//------------------------------// // Seeking The Controller // Story: Blue Blur In Equestria // by DKN117 //------------------------------// There was a bright flash of light as 20 figures appeared from out of nowhere in the middle of an empty street in an empty sector of a city. Upon regaining his bearings after the dimension-jump, Knuckles closed his eyes and extended his sixth sense, seeking out the familiar energy signature of the Master Emerald. However, after several seconds, he opened his eyes again, looking upset. “I can’t find the Master Emerald!” he said. “Angel Island isn’t where it’s supposed to be, and the damage to the dimensional fabric is messing with my ability to sense the Emerald!” “Great, now what do we do?” Spike said. “Could the Master Emerald have been destroyed?” Sonic asked. “It hasn’t been” Knuckles replied. “If the Master Emerald is destroyed – which isn’t easy to do, by the way –, its energy is dispersed across the entire planet – and I would’ve been able to feel that, which I didn’t – until it spontaneously reforms itself about a week later.” Before anyone else could add to the conversation, the ground around the group turned pitch-black, and a small horde of shadow demons sprang up all around, surrounding them. The heroes got ready to fight… and then a burst of laser-fire opened up on the demons, cutting down many of them. A force of bulbous orange droids with pointed noses and carrying laser rifles charged into the clearing, opening fire on the shadow-demons. When the dark creatures fought back, destroying a few of them, a new figure entered the battlefield, a large mech carrying a spear and shield, with the words ‘EGG EMPEROR MARK II’ printed on its torso. The mech rushed into the shadow demons, slashing & stabbing with its spear, bashing them with its spike-edged shield, and crushing them beneath its feet. “It’s been a while, Sonic” said a male voice from within the mech. The head flipped up, revealing a rotund man with dark-blue round sunglasses and a huge orange mustache. “Dr. Eggman?!” Sonic shouted. “You’re helping us?!” “Of course!” Eggman replied. “I know full well what these beings are planning to do. I’m helping you stop them because, well, how can I eventually conquer the world if there’s no world to conquer? …I see you’ve got some new friends. I’d say something about seeing a bunch of multicolored ponies in the middle of all this, but after all the times you’ve handed my behind to me, I’ve learned not to judge a being’s power based on their form.” He slashed out with the Egg Emperor II’s lance, unleashing a cutting wave of energy that destroyed the last shadow-demon. “Well, that’s nice and all, but we have a bigger problem at the moment” Knuckles said. “We need to find the Master Emerald. The problem is, I can’t sense its location due to how unstable the fabric of reality is right now; all I can tell is that Angel Island isn’t where it was when I left.” “Good thing for you I’m here, then” the doctor replied. “There is a G.U.N. base in this city. Word has it that they’ve figured out how to track the Master Emerald’s energy signature via a very sophisticated ultra-long-range scanning array. Their computer system should be able to pinpoint Angel Island’s present location. There’s a problem, though. I’ve intercepted communications from G.U.N. scouts that state that the shadow-demons are gearing up for an attack on the base any moment now.” “Well, what are we waiting for?” Rouge said. “Let’s go give them a hand and find out where the Master Emerald is!” “My combat drones and I will accompany you, and we’ll help hold off the creatures’ attack while you all get to the base’s computer core. Follow me!” The Egg Emperor Mark-II’s head flipped back down, and the mech turned and began flying toward the northwest, Eggman’s battle droids following in its wake. After a few seconds, the heroes joined, tailing Eggman as he made his way across the city. 10 minutes later, gunfire could be heard in the distance. “The attack’s started!” Eggman shouted through the EE-II’s speakers. “We’d better hurry!” Soon, the G.U.N. base came into view, tracer fire visible from personnel weapons, ground-mounted turrets, and AA guns, all opening fire on Nightmare’s ground and air forces. A barrage of missiles from the Egg Emperor II took out a pair of 10-foot-tall demons that had been trying to lug heavy cannons into position, and the Egg Droids opened fire on the smaller shadow-demons. Sonic’s group fought through a thin wall of demons and then rushed through the outer barricade just before the gate closed, as Eggman and his machines took defensive positions alongside the surprised G.U.N. troops. Sonic’s group soon came up to a Lieutenant-Colonel. “Sonic the Hedgehog?” the man asked. “Are… Are we actually seeing Eggman helping us?” “Yep” Sonic