time! they both shouted.

Infinite charged toward the first spaceship that blocked his path, avoiding all the projectiles fired by its cannons, then sliced it in half with one slash. With more slashes, he cut the ship into smaller parts. One by one, he then threw the parts at the other spaceships near enough, destroying many robots in the way.

Not stopping moving to avoid the storm of beams and other projectiles fired his way, he then fired his own beam toward a spaceship at his right, piercing it from part to part, destroying it, before he used that same beam to sweep the space from his right to his left, destroying more robots and spaceships and creating a giant field of explosions.

But there were still a lot of them, and the Death Egg was moving further and further.

We will never catch the Death Egg at this pace!

"We will have to move and attack the ships only when we're left with no choice. I leave this to you, I almost used everything I have."

Okay! Count on me!

So Scootaloo took Infinite's place and flew as fast as she could thanks to the Phantom Ruby without using too much energy. A Spaceship placed itself in the way, so she spun while surrounding herself in electricity and passed through it. While inside it, she left a bomb powerful enough to destroy it; the spaceship exploding behind her.

More spaceship moved to block the way, and she had to slalom between them, continuously attacking them and the robots they sent with beams and other projectiles, or with her lightning spears. Then, the Death Egg, its Eggman head facing her, fired its two giant beams at her, and she quickly moved out of the way as the two beams destroyed many spaceships in their path.

More and more, she approached the Death Egg as it continued to fire until, suddenly, it stopped moving, and a 'mouth' opened.

"Oh no..."

And, as she feared, Scootaloo could feel, and see, her magic being drained out of her. From Equus, countless streams of magic were coming toward the mouth of the Death Egg.

They couldn't stop it in time...

Everyone's magic, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, the others, Celestia, Luna... even Discord, was taken and disappeared inside the space fortress.

"We... We failed..."

Not completely. We still have the Phantom Ruby's power. We can still destroy that fortress!

More determined than ever, Scootaloo flew toward the Death Egg, passing the last few spaceships on the way.

But then, the Death Egg cracked, cracked, cracked... and exploded.

Out of it came... Tirek, now almost as huge as the fortress had been, now possessing long white hairs with his white beard.

He admired his now huge body, then shouted "Yes... YES!!! I have the POWER!!! AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" While laughing, he stared at what remained of the armada of spaceships, and fired dozens of huge magical beams and thousands of smaller one, destroying everything, both ships and robots. "Thank you, Eggman! I would have never succeeded without you! Ahahahah!"

Gulping, Scootaloo took Infinite's sword and charged toward Tirek. With the power of the Phantom Ruby, she could still slice him! But Tirek saw her coming, and with a smirk, fired another giant beam. Scootaloo avoided it, barely, but she didn't see coming the huge fist that followed with surprising speed for its size. She was Punched, so strongly that she was sent flying back toward Equus. As she entered the atmosphere, she recovered her senses and quickly used the ruby to avoid being burned, then used it to avoid being turned into paste upon crashing, wherever she crashed. She still was hurt a lot, and as she slowly recovered in the center of the crater that she formed, she used more energy of the ruby to heal the injuries she got.

She was almost out of juice now, already.

Then, with a big earthquake, Tirek landed behind her, as big as a mountain.

The centaur was giving her the biggest, evilest, most superior smirk he could give.