//------------------------------//
// Towards The Future 
// Story: Spinel's New Best Friend 
// by luckyboys121 
//------------------------------//

As Sombra stood atop his Injector eyeing the horizon he finally caught his breath as the anger began to subside slightly. "Cool your temper old fool, you won't get far as the future Emperor of the Universe if you launch headlong into decisions. Now then, turning the citizens of Canterlot into servants was thankfully the right call but the question is... what kind of servants." He stroked his chin in thought mumbling, "Right now I need muscle so Jasper, Amethyst... too much free will and intelligence, no I need something that won't question orders and probably won't think for itself very much so," suddenly it came to him as he said, "Like a Ruby, not very intelligent, good fighters, they way not be as good at calming their tempers as I but as long as that impulsiveness can be aimed in the right direction it shall serve a fine purpose." He then nodded to himself before playing a slight tune that made the Injector go to work on the red mixture.


'Grogar' gulped as he looked into his crystal ball and saw Sombra riding towards Canterlot. He thought to himself, "Should I... should I intervene? Twilight and her friends might still be able to pull this off but."

Suddenly his train of thought was interrupted as Cozy flew up right against the ball as she said, "Golly, that thing he's riding sure is big."

"Yes... but what is it exactly?" said Tirek.

"Who cares, whatever it is it's definitely going to do some damage to those pesky little ponies and I want to be their to see it," said Chrysalis as she began making her way to the cave exit.

Grogar regained his composer as he growled saying, "I did not give you permission to leave!" 

Chrysalis laughed at that as she said, "As I recall you let Sombra leave as a demonstration for us, all I'm doing is getting a better look at it."

Tirek nodded before saying, "Yes if you really believe that Sombra will fail, then what's the harm of watching it in person?"

Cozy flew in front of him as she put on her best puppy dog eyes saying, "Please Mr. Grogar we promise we'll come right back if Sombra fails."

Grogar winched at the face and how it reminded him of a certain yellow mare back home before saying, "Very well, I'll teleport you relatively close, but stay out of sight. I don't want Twilight and the others going for you after they finish with that fool Sombra."

"Oh don't worry, disguises are my specialty after all I'm sure my magic will be enough to hide even these idiots," said Chrysalis as the two glared at her before Grogar raised a hoof sending them all away.

Once they where gone, Discord dropped the disguise as he looked back at the ball in concern saying, "Whatever you girls have planned you better do it quick," before muttering, "Please be OK Fluttershy."


As the ship shuttered Spike gulped saying, "Um... are you sure you two really know what you're doing?"

"Of course," said Hope as she tapped the controls, only to have the ship rock further.

"Fairly sure anyway," said Amore trying to inject some levity into the situation as she did her best to hold the yoke straight, only to have the ship continue to wobble. "Either the repairs didn't take or the years of sitting simply have not been kind to this old thing."

Twilight then pointed forward saying, "The Everfree is just up ahead so it only has to hold on for a little longer."

"And for the trip back," said Applejack leaning over to Rarity.

Rarity leaned over to her saying, "Hopefully whoever we're here to get knows a bit more about flying."


Sombra stared forward, eyes focused on his goal ahead as he felt nothing but rage and determination pushing forward. That wall of emotion was suddenly cracked though as he heard an echoing voice call out "YOOOHOOO!" as he turned towards it he was greeted to the brief image of something rocketing towards him before he felt a large gloved fist go across his jaw and knock him back. As he turned towards the offender he was further taken out of his anger as he was thoroughly confused by the four armed purple, pink, and white creature before him as he stammered out, "Who... what are you?"

The girl laughed in two voices as she said, "We are neither Pinkie or Spinel, we are Pinkel and it's over Sombra we've come to stop you!" 

At hearing that Sombra let out a chuckle of his own as he regained his composer saying, "So then a fusion, curious I wonder if fusion is possible between all Gems and ponies or if this Pinkie is perhaps a descendant of one my hybrids... I'm sure a thorough examination after I beat you will answer that." 

"Don't be so sure you're going to win, it's two on one after all," said Pinkel as she assumed a boxing stance.

"You're right, it's not particularly fair," said Sombra as he fanned out his cape and reached towards his horn with his right hand.

"Well if you really feel that way it's not too late for you to surrender," said Pinkel with a cocky smile.

