As the creature’s gray head and goat and deer antlers were revealed, it swung its head down to look all of them, opening its now gold and red eyes as it pointed down at them with its left hand, an eagle talon, and cheekily grinned in a distinctly masculine voice, “The looks on your faces! Priceless!” He snapped the fingers on his right hand, now revealed to be a lion’s paw, causing a hand mirror to appear in it. Despite its appearance, this wasn’t exactly your average mirror. Somehow, it allowed whoever was behind it to see the reflection on the other side. The creature pointed it at Pinkie, who had a grin on her face as she seemed to realize it was another ‘scaring is fun’ moment, and said, “Except for you.” He then pointed it at Sonic, “And you.” Once the transformation had finished, the blue hedgehog’s face had been quick to change to a look that screamed “We are NOT amused”.
Celestia was the first to close her mouth and speak, “Discord?! But how?! This is impossible!”
The draconequus put on a hurt look, swooning like Rarity as he asked, “Oh Celestia, must you be so crude? An anniversary just came and went, you know. You can’t even start with a “Hey, Discord! How’ve ya been? Gosh, it’s been so long!”?” He then quickly straightened up, grinning down at her, “And really, why must you ask questions you already know the answer to?” He snapped his eagle talon fingers, winking out of existence and reappearing next to the Sun Princess.
He twisted his neck around so that his face was right in front of Celestia’s, “Have the past one thousand years really not been kind to you? Is it that hard to remember everything leading up to our battle near the Forest of Leota?” Luna was about to lunge at him, but again he snapped his fingers and vanished, reappearing in front of the group as Mephiles. He spoke, his voice altered to sound like the pale lookalike, “Look with your eyes, Celestia. What you’re seeing is really happening, the real deal. So let me remind you…” he raised his left hand and snapped his fingers, quickly turning back into his regular draconequus self and snaking his way amongst the group. He ended up with his lion paw arm wrapped around Sonic’s right shoulder, his mirror once again being held in his paw, and his face right in front of Tails’ face as he finished in his regular voice, “I am the master of impossibilities.”
Twilight found her voice after a moment, “But the statue garden…! Your statue was there, Discord!”
The draconequus craned his neck, arching over Sonic and Rainbow’s heads as he looked the lavender unicorn in the eyes, his head upside-down. He smiled, “Ah, yes, you did see that, didn’t you? Quite convincing, wasn’t it? Almost as handsome as the real deal! But alas, my dear, it was only a fake.” He snapped his fingers and reappeared in front of the group, holding his mirror up in front of him and allowing everyone to see his admiring himself through the back of it. “You know, your blue friend was right, Twilight. A statue is no match for seeing the real thing. It’s just not the same,” he said.
He flicked his mirror over his shoulder, the framed reflective surface hitting the ground and giving off a sound from a bagpipe as it disappeared before he looked back at the group, “Still, I suppose you all have questions, and there happens to be a funny story behind all this. So if it’s an explanation you want,” he snapped his fingers, disappearing and reappearing in a relaxing position in the Eggmobile underneath Eggman’s, a glass of chocolate milk in his eagle talon while his lion paw arm rested on top of Cubot like he was an armrest, “I’m sure the gentleman genius Dr. Eggman would be happy to give you one.”
The bad doctor smiled down at the draconequus, “It would be my pleasure, most excellent and random Discord.” He raised his right hand and snapped his fingers; in response, the creature brought all four of its hands close together, a black cloud beginning to form in the middle between them. After a few moments, the cloud faded away, leaving a TV-like gray-framed screen floating in its place. The creature then moved its arms away, letting them hang in the air while the screen turned on, displaying an image of Eggman’s Incredible Interstellar Amusement Park being destroyed as a black hole formed between the Tropical Resort and the track for the Ultra-Accelerating Space Elevator.
Tails gasped, “That’s…!”
Eggman nodded, “Yes, of course you know what that is, Tails. Even back on the planet, you surely had a good view as my amusement park imploded due to that black hole.” The image on the screen started changing as he went on, “Following that… little setback, I stumbled upon the primordial form of this unique creation. Which I discovered had amazing abilities neither Discord nor I have yet been able to master: it could erase time and space! I then had the brilliant idea to tame this beast and harness its power to control all of time and space!” The enthusiasm on his face seemed to die down for a moment as he said, “Unfortunately, it proved to be more than a little unstable when I tried to take control of it.” He then smirked, “But I’m sure your pony friends remember that!”
Sonic looked over at Rainbow, Twilight, and Pinkie while Tails turned his head to look at Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy, the former raising an eyebrow, “What’s he talking about?”
Rainbow glanced at him as she said, “Hay if I know! He’s talking crazy! We’ve never seen him or his monster until today! I know I’d remember them if we had!”
Eggman simply smirked, “I suppose I should be hurt by that, but to be honest, hearing that isn’t all that surprising, Rainbow Dash.” He waggled his fingers for emphasis as he went on, “What with all your ‘rocking’ and ‘sliding’, you tend to forget a lot of things!”
Rainbow glared up at him, “And what’s THAT supposed to mean?!” While she was speaking, Twilight looked down at the ground in thought. As soon as Eggman had mentioned remembering something, her brain had switched over to supercomputer mode, processing everything she’d just heard. From what she could tell, Eggman and his creature had somehow gotten mixed up with them at some point without their realizing it, yet he made it sound like they should already have known about his presence. Add in the insult he’d thrown at Rainbow and carry the recent events in Ponyville…
Twilight’s eyes went wide and her mouth hung open. Suddenly, all the pieces fit together.
She looked up at Eggman, pointing a hoof up at him as she said, “It was you! You caused the rockslides that day, Dr. Eggman!” Her friends and brother looked at her in confusion while Sonic, Tails, and the princesses looked at her curiously.
