Tails sighed as he and two pegasi lifted another chunk of roof into place. For the past three days, everyone had been busy repairing the damage to the town caused by the parasprites. The earlier incident with the slumbering Ignis Dragon had been solved without issue, with Fluttershy convincing it to leave before Team Sonic had to get their hands dirty. And they’d been off visiting a nearby town when the girls (minus the still-hospitalized Trixie) were afflicted by the strange “Poison Joke” plant. Now, they were helping clean up after Fluttershy & Twilight’s mistake. Said two girls were, of course, putting everything they had into pitching in.
Tails set down on the ground in the shade, using an arm to wipe the sweat from above his eyes, seeing as the Sun, while still bright, was starting to make its way down toward the horizon. Sonic walked up to him.
“Hey, Tails. Glad I found you.”
“What do you need, Sonic?”
“Didn’t you hear? The docs are gonna let Trixie out of hospital in a couple hours.”
Tails’ ears perked up. “Really? …There’s no way she can be better already…”
“She’s still in kind of a bad way, but she’s improved enough that they’re gonna have her stay at Twilight’s for the rest of her recovery.”
“Will she be able to move around?”
“Yeah. Apparently, ponies’ legs heal considerably faster than other parts of their bodies. It’s some kind of evolutionary holdover from their prehistoric times, or something like that. Her ribs are still banged up, though, and that crack in her skull’s not fully healed yet, though the docs say her brain is A-OK. Plus there’s that gash in her side; that’s gonna take some time. Anyway, we’re gonna have a little welcome party at Twilight’s to celebrate her release and help introduce her to what it’s like to have fun in a group.”
“How’s she adjusting to having friends?”
“She seems to be doing well with it,” Twilight replied as she walked up to the two, “though it’s proving a little hard for her to not let her ‘Great and Powerful’ defense mechanism rear its head. But she says she’ll get used to not using it anymore soon enough. Oh, by the way, Sonic; about an hour ago, I got a letter from Princess Luna saying she detected a small dimensional disturbance.”
“…Is it the enemy from that prophecy?”
“She says it’s not. But it is from your world.”
“Hmm…” Sonic rubbed his chin in thought. “Maybe someone else came through. Shadow, maybe? Rouge? Vector and his team? Hopefully not Dr. Eggman…”
“Sooo-niiic~” a perky female voice sing-songed.
Sonic’s eyes widened. “Oh, boy…” he deadpanned.
Twilight looked over in the direction of the voice, seeing a pink-furred, bright-green-eyed hedgehog in a red dress running toward them. Hot on her heels was a bipedal, cream-furred and orange-eyed rabbit-girl wearing an orange dress, a bluish little creature in a red bowtie flying alongside her.
“I finally caught up to you again!” the pink-furred girl shouted cheerfully, as she tackle-hugged Sonic, who barely maintained his balance.
“What are you doing here, Amy?” he asked.
“Well, when me and Cream saw the note Tails left, we knew we couldn’t let you guys leave us out of this one. A whole new world! This is amazing!”
The rabbit, meanwhile, walked up to Tails.
“Hi, Cream” Tails said.
“H-Hi, Tails…” she squeaked out with a light blush on her face, giving Twilight the impression of another Fluttershy.
“Amy, there’s some kind of prophesized threat set to hit this world at some point in the near future” Sonic said as Amy finally let go of him.
“Well then, it’s a good thing we brought these” Amy replied, as she pulled out a light-blue Chaos Emerald. Cream pulled out the yellow Emerald. “We figured you might run into trouble, so we brought a little extra punch to hit whatever messes with us with.”
Sonic nodded, pulling out his own blue and green Chaos Emeralds. In close proximity, the four gems let out a faint, high-pitched hum as their magical signatures resonated.
“Let’s hope four’s enough” he said.
“With how much power I’m sensing from them,” Twilight said (startling Amy, who’d been having Sonic-related tunnel vision and thus hadn’t noticed her), “I’ll be pretty surprised if it isn’t.”
“Oh! I’m sorry!” Amy said. “I didn’t notice you! My name’s Amy! Amy Rose!”
“A-And I’m Cream…” the rabbit-girl said.
“I’m Twilight Sparkle. Just call me Twilight. Welcome to Ponyville. Sorry about the... less than optimal state it’s in at the moment.”
“Looks like a hurricane hit this place,” Amy said, “only without the water.”
“There were these things called parasprites,” Tails said, “kinda like locusts except they eat any type of food, and they reproduce asexually. They started causing serious trouble in town, so we hit them with a spell to stop eating the food… So they started eating everything else instead.”
Seeing Twilight wince and blush at that part, it didn’t take Amy long to figure out who had cast the botched spell.
“Well, it could have been worse” Sonic said.
“How?” Twilight asked, rather skeptic.
“They could’ve started eating living things… like us.”
“…Yeah, you’re right, it definitely could have been worse.”
“We should head over to the hospital” Sonic said. “We’ll take it easy, explain things to Amy and Cream on the way. The others should be there by the time we arrive.”
“Why are we heading for a hospital?” Amy asked.
“A new friend got seriously hurt protecting the town” Tails replied. “She’s supposed to be released today, to finish her recovery while staying at Twilight’s house. We’ll explain on the way, I guess.”
The five set off through the town, Sonic, Tails, & Twilight explaining things to Amy & Cream, with Sonic & Tails describing the rest of the gang to them, and then all three covering the various adventures so far. By the time they were finished, the hospital was right up ahead; outside waited Knuckles, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Spike.
