//------------------------------// // No Way Out // Story: Way Past Equestria // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// "Sally? What do we do?" Rotor asked. "RUN!" The team turned around and headed for the exit, but before they had even started to run metal bars slammed across the exit, leaving them trapped within the hanger with all of their former friends. "Leaving so soon? How rude. And after we went through all of this trouble to bring you all together again," Robotnik laughed. "People these days are so inconsiderate." As Eggman said this he signaled for his henchmen to attack, which they did so rapidly. Sally barely had time to summon her weapons before she was slammed by Knuckles. Rotor activated his nano suit just in time to avoid being killed by Tirek while everyone else began their own battles. Cadence chased Tails through the sky, firing blasts of magic after him as the young fox barely managed to avoid being killed. Shadow went after Pinkie Pie, who kept teleporting away from the hedgehog as he struggled to hit her. Blaze charged Rarity and the two began a magic battle, but Rarity was in no shape to hope to win. "We need to get out of here!" Fluttershy yelled before being tackled by Big Mac. "I might be able to get the door open, but I'll need someone to keep this pony busy!" Tails called out. Sally let out a growl before she kicked back Knuckles and passed Tails, catching Cadence off guard and driving her shield into the alicorns face. She then spun around just in time to block a punch by Knuckles, one that was strong enough to crack her energy shield and sent her skidding backwards. Out of the corner of her eye she saw that Tails made it to the door controls, where he plugged in a device and frantically began to work. "Would you look at that, Tails is trying to hack our systems," Robotnik laughed. "Whadda think, Sombra? Should we let him?" "Well, all the parental guide books says that it's best to let a child try to succeed on their own...but they also say to step in when the child is doing something stupid," Robotnik cackled. "And trying to hack one of our systems is as stupid as you can get. Nicole, shut him down." Electricity erupted from the control panel and fried the fox, sending him tumbling backwards as smoke came off of him. Sally tried to race to his side, only to be blasted away by a bolt of magic that exploded the ground beneath her. She groaned with pain as Naugus stalked over to her, raising his staff over his head. Fire erupted from the staff and would have consumed Sally had Fluttershy not dragged her out of the way. "Sally, what do we do?!" Rotor called out. He was dealing with Shadow and Knuckles at the same time and the combination of two of the strongest fighters from his world was more than he could handle. His nano suit was shredded and he was covered in bruises and cuts. The fact that he was standing was more due to spite than strength. Sally looked at her friend with desperate eyes before looking at the rest of the battlefield. Rarity was laying defeated at the hooves of Starlight, Cadence and Tirek. Rotor was barely holding his own against Shadow and Knuckles. Big Mac and Blaze were trying to pin down Pinkie, who was barely staying ahead of them. Tails was out, Fluttershy had a look of terror in her eyes and Ixis was stalking towards them, his soulless eyes gleaming. "This is all my fault..." she whispered. Then she turned her eyes up towards Eggman, Sombra and the hologram of Nicole. She locked eyes with the A.I. and felt tears well up. "Nicole, please. You have to stop this! You have to remember who you are!" Eggman held up a hand and for a moment the battle ceased, all eyes on Sally as she reached out towards her friend. "I know that you're still in there. I know that you can fight this! We've been through so much more than this and I know you will come through for us just like you always have. So please, fight this! Come back to us! Come back to me..." For a moment the entire area was silent. None of the Harmony Fighters moved and neither did any of the villains slaves. Then, with a groan and a sigh, Sombra pulled out some bits and slapped them into Eggman's hand. "You win, Robotnik. That might just be the most gag inducing friendship speech I've heard yet and hell knows I've heard a few." "There's no shame in losing this bet, Sombra, these Freedom Fighters can be downright pathetic when they set their minds to it," Robotnik replied. Then he smiled at Sally before looking at Nicole. "Nicole my dear, would you like to give the order?" Nicole turned and locked eyes with Sally for a moment. "Kill them." All of those under Sombra and Eggman's control turned towards the fighters. The magic