//------------------------------// // All for One // Story: Way Past Equestria // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// "Well that could have gone better," Sombra muttered. He stepped through the dark portal and appeared back at "his" base. A giant, egg made out of an impossible combination of metal and magic, creating a pitch black egg that hovered over a dark void. A testament to the combined genius of Robotnik and Sombra. Of course, depending on which of them you asked, they would tell you they put in most of the work to build the thing. "This new robot body is strong, but there are definitely some kinks that need to be worked out," Sombra muttered. He grunted and twisted his neck, hearing the machinery inside moving. "I'm not as fast as I used to be and it is definitely messing with my quick fire magic. Maybe I should spend some more time in the training room..." The sounds of rockets gained his attention and he looked up to see a very damaged metal lion flying down towards the base. He flashed his horn to open up the landing bay, raising an eyebrow when Robotnik's machine crashed right onto the pad. The doctor came tumbling out of his cockpit and crashed to the floor, coughing up black smoke as he stood up and furiously brushed the soot off of his suit. "Had a good time, huh?" Sombra asked. "Feh, it is as we predicted. I dealt with the fools of my world easily enough, but I did not have enough data on your foes to create a suitable counter strategy," Robotnik replied. "So which one of them did this to you? Was it Twilight? I'm betting it was Twilight." "Rainbow Dash. She's a problem," Robotnik corrected. He then snapped his fingers a few times, only for nothing to happen. He sighed, tightened his concentration and snapped his fingers again, this time magically removing the soot from his clothes. "But above all else, I have had a harder time mastering magic than I originally thought that I would. I can do basic spells, but anything more complex halves my chances of it working." "Magic takes time, patience, and repetition to master. Unless you're born with a talent for it like little miss priss and her destiny," Sombra snarled. "Take some time, read some of the tomes. They're how I learned and, considering I'm the greatest unicorn in the land, that should prove their worth." "I though Twilight bested you in magic?" "I said unicorn, not alicorn. Being an alicorn is cheating," Sombra quickly replied. "So, did you manage to retrieve the Chaos Emerald?" "No. I had it in my grasps, but then Rainbow Dash showed up and forced me to retreat," Robotnik replied. "How about you? Any success with taking out that Element of Harmony you went after?" "Same results as you, I'm afraid. Had her dead to rights and then the mecha menace Bunnie showed up and handed me my flank," Sombra said with a shrug. "Oh well. This was all to be expected, after all," Robotnik said. "Of course. They always find a way to undermine our plans. That is why what we did was simply a diversion for the real plan," Sombra continued. The pair of them stepped off of the pad and into an elevator, which descended into the heart of the base. "Though with how poor my performance was, perhaps I should have spent more time in the Zone of Time to master myself." "Please Sombra, do not get discouraged. All of my roboticized workers can only haul around machinery. Anything more complex than that and they break harder than Sonic breaks the sound barrier. The fact that you are already moving around to such a degree is a testament to your perseverance." "Perhaps, but I do not like being at such a disadvantage. At the very least we were able to build all of this within the Zone," Sombra muttered. He and Robotnik took a moment looking at the Dark Egg, which housed everything from floors of robot and shadow soldiers, to a real nice R&R room that had widescreen tvs, a swimming pool, numerous game rooms and a fully stocked kitchen. No one said being in an evil base meant it couldn't have a place to relax. "We certainly got lucky. About time that luck went our way," Robotnik said with a smile. "But I must say, I don't like the idea of having to throw fights against my foes. Because that's what happened. All according to plan." "Of course. We need to follow the plan. That's what will give us the win over the "heroes". That is why we lost," Sombra agreed. "To follow the plan." "Of course." "The only reason." "Same." "Oh yeah, did you manage to convince Tails to join us?" Sombra asked. "Judging from the lack of a two tailed fox following you, I'm going to say that's a no." "He may not have agreed to join us, but I scored a blow against him," Robotnik said with a dark smile. "I managed to shake his faith in Sonic." "How's that?" "I told him that Sonic wouldn't be there to save him. He said Sonic would. And then, to prove him wrong, I showed that I could have killed him five times. And Sonic never showed." "But you didn't actually kill him?" "Of course not. Killing him would certainly hurt Sonic, but it would also give Sonic more drive and he we be all "I will avenge you, my faithful fanboy". But if I can break Tail's faith in Sonic...well the emotional damage done there is far greater than anything I could physically do to the hedgehog." "Robotnik, you are a master of the evil arts." "Thank you, it's a gift. But the best part? Rainbow Dash showed up to save him instead. And I've seen that puppy dog, idolizing look on that fox's face before. If you ask me, Sombra, it won't be long until Tails has a new fast mover that he'll be worshiping. And I cannot wait to see that does to Sonic's psyche. Because if there is one thing that hedgehog cannot stand, it's being second in anything." "Hmph, how petty of Sonic," Sombra replied. The elevator reached the bottom of the shaft, opening up and revealing to the pair a very damaged Metal Sonic. Sombra raised an eyebrow as