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// Chapter 7-a: Taking a Breather (Pt.1) 
// Story: Mobius and Equestria: Worlds Collide 
// by AngelShy24 
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	(Spike recaps)

Oh, hey there; this is Spike. Welcome back to the story. I know that some of you out there may not have read this adventure lately; either that or you may have the attention span of a goldfish. But either way, I’m here to recap everything that has happened so far in case you need a quick catch up on the story’s plot. So… here it is.
You remember Solar Dusk, right? The stallion that was planning to take over Equestria with his own mind control gems but was then stopped and put to justice thanks to Twilight, Fluttershy, and our two friends from the other world, Cream and Cheese? Well… long story short, he escaped! However, he had help from a robotic menace named Metal Sonic. It helped Solar Dusk escape to the other world where he teamed up with a quirky scientist named Dr. Eggman; which makes sense since he does look like a giant egg. But anyway, once we found out, Twilight and the others, including me, found a way to transport to the other world ourselves to try and find and re-capture Solar Dusk.
We eventually found Cream and Cheese, and we gathered a bunch of their other friends too and clued them in to the situation. Once they knew, it was clear to them what we had to do. So far, we had an encounter with that devious Dr. Eggman, and stopped an attack of a small army of his robots. But once we took them all out, he just fled and threw us off his trail. Now how were we supposed to find Solar Dusk? Luckily for us, a couple more friends of Cream and Cheese told us that they found where Eggman was hiding; and wherever Eggman was, Solar Dusk should be there too. Now were just hanging out and relaxing to gather up our strength until the right time came to take down Solar Dusk once and for all.
So, did you catch all of that information? Good, cause I am not saying all of that again. If you didn’t, then tough cookies; you’re better off starting at the beginning anyway.
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(Princess on Angel Island)

Twilight Sparkle was exploring the surrounding plains of Green Hill with Spike who came along for the ride. While taking a break until Eggman’s plan was found out, Twilight was quite intrigued of checking out what this land had to offer.
“Just look at this place, Spike,” said Twilight feeling amazed, “Isn’t it unlike anything you’ve ever seen?”
But Spike however, didn’t seem too impressed of what he saw, “Well… I wouldn’t exactly say unlike anything I’ve seen before, but… it’s definitely different.”
“Just think about it; this whole land is huge and its only part of this separate world. I don’t mean to sound like an overexcited geek, but just imagine how other areas in this world would look like!”
Suddenly, Spike’s jaw dropped as he looked ahead and pointed a claw near in front of them, “You mean… like that?!”
Twilight looked up in front of them, and up in the sky she saw what reminded her a bit of Cloudsdale back in their world; but instead, she saw what looked like a giant island floating in the sky.
“Is that… a floating island?” said Twilight, “ Heh, well I guess its not the most bizarre thing I’ve seen.”
“Wanna go check it out?” said Spike.
“I don’t see why not.”
Spike hopped upon Twilight as she spread her wings to take to the skies. She made her way above the mysterious floating island taking in the scenery of the huge forest surroundings and barren ruins. They didn’t see anyone, and the place seemed very deserted.
“I wonder if anyone lives on this island?” Spike wondered.
“Doesn't look like it so far,” Twilight responded, “Too bad though; its so vast and full of plant life.”
But being as she is, Twilight had a feeling that there was more to this place than they could see from the air. 
“Come on, let’s go in for a closer look.”
Twilight began to descend to the ground watching out where she landed. Spike was looking around to try and help her in any way he could. But then he was suddenly distracted by something nearby.
“Tw-Tw-Tw-Twilight, look at that!”
Twilight staggered a bit from Spike’s outburst, “Spike, why did you…” but then she suddenly saw what Spike saw… and she was utterly astounded.
They landed on a giant altar where a huge group of stairs led up to a pedestal that housed a gigantic green gem. Spike just stood there in front of it with huge amounts of saliva dripping from his mouth.	

“That… is the biggest… most gigantic… delicious-looking gem… I have ever seen.”
