//------------------------------// // Rumble in the Garden of Good and Evil (Part 2) // Story: A Skitch in Time (Revised) // by GreyGuardPony //------------------------------// “Shalom!” Despite her external bravado, Jane’s heart was hammering in her chest about a mile a minute. Her eyes roamed over every bauble and gadget that hung on The Collector’s belt. And the phaser that he snatched back up from the ground. Because, of course he had a phaser. Why wouldn't he? Sparing a quick glance towards the rest of the Mane Six, she frowned at their struggles to try and move. “Spike,” she whispered, “aim for his belt. You need to get it off of him.” “Sure thing.” He nodded, tightening his grip on the spear. Not waiting another moment, she charged, pushing into a full gallop to close the distance as quickly as possible. The Collector responded faster than she expected, swinging the weapon about and leveling it right at her. But Twilight’s aura sprung up around his hand, yanking it skyward. Jane’s ears flicked back at the distinctive snap hiss of the energy beam as it sliced high into the sky like a beacon, but she continued the charge. While Jane rushed past the left side of the the human, Spike lashed out with the spear. The Collector twisted, pulling away from the razor sharp edge as it cut through the air. He smiled at the slight ripping sound that greeted his efforts, the belt half slipping, but refusing to fall off completely. “That’s the spirit!” Applejack cheered, Jane looping back around for another charge, “Show em how we do things in Equestria!” “Yeah! Kick their butts!” Pinkie grinned. “No comments from the peanut gallery!” The Collector roared, twisting to face Jane’s next charge, pulling against Twilight’s magical grip. Twilight scrunched up her face, magic aura smoldering and crackling with power, refusing to let go. Jane smiled, lowering her head to aim her horn right at one of The Collector’s legs. But then the sound of her hooves pounding on the ground ended, her whole form yanked into the air. Sent tumbling head over tail, she felt Spike throw himself from her back, before she was whipped right at Twilight as a living piece of ordinance. Impacting into Twilight’s side, the purple unicorn was bowled over, both of them skidding a few feet before they could untangle and right themselves. “Twilight!” Spike was rushing towards them, belt clutched in a claw. “I got it! I got it!’ The Collector was drawing a bead on him, however, looking quite furious. “Serpentine pattern Spike! Serpentine!” Jane shouted, horn glowing, Twilight joining her. “I don’t know what that means!” The Collector fired just as Twilight and Jane threw matching explosions of light into his face. With him reeling from the blinding strike, the lance of energy tore through the ground, missing Spike by a matter of inches. Jane grabbed the belt as he reached them, nervously glancing towards the angry human, who was furiously blinking to clear the spots from his vision. “I’m gonna get his attention.” She whispered, “Twilight, if you can get the girls loose, maybe we can take him together.” “What about me?” Spike asked. Jane glanced to the tower, unable to ignore that the humming noise it was making was beginning to get louder. “See if you can turn off that doomsday device.” Draping the belt across her back she rushed forward, snatching up the shield she had thrown earlier. “Hey! Dandy-dick!” Pushing more magical energy through her horn, she threw it as hard as she could. Not that she bothered to see the results of her throw, however, as she was already galloping for the entrance of the hedge maze. “I got your stuuuffff!” The grunt of pain and following enraged shout warmed her heart. “I am one hundred and ten percent done!” Rushing through the pathways of the maze, Jane floated the belt of gear off her back. The distinctive sound of sloshing liquid rose from one of the pouches. Potions, maybe? And there was some kind of odd remote control device on another pouch. Still, she was more interested in the control orb. Sending a mental prayer of thanks to Skitch-Sketch, she wrapped herself and it, in a cloak of invisibility, moving slower so that her hoof falls wouldn’t give her away. Pausing for a moment, she reached a hoof out to it. “Dash? Celestia? Is anybody out there?” The orb remained gray and silent. She frowned. Most likely some kind command word or arcane lock. “Ohhh Jaaaakkee…” Crap. Looking about, her heart hammered even harder when she was unable to see hide nor hair of The Collector. “You’re not the only one who can turn invisible you now.” His voice echoed out again, closer this time. He was somewhere on the path behind her, that much was obvious, but she couldn’t narrow it down at all. Nervously licking her lips, she trotted further into the maze, beginning to telekinetically rifle through some of the other pockets. Starting with the pouch she heard sloshing about before, a grin crossed her muzzle at the sight of a series of small vials, full of different colored liquids. She had been correct. Potions. All clearly labeled too. Keep him talking…. She thought, nodding to herself. “You know,” She began, quickly slamming back a potion