//------------------------------// // Chapter 21: Fist Bump // Story: The Phantom Filly // by Lucar //------------------------------// The God Emperor Death Egg was flying backward as it faced the team of heroes that chased it at unimaginable speed, the giant mecha having its arms spread, ready to attack. "Ahahahah! I am so close! Once I defeat you and get my hands on the Phantom Ruby, nothing will be able to stop me!" shouted Eggman. "Don't count on it, Eggman!" shouted back Phantom. "We won't let you continue your madness! For all the harm you did to our world, we will defeat you and put an end to your evil!" shouted Twilight. "All those ponies... All those poor animals who suffered... Who died... NEVER AGAIN!" shouted Fluttershy. Yes, shouted. "Well, doc, seems like this time you did a really bad thing. I will have to give you a big spanking," said the older Sonic. "You will have to reach me first!" shouted Eggman before, suddenly, a shield appeared around the mecha. "Well, that's annoying," said Older Sonic. At this moment, Eggman began to attack, firing a total of ten lasers from the fingers of the mecha that randomly swept through the air. Then, Phantom used her powers to materialize groups of rings in the path of the heroes. "There, so we don't lose our Super States in the middle of the battle. Make sure to collect them." "Great! You know, it's nice to have the Phantom Ruby in our side. It's like using cheat codes in a video game," said Older Sonic. "Ugh... You're as exasperating as I remember." "What? You can't change what is already perfect." "Oh boy, he's like a Rainbow Dash number 2," said Applejack. "Hey! I'm hurt! It's her who's a Sonic number 2!" replied Older Sonic. "Hey!" shouted Rainbow Dash. Twilight groaned. "Please! Focus on the fight! It's already hard enough to avoid those lasers!" That was when Eggman stopped firing the lasers and then used magic and Chaos Control to materialize and send a huge number of meteors at the heroes. "Woah! There're too many! No way to dodge!" shouted Rainbow Dash. But then, Phantom, Twilight, and Shadow fired energy beams, magical bolts, and red energy bolts powerful enough and in enough quantity to destroy many of the meteors and let the group pass through unharmed. Eggman then sent a meteor two times as big as his mecha. This time, Older Sonic grabbed his younger self and Rainbow Dash, to her surprise, and together, they spun in front of the others while gaining speed. Thanks to the Sonics, Rainbow Dash immediately knew that she had to draw the energy of the emeralds from within her to help power the move, and together, they pierced the giant meteor, breaking it into smaller pieces that the others could pass between. "What was that?!" asked Rainbow Dash. "Chaos Power," answered Older Sonic. "Using the Chaos Energy of the Chaos Emerald, we can use various powers, like what we just did, or the bolts that Shadow fired earlier." "We can bend space-time thanks to it," continued Phantom. "However, since you aren't specialized in its control, you are very limited so, most of you, don't expect to be able to fire powerful bolts like Shadow. It will be easier to use powers more related to your skills, like speed for Rainbow Dash, or strength for Applejack." "I think I see what you mean," said Rarity as dozens of pieces of meteors were now levitating around her, ready to be thrown. "So we're using chaos. I know a draconequus who would love it," said Twilight. "Giant energy balls incoming!" yelled Pinkie Pie as Eggman sent a group of energy balls with the wave of an arm. She then took her hammer from nowhere and shouted, "Leave them to me!" before she moved in front of the group. Using her hammer, she then sent some of the energy balls back at Eggman, only for the shield to stop them. "Wooh! You go! But... Where did that hammer come from?" asked Older Sonic. "It reminds me of Amy." "Don't question it," said the ponies in unison. "Uuuh... Alright." "We must destroy that shield," Shadow said. "Ah! Admire my power!" shouted Phantom before she sent an enormous wave of chaos boosted phantom energy. Then, far above, a space station looking like it was built in a half of a giant spherical meteor appeared. Onto the front of the space station was a giant cannon that was pointed right at Eggman. "Wait. The space colony ARK?" shouted Older Sonic in surprise. Then, a vast quantity of energy gathered in the cannon, and it fired a humongous laser that hit the shield around the God Emperor Death Egg, successfully destroying it! Even after the destruction of the shield, there was enough power left in the laser to hit the mecha and make it wobble, causing it to lose