Before any of them could ask the question they were all thinking, Eggman caught everyone’s attention by applauding. As he finished, he spoke, “Very good, Twilight Sparkle! You figured it out! It took you over a week to do it, but hey, you still got it!”
Applejack looked up at him with a raised eyebrow, “Wait, what are y’all talkin’ about? Ah don’t get it!”
Eggman just grinned, “Well, of course YOU don’t, Applejack! You’re a country hick; I would be impressed if you could count to ten properly!”
The orange earth pony growled, “Ooh…! Why, you bloated - !” She was cut off when the creature’s lower left claw came dangerously close and flashed threateningly at her.
Eggman waggled his index finger at her, “Ah, ah, ah! It doesn’t look like my beloved Time Eater likes you getting smart with me! I’d watch that mouth of yours if I were you, cowpony, or you might find out what it’s like not having one!” Applejack backed off at that, though she still glared angrily up at the doctor as he continued, “Yes, Twilight is absolutely correct. I can assure you, it was by complete accident that Equestria happened to get involved in my plans as well, although it’s a very nice accident if I do say so myself!” He snapped his fingers, the image of deep space on the floating screen changing to one showing a vortex in the sky above Equestria, the Time Eater heading for the mountain that the group had climbed up not that long ago. “You see, when I tried to use the Time Eater to travel to the past, it got a bit… shall we say, rowdy and ripped the universe a new time-space hole! And wouldn’t you know it, it sent me to Equestria! Most unexpected, but a pleasant surprise all the same!”
Underneath Discord’s arm, Cubot groaned, “No, no, and no again! Our arrival ‘ere was not pleasant at all!”
Beside him, Orbot nodded, “Oh, absolutely.” He looked up at Eggman, “Boss, would it have killed you to install airbags into your Eggmobile in case of emergency mountain crashes?”
Eggman leaned over the side of his Eggmobile to look down at him, “Oh, quit your whining already, you big babies! At least we hit a pile of dirt on the way down!”
Tails’ eyes widened as he caught onto what they were talking about, remembering the indentation on the side of the mountain. “That’s why the readings on my radar looked familiar! They weren’t exactly the same, but they resembled the readings I got when that thing flew over Sweet Apple Acres!” he said.
Eggman stood up straight and nodded, “Correct! I’m amazed you were able to get a reading at all, Tails; that mark is over a week old!” He then said, “At any rate, I was able to get the Time Eater back under control and hide it inside the cave further up from our landing site. Since it was occupied by a dragon at one point, I didn’t have to do any remodeling to get it inside, but then I remembered the explosion that happened when we landed. Surely someone must have heard that; I had to be ready in case anyone came to investigate. It’s a good thing I did, too, because I eventually saw six ponies coming up the mountain that were, as it turns out, snooping as usual!”
Pinkie piped up, “Ooh! Who were they?!”
Eggman glared down at her for a moment before deciding to ignore her and continue with his explanation, “Anyway, by the time you six girls showed up, I was already ready. That crash ended up knocking loose the rocks that undoubtedly sent you up the mountain to investigate in the first place. I was able to use what little control over the Time Eater I had to make it look like the mountain was beginning to fall apart on the inside and part of it was beginning to collapse! It worked like a charm; once you ponies believed you had stopped the ‘rockslides’, you turned around so close to the summit and headed home, convinced you had ‘fixed’ the problem. All except for one…”
Twilight started to glare up at him at that, the doctor noticing and grinning, “Yes, Twilight Sparkle was the only one who seemed to give that little incident a second thought! Oh sure, at the time, she thought the same thing as the rest of you, but even then, as I watched you all leave through one of my cameras, I could tell she was not one hundred percent convinced that it was simply an unusual occurrence of rockslides! No doubt her silent misgivings only grew when you all returned home to Ponyville; someone must’ve told her about the initial explosion, spurring her to climb back up the mountain and investigate!”
Twilight’s expression slowly began to change from a glare to a worried look as Eggman went on, “Of course, by the time she came back up, my Time Eater, flunkies, and I were long gone by then, with no evidence to suggest that we were there! We made sure to gather up everything before we left, unlike a certain draconequus.” He looked down meaningfully at his ally as he said that, Discord rolling his eyes and giving him a dismissive wave with his lion paw before reaching underneath the panel of his Eggmobile with his paw and pulling a cotton candy cloud out from under it, moving it off to the side and turning the empty chocolate milk in his eagle talon into a glass before holding it under the cloud, filling it from the top-down with the cloud’s chocolate milk rain.
Eggman shook his head and then said, “Anyway, since she had no solid evidence to confirm or refute her suspicions, I’m sure your little bookworm friend turned to her library for help, to see if any of her books could help her! After all, she couldn’t go to her friends when all she had were suspicions!”
Rainbow retorted, “Hey! If she’d said something was up, we would’ve believed her!”
Eggman began to laugh raucously at that, ignoring the looks he was getting. He caught himself before somebody could ask him what was so funny and grinned, “Why, of course you would have!” Going back to his usual confident smile, he went on, “But let me remind you, she was only suspicious; at the time, not even Twilight was fully convinced something was wrong. Surely she had to know for sure that you actually had a problem on your hooves before she told anybody. There was no point in telling her friends if there wasn’t actually a problem, so what else could she do? I’m sure the only real option available to her was to do research, though I’m sure none of you noticed.” He grinned down at Spike, “You’re probably the only one who knew what she was really trying to find in all of those books she was reading, eh Spikey-Wikey?”
Everyone looked at Spike at that, Twilight turning her head slightly and moving her eyes to look at him. The baby dragon nervously scratched the side of his head, “Uh… sorry for thinking you were wasting your time researching something pointless, Twilight?”
The lavender unicorn sighed, “It’s all right, Spike. He’s right; there was no proof up there other than the indentation to indicate something strange had happened. Dr. Eggman got away clean.”
