Chapter 12: Eggman's Revenge (Part 1)
Twilight and Spike were setting up plates for a big dinner they were gonna have with their friends, the Freedom Fighters, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and the President of the United States.
"This is so exciting!" Twilight said. "My first peace dinner with another ruler of another country!" She then used the Royal Canterlot Voice. "THIS IS SO EXCITING!!!"
"Gah!!" Spike exclaimed, almost dropping the plates he was holding. "Twilight, you really should keep that Royal Canterlot Voice in check. You almost made me drop these plates."
"Sorry, Spike," Twilight said. "I'm just... excited to be sharing a meal with the President of the United States of America!"
"And the Freedom Fighters," Spike said. "It was thanks to them that we're in peace with each other."
"True, true," Twilight said. "Now, the royal cooks are preparing the meals. Along with some meat items for the president and the Freedom Fighters to eat." She then gulped down the vomit that was about to come up her throat. "And hopefully, Fluttershy will understand that the meat is for our guests."
"Yeah, I know she'll understand," Spike said. "She is an expert on omnivores." That made Twilight nod. "Well, as long as nothing bad or unexpected happens, everything should be okay."
Then a couple guards came in with Cheerilee standing in between them. Twilight looked towards them, saw Cheerilee and asked, "Cheerilee? What are you doing here? Isn't school going on?"
"There's been an incident!" Cheerilee said, nervously. "I was in the middle of teaching my class, and for some reason, I got really dizzy and passed out. The next thing I knew, all of my students just disappeared."
"What?!" Twilight asked. "No, I don't think anypony would just walk out just because the teacher passed out. There has to be some reason that they vanished."
"Well... I did find this..." Cheerilee said, holding out a canister.
"Huh," Twilight said, grabbing it. She then inspected it. "I've never seen anything like this."
Then Nicole came in and looked at the canister. She then said, "I seen one of these. "United States Department of Defense. One of Julian Robotnik's inventions."
"Doctor Robotnik's inventions?!" Twilight asked, shocked. "Oh, no. This isn't good." Then a holographic image appeared from the canister, shocking the ponies, Spike and Nicole.
From the holographic image came Julian Robotnik's laughter. He then said, "Greetings incompetent fools! You're in for what you deserve for going up against my genius! Now, you're going to know how it feels!" He then cackled loudly, making Twilight grimace.
Twilight had already gotten her friends, the Freedom Fighters, Midpoint and Cozy Glow to come to the Castle of Friendship. They were all looking at the holographic message from the canister.
"And if you ever want to see those foals again, Princess Twilight Sparkle, you shall surrender all of Equestria to me," Doctor Robotnik said on the message. "And if that doesn't work, I'll just destroy your kingdom with just one push of a button, and rebuild on it's remains!" He then cackled loudly. Then the message ended.
MC growled and said, "The fiend! He's gonna regret doing that to those kids!"
"You got that right, MC," Sonic said. "He's taking this tyrannical takeover to an unstable level."
"But how will we know where he's attacking from?" Twilight asked.
"MC has the ability to see everything on the planet," Mutt said. "With a quick look, he can find where Eggman's current base is. Although, it won't help when there are some places are flying in the sky."
"He's right," Tails said. "Cloudsdale, Las Pegasus, Angel Island, they're all places that are floating in the sky."
"MC shall check the grounded areas," Sally said. "We'll check the other flying places."
"Good thing I used some shrinking tech to make two of your ships," Midpoint said. "The X-Tornado and the Spirit of Freedom. Follow me outside."
The group then walked outside, and then Midpoint pulled a ray gun out of his quiver. He fired at something on the ground in three different spots. Up came the X-Tornado, the Spirit of Freedom and another aircraft. One that looks like an arrow for archery, with a couple helicopter propellers, a couple jet engine, and another propeller for turning the craft.
"Interesting ride," Rainbow Dash said.
"I call it the Patriot Arrow," Midpoint said.
"The President has already been informed about what happened," Twilight said. "We have to find out where Doctor Robotnik has taken the kids."
"Julian..." Maria said, feeling ashamed of her cousin. "I just can't believe he would do something like this."
"Don't worry, Maria," Sonic said. "We'll only put him in prison. We won't kill him."
"Family is still family, even if one of them's crazy," Twilight said. "Like Pinkie Pie for example."
