Prime Zone
Planet Mobius
New Mobotropolis
Sally typed furiously along the keyboard, desperately trying to make sense of the data that rolled across the monitor. Right now she was trying to decipher the remnants of the signal the exploding airship had given off with Nicole in hopes of locating Sonic and the rest of the Freedom Fighters that had disappeared with him. Though without Tails or Rotor, Sally was only just getting by.
"Do you have anything yet Nicole?" Sally asked the A.I. who was currently focusing most of her attention on the computers processes.
"I have found a little bit, but not enough to piece together where Sonic and the others went." The A.I. replied, her Mobian form's face popping up on the computer in a small square.
"Well tell me what you've found so far. Maybe I can help you figure it out?"
"Okay," Nicole agreed as she pulled up another window which had a series of numbers in it. "These numbers seem to be part of a set of coordinates."
"Have you found out where these coordinates are for?" Sally asked as she studied the numbers and noticed there were two different sets of numbers in the coordinates. One set she recognized as the longitude and latitude, while the other one was unfamilliar to her.
"Part of it yes." Nicole confirmed, centering the first set of numbers, the longitude and latitude, in the window. "I presume you know what these numbers are?"
"Yeah, Longitude and latitude."
"Well it appears that these coordinates are set right in the center of New Mobotropolis."
"Wait, there set to here?" Sally cocked an eyebrow. "But then why are the others not here?"
"Well I thought it was strange too, but that's when I caught the other set of coordinates." Shifting the numbers on the screen to the unfamilliar set of numbers. "I'm not exactly sure what these numbers stand for, but I think they might be some type of space-time coordinates."
"Space-time coordinates? What does that mean?"
"Sally." Nicole said, her voice a little unsure. "I think our friends are in a different Zone entirely."
…
Unknown Zone
Planet Equis
Ponyville
Twilight and Rarity galloped through Ponyville's streets as fast as their legs would carry them, with Spike holding onto the purple unicorn's back to make sure he did not fall off as they headed towards the library. Around them many of the ponies in town were panicking because of the large metal objects that had been flying above Ponyville just a few minutes prior, some taking shelter in their homes and other buildings while others ran through the streets, hampering the two unicorns progress.
"Ohf!" Rarity grunted as a stallion with a deep blue coat and exceptionally long horn bumped into her, causing her to stumble a bit. Quickly regaining her balance she turned to Twilight and asked. "Twilight, why are we still running through this crowd? Couldn't you just teleport us to the library?"
"I can't." Twilight answered as she jumped to her side, just barely avoiding a collision with another mare.
"What do you mean you can't?" Spike asked from her back.
"I don't know, I think somethings interfering with my magic." The purple unicorn said as she focused magic into her horn. Instead of becoming a magenta aura surrounding it like usual, the magic instead shoot of in all directions like miniature fireworks. "See. The least I think I can do is a levitation spell, but only because of how adept I am with magic."
Seeing Twilight's own failed attempt, Rarity focused magic into her own horn to use her own levitation spell, only to find her horn start firing of magic like Twilight's.
"Your right!" Rarity exclaimed. "I'm not able to use my magic at all!"
"See what I mean." Twilight frowned.
The rest of the run was spent in silence as they concentrated on not slamming into the ponies running about the streets. Eventually the trio found themselves rounding the final corner before the library, the two unicorns breathing heavily as they galloped down the final stretch.
"Twilght!" Spike exclaimed, pointing at the upper part of the tree. "The window up there is broken!"
Sure enough, when Twilight looked up to where Spike was pointing, she noticed the window, located right over her bed, had been smashed in. Stopping in front of the library's door, Twilight and Rarity gave each other looks of worry while Spike jumped off the purple unicorn and gave an audible gulp.
"Well here goes nothing." Twilight said as she reached out with her magic to open the door. Pushing it open just enough to poke her head through, Twilight looked around the main floor of the library for anything unusual. Nothing."Okay, its clear." Twilight whispered back to the unicorn and baby dragon behind her.
Slowly the trio crept into the library, across the room, and up the stairs as quietly as they could until they eventually reached the door at the top of the stairs. Slowly turning the door nob with her magic, she braced herself with what waited for them on the other side.