Eggman chuckled, “Yes, I did for a change, didn’t I?”
Discord laughed, “Ah, ha, ha, ha! Oh, that’s brilliant, Robbie! I didn’t think anyone else would be able to figure Twilight out that quickly!”
Eggman yelled down at him, "Hey, cut that out! I told you, my name is Dr. Eggman! No one calls me by my grandfather's name anymore!"
Discord shrugged, "Some people might…" He looked towards the screen and winked at the reader.
Luna yelled, “Still your tongue, Discord! How are you free?! And why are you working with this… madman?!”
Discord gave a heavy sigh, “You just can’t be happy simply being in my presence again, can you, Luna?” He held up his glass of chocolate milk, drank the glass, and threw the chocolate milk away. It landed behind the group, exploding as soon as it hit the ground and catching a few of them by surprise.
“What does he put in that stuff, nitroglycerine?” Sonic wondered.
Before he could ask, Eggman spoke, “Thank you, Discord. It seems I have gotten a bit off-track.” He cleared his throat and snapped his fingers, his screen floating down out of everyone’s view, before he continued, “After I managed to find a new hiding place, it became apparent that the Time Eater was not quite perfect yet. I suppose I could’ve taken my time and worked on it myself… but I decided, why wait? Not to mention it would be difficult to rule over two worlds at once, so I did some research of my own on Equestria’s history, specifically looking for someone who could help me. It didn’t take me long to settle on Discord, and so I took to the field to continue my research. It took a while to get all the variables accounted for and a few modifications made, but it was all worth it. After all, I knew if anyone in Equestria was smart enough, powerful enough, and willing enough to help me…” He gestured down at Discord, “it would be the Spirit of Chaos himself!”
The draconequus chuckled, finally taking his lion paw arm off of Cubot and snapping his eagle talon to send his cotton candy cloud away as he spoke, “Oh, you are too kind, dear doctor! And your plan was so intriguing and so deliciously chaotic that I was happy to be a part of it!” He slapped his lion paw down on top of the Eggmobile’s console as he added, “Keeping this little chaotic wonder of yours under control is hardly a drain for me, anyway!”
Eggman nodded and then said, “Of course, there was still the matter of making sure nobody could stop us, be it Sonic or those ‘Element Bearers’ that Discord told me about. So we captured your friends, flinging them through time to bait our traps.”
Discord spoke, “I personally object to that term, but whatever. At any rate, I figured it would be amusing to watch you all stumble your way through that white world as well. Turns out you all had to be such killjoys since you managed to find your way without too much trouble, but it was still amusing to watch you all go through those trials of the past.”
Tails spoke up, “Is this all just a game to you two? It’s bad enough that thing ripped through to another universe, but the more it goes tearing through time, the more damage you do to both of our worlds!” Sonic and some of the others nodded in agreement.
Eggman replied, “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that, Tails. After all, you and your friends aren’t going to be around long enough to see the glorious changes Discord and I have in store for both the ponies’ world and our world!” He then put his hands on his hips and laughed uproariously, “HO HO HO HO HOO HOO HOO HOO HO- *cough*, *cough*- HOO HOO HOO HOO HOO!!!”
While he was laughing, Discord, Orbot, and Cubot all looked up at him, one of Discord’s eyebrows rising as his mouth pulled into a disapproving frown (like Mr. Spock!). He then looked down at Cubot and Orbot and said, “Wow. This guy has some issues, doesn’t he?”
Before either of them could answer, Eggman looked down over the side of his Eggmobile and grinned down at the draconequus with a chuckle. “We’ll see who has issues after I’ve taken care of both Sonic and the Bearers of Harmony… FOREVER!” he finished in a menacing tone.
“HEY! That’s my line!” Pinkie exclaimed.
Both Discord and Eggman ignored her, the former asking, “Don’t you mean after WE take care of them? Let me remind you, doctor, that it’s my magic that’s keeping your Time Eater pet here under control.”
Eggman glared down at him, “Yes, yes, of course. Now let’s stop making sense and start causing more chaos.” He then pulled his head back and stood up straight.
Sonic scratched the side of his head as he asked, “Take care of us? You and what mustache?” He then started pointing with his right index finger and thumb as he said, “Tails and I are constantly beating you all the time, Doc, and two of Equestria’s princesses and these awesome six mares have each turned ‘everything-but-the-kitchen-sink’ over there into stone. And now we’re working together!” Discord looked a bit miffed at what Sonic had called him (how dare he suggest the master of impossibilities would forget something like the kitchen sink!) while the ponies smiled at him, Rainbow Dash doing a flip and Pinkie Pie doing a few bounces in place.
Eggman rubbed his hands together as he spoke, “Then you’re going to LOVE what we have in store for you!” He then flopped down into his seat, the protective coverings on the Time Eater sliding up and hiding him, Discord, Cubot, and Orbot from view. The Time Eater then brought all four hands together, forming a purplish-black sphere between them while everyone tensed up, waiting to see what it was going to do.
After a second, the Time Eater thrust its hands out, firing purplish-black spheres in multiple directions! The group immediately split up, Sonic, Tails, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy breaking to the left, Rainbow, Twilight, Pinkie, Shining, and Cadance running to the right, and Celestia and Luna flying up and back, all of them getting out of the way as a sphere hit where they had all been standing a moment ago.
As they all ran, the Time Eater kept firing spheres at them, hitting the ground at everyone’s sides and leaving purple marks that faded away a few seconds later. They all came close, but none of them hit; however, that could be mainly due to the fact that everybody was moving. “Oh my goodness, oh my goodness!” Fluttershy squeaked as she flapped her wings, flying just above the ground as she tried to stay close to her friends.
Applejack glanced over at her and said, “Don’t panic, Fluttershy! Just stay focused on what’s goin’ on around you!”