Sombra had a toothy sadistic grin of his own as his Gem glowed materializing a long black rapier in his hand as he swung it out before saying, "I meant unfair for you!" as he soon rocketed towards Pinkel as she barely managed to step to the side. 

Pinkel huffed from the exertion before punching out with her top right hand, a punch that was dodged by Sombra with a smug smile... a smile that quickly removed as he found himself dodging right into her bottom left fist. 

It quickly returned though as he said, "Is that all you got," before striking out with his sword forcing her on the back step again.

Pinkel hopped almost to the edge of the Injector as she thought, "Come on girls hurry up, I'm not sure how long I can keep this distraction going."


As 3XF made it to the Warp Pad she instantly opened the directory as she said, "Equis isn't on the list right now... I hope we didn't miss our chance."

1XF instantly went to work on a side panel as she said, "I'm checking the history and... it looks like we're good."

2XF looked down at her as she said, "Can you boost the signal on this end?"

1XF looked through the sub menus as she said, "Maybe... but if that Spinel doesn't get it functioning on her end it won't do any good."

"Yeah but," said 2XF before briefly gesturing back at the worried look on 3XFs face as she stared intently at the Warp list.

1XF simply nodded as she said, "Right, whatever we can do to help," before getting to work.


"Well it may have been a little rough, but I'd still call it a successful landing," said Hope as she looked at the ship.

Applejack on the other hand looked at the trail of upturned trees behind it as she said, "I'm not so sure about that."

"Let's just move on darlings... before Zecora gets home and sees what was once her yard. There's the lake," said Rarity as she pointed her hoof toward the water before them. 

Hope ran up to the waters edge as she looked down before saying, "I see the Warp Pad!"

Amore ran up to join her as she said, "As do I... my word it is much deeper than I had thought. We're going to need to clear all this water away for the Repair Gel."

"Wait really?!" said Twilight as Rarity groaned behind her.

Applejack cocked her head saying, "What's wrong, can't yall just use your magic to clear it away lickity split?"

Rarity sighed as she said, "Actually darling, moving liquids with magic is rather.... complicated."

"And water is especially difficult, it's so fluid and with no viscosity. There's nothing to really grab onto," said Twilight.

Hope thought about this as she said, "I suppose.... if the four of us together focus we can hold the water back while talking Applejack through fixing the Warp Pad."

"Wa-me!? Hold on now, I may be good at fixing stuff around the farm but I'm not so sure about this Gem tech stuff," said Applejack as she looked down at the alien object in worry. 

"Oh don't worry, it's much more intuitive then it looks," said Hope placing a reassuring hoof on her shoulder.

Amore sighed before saying, "We better hurry and get this along," she then closed her eyes and ignited her horn as she pushed with all her might. She groaned saying, "So how much am I getting a few litters?" After a while she grew frustrated as she opened her eyes and turned to the others saying, "You should just tell me if I'm not moving any, my pride is not so big that I'd be offended." 

She then paused though as she saw the others staring in awe. Hope was the first to speak up as she said, "Um... my lady," before pointing to the lake behind her, as Amore turned and saw there no longer was a lake behind her.

Amore blinked in surprise as she said, "Wha- where is the-" her gaze turned upward as she saw a bubble of water floating in the air directly above her. Unfortunately the shock of seeing this caused her concentration to break as her horn stopped glowing and the water began falling down towards her.

"My lady!" called out Hope as her own horn ignited making the water instantly stop. Hope stared up at it in amazement as she slowly lowered the water next to her as she began stretching and squishing it into different shapes as she said, "How... this is easier than any other magic I've ever done! It doesn't even feel like magic!"

"Well... maybe it isn't," said Twilight.

"What do you mean?" asked Amore.

"Well... you do have those wings made of water," added Applejack.

"So then, you're saying this is a result of whatever Sombra has done to us then," said Hope in thought.

"Well then, we can worry about later, for now Hope just get rid of that water so we can get to work," said Amore.

"R-right," said Hope as she carefully moved the water bubble away and lowered it to soak into the ground.

Soon the group made their way down as Amore and Hope opened up the repair kit and got to work.


Pinkel circled around going for another fake out with her top right arm and punch from her bottom left, only for Sombra to jump back as he said, "That's not gonna work again," as he thrust forward with his sword. Pinkel jumped back just a second too late as she felt the sword graze her cheek, followed by the warmth of a drop of blood flowing down. Sombra blinked at that saying, "So your body seems more organic then Gem, perhaps a full dissection is in order!"

