Special Chapter: Visitors From the Stars
It was quite a boring day today for Record Keeper, though not as boring as staying in Hub Equestria.
Right now, he was cruising the cosmos (but not surfing it like Sun Bro and Moon Dude keep insisting him to do with them) just outside his second son's assigned world; Equestria Prime. Around himself was a magic bubble to keep the effects of the vacuum of space and the heat of the sun from affecting him and maintaining oxygen. If he was in outer space, that is, which he wasn't. He was in a dimension called the Sea of the Skies, which was in a few ways different from outer space. In it were the Lanes Between, a series of "roads" that connect various worlds and can take travelers between them faster than space travel, even at light speed.
There was one 'time portal' nearby, and it was situated at one end of these 'lanes'. He was currently setting up the ritual needed to close it. The Almighty Faust was on the other side, supposedly watching for anybody who might travel through.
When the Timer family had first set up their hub world on a deserted and desolated planet, they had encountered Faust, who had been distrusting of them at that time. Record had been forced to explain what the Story Crew really did and after hearing them out, she helped them in terraforming the planet (along with some RWCAs, who are 'reality warpers' themselves) so that they can set up base.
(Record knew from the start that the Story Crew was horrendously overpowered in comparison to lots of their "target worlds" and "client worlds". The higher-ups in the Story Crew and the existence of the Book Troop were the only things preventing them from becoming all-out multiversal conquerors, although that didn't stop a few of their number from defecting or going rogue to do just that. Those were quickly stopped before long however.)
Record kept in touch with a "share sense" spell (he can only use magic in alicorn form), which allows him to see, hear, or smell whatever his spell's target is sensing. Right now, he has it cast on Faust.
"I'm just about doing the finishing touches on the spell," he said mentally. "I want you back in three minutes."
"I understand, Thomas," replied Faust. He picked up her words via "share sense" since she was speaking orally as well.
"Record. Only my family calls me Thomas."
"Right. Sorry."
"Any Interlopers?" Interloper was a Story Crew term for individuals/groups coming from 'target worlds' (an example being the Equestrias the Timer family is in charge of) and entering others. There have been numerous cases, both successfully averted and not, in some of the other Equestrias, but so far none of real significance (that Chronicle has successfully handled) ended up in Prime.
"Nope. None so— Wait. I see something."
"Focus your eyes on it. I want to see it too."
She complied and when Record used the "share sense" to see what Faust was seeing. It seemed to be a space-faring vessel. As it drew closer, he at first thought that it was a YT-1300 "light freighter" from the "target world (cluster)" 'the Galaxy'. As it got even closer however, he saw that it was too smooth to be one, and a bit…blocky.
His mind went on full alert; this was what the Story Crew classified as a GUMI-Type, a vessel specifically built for Sea of the Skies-travel. Pilots/passengers of these vessels are usually SWORD-K wielders, and were the only Interlopers they did not interfere with, though they do keep them under close scrutiny. Less than a year ago, three SWORD-K wielders had stumbled into Equestria Prime. He hadn't been able to do much about it since during that time he had been interrogating his kids on the cross-world incident Twilight Sparkle of Equestria Prime was responsible for.
"Faust. Get back to the portal. Now."
"Okay." Unfortunately for both of them, the GUMI-Type seemed to have detected her and were following her into the portal. "Uh-oh. They seem to have found me," she said as she sped up.
"Cast the full invisibility spell. It will hide you from radar as well as sight."
"Radar. You told me about that once. Detects via means similar to echolocation, but with 'radio waves' instead of sound."
"Just cast it now, please."
"Already am."
Knowing Faust and the vessel were going to emerge from the time portal soon, he moved out of its path and cast the same spell on himself.
From the portal emerged a white alicorn with sky blue eyes, cherry red hair, and a cutie mark depicting an inkwell and tan-colored quill. Faust. While she was indeed invisible, his "share sense" and deduction told him where she was, even in the vacuum of the Sea of the Skies. And then the GUMI-Type followed, slowing down to a stop upon Equestria Prime entering its sights (well, the occupants', anyway).
Record was already acting fast. He immediately cast a spell, alerting his son of the oncoming SWORD-K wielder(s) and his/her/their allies. Once he was finished sending his "message", Faust came up next to him.
"What should we do now?" she asked.
"Wait until they finish their business. SWORD-K wielders don't enter a world without a very good reason. The sealing of the time portal would have to wait until the GUMI-Type has successfully left."
RK—AF—RK—AF—RK—AF—RK—AF—RK—AF—RK—AF
Equestria Prime, Books and Branches Library…
Chronicle was at his training range behind it, practicing his skills against the Discord statue. Mystic Shield has taken another field trip (where, he can't remember) with his class. Chronicle once again didn't join due to his contract, and Twilight Sparkle was too busy studying, although she wasn't doing so at the moment. The only ones who went with him were his First Four, Holly Dash, Pisces, the Gemini twins, and Morpheus. For some reason, Skyla went with him as well.
He wasn't in the mood to see Fluttershy just yet either. His mother had advised him that "items" also needed a bit of alone time every now and then. Suddenly, he received a mental message. He reached into "hammerspace" and took out a coin-shaped object that looked like his cutie mark. He hadn't used this thing since planting the Surveillance cameras on the Keepers of the Elements of Harmony. Once he 'moved' it to his ear, he received another message.
"This is your father speaking. We have detected a GUMI-Type vessel entering the space-bounds of Equestria Prime. Likely touchdown point of occupants is outside the Everfree Forest. You know what to do."
He then returned the device to "hammerspace" and 'took out' Surveillance. The closest of my friends most likely to run into them is Twilight. She's in the Everfree Forest acquiring some special tea from Zecora. Better talk to her.
C—C—C—C—C—C—C—C—C—C—C—C
Everfree Forest…
Twilight Sparkle was walking down the path leading to the exit of the forest when she suddenly heard a disembodied voice.
"Twilight. Twilight. Can you hear me? Keep walking."
She immediately recognized the voice. "Chronicle? Why are you talking to me this way?" she asked in a hushed tone; talking to yourself can lead to others thinking you're crazy, after all. Very rarely does her bodyguard use Surveillance to communicate for this reason.
"Do you remember the 'world-visitors' that came here less than a year ago? You know, those three?"
She spent a few seconds trying to recall. "Oh yeah. I remember. Are they back?"
"No, but there are similar visitors that have now arrived, don't ask how I know."
"What do you want me to do?"
"Act natural, and don't let them know that you know."
"Okay. I think I see them right now."
"So soon?"
She nodded, knowing he saw the gesture. As she got closer (and out of the forest), the sound of her hooves crushing fallen leaves have alerted them to her presence.
The group consisted of five ponies…and two dragons?! They certainly did not look like any she's familiar with.
The first pony was a black earth pony stallion. His mane was brown and very spiny, and his tail was also brown like his mane and was slightly ruffled. On his neck was a silver necklace shaped like a crown, and it mirrored the one in his flank as his cutie mark.
The second pony was a pink unicorn mare. Her mane was cherry red, her tail was straight and properly brushed like Twilight's, and around her body was a small belt holding a small pouch too small to be a saddlebag that seemed to be large enough to hold a notebook. Her cutie mark was a star-shaped trinket made out of seashells that were pale yellow toward the center and pale pink toward the tips and held together by X-shaped stitches. One of these shells had a face drawn into it.
The third pony was a unicorn stallion with a fiery red coat. His mane and tail were also as red as his coat and was very spiny. His cutie mark depicted a spiny wheel similar to what one of Chronicle's 'duel opponents' used.
The fourth pony was a purple pegasus stallion. His black mane was very short and so was his tail. Wrapped around his body was a belt that seemed to hold two mysterious tubes. His cutie mark was a white circle and two mountain range-like shapes near its sides. More abstract than her own cutie mark, she noted.
The fifth pony was a white earth pony stallion. His mane and tail were fairly long for somepony of his gender and was colored cyan. His cutie mark depicted a shield with a yellow outline, a golden crown in the middle, and a four-square checker pattern behind it, violet-blue in the upper left and lower right, and a mix of red-and-maroon stripes in the upper right and lower left corners.
The first dragon was easily recognized by its spiny appearance, with spines on its head, down its back and tail, and on its two wings. It had stout, sturdy legs, and its stomach, neck and face are of a lighter hue than the rest of its bright yellow body. On its arms were two bracers, each seemingly holding six spherical gems. There was also a small bag between the wings. The dragon stood slightly taller than the average pony.
The second dragon was light amber, and seemed to be smooth-skinned instead of scaly. It had large wings (relative to its body), each tipped with a small bony point at the top, huge eyes colored like its skin, and a single fin-like crest on its head. Its tail was long and thick, probably used for balance when on the ground. It was tall enough for its crest to reach a pony's height. On its back was an gold-tinted archer's quiver.
"That's certainly them," Chronicle remarked as his charge quickened her pace. Eventually, she was face-to-face with them and she stopped. "Remember to greet them casually."
"Hi there," she greeted.
"Uh…hi," the black earth pony greeted in return, raising a hoof in greeting.
"Interesting…" Twilight turned to look at the two dragons. "I haven't never seen dragons like you before." Both of them began to sweat profusely in nervousness.
"Say you'll look it up later," her bodyguard advised. "Don't act suspicious."
The dragons sighed in relief when she said that, giving away the fact that they're both males. However, Chronicle could see that one of them seemed to have picked up that something was up. Thankfully, he seemed to have shaken it off as Twilight trotted past them before stopping and turning to face them.
"If you like, you could visit Ponyville. It's just up ahead," Twilight invited.
Before anybody could take another step, a strange noise suddenly resounded in the air. Strange creatures then appeared from out of nowhere, surprising the entire group. Alarms rang in Chronicle's head as he identified the enemy's faces. Enemy code name AN-8178! The Story Crew said they were extinct! Why are they here?
There were three types present; sleek midget bipeds, coneys with floppy ears, and legless ravens.
"Unversed!" the black stallion cried out as they suddenly summoned weapons in flashes of light. In his teeth was what Chronicle recognized as a SWORD-K, its type code-named SK-ULTI2.
The pink mare also had a SWORD-K, this one code-named SK-DEP. She had summoned it in her tail, which while prehensile was unfortunately not prehensile enough to properly hold it.
The red stallion had summoned two spiky wheels similar to the one on his flank. Unlike the other unicorn, he seemed to be 'holding' them via telekinesis, his horn glowing green. The wheels certainly looked much more ornate than Scorchwheel's and more red. Chakrams. Now I remember the name.
The white earth pony had a silver weapon that looked like a gun, except such things did not exist in Equestria. And for some reason, it was floating to the left side of its owner, even though he was not a unicorn.
The purple pegasus's tubes floated out of their holsters just like the white earth pony's and extended blunt metal blades from them.
The spiny dragon 'summoned' a similar gun (colored white) in addition to a shield that seemed to be made of wood, with cherry blossom petals lining its face and pointed like spikes.
The crested dragon pulled out not only an arrow from the quiver, but a yellow compound bow as well. It was apparent that these dragons weren't simply going to use their claws (which this one did not have) or fire breath.
Twilight naturally reacted in surprise at all these and so did Chronicle, but for different reasons. She because of the was some of the weapons appeared (and levitated) for the non-unicorns, and he because if SWORD-K wielders are here, it means there'll be more trouble than just the AN-8178s, or Unversed as the black one seemed to call them.
Concerned for his charge's safety, he said, "Twilight, take evasive action. Let these visitors do the fighting." She nodded in response and complied.
The coney-types started by cartwheeling with their ears, but the black pony quickly struck them down with his weapon. However, in spite of being seemingly familiar with quadrupedal movement, his maneuvering was slightly awkward.
The pink unicorn headed for a cluster of midget-types, and cast a spell, her horn glowing blue. Fireballs then appeared around her and spun around, disintegrating the enemies as she passed them.
While the dragons shot down the raven-types with their weapons and not their fire breaths or claws, the white earth pony was doing the same while evading the coney-types to the best of his ability. It was apparent that he isn't too accustomed with a quadruped body (most SWORD-K wielders and/or their allies rarely are).
The red unicorn seemed to be having fun, moving his chakrams around and cutting down every Unversed in sight. Just then, one of the coney-types managed to get behind him and strike his flank with its ears. He lost concentration and 'dropped' his chakrams. He decided to raise his hind legs and kick the little bugger, destroying it before 'resuming control' over his weapons.
For a while, the purple pegasus seemed to be having it easy with manipulating his sabers. Before long, he decided to change tactics. As he 'returned' one saber and moved the other to his teeth like the black earth pony, he saw a raven-type swoop down on him. He seemed to concentrate on it and the avian Unversed seemed to have been locked in place mid-air before being taken down by his saber. A few coney-types surrounded him and started to spin, shooting lasers from their eyes. Jerry dodged by jumping, then left them below as he used his wings to ascend and take on the raven-types.
The Unversed didn't seem intent on just attacking the fighters though as a mass of midget-types started to close in on Twilight. Before Chronicle could tell her to teleport and escape, she conjured a shield, but this type seemed different. Upon colliding with it, a white flash came and the midget-types were sent flying back. As she dismissed the shield, the spiny dragon turned his attention to the midget-types and shot them down. At the same time though, a pair of raven-types swooped down to attack her. Instead of the barrier, this time she teleported, resulting in the two Unversed crashing into one another.
She reappeared right next to the spiny dragon, startling him a bit. "Whoa," he gasped, but not too loud. She then conjured a fireball and shot it at an oncoming raven-type, destroying it. Before they knew it, all the Unversed were gone, to Chronicle's relief as he watched through Surveillance. He also noted that throughout the battle, not once did the spiny dragon attempt to fly.
As they gathered together, Twilight stared at the visitors and asked, "What were those things?"
"Unversed," said the spiny dragon as his weapons mysteriously disappeared. "Physical manifestations of negative emotions. I don't know how that's possible either. They're a violation of nature."
She then turned to the sole pegasus of the group and the white earth pony. "How were you two able to use telekinesis? Only unicorns can do that."
"It's my weapon that's magical, not me," the earth pony hastily explained as his weapon disappeared back into its hiding place, wherever that was.
"I'm-from-a-secret-cult-of-gifted-non-unicorns-that-harness-their-powers-to-help-others-in-secret," the pegasus quickly said as his eyes shifted left and right and his weapons 'returned' to his belt, sheathing themselves in the process. "And-I'm-still-a-rookie-in-the-keeping-secret-part!"
Twilight raised an eyebrow, doubting his 'excuse', then turned to the black earth pony and pink unicorn, who still wielded their weapons. "Is that a Keyblade you're wielding?" Thanks to the previous off-worlder encounter that Chronicle was absent for (while he and Timerity were reporting to their father about their cross-world incident a few weeks prior to that), they knew what a Keyblade—which the Story Crew classified as a SWORD-K—was.
"How did you—" the stallion was about to say, dropping his jaw…and his "Keyblade" in the process.
The spiny dragon quickly cut in, "It's a sword that looks like a key. Wouldn't take a no-brainer to figure that out and make a name like that."
"Except our Keyblades don't exactly look like keys for the moment," the mare whispered to him as she and the black pony dismissed their weapons.
"…You got a point," the dragon whispered back.
The purple unicorn looked skeptical at all this. Their secret hiding wasn't as good as they thought it would be. "Keep up the charade," Chronicle advised. "You'll be able to ask them soon enough once you get them somewhere private."
All of a sudden, the black one's stomach grumbled. "You guys look hungry," Twilight said. As if to reinforce her words, the stomachs of the rest also grumbled. "What about I take you guys someplace to eat?"
"Uhh…sure," replied the black pony. "Oh, almost forgot to introduce ourselves. I'm Sora."
"And I'm Jerry." The purple pegasus.
"Name's Kairi." The pink unicorn.
"Call me Wizard." The white earth pony.
"I'm Rael." The spiny dragon. Twilight tried not to note how weird the name was on a dragon. Or just weird in general.
"Tychophon." The crested dragon.
"The name's Lea. Got it memorized?" The red unicorn. "What's yours?"
The native pony in the bunch made a short giggle, then said, "Twilight Sparkle."
TS—S—K—L—J—W—R—T—TS—S—K—L—J—W—R—T
Back in the Books and Branches Library…
Chronicle was already on the move. His first course of action was to contact Pinkie Pie, but it turns out she had spotted them a while ago. Through Surveillance, she said she was going to arrange a welcome party for them, as she is wont to do when newcomers arrive. It applied to him, Twilight, and Spike. It applied to Mystic Shield (and Gilda). It applied to Mystic's First Four. She even threw a party for the three off-worlders. These seven would be no exception.
She asked him to try and invite everypony he encountered to help lessen her burden a bit and he said he'd do what he can. He also told her that the visitors are likely to be…unfamiliar with who the Princesses were and that she's to tell their friends about it an keep it secret until Twilight says otherwise.
Speaking of which, he contacted her through Surveillance and discreetly told her to give the visitors a tour while Pinkie prepared the party and invited guests.
He went inside the library, where Spike was fixing up the shelves. "Spike!" he called. "Pinkie Pie's hosting a welcome party. Spread the word."
"Aye aye," the baby dragon wasn't too enthusiastic, but he then seemed to have gotten an idea and immediately ran off.
He's probably going to tell Rarity first, the stallion thought to himself as he summoned some clones and sent them off to various directions while he went for somepony special to his heart. Of course, he'd tell the news to everypony he thought was worth telling.
C—S—C—S—C—S—C—S—C—S—C—S
Three hours later…
After Spike and Chronicle got their marefriends (well, crush in the former's case), they were now in Sugarcube Corner, where Pinkie Pie has arranged the party. Everypony had their positions, and she had even been able to 'enlist' a few ponies from Canterlot. Who exactly she wasn't revealing yet. Since this was a surprise party, the lights were off.
Right now, the two of them were positioned in a horizontal line with their friends beside them in the following order: Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Spike, Chronicle, Rarity, Fluttershy. There was a vacant space between the last two for Twilight to step in during the inevitable introduction.
Soon, Twilight came in with the seven visitors. "Who turned out the lights?" one voice wondered.
"I think I know what's coming up next," mused another.
"SURPRISE!" several voices cried simultaneously as the lights were turned on. Two of the ponies and one of the yellow dragons seemed to have been genuinely surprised, while the other dragon and two other ponies in the group just jumped. The last one, a white earth pony, just rolled his eyes, as if expecting this.
"Sorry if I forgot to mention this, but I have a friend who is well known for throwing the best parties in town," Twilight explained as she walked past us. "And somehow, she always, always, always knows when there's somepony new in town, and likes to throw welcome parties in celebration."
"Was that friend that pink streak that bypassed us all over town earlier?", the spiny dragon asked her.
"Yup!" Pinkie said as she jumped up and down. She then spoke in a very quick pace. "Hi! You must be new in town. I know you are because I've never met you before, and if I never met you before then that means you're new in town, 'cause I know everypony. And by everypony, I mean everypony. So anyways, my name is Pinkamena Diane Pie, but you can call me Pinkie Pie. And oh my gosh, you cannot believe how excited I am to see some new ponies in town…"
The group seemed to tune her out as they looked at the rest of the line. Spike was looking at the other dragons with great interest, and in turn one of them was taking interest at Fluttershy. For some reason, Chronicle felt a pang of jealousy, even though he reminded himself they're leaving soon(er than he).
