//------------------------------//
// Sonic and the Secret Rings, Volume Five 
// Story: Adventures on the Friendship Express 
// by GreenS21 
//------------------------------//


ERAZOR DJINN REVIVED


The sound of Sonic’s shout was able to carry through the dust and mist to the others, alerting them to what Haman had summoned. Aladdin and Badoura were the first to react, both of them standing up and staring at the genie as more of him was revealed. He appeared to be missing his brown cape, but he still wore white pants with tan cuffs, brown shoes with pointed toes, gold cuffs on his wrists, and a brown wrap around his waist topped with what appeared to be a jewel. He had reddish markings on his torso, arms, hands, and forehead, and his cardinal red hair curled up and around his head.

“By Allah… He actually brought him back,” Aladdin breathed.

“I don’t believe it… This is what he wanted the Essences for?” Badoura murmured. It wasn’t long before the air had cleared enough to allow the others to see Erazor Djinn as well. A full view of him showed that he was about his normal size, roughly twice as tall as Sonic and a muscular look to his body.

“That’s Erazor Djinn?” Twilight asked, shocked.

Her shock was echoed by the others as well, though Rainbow Dash added, “You know, I was kind of expecting him to be… well, bigger since he’s a world-destroying genie and all.”

Ali Baba and Sinbad were both looking at the genie as well, their reactions considerably more mixed. “I don’t… Can the World Rings really resurrect someone?” Ali Baba wondered.

Sinbad growled, “That crazy old fool and his forbidden magic…”

As if he was waiting for the right time to make his entrance, Haman suddenly appeared next to Erazor Djinn in a red-orange flash of light. It was hard to tell if he was still bleeding or not as his right sleeve was covering up his arm again, but it didn’t seem to matter to him, given his demeanor hadn’t changed. “Hee hee hee~! Look at what my hard work has led to! Isn’t he beautiful? I am truly an artist!” he cackled.

“An artist?! You’re an IDIOT, Haman!” Sonic yelled.

Sinbad backed him up, “You already unleashed that spirit on this world once! Now you’ve broken the rule that even genies normally can’t break and unleashed him again, and you’re patting yourself on the back?!”

Haman replied, “‘Unleashed’, my dear sailor? I’m afraid that’s where you’re mistaken! The Erazor Djinn may have caught me off-guard last time, but not this time! This time, he will only be doing what I tell him to!”

Rarity spoke, “You take selfish to a whole new level, Haman!”

Cadance nodded, “If Erazor Djinn’s past was filled with masters like you, it’s no wonder he developed such desires!”

Haman replied, “Bah! Why don’t you all cry me a river! It will be the last thing any of you get to do!” He tapped the bottom of his staff against the ground, “Now it is time to witness success!” As he was speaking, a nearly invisible red shockwave spread out from where his staff touched the ground.

Sinbad noticed the wave when it came to a stop just past where Sonic, Shahra, Badoura, and Aladdin were and became more opaque, beginning to glow brighter. “Oh no you don’t!” he shouted as he began to run towards the center of the circle, everyone else beginning to follow his lead. They weren’t fast enough, though, as just as Sinbad and Rainbow were about to pass over the wave, a red barrier shot up out of the ground, going all the way to the ceiling and then continuing to spread out, pushing everyone outside of it back to the outside of the circle.

Aladdin, Badoura, Sonic, and Shahra looked at the barrier behind them with surprise, but they soon looked back at Haman when he said, “Ah, ah, ah don’t intrude! Work before pleasure, after all!” The sorcerer looked up at Erazor Djinn and held up his staff, which began to glow red-orange as he spoke, “Erazor Djinn, as your master, I command you to eliminate the pests in front of you once and for all! We’ll have some fun with the rest of them later, but for now, begin my- er, our revenge by spilling their blood on the ground!” With that, he teleported away again and reappeared inside the blocked passageway.

Badoura, Aladdin, and Sonic all tensed up as they looked at Erazor Djinn, but the genie continued to hover over the ground, the same hardened expression on his face as he stared back at them. Seeing some sort of hesitance in his eyes, Shahra spoke up, “Erazor Djinn, don’t listen to Haman! You don’t have to keep going down the path you chose previously! Whatever control he has over you, fight it!”

Haman’s voice echoed, “Nice try, Genie of the Ring, but it’s useless! He lives because of me! I own him! Now do as I said, Erazor Djinn, and kill them!” His words caused Erazor Djinn to move, the genie bending over as he flexed his arms inward. As he was hunched over, a circle of red-orange magic surrounded him, causing him to grow to about twice his height! As the magic faded, he floated up straight and then held his right arm up, and with a flash of light, his razor-like sword appeared in his hand. He then brought it down and held it out in front of him, Sonic, Shahra, Aladdin, and Badoura being reflected in the blade’s smooth, polished surface.


AN INVINCIBLE OPPONENET


“Erazor Djinn, please!” Shahra cried, trying one more time to sway him. It was to no avail, however, as with a swing of his sword, Erazor Djinn suddenly shot towards the group! Reacting quickly, Aladdin and Badoura dove to the left while Sonic grabbed Shahra and leapt to the right, all of them just barely dodging the horizontal slash the genie had aimed down at them.

As he landed, Sonic laid Shahra down on her side and asked, “Shahra, are you hurt?”

The pink-haired genie looked up at him, her eyes misty with tears, and stammered, “N-No, Sonic, but Erazor Djinn, he… Did you see him, he…”

Sonic replied, “Yeah, I saw that.” He glanced in Erazor Djinn’s direction and saw him going after Aladdin and Badoura as he said, “Maybe if we wear him down enough, we can get through to him.” He looked at Shahra and stood up, holding his right hand up as finished, “For now, I need you to trust me, Shahra. Stay in the ring for now; I don’t want him to get you again…” Shahra looked up at him for a moment before nodding and turning into a ball of light, vanishing into the ring. After giving it a pat, Sonic turned to look at Erazor Djinn.