…
Unknown Zone
Planet Equis
Sweet Apple Acres
Bunnie's eyes cracked open and let the suns warm rays shine through her corneas, forcing her to shut them once more as pain pulsed through her skull. Releasing a tired moan as she brought her flesh arm to her eyelids to block out the light coming from the orb high up in the sky, she rolled over in the soft grass beneath her and tried to will away the pulsing headache she was being victimized of. Suddenly her eyes shot open, letting in the light once again as she quickly sat up, eyes and head darting around examining her surroundings. The mechanized rabbit found herself in the middle of a large field, filled with row upon row of trees that contained shiny, bright red apples.
"Where am ah?" Bunnie asked herself as she tried to stand up, but found she was incapable to move her legs. Shifting her eyes down to her roboticized half, Bunnie saw that her legs were sparking at random intervals and leaking a black fluid she recognized as oil. "That ain't good."
Looking around herself, the rabbit spotted a nearby tree a couple of feet away. Using her arms Bunnie pulled herself over to the large apple tree, resting her back against it once she arrived, thankful that her roboticized arm hadn't met the same fate as her legs. Pulling her damaged body parts closer to herself, she began examining them more thoroughly, taking note of every scratch and dent as she looked for a way to repair herself. Finding nothing of interest on the exterior apart from the cracks the oil leaked out of, Bunnie guessed that the problem must be on the inside.
Bunnie's stomach then started to make gurgling sounds, indicating that it was empty and needed to be fed. The rabbit grinned a bit at herself and rubbed her stomach.
"Well ah guess ah might as well eat somethin. I'm not goin anywhere."
Shifting her attention upwards to the tree she was leaning against, the rabbit's eyes wandered around until they settled upon an exceptionally large apple, shining in the bright sun. Raising her roboticized arm, Bunnie extended it up to the red fruit, picked it, and brought it back down.
Closing her mouth around one side of the apple, Bunnie bit down and ripped a chunk of the fruit off, accidentally letting some of its juices dribble down her chin. Chewing the piece in her mouth, she let a faint moan of satisfaction escaped her throat before swallowing.
"Yall are probably the best apple ah've ever tasted, hands down." Bunnie complimented the fruit in her hand as she sunk her teeth into it once again. She continued eating until the core was all that was left, and then placed it on the ground beside her as she began to reach up for a second one, her arm almost halfway up the tree when she was interrupted by a trio of surprised shrieks.
Snapping her head to the source of the noise, Bunnie was able to make out three tails before they disappeared behind a tree.
"Uh, Hello?" Bunnie called out, eyes fixed on the tree the tails had gone behind. "Is there someone there?"
In response there was a small squeak, which was quickly muffled into scilence.
"Listen, whoever ya'll are ah don't want ta hurt ya, ah promise." The rabbit stated softley.
There was a few moments of silence before a young voice that had an accent quite like Bunnies own replied.
"H-how do we know we can trust ya?" The voice called out.
"Ahm injured. I wouldn't be able ta hurt ya'll if ah wanted to." It wasn't the entire truth. While the rockets in her feet didn't work at the moment because of her damaged legs, she still had her arm cannon, but she wasn't even sure if it was in working condition.
From behind the tree came the side of a small yellow head, peering around the giant plant to take a good look at the mobian. After a moment it seemed to notice Bunnie's battered legs and the trail of oil that had come out of them, and cautiously, the small head emerged from behind the tree, revealing its quadrupedal body.
"Applebloom! What are you doing?!" Another voice, without the accent of the first and slightly more raspy, called from behind the tree.
"Shes hurt Scootaloo." The small yellow creature replied. "She needs help."
"But we don't even know what it is." The second voice called again.
"Scoots, ah know better than to judge somepony just cause of thier appearance. Ah learned that when ah first met Zecora." The creature continued her catious approach towards Bunnie. When she was just a few feet away the creature stopped and stared at the rabbits damaged legs and the oil leaking out of them.
"That looks really bad." The small creature observed, her skin paling a bit.
"It's not as bad as it seems." Bunnie explained, pressing down on her legs to prove her point. "There made completely out of steel. Can't feel a thing."
"Steel? Why do you have steel legs?" The creature asked.
