“The Chaos Emeralds are seven mystical gems that contain incredible power within them. Each one can assist in accomplishing amazing actions, even allowing some possessors to tap into abilities they couldn’t do naturally, all while sharing a magical bond that connects them forever. When all seven emeralds are collected together, their full potential is unleashed, which depends on the users. Those who are good at heart and have the purest intentions bring out a power that can only result in the best of outcomes, but for those who have used them for evil would unleash nothing but destruction and pain. Those who unleash their full power also unleash a powerful reaction with results that most have unexplainable results – Chaos Control.”
/)∞(\
“Chaos Control is the peak of the emeralds’ natural powers, only exceeded by the energy already possessed by those who wish to use that power. It has opened gravity fields in space, created a planet egg that fueled our greatest enemies, transform beings into monsters or those of good into a Chaos form, to best put it, and lastly, it can send those from one world to another. It happened before most of us found out about the Metarex, or for myself, fall in love. Its first occurrence sent several of us to a new world that was parallel to ours, and occurring a couple times after that that resulted in more of those from our home to arrive.
"The closest other times we’ve used them to connect worlds was at Revival, fixing the unjustified acts of our enemies, only using the emeralds to help fight difficult battles since, until they were hunted for and stolen by our enemy. He connected them to a device with components that came from several different dimensions, and after a fight between us, the emeralds reacted and unleashed Chaos Control again. What happened after that… well, you can see where we’re at now.”
/)∞(\
It took a long night of convincing to make it happen, but Apple Bloom convinced Snowstar to step out of the clubhouse for the first time in days. After a conversation with the blind pegasus filly yesterday, the yellow filly and her two best friends decided that even though she can’t see, she can still try to enjoy something fun. Of course Snowstar was hesitant to the idea, worried that somepony would see her and force her to go back to Cloudsdale, but Apple Bloom made a ‘Pinkie Promise’ to only go out for fun, not wanting to betray their friendship.
With her precious gemstone in her wing and closely following her earth pony friend, the filly wondered what was going to happen. Fear of betrayal found way into her thoughts, but she immediately dismissed it. They took a long way to their destination, not wanting to attract attention, and it was working well for all the time that passed before reaching their destination.
“We’re almost there, Snowstar. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo should be there right now,” Apple Bloom said. Keeping her eyes forward, she thought to herself “I sure hope this will lighten her up enough to want to talk to somepony else. We gave her time, but how much waitin’ is she goin’ to try to do?”
The objective of the Cutie Mark Crusaders for Snowstar was simple – to have fun and be happy. To achieve this, they wanted to take her out of the comfort zone she accustomed to with their clubhouse, and put her somewhere else that was new, a risky move to make but ultimately best for her in the end. The unicorn and pegasus fillies saw the other two arrive from the distance, and waved them down to get to the destination faster, to which they did after Apple Bloom suggested to just keep running straight.
“About time you two got here!” Scootaloo yelled, the two arriving fillies to slow down and stop. But for Snowstar’s case, she didn’t run the entire way, only enough to get a head start to leap in the year and fly. She landed perfectly next to where Apple Bloom had stopped, and to her surprise, she felt enjoyment for the first time in a very, very long time.
“We hope you’re ready for this, because this is something new we’ve never done before,” Sweetie Belle said cheerfully.
Curious about what she meant, Snowstar asked “And what exactly is it?”
“You’re Cutie Mare Crusader Initiation!” exclaimed all three ponies, shocking the guest filly.
“Initiation? You mean, like a test?” asked the blind filly.
“That’s right,” answered the yellow filly. “You see, we never done this before when we first expanded our sisterhood with my cousin from Manehattan. She was dealin’ with the same things you were… for the most part. We decided that this time around, if you’re willin’ to join, we want to give you a single-mission test and make you an official Cutie Mark Crusader.”
“Our first new pegasus pony since me,” added an excited Scootaloo.
“And our first new friend from Cloudsdale,” added Sweetie Belle.
Even though the value of friendship was finally given meaning to her after meeting the trio, Snowstar was still too unsure of herself in some ways to do much, and that included doing something unfamiliar to her. She has always requested help because of her blindness, and she was worried that the same disability that caused her so much heartache back home would cost her her Ponyville friends.