"And then, I was like 'Oatmeal? Are you crazy?' And then—" Pinkie continued before Rainbow shoved a hoof in her mouth, stopping her.
Twilight seemed to notice the group look at the line and cleared her throat to get their attention. She then walked up to the line so that she was now in between Fluttershy and Rarity.
"Oh, let me introduce you to my friends," she said as she indicated them all, starting with Pinkie. "As you probably just heard, this is Pinkie Pie. She threw this party for you guys." She then indicated the blue pegasus. "This is Rainbow Dash."
"Hey there!" Rainbow greeted as she raised the hoof she used to shush Pinkie.
Twilight indicated the farmpony. "This is Applejack."
"Howdy, y'all!"
The baby dragon. "This is Spike."
"Hi," Spike waved in a friendly manner.
The blue unicorn. "This is Chronicle."
"Hello there." The black pony's irises shrunk in surprise.
"You're a…guy?" he gasped.
Chronicle sighed and rolled his eyes. "Yeah. I get that all the time at first."
"I knew he was a dude from the beginning," muttered the spiny dragon.
"A-anyway…" Twilight continued as she then indicated the fashionista, "This is Rarity."
"It's a pleasure to see new faces in Ponyville." Chronicle glanced at Rarity, then rolled his eyes. For some reason, Pinkie insisted their introductions be 'rehearsed'.
Twilight then indicated the last one in the line. "And this is Fluttershy."
"Hi," she greeted in a soft voice.
Twilight then introduced the visitors to her friends. "Guys, these are Sora, Kairi, Wizard, Lea, Jerry, Rael, and Tychophon."
"Now that the introductions are over with, let's par-tay!" said Pinkie.
C—TS—S—A—RD—R—F—PP—S—K—L—J—W—R—T
Sometime later…
The music played in the party was part classical and part techno (in a slow beat) seemingly mixed quite well.
Rael was at the buffet table, checking out the food. Sora was there too, gorging himself in cake, although he had trouble holding stuff with his mouth. Kairi was helping him out by using telekinesis from her horn, having been taught how by Twilight. As the spiny dragon checked each of the foodstuffs, Applejack came over.
"Now what might be the problem, haystack?" she asked him.
"I don't have a problem, Applejack," Rael said as he took a plate, a fork, and a slice of cake with it. "Really, I don't."
"I thought dragons eat just about anything."
"Not my species," he replied as he cut a slice of cake and ate it, savoring the taste of strawberry and chocolate. "And I'm pickier than most, unfortunately." He then turned his attention away from her as he saw Spike holding a bowlful of gemstones. He was approaching Tychophon, who was eating a slice of apple pie.
"Hey there, Tych," he greeted. "Can I call you Tych?"
"…Fine," the crested dragon relented.
Spike offered a gem. "Here. Try one."
"Thanks." Tychophon absentmindedly took the gem, then bit on it. However, upon sinking his teeth into it, he realized what he was biting into and took it out. "Hey! This is a gem!"
"Yeah. Dragons eat gems, right?"
"Not my kind." Tychophon pocketed it…somewhere. "I can't believe you eat such luxuries."
"Luxuries? They're found in the ground and mountains by the handful. They're so common that ponies use them for dress decorations, and there's enough left for me to snack on. Not that gems are the only things I can eat." Spike had been told by Twilight that Tychophon was probably an off-worlder and therefore would not be familiar with some facts that are taken for granted here. All of her friends were informed, but they were not to reveal it until later.
"Really…"
"Another question… Can you breathe fire, Tych?"
Tychophon raised an eyebrow. "Now what kind of question is that?"
Spike shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, nothing."
"I see. And for the record, I can't."
Spike put his hands to his head in shock. "What?"
"Although I do have some fire-related abilities I can use in combat. Oh, wait. I can breathe fire. Just not as regularly as most dragons."
In another area of the party venue, Wizard was next to the table with the punch bowl, a cup with a straw close to him. "Hey, Pinkie," he addressed the party pony, who stood nearby. "What's that green thing in the punch?"
Pinkie followed where his eyes were looking, and then giggled. "Oh, that?" she replied. "That's just Gummy, my pet baby alligator." Wizard stared for a while at the bowl, where Gummy popped out of the punch to stare at him with his pinkish-purple eyes. After backing off for a bit should it bite him and staring for a few seconds, he returned to his cup and resumed drinking, much to the puzzlement of Pinkie. "You know, most ponies do a spit take or something whenever I say that."
"I've had filthier stuff," he answered. "I can stomach a lot of edible things."
Meanwhile, in the middle of the room, Lea was casting fire magic and was performing quite the spectacle, making himself a sight to see. He managed to catch Fluttershy's attention and he seemed to notice it too. Slowly, he approached her, still performing his pyrotechnics. Fluttershy seemed to notice as she backed away faster than the rest of the other ponies he was approaching.
Chronicle happened to see it too, and a desire to protect her (as well as a pang of jealousy) overrode the logical part of his brain. He rushed to pounce and keep him away from her, and it turns out Rainbow was about to do the same thing, but they thankfully didn't collide with one another as they were moving in the same general direction. They slammed into him and tumbled for a while before the two ended on top of Lea.
"Were you trying anything on Fluttershy?" they both asked at the same time, then turned to each other in slight surprise.
"Whatever do you mean?" asked Lea, seemingly oblivious.
"You know what I mean!" retorted Rainbow.
"No, I do not! I was trying something on that cute unicorn over there."
The two turned to the general location of where Fluttershy had been backing away and Chronicle recognized Minuette.
"Oh. Minuette," he greeted. "Didn't see you there."
"Hey. Is that a cello I hear?" Jerry suddenly said as he stood next to Rarity.
Both the off-worlders and Twilight's circle of friends turned to where he was looking. Chronicle recognized the cellist, and two of her band-mates (a pianist and violinist). Next to them was a turntable with a certain disc jockey.
"Hey!" said Chronicle after getting off of Lea, who was still pinned by Rainbow. He pointed to the disc jockey. "That's DJ-Pon3, the disc jockey at Rarity's first fashion show." He then pointed to the cellist. "And that's Octavia from the Grand Galloping Gala. As well as some other members of her band apparently. How did Pinkie Pie get them together to manage the music for the party?" He then let out an exasperated sigh. "She's such a random earth pony."
C—TS—S—A—RD—R—F—PP—S—K—L—J—W—R—T
After the party, early afternoon…
Twilight Sparkle led the seven visitors to the Books and Branches Library. The rest of her friends followed, but Chronicle didn't as he went to the back of the place to practice. That, and discreetly contact his father.
He went to the training range, then after setting up a barrier similar to what Twilight cast when she and her friends fought him once before. Those inside would still hear him though, so he also cast a new spell he learned; a replay spell. With it, others can hear things he isn't presently saying.
Seeing the Discord statue sparked his fury and he 'picked up' a sledgehammer. However, he was not completely blinded this time, still remembering his first-hoof experience with the Stare. He took out his device and spoke through it while 'hurling' the hammer around using the tether spell. All the while, his replay spell is mimicking him attacking something in a fit of rage, namely the Discord statue.
"Dad. We've made contact with the Interlopers." At the end of each sentence, he 'swung' the hammer at the statue, breaking off parts of it.
To his surprise, a reply came immediately. "Good to hear. Try and get them to finish whatever they need to do here. I received reports of a SWORD-K wielder and his companions in your sister's world. Same goes for Luna Equestria."
He lightened up for some hopeful news. "What? Is the stasis there gone?"
"It's cracking, but time there is still moving very slowly. Too dangerous to re-synchronize the portal mirrors. It'll probably take a week or three before it's safe for us to contact Blue Diary."
"I see. I'm glad I'll be able to see him again soon."
"Me too. Anything else to report, son?"
His expression turned serious as he continued pummeling the statue. "Yes. AN-8178s have been sighted in the general area. Request for the usual procedure for this situation."
"Will do, but not right now. I'm standing by at the time portal the GUMI-Type vessel went through. I was just about to finish the spell to seal it when it came. Can't close it now lest I strand them here, and we don't want that, do we?"
"No. It's best I 'intervene' as little as possible in matters with the SWORD-K wielders."
"Just remember that 'intervening' means something different for Field Operatives. Fighting alongside them does not count, but telling of our origins or anything linking to it does."
"Roger that." Suddenly, he noticed something strange, looked at the statue, and realized that during his conversation, he had smashed it to the point that there was very little of it left and that he had been attacking it too fast for it to restore itself. "That's all, Dad."
"Good luck, son."
And there Chronicle terminated the conversation, then decided to teleport inside the library. But not before getting something to reinforce his 'excuse'.
C—RK—C—RK—C—RK—C—RK—C—RK—C—RK
Erstwhile…
As Chronicle went around the library to his training range, Twilight and her friends led the visitors inside it. They all looked around in awe, one of them noting Owlowiscious, who was sleeping in the rafters above, which was a bit peculiar since her house was a tree.
As they all entered, all of Twilight's friends checked the windows, drew the curtains, then ushered the group of seven to the center.
"Okay. What's up with you girls?" Sora asked nervously.
Twilight finally decided it was time to reveal what she knew. "We know where you're really from," she said with a serious tone and face. "You're from another world, right?" They all reacted in surprise.
"Oh boy," sighed Wizard as he did a facehoof. "Yes. Yes, we are. Did the Keyblade give us away?" Twilight nodded her head.
"We also know of the existence of other worlds, especially something called Kingdom Hearts," said Spike as he got a ladder and was about to go grab a certain book.
"Now where did that come from?" Rael asked. "Although yes, we know it."
"I don't," put in Jerry.
Just then, there was a crash. Everyone turned their heads to the source of the sound, then Twilight and her friends turned back to the visitors.
"What was that?" Lea asked.
"Just Chronicle venting his anger," Twilight simply stated. "Just ignore him. He'll come around soon." She then 'took' a couple of books from various shelves around the library, including one Spike was apparently about to get.
"Oh…okay," Kairi said, then returned to the topic as Spike climbed down the ladder and joined everyone else. There were a few noises outside from Chronicle, but it was ignored.
"How do you know of other worlds, the Keyblade, and Kingdom Hearts in the first place?" Sora wanted to know.
"Some time ago, we met with three Keyblade wielders," explained Applejack.
"They each entered this world at different times," added Rainbow. "And they all happened to know each other."
"Who were these visitors?" Wizard wanted to know.
"I met Terra while he was a brown earth pony at the farm I live in," said Applejack.
"I met Ven as a green pegasus flying among the clouds," said Rainbow.
"And I met Aqua as a blue unicorn practicing elemental magic in town," said Twilight. She then turned to Rael. "I learned that fire spell from her, by the way."
"Wait a second," interrupted Sora. "Terra, Ven, and Aqua?"
"Well, Ven's name's actually Ventus," added Rainbow.
"Could you tell us more?"
And that's what they did. Applejack had first seen Terra headbutting a tree in her farm to try and get some apples. She had then invited him to help buck apples from the trees for Applebuck Season. Rainbow had crashed into Ven while he was enjoying his wings, and he lied that he had an injury that grounded him for three months. Having believed his excuse at that time, she taught him how to fly. Aqua had seen Twilight conjure a mustache for Spike (Sora raised an eyebrow), then practiced some elemental spells, which soon caught Twilight's attention. After getting her attention, as well as a short conversation, Twilight offered to teach Aqua unicorn magic in exchange for elemental combat magic.
During one of those 'lessons', Aqua accidentally teleported herself up in the sky and began to fall. She was saved by Terra, and then Ven crashed into both of them shortly after, resulting in the three being covered in apples and applesauce Terra had been carrying. Once they were cleaned up at the spa, they were led to Sugarcube Corner, where Pinkie Pie threw a party for them, just like she did with us. While the three apparently conversed with one another concerning their time together, Twilight momentarily left, only to return with Fluttershy and Rarity.
During that party, there was an announcement that Princesses Celestia and Luna (the co-rulers of Equestria) were coming to Ponyville. Terra, Ven, and Aqua had huddled together and wondered who she was, but Pinkie overheard them and went ballistic upon hearing that they didn't know who the Princesses were. While it was possible that they wouldn't know of them even if they were natives of Equestria, the fact that the Princess Celestia only said that after that revelation got Twilight and the others suspicious.
After the Princesses left with the three to talk to them privately, Twilight and the rest of her friends decided to search the library for information.
In the present, she and the rest showed the off-worlders the books they had searched. Legends of the stars stated that 'For every star in the sky, there is another world'. List of Other Worlds showed details of plenty of worlds outside of Equestria. They were then showed the book's entry on Kingdom Hearts, then the book The Legendary Keyblade: A Reference Guide, one page of which showed a picture depicting a little black pegasus with a messy mane and tail, and wielding the a basic-looking "Keyblade" in his mouth. The book also showed information regarding The Land of Departure, which was where Terra, Ven, and Aqua, originated.
"Just wondering, Sora," said Twilight. "Were you taught how to use the Keyblade in The Land of Departure?"
"The Land of Departure?" Rael said. "Oh please. Sora here learned how to fight with the Keyblade all by himself. And beat up lots of bad guys while he was at it. Well, he did do some swordfightin' back at his home in Destiny Islands…"
"Wow! So Sora's self-taught?"
"Well, he did have to learn magic from someone else. Kairi, on the other hand, learned swordplay from her conscience." Everypony and Spike raised an eyebrow in confusion. "It's a long story, don't ask me. As for magic, she learned it on the way from our other magic-using friends." Suddenly, Tychophon pulled him a few steps back.
"Okay, Rael. Now what was that about?" he asked.
"What was wha—oh, sorry," Rael turned sheepishly to everypony. "I don't know what's got into me. Now where were we again?"
"We were explaining Terra, Ven, and Aqua's time here in Equestria, dear," explained Rarity.
"Oh right. Where were we again there?"
"At the part where we found a picture of them in human form," said Fluttershy.
"Oh right."
Back in the past, it was from seeing this picture that they realized who Terra, Ven, and Aqua really were. Twilight and the others then quickly hurried to where Celestia and Luna were talking with the three. However, they had to leave so soon, and they turned back into their original forms, summoned their armor, turned their Keyblades into aircraft of some kind, and then left through a portal. The Princesses then told them everything related to the subject.
Just then, Chronicle teleported in a few paces from the door. There was a sledgehammer in his mouth, which he then set down on the side. "Okay," he said. "I'm done venting my anger. What'd I miss?"
"We were just telling our new friends here that we knew they're from another world, dear," Rarity explained. "Well actually, only Twilight knew and she just told the rest of us."
"We then told them about Terra, Ven, and Aqua's visit here in Ponyville," added Spike.
"Which also during the time I was away, wasn't it?" Chronicle asked.
"Yes," answered Applejack.
"It's been…how many months since then?"
"Uhh, I'm gonna have to say…six and a half," Twilight guessed.
For some reason, Sora was surprised at this. "Hold on a second!", he gasped. "It's only been that long since their arrival before ours?"
"Yes. Why?"
"Because it's been thirteen years since all that happened."
"Do you know what happened to Terra, Ven, and Aqua?" Rainbow wanted to know.
"Please tell us, Sora," implored Kairi. "What did you learn while you and Riku were taking the Mark of Mastery Exam from Master Yen Sid?"
"Who's Riku?" asked Spike.
"A friend of ours."
"What about this Master Yen Sid, dear?" inquired Rarity.
"A retired Keyblade Master," Rael answered for Kairi. "And a very powerful magician."
Sora seemed to sigh. "All right," he relented to Kairi's request.
What Sora told everyone was basically this: Terra's body has been hijacked, Ventus is rendered comatose, and Aqua was basically stranded in a different dimension. Twilight and her friends were saddened by this, but their hope was renewed when Sora said that he's on a quest to find them and "save them from their suffering".
"Wow!" said Pinkie as she popped up from behind Sora. "Looks like an adventure!"
"But that still doesn't explain the time inconsistency," said Twilight. "How could six and a half months pass here in Equestria while thirteen years passed outside it?"
"I have a theory behind that," voiced Chronicle. Everypony (and dragon) turned to face him. "Do you still remember Discord?"
Twilight raised an eyebrow and spoke in an incredulous manner. "Do you expect us to forget him after everything he did to all of Equestria? And to us?"
"Of course not. Anyway, you know he can warp reality, right?"
"That's right," agreed Applejack. "Brainwashed me to become a liar, Pinkie into a grump, Rarity into thinking that giant rock was a diamond—"
"I thought we agreed never to speak of that again," Rarity cut in.
"Oops."
"He also turned me into a meanie, had Rainbow Dash betray us—" continued Fluttershy.
"Gave cotton candy clouds that rain chocolate," added Pinkie as she popped up from behind Rael. "Turned the dirt roads into soap," Then behind Lea. "Wrested the Princesses' control over the sun and moon—", and then behind Wizard.
"And all other kinds of mean things just for his own amusement," Twilight finished with a scowl on her face.
"Wait a minute. Control over the sun and moon?" asked Tychophon.
"In this world, ponies are responsible for everything in nature like changing the seasons, caring for the wild animals, and making the plants grow. Princesses Celestia and Luna raise the sun and moon respectively. However, the Everfree Forest, where I met you guys, is the only place where—"
"The plants grow, animals take care of themselves, and the clouds move—all on their own!" cut in Rainbow.
"That place just ain't natural!" added Applejack.
"Ain't natural?" asked Sora. "But isn't that what nature does? Take care of itself?"
Rael elbowed him and said, "Perhaps that's the case for practically every other world we've been to where there's even nature to begin with. In here, t' just as Twilight said; ponies manage nature."
"Okay, okay. I think we're getting off track here," Lea interrupted. "What were we talking about again?"
"Discord," answered Spike.
"Okay. How was he beaten? You don't look like the sort who fight the forces of evil."
"We stopped him using the Elements of Harmony," explained Chronicle. "With the exception of myself and Spike, we embody one element each. Applejack represents Honesty, Fluttershy represents Kindness, Pinkie Pie represents Laughter, Rarity represents Generosity, Rainbow Dash represents Loyalty, and Twilight Sparkle represents Magic. The Magic of Friendship, to be exact."
"Wow," said Kairi in awe. "I wouldn't have believed that you were magical heroines had you not told us."
"Then again, we probably don't look like such either," Wizard said. "Not until we call out our weapons, that is."
"Why'd you mention Discord anyway, Chronicle?" asked Spike.
"You see, my theory is that while he was warping reality in Equestria, he probably also affected its flow of time in respect to the rest of the universe." It was true in a way, if the Great Draconequus Outbreak was any indication; in reality, the time portal his father was currently watching over apparently leads to the future.
"But why would he do that, if he was aware?" Twilight asked.
"I'm thinking he may not have been. And even if he was, it's not like we can ask him after all that hard work in resealing him."
"Reseal? If he's so dangerous, why didn't you destroy him?" Jerry wanted to know.
"He's disharmony incarnate, the imbalance of order and chaos," the blue unicorn explained. "He's much more powerful than both Princesses combined, and those two are plenty strong. And as much as I am tempted to ask you guys to finish him off for good—and believe me, I truly wish it—I don't trust that you can stop him before matters go out of hoof."