During this, Aladdin and Badoura were dodging a series of slashes from Erazor Djinn. After dodging a zigzagging slash, Badoura leapt at the genie while surrounding herself with flames, but he was able to knock her back with a swing of his arm and she landed on the ground with a grunt. Aladdin quickly leapt in front of her and drew his saber, holding it up. Erazor Djinn just looked at him questioningly and Haman laughed, “Really, Aladdin? You actually think a genie is going to be afraid of a tiny little knife like that?”

Aladdin replied, “Maybe not now, but…” While holding the blade in his right hand, he swept his left hand over it, a blue glow coming from his hand. Blue energy began to gather around the blade of his saber, soon forming a blue blade of energy that greatly elongated the length of it. From outside the barrier, as the group was attempting to break through it, Twilight noticed that the blue blade looked similar to Silver’s Psychic Knife.

Erazor Djinn glared down at the white hedgehog and brought his sword up, charging at him with a deep, ghostly growl. Aladdin brought his sword up again, this time assuming a defensive stance. The genie’s blade met the hedgehog’s, but he was surprised when the longer blade not only didn’t break, but Aladdin was able to stand his ground against him. In his surprise, Erazor Djinn was pushed back and Aladdin pressed the attack, both of them slashing at each other for several moments. As Badoura got up and joined Aladdin, he jumped back and made a horizontal slash, sending the blue blade flying at Erazor Djinn as Badoura threw several wisps of fire at the blade.

The wisps wrapped around the blue blade and caused it to burst into flames, though it kept flying at Erazor Djinn. The genie grunted and tried to block it, but it broke through his guard and exploded. Aladdin and Badoura looked at the resulting cloud of smoke apprehensively, sure that Erazor Djinn wasn’t finished yet but not sure what to expect next from him. They soon got their answer when Erazor Djinn let out a loud growl and shot out of the smoke, crashing into the two and knocking them back onto the ground before they could react. He brought up his blade, preparing to take them while they were down, but Sonic interrupted him when he struck the side of his face with a Homing Attack. The hit stunned him for a moment, but he quickly whirled around and punched Sonic with his right hand, sending the blue hedgehog flying all the way across the field and into the barrier!

Sonic hit the barrier so hard that he ended up creating an indent in it. He remained in it as he shook off the impact of the crash, but as he was shaking his head, Shahra whispered to him, “(Sonic, look out!)” Sonic looked up and saw Erazor Djinn flying towards him and letting out a yell, his sword pointed right at him! Sonic narrowed his eyes and, a moment later, pushed himself up and off of the barrier. The tip of Erazor’s sword broke through the barrier, but Sonic landed on top of it, the hedgehog quickly charging up a Spin Dash and hitting the genie in the face. He kept going after the hit, flipping around in midair and landing a short distance away from Erazor Djinn, facing him.

As he was retrieving his dropped saber, Aladdin noticed that as Erazor Djinn pulled his sword free, the break it left in the barrier was beginning to close up. He glanced in Haman’s direction. He couldn’t completely make out the sorcerer through the red, but he could see that his staff was glowing again. He then looked back at where the hole had been in the barrier, an idea forming in his head.

After dodging a slash from Erazor Djinn, Sonic used Speed Break to hit him and jump back over to Badoura and Aladdin, sliding across the ground and stopping in front of them. They all looked over at Erazor Djinn, the genie shaking his head and growling after the hit. “He may be invincible, but there must be a way we can subdue him,” Badoura said.

Sonic nodded, “Yeah. It might take some help from the others to do, though. …I’m open to suggestions on how to get them past that wall.”

Aladdin placed his hands on Sonic and Badoura’s shoulders and murmured to them, “I think I have an idea. It involves him, though.” Badoura and Sonic looked at him, leaning in closer as he whispered his idea to them. As he finished whispering, they had to jump out of the way of an attack by Erazor, thanks to Shahra and everyone outside of the barrier helpfully alerting them, but as they landed, Aladdin asked, “What do you both think?”

Sonic replied, “Well, like your plan to free Badoura while magic boy’s back was turned, I like it!”

Badoura nodded, “I agree, but how do we let the others know about the plan without either Haman or Erazor Djinn finding out?” They all looked to see Erazor Djinn glaring at them and holding his sword up once again, seemingly preparing another charge.

“If I can just get a moment between his attacks, I should be able to pass the message on to them,” Sonic said.

Aladdin held up his saber and used his magic to extend its blade again as he replied, “I think that can be arranged.” Badoura nodded in agreement, the air around her hands already starting to spark with small embers.

Instead of charging at them, Erazor Djinn stomped his right foot against the ground, creating a shockwave and causing rocks to fall from the ceiling. Sonic went first, Aladdin and Badoura following him as he leapt over the shockwave and avoided the falling rocks. The blue hedgehog leapt at Erazor Djinn in a Homing Attack, but a block by the genie followed up with a swing sent him flying off to the side. This left Erazor’s defense open, however, and Aladdin slashed him across the chest, the white hedgehog leaping back as Badoura created a fiery explosion.

While Badoura and Aladdin continued distracting Erazor Djinn, Sonic landed on his feet further away and quickly ran over to the others, everyone stopping their attempts to break through the barrier as he came to a stop in front of them. “Sonic!” Rainbow exclaimed. She was silenced when Sonic held a finger up to his lips. Stealing a glance back at Erazor Djinn, he looked back at the others and made several hand gestures: he brought his hands together and then swept them out, a stabbing motion with his left hand, and a punching sign with his right hand followed by quickly opening his fist. With that, he turned and ran back towards Erazor Djinn.