“When you did two get here?” Knuckles said when he spotted Amy and Cream.
“A couple of hours ago” Amy replied.
“We brought two Chaos Emeralds” Cream said. “D-Do you think four will be enough to handle whatever’s coming?”
“We’ll find out” the echidna said.
“Hey, girls… and Spike” Sonic said. “This is Amy and Cream, from the stories I told ya about my adventures.”
“Hi!” Amy grinned.
“P-Pleased to meet you…” Cream said, bowing.
After the girls and Spike introduced themselves, Fluttershy headed in to let Trixie know there were two new arrivals. The group wasn’t waiting long. After about five minutes, three ponies came out through the front doors; Nurse Redheart, Fluttershy, and Trixie, the latter limping and still sporting bandages on her right side and the left side of her head. She looked around at all those waiting for her.
“You look better comin’ out of the hospital than you did when you first got taken into it” Applejack said.
“Her attitude’s improved, too” Dash muttered.
“That’s because I’m not trying to shut other ponies out anymore, Dash” Trixie replied. “I acted the part of an arrogant bitch to keep others away from me. …Well, okay, some of it was genuine, I admit. But I’m trying my hardest to get rid of those parts of me. I don’t want to go solo anymore. …Plus, I’ve seen memory-recordings of what Twilight can do; that pretty much obliterated my ‘most powerful unicorn in Equestria’ claim.”
“Well, let’s head over to Twilight’s now,” Pinkie said, “so we can start the combination Get-Well-Soon / Out-of-the-Hospital / Welcome-Trixie-and-More-of-Sonic’s-Friends party!”
With that, she started bouncing her way down the road, heading for the library that Twilight called home. The others followed at a more leisurely pace, chatting all the while. As expected, Fluttershy and Cream hit it off very quickly and very well, Cheese fluttering about the two of them. As they neared the library, several ponies greeted them all as they passed. Pinkie was waiting for them by the door.
“I already let everyone know who didn’t already know that we have newcomers!” Pinkie said. “Come on in!”
They approached the door, which opened to reveal the sounds of ponies talking. They all walked in, seeing a rather full house – Big Macintosh and Apple-Bloom, Lyra & Bon-Bon, Derpy and her little daughter Dinky and older step-daughter Sparkler, Mr. & Mrs. Cake, and more. They all gave pleasant welcomes to Amy & Cream, along with well-wishes to Trixie, who was a tad overwhelmed by all this personal, positive attention directed to her rather than her stage persona.
The get-together lasted until after sunset, everyone getting to know Trixie, Amy, and Cream as best they could (the former was still shy about personally meeting so many ponies when not on stage, so she mostly stuck to one of the Mane Six, usually Twilight or Fluttershy). Mrs. Cake fussed over Trixie as a mother would (and according to the doctors, she would be a mother in five months), while Amy and Sparkler hit it off fairly quickly, and Cream spent most of her time sticking close to either Tails or Fluttershy. Eventually, the party ended, and most of the ponies departed for home, as did Tails and Knuckles, leaving just Trixie, Twilight, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Applejack, Spike, Amy, Cream, and Sonic; the latter headed up to the guest’s room he was staying in.
“Could you lie down on your left side, please, Trixie?” Fluttershy said. “It’s time to change your bandages.”
The blue-furred unicorn obeyed, stretching out on a blanket that Twilight had laid on the floor.
“C-Can I help?” Cream asked. “I have some experience with medicine.”
Fluttershy nodded, and the two walked over to Trixie, who used her magic to start undoing the bandage, helping however she could. Cream and Twilight took over for her. In less than half a minute, the bandages had been removed. Cream stifled a gasp; Amy could not. The wound started just behind Trixie’s right shoulder and ran diagonally down her side, stopping just before her hip. The fur immediately surrounding it had been shaved away when it was treated, her pale flesh visible. Already, the farthest edges of the huge cut had transitioned into scar tissue, and the fur was starting to grow back. Bad as it looked, it was healing, and showed no signs of infection.
“It’s looking better” Fluttershy said. “Thank goodness it didn’t get infected.”
“Don’t jinx it” Trixie replied. “It’s not done healing yet.”
“Wow…” Amy whispered. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a wound that big…”
“You shoulda seen it when it was fresh and still bleedin’” Applejack replied. “So much blood, it made some of the weaker-stomached townsfolk feel faint and nauseous, and I think I saw one mare pass out.”
“It’s definitely looking much better” Fluttershy said again as she and Cream started applying fresh bandages. “You probably only have to keep it bandaged for another week or so.”
“Can I wait until my fur there grows back more?” Trixie asked.
“For a little while,” Cream replied, “but letting it get some air once it’s healed more will probably do it some good.”
Soon the wound was covered again. Trixie rolled over onto her belly, allowing her two self-appointed nurses to access the bandaged left side of her head. She was thankful that she hadn’t needed to lose any of her mane when they treated it. After several seconds, the bandages there were removed and thrown away, revealing the wound there surrounded by shaved-away fur and a healing bruise.
“This one’s looking much better, too” Fluttershy said. “You probably only need to keep it bandaged for another two or three days.”
“That one I’m glad to hear” Trixie replied. “This thing gets a little itchy after a while when it’s bandaged.”
Soon there was a fresh bandage on Trixie’s head wound, and Twilight walked up to her.
“I’m afraid you’re going to have to share a room with me. Is that okay?”
“Yes, that’s quite alright. …Do you snore?”
“No, she doesn’t” Spike answered.
“And Spike only snores if he sleeps sitting up. If he’s lying down, he doesn’t.”