speed as Eggman screamed. "Woah, dude..." said Older Sonic in awe. "Now is the time to attack!" shouted Shadow. Hearing him, Rarity threw the meteors that she was levitating, targeting the wings to make the mecha slow down even more. Fluttershy joined her by firing, to everyone's surprise, the same red bolts than Shadow used at the wings and at the slots in the crown. Not stopping to question this, Twilight fired hundreds of magical beams that homed in on the slots in the crown while the others charged and also attacked the slots, Shadow and Phantom did the same in their respective ways, and the others charged, Applejack bucking the slot containing the Master Emerald, Pinkie hammering the one containing the Staff of Sacanas, while the others rammed the remaining slots until Eggman recovered and teleported the God Emperor Death Egg away, the wings regaining their power. "I must say," began Eggman as the shield reformed around the mecha. "you took me by surprise!" He then fired a huge beam at the space station, destroying it. "But even boosted by the Chaos Emeralds, it must have cost you a lot of energy! You won't be able to do it again anytime soon!" Phantom huffed. "I will just have to survive until I can do it again. It recharges quickly." "Well, try to survive that!" Eggman suddenly clawed the air in front of him, leaving scratch-like lines of energy that remained behind, forcing the heroes to move between the lines to avoid them. Eggman rapidly repeated it, clawing the air in different directions, creating lines going from horizontal to vertical, passing by everything in between. The distance between the different groups of lines was so small that there was almost no time for the heroes to position themselves to avoid the next group. Sometimes, Eggman clawed the air with both hands at the same time, making it even harder. In the end, some of the heroes got hit and hurt despite the Super State, causing them to lose some of their rings, which made Eggman laugh. "Ah! I can even hurt someone in Super State! As I thought! Nothing resist me anymore! I am a god!" "Hey, your head is already big enough, no need to make it bigger!" said Older Sonic. "You're one to talk," said Phantom with a smirk. "Say you," returned Older Sonic. "And at least, I don't compare myself to a god." "CHAOS CONTROL!" suddenly yelled Eggman, and then time stopped. The mecha then charged energy in front of its torso, only for Shadow to break free of the time stop thanks to his control of chaos energy. "CHAOS CONTROL!" He warped everyone just before a giant blast of energy hit them, and they appeared slightly to the left. Older Sonic then also broke free too, followed by Younger Sonic, Phantom, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy, and together with Shadow, they used Chaos Control again to return time to normal before Eggman could attack again. "What happened?" asked Twilight. "Isn't it obvious? Eggman stopped time," said Shadow. "And only the ones that are used to control chaos energy and have enough power can hope to break free," said Older Sonic. "That, or use phantom energy. It's the same," said Phantom. "Easy to say when ya're the only one who can use that phantom stuff," said Applejack. "But how did the pink one escape? She isn't used to chaos," asked Older Sonic. "Don't question it," answered the ponies. "Pinkie is probably the most chaotic being in our world under Discord, the Spirit of Chaos himself," informed Twilight. "It makes others laugh, so it's natural for the Element of Laughter!" Pinkie said. "IT DOESN'T EXPLAIN HOW YOU CAN BREAK THE PHYSICAL LAWS WITH NO APPARENT POWERS!" yelled the alicorn. "Woah! Easy there, sugarcube!" said Applejack. "Okaaay..." said Older Sonic. While they talked, Eggman restarted firing sweeping lasers from the fingers of the mecha's right hand, but this time, he fired homing projectiles of energy that targeted the heroes randomly, eventually succeeding in hitting Rainbow Dash. "Drat! I'm almost out of rings!" she shouted! "Then collect the ones that I materialize!" Phantom said. "Hard to do when I'm constantly moving to dodge!" "Anyway. What about... uh... Fluttershy, that's it? First you use the same attack than Shadow which asks some control of chaos, then you can break free from a Chaos Control Time Stop," asked Older Sonic. "Good question," said Twilight. "Yes, darling, you surprise us," said Rarity. Fluttershy hid her eyes behind her mane. "Well... After passing all this time around Discord... I suppose that I... got a couple of things about chaos..." ... "Makes sense," said Pinkie. Suddenly, Phantom sent a wave of phantom energy, materializing the space colony