replied. “These demons want to destroy the world before Eggman can conquer it, and he ain’t havin’ none of that. But never mind that. We’ve heard you guys have a computer system that can find the Master Emerald for us.” “I… Yes, yes we do. The computer core’s deep inside the base. Why do you need it?” “The Master Emerald can help us stop Nightmare and his forces” Twilight Sparkle said. “We can save this world and ours” she gestured to herself, the other ponies, and Spike, “but we can’t find it with Knuckles’ senses because of the warping of reality. So we need your scanners to pinpoint its location for us.” The man nodded and hit a button, and the large door behind him opened. “Go on, and hurry” he said. “With Eggman’s support, we should be able to hold them off for a while, but I’m not sure just how long-” “Lieutenant-Colonel, sir!” a panicked voice over the comm. system interrupted. “There are monsters inside the base, sir! They spawned inside before we could set up the barrier-field we installed after the Black Arms!” “Damn it!” the officer shouted. “Stand firm, soldier! Sonic and his allies are here; they need to get to the Computer Core inside the heart of the base at all costs, but I’m sure they wouldn’t mind killing some monsters on their way there.” He looked to them as he said that, and they all nodded. As one, they all rushed into the structure. As the door sealed behind them, the Lieutenant-Colonel grabbed a nearby sniper rifle, dropped to one knee, looked through the scope, zeroed in on the head of a silver-armored shadow-demon around 250 meters away, and pulled the trigger. The monster’s head scattered into black particles, and the demon toppled over. (LEVEL MUSIC: Shadow the Hedgehog – “G.U.N. Fortress”) “Okay, guys,” Vector said, “let’s find the computer room!” The group hurried down the long, wide, straight corridor. As they reached the end, a massive metal door slid open for them, revealing a large and spacious room with another door on the other side, and between them and said door were G.U.N. & Nightmare forces exchanging fire. A barrage of gunfire from Omega and fireballs from Twilight cut down about half of the demons, and Vector, Knuckles, & Applejack took out the rest before they could react. The soldiers gave surprised thanks to the unexpected assisters, who then continued through the next door. The next hallway was shorter and smaller than the first one, but was host to several demons, along with the scrapped remains of defensive auto-turrets. Shadow and Amy leapt into action, Homing-Attacking from one shadow-demon to another, clearing most of them out within several seconds. Rainbow Dash and Rouge charged in and finished off what few remained. The next room was much like the first, though with three larger shadow-demons (around 12 feet tall) mixed in with the smaller foot-soldiers, arrayed against more G.U.N. soldiers. Trixie fired a Chain Lightning spell at the nearest large shadow-demon, the electrical energy surging through it, damaging it while also shooting/chaining out from it and frying several smaller ones. A rocket to the face from one of the soldiers finished off the stunned large demon. Sonic, Tails, & Knuckles triple-teamed the second large demon, bringing it down, while Silver and Rarity took the third out using some of the smaller demons as telekinetic projectiles. After Espio and Rouge took out what remained of the demon foot-soldiers, the group moved on. A long, s-curved hallway filled with storage crates and easily-disposed-of lesser demon soldiers led to a very large elevator. They all piled on and Shadow hit the ‘down’ button, and the platform began to – very slowly – descend one level. Less than five seconds after the turtle’s-pace lift began moving, several shadow-demons leapt down from above and attacked the group. Vector, Omega, Applejack, Pinkie, and Trixie leapt into action, using crushing physical blows to strike down the shadow-demons, flattening some into the floor and sending others crunching against the walls of the elevator shaft. A larger demon (around eight feet tall) leapt down from above, only to be blown to bits in midair by an explosive tag wrapped around a kunai thrown by Espio. When the lift finally crawled to a halt, the last two shadow-demons were taken out by Amy with her hammer. The doors opened, and the group poured through and out, soon finding themselves behind a massive bipedal G.U.N. combat mech as it opened fire with its gatling gun at a horde of demons rushing at it, the monsters being herded into a kill-zone by the hallway. As that wasn’t where they needed to go, and the war vehicle had the situation in hand, they headed the other way, following a map of the facility that Omega had downloaded. They met little resistance for the next few minutes as they continued