"Wait a second," said Tychophon. "Aren't discord and chaos the same thing?"
"We got a 'chaotic'…" Chronicle emphasized his air quote with one hoof. "…pony as a friend, and she represents an Element of Harmony." He indicated Pinkie Pie, who then popped up from behind Sora, saying "That's right!".
"Oh. How is Pinkie able to pop around all over the place? She's almost like a…like a…"
"Curious question, but…" Wizard interrupted. "Is there anything in this library concerning the Guns of Light?"
"I don't think there is, with them being ponies and all," Lea told him. "It's not like they have the hands to use them."
Suddenly, Pinkie's ears flopped, then her eyes fluttered, and then the knees of her forelegs twitched, shaking Sora as she went. Spike jumped in surprise.
"What is it, Spike?" Kairi asked.
"The Pinkie Sense," Twilight explained in an exasperated tone. "I've long since given up on trying to figure out how it works."
"That 'combo' means 'look out for opening doors'," answered the purple dragon.
Chronicle glanced at the door, then immediately ran to the group and away from it—just in time as it opened and Mayor Mare burst in (had he not moved, she would have bumped into him).
"Twilight Sparkle!", she called out. "We have a crisis!"
"What's the problem, Mayor?"
"Ponyville is under attack by blue monsters!"
"What?", gasped everypony (and dragon).
C—TS—S—A—RD—R—F—PP—MM—S—K—L—J—W—R—T
Eyecatch (video-type)
[A/N: Due to the video not being available, please look for (and envision) Digimon Adventure's first eyecatch.]
{Seven cards fly in from the right and pile up on one another, depicting the following in the following order: a basic silver crown shape, a seashell star-shaped trinket, a chakram, a white circle and two mountain range-like shapes near its sides, a red-blue checker pattern shield w/ a gold crown in the middle, a small bag, and a black star behind a white square.}
{The seven cards then shine into white and form together into something else: A picture depicting two rows of five ponies and two dragons. The bottom row depicts (from left to right) Kairi, Sora, and Rael. The top row depicts Jerry, Lea, Wizard, and Tychophon. The show's logo shows up on the bottom right.}
C—TS—S—A—RD—R—F—PP—S—K—L—J—W—R—T
The party of fifteen exited the library and indeed blue monsters—or AN-8178, or Unversed—were on the attack. There were all kinds of them, chasing ponies, wreaking havoc, and general chaos. In the middle of it all were six other ponies, but they looked…sinister. None of the Unversed attacked them, giving Chronicle the implication that they were either controlling them or are allied with whoever was commanding them. All of them were mares.
The first was a black unicorn with yellow eyes, a mane and tail streaked in maroon, grey, and silver, and had what looked like the moon in a lunar eclipse as a cutie mark.
The second was a purple earth pony with a green mane, blue eyes, a baseball cap worn backwards on her head, a black scrunchie close to her…plot, and her cutie mark was an orange mushroom with blue spots.
The third was a crimson red pegasus with a black wavy mane and tail, green-yellow eyes, a slightly larger build than most ponies, and her cutie mark was a trio of knives.
The fourth was a steel blue earth pony with magenta eyes, a cerulean tail, a mane of the same color concealing half of her face, and…lacked a cutie mark.
The fifth was a purple unicorn with green eyes and eye shadow, a black mane and tail, and a single diamond as her cutie mark.
The sixth was a black pegasus with a thick mane that was the color of the rainbow(the colors on her head were the cooler ones), an equally thick tail with the same color scheme (though they were 'vertically lined', started at red close to the root, and ended with purple), and her cutie mark was a rainbow (blue-yellow-red) entering a single black cloud.
Upon noticing the sixth one, Chronicle immediately felt that they were all somehow the antithesis of the E.O.H. (Elements of Harmony) Keepers or something. Just then, they seemed to notice they were being observed and immediately split off in different directions.
Twilight Sparkle turned to the mayor and said, "Get yourself and the other ponies to safety. We'll take care of this."
Just as the mayor left to do just that, Chronicle finally remembered something. I can't believe I've forgotten about it completely! "Wait a minute," he said before running back inside the library. He then teleported to the second floor, then to his bed, and checked under it (yes, for all his precautions, he keeps stuff under the bed). All right! Taking the saddlebag that was there, he teleported back outside with his friends and the off-worlders.
"You're gonna need these," he then said as he levitated six glowing spherical crystals out of the saddlebag. "Ever since our bout with Discord, I've ordered some very special crystals from some sources I shall not confide, although I assure you they're safe and legal. These crystals are for in case we need to battle a threat that's perhaps more severe than Nightmare Moon's but not as much as Discord's." He then turned to the purple dragon. "And these aren't safe to eat, Spike."
"Are you sure about this?" asked Applejack as she was 'passed' a brown crystal, which was placed in her mane.
"These crystals don't need a unicorn's power to be utilized. A bit like with those tickets back then."
"Tickets?" Sora asked, but he was ignored.
"What exactly do these do?" Twilight wanted to know as she was given a white crystal.
"Your crystal amplifies your already powerful magic," said Chronicle. "You do know a couple of combat spells right?"
"Yeah. Aqua taught me enough. But what did you give the others?"
"The other crystals bestow its bearer powers over a certain element, or boosts it if they already have powers over it. I chose the element they will temporarily use based on their personalities for better control." He turned to each of his friends. "Applejack, I give you the power of Earth because you're strong, hardworking, and have a close-to-earth temperament." He then 'gave' a green crystal. "Fluttershy, I give you the power of Wind because of your grace, and sweet and light personality." A blue crystal. "Pinkie, I give you the power of Water because of your unpredictability and fun attitude." A red crystal. "Rarity, I give you the power of Fire for not only is it beautiful, but gives warmth and light, just like you do." A yellow crystal. "Rainbow, I give you the power of Lightning for…I'm sure you know why."
"I believe I do," said the cyan pegasus.
"Now let's roll!"
"Right!" agreed Twilight and Sora at the same time, then looked at each other in puzzlement from their synonymous answer.
Each of them then split into pairs or threes, each with at least one off-worlder. Kairi went with Twilight. Chronicle joined Sora and Applejack, begrudgingly entrusting Fluttershy to the 'care' of Rael and Tychophon. Jerry accompanied Rainbow. Wizard was with Rarity and Spike. And Lea joined Pinkie.
C—TS—S—A—RD—R—F—PP—S—K—L—J—W—R—T
Somewhere in Ponyville…
"What's the plan, Twilight?" Kairi asked.
"I don't know. We've never had to deal with an all-out invasion of Ponyville before. Neither Nightmare Moon nor Discord ever employed minions of any sort."
"Who's Nightmare Moon?"
"Princess Luna's corrupt self, whom we purged with the Elements of Harmony."
"I see. Now that I think about it, the Elements of Harmony make me think of the Princesses of Heart."
"Princesses of Heart?"
"The Princesses of Heart are seven maidens with hearts of pure light, devoid of darkness. This allows us to open the Final Keyhole in Hollow Bastion, which is supposed to hold absolute power over the universe. We are also able to sense darkness and keep it away, although it's only powerful if enough are gathered."
"I heard you mention 'we'. Are you one of those princesses?"
"Yeah."
"Why did you compare the Elements with your status as a Princess of Heart?"
"Well, I noticed that while both are very important in holding the fate of the world/universe, neither can really defend themselves against the forces of evil that threaten what they protect. At least not when these forces employ minions like these."
As they turned the next street, they found Derpy Hooves and Golden Harvest under attack by midget-types and blue floating pot-types. To Kairi and Twilight's surprise, they were handling themselves fairly well, with Derpy using a cloud to let out thunderbolts at the Unversed…some of which also hit too close to Carrot Top for her comfort.
"Derpy Hooves! Golden Harvest!" Twilight called.
Carrot bucked a midget-type before running to the two unicorns. "Twilight!" she called back.
Derpy didn't seem to pay attention as she clumsily jumped an ice attack, then stomped on the cloud again and struck the blue pot-type who launched it with a bolt.
"Derpy!" Twilight called again.
The pegasus gave one last stomp on her cloud, letting out a series of bolts that wiped out the remaining Unversed attacking them. She then turned to the two unicorns. "Hey there, Twilight," Derpy greeted. "Could you and your friend lend a hoof here?"
"Get yourselves and the other ponies to safety!" said Kairi. "We'll take care of this!"
"Oh, all right."
As the two bypassed her and Twilight, Derpy suddenly stopped and turned to the latter, holding to her cloud all the while. "Uhh, Twilight?" she said as Carrot disappeared around the corner. "I'm sorry about dropping that pot, anvil, wagon, and piano down on you."
"Already put it behind me," replied the purple unicorn. "Now go!"
"Gotcha!"
Once Derpy was gone, Kairi summoned her SWORD-K (Keyblade), which floated beside her, having learned more telekinesis from Twilight.
"Hold on," said Kairi. "A pot, anvil, wagon, and a piano were dropped on you?"
"Could we talk about this later?", retorted Twilight.
The midget-types jumped into the ground like shadows and approached the two unicorns. The blue pot-types charged themselves with ice and swooped right for them. Twilight conjured a ball of ice and shot it at the Unversed, which split into shards and knocked them back. As the midget-types 'resurfaced', Kairi 'moved' her Keyblade and had it slash at the little Unversed, slicing them down in one hit.
TS—GH—DH—K—TS—GH—DH—K—TS—GH—DH—K
Meanwhile…
Just at Carousel Boutique, Lyra Heartstrings was defending Bon Bon while they were backed up at a nearby tree, which had one certain cat on its branches. Surrounding the three of them were flying yellow pots and boot-shaped things.
The unicorn's horn glowed gold as she shielded herself and her friend from the boot-types with a barrier and retaliated with a few musical note-shaped blasts of magic. However, she seemed to be faltering as sweat ran down her face. One yellow pot-type noticed that the cat wasn't being shielded and was about to tackle her when a blast of light shot it down. Following was a cluster of fireballs that cruised across the air and right into the boot-types, who unfortunately put up shields.
Arriving at the Carousel Boutique were Wizard, who had his gun—which he called the GunDeLuna—ready, Rarity, who had shot those fireballs thanks to the red crystal Chronicle gave her, and Spike, who rode on the former's back.
"Seriously, Rarity," said Wizard. "Couldn't you have sent those fireballs any faster?"
"Forgive me if I'm not as upfront as my other friends, dear," the unicorn replied. "Sans Fluttershy, of course."
"Guys, could we stop arguing?" asked Spike.
During the short argument, some of the boot-types recovered and shattered Lyra's shield…sending her rearing up and slamming her back to the tree. The unicorn leaned there for a few seconds. Then, just as a boot-type hopped to attack her, it was bucked by Bon Bon. Lyra then blasted the Unversed with more "musical notes". All the while, the cat hissed.
"Heartstrings! Bon Bon!" Rarity called to the two mares, who turned to face her. "Would you please get Opal down and get yourselves to safety?"
"We'll handle this," declared Wizard as he shot down more Unversed that were attacking Spike, who had dismounted and run ahead of them.
Lyra said, "Thanks. Will do." She then 'picked up' Opal and 'set' her close to the ground, but still 'holding' her. She then got back down on all fours. "Can we hide in your store for the time being?"
"Why, of course, darling," replied Rarity as Spike rushed a boot-type and started slashing at them with his claws, which were searing with flames.
"Thanks, Rarity," said Bon Bon as Lyra opened the door. They then both entered the Carousel Boutique, Lyra still 'carrying' Opal.
Just before Bon Bon could close the door, Rarity asked, "Wait a second. Have any of you two dears seen my sister Sweetie Belle?"
"Sorry, but we haven't," said Lyra as she 'set down' Opal on the floor. Once the door was closed, Rarity and Wizard ran to it to bar the Unversed from entry. Spike reeled back to join them after being spazzed by a Yellow Mustard's thunder pounce.
"Let's get this over with," told Wizard. "Then we'll find your sister."
"Right," agreed Spike and Rarity simultaneously.
LH—S—BB—R—W—LH—S—BB—R—W—LH—S—BB—R—W
Elsewhere, outside Ponyville proper…
"Hurry up!"
Rainbow was at the lead, Jerry slightly struggling to keep up. Fluttershy struggled too, but not to Jerry's extent. Tychophon zoomed as best as he could behind them. As for Rael, he apparently wasn't quick to adapt to his wings, and so took out a scooter that hovered instead of having wheels, bringing up the rear as a result. Once, the party ended up speeding right into a boulder. Everyone else swerved around it, but Rael used his wings and propelled himself and the scooter right over the big rock before 'landing' back on the ground.
"Why was there a rock in the middle of the road, anyway?" he wondered out loud.
"Hey Rael," Rainbow said as she turned her head.
"Yeah?"
"The way you ride your scooter and made that jump…you remind me of somepony who looks up to me."
"Oh, I think I know who you're referring to, Rainbow Dash," said Fluttershy.
"Hurry up, Scootaloo!" a young filly's voice came.
Rainbow seemed to react in shock. "This way!" she shouted as she quickly changed direction. They all followed suit. Eventually, they saw the source of the scream, although they were still too far to be of any help. Setting his scooter on autopilot, Rael took a look with a pair of binoculars.
C—TS—S—A—RD—R—F—PP—S—K—L—J—W—R—T
Scootaloo was driving her signature vehicle, which had a wheelbarrow attached to it. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Dinky were riding it, and all but the last one wore helmets. Running alongside them were Cheerilee, Twist, Diamond Tiara, and Silver Spoon.
Chasing all of them were a dozen mechanical creatures lacking legs. Their bodies were wide, bulky, and sported two small headlights. Their arms each ended in large, conical lance heads. Their heads were black and partially fused with the body, and they had a large turn key sticking out of the top. They came in several color varieties, including blue, yellow, and red, but all of them sported the same red eyes set in an angry expression and the Unversed emblem on the front of their bodies.
"Hey, Scootaloo!" said Diamond. "Give us a lift!"
"No can do, Diamond Tiara!", replied Scootaloo. "This wheelbarrow's only got room for three!"
"We saw you give your two friends and Pinkie Pie a ride. Surely there's room for, like, one more!"
"Now now, fillies," said Cheerilee in a slightly panicked tone. "This isn't the time to argue. Especially when we're being chased by monsters who want to do who knows what on us!"
Immediately, everypony picked up the pace. And not just them; so did the Unversed.
AB—C—T—DT—SS—S—SB—AB—C—T—DT—SS—S—SB
When Rael told the others what he saw, the party of three pegasi and two dragons picked up the pace as well as they tried to close the distance. However, there was a fork in the road where the Unversed and their targets were running down. The ones in the scooter and wheelbarrow went one way, the rest another, and the windup-types both ways, six each. The five reached the fork and stopped there, wondering which way to go or who should go where.
"Okay," Rael said quickly. "Which way and who?"
"I'm helping the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" declared Rainbow. "Jerry, you with me!" Immediately, she zoomed off where the scooter-driven wheelbarrow went off to, Jerry following.
"Looks like we go the other way," said Tychophon as he took off for the other fork, also taking out his bow.
"Hey! Wait up!", Rael yelled as he and Fluttershy immediately followed a second later. As the three yellow ones zoomed down the road, they could see the windup-types up ahead.
"We need to go faster!" said the Shoyru. "If we could only get the wind on our side… Oh, wait… I can do that!"
With that, he seemed to channel the power of wind in him and picked up speed. Seeing this, and remembering what the crystal she was presently carrying in her mane did, Fluttershy decided to try it out. Being a pegasus, she knew the ins and outs concerning flight and so used her crystal's power to reduce the air resistance around them. Rael turned to face her and saw what she was doing and gave an encouraging smile.
Soon enough, they finally caught up with the windup-types, which were still chasing the four ponies. Tychophon took out an arrow, drew it, aimed at one of the Unversed's head, and let it loose. The arrow struck home and it began to spin out of control. As it bumped with its fellow windup-types, Rael extended his left arm and one of the gems in his bracers began to glow. An instant later, it was as if an invisible ceiling dropped on them.
A bit caught up in the battle and enjoying a little from the power she had been bestowed, Fluttershy whipped up a tiny tornado, which blew the Unversed about, disorienting them long enough for Rael to finish them off with his weapon, which he called the DirLuxGun (he didn't name his shield).
She felt a twinge of guilt from that, but then remembered what Princess Celestia had said about the Unversed; they were extensions of an individual named Vanitas, just like how the magical clones Chronicle summons are just extensions of himself. Different methods, same principle, he had said. It was one thing to hear and claim to understand; it was another thing having to apply it. Once the Unversed were taken care of, the four chased ponies stopped. Fluttershy then approached them and checked if they were okay to distract herself.
"Cheerilee, are you all right?" she asked.
"Thank you and your friends for helping us."
Fluttershy then turned to the fillies an addressed them each by name. "Twist?"
"Yes, miss."
"Silver Spoon?"
"Uh-huh."
"Diamond Tiara?"
The pink filly nodded. "I'm okay."
Suddenly, Twist widened her eyes as if remembering something. "Wait! Where's Apple Bloom?", she said.
"If I recall correctly, Rainbow Dash took off to where they went," Tychophon answered. "I'm sure she'll save them."
F—C—T—DT—SS—R—T—F—C—T—DT—SS—R—T
At the other fork…
Jerry and Rainbow managed to catch up to the Unversed that were chasing the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The cyan pegasus explained that (with the exception of the helmet-less one) the fillies are a trio who lacked cutie marks (which define their special talent) and do all sorts of hijinks just to find them. The earth pony with the ribbon was Apple Bloom, Applejack's little sister. The unicorn filly was Sweetie Belle, Rarity's little sister. The scooter rider was Scootaloo, who idolizes Rainbow. As for the helmet-less filly, all she knew was that her name was Dinky.
"I just hope they haven't decided to be the Cutie Mark Crusaders Glidewinder Dodgers," Rainbow added. She only knew the Unversed's names from Jerry, who seemed to know them.
"Cutie Mark Crusaders Glidewinder Dodgers! Yay!" came three voices.
"You just had to say it, didn't you?" snarked Jerry. "But how do they know the Unversed's names anyway?"
The cyan pegasus shrugged. "I dunno. Guesswork?"
"There are wind-up devices in this world?"
"Yeah. Why'd you ask?"
"Nothin'."
Erstwhile, at the other 'side' of the Glidewinders, Dinky was firing magic shots at the Unversed. However, her shots were just as effective as throwing a stone; not very much. Double however, they were all on the head, which seemed to be doing visible damage as the Glidewinders shook each time they were hit on that spot.
"Could you teach me how to do that, Dinky?", asked Sweetie.
"Teach you what?"
"That. The way you shot at their heads with such precision."
"Err…" Dinky tried to think of an answer. "I don't really know. I've always been able to hit things with such skill with whatever I throw." It was actually thanks to Mystic Shield's lessons, but Sweetie didn't know that since she doesn't attend, only coming in during one of many of her and her friends' "Crusades". Dinky would later wonder why she lied, and would find no answer.
"Is that how you got your cutie mark?"
"Hmm…maybe."
