Twilight leapt through the Gateway as it closed behind her, meeting up with the others as she was the last to arrive. Her mind wandered back to Woody and the others, hopefully they were back in their original reality safe and sound. She was taken out of her thoughts when Batman walked up to the console and inserted the Creation Keystone into the newly revealed slot that had opened when the heroes had returned to Vorton.

Batman inserted the Keystone, glancing up at the monitor above as an image of said Keystone appeared on screen.

"Alright, the Creation Keystone! Nicely done!" The mysterious Gateway Keeper congratulated and complimented the heroes as the image faded away. "Only three Keystones to go!"

"Maybe then you can finally start explaining what's going on." Batman said to the A.I..

"Eh, maybe." The Gateway Keeper replied in a smart tone, irritating the Dark Knight further.

Sonic then took a step forward and asked the artificial being, "So when can we move on to the next dimension?" he then turned to face Twilight and the others, "I don't know about you guys, but I'm in the mood for another adventure!"

"Not only that, but we need to figure out how these villains we keep running into are involved in all of this." Tony added, stroking his chin in thought.

"And why that guy in the robot suit wanted Woody's badge of all things." Mario also added, curious as to why Lex had stolen the badge instead of the Keystone.

"All of that, and more, will be revealed once we regain the Keystones." Keeps replied to the group of assembled heroes. "And to answer your question, Sonic, we can head out whenever you guys are ready. I've already located the next Keystone and the dimension it landed in."

Twilight looked up to the screen and asked, "Anything you can tell us about this dimension?"

"Nothing much to say, I'm afraid. Only that it's pretty peaceful and should be a cakewalk in getting the Keystone back."

"Care to tell us which one it is so we have an idea what we're getting into?" Asked Mario.

"Unfortunately I can't, as I don't know which one it is. Unlike the last one, where it literally created another universe, there isn't really much to go off of." Replied the Gateway Keeper.

"So we're going in blind?" Twilight asked, feeling a little worried that she and the others would have zero idea what they were getting into.

Sonic sent a smirk towards the A.I., "It's all good, you've been very helpful so far. We wouldn't have gotten this far without you."

The Gateway Keeper felt happy that he could be of assistance. "Thanks. That means a lot. I'll fire up the portal and you can enter whenever you're ready."

Twilight smiled at that before turning around to face the Gateway, which had just ignited with power. She felt butterflies in her stomach, she was only three Keystones away from finding the dimension her friends were in. She was so close to getting them back.

Not only that, but she was also close to helping her new friends find their friends as well. Things were finally starting to look up for the little unicorn. Twilight couldn't help but smile, giggling with excitement at the thought of finding her friends again.

As the group of heroes lined up together to face the swirling Gateway, Twilight couldn't help but feel somewhat whole. She was grateful for the new friends she had made, there was no way she could ever do this on her own. It just goes to show what the Magic of Friendship can really achieve.

With that in mind, Twilight leapt through the Gateway with the others following close behind her.

Why can't I go outside?

The outside world is a dangerous place. You must stay here, where you're safe. Do you understand, flower?

The Kingdom of Corona

It was a beautiful starry night in the quiet and peaceful Kingdom of Corona. Birds were nestled up in their nests with their young. Squirrels frolicked about up along the trunks of the trees. The owls were hooting up a storm. And the sky was lit up lanterns floating upwards into the sky.

In the middle of a forest was a very large tower, with a singular room at the very top of it. Where one could remain secluded and alone... forever.

Sitting at the window of the tower, gazing into the starry night sky, was a young girl wearing a pink dress, staring lovingly into the sky. What was most unusual about her was her unnaturally long, blonde hair which trailed behind her.

Rapunzel normally felt lonely, she had no friends nor any contact with the outside world. The only one she had a close relationship with was her mother, who was the one who forbade her from leaving the tower. She said it was far too dangerous for young Rapunzel to venture into the outside. She must forever remain inside the tower.

But only on her birthday, when those lights brighten the sky, does that sense of loneliness fade away to the back of her mind. She feels a sense of wonder, and hope, enter her heart as she gazes into the night sky.

Rapunzel placed a hand over her heart as she thought to herself, "Those lights appear every year on my birthday--only on my birthday. And I can't help but feel like they're...they're meant for me. I need to see them. And not just from my window... In person. I have to know what they are."

She smiled as she sat up from the window and knelt down, resting her elbows on the window still, looking up in wonder and awe as the lanterns continued to float up into the sky.

It was a beautiful and lushes day in the Kingdom of Corona, birds were singing, flowers were blooming, the sun was shining down upon the picturesque forest. It was then that a blue portal appeared in a clearing, where Twilight Sparkle, Batman, Iron Man, Mario, and Sonic the hedgehog all jumped out of the Rift.