"It's true!" Pinkie said, doing cartwheels.
"We'll split up into teams," Twilight said. "One team will go to Angel Island, one more will go to Cloudsdale, and one more team shall go to Las Pegasus."
The group then split up. In the X-Tornado, Sonic, Tails, Rarity, Fluttershy and Maria. In the Patriot Arrow, Midpoint, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Cozy Glow, Bunnie, Antoine, Amy, Cream and Cheese. And in the Spirit of Freedom, Rotor, Mutt, Starlight, Trixie, Sally and Rainbow Dash. Twilight, Spike and MC stayed behind as the others went to their destination.
"Okay, the others are on their way to their floating locations," Spike said. "Sonic's team is heading towards Angel Island, Midpoint's team is heading towards Las Pegasus, and Sally's team is heading towards Cloudsdale."
Twilight nodded and then looked towards MC, who was sitting in Applejack's throne in a meditation pose. Twilight walked up to him and asked, "Anything yet?"
"Not yet," MC said. "The Oracle taught me that not everything can be done right if you rush things."
"Well, if Rainbow Dash was here, I bet she'd protest that," Twilight said, smirking. That made MC smirk as well.
"Even the fastest thing alive has to have patience," MC said. "Sonic's not that much of a patient guy either if he's just sitting around."
"Another thing that Sonic and Rainbow Dash have in common," Twilight said. "I'm going to see if they made it to their destinations." Nicole came up and showed a holographic map of the world. There were three marks connecting to who's team there was. One mark was Sonic, one mark was Midpoint and one mark was Sally. "Looks like Sally's team is almost to Cloudsdale."
"And Midpoint's team is almost at Las Pegasus," Spike said.
"It'll take a while for Sonic's team to reach Angel Island," MC said. "Knuckles would know if there's anything there."
"You know Knuckles?" Twilight asked.
"Knuckles is the last echidna in his kind," MC said. "He should at least have some company."
"Guess it's hard for him to have friends if he never leaves that island," Twilight said. "Although, it's also gonna be hard for him to leave the island since he's the Guardian of the Master Emerald."
"There's a ladybug on your tail, Sparkles," MC said.
"WHAT?!" Twilight asked, shocked. She then screamed in panic, flying away, the ladybug flew off of Twilight and landed on MC's nose.
"Do I even want to know?" MC asked, looking at Spike.
"I'll tell you later," Spike said, making MC chuckle.
Somewhere in a dark room, all of Cheerilee's class were sitting all over the room with shackles on their legs. The Cutie Mark Crusaders, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were sticking together. Dinky was hugging Joshua tight as Nyx was trying to calm the two down.
"It's okay, guys," Nyx said. "We'll get out of this."
"HOW?!" Apple Bloom shouted. "We don't know where we are, we've been taken out of class in our sleep, and we don't know who has kidnapped us! We're screwed!"
"Wow," Scootaloo said. "Apple Bloom has never acted this way."
"Even I never theen her like thith," Twist said.
"Like, what are we supposed to do?" Diamond Tiara asked. "This place is creepier than the Everfree Forest."
"Don't remind me of that, Diamond Tiara," Nyx said. "I still remember what you did to me that day."
"Sorry," Diamond Tiara said. "I'm still regretting doing that. But, I did deserve it when your group, before Twist, Joshua and Dinky joined, put me and Silver Spoon into the mud in the Tug-O-War Tournament."
"I remember that game," Joshua said. "One important rule of that game was that you can't let go of the rope, or else you can't help your team anymore."
"Wait, you're not suppose to let go of the rope?" Diamond Tiara asked.
"Oh, that's right," Scootaloo said, pointing at Diamond Tiara. "You did let go of the rope when you said that we were gonna be losers and blank flanks. I'm surprised that Rarity didn't pull you aside."
"I just hope that Mom and her friends will come and find us," Joshua said. "We need to find out who's responsible for this. And why."
"How?" Silver Spoon asked. "We're chained up! We're never gonna get out of here!"
"I want my mom," Dinky said, still hugging Joshua.
"We'll get out of here, Dinky," Joshua said. "We'll get out of here. I just know it."
In Las Pegasus, the Patriot Arrow landed on a solid piece of ground in the middle of the city. Midpoint, Cozy Glow, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Antoine, Bunnie, Amy, Cream and Cheese walked out and headed towards the different places.