“Uh, okay, what was that all about?” Spike asked as he looked at Sonic’s retreating form.

After a moment, Sinbad spoke, “They’re going to try to get us an opening. We just have to be ready for it.” He then glanced at Twilight, Rarity, Shining, and Cadance and said, “And if I’m guessing right, your magic will be what we need to ‘punch’ through.” Though they were still a bit confused, everyone decided to trust the adventurer’s words.


PLAN IN MOTION


As he ran at Erazor, Sonic called, “Heads up, Erazor!” The genie grunted and turned to look behind him, only to get hit right in the face with another Homing Attack. With the opening in his defenses, both Aladdin and Badoura struck, Aladdin throwing his glowing blade at the genie while Badoura unleashed a large fireball that pushed him back slightly. The trio regrouped afterwards, waiting to see what he would do next. They soon got their answer when Erazor Djinn growled and stomped the ground with a foot, causing more rocks to fall from the ceiling. Sonic, Badoura, and Aladdin moved to dodge the rocks, though this time they ran away from the genie, moving away from each other as they came to a stop in front of one of the barrier’s walls.

After the rain of rocks stopped, Erazor glared at the three of them. Aladdin was on the genie’s left and Sonic was on his right, leaving Badoura in between them. While he looked between them, Sonic started waving his arms as he called, “Hey, what are you waiting for, big guy?”

Badoura, while holding a hand on her chin, spoke, “I believe he’s, as they say, chicken.”

Aladdin made a gesture with his left hand as he taunted, “Hey chicken, come on!” Erazor growled in frustration and charged at Aladdin first, the white hedgehog dodging to his left and running over to Badoura as the genie pulled his sword free and turned to face him. Erazor smirked as he saw a chance to impale them all at once and charged again. Aladdin wrapped his left arm around Badoura and they both jumped, both focusing their powers to clear the attack.

Sonic, meanwhile, stepped to the side as Erazor brought his sword down on where he was standing and then did a Spin Dash into his chest, uncurling and kicking him in the face as he flipped back. As he landed, Sonic smirked, “Tag!” Erazor let out a snarl and did a quick slash at the blue hedgehog, which simply dodged it and then ran up along the side of the barrier. As he began to run away, he called back, “Catch me if you can!” Erazor answered his challenge, flying after him while Aladdin and Badoura ran after him, Aladdin’s sword once again extended.

As Erazor Djinn pursued Sonic, Aladdin and Badoura ran along his open side, both occasionally throwing an attack at the genie to break his focus on Sonic. When they attacked, the genie would take a swing at them, but it was more to try to get them to back off rather than a planned attack, so, much like Aladdin and Badoura actually trying to hurt Erazor, these swings were halfhearted at best. Still, by messing with him, the genie had trouble lining up his strikes and ended up hitting the barrier instead.

Haman quickly realized what they were trying to do and, as he struggled to repair the breaks in the barrier, shouted at Erazor, “Stop that, you fool! You’re helping them ruin my hard work!” But the genie paid no attention to his words, his frustration growing as his enemies kept attacking, taunting him with their continued existence. It didn’t take long before they were about to pass in front of where the rest of the group was. It was at this point that Erazor Djinn let out a loud roar and deliberately thrust his sword into the barrier, aiming for the spot where Sonic was going to be!

Erazor’s roar had thrown him off, but Sonic saw what he was about to do with his blade and clenched his right hand into a fist as he yelled, “TIME BREAK!” As time began to slow down, the blade broke through the barrier, everyone outside of the barrier jumped back, and Sonic, Badoura, and Aladdin started to skid to a stop.

As Sonic slowed down, he stuck his left foot out in front of him and planted it against the side of Erazor’s blade to stop himself. Making use of the temporary surface and slowed down time, he planted both feet against the barrier and cancelled the Time Break, pushing off with all of his strength. He struck Erazor in the face and landed a second later. As he, Aladdin, and Badoura ran away from the genie, he called back, “That doesn’t count!” Erazor let out a growl at that and removed his sword from the barrier, turning to pursue the trio.

As Erazor’s sword was removed from the barrier, it left a large, gaping hole in the red wall. Once he was sure that the genie was distracted, Sinbad spoke, “Now’s our chance to open it up!”

At this, Shining said, “Let’s get in there!” He, Cadance, Rarity, and Twilight galloped forward, the hole already beginning to close as Haman tried to shut them out. They managed to get their horns into the hole before it could close completely, Twilight and Shining Armor stood crouched down low while Rarity and Cadance stood above them side by side. As they all began to charge their magic, Shining grunted, “If we can interrupt the magic here…”

Cadance nodded, “It should shatter the whole thing!”

On the other side of the chamber, Haman yelled, “No, no, no! You will all stay right where you are!” The red-orange glow surrounding his staff seemed to intensify at his words.

Back with the group, Rarity suddenly let out a yelp as she stepped back slightly, as did Twilight, Cadance, and Shining Armor. “What’s wrong?!” Rainbow asked.

“He’s… trying to push us back!” Twilight exclaimed as she tried to stand her ground.

“We need to focus or we won’t get through!” Cadance said. A second later, she suddenly felt something press hard against her from behind. Although she couldn’t look back, it was Pinkie pressing her head up against the pink alicorn.

