//------------------------------// // BONUS: The Doctor and the Chaotician, Pt. I // Story: Sonic Generations: Friendship is Timeless // by GreenS21 //------------------------------// Discord mentally sighed to himself. What did that bring him up to? He had no clue; he had lost count a long time ago, and with his chaos being held back, he had only his natural senses to rely on, and, being a statue, most of them didn’t do him a lot of good. Sight was mostly blocked out by the stone covering his eyes, smell only really worked when the grass was tended to (or maybe that smell was some bum pony that unceremoniously collapsed in front of his statue, he didn’t know), and taste and touch did him no good. So that only left his hearing, and he was often hearing something due to the royal guards doing their routine patrols. He could only tell it was daytime on the rare occasion that there was more noise than usual. He sighed to himself once again. It looked he was going to have another boring day in the Canterlot gardens. He wished something would happen today, just like he did every other day ever since Twilight Sparkle and her friends turned him back to stone. He heard the sound of hoofsteps approaching from his right. Judging from the sound alone, it was one of the royal guards on his patrol route. The sound got louder for a few seconds before it began to get quieter. “As usual, Celestia’s personal guard dogs don’t stop for anything,” he thought to himself. After the hoofsteps left his hearing completely, he heard another sound. It was the sound of… “Wait, what IS that sound? Never heard it before, and I know a lot of sounds, especially the ones I created. Wait, what’s this… It feels like… Am I moving?” Discord wondered to himself. Had the draconequus been able to see, he would see he was almost right. He WAS moving… but instead of moving across the ground, his statue was sinking into what appeared to be a purple vortex floating just above the grass. The draconequus kept sinking into the ground until he vanished completely, at which point the vortex that had taken him vanished. Had anypony been around at the time, they’d be wondering what just happened. As such, there was no one around to care, but one thing was for certain: Discord was going to get his wish today. ________________________________________ Dr. Eggman grinned to himself, pressing his fingers together as he watched Discord’s statue emerge from the portal he had opened, the statue landing on its base right in front of the Time Eater. “Excellent! Phase one of my brilliant plan is now complete!” he said, more to himself than Orbot and Cubot, the two robots floating next to him. He turned around and walked over to an ancient (by his standards) computer console up against a stone wall and starting to type on it while saying, “Now to complete the second phase and get to the real plan!” As he continued typing, Orbot and Cubot bounced up behind him, the former saying, “Boss, forgive me if I’m interrupting your preparations, but why did you decide to use the Time Eater to pull equipment from your old Scrap Brain Zone base to this world and set them down in this dreadful place?” He held out his arms as he spoke, indicating the large stone chamber that many more computers and electronics now covered. Even with all the mechanisms now littering the chamber, one might recognize it as the chamber in the Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters where Princess Luna was freed from Nightmare Moon by the Elements of Harmony. Eggman stopped typing for a moment to look down at the red-headed robot as he replied, “That’s very simple! Despite how old it is now, it’s quite easy to reconfigure this old technology to serve new purposes! Not to mention the amount of power it requires is good for the Time Eater!” He thrust his left hand out at the shadowed beast as he continued, “Until I can get a proper generator to run all this with, hopefully courtesy of my new partner, I can run all the systems off of its power, which has the added benefit of helping keep it under control! You know how much of a fuss it put up just trying to get it to bring all this here.” Orbot winced as he recalled what it took to keep the Time Eater from trashing the entire castle. An idea then occurred to him and he asked, with a slightly knowing tone, “Are there any other reasons?” Eggman hesitated for a moment before groaning, “Oh, all right, fine! That was also the only base I could reach from here that was fully completed that that perky little pest Sonic didn’t utterly destroy in some way!” Cubot perked up at that, saying in his normal, hyper voice, “Oh yeah, that’s right! Scrap Brain Zone was only shut down to stop the pollution, just like how he shut down the Oil Ocean refinery to stop the oil getting in the water! Metropolis was shut down too, but that wasn’t really a base, or was it? I don’t know! Everything else was destroyed or unfinished, though! The Death Egg and Death Egg II were destroyed, the Death Egg Mk. II was unfinished, Final Egg was destroyed thanks to the Egg Viper, Eggmanland’s been out of commission since Dark Gaia was defeated, your amusement park’s gone, and the Egg Fleet’s down too! But there was that one base you used