//------------------------------// // Mind Games // Story: Way Past Equestria // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// Sonic blinked and found himself...somewhere. He wasn't sure where, on account of everything being one, black void, but he was definitely somewhere. He placed a hand on the "ground" to at least tell himself there was something for him to stand on. A deep breath confirmed he could still breathe and a pinch showed that he could feel. "Alright Sonic, where are you this time?" Sonic asked. "You, my friend, are in the darkness." Sonic whipped around to see that Sombra was standing behind him, though curiously missing his mechanical parts. "Sombra. You've lost weight. Congrats," Sonic said. "Yes, it seems that my consciousness still sees me without my metal parts. It will change eventually," Sombra shrugged. "Consciousness?...ah, we're doing one of those battle in the mind things, aren't we?" Sonic asked. Sombra's eyebrows went up before he nodded with a grin. "Figured it out already? Well, what a surprise. There's actually a brain in that skull of yours. And here I thought you were just a one track hedgehog that raced at any problem he came across." "I see, you made the mistake every villain makes when they first meet me. They underestimate me," Sonic pointed out. "No big, happens to the best of them. So what's your game here, Sombra? Trying to worm your way into my memories? Go ahead, I've got nothing to hide. Trying to take control of my body or mind? Not happening, I've practiced mental defense." "Nothing so crass as any of that. I'm simply here for a chat," Sombra replied. An eyebrow went up on Sonic, getting Sombra to laugh before he sat down. "I know you do not believe me, but I really am. I love learning about my foes, their beliefs, their motivations...all that good stuff. And everything I know about you I've only heard through Robotnik and, while he is a genius and a phenomenal villain, he has a bit of a...bias towards you." "Can't imagine why. We're such good friends." "Yes, his hatred for you makes learning about you...difficult. Not your powers or abilities, no, those he has down to a science. But more about...you. Sonic the Hedgehog. Who are you? Why do you fight? And what makes you so special that the Chaos Force itself would choose you as its champion?" "Allow me to answer those in order. I'm Sonic. I fight because I hate guys who bully others and because it's fun. And I'm not special. I'm..." Sonic began before appearing right in front of Sombra's face. "Done with this." Sonic hurled a punch at the dark kings face, but it passed through Sombra. Sombra let out a yawn as Sonic stumbled to recover and with a bored look the king looked off to the side. "Violence, huh? Well no surprise, Robotnik did say that you do everything fast. I assume that would also include our little discussion." "Yeah, not to be rude but I've got places to be, villains to stop and worlds to save," Sonic shrugged, before he started to stretch out his legs. "So if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to get to the part where you and I fight, you pull out some trick that nearly defeats me, I overcome you with the power of friendship slash chaos emeralds slash whatever and then we go on to beat Robotnik. That sound good?" "My my, it's almost as if you've done this before," Sombra replied. He then rose to his hooves and cracked his neck, before his horn began to glow with power. A smile that took up two-thirds of Sombra's head cracked across his face and he let out a cackling laugh as lightning erupted from his horn, tearing through the darkness and ripping towards Sonic. "Lightning? Really? What an insult." Faster than Sombra could register Sonic whipped past the lightning bolts and closed on the dark king once more, hurling a kick at his head. Sombra smirked as the leg approached, only for Sonic to catch himself with his arms, spin the opposite way and sweep his legs at Sombra's hooves. His kick passed through Sombra's legs like his punch had done earlier and with a sigh Sonic rocketed away as lightning struck where he had once been standing. "Clever. Testing which parts of me are solid and which are transparent. You are far more clever than Robotnik said and are both quick in mind and feet," Sombra noticed. Then geysers of darkness exploded at Sonic's feet and hurled him into the air, where he looked around to see shards of darkness aimed at him. "But how good is your aerial mobility?" The shards came crashing down on Sonic, but instead of being impaled Sonic rolled up into a ball and spin dashed through all of the shards, bouncing off of the last one and ricocheting himself towards Sombra. The dark king raised an eyebrow in surprise as the hedgehog spun through him, but his attack worked about as well as his previous ones had. "Hmm, didn't know you could do that," Sombra taunted. "Going to stay in that smoky form of yours the whole fight? What's the matter, afraid you'll chip a hoof if you actually appear?" Sonic taunted. "Taunts won't work on me, Sonic. But if I become solid, will you fight on your hands?" "I'm still faster on my hands that you are on all fours," Sonic promised. "I don't doubt that. As such, I think I shall continue to remain untouchable." "Keep telling yourself that, pal." Sonic started racing around the darkness once more as Sombra began unleashing fireballs against him, fireballs that were trying to home in on Sonic. And while he ran, Sonic thought. Sombra was completely impervious to all of Sonic's attacks. Brute force wasn't the way to go here. He would need to do something crafty, something that would catch the king off guard. Maybe one of Sombra's own spells would work on him? But Sombra would be ready for something like that. Sonic would have to get him to drop his guard. A smile crossed Sonic's face at that thought. Despite saying otherwise, Sonic knew Sombra's type. Taunts would get to him eventually, but smug superiority was something every villain had plenty of. Sonic needed to give Sombra the impression that he was winning and that's when it would be Sonic's turn. But could he make this look good enough? Of course he could. "Fireballs, Sombra? Is