“Okay.”
“So where are we gonna stay?” Amy asked.
“There’s a guest room at my place” Pinkie replied. “You can stay there if you want.”
“Okay!”
“Could I stay at your place, Miss Fluttershy?” Cream asked.
“Of course, dear” the pegasus replied. “You can meet Angel. He’s… a bit grumpy at first, but once you get to know him he has a good heart.”
Within minutes, the remaining guests had gone home for the night.
-SCENE BREAK-
The celebration at the Silver Wing – the most publicly-beloved non-fancy restaurant in Cloudsdale – continued after sunset. Rainbow Dash was swamped with congratulations, followed by fanboys and fangirls, and even crowd-carried twice. She had, after all, performed the first ever public and verifiable breaking of the sound barrier by a pegasus earlier that day, saving three Wonderbolts and Rarity in the process. The rest of the gang, thankful that the Cloud-Walking Spell was long-lasting, were at least grateful that Dash willingly chose to invest most of her time in hanging out with them.
“That was epic, Dash!” Sonic said. “Tails was scanning you as you went, and he says you hit Mach 1.4 in that dive! I can only run at up to Mach 1.25!”
“Yeah, baby!” Dash cried. “Fastest thing alive!”
“Except for Sonic and Shadow in their Super Forms” Amy said, looking a tad cross at the perceived slight at her ‘boyfriend’. “They can hit Escape Velocity if they have to.”
“…Fastest pegasus alive!”
Many miles away, a large-winged black pegasus, currently resting atop a cloud, sneezed. Considering she was allergic to damn near everything, she paid it no mind.
“I’d read about how breaking the sound barrier while using flight magic could produce a seven-hued shockwave, but I never thought it’d be so breathtaking to see in real life” Trixie said. The tiny scar on the left side of her head was completely hidden by her fur. The considerably larger one on her right side was easily discernible on close look, but you wouldn’t see it if you weren’t staring at that area of her.
“So what’s next for ya, Dash?” Applejack asked.
“I wanna get to the point where I don’t have to be pushin’ myself to the max in a life-or-death situation in order to pull off the Sonic Rainboom” Dash replied. “I gotta up my baseline speed.”
“…I still cannot believe what came over me…” Rarity muttered, thankful that Trixie had managed to duplicate the Cloud-Walking Spell on her. “Becoming so selfish, demolishing your confidence… and that horrid outfit I put myself in! And that makeup… Ugh!”
“Everyone has bad days, Rarity” Knuckles replied. “If I told you half of the ones I’ve had…”
“Most of them because you fell for Eggman’s fibs like a sucker” Sonic took a jab at him.
“Hey!” Knuckles responded indignantly. “It’s not all my fault! I lived the first 15 years of my life completely alone on a giant floating island in the sky in the middle of nowhere! I didn’t have much experience to learn social cues or how to read others’ body language!”
“Chill, Knuckles. Past is past. You’re smarter now. And even the first time you fell for his lies, you realized what was really going on in the end, and I wouldn’t have gotten through that incident without your help.”
“…Yeah. And I remember those times you helped me defend the Master Emerald.”
The two bumped fists. The celebration continued. And down below, in Everfree Forest, something stirred.
-SCENE BREAK-
Three Days Later – 8PM
“Yo, Twilight, Sonic!” Spike came running into the living room, where Sonic was chilling with a book while Twilight and Trixie went over magical formulae. “We just got a letter from Princess Luna!”
“Hm?” Sonic looked up from his book. "What’s it say?”
“It says ‘The threat is here. Meet me at Shaman Zecora’s cottage in the Everfree Forest’. I guess that little prophecy was true.”
Sonic hopped to his feet. “All right, let’s do this. I’m gonna go get Tails, AJ, Knuckles, and Rarity. Twi, Trix, Spike, get a hold of everyone else.”
“Right away!” “Okay” “On our way”
The door of Twilight’s house/library opened, and out shot a high-speed hedgehog, followed by two unicorns and a young dragon running as fast as they could go, each going different directions. 15 minutes later, everyone arrived at the little hut, finding Zecora and Luna waiting just outside for them, the latter carrying an ornate chest/box.
“Excellent timing” the dark Princess said. “I hope you all are prepared for this.”
“I’m ready for whatever comes at me” Sonic said. “You have any info for us, ma’am?”
“Indeed” Luna replied. “I have determined the exact nature of the foe that awaits you deeper in the forest. It is a merger of two fragments of two separate and powerful dark entities – one you have already faced, and one you will face in the future. The first was a fragment of the life-force of the demonic entity called Black Doom.”
The group from Sonic’s world, the memories of the Black Arms Invasion fresh in their minds, gasped… except for Sonic himself.
“So a piece of that big bastard somehow survived Shadow’s wrath, eh? …Heh. No problem, especially if it’s only a fragment.”
“With another beast, the fragment has merged” Zecora replied. “And together, they seek the forest purged.”
“This ‘other beast’,” Luna continued, “is a small fragment of a currently-slumbering entity called Dark Gaia, a beast which as of now remains in hibernation on – or rather, in – your world. It is not set to awaken for another 10 years… though, knowing what you’ve mentioned of this ‘Dr. Eggman’ and his nasty habit of poking sleeping abominations to see what they do…”
“I’ll be ready for it sooner” Sonic replied. “But first we gotta deal with the part of it that’s here now… or rather, whatever has resulted from the two fragments’ fusion. Everyone ready?”
“Ready when you are, Sonic” Tails said.