when the Black Arms came, the one near that other old castle! Why didn’t you use that one?! Oh wait, there was that machine…” Eggman growled and said, “Yes, thank you for the little history lesson, blabbermouth! Now go tell it to the wall, why don’t you!” With that, he delivered a swift kick to Cubot’s back side, sending the robot flying and crashing near the other end of the chamber. Despite how hard the kick and landing were, it didn’t stop the yellow-headed robot’s incessant talking. Orbot winced at this action and asked, “Boss, don’t you think that was a bit much?” As he turned back to his computer, Eggman replied, “Be thankful I didn’t do it to YOU. I would’ve made it extra hard to make up for that one you deliberately dodged.” He started typing again, Orbot wisely deciding not to press the issue. After about a minute, Eggman announced, “There, all set!” He turned his head to look down at a red button that was all by itself, surrounded by a square colored the warning black and yellow stripes. “As soon as I press this button, Celestia and Luna’s days in the current Equestria are numbered! Soon, there will be a new Equestria with two new rulers!” he grinned. “And who might they be, Boss?” Orbot questioned. Eggman chuckled and said, “Myself and Discord!” Orbot’s eyes opened wide in shock while Eggman raised his left hand, his index finger pointing down at the red button. With no hesitation, he brought his finger down and pressed the button. He then turned around, looking over at Discord’s statue expectantly. As he (and Orbot after a few moments) watched, the Time Eater brought its newly attached arms down, the palms of its open hands pointing towards Discord. After a few seconds, a dark purple aura surrounded the draconequus’ statue. At the same time, a counter appeared on Eggman’s computer and started counting up, Eggman glancing back at it briefly before returning his attention to Discord’s statue. The only thing that mattered right now was confirming that his theory was correct. Although Orbot quickly grew bored and floated on his side and Cubot continued yammering when he floated back over, Eggman never took his eyes off of the statue, his fingers pressed together and his familiar toothy smile on his face. It would be any second now… Then they all heard it: a cracking sound. For such a small sound, it seemed to echo throughout the empty chamber. Orbot and Cubot turned to look at the draconequus while Eggman grinned excitedly; a crack was beginning to form in the stone covering one of Discord’s legs. After a moment, Eggman snapped his fingers and the aura surrounding Discord dissipated. As they watched, more cracks began to follow and the statue started shaking side to side. The stone surrounding his arms soon shattered completely, followed by the stone around his wings. It wasn’t long before Discord burst out of the stone and let out a mighty roar followed by an equally loud cracking noise. “Ugh…! Sweet merciful chaos, standing like that for so long can give you SUCH a crick in the neck!” he groaned while placing his eagle talon on the back of his long neck, just underneath his head. Eggman spoke, catching the draconequus’ attention, “Yes, I would think that would be the case. Good thing you didn’t have to spend a thousand years stuck in that position.” Discord began to turn his head to look at the doctor, thinking, “I know that voice. It’s one of the ones I’ve been hearing. Now that I can move, let’s see who has the nerve to call me their ‘partner’.” When his eyes fell on Dr. Eggman, the scientist’s arms crossed over his chest, and his robot lackeys floating next to him, he had to fight very hard to avoid bursting out into laughter right then and there. Instead, he floated up and over to Eggman, hovering over him as he craned his neck down and smirked, “Hmm, what have we here? It seems to be a shaved monkey wearing FAR too many clothes!” Orbot snickered at that while Eggman’s calm expression changed to one of indignation. He managed to suppress it quickly, however, and regained his calm demeanor as he replied, “Almost correct, my dear Discord. I am actually a human, and humans evolved from apes. I’d tell you more, but I figure that’s not the kind of milk you enjoy.” Discord landed on the ground, his lion paw and eagle talon on his hips as he said, “And you would be correct. I prefer my own.” As he held up his lion paw, the palm pointing straight up, and turned his head to look up at it, he noticed the sky through one of the windows in the back of the chamber and decided it needed some variety. Looking back at Eggman, he decided to get his jollies settled before getting back to business. “So, you got a name, monkey boy? And care to explain what those little comments about us working together were all about?” Eggman chuckled, “Ah yes, I have gotten ahead of myself, haven’t I? I am Dr. Eggman, and as for what I was saying…” He put on a more serious demeanor as he went on, “Considering your short attention span, I’ll be blunt. Simply put, I have a proposal for you, Discord.” The draconequus raised an eyebrow at that; now they were getting somewhere. Eggman continued, “I went to all the trouble of sneaking you out of Canterlot and freeing you to propose an alliance. I