"It's a long story, but now isn't really the time. Right now, we need to focus on how to fix them."
"Well what do we do?"
"Ah have no idea."
…
Unknown Zone
Planet Equis
Ponyville Library
Twilight couldn't help but hold her breath as she slowly opened the door to her private study, half expecting something to jump out at her. After the door was fully opened and nothing had tried to maul her, the purple unicorn entered the room cautiously, followed closely by Spike and Rarity. The room was a mess. Shards of glass where scattered all over the floor, crunching under the hooves of the unicorns and the scaled paws of the baby dragon every few steps, as well as loose paper that had seemed to be blow everywhere and a pile of books that had fallen off one of the shelves in the room. The trio also took note that the light that they had followed here was nowhere to be seen.
"Great, our room is trashed and there's no sign of that light anywhere." Spike complained as he picked up one of the books from the pile on the floor.
"Don't let your guard down just yet Spike, it might still be around somewhere." Twilight said as she walked up to the smashed window above her bed and inspected it.
"It's a yellow and green light Twilight, I'm sure that would be pretty hard to miss." The dragon countered, tossing the book back on the pile.
"Ugh…" the pile of books moaned. This caused Spike to release a short surprised yelp and jump away from them.
"Their alive!" He yelled as he rushed over to the purple unicorn, who was in turn quickly making her way over to the pile of books with Rarity.
"The books aren't alive Spike." Twilight told the baby dragon as he hopped onto her back. "There's Somepony under them."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm positive Spike." Twilight confirmed by lifting some of the books with her magic to reveal a long bushy tail. "See."
Removing more books from the pile and placing them in two Neat stacks, Twilight eventually uncovered the unconscious body of a two tailed yellow creature.
"That's definitely not a pony Twi." Spike commented from the mares back.
"I can see that Spike."
"It looks like a Diamond Dog." Rarity observed, stepping a bit closer. "But theres something different about it."
"Well its anatomy is similar," Twilight agreed. "But there are differances. For instance, its paws are built like those of a monkey, with four, I think there called fingers, and a Thumb. And it has two long tails instead of the normal one short tail that diamond dogs usually have."
"Not to mention it's dressed better." Rarity added.
"What?" Twilight asked, giving the fashionista an inquisitive look.
"Well look at it's clothing." The white mare pointed at the creature's shoes and gloves. "Its obvious that, even though they look a little worn down, this creature's attire was clearly chosen to be stylish as well as functional. It also keeps them cleaner than those ruffians ever would."
"Okay, that too I guess?" Twilight turned back to the creature. "Well whatever it is, we still don't know if its dangerous or not so we should probably find a way to restrain it for now. Spike, go down to the basement and try to find some rope. If I can't use my magic to restrain it then we'll have to do it the old fashioned way."
"One rope coming right up." Spike said as he jumped off the mares back and scampered out the door. Once he was gone Rarity turned to Twilight with a concerned look.
"Your not really going to tie the poor creature up are you?" She asked.
"I hope not." Twilight sighed. Flowing magic through her horn, she reached out to the unconcsious creature gently rolling it over onto its back and approached it. "I just didn't want him around when I wake it up, just in case it is dangerous."
"Wait, your waking it up now?" Rarity looked a little surprised.
"Yep, now stand back." Focusing, Twilight started to concentrate a pool of magic into the tip of her horn, though she was struggling to do so because of the magical interference in the air. Seconds passed and eventually she built up enough magic to cast the spell she needed. Placing her horn on the creatures forehead, the unicorn released the built up magic into yellow being, whose eyes immediately shot open as Twilight fell back on her haunches exhausted.
"That took more out if me than I expected." Twilight said, holding her head in her hooves, still looking at the creature.
"Ugh, what happened?" The creature asked, holding it's own head with it's paws. Suddenly the creature realized it wasn't alone and adjusted its attention to the purple mare in front of him. "What in the world?"
The two stared at each other a moment before the pony made the first move.
"Uh, hi." Twilight greeted the creature, still holding her head.
"Hi." The creature replied, managing a small wave with its paw. "Am I dreaming?"
"No your quite awake." The unicorn told the creature. She could tell it was confused by its facial expression and decided it would be best to try and befriend it before the situation took a nasty turn. "My name's Twilight Sparkle, and that's Rarity. Don't be scared, all we want to do is help."
