//------------------------------// // Cracking the Code // Story: Way Past Equestria // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// "GGGGGGAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!" "Oh quit screaming, you don't have pain receptors," Sombra snapped. His horn burned with black magic that he funneled into the small computer sitting before him, invoking another round of screaming. "Unless you were programmed with pain receptors, in which case, wow, your friends are jerks." "E-e-e-error...databanks...c-c-c-omprimosed..." Nicole stuttered, her holographic form appearing before Sombra. "I can see why your friends threw you out. Not really good at conversations, are you?" Sombra asked. "But I will say, you've protected yourself pretty well. I may not know much about computers, but even I can tell that by now I should have broken into your memory banks, but still you resist. I'm impressed." "I will...never...betray my friends," Nicole snarled. "No matter what you do, you cannot break my spirit." Sombra lifted his head and began to laugh, a dark, hollow laugh that was devoid of any joy or merriment. One that sent shivers down Nicole's processors. "And with that, you've tipped your hand. See, I wasn't sure if you were just a program or something more. Robotnik wanted me to find out for myself. But mentioning that you have spirit...as well as your fiery personality...you're not all machine, are you?" Nicole's eyes shrunk with horror in response. "There's a mind in the machine, a spirit that burns...and all of which are things I can thoroughly mess with," Sombra laughed. Then his eyes turned black and his horn glowed crimson as he smiled at the lynx. "So while I may not be able to mess with computers...I can sure as hell mess with your SOUL!" His black magic surrounded the lynx, chaining her in darkness as his crimson tendrils went even deeper, deep into her very mind. Nicole tried to fight back, but found that her programming no longer obeyed. She tried to scream, but her vocal program didn't activate. She softly said Sally's name, before that name was scrubbed from her memory. Her entire body went black as the shadows overtook her...before releasing her and allowing Sombra to view his handiwork. "Hello there, Nicole," Sombra said. "How is my new favorite toy doing today?" "Well, master Sombra," Nicole replied. Her form had changed entirely. Her hair was now longer, her eyes were colder and she wore a generals attire that was similar to what Sombra's generals of old once wore. "What are you needing of me today?" "Give me a moment. Hey, Robotnik!" Sombra called out. A few moments later the good doctor came into the room. "Told ya I could do it!" "Indeed you did. Hello Nicole," Robotnik said. "Master Robotnik. Is there something you need from me?" Nicole asked. "Master Robotnik. I could get used to that," Robotnik said. "I'm impressed, Sombra. You've barely been around computers for less than a week and already you managed to hack one of the most sophisticated pieces of tech around." "Hacking had nothing to do with it. The fool revealed she had a soul. And corrupting souls is what I'm best at," Sombra smirked. "A machine with a soul. Fascinating. Perhaps I'll try to make one of those. And speaking of soulless machines...METAL! Get in here!" Metal Sonic arrived in the room a moment later, giving a causal look to Nicole before facing Robotnik. "Now that Nicole is on our side, I want you to upload her to each and every badnik and metal pony we have. Those idiots could use some brain power on their side." "Yes, Robotnik." "Master Robotnik." "Yes, Master Eggman." "Watch it you." "Nicole, go with this fine hunk of junk and get yourself uploaded," Sombra instructed. Nicole bowed to Sombra and left the room with Metal, who was carrying her computer. The two masterminds watched the pair go before Robotnik sighed and sat down in a chair. "Can't even program my own minions to respect me. I conquered a world in less than a month. Is a little respect too much to ask?" "Let the weak minded have their laughs. We know who controls everything, but more importantly, they know," Sombra replied. He then flicked his head to the side and let out a snarl. "Seems the failures have found another Element. Should we send forces to intercept or just act like we don't know?" "We must keep up appearances," Robotnik replied. "Do you know who's apart of the group yet?" "Give me a moment...I see Sonic, Sally, Pinkie, Twilight, Applejack...and Antoine...interesting team," Sombra muttered. "And it seems...well isn't that sweet, Sonic says that he's missing his friends, especially Amy." "Well then..." Robotnik said with a wicked smile. "Who am I to keep the two apart? Send who you want, Sombra, but make sure Amy goes with them." "Will do. And what about our...Magnum Opus?" "Soon my friend. Very soon." ||--O O--|| "Are they here yet? I'm tired of acting like a sad puppy," Sonic asked. "Soon. If I know Sombra, he's watching us and will know what you've been whining about," Twilight said. The six were camped out around the next Element of Harmony, which looked to be Fluttershy's by the design on it. Sonic was out in the open, being the bait as usual. Sally, Twilight and Antoine were lying in wait, ready to spring a trap the moment their foes appeared. And Pinkie was sitting next to Antoine, sharing cooking ideas with him. "I must admit Pinkie, I have never thought of using ze chocolate chips like zat before," Antoine admitted. "You need to try it. It makes the cake that much more tasty and, with a bit of practice, you can make some really cool designs with it," Pinkie stated. "And I would bet you my bottom bit that Bunnie would love it." "You don't say?" Antoine asked. "Well in that case, perhaps we should stop by and see your store. If one of your recipes can be zat good, we must try ze rest." "Why not after this mission? The shops always open to friends," Pinkie said. "Cool it guys, I'm sensing something," Twilight said. The group went quiet and a moment later a rip appeared in the sky, dropping out a multitude of friends and foes. Tirek, Chrysalis, Shadow, Shining Armor, Blaze...and Amy herself. Sonic raised an eyebrow as