released you because I believe we can both benefit if we work together, especially you. I need your help and you clearly need someone to help keep you in line.” Discord laughed loudly at that, getting close to hysterics while Eggman continued gazing up at him, his expression not changing in the slightest. Discord eventually calmed down enough to speak and, while wiping his eye with his eagle talon finger, said, “Oh that is RICH! Me, the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony, being asked for a help by a monkey and then being told I need to be orderly!” Wiping the last of his tears away, Discord grinned down at Eggman, “Sorry, Egg Belly, but I fail to see how either of us could benefit from your ‘proposal’. You may have set me free, but if that’s all you have to offer, I’m better off alone.” He turned and started swaggering his way towards the raised floor at the other end of the chamber, where the large windows were, and said, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got quite a few things to paint and a list of ponies that need to be put in their place.” Despite the apparent rejection, the look on Eggman’s face still did not change and, as Discord strutted away with his head held high, he placed his hands behind his back, using his left hand to discreetly press a button on his computer. Discord raised his lion paw up in front of him as he continued his confident walk, but before he could snap his way out of the old castle, something closed around his upper chest area, causing him to stop and essentially pinning his arms to his body and making him unable to snap either set of fingers. The draconequus looked down to see a shadowy hand closed around him, holding him in place. Eggman spoke up as he walked towards Discord, “I’m afraid I wasn’t giving you a choice, Discord. I know plenty about you, including what you did the last time you were free, and I’m not about to have you ruining anything for either of us. So you’re going to either agree to help me or I’m going to turn you back into stone. It’s that simple.” Discord turned his head to look back at him, “Back into stone? Are you telling me you know the Bearers of those wretched Elements of Harmony?!” Eggman stopped next to Discord, his familiar grin back on his face as he answered, “Not personally. I only learned who they are as part of my research. No, to turn you back into stone, I simply have to tell HIM to reverse the process.” He nodded his head at something to Discord’s side as he spoke, prompting the draconequus to turn his head to the right to see for himself what this ‘human’ was talking about. Discord’s eyes widened as he beheld the creature that was holding him. He couldn’t see much of it, but between the creepy face looking down at him and the fact that he simply had never seen anything like it before, he was… unnerved. For once, he was silent for a time. Then he shook his head and exclaimed, “What in the name of chaos is THAT?!” Eggman grinned, “Breathtaking isn’t it? That would be my latest discovery. I call it the Time Eater!” Discord turned his head to look at the doctor and asked, “The Time Eater? Why would you call it THAT?” Eggman replied, “That’s very simple! When I analyzed it, I discovered that it has the ability to not only move through time, but also to erase and manipulate it! And you should be thankful for that last one, because that’s how I freed you!” Discord raised an eyebrow at that, now curious. Eggman explained, “To put it simply, Discord, I had the Time Eater manipulate the flow of time around you. You mentioned the Elements of Harmony before; the seal they placed on you might’ve been strong, but I figured it couldn’t last forever, even if the Bearers remained strong and connected forever. So instead of trying to sever the connections to the Elements, I changed time so that what was normally seconds became months for you! You probably couldn’t tell the difference, but I digress. At any rate, the accelerated flow of time wore down the seal binding you until it was weak enough for you to break free, at which point it returned to normal. Imagine having to actually wait that long for the seal to weaken; you’re free a whole lot sooner!” Discord replied, “Oh really?” Suddenly, his body turned as thin as paper and he slithered out of the Time Eater’s grasp onto the stone floor, stopping in front of Eggman. He then inflated himself (the sound of a helium pump accompanying this) so he was standing in front of the human and asked, “How long would that have been, exactly?” Eggman looked back over his shoulder at his computer, raising an eyebrow as he noticed for the first time just how much time it had taken for the seal to weaken. He mentally noted the numbers and digits before turning back to Discord and replying, “You probably don’t want to know.” Before Discord could inquire further, Cubot floated up between him and Eggman and started babbling, “Yeah, you probably shouldn’t ask! That’s a lot of numbers over there! I can count, but I certainly can’t count THAT high! I mean, I know the numbers, but I don’t know how to say that or if it’s a big number, but I know there are a lot of numbers on that screen! That means something, doesn’t it? I guess it does. Why