on. Eventually, they came across a door with circuitry patterns painted on it, and guarded by several armored shadow-demons. Sonic, Tails, & Knuckles got into “Power Formation” and began smashing through them, while Applejack, Omega, and Vector lent their own strength to the cause. It wasn’t long before the way was clear. The door to the computer room opened, and everyone filed in, finding it empty except for a series of large monitors with access terminals. Rouge sauntered up to a terminal toward the rear of the room and took her seat in the cushioned chair, getting to work. “Now, let’s see here…” she said as her fingers flew across the keyboard, eyes glued to the screen. “This is the control panel for the long-range scanners, now I just have to… Uh oh. Oh no…” “What is it?” Rainbow Dash asked. She swiveled in the chair to face everyone. “Some of Nightmare’s shadow-demons are inside the computer system! They somehow got themselves digitized and sent into cyberspace. Now they’re running amok inside the mainframe. The computer’s defense systems are doing their best, but they’re slowly being ground down. I can’t access the Angel Island data-file.” “So what now?” Charmy asked. “If we could somehow find a way to digitize ourselves and go inside the network, like Shadow did during the Black Arms Invasion, we should be able to fight through the shadow-demons and reach the data core. There, we’ll find what we need.” “So how would we go about doing that?” Shadow asked. “I did it by literally karate-chopping the interface; I don’t think that’s such a good idea this time.” “If we get two or three Chaos Emeralds to resonate with the terminal’s energy signature, while inputting a specific code, we should be able to send some of us into cyberspace.” “I’ll remain here as overwatch and to manage the system” Espio said. “And I’ll be his bodyguard!” Charmy said excitedly. “And I’ll stay to make sure Charmy doesn’t mess everything up” Vector added, getting a scowl from the hyperactive bee. With that settled, everyone except Team Chaotix stepped up to the glowing energy interface nearby. Espio inputted the code as Sonic, Shadow, and Silver each held forward a Chaos Emerald. The three Emeralds glowed in sync as Espio hit ‘Enter’, and in several flashes of light from the Emeralds and the interface everyone turned into particles of light and flowed into the interface, disappearing from the physical realm. The group found themselves reconstructed inside what looked like a giant, multicolored, flashing tunnel that they were now floating/flying down at a respectable speed. Most of them looked around, in awe at the spectacle. Team Dark focused forward, ready for any attack. Pinkie, meanwhile, was singing: “I’m going digital! Completely digital! Now I’m invincible! Let’s all get digital!” (LEVEL MUSIC: Shadow the Hedgehog – “Digital Circuit”) The “cyber-tunnel” opened up to deposit them all on a large platform floating far above what looked like an abyss of light. There were several other equal-sized platforms connected to it, floating at slightly different heights so as to make a giant “staircase” leading to a tall column of light. Between them and that were around a dozen shadow-demons. Sonic blurred into motion, chaining several Homing Attacks that took out all but four of the demons. Omega and Rouge took down the last four, and the group made their way up the “steps” and to the light column. They filed in, and found themselves whisked along the light and up to another level higher up. Here, a straight path of hexagonal platforms led to a hallway, in which was a battle between shadow-demons and what looked like big floating crystals that shot laser bursts – the computer’s defense systems. A fireball from Spike hit one of the shadow-demons in the upper back, stunning the creature and damaging it enough that one of the Defense Crystals easily finished it off. Rainbow Dash flew in and slammed one of the shadow-demons into the wall hard enough to kill it, while Twilight took down two more with conjured fireballs. Silver used telekinetic shockwaves to deal with the last ones, and they passed through, the Defense Crystals allowing them to move on thanks to their adaptive programming recognizing them as non-hostile. A spiral staircase of platforms was up ahead. Halfway up it, the group was attacked by flying Nightmare-soldiers. Machinegun fire from Omega took out most of them, with blasts of lightning from Trixie clearing out the rest. At the top was a lone platform overlooking a vast abyss; other platforms were visible here & there in the distance, and several searchlights swept back and forth. Shadow, familiar with this system, had Omega fire a single gunshot into the air. In response, one of the searchlights zeroed in on the group, and they found themselves traveling along the beam