“I don’t know if I can. How could you possibly test me? I can’t see anything, so how can I be…” she went on to say, but felt a hoof pressed against her shoulder.
“Because you can do whatever you want to,” Apple Bloom said kindly. “You just flew several dozen feet as if it was nothing, and you didn’t need to see for that.”
“Trust us, this test isn’t something that’s too complicated. It’s just something we threw together just for you,” Sweetie Belle added. “But it does involve that gem you have.”
“My gem?” said the curious pegasus pony, who grabbed it from her wing and held it in her hoof. Although she couldn’t see it, she stared at it for a moment. The purple diamond shined as bright as ever, sharing the warmth it emitted with her still. Her reluctance was strong as she slowly extended her hoof towards the other fillies. “You won’t do anything to it, will you?”
The orange pegasus reached for it, and took it in her possession. “Of course not,” she said. “In fact, this plays a role in your initiation. Now here are the rules…” The three Crusaders then began to explain the rules of this initiation, the gem they had glowing brightly, and shining even brighter under the day’s bright sun.
/)∞(\
“Come on, man, we’ve been flying around this stupid forest for hours.”
“I don’t think we’re going to find anything in this place.”
An adolescent dragon was leading his two friends around the Everfree Forest, having a need to get some ‘dragon fun.’ “Stop complaining. It’s bad enough we became laughing stocks after that twerp Spike made ponies of us. A little dragon action is what we need to get back to things, so why not start with a treasure raid?”
“Yeah,” said one of the other dragons with a dark purple body, “but there’s nothing around here. We might be in pony territory, but it doesn’t look like there’s anything good around here.”
“Not unless you count those wooden dogs we charred earlier,” said the third dragon, larger with brown scales.
“Yeah that was a good warm up, but we need something else. Something that really brings out our inner-dragon. Something…” The red dragon stopped when a glare was caught in his eyes, unable to see right into the direction for which it was coming from. Taking further investigation, he led the group towards it, and soon saw where it was coming from.
“…Something, that looks as valuable as that,” he said, finding them a new target to focus on.
/)∞(\
A long night of discussions and researches alluded a trio from getting to sleep, and in turn went to bed late and woke up later to continue where having left off. The mentioning of two subjects had Twilight explain the history of the ancient and powerful Elements of Harmony of Equestria, and Tails and Cosmo had shared the tales regarding the mystical and mysterious Chaos Emeralds from Mobius. After only a few hours of sleep, the group went back to work trying to find a means to connect the two worlds and get the couple back home. Since their discussion about the emeralds, Ponyville’s favorite alicorn’s mind was racing with different thoughts and theories, including what Zecora had said a few days ago.
“A key from the world that houses them… Teleportation spells that sends ponies to another dimension for brief seconds… How do we connect them?” she thought, repeating the question in her mind over and over again.
They all began going through her books of teleportation spells again, as well as others that contained magical ways to detect things. Even everything Princess Celestia had sent through Spike was being used, but it was still no better that day than it was since first beginning the research. Cosmo was looking through a couple scrolls, only just barely understanding the script, before she rolled them up and just stopped reading.
Tails saw this, her just sitting where she was looking saddened, stopping research himself and saying “Cosmo… please don’t tell me you…”
He had no need to finish when she picked up her head with tears forming out of her eyes. Everything was starting to attack her better judgment, having been eating away at her core since finding where she had been sent to. “We’ve been working so hard to find something, and for some reason, I just don’t know all of a sudden,” she said, her voice a tone growing more upset as she went on. “Why do I feel like, that there’s nothing here that can help us?”
Of course Twilight was hearing this, but she held back from saying anything at first, mainly because she saw who this conversation was between. She didn’t ignore this, having stopped her own reading and kept her eyes on the couple.
“Cosmo, there’s bound to be something here that can help us,” said the fox, walking to his love as he kept talking. “With so many ways of doing just about anything around here, some form of answer can be found. Besides, even if we can’t figure this out ourselves, I doubt that our friends aren’t trying themselves.”
At that point, he was standing in front of her, but she remained seated where she was on the ground. “They have no idea where we’ve ended up. How would they know where to start? Even if they got everything they could, could they even be able to find a world that’s unknown to them?” she said, her sadness growing.