"Stay in groups," Midpoint said. "Amy, you take Cream and Cheese. Applejack, make sure that Pinkie Pie doesn't do anything she'll regret. Antoine, you're with Bunnie. Follow me, Cozy Glow." Then the group split and headed for different casinos in the place. Midpoint then pulled out a communication device and said, "This is Midpoint. We've arrived in Las Pegasus. Sheesh, this place is a lot like Las Vegas."
"Las Vegas?" Cozy Glow asked.
"It's a city that's almost 570 miles away from San Francisco by car," Midpoint said. "But, boy does it get hot there in the summer time."
"So, what happens there?" Cozy Glow asked.
"What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas," Midpoint said. "But all I can say, there are a lot of things there that can never be unseen. Sometimes, a little too much."
Cozy Glow then shuttered, getting what Midpoint was talking about. Then they entered one of the casinos.
Later, the Spirit of Freedom came into Cloudsdale. Rainbow Dash walked out of the ship, looking back at the others.
"I'll head over to Wonderbolts HQ and see if they can help with our search," Rainbow Dash said. She then flew off, leaving the others on the ship.
"Alright, everyone," Starlight said. "Before we go anywhere, I need to apply the Cloud Walking Spell on you."
"Good call," Trixie said. "We wouldn't want the Great and Powerful, Trrrrixie to fall down to the ground." Starlight then used her magic and the feet of Sally, Rotor, Mutt, Rarity, Starlight and Trixie were glowing. The glowing stopped.
"Okay, that's it," Starlight said. "Let's get searching." Then they all headed all over Cloudsdale, trying to find where Eggman was.
Meanwhile, over the Atlantic Ocean, the X-Tornado was flying through the sky. In the cockpit were Tails and Maria, in the second seating row were Rarity and Fluttershy. And Sonic was laying on the wing.
"How much longer are we gonna get there?" Sonic asked.
"Don't worry, Sonic," Tails said. "We're almost there."
Maria looked out of the window and saw some land in the water. She then gasped and asked, "Uh, Tails? Is that Angel Island in the water?"
"WHAT?!" Sonic and Tails asked, looking down at the ocean, seeing Angel Island there.
"That shouldn't be possible," Tails said.
"What do you mean?" Rarity asked.
"Angel Island is supposed to be flying thanks to a very powerful Emerald, unless..." Maria queried, but something came to her mind. She then gasped and said, "Get to the Alter!"
"You got it!" Tails said. Then they headed down to where the Alter of the Emerald was, but there was no sign of the Master Emerald. "The Master Emerald's gone!"
The X-Tornado landed and the group ran up the stairs of the alter. There was no Master Emerald, but there was Knuckles chained to a column.
"Knuckles!" Sonic said. He then used his spin dash move to cut through the chains. Knuckles then fell off.
Knuckles coughed up from being there from a certain amount of time. He then said, "About time you got here."
"Did you try to call for some help when this happened?" Maria asked.
"I was about to when those mechs knocked me out," said Knuckles. "There were too many of them."
"Definitely Eggman behind this," said Sonic. "We have to find them." He then pulled out his communicator and spoke into it. "This is Sonic! Eggman had already arrived here and took the Master Emerald."
Back at the Castle of Friendship, Twilight, Spike and MC were in the throne room. MC was grimacing.
"Nothing!" MC said. "I looked all over the entire planet that's grounded, and there's no sign of Julian Robotnik anywhere. And since Angel Island is grounded, I still couldn't find him."
"Well, we'll just have to rely on the others," Twilight said. "Nicole, get us in touch with Sally's team."
"Connected," Nicole said.
"Sally, you there?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah, I'm here," Sally said through the speakers. "We looked all over Cloudsdale, with a little help from the Wonderbolts."
"My idea!" came Rainbow Dash's voice, making the three in the Castle role their eyes.
"Anyway, there was no sign of anything that Doctor Robotnik has up here," Sally said. "It's a bust here."
"Okay, thanks anyway," Twilight said. "Nicole, get us in touch with Midpoint."
The sound of gambling machines were playing in the background. MC then asked, "Are you gambling, Midpoint?"
"No, I'm too young for that," Midpoint's voice came. "No sign of Doctor Robotnik anywhere in the casinos or hotel rooms. We checked the check in books for any recent check ins. His name wasn't in the listing."