Sonic nodded, “Yeah!” He looked over at the others for a second and called, “Keep moving! Don’t make it easy for them!” As they ran, flew, and bounced around the spheres, Twilight (plus Spike), Shining, Cadance, Rainbow, and Pinkie nodded at him before facing forward again.
“Move all you want! It won’t make any difference in the end!” Eggman taunted.
Ducking under another sphere with a yelp, Spike looked at Twilight and asked, “Twilight, what do we do?!”
After moving to her right to avoid a sphere that landed just in front of her, Twilight said, “I don’t know, Spike! I’m not sure what to do!” She looked over at her brother as she ran alongside him and asked, “Shining, do you have any ideas?”
The white stallion replied, “I’d like to know what else that thing can do and how resistant it is, but moving is the best option right now!” As the spheres stopped coming, he called to the others, “We need to find out if that thing’s weak against anything! If we can at least stun it, we should have a chance!”
Sonic called back, “I think that can be arranged!” He looked next to him at Tails and said, “Tails!” The fox looked up at him and, after a moment nodded. A few seconds later, while everyone else turned around to move away from the Time Eater, Sonic, Tails, and Rainbow Dash kept going, Sonic and Tails planning to gauge its strength while Rainbow planned on simply attacking it.
As they came around to its front, Sonic and Tails jumped up together, joining hands and beginning to spin in a circle. After a second, they joined together to form one big blue and yellow ball, shooting towards the Time Eater. Rainbow Dash, meanwhile, was flying towards it at full speed from the other side.
As they were about to reach it, the Time Eater pulled both of its right arms back and swung them forward, its arms colliding with them and sending them all flying backwards. Sonic and Tails broke out of their combined attack as they hit the ground, both of them flopping backwards while Rainbow Dash was sent rolling backwards when she hit the ground.
“Augh!”
“Wah!”
“Whoaoaoaoaoa!”
Sonic and Tails soon came to a stop near the middle of the floor on their fronts while Celestia used her magic to grab Rainbow Dash before she could go rolling over the edge. As she and Luna descended, landing behind Sonic and Tails, Twilight and the others came running over to them, all of them shouting the trio’s names.
“Rainbow Dash! Are you quite all right?!” Rarity exclaimed, the dazed pegasus managing to give her an affirmative nod.
“Oh my goodness! Sonic, Tails, are you okay?” Fluttershy asked.
The two of them grunted as they picked themselves up, Tails, while holding his left hand against his forehead, groaning, “Ugh… I think so, Fluttershy.” Shaking his head, he looked up at the Time Eater and said, “But clearly, we’re not going to be able to beat that thing with a simple frontal assault.” He and Sonic then climbed to their feet, Sonic shaking his head to get rid of the last traces of dizziness.
Discord laughed, “Ha! Is that all you’ve got?”
Celestia set Rainbow Dash down on her hooves and spoke, “Stay back, everypony. If it’s a personal touch that Discord wants, Luna and I will be happy to give him one.” Luna nodded; they both stepped around Sonic and Tails, coming to a stop in front of them and everypony else.
Eggman mockingly cried, “Oh dear, Discord! It looks like Celestia and Luna are stepping up to the plate again, this time to take down the Time Eater! Whatever will we do?!”
Luna scowled, knowing sarcasm when she heard it. “So you doubt our combined power, human? We will see how much your wit helps you when your monster has experienced the pain and destruction that you have done to your own Moon!” she said.
“Booooooooooring!” Discord mocked.
Celestia and Luna both glared up at where Discord was, Celestia saying, “Luna, heat them up!” They stood next to each other in aggressive stances, both their horns lighting up with their magic. After a second, their horns glowed brightly as they both fired their strongest magic beams at the Time Eater. The creature made no effort to defend itself and their beams struck it right in the face. It began to glow brightly as soon as they hit, glowing a mixture of yellow and cobalt for a moment before a bright flash forced everyone to look away. Luna and Celestia smiled as they waited for their vision to clear, sure that it was defeated.
When the flash cleared, however, their smiles fell off like water on plastic. Not only was the Time Eater still in the same place it had been when they had attacked, but it didn’t look like it had been hurt at all! “But… how can this be?!” Luna cried.
“Ha! This is why you should get out more and cut down on the cakes, Celestia!” Discord laughed.
“I’m afraid I would have to agree with Discord, Celestia. While your combined attack was indeed showy, I’d say Luna’s magic beam had more of a sting compared to your tickle. Not that there was a significant difference, mind you!” Eggman said. He then smirked, “Now it’s our turn!” He pressed a button on his Eggmobile’s control console, the Time Eater raising its arms and reaching its hands out towards the group in response.
Upon seeing this, Celestia narrowed her eyes and said, “Shining Armor, your spell!” The white stallion quickly caught on and focused his magic into his horn. A second later, it glowed brightly as he fired a beam of magic straight up into the air, the magic stopping and spreading out after a moment, forming a large force field around the group. The Time Eater’s hands reached the force field just as it finished forming, its palms and claws pressing up against it but not breaking through it, pulling its arms back after a moment.
“Whoa, that was close,” Tails said.
“Yeah. Guess my shield spell is strong enough to hold that thing back,” Shining agreed.
“That’s fine and all, but it will not last forever. And you cannot keep repairing it continuously, Captain Armor,” Luna said. She turned to her sister and asked, “Celestia, what are you planning?”
Discord called, “Yeah Celestia, what good is hiding under a dinky force field going to help you do? You never seemed like the dramatic type, even during your younger days!” He grinned to himself at that, recalling thousand year-old memories.
