Episode 4: The Solaris Saga (Part 4):
Disaster Among Time
The next morning, the Mane 6, Sunny and her friends, Sonic, Tails, MC, Amy and Maria were all headed into a buffet for breakfast. Pinkie Pie and Izzy were getting along quite nicely.
"And I've been working on some plans for something special!" Izzy said. "I'm calling it... a glitter cannon."
"A glitter cannon!" Pinkie Pie said excitedly. "No way! I've made a bunch of party cannons that I use on different occasions! I'd love to help you with making a glitter cannon!"
"Really?!" Izzy asked. Then the two of them high fived.
"Oh, boy," MC said. "This is gonna be a long day."
"You're telling me," Twilight said. "And on that note, how did you know that Sunny and her friends are from the same future we went to?"
"In a way, I was there," MC said. "For the past few nights, I've been getting these strange dreams. Seeing the world on fire. Equestria started becoming dis-harmonic. Equestrian magic failing entirely. I had no idea why I've been having those dreams." He then sighed. "Until yesterday morning. When Shadow and Omega appeared from the future with these five ponies."
"You found out that those dreams of yours weren't dreams, but visions of the far future," Sunny said.
"Bingo," MC said. "I could see everything I'm gonna do in the future."
"So, do you recall what will happen in the future?" Twilight asked. "What led to the future that was when we went there?"
MC sighed and said, "It all started after the Flames of Disaster started spreading. When the people saw the fire spreading and lava rising, the people started running for their lives. Many people helped out as much as they could to get everyone to safety, but most of them got burnt alive. Including..." MC then looked towards Twilight. "I tried to save you, but with your last breath, you told me to watch over Equestria, and I've been keeping my promise." He then sighed. "The magic kept the Flames of Disaster out, but it was not enough to keep when harmony started losing its grip."
"This is so interesting," Sunny said, writing the stuff down in a notepad.
"Where did you get that?" MC asked.
"That bat girl bought this for me to take notes," Sunny said. "I was in desperate need to get information about the other types of ponies, what they can do, and get as much knowledge of what led to my present time."
"Okay, that's a good point," MC said. "Anyway... after that day came to pass, Maria and I were the only Freedom Fighters in the world that were left alive. I was tasked to keep Equestria safe by Sparkles, but... Maria wanted to stay and watch over the survivors of the burnt Soleanna. Eventually, she and I departed and... basically, I hadn't seen her in years."
"You both were trying to do the right thing," Twilight said. "But what led to magic fading."
MC was hesitant to talk about it. He eventually said, "25 years from now, the ponies will start distrusting each other. Basically, it was due to the loss of their current leader."
In the future, after 25 years without Twilight, MC was looking around the land of Equestria and in the continent. He then saw the pony tribes starting to get distant from the others.
"You unicorns are abusing your magic!" came one earth pony colt yelling at a unicorn. "Give me back my bag!"
"Make me!" said the unicorn filly. "You're such a loser!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" MC said, getting in between the two. "Stop it!" MC then took the bag out of the filly's magic hold and gave it back to the colt. "Tell me what's going on?"
"This unicorn is using her magic to constantly pick on me!" the colt said.
"This colt smells!" the filly said. MC took a sniff at the colt.
"He doesn't smell too bad," MC said. He then looked around and saw ponies fighting with each other. He then shouted, "HEY!!" His voice was nearly as powerful as the Royal Canterlot Voice. He then looked around. "What is going on here?! All the pony tribes are supposed to be getting along! Why are you all fighting?!"
"Why should we answer you?!" asked a pegasus stallion. "You're a sorry excuse for a leader! You're not even an Equestrian!"
"I may not be an Equestrian, but I do care for this land," MC said. "I promised Sparkles that I'd lead this place as well as she does. But I can't understand what's happening until someone tells me what the heck is going on!" Everypony then started arguing again. Just then, it started snowing. "Huh? Snow?" He then looked up into the sky, seeing some snow clouds spreading, and some creatures coming out of them. "Huh. So that's what a Windigo looks like."
Then the ponies started panicking. MC looked up at the sky and then he started running to the Castle of Friendship. He headed into the throne room and went over to Twilight's throne. He moved the seat cushion and revealed a keyhole. He then made crystal clones of himself by the other thrones, who did the same with the other five thrones that belonged to the Mane 6. MC pulled six keys out of a pocket, which were the same keys to open the Chest of Harmony. MC prime moved the keys towards the clones, who each took the key to the thrones they were near. They then put the keys into the keyholes in each throne and turned the keys clockwise. Then the Cutie Map started glowing and it revealed three magic crystals. The same crystals that future MC was collecting.