ARK again far above. However, as the space colony charged energy, the God Emperor Death Egg fired at it its own energy beam, destroying it before it could fire. "Did you really think you could use the same trick twice?" said Eggman after guffawing. "Crap..." Eggman then sent energy balls that moved up, down, left, or right before they fired a moving laser in the path of the heroes, creating an obstacle course where the heroes had to avoid dozens of those moving lasers. "Welp. That was a bust. Any ideas, guys?" asked Older Sonic. "Erh... How powerful the attack needs to be to destroy the shield?" asked Twilight. "The cannon of the space colony ARK could destroy an entire planet," said Phantom. "Oh, alright! We have to use something that could destroy a whole planet! That's easy!" said Twilight in obvious sarcasm. "Really easy actually!" said Older Sonic. "We're ten in Super State, and one of us possesses the Phantom Ruby. I'm sure we can find something." "Like we could charge at the shield all together," said Pinkie Pie. "Yeah, like that," said Older Sonic. "But we will need to approach first." "He won't let us. He can teleport," said Shadow. "We can teleport too!" said Twilight. Following her words, she teleported everyone in front of the shield of the mecha, only for it to immediately teleport away. Annoyed, Twilight teleported them again, but Eggman teleported too. "Well, this doesn't work," said Rainbow Dash. Phantom then sent Phantom Cubes at all of them, sending everyone in a different reality. Different as in Eggman's mecha disappeared, but they were still in Null Space. For a moment, this confused everyone. "He won't see us coming!" then said Phantom. "Be ready!" "Uh, smart," said Older Sonic. "Next time, warn us, or I'll kill you," said Shadow. "Noted," said Phantom before she teleported all of them far above what she supposed was Eggman's position. Then, they all gathered and charged, accumulating energy, and when they returned to the previous reality and the God Emperor Death Egg reappeared, they hit the shield just above the crown, piercing it. "What?!" yelled Eggman. Before Eggman could react, they hit the head of the mecha, right in the center of the crown, causing it to lose control. The heroes then took the occasion to attack the slots in the crown like they did previously, Twilight and Rarity using magic, Shadow and Fluttershy using Chaos Powers, and so on. Eventually, Eggman recovered and teleported away before reforming the shield. "Alright!" shouted Phantom. "Let's repeat that!" She materialized more Phantom Cubes and sent them at the group to send them in another reality again. "I won't let you!" shouted Eggman before he accumulated energy. Then, just as the heroes changed reality, he unleashed it, breaking the reality! "Damn it!" yelled Phantom. Then, to everyone's surprise, Eggman actually charged at them! "Woah! Watch out!" shouted Older Sonic before the group quickly dispersed, breaking the formation. The heroes were now separated all around the mecha as it stopped among them, and it tried to slap them with its giant claws. The mecha also fired lasers from its eyes and from the slots in the crown, and it fired dozens of energy balls from all over its body, turning the situation very chaotic. The heroes tried to regroup to destroy the shield, but Eggman just wouldn't let them, always moving where they were gathering to force them to disperse again before they could act. But then, when Eggman tried to slap them again with the mecha's left claw, the two Sonics, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie suddenly gathered and charged at the claw together. After a small clash, they managed to push it back. Then, Eggman tried to slap them with the right claw, only for Phantom, Twilight, Shadow, Rarity, and Fluttershy to gather together and use their powers together to hit the claw and push it back too after a small clash. Then, the two groups reformed as one, and they charged at Eggman. But the mecha then teleported behind them before they could hit the shield, and it unleashed an enormous wave of energy, forming an actual storm of energy blasts that left little place to avoid them. The heroes simply avoided them with a Chaos Control Warp, teleporting behind the mecha to try to charge it again. But Eggman wasn't stupid, and he teleported away, understanding that they were attacking from somewhere he couldn't see. But the heroes saw this coming and teleported at the same time, so when Eggman reappeared after his teleportation, he was very confused to not see them, and by the time he understood, it was too late. Again, the heroes pierced the shield from above and