//------------------------------//
// 7. The Land of Oz (Part 2) 
// Story: Through The Multiverse 
// by Battwell 
//------------------------------//

Earth 1940 




The Land of Oz

 






"So... Who the hell are you guys?" Iron Man asked abruptly. 

While Twilight looked shocked at his bluntness, Sonic began to bust a gut as he held his stomach while he laughed. Mario smirked while Batman simply folded his arms over his chest. Settling down, Sonic wiped a tear from his eye before saying, "Wow, that came out of nowhere! I wasn't expecting that! Hehehe. Haaaaaa." When the hedgehog finally calmed himself down, he pointed to his chest with his thumb and proclaimed, "The name's Sonic! Sonic the Hedgehog!" He then turned to Iron Man, "And you are?" 

Chuckling, Tony decided to open his mask, showing off his face to everyone present, "Tony Stark, tech genius, super hero, real hit with the ladies. But you can call me Iron Man!" 

Once Tony was done introducing himself, Mario felt that it was his turn to introduce himself to these people, "It's-a-me, Mario! Part time plumber, all time hero!" He exclaimed, finishing off with a jump into the air. 

After covering her mouth as she giggled, Twilight then began, "I'm Twilight Sparkle." She introduced kindly before turning to Batman, "What's your name?" She asked with a smile. 

But Batman didn't return the smile, he simply said, "I'm Batman." 

It was so quiet that you could hear crickets chirping. 

Quirking an eyebrow up, Tony asked, "That's it? That's all we're getting?" 

"That's all you need to know." Batman replied firmly. He wasn't about to reveal who he really was to a group of complete strangers. He didn't even know if he could trust them yet. 

Tony shifted his eyes away as he muttered, "Okay." Clearing his throat, Tony turned to Twilight and stated, "Okay, first order of business! You're name is absolutely adorable." That right there made the little unicorn blush. "Second order of business, do any of you know where the hell we are or what the hell is going on?" 

Tapping her hoof to her chin, Twilight began to ponder, "Hmmm... Maybe if we share how each of us got here, we could use the gathered information to hypothesize a theory as to what is going on." 

Sonic shrugged, "Sounds like as good a plan as any. I'll go first, unless anyone has any objections?" Seeing everyone shake their heads, Sonic began to tell his tale. "It was just like any other day. I was doing the usual, hanging out with my friends, running around, stopping whatever scheme Eggman was planning." 

He was about to continue when the laughter of Tony Stark and Mario cut him off. As the two heroes laughed, Sonic couldn't help but smirk and raise an eyebrow, clearly entertained by their humorous chortles. He also found it funny when Tony spoke between laughs, "E-Eggman?! What kind of name is Eggman?! That has to be the funniest bad guy name I have ever heard!" 

Twilight, giggling quietly, joined in on the fun, "It is a silly name." 

But while the other heroes laughed, Batman looked to the blue hedgehog and asked, "Who is this Dr. Eggman?" 

Sonic placed his hand on his hip and answered, "He's an evil genius who tries to take over my home planet all the time. But luckily me and my friends are there to send his fat butt packing every single time." 

"But seriously, who names themselves Dr. Eggman? It's like he's begging to not be taken seriously." Mario asked with a smile on his face. 

The blue hedgehog smirked, "Funnily enough, I'm actually the one who named him that, y'know to insult his weight. But it eventually grew on him and he stuck with it." He explained before his face turned serious, "But let me tell you, Eggman is no joke." 

Twilight tilted her head, curious as to what her new friend meant, "What do you mean?" 

"Yeah, I mean how bad could he possibly be?" Tony asked, clearly not believing the hedgehog's claim about Eggman being an actual threat. 

Sonic then began listing off the various things Eggman had done on his hand, "Let's see, he broke my planet apart to wake up an old Dark God. He manipulated a God of Destruction until he lost control of it, which ended up flooding an entire city. He threatened to blow up my planet with a space station. Tried to rewrite time and space. Took over my planet for six months, all the while torturing me to pass the time. Turned nearly the entire population of my planet into robot zombies. And there's no telling how many cities he has Roboticized in his endless conquest for world domination." 