After planting her hooves on the lushes green grass, Twilight Sparkle looked around at her surroundings with a beaming smile as the Rift closed behind them. This was certainly a change of scenery compared to that of Galaxy Toys. The forest was green and felt alive in a good way, unlike the Everfree.

It really reminded her of home. Of Equestria. Twilight felt her heart sore as she saw all the lively animals frolicking about, the birds soaring over head. It was so peaceful.

Sonic felt the same way, it too reminded him of home. Of Mobius. Part of him wanted to lay back and take a nap of this nice green grass, relax without a care in the world. He was so used to seeing Eggman's cybernetic corruption plague the natural forests and wildlife on Mobius, so seeing something as calming as this was a nice refresher.

Iron Man's faceplate slid up, revealing his face as he took in a deep inhale of air before breathing out with a smile. "Well, this is a nice change of scenery, if I do say so myself!" The billionaire hero said with a smile.

Twilight nodded toward her friend as she began leading the group ahead, "I agree! It sure is a pretty day."

Sonic stretched and placed his hands behind his head as he walked along with the group. "Yeah, the weather is great. It'd be perfect for a picnic." The blue hedgehog replied in a relaxed tone.

Batman, with a stern gaze, then said, "While this dimension appears peaceful, we can't let our guard down. If the Keystone is here, then we can be sure that those androids will be here as well. We have to stay vigilant."

"Awe come on, Bats!" Mario groaned as he looked up to the Dark Knight, "Why you gotta be so melodramatic? It's a beautiful day, everything's peachy. And as far as I can tell, nothing really seems wrong with this place. Let's take the time to appreciate what's in front of us eh?"

They all suddenly heard a scream of fear and panic from behind them, causing them all to stop dead in their tracks. Twilight was the first to turn around to locate the sound of the scream. When she did, she saw a man tumbling down a hill, grunting in pain as he rolled down the steep hill. With a grunt and a final slide, the man fell down right in front of them.

The man wore a dark turquoise vest with a white long-sleeved shirt underneath, coupled with dark cream pants and brown bucket-top boots. He also wore a belt with a similar color scheme around his waist; connected to it was a miniature satchel.

Flynn Rider rubbed his back as he moaned in pain from the tumble he just took. He then looked back up from where he just fell from, where a troop of Soulless Ones jumped down after him. Flynn's eyes shot wide open before he shot back up onto his feet and made a run for it.

As he scampered away, the satchel on his hip flapped with every step. He flailed his arms wildly as he made his way towards the quintet, the troop of Soulless Ones right on his tail. "Make way! Make way! Make way!" He practically begged for them to move so he could make his escape.

While Twilight looked worried for the man, everyone else just had deadpan looks plastered on their faces as they all parted so Flynn could pass them. Once he was in the clear, Iron Man aimed his palms at the incoming troop of androids, his faceplate sliding over his face as he did so.

Twilight lit up her horn as Batman clenched his fists, getting in a combat ready stance as Sonic and Mario shared a fist bump before readying themselves for a fight.

"You really should've kept your mouth shut, Mario." Tony remarked, to which Mario responded by sticking his tongue out at him.

While this was going on, Flynn managed to find a giant rock that looked safe enough to hide behind. And so he did just that! He ducked behind the rock, caught his breath, and peered out at the group.

"It's not like I knew that this would happen!" Mario refuted, adjusting his cap.

Sonic, all the while, shrugged as he was more than happy to stretch his legs. "S'okay. Let's send these guys packing." He said with a cocky smirk plastered on his face.

Seeing this as his chance to make a quick getaway, Flynn smirked as he yelled to the group, "Say, since you five seem to know what you're doing, mind if I leave this one to you?"

Twilight turned her head and gave the scumbag a kind smile, "Yup. We'll take care of them. Go on, skedaddle!" She replied with a kind and genuine smile. She was always willing to help out whenever she could.

Flynn smiled back at the unicorn, "You have my thanks." he then let out a breath of relief as he muttered, "The horse was enough. Don't need any monsters on my trail."

Twilight however had heard what he said. With a cross look on her face at the derogatory term towards her kind, Twilight turned her full body to face the man and asked through gritted teeth, "The what was enough?"

Flynn, knowing that he messed up there, peered back from around the rock and replied, "Oh, nothing, nothing. Name's Flynn. Flynn Rider." He introduced himself before pointing towards the incoming androids. "Ohh! Watch out, they look mad!" As Twilight turned back around, Flynn slowly began creeping away, thinking that he was being sneaky. He didn't however, escape the gaze of Batman, who eyed the man suspiciously as he slowly sleeked away. "Slowly... Slowly... Outta here!" He ended loudly as he ran away as fast as he could.