"Faster, Scootaloo!" cried out Bloom in a not-distressed manner. "Faster!"
"I'm trying! I'm trying!" cried out the pegasus filly.
Two Glidewinders caught up with them and flanked them. They began to spin their claws and were about to ram themselves into the Crusaders when Scootaloo suddenly slowed down just in time for them to bump into each other and temporarily spin out. However, a third Glidewinder managed to bump into the wheelbarrow from behind, knocking Sweetie off balance. Before she could fall off, Bloom caught her by the tail with her teeth and got her back on the wheelbarrow.
Just then, they saw Rainbow descend from the skies, carrying a black cloud. The cyan pegasus raised her hooves, then brought them down on her cloud, releasing a powerful lightning bolt, more powerful than naturally possible. The bolt scarred the ground, destroyed three Glidewinders, and made the fourth one that was close to the Crusaders spin out before being destroyed by a bolt of blue lightning. Jerry came into view, one hoof forward slightly smoking.
"Nice work with that cloud!" said the purple pegasus as he saw the yellow crystal glow in Rainbow's mane. He then sped past her and the fillies, and prepared to confront the two remaining Glidewinders. The two Unversed turned their heads to see Jerry 'unleash' another lightning bolt that destroyed them.
With the enemy gone, everypony slowed down. As it turned out, the Glidewinder chase took them all the way to Ponyville's Schoolhouse.
The four fillies got off their rides and the Cutie Mark Crusaders checked their flanks…which remained blank.
"Aww…" the three complained.
"Still no cutie mark!" Bloom groaned.
"Are you kids okay?", Jerry asked the fillies.
"Sure are!" answered Scootaloo. "But…what are kids?"
"Uhh…kids are young 'uns like you."
"Here, we call them fillies." Rainbow whispered to Jerry.
"Okay," Jerry whispered back.
"Oh," the Scootaloo said, then changed the subject. "Wonder what we could do next?"
"Maybe we could try hitting targets by throwing stuff, like Dinky," suggested Sweetie.
"Maybe we could try finding out how he got his cutie mark!", suggested Bloom, pointing at Jerry's flank.
"Maybe we could help chase these monsters off of Ponyville!" suggested Scootaloo.
"Or maybe you could go and hide somewhere safe before those monsters decide to eat you!" came a menacing voice.
This voice spooked the Crusaders and they boarded the scooter/wheelbarrow, ready to go. Dinky daintily followed them. As for Rainbow, her eyes shrunk into pinpricks on seeing that the voice was from Jerry.
"Creepy voice," he then said in his normal voice. "Works every time. Let's get these ki—uhh, fillies somewhere safe."
(A/N: Jerry is also a ventriloquist.)
AB—RD—D—S—SB—J—AB—RD—D—S—SB—J
Meanwhile, back in Ponyville…
"The horror! The horror!" three voices were crying out at the same time.
Rose, Daisy, and Lily were surrounded by two types of Unversed; Glidewinders and giant bipeds, the former circling them over and over, staring at them as they turned their heads.
"Pinkie Pie to the rescue, Flower Ponies!" a bubbly voice came.
Out of nowhere, a beach wave came in from the street. On a red surfboard were Pinkie and Lea, the former with a blue crystal glowing in her mane. In the wave were other Unversed that were washed away prior to their entrance. Lea conjured fireballs and shot down more Unversed with them. This wave then washed down the Unversed surrounding the Flower Ponies, sparing the trio of mares while Pinkie was at it.
Just then, coney-type and boot-type Unversed appeared. Pinkie 'dismissed' her wave (and surfboard) as she and Lea landed on either side of the Flower Ponies, protecting them from attack. The Unversed charged, but Pinkie just hopped on each of them as they passed. Once she was past them all, she manifested a whip of water and tripped them up.
Meanwhile, Lea had his chakrams make a protective ring around the Flower Ponies, who were understandably terrified. The pyrokinetic then used his magic to do various fire spells. He was controlling numerous fireballs that made their way to the Unversed, setting them on fire, only for them to then be drenched by water from Pinkie (much to his disappointment), which did them in anyways.
PP—D—R—L—L—PP—D—R—L—L—PP—D—R—L—L
In another part of Ponyville…
"Back! Back, I say!" Doctor Whooves was saying, a strange, cylindrical, metallic contraption (which had the general shape of a pen) on his mouth, which he called a "sonic screwdriver". He shot green beams from it, which paralyzed the giant-type and red pot-type Unversed that were attacking them, the latter with fire attacks. By them meaning himself, Minuette, Sora, Applejack, and Chronicle.
"Remind me again how we got into this mess?" asked Sora as he whacked back a giant-type with his Keyblade.
"Doctor Whooves and Minuette were in trouble. We came and helped. How's that difficult to follow?" Chronicle asked, his "magic horn blade" drawn.
"It's not that it's difficult. It just popped into my head."
Minuette blasted a red pot-type with an ice spell from her horn. A giant-type went in to attack from the side, but it was bucked away by Applejack.
"Let's see if this gem o' yours really works for non-unicorns," the earth pony mare then said to Chronicle.
"It does work!" the blue-coated brown-eyed unicorn insisted as he slashed at a giant-type in front of him. "Trust me!"
Applejack raised her forelegs, her crystal glowing in her mane, then brought them down on the ground. Upon contact, the ground rumbled and earth pillars popped from underneath the Unversed, sending the giant-types to the air and the red pot-types into non-existence. Sora then shot a high-level ice spell at them with his Keyblade and Minuette cast ice spells as well. The attacks destroyed these Unversed.
Suddenly, a new kind of Unversed appeared; near-bipedal balloon-types with valves on their back.
Chronicle did a few slashes at the first opportunity, but all it did was make them glow red and swell. "Aww, horse apples!" he complained once he realized what this meant. Applejack had bucked one of these balloon-types at the front, experiencing similar results. She was then hit by gusts of air from their arms. Some of them then started to bounce around and everypony ran in different directions, although they still stuck in the general area.
Amidst the mayhem, the Doctor managed to find a weak point. He told Minuette about it, who then 'shot' an inflated balloon-type at the back with an ice bolt. The Unversed released air in its body as it seemingly deflated. Sora however already figured that out seconds ago and was expertly taking them down. Chronicle managed to catch on, although Applejack struggled to follow.
In spite of this, a few balloon-types ended up swelling to the point that any attacks on them were now useless, even back attacks. As the Unversed began to roll around, Sora realized what was about to happen.
"Run for it!" he said at about the same time. "They're gonna blow!"
"I got this!" assured Applejack as she stomped on the ground once more. Immediately, pillars of earth popped from underneath the balloon-types and sent them up into the air like a plunger hits a pinball. The Unversed then harmlessly exploded in the sky.
"Nice work there, Applejack!" commended Chronicle. "Although I forgot to mention that you better be conservative in using those crystals. Like unicorn magic, those crystals can take out a lot in you if you use them too much."
"Same thing applies with my magic," said Sora.
"In any case, I think you know what I'm trying to tell you, right?"
C—M—A—DW—S—C—M—A—DW—S—C—M—A—DW—S
Later, in yet another part of Ponyville…
Snips and Snails were on the run.
Chasing both of them were two different kinds of Unversed; one-wheeled wheelbarrow riders with pickaxes for arms, and average height skinny bipeds.
The two colts were chased across alleyway, the Unversed finding them wherever they went. Eventually, they were cornered into a dead end. The Unversed slowed in their run and began to approach slowly. Both colts shook in fright as they awaited their end.
"Snails," said Snips. "If we don't make it…I just wanna say…"
"Ya don't have ta say it, Snips," replied Snails. "We're toast aren't we?"
"Yeah."
"Delicious, buttery toast. I'd love to have some when he get home."
Snips did a facehoof in response. Suddenly, a small purple dragon jumped in between the colts and the Unversed. Following were two white ponies; a stallion with a cyan messy mane, and a mare with a styled violet mane and a unicorn horn.
"Tell me again why we had to enter in this fashion?" asked Wizard.
"Aww, come on!" complained Spike. "I always wanted to do this!" Just then, a skinny-type slashed him with its claws. It didn't hurt him much, but the force of the blow pushed him back.
"Perhaps we should focus on the task at hoof, boys," advised Rarity as she called up a fireball with her crystal.
"My thoughts exactly," said Wizard as he summoned his GunDeLuna.
As the two colts they were protecting backed further away, Spike started by unleashing a breath of fire on the Unversed, sending them reeling back. Rarity then shot her fireball at the skinny-type that hit Spike, destroying it. Wizard followed with a couple of shots from the GunDeLuna. Just then, the Unversed stood in a line and began to charge, only to be thwarted by a line of fire.
"I can't fathom what Chronicle was thinking when he decided that I should have this element," complained Rarity as she maintained the spell. "It's too dangerous and risky if you ask me."
"I think that's exactly the reason you have it. You're the only one who can best utilize it," guessed Wizard as he and Spike repelled the skinny-types that jumped the wall. "From the little time we had so far with you girls, I saw how…not-all-there Pinkie can be, how Rainbow can be reckless, how Fluttershy seems to be too meek for him to even think of giving it to her, and Twilight's already got that amplifier. Not sure about Applejack though."
"Take that!" Spike cried out as he dodged a wheelbarrow-type that plowed through the fire wall and tried to slash at him with its pickaxes, countering with his own claws and fire breath.
S—R—S—S—W—S—R—S—S—W—S—R—S—S—W
In Sugarcube Corner…
Blue pot-type and midget-type Unversed were invading the store. The owners, Mr. and Mrs. Cake, whom no one in Sora's group were able to see at their welcoming party, were in a corner as they came in.
With them were Octavia and Vinyl, the former with her cello bow held on her right front hoof, and the latter with her horn glowing as she repelled the Unversed with a barrier. The two were supposed to leave after the party—Octavia's band-mates already having done so—but they had decided to rest up beforehoof. And unfortunately, that was when the Unversed incidentally attacked.
Just then, the door flew open as Lea jumped into the scene. Following was Pinkie Pie. With a saddlebag holding water balloons.
"Don't worry, Mr. and Mrs. Cake!" said Pinkie. "It's Pinkie Pie to the rescue!"
"And Lea! Got it memorized?" Lea then summoned his chakrams and launched them at the Unversed. They went through many of them, all without setting the whole store on fire. Any remaining Unversed were doused by Pinkie's water balloons, then encased in spheres of them. Lea then 'sliced' them with his chakrams. However, another 'wave' then appeared. They composed of skinny-types and yellow pot-types.
The skinny-types clasped their hands together before rushing…at the Cakes. Some of them managed to breach the DJ's barrier, but were whacked away by Octavia, who swung her bow at them. Each of them then got trapped in water spheres manifested by Pinkie as she then moved the Unversed towards her. However, a few yellow pot-types Lea was handling reached the pink earth pony and tackled her with their electrically-charged bodies. She was sent tumbling across the floor, but somehow ended up landing on her feet again.
"Did they just…don't tell me they just…" she stuttered.
"Oh, I think they just—"
Immediately, her expression changed into something crazy. "You wanna get wild? Let's get wild!" Immediately, Pinkie began to spin round and round, creating a tornado of water around her that began to suck in the Unversed.
"Uh oh," gulped Lea as he proceeded to shoot down the yellow pot-types before they could get to Pinkie. "Doesn't she know that water conducts electricity?" Just then, one of them reached the tornado, but a pink hoof shot out and bucked it right into Lea, who 'cut' it down with one chakram. "Okay. Looks like she knows that, but it's still risky." He turned to the Cakes and the musicians. "You four better go somewhere else safe." The three earth ponies and one unicorn nodded and ran off into the kitchen (and upstairs, hoping the twins were safe, which they were).
(A/N: I have standards regarding fight scenes, and I draw the line on babies fighting—as awesome as it would be writing Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake doing so—unless they're already established in canon as such, like Hana Stoppable from Kim Possible.)
PP—MCC—L—VS—OM—PP—MCC—L—VS—OM—PP—MCC—L—VS—OM
Somewhere in the outskirts of Ponyville…
Sora was following Chronicle and Applejack to Sweet Apple Acres. Ahead, they could see a dogpile of giant-type Unversed, apparently trying to keep whatever they were pinning down from trying to get away. Winona was barking at the pile.
"Who's under that pile?" Sora cried out in distress.
"Let's hurry so we can find out!" answered Chronicle as everypony picked up the pace, especially Applejack. Just then, the giant-types were sent flying in all directions, some even over the afternoon horizon, much to Sora's utter surprise. "Okay. No need for that." It was Big Macintosh.
"Big Macintosh!" Applejack cried out. "You okay?"
"Eeyup," he responded as he shook off some dust from his coat.
"Winona!" The dog perked her ears in response as her owner and her friends arrived. "Mac! Have you seen Apple Bloom?"
"Last saw her with the Cutie Mark Crusaders."
"What about Granny Smith?"
"In the barn."
"I'll see to her safety," Chronicle offered as he launched a 'shuriken' and hit a giant-type on the head that was trying to get up, dissipating it.
"A shuriken," Sora commented to himself as he sliced down some more of the knocked down giant-types.
Just then, as Chronicle made his way to the barn, Winona following for some reason, more of the giant-types that were knocked away got up and began to attack again. Following that, balloon-types and raven-types appeared.
"Hit the ball-like ones in the back!" Sora advised as earth spikes protruded from the ground by Applejack's crystal, striking the balloon-types on their weak spots.
"Easier said than done for me," said Macintosh as he bucked a giant-type right into a tree, and it somehow bounced right into a balloon-type, sending it tumbling so that its valve end was open for him to buck again, destroying it.
"I'll deal with these!" Sora then cast a lightning spell with his Keyblade, summoning small thunderclouds that appeared above the raven-types and struck them down.
C—A—BM—S—C—A—BM—S—C—A—BM—S
In the barn…
It was a good thing Chronicle decided to help Granny Smith, for she was in trouble. Granny was trying to hobble away from the midget-type Unversed surrounding her. Two earth pony stallions were with her, but neither of them seemed capable of defending the old mare or themselves.
"Caramel? Noteworthy?" gasped Chronicle. "What are you two doing here in Sweet Apple Acres?"
"We got chased all the way here by these blue monsters," said Noteworthy as he jumped away from an attacking midget-type.
"Oh won't somepony help me get this blue pest off my back?" the elderly mare yelled in distress as a midget-type got onto her back. Her two companions were too scared to help.
"Got it, Granny!" answered Chronicle as he came in, then shot it down with a 'shuriken'. He shot a few more, taking out all the midget-type (and Winona pouncing on a few as well) with one each as he ran to the elderly mare's assistance.
"Why thank you, lad," said Granny. "Such a brave pony. Unlike these two." She sneered at Noteworthy and Caramel, then turned her attention back to Chronicle. "How're my children? I sure hope they're safe."
"Applejack and Big Macintosh are keeping the big blue 'pests' out with a new friend of ours. Not sure about Apple Bloom, though. Mac said she's with her friends."
"Uhh…could we save the talking for later?" Caramel cut in as he pointed to where Chronicle came in. Upon turning, more midget-types appeared. Chronicle conjured more 'shurikens' and readied his "horn blade", ready to protect the three ponies.
C—GS—BM—C—C—GS—BM—C—C—GS—BM—C
Back at Ponyville…
Jerry and Rainbow Dash were leading the Cutie Mark Crusaders (and Dinky) back to their homes and to safety. Around them, ponies were either running, hiding, or fighting the Unversed. For those who were fighting, pegasi were using clouds to send down lightning bolts (although they weren't as strong as Rainbow's); unicorns were conjuring barriers, firing blasts of light from their horns, and tossing/swinging stuff around like bludgeons; and earth ponies grabbed whatever they could in their mouths and started swinging them at the Unversed or otherwise just bucked them.
As the six ponies crossed a street, they saw two mares and a filly on the run from a herd of blue pony-sized…alicorns?
The three escapees were Amethyst Star, Berry Punch, and Ruby Pinch. Both 'parties' met at the road, with Rainbow quickly naming the three to Jerry as they stopped after passing by the two. She then turned his attention to the blue pursuers before he could as more about them and they saw something odd.
The 'alicorn''s eyes were red, not round like that of a regular pony, and strangely shaped in an angry expression. Their hair was spiny and as blue as their coats, they had yellowish-green markings on their hooves, and their cutie marks were all the same. These marks have been seen in all the blue monsters that have been terrorizing Ponyville. For all intents and purposes, these ponies were actually Unversed.
"I knew there was something wrong with those ponies!" cried out Rainbow.
"You only figured it out just now?" Jerry snarked.
"Yup!" In her anger, she didn't realize that thunderclouds manifested right above these 'false alicorns', her crystal glowing. By the time everypony saw the clouds, the clouds were already delivering lightning bolts on what Jerry decided to name Suicorns (for some reason).
Some Suicorns took flight and raised barriers to block the thunder while others charged, their horns glowing red with magic. Jerry had his sabers ready. As they reached him, he swung his weapons at their legs, paralyzing them on the spot as they stumbled. (Jerry's sabers were coated with a substance that causes burns on contact and temporarily paralyzes the surrounding area to mimic the effect of losing a limb…not that that worked on the Unversed.) These Suicorns weren't done and began to bombard him with fire and ice spells. However, none of them made it to him as a barrier formed.
"Thanks for keeping Dinky safe," said Amethyst. As Rainbow sped at the Suicorns, tackling them down with her super speed and electricity coursing through her body thanks to her crystal, Jerry turned to see the unicorn casting the barrier, her horn glowing violet-red. "Now go kick their flanks!"
Jerry nodded and manifested a moderate amount of energy in front of him. He then shot it at the Suicorns, destroying one and pushing asunder the others nearby. The force of the blast was enough to disturb the flying Suicorns from casting their barrier, not having realized the thunderclouds were no longer bringing down lightning bolts.
They were then tackled by Rainbow, who then followed up by taking a cloud above and unleashing her crystal's element down on them. The ensuing bolts completely eradicated the remaining Unversed. However, more of them immediately appeared out of nowhere, appearing in the same fashion as when emerging from a teleport spell.
"Oh, come on!" Jerry complained as he 'moved' his sabers back to him.
Rainbow returned to his side, then turned to Scootaloo. "Hey, Scoots."
"Yeah?" the pegasus filly perked up upon hearing.
"Get yourselves and these ponies to safety! Things are about to get rough!"
"Anything for you, Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo saluted, then turned to her fellow Crusaders. "Anypony got a suggestion of a safe place?"
"I know of one!" voiced Berry Punch.
"Lead the way for them, ma'am!" said Jerry as he and Rainbow Dash held the line. Berry nodded as she led her daughter, Amethyst, Dinky, and the Crusaders down a detour Jerry had failed to notice earlier. "Now how did I miss that?" he wondered as he quickly turned back to the Suicorns, whose horns were now charged with various elemental magic. He turned to the cyan pegasus. "You think we can still handle these fellows?"
"Sure we can!" Rainbow assured, confidence in her voice, although there was the slightest twinge of uncertainty.
AS—AB—RD—D—BP—S—SB—RP—J—AS—AB—RD—D—BP—S—SB—RP—J
Somewhere outside Ponyville…
After seeing Cheerilee and her three students to safety, Fluttershy led Tychophon and Rael down a road leading to her cottage.