“I don’t know, but you and I both know we can never be able to lose faith in everyone back home. They’ve always been there for us before, and right now, they’re bound to be doing something to find us,” Tails said, but his voice began to sound strained. He kneeled down onto a knee to get to her eye level, and used his hand to lift her head up to look at him.
“I’m… I’m just so scared. I’m sorry, but I just can’t help it right now,” Cosmo confessed. “We’re in this new place that treats us so warmly and welcoming, just like how our home is, but the more I see it here, the more I’ve started to fear that it may not be seen again by our friends… our family…”
Twilight couldn’t help but feel the sadness being displayed, and her expression was shown to match. Her hooves began to lead her closer to them but stopped when Tails made his own confession.
“Cosmo, I feel exactly how you do.”
The Seedrian wasn’t too surprised, because they shared a heart so spiritually that it should’ve been sensed long before this. Saying nothing, he decided to help her back up on her feet, so that they could stand and talk rather than be down on the ground.
“You’re right about how this world is, and how it reminds us so much about home, and it’s all the more reason that we have to keep trying to find a way back,” he told her, his voice keeping hold of strength, even with his opening sadness trying to force its way out. “There IS a way for us to get home, and we WILL find it, whether it takes us another week, or month, however long it takes. We can’t lose our strength to keep trying, or the care we have from our friends… from Mobius, and from here."
Cosmo couldn’t think of what exactly to say, so instead she just stood against him, and leaned her head onto him, her eyes shut and letting out the last of her tears. Tails wrapped his arms around her for a hug, his eyes shut as well, and from their hearts came a bright glow that neither noticed. It only lasted for a couple moments as the hug broke, and the couple looked at each other with more hopeful eyes than before.
She then turned her attention towards their princess friend to say “I’m very sorry, Twilight. I didn’t mean to become so emotional right now. A part of me, just broke open enough to have it escape.”
Twilight just stood where she was and stared with wide-opened eyes, her pupils dilated so small, and her jaw dropped open, not saying a word. What she just saw come from the couple was still processing in her conscious. She’s seen magic through emotions from other ponies before, but with these two, it was something different, something that she was realizing to be what they needed all along. After shaking her head to regain focus, she stared at them with a happy expression.
“THAT’S IT!” she exclaimed, and jumped up in the air, her wings managing to have her accomplish a full loop, right there in her library. “The answer has been with us all along! I can’t believe I didn’t figure it out before! The traveling between dimensions, the key needed to connect you to your home, the visions I saw from that day, it’s all been right there the whole time! This is great!”
In her last sentence, she began to trot around the couple up until wrapping a leg around each of them in excited joy. “Twilight? Did you see something happen?” asked Cosmo.
“Oh you bet I did, and it was just what we needed!” the alicorn replied, seeming happier than having just perfecting an entire series of spells from the highest-ranked encyclopedias. “It’s you, both of you! You have the power to get back home from the power you share in your hearts! I can’t believe none of us thought of this before!” She then looked at each of them, her excitement turned down to ask them “Have you ever dealt with magic tied with love before, and it coming from your hearts other than the Chaos Emeralds?”
The couple could easily answer that question, thinking as far back as the two Metarex wars, mainly the second one where they received training in a certain fighting form from another friend of royal stature. To put it in the most simplest way, Tails answered with “You can say that… But about what you were talking about, you may be on to something. If our way back home is through our hearts…”
“…Then… then perhaps by all of us working together, we could open a portal that can send us back home,” Cosmo said, concluding where he started theorizing.
“I mean, with the power I have and have regained since healing…” Tails started.
“And with the help of my knowledge of teleportation spells, we can find that path and get you two back to Mobius!” Twilight said, doing what Cosmo had just done. “I’ll get a couple of the teleportation books back out and find the best spells I can. Spike will go around and get everypony else for them to hear this news, just in case we’ve made our breakthrough. If so, I can’t wait to see what happens!”
What none of them saw coming next was the echoing screams of young fillies coming from the distance, followed by the screams of other Ponyville citizens, and a couple unfamiliar roars. The screams of the younger ponies were of absolute terror and panic, almost blood-hurling is gone up another level. Twilight recognized all but one of the echoing screams, putting the thoughts on Tails and Cosmo on hold.
“That sounded like the Cutie Mark Crusaders. What’s going on now?”