"It's time, Sparkles," MC said. He then grabbed the crystals and headed upstairs to the top of the Castle. He then climbed up to the very top of the castle with the crystals in his tail. He then called out, "Ponies of Equestria!" All of the ponies looked up at the castle. "Your fighting with each other is what's causing the Windigos to come back. We all must unite together. Bring peace and harmony to the land. We must come together! Bring peace to the land!" He then held up the crystals. "The Pegasi! The Earth Ponies! And the Unicorns! Unite!"
Then the Crystals came together.
The Crystal then brought out three different lights that connected to each pony that were connected to them. The white light went through the Earth Ponies, the blue light went through the unicorns, and the green light went through the pegasi. They all floated up and their magic was used through the crystal to take out the Windigos. They vanished.
MC then looked down at the ponies and shouted, "You see! It's unity between each tribe that keeps us safe from the Windigos! It's what Princess Twilight would have wanted you to do!" But then he saw the pony tribes continuing their arguments. "No! Stop!" Just then, he heard a cracking noise. He looked down to see the Castle of Friendship cracking apart. "NO!!" Just then, the Castle of Friendship started coming down, breaking into chunks below him, and he fell down to the ground, screaming. Just then, all the ponies there watched as the Castle of Friendship broke apart, with no sign of MC. And just out of the rubble, two pieces of the crystal, one being the horn and the other being the pegasus wings.
A unicorn took the blue crystal and the pegasi took the green one. MC spoke from the background.
"I was buried under that rubble for 3 days. I'd failed on keeping harmony between the three pony tribes. Ponyville, Canterlot, Cloudsdale, all of those places abandoned."
MC waited underneath the rubble, too upset to get himself out of there. Just then, the rubble in front of his face and he could see the future versions of Twilight's friends.
"Ah've found him!" said the older Applejack. They walked over towards MC and helped him out of his pinned position.
"You've been able to get out of any prison before," older Rarity said. "Why haven't you done it this time?"
"I've failed..." MC said. "Failed to keep harmony. Failed to keep friendship among the other ponies. Failed my promise to Sparkles. You should just leave me."
"No way, dude," older Rainbow Dash said. "You're our friend, too. And no way we're letting you stay under there in your own self pity." Applejack and Pinkie Pie helped MC up and carried him on their shoulders. Pinkie Pie on his left, and Applejack on his right. "Not even Twilight would give up after a failure."
"Yeah," Pinkie Pie said. "Like the time she accidentally switched our Cutie Marks!"
"Or when she thought that she had a due date and tried to force a problem to solve it," Fluttershy said.
"We'll always be there," Applejack said. Just then, she and Pinkie Pie fell down to the ground due to MC's weight.
"Whoa!" Pinkie Pie and Applejack said in unison.
"Oh, no, not again!" Applejack said.
"What's happening?" MC asked. He then looked at Rainbow Dash who was flying, and then she just fell to the ground.
"Oh, man, not again!" Rainbow Dash said.
"No harmony... no magic... And those who still believed in harmony eventually lost their magic as well. Through what magic they had left, they took me to the Crystal Empire. The last place in Equestria that had a standing castle. But since then, things have still continued getting worse and worse."
In the present time, the Mane 6, Sunny and her friends, and the Freedom Fighters that were there were all listening to what MC saw in the future.
"Dude... don't let all that get you down," Sonic said. "It all hasn't happened yet. We can still prevent that future from happening."
"He's right," Twilight said. "You can prevent that from happening. You just need to tell us what's going to happen and when."
"Well, for starters, it starts off..." MC said, closing his eyes. He then thought of something. "What day was the Festival of the Sun?"
"Two days ago," Tails said. He then remembered. "Oh, no!"
"That's right," MC said. "Eggman will be..." Just then, a huge shadow appeared outside, and the people started panicking. The Freedom Fighters, Mane 6, Sunny and her friends ran outside to see the Egg Carrier flying over the city.
"Princess Elise, ruler of Soleanna..." Eggman's voice came from a speaker. "By refusing to negotiate with me, you have forced me to take drastic actions. Meet me at the specified point alone at 4 o'clock today. Failure to do so on time, will result in my leveling of this city so that nothing but ashes remain!"
"We have to stop him now!" Twilight said.
"No," MC said. "If we do that, he'll level the city anyway."
"And if we let Eggman get Princess Elise, the Egg Carrier will crash, Elise will die, and Iblis will burn the world," Tails said. "What are we gonna do?"
"We'll wait," MC said. "Where's the bear boy? Truemen?"
Just then, Truemen ran towards the group, saying, "I'm here. Sorry. Had to deal with some weird human pretending to be Sonic."