He leaped towards her for another strike as Pinkel jumped over him circling back around, this time trying to keep light on her feet as she sifted to be on the defense. 


"Oh bugger all!" said Amore as she looked down at the still cracked up Warp Pad. "There isn't enough Repair Gel to get fully restore it... how do to the signal amplifiers look?"

Hope finished adjusting the final satellite structure around the Warp Pad as she looked at the screen saying, "They're helping expand the range alright but not far enough... and even if they where I don't think the safety functions would allow for a transport with it in this state."

"Can you override them?" asked Twilight.

"Maybe, but it's too risky. Whoever we're trying to bring here might poof in the trip or worse," said Hope.

"Perhaps... but what other choice do we have?" asked Amore as she looked down in thought.

Before anyone could comment they suddenly heard an unknown voice say, "I could help," as they watched what appeared to be crystalline tree roots come out of the ground and begin to fill the cracks of the Warp Pad.

"What the hey?" asked Applejack.

"Is this you all?" asked Rarity looking towards Amore and Hope.

"No, I don't know what this is," said Amore.

"And who was that voice?" asked Hope.

"It... looks like the Tree of Harmony," said Twilight.

"Correct," said the voice again before they where suddenly greeted by a light as a strange alicorn appeared over the Warp Pad. 



"My tree, for I am Harmony," she said as she smiled at them. They all stared at her in shock as she smiled down saying, "Tell Spinel that I took her advice and that I'm sorry, and Twilight... I'm sorry to you too, I realize now that perhaps I shouldn't have leaned so heavily on you and your friends and from here on out I shall take a more... active roll in assisting you all." 

Before anyone could respond she dissipated as the tree roots finished filling the cracks as the screen said, "Warp Restored, Connection Reestablished"


3XF stared intently at the screen as Equis suddenly popped up and selected it without even saying a word she selected her and her unprepared friends off.


The Warp Pad suddenly glowed with a beam of light as the three landed, 3XF being the only one upright as 1XF fell on her side from leaning to look at a monitor and 2XF was laying down still holding a now detached cable from the Warp Pad she had been working on as she sighed saying, "Well that ones going to be needing some maintenance now."

1XF groaned as she got up saying, "Could have warned us you where about to warp and um," she then looked at the group of ponies and dragon before them.

"Um... hi," said Spike as the first to speak.

"Hi," said 2XF studying the group.

This was quickly interrupted though as 3XF ran towards them saying, "Where's Sombra!?"

"We'll take you too him in his ship," said Amore.

"That thing still flies?!" asked 1XF in shock.

"Well... kind of," said Applejack awkwardly.

"It just has to make  one more trip," said Hope as she and the others began running towards it.

As they ran 2XF asked, "So what's going on with Sombra?" 

Amore sighed as she said, "It's kind of a long story but basically he's gone on a rampage to try and finish his mission to conquer the planet, and we need your help to stop him."

"After all this time," said 1XF.

"Well... apparently he saw something when he reconnected with Homeworld... said something about his place there being gone," said Hope.

At this 3XF suddenly stopped as she shook saying, "It... it must have been the court manifest, he saw I wasn't on it anymore and must have thought I was shattered... my poor Sombra," she then looked up determined as she said, "He must be hurting as bad as I was, we need to hurry."

The others nodded, the ponies and dragon now catching on to her relationship to Sombra, as they soon boarded the ship.

1XF ran to the control panel and glanced back at Applejack as she said, "Woah, you weren't kidding when you said it 'kind of' flies the main floater is cracked and it's been rigged to go off only retro rockets."

2XF followed after that as she said, "The time it's sat without regular maintenance hasn't helped either but...." she then tapped a few buttons before the ship began to rise up as she said, "If we only need to go to one place then overclocking them to keep as fast and steady shouldn't hurt."

Hope ran up to her instantly as she said, "You can do that!?"

"I thought the regulators couldn't be bypassed without an external Data Spike," said Amore.

"A Data Spike is mainly just a system to upload the code, if you've memorized it can write it from scratch it's unnecessary," said 1XF.

"Fascinating," said Hope as she and Amore leaned in to watch the more experienced pilot.

As the ship moved forward Rarity moved to 3XF saying, "So um... you and Sombra then?"

"Yeah... he's the sweetest, kindest, most thoughtful Gem I've ever known," said 3XF with a smile.

"We'll... take your word for it," said Spike. 

