//------------------------------// // Ultimate Life Form // Story: Way Past Equestria // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// "This shouldn't be here," Sally muttered. She placed a hand up against the outside of the crashed satellite, which, despite what should have been years of wear and tear on it, looked newish. "If this is the satellite I think it is, then either this was destroyed a long time ago or Shadow got rid of it. Stupid dual memories..." "I'm with you princess, this thing doesn't belong," Rotor said. The walrus had a scanner in his hand and was running it over the outer layer of the satellite, while his scanner beeped in odd ways. "According to the scanner, it is the same satellite you're thinking of...but also isn't. Kinda like it's from two different times." "Well it doesn't matter what time it's from if the Chaos Emerald is inside," Sally replied. She then glanced over at where Twilight and Rainbow were by the entrance. "How are you two doing over there?" "Having the time of my life!" Rainbow whooped as a barrage of lasers flew past her head. She looped around the cannon a few times before kicking one of them out, before three more emerged from the satellite to continue shooting at her. "Rainbow, please take this seriously," Twilight asked. She had a barrier of magic up that was easily deflecting the laser blasts, allowing her to disable each cannon with a single beam from her horn. "I am being serious, Twilight. I am seriously having the time of my life!" Rainbow laughed. She flew into another cannon to take it out, before grabbing hold of a second to take down a third. "These things are almost as fast as me! Do you know when was the last time I had something that forced me to try? I'm going to take my time and enjoy this!" "Taking our time is the last thing we should be doing," Twilight muttered. Her horn glowed once and all of the cannons powered down, leaving a huffing Rainbow Dash to give her a look. "You're no fun." Another flash of Twilight's horn pulled open a giant pair of metal doors, finally allowing entrance to the group. "Sally, Rotor, it's open!" The two ran over, looking at the entrance with a hint of trepidation on their faces. "Are you sure Princess Luna couldn't come with us?" Sally asked. "Princess Luna said that she needed to get back to Celestia immediately so that they could find the next Element of Harmony," Twilight replied. "While they can do it separately, it's easier and faster if they work together. Also, I don't like the idea of Canterlot being left vulnerable while we're off hunting down these objects." "I know. It's just...I wouldn't mind having the extra firepower," Sally muttered. "Please Princesses, after you," Rainbow said to the pair with a mock bow. Sally rolled her eyes as she walked past, Twilight flashed Rainbow a look, and Rotor hoof bumped Rainbow as the group entered. "Pretty cool flying out there," Rotor said. "You would have loved to see the Sky Patrol before Eggman wrecked it. Thing could pull some G's like nobody's business." "Well I can't speak for how it flies, but let me tell you that was one of the most impressive crashes I've ever seen, and I've been in quite a few," Rainbow replied. "So what is this place?" Twilight asked Sally. "If this is the same satellite that I think it is, this is an old Robotnik/G.U.N. lab that they were trying to make the ultimate lifeform in," Sally whispered in reply. "Shadow was made here. The Ark." "Who's Shadow?" Rainbow asked. "He's kinda like Sonic if Sonic shopped only at those goth stores you see in the cities," Rotor cut in. "Black fur, red hair, dark and troubled past, super against working together: y'know, the works." "Sounds like a lot of fun at parties," Twilight muttered. "His personality can be...trying, but he's a good fighter and (mostly) a good ally," Sally added. "But that's why I'm so nervous. The Ark was a state of the art laboratory with a lot of defense systems, experiments and all sorts of traps. If any of those are still operational..." "Oh don't get your hair all messed up worrying about this, I'll take care of it," Rainbow Dash said. Before any of the others could stop her, she rocketed ahead down the hallway towards where the emerald has been scanned. Twilight, Sally and Rotor heard the sounds of gunfire, laser blasts, buzzsaws and a whole lot of explosions. A moment later Rainbow Dash came flying back, a lot more crispy than when she left. "Okay, those were a bit more dangerous than I thought, but TADA...the path is clear." "Ugh, you are too much like Sonic," Sally groaned as she walked ahead. "But much faster." "Rainbow, we need to stick together," Twilight hissed. "We have no idea what we could be up against and I don't want you getting hurt by flying off on you're own!" "You had a problem that needed solving and I solved it. Why are you so upset?" Rainbow Dash replied. And, just like before, all Rotor did was give the mare a hoof bump as he walked by. The group walked through the Ark until they came across a large chamber, one that was most likely used to test the experiments that went on when it was operational. Floating in the center of the room, was a blue gem in a diamond shape. "That's our target," Sally confirmed. "Now we need to watch out for more traps or-" "Catch." Sally blinked, Rainbow moved and the next thing Sally knew Rainbow Dash was tossing the emerald to her. Sally caught it before looking up with shock at the mare, who was examining her hoof. "What? You wanted it, I got it. You guys can be so slow sometimes?" "Rainbow, what did we just talk about?" Twilight asked. "Dunno. Was too busy getting what we needed," Rainbow replied. "Rainbow, I swear, one of these days..." "Control." Sally blinked and the emerald was gone from her hand. Her head snapped up to see where it had gone...only for her heart to sink when she saw who had it. Standing across the room were a handful of foes who, on any other day of the week, would have been a problem by themselves. Mecha