"That guy again?" Tails asked. "He's really gotta stop taking credit for things Sonic did."
"MC, what do you think we should do?" Twilight asked.
"We're gonna have to wait until the Princess of Soleanna agrees to meet with Eggman at that location," MC said. "We're gonna have to wait until the right time comes to go out to save the world."
"Well, how are we gonna do that?" Sonic asked. "If you might not recall, I'm not that well at patience."
"I don't know," MC said. "We're just gonna have to wait." He then started to walk away.
Twilight then thought of something. She then said, "MC, wait." MC stopped in his steps. "Do you know what happened to Nyx? What came of her?"
Sunny leaned towards Rarity and asked, "Who's Nyx?"
"Nyx is Twilight's adopted daughter," Rarity said. "She's supposed to be a reincarnated Nightmare Moon given a body of her own. But since the first part of the spell was interrupted, she cannot be who she was supposed to be. Now, she's just a little filly."
MC sighed and said, "When magic started dying, Nyx was starting to become the shreds she was made from." He then remembered the dream vision of him and Nyx.
In the dream vision, he was being pulled by Rainbow Dash into the Crystal Castle in the Crystal Empire. He then saw Nyx's body cracking with faint blue lights within the cracks.
"Nyx was going to die. She was only one of the last things left of you Sparkles. Besides your brother, Cadance, Spike and Joshua."
MC of that time pounded the ground, trying to think of something.
"I gotta find a way to save her!" MC said. "She's important to Sparkles as well. I can't let her die." He then sensed something. Something of Equestrian Magic that wasn't the Crystal Heart. Somewhere close to Ponyville. "Oh, I know the place to take her."
MC then used his Super Warp Ring and opened up a portal. He then carried Nyx through the portal and put her near a column in the place. They were inside the Treehouse of Harmony. The older version of Twilight's friends walked into the room, looking around.
"Are ya sure that bringing 'er here is gonna save 'er?" Applejack asked.
"This is the only place in Equestria that has the last of Harmonic Magic," MC said. "It's the only place for Nyx to stay alive." Just then, a crystal gurney appeared. MC then put Nyx onto the gurney, and then a field came in over her.
"M... C..." the older Nyx said, weakly.
"It's going to be okay, Nyx," MC said. He then sighed. "I'm... afraid that I can't go back. For I have to keep Nyx alive."
"So... does that mean..." Pinkie said.
"Don't give up on what you believe, Pinks," MC said. He then sighed. "Take good care of what's left of Harmony." Twilight's friends nodded and went back through the portal.
"I had to stay there to watch over Nyx. I had to isolate myself just to take care of Nyx. I kept in touch with the others there. But eventually... time passed... and... they all started passing. Applejack... Pinkie Pie... Rarity... Rainbow Dash... Fluttershy... Joshua... Apple Bloom... Scootaloo... Sweetie Belle... Dinky... Babs... Twist... All of the ponies I knew eventually passed on around me."
Back in the Present, MC was telling the story as he and the others were heading through the city. They all were walking beside him as they were in the city part of Soleanna.
"So, Nyx was still alive after two centuries?" Twilight asked.
"The Tree of Harmony kept her alive," MC said. "Even when the Windigos came back."
"The Windigos returned?" Twilight asked. "How did you handle it?"
"I had no choice," MC said. "I had to absorb them and contain them in a crystal orb."
"So, where was that orb?" Twilight asked.
"I kept it in my pocket for over 100 years," MC said. "Nyx wanted me to go out and check out the world, get some fresh air one day. So, I did. I went out, and checked out the land to see if anyone was trying to reunite the tribes. But so far, there were two Earth Ponies that still believed in true Harmony. Although, the mare was pregnant at the time. They went back to their home, and that was when that mare's water broke." He then smirked. "But then something came out. Something that would be a light of hope for Equestria."
"What was it?" Sunny asked.
MC smirked, looked at Sunny and said, "You."
Sunny was surprised and asked, "Me?" She then thought of something. "Those two ponies were my parents?"
"Argyle Starshine was happy to see you born," MC said. "But he lost his wife after she gave birth to you." He then sighed. "I was there to help with the birth."
"You helped with Sunny's birth?" Hitch asked.
"Yeah," MC said. "My future self attended his funeral." He then looked towards Sunny and said, "His death took a heavy toll on the whole town."
"It did," Sunny said. She then sighed. "I can't imagine what my father would think of me by being stuck in the past."
"Sunny," Twilight said, wrapping her arm around Sunny's shoulders. "Your father would be proud for you finally getting to know the truth about how Equestria had been together."