/)∞(\
The heroes of Mobius and the Master Four of Team JAG returned to their search for Tails and Cosmo, an effort with the difficult price of patience. It’s been a week since their disappearance at this point, and just about a day following the end of an interdimensional attack by the Brotherhood of Darkness, with a conclusion that could only best describe it as another attacked that is was could be based on the phrase ‘Memento Mori.’
Since the end of those battles, those of Mobius waited at their home in hopes that their two friends would return somehow as others from other worlds continued the search, the operations still under the command of Dr. Eggman. Knuckles, however, sensed a great importance to stay near the Master Emerald the moment the battle with Dark Oak and Galvatron concluded, not leaving it for any reason since. He had a couple guests, mainly Shadow and Rouge who took him there and Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable to bring nutrition for his recovery. A few hours after those two had left, the echidna was joined by the most familiar of company – Sonic the Hedgehog.
“Feeling like your full self again?” the blue blur asked after racing up the emerald’s shrine and standing just in front of the staircase.
Knuckles stood facing of the giant gem, just under two feet away, with his arms crossed and a look of focus on his face. He wouldn’t turn around to reply “Almost. That Kaioken took more out of me than I anticipated.”
“Yeah but you did hold your own good enough,” the hedgehog said, attempting to make a compliment. “So, about the Master Emerald, you didn’t exactly explain much about needing to get back to it so fast.”
“You know protecting it is my responsibility in life, Sonic,” the echidna said, still not turning around. “If it would ever react to something regarding the Servers, I need to be here to see what it is.”
“Yeah, I know,” Sonic said, “but still, what exactly drew you back to it?”
At that moment, Knuckles turned around to face Sonic, the two staring at each other with a serious glare. In the corner of his eye, he saw something move, something large and mechanical, which turned out to be one of the Team Sonic planes. “Looks like more company is coming,” he said, and Sonic turned to see the Tornado II, being piloted by Amy with Cream and Cheese as passengers.
“Guess so, but that doesn’t answer my question. If you know something, Knuckles…” the blue hedgehog tried to say.
“I understand, Sonic,” the red echidna interrupted. “I know how much they mean to you. They mean a lot to me, too. Wherever they are, wherever the last Chaos Emerald is, the Master Emerald may show us what we need to find them. It takes a great spirit and strength to control and unify Chaos, and if anything, it may be what we need to find Tails and Cosmo.”
Sonic just nodded his head and replied “Right.” After a moment of silence and awkward staring, the hedgehog smiled with confidence, full confidence he hadn’t felt since what Chaos Control caused the week prior. Knuckles smiled as well, his way of assuring to believe that his theory was true. As their other friends were beginning to climb their way up the stairs to the top of the shrine, it happened-
The Master Emerald began to flash a bright glow, like a beacon. The last time it had ever done something like this, Chris Throndyke used the gem to interdimensionally travel from Station Square to Mobius. They stared up at what was going on, not saying anything until the others had finally raced up to join them. “What’s going on, Sonic?” Amy asked.
“The Master Emerald, it seems to be reacting to something,” Cream added.
“It is…” Knuckles said, pausing himself to stare and study the emerald. “It’s found something… it’s detected a Chaos Emerald that’s somewhere we might trace.”
Just then, a com-link sounded off. The one in question was Sonic’s, and the alert it was giving off was similar to that of the Team JAG alarm. The hedgehog opened it to reveal who was making the transmission – Dr. Eggman.
“Sonic, we’ve got a development. The Chaos Emeralds are all reacting at once.”
/)∞(\
At Team JAG Headquarters’ communications center, the Doctor and the Master Four were staring at the six emeralds they had powering their interdimensional scanner. It just happened out of nowhere with no explanation for doing so while they shared conversation on the next approach to take, but that topic no longer had meaning compared to now. Sonic quickly explained the occurrence going on with the Master Emerald and how there must be a connection. All of them, including the several friends and allies working the computers in the center, immediately took action upon Eggman’s command.
“Find what the Chaos Emeralds are reacting to Now!” he exclaimed, and they all did their best.
“The emeralds must have picked up something powerful somewhere,” Ash stated. “If anything, they found where the seventh one had disappeared to.”