else would you put a lot of numbers together? Also, you smell like mustard! Do you always smell like that or…?” Before he could finish, and before Eggman could hit him himself, Discord bent down and grabbed Cubot’s base with his hands, leaning his head down as he brought the yellow-headed robot up to his face. “Listen, lunch pail, I don’t know who or what you are, but you’d better shut it before I cram an apple in you! One of MY apples!” he growled. As he was speaking, a cotton candy cloud floated over to Discord’s side and, as he finished, lightning shot out of it at Cubot, sending the robot flying out of the draconequus’ hands. Orbot looked on worriedly as Cubot hit the ground with smoke rising from him, but the robot soon jerked up, his head rotating once before stopping. He then floated up and turned around to look at Discord, saying in a fine, gentlemanly voice, “I say, that was quite rude!” Orbot facepalmed and said, “Oh dear. And after all the work it took to get his voice back last time…” He then floated over towards Cubot to see if he could help him. Discord turned to look at Dr. Eggman and asked, “Is he always like that?” Eggman replied, “He’s an idiot; don’t pay attention to anything he says. If it weren’t for the fact that even his normal voice is annoying, I would be able to.” He then grunted, “If I’d had the right tools from my dimension and didn’t need to know what he was saying, I would’ve removed his voice chip before freeing you.” Discord waved his hands in front of him, “Whoa, back up! What’s all this dimension talk about?” Eggman cleared his throat, “Ah, yes, I’m sorry. I’m sure the reason you don’t know what humans are is because, according to all the records I could find, and I do mean ALL of them, we don’t exist in Equestria. We exist in a different world!” Discord placed his lion paw on his chin, “A different world? Hm, didn’t Celestia…?” Eggman spoke up, “But that’s not important! The important thing is my earlier proposal! Do you want to be a part of my scheme or not?” Discord looked down at him, “Well, I certainly want to do something OTHER than stand around as a statue all day! But what scheme are you referring to, exactly?” He pointed at the Time Eater with his eagle talon thumb, “And that thing? What’s it for?” Eggman looked at Discord for a moment before saying, “Discord, if we’re going to work together, we need to come to an understanding. Therefore, let me show you exactly why I need the Time Eater and your help.” He turned and started walking towards his computer, “Follow me.” Discord stared after him for a moment before walking after him, Eggman reaching the computer first and quickly closing the window showing the number of years before Discord could see it. He then began typing on the keyboard, Discord standing behind him and watching for a moment before floating to his side and asking, “What are you doing?” Eggman replied, “Just a second. You have your enemies in the form of the princesses and the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Let me show you mine.” He continued typing until he brought his index finger down on one last button and looked at the screen in front of him. Discord followed his gaze to see a window had opened up on the screen, the window changing after a second to show a full body picture of a blue hedgehog wearing red shoes with white stripes and white gloves and socks that stood on two legs and had hands. He had his left hand on his hip and was holding his right thumb up off to his side, his facial expression clearly showing his confidence. “Who’s that?” Discord asked. Eggman growled, “His name is Sonic, Discord, Sonic the Hedgehog. He’s my nemesis, my enemy number one.” Discord chuckled and smirked at Eggman, “Your enemy, huh? Yeah, he sure looks scary.” Eggman turned to him and pointed his right finger up at him, “Oh, a wise guy, eh? Yes! I could tell you all about him and why he’s such a thorn in my side, but just like I would have a hard time believing you if you told me things about the Elements of Harmony, their current bearers, and the princesses, you wouldn’t believe me until you actually saw any of it for yourself! The point is that he’s MY equivalent of all those things! Much like you, I have brilliant plans of my own, and they’re always being ruined by him and his perky little friends!” Eggman used his left hand to press a button on his keyboard and the image of Sonic changed to a group shot of him and everyone he knew. Discord grunted; he hadn’t expected this hedgehog to know so many people, but he still didn’t see the problem. “Okay, so what’s the big deal?” he wondered. Eggman answered, “The big deal is, I’ve been trying for a long time to do something about the way things are done in my world. I have big plans for my new empire, but Sonic is there to ruin things every time! He gets to be a hero while I’m branded a madman, a lunatic, something I’m sure Princess Celestia has done to you!” Discord’s expression darkened at that. “Indeed she has. She and her ‘precious’ little sister discovered the Elements of Harmony a thousand years back and ruined all my fun! And then she and her sister have the gall to become rulers and start preaching about the ‘horrors’ of chaos! I was pleased when