of bull’s strength. Her muscles swelled and tightened under her coat, magically empowered strength surging through her, “I should probably thank you.” “Really?” The Collector responded, “How did you work that out?” “Well,” Jane quickly drank a bear’s endurance and cat’s grace potion at the same time. Much like with the last potion, she felt the physical changes washing over her, becoming tougher and more nimble, “If you hadn’t done this too me, I wouldn’t have met Rarity and I would have never been forced to confront my own gender issues.” “I’m so happy for you.” He snarked back, voice dropping with sarcasm. “And it gets even better!” She grinned, before drinking a three pack of potions to boost her intelligence, wisdom and charisma. Her brain felt...tingly, for the lack of a better term, as they took effect. “If I had gone for surgery and hormones, I wouldn’t have been able to have my own kids.” There was a distinct pause at that. “What?” Jane resisted the urge to giggle like a loon. The confusion and disgust was clear in his voice. Now to twist the knife a bit. “What can I say? Stallions have had a certain amount of...appeal to me, as of late. I mean, have you seen Twilight’s brother? Such a well groomed coat, deliciously looking muscled body, a voice that just makes a heart aflutter-” “You twisted little freak!” The Collector sputtered. Becoming visible, his left arm dropped to his side, hand wrapped around the grip of a katana; the most likely source of his invisibility. “Your entire fanbase with it’s ‘clopping’, and horse based porn! How your diseased minds function…” Jane ignored his angry ranting as the control orb sprung to life, Rainbow Dash’s voice floating to her ears. “Sir, I…” “Dash!” Her hooves leapt to the orb in a moment, “Snap out of it and-” The phaser beam sprung forth again, whizzing past her as he fired blindly. The Collector was advancing, sword in one hand, beam weapon in the other. Clenching her teeth, Jane responded with the only item at her disposal, and threw the sphere as hard as she could, immediately becoming visible again. It caught The Collector on the right side of the face, the impact sharply jerking his head back. Jane charged again, once more leveling her horn for the legs of her target. Crashing full tilt into the left one, the impact sent shockwaves down through her neck and down her spine, right to the tip of her tail. The Collector stumbled, dropping his weapons and sliding back, but refusing to fall. Snarling, he lashed out, grabbing Jane around the middle of her barrel. She thrashed and bucked in his grip, but it was like iron. “Gonna plant me a dumbass tree!” “No, no, no!” Pain drilled through her head, and stars exploded in her vision as she was brutally slammed horn first into the ground. The world wobbled, spun and remained thoroughly upside down, despite her desires for it to knock all of that off. I better not be stuck. She twisted, trying to right herself, but the world refused to properly right itself. ...This is a downside to being a unicorn that no one told me about. “I have you now.” The Collector smiled striding into view, one arm extended towards her, katana in the other. With a casual flick of his hand, she was tilted to the right, and then back to the left, before he centered her again, “Interesting trick, wouldn’t you say? I drained the power from a Sith Lord a few years back.” “I’m so happy for you.” Jane deadpanned. “Ahh well.” He pulled back the katana, ready to swing, “Ready to find out if a katana really can slice a body in twain?” “Damn.” She winced, squeezing her eyes closed. “Hhiiiiiiiii!” A familiar and cheerful voice rang out. “GAH! Unhand me at once you living lump of cotton candy!” Jane opened her eyes to a sight that would have been hilarious if the situation wasn’t so dire. Pinkie was perched atop The Collector’s shoulders, hooves clapped over his eyes while she rode him like (ironically enough) a bucking bronco. Two pairs of hooves pulled her from the ground, carefully placing her upright. “Ya okay sugarcube?” Applejack smiled. “I am now.” She sighed in relief, “Nice last minute save there.” “Well, thank Twilight for breaking his spells.” Rarity nodded, “But she and Spike need you back at the tower. They’re hoping you can figure out how to turn that blasted thing off.” “You help them.” Applejack nodded, adjusting her hat slightly, “We’ll hold him off.” With a nod, Jane scooped up The Collector’s gear, and tore back the way she came. Applejack watched her go, before shooting a furious glare at The Collector. "Let's dance, partner." - - - - Spike and Twilight were right by the the keyboard, like Applejack said. She rushed to their side, dropping the belt along the way and turning her gaze towards the the screen. It was dominated by two windows. One showing a clock that was rapidly counting down, the other displaying a small black screen with white letters. “You gotta be kidding me.” She gaped. “What?” Twilight blinked. “DOS!?” She shook her head in disbelief, “He’s built a crazy fusion of magic and super technology and he’s running his commands through the flipping DOS prompt? What kind of Mickey Mouse crap is this?! What’s next? We