Seeing what was appearing up on the main screen, Jason explained the findings. “It is the Chaos Emerald. Something or someone has activated its power to use.” He then called out towards the entire center “Can we get a trace of what is drawing out the emerald’s power.”
“We can’t,” Dr. Eggman answered, and pointed towards a couple graphs on his personal screen for the Master Four to see. “Look at these signs. Whatever this is about involves a new outlet by something we haven’t seen before. There’s no connection to any known worlds.”
“That means, this is coming from a brand new dimension,” Yugi stated. “Can we get try to access this universe with the emeralds we have?”
“We might be able to, but it still requires more power from another source. Perhaps if we use another source of power similar to it, mainly the Master Emerald,” Gohan said.
“What about the Master Emerald itself?” Knuckles asked from his end of the communication. “If I can get it to open the path, all of us here can have first access of crossing through.”
The Master Four thought amongst themselves about this. They didn’t want the last say about this, but there were interdimensional elements that they had to focus on. “If we let them do that, they’ll open themselves to who knows where,” Yugi pointed out.
“But it wouldn’t be the first time. I think it’s worth the shot,” Gohan stated.
“Besides, it’s their choice. This is the break we’ve been waiting for, so if they’re willing to do it…” Ash said, but had no need to finish.
All four nodded, so Jason turned to make the next commands – “Doctor, I want all of Angel Island under our scanners. Everything that goes on, we find out.” As Dr. Eggman concurred to the plan, the dark warrior turned to their Mobius friends to say “Do whatever you can, you guys. Here’s hoping we’ve finally found them…”
/)∞(\
Rainbow Dash was relaxing on a cloud fluffed just to her liking. Applejack was trotting her way with a bushel of fresh apples to give the local café, Rarity was magically transporting two clothing protectors that housed her latest creations with Fluttershy’s company, and Pinkie Pie was enjoying a hopping trot across Ponyville. What seemed to be a peaceful time for all of them became severely interrupted by the screaming cries of fillies-
“HELP!!! SOMEPONY HELP US!!!”
Everypony stopped to wonder what was going on, and what most saw put the entire town in fear. Scootaloo was riding her scooter, driving at full force with her wagon holding Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Snowstar in tow, fleeing for their endangered lives as they were being chased by three teen dragons, led by a familiar red teenage dragon named Garble.
The fleeing little ponies kept going as fast as possible, even the second pegasus flapping her wings for extra power, racing through the Ponyville streets as many other ponies fled for safety. Only five ponies either saw this take place, or recognized the screaming voices from a distance, and they all raced to action to see what was going on. Unfortunately, a moment of putting attention on the closing in dragons distracted the fleers from an upcoming obstacle.
“SCOOTALOO! LOOK OUT!” Sweetie Belle squeaked.
“SWEET APPLE SAUCE!” cried out Apple Bloom.
“AHHH! OH NO!” Scootaloo yelled, seeing that they were heading straight for a well. Her attempt to swerve and dodge it wasn’t as successful as hoped, just managing to corner it but the back wheel of a wagon just barely tapped it. The wagon forced to start jumping around to a point where all four fillies were launched off and crash on the ground near the library. Scattering to recover from the crash to keep moving, it was no use. The three dragons had caught up and surrounded the four ponies.
“Not bad, for a bunch of namby-pamby ponies,” Garble said. “Too bad you couldn’t get too far without us catching up. Now, give us what we want. Now.”
The dragons’ eyes were set on Snowstar in particular, who was hanging onto her glowing gem for dear life. A dragon could never resist a good treasure, and that one was no exception to them. The blind filly was scared speechless without knowing what to do, but the Cutie Mark Crusaders wouldn’t allow anything to happen.
“You keep your greedy claws away from our friend!” Apple Bloom yelled as the trio stood between the dragons and their friend. The dragons only laughed at how pathetic they saw the ponies acting.
“Oh wow, we’re so scared,” said the purple dragon, very sarcastically. “What are you going to do, stop us with your ‘cuteness?’” The dragons kept laughing on, and the brown one added “I bet they’ll try giving us the lame sad eyes and pout their way free.” This caused the three to laugh even harder than before.
“You ponies are dumber than I thought,” Garble told them, and began reaching down towards them with a mean snarl on his face.
“STAND AWAY FROM THOSE PONIES!”