I heard little Luna fell to her fears and became Nightmare Moon. A thousand years ruling alone… she deserved that.” Eggman thrust his arms out, “Exactly! We’ve both been ruined and labeled fanatics by those who can’t see how brilliant we are! Well, it’s high time that changed, and with the Time Eater’s power, we can make it happen!” Discord looked down at him, “How?” Eggman explained, “When I breached the dimensional barrier and ended up here in Equestria, I was trying to use the Time Eater to travel into the past. Unfortunately, there were some… difficulties. It got scrambled up and went out of control! It did travel across time and space, but not in the way I wanted it to!” He pointed at Discord, “That’s where you come in, Discord. I’ve read about your powerful chaos magic and what it can do. Not only can you manipulate others, you can control them as you see fit.” Discord chuckled, “Well, I suppose I am a bit famous for it. Anyway, go on.” Eggman continued, “I used what little control I had over the Time Eater to get you here and free you because I thought your power could help me. But I didn’t just do it for my benefit, oh no! If you agree to help me, I’ll help you too!” Discord waved his lion paw in a circle while saying, “I’m listening…” Eggman explained, “My scheme is to go back in time and take control of it, thus erasing all of my previous defeats. Now that our worlds have become connected in a way, the same can be done for you. We could travel back in time and make sure that Twilight Sparkle and her fellow Elements are unable to seal you back into stone. Or better yet, we could travel back a thousand years and make sure you were never sealed into stone to begin with! We could distract Celestia and Luna so they can’t use the Elements of Harmony, or we could simply destroy the Elements altogether; it doesn’t matter! The point is we’ll be able to change whatever we want and make Equestria yours forever! Help me control the Time Eater, Discord, and I’ll make sure you get what’s rightfully yours.” Discord grinned widely, “Doc, I gotta hand it you, you have a way with words.” He then leaned down so his head was closer to Eggman’s and said, “Although I can’t help but wonder if there’s a catch to all of this.” Eggman replied, “Oh, there’s no catch, absolutely no catch at all! All I ask is that, once we’re done reshaping history to our liking, you give me an untouched patch of your new Equestria to establish my empire in.” Discord opened his mouth to protest, but Eggman held up his left hand and continued, “In exchange, I will give you an equally-sized patch of my world that you will be free to spread your chaos in. Both of our new worlds will be established by us working together, and they will be maintained that way. When faced with the combination of my genius and your chaos, no one would ever dare oppose us! We’ll establish our own place in history and ride it all the way to the future!” He lowered his left hand as he finished speaking, waiting for Discord’s response. Discord thought for a moment before smirking down at Eggman, “You drive a hard bargain, Eggy, but I think I can get over it.” He raised his lion paw hand while Eggman raised his right hand, both of them coming together and shaking to make their partnership official. Once they were done, Discord asked, “So when do we begin?” Eggman’s glasses glinted for a moment, “Immediately.” ________________________________________ After the Time Eater’s first story appearances Discord laughed as he lay on his back, his long body spread out across his favorite couch. “Oh, that was so much fun, Eggy! The looks of fear and their panicking when they saw the Time Eater… priceless! And I have to admit, I enjoyed smacking down Rainbow Dash and that blue hedgehog! Such a rush…!” he exclaimed. Eggman, who was standing over at his computer, replied, “Yes, I’m rather satisfied with our success so far as well, Discord. But there’s still more to do!” He turned to look at Discord and, while pointing at his screen with his left hand, said, “Ponyville and the site of that little Sonic Shuffle aren’t the only places that have been hit by the Time Eater’s power. Both time and space have essentially been warped across both worlds. Right now, we could open up a portal to any location in either world at any point in time, so come over here and help me pick spots to drop our guests off.” While Discord snapped his fingers, causing his couch to come to life and begin dragging itself across the floor, Orbot floated up next to Eggman and asked, “Boss, if you’ve ruined time and space in both worlds, why does it appear as though this castle has been unaffected?” Eggman looked down at him and replied, “Oh, it HAS been affected. I just had the Time Eater close it off in its own little pocket zone. As long as we’re here, there’s no way they’ll ever find us.” Orbot nodded in understanding. Discord’s couch came to a stop next to Eggman, the draconequus resting his lion paw arm on the back of it and looking over at the doctor. “In that case, would you mind terribly if I spruced the old place up a bit? I suppose it’s no surprise since Celestia and Luna abandoned it, but I must say, it’s severely lacking in decor,” he commented. Eggman eyed him