"What are you?" The creature asked, looking over her as if it was trying to solve some type of puzzle.
"I'm a unicorn."
"A what?" The creature looked more confused than before.
"A unicorn." Twilight repeated. "You know, horns and magic."
"No I don't know." The creature explained. "I've never heard of a unicorn before."
"Well you've got two in front of you now." Twilight gave the creature a friendly smile as she stood up. Reaching a hoof out to the creature, Twilight offered to help it up. "So, whats your name?"
"Miles Prower." The creature said as it accepted Twilight hoof and pulled itself up. "Though most people just call me Tails. Where am I?"
"Well Tails, your currently in the private study slash bedroom of the Golden Oaks Library and my home, located in Ponyville, Equestria." Twilight explained, a bit of pride seeping into her voice.
"You live in a library?" Tails asked as he looked around. "Its a little trashed in here, don't you think?"
"Yeah, that might actually be because of you."
"Really?" Tails cocked an eyebrow. "How?"
"Well you see, Rarity, my assistant Spike, and me followed a strange light back here." Twilight told him. "When we got here the light was gone, the place was a mess, and we found you underneath a pile of books. My best guess is that the light was you."
"Oh, sorry I guess." Tails scratched his head in confusion. "Hey you said we were in a country named Equestria right? Where on Mobius is that exactly?"
"Mobius?" Rarity asked from behind Twilight.
"Yeah, Mobius. Its the name of the planet." Tails explained.
"Oh dear." Rarity frowned as she exchanged glances with Twilight. "Tails darling, I hate to be the bearer of bad news,
but this planets name is Equis."
"What?!" Tails exclaimed, looking to Twilight in disbelif..
"She's right Tails, the planet is called Equis." Twilight confirmed.
"I don't belive it." Tails leaned against the bookshelf behind him for support. "D-did I get blasted through space like Sonic did, or did I get warped to some alternate Zone?"
"Wait, whats a Zone?" Twilight asked, the word sticking in her head for some reason.
"Its what we call dimensions where I'm from." Tails somberly explained. "Usually, other Zones can only be accessed by the interdimensional highway or by using a set of star posts in the Special Zones case."
"Princess Luna said something like this might happen." Twilight thought to herself out loud. "Listen Tails, I think you jumping through dimensions might be the more likely conclusion at the moment."
"Whys that?" Tails asked.
"Because, about just over a thousand years ago, my mentor placed a barrier over our world with the help of her sister." Twilight started to recount what Luna had told her to Tails. "This barrier was created to seal our world away from the rest of the multiverse to prevent our world from being threatend by outside forces. Recently the barrier started to deteriorate, threatening to pull lifeforms from other worlds through to ours. I think that may be what happened to you."
"Really?" Tails asked.
"Yes." Twilight said, trying her best to comfort him. "And if I'm right, then mabye those other lights we saw are others from your world as well."
"There were others?" Tails looked hopeful now.
"Thats right." Rarity gave him a smile. "Five others along with the six metal objects in the sky as well."
"Wait, what metal objects?" Tails asked.
"Well there were six giant metal flying objects above ponyville a little while ago." Twilight explained. "They kind of
looked like a variety of big metal sea creatures. One of them exploded over the Everfree Forest while the other five crashed deeper in it."
"No. No no no no!" Tails chanted as he rushed past the unicorns and towards the smashed out window above Twilights bed, which to Twilight and Rarity's horror, he jumped out of.
"Tails!" The unicorns yelled in unison as they rushed to the window and looked out of. To both of their surprise however, Tails was hovering in the air just a dozen feet away from the tree, his tails spinning around around at high speed.
"He can fly?!" Twilight exclaimed. The gears in Twilight's head started to turn as she tried to figure out just how Tails was able to keep aloft with his tails and how his tails were able to spin like that in the first place.
Returning her head back inside, Twilight jumped off her bed and made her way outside onto the balcony her room was conected to, Rarity appearing behind her a second later.
"Tails!" Twilight called up to Tails, grabbing his attention. "Come back down here!"
Tails gave one last glance out to where he was looking before he complied to Twilight. Tails quickly decended down to where the two unicorns stood and landed, his facial expression looking very serious.