Once he finished recounting those previous events, he noticed the shocked expressions of Twilight Sparkle, Mario, and Tony Stark. Batman's face remained stoic, which wasn't surprising, considering who he was. 

Seeing how wrong he was, Tony said, "Okay, point proven." 

Twilight couldn't believe what she was hearing. Sure she had faced evil beings before with the Elements of Harmony, sure they had done evil things like enslave ponies and try to conquer Equestria for their own greedy needs, but they had never gone to the lengths to do what this Eggman had done. If he was in Equestria, then he would be sent straight to Tartarus for all eternity. 

Seeing as how there was time being wasted, Batman decided to intervene, "Sonic, continue if you would." 

Sonic nodded, "Right! Anyway, me and my team were infiltrating his space station to take back the Chaos Emeralds he had stolen." 

"What are the Chaos Emeralds?" Twilight asked, unable to keep her curious nature in check. 

"Okay, let me break it down for you. The Chaos Emeralds are seven mystical gems containing infinite power within each of them. Some say that they were created by the Gods themselves, before our reality was even created. Some say they come from space. No-one truly knows where they came from, but what we do know is that together, they harness unlimited power. When one person collects all seven of them, a miracle will occur, and the user will gain ultimate power." 

It was no surprise that Sonic's tale about the Chaos Emeralds shocked the others, each of them were thinking what would happen if these Emeralds fell into the wrong hands. 

"Well that isn't ominous at all." Tony commented sarcastically. 

Realizing he was getting off track, Sonic decided to get back into the story, "So anyway, when we got into Eggman's base, we found the Emeralds. But there was something else there as well. A stone looking thing. I think Egghead called it a Keystone? Anyway, to cut a long story short, we stopped Eggman, and got the Emeralds back. But just as we were about to get outta dodge, a portal opened up and sucked in not only Eggman, but the Emeralds and my friends. I jumped in after them and ended up here." 

Once the blue hedgehog finished his story of how he ended up here, Twilight tapped her chin with her hoof and pondered aloud, "You said a portal suddenly appeared out of nowhere?" She asked, to which Sonic nodded, answering her query, "That happened to me as well." 

"Care to share with the rest of the class?" Tony quipped. 

Nodding, Twilight began to explain, "It was just an ordinary day in Ponyville when--." 

"Hang on a second. Ponyville?" Tony asked, interrupting the unicorn mare, "Seriously? Your hometown is named Ponyville?" 

Not understanding the problem, Twilight asked, "Yeah? What's wrong with that?" 

"You're kidding, right? That's like calling a town 'Humanville', you couldn't come up with a better name than that?" 

Twilight frowned, "It's not my fault that my town doesn't have as glorious a name as Canterlot." 

Tony had an unamused look on his face, "'Canterlot'? Really?" He repeated as he folded his arms. When he looked around and saw the unamused looks on everyone's faces, he motioned for her to continue, "Sorry, Twinkle Sprinkle, carry on." 

"It's Twilight Sparkle!" She emphasized before continuing with her story, "As I was saying, I was having a picnic with my friends when the two princesses who rule my home appeared before me. I didn't think much of it at first since I am her personal student." 

Mario let out an impressed whistle, causing Twilight to blush from the praise. 

"A-Anyways, I noticed that she had the Elements of Harmony with her--." 

"What are the Elements of Harmony?" Batman asked out of the blue. 

It was then that Twilight's smile grew a little bigger, "The Elements of Harmony are six magical artifacts that my friends and I use to combat the forces of darkness. Using the Magic of Friendship, my friends and I cleansed one of the two princess of her darkness, and turned a God of Chaos to stone. They can't be used individually, they have to be used together otherwise they won't work." 

"So anyone can use them?" Sonic asked. 

Twilight shook her head, "No, you see my friends and I are the bearers of the Elements, so only we can use them. They are magically linked to us so that we can use them to protect Equestria!" Tony rolled his eyes at the name, was everything in her world a horse-pun of sorts? Ignoring the billionaire, Twilight continued, "But before she could tell us anything, a portal appeared out of thin air and dragged not only the Elements into it, but both princesses and my friends too. I went in to save them and arrived here." 