As the others joined in, Ali Baba, as he helped Twilight, said, “You focus! We’ll help you!” With the extra push helping to counter Haman’s magic, the four magic users could focus on their task, their horns glowing brighter as they readied their magic. After several seconds, a bright white light and a loud whooshing sound filled the air, managing to catch Sonic, Badoura, Aladdin, and Erazor Djinn’s attention. The bright light forced them to avert their gaze, but seconds after the whooshing died down, it was followed by the loud sound of glass breaking as the barrier shattered into pieces.


CHARGE!


Moments later, both Sinbad and Shining Armor called, “ATTACK!” At this call, Rainbow Dash shot out of the remnants of the white light carrying Ali Baba with her forehooves, who in turn was carrying Rarity with his right hand. The pegasus shot straight towards Erazor Djinn, letting go of Ali Baba when they were close enough, all three hitting the genie with a flying kick together, causing him to grunt as they leapt back.

That was not the end, though. As she and the others ran forward, Twilight charged up a horizontal Mystic Blade, finishing it and launching it at Erazor at the same time Aladdin threw his blue magic sword at the genie, both hitting him in the chest. Both Spike and Badoura unleashed fire on the spirit as Cadance and Shining fired magic beams from their horns at his face. Sonic leapt into Pinkie’s Party Cannon and was fired at Erazor’s chest as she shouted “Sonic Power Cannon!” As the hedgehog landed, Applejack leapt onto his back and used him to get the extra height needed to buck the genie in the stomach, followed by Sinbad jumping up and punching him in the face as hard as he could. As he was knocked back, Erazor’s sword flew out of his hand, disappearing when it hit the ground, and he fell to his knees, panting heavily.

As the group stood together looking at the genie, Aladdin said, “I think he’s down for the moment.”

Applejack nodded, “Yup. Ah don’t think he’s gettin’ back up anytime soon.”

Twilight wondered, “But what do we do with him now?”

Shining looked at Cadance and asked, “Cadance, do you think your magic could break Haman’s hold on him?”

The pink alicorn replied, “Maybe…”

Shahra leapt from her ring, taking on her normal form as she floated off to the side. She spoke, “Wait! Let me try talking to him first! I… Maybe he’ll listen.” She looked at Fluttershy and asked, “Fluttershy, do you think you could…?” The yellow pegasus caught onto what she was saying and nodded, walking over to Shahra and staying at her side as she floated towards Erazor. Everyone else watched carefully, waiting to see what the genie would do.

As the two got closer, Erazor raised his head and glared at them, letting out a snarl. Both Shahra and Fluttershy stopped at this, but while Shahra looked at him worryingly, Fluttershy steadied herself and narrowed her eyes slightly before she resumed walking. This kind of behavior wasn’t unusual for her; plenty of the animals she knew had acted similarly towards her the first time she approached them, but she was able to calm all of them down fairly easily, so even though Erazor wasn’t an animal, she was sure her experience would be helpful here. She was only stopped when Haman yelled, “Bah!” The sorcerer suddenly teleported close to Erazor’s left side and held his staff up in Fluttershy’s direction, causing her to gasp fearfully.

“Fluttershy!” Shahra and Rainbow exclaimed. They both quickly flew up to the pegasus and got slightly in front of her, Shahra on Fluttershy’s left and Rainbow on her right, both of them ready to defend her.

Haman glared at them for a moment before saying, “As usual, if I want something done, I have to do it myself!” He turned to Erazor, his staff beginning to glow again as he said, “Erazor Djinn, I order you to give me your power! Grant me your genie powers and I will destroy them all!” Everyone gasped at this and looked at Erazor Djinn, but the genie remained panting on his knees. Haman growled and fired a beam from his staff at the side of Erazor’s face before saying, “Didn’t you hear me?! I revived you; you serve me! Give me your power, NOW!”


UNSTABLE FOOTING


When there was still no response from Erazor, he fired another beam at his face, and this time he seemed to get his attention as the genie turned his head left to glare down at the sorcerer. Haman hesitated at this, but he shook the surprise off and fired another beam at Erazor. This time, the genie held his right hand up in front of his face, the beam hitting his palm and not doing anything. After the beam stopped, in one quick movement, Erazor swept his left arm out and hit Haman’s hand, causing him to stumble while the staff was knocked out of the circle.

Haman stared at where the staff had landed for a moment before turning back to Erazor Djinn, only to see that the genie was once again hovering over the ground. Before Haman had a chance to react, Erazor reached down and grabbed him with his right hand, lifting him up until the genie’s face was all he could see. He then slowly spoke, in that same deep yet ghostly voice he had been using, “I serve… NO ONE!” As he finished speaking, he released Haman and then unleashed purple beam from his palm at him, the sorcerer screaming as he was pushed back until he was outside of the circle, at which point the beam surrounded him, forming a transparent, spherical barrier that was almost too small for him, all of his limbs cramped inside of it.

“Oh… That’s not good,” Sonic muttered at this.

“Yeah, no kidding. Way to go, Haman!” Sinbad growled. Erazor Djinn glared at the sorcerer for a short while as his prison held him a short distance above the ground, the sphere beginning to float away. While he was distracted, Cadance quietly released a pink heart from her horn, hoping it would have an effect on him, but the genie turned around before it had reached the halfway point. He glared at it and held out his right hand, lightning sparking from it that turned the heart black and made it burst.

He then glared at the group for a moment before hunching over again, though this time the magic that surrounded him was dark purple. As he straightened up, seven streaks of colored light circled him before shooting up towards the top of the Skeleton Dome, exploding when they hit the ceiling. Everyone looked up in surprise as it looked like the explosions had weakened it greatly. They were proven right as a large boulder broke free seconds later and fell towards the ground, a couple of smaller boulders falling with it. “Move it!” Sonic called as he turned around, everyone scrambling to get out of the circle. Shahra and Rainbow grabbed Fluttershy and got out with the others just moments before the boulders landed, the center of the circle almost buried. And all the while, Erazor Djinn was growing larger…

As everybody caught their breath, Twilight asked, “What’s going on? What’s Erazor Djinn doing?”