Sunny looked towards Twilight with a sad smile and said, "Thank you, Twilight." Then she hugged Twilight, which shocked the alicorn. She then smiled and hugged her back.
"Okay," Rarity said. "So what does Sunny do for a living?"
"Since her dad died, she got a job making fresh fruit smoothies," MC said. "I haven't tried one myself, but they have been getting good reviews."
"Really?" Pinkie Pie asked, excitedly.
"Yeah," Sunny said. "I should make some for you all before I go back to my time. If there is a way back there."
"Yeah," Sonic said. "It actually sounds good." Sonic then looked towards Eggman's ship, flying off in the distance. "We have to do something about Eggman eventually."
"He's right," Twilight said. "Where are we going to go to find Eggman?"
"We'll figure that out later," MC said.
"He's right," Zipp said. "I wanna find that creep that killed my mother."
"Our mother deserves to be avenged," Pipp added. "I want to get rid of that monster that took our mother away from us. In the future that is."
"I better call Rouge," MC said. He then held up his right hand and said, "This is Prince Michael Crayton calling Rouge."
"Rouge here," Rouge's voice came from MC's communicator. "What is it, Crayton?"
"Two of the mares from the future want to get back at Mephiles for killing their mother," MC said. "We're gonna have to help them avenge her."
"Oh, we'll stop him," Rouge said. "Omega is on the hunt."
"We'll meet you there," MC said. He then looked towards the group. "Maria, Truemen, Pinkie, Flutters, Applejack, Hitch, Pipp and Zipp, you're all coming with me. Let's go meet with Rouge. The rest of you, spread out and find Eggman's base. Check out all the other places that Eggman's been reported spotted." Then they all headed off in different directions.
At one part of town, Blaze was waiting by the clock tower. Just then, a Space-Time Rift opens up and out comes Silver from the rift. Silver noticed Blaze standing by.
"Blaze..." Silver said.
Blaze crossed her arms and asked, "What did you see?"
Silver looked down at his hands, saying, "The Iblis Trigger... wasn't Sonic the Hedgehog."
"I see..." Blaze said. "Of course it wasn't Sonic the Hedgehog. I've known him longer than you have." The crowd of people around them started panicking.
"They're quite noisy," Silver said, seeing the commotion.
"Yes," Blaze said. "I heard that the Princess here left for Dr. Eggman's base in response to his earlier threat."
Silver then thought of something and said, "What if his ultimate objective was to release Iblis?" The two of them looked at each other in surprise and then started running off in a certain direction.
At the dock yards, MC's group ran there, meeting Rouge.
"Whoa," Rouge said. "You've brought the cavalry."
"Where's Shadow?" Maria asked. Just then, a Space-Time Rift opened up in front of the group and out came Shadow. "Never mind."
Rouge walked up to him and said, "Omega is still in pursuit of Mephiles." She was pointing off in a certain direction. "So, where's the kid? What did you find 10 years ago?"
Shadow then looked at Rouge and said, "Bring MC the Scepter of Darkness so he can restore it to its former glory. That way, we can..."
"Seal that living darkness back to whence it came so he won't hurt anyone in the future," MC said. "Or the past. Or whatever timeline he'll end up in because of his time travel ability."
"So he's going to be back in his own prison," Hitch said. "That'll show him."
"And our mother will be avenged," Zipp said.
MC then tossed the Super Warp Ring to Rouge and said, "Get the Scepter and meet us at the beach. I sense some dark energy coming from there. That must be where Mephiles is."
"Got it," Rouge said. She then threw the ring towards which led to the ruins of the old castle. MC then closed the ring behind Rouge and he took the ring.
"Let's move," Shadow said. "Omega's probably on his way there." Then they all headed out of there.
Meanwhile, Eggman was in the Egg Carrier with Elise. They were both on the bridge of the Egg Carrier. Elise was sitting in a seat as Eggman was talking to her.
"You've wasted so much of my time," Eggman said. "If you had cooperated with me earlier, I wouldn't have to do this."
"What are you trying to do, Dr. Eggman?" Elise asked, pondering over what he was up to. "Why do you wish to revive the Flames of Disaster?"
"Did your parents ever disclose to you anything about Solaris?" Eggman asked, walking over to Elise. "Solaris's secrets are in his eternal flames. His power... can change time, and even manipulate the fabric of time itself. I wish to obtain this power and dominate everything in this world. From the past all the way to the future!"
"You wish... to rule over... Time?" Elise asked.
"Yes. Truly," Eggman said. "And the secret... It remains dormant in you, Princess." He then walked over to the control console and typed on the computer keys. The Princess of Soleanna and the seven Chaos Emeralds... Once I have everything, the fate of the world will change. And one of the beautiful gems is just ahead."