“Right behind you” Knuckles said.
“I won’t let anything hurt the creatures around here” Fluttershy said with unusual seriousness.
“Let’s find this thing and stomp it into the ground!” Dash said.
After the rest of the group affirmed their choice to help Sonic, Luna looked out into the forest.
“I will be unable to accompany you” she said. “I need to go negotiate with an Ursa Major living on the other side of the mountains, to convince him not to raid the settlement below his caves. Zecora will accompany you, however.”
“An Ursa Major will really bother to listen to you?” Trixie asked.
“They have to” Luna replied. “1,050 years ago, I created their kind, along with the other Star-Beasts of this world. Thus, my words have quite the influence with them.”
In a flash of blue light, Luna teleported out, leaving behind the box, which opened to reveal the six Elements of Harmony, which the bearers then took up.
“Let us make haste,” Zecora said, “before it lays this forest to waste.”
The group of 14 set out deeper into the forest, keeping their eyes peeled. Guided by Zecora's knowledge of the area and by Light spells from Twilight, Trixie, and Rarity, they soon reached an overgrown path that – except for Zecora – hadn’t seen regular use in over 500 years. Suddenly, from the ground in front of them, a creature emerged, bipedal, twice as high at the shoulders as a pony. It was a green-tinted black, with red claws and glowing yellow eyes, with a violet mist clinging to its back, and a long, serrated horn emerging upward from its forehead.
“Is… that it?” Twilight asked.
“No way” Knuckles replied. “It’s probably a minion – a drone.”
The creature looked at the group, and let out a loud, hissing growl.
(MUSIC START – MASS EFFECT 2 – SHADOW BROKER OST: “Agent Combat”)
Dozens of the creatures, ranging in size from half the first one to almost twice the size, emerged from the ground, all focusing on the heroes.
“Looks like we have to fight through these guys first!” Sonic said. “Get ready, boys and girls!”
The creatures charged, and Sonic made the first move, smashing into the first creature mid-chest, knocking it over onto another, smaller one, which did not survive the sudden extra weight crashing down on it. Rarity attacked next, using her magic to make a series of spikes of rock shoot up from the ground beneath a half-dozen of the charging smaller creatures, destroying them simultaneously. One leapt over the spears and toward Cream… only to be smashed by Amy’s hammer with enough force to send it into and through a nearby tree. Zecora drew her old quarterstaff and leapt amongst several of the creatures; with movements so fast they seemed to blur, she struck them all down in seconds.
Rainbow Dash charged head-on into the beasts alongside Sonic, the two of them striking with lightning speed and rock-shattering strength, while Knuckles flattened a larger creature with a single punch, sending it hurtling through several smaller ones. A rising double-kick from Applejack took down another large creature, caving its chest in and sending it flying up into the air, landing with a splat amongst the charging horde, which merely trampled over the dying fiend. A creature who tried to pop up from the ground behind Pinkie Pie got slammed in the face by her without even looking, while Tails charged his two tails with lightning energy and slammed them into creatures that got too close.
Trixie’s lightning aura crackled as she darted about amongst the creatures, making electrically-charged physical strikes of surprising force and speed that more often than not resulted in one-hit kills. Fireballs from Twilight (conjured) and Spike (exhaled) tore through the dark creatures, while Fluttershy and Cream chose defensive positions, remaining in back and taking out whatever creatures came at them.
“We gotta keep moving!” Sonic shouted. “Fight our way through them!”
The group moved forward, slaying dark creatures as they went. Soon the number of enemies was noticeably reduced; they were no longer spawning in. The group soon reached a clearing and a large cave entrance, and Zecora struck down the final two dark creatures. Those of the group who needed to paused to catch their breath.
“Those things definitely felt like they were composed of two separate energy signatures” Twilight said.
“I trust you all still feel brave” Zecora said. “Our foe waits within this cave.”
“Hey, it looks like something’s coming out!” Amy said, pointing to the cave mouth. Everyone looked close, seeing the silhouette of an approaching pony. As she emerged into the moonlight, Trixie gasped.
“Y-You…”
“Do you know who that is, Trixie?” Spike asked.
“Yes. She’s one of the fillies who bullied me when I was little. But… that was way over in Hoofington. What in the worlds is she doing out here?”
The unicorn mare had white fur and a blonde mane, with what looked like a sewing needle for a Cutie Mark… except it was now twisted and warped. What’s more, her eyes were glowing yellow, and a black aura of darkness surrounded her.
“The mind that once inhabited this shell is no more” an unearthly voice came from the unicorn’s mouth. “Now all that remains is the need to fight on behalf of the Master.”
“Let her go” Sonic said in that low, calm tone that meant he was genuinely, dangerously angry.
“There is no longer anyone left to release. This body’s mind is erased, its soul passed on. This is but a puppet, a shell through which I may carry out my Creator’s orders.”
“We’re not looking at an old schoolmate of Trixie’s” Pinkie clarified, her tone matching Sonic’s. “We’re looking at the thing that killed her.”
“We will stop you,” Sonic said, “and your Master.”
“The Master anticipated your interference, hedgehog, the moment he detected your presence on this world. That is why I have been given power that equals a significant fraction of Master’s own. Prepare yourselves for death.”