Ali Baba panted, “I have no idea. With all of his talk, I thought Haman really did have Erazor Djinn under his control…”

Shahra thought for a moment before saying, “I think his spell wasn’t cast correctly. Sinbad was right again.”

Badoura looked up at her, “What do you mean, Shahra?”

The young genie replied, “When we were coming here, Sinbad speculated that Haman needed Sonic and Aladdin for something. Considering the dark nature of the magic he used, that must’ve been what he meant when he said he would ‘make do’…”

Aladdin soon caught onto what she was suggesting and asked, “He needed OUR blood to complete the spell?!”

Shahra nodded, “I think so. Most dark magic that I’m familiar with usually does require a more pure sacrifice.” Looking back at Erazor as he continued to grow, she said, “By using his own blood, though, he brought Erazor Djinn back as something worse than before: a monster!”

Sinbad growled, “If that’s the case, then ruling over worlds might not be enough for him. He’d probably rather destroy them instead!”

Rainbow looked at Shahra and asked, “Shahra, how can we stop him?”

The pink-haired genie looked up at Erazor Djinn. The genie had stopped growing, by now his head being close to the top of the dome and his feet hovering over the circle. After a moment, she spoke, “We have to drain the Essences from him somehow. They’re giving him his power; if he doesn’t have them, surely he won’t be able to maintain a physical form!”

Pinkie asked, “How do we do that?”

Sonic suggested, “What if we reopen that portal? Make sure he goes back to the other side?”

Shahra spoke, “Yes… Yes, that might work! If we can reverse the spell, the Essences should be removed as well!” She then eyed the center of the circle, “But to do that, we’ll need to use the rune that Haman placed…”

Applejack groaned, “Well, ain’t that just…” She was cut off when a loud crackling sound came from overhead. Everyone looked up to see that Erazor Djinn was forming a purple sphere between his hands, the sphere growing bigger as he charged it more. “What’s he doin’?!” Applejack cried.

“He’s trying to escape! With the dome as damaged as it is, it shouldn’t be too hard for him to escape!” Ali Baba exclaimed.

“He needs to be close for this to work! If he escapes from here…” Shahra trailed off. Sonic looked up at the large genie, thinking for several seconds. He then looked down at the ring on his finger as he raised his right hand up and used his left hand to rub it. Shahra immediately snapped to attention at this and bowed, “Oh Master, how may I serve you?”

Sonic looked at her and said, “I wish for magic carpets, Shahra! Magic carpets for everyone!” Shahra nodded and held her arms out, using her magic to create small magic carpets big enough for everyone to stand on.

While she was doing this, Badoura looked at Sonic and asked, “What are you thinking?”

Sonic replied, “I’m thinking we’ve got a chance here!”

A magic carpet flew next to Twilight and stopped, hovering in the air. She looked down at it for a moment before looking back at Sonic and asking, “What plan do you have in mind? What are we going to do?”

Sonic answered, “It’s simple! We need to get that rune uncovered, and we need to make sure Erazor doesn’t leave! If you’ve got the magic and/or the strength to move heavy rocks, then you’ll handle that part!” He jerked a thumb up at Erazor Djinn, “The rest of us will get his attention! We’ll buy you the time you need!”

Shining nodded, “Sounds like a plan to me!”

Rainbow pushed the carpet next to her away as she said, “I don’t think I need a rug for this! I’m much faster with my wings; I’ll get that genie’s attention!”

Sinbad looked at Sonic, “Applejack and I will help with the unearthing, but once that’s done, we’ll be right up to help you!”

The orange earth pony nodded, “Until then, hit him once for us!” Everyone soon knew what they had to do and they moved to do, everyone except Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Shahra taking a carpet to help. Shahra, Sinbad, Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Cadance, and Shining flew towards the pile of rocks in the circle while everyone else flew up to distract Erazor Djinn.


RACING AGAINST TIME AND PATIENCE


As the sphere he was creating began to get bigger than his hands, Erazor Djinn grinned to himself, “Yes… Yes! Soon, very soon…”

Rainbow shouted, “Yeah, very soon, you’re going back where you came from, pal!” Erazor raised an eye and looked around his sphere to see the pegasus flying up at him, everyone else coming up behind her. He grunted and looked back at his sphere, ignoring her. Rainbow just grinned and said, “Hey, come on, big guy! Since we’re not gonna be seeing each other for a while, let me give you a Rainblow dry for the road!” She shot up to his face and began to fly around Erazor in a tight circle, leaving a swirling rainbow trail around his head. He growled at what she was doing, but he tried to remain focused. Despite this, the sphere between his hands began to shrink.

Seeing this, Aladdin placed his left hand over his saber and created the blue blade once again. As he finished, Badoura called over to him, “Aladdin!” The white hedgehog looked at her as she raised her right hand and created a small flame. She then sent it flying towards him, the flame going into the blue blade and changing it to a flaming blade again.

“Thanks, Badoura!” Aladdin called back. His carpet then shot towards the sphere and he jabbed the flaming blade into it until only the hilt was sticking out. He then quickly turned and flew away as the sword interrupted the gathering magic. Seconds later, Rainbow flew away from Erazor moments before the sphere exploded in his face, causing him to growl as Aladdin’s saber was sent flying.

While Spike went to retrieve the sword, Sonic, Ali Baba, and Badoura quickly shot towards Erazor’s face, all of them attacking once they were close enough. He soon recovered, however, and used his magic to immobilize them and push them back as he said, “Insignificant specks! You will be the first to fall!”

