//------------------------------// // For All the Artifacts // Story: Way Past Equestria // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// "Do you recognize this place, Sonic?" Rainbow Dash asked. "No, but there is a sense like...I've been here before," Sonic muttered. The group landed in what had once been a mighty kingdom, but now was run down and completely in ruin. A massive, crumbling castle loomed over the land while a dried up canal ran through the center of the kingdom. Sonic and Knuckles both had a feeling that they had been there before, while for Sally and Bunnie this was a new place. The ponies just looked at the place with amazement. "It doesn't matter what this place is. All that matter is stopping Eggman," Sally said. That put the group back on task. "So where is he? He's never one to have some grandiose entrance that-" "MOVE!" both Sonic and Rainbow yelled. Beams of energy bombarded down upon the group, annihilating the entire area they were standing. Sonic And Rainbow were fast enough to grab hold of Fluttershy, Pinkie, Sally and Knuckles to get them out of the way of the blasts, while Bunnie created an energy shield to protect herself. The speedsters came to a stop a ways away and kept their eyes on the sky, where Eggman's phoenix descended from the heavens in a dark blaze. "Took you long enough," Robotnik said. "What the heck was that, Eggman? Trying to dust us without so much as a hello?" Sonic asked. "That is to show you how serious I am about this, rodent," Robotnik replied. Missiles launched out of the phoenix's wing and honed in on the group, forcing them to act. Sonic and Rainbow hurled themselves at the missiles, knocking out a couple of them. Bunnie and Sally went back to back and started shooting the remaining ones out of the air. Knuckles grabbed one and was taken to the sky, flying away with his missile into the distance. Pinkie and Fluttershy just watched, knowing that this wasn't their moment. The phoenix's beak opened to unleash another blast of pure energy, one that tore apart the kingdom as it tried to erase Sonic and Rainbow Dash from existence. "Why do you even bother, Eggman?" Sonic asked. He rolled into a ball and kicked up his speed, easily dodging the laser. "We've been here before. Like, literally. The same machine and everything. And it got destroyed, I took the emerald and then we went on to beat you. Shouldn't a genius learn from his mistakes?" "My only mistake is that I let your precious little rebellion go on longer than I should have," Robotnik snarled in reply. A barrier of fire erupted around the phoenix, getting RD to change course to avoid becoming a roasted chicken. "But heaven knows I needed something to distract me after I so easily conquered your world. And then, when I felt like it, I destroyed Knothole, then your kingdom, then your whole city made of nanites. Noticing a pattern, hedgehog?" "Yup. Every time you think you've won, we show up, stomp you into the ground, and send your kicked butt running back to think up a new scheme," Sonic replied. "It doesn't matter how many times you beat us down, Egghead. We always get back up and keep fighting, no matter what." "You are right about that. Defeating you physically, unless I kill you, seems to be meaningless," Robotnik agreed. He aimed his beak towards Sally and fired another beam of pure energy, only to sigh when he saw it get blocked by Bunnie's shield. A rainbow kick to the side of the phoenix's head put an end to its beam attack, getting Eggman to turn his attention to Rainbow Dash. "And here I thought that no other speedster could be as annoying as Sonic, yet once again the universe feels the need to prove me wrong," Robotnik snarled. Rainbow motioned for him to bring it before rocketing off, the phoenix in hot pursuit. Missiles, lasers and fire all rained on RD, but with ease she avoided each and every attack. "So is this really your best?" Rainbow asked. She came to a sudden stop and watched as the phoenix rocketed past, before she gave chase and slammed her hooves into one of its wings. A few more stomps got smoke to start coming out of one of the engines. "Because this is some pretty shoddy workmanship." "Mock all you want. You will not win this time," Robotnik promised. Faster than she thought possible, the Egg Phoenix turned towards Rainbow and prepared to fire, only for its head to be snapped sideways once more by a robot kick. "Ya don't get it, do ya Eggman? We've already won," Bunnie stated. Eggman gave her a confused look before she pointed down at the ground. Eggman looked down to see that, somehow, Pinkie was helping Sally to get the chains off of Rouge. Eggman snapped his head behind him to see that, indeed, Rouge was gone. 'Ya have no hostage. Ya have no backup. And ya have no hope!" "Pinkie. Of course," Robotnik muttered. "She is hard to plan for." Bunnie grabbed hold of one of the phoenix wings as she said this, before winking at Rainbow Dash. "Come on Rainbow, ah heard it used to be a tradition to pull a wishbone in half and to make a wish. It should still work with this giant turkey." Rainbow laughed as she grabbed the other wing. Bunnie and Rainbow pulled with all their might, fueled by their thrusters and wings. Sirens went off in the cockpit of the bird, getting Eggman to sigh as he stood up and started to head for the back. With one last, massive pull, the phoenix's wings were ripped off. The metal bird plummeted to the ground, crashing into the kingdom square and exploding into an even bigger ball of fire. Bunnie and Rainbow landed down next to the rest of their friends, who were watching the fire burn. "Darn, and I didn't bring any marshmallows," Sonic sighed. "Oh well. Any one got any scary stories to tell before we put out the campfire?" "Do...do you think that killed him?" Fluttershy asked. "No chance in hell," Sally shook her head. "Eggman has survived far worse than that." "Yeah, not to mention his robot was a phoenix. And ah assume ya'll know what a phoenix does when it burns up?" "You are asking too much of them. It, just like me, always rises up from the ashes." A machine walked out of the blazing inferno, a machine that got Sally to gasp while Sonic narrowed his eyes. It was shaped kind of like Eggman, but had a massive ball and chain on one arm, with a shield on the other. But what spooked