Underneath the force field, Celestia spoke, “There will be no drama here, Discord. Shining Armor’s force field will serve its purpose well here.” She turned to look back at the others, saying, “Sonic, Tails, Spike, Shining Armor, Cadance, all of you move off to the side. You girls get into position. The Elements of Harmony will take the Time Eater down.” Everyone nodded in understanding, Twilight’s friends lining up around her while Sonic, Tails, and Spike backed away and Shining and Cadance moved off to the side. Celestia looked at the captain and said, “When I give the word, drop the force field.” Shining nodded, both of them, Cadance, and Luna turning to look up at the Time Eater beyond the force field.
As they backed up to a safe distance, Spike exclaimed, “Oh, this is gonna be awesome, you guys! I’m finally gonna see what Twilight and the others look like when they’re using the Elements of Harmony!” Sonic and Tails smiled a bit down at him before returning to mostly neutral expressions as they looked back up at the six ponies. Despite how strong the Time Eater seemed, they hoped that the Elements of Harmony would be able to do the job.
Twilight spoke, “Ready, girls?” Her five friends nodded, all of them closing their eyes and the tiara and necklaces beginning to glow as they tapped into their power. Twilight’s crown lit up with a burst of color, the others’ necklaces doing the same as the air began to rush around everyone under the force field, blowing past everyone like the wind.
Discord’s grin disappeared as he saw the Elements of Harmony lighting up, their Bearers beginning to float off the ground. “Oh, for goodness sake!” he growled, slamming his lion paw down on top of Cubot’s head and cursing the fact that he forgot about them.
Orbot looked at Cubot worriedly, but the yellow robot soon shook his head and then glared up at Discord, saying in a heavy mobster accent, “Hey, watch it, buster!”
Discord ignored him as he began tapping on the controls for his Eggmobile, but the Time Eater wouldn’t respond to his inputs. He turned and looked up at his covering, up where Eggman was, and demanded, “Eggman, why won’t this move?! We have to get through that shield!” The bad doctor only grinned, not that Discord could see it. The draconequus nearly yelled, “Have you forgotten how much I don’t like those accursed Elements?! Once they’re done charging, they’re going to use them on us, and then your little pet is finished!”
Eggman spoke, “Oh, will you relax, my chaotic companion? I’ve never seen the Elements of Harmony in action before.” He adjusted his glasses, looking at Twilight as he added, “I thought they’d charge up faster. Twilight and the others had better hurry… before they’re TARDY!”
Twilight’s eyes shot open when she heard that last word, but quickly managed to close them again and remain focused. The Rainbow of Light was almost ready, though the glow coming from her crown seemed to waver a bit…
Both Discord and Eggman noticed it, though, the former raising an eyebrow for a moment before he grinned. He then said, “Well, that’s no surprise. They’re always overprotective of each other, especially Twilight!”
Twilight gritted her teeth as she grunted. She had to stay focused…
Off to the side, Cadance asked, “What are they doing?”
Shining said, “I have no idea, Cadance… They should be trying to get past my spell. What’s wrong with them?”
The protective covering over Eggman slid back, the doctor standing up and looking down at Discord as he spoke, “Is she now? That can’t always be a good thing.” He looked up at Twilight and smirked, “That’s like being ready for a disaster you don’t know for sure is going to happen!”
Twilight placed her hooves on top of her ears, pressing down against them, trying to block out the noise…
Luna looked back at the six ponies and noticed what Twilight was doing. “Sister…” she started, trying to get Celestia’s attention. The Sun Princess shook her head; Luna looked up at her and tried again, “Sister!”
Celestia said, “Not now, Luna. The Elements of Harmony are almost finished charging. We’ll see how worthless Dr. Eggman thinks they are in a moment.”
Luna pleaded, “But sister!” Celestia shook her head again, glancing at Luna out of the corner of her eye.
On top of the Time Eater, Discord’s covering slid back and he said, “Well, that’s Twilight Sparkle for you. Always trying to stay on top of things, doing whatever Celestia says,” he twisted himself around so he was upside-down as he reached out of his Eggmobile and looked at Twilight, “always dreading the thought of failure!”
Twilight shook her head, her eyelids twitching as she pressed her hooves down harder against her ears…
Because they were behind the Main Six, Spike, Sonic, and Tails couldn’t see what Twilight was doing. “All right, they’re really gonna get it now!” Spike grinned.
Sonic and Tails, however, weren’t so sure. The Elements of Harmony were giving off a lot of concentrated energy, but it almost felt different than it did even just a moment ago. “Sonic, I think Eggman and Discord are up to something,” Tails murmured.
“I know, bud, but we can’t do anything while we’re under this force field,” Sonic grunted. “What are you two up to? You’d better not be…” He cut his thought short as the glows coming from in front of him began to intensify.
Eggman looked down at Discord and called, “Well, there’s no need to worry about that, Discord.” Once again looking up at Twilight, he said, “She’s not prepared for this!”
Twilight let her hooves fall from her ears, her face returning to a neutral expression. The Rainbow of Light was ready, the Elements of Harmony charged to one hundred percent…
Celestia spoke, “Shining Armor! Lower the force field!” The white stallion nodded and focused his magic into his horn, the force field disappearing at the top and working its way down. Once the top was clear, Celestia said, “Elements of Harmony… NOW!” The light intensified in the middle of the six ponies, forcing everyone besides Celestia and Luna to either squint or look away. A massive surge of energy containing the Rainbow of Light began to gather at the center of the light. It started to grow…
And then, just like that, it rapidly faded and vanished.
Spike, Shining, Cadance, Celestia, and Luna looked at the six ponies in shock as they fell onto the ground, all of them shouting as they landed on the ground hard. Tails looked worried while Sonic gritted his teeth; he knew what had happened.
Up on top of the Time Eater, Orbot and Cubot looked down in surprise while Discord and Eggman looked on smugly. The latter grinned, “You see, Discord? Magic may be your preferred means to an end, but sometimes it’s good to take a step back and use something classic, like knowing the right thing to say!”