Pinkie piped up, “Not before we have a party, you big meanie!” Erazor looked up to see that the pink pony had flown above the others and was now flying towards him with her party cannon out. She fired at him, confetti and streamers hitting him in the face, a few pieces even hitting around his eyes. This caused him to release Sonic, Badoura, and Ali Baba while he wiped the offending party favors off of his face.

When he was finished, he opened his eyes to see Fluttershy hovering in front of him, attempting to use The Stare on him. While he did flinch initially, any power she had over him was quickly lost and he raised his right hand to swipe at her. Thankfully, Ali Baba swooped in on his carpet to get her out of the way, just missing getting hit by the genie’s arm. As he glared at the two of them, Sonic, Rainbow, Badoura, Pinkie, Aladdin, and Spike shot towards Erazor to attack him again.

While they continued to distract Erazor Djinn, down on the ground, Sinbad, Shahra, Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Shining Armor, and Cadance were working diligently to remove the boulders that had fallen from the ceiling. The magic carpets made moving the smaller rocks out easier while magic took care of a few of the larger ones, but the big hurdle was the large boulder that had been knocked loose from the ceiling, and it was completely covering the rune.

“Any chance this boulder can be lifted with magic?” Sinbad asked.

“I think this one might take a bit of time and combined effort to move,” Cadance said.

Rarity wailed, “Isn’t there any way we could remove it faster?” As if to answer her, Rainbow suddenly shot downwards before sharply angling herself upwards, having kicked off a Sonic Rainboom in an attempt to distract Erazor. The force from it stunned everyone for several moments, but when they looked back at the boulder, they saw cracks lining its surface.

Shining spoke, “If that shockwave had been much stronger, it would’ve shattered the boulder!”

Rarity gasped to herself, “Wait… This is just like…” She then called to the others, “I think we can break it into smaller pieces now!”

Twilight nodded, “You’re right, Rarity! If we can make it smaller, it should be easier to remove!” Everyone else nodded in agreement and they all got to work, Applejack and Sinbad jumping off their carpets onto the boulder to stomp and punch it to chip away at it while the others threw the broken pieces out. It wasn’t long before both Sinbad and Applejack jumped back onto their carpets and Twilight and Cadance grabbed the boulder, now barely half of its original size, and threw it out of the circle, revealing the faded rune underneath.

Upon seeing the rune, Shahra said, “We need to repair and recharge the rune before we can use it!”

Sinbad called, “We’ve done our part! It’s all up to you now!” With that, both he and Applejack flew up to join in the aerial skirmish while Shining, Twilight, Rarity, and Cadance jumped off of their carpets and, after Shahra explained what they had to do, they all began to use their magic to fix the rune.

Sonic spotted Sinbad and Applejack as they flew up and called, “Hey, Sinbad, AJ, you made it!” Everyone else noticed them as well at this.

Sinbad called back, “Hoped you saved some for us!” Erazor growled at this and swiped his right hand down at the two.

They managed to dodge it and Applejack called, “Let’s try hittin’ him in another spot where it hurts!” Sinbad nodded and they both flew towards his abdomen, where they both began punching and bucking him in the stomach. Erazor ignored what they were doing as it didn’t hurt much down there, but after a couple of seconds, he let out a groan as he held a hand to his stomach. Seeing this, Sinbad and Applejack flew out of the way as the latter said, “Yeah! Bet ya didn’t know ya could have an upset stomach, did ya?” Seeing their chance, everyone moved in and began attacking again.

Erazor growled at this and soon straightened up, quickly smacking everyone away with a sweep of his left arm. “You filthy vermin! I’m done wasting my time with all of you!” He held up his arms and began creating lightning that came down from overhead in multiple places, trying to hit the group. They all broke off for the moment, trying to dodge the bolts until they died down, at which point they each moved back in to attack.

About a minute later, down on the ground, Shahra finished reactivating the center of the rune as Rarity and Twilight each finished fixing one of the spots where the Essences had been laid. It was now finished, a bright white glow coming off of it as it pulsed with the combined Arabian Nights, unicorn, and alicorn magic. “At last, it’s ready…” Shahra sighed.

Shining looked at the genie and asked, “What now, Shahra? What else do we have to do to send Erazor Djinn back?”

The genie responded, “All that’s left to do is open the gateway now. And in order to do that…” She turned her head and looked at where Haman’s staff had landed, the bottom of the staff stuck in the ground and the Eye of Gazeem still resting in its hands.

“We need the Eye of Gazeem!” Rarity breathed, realizing what Shahra meant.

“I’ll get it!” Twilight said, being the closest one to it. She galloped towards the outside of the circle, but she planted her hooves into the ground to stop when Erazor’s right foot came down in front of her. Although he had placed his foot down due to an attack from Applejack, Sinbad, and Pinkie Pie, the genie detected the unicorn’s presence and looked down at her. Twilight gasped at this, but she steeled herself and ran around the right side of his foot, aiming for the staff.

Erazor turned his head to follow her, growling as he realized what she was doing. Ignoring everyone in the air, he turned around and held his hands close together, charging another sphere as Twilight got out of the circle. Shining gasped and yelled, “Twilight, look out!” The lavender unicorn looked up to her right to see Erazor firing the sphere at her, which was now just a bit bigger than she was. She quickly charged her magic and teleported away before it could hit her, reappearing a short distance away from the staff. She ran up to it and tilted her head, gripping it with her teeth and pulling it free.