There were houses and shelters for an assortment of small animals, although their usual residents seemed to be absent, replaced with coney-types, raven-types, and midget-type Unversed. There was also another kind of Unversed; they had pots/tops for their lower halves, pink flowers on their heads, and green thorny vines with leaves at the end for arms sprouting from either side of their heads.
"Hmm…why are we being introduced to many kinds of Unversed right here in Equestria?" Rael muttered to himself. "Hold on a second!" he then gasped, catching both of his yellow companions' attention. "Is that…a white bunny fighting them?"
Amongst the Unversed, Angel was wearing a pasta strainer upside down on his head and holding a carrot as if it were a two-handed sword. Being as tall as the midget-types, he was deflecting against their claw attacks with his carrot.
"White bunny?" Fluttershy seemed to react in shock. "Angel!" Immediately, she picked up speed, leaving her two dragon companions in the dust.
"Whoa!", gasped Tychophon. "Didn't think she'd be the speedy one."
"Maybe only when provoked," Rael guessed as they immediately followed. They took out any and all Unversed in the way, although they had minor problems with the top-types, with them spinning and trying to smack them with vines. The area was small, so it was quite crowded. Even though flight was possible, there were also the raven-types to worry about.
Angel was visibly struggling against the Floods attacking him. Fluttershy was trying her best to each him, but wasn't making much progress. Even with her crystal's power to blow the Unversed aside, as well as her companions' assistance, she couldn't get to him, as he was now getting pushed right into some coney-types.
These Unversed began to spin and began shooting lasers. Another of Rael's gems in his bracers glowed, creating a small vortex that pulled the coney-types and other Unversed into it, but it was a second too late as the lasers made it to Angel, hitting him multiple times. The resulting attack made him lose his grip of his carrot and fall over as if beaten.
Time seemed to slow as Fluttershy gasped in shock, and then her "mama bear" instinct kicked in, and it showed in her expression of fury. It was like her eyes could look deep into the soul.
Rael sensed what was coming and started to retreat, taking out other Unversed in the area as a strong wind began to build up around her, beginning to form a small tornado as her crystal glowed bright. Tychophon turned to see what was happening and immediately went over to Rael, conjuring a shield of wind to protect themselves as Unversed, starting with the ones gathered by the vortex spell, were sucked into the tornado that formed around Fluttershy, which then began to move away from the cottage before it could cause any extensive damage to it. After a couple of seconds, the tornado suddenly…ceased to exist.
Fluttershy was in the middle of where it used to be, cuddling Angel (without the pasta strainer helmet) in her forelegs. Around her were various debris, which began to drop to the ground, and the various Unversed, which 'popped' into dark flames one by one. Tychophon and Rael could only stare dumbstruck as she slowly landed on the ground.
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry you had to see that!" she apologized as soon as she regained her composure. "I just don't know what got over me! Angel got hurt, and I…and I…"
"If anybody hurts your friends, they're gonna get it, right?" Tychophon guessed. "And these Unversed certainly got what was coming to them. Especially with that crystal Chronicle gave you. I could see another reason why he chose Wind as your element; one can never know when it'll go crazy."
Suddenly, more Unversed appeared, surrounding the three. The yellow trio gathered together, their backs to each other. "Leave the fighting to us, Fluttershy," Rael advised, half from concern, and half from fear. "You just blow them about when they get close, 'kay?" The pegasus nodded her head as she put the resting Angel on her back.
F—R—T—F—R—T—F—R—T—F—R—T
Elsewhere in the Everfree Forest…
Twilight Sparkle was leading Kairi through the woods, both of them in a hurry. Both made certain not to touch the blue flowers known as the "poison joke". When Kairi asked what it does, Twilight assured her that she doesn't want to know. When Kairi insisted, saying she's been through a lot in her adventures, Twilight conceded and explained. At the end of the explanation, Kairi was at slight giggles, especially with the "Flutterguy" and Chronicle falling for her.
Just then, they heard the sound of fighting. Quickly, they picked up the pace. Eventually, they reached the battle. There were a number of giant-types, top-types, and a few Suicorns surrounding one certain zebra.
"Zecora!", Twilight called, an ice spell on the ready.
The zebra turned her head in response, a knife between her teeth. "Quick! Close the distance!" she said. "I need some assistance!" Zecora then jumped from the arm whips of the top-types. Kairi and Twilight quickly did as she requested, both of them taking down the Unversed with spells, and the former with the Keyblade in her tail.
"Hey, that's rhymes," mused Kairi as she followed up with light-element spells, Twilight doing the same.
"Zecora has a tendency of speaking like that," said Twilight as she hurled a ball of light at a raven-type about to attack said zebra, who bucked a giant-type at the side, then sliced at it with her knife.
"Why are we having a conversation in the middle of a fight?" Kairi aimed her Keyblade at a top-type and shot a thunder spell.
"You must be rubbing in to me." Twilight conjured a thundercloud that then brought down lightning bolts on all the Unversed, only for them to be directed at just the Suicorns.
"I must've gotten it from Sora and Rael." Kairi dodged a Suicorn's charge, striking it with her Keyblade as it passed her.
"I can't believe the nerve of whoever made these kinds of Unversed!" Twilight seemed to be taking down the Suicorns with more prejudice than any of the other Unversed. "Seriously! Alicorns? As far as I'm concerned—"
"If you two are done talking, could you focus on fighting?" Zecora interrupted as she landed her forelegs on a weakened giant-type, then drove her knife into it, destroying the Unversed.
The two unicorns turned to each other with a nervous giggle, then decided to focus on the battle.
TS—Z—K—TS—Z—K—TS—Z—K—TS—Z—K
Meanwhile…
Ponyville wasn't the only place under attack by the Unversed. The far-off unicorn city of Canterlot was also a victim of the invasion. And the populace was being escorted to safety as the royal guards repelled the invaders. While the Princesses were advised that they stay at the palace, they were out with the guards, showing the Unversed just how powerful they really were and why they should not mess with the rulers of Equestria.
"What could the summoners of these things be possibly thinking?" Princess Luna wondered out loud as she manifested storm clouds that made their way into the Unversed, sucked them in, and destroyed them from the inside. "Attacking the city of Canterlot where we the Princesses reside. If this is an invasion force, then clearly the summoners are out of their minds." She then turned to her elder sister. "What do you think, Tia?"
Celestia was busy fending off a number of Unversed, including some Suicorns, which mildly irked her at the sight of them. After blasting them with a beam of light, she then noticed Luna ask her and turned her head. "Now that you mention it…" She turned to one of the pegasus royal guards, and called for his attention. She then told him to report on the current situation.
"We're slowly having the situation under control, your Majesty," he said. "However, these blue monsters have been progressing in strength."
"What's the status of the neighboring villages?"
"I'll take a look!" With that, he took off to the skies, dodging a couple of raven-types along the way. Below, the rest of the royal guard (alongside the Princesses) did their part in removing the Unversed from Canterlot.
One pegasus guard was sent back by a Glidewinder, only to quickly recover and rush at the Unversed, sending it twirling before being struck again by the guard, dissipating into dark flames.
Another pegasus guard flew in a low altitude, utilizing his innate pegasus magic to generate a razor wind in his wings to cut through the pot-type Unversed that were in his way.
One unicorn guard leaped over a balloon-type, hopping off its head, quickly turned around, and shot a bolt of magic from his horn, which hit the Unversed in the back. He was then hit by a giant-type from behind before it was pounced by a pegasus comrade.
A few Suicorns foolishly charged Luna—and paid the price as a storm cloud from her swallowed them up and shocked them to oblivion. A couple of giant-types rushed at her from behind, only for her to jump over them and bring down another storm cloud on them, bringing down on them the same fate the Suicorns suffered.
A couple of skinny-types jumped from a window and were about to land on Celestia when they were held fast in a yellow aura from her. She then flung them down to the ground, where they dissipated on impact.
Just then, the pegasus guard Celestia had called earlier returned. "Cloudsdale's safe for now," he reported. "And so are most of the other towns. However, for some reason, Ponyville seems to be under the same predicament as Canterlot." Celestia seemed to realize something, but the guard noticed only her lack of a reply. "Is there a problem, your highness?"
"I'm fine," Celestia assured. "You carry on in your duty." After straightening in attention, the pegasus guard took off to continue helping purge the Unversed from Canterlot. Oh no. Twilight Sparkle. I hope she's okay. Just then, there was a crash. Both Princesses turned to see a large Unversed joining in the invasion. It was bipedal in shape, although it seemed to be made of three parts; legs, arms, and torso with head.
"I believe our assistance would be of great help there," Luna suggested, shaking Celestia off her thoughts. "The guards don't seem to be faring too well." Sure enough, even with lots of guards attacking, the large Unversed proved difficult for them as it blasted lasers, shot energy balls, threw punches, and loads of other attacks from its three parts. Nodding to her younger sister, Celestia took flight and charged together with Luna as two more of its kind came into their view.
PC—PL—PC—PL—PC—PL—PC—PL—PC—PL—PC—PL
Back at Ponyville…
"Well, that's all of them, I think." Tychophon, Fluttershy, and Rael were on their way back to Ponyville, with Angel left behind at the cottage to rest.
"Whew," the spiny dragon said as he wiped his forehead. "Clearing a town sure is hard work, even if the local populace are capable of defending themselves. Also, in those other worlds with towns I've been to so far, their streets were always empty."
"If I remember correctly from what your Meridell friends have told us, that was just Agrabah, Halloween Town, and Port Royal," Tychophon argued.
"Oh right. Radiant Garden has a considerable defense force. And so does Twilight Town, which only has Nobodies to worry about."
"Nobodies?" asked Fluttershy.
"Another 'species' of bad guys we take on in our travels, although some are more sympathetic than most. And we won't be calling them Noponies in Equestria."
"Now where did that come from?" the crested dragon asked. All of a sudden, our pegasus pony friend seemed to have experienced a mental 'attack', for she placed a hoof on her head and cringed in pain. "Uh oh! What's wrong?"
"I feel…like we need to go somewhere," said the pink-maned pegasus.
"Lead the way."
"Call me crazy, but I have a feeling we're gonna run into those six mares we saw," Rael said.
"Is one of them a black pegasus with a rainbow mane?" guessed Tychophon.
"Yeah. Why?"
"Had the same feeling too."
F—R—T—F—R—T—F—R—T—F—R—T
Back at the Everfree Forest…
The three equines managed to destroy all the Unversed in the area and were inside Zecora's hut for a short break.
"If I may be so polite, who is this stranger by your side?" the zebra asked Twilight.
"This is Kairi. She and her friends are helping us take out these Unversed—as they call them—that have attacked Ponyville."
"Once we find whoever summoned them, Equestria will be safe once more," said Kairi. "I just hope nobody thinks us as the cause."
"Why would you think that?"
"Well, they only came sometime after our arrival." Suddenly, Twilight clutched her head with one hoof as if having got a migraine. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. But I'm getting a feeling that something's leading me somewhere. Somewhere that's—"
"I have a hunch on what that feeling is," interrupted Kairi. "Let's go there."
With that, they thanked Zecora as they made their way out of her hut and the Everfree Forest.
"Good luck!" the zebra called out as they ran.
TS—Z—K—TS—Z—K—TS—Z—K—TS—Z—K
Back in Ponyville proper…
"I hate these Suicorns!", Jerry complained as he and Rainbow took down the last of them they could see for miles.
"Why'd you even call them that?" the pegasus mare asked.
"I dunno. Just a spur of the moment, I guess," Suddenly, Rainbow seemed to experience a headache. "Rainbow Dash! Are you okay?"
"Yeah. But I think I know who caused this! And I'm gonna get 'em for it!" With that, Rainbow took off, leaving a seven-colored streak. Jerry quickly followed as fast as he could.
"Hey! Wait for me!" he futilely called.
RD—J—RD—J—RD—J—RD—J—RD—J—RD—J
Inside Sugarcube Corner…
"I think it's best you don't go doing that again." Sugarcube Corner was a mess, thanks to the water tornado and the Unversed, and Lea was scolding Pinkie Pie about it. "Even in our wildest, we do little damage to our surroundings when we fight. Then again, none of us ever battled in a bakery before."
Suddenly, the pink earth pony's body began to shudder completely. "Uh-oh!" she said, her voice shaking. "There's gonna be a doozy!"
"A doozy?", Lea was confused.
"And I know just the place!" Pinkie then stopped shaking. "Grab on to me and hold on like your life depends on it!"
"Why?"
"Just do it!" All of a sudden, Pinkie appeared right below Lea in such a way that he was now on her back.
"Whoa! How did you—" Before he could speak any further, she was off in a pink streak, and so fast that Lea literally had to hold on for dear life.
PP—L—PP—L—PP—L—PP—L—PP—L—PP—L
In another part of Ponyville…
After taking Snips and Snails to a house that was safe from the Unversed, Wizard, Spike, and Rarity walked down the near empty streets, with only the occasional midget-type Unversed, which Wizard shot down, and the occasional pony interacting with the other kinds of Unversed, which meant either running or taking them down themselves.
"Okay," the white earth pony said. "Just a few more until Ponyville's perfectly safe." Suddenly, he heard a scream, then the sound of fainting. He quickly turned around to see that Rarity had fainted, with Spike cradling her head and calling her name over and over in concern. Seconds later, the unicorn got up, much to the dragon's relief. "What's just happened?", Wizard asked.
"Oh, I just had the most horrible vision!" Rarity explained in a melodramatic manner.
"What? What is it?" Spike wanted to know.
"I feel like we have to go somewhere. And only I seem to know where to go."
"Takes us there," told Wizard. "I think I know what's gonna happen next."
S—R—W—S—R—W—S—R—W—S—R—W
At Sweet Apple Acres…
Sora, Applejack, Big Macintosh, and Chronicle (after seeing to Granny Smith's safety and leaving Winona, Caramel, and Noteworthy with her) managed to wipe out the last of the Unversed in the farm.
"I hope that's all of them," said Sora.
"Eeyup," agreed Macintosh. "That's all of 'em, all right." He then went to check on Granny Smith.
"Thank goodness," Applejack sighed in relief. "For a minute, I thought we'd never be fi—Aaaagh!" Suddenly, she stopped as she put a hoof on her head and cringed as if in pain.
"Is something wrong, Applejack?" asked Chronicle as he then pulled out Surveillance. It was okay to let Sora see it; he won't be sticking around in Equestria for long.
"Yeah. I feel like I'm supposed to go somewhere."
"You're not the only one." The blue unicorn then showed his screen to her and Sora. The screen showed various images of the rest of Sora's party and their friends running (or flying) with a purpose. "Apparently, the other keepers experienced the same thing."
"How do you know?" Sora wanted to know.
"Ever since they began to wield the Elements, I've had magic cameras up watching my friends and recording what they do." Sora widened his eyes at the idea, and Chronicle could tell that he was thinking of plenty of indecent thoughts. He quickly changed his tone. "But I'm not a pervert! It's not like ponies normally wear clothes anyway! Now let's go!"
C—A—BM—S—C—A—BM—S—C—A—BM—S
Elsewhere…
Twilight Sparkle and Kairi were on a road the former knew led to the far-off town of Canterlot. Just then, they three certain yellow comrades come over and join them.
"Rael! Tychophon!" Kairi called.
"Fluttershy!" Twilight called.
"Kairi!", Rael called back as he slowed to a stop and put away his scooter. "Twilight!"
Seconds later, we heard something come from behind. We stopped and turned to see a rainbow streak headed our way.
"Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy called.
The streak slowed down to reveal that it was indeed her. Jerry caught up a few seconds later, totally winded, now trotting on the ground.
"Wow!" said Jerry between wheezes. "You…sure…are…fast!"
Then, a pink streak bypassed him, making the purple pegasus spin around. The streak then stopped to reveal Pinkie Pie…with a dizzy Lea on her back, who was doing his best not to vomit.
"Oh, hi there, friends!" said Pinkie as Lea dropped off of her. "Why are we all gathered here?"
Just after the finished her sentence, there was a flash. In an instant, Chronicle, Sora, Wizard, Applejack, Rarity, and Spike were with them, the former having teleported them all.
"My head's spinning from all these sudden arrivals!" I began to complain.
"Apparently, the author couldn't think of a better idea to get us all together in short order!" Pinkie commented.
"Pinkie!" Chronicle immediately scolded. "What did I tell you about the fourth wall?"
Pinkie immediately scowled. "To not break it." She then went back to her usual happy expression.
"What's this about a fourth wall and an author?" asked Sora.
"About time you came," we heard a voice echo.
The fifteen clustered together, their backs to each other, wary that the speaker may come out at any direction. And indeed they came out. One by one, they came into view, seemingly surrounding us. It was the six mares they saw earlier during the Unversed attack in Ponyville.
"Ahh. The keepers of the Elements of Harmony," spoke the black unicorn. "I was hoping it would just be the six of them coming here, and I would've tolerated their dragon friend and stallion-who-looks-like-a-mare-at-first-sight." Chronicle frowned at the insult clearly directed at him. "But I should've known from your new acquaintances that they'd be coming as well."
"Well, if your plans are of taking over this world, of course we're gonna put a stop to you!" Sora replied. "Especially if Unversed, Nobodies, or Heartless are involved." He turned to the world natives, who were confused. "Nobodies and Heartless are other minions employed by the bad guys we deal with in our travels." During this whole conversation, Rael took out a few bottles from his bag and shared them to everyone. They all took it and wordlessly consumed their contents, the off-worlders assuring the world-natives that they were safe to drink.
"Who are you?" Chronicle demanded as he was offered an Elixir. "What business have you with us?"
"Well…we have been selected by the draconequus Discord to wield his spin on the Elements," said the purple unicorn in a manner somewhat classier than Rarity's.
"Let me guess…they're called the Elements of Discord." He drank from the bottle.
"A rather unimaginative guess," snarked the crimson pegasus in a gruff tone. "Although I suspect anypony who knows of the Elements of Harmony would be able to come up with that name."
"Unfortunately, we aren't as tight-knit a bunch as the rest of you," said the black pegasus as she pointed a hoof at Twilight and her friends. "I even plan on leaving after all this."
"Only our common motive in freeing Discord once more is what keeps us together," said the earth pony with the cap. "Although I'll admit we might fall apart any minute now, so we're gonna cut to the chase. I'm Fungus Amongus, representing Deceit." Immediately, Applejack scowled.
"I am Jewel," said the purple unicorn. "Representing Avarice." Rarity made a loud gulp after she took her share of Rael's Elixirs.
"Bluebird," said the steel blue earth pony, although it was difficult to hear. The black unicorn then seemed to cast some magic and the earth pony spoke again. "Bluebird. I represent Despair." Pinkie Pie looked away, as if ashamed or something.
"Warmonger's my name!" said the crimson pegasus with pride. "I represent Malice!" Fluttershy immediately cringed in fright.
"I am Black Rainbow!" cried out the black pegasus. "I represent Betrayal!" Rainbow Dash sneered at her.
"And I'm Midnight Shadow," declared the black unicorn. "And I wield the element of Curse." Twilight Sparkle felt…wrong somehow and frowned. "So, now that we're getting to know each other better…" Midnight's horn then glowed with dark energy and so did the rest of what Chronicle decided to dub the E.O.D. wielders.
