Dr. McNinja goes on an Equestrian Adventure

by Mysterious Stranger


Chapter 16: It's important to know the alphabet

Dr. McNinja gripped Xavier's branches tightly as the helicopter head ent approached the Hub. The border town was bigger than he expected, a small city of steel and glass. It was also the most chaotic place he had ever seen. Maglev tracks looped and twisted through the air like the rails of a highly elaborate roller coaster while giant flowered vines snaked around buildings. Every now and then lightning would shoot out of one of the giant flowers on the vines and into the sky. Not only that, but Dr. McNinja saw large pieces of shattered buildings and chunks of earth floating around willy-nilly, occasionally bouncing off of buildings or each other.

Lastly, instead of being up in the sky, pale green clouds of Mountain Dew hovered at ground level, obscuring large portions of the so called town from view. Dr. Mcninja's eyebrows narrowed. Somewhere in that mess was Discord, the being who intended to do something to R.J. If R.J. didn't die or was otherwise disposed of soon, it would be too late.

Xavier descended downward before landing with a thump about a hundred yards away from the Hub. After letting go of Yoshi, Xavier's roots flailed around for a moment before digging into the soil.

"This is as far as I go," he informed everyone. "Y'all are on your own from here on out."

Dr. McNinja hopped down from the tree and landed in a crouch. No sooner had he stood up, Pinkie Pie suddenly landed in his arms. Dr. McNinja glanced at her in surprise.

"Hi!" Pinkie Pie beamed.

"Hi," Dr. McNinja replied evenly. "Warn me next time before you jump into my arms okay?"

"Okay! I'm about to jump into your arms," Pinkie Pie informed him.

"But you're already in my—"

"Weeeeee!" Pinkie Pie squealed as she shot up into the air like a rubber band before falling back into Dr. McNinja's arms.

Dr. McNinja gently set her down as the others attempted to gingerly descend from the tree. Gordito, Fluttershy, Twilight, and R.J. managed to reach the ground without any help, although magical assistance from Twilight and R.J. was required for the rest. Dr. McNinja couldn't but notice that while Twilight levitated Rarity, Spike, and Applejack down with ease, it took visible strain on R.J.'s part to merely lower Rainbow Dash to the ground.

"Thank you very much for the ride," Twilight thanked Xavier once everyone was safely on the ground. "You saved us a lot of walking."

"No problem. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna head on home for some serious chillin'," Xavier replied.

And with that, the helicopter head ent jumped into the air and engaged his propellers. Once he had gained some altitude, he turned around and flew back the way he had come.

"Well," remarked Twilight as she turned to face the Hub. "We've reached our destination, but I still don't have my Element. I hope it's somewhere nearby."

"I just hope my parents are okay," R.J. admitted. "I still don't understand why the other five Elements were just lying on the road."

"Just out of curiosity, which two Elements are your parents, exactly?" Dr. McNinja inquired.

"My mom's Generosity, my dad's Magic," R.J told him.

"Oh, okay. Just wondering," said Dr. McNinja as he grimaced beneath his mask. If R.J.'s mother was the Element of Generosity, that meant he had avenged her death without even knowing it. Briefly he wondered if he should tell R.J. about what he had overheard, but decided against it. It seemed far too cruel to tell R.J. about his mother right before killing him. The thought reminded Dr. McNinja of another issue. He wasn't sure how he would go about killing R.J. After all, R.J. was technically part of the team. Only Dr.McNinja, Gordito, and Twilight knew what was at stake. If Dr. McNinja attempted to kill R.J. right then, it was possible that the others might try to defend the unicorn.

Dr. McNinja suddenly became aware that everyone else had started to walk along the path toward the Hub, so he quickly walked after them to catch up. Before too long they reached it, but paused as they became aware of a new problem. Not a single one of them could see through the ground level layer of Mountain Dew clouds.

“If my wing wasn't broken, I could break all these clouds up in eight seconds flat," Rainbow Dash grumbled.

"Well, we cain't just walk on in there if we cain't see a darn thing," Applejack reasoned. "Anyone got any bright ideas?"

"I've got an idea," Rarity smiled. "What if we went under it?"

"That's a great idea, Rarity!" Spike said enthusiastically. "Should I start digging a tunnel?"

"Better, we can just walk," Rarity explained as she pointed a hoof. "See how the Maglev track starts to slope down as it gets closer to the Hub? I bet it if we follow it it will lead us underground."

Rarity's logic seemed perfectly reasonable to everyone else who was capable of higher level thinking, so they walked on over to the maglev track and proceeded to follow it down into the Hub. Dr. McNinja had only walked a short distance into the Mountain Dew clouds when the ground suddenly shook with a loud rumble.

Dr. McNinja managed to keep his balance even as he heard the others cry out in alarm. The next moment something under his feet shifted straight up, tossing him forward. Dr. McNinja grunted as he he landed on his hands and knees. Dr. McNinja glanced over his shoulder just in time to see yet another giant flowered vine sprout up and cover the entrance of some sort of tunnel, casting the entire place into darkness. A small gap between the vine and the wall was the only exception, revealing a little bit of light from outside.