“I feel… a strange source of energy coming from it,” said Twilight as she touched the gem with her hoof, “Is it anything like those Chaos Emeralds?”
Spike suddenly placed his arms on the giant gem hugging it and lowly moaned in delight, “Ooooooh, its so… b-beautiful.” It was then he was about to lick it; but before he did…
“Hey, who's there?!”
Spike and Twilight heard a sudden voice that sounded familiar. A red echidna came walking out from the other side of the giant gem and was lightly glaring at Spike.
“Oh, it’s you two.”
“Knuckles?!” Twilight exclaimed, “Is this giant gem yours?”
“It’s an emerald, and yes… it sure is; and it most definitely isn’t food.”
Spike chuckled nervously as he quickly stepped away from the emerald before Knuckles did something to him, “S-s-so… um, Knuckles, this is where you live?”
“Pretty much. So… what brings you guys up here exactly?”
“Oh you know… just exploring a bit,” Twilight explained, “We have a city back in our world that floats in the sky too, except it’s made of clouds. So we just wanted to see how a giant island like this is able to stay afloat in the sky.”
“Of course you would,” said Knuckles knowing that Twilight was obviously the brainiac of this new group of ponies that came into his world, “This is the Master Emerald; its power alone is what keeps this island afloat. My… father used to be the leader and guardian of this island and it was his duty to guard and keep this Emerald safe. But something happened a long time ago, and now… I’m the last of my kind. It’s unfortunate, but I chose to stay loyal to my sole duty to protect the Master Emerald and keep it from falling in the wrong hands.”
Twilight and Spike were quite shocked of what they heard from this echidna. They figured it was pretty hard for him to bear such a fate all on his own.
“W-wow, that’s deep,” said Spike, “I’d hate it if I was the last dragon in Equestria and have to guard some kind of treasure all by myself! I’d actually be more tempted to eat it!”
“I’m sorry to hear all of that,” said Twilight sadly, “Going through all of this must have been hard on you.”
Knuckles just scoffed trying to not feel sad about it, “Yeah, well… it’s not the best role in life, but someone has to do it.”
“On the other hoof though,” said Twilight with a slight smile, “it must have take someone with a lot of patience, a cool head and a wise spirit to take on this kind of responsibility.”
Knuckles body froze for a second, and then he looked over at Twilight with nervous eyes and then looked away again with a light blush, “”Um… y-y-yeah, sure. I’m… all of those things; absolutely.” Then he decided to change the subject away from that, “S-so, you’re a princess, right? I’m guessing that you rule over the Kingdom where you live.”
“I wouldn’t exactly call it a Kingdom, but it is where I live with all of my friends, and I am the Princess there, so… I guess it still is a Kingdom.”
Spike suddenly shouted, “Yep, just call her ‘Princess Twilight Sparkle’!” But then Twilight looked down at him with her usual pout face and Spike just lightly chuckled, “Or… j-j-just Twilight is fine… I guess.”
Suddenly, the Master Emerald started emitting a huge amount of energy as Knuckles quickly turned around to it and spoke to it, “What’s going on? What it is it?”
“Is he… talking to that gem?” said Spike feeling weirded out by the situation, “Kinda creepy.”
But as Twilight was watching, she noticed that in a bag that she had with her something was glowing as well. She pulled out her tiara that was her element and saw that it’s glowing was reacting to the gem, “What’s going on? Why is my element reacting to this… Master Emerald?”
“Wait a minute, that’s it!” Knuckles said suddenly as he eyed Twilight element. He then looked back at the emerald and said, “It’s one of those things from the vision that you gave me!”
Spike still found Knuckles talking to an emerald was a bit weird, “Wh-wh-what vision… exactly?”
“A few days ago, the Master Emerald gave me a vision of these powerful trinkets; the Elements of Harmony. One day, they would play a big part in saving our world from an upcoming threat. You and your friends are the bearers of those elements, aren’t you?”
“That we are,” Twilight responded, “and each element has a different meaning in correspondence to the bearers.”