“NO!” Erazor Djinn yelled, holding his arms up; a moment later, an explosion sounded close to Twilight, startling her. She let out a cry and took the staff in her magic, scampering to avoid more explosions created by Erazor. She ran around the circle, trying to avoid the explosions as best she could, but just when it seemed like they were stopping, Erazor said something that she couldn’t understand, and a second later, small pillars of rock burst out of the ground in front of Twilight.

She was unable to stop and, as soon as she got close to them, they they wrapped around her like tentacles. The unicorn let out a shout as she was dragged backwards, the staff falling to the ground as the magic aura around it disappeared. The rocks prevented her from moving much, one even wrapping around the base of her horn as she was held up.

“Twilight!” Sonic, Spike, and several of the ponies called as she struggled to free herself, but to no avail. She soon stopped, realizing Erazor had her trapped much like King Sombra had.

She looked up and saw Sonic starting to fly down towards her. She yelled up at him, “Sonic, no!” When he stopped and stared at her, she pointed as best she could at the staff, “Get the Eye!” Sonic looked at it and realized what she was getting at, turning and shooting off towards it.

He managed to grab the staff, but he didn’t get very far before Erazor shot his carpet with a beam of purple magic, turning it into a pile of thread. Sonic leapt off of it before it could fall out from under him and ran with the staff, intending to make a break for the center. He wasn’t watching where he was going, however, and before he could make his move, a fist made of rock burst out of the ground in front of him and punched him up into the air. It didn’t knock him too high up, but it left him reeling. As he reached the height of his flight, he opened his eyes and looked down, his eyes widening as he saw that Erazor had created a bed of spikes right where he was going to land!

Before he landed on it, he managed to stick the end of the staff between some of the spikes. It didn’t do much to slow or stop his descent, but he managed to stick his legs out between two spikes at that spot to catch himself before he could land on one. He avoided being impaled, but as he looked up at Erazor, he realized he was in a tight situation. The genie would surely counter any sudden movements he made, and he couldn’t hold himself up like this forever…


DASH FOR THE CENTER


He turned his head to look up when he heard Rainbow shout, “Sonic! SONIC!” He saw that the pegasus was waving her hooves above her head. Reaching back with his right arm, he grunted as he threw the staff as hard as he could to her, Rainbow flying a bit closer to catch it with her teeth before turning around and shooting away. Erazor growled at this and fired a red beam from his eyes that homed in on Rainbow, the pegasus twitching as the magic took effect. When the tingling from the magic stopped, she realized that her right wing had become huge! “Come on! Not again…” she murmured, struggling to stay in the air properly.

She glanced off to her left when she heard Badoura call, “Rainbow Dash!” The princess was flying down towards her from above, likely to make it easier to pass off the staff. After another wing flap pushed her to the right, the pegasus swung her head around and threw the staff. Badoura managed to catch it and was about to angle downwards to shoot for the rune when Erazor Djinn pointed his left finger out, releasing a stream of flames from it. The flames hit Badoura’s carpet and, before she could react, burned it to ashes in a second.

Badoura let out a yell as she started to fall, but Sinbad got underneath her and caught her. “Gotcha!” he said as he set her down on his carpet.

“Not for long!” Erazor growled before he threw a purple-colored crescent wave at them. It hit them both, Badoura throwing the staff up when she was hit, and sent them both yelling towards the wall. As soon as they hit the wall, the magic condensed around them, creating locks around their wrists and legs.

The staff, meanwhile, landed in Fluttershy’s hooves. Although she was surprised, the shy pegasus was going to pass it off as well, but one look at Erazor caused her to freeze up. Applejack saw that Erazor was going to use another spell and quickly brought out a lasso, throwing the loop and wrapping it around Fluttershy’s waist. She gave a hard tug and pulled the shy pegasus to her, but Erazor’s next spell unleashed a flurry of winds. The winds caught not only Applejack and Fluttershy, but also Pinkie Pie as she was moving in to take the staff next, all three of them getting knocked off their carpets and falling to the ground.

The staff was picked up by the winds as well and it ended up in Spike’s possession. He started flying towards the rune, only for Erazor to immobilize him. Before the genie could do anything, Aladdin swooped in, leaping onto Spike’s carpet to grab the baby dragon and put him under his left arm before jumping back onto his own carpet. “I’ve got you, Spike!” he said as he began flying towards Erazor, hoping to throw him off for a second by going behind him before going for the rune. It seemed he knew what the hedgehog was planning, however, as he caused a rock to fall on the back of Aladdin’s carpet, sending it down to the ground and sending Aladdin and Spike flying.

Luckily, the momentum the two had picked up carried them the rest of the way towards Erazor, Aladdin’s face hitting Erazor’s left shoulder before bouncing towards his back, where he managed to grab onto the top of the cloth around the genie’s waist to stop their fall. Erazor grunted in surprise at this and began reaching his hands around, trying to grab at the two. Wasting no time, Aladdin shifted Spike to his back and used his magic help him to run up the genie’s back. He managed to get up just below the shoulders before he stopped and grabbed on, Erazor still trying to grab at him.

As Aladdin tried his best to hold on, Spike asked him, “Aladdin, what are we gonna do?”

The white hedgehog replied, “We’ll think of something!” He turned his head, looking around and hoping to find some way out of this situation. After looking around several times, he noticed Ali Baba was still in the air, the fox hovering to the left a fair distance away from Erazor, looking unsure of what to do.

Nodding to himself, Aladdin climbed up to Erazor’s shoulders and got close to his neck before stopping. “Get off,” he muttered to Spike, the baby dragon letting go of his vest. He dropped down onto Erazor’s skin, but Aladdin surprised him by grabbing the staff with his left hand. He then grabbed the baby dragon and, after some slight resistance, lifted him up, his right hand underneath the baby dragon. “I’m gonna throw you now,” he whispered.