"So you jumped in as well?" When Twilight nodded, Tony began explaining, "Well I was in the middle of a mission with some members of my team, The Avengers, stopping a terrorist organization from using a rare and very powerful mineral called Vibranium for... Whatever it was they wanted it for. Long story short, once we were done kicking butt, a portal opened up, except three weird, robotic looking creatures jumped out and stole the Vibranium anyway. My team and I raced in after them, hoping to catch them, only to be split up from one another. They wound up somewhere else entirely and I wound up here." 

Hearing that, Batman looked to Tony and asked, "You saw those creatures too?" 

"Yeah." Iron Man answered truthfully. 

Looking down in thought, Batman recounted the events that led him here, "Those same creatures were responsible for a series of robberies housing a chunk of Kryptonite. A rare weaponizable mineral of the remains of a dead world that can be used to kill one of my world's greatest heroes. I eventually found the Kryptonite, but those creatures did as well. We fought, but they got away with the Kryptonite and my sidekick, Robin. I went in after them and found myself here as well." 

Mario perked up in realization, "The same thing happened to me. I had just rescued the princess from my arch enemy, Bowser. Who, for those who don't know, is a giant turtle, dragon thing. Once I had beaten him, a portal opened in the sky and sucked in my friends, Bowser, and the Super Star, an extremely powerful Power Up used in my world to make anyone who uses it invincible for a short amount of time." When he was done explaining, he looked around at everyone else, "I guess you guys know the rest." 

"Hmm," Batman hummed to himself as he began to deduce the situation, "Strange portals open up in each of our worlds, each taking a specific item from said world for some unknown reason. They also kidnapped our own respective allies, to which we all jump in after them." Once he finished summarizing the situation, he looked up and said, "Someone wanted those key items specifically. The piece of Kryptonite," he turned to Iron Man, "A chunk of... Vibranium," he looked to Mario, "Your Super Star," he then shifted his attention to Sonic, "Your Chaos Emeralds," he then focused on Twilight, "And finally, your Elements of Harmony. This wasn't a coincidence, they were targeted." 

Taking all of that in, everyone sat with it for a moment. It made sense, but why those items in particular? What was so special about them, other than the fact they are extremely powerful on their own. 

Iron Man then spoke up, "Well I don't know about you guys, but it looks like we each have a common enemy." A smile tugged on his lips, "Maybe we could help each other?" 

Sonic grinned, "I was thinking the same thing! If we work together, we have a better chance at getting our friends back, taking back the things that were stolen from our worlds, and taking down whoever's behind all this." 

Seeing as how everyone agreed with Tony's idea, Twilight beamed happily at the situation. It seems that even outside of Equestria, the Magic of Friendship still manages to bring people together, despite their differences. After Mario let out a passionate "Wah Hoo!!!" Batman turned around and pointed at the Emerald City in the distance. 

"Before she was taken, that girl told me of a wizard that might be able to help us." Batman explained to the others before turning to face them, "If we can get to that city, maybe we can find out where we are and how to get our friends back." While everyone nodded, Batman was thinking to himself. It seemed that these people were trustworthy and sincere in what they were saying, but they hadn't exactly earned his trust yet. He would work with them, not for his sake, but for the sake of his son. 

Stepping up beside the Dark Knight, Sonic knelt down into a starting position before shouting, "Let's get going!" And with that, he shot off down the Yellow Brick Road at high speeds. But not a moment later, Sonic returned with a sheepish smile on his face, "Right, forgot you guys don't have super speed..." 

No-one was amused, "You think?" Tony asked rhetorically. 

Rubbing the back of his head, Sonic turned around and said, "Well, I guess we can walk... Or something..." 

Giggling, Twilight marched to the front of the group and declared, "Come on, everypony! Let's go save our friends!" 

Once his face plated slid over his face, Iron Man hovered in the air before taking off, leading the group down the Yellow Brick Road. But unbeknownst to them, a dark presence loomed over the Land of Oz, one that wanted nothing more than to take it all for herself. 



 

"Wait, wait, wait!" Sonic shouted as he walked alongside the purple unicorn currently discussing how her world works. The heroes had been travelling down the Yellow Brick Road for a little over 20 minutes now. While Twilight and Sonic were conversing with one another, Mario and Iron Man were talking about the amount of times they had saved the world. Batman just kept to himself, staying focused on the mission at hand. Sonic, who had just interrupted Twilight, asked for clarification, "So, let me get this straight. Your two princesses control the sun and the moon? The pegasi control the weather? What kind of backward world do you live in?" 