attacked the slots of the crown before Eggman teleported away. "Rrrngh! You're giving me more trouble than I expected!" shouted Eggman. "I should have seen that putting the emeralds and the staff in the crown would make them too vulnerable! Well, time to change that!" In a flash of intense light, the God Emperor Death Egg transformed. When the light disappeared, the emeralds and the staff were now in the mecha's torso, all grouped together, with an emplacement left for the Phantom Ruby. Eggman then accumulated energy and unleashed it! As the heroes screamed or groaned, fighting against the enormous quantity of energy, they looked in horror as the Null Space broke apart around them, and they were all back on Mobius. "No! Not there! Such a fight could destroy Mobius!" shouted Older Sonic. Shadow looked at them, and they all knew what they had to do. Rapidly, all together, they used Chaos Control, and they all warped, including God Emperor Death Egg, anywhere, everywhere but on Mobius. In the end, they warped in space, in the middle of nowhere. "Better," said Phantom. Eggman gave a huff. "You know that I would never destroy Mobius! I want to conquer it, after all! I would have teleported us! But thanks for doing the job for me. But... I still have something to do to make it better. CHAOS CONTROL!" And so, in a flash, where before there was nothing, a planet appeared. "CHAOS CONTROL!" A second planet appeared. "CHAOS CONTROL!" A third. "CHAOS CONTROL!" A fourth. "CHAOS CONTROL! CHAOS CONTROL! CHAOS CONTROL! CHAOS CONTROL!" A fifth. A sixth. A seventh. An eighth. "Are you kidding me?" asked Shadow. "CHAOS CONTROL!" "Stop that!" shouted Twilight as she looked at the planets that already began to collide between each other. "MAKE ME! MOUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! CHAOS CONTROL!" yelled Eggman before he flew backward again, facing the heroes as he flew toward two planets that were dangerously approaching each other, repeating "CHAOS CONTROL!" all the while. "Okay. He lost it," said Older Sonic. A boulder the size of Equestria coming from two planets colliding was suddenly about to hit them, and Phantom teleported them out of the way. "What are we waiting for?" she shouted, "After him!" They nodded and chased after Eggman. They caught him at the icy surface of one of the two planets about to collide, and Eggman immediately attacked them by sprouting giant spikes of ice from the ground before sending giant boulders of ice while regularly firing lasers or energy balls. The heroes avoided all those attacks as best as they could, the ones who could use magic, Chaos Power, or phantom energy using them to destroy the spikes of ice and the icy boulders. Applejack even developed the power to send small shockwaves while punching the air to help. As the second planet, a dead rock, was closer and closer, Eggman flew toward it, using the mecha's power to levitate huge pieces of ground from the two planets and throw them. Again, the heroes used all the powers they had to avoid them or destroy them, even drilling through them. Eventually, they left the two planets behind just before they collided, causing thousands of giant boulders to be sent in all directions, including toward the heroes who had to avoid them, then avoid more boulders coming from other planets colliding. By now, space was filled with boulders going in all directions because of collisions, or because they were caught in the gravitation of this or that planet. All the while, Eggman continued to bring more and more planets with Chaos Control while attacking them, using energy balls that acted as bombs, firing homing blasts of energy, sending shockwaves, or simply throwing boulders. The heroes had to redo their stocks of rings a lot of time. They tried to use the boulders as cover to teleport and approach Eggman by surprise, but he always had enough time to teleport away. Even when they teleported behind him, as soon as they disappeared from his field of view, he teleported, and there was no way to know where he would reappear, so it was impossible to predict him. Eventually, they flew toward another planet that had an atmosphere so thick that they couldn't see the surface. But when they entered it, they were immediately subjected to winds going at hundreds of miles per hour, and it was impossible to count the number of lightning bolts that they could see in just one second. They had to constantly move to avoid them and the powerful tornadoes that Eggman created in their path, and the boulders constantly falling from space. The problem was that because of the thick atmosphere, they could barely see anything, so they rarely