While the others talked Twilight moved up to the front as she pulled out her Communication Stone saying, "Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, we're on our way now, how are things looking?"


Rainbow looked as Pinkel could only run from Sombra's attacks as she gulped saying, "It um... could be better."


As Pinkel found herself against the edge of the Injector once again Sombra laughed saying, "It's hopeless you can't dodge forever."

Pinkel chuckled as she said, "You're right I can't... I guess it's time I pulled out my secret weapon." At which point she reached into her Gem and pulled out the large cannon again. Sombra actually flinched before putting up a magic shield... a shield that proved entirely unnecessary as the cannon fired only confetti. Pinkel chuckled again as she said, "Yeah that was a bluff."

Sombra watched the confetti rain down as he let out a laugh of his own saying, "You, truly are nothing more than a simple Court Jester." He then marched up to her saying, "What made you think that you had any chance of defeating me?"

As Pinkel began to hear the noise of an engine approaching she smiled saying, "I didn't need to defeat you," before looking to the side as she said, "Just distract you until she got here."

Sombra looked in the direction she was facing as his eyes widened at seeing his ship approaching. He then smiled as he said, "Please, that ship has no weapons system, and if your aim is to crash it into my Injector well I'll just end that now." He  then raised his arm forward as he began to charge a beam of dark magic.

"No wait," said Pinkel only to be interrupted by Sombra's boot on her throat. She coughed before saying, "You don't understand, 3XF is on board."

At hearing this his rage spiked as he said, "I've had enough of your lie-" suddenly his voice caught in his throat as the ship got closer and he saw that familiar green face through the windshield. Unfortunately it was too late to stop his beam as he vainly tried to move his arm down as it launched it causing it to only graze the ships bottom, but in doing so taking out most of the retro rockets. 

"Sombra," said 3XF softly feeling unbelievable joy at seeing him after so long. That joy could not even be ruined as his beam knocked their rockets off and put a small hole in the back floor of the ship.

"You weren't kidding about the rampage part," said 1XF as she vainly tapped controls for rockets that weren't there. 

2XF ran through programs as she said, "We still have function in 10% of the rockets, I should be able to reroute enough power for a landing... but only if I can get enough height with which to work with."

"Understood," said Amore. "Come on Hope, time for us to put this water wings to the test." 

"Right," said Hope as she followed her to the hole in the floor.

"I'm coming to," said Twilight as she followed after them. The three of them flew outside the ship, albeit somewhat shakily from Amore and Hope, as they focused their magic on the ship managing to move it higher. 

1XF looked at the levels as she said, "It's still not enough we still need a little more."

As they all looked around Spike quickly ran to the hole in the floor as Rarity called out, "Spikey Wikey, what are you doing!?"

Spike did little to answer as he looked at down at the quickly approaching ground and grabbed onto the edge saying, "Come on man just a little fire." He then coughed a small flame come as he said, "You can do it," he said as a somewhat bigger flame came came out. "You... can... do it!" he cried before letting out a large puff of flame that sent the ship even higher. 

"We've gotten higher... not as much as I'd like but it will have to do," said 2XF.

"Oh good job my Spike I," began Rarity before seeing Spike begin to fall out the hole.

Quickly Applejack pulled the rope out from under her hat and caught him lasso as she pulled over saying, "Easy their partner," she then glanced at the currently unconscious dragon as she said, "Poor little pushed himself too far. Too big flames in one day is probably more than he's ever done."

"Oh my little Spikey," said Rarity as she moved to comfort him. 


Sombra watched in horror for only a moment as he began analyzing what was happening.

"Sombra we-" began Pinkel only to be interrupted 

"Quite, I need to focus," said Sombra as he said, "The telemetry the're coming at and speed... it's not enough, they need just one more bump to slow them down and get them higher they.." he then looked at Pinkel saying, "Get off," as he once again formed the ocarina and moved the Injector right on the edge of the ships path of travel. 

Once Sombra was done Pinkel said, "I'm getting down," before tackling him as she said, "Once I make sure you're safe too."

As the two began falling Sombra said, "But after everything I've done... why try and save me too?"

At this point Pinkel's grip turned from a tackle to a hug as she simply said, "Because that's what friends do."

Without thinking Sombra hugged back as Pinkel inflated all four of her gloved hands on Sombra's back into crash pads around them as the two soon found themselves landing softly on the ground. Once landed the two, became three as Pinkie and Spinel split up as they looked up just in time to see the ship skid across the Injector putting a huge crack in it as it began to leak red fluid all over the seemingly empty field beneath it.