that all you've got?" Sonic asked. But as he did this, he slowed down slightly. Just enough that the fireballs were starting to gain on him. "I mean, I've seen stage magicians pull off better magic than that." "If you say so," Sombra muttered. "I mean, if you're not going to try, why should I?" Sonic asked. He placed his hands behind his head and leaned back, watching Sombra's eyes. And from what he saw, Sombra's eyes weren't watching Sonic. They were watching the fireball behind Sonic get closer. Sonic felt the heat behind him and gritted his teeth, knowing this one was going to hurt. The fireball caught Sonic right in the back and sent the hedgehog tumbling forward, Sonic making sure to cry out in pain. He was on his feet a moment later and got out of the way of two more fireballs, before racing forward to escape the oncoming ones. "But allow me to just say that you certainly lived up to the arrogance that Robotnik said that you had!" Sombra laughed. He watched with glee as the hedgehog just barely managed to outrace the fireballs, delighting in the worried expression on Sonic's face. "Perhaps you are too fast for dear Ivo on your world, but I've dealt with trash like you before. For all the cleverness you have and all the skill, all you are good at is running away. But there is nowhere to run Sonic. All that there is is your-!" Sombra blinked and Sonic was gone. The king looked around for a second before a whistle behind him told him where the hedgehog had run. Sombra swung around to see Sonic wagging a single finger at him mockingly, getting a snarl out of Sombra. "An impressive display of speed. But you still can't touch me." "Maybe not. But I bet those can." Sombra realized what the hedgehog meant and started to try to summon a barrier. But he was too slow. The fireballs that had been chasing Sonic collided with Sombra and detonated, getting the king to cry out as he was sent tumbling across the darkness. Sombra growled with frustration and pain as he forced himself back up to his hooves, only to find Sonic standing over him. Sonic reached out and grabbed Sombra by the horn, yanking him up. "Well I've got to say this has been fun, but I'm still in a hurry. So I'm just going to knock you out, get you out of my head, return to the real world and get that next emerald. Sound good?" Sonic asked. Sombra glared at the hedgehog for a moment before closed his eyes and began to laugh. A dark, cold laugh that sent shivers up Sonic's spine. "What's so funny?" Sonic asked. "You aren't getting me out of your head Sonic. This is mine now," Sombra replied. "Didn't you hear me earlier? You can't take over my body or mind. I've got plenty of mental defenses lined up when you try it," Sonic replied. Once again, Sombra laughed. "When I try it? My dear fool of a hero, don't you see?" "I already did it." ||==O O==|| "Well, there's the emerald," Sally said. Sitting in the middle of the park was the white emerald, shining softly amidst all the darkness. "Oui. Sitting by itself. Out in ze open. With not a single badnik or evil ally in sight." "Antoine's right, ah don't like this," Applejack agreed. "There's always a trap or fight or something." "Well, my Pinkie sense isn't going off, so I don't think there are any traps," Pinkie pointed out. The Freedom Fighters gave her a look before Antoine nodded to his wife. Bunnie rocketed into the sky for a moment to look around, before she landed and shook her head. "Ain't nobody around, sugar-Twan. It's only us," Bunnie said. Then with a coy smile she rested an arm on Antoine's shoulder. "And ya know, once we have the emerald back at base, ah might want to stay and enjoy mah day at the amusement park. How bout you, Applejack? Ya want to invite Rainbow Dash over and make it a double date?" "A double...uh...we need to focus on the mission right now," Applejack said before she brought her hat down over her face, but not far enough. Antoine nudged his wife to get her to stop before Sally sighed. "Scanners got nothing either. Guess the emerald is safe. Or if there's a trap, might as well spring it." The group took a few steps forward, only for a vortex of darkness to appear in the ground in front of them. They got their weapons ready as a shadowy pony appeared with a wicked smile on his face. "Sombra." "Princess Sally. Been a minute," Sombra said. Then he looked at the rest of the group and spied Applejack, causing his smile to go wider. "And Applejack. Well well, I am surprised to see you here. I thought you would be glued to your brothers side. After all, Rainbow Dash had to perform a miracle to keep him alive. I wonder if he was worth the trouble?" "Sombra, ah swear ah'm gonna tear off yer head and mount it on mah wall!" Applejack bellowed at Sombra. Sombra barely paid her any mind as he looked around the area. "Speaking of, where is that annoyance? Or Twilight for that matter? Dear me, did you all really come out here without your two strongest champions? Tsk tsk, rookie mistake, Princess." "Please. Bunnie may not be magical, but her raw firepower can keep up with Twilight. And Sonic is just as fast as Rainbow Dash and more than fast enough to run circles around you," Sally replied. Sombra gave her look before a smile spread across his face, a smile that spread even further when he saw her glance around for a moment. "Oh yes, I am aware of how fast Sonic is. We spent a couple of minutes getting acquainted back at the hall of mirrors," Sombra said. "Then how is it that you are not smashed into ze pavement?" Antoine asked. "How is zat? Well, zat would be because..." Sombra mocked, before his wicked smile grew even wider. "We're off the same mind, now." As Sombra said this, a blue blur ripped through the group and sent them flying with speed along. Bunnie was the first to recover and snatched her husband, Applejack and Sally out of the air and managed to get them safely down. Pinkie appeared on the ground next to Bunnie, but all sets of eyes were locked onto who was now standing next to Sombra. Red sneakers. Blue quills. White gloves...and black, soulless eyes. "Ladies and Antoine, allow me to introduce the newest contender playing for team Sombra..." "Sonic the Hedgehog."