(MUSIC START – Mass Effect 2 Shadow Broker – “Vasir Combat”)
In a flash of black and evil power, the unicorn’s body rapidly underwent a horrifying transformation. Mass and body parts shifted and transformed with sickening speed, so fast that those with the stomach to not turn away felt their eyes ache while keeping up with it. Now, the fact that the creature was quadrupedal and had a horn – now long and serrated – was the only hint remaining of what it once was. Furred flesh had become pitch-black, scaled, armored hide. The eyes had become glowing red circles with yellow rims. Hooves had become sets of large claws. A mouth full of wicked fangs let loose an unearthly growl, and a long, thin, hairless tail with an arrowhead tip thrashed about. The thing was easily the size of Celestia, perhaps even slightly larger. A dark aura surrounded it, pulsing with power.
“Time to feast…”
It pounced forward, bringing a claw down at Sonic, who leapt to the side to dodge. Trixie, enshrouded in her Lightning Aura, hit it with a body blow that sent it skidding several meters across the area. It snarled as it shook off the one-two blow of Trixie’s tackle and the shock from her lightning magic, and then fired a bolt of energy from its mouth at the group, who scattered in all directions, barely avoiding the bolt which then shot out and hit a tree, vaporizing a foot-wide hole in the tree-trunk’s side. The old plant toppled over.
Knuckles struck next, picking up the fallen tree and hurling it like a humongous javelin at the beast. It dodged the main body, but a branch caught it in the chest, snapping off on impact but also knocking the beast further back. In response, it growled and then unleashed a pulse of magic that repelled everyone except Sonic away from it; Sonic grabbed hold of Trixie and Spike, who were closest to him. Everyone else was pushed away to the border of the forest behind them, and a transparent barrier spell then sprang up, keeping them out and the trio in with the beast. Spike, upon setting his feet back on the ground, launched a fireball the size of a head at the beast. It responded by calling up a shield-spell… which shattered as the magic-charged fireball exploded against it, the concussive force stunning the beast, which briefly reared up on its hind legs. Sonic took the opportunity, dashing forward and landing a Homing Attack to the beast’s chest, knocking it back.
The creature collected itself and snarled loudly, and then its horn glowed a deep purple. Three spinning energy disks formed in front of it, like magical buzz-saws, and then took flight, each one flying at one of the three. Spike ducked, Sonic jumped, and Trixie side-stepped… and all three disks came around and back at them from behind. Sonic immediately went into motion, running around the area, and sure enough the disc followed him, intent in bisecting him. Trixie was using her own lightning-enhanced speed and agility to dodge the disc chasing her again and again, while Spike narrowly twisted and dodged out of the way of his disc’s multiple strikes. Spike then breathed fire onto his hand, and the green magic fire formed into a set of extensions to his claws. Timing it, he swung his fire-claw at the disc as it came at him again… and it shattered, leaving him unharmed.
“Gotta love Dragon Magic…” he said.
Trixie continued dodging until she formulated a plan. She dodged again, only this time, as the disc flew past her, she combined her telekinesis with her Lightning Aura to form a ‘lasso’ of lightning that enveloped the disc. Like a shot-put, she swung it around herself a few times and then hurled it at the beast. The beast narrowly dodged, allowing the disc to smash into the rock face near the cave entrance… and was caught off-guard as Sonic hurdled himself right over it, leaving the disc pursuing him to smash into it, cutting into the beast’s armored hide before being dispelled.
The beast roared in fury, its black aura seething. It charged at Spike, who took a cue from Sonic and curled into a ball just before impact, sending him soaring through the air, bouncing off the barrier-field and landing in a heap dazed but more-or-less unharmed. Sonic came in again, landing a flurry of blows that disoriented the beast. He leapt away, just in time for Trixie’s right forelimb to hit the beast in the upper chest with a lightning-charged Lariat move. The beast was knocked for a loop, tumbling across the ground before coming to a stop on its feet. It was unsteady now, the various wounds catching up to it; the armored scales on its chest, in particular, were visibly damaged.
“It seems your Master didn’t anticipate me having help” Sonic said.
The beast said nothing, only roared at its opposition. Sonic and Trixie charged it, the former leaping up and performing a Bounce Attack down on the beast, nearly knocking it off its feet. This gave Trixie the chance to close in and deliver a barrage of physical attacks, strength and speed enhanced by her Lightning Aura, which also delivered lightning-type magical damage with each blow. An uppercut sent the beast rearing up again, and Trixie then focused all of her Aura’s power into her right forehoof, and then used it to smash upward into the beast’s chest. The scale-armor shattered, and the beast was sent flying upward in an arc, to crash down on its back several feet away.
The barrier-field spell came undone, allowing everyone else to step back into this small field. Fluttershy checked on Spike, helping him regain his bearings and ensuring that he had no serious injuries. Sonic walked over to the fallen and slowly fading creature. He pulled out the Blue Chaos Emerald, and held it so the pointy tip was pointing at the hole in the beast’s chest. After a few seconds, built-up magical energy blasted out, hitting the creature. The beast went still as its body disintegrated into particles of darkness and light. The Emerald then returned to magical storage within him.
“So our target’s in that cave, huh?” Knuckles said.
“Indeed” Zecora replied.
The group cautiously advanced into the cavern, Twilight and Rarity lighting the way from the front, while Trixie lit things up from the rear. Soon, they could no longer see any of the moonlight from outside; however, there were large luminescent crystals forming in the ceiling, providing illumination besides the three unicorns’ Light spells. Cream was torn between sticking close to Amy and taking the chance to cling to Tails.
“…Are we there yet?” Pinkie asked.
“No” Rainbow Dash replied.
“Are we there yet?” Trixie asked.
“No” Twilight said.
“Are we there yet?” Tails asked.
“No!” Applejack replied.
“Are we th-”
“SPIKE!!”