Twilight giggled at the hedgehog's disbelief, "Believe me, if anything, your worlds are the backward ones." 

"Well I guess it's just a matter of perspective, isn't it?" Sonic replied with his hands resting behind his head. 

Meanwhile, Tony and Mario were discussing their victories over their various enemies. 

"So you've not only saved your kingdom from total destruction on numerous occasions, but you've also saved her from a giant, talking turtle more times than you can count... And she only gives you a kiss on the cheek?" 

Mario sighed and visibly slumped forward, his moustache drooping downward, "Yes, you pretty much covered it." 

"Wow." Tony responded simply before adding, "What a tease." He was about to ask another question, but was cut off by an alert in his HUD, "Huh? What is it, J.A.R.V.I.S?" 

"Sir, I'm currently picking up an energy signature that is 99.9 percent identical to the signature I picked up from the Rift back in New York." The artificial companion informed. 

Tony frowned, "Are you sure? I don't see any Rift around here." 

While the genius was conversing with his A.I., the others just stared at him in confusion. Mario leaned over to Sonic and whispered, "I think he's gone-a coo-coo crazy." 

Twilight, ever so curious, looked to the armored hero and asked, "Um, who are you talking too?" 

Getting his attention, Tony looked down at the confused unicorn and replied, "Oh, I'm talking to..." Halfway through his sentence, he realized that he never told them about J.A.R.V.I.S. Wow, did he feel stupid or what? Smacking his forehead with his hand, Tony quickly said, "Oh right! I never told you guys about J.A.R.V.I.S!" 

"J.A.R.V.I.S?" Batman repeated, unsure of who the armored hero was referring to. 

Seeing as how it would be better to show them, Tony outstretched his hand and opened it, projecting J.A.R.V.I.S' hologram from his palm. 

"Greetings," The A.I. greeted in a friendly manner, startling three out of the four heroes, "I am J.A.R.V.I.S, Mr. Stark's artificial companion designed to aid him in any way I can. It is a pleasure to meet all of you." 

While everyone was stunned in some way, Twilight's eyes sparkled as a wide grin appeared on her face, "Artificial Intelligence?! That's extraordinary!!! It's practically unheard of in Equestria!!! There a theory's, sure, but nopony has ever actually gotten close to creating artificial life!!!" 

Sonic chuckled at the rambling mare's antics, "Man, and I thought Tails got excited about science stuff." When she wasn't showing any signs of stopping, Sonic walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Twi, take a chill pill." 

Blushing from embarrassment, Twilight quickly shuffled back while quietly muttering, "Sorry." over and over again. 

Dispatching the hologram, Tony took to the air and hovered as he informed the group of what J.A.R.V.I.S had told him, "J.A.R.V.I.S just told me that he's picked up an energy signal similar to the Rifts that brought us here." 

That caught Batman's attention, "Where's it coming from?" 

The Armored Avenger pointed forward, further down the Yellow Brick Road, "Just up ahead, if it's a portal we can use it to find out what's really going on here." 

Batman nodded, "Alright, let's see what we can find and get out of this place." Taking off at a sprint, the Dark Knight led the group down the Yellow Brick Road towards the source of the energy spike. 

As she galloped, Twilight but couldn't help but feel joy from these turn of events. They had finally found something that may be able to help them find their friends and save them from whatever danger they were currently in. She smiled as she followed the Batman down the road. Looking to her left, she saw Iron Man flying alongside them with Mario and Sonic running beside her. 

She giggled as she picked up the pace, not wanting to be left behind. 

"The energy spike I picked up is just up ahead!" Iron Man informed the group as he flew up ahead to make sure there wasn't any hidden dangers that awaited them. 

Once the group got closer to the energy spike, Sonic couldn't help but notice something familiar lying on the floor in the distance. It was oval in shape, almost like a stone. His eyes widened as he skidded to a stop, unaware that the other heroes had stopped as well. 

Landing next to the hedgehog, Iron Man declared, "There it is. That's the source of the energy spike I picked up." 