Down on the ground, the others began to move towards the six ponies as they began to pick themselves up while groaning… except for one. In the middle of the near-circle, Twilight lay on her side, her eyes wide open as her body shook and twitched like a scared foal. Her pupils hadn’t shrunk all the way, but they weren’t as big as they normally were. It was like she was looking somewhere far off in the distance.
As they got their bearings, Twilight’s friends noticed the state that she was in and her lack of any real movements or responses. Shining, Celestia, Spike, and Tails were calling out to her as they got closer, yet it seemed like Twilight didn’t hear them. Climbing to her hooves, Applejack got a bit closer to the unicorn and asked, “T-Twilight?” She was definitely close enough to be heard, but still there was no response. “What’s wrong, Twi’?” Applejack tried again.
“L-Leave me alone!” Twilight cried. Before Applejack could say anything, Twilight’s horn suddenly lit up with magic, a force field suddenly appearing around her and sealing her off from her friends, confusing them further. Everyone was soon pressed up against the force field, looking in at the lavender unicorn.
“Twilight, what are you doing?!” Rainbow asked.
“Go away! Leave me alone! I’m sorry…! Just go away!” the unicorn cried anxiously.
“Twilight… what are you saying?” Fluttershy asked worriedly.
“Yeah, come on, Twilight! You know we’re your friends, right?” Pinkie smiled.
Twilight’s right eye began to twitch when she heard the word ‘friends’. She was already having trouble thinking straight when the Rainbow of Light failed, but now her muddled mind couldn’t keep up anymore. Her breathing began to speed up, her horn lighting up again; she couldn’t separate the voices berating her in her head from her normal thoughts. “LEAVE ME ALONE!” she screamed as she unleashed a magic pulse wave from her body, the wave going through the force field and knocking everybody off their feet/hooves while pushing them backwards.
Tails and Spike rolled backwards before coming to a stop in a sitting position near the edge of the area, Sonic managing to land on his feet and sliding backwards, coming to a stop in a crouching position next to them. Except for Luna and Celestia, who were pushed back towards the Time Eater, and Shining and Cadance, both of them between the center and the area’s edge, everypony was scattered by the magic wave. “Hey, what gives?” Pinkie asked as she picked herself up.
“Twilight, dear! What is this all about?” Rarity exclaimed as she climbed to her hooves.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Please don’t hate me!” Twilight cried desperately. Her horn was pulsing with magic as she covered her eyes with her hooves, shivering and weeping as she continued to spout apologies and nonsense.
Sonic clenched his teeth as he glared up at Eggman. The evil genius was wearing that same smug grin he had come to know from him over the years, but this was a rare moment where the hedgehog saw it differently. This time, just the sight of that smug look was making him angry. It intensified as Eggman yelled accusingly, “Now look what you’ve done, Twilight Sparkle! I have half a mind to tell Princess Celestia about this!” Luna and Celestia looked back over their shoulders at him, eying him curiously while Discord broke into a fit of laughter that he’d been trying to hold back.
“NO! Don’t tell the Princess! She’ll send me back to Magic Kindergarten! She’ll banish me to the Everfree Forest! PLEASE DON”T TELL THE PRINCESS!” Twilight screamed.
The princesses looked back at her with unsettled expressions, Celestia unable to take seeing her student like this anymore. “Twilight Sparkle, I am right here! And I would never do any of that to you. You are my most faithful student,” she said.
Her words had no effect, though, as Twilight exclaimed, “I’m sorry!” She began to writhe on the ground, pressing her hooves against her head as she tried to either block or force something out.
Shining stood up off the ground, Cadance standing up as well as he demanded, “What have you done to my sister, human?!”
Eggman put on an innocent expression, placing his hands on his chest as he asked, “Me?! I’ve done nothing to her!” He then lowered his hands and dropped the innocent look as he said, “Unless conveniently bringing up bad memories, knowing it will sever her connection to the Element of Magic and mess with her head, leaving her to be smashed like the pathetic bug she is counts as doing something to her.” He stroked his mustache as he looked straight at Shining and smirked, “Does it?”
Shining scowled, “You sick…”
Eggman interrupted him, “Ooh! Hold that thought! Now that I think about it…” He pressed a button on his Eggmobile, the Time Eater raising all of its fists in response. “It’s time for a crushing defeat!” Eggman said as he reached behind him and grabbed a gray analog controller that was hidden behind him, bringing it forward. He pressed one of the right shoulder buttons and the Time Eater swung its lower right arm down, its hand clenched into a fist.
“No, Twilight!” Shining yelled, desperately firing off a series of magic shots from his horn at the arm while Celestia and Luna tried their magic beams again. None of them did anything to stop the attack and it struck the force field, causing it to crack at the top.
Twilight was shaken by the impact, but it caused her to open her eyes as she rolled onto her back and exhaled deeply. She saw another fist coming down and squeezed her eyes shut, managing to recast her force field spell to repair and reinforce the first one before the second fist struck, this one not cracking the force field but still causing it to buckle. With that, the Time Eater began to attack with its other fists, bringing them down on top of the force field as everyone watched, unable to stop it.
After its other two fists attacked, Luna called to Twilight, “Twilight Sparkle, you must get out of there!” Twilight struggled to push herself up somewhat at that command, trying to gather enough magic into her horn to teleport. Before she could get half the magic she needed, however, the Time Eater swung its first fist down again, striking the force field and causing Twilight to yell as she fell back onto her back and covered her ears, the glow of her magic disappearing as she began to hyperventilate again.
Eggman called, “Ah, ah, ah! That’s a bad unicorn! You stay right where you are!” He then swung the next arm down, once again striking the force field.
As the Time Eater continued to attack, Spike asked, “Why isn’t she teleporting out of there?!”
Tails stared in fear as he said, “The force field is keeping the Time Eater’s fists from reaching Twilight… but the vibrations from the impacts are going right through it…!”