The Soulless Ones made the first move, dashing forward with an intent to kill. Responding in kind, Batman threw down a Smoke Pellet, clouding the five heroes in a puff of smoke. Confused, the Soulless Ones ceased their movement, only to be sent flying by an explosion of magic bursting from the ground they stood upon.

As they ascended into the air, Sonic emerged from the smoke in a spinning ball of speed. He dashed through one of the androids before uncurling behind another. He then kicked it down to the ground, to which it exploded on impact.

As the blue hedgehog descended down, Iron Man fired a barrage of missiles from his back, blowing up multiple Soulless Ones as Mario leapt into the air. From behind him, he took out a small, wooden hammer which expanded in size before being large enough to wield.

He then raised his wooden hammer overhead and smashed an android down to the ground, blowing it up in an explosion of red particles.

As the final Soulless One fell to the ground, Batman removed his Grappling Hook and fired it at the android. Before it could react, it was pulled towards the Dark Knight against its will. It let out a shriek before Batman punched a hole in its visor, the resulting damage to it blew up the rest of its body in a cloud of red particles.

Once the coast was clear, Twilight stepped out of the smoke as it began to dissipate. The light from her horn died as she looked around for any signs of Flynn. She looked all around as the others made their way towards her, hoping to find out why the androids were so interested in him.

She turned to the group with a confused look on her face, "Where'd Flynn go?" she asked.

Sonic smirked like the smart alec he was known to be, "He skedaddled." he replied, playfully poking fun at the term she used earlier which made the unicorn blush in embarrassment.

Mario turned around and directed the group towards a clearing with rocky hills on each side. "I think I saw him go that way."

"But that way just leads to a dead end." Tony stated the obvious to the group, not seeing how Flynn managed to escape through a clearing that leads to nowhere.

Batman frowned, something wasn't right. Why would the androids be chasing him in the first place, matter of fact, he seemed very eager to get away from something. From what he gathered in their brief encounter, Rider seemed to be running from something other than the androids.

Every dimension they have visited so far those androids have been either related or after the Keystone in that specific dimension.

With that in mind, Batman firmly declared, "We should investigate this." When everyone turned to the Dark Knight in confusion, he clarified, "Every time we've seen those androids, a Keystone is never that far behind them. If they were chasing after Rider, then he must know something about the Keystone hidden in this dimension."

Iron Man looked down in thought, "That's a strong possibility." He concurred before looking up and nodding at his brooding ally, "I agree. We should find Rider and see what he knows about the Keystone."

Twilight smiled and pranced towards the front of the group, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's find Flynn and see what he knows!" With that, she galloped forward, leading the group towards the clearing in the distance.

But unbeknownst to them, a pair of yellow, mismatched eyes suddenly appeared on the trunk of a tree behind them. With a dark chuckle, the set of eyes suddenly popped out of existence.

After making their way towards the clearing, the five heroes searched around for any sign of Flynn Rider, hoping to get some answers out of him as to why the Soulless Ones were chasing after him in the first place. But alas, their search was for naught, as they found nothing.

"He couldn't have gone this way." Mario deduced from their search as he continued to look around.

Sonic approached a rocky hillside with a patch of leafy vines covering it. "Well, at least he got away safe. Right?" He said hoping to shine some good new on this situation. He tried leaning back against the vines, only to fall right through them. While Twilight and Mario snickered at Sonic, Iron Man groaned in annoyance as he made his way towards the vines, spreading them apart with his hand.

"Secret passage way." Tony sighed before turning to the rest of the group. "Indiana Jones much?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of Daring Do." Twilight replied as she and the others made their way towards the secret passage.

Tony meanwhile, continued to hold open the vines. "Right this way, madam." He said as Twilight trotted through.

The unicorn rolled her eyes before looking down to see Sonic rubbing the back of his head. She offered her hoof to help him to his feet, which he accepted without hesitation. Once the hedgehog was on his feet and everyone else had entered the passage, they all traveled together with Tony's suit acting as a source of light to guide them through.

They walked through the cave until they emerged into a small valley with a lone tower standing in its center. It was made mostly of brick, and had vines running along its side indicating that it must have been there for years. Behind the tower was a waterfall that runs over the mountainside into a small pond that glistens in the sunlight.

Twilight stared in awe with wide eyes, it was beautiful. It really reminded her of the towers in Canterlot.

The silence was broken when Mario said, "Why can't Bowser put Peach in castles like this?"

He was currently strapped to a chair by yards and yards of golden hair. He struggled to try and get free, but it was for naught. He was trapped. Flynn ceased struggling and raised an eyebrow as Rapunzel revealed herself from the shadows wielding a ferocious weapon.

Flynn takes this opportunity to try and sweet talk her, "How you doing?" he asked in a suave tone. No response from Rapunzel. He tried again. "The name's Flynn Rider." Nothing. "How's your day going? Huh?"