"I've seen this before." Sonic muttered as he slowly walked towards the foreign object. 

Hearing this, Batman asked, "You have? Where?" 

Turning towards the Dark Knight, Sonic said, "It's that Keystone thing I told you guys about. Y'know, the one Eggman had?" He turned away and stared at the Keystone, "But I don't get it, this one looks different." 

"How do you mean?" Mario asked. 

"Well the one Eggman had was engraved in green hieroglyphics." Sonic answered before adding, "This one has red hieroglyphics." 

Hearing this, Batman knelt down and observed the Keystone from afar, "Hmm, this can't be a coincidence. Your arch nemesis had a Keystone similar to this one, and we just happen to find one just as similar?" 

"There has to be a connection." Twilight declared. 

"Well we aren't going to get answers by just standing around and looking at the thing. I say we take it and examine it to see how it can help us." Iron Man suggested to the group. 

"It's as good a plan as any." Sonic agreed, "Besides, things have been easy so far, how hard can things possibly get?" 

"Oh, you just had to jinx it, didn't you?" 



 



 



 

As if tempting fate, the sound of mad cackling echoed throughout the air, enticing everyone to look up into the sky to see who was laughing. When the group of heroes looked up, they saw multiple flying figures headed towards them. The majority of them appeared to be primates wearing blue and red vests with little hats on top of their heads. Their most notable features were their wings. 



 



 



 

Flying ahead of the Flying Monkeys, was a green skinned woman with a long, pointy nose, wearing a black robe with a pointy hat, riding atop an old broomstick. 



 



 



 

The Wicked Witch of the West cackled maniacally as she declared, "Now that meddling do-gooder is gone, all of Oz is mine! So long, Dorothy! So long!" She proceeded to laugh again when something from down below caught her eye, "What's that?" 

Looking down, she saw the Keystone, glowing with power. It was so powerful, she could feel the power radiating off of it. 

The Witch grinned, "Something magical? It looks so pretty... It feels so powerful!" She rubbed her hands together as she prepared to dive down and claim it for herself, but frowned when she was Twilight and the others looking directly at the Keystone. Snarling, the Witch shouted to her Flying Monkeys, "They can't have it!" 

"Looks like we're not the only ones interested in the Keystone." Tony commented as he aimed his hands up at the Flying Monkeys. 

Before anyone knew it, the Wicked Witch and her Flying Monkeys were flying downwards, intending on collecting the Keystone for herself, "Get away from my property! ...Whatever it is!" 

Taking out a Batarang, Batman shouted, "We've got monkey dive-bombers!" 

Wasting no time at all, Batman threw the Batarang while Iron Man took off to meet the Flying Monkey's head on. The Batarang hit one of the monkey's in the head, causing it to screech and fall to the floor while Iron Man threw a punch to a monkey's face, sending it spiraling through the air. 

While all this was going on, the Wicked Witch of the West dove down towards the Keystone, only to be struck in the side by Sonic, who was flung by Twilight using her levitation spell. Tumbling to a stop on the Yellow Brick Road, the Witch slowly got to her feet while Mario, Sonic, and Twilight Sparkle cautiously approached her. 

The villain snarled as her hands crackled with magic, clearly charging up a magic spell of some kind. Before anyone could do anything, the Witch created a circle of flames surrounding the four of them while Batman and Iron Man dealt with the Flying Monkeys. 

Twilight was in awe, this Witch was clearly an expert in the magical arts. If she wasn't trying to get that Keystone and save her friends, she would be gushing with excitement at the possibility of learning some new form of magic. Taking a step forward, Twilight said, "This doesn't have to end with violence. We just want to get our friends back, that's all." 

Being as smug as ever, Sonic added, "But we could add 'Kicking your butt' to our 'To Do' list, if you'd like?" 

The Witch smirked, "So you won't take a warning, eh? I'll take care of you now! Ehehehehehehe!!!" 

Hearing this, Mario leaned over to Twilight's ear, "So much for that idea..." 

The mare sighed before lighting up her horn. She didn't know a lot of Combat Spells, but that didn't make her entirely useless. She was willing to stand with these heroes to stop whoever got in their way. But one thing was for certain at this very moment. 

They weren't leaving the Land of Oz without a fight.