“Heh. Sorry.”
…
“…Are we there yet?”
“Damnit, Sonic, not you too!”
“Okay, okay…”
After another half a minute or so (thankfully a quiet one), they reached a large chamber of the cave. There were what looked like a half-dozen roiling pools of darkness spread across the floor, each of them around 10 feet across.
“I think it’s safe to say those aren’t natural formations” Trixie said.
“I’m not sure I wanna find out what’ll come out of them…” Tails said.
Responding to the group’s presence, the pools of darkness began to increase in activity, swirling and churning. And then things started coming out of them.
(MUSIC START – MASS EFFECT 2 OVERLORD OST – “COMBAT TROOPS”)
From each pool/portal of darkness emerged a large dark creature, ranging from 15 to 30 feet in size. They could be divided into three body parts: three of the creatures were quadrupedal beasts with two tails and huge fanged jaws, two of them were bipeds wielding clubs and with a great deal of both fat and muscle, and the largest creature had two legs and four arms, each of said limbs carrying a large sword.
“Ooh, look at those two!” Pinkie said. “They’re so chubby… and buff… and hefty… Chuffty! They’re chuffty!”
“Terminology isn’t really important at the moment, Pinkie!” Twilight shouted.
“Pick targets, everyone!” Sonic said. “I’m taking on Four-Arms!”
‘Ah’ll help ya with ‘im!” Applejack said, taking position beside Sonic.
Each of the remaining six beasts had two or three of the group rush in to engage: Rarity and Tails against one Two-Tails, Rainbow Dash and Amy against the second, and Fluttershy and Trixie against the third; Pinkie, Cream, and Zecora against one “Chuffty”, and Twilight, Knuckles, and Spike against the other.
P-C-Z
Pinkie leapt to avoid a low horizontal swing of the creature’s club. Zecora, who had leapt beforehand, bounced off of Pinkie in midair and ‘flew’ at the creature’s head, nailing it across the eyes with a strike from her staff. The beast roared and brought a hand up to shield its eyes, flailing its club wildly in front of it with its other hand. Cream, however, was already behind it, flying up and hitting it in the back of the head with all her strength. Considering that, even though she was technically the weakest of Sonic’s crew, all of Sonic’s crew were much stronger than their little bodies would suggest, the beast’s head was rocked forward by the blow, stunning it. As it collapsed to one knee, Pinkie leapt up, striking it in the chin with an uppercut, her Earth-Pony strength meaning the creature’s head whiplashed back/up. It stumbled back a few steps, losing its grip on its club, which landed on the cave floor with a thud. Zecora leapt up toward its head and neck. In a flurry of movement that Pinkie & Cream found themselves unable to track, Zecora let loose a series of lightning-fast strikes at key points. The beast groaned and toppled over onto its back, going still and then bursting into particles of darkness.
“No matter how much strength you have got, if you cannot strike your foe, it matters not.”
T-K-S
Spike made the first move, shooting out a fireball at the big thing’s face. It raised its club to block the hit, the green flames spreading across the weapon and then dying out. It then swung downward, trying to hammer Twilight into the ground, only for the girl to teleport several feet to the side, avoiding the attack and then using her magic to dislodge a large stalactite overhead, causing it to fall down toward the beast. It swung its club up, smashing the rock-spike into a thousand pieces… and leaving itself open to a punch to the chest by Knuckles, which was powerful enough to knock it over onto its back.
Twilight teleported herself and Spike up into the air over the fallen creature, and they both launched an explosive fireball – one conjured, the other exhaled – down at it. The creature roared in pain and fury as the fire burned away at it. It let loose a pulse of dark power, hitting Twilight & Spike, who had previously been safely falling toward a controlled landing, and sending them tumbling uncontrollably through the air. It then leapt back to its feet, locked its eyes on Knuckles, and swung its club at him. Knuckles braced himself, brought up his gloved hands, and caught the club, using his incredible strength to stop the weapon. With a grunt, he then yanked the club from the creature’s grip, spun the weapon around so that he was now holding the narrow end, and swung, smashing the beast in the side with its own weapon. He then struck again, swinging at the creature’s legs, taking them out and bringing the creature down. To finish, he brought the club overhead and smashed the creature’s head in, and the beast burst into black particles as it ceased to function.
“Don’t have to be big to be strong” he said as he tossed the massive weapon away.
RD-A
Rainbow Dash rushed at the quadrupedal, vaguely-canid dark creature, buzzing around it like a huge hornet… and then “stinging”, a high-speed forehoof strike to the right shoulder that jerked the beast to the left… and into a strike from Amy’s hammer to the left side of its head, whipping its head back to the right. Next was a double kick to the upper back by Dash, and then a Homing Attack to the head by Amy. It stumbled back, dazed, and was quickly struck three more times by Dash from various angles, chipping away at it. However, a swing from one of its tails caught the mare in the middle of one of her passes, sending her tumbling through the air. Amy caught her before she could hit the ground.
Amy then withdrew the Chaos Emerald she had from its ethereal stored form within her… and merged it into her hammer, which glowed with power and tripled in size. She leapt forward, above the creature, and struck down. The impact smashed the beast into the ground with such force that the ground cracked beneath it, and it made no further movements, dissolving away into black particles. The Emerald diffused from Amy’s hammer and returned to ‘slumber’ inside her.