"Tails, how did you do that?" Twilight asked him. "The way you were flying by spinning your tails like that should…
"No time to explain Twilight." Tails quickly interrupted the unicorns. "Tell me where the other lights you saw are."
"Pardon me Tails, but that was quite rude how you just interrupted Twilight like that." Rarity said disapprovingly.
"Listen, I'm sorry, but we really don't have time for questions at the moment." Tails explained, his expression grim and serious. "But those big metal things are airships that are part of a fleet that destroyed my whole village down less than a day ago. If they get air born again, they'll start leveling you world without a second thought. Right now, if they do get air born, your chances of survival are slim at best. But if any of those other lights you saw turn out to be my friends, that rate will go up exponentially. Now do you know where they are or not."
Twilight and Rarity exchanged looks. Tails seemed to know what he was talking about, and if he was right niether one of the unicorns wanted to argue with him.
"The closest light landed in Sweet Apple Acres." Twilight said, pointing in the farms general direction. "Our friends Applejack and Pinkie Pie went to investigate it. If we hurry we might be able to catch up with them."
"What about the other four?" Tails asked.
"Two shot of into the Everfree Forest while the others headed off towards Canterlot." Rarity replied.
"Okay then, lets go." Tails said as he took off again. "I'll wait for you two down there."
"Right see you in a few…" Twilight started.
"Twilight!" The unicorn heard Spike call out form her room. "I found the rope! Hey where'd you guys go?"
"…seconds." Twilight finished.
"Rope?" Tails asked.
…
Unknown Zone
Planet Equis
Sweet Apple Acres
Applejack was galloping full tilt through the orchard on her family's farm with no intent on slowing down. She had heard the terrified screams of Applebloom and her friends a few minutes ago and had immediately b-lined in the direction the sound had come from, fearing they might have accidentally stumbled upon the light she and Pinkie Pie, who was keeping up just fine as she bounced alongside the cowpony, had been looking for. As they ran Applejack silently swore if any thing had happened to her sister or the other crusaders, she would find who was responsible and make them pay.
A few minutes later, the pair of earth ponies arrived in the clearing that the crusaders clubhouse was located, and Applejack had Pinkie go up and check if they were in there.
"Nope!" Pinkie called back down to the cowpony. "Nopony's here. Maybe there playing hide and seek. Ooh, I love hide and seek, we should play too. Okay, you hide, and I'll count to fifty. Ready, Go. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight…"
"Pinkie Pie, we don't have time ta play games. We're in tha middle of some'in right now!" Applejack called up to the pink earth pony.
"Aww, fine party pooper." Pinkie said, playfully blowing a raspberry down at her friend before jumping off the clubhouses porch.
"Now let's keep goin." Applejack ordered as she continued going the way they had originally been headed. "We need ta find Applebloom an her friends soon, before anything happens ta them."
"Applejack!" The earth pony heard somepony call her name. Down the way she and Pinkie were headed were two small fillies, one unicorn and one pegasus, running towards the two earth ponies as fast as they could. Within seconds the two fillies were in front of them panting and gasping for air.
"Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, what happened, and where's Applebloom?" Applejack asked the two fillies.
"Applebloom… weird creature… needs help… hate… running…" Sweetie Belle managed between gasps.
"Appleblooms in danger?!" The cowpony exclaimed, sharing a worried glance with Pinkie Pie. Before another word
was said, Applejack had rocketed off down the way Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo had come from, Pinkie Pie Bouncing along behind her.
"No, the creatures the one that needs help!" Scootaloo called after them. But it was already to late, the two earth ponies were already out of earshot. "Aw man, c'mon Sweetie Belle, let's go."
"Nooooo." Sweetie Belle moaned.
…
"So your a Rabbit?" Applebloom asked the Mobian.
"That's right, one hundred percent laporidae blood." Bunnie confirmed proudly. After Applebloom had sent her friends off for help, she had started to ask Bunnie a plethora of questions, which the rabbit answered without hesitation. It seemed to calm the little creature down and provided a way to pass the time. "Well, other than mah mechanical limbs ah guess."
"But ah thought rabbits were all small little critters like Fluttershy's pet bunny Angel." Applebloom recalled.