for a second before answering, “Very well. Once I’m done here, you may use your chaos to ‘liven’ the place up a bit.” He then quickly pointed at his ally, “But no polka dots! And keep your chaos off of my stuff!” Discord chuckled and said, “Very well. So which statue is first?” Before Eggman could reply, Orbot crossed his arms and commented, “What an odd thing to say.” When he noticed Eggman and Discord were looking down at him questioningly, he uncrossed his arms and explained, “The Time Eater caused everyone it captured to be turned to stone; like you said, they’re statues. However, I noticed, in the Boss’ records, you claimed you didn’t turn ponies into stone. Doesn’t that make you a hypocrite in a sense?” Discord held up his eagle talon and channeled his magic into it to drag Orbot over to him. While holding the red-headed robot in his talon, he replied, “Hm, me turning ponies to stone… That would be an interesting thought to consider save for one thing.” He pointed his lion paw thumb at the Time Eater, which had all the electronics removed from it and was now sitting quietly in a corner, “That marvelous creation did the stone-turning, not yours truly. All I did was make the Time Eater behave and help your boss capture those ponies and the other creatures. Therefore, I’d say I didn’t personally turn anyone into stone.” Orbot replied, “Well yes, I suppose that’s true. But…” Discord interrupted him, “I didn’t turn anyone into stone! The Time Eater did! Now why don’t you go help your buddy with his speech problem, hm? Or would you like to find out if you can do the same thing?” Orbot took the hint and quickly leapt out of Discord’s talon and shot away from him. While watching, the draconequus commented, “He’s got quite a mouth on him.” Eggman, who had turned back to his computer during the exchange, replied offhandedly, “Yes, I’ve had to be reminded of that multiple times.” He looked up a few seconds later and said, “There. I believe I have a full map of this world, including all the places affected by the Time Eater.” Discord looked over at him, “Oh? Give me a few names.” Eggman held his right hand to his chin, “Well, there’s Canterlot, obviously. Most of the sky spots, including Cloudsdale, were hit, as was Manehattan. It looks like the Crystal Empire is being protected by some kind of force field that’s keeping the Time Eater’s power at bay, though. Guess we’ll have to pop in and let them know that they can’t hide from this!” Discord smirked, “You mean like how we popped in on the Elements of Harmony, completely bypassing that silly spell Celestia placed on that tower to keep me out? That was great!” He reached down with his eagle talon and then brought it back up, now holding an orange apple-shaped necklace in it. “And to top it off, I get to hang onto honest little Applejack’s necklace while the rest are scattered who knows where across time and space!” he grinned. Eggman nodded, “Exactly! As long as we hold onto one of the Elements of Harmony, it doesn’t matter if those fools manage to reunite and start looking into what happened. They’ll never be able to get them all back now!” Discord asked, “Speaking of which, do you know if the Time Eater is able to grab things without turning them white or into stone, or is that the only way it works?” Eggman thought for a moment about what his analysis of the Time Eater had revealed before answering, “I believe it can extract others without changing them. Turning them to stone is better in this instance because it means it’s easier to keep an eye on all of them. Why?” Discord replied, “Oh, I was just thinking it would be fun to scoop up Celestia and have her get out of that castle of hers for a change. She could really use the exercise, her and her fat flank.” Eggman held his left hand to his chin as he thought about this idea. “You know, that’s not a bad idea! We could find and grab some old faces from both worlds, throw them in the mix, and see what happens! And not just allies either; I’m sure we can track down some old foes and rivals as well to make it more fun!” Discord sat up and clapped his ‘hands’, “Ah, excellent! I’m certain those three fillies that got into an argument just before I was freed last time are related to Twilight Sparkle’s friends in some way; let’s get them and any other family members involved in this! And I remember feeling some kind of powerful blast going through Canterlot one time. Do you know anything about that?” Eggman looked at him and replied, “You’re probably thinking of the blast that Shining Armor and Princess Cadance created to expel the changelings from Canterlot.” Turning back to his computer, he said, “At any rate, I’ll set the computer to start searching for anyone, pony or otherwise, that are related to our guests of honor or anyone else they’ve met that we can use. I, meanwhile, will start searching for something from my world that will no doubt help us immensely, especially if Sonic doesn’t get his dirty hands on it first.” Discord looked at him, “What might that be?” Eggman replied, “Patience, my mismatched friend. It’ll be easier to show it to you rather than trying to explain it.” He started typing on his keyboard, “For now, I’ve decided on three locations to drop off six