“I know,” said Knuckles, “honesty, loyalty, generosity, laughter, kindness, and… yours is magic, the element that brings the others together. Kinda reminds me of how the Master Emerald is linked to the Chaos Emeralds and brings them together.”
“No way!” shouted Spike.
“Well, it shouldn’t be too surprising to you that I know all of this. After all, I did sorta hear about what Cream told everyone else about the other world she was in; but I suppose that I chose to not fully believe it. Guess that’s what I get for being arrogant.” 
Twilight was very astounded hearing about what Knuckles had experienced, and the fact that his giant emerald shared some slight similarity to the powers of their elements. It was truly something worth finding out for her.
“So I guess that this new threat is our enemy Solar Dusk.”
“I’m very sure of it,” Knuckles responded pounding his fists, “I wasn’t technically face to face with that creep and I already want to knock him into next week. He has no idea who he is threatening.”
Twilight was grateful that Knuckles was fully on board with helping them take down Solar Dusk. She figured that they would need all of the help they could get. “Well don’t worry, Knuckles, and… the emerald, we were brought here for a reason, and that is to take down Solar Dusk. I promise that we will do our part and save our worlds from his power.”
Knuckles just showed a light smile while flexing his fists, “Heh, as will we.”
“Okay, seriously;” said Spike as he was still looking at the emerald feeling confused, “can this emerald talk or what?”

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(Ladies hanging out)

At Cream’s house, Rarity happened to come upon Vanilla’s room where she saw some of Vanilla’s clothing creations; and to her it was like walking into a different world of fashion. It was unlike anything she had ever seen. Vanilla was there and saw how much she admired her work and allowed her to have a look around.
“I do say, these look absolutely magnificent,” said Rarity, “They are so simple, so basic, so plain; and yet… they really say something. They say… look at us, we’re not boring, we’re fabulous!”
Vanilla was smiling feeling appreciated of Rarity’s compliments about her work, “I’m glad that you like them so much. I’m not really a sole designer, this is just a little hobby that I do on the side. I’m actually more into cooking and gardening than anything else.”
“What,” Rarity gasped, “are you kidding me?! These must be known by others; others who are looking for a traditional look! You mustn't keep this to yourself!”
Vanilla understood how serious fashion was to Rarity, and seeing all of this really impressed her as well. So she gave her an offer, “Well if you want, I’d be happy to let you use some of my designs for your work. I really don’t mind.”
But Rarity thought it was a bad idea, “No no no no no no, I couldn’t do that! This is your work, and only you can present designs as… lovely as… these.”
Vanilla lightly chuckled to herself. Rarity really didn’t want to take her designs for herself, but at the same time she really wouldn’t mind showing them off as well.
“Knock yourself out,” said Vanilla, “I insist.”
Rarity took one good look at what she could see and finally broke down and said, “Well… if you do insist, I-I-I’ll think about it. But if I do I’m giving most credit to you.”
“How generous of you,” Vanilla chuckled.
“Yes, well… I do get that a lot.”
Rarity and Vanilla then began heading back towards the front room near the house entrance. When they got there, Applejack and Amy Rose were sharing a conversation themselves. Vanilla saw Applejack doing things in her kitchen, and Amy got up from a sofa holding up a small cup of what smelled like cider to them.
“Miss Vanilla,” said Amy, “you have to try this hot cider Applejack made. It’s awesome!”
Applejack smiled nervously as Vanilla suddenly stared at her curious, “Heh, Ah hope ya don’t mind that Ah used yer kitchen… and some of yer utensils… and some apples that ya had in stock. Ah just had to share this recipe from back home to you guys.”
“Honestly, Applejack,” Rarity scoffed, “whatever happened to to asking first and act afterwards?”
Vanilla definitely adored the scent of the cider smell she smelt and she didn’t really mind of what Applejack did even though she didn’t ask her first.
“Would you mind if I tried some of your cider?” she politely asked.
“Ah would be pretty sad if ya didn’t,” Applejack responded.