Stomping her way towards them was Twilight, staring down the dragons with cross and stern eyes. She had stormed out of the library when she stepped outside to see what was going on. When she came between the dragons and fillies, the dragons just stared back at the purple mare without care.
“Well look what we have here- another stupid pony,” Garble said disrespectfully.
“I’m not going to tell you again,” Twilight said, keeping her stance firm and her seriousness in full. “Stay away from them, and leave. If you don’t, I’m not afraid to make sure you leave myself.” The latter was more of a bluff than serious, not knowing if even as an alicorn she could take on three dragons.
Tails and Cosmo only watched from the distance, standing by the doorway and watching their friend exercise her royal authority. Spike, who was busy upstairs when he heard the crash, came down to see the situation himself. “What’s going on out here?” he asked the couple, but then immediately saw what was happening. “Oh no, not them again.”
“Spike, you know who they are?” Cosmo asked.
“Yeah,” the little dragon said, “a bunch of dragon jerks. They’re just teenagers, but they’re still trouble.”
The purple teen dragon overheard Spike talking, and saw him standing the distance away. “Hey, look it is,” he said, pointing out to it. “It’s little Spike the pony.”
Garble looked over to notice him, and remembered the time the little dragon tried to prove himself to be a true dragon, only to stay true to who he was when being pressured to do something wrong. He then looked back at the alicorn standing up to them. Making the connection, he said “I thought you looked familiar. You’re one of those lame ponies that got away from us last time. We’ve been wondering if we’d ever get back at you.”
“What are you talking about? We’ve done nothing to you,” Twilight said crossly.
“Word got around and now we look like fools,” the brown dragon told her. “After you stood up to us to protect that phoenix egg, other dragons won’t let it down.”
“And when we decided to go out and find a way to reclaim our dragon pride, we found them,” said the red dragon, pointing towards the four fillies. “They have a little something that we want to take back with us, and have some fun to mess around with to remind who are the better creatures.”
“By picking on little kids? That’s not a quest for pride; it’s just cruel,” the purple alicorn told him.
“But now, we have you to have our fun with,” the purple dragon stated.
“Hey! Don’t you dare do anything to Twilight!” Scootaloo yelled, standing beside the purple mare.
Standing on the opposite side was Sweetie Belle, who said “She’s a princess and shouldn’t have to deal with you jerks!”
“That’s right!” Apple Bloom added, herself standing on Twilight’s back.
Behind them, Snowstar was just laying on the ground, protecting the gem she had under her, and listening to what was going on. “Princess?... Princess Twilight?”she thought to herself.
The dragons just laughed at them all, seeing no threat by creatures they saw as inferior to their own kind. The brown dragon just stared at them and said “Oh yeah, you and what army?”
“How about us, you dragon dopes?!” yelled out another voice. Rainbow Dash flew in and arrived to flap above Twilight. Following in suit were the rest of the princess’s friends – Pinkie Pie and Rarity racing up behind them, Applejack from the left, and a cowardly Fluttershy from the right. The dragons recognized the cyan pegasus and white unicorn from the previous encounter and the rest were new, but they still felt no threat as they looked around, and laughed at them again.
“Are you good for nothin’ lizards tryin’ to hurt my little sister and her friends? For your sakes, you best not be doin’ that,” the orange mare said.
“Nobody tries to harm Sweetie Belle and gets away with it,” added a furious Rarity. She gently levitated her clothes over to Spike, setting them down on him for protection, before getting up on her rear legs to say “Now get lost if you ruffians know what’s good for you!”
The dragons just kept laughing, but this time they were joined by a laughing pink mare. Garble unknowingly wrapped an arm around her as she wrapped a leg around him, laughing so hard that his eyes were shut. When they did open to see her, he and the other two stopped as she continued. Confused by this, the dragon just asked “Uh, why are you laughing with us?”
Pinkie had another laugh before replying “Because I always LOVE to laugh! Laughing is fun to share, and for me it’s practically the most crazily contagious thing I always catch!” She began to laugh again, leaving the entire group dumbfounded, but the ponies were more unsurprised by this.
“Pinkie Pie, you are so… so random,” sighed Rainbow, smacking a hoof against her head.
“I know,” Pinkie replied, and had a smaller laugh.
All of a sudden, she was swallowed inside the fury of a dragon’s fire breath. When it ended, she came out of it a less than happy pony, covered in the remnants of the fire’s effect.