of our guests in, two for each. The rest I haven’t decided on yet, but this will be enough for our dear speedsters to begin the games with.” While Eggman kept typing, warming up the Time Eater, Discord grinned as he eyed two screens on the large computer. One showed a rainbow-maned pegasus in a grassy area and the other showed a blue hedgehog in a completely white area. Both appeared to be unconscious, but it was a safe bet that they would start to regain consciousness soon. “Twists and turns, it’s all part of our plan. To get through it all, you’ll all have to go as fast as you can.” ________________________________________ After Ice Cap Discord chuckled to himself, the draconequus sitting on his couch on the side of the chamber opposite Eggman’s computers. He had a glass of chocolate milk in his lion paw hand and was sipping the glass as he looked at the TV he had created in front of him. “Ah, that Amy Rose certainly has her thorns. Who would’ve thought that,” he mused to himself. Orbot and Cubot hopped up onto the couch and opened up next to him, Orbot asking, “What’s on the television? Did Sonic upset Amy again?” Discord replied, “No, Twilight Sparkle’s little dragon assistant did. She’s just mad at Sonic because he’s protecting the little baby.” He finished his glass and threw the chocolate milk over the back of his couch, the milk exploding when it hit the floor, and held his hand lion paw hand to his chin while his eagle talon was already getting a new glass from a cotton candy cloud, “I’m a bit surprised, actually. Is she often this angry?” Orbot replied, “I believe she mellowed out for a while, but then she seemingly got obsessed with Sonic all over again and it’s given her a short fuse, so to speak. Sonic did try to go on a date with her a few times, but from what I can tell, he’s really been avoiding her lately. I don’t fault him.” Discord nodded before placing his lion paw arm on the back of the couch and holding his glass of chocolate milk in front of him. Cubot asked in a Jamaican accent, “Hey mon, can’t you do something about that womon? Can’t you use your fancy magic and make her the opposite of who she is? She might be a little nicer that way.” Discord replied, “Honestly, I don’t think that would happen. I’m actually worried about what would happen if I did mess with her. Pinkie Pie may have been wild while she was normal, but she never got quite that angry, even when I did wrap her up in my magic.” Cubot whined, “Aw, come on, mon! You’ve done everything else so far! You got cows dancing around downstairs, the walls and floors don’t match, and you keep making the sky change color! Do the mind thingy! You said you’re famous for it, right?” Discord, now a bit annoyed by the yellow robot, replied, “Okay box head, I’ll tell you what.” He closed his lion paw into a fist and held it over Cubot’s head, “I’ll give your personality a switch!” With that, he slammed his fist down on top of the robot’s head, his eyes closing for a moment when it came back up before they opened again and he stared blankly for a second. Then he spoke in a familiar accent, “Arrr, you’re gonna regret that, ye Leviathan! No beast has tangled with this ‘bot and lived to tell the tale! Mark my words, I’ll have ye keelhauled!” He then turned and shot off the couch, quickly exiting the chamber. Discord chuckled to himself at Cubot’s ‘mood swing’ while Orbot facepalmed. “I could’ve sworn I removed that chip from him…” he groaned. “Oh, relax. You know Egghead’s opinion of him isn’t going to change if he catches him acting like a pirate,” Discord said, waving his lion paw and bringing his chocolate milk up to his lips. “I heard that, Discord,” Eggman’s voice suddenly spoke, causing Discord to lose his grip on his milk and send it falling to the floor, where it promptly exploded while splattering drops of glass on the draconequus. Discord growled and both he and Orbot turned their heads to look at Eggman, the scientist walking over to their couch with his hands behind his back. “This better be important. Not only am I missing some good chaos, but I just wasted a chaotically good chocolate milk!” he exclaimed. Behind his glasses, Eggman rolled his eyes, “Oh, like you could ever run out of chocolate milk, Discord.” He came to a stop right behind the couch while Discord continued to look at him angrily. Ignoring the glare he was receiving, Eggman turned to Orbot and asked, “So tell me, Orbot, did Sonic and his new pony friends make it through the frigid Ice Cap and rescue Knuckles and Applejack?” The red robot replied, “I’m sure you know the answer already, but yes, yes they did.” Eggman smiled, “Good! I’ve sent a few old friends to hopefully break up their little party for the time being, so I believe it’s time to have a little fun of our own with the rest of them.” Discord’s expression lightened a bit at that, “What kind of fun?” Eggman looked at him, “I was thinking we could give those ponies a shock by reintroducing them to someone from their past. Someone they thought was long gone.” Discord raised an eyebrow, “You mean me?” Eggman replied, “Yes and no. I was thinking more along the lines of, oh… the Mare in the Moon!” Discord’s eyes brightened, “Oh, you want to bring Luna into this