of light through the air, being dropped off on another platform. This was repeated twice more, bringing them to a larger platform that seemed to be a dead end except for a glowing circle on the floor that connected to a glowing conduit that ran through the wall. Shadow quickly stepped in, becoming a swirling ball of red light that very rapidly traveled along the conduit, disappearing through the wall. Everyone else followed his lead, stepping in and being whisked along. They found themselves traveling down an energy conduit at great speed, moving through a large area with multiple conduits that essentially formed a multi-lane highway, with inter-conduit junctions here and there. Here and there, huge columns of red light and flame – literal firewalls – sprang up in their paths, forcing sudden and immediate course changes. After a harrowing trip that nonetheless lasted only 30 seconds, everyone found themselves deposited, one by one, on another platform that formed a long, wide, straight path to a shaft of light and data that connected to another platform much higher up over their heads. Between the group and the data-shaft were at least three-dozen of Nightmare’s demons. Silver performed a short-range teleport that left him hovering in the air several feet above a tightly-packed group of enemies. He then came down at high speed, creating a shockwave upon landing that knocked several of the demons up into the air. Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rouge, and Tails swept in, striking the demons in midair, the two pegasi dealing directly lethal damage with their blows while Tails & Rouge turned their targeted victims into Thunder-Shoot projectiles that were then fired at the ground-bound monsters, destroying several. Trixie leapt in next, Lightning Aura surging as she began lashing out with supercharged physical blows as well as blasts of electrical magic. Amy charged in, hammer swinging, while AJ & Pinkie fought off the shadow-demons that tried to charge Twilight & Rarity as the two unicorns began firing bolts of magic into the enemy formations. Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles, and Omega dove in, smashing, punching, and Homing-Attacking anything in range. Silver, Spike, and Cream teamed up to handle the rest. After a short and very one-sided battle, the last shadow-demon fell, its head crushed beneath Omega’s foot. With the way clear, everyone walked up to and into the pillar of light, which carried them up within it, up to the higher level. The platform was huge, and at the far end was a glowing green holographic terminal. Rouge walked forward toward it, flanked by Shadow and Omega. However, when they got close, the terminal sealed itself behind a protective barrier. Independent of the system, a transparent yet impenetrable barrier-field sprang up, separating Team Dark from everyone else. Then a huge thing came crashing down from the ‘ceiling’ – a 100-foot-tall, six-legged machine bearing obvious signs of Nightmare’s corruption, four glowing-red optics casting their baleful gaze down at the trio as a massive cannon that served as its right arm whirred to life. (BOSS MUSIC: Metroid Prime 2 – “Quadraxis”) “Why in the world did I think it would be easy?” Rouge muttered as she craned her neck upward to look at the massive mecha. The mech pointed its left hand, clenched into a fist, at the trio, and from its wrist unfolded a rack of rockets that then fired, streaking down toward them. They scattered, some of the rockets impacting the ground where they’d been standing while others corrected course and gave chase. Omega opened fire with his machineguns, shooting down the rockets pursuing him. Shadow out-sped the rockets chasing him, leading them to crash into the ones pursuing Rouge, eliminating all of both groups. The mech leapt up and then came crashing down, unleashing a dark-magic shockwave that the trio leapt over. Then it charged its cannon. After a few seconds, it fired several large explosive bolts of energy at Team Dark, each shot coming about two-thirds of a second after the last. The team managed to narrowly avoid the cannon-fire, and after several seconds it abated. Four compartments on the machine opened outward, glowing red-orange and venting steam – one from beneath its six legs, one from the center of its torso, and one from each shoulder. Seeing an opportunity, Omega sped forward, dodging an attempt by the mech to step on him and then firing a pair of missiles at the exposed part on the mech’s underside. They impacted, causing a compound explosion that scrapped the protruding part and the surrounding area. The machine let out a mechanical roar as Omega fell back to the others. It stomped three of its legs down hard into the ground, and then the other three, releasing two quick succession that Rouge