Applejack poured Vanilla a small cup of the cider that she made and gave it to her. She calmly watched as Vanilla took a small sip of it; it kinda reminded her of the delicate manner of a certain pony friend of hers. Vanilla’s eyes became wide for a few seconds, and stared back down at her cup and said in pure awe, “Oh my, that is good.”
“Told ya it was,” said Amy with a smile.
“Well… Applejack really does have that flair of creating lovely apple delicacies,” said Rarity, “She was raised on an apple farm after all.”
Hearing that, Amy suddenly became curious as she asked, “By the way, do you have any siblings?”
“Oh do ah,” Applejack responded, “Ah have a big brother and a little sister. Ah bet they both miss me right about now.”
“Yes, well I suppose my little  sister misses me as well,” said Rarity.
“Well I’m sure all of you already knew,” said Amy sipping some more cider, “but Cream is an only child. I am too an only child, but Cream kinda looks to me like an older sister; so.. that really makes me feel special.”
Applejack looked at Rarity with a little smirk, “Kinda like Scootaloo is to Rainbow Dash; eh, Rarity?”
“Exactly,” Rarity responded.
As Vanilla was finishing up her cup of cider, her eyes caught the appearance of the trinkets that were hanging around Applejack and Rarity’s necks. She did notice them before, but she never remembered to bring up the explanation of them.
“By the way,” she said while looking at Rarity’s trinket, “I couldn’t help but notice your lovely necklaces that are around you and your friends necks when you first got here. They look just like those symbols in the cave that Cream told us about. She drew a picture of them y’know.”
“Oh yeah,” said Amy being curious, “the Elements of Harmony, right? What’s up with those things anyway?”
“They do look like such lovely accessories, don’t they?” said Rarity as she held up and admired her element, “But the truth is that they are not just a fashion statement, they together are one of the strongest sources of defense in our world. Twilight’s Element, the Element of Magic is what keeps them in synch, but without just one of them would be non-effective.”
“They’ve helped us defeat many baddies,” Applejack added, “and prevented many horrible outcomes to certain situations, and they are exactly  what we need to re-capture  Solar Dusk!”
“But there’s still one fact that we’re wondering,” Amy stated, “why are those symbols carved into a cave wall in our world in the first place?” 
Applejack just shrugged and said, “Beats me, but Ah’m sure we’ll find out sooner or later. Maybe it’s some kind of prophecy thang or some other kind mystical event… or whateva.”
“Well if those elements are our only hope to capture that creep,” said Amy with a smirk, “just know that me and my friends will be supporting you girls every step of the way.” 
Applejack and Rarity were glad to hear her say that; not to say that they didn’t think that Cream’s friends wouldn’t be brave enough to help them, but even after what they witnessed, they had no plans of backing down. 
“Would you ladies care to have some sugar mint cookies?” Vanilla questioned.
“I’d be delighted,” Rarity responded.
Applejack agreed as well, “Sure thang; thanks.”
It was only a matter of time before they would receive information from Charmy, Vector and Espio of what Solar Dusk and Eggman were planning, so they planned to rest up as much as they needed until the time came.
But just then, a thought suddenly occurred to Applejack, “Hey,Rarity, Ah just realized somethang. Ah know you and Ah are here, and Twilight and Spike went explorin’ around, Rainbow is out stretchin’ her wings and Fluttershy is with Cream and Cheese. But… do you have any idea where Pinkie went?”
“Now that I think about it,” Rarity responded, “I don’t know where she might be either. Ugh, that pony can be a real chore to keep up with.”
Amy wasn’t quite sure why they would be so worried about not knowing where their pink pony friend was, but they did know her more than she did. “I think I saw her hopping off somewhere, and she was following someone. Who, I don’t know.”
Applejack and Rarity just sighed and decided to not worry about it and not let it cause them to not relax.
“Not to worry,” said Rarity, “Pinkie Pie is very mature just like the rest of us. I’m sure she can stay out of trouble… I hope.”