"Chaos Emerald located," the computer said.
"Finally... Now, let's go collect that Chaos Emerald," Eggman said.
At the beach, Omega was firing blasts at Mephiles there, but he wasn't taking any damage.
"This only proves you were created to stop Shadow, the ultimate life form," Mephiles said. Omega stopped to ponder, or calculate, what Mephiles said. "Don't tell me you didn't know. You may have been programmed by humanity, but what you did to Shadow in the future, that was your..." Omega's hands then transformed into Gatling guns and fired upon Mephiles. He then fell down to the ground, laughing. Then he disappeared into the shadow underneath him. Shadow, Rouge, MC and the others met up with him.
"What just happened?" Rouge asked.
"He just disappeared into his own shadow," MC said. "Irony."
"Shadow," Omega said. He then turned around to face Shadow. "The one that defeats and seals you in the future... is me." Shadow then looked towards MC. He held his head down in shame and nodded.
"It's... It's so unfair!" Rouge said.
"Yeah!" Pinkie said. "After all, Shadow has helped out with saving the world three times already, even though the first time was from an incident he caused due to the loss of his friend and forgetting the promise that he made with his friend and..." Just then, Applejack covered Pinkie's mouth with an apple and Applejack shook her head.
"He did all that?!" Hitch asked.
"He's changed since then, Hitch," Maria said. "Even though he's done so much in the past, he's still a hero. Even if Shadow will be locked up for being too powerful, we'll back him up."
Shadow looked towards Maria and smiled. He then said, "Thank you, Maria." He then looked around and said, "We need to find Mephiles." Rouge then handed MC the Scepter of Darkness. "Is there anything we need to know about Mephiles. What he has, where he could be going?"
"Obviously, Mephiles would get as much power as he needs to be the most powerful thing in the Multiverse," MC said as he was repairing the Scepter of Darkness. "He's probably going to find the other Chaos Emeralds. He doesn't have any."
"Um... actually..." Fluttershy said, lowering the volume of her voice.
"What is it, Flutters?" MC asked.
"Mephiles has one of them," Applejack said. "The purple one."
"So we have to find the Purple Chaos Emerald to find him," Pipp said. "How do we do that?"
"Perhaps I will use the database to locate the Chaos Emeralds in the area and..." Omega said until he was interrupted.
"Found him," MC said, his eyes glowing in a golden aura. "He's heading through an old temple in the desert." He then saw something. "Shoot... he's after the yellow Chaos Emerald which is in the core of the temple!"
"Then we have to get there first!" Rouge said. "Let's move it!" Then all of them headed towards the desert.
Meanwhile, Twilight looked up and saw the Egg Carrier heading towards the valley. Smoke was coming from the Egg Carrier. Twilight then pulled up her communicator and said, "Twilight to anyone who's not with MC's group. He's heading towards the valley. And I can see some smoke coming from the Egg Carrier."
"Oh, no!" Sonic said. "That must be what led to Elise's death. Meet me there."
Then Twilight teleported away from there. Twilight then appeared outside of the valley where Sonic was. Along with Rainbow Dash and Rarity.
"Let's go save Elise," Rainbow Dash said. Then they were about to run into the valley, but were stopped by robots. They were about to fire upon the four, but were grabbed in a light blue aura. "Oh, sweet job, Rarity."
"This isn't me," Rarity said. Just then, Silver dropped in front of them, his hands glowing, and then he threw the robots away, blowing up as they collided with some trees and other stuff there.
"You all look like you're in a hurry," Silver said.
"...So what's going on?" Sonic asked, crossing his arms.
"Yeah, last time we saw you, you tried to kill Sonic," Rainbow Dash said. "What was up with that?"
"Circumstances have changed," Silver said. "I need to rescue the Princess."
"To prevent Iblis from getting out," Twilight said. "It probably crashed into the thing that Iblis was sealed in."
"Iblis was actually sealed within Princess Elise," Silver said. "If she passes... or even cries... Iblis will be released from her. So we cannot let that happen."
"What are we waiting for?!" Sonic asked. "Let's go save Elise!" Then Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Sonic and Silver ran through the valley. Blaze then caught up with them.
Meanwhile, in the Egg Carrier's bridge, Eggman was trying to control the Egg Carrier when it was going through a system failure.
"Huh? The engines are malfunctioning," Eggman said, typing on the computer. Elise stood up. "What's this? Stop all engines now!" The computer did not respond. He then pounded on the control console. "...Why is this happening? No! We're about to crash!" He put his hands to his head as the Egg Carrier was slowly descending, the engines smoking.