“And now, you’re burnt,” laughed the purple dragon.
Garble followed that by grabbing the pony by her mane and said “And now… you’re gone!” He then chucked Pinkie Pie away from them, colliding into Fluttershy head to head as a result. Feeling some cocky confidence from his actions, the dragon turned back to his initial targets to say “That felt great. Now, give me what I want, or else!”
“And what in tarnation would that be?!” asked an angry Applejack.
All three dragons used their fire breath to distance the surrounding ponies further back. Garble stopped to use his tail and swipe Twilight and the Cutie Mark Crusaders aside, and stepped up to Snowstar, who stood on the ground in terrible fear. She got back up onto her hooves, revealing the gemstone she was protecting, and its glow shining all around.
Behind her, the gem was sensed by those who immediately recognized it, and could tell that their time just standing around was over. The blind filly held the gem close to her, knowing the dragon was just inches in front of her, but she was too frozen in fear to run.
“I’ll be taking that, pony,” Garble said, and swiped his claw down to grab her. However, he was stopped by someone else. “What the...?”
Tails stood between the dragon and filly, having prevented the swipe from reaching her by blocking it. His stare up at the dragon was fierce, and angry.
“You don’t know how to listen, do you?” he said. “She told you… Stand Back!” Using only a fraction of his overall strength, he used his open hand to push Garbel back into the other two dragons.
Cosmo ran up to Snowstar, and picked her up in her arms. At first, the blind filly panicked, but she calmed down when she heard Cosmo say “It’s alright, we’re here to help you.” She then saw the gemstone the pony had, her eyes lit up with surprise and joy. “Tails, it is it! It’s the Chaos Emerald!”
The fox turned around to see it for himself, and was happily surprised like her, but due to the current conflict, didn’t express it so much. He stepped up to the filly his love held and asked “Are you alright? What’s your name?”
“I… I’m… Snowstar,” the filly replied, her eyes appearing to be staring at Tails’s chest, which showed the couple her seeing condition. “and… I’m alright. But who are you?”
“We’re friends,” he replied, and changed the topic. “Snowstar, that emerald you have there, may I have it please?”
“Why do you want it? Those mean dragons… whatever those are… they’re trying to steal it,” Snowstar said.
“We know, but that’s no ordinary emerald. Please, let me have it and make sure those bullies never get it,” Tails told her. He used the kindest tone he could to convince her to agree. She struggled with the idea for a moment, but could tell that these two beings, these non-ponies, were genuine, through the warmth the emerald gave her. She gave the emerald to him, and he said “Thank you, Snowstar.”
This distraction bought the ponies enough time to quickly regroup as the teen dragons got back to focus. When Twilight noticed this, she took action to protect her friends. “Rainbow Dash, get Cosmo, the girls and everypony else inside the library, and keep yourselves safe.”
“Oh no, we’re not leaving you out here to fight those guys,” Rainbow told her.
“H-h-h-how can you possibly do this alone?” asked the frightened Fluttershy.
The purple alicorn turned back to Tails and said “Don’t worry about me, I won’t be alone. Something tells me that Tails isn’t going in with the rest of you, and we’re about to find out what he plans to do.”
“I hope you are right Twilight, but I just hope it isn’t too excessive,” Rarity stated, noticing the focused glared the fox was giving, much like what the ponies saw in that vision of the past.
Although still reluctant to do what Twilight had asked her, Rainbow Dash lead their friends, the fillies and Cosmo back into the library. Spike was the last to step in, and locked the door shut. This left the conflict to be two against three – fox and alicorn against three dragons. They had recovered to see that they were too late to get to the fillies, but the emerald they had their eyes on was still in sight.
“Not a bad trick, for a little shrimp like you I mean,” Garble said, addressing Tails. “I doubt you can pull that trick off again, so how about we cut you a deal…”
“Yeah. Just give us the gem, and we’ll leave,” said the brown dragon, but then the purple dragon added “Or we scorch that tree into ash.”
Tails stared at them with cold eyes and an attitude of not taking any nonsense. He made the answer simple – “No.”
The dragons, taken aback by their deal being rejected, did not like it at all. “What did you just say?” asked the red dragon.