"Ow," Spike moaned from somewhere nearby. "I think I broke my arm."

"If you actually broke your arm, you would be saying a lot more than just 'ow'," Dr. McNinja assured the dragon as he stood up and brushed himself off. "Is everyone alright?"

"I'm all right," Rarity confirmed as her horn started to glow, illuminating the darkness with blue light.

The light from Rarity's horn revealed Dr. McNinja's surroundings. The quest-goers were inside of an artificially constructed tunnel with steel walls. The tunnel was just large enough for the maglev track to run through the middle, in addition to service platforms that ran along it on both sides. One by one the others echoed Rarity's statement as they got back up. No serious injuries.

"Oh hey, we made it underground," R.J. said cheerfully as his horn glowed as well, adding a rainbow colored lighting effect to Rarity's blue.

"Not everyone," Fluttershy realized. "Where's Twilight?"

Several heads glanced around in search of the missing unicorn.

"Hello?" Twilight's voice called out as if far away. "Where did everyone go?"

"We're underground, in a maglev tunnel!" Dr. McNinja called back. "Where are you you?"

"Still outside!" Twilight replied. "There's something in front of me, not sure it what it is. It's large and green. Wait, hold on, its blocking something. I think I can stick my hoof through. Can you see my hoof?"

Dr. McNinja's looked back at the newly grown vine and spotted Twilight’s hoof, sticking through the gap between the wall of the tunnel and the giant flowered vine.

"We see it, Twi!" Applejack confirmed. "There's a giant plant thing blocking the way! You'll have to teleport inside!"

"Wait, you can teleport?!" Gordito said in disbelief. "Why did we walk all this way if you can freaking teleport?!"

"That's not how it works," Twilight explained. I can't teleport to places I don't know how to reach without magic."

"What? since when?" Rainbow Dash said skeptically.

"Since always," Twilight answered flatly.

"Okay, so if you can't teleport inside, can you get rid of the giant vine thing?" R.J. suggested.

"I can certainly try," Twilight figured. "Just give me a second."

Flashes of pink light appeared through the gap as Twilight conducted a series of magic spells.

"No good," Twilight reported. "This vine is here because of magic, and its a lot more powerful than— oh my gosh!"

Another flash of magic was seen through the gap, followed by silence.

"Twilight?" Fluttershy prompted timidly. "Are... are you still there?"

"What? Yes, I'm still here," Twilight panted. "Sorry, something just attacked me."

"Are you hurt?" Fluttershy pressed.

"No, I'm fine. I turned it into an apple, whatever it was," Twilight assured her. “I’d really prefer to not stay out here. Maybe someone can cut this vine down with a sword?”

Dr. McNinja drew his short sword to try Twilight’s suggestion. But the moment the weapon’s steel touched the vine, a surge of electricity shocked him. Dr. McNinja clenched his teeth to prevent himself from crying out in pain as he dropped his sword.

“Swords won’t work,” he informed Twilight as he picked his weapon back up and re-sheathed it. "R.J., is there any other way to get underground in the Hub?"

"Uh, let me think. I really don't know the Hub that well," R.J. answered. "I do know that you can get in from the very center. That's how its usually done. You're not actually supposed to walk along the track because, well, you'd get hit by a Maglev."

"Would it be faster to walk around the Hub and follow a different track underground?" Twilight wondered.

"I don't know," R.J. admitted. "The Hub is just a town, but its still pretty big."

"If you walk around, anything from the inside can see you on the outside," Gordito pointed out.

"So I'll walk straight through and hope I don't get seen," Twilight decided. "The cloud cover should work both ways."

"And we'll all meet you there," Applejack promised as she walked up to Twilight's hoof and pressed her own hoof against it. "Don't be late, alright?"

"Oh, don't worry," Twilight said with what was clearly false confidence. "I'm always punctual."

Twilight withdrew her hoof from the gap and silence came over the group once again.

"Well, come on!" Rainbow Dash encouraged. "We need to be there waiting for her."

Dr. McNinja took a deep breath. The longer he waited, the more of a risk he was taking. There was no telling how much longer he had before R.J. became Sparklelord.

"Actually," he corrected as evenly as he could. "There's something we need to take care of first."

"Dude," R.J. said forcefully. "Twilight is up there all by herself in a town full of monsters. Whatever it is, it can wait."

"No, it really needs to be taken care of right now," Dr. McNinja insisted.

Sensing the seriousness in his voice, everyone's eyes fell on Dr. McNinja. The ninja doctor held their gaze as his mind frantically raced through combat scenarios. If he were to just kill R.J. without explanation, it was quite likely that everyone but Gordito would assume he had turned evil and bolt. If that happened, they would be at high risk of being killed by any monsters that might also be down below. If he explained his actions beforehand, R.J. would know what was coming and resist, like any sane individual. Arguably, Spike and the Bearers of Harmony knew R.J. just as well as Dr. McNinja, which meant there was no way for him to predict which side they would take.