lifted & carried Shadow and Omega upward to avoid. As soon as she set them back down, the mech unleashed another rocket barrage, these rockets bearing red tips. When Shadow dodged one and let it impact the ground, it exploded with twice as much force as the previous ones. Omega fired his guns, sweeping them back & forth and taking out half of the barrage in a cascade of fiery explosions. Shadow pulled out a Chaos Emerald and thrusted it forward, unleashing a solid wave of force that detonated the remaining warheads. The smoke from the blasts cleared to reveal the mech’s glowing cannon pointing at Team Dark again. They dodged to the side just as it fired… and had to continue dodging & moving as the cannon fired not an explosive bolt, but a solid, continuous beam that ‘chased’ the trio as the mech moved its cannon-arm to track them. After several seconds, just when it seemed like the destructive beam was going to catch Rouge, it stopped. Vents opened along the cannon’s length, and the mech’s main body vents on its torso and shoulders opened as well, dispersing heat and excess energy. Rouge took her chance, flying in and dealing a crushingly powerful kick to the central torso energy-vent, which exploded a few seconds later. The corrupted mech roared again, and leapt much higher than was thought possible for such a massive machine. It came down hard, unleashing a huge shockwave… and then immediately stomped its three front legs, releasing a comparatively-smaller shockwave directly behind the first one. Team Dark leapt up to avoid them; unfortunately, while Rouge’s wings and Omega’s jet boosters allowed them to sail clear over both waves, Shadow was only able to clear the big first one. He braced himself an instant before the second wave hit him, sending him tumbling. “Are you alright, Shadow?!” Rouge called. “Yeah” Shadow grunted, shrugging off the pain. “I’ve been hit worse than that.” The corrupted mech released a huge wave of high-explosive missiles, all of them streaking down toward the trio. Shadow leapt in next to Rouge & Omega, and pulled out both of his Chaos Emeralds. “Chaos Shield!” A shimmering half-dome of energy sprang up around Team Dark. The missile barrage impacted it, the explosions obscuring them from view. After the smoke faded, the barrier was still intact and its occupants unharmed. Shadow released the barrier, panting lightly from the exertion of casting it so strong. The mech brought its cannon to bear again and fired a scatter-shot burst, like a huge shotgun. Team Dark again took evasive actions, coming within a hair’s breadth of being hit several times, yet managing to avoid the several shots that followed. The mech’s shoulder pylons opened up, and Shadow gripped his Chaos Emeralds. “Chaos Control!” The emerald in his right hand flashed, and he teleported up into the air above the mech’s head. “Chaos Spear!” He thrusted his left hand forward, and the Emerald in that hand fired a large bolt of energy at the right pylon, scrapping it. Without missing a beat, Shadow then Homing-Attacked the other pylon, destroying it as well. He landed a few seconds later, dodging an attempt by the mecha to stomp him flat. The corrupted robot roared out again, and pointed its cannon at the trio. Power began gathering rapidly, setting up for something big. The trio began to move, but the robot tracked them, adjusting its aim accordingly. Finally, a tone sounded from the cannon, and it fired, unleashing an utterly massive wave of destructive energy. There was a flash of light as Shadow used Chaos Control to teleport himself, Rouge, and Omega out of the way in the nick of time, as the beam punched clean through the platform, blasting a 10-foot-wide hole all the way through, shooting through it and down into the abyss. As Team Dark reappeared on the robot’s other side, it tried to open its venting pylons, but there were none left to open. It roared out as all that built-up heat and energy, unable to escape, instead went inward. The mech convulsed and sparked as the power redirected into its core. There was a bright flash and a loud bang as the power core located in the robot’s upper chest exploded violently, blowing away most of the corrupted machine’s upper torso, shoulders, and head. The lifeless machine then crashed downward in a heap, its blown-away arms landing with a pair of thuds a fair distance away in either direction. A few seconds later, the mangled top half of its head landed with a crash on the ground in front of the wrecked machine. After a few seconds, the four red optics flickered out and went dark. The barrier collapsed, allowing everyone else to run forward and meet up with Team Dark. At the end of the platform, the protective shield covering the terminal retracted, having detected the cessation of hostile activity. As Fluttershy