"Of course," MC said. "No sign of Eggman anywhere." MC then snarled, and banged his left fist on the table. "WHERE ON EARTH ARE YOU?!?!"
Twilight put her hands on MC's shoulders and said, "Calm down! We're trying our best to find them!"
"I know," MC grumbled. "Those kids are in trouble, and there's nothing we can do to help them if we don't know where they are."
"Perhaps there's something else we're missing," Twilight said. "Perhaps we should go back to the scene of the crime. Look for any clues."
"It's our best shot," MC said. Then he, Twilight and Spike headed out of there. They headed back to the Ponyville Schoolhouse. The three of them were looking around the room, trying to find any clues.
"These guys are good," Spike said. "All they left were the backpacks that the school foals brought. You guys find anything yet?"
"Nothing over here," Twilight said. She then looked over at MC, who was smelling around the place. He then stopped at something. It was Joshua's backpack, which was wide open.
"What do we have here?" MC asked. There was a crumpled up piece of paper. He opened it up and read what was written. "'Check the can.' Check the can? Wait a minute. I think I know what Josh is talking about." MC then pulled out the canister and smelt it. "I got something. United States Department of Defense."
"Must've been something he had before he was fired," Spike said.
"Looks like we have a piece of evidence," Twilight said. "Now what?"
"I think we should go see Agent Stone about this," MC said.
"Agent Stone?" Twilight asked. "That guy who was with Doctor Robotnik?"
"Yep," MC said. "Looks like we're going to DC." Then the three of them headed out of the schoolhouse. The rest of the group were already back at the Castle of Friendship. Knuckles was there as well.
"So, you brought the Guardian of the Master Emerald here?" Twilight asked.
"Someone took the Master Emerald," Sonic said. "Perhaps it was Eggman who took it."
"The Master Emerald has a lot of power in it," MC said. "Even more powerful than the Seven Chaos Emeralds."
"That Eggman is gonna regret taking the Master Emerald from my Alter!" Knuckles said, about to punch something, but was blocked by Applejack's hand, her fingers not in the way of the spikes on his knuckles. "Wow. You're stronger than you look."
"Work on a farm for years, and ya get more stronger and durable," Applejack responded. "What's your secret?"
"I was born with this natural strength," Knuckles said, proudly. Applejack gave her a look that she knew that Knuckles was lying. Knuckles then said, "I have some weights stashed in a secret compartment in the alter."
"So, what now?" Applejack asked.
"Yeah? How do we find a crazy mad scientist bent on ruling the entire world with a heavy iron fist?!" Pinkie Pie asked.
"We go to his number 2," MC said. "Sparkles and I are going to find Agent Stone."
Rotor handed MC the key to the Spirit of Freedom and MC and Twilight headed out of the castle and into the Spirit of Freedom. MC was piloting and Twilight was in the seat to his left. They were heading back over to Station Square to have a chat with Agent Stone.
Back in the place where the Ponyville Schoolhouse Students were, Apple Bloom was trying to rip off the shackles.
"C'mon, c'mon!" Apple Bloom said, but she lost her grip. "Dang it!"
"Good try, Apple Bloom," Nyx said. "This is a strong metal. What did they use to make these chains?"
"It has to be really strong if it can keep Apple Bloom from breaking them," Joshua said.
"Too bad my magic isn't strong enough to teleport each one of us out of these chains," Sweetie Belle said. "I would have gotten all of us out by now."
Then Nyx and Joshua went wide eyed and Joshua said, "Wait a minute! Nyx had mastered teleportation magic. Including teleporting into another dimension."
"Really?" Apple Bloom asked. "When was that?"
"It was before Tirek destroyed the library," Nyx said. "Plus, I had to learn that spell after I accidentally sent Joshua into an alternate Equestria."
"Where there was a different human living in Equestria, who was adopted by the Fluttershy of that dimension," Joshua said.
"Wow," said Silver Spoon. "Was he dating somepony there?"
"Yeah," said Joshua. "You."
"What?" Silver Spoon asked, blushing.
"Wow," said Diamond Tiara. "He must've been some kid to date Silver Spoon."
"Okay, everypony," Nyx said. "I'm gonna try to teleport all of us back to the Castle of Friendship." Nyx then struggled with her magic, then most of the school ponies were glowing in a dark blue aura. Then they disappeared. All who were left were the Crusaders, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Nyx then passed out.