users summoned their power and the physical fighters walked towards their targets. Rotor brought up his fists and Pinkie brought out her cannon, but all Sally could do was keep staring at Nicole, soul cold and broken. This was her fault. She had rushed in. And now, they were all going to pay for it. Ixis aimed his staff right at Sally's head and unleashed a blast of lighting. Sally blinked...and everything was different. She, Tails and Fluttershy were now resting near the wall, Ixis was face down on the ground and standing in the center of the arena were Sonic and Rainbow Dash, both of them smirking up at the mad doctors. "Hey," was all Sonic said. "Henchmen! New plan! Kill the hedgehog!" Robotnik roared. Sonic stuck out his tongue before he and Rainbow Dash began rocketing around the area, knocking down all of their former friends. Off to the side Bunnie ripped the wall open and allowed Twilight, Antoine and Applejack inside. Applejack raced to Sally's side while Antoine recovered Rarity. "Are ya all alright?" AJ asked. "We're fine...we're fine," Fluttershy replied. Though she sounded like she was trying to convince herself. Applejack nodded before she swung around and lashed out with a hoof, only for her hoof to meet the one pony that could match her strength. "Big Mac? What in tarnation's happened to ya?" Big Mac didn't respond. He just hurled his other hoof forward and AJ lashed out with hers, the two grappling with one another. Bunnie and Cadence took to the sky, blasting at each other with lasers and magic respectively while Antoine, after dropping Rarity next to Sally, engaged Ixis. Twilight overpowered both Blaze and Starlight, while Rainbow and Sonic dealt with Shadow and Knuckles. Tirek was currently playing whack a mole with Pinkie and losing badly. "Well surprise surprise, Sonic arrives just in the nick of time to save the day," Robotnik sighed. "You know, I would be amazed if this didn't happen all the time. I mean, at this point I would be more impressed if he failed to save the day for once." "I know what you mean," Sombra replied with a shake of his head. "And after we went through all that effort to set up that trap. We were so close to killing off some of these pests. Ah, what are you going to do?" "What do you think? Should we keep watching the carnage and place bets on who lasts the longest? Or do we call it here and go back to what really matters?" Robotnik asked. Sombra pondered on it for a moment, before he cast a glance down towards where Applejack was fighting Big Mac and a smile crossed his face. "This is a lost battle. If we stay any longer, we run the risk that they might find a way to defeat one of us. But I can guarantee that we can at least hurt one of them before we leave," Sombra said. "Big Mac! Activate self destruct!" Big Mac leapt back away from Applejack and opened up a panel on his chest, one that had a bomb counting down inside of it. "Self-Destruct? What does that mean?!" Applejack screamed. "It means you're brother is about to blow himself straight to hell!" Sombra cackled. His horn then flashed and a barrier of darkness wrapped itself around Big Mac, getting Sonic and Dash to bounce off of it when they tried to get close. Twilight fired a beam of magic at the barrier, but it was repelled as well. "Nice try! Can you get through that barrier? Eventually. In the time Big Mac has left? Go ahead and try! Because the moment that barrier falls, he'll detonate! Either he'll blow up on his own or you'll kill him trying! Have fun! Enjoy your last moments with your brother, hick, and have fun scraping up what's left of him. Everypony else, fall back." "You installed a bomb inside the brother of one of the Ambassadors that will explode if they try to save him? Sombra, you are a master of evil," Robotnik said with a smile. "Thank you, it's a gift." The villains vanished in a swirl of darkness, along with nearly all of their henchmen. Only Big Mac was left, with the bomb on his chest ticking down while the heroes tried in vain to break through the barrier. Magic, speed, lasers and swords: none of it worked. Even Pinkie found her madness couldn't get through. "Stop, all of you!" Twilight said as she used her magic to pull them back. "Remember what Sombra said. The moment that barrier drops, he'll go off." "Twilight, Sally, what do we do?" Fluttershy asked. "I don't know," Twilight said. "The barrier is too strong for any of us to break down. And even if we do, the moment we do Big Mac will blow up and...maybe kill us along with him." "So we just let him die?!" Applejack screamed at Twilight. She then raced towards the barrier and began to hammer away. "Big Mac! BIG MAC!" Applejack wailed. She hammered her hooves into the