too, huh? Watching Twilight and her friends get attacked by their ‘princess’ and ‘friend’ who has once again fallen to darkness… sounds deliciously chaotic! Are you bringing Nightmare Moon here now so I can ‘convince’ her to help?” Eggman deadpanned, “No. You need to get off that couch and do something other than enjoy yourself, Discord. That’s why YOU will be playing the role of Nightmare Moon… but they won’t know that!” Discord’s eyes widened and then narrowed in seconds at this, “Whoa, whoa, whoa! I agreed to help you with your little scheme! You never said anything about me having to change into a girl!” Orbot looked up at him, “That seems like a rather unusual thing to do. Are you saying you can’t do it?” Discord stood up from the couch and placed his hands on his hips as he glared down at the robot, “Of course I can do it! I can do anything I want!” Orbot pressed, “So why are you not agreeing to it?” Discord answered, “You said it yourself! It’s unusual, but not chaotic! My magic works better if what I’m turning into is more than ‘unusual’!” He raised his lion paw and snapped his fingers, a flash obscuring him from view. When it cleared, Discord was dressed like an elderly woman, wearing a pair of glasses on the end of his nose, lipstick, a purple shower cap with yellow polka dots that had white hair sticking out from under it, and a bracelet on his eagle talon. He spoke, “This is chaotic!” He snapped his fingers again and, after another flash, he changed his appearance to look like the original Nightmare Moon, “This, however, isn’t just unusual and child’s play, but also normal! And that REALLY puts a drain on me!” Eggman spoke, “I had a feeling it might. That’s why what I was looking for will help you immensely!” He brought his hands out from behind his back, revealing a bright, shiny emerald in his right hand. Discord eyed it with his now-equine eyes suspiciously, “An emerald? That’s what you were looking for? It looks nice, I’ll give you that, but that’s the big thing you were trying to find?” Orbot spoke, “Why, that’s no ordinary emerald! That’s one of the seven Chaos Emeralds!” Discord looked surprised at that, “Wait, CHAOS Emerald? Wha… HUH?!” Eggman smiled, satisfied at Discord’s reaction. “Ah, that’s right. I was so eager to get right to the plan that I didn’t tell you about the Chaos Emeralds. They don’t just ‘look nice’ as you said; they’re also quite powerful! That power is creating that glow you’re seeing.” Discord held his right hoof up to his chin, “Really?” Eggman replied, “Feel for yourself!” He tossed the emerald to Discord, who caught it in his right hoof. The temporary alicorn’s eyes soon widened a bit. Eggman smiled, “Can you feel the power?” Discord deadpanned, “Oh. I can feel it. I might be able to pose as Nightmare Moon after all.” Eggman nodded, “As I thought. Now imagine if you had six other emeralds that had the same amount of power you’re feeling now. Think of the chaos you could cause with that kind of power!” Discord replied after a moment, “I think I already have enough power on my side to be able to cause any kind of chaos imaginable already, doctor.” Eggman shrugged, “Well, fine then, you don’t have to use them. But you see now, don’t you? Why we have to keep those emeralds away from Sonic and the ponies? It wouldn’t be good for us if they were to gather all seven! So take that one with you to help maintain your disguise and introduce its power to your old pony ‘friends’! Let them know what will happen if they decide to actually cross us!” Discord replied, “An excellent idea, doctor! It will be…” He cleared his throat and started again, now speaking in Luna/Nightmare Moon’s voice, “It will be their worst nightmares brought to life!” Eggman smiled, “The Time Eater is all set to take you to your destination, ‘Nightmare Moon’. They’re all yours; happy haunting!” Discord flew over to the Time Eater, the beast opening a portal for him that closed shortly after he flew into it. A few seconds after the draconequus had left, Orbot asked, “Boss, are you sure it was a good idea to give him that Chaos Emerald? He is the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony, after all.” Eggman replied, “Oh, don’t worry about him. For having such a big title and ruling Equestria prior to Celestia and Luna, it seems like he’s mostly out to amuse himself, and he amuses fairly easy. What he’s done with this castle so far appears to be what he mostly does; at least it’s all he was ever really shown doing when I looked into the past. He might be able to turn his chaos into attacks, but he’s still a clown. If he ever had to go up against someone like Shadow, I have a feeling he wouldn’t last long.” He looked over at Orbot and asked, “By the way, where’s that Element of Honesty necklace Discord was holding onto?” Orbot shrugged, “I don’t know. As far as I know, he still has it.” Eggman looked at him for a moment before replying, “Well, it’s no big deal if he does, I’m sure. As long as he holds onto it, that is.” He turned and started walking towards his computer while saying, “Anyway, I’ve got to be ready for my cue when Sonic shows up, and then there’s a certain magician that’s been hanging around Ponyville lately that I would like to invite over.”