Rapunzel was unfazed and decided to brandish the frying pan, making Flynn wince in fear. "Who else knows my location, Flynn Rider?"

"Gesundheit." He replied without missing a beat. "Here's the deal. I was in a situation, gallivanting through the forest when I stumbled upon a--" He trailed off as his eyes went wide with realization. His satchel was gone! Where the heck was it? "Oh! Oh no no! No no no! Where is my satchel?"

As he looked around frantically from his seated position, Rapunzel simply smirked in victory, "I've hidden it. Somewhere you'll never find it." She then began walking around Flynn, brandishing her frying pan as she began her interrogation. "So, what do you want with my hair? To cut it?" She asked as her hair twisted around Flynn's legs.

She stops moving around and faces Flynn with a look of confusion on her face. "Wait. You don't want my hair?"

"Why on earth would I want your hair?!" Flynn screamed exasperatedly before taking a deep breath and continuing, "Look, I was being chased, I saw a tower, I climbed it, okay? End of story."

Rapunzel looked him over hesitantly before a tiny green chameleon suddenly emerged onto her shoulder, narrowing his eyes at the sight of Flynn. The chameleon looked back at Rapunzel, uncurling his tail and motioning with it, pointing toward the door to her right. She walked over, and Flynn, once again, struggled to escape his binds. After convening with her chameleon, Rapunzel placed him back onto her shoulder.

"Look this way." She commanded as she pulled on the chair, twirling him around, and toppling him and the chair over. She stepped atop the fireplace and asked, "Do you know what these are?" She then pulled apart a red curtain where a mural of the floating lights had been painted on the wall.

Flynn looked up from his squished position on the floor and asked, "You mean the lantern thing they do for the princess?"

"Lanterns?" Rapunzel mused before brightening up in glee, "I knew they weren't stars." She then recomposed herself and looked down at Flynn. "Well, tomorrow evening they will light the night sky with these 'lanterns'." She then pointed at him with the frying pan and declared, "You will act as my guide, take me to these lanterns, and return me home safely. Then, and only then, will I return your satchel to you. That is my deal."

"Yeah... No can do. Unfortunately..." Flynn struggled to say as he used his fingers to lift himself up, managing to flip the chair onto its side. "...the Kingdom and I aren't exactly "simpatico" at the moment," he revealed with air quotes. "So I won't be taking you anywhere."

The chameleon made its appearance once again and locked eyes with Rapunzel, making a punching motion with his front legs. She put down the frying pan and jumped from the fireplace, gathering the strand of hair attached to the chair into her arms. "Something brought you here, Flynn Rider." She started as she tugged on the strand of hair, getting the chair to stand up. "Call it what you will: fate, destiny..." She listed off as she walked forward, gripping at her hair with each step closer. "So I have made the decision to trust you."

"I am serious." Rapunzel said as she pulled again, leaning the chair forward before she catches it, her face inching closer to his.

Flynn cleared his throat before summarizing, "Let me get this straight. I take you to see the lanterns, bring you back home...then you'll give me back my satchel?" When the blonde haired girl stared at him intently, he looked away as he began to think to himself. "Oh, what to do? I cannot let her find that tiara. Okay, just think... I need the satchel and Blondie has it. There might be more monsters out there... I've got it! The three strangers in the funny outfits and their two pets. They looked tough enough to come in handy."

With that thought in mind, Flynn looked back to Rapunzel and smirked, "All right fine, I'll take you." Rapunzel smiled brightly. "But on one condition!" Her smile turned to a look of confusion. Flynn gave her a suave look before he revealed his one condition. "My five sidekicks come along."

"Discord, I'm howlin' at the moon, and sleepin' in the middle of a summer afternoon" The draconequues hummed to himself as he suddenly popped into existence on the deck of an airship. He placed his mismatched hands behind his back as multiple Koopas and Goombas walked past him, eyeing him curiously. "Discord, whatever did we do? To make you take our world away?" He continued to hum before reaching the bow of the ship, where Bowser was waiting for him.

The Koopa King turned and smiled evilly at his ally's arrival, "Ah, Discord! I assume you found it?"

Discord rolled his eyes, "But where's the fun in that?" He whined before smiling evilly, "It would be too boring to just take it! We need to have some fun! And what better form of fun is there..." he snapped his talons, summoning two sock puppets of Twilight and Mario, "...than messing with our enemies?"

Bowser was stumped for a moment before grinning like a kid in a candy store, "What did you have in mind?"

The sock puppets disappeared as Discord's eyes turned to slits and glowed a menacing red, "Oh, trust me when I say that what I have planned..." he then opened his right paw, revealing the Elemental Keystone in his possession,"...will be simply chaotic!"

Through The Multiverse

by Battwell

17. The Kingdom of Corona (Part 1)

Vorton

The Kingdom of Corona