he and Robotnik stepped off the elevator, while Robotnik stomped over to Metal and sighed. "Let me guess. Sonic beat you and you weren't able to acquire that source of chaotic magic that I scanned?" "Correct." "I don't even know why I bother with you anymore," Robotnik sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Did you at least learn something about our foes or kill one of the Freedom Fighters or Elements of Harmony?" "I learned that the source of chaos magic is a living being that can wield it, but has been severely drained by your previous attempt at world domination." "That would be Discord. And how interesting that our use of the chaos force would damage him so," Sombra smiled. "I will need to remember that when it is time to kill him." "Well once again it seems that my underlings have failed me," Robotnik sighed. "How about you, Sombra? Did yours fare any better?" "Let me find out. Oh Shadow." Out of the darkness walked a hedgehog, one that had black fur with red streaks in his hair. But his eyes were where things went wrong. They were pitch black, devoid of any thought or autonomy. A perfect puppet for Sombra to control. "Did you pick up what we asked of you?" Shadow said nothing. He simply extended his hand, which held a small computer in it. Sombra grabbed the computer with his magic and floated it in front of both himself and Robotnik. He flicked it on and the small image of a lynx appeared on the screen. "Ugh, morning Sally. How can I..." the computer went silent as she saw who she was looking at. "Hello, Nicole," Robotnik said with glee. "How nice to see you again." "Eggman..." Nicole whispered. "How?" "Enough of you," Sombra said as he snapped the computer off. "You aren't going to demand information from her?" "Please, I know her type. No, I'll never betray my friends or give up my secrets, no matter what you do to me. Do you like the voice, I've been working on it?" "A perfect imitation of their futile resistance." "Would you like to tear her apart to reveal their secrets? It's fun." "You have much more experience with this sort of thing. Shouldn't you do it?" "Sombra, have you ever ripped an A.I. apart before? I will not deny you the experience," Robotnik replied. "They are a delight to torture. Since they do not have a physical form, you can inflict as much punishment as you want and they don't die. You can get really creative in the ways you hurt them. I cannot wait to see what your magic will do to her." "Well, when you put it like that, I cannot wait to tear her apart. You said she's the...data banks of the Freedom Fighters, correct?" "That's right. Everything we need to know about them will be on there," Robotnik said. He then glanced at Shadow and narrowed his eyes. "So where are the rest of you?" As if on que, four more beings appeared in the shadows behind Shadow. An echidna in red. A pair of hedgehogs that were silver and pink. And a cat in purple. All of them with the same color eyes that Shadow had. "Feh, took you long enough. Return to the holding room and be prepared for your next assignment." "See? Isn't the new help grand?" Sombra asked. "It is so much easier when they have no personality," Robotnik agreed. "I'm so glad we took the time to go after them first before we combined our worlds together. Remove the pieces from the board early." "But leave the heroes with just enough that they believe they have a chance against us. Where are the tools I got for you though?" "Heh, watch this. Deactivate cloaking." At Robotnik's command, five beings appeared next to Sombra. A metallic captain of the guard. A robotic princess of crystal. A red stallion made of the strongest metal. A mare whose chrome body shown like starlight. And a baby dragon who was in a mech suit. "I tell you, you take something useless, throw it in the roboticizer and suddenly it's worth so much more." "I have to agree with that. These five were worthless before this. Now they're quiet, which is a massive improvement. Speaking of, what did you do with the foal?" "Gave it to Orbot and Cubot to look after. Give them something to do so they stay out of our way." "You know that she possess incredible magical strength and will most likely make their lives hell...ah." "Yup. Punishment for constantly failing me," Robotnik said with a smirk. "But I must say, if there is one thing I truly enjoy about these fights with Sonic and his annoyances, it's the look of anguish on their faces when they must fight a family member turned against them. I hope that your ponies can live up to that high bar." "Oh believe me, nopony is better at letting out pleas to "wake up" or "come to your senses" than the Elements. Twilight alone will shatter any expectations you have." "I am delighted to hear that." "Sir, the device I placed on Applejack is transmitting. Tomorrow the heroes will be seeking out the Chaos Emeralds and Elements of Harmony," Metal Sonic said. Robotnik and Sombra both shared a smile at that. "So tomorrow our grand plan finally starts. And it's so simple. Follow the fools to the locations of the artifacts, have them deal with traps, if there are any, and then steal them out from under them, preferably killing them in the process. Could it be any easier?" "Well, we have to be careful. There are plenty of other villains that might try to take out the artifacts from under us," Sombra warned. "Why yes, yes there are," Robotnik replied with the biggest smile on his face. Then he and Sombra turned to look over a railing at the floor below, where numerous beings stood. A robotic centaur. A group of six deadly ogres that all had black eyes. A metal shapeshifter with her roboticized army. A sorcerer whose magic had been overcome and his mind imprisoned. An assortment of the most dangerous beings across two worlds...all who stood at attention and waiting for Sombra and Robotnik's commands. "Good thing we dealt with them first."