"Now didn't I mention that line sometime before?" Lea mused as everyone prepared for battle, rejuvenated thanks to whatever was in the bottles Rael provided.
"…it's time for the 'Divide and Conquer', girls!'"
"Oh yeah!" said Warmonger.
"Ha-ha!" Black.
"Joy." Bluebird.
"Let's do it!" Fungus.
"Okay!" Jewel.
Immediately, the earth underneath them cracked as light erupted from them, which converged right for the fifteen. Since none of them thought they could stop it, they all split up in a state of panic. When Chronicle got up, he saw that the light has extended upwards as far as the eye could see, effectively separating everybody from each other. He then looked around to see that Pinkie and Wizard were with him, and they were confronting Bluebird.
He checked Surveillance and was able to glean the following; Rarity and Jerry were about to fight Jewel. Rael, Tychophon, and Applejack faced off against Fungus. Rainbow Dash and Lea faced Black Rainbow. Sora was up against Warmonger, with only Fluttershy for support (he cursed himself for not being able to accompany her). As for Twilight and Kairi, Spike was now with them as they faced Midnight.
"Now comes part two of the spell." the blue earth pony said as he put away Surveillance and turned his attention back to her. The ground began to glow underneath them and shine brightly. Presumably, the same thing was happening to the rest.
C—TS—S—A—RD—R—F—PP—S—K—L—J—W—R—T—FA—J—B—W—BR—MS
Eyecatch (video-type)
[A/N: Due to the video not being available, please look for (and envision) Digimon Adventure's first eyecatch.]
{Seven cards fly in from the right and pile up on one another, depicting the following in the following order: a moon in a lunar eclipse, an orange mushroom with blue spots, a trio of knives, a blank steel blue space, a single diamond, and a rainbow (blue-yellow-red) entering a single black cloud.}
{The six cards then shine into white and form together into something else: A picture depicting two rows of six ponies. The bottom row depicts (from left to right) Bluebird, Midnight Shadow, and Black Rainbow. The top row depicts Jewel, Fungus Amongus, and Warmonger. The show's logo shows up on the top left.}
C—TS—S—A—RD—R—F—PP—S—K—L—J—W—R—T—FA—J—B—W—BR—MS
"Hey! I remember this place!"
Twilight, Spike, Kairi, and Midnight were now in a place that was familiar to the former two. It was the library in where she lived before moving to Ponyville.
"Bring back memories, Twilight Sparkle?" asked Midnight in a suggestive manner. "Back then, you were very antisocial, with just Spike and Chronicle as your companions, the latter only with you under a contract as your bodyguard."
"Just how do you know all this?" demanded Spike.
"Being the wielders of the Elements of Discord, we are able to read the minds of our opponents. But don't worry. We can only look into your fairly distant past, so no probing for battle strategies for us." Midnight's opponents just frowned, obviously not trusting her as her horn glowed a sinister yellow. "Although, whether you trust me or not is your choice, of course."
TS—S—K—MS—TS—S—K—MS—TS—S—K—MS
"That's because we aren't really at Cloudsdale.", Black Rainbow was saying to her opponents. "This is just an illusion manifested by Midnight Shadow's spell." Rainbow Dash (who had asked Black Rainbow) and Lea confronted the wielder of the Element of Betrayal in what looked like a town square, only there were plenty of clouds in place of the buildings and the ground. Black then looked at Lea. "Now hold on a second. Looks like this fight is gonna be interesting."
"What do you mean by that?" asked Dash.
"Not only am I gonna face the keeper of the Element of Loyalty, I'm also gonna face someone who was a traitorous double-crosser in a previous life. Constantly switching sides for the sake of a friend, even if it's not with his consent, and even he switched out one for another."
Lea said nothing as Dash turned to face him. "Wait! What did she mean by previous life?" The red unicorn refused to answer.
"As a wielder of an Element of Discord, we can look into our opponents' past," answered Black as she prepared to take off in a charge. "But enough of that. Let's get started."
RD—L—BR—RD—L—BR—RD—L—BR—RD—L—BR
"Do you really think you can defeat me?"
Warmonger confronted Sora and Fluttershy in a forest below a large cloud, which the latter remembered as the pegasus city of Cloudsdale.
"That line's clichéd," scoffed Sora. "And I've beaten baddies much tougher than you."
"True, but did you have to face them alone?" Warmonger countered. "You've had friends watching your back during those times, especially that boy with the shield. You can be stupid at times, but never when your enemy tries to fool you? Just how do you do it?"
"You know, I never given it much thought."
Warmonger raised an eyebrow in confusion, then resumed her usual frowning. Next, she immediately rushed at Sora, who brought up his Keyblade to defend. However, she proved much stronger than expected, pouncing Sora, bypassing Fluttershy, and crashing the earth pony into a tree.
F—S—W—F—S—W—F—S—W—F—S—W
"You puzzle me, Jerry," said Jewel as she manifested three crystals, which were currently shooting beams of light as her horn glowed green. "You're a thief, yet you keep little for yourself?"
Jewel, Jerry, and Rarity were in an area in the rocky mountains, which the latter seemed to be familiar with; it was the clearing she used to mine for gems before she was ponynapped by the Diamond Dogs.
"Just what does she mean, dear?" asked Rarity as she manifested a barrier and countered with fireballs, which were deflected with a barrier from Jewel.
"I have a Robin Hood-like lifestyle," explained Jerry as he deflected some of the lasers with his sabers. He had received some serious hits from Jewel's crystals and was on the defensive. "'Steal from the rich, give to the poor' and all that. Although the poor I give to is just the orphanage. Also, I don't really have a desire for power. Such thoughts have strictly been purged from my mind. That means you can't tempt me, Jewel."
"I don't plan on tempting you," said the other unicorn as one of her crystals stopped shooting lasers and started to shoot a beam at the ground, shaking it. Immediately, Jerry took Rarity in his forelegs and carried both of them up, the white unicorn gasping in fright and surprise, as cracks began to form in the ground and release beams of light and ejected crystals.
R—J—J—R—J—J—R—J—J—R—J—J
"Hold on a second," said Wizard. "Why don't you have a cutie mark?"
He, Bluebird, Chronicle, and Pinkie Pie were in what the latter remembered as the Pie Rock Farm in which she spent her early fillyhood in. The sky was also dim and cloudy.
"Yeah. About that," lamented Bluebird. "I never really found out my purpose in life. And I don't think I ever will." Pinkie was about to speak when Bluebird raised a hoof in refusal. "And don't bother trying to cheer me up. That never works."
"Just why are you with the Elements of Discord anyway?" Pinkie asked.
"I represent Despair. I want to release Discord so he can remove cutie marks altogether." There was a trace of anger in Bluebird's voice. "I want them to feel the despair I have felt over the years, mocking me and calling me 'blank flank'."
"Okay," said Wizard. "Now that's the lamest reason I've ever heard."
"Not that Discord would stop there," Chronicle reminded, then turned to Bluebird. "You know, we know some fillies who've had the same dilemma as you. But I have a feeling we'll have to beat you up first before we could convince you."
"So…you think defeat means friendship?" snarked the white earth pony.
"Worked once with the Elements of Harmony. We did in Nightmare Moon with them, although for Discord the best they could do was reseal him."
"You can't hurt me," cut in Bluebird. "I've been hurt too much already."
"Okay. Now I think this pony's off her rocker," Wizard stated as he aimed his GunDeLuna and fired at Bluebird, who didn't even bother dodging. The beams of light hit her, but for some reason, she didn't get hurt. However, Wizard felt a few stings in his body. "Hey. That hurts."
Chronicle then rushed at Bluebird, his "horn blade" ready and aimed at the blue earth pony. Just before reaching her, he teleported so that he was behind her, and then slashed. The move ended with him in front of her…and he stumbled over in pain. "Oww," the unicorn complained. "It's like I just attacked myself."
"Uh oh!" Pinkie gasped. "It's like zero-seven-three of that Foundation that contains all that anomalous stuff!"
"What did I tell you about the fourth wall?"
"Oh, sorry."
All the while, Bluebird just stood there, a slight smirk on her face. "So, what are you gonna do?", she taunted. "Unless I'm defeated, you cannot leave. And anything you do to me just gets back to you."
C—PP—W—B—C—PP—W—B—C—PP—W—B
"Ooh. Looks like I'll also be fighting a liar.", Fungus remarked.
Applejack, Tychophon, and Rael were facing Fungus in what the former remembered as Manehattan, where she spent a portion of her fillyhood in. Fungus was spawning mushrooms, most of them dangerous.
"What the hay is she talkin' about?", Applejack asked the spiny dragon.
"While lying almost comes naturally to me, I'm more on the 'not tell the truth' type."
"You liar," replied Fungus as she picked up a(n explosive) mushroom and hurled it at them, which was shot down by Tychophon. "You lie pretty much all the time."
"I do not!" Rael retorted as Applejack put up a wall of earth (well, concrete) that stopped another mushroom. "You must be talking about another."
"No. I'm pretty sure you are a consummate liar." Fungus continued to pluck and hurl mushrooms, eventually breaking Applejack's wall.
"Now I don't even know what that means." Rael then shot at the projectiles, which exploded in a spectacular manner, but when the smoke cleared, they couldn't see Fungus.
"Yes you do." They turned to see her to our right, riding a big dragon seemingly made out of mushrooms. "You know what it means."
"Now I know that's a lie." The three backed away, readying their means of attack.
"Why are you even arguing with her anyway?" Tychophon asked his companion. "She represents Deceit. Of course she would lie."
"And unlike my corrupted self, I'm sure she'll also sometimes tell the truth, twist it, or tell half of it," Applejack added.
"Oh, so you're an expert on lies now?", teased Fungus as her giant mount reared its head to let out a breath of poisonous fumes. Rael immediately cast a wind shield spell with one of his bracer's gems to keep out the fumes and Tychophon used his inherent wind abilities to strengthen it.
A—R—T—FA—A—R—T—FA—A—R—T—FA
Midnight was casting dark ice-elemental spells at Kairi, Twilight, and Spike, who were countering with fire attacks.
"You don't have what it takes to defeat me," Midnight taunted as she then slammed her hooves on the ground and covered it with a layer of ice.
"You don't know that!" Spike countered as he unleashed a fire breath, melting some of the ice and hitting Midnight, who put up a barrier. "Twilight's the best unicorn there is when it comes to magic!"
"We'll see about that." Midnight then shot a beam of darkness at the dragon, only for it to be countered by a light-element spell from Kairi. Midnight turned to the pink unicorn. "You're not cut out for this, Keyblade wielder. You're nothing compared to your friends."
"That may be the case," Kairi argued as she prepared a spell. "But I'm not gonna let that stop me."
"Well, maybe I should be the one to stop you then." Midnight prepared another spell.
"Not if I can help it!" Twilight countered as she also prepared to cast a spell.
"Don't you think I'm sitting this one out!" added Spike as he prepared to breathe fire again.
Four things happened at once. Midnight unleashed a vortex of dark energy, Twilight fired a beam of luminous energy to counter it, Spike bolstered it with his fire breath, and Kairi…teleported. Three seconds later, as the beams pushed one another, she reappeared behind Midnight to attack her, only for the black unicorn to teleport away, resulting in Twilight's beam hitting Kairi. Midnight then reappeared behind the bearer of her Element's counterpart, only for Spike to turn in time and rush at her. At that same second, Twilight then realized that her beam was not countering Midnight's, stopped casting, and turned around to see Midnight 'toss' Spike right at her, resulting in the two sliding in the ice and bumping into Kairi, who had been pushed a fair distance away from the beam. Midnight then teleported to their location.
"I'll admit, you almost got me there," said the black unicorn. "But you're gonna have to do better."
TS—S—K—MS—TS—S—K—MS—TS—S—K—MS
Lea was getting confused and disoriented from the two rainbow trails around him. One was a horizontal seven-colored streak (Rainbow Dash), and the other was a line of multicolored rings (Black Rainbow). In occasion, Black rushed at him (of course he wouldn't know it until it was too late), but Dash always tackled her out of the way. As it was, Black was stronger than Dash, who in turn was faster than her. Lea could barely do a thing to help, not without doing any accidental friendly fire. Even though the two rainbow-maned pegasi's streaks were clearly different, the colors alone made it hard for him to distinguish comrade from adversary.
Eventually, he decided to just shield himself with his chakrams and fire, even if his element didn't exactly excel in defense. He could only hope that Dash doesn't end up hitting him.
Suddenly, Black rushed at Lea once again, quickly getting through the measly 'ring' he called his defense, getting a slight scratch from one of his chakrams, and pouncing him before he knew what hit him. A second later, Dash got her again, knocking her off of him, and the two began to roll along the 'clouds'.
RD—L—BR—RD—L—BR—RD—L—BR—RD—L—BR
Sora was sent flying to a tree…again as he fought Warmonger. He got up and continued to dodge her relentless attacks and keep Fluttershy away from her. Neither of them noticed that she had been following them the best she could.
Fluttershy wanted to help, but this was out of her league, something more suited to Chronicle. Also, she couldn't find any particularly useful application with the crystal he gave her; her pacifist nature rejected all ideas of 'razor wind'. That and she didn't want to hurt Sora in the process.
But as she saw Warmonger knock Sora's sword out of his mouth, then pushed her forehooves at Sora's neck, her feelings were in a state of turmoil. She had to help, but how? The only way was to fight, but she didn't want to fight. She didn't feel confident enough.
Staring down a dragon and a cockatrice was one thing. That chiropractic session Twilight witnessed (and misinterpreted) was another. But straight up fighting another pony, even if it's to save someone, was a completely different matter.
"You may have defeated foes tougher than I am before, but in this form, in this world, against me, by yourself, you're nothing!" Warmonger said as she continued pushing.
"Once again, that line's clichéd," Sora managed to sputter.
"Still able to sputter jokes on the verge of defeat? Maybe you got a concussion from all those trees I slammed you through. Once I'm through with you, I'm gonna enjoy torturing that bearer of my Element's 'good' counterpart. She looks so helpless, I'm gonna enjoy breaking her. I just love hearing the cries of my pitiful victi—"
That snapped her out of any doubt she had, and generated intense fury at Warmonger. Upon realizing it, Fluttershy saw in her what she could've been had Twilight not 'restored' her and Discord not have fallen, saw in her everything she wished to never be. With speed she wouldn't think possible for her to normally do, she pounced the red pegasus off of Sora, and the two were soon rolling across the ground. Eventually, the smaller of the two ended up on top.
"You big, dumb meanie!" Fluttershy yelled as she punched her savage counterpart in the face over and over. Warmonger then kicked her upwards in the air, then charged after her, only to be swiftly grabbed and hurled back down on the ground. The few karate lessons she had learned under Rainbow's…persuasion, as well as some of the moves she applied during her chiropractic sessions had paid off.
As Warmonger crashed and left a crater in her wake, her opponent then slammed down on her, resulting in further damage. For some reason, her strength had diminished when Fluttershy was in close proximity. Still, she wasn't completely helpless in spite of the loss; she was still fairly strong.
(No one knew it, but the Elements of Discord provided its wielders various powers. However, they are nullified when the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, especially their respective counterparts, is in close proximity.)
She had to get away regardless. After kicking Fluttershy off of her, Warmonger flew upwards to Cloudsdale, only to collide into the city's base like it was a ceiling. She then remembered that this place was an illusion, and that it had 'boundaries'. And then Fluttershy reached her and slammed her into the 'ceiling'. Below, Sora watched in awe, unable to believe what he was seeing.
F—S—W—F—S—W—F—S—W—F—S—W
Jerry continued to fly Rarity across the ravaged field caused by Jewel's magic crystals, which have seemingly gone rampant, the cracks in the earth continuing to spew out crystals.
"I've never seen this level of magic before from a unicorn," Rarity commented. "I think only the Princesses could accomplish this. If not them, then Discord."
"Maybe the crystals Jewel has are making this level of magic possible for her, just like the crystals Chronicle gave you and your friends."
Just then, one crystal from the ground hit him on the back and the two started to fall, heading close for Jewel. The purple unicorn didn't move as the two crashed close to her position, kicking up some dust. Some of the dust hit Jewel, and she looked "a bit" freaked out. Jerry saw this, and had an idea. Getting off of Rarity, who was still slightly dazed, he began to kick up more dust by flapping his wings, directing them right at Jewel, who freaked out more and used a spell to block off the dust. This diminished her focus as the cracks in the earth began to seal up and crystals no longer shot out from the closing cracks.
"Stay back!" she panicked. "You will not mess up my coat!"
"Why?" replied Rarity as she got up and joined Jerry, an angry smirk on her face. "Afraid to get dirty?" She didn't wait for an answer and proceeded to shoot fireballs at Jewel, who cast a barrier. As Jerry continued to kick up dust, his weapons began to move under his mental command as he 'ordered' them to attack. Jewel was now completely on the defensive.
R—J—J—R—J—J—R—J—J—R—J—J
After a couple of 'experimenting', Chronicle and the others have discovered something that gave them the advantage in their battle against Bluebird. For some reason, whenever the blue earth pony was at close proximity to Pinkie Pie, or was encased in water manifested by the pink earth pony, her pain-reflecting powers were nullified.
Bluebird was currently encased in a water bubble by Pinkie, although her head was left open for Wizard and Chronicle to attack with shots and magic shurikens. They both felt bad on having to take down their opponent is such a torturous manner, but it was the only way for them to get out of here.
Just then, as Wizard and Chronicle took a short rest before attacking again, Bluebird let out a long chuckle. Her three opponents paused as the did.
"You…You just managed to make me angry," she said. "Only a few have managed to do that. And none of them have escaped my wrath!" She seemed to well up a lot of emotion inside her, which somehow disturbed the water that held her, then she let out a blood-curdling scream. In an instant, her normally flat hair suddenly became poofed up and spiny. Her entire body also became a shade brighter and her expression changed from gloomy to crazed.
Wizard and Chronicle were completely surprised and scared. While this didn't scare Pinkie somehow, she was more surprised than anypony else and her gasp was much louder than the others.
"Okay! Now this is the second pony I've seen with a expressive mane!" said the only unicorn in the area as Pinkie dropped the water holding Bluebird.
"Who's the first?" Wizard asked, doing his best not to quiver in his hooves.
"Pinkie Pie. Her mane isn't always as poofy as you see right now. When she gets utterly depressed, it goes straight and she becomes dimmer."
"How'd you know about that?" asked Pinkie.
"From Spike," the blue unicorn answered as he turned to her. "After you interrogated him, or so he claims. Also, you did tell me and the Crusaders about how 'Equestria was made'."
"Hey, losers!" Everypony turned back to Bluebird, who was now somehow twice her usual size. "Prepare to enter a world of hurt!" She then rushed at them, plowing them all aside. As she bypassed them, Wizard quickly retaliated with a few shots from his GunDeLuna, but upon impact, he received the pain.
"Darn it!" the white earth pony cried out. "Her powers are in effect again!"
"We'll have to get Pinkie on Bluebird somehow!" said Chronicle as he and the others got up.