“And Sonic used to say this kinda stuff was too dangerous for me…”
R-T
The beast charged at them. Tails took to the air, while Rarity willed the ground to shoot spikes upward into the creature… which leapt to the side and avoided the attack, and continued charging at her. Tails swooped in and picked her up, carrying her out of the beast’s path, and she used her magic to break parts of an overhanging stalactite off, turning them into a high-velocity fusillade of rocks directed at the creature. The creature dodged some, but others tore into its not-flesh. It shielded its eyes from a second wave of stones, and Rarity leapt from Tails’ grip and came down with a gravity-assisted stomp to the back of the beast’s neck. Tails then charged his two tails with lightning energy, flew in, and hit the beast in the head with a double tail-whip, the electrical energy shocking and stunning the creature further. Another blow from Tails made the now-unsteady creature fall over… and Rarity magicked a spear of rock to jut up from the ground through its head as it fell. The creature burst into dark particles.
“Down, boy” she muttered.
F-T
Trixie’s opening attack – a lightning-infused uppercut – rocked the beast’s head up and back so much that it was involuntarily bipedal for a few seconds. During this opportunistic period, Fluttershy flew in and struck at its right rear leg with her considerable strength. The beast came back down, landing on its right shoulder and then standing back up on its four legs, now visibly favoring its rear leg. It snarled and then breathed out a burst of dull-red flames at Trixie, who conjured a shield spell composed of interlocking hexagons, protecting her from the attack. A strike to the top of the head from above by Fluttershy cut off the flame breath, and Trixie dispelled her shield and conjured a small storm-cloud. After a few seconds, it let loose a bolt of lightning that targeted the beast’s left tail and coursed through its body from there before exiting back out the right tail, leaving the beast’s muscles seizing.
Fluttershy flew underneath and then tackled it in the stomach from below, actually lifting it off the ground a few inches. She then flew back and picked Trixie up, carrying her high in the air above the beast. As she released and then flew down to distract the creature, Trixie dialed her Lightning Aura up as high as she could safely go, and then fell toward her target zone, charging nearly all of her power into her prepared right rear-leg.
“Guillotine Drop!”
The hit came down on the back of the beast’s neck, snapping solid-darkness not-bone and sending the creature to the ground. After a few seconds, it dissolved into black particles.
S-A
The four-armed beast swung two of its swords, unleashing two slicing blades of wind at Sonic and Applejack; the latter ducked, barely avoiding damage to her hat, while the former leapt and then used a Spin Attack to nail the creature in the chest, grinding in for a few seconds before bouncing away. The beast roared and held one hand to its chest and two more in a defensive block, as the fourth arm lashed out with the sword again, this time in a vertical downward strike aimed to cleave Sonic in two. Sonic leapt to the side and began running circles around the fiend… distracting it so Applejack could get in close, leap up, and kick one of its four swords out of its grip, the huge weapon sailing upward and embedding blade-first into the cave ceiling. The fiend snarled and tried to stomp her into the dirt, but she leapt to the side and lashed out at the offending leg, her massive strength meaning the fiend’s left leg was significantly injured by the blow.
The creature knelt down on one knee due to its injured leg, and used its remaining three swords to unleash a trio of wind-blades in rapid succession. Sonic and AJ narrowly dodged the first two, and Sonic pulled AJ out of the way of the third when it looked like she wouldn’t make it on her own. After a few seconds whispering to each other, Sonic curled into a ball and bounced… and, right when he was about to come down again, Applejack kicked him with both legs, toward the creature. Sonic impacted the creature’s face with great speed and force, knocking it over and onto its back. Another Homing Attack to the head, and the fiend went still. It and its swords (including the one stuck in the ceiling above) dissolved into black particles and faded away.
As the battle (AN: and the music) came to an end, everyone regrouped in the center of the large chamber. After checking each other over for wounds, they moved further into the cave, Knuckles and Rainbow Dash taking point. The next few minutes were eerily quiet as they moved through the passageway. Finally, they came upon a massive cave chamber, several huge light-producing crystals embedded in the ceiling. In the center of the chamber stood a large figure, easily 40 feet tall, black & violet flesh with glowing yellow lines around it, and three glowing-red eyes.
“Welcome, hedgehog” it said in a voice the Blue Blur instantly recognized. “I’ve been expecting you.”
“…You’re not just a fragment of him. …So, I see a part of you managed to survive the ass-kicking Shadow gave you, Black Doom.”
“Indeed. My body was destroyed, but my spirit latched onto the small fragment of my life-force that survived the Eclipse Cannon, and merged with the parcel of power from the slumbering titan within your world. Now, I am here, and I seek to use this world’s abundant magical energy to be properly reborn, and then this world shall become the next conquest of the Black Arms! I know you do not have all seven Chaos Emeralds, so that you thus lack the power to defeat me. And, by killing you and your allies I shall gain possession of four of the Emeralds, thus neutralizing the threat that all seven together pose. Once I and my children have consumed all this world has to offer, I shall return to Earth, and this time Shadow will not be able to stop me!”
“You’re forgetting something” Twilight interjected. “Us.”
She then flared up with magical power, a visible aura of magenta energy surging around her. Everyone else took combat stances, Trixie’s Lightning Aura bursting to life alongside Twilight’s pure-magic one.
“More insects who dare challenge me? So be it. Your life-force will go a long way toward my true rebirth.”
“You’re not going anywhere except Hell!” Sonic shouted. “We’re taking you out here and now!”
(BOSS MUSIC – MASS EFFECT 2 OVERLORD – “BOSS COMBAT”)
“Very well. If you wish to do this the hard way, then so be it!”