all of the foes started walking towards him, before he hopped to his feet and stretched out his arms. "Wow, all of this fanfare just for me. I didn't know Eggman and Sombra cared so much," Sonic mocked. "Hi Amy, you're looking good." Amy's response was to pull out a massive spiked hammer with a jet engine on the back. "And you've accessorized all for me? Aw, I'm touched," Sonic said. Amy went right on the attack and right after Sonic. She swung that hammer as if it weighed nothing, pulverizing trees, rocks and anything else unfortunate enough to get her way. But Sonic had been dodging missiles, bombs, lasers and Amy all his life, so he was able to keep ahead of her. The problem would be avoiding all of the other foes. Shadow went right for Sonic as well, along with Tirek and Chrysalis, but Blaze didn't move. Instead, her black eyes looked over the surrounding area, as if she was hunting someone. Then she spotted a place that felt more magical than the others and unleashed a blast of fire there. The fire struck a barrier of magic and Twilight rocketed out of her hiding place, catching the foes off guard and catching Shadow in the side of the head with a hoof. "Cover's blown! Stick to the plan!" she ordered. All around the group barriers of invisibility dropped and the other fighters rushed into battle. Antoine took Chrysalis, using his swordsmanship and expert fighting ability to keep her occupied. Sally took over against Shadow, using a mix of her blades and shields to hold him off. Twilight was supposed to handle Tirek, but Blaze went after her the moment she entered the field. "Still mad over what happened last time? Fine, let's do this," Twilight snarled at Blaze. Fluttershy grabbed her Element and decided to face Shining Armor, hoping that some of the good was still in the captain. Which left Tirek to Pinkie. Pinkie looked up at the giant centaur before turning around and hopping away. Tirek let out a roar before chasing after her, which just left Sonic with Amy. "Hey Twi, anytime you want to finish the plan, just let me know!" Sonic called over to her. "Trying, but Blaze is ticked at me for Faust knows what reason," Twilight growled. Her magic kept extinguishing the flames that Blaze fired at Twilight, the cat was nimble and quick, able to constantly mix up her pressure to keep Twilight on her hooves. That was until Sally tackled Blaze from behind and hurled her into Shadow. "Go! I'll hold the both of them off!" Sally said. Twilight nodded and rushed for Amy, leaving Sally alone with Shadow and Blaze, both of who turned to face her slowly. "Or maybe not. Um, anyone want to help a friend out?" Shadow fired a chaos spear and Blaze unleashed a torrent of fire on Sally, who let out a yelp as she lifted her shield...only to be swept off her feet by a blue blur that moved her out of the way just in time. "We have just got to stop meeting like this, princess," Sonic said. "Of all the people to sweep me off my feet, it had to be you," Sally teased back. "Where's my knight in shining armor with his long cape and shining sword?" "That knight is having a little difficulty at ze moment!" Antoine replied. Chrysalis was shapeshifting into all sorts of beings to fight Antoine, which would have been bad enough, but now all of those beings were made of metal like her, making them even tougher for the swordsman to deal with. "Enough of you, shapeshifting demon. Time to finish zis!" As he said this, he drew his family's sword and swung it at the now giant spider Chrysalis. The sword cut clean through her metal legs and dropped her to the ground, where she roared like a garbage disposal as she changed back. Antoine raised his blade over her head, thought about it, then scoffed as he spun to help his friends. Sonic and Sally were handling Shadow and Blaze, Pinkie had Tirek distracted, Shining Armor was down thanks to the power of the Element, which only left Twilight with Amy. The pink hedgehog was tough. She packed a punch and was no slouch when it came to speed. All of that meant nothing as Twilight held her in the air with her magic and used that same magic to purify the darkness that Sombra had placed within her. It took a long, tough moment, but then Twilight prevailed. "Alright, I've got Amy, Chrysalis is down for the count and Tirek's distracted, so let's see if we can gather any more of our-" Twilight's words were interrupted when a vortex of darkness opened up once more and sucked up the other fighters. Fluttershy managed to use the power of her Element to hold onto Shining and Twilight's magic protected Amy, but the rest of their friends turned foes were dragged into the darkness once more. "Not today!" Sonic yelled as he raced towards the vortex. He reached his hand out for Blaze and just nearly grabbed her wrist...only for a blast of darkness to catch him in the face. He tumbled backwards and the vortex closed. "Close Sonic. Next time be faster." "We couldn't save all of them, but we did get who we came here for," Sally said. The group joined back up, though Antoine and Pinkie had to help drag the Captain of the Guard over to the rest of them. "And we managed to save Twilight's brother as well. I would consider today a win." "As would I," Twilight agreed. She then glanced over at Sonic, who was rubbing the spot where he had been shot. "You okay, Sonic? Do you need me to look at that?" "I'm fine. Sombra got a cheep shot, that's all," Sonic replied. "But did you notice how none of them went for the Element?" "Maybe they were too busy fighting us?" Fluttershy said. "Maybe...but I don't like it. It's never this easy with Eggman," Sonic muttered, before shrugging. "Whatever. We did what we came here to do. Let's get them home, get them patched up and then we'll be one step closer to finding the rest of our friends." Twilight nodded and started a teleportation spell, but in the back of her mind she wondered about what Sonic had said. Was it too easy? Were they just simply beating Eggman and Sombra at every turn? Their foes sure didn't feel like they were pulling their punches, but just like Sonic said, something felt...off about all this. She prayed it was nothing big and teleported the group back to Canterlot.