"I can do that!" said Pinkie, still ready to help out.
"Not without a plan." The three of them dodged Bluebird again as she charged them. "She ain't gonna let you get on her as simple as that, if you know what I mean."
C—PP—W—B—C—PP—W—B—C—PP—W—B
Applejack, Tychophon, and Rael fled down the streets of 'illusion' Manehattan as Fungus followed on her 'mushroom dragon', wreaking havoc in the (empty) place, although the usual stand was upturned.
"Equestria's technology level sure is strange, huh?" Tychophon remarked as they turned to an alley.
"Is this really the time?", Rael retorted.
Applejack didn't know what they were talking about, and honestly didn't care.
"You can't hide from me!" Fungus said as small ponies out of mushrooms spawned from the ground, ready to attack.
"Hold on!" Applejack said as she then brought her forehooves up, then down on the ground. Immediately, as her two dragon companions shot down some of these monstrosities, the earth underneath them rose and they then hopped off it and onto a rooftop. They confronted Fungus, who was on the head of her 'mushroom dragon'.
"Ah, there you are," she said. "I was so worried about you."
"Sincere or sarcastic?" Rael snarked.
"Don't even bother," Tychophon retorted as Applejack shot spikes of earth from the pillar she used to raise us up. Fungus's dragon let out a breath of fumes and corroded them before they could reach it.
"Earth spikes?" Fungus taunted. "That's the best you can do, right?"
All of a sudden, as the earth pony and the crested dragon continued to fend off Fungus's attacks, Rael seemed to space out for a second. Then, something in his bag glowed. He reached for its interior and took out a pendant with three strange symbols. He then put it on and it looked like he received a surge of power.
Then, perhaps for the first time since his arrival, he used his wings to lift himself off of the ground. He followed this up with a 'shield' out of wind to shield himself and his allies from a fume breath Fungus's dragon made. He then rushed at the purple earth pony. Her dragon reared up its head to bite him, but he let out a screech, which sent its head further back, also knocking off Fungus. As she slid down the dragon's back, and as Applejack and Tychophon started to deal with it, Rael shot at her with his 'DirLuxGun', but kept missing. He then decided to dive right at her.
The stetson-wearing pony seemed to worry a bit. Tychophon seemed to notice and said, "Don't worry about Rael. He's may not be as brave or as upfront a fighter as Sora, but he's fought tougher monsters." He then followed up with an arrow to the mushroom dragon's head, breaking off a few of its parts. Applejack cursed herself for not being too creative with the 'earth' crystal Chronicle gave her as she used it to help defeat Fungus. Earth spikes, earth pillars, and rock throwing were the only things she could think of (that would not cause too much collateral damage) in the heat of all this fighting.
Thankfully, the mushroom construct seemed to be losing integrity as Rael continued to fight its mistress. Eventually, an arrow from the crested dragon followed by one medium-sized rock from Applejack, both aimed for the head, defeated it.
As the dragon quickly crumbled to nothing, Fungus fell and Rael's weapons vanished as he swooped down in an attempt to grab her. However, she called up a mushroom to break her fall, and he decided to recall his weapons and back away. Fungus landed on the mushroom and crashed through it, smashing through it, but it did break her fall. Tychophon descended after them, carrying Applejack in his arms. As the three landed, they all turned to face Fungus, who lazily got up from the ruins of her mushroom, and shook her head.
"I think I know her weakness," Applejack voiced.
"Hmm?" Rael asked without turning.
A—R—T—FA—A—R—T—FA—A—R—T—FA
Midnight cast another spell and knocked Kairi, Twilight, and Spike into the wall. Kairi was the first to get up, but the other two were too tired to do that or even open their eyes.
"You just don't know when to give up, do you?" sneered Midnight—moderately winded—as she prepared to cast a spell to finish them off. Kairi didn't answer as she moved her Keyblade with telekinesis. "Any last words?" Kairi remained silent. "Oh well. Nice knowin' ya." Midnight began to gather dark energy, ready to utterly obliterate her enemy. While some might say it's overkill, she prefers to think of it as being thorough.
As she watched Midnight prepare for her attack, Kairi gulped in slight nervousness. Just then, something shone in her pouch. Still wary of Midnight, she took out whatever it was that was shining. It was a charm similar to the one depicted on her flank as her cutie mark. A feeling of rejuvenation washed over her body.
Midnight seemed to notice it as she then unleashed her dark magic spell on them. However, a split second before the dark energy converged, a shield manifested and repelled the darkness, although she wouldn't know that until after she stopped casting. The moment she did, she saw Kairi with a barrier, and Twilight getting up to cast a curative spell on all of them.
Kairi then dismissed the shield, rushed at Midnight and 'hurled' her Keyblade, which spun and struck the black unicorn. She then recalled her weapon, and knocked Midnight into the air with the her weapon before slamming her down to the ground. Suddenly, multiple black swords manifested from above and converged right at Midnight, who teleported out of harm's way and reemerged behind Kairi. Before the black unicorn could attack her, she was struck by an ice-elemental spell from Twilight.
Kairi took advantage of this, aimed her Keyblade at Midnight, and shot a number of dark orbs. As these struck the black unicorn, Kairi seemed to feel disturbed. Twilight noticed as she covered for her ally, and gestured to her assistant to snap her out of whatever trance she's in.
"Come on, Kairi!" Spike called out. "We almost got her!"
This shook the pink unicorn off her thoughts as she then aimed her Keyblade once more and a searing purple fireball emerged from it. Before it could hit, Midnight 'picked up' some water from the melted ice and brought it out in front of her to shield herself, 'boosting' it with her own dark powers. However, a fire breath from Spike evaporated it and to make things worse for her, Twilight shot a Light-bolstered ice spell. Both dark fireball and shining ice shard struck…each other and exploded, resulting in a cloud of fog that confused Midnight.
"Arrrgh!" the black unicorn cried out as the 'fog' seared at her coat from the light and dark energy that came with the two colliding spells. "Really clever!"
"Not exactly what I was expecting, but…" Twilight remarked as she stood a few paces away from the fog.
"I'll handle this," assured Kairi as she seemed to know what to do. She rushed into the fog, Keyblade in her teeth like Sora and ran at Midnight, who was still confused and unable to move. She struck, then teleported so that Midnight was in front of her again. As she continued to do this multiple times, Twilight and Spike noticed from what little they could see that Kairi wasn't teleporting like unicorns do . Just then, columns of light rose from the ground, dispersing the fog…and attacking Midnight. Kairi was a pace away, her Keyblade stabbed on the ground. She then turned around, 'picked up' her Keyblade, leaped into the air, and brought it down on Midnight. The moment it hit, there was a flash of light that engulfed everything and time seemed to slow.
TS—S—K—MS—TS—S—K—MS—TS—S—K—MS
The two rainbow-maned pegasi continued to roll along the 'ground' until they ended at a wall, where Black was now on top of Dash.
"You're pretty bad-flank, I'll give you that," remarked Black. "Nopony who has ever fought me lasted this long. Say, what about I join you chums and—"
"You're not convincing me, Black Rainbow!" Dash retorted.
"Of course I'm not. We bear contrasting elements. I'm a constant backstabber, tied to my allies only by purpose, while you'll never leave your friends hanging, regardless of the circumstances. I have quite the silver tongue, you know. I can tell anypony anything and they'll believe me. Of course, I'll have to spice up my game to convince your fellow keepers once I'm through with you. Oh wait, they'll be goners to my 'fellow' wielders. Then again, I don't really care if they fai—"
"One shouldn't monologue until they're sure they got all their enemies down or are playing mind games," Lea's voice came.
Black noted the voice, but didn't let go of Dash. "Okay. Now where are you, you chronic backstabber?"
"Like I'm gonna tell you that. How stupid do you think I am?"
In an instant, Lea was there, about to 'swing' a chakram at Black, who quickly moved so that Dash was in his way. However, Lea and his chakram suddenly blinked out of existence as he then appeared at Black's other side, 'swinging' his weapon. She wasn't able to counter in time as the bladed wheel hit, forcing her to let go of Dash. He then followed by shooting a fireball from his horn, then followed with his second wheel, which he summoned during that last move. Before anypony knew it, he was in a frenzy, blinking about whenever Black managed to get an opening for a counterattack. Dash could only watch as her comrade attacked at such marvelous speed.
"You…really…are…the…Flurry…of…Dan…cing…Flames," Black said in between hits, knowing she had already lost. "Can't…believe…you…still…got…your…skills…when…you…were…a…No…pony."
"That's 'Nobody', bitch!" retorted Lea as he did one more slash. At this attack, there was a flash of light that came from Black, which seemingly slowed down time and blinded everypony.
RD—L—BR—RD—L—BR—RD—L—BR—RD—L—BR
Fluttershy continued to pummel Warmonger, who was now counterattacking. By this point, she realized just what she was doing and it was unnerving her, but the adrenaline from the fight—and the knowledge that Warmonger will not stop hurting others, including her and Sora, until she's stopped—kept her from turning meek again; now was not the time.
Warmonger was more experienced in pegasus combat than she was, but Fluttershy refused to let it waver her determination. She just hoped Sora would recover in time to step in; for all her friends saying what's she's capable of, she can't handle this alone. Seeing her coming, she redirected her mid-charge and hurled her downward.
Sora, seemingly having recovered (and his necklace was glowing for some reason), was running as fast as he could to the fight. Just as he the red pegasus crash into the ground—resulting in a small crater—, he hurled his Keyblade at her in sch a manner that it began to spin mid-flight. It was a direct hit and she was awoken. As he recalled his Keyblade, he brought himself up with it, then performed some kind of sliding attack towards Warmonger…who suddenly caught him, then easily hurled him aside.
Just as she did that, Fluttershy swooped down and slammed down on her. Warmonger then tossed her aside (with difficulty) once more, only for Sora to rush in with his Keyblade charged with electricity. She made a close dodge, then bucked him away once again, only for Fluttershy (who blew herself back with her crystal's wind powers) to rush in sooner than she expected. And that was how Warmonger held out; one of them would rush at her, and she'd throw them off, only for the other to come in at her, and she'd repeat the process.
Of course, this didn't last long. After going on at this for a while, due to the rate of one of them headed back at her, Warmonger eventually had to kick both of them off at the same time. Fortunately, she managed to do that. Unfortunately, both of them were next to each other now, and they'd be able to make a plan, and she was already getting tired.
"Wow!" Sora said. "I never thought you'd be this strong."
"Well, I couldn't keep letting my friends get in danger because of me," replied Fluttershy in her usually sweet voice and a worried tone. "And you've been risking your life for me even though we aren't close friends."
"I guess that's just me; I help anybody who's in trouble, even if I don't know them."
"Thanks."
"I got a plan."
As the two made small talk, Warmonger righted herself, ready to charge at the two. She didn't know what they were up to, but she couldn't fool around any longer. She bent down, dragged a hoof across the ground, let out a snort, then charged. At about the same moment, so did her opponents. She charged at Sora, who had his Keyblade turned so that it was pointed forward like a spear. Fluttershy was above him, but Warmonger planned on making a quick dodge at the last second.
She didn't get that chance as Sora suddenly picked up speed, and zipped right past and struck her. As he quickly turned around and struck again within a second, Warmonger knew she was doomed as Fluttershy was already right above her, somehow diminishing her strength. Sora finished his combo for five more slashes, then he quickly followed up by spinning rapidly toward Warmonger. He reached her and she was unable to escape, even when the keeper of the Element of Kindness was no longer close to her as she moved out of the way. In the middle of this frenzy, there was a flash of light that engulfed the entire field and slowed down everypony's sense of time.
F—S—W—F—S—W—F—S—W—F—S—W
Jewel was backed into a corner as Jerry and Rarity continued to attack her. Only a little more and the wielder of the Element of Avarice is going down. Just then…
"Oh, screw it!" she yelled. Then, in one swift motion, she 'hurled' her three crystals at Jerry, all of them knocking him on the head, then lunged at Rarity herself. As the two unicorns began to roll across the stone ground (getting their coats and manes dirty), Jerry slowly recovered from Jewel's attack, only for the three crystals to cast spells, fly about, and attack on their own accord, which quickened his recovery, but were now hurting him bad.
Jerry immediately took to the skies and used his powers to repel the crystals' attacks. He was gonna have to take Jewel down and fast. Unfortunately, at the moment, he'll have to leave that to Rarity as he continued to evade the crystals. Below, he could see them punching one another, rolling, punching again, and rolling again, and so on.
While he did that, he evaded a lightning bolt from one of Jewel's crystals, which struck the ground. He then suddenly had an idea. As he swerved around, dodging attacks, he also direct them the best he could down at Jewel, although he had to make sure she was on top of Rarity and not the other way around. Eventually, he found an opening…
Jewel was on top now, and thoroughly ticked off. Also, she was somehow choking Rarity in spite of the fact she can't strangle with hooves alone.
"You really done it this time!" she shouted. "Nopony messes up my coat and gets away with it!"
"Oh, you are so vain!" Rarity replied as she turned herself and Jewel around so that she was on top of her. "It doesn't have to be the end of the world just because of that, you know!"
Jewel was then on top of her again. "Just how can you be so giving in spite of your high-class demeanor?"
"I don't think you're quite saying it right."
"So what? You're a foal to think—"
Just then, above them, Jerry dodged a lightning bolt. A second before that, Rarity reared up her hind legs and kicked Jewel off of her and into the bolt Jerry dodged. The white unicorn then rolled to the side as Jewel landed on the ground again as her crystals were then 'caught' by Jerry, who then swooped down on her. As Rarity got up, he then 'tossed' them right at Jewel, who was still hadn't recovered from the lightning bolt. The crystals hit her on the head one by one, but when the third hit, there was a flash of blinding light that seemed to slow down time.
R—J—J—R—J—J—R—J—J—R—J—J
The plan was going well. Amidst the chaos, Pinkie had managed to discreetly get inside Bluebird's tail, which thanks to her now doubled size and poofed-out tone had enough space for her to hide in. Chronicle and Wizard were leading the crazed earth pony around, firing beams of light/'shurikens' on occasion and teleporting around whenever she's about to catch up.
"Okay," said Chronicle. "Just a couple more and we're outta here."
"I sure hope so," replied Wizard. All of a sudden however, he spaced out for a split second, and then his cutie mark began to glow.
"Hey, Wizard. Why is your cutie mark glowing?" Chronicle asked.
"Heck if I know, but I'm hoping it's something good." Immediately, he felt something good. He aimed at Bluebird, then 'pulled' the trigger on his GunDeLuna. A periwinkle beam came out of the GunDeLuna and hit Bluebird, who stumbled to the ground and fell. However, she wasn't out of the count yet as she struggled to get up, although it did take some effort. Wizard proceeded to shoot away, seeing that for some reason, the lens of his GunDeLuna were changing colors. And for each of them, they shot different elements, each hitting Bluebird with equal effectiveness.
"Man, this has gotta be the lamest and easiest fight I've ever fought in," complained Chronicle as he teleported himself and Wizard around, evading Bluebird's mad rushes. "I'm pretty sure the others are doing better ones than this." All the while, Pinkie managed not to fall off.
"What was your most epic fight?" Wizard inquired as he continued shooting.
"Against Discord when I was avenging my friends after he corrupted them. Even though I did lose, it was the best I've been in, although I wouldn't fight it again for the thrill of it, but because of how much I loathe him."
"Okay. Now for the finisher!" Wizard aimed his GunDeLuna upward and cried out, "Taiyou!" The clouds began to clear up as if heralding something about to come down from above. Bluebird wasn't about to wait and she rushed at Wizard, but a sphere of water suddenly formed around her head. As she stopped short from the sudden lack of air, Chronicle could see Pinkie pop out from Bluebird's tail and give a wink before popping back in.
Suddenly, a beam of light descended from the sky, headed for the enraged earth pony. In a split second, Chronicle quickly teleported to Pinkie and conjured a barrier around her and himself to protect them from the beam, which hit Bluebird full force. Time seemed to slow down a second after impact as a blinding flash came.
C—PP—W—B—C—PP—W—B—C—PP—W—B
The two dragons and one orange earth pony moved in hard and fast, quickly taking down Fungus's mushroom-spawn and striking Fungus herself. She tried to run, but she seemed to tire quickly. She spawned mushrooms that seemed to bounce her about, but they were taken out before long. As it turned out, Fungus wasn't very athletic.
Eventually, they had her cornered and she was on her last legs, moderately bruised.
"Wait…" she sputtered between deep breaths. "I…"
"I'm not gonna let you trick us," Tychophon quickly interrupted as he nocked another arrow.
"Hold—" Rael suddenly cried out, but it was too late as the crested dragon let his arrow fly. It struck Fungus at the side—and unexpectedly, there was a flash of light that blinded us and time seemed to slow down.
A—R—T—FA—A—R—T—FA—A—R—T—FA
Back on the road leading to Canterlot…
The whole place was empty, save for a giant, very noticeable wall of light that expanded in a wide area and covered a large circle. The sun was about to sink into the horizon as the moon began to rise on the other side of the sky.
Suddenly, this wall of light began to shrink into itself and turned into twenty-one spheres of light (one of them being slightly smaller than the others). Six of them then quickly converged together and the other fifteen circled them. These balls of light then dissipated and released whatever was inside them.
The six E.O.D. wielders fell in a heap together, still able to fight enough for a last stand (and Bluebird back to normal), while the rest emerged in a circle around them.
"Let's finish this!" declared Chronicle. Instantly, he aimed his horn at them and so did Twilight and their horns glowed. The six E.O.D. wielders were then encased in a single bubble of magic. "Everyone attack!"
And that's what we did. Converging at the six were a vortex of wind, two lightning bolts (one yellow and one blue), a torrent of water, a crack in the earth where an earth spike would come out at the end, two streams of fire (one dragonbreath and one magic spell), two beams from the Keyblade, a slim beam from the GunDeLuna, a flaming chakram, and an arrow. For some reason, Rael did not participate in this combination attack.
The attacks collided and pushed at the bubble for a few seconds before exploding and kicking up a load of smoke, which remained for a while. A couple of seconds later, the smoke disappeared, revealing the six E.O.D. wielders sprawled on the ground, defeated and unmoving.
As the off-worlders 'put away' their weapons, Chronicle felt a pang of guilt from the possibility that his friends had to take a life. And not just one, but six. As he turned away, he could see his friends breaking down in tears in varying degrees, from silent sobbing to "ocular gushers" to everything in between. The two yellow dragons had turned away as well in guilt.
Sora went over to Twilight, who let out tears from her closed eyes. "What's wrong?"
"It's just that…that…"
"Not once have we ever consciously taken a life of a living, thinking being, especially a pony," Applejack answered for her.
"And now…we just took six," added Rainbow, who was doing her best not to sob uncontrollably like Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy were.
"But what about—" Sora was about to ask again when he was cut off by Chronicle.
"Sealing a perhaps-immortal draconequus—which is what Discord is—in stone doesn't count as killing in their book, even if it may be a fate worse than death," said the blue unicorn. He glanced at Fluttershy, who was being comforted by Rael. For some reason, it kept bothering him, even though it was a certainty that he was going to leave soon.