The massive figure raised his hand, and a veritable swarm of dark creatures rose up from the ground – Black Arms soldiers augmented with tiny portions of Dark Gaia’s power. As Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Twilight, and Trixie rushed Black Doom, the rest of the group was cut off by the fiends, who set upon them. The group got to taking them down, but they would have their hooves full for the next several minutes.
A wave of black spears of darkness-charged stone shot out from Black Doom at the quintet. Twilight and Trixie cast a Double-Shield spell, blocking the attack. The second the shield lowered, Sonic rushed out and at Doom, aiming a Homing Attack at his midsection. The attack did barely any damage, Sonic bouncing off and landing several meters away. A spinning red sphere, charged with yellow electric-type magic, smashed into Doom’s left shoulder, leaving that arm limp for several seconds. Knuckles then uncurled, shaking off the effects of Tails’ Thunder Shoot, and lashed out at the arm with a punch as he fell, the force of the blow nearly taking the limb off. Doom’s other arm lashed out, backhanding Knuckles clear across the cave.
“Any wounds you deal to me shall not stop me for long.”
The damage to his arm was repairing itself – somewhat slowly, but enough to make it clear that they’d have to work in order to take his health down faster than he could regenerate it. Twilight conjured three whirling disks of fire – each half as big as she was – and fired them at Black Doom. One went for his face, only for Doom to release a small, focused pulse of dark power from his central eye, nullifying it. The second went for his chest, but was swatted out of the air by his right claw. The third hit his still-regenerating left arm, burning into the self-repairing wound. Doom growled loudly as the flesh was seared and burnt, the rate of regeneration being halved in addition to the new damage.
From above came a whirling light-blue ball – Trixie, launched by Tails and essentially turning herself into an electrified cannonball thanks to his lightning boost and her own Lightning Aura. She smashed into the side of Black Doom’s head, snapping off his left horn and nearly knocking him over. As she straightened out, she lashed out with a lightning-charged tail whip at his neck as she fell, and then launched herself off of his upper chest to avoid his counterattack, landing next to Twilight.
A stalagmite came soaring through the air at Black Doom, impacting him in the chest; he toppled over backward, his good arm going back and catching him from landing on his back. Across the cave, Knuckles threw another one, jumping onto it and riding it toward Doom. Black Doom rolled to the side, coming out on his feet, and watched the stalagmite soar past him… and took a punch to the head from the still-airborne Knuckles that rocked his head back with such force he briefly thought it would tear off. Sonic’s attack came next, bouncing upward and coming down with a kick to the side of Doom’s neck.
“Insects!”
Black Doom let out a mighty pulse of dark power, sending Sonic and Knuckles flying and knocking Tails out of the air (foiling his planned double lightning tail-whip to Doom’s eyes). He shrugged off the rapidly-fading pain he felt, straightening out. His arm was near-completely healed by now.
“To make a comparison you would understand, you five are no worse than being bit by a lapdog.”
“How ‘bout more sets of jaws, then?”
This came from Applejack, as she stood atop the last dark minion as it came apart into dark particles. Everyone else dusted themselves off and got ready to pitch in against Black Doom.
“Guys, I got a plan” Sonic said. “Tails, Knuckles, AJ, Trix, come here. Everyone else, buy us some time!”
As the five got a little distance and got into a huddle, everyone else came forward and formed up. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash took to the air, buzzing around Black Doom’s upper body and lashing out periodically, distracting and annoying him. Twilight and Rarity combined spells, creating a hail of flame-shrouded rocks shooting at Doom’s face, forcing him to raise an arm to shield his eyes. Amy and Zecora rushed in, unleashing their own weapons on Black Doom’s legs and then barely avoiding getting stomped flat. A green fireball from Spike hit Doom’s right shoulder, the enchanted flame burning deep.
And that’s when Sonic in his curled-up form, charged up with Tails’ and Trixie’s lightning magic, was ‘fired’ at Black Doom by a combination of a punch from Knuckles and a simultaneous kick from Applejack, a whirling, ultra-high-speed projectile shrouded in yellow and light-blue lightning energy. With incredible speed, he struck:
“Sonic Overdrive!!”
Sonic somehow directed his movements without losing speed, hammering at Black Doom from every direction with supercharged Homing Attacks. Black Doom roared and thrashed helplessly as the blue hedgehog did massive damage to him. After several seconds of this, Sonic landed on his feet amongst the others.
“I haven’t used that one since that incident where Metal Sonic masqueraded as Eggman” he said. “And I don’t think I’ve ever put that much power into that attack, either.”
“That…” Black Doom groaned as he held a hand to his chest, quite injured. “That wasn’t quite enough, hedgehog. You still don’t have the power to kill me.”
“That’s why the girls brought something that does.”
“What?”
There were six glowing points of light. Twilight, Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie, and Fluttershy were floating off the ground, the six Harmony Elements glowing with power. Black Doom, sensing the extraordinary power, tried to escape, only for chains of raw magic to erupt from the tip of Zecora’s staff, wrapping around and binding him in place.
“No… No!”
Sonic stared Black Doom in the eye. “Taste the rainbow.”
A massive, six-colored beam of light erupted, striking Black Doom full-on in the chest. The holy magic burned its way through his body. He screamed as beams of light erupted from within him in every direction, the magic burning its way through him. There was an explosion of light, and Black Doom ceased to exist, completely and utterly destroyed once and for all. The girls floated back down to the ground, all panting for breath.
“Good job, everyone” Sonic said. “Let’s get out of here.”
The group gathered themselves and made their way back out of the cave. For now, the world was safe.
For now...