Tirek, a mechanical version of Twilight's greatest foe. Metal Sonic, who made Sally and Rotor nervous just by looking at him. Zavik and Zomom, two more of the deadly six who had size and strength. And finally, the dark hedgehog himself, who now held the blue emerald in his hands. "Oh, this is bad," Rotor said. "Bad? No. This is a nightmare," Sally whispered. "I only recognize Tirek. How bad are the others?" Twilight asked. "Zavik and Zomom are incredibly strong and have complete control over nearly all tech. Dangerous any day of the week. Metal Sonic is like Sonic, but slightly slower and a whole lot more metal. But Shadow is the real danger. He has a whole slew of chaos powers he can use and he's held his own against Sonic numerous times," Sally replied. "And with that emerald, he get's a whole lot stronger. I hate to say it, but might need to fall back and-" CRACK! Jaws hit the floor as Rainbow's hoof cracked Shadow in the face, sending him tumbling backwards while Rainbow snatched the emerald he dropped out of the air. "What was that you were saying, Sally? Couldn't hear you over the sound of-" "WATCH OUT!" A blast of magic shot past Rainbow and caught Metal Sonic in the chest, knocking him away from Rainbow. The two ogres went on the attack next, charging for the rainbow mare. She smirked at them before tossing the emerald to Rotor. "Here, hang onto this for me. I take it your TECHNOLOGICAL weapons won't be much good against these guys?" "You'd guess right," Rotor admitted with a smirk. "Alright. Rainbow, deal with-" Twilight's orders were cut off when both Metal Sonic and Shadow both went after the mare, who had to rocket around to avoid being taken down. She glanced over at Tirek, who was walking towards her while cracking his metallic knuckles. Which left. "Rotor, Sally, I'm going to have to ask the two of you to deal with Tirek. He eats magic, but against the two of you, that shouldn't mean much. He's really strong and shoots beams, so watch out for that." "Got it Twilight," Rotor said as he activated his nanosuit. Sally nodded as she summoned a pair of hardlight swords, standing besides Rotor as the pair stared up at the giant centaur. "And that leaves me with you two," Twilight said as she turned to face Zavik and Zomom. "Mechanical manipulators, eh? Sorry, but you won't find any machinery here. Just pure. Raw. Magic." "So I hear the two of you constantly fight Sonic, huh? Gotta say, not impressed so far!" Rainbow taunted. She looped over Metal Sonic and drove into his back, crashing the metal duplicate into the floor of the Ark. She then whipped around and ducked under a punch, before leaping back into the air as chaos spears stabbed at her. "I mean, you're fast and you've got moves, but it takes more than that to beat me. Here, let me show you why!" She rocketed towards Shadow with impressive speed, but Shadow was ready for her. Right as he lashed out to hit her, she turned ninety degrees and flew around him, before turning another ninety and slammed into his side. Shadow staggered and tried to counter attack, but this time Rainbow went up, forward and down behind him again in rapid succession. "What's the matter? Sonic never move like this before?" Rainbow asked and she drove her hind hooves into Shadow's back, sending him crashing into Metal Sonic. "Quite the difference fighting somepony who runs against somepony who flies, isn't it?" "She defies physics," Metal Sonic observed as he and Shadow got back up. "This requires a new strategy." Whatever that strategy was, neither Shadow nor Metal Sonic were able to act on it. Two shadows covered them and they looked up just in time to be crushed underneath of Zavik and Zomom, who Twilight had decided to dump on the pair. The princess landed next to Rainbow, who smiled at her friend. "Thanks, but I had that." "I could tell. But I want to end this as soon as possible," Twilight replied. "Um, then would you two mind helping us?" Twilight and Rainbow looked over to see that Tirek had grabbed hold of both Sally and Rotor and was now in the process of crushing the both of them in his grasp. Rainbow took to the air to try to free them, but Twilight cast a glance at Zavik and an idea came to her. Her horn glowed and her magic flowed into his mind. "So Sombra's controlling you, huh? Well there's a new driver at the wheel," Twilight muttered. Through a bit more effort than she thought, she managed to push back Sombra's control long enough to take the wheel. "Now then, use that...technomancy...to stop Tirek." Zavik aimed a hand at Tirek and the centaur came to a dead halt, except when Rainbow kicked him in the head and snapped it back slightly. "Now make him let them go." Zavik moved his hand again and Tirek dropped the pair. "Now command him to grab all of you instead and to hold you all there until we are long gone." Zavik obeyed once more. Tirek walked over to the group, grabbed hold of the ogres in one hand and the hedgehogs in the other. "Alright guys, we've got the emerald. Time to get out of here," Twilight said to her allies. "Shouldn't we try to help them?" Rotor asked. "We will, but not now. I don't know how long my control on Zavik will last and I don't want to have to fight these guys again if they decide to switch it up. Let's go." "Fine. I've had my fun." Sally glanced back at Shadow and nodded. "We'll be back for you. I promise." Twilight then teleported the group out of there, leaving the villains still clutched in Tirek's grasp. Then Zavik shook his head and blinked twice. "W-wha happened?" he asked as he looked around. "How did I get here? Why am I being held by a...centaur?" He flicked his eyes and Tirek released him, dropping everyone to the floor. "Ugh, last thing I remember is...Eggman and some pony and then-" A devastating right hand from Metal Sonic dropped Zavik to the ground without another word. He stared at the unconscious ogre for a second before glancing at where the emerald had been, shaking his head. "Doctor...I hope you know what you are doing."