gonna run a giant robot on Windows 8!” “Jane! Focus!” Twilight snapped, jabbing a hoof towards the count down, “Clock is ticking!” Less than two minutes. “Right. One side Spike. Presumably, this is what I went to college for.” Reaching out with her telekinesis, she began to poke at keys as fast as she could. Quickly bringing up the directory she could see that there was only two programs installed on the contraption. “Well, I’m going to assume that it’s not slfdstrct.” She muttered, “So that leaves us with this bad boy…. Deltree wrlddrain.” A message flashed across the screen. ACCESS DENIED. “Jane….” Twilight winced. “Okay, okay! Can’t delete it, soooo…let’s try to go ahead and change the time left on timer…” ACCESS DENIED. “Jane!” “He’s locked down the whole of the file structure somehow!” “Well, unlock it!” “It’s not like a door, Twilight! He’s stolen and collected technology and magic from across the multiverse! It could be a DNA lock, voice lock, psychic lock, arcane lock, all grafted into a user interface that’s older than I am!” She glanced up at the clock. Thirty seconds. “...The Elements! He locked them into that facet! Maybe if we get them out!” Twilight immediately grabbed Spike in her aura. “Help me lift him!” Adding her magic to Twilight’s, the pair of unicorns hefted the baby dragon up to the glass box. Spike latched onto it, prying as hard as he could with his bare claws. “It’s stuck!” “Try harder! We’re running out of time!” “We are out of time.” Jane winced, as the clock reached zero. Spike was blasted backwards, a massive and jagged beam of light shooting high into the night sky, before splitting into an intricate web of light that blocked out the stars and moon. Tendrils then dropped from the web, coiling their way through the city, one plunging into the hedge maze, another striking Discord’s statue. A bright flash engulfed them for a moment, the world going suddenly topsy-turvy as they were all pulled and yanked about by magic. When the light faded, Jane, Twilight and Spike found themselves locked in place by shards of black crystal, alongside Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. “Game over.” The Collector beamed, pacing before them. A tendril of power was flowing from the tower, straight into his back, transferring stolen energy. With a snap of his fingers, his belt was back on his waist, “I win.” “NO!” Jane screamed, “It can’t end like this!” “It’s over Jake.” He casually motioned to the garden around them, “The power of the princesses and many of their old nemesis are mine. This world will die.” Jane glared back up at him, her face a furious mask. “Just keep one, very important thing in mind, Collector. There’s always someone bigger and badder than you. Even if you win here, eventually, you are going to tick off the wrong person who will roll over and crush you. And when that day comes, and you find yourself laying broken on the ground, I want you to think back to this day, and remember this.” The Collector snapped his fingers, and Jane found herself cut off, the world looming huge around her, her body locked in a singular, immobile position; head arched back, one foreleg raised, just like the Rarity minis from her blind bag dream. “No.” He grinned, “I think I'll focus on becoming a god and stealing the combined magical essence of the world." He knelt down, poking at Jane’s miniaturized form, “Seems more worthy of reminiscence than the last breaths of hate from a loser, you see.” “Change her back!” Twilight shouted. “N-” KRACK-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! A ring of rainbow color cascaded over Canterlot, a rainbow colored blur dropping from the sky so fast that the group didn’t have time to register the impact into The Collector’s chest. The momentum propelled him across the open ground, his body slamming right into the tower, a loud crack sound echoing through the air. The impact blasted the box containing the Elements of Harmony out of the socket, it smashing to pieces on the ground below. With the connection severed, the process that was affecting The Collector began to reverse itself; the stolen energy flowed back the way it came. Rainbow Dash didn’t let up on the assault. Lashing out with a wild flurry of punches and kicks, she kept The Collector pinned up against the tower’s structure. “You don’t hurt my friends! You don’t hurt the princesses! And you don’t control my mind!” Jane felt herself pop back to her full pony form. Gritting her teeth, she channeled raw power and anger through her horn. “Get that crap away from him!” Applejack charged, lashing out with a buck to The Collector’s knees, while Rarity and Twilight joined Jane in yanking everything they could away from him, starting with his belt, but then delving into the pockets of his leather jacket. Jane yanked the remote looking device from the belt, quickly examining it. It had a touch screen as it’s main interface on it’s narrow black form, and a series of icons for navigation, one of which was clearly marked “Saved Universes.”