2XF smiled as she said, "That did it!" as she pulled hard on the ships yoke bringing them to a stop as she fired the last of the fuel bringing them to a descendant that just managed to slow down to a near stop before touching the ground. 


Everyone together approached the ship as they all watched its occupants slowly exited. Sombra soon pushed to the front of the crowd as he said, "3XF!" 

She too pushed to the front of her group as she called out, "Sombra!" The two ran to each other for a long overdue reunion as were soon in each other's arms. 

"I... I thought you where gone," said Sombra.

"I thought the same about you... I," said 3XF before giving in and going for a kiss.

The group watched with... mixed reactions as while most where happy to see the touching scene, Rainbow groaned as she said, "So um... we seriously going to let him make out his girlfriend and pretend the rest of this day didn't just happen!?"

As the two parted Sombra coughed before saying, "Yes um.... I am sorry to all of you, there is no excuse for all the damage I have done, and if you would like I would willingly leave this planet and never return... if however you are OK with it, I would like to stay in order to undo the damage I have done," and then looked down at Hope, Amore, Pinkie, and Spinel as he said, "Maybe introduce my new friends, to my old ones," he then looked back at 1XF and 2XF as they smiled back at him. "And of course to my lovely 3XF!" 

"I..." said 3XF before grabbing Sombra's hand as she looked at the crowd saying, "I honestly don't have much of a clue of what's going on but I will help out in any way I can."

Spinel stepped up next to her as she said, "You've already helped plenty, especially for the day," she then looked at the others saying, "Anyone else think this has been a long day and are willing to just say by gones are by gones and head back to Ponyville." 

"I sure am," said Fluttershy.

"Same here," said Applejack.

"I should probably get Spike to bed," said Twilight holding the little guy.

"I certainly need a fair bit of beauty sleep after this," said Rarity.

"We'll be heading back to the Crystal Empire to make sure everything's OK there first," said Hope.

"But if there are ponies like you all there, I'm sure they've already gotten everything back to normal so we'll probably be there to see you all tonight," said Amore. 

Rainbow pouted slightly before being nudged by Fluttershy as she sighed saying, "Fine... I could use a cloud nap anyway.

"Wait... really, I nearly destroyed your world and you are forgiving me that fast!?" said Sombra in shock.

Pinkie shrugged as she said, "Meh, that's just how we role."

Spinel giggled at that as she said, "You'll get used to it." 

Sombra chuckled at that as 3XF went back to her friends saying, "So um... it's obvious I'm staying here but now that everything is OK, I'd understand if you all wanted to go back to Homeworld."

1XF simply shrugged as she said, "Eh this place seems fine, I'm willing to stay here awhile."

2XF nodded as she said, "After 8000 years of speculation it would be nice to finally study this planet's radiation myself."

3XF simply hugged them in response as the group began walking towards their new lives.


Discord breathed a sigh of relief as he said, "So it all worked out," he then shifted back into Grogar form as he raised a hoof for a teleport spell saying, "Let's just hope it works out for with them too." He cleared his throat and put on the gruff Grogar voice as he locked on and teleported the three back saying, "Well I hope you've seen that-" only to stop as he got a good look at them.

The three tried in vain to wipe the red fluid off of themselves as Tirek said, "I see that you need to pick better hiding places!" as he yelled at Chrysalis.

"And what are you winning about, you're already red!" said Chrysalis trying to comb it out of her main.

"Says the mare who can just shapeshift the spot off herself!" said Cozy as she tried to flutter her stock together wings. She then looked at Grogar as she demanded, "You better have a shower around here!"

Grogar was somewhat taken aback at the anger they were all displaying as he said, "Um.. down that cave I have private quarters for each of you, each one has its own private bath yes." 

"So we are getting something good out of this deal," said Chrysalis as they all headed towards the cave.

Grogar put his persona back on as he said, "So I'm guessing you see my point and are going to work together now?"

"Yeah sure," said Tirek before turning back as he said, "Ones things for sure, I have too much rage against those ponies to simply become their friend like that weakling Sombra."

"Oh trust me, your rage is nothing compared to mine," said Chrysalis.

"Oh please, I'm an eternal flame of rage against those jerks!" said Cozy as she and the others walking away, failing to notice how the red had soaked into them.