the ponies was the way the freedom fighters glared at the robot, with both anger...and hints of fear. "Surprise, rodent. Remember this one?" ||==O O==|| "Alright team, stay alert," Twilight said. "Sombra is the master of darkness and the Everfree Forest has plenty of shadows for him to hide in. Keep your eyes open and-" "Ten to one he's in our old castle," Luna said, pointing at the castle "What? No, even he's not that arrogant. He'd want to fight us in the forest where-" "Scanners are picking up a signal. He's in the castle," Tails confirmed. "But...but..." "It's okay Twilight, as you get older you will start to have a instinct for this kind of thing," Celestia comforted her. "Whatever, let's just get in there." The group entered into the run down castle, noting that the bridge was fixed for them, and entered into the castle. To the surprise of none of them, they found Sombra sitting on a throne, swirling darkness around his hoof. "Ah, welcome. So you finally decided to show up, huh?" Sombra asked. "Took a bit longer than I thought. Guess you don't care about Starlight that much, do you? Don't blame you, she really was just shoehorned into your group and never really fit in." "Where is she?" Twilight asked. "Right here." Sombra's horn glowed and Starlight appeared next to the ponies, confusing them. "Surprised that I'd give her up so easily? Don't be. She was bait and nothing more. She can't beat you in a fight, let alone three alicorns, and I don't hate her enough to destroy her, so you can have her instead." "Since when do you pass up the chance to kill somepony?" Applejack asked. Sombra didn't answer, but instead smiled at Applejack. "You know, I am surprised you keep coming to these battles. Every time you do, you nearly lose somepony you care about," Sombra chuckled. "First it was Big Mac, then it was Rainbow Dash..." "What are ya implying?" "Just point out a trend," Sombra replied. His smile nearly split his face as he rose off of his throne, glaring down at the gathered heroes. "But enough pleasentries. I cannot tell you how much I have been looking forward to this. To not only get the chance to kill you rainbow pukes, but also the former princesses, Sonic's little worshipper and the cowardly coyote. And...oh hey Silver, you're here too?" "Sombra, you are going to-" "Yeah yeah, pay for what I did to you, the person you love, yada yada. You want revenge, well get in line. I've got the first crack at revenge when I finally kill the princesses," Sombra promised. "You can't win, Sombra, even with your robotic enhancements," Celestia promised. "We've beaten you before, we can do it again." "And considering you've been beaten at least once by nearly everypony here, you should be concerned," Luna added. "Now while Silver hasn't beaten you, we won't deny him the chance, especially after what you did to him and Blaze. Prepare to lose." "Now I am concerned. See everyone, Celestia and Luna are the experts on not winning, so if they save I can't win then I know I've got two expert opinions," Sombra replied, his smile growing larger. "Also, Tails, please stop trying to hack into me. It's not going to work and you're just making yourself look bad." Tails snarled before turning off a device he had been working with. "Thank you. Truth is, you're really good at what you do kid, so I can see why Robotnik wanted to recruit you," Sombra added. "Not as good as him, but hey, being the silver medal compared to him isn't that bad if you think about it." "Why are you stalling?" Antoine asked. All eyes turned towards Antoine, who had already drawn his family's sword and was advancing on Sombra. "What are you waiting for? Perhaps a chance that we lower our guard? For reinforcements?" "...you are far more clever than you pretend to be, Antoine. Tell me, are you really that much of a coward or is it an act to get others to lower their guard around you? Because let me tell you, it is working," Sombra nodded. "You are right. I am stalling. I'm waiting for heaven itself to open up and to rain unholy fire down upon all of you, wiping you off the face of Equis." "You're praying for heaven to destroy us?" Twilight asked in disbelief. "Waiting. Not praying. But as it seems that heaven is taking longer than I thought..." Sombra then cracked his neck, shook out his hooves and then...appeared behind Celestia with a black broadsword floating next to him. He brought the blade down on her neck only for a barrier of purple to save Celestia's life. "Guess I'll have to do it myself!" Antoine was on the attack immediately. He lunged at Sombra and easily pushed him back with his superior sword skills, but then Sombra teleported away and left Antoine fighting a floating broadsword that could still attack. His horn flashed once more and nightmares of darkness rose out of the ground and charged the group, two of them managing to tackle Tails and Silver and drag them into another room while Applejack punched out a third one. A combined blast of luna, solar and violet magic barreled towards Sombra and it was only by slipping into the shadows at the last second did Sombra manage to avoid being erased from existence. He rose back out of the darkness and turned to face the three princesses, his smile, somehow, growing larger. "Finally, this is what I've been waiting for. Me against you three. The two that ruined my first run and their apprentice who beat me the next two times I tried to conquer the world," Sombra said softly. "But before I do this, I want to thank you. For being so darn annoying. For being so damn powerful that I cannot best you in power. Because it has forced me to push myself and get creative, to figure out new ways to kill all of you. To force myself to be...smarter." "It doesn't matter what you try, Sombra. It ends today," Celestia snarled. "You can't beat the three of us. You couldn't even handle one of us. And once this is over, you are going to burn for what you have done. Whether it is in the pits of Tartarus or in the fire of the sun, it matters not to me. You end today!" "You are right, Celestia. Bet that's a first," Sombra replied. "Even with my enhancments and my incredible knowledge of magic, I am at a disadvantage. This fight is suicide for me." "Then why are you smiling?" Twilight asked. "Because..." Sombra began as he looked up. "Heaven is finally ready."