“He said ‘No,’” Twilight told him. “Leave Ponyville. Now.”
“Nobody tells me what to do, especially some stupid pony like you, or some freak like you,” Garble told them.
The two could tell that the dragons were too arrogant to listen, and knew that greater measures were needed to be taken. Tails looked down at the Chaos Emerald he had clenched in his hand, the energy glowing from inside its purple-colored body. A few memories of home came to mind, then the events of the last week with the new friends he had met, and then the history he and Cosmo had learned, including the Elements of Harmony. This gave him an idea of his own.
“I have a deal for you,” he said. Every being then watched as he held the emerald out to Twilight. “I’m giving my Chaos Emerald to Twilight, and she will use its powers along with her own to end this. If you really think you can take it away from her, then try. All you have to do…
“Is get past me.”
“What?” said Twilight.
Every dragon and pony’s eyes widened as large as they could get in udder shock of what he just said. Cosmo was the only one not phased by his decision, watching from inside and knowing that he knew what he was doing. After about a minute of dead silence, again, the dragons broke out laughing. Even what the fox had done just a short time ago was not enough to mean threatening enough.
“You’ve got to be kidding!” the brown dragon.
“This is too good,” laughed the purple dragon.
Twilight looked over at her friend to ask, in a quieter tone, “Tails, what are you trying to do?”
“To show guys like these what can happen when they bully innocent kids. I’ve dealt with that before, even dealt with being bullied myself, and I won’t let them try to harm anypony,” said the fox. He didn’t even realize that instead of saying ‘anybody,’ he said ‘anypony.’ His focus was set on protecting any and all ponies he can from harm.
“I can respect and get behind you on that, but like this? Why are you even giving me that emerald?” the purple pony asked, still confused.
“Do you remember what Cosmo and I told you about the Chaos Emeralds?” he asked her. She then recalled last night when the couple told her all about the Chaos Emeralds as she told them about the Elements of Harmony. “The power of the emeralds respond to the user, and to be honest, I don’t want to use it myself. I think you’re better suited to use it right now, Twilight, because with your magic, you can unlock great potential and do greater good. If not for that, do it to make sure nopony else has to get hurt by these guys.”
He reached the emerald out to her, looking at her with much optimism in his decision. Twilight looked at the gem, then up at him. What she could see was a sign of trust that she and her friends give each other every day, the same that they gave to him when they found him hurt in the ground. She tried to think of another argument, even that he could still be too weak, but judging from the race he had with Rainbow Dash the other day, she couldn’t defend it.
From inside the library, everyone watched through any window they could comfortably crowd around, even Snowstar. Cosmo watched and listened to everything they were saying over the dragons’ laughter, saying softly “Trust him, Twilight. Take it.”
The princess used her magic to levitate the item out of Tails’s hand, and have it float in front of her. After a good look into it, she wore a determined look on her face and said “Alright, I’ll give it a try. I’ll try to use a spell that can send them far enough away that they won’t bother trying to come back. As for you, be careful, and if you need me to jump in and fight…”
“Don’t worry,” Tails told her. “I can handle it. I’ll just show them what you saw me become that day.” He then stepped forward, just far enough to stand in the middle between Twilight and the dragon trio, whose laugh ended when Twilight previously spoke. Since he never got an answer from them, he asked “So do we have a deal?”
“Ha! To get past you and take it from your namby-pamby princess there? Sounds easy enough,” Garble replied.
The fox just grinned as how foolish the dragon was sounding and said “You think so?”
“We know so,” the red dragon said back. “It’s three dragons against one… whatever you’re supposed to be. How do you plan to handle that all at once?”
Tails’s grin turned into a brief laugh behind his teeth, his confidence coming from his biggest influence. He looked at all three dragons and said “With this…”
His grin then faded as he focused himself and started to let out a focusing scream. It started quiet, but grew louder and louder, keeping his focus in check as he underwent a transformation never seen by Equestrian eyes. Twilight and all her friends watched as he unleashed his loud yell, with a bright light flashing from him and emitting all around them.
When it had faded, they all took a look at what had just happened – a golden aura surrounded the fox, his fur a lighter shade, his eyes now green, his three long hairs on his head pointing straight up, and his face wearing a most serious and focused glare. For the first time, the ponies now see Tails as a Super Saiyan.