"Nyx!" Joshua said, rushing towards her. Joshua turned her over, seeing that she was unconscious, and her horn was smoking. Apple Bloom then checked Nyx's pulse.
"She's alright," Apple Bloom said. "She's just out cold."
"That took a lot of magic to teleport them out," Sweetie Belle said.
"But we're still stuck here," Scootaloo said.
"What are we gonna do now?" Twist asked. Then the door opened, and in walked Sleet and Dingo. Sleet had a tranquilizer dart gun in his right hand.
"You all stop," said Sleet. "That little black pony sure has a lot of power in her. Too bad she didn't have enough to get all of you out of there."
"Oh, boy," Joshua said, nervously.
Meanwhile, in the Pentagon, Agent Stone was getting some things from Doctor Robotnik's old office. But as he was packing up all the stuff on Doctor Robotnik's desk, the door was broken open, showing MC and Twilight.
"There you are, you little weasel!" MC said.
"Oh, shoot," Agent Stone said, heading for the window. But then MC grabbed a wooden chair, and threw it at Agent Stone's back, the chair breaking and Agent Stone falling to the floor.
"Nice shot," Twilight said.
"Saw that in a movie," MC said, walking over to Agent Stone. He then grabbed Agent Stone, and lifted him up and pounded him onto the wall which was right of the window. "What are you up to, Agent Stone? Any contact with your old buddy, Doctor Robotnik?"
"I have no idea where he is," said Agent Stone. "I'm no longer in contact with him."
"Then what are you doing here?" Twilight asked, angrily.
"I was assigned to clean out Doctor Robotnik's things here," said Agent Stone. "I have no intention of letting the doctor get his stuff back."
"Then you have no idea where Doctor Robotnik took those kids," MC said, angrily.
"Kids?" Agent Stone asked.
"Doctor Robotnik has taken the Ponyville Schoolhouse students, two of them are my adopted children, and took them somewhere!" Twilight said. "Do you have any idea where he could have taken them?"
"I have no idea where they are," Agent Stone said. "But.. we have copies of the doctor's plans on other bases."
MC and Twilight then were in the file room, looking at the plans of Doctor Robotnik's bases.
"So many different bases," MC said. "And all of them so far are grounded. You found anything yet?"
"Nothing yet," Twilight said, throwing another blueprint. She then grabbed another one, and unrolled it. She then went wide eyed. "Hang on. I think I found something."
MC then walked over towards her and read the blueprints. There was a base that was called "Death Egg."
"Death Egg?" Twilight asked. "What in the world is a Death Egg?"
"I don't know," MC said. "But this thing has to be one of Robotnik's deadliest bases yet. But where could it be located?"
"It says here that the base has hover technology," Twilight said, pointing at one section. "And it has some kind of special paint on it called 'Space Age Polymer'. Whatever that is?"
"Space Age Polymer?" MC asked. "No... it can't be." MC then looked over at the blueprints. MC's communicator started beeping. He pulled it out. "What is it?"
"It's Maria," came Maria's voice. "I don't know how it happened, but most of the class from the Ponyville Schoolhouse just appeared out of nowhere. The only ones that didn't come are the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Got this information from two unicorn colts named Snips and Snails."
"How did they just get there?" MC asked. "Is one of them really good at teleportation magic?"
"Actually..." Twilight said. "I taught Nyx how to teleport from one dimension to another."
"You're kidding," MC said.
"I wish," Twilight said. "Okay, was there anything else that they said?"
"Well, they did say when they looked out the window, it was night time," said Maria. "For at least 8 hours, either Julian's base was in Antarctica, or..."
MC then widened his eyes and said, "Hang on a sec, Maria. C'mon, Sparkles. Let's check the US Satellite systems." Then they headed for the computer room. One man on the computer was showing pictures from earlier that day, showing pictures of around the Earth's atmosphere. Then something came onto the screen.
"No... way..." Twilight said in awe.
"There you are," MC said. He then pulled out the communicator. "Calling all Freedom Fighters. We found Eggman's base. It's not on Earth at all. It's in orbit around the planet."
Twilight then looked at the picture, worried that her kids and their friends were trapped on that ship. MC was only grimacing at the base. This was going to be one intense mission.