saw the lightning bolts, tornadoes, and other attacks before the last second. They weren't even sure that Eggman was still before them. The attacks seemed to come from all directions. So the phantom and chaos users used their powers to blow the atmosphere away, creating a pocket empty of air around them. This let them see that Eggman was tricking them by teleporting in all directions while attacking and used attacks with wide range to be sure to hit the heroes despite the atmosphere that was also blinding him. Seeing that he was discovered, Eggman stopped and flew up back toward space, and the heroes pursued him, seeing that he was going toward yet another planet that was approaching the one they just left, this one volcanic. It didn't take them long to reach the surface of the planet covered in volcanoes and oceans of lava, and Eggman immediately sent streams of lava at the heroes. Again, space boulders from other planets rained along with boulders of solid magma sent in the atmosphere by the volcanoes, and Eggman added his touch with boulders levitated out of the ground. Starting to lose patience, some of the heroes hit the boulders to send them at Eggman, not doing much because of the shield. However, this gave Phantom an idea. "Listen, everyone. I think I know how we will reach Eggman." As she told them her idea, however, Eggman used the mecha's powers to change the landscape by causing pieces of the ground to randomly move up and down, so the heroes had to avoid newly forming cliffs and the resulting lavafalls and rains of boulders they caused. Eventually, Eggman simply separated the ground in two and flew in the formed path, and as the heroes followed him there, he sent more magma at them from the lavafalls at both sides, and even created pillars of stone connecting the two sides in the path of the heroes. Then, in a mighty crash, they heard the planet finally collide with the one with the thick atmosphere, and both Eggman and the heroes quickly moved back into space, just in time as a second planet collided with the volcanic one. "Alright! Let's start it!" shouted Phantom. She then materialized a real armada made of Eggman's own spaceships, or rather, replicas that fired at him. Twilight then fired hundreds of homing magical beams. Rarity threw boulders. The Sonics and Rainbow Dash charged at boulders to send them at Eggman. Pinkie hit boulders with her hammer. Applejack bucked boulders. And Shadow and Fluttershy fired the red bolts of energy. Eggman's shield was absolutely pummeled, and he was guffawing at their attempt to destroy it. "Are you becoming that desperate that you think that it will be enough to destroy my shield?" He then saw a boulder many times bigger than the God Emperor Death Egg approaching. Smirking, he punched it, easily reducing it to dust, and he laughed again. But his laugh didn't last as something suddenly pierced the shield before hitting the torso of his mecha where the emeralds and the staff were gathered. "WHAT?!" What happened was that all those attacks on the shield were just to blind Eggman, so he couldn't see Phantom materializing the giant boulder around the heroes. When Eggman destroyed the boulder, the heroes came out of it and pierced the shield before hitting the mecha's torso. "Thanks for making our victory easier by gathering in the same place the emeralds and the staff, Eggman!" then shouted Phantom as the glass covering the emeralds and the staff was destroyed, letting the heroes grab them. Without its power sources, the God Emperor Death Egg turned back to normal as Eggman shouted, "NONONONONONO!!!" Older Sonic gave the Staff of Sacanas to Twilight before giving Eggman a smug smile. "You compared yourself to a god earlier. Well, too bad for you, I'm a god killer." Adding the power of the second set of Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald to what they already had, the heroes used a Chaos Control to bring everyone back to Mobius. There, Eggman tried to escape with his mecha. Older Sonic turned to his younger self. "The honor is yours. He's your Eggman after all." Young Sonic gave him a thumb up in thanks before he charged toward the fleeing mecha. With the power of two sets of Chaos Emerald and one Master Emerald, he easily and rapidly pierced the mecha. With Eggman screaming in horror and rage, explosions littered the mecha, and after a few seconds, the God Emperor Death Egg exploded. Eggman ejected himself with his Egg Mobile just before the explosion, but as he started his escape again, he was surrounded by the ten heroes still in Super State, Twilight pointing the Staff of Sacanas at him. He raised his arms in surrender.