. The Collector, still reeling from Dash’s strikes, shoved her back and slammed a fist against the keyboard. “S-Self des-destruct. Russel, Red-0-0-1.” A hacking cough shook his whole body, blood splattering against his shirt, “I’m g-going t-to take you all with me.” The metal spheres began to beep. Wincing, Jane’s eyes flicked back to the remote, her hoof tapping the saved universes icon. Eyes roaming across the options, they lit up at the sight of an option that might be their salvation. “Dash! Get out of the way!” She shouted, quickly hitting it. A swirling oval portal of blueish-purple energy tore itself into being, hovering a few inches from the ground. Twilight glanced towards the portal, then towards The Collector, an expression of sudden realization crossing her face. “Girls! Time to send him home!” Dash and Applejack lead the charge, swooping in from either side of the human. The Collector weakly raised an arm, lightning flickering around the fingers. A blast lashed out at Applejack, the farm pony neatly hopping to the side and continuing her rush without missing a beat. “Ya heard the lady.” Lashing out with a pair of powerful bucks, Applejack and Rainbow Dash caught The Collector in the stomach, sending him tumbling through the portal. The others were already pushing the tower, throwing all of their weight into it as it scraped along the ground. Applejack and Rainbow Dash rushed to aid them, throwing their own strength into moving it. With the extra assistance, the spire of metal ground through the last few feet of dirt and grass and toppled through the shimmering curtain edge. With the central tower dragged through, the secondary spires were pulled right along with it. Snaking and snapping through the air like a bunch of angry snakes, everyone was forced to scatter as they whipped dangerously about, before vanishing into the portal next. As the gateway began to close, Jane yanked the control sphere from the belt and pitched it through. - - - - The Collector dropped like a stone as he exited the interdimensional doorway, crashing into one of his own overstuffed shelves of lucre from across time and space. The shelf, already top heavy from being loaded to the brim, tipped and then toppled over. An avalanche of metal and magic items smashed him to the floor, eliciting another cry of pain. His chest felt like it was on fire. He was pretty sure that the rainbow maned one had delivered some kind of compression fracture to his ribcage. He groaned, struggling to push the metal shelves off his body. It didn’t matter, all he had to do was to get some healing potions, stock back up and then he’d make them pay. He’d make them all pay! And then his rigged tower came tumbling through the portal in a discordant shriek of metal and sound, crashing into the pile and adding even more weight to the stack; the burning sensation in his chest grew worse, his ribs compressed even further into his lungs. Heh. He smiled wistfully, slumping back against the floor, the control orb for his mind control spell dropping onto his head as a final insult. Killed by ponies. Worst death ever. The last thing he felt was a moment of pain as the explosion vaporized his home. - - - - Jane looked up at the night sky, a smile splitting her muzzle as Luna’s stars and moon faded back into view, the last remnants of the light rivers fading away. In a moment, it was once again a peaceful Canterlot night. “We did it.” She smiled even wider. “We did it!” Letting loose a laugh of wild abandon, she threw herself at Rainbow Dash, pulling the pegasus into a hug. It was a gesture that was soon repeated by the rest of the Mane Six, and Rainbow Dash soon found herself buried under ponies. “That...was...AWESOME!” “It was really impressive.” “It was super duper terrific Dashie!” “Alright!” She waved her hooves, “Everypony, get off of me!” “I knew you could do it!” Jane grinned, untangling herself from Dash, “I knew you could do a sonic rainboom!” A soft trio of pops echoed through the clearing as Celestia, Cadance and Luna appeared, horns glowing with magic energy, scanning the garden for any signs of The Collector. The group dipped into a bow, while Jane sat back on her haunches. She figured she’d let Twilight explain the situation. Maybe it was because she was still worked up from the battle, but she was still breathing hard. “It’s okay!” Twilight smiled, straightening back up, “He’s gone. He tried to blow his tower up, but we sent him and it back to his home base.” Celestia smiled. It was a warm, almost motherly smile, that was matched by Cadance and Luna. “I am so proud of you all, my little ponies.” She nodded towards Jane, “And our visiting friend. You showed true fortitude and dedication when things seemed at their darkest.” “You held true to the bonds of friendship.” Cadance added. “And thou vanquished the villain who attempted to overthrow Equestria!” Luna nodded. “Shucks.” Applejack nervously grinned, kicking the ground, “We just did what we had too.” Jane nodded, beginning to pant now, her lungs almost screaming for a breath of actual air. Celestia, noticing her distress, frowned. “Are you okay?” “I...I” She gaped, reaching a hoof to her chest. It felt like there was a vice in her chest, crushing her lungs, “I can’t..can’t...breathe.” The world was suddenly spinning, and everything went dark.