started tending to Shadow’s wounds despite the dark hedgehog’s protestations that he was fine, Rouge walked up to the terminal and got to work. A holographic map appeared, Rouge commanding the map’s focus to narrow as the system began pinpointing Angel Island’s location. After nearly a full minute, the terminal finally highlighted the floating island’s location. “Got it!” Rouge said. “It’s 50 kilometers outside Westopolis. …How in the world did it get 1,300 klicks away from where it’s supposed to be? Ah, whatever. At least we know where to go now.” “So what are we waiting for?” Rainbow Dash said. “Let’s get out of this “cyberspace” and get to that island!” “Right” Knuckles said. “Everyone ready to go?” Everyone replied in the affirmative… Well, almost everyone. Rainbow Dash caught Pinkie in a corner, staring attentively at a small screen attached to an out-of-the-way terminal. She craned her neck in to see what it was, and her eyes widened. “Is that… Pinkie, are you looking at porn?” Pinkie jumped in shock, blushed, and covered the screen with her hooves. “NO!! … …Yes.” “…Wow, humans sure are flexible” Dash said as she looked at the screen that Pinkie’s hooves had fallen away from, her head tilted slightly. “Though I think I might be able to do that if I can stretch out a little first… Anyway, c’mon. We gotta get moving.” “Okay…” the pink party pony said dejectedly, her face still a little flushed, thanks in part to the mental image of Dash doing… that… -SCENE BREAK- 20 minutes later, the group, now back in the real world, exited the facility. The courtyard had seen better days, but Eggman’s robots were helping the G.U.N. personnel repair some of the damages and set up more defenses. Furthermore, one of the Doctor’s air-battleships hovered overhead, ventral guns trained on the approach vectors to the base, on the lookout for any more of Nightmare’s demons. “Excellent work, Sonic and company” the Lieutenant-Colonel said. “The C&C boys say the network is clean thanks to you. Did you find what you were looking for?” “Yes” Twilight replied. “Angel Island is 50 kilometers northwest of Westopolis. We’re going to start making our way there now.” “Well, how about we give you folks a lift?” the LT-COL said as he gestured to a rather large transport craft that had somehow survived the battle intact, still parked where it had been since before the incursion. “It’s the least we can do as thanks for your help, and we can spare a transport and a couple of pilots.” “That’d be quite nice of you” Amy replied. 10 minutes later, the now-loaded transport craft took off, flying straight up for a few hundred feet before its engines than shifted to the horizontal position and the vessel flew off, a quartet of Eggman’s drone fighters flying alongside as armed escort. -SCENE BREAK- The group walked up to the Altar of the Emerald in the center of Angel Island, Knuckles leading. The Master Emerald was still there, the huge green gem sitting pristine and perfect in the center of the altar. Twilight marveled as she beheld the artifact with her magic sense. Knuckles hadn’t been exaggerating back at AJ’s barn after Shadow’s group arrived; the Master Emerald really was a mobile magical nexus. As the group reached the center, Knuckles stepped forward, gently laying a hand on the Master Emerald’s surface and closing his eyes. “The servers are the seven Chaos” he incanted. “Chaos is power, enriched by the Heart. The Controller is the one that unifies the Chaos. This One beseeches the Controller, that it may show us what to do so as to stop the Corruptor who now threatens both this world and the other. Please, show This One and his allies how to stop the Encroaching Darkness; lend us the power to save the worlds!” In response, the Master Emerald glowed a vibrant green. Knuckles, obeying a telepathic command from it, stepped back. There was a bright green flash and a rumbling pulse from the Emerald that raced out in every direction, and everyone then somehow “saw” as Nightmare’s connection to the planetary magical nexus directly below Angel Island’s current location was severed. Then, the Master Emerald implanted an image in their minds: the old temple/castle at the heart of Everfree Forest back on Equestria, with the superimposed image of a planetary magical nexus tainted by blackness. They then saw an image of the seven Chaos Emeralds, and then an image of the nexus untainted. When the visions faded, returning everyone to reality, the Master Emerald shot a thin, bright green beam of light at a point in front of everyone. There, a swirling portal formed; the outskirts of Ponyville were visible through it. Now understanding what needed to be done, everyone filed through the portal. Once the last one was through, the portal sealed shut, and the Master Emerald returned to its dormant state.