barrier with such force that they started to bleed, but the barrier held. Tears streamed down her face as she hammered on in vain, screaming out to her brother in a desperate attempt to reach him. "This is my fault," Sally whispered. "He's going to die...because I made a bad call. Because I rushed in. I...I..." "Sally, now is not the time for this," Sonic said. "We need a plan or...or..." "Rotor, throw me your suit!" Rainbow Dash screamed. Rotor took only a second to think about her words before he shrunk down his suit and tossed it to Dash, who snatched it out of the air and activated the suit around her body. "Fluttershy, hit me with your Element!" Fluttershy didn't question her. Her Element roared to life and consumed Rainbow Dash, bathing her in a yellow and pink light. "Sonic, I'm going to need a push. Everypony else, out of my way!" she roared as she crouched down. Sonic nodded and zipped behind her, placing his hands on her back. "Rainbow, what are ya doing?!" Applejack asked. "We wait too long and the bomb goes off. We break the barrier and the bomb goes off. But if somepony breaks through the barrier with Elemental power, rips out the bomb and gets it into the sky before the bomb goes off..." Dash said, a crazy smile crossing her face. "Twilight, the moment I have that bomb, teleport Big Mac out of the way." "Rainbow Dash, no, ya can't!" AJ cried out. "It's too risky. Why would ya-?" "I'm not going to let you lose your brother, especially not during the same week you lost your parents. I'm not going to let you lose anypony else. Not while I've got a chance to save him," Dash said with a smile. "Besides, what have you to worry about? I'm the fastest in the world. I just have to be faster than an explosion. I can do this. Sonic, NOW!" Before anypony could say anything else, Rainbow Dash rocketed forward while being propelled by Sonic. Just as she had predicted, the moment her Element covered body struck the barrier, it shattered like glass. What happened next happened in-between the ticks of a second and the beat of a heart. Rainbow rocketed straight into Big Mac, grabbed hold of the bomb in his chest, ripped it out and the hurled herself straight up through the roof and into the sky. A moment later Twilight teleported Big Mac back and threw up a magical barrier, just as a massive explosion went off above the base. The ponies and fighters all gasped in alarm, all of them waiting with baited breath for any sign of Rainbow Dash. A second passed, another second, the smoke began to clear...and then a pegasus came crashing down through the roof and into the center of the base. "Rainbow!" Every one of the heroes cried out as they raced over to her. They crowded around the smoldering mare, all of them terrified...until Rainbow let out a cough and looked at the group. "Yup. Good call to grab Rotor's nano suit first. That hurt," she said with a small laugh. Then she winked at Applejack. "Told ya I could do it." "You stupid, reckless, brainless fool," Applejack managed to say between her tears. She grabbed hold of Rainbow Dash and took a moment to decide whether to hug her or strangle her. Then she broke down completely and pulled Rainbow into a hug. "Thank ya. Thank ya and never do that again." "Well, I can't make any promises..." Applejack tightened the hug. "Okay...I promise...can't...breathe...whew, that's better. Is Big Mac...?" The group all looked over at Twilight, who had Big Mac trapped inside of a bubble that he couldn't get out of, despite his might. Her horn flashed and he passed out. "Don't worry, he's safe. You did it, Rainbow Dash. You saved him." "Yeah, I'm impressed. You were almost as cool as me there for a moment," Sonic said, before a genuine smile crossed his face. "Seriously though, good job." "Yeah, I guess I am...pretty cool..." Rainbow managed to get out before she drifted off to sleep. "Aw, she's all tuckered out," Pinkie said. "I hate to break up the happy times, but we have ze wounded allies who need aid," Antoine pointed out. "We should be heading back to Canterlot. Today...has been a rough one." "Agreed," Twilight said as she scooped up Tails and Rarity with her magic as well. Yet when she turned towards Dash she found the Applejack had already picked her up and had gently placed her on her back. "Applejack, I can carry her if you want." "No Twilight, ah got her," Applejack said as she looked over her shoulder at Rainbow, a smile on her face that was mostly gratitude...and a hint of something else. "Well, I'm ready to go home," Fluttershy said. Then she glanced over at Sally, who was staring up at where Eggman and Sombra had vanished. "Sally, are you coming?" "Yeah, Fluttershy," Sally said sadly. "I'll be right there."