Shining gritted his teeth, “I’ve got to help her, buy her enough time to teleport!” He began to focus his magic into his horn, readying his spell again.
Just as he was about to fire his spell, Cadance exclaimed, “Shining, look out!” The stallion opened his eyes and saw that one of the Time Eater’s left hands was coming towards him, the rest of the arm reaching through some kind of portal! He and Cadence moved to the side, managing to avoid it. Shining tried to finish his spell, but the Time Eater opened up another portal for its other left arm, both arms warping around and the hands trying to grab at everypony. Due to the arms’ ability to seemingly warp everywhere, everypony was forced to scatter while the Time Eater’s right fists contained to hammer on Twilight’s force field.
As he, Spike, and Sonic observed the situation, Tails gasped, “Twilight can’t keep recasting that spell forever, and at this rate, the force field is going to collapse soon!” Sonic growled angrily; he could already see small cracks beginning to form along the sphere’s surface. Getting into a running position, he suddenly dashed forward, running past Rarity as he ran towards the side of the force field.
He soon slid to a stop directly across from the force field, large cracks now adorning its surface. Eggman called back both of the Time Eater’s left arms and raised all of its arms up, saying, “This will end it! Time to say goodbye, Twilight Sparkle!” Upon hearing that, Sonic immediately shot forward, launching into a Sonic Boost as the Time Eater began to swing its fists down. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as everypony stopped and turned to watch; this was going to be close…
Sonic reached the force field first and, taking advantage of the cracks spread out all over it, broke a hole in its side at top speed. Still moving, Sonic held out his arms and scooped Twilight up in them, cradling her as he burst through the other side of the force field, just moments before the Time Eater’s fists broke through the force field, slamming the ground where the unicorn had been.
Eggman turned and glared at Sonic as he stopped Boosting but kept running. “Grr…! Curse you, Sonic!” he yelled.
Unnoticed by everyone else, Discord looked in the hedgehog’s direction as well and said, “I do believe it’s my turn now. Allow me to finish what you’ve begun, Doctor.” He then snapped his fingers, disappearing in an instant.
As he was running, Sonic looked down at Twilight and shook her lightly, “Twilight? Hey, Twilight! Talk to me here!” He quickly noticed the state she was in. She was curled up against him, still twitching a bit but otherwise not moving. Her eyes were still squeezed shut, the trails from her tears of fears still fresh going down her cheeks and her breathing still rapid. He looked back at Eggman and growled, “Eggman…” He had no time to mutter anything else he was thinking, as he suddenly lost traction! Looking down, he saw that the ground underneath him had turned soapy. He struggled to stop, the suds seemingly becoming more slippery the harder he tried.
As he kept trying to plant his feet against the ground, Twilight managed to open her eyes and look ahead. She weakly gasped, “Sonic, look out!” The hedgehog looked up and saw what the problem was. Directly in front of them, at the end of the sudsy path in fact, was a brick wall, its bricks seemingly made out of red jelly. Sonic redoubled his efforts to stop, starting to slow down. But just as he was starting to, the wall suddenly moved towards him, colliding with him and Twilight so hard that they stretched it out for a moment before it returned to its original state, sending them flying like a slingshot.
They didn’t fly far, though, before Sonic’s back suddenly came into contact with something soft and squishy, the hedgehog sticking to whatever it was for a moment before he fell to the now suds-free ground, Twilight rolling out of his arms when he landed. Groaning, the hedgehog shook his head and pushed himself up with his hands while Twilight tried to pick herself up. Looking back over his shoulder, Sonic raised an eyebrow; it looked like there was a wall made out of marshmallow behind him. Looking forward, he saw an identical wall where the jelly wall had been and, a second later, two more walls rose up out of the ground, creating a perfect square-shaped box.
As she managed to get up into a sitting position, Twilight noticed the walls too and looked up, Sonic doing the same when he noticed her. They saw another marshmallow wall beginning to form above them as well as what looked like a giant graham cracker falling towards them. The wall/ceiling soon finished forming, the graham cracker landing on top of it a second later and making the whole marshmallow wobble for a moment before it became still again. “Why do I get the feeling we’re missing something? Like the fire?” Twilight murmured.
“Probably because we’re on the inside of a giant s’more,” Sonic guessed. He stood up and got into a running stance, saying, “I should be able to Spin Dash us out of here, though. I’ll have us out of here in a…” He was cut off as a quick flash wrapped around his legs before fading, the hedgehog about to shoot towards the wall in mid-sentence. Instead of dashing into the wall, he fell flat on his face. Looking back at his legs, he grunted, “What the -?!”
He turned to look at Twilight as she cried, “My horn!” He looked up at her forehead to see that her horn was no longer there.
Suddenly, maniacal laughter filled the box, causing Sonic to jump to his feet as quickly as he could. He looked around, only to see a bright flash in the center of the s’more followed by an odd sound as Discord appeared. The Spirit of Chaos grinned down at them, “Ah, Twilight’s reaction is still priceless! Yours could use some improvement though, Sonic. All the same, how are my favorite unicorn and hedgehog duo?”
Sonic quickly moved to the front and side of Twilight; he then glared at the draconequus, “What did you do?”
Discord smirked, “Well, I think it’s pretty obvious what I did to Twilight. As for you, new blue… well, say goodbye to your fast feet! Your super speed is no longer yours!”
Sonic stared at him, “What?! You mean that’s why I didn’t Spin Dash? You took my speed away from me?! Why?!”
Discord grinned, “Simple. It drives you crazy, doesn’t it?”
Sonic looked at him for a moment before replying, “Well, it’s annoying, sure, but using magic to take something like Twilight’s horn or my speed away? Doesn’t sound like anything new to me.”