"Well not where ah come from we're not." Bunnie explained. "And it ain't just us rabbits either. There's hedgehogs, foxes, chipmunks, coyotes, bees, echidnas, and a whole pile'a other species."
"Really?" Applebloom looked genuinely intrested now, her eyes looked like they were literally shining. "What about ponies? Are thier any of us where you came from."
"Yeah, ah guess so, though ah've never actually met one before." Bunnie told the little pony. "The closest person to a pony ah've ever met was Sir Connary. May his soul rest in peace."
"Oh, ahm sorry, I didn't know."
"It's okay, he died heroically, sacrificing his life ta save a friend of mine." Bunnie said, a tear slipping down her cheek. "If he hadn't, she might not be with us today."
"I'm so sorry, ah know what it's like to lose somepony you care about." Applebloom said as she walked over to the rabbit and sat down. "Ah was still a little foal so ah don't remember what happened, but ah lost mah ma and pa in a horrible accident."
"You mean your an orphan?" Bunnie asked her.
"No, ah still got Granny Smith and mah older siblings Big Macintosh and…"
"Applebloom!" Bunnie heard someone shout. Looking up to the scource of the scorce of the voice, the mobian spotted two more larger ponies coming their way. One was orange and wore a stetson hat much like her own, while the other was pink and had hair that strangly reminded her of cotton candy.
"Applejack, Pinkie Pie!" Applebloom called out to the newcomers, happily waving to them.
"Applebloom, git away from that thing!" The orange one yelled.
"What, why?" Applebloom questioned the larger pony.
"Because ah said so. Now get your flank over here missy."
"Ya'll best listen to her applebloom," Bunnie suggested to the little creature. "Ah don't want ta git ya'll in trouble."
Applebloom hesitated for a moment, glancing between Bunnie, who's composure was calm and collected, and the orange pony, who was glaring daggers at the rabbit. After a few seconds, Applebloom decided to listen to the two stetson wearing beings and made her way to the orange and pink ponies.
"If ya'll put even one scratch on my little sisters hide, ah swear ah'll buck ya all the way to tartauros!" The orange pony yelled at the mobian before turning her attention back to Applebloom. "Are you okay sugarcube?"
"Ahm fine Applejack, but she's…"
"Hiya, I'm Pinkie Pie!" The pink pony exclaimed, somehow appearing right in front of Bunnies face in an instant.
"Gah!" The rabbit exclaimed in shock, recoiling from the sudden close proximity of the pink pony, and slammed her head back into the tree behind her. Clucthing the back of her head, the Mobian cursed a few times under her breath.
"Oh gosh, I'm super duper sorry about that." The pink pony apologized. "I didn't mean for you to go and bump your head like that, I just got really, really, really excited because it's not every day that somepony new comes to ponyville, and it's even rarer that the new ponies not even a pony at all, what are you anyways, I've never seen something like you before, I mean you've got long floppy ears like a rabbit, but rabbits are small and cute and fluffy, not that your not cute, your actually kind of cool looking, mabye your some type of mutated alien rabbit from those other dimensions Twilight was talking about, a dimension where small cutsey animals evolved into big cool looking ones like you, probbably from some sort of radiation like in the comic books, and…"
"Pinkie Pie, stop pesterin it." The orange pony interrupted her pink companion.
"Okie dokey lokie!" The pink one obliged and bounced away.
"She didn't even stop to breath." Bunnie mummered aloud as she rubbed her head.
"Sorry 'bout that, Pinkie has a tendency ta keep talkin for ages if nopony stops her." The orange pony said as she approached the Mobian. "Listen, while Pinkie was talkin your head off, Applebloom explained what was goin on. Ah thought she was in danger earlier, and ah think ah came off as a little hostile, so ah just wanted to say ah was sorry, ahm usually a lot more levelheaded."
"It's fine." Bunnie continued to rub the back of her head. "If ah had a little sister an ah thought she was in danger, ah would have acted the same way."
"So no hard feelin's ?"
"Nah, we're good."
"The names Applejack by the way." The orange pony smiled and held out a hoof.
"Bunnie D'coolette." The rabbit replied and took the ponies hoof and shook it.