He then turned to face Sora again. "Look, I don't know what friends you've made throughout your travels, but these friends of mine are still… innocent, in a sense. Yes, they can kick butt, but the taking of a life…they're not used to that. The only reason why they didn't break down to begin with when it came to taking out Unversed is because we've been told about them and what they really are. Still, I'm grateful you guys came when you did. I don't think I could've defended this town all on my own against the Unversed and those girls." He gestured to the defeated E.O.D. wielders. "Especially since my friend was out on a field trip. Well, there is a martial arts community here, that's why a fair number of the townsponies fought as well."
"Yeah, I was quite surprised about that," said Sora. "Most towns we go to usually have empty streets and therefore there's no need for us to go out of our way to protect them."
"In spite of all that, ponies are a peaceful race. Fighting is not in their nature like in your kind."
"Why not?"
This kid's hopeless. I think I'm just a few years older than him. "How do I put this in terms you can understand… Ponies are herbivores. They never rally developed a hunting instinct. And that's all I have to say about that. Ask the others if you still don't get it." And then he turned away, ending the conversation.
"I hear something!" Kairi suddenly gasped.
Everypony who wasn't busy crying turned to face her, then to where she was facing as they heard the flapping of wings.
Incoming was a carriage pulled by four white pegasus Royal Guards, and in tow were Princesses Celestia and Luna, whom Chronicle identified to the off-worlders. He then informed his friends of their arrival and they gradually recovered enough to bow in respect. As the rest followed suit, Sora just stood dumbfounded, but was quickly 'forced' down.
The chariot landed and the two alicorns got off. As they walked over to us, Chronicle was the first to rise. "Princess Celestia. Princess Luna," he said. "We have—"
"These must be the ones who have summoned the Unversed, am I right?" Luna interrupted as she turned to the defeated E.O.D. wielders.
"I am not absolutely certain, Luna, but they certainly were allied with the summoner, whoever it was. They claim to have been selected by Discord to wield 'his spin on the Elements'. And I personally think that took place after he corrupted my friends back in the maze. Why didn't either of you come when Ponyville was under attack?"
"We…faced similar problems in Canterlot."
"The Unversed attacked Canterlot too?"
"Yes. But for some reason, no other towns were under attack." Meanwhile, Celestia had walked over to Twilight and the two began to talk, the former comforting the latter.
"I seriously think that whoever summoned the Unversed was after the keepers." Luna didn't reply in confusion. "Of the Elements of Harmony, I mean. And I think Canterlot was attacked because the summoner probably knew that Cele—uhh, Princess Celestia would come and save them. After all, none of the keepers are fighters, although Rainbow Dash is the closest to one among them."
"I was thinking just the same thing! Well, save for the last part."
"Wow. Who knew?"
Luna then turned to the fallen E.O.D. wielders, who were then approached by her sister. "I'll have to say, you all seem to have done a good job in bringing them down."
"It was mostly thanks to our new friends." Chronicle indicated Sora and the others as Celestia's horn glow yellow. "Although we did lend a hoof as well." The E.O.D. wielders also glowed faintly in the same color.
"Speaking of which, you haven't introduced them to us yet."
"Well, I was just about to do that." While Celestia walked over to the other E.O.H. keepers, apparently consoling them, the blue unicorn pointed to each of the off-worlders with his right forehoof. "These are Sora, Kairi, Wizard, Lea, Jerry, Rael, and Tychophon. They're from another world."
"Actually, we're from other worlds," Wizard spoke up. "Sora and Kairi are from Destiny Islands, Lea and Jerry are from Radiant Garden, Tych and I are from Neopia, although I'm not completely sure where Rael is from." Said spiny dragon frowned at him as he said that.
I turned back to the E.O.D. wielders, looking with fear. "Hmm…I wonder…are they really…really…"
"You don't have to worry, my little ponies," Celestia finally spoke up to us, her voice soothing to the soul. "And dragons," she added as she glanced at Tychophon and Rael. "They'll live." Chronicle's friends sighed in relief as they stopped crying. They didn't kill them after all. "These poor ponies have been manipulated, but not in the way you and your friends have been, Twilight Sparkle." The purple unicorn raised her head upon hearing her name as the alicorn pointed her horn again to the fallen E.O.D. wielders, 'pulling' some things out of them.
"What is…" Twilight managed to say. The items that were pulled out seemed to be five simple pendants and one black circlet.
"I can sense Discord's magic in these." There was a hint of anger in Celestia's voice.
"And I thought we turned everything he affected back to normal after we resealed him," Chronicle commented as he 'procured' a wooden tray from his saddlebag. "Apparently, there are still some lasting effects other than our lingering hate for him, just like these. I assume these are the actual Elements of Discord." The two princesses nodded in affirmation as the "Elements" were set down on the tray. "So simple-looking compared to the Elements of Harmony. "
"Wait a second," Sora said. "I thought your friends were—"
"I forgot to mention that The Elements of Harmony are actually powerful magical artifacts. My friends are merely its present bearers." He then pondered to himself. "Or are my friends the Elements and the artifacts amplifiers?"
Celestia then turned her head to face Sora. "You must be Sora, right?" Sora was about to ask how she knew his name, then remembered that Chronicle introduced them just a minute earlier. He nodded to the Princess. "I've heard of you through Master Yen Sid."
"You know of Yen Sid?"
Rael picked up a pebble and tossed it at Sora, hitting him. "Show some respect, Sora."
"That's quite alright," Celestia assured him.
"I was talking about how he addressed his master, not his behavior towards you, Princess Celestia," he clarified.
"Sister, don't you have a message to relay to Sora?" Luna said.
"Right." Celestia then turned to Sora. "We should talk someplace more private." She then turned her head to Luna and they both nodded. Their horns then glowed and then there was a flash. The two princesses have teleported themselves and everybody else away.
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In a flash of light, everybody reappeared in Canterlot Castle's throne room. Mysteriously, other than the ones who brought them over by chariot, no guards were around, but Luna explained that that was because since she and Celestia had been outside the palace defending Canterlot alongside them. She then ordered the guards to take away the E.O.D. wielders for medical attention and therapy. As for the tray with the "Elements" they had possessed, that was taken too.
Once that was taken care of and the room vacated of the guards (and the chariot), Celestia then spoke up as she faced Sora. "I am supposed to relay this message to you, Riku, or King Mickey should any of you stop by in Equestria."
"What's the message?" inquired Wizard. (When asked on who King Mickey was, he explained that he was a friend.)
Celestia explained that while whatever quest they were currently in was important, the current threat they were facing was just as dangerous. A group called the Heartless Syndicate, which the group had already ran into two members of, planned to conquer all the worlds using the Unversed. The seven non-natives to Equestria nodded in affirmation to all this.
Twilight and her friends were worried since there was nothing they can do to help them and that it was likely up to Sora and his friends (as well as any other allies beyond Equestria) to prevent Equestria (as well as every world out there) from being conquered. It's not like they doubt they can do it; it's just that the knowledge of a threat out there looming over their world can be very detrimental to one's livelihood.
Chronicle wasn't as worried, though he still was; he plans on informing his father about this (and hope that he'd get in touch with Celestia). While the Story Crew will do everything in its power to stop Interlopers, especially hostile ones, protection is still not a hundred percent guarantee without the possible risk of exposure to their target worlds. While they have measures to resolve that, it's still a major hassle.
"Before we go, there's still one more thing we need to do," Kairi stated. "It's why we came here in the first place." She walked over to Twilight. "Well, it looks like we have to go."
"It's okay, Kairi," the purple unicorn answered.
"At the very least, you guys were around for longer than Terra, Ven, and Aqua," said Spike.
"Don't worry,." assured Sora. "I promise they'll be able to visit Equestria again someday."
"And also, it was fun kicking Unversed butt with you guys!" said Rainbow.
"Will we ever see you again?" asked Fluttershy.
"Don't worry. I'm sure we will," Rael replied.
"Please write to us, or send us a postcard," Rarity requested.
"I'm not sure how we can send messages across worlds…"
"And don't go forgettin' that you're always welcome here in Ponyville," Applejack added.
"And while you're at it, see if you can come back for the Grand Galloping Gala, or The Summer Sun Celebration, or Nightmare Night, or my birthday party, or Twilight's birthday, or Applejack's birthday…" Pinkie rambled.
"And if you ever need any help, we are always ready to listen," finished Twilight.
"Thanks," said Kairi.
Just then, something began to shine brightly. And it was coming from Twilight. There were gasps from everybody except the off-worlders (and Celestia, who just raised her eyebrows).
The same thing was happening somewhere in Kairi's pouch. She 'took' out whatever it was and everyone saw that it was a small ring made out of a clear crystal that could easily fit through a unicorn's horn.
Everybody save the two of them then vanished into the darkness, although they could still see what's going on; they just can't see themselves or each other except for Kairi and Twilight.
Then, just as Kairi summoned her Keyblade, below them appeared the mural as if the darkness hiding it was being purged by a spell. Twilight noted that it was like when she used her memory spell to purify her friends of Discord's spell when he had corrupted them.
Kairi looked down to see that Twilight was the mural's 'main character'. A ring of circles in the edge of the mural depicted her cutie mark, and the miscellaneous circles scattered around her showed her friends, Spike, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and the two Princesses.
Kairi jumped up, where she kept rising at a steady rate. She then turned to the mural, where she stopped moving. Twilight watched her expectantly as she did her thing.
Kairi took out the crystal ring and then 'hurled it at Twilight. As it descended, it spun and increased in size. By the time it reached the Bearer of the Element of Magic, it was big enough for her to pass through the 'hole'…and that's what happened. As the ring landed to the ground, it embedded itself into the mural. A heart shape appeared underneath Twilight, and a keyhole-shape appeared on the spot in front of her.
Kairi 'aimed' her Keyblade at the keyhole and it charged a beam, which was fired. The beam hit the keyhole, then the heart shone, engulfing the two unicorns and the whole mural. When the light faded, they were 'back' with the rest.
"Wh…what just happened, dear?" asked Rarity.
"Well…since you guys already know about the Keyblade, I guess we'll tell you about the Crystal Rings, one of which Kairi just used on Twilight here," Wizard said.
"You see, our current quest involves combating a future threat that's gonna come after the Heartless Syndicate," Rael explained. "We'll need all the Fusils of Shadows, Guns of Light," He presented his own. "…and Keyblades we can get, and the Crystal Rings bestow upon its receiver the power to wield one of them."
"And if I were to guess, most likely it'll be a Keyblade," added Lea.
"A Keyblade?" shouted Pinkie as she suddenly popped out from behind the fire red unicorn. "Now that's cool! When's she gonna get it? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh?"
"Around a year, at least," answered Wizard. This disappointed Pinkie as she pouted for a second. "But by then, you've probably learned a lot more."
"Don't worry," assured Chronicle. "I'll teach her—and the others—everything I know, starting with self-defense, then combat. Wait. What are Fusils of Shadows?"
"They're like Guns of Light, but with some differences. Unfortunately, we're still don't know much about them."
"Well, is there any way we can help you right now?" Twilight asked us. "Anything at all?"
"Well…" Sora didn't know what to say.
Suddenly, it looked like Rael had an idea. He reached into his bag, and took out a few trinkets that had oblong shapes with icons on them. Attached was a small string too small to wear around the neck and more suited for Spike's hand to hold.
"What about summon charms?" he suggested. "Even though their worlds might not be destroyed, we can still call up for their help with these."
Huh? What do destroyed worlds have to do with summon charms? Chronicle wondered.
"I can help with that," Celestia spoke up.
Rael turned to the Princess. "You can?" She nodded as she then produced something that looked like the charms he took out. However, unlike the ones he held, there was no icon of any sort on it. "Why is it empty?"
"I know of these summon charms you possess; should its holder will it and call their name, whoever the charm calls for will be temporarily teleported to the holder's location to help them out. As for why this charm is empty, it has yet to attune to who it will summon."
"Wait a second, your Majesty," the blue unicorn interrupted. "I think I know where this is going; you're gonna ask one of us to become a summon for Sora and his company?" He was answered with a nod. "Please allow us to discuss things over." And with that, he and his friends huddled and whispered to one another.
"What is it?" Twilight whispered.
"Given what these visitors are, they use their summons to assist them in battle. That means one of us is going to have to fight or at least give aid on their behalf, regardless of who you're up against. It could be a friend he needs to bring to his senses, it could be a really scary foe, or it could be a deity at or even beyond Discord's level for all we know."
"Are you gonna volunteer? Out of all of us, you're the best when it comes to fighting."
"No. Curiously, one of the terms of my contract—well, one of the rules in my organization actually—says that I cannot engage in binding magical contracts, particularly if the giving party is not from Equestria and especially if I still have a bodyguarding contract. Not certain if by that it means just the country or the world."
"Oh."
"So it's any of the seven of us, right?" asked Pinkie.
"No, I already have two in mind. Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle." The former cried out in glee at this.
"Why them?" Rarity wanted to know.
"Yeah," agreed Applejack. "Why them?"
"As capable as you all are in self-defense, they need someone who can be a great help in a fight. Rarity's got some martial arts sure, but one may never know where they'll turn up, and there's very little chance it would be sanitary." There came a groan from said unicorn. "I know Spike is a dragon, but they're much better fire users. Lea's particularly proficient." A grumble came from the only other male who was Equestria-native. "While I don't doubt what Pinkie Pie can do, I fear she'd be too distracted with everything around her before, during, and after the summon and thus would be less helpful for everybody involved."
Pinkie took offense. "Hey!"
"Sorry, Pinkie, but despite your…abilities, I can't see much use of them without lots of creativity. And with summon time likely being short…" He shook his head. "From what I know about summons, they focus on one skill and help out on just that department. And even if they're random, it at least has one general direction. From what I know of you, you're too random, no offense. Not as good a thing in battle as it is in 'normal' life." At this point, Luna decided she had other matters to attend to and teleported out of the room.
Chronicle then turned to face the other earth pony. "And Applejack, while you certainly have exceptional strength, summons aren't normally called in need of extra muscle, physical anyway, no offense. Again. And most foes are probably too strong for a rope lasso anyway."
"And you don't want me to go because I'm… I'm…" Fluttershy began.
"I'm sorry, but a summon for battle must show no reluctance." Chronicle brought his face close to hers. "We all know just what you're capable of, but no second of hesitation from fear can be spared if you are to help them." He gestured to Sora and company. "I'm not saying they (or we) are gonna hold it against you, but you're gonna be denying this chance to somepony else whose will is less likely to waver."
"I understand."
"So…that means either me or Twilight," Rainbow concluded.
"Yes. One with lots of magical potential, and one with unparalleled speed." In this Equestria, that is, the blue unicorn added mentally. "Only one of you can be selected as summon. Question is, which?"
The two selected ponies turned to face each other, and the two underwent a quick deliberation. In the end, it was decided that the pegasus would be more ideal; Twilight was still a bit prone to panic attacks, and that would be detrimental in a battle. Out of all the girls, Rainbow was the closest thing to a fighter. Well, there was Applejack too, but…
Sora and company had remained silent throughout the entire discussion, just standing there, a few of them feeling awkward. Celestia waited patiently with them. Chronicle finally turned to the Princess and said, "All right. After our little debate, it's been decided that our summon 'candidate' is…Rainbow Dash." Her friends stepped aside as the rainbow-maned mare walked forward, clearly satisfied. Just as she was about to bypass Chronicle, he paused her.
"You understand the risks, don't you? You don't know when you might be called," he warned. "For all we know, it might be in a time that's most inconvenient to you or your friends."
"That won't be an issue, Chronicle," said Wizard. "While the magic behind summoning is a very complex process, I can tell you this. There is time travel involved for the summoned. The summoning magic looks for a convenient time where the summoned is not busy doing anything important—including sleep—and calls them up at that time. And then—"
"I think I get what you mean. In that case, you have relieved me of my worries." Chronicle then let his friend continue.
"How did you know about all that?" Rael asked Wizard.
"I lent a hand in making your new summon charms and picked up some stuff."
"Oh."
Rainbow walked over to Celestia and lowered her head as if to ready herself for whatever 'ritual' the Princess would have to perform. Celestia 'lowered' the 'empty' charm so that it was just above the pegasus and her horn began to glow brighter. The charm also began to glow as a seal with a pattern of sorts began to appear on the floor underneath it and what it will eventually summon.
In a few seconds, it was over and the light faded. Celestia then 'handed' the summon charm to Rael. As he received it, everyone who could see it saw that the charm's icon was now Rainbow's cutie mark in front of a cyan backdrop.
"Wow," he said as I looked at it. "Thank you, Princess Celestia."
"You're most welcome," she replied.
"Well, it's time we took our leave," said Jerry. He then turned to Wizard, who nodded and opened a pocket of hyperspace in a manner similar to Chronicle's and took out a one-button device, which dropped onto his back.
Rael picked it up, and then motioned for Sora and the others to gather close. Which they literally did, almost snuggling. The two yellow dragons groaned as the crested one put his hand on Jerry's back and the spiny one put his on Sora's mane.
"Be safe," Fluttershy called out.
"I can't guarantee that, Fluttershy," Rael replied. "After all, we'll be fighting enemies all the time, and most probably be fighting for our lives and those important to us."
"But we'll promise we'll try and stay alive," assured Sora.
"Can we please leave now?" interrupted Lea. "You're making me want to act all sappy."
"All right. All right," Rael said, then turned to the natives. "Well, goodbye."
"Goodbye!", they all chorused. Rael pushed the button and he and the rest of the off-worlders were gone in a flash.
"…Wow." Chronicle gave a breathless sigh. "Today was really… eventful. I still plan on going through what I said earlier. We're lucky to have a town with a community of martial artists AND the addition of Mystic Shield's Self-Defense Academy. Having a weapons dealer also helps a bit."
"You all look tired from what you did today," Celestia then said. A few seconds later, presumably called in via an unknown spell, a few royal guards entered the room. "These guards will escort you to bed."
"You mean, we get to sleep here for the night?!" Pinkie and Rarity squealed.
"Yes."
Both of them cried out in joy.
"Now off to bed, all of you."
"Thank you, Princess," Twilight said before they left, the guards escorting them.
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Back in the cosmos above Equestria Prime…
The still-invisible Record Keeper and Faust watched as the GUMI-Type vessel passed through the time portal, then the former completed the spell to close it the second Faust said they were through.
Once that was done, Record gave a sigh of relief as he and she cancelled their invisibility spells. "Whew! Glad that's over with."
"As am I," agreed Faust as they both faced. "What do you plan on doing now?"
"Talk with my son in the dreamscape. But before that, I'll have a word with Princess Celestia Prime."
"Don't you mean Celestia Alpha?"
"Celestia Alpha is from the Equestria my wife is assigned to."
"I see. Why did you designate this world as Prime, anyway?"
"I'm not allowed to divulge that information other than the words 'Heart World'."
"…I see. You sure have a heavy burden on your shoulders here."
"Yeah. It's a tough job, but I also do it for my family, not just the story Crew." He looked around, seeing nothing but the stars, the planet, and Faust, then said, "I best get back if I'm to talk to 'her'."
"All right, Record." And with that, the two alicorns made to return to Hub Equestria.