Discord looked upset for a second, but then he perked up, grinning, “So I guess that means you don’t mind the fact that Rainbow Dash is officially faster than you and you’re now one of the slowest things around, eh?”
Sonic glared at him, “Very funny, snappy, now magic our stuff back.”
Discord asked, “Leaving so soon? But you just got here in the marshmallow room!” He pulled a parasol out of nowhere and opened it, the canopy opening straight up. “Now that I finally have a chance to do something without Eggman watching my every move, I want to have some fun. And I want you two to be a part of it,” he grinned.
Meanwhile, outside…
Celestia looked around frantically; how did this situation fall apart so quickly? She didn’t know, but it was looking even worse now, if that was possible. Sonic and Twilight had evidently been caught and were being restrained by Discord’s chaos, but they weren’t the only ones. Rainbow Dash was strapped to a table that looked like it was straight out of a horror story, the rainbow-maned pegasus unable to break free no matter how hard she struggled or flapped her wings. “H-Hey, somepony get me out of here!” she shouted.
Applejack had her hooves trapped in extra sticky tree sap, the sticky fluid not letting go of her hooves no matter how hard she pulled. “Ugh…! This here’s some mega muck!” the orange earth pony groaned as she kept trying to pull herself free.
Fluttershy found herself surrounded by small Timberwolves, all of them growling up at her. “N-Now, now, my l-little friends, j-just calm d-down,” Fluttershy said, trying to mask the nervousness in her voice and speak soothingly as she reached out to pet one. It evidently didn’t work, however, as the Timberwolves just snarled at her and one tried to bite at her hoof, the shy pegasus quickly pulling it back.
Rarity was surrounded by floating scissors, all of them rapidly snipping whenever she tried to move, threatening to cut off her mane and/or tail. Pinkie Pie had a large tub in front of her filled with an unending amount of sweets and candy, the pink pony unable to resist gorging herself. And Tails, Spike, Cadance, and Shining Armor were standing near the edge of the area, a red shield created by Eggman keeping them from getting any closer. Discord had not done anything to Celestia and Luna, though, and the Solar Princess was currently at a loss as to who to help first.
Luna, who was standing next to her, asked, “Sister, what should we do?!” Celestia shook her head, Luna’s voice causing her to focus somewhat, and surveyed the scene again.
Her eyes finally settled on the s’more that Sonic and Twilight were in, saying, “We have to help Twilight! Discord must be in there with her and Sonic! We can’t let him get a hold of them!” She started to move towards the s’more, but didn’t get far when one of the Time Eater’s right hands reached down, getting in front of her and stopping her. It then grabbed her chin between its index finger and thumb, almost as if it was trying to squeeze her.
Celestia’s eyes moved up in Eggman’s direction as he spoke, “Now, now, Princess, don’t ruin Discord’s fun! After all, you made all this possible.”
Celestia stepped back, moving her head out of the Time Eater’s hand and shaking her head. She looked up at Eggman as the hand moved back up to where it had been and asked, “What do you mean?”
Eggman answered, “Let’s not forget that it was your charity that left Discord as a stone statue for a thousand years. Had you been the least bit ruthless, you could have taken advantage of all that time and found a way to keep him from ever coming back.” He then smirked, “Then again, if you hadn’t been charitable, I suppose there would’ve been a chance that you’d have ended your little sister rather than sealing her in her Moon when she had her… little episode.”
Luna glared up at Eggman as Celestia spoke, “Discord is the Spirit of Disharmony, Dr. Eggman. A spirit cannot be destroyed, especially not one like Discord. And I couldn’t bring Luna back from Nightmare Moon by myself. We were both connected to the Elements of Harmony at the time; I couldn’t harness their full power without her. I did what I could so that she would eventually be able to come back.”
Eggman replied, “Yes, you were trying to make up for a mistake that it seems you never learn from; you just keep making it. And you did what you could? Heh, of course you did! Well, don’t worry, Celestia; Twilight’s not going to permanently lose her connection to the Element of Magic if that’s what you’re worried about.”
Celestia glared, “That is not what I’m worried about. I’m worried about her and what Discord is doing to her!” Eggman began to laugh loudly at that, provoking further anger from Celestia. “What is so funny?” she demanded, her voice still as calm as it usually was, though there was a dangerous hint of something else to it.
Eggman stopped laughing and wiped a tear from his eye before saying, “I’m sorry, that just sounded funny coming from you, Celestia. That’s a lot of caring for a pony in your kingdom who’s only special because she’s one of the Elements of Harmony.”
Celestia protested, “That’s not what makes her special to me! She is my faithful student!”
Eggman replied, “You may be her teacher, but you’re also her ruler. I fail to see a difference between the two roles.”
Celestia said, “There is a vast difference! I know her personally, I’ve worked with her in the past, and I know she wouldn’t want to be anywhere near Discord!”
Eggman grinned, “Know her? Hah! Maybe when you ‘worked with her in the past’ as you say, but it seems to me that she’s become a lot like any other pony in Equestria since she’s moved to Ponyville. And I fail to see what you’ve done to keep that from happening!”
Celestia glared, “And what do you know? You’ve been plotting to take over Sonic’s world, and now you consort with Discord!”
Eggman shrugged, “We only want what’s best, Celestia. Is it our fault nobody can see that?”
Celestia replied, “I know your kind. What you two think is best is only what’s best for you. You don’t care who you hurt or what anypony else thinks.” She held her head high and closed her eyes, “Your words contain nothing but selfishness and greed. I don’t have to listen to them.”
Eggman retorted, “You don’t have to listen to Twilight either, and you certainly didn’t when Queen Chrysalis was prancing around claiming to be your niece!”
Celestia’s eyes shot open, the Solar Princess looking like she had been slapped. “I…! You…! That’s…!” she sputtered.
Eggman grinned widely, “Oh, don’t stop now, Celestia! You’re doing SO well!”