Dr. McNinja sighed. Twilight might have understood, but she could not help now. The first option was less risky for him, but more risky for the others. He would have to go with the second choice. He would have to explain and then act.

"I'm about to do something that that will be very controversial and very upsetting to everyone," he informed them. "I'm not going to ask any of you to like it, but I hope with proper understanding you will not interfere and put yourselves at risk."

Dr. McNinja turned and looked directly at R.J. The unicorn, in turn, held Dr. McNinja's gaze warily.

"In my reality, there is a man called King Radical," Dr. McNinja continued. "Before I came to Equestria or Radical Land, he told me he came from another reality, Radical Land. According to him, it was completely destroyed by a unicorn called Sparklelord, the same unicorn who attacked Equestria."

"Is there a reason you told me his name was Batman before?" R.J. asked with a raised brow.

"As a matter of fact, there was," Dr. McNinja replied. "I met Sparklelord myself, so I know what he looks and sounds like. He's a white unicorn with a rainbow colored horn, mane and tail. His voice also sounds exactly like yours."

"You think I'm Sparklelord," R.J. realized with wide eyes.

"I did at first," Dr. McNinja admitted. "That's why I hid Sparklelord's real name from you, so that you didn't know that I knew who you were. But last night I overheard some wolf-raptors talking about Discord's plans, and what his plans were for you. That was when I realized that you don't become Sparklelord until later, when Discord finds you."

"Well, that's... concerning," R.J. said slowly. "If you had told me that sooner, I could have left and not given Discord the chance. But now I'm stuck here with the rest of you."

"I'm not sure simply leaving or hiding would have helped anyway. There's only way to make sure you and Discord never meet," Dr. McNinja said flatly.

"Kill Discord first?" R.J. guessed optimistically.

A small bit of hope swelled up within Dr. McNinja. He hadn't thought of that.

"Is that a possibility?" he asked Applejack.

"Ah don't know 'bout that," Applejack said regretfully. "The Discord we fought could change reality at will. If we hadn't used the Elements on him, he would've won fer sure."

"Yeah, I guess that would have been too easy," Dr. McNinja sighed. "I'm sorry R.J., I have no choice but to kill you."

R.J. stiffened at Dr. McNinja's words, as did everyone else in the tunnel. Clearly, no one present liked the idea, R.J. probably least of all. None however, moved to interfere. Cold, heartless logic and unreasonable, powerful emotion were locked in a stalemate, preventing all from taking any action.

"I won't hold it against you if you fight back, R.J." Dr. McNinja promised as he drew his short sword. "I'll do all that I can to make it quick and painless. I just wanted you know why, and for you to know you didn't die in vain. If Sparklelord is never created, countless lives will be saved."

"R.J. can't be Sparklelord because he isn't strong enough!" Rainbow Dash suddenly blurted out.

Eight bewildered heads glanced at Rainbow Dash.

"Whatever do you mean, Rainbow Dash?" Rarity questioned.

"Look, R.J., I'm sorry about rubbing it in, but your life is on the line," Rainbow Dash apologized. "Now hear me out. Sparklelord has really powerful magic, like we saw when he started to yank the moon down towards Equestria. Oh, and I just remembered that Twilight couldn't undo the mind control spell he used on the Wonderbolts. Obviously, Sparklelord is way more powerful than Twilight. Now, R.J. here can't do any of that. He could barely levitate me down from that talking tree thing. I'm not even that heavy. I'm a pegasus in top physical condition."

"I was just trying to be gentle so I didn't smack your wing against the helicopter head ent," R.J. mumbled.

"Yeah whatever," Rainbow Dash said dismissively. "My point is that Twilight is better at magic than R.J., but Sparklelord is better at magic than Twilight. So R.J. can't be Sparklelord."

Dr. McNinja looked at Rainbow Dash sympathetically while R.J. continued to sweat bullets.

"I appreciate you trying to find a way out of this, Rainbow Dash," Dr. McNinja said gently. "But there's far too much evidence that says otherwise. The wolf-raptors I overheard explicitly said that Discord had plans for Rainbow Sparkle, and R.J.'s the only one with that name. Not to mention he looks and sounds just like Sparklelord."

"Whoa, back up, where did you get the idea that I'm the only Rainbow Sparkle?" R.J. suddenly asked.

Dr. McNinja glanced at the Sparklelord look-alike in surprise.

"Wait, you mean you're not the only one with that name?" Dr. McNinja wondered.

"I thought you already knew," R.J. confessed. "I mean wasn't it kind of obvious that R.J. doesn't stand for Rainbow Sparkle? Sparkle doesn't start with a 'J'. The 'J' is for junior. Rainbow Junior. My dad's name is Rainbow Sparkle too."

Suddenly it all clicked into place for Dr. McNinja. All the Elements of Harmony abandoned on the road except for the Element of Magic. The reason that the Element of Magic had not been abandoned was because its Bearer still lived. The only reason R.J. looked and sounded like Sparklelord was because he was related to the unicorn that would become Sparklelord. No, It wasn't Rainbow Sparkle the prince that Discord had plans for. It was Lord Rainbow Sparkle, Element of Magic.