“What?” Spike asked, not entirely comprehending. He understood a moment later when Aladdin made a short running start and threw him as hard as he could towards Ali Baba, the baby dragon letting out a scream as he hurled through the air. Ali Baba had to fly a little forward, but he was able to catch Spike, Erazor momentarily distracted by this action. The genie quickly realized that Aladdin was still on him and turned to his right, seeing the hedgehog beginning to run down his arm. He was carrying his saber in his right hand and the staff in his left, the latter of which was turned away from Erazor.

Aladdin noticed Erazor’s arm was beginning to move and he leapt off of it, starting to fall. He didn’t get far before Erazor’s right hand grabbed him by the vest and held him up to his face. The two glared at each other for a moment before Aladdin spoke, “So you want it? Well, take it, then!” With that, he threw Haman’s staff towards Erazor’s left, the genie quickly reaching up and grabbing it. He smirked as he gripped his prize, but it soon faded as he realized there was something missing from the staff’s hands…

Suddenly, Aladdin let out a shout as he unleashed a large amount of magic, managing to get himself free from Erazor’s grip. A blue aura surrounded him and his saber as he hung in the air for a second before gravity took hold of him, the Eye of Gazeem falling out of a pocket inside his vest as he began to fall. Aladdin went into a freefall, reaching for the Eye with his left hand while aiming for the center of the rune.

He soon grabbed the crystal and shouted down to Shahra, Shining, Rarity, and Cadance, “Get out of the way!” The four of them had stayed in the center to get the Eye when it was passed to them, but at Aladdin’s command, they hurried out of the circle. As Aladdin got closer to the ground, he made a horizontal swipe with his saber, the extended blade creating a rush of wind when it made contact with the ground, slowing Aladdin’s fall as the saber flew out of his hand. He landed on his feet, but he winced as his left knee hit the ground hard when he bent it down. Fighting through the pain, he took the Eye of Gazeem in both hands and slammed it down in the center of the rune, the jewel and the rune beginning to glow brightly as soon as the former made contact.

Aladdin turned his head to look up as Erazor Djinn growled loudly, the genie reaching his right hand down at him. Just as it seemed the hand was about to reach the hedgehog, a whitish-blue beam of light shot out of the Eye of Gazeem, going straight up and hitting Erazor in the chest. The genie reeled for a moment before he let out a loud yell as the light spread across his body. He began to spasm uncontrollably, flashes of light appearing around his body as patches of his skin began to ripple.

As this was happening, the effects of his magic were beginning to dissipate. Sinbad and Badoura’s shackles disappeared and they both dropped to the ground near Applejack, Pinkie, and Fluttershy, Rainbow’s wing shrunk back to its normal size, the spike bed Sonic was holding himself over disappeared, causing him to drop to the ground, and the rocks restraining Twilight released their hold on her. It seemed as though Erazor was losing his power, which became more apparent when a yellow stream of light burst out of his arm and shot into the opening vortex.

Looking down at the center, however, everyone realized Aladdin was in trouble. He was trying to run away from the rapidly growing vortex, but he was holding his left hand over his left knee, trying to keep the pain shooting up it every time he took a step to a minimum. He managed to keep ahead of the opening gateway as streams of green and red shot into it, but it caught up with him soon after, the white hedgehog crying out, “NO…!” as he fell into it!

“ALADDIN!” Badoura and Shahra cried, everyone else staring in shock and horror.

Sonic soon snapped out of his shock and called up to Rainbow Dash, “Rainbow!” He then stood up and ran towards the circle, the cyan pegasus picking up on what he planned to do and shooting towards it as well. Sonic reached it first and leapt into the vortex, straightening his body out like Aladdin had as he dove after him, Rainbow flying in after him.

Aladdin gritted his teeth, groaning softly as the vortex pulled him further down. He was being continuously flipped over as he fell and his eyes were squeezed shut, sure that he was going to meet his end in the Netherworld. Suddenly, he felt something grab his right hand and, while he could still feel the portal pulling at him, he stopped falling. He opened his eyes and looked up to see that Sonic had grabbed his hand, the blue hedgehog’s right hand being gripped between Rainbow Dash’s forehooves as she turned around, trying to fly out of the vortex.

Sonic and Rainbow hadn’t had to go too far down from the opening of the vortex to reach Aladdin, but the suction had become stronger inside of it and, despite flapping her wings rapidly, Rainbow was having trouble flying back up. She grunted and growled to herself, her eyes squeezed shut as she tried to pour more energy into flapping her wings. After several moments, it began to feel like she was beginning to move up, but Sonic yelled, “Rainbow, heads up!” The pegasus’ eyes shot open and she saw that some of the rocks that had fallen were being sucked into the vortex as well!

Rainbow narrowed her eyes and, after stopping for a moment to gather her strength, pushed towards the closest rock with a burst of speed and a yell of, “We’re getting out of this no matter what!” As she got closer to the rock, she reached her hind legs out and planted her hooves against it, pushing off of it while Sonic and Aladdin shifted as best they could to let it fly past them. Using the rocks whenever she needed the extra boost, Rainbow flew up to the opening of the vortex, streams of blue, water blue, and white coming in as she went. Finally, with one final burst of speed that was not on the level of a Sonic Rainboom but still powerful, she flew the two hedgehogs out of the gateway and towards the edge of the circle, the vortex now big enough to cover the entire circle.

Erazor saw the trio as they emerged and, as a purple stream of light burst out of his forehead, he mustered up the last of his strength and made a grab for them with his right hand. Aladdin’s feet slipped out of his grabbing range as he swung his arm and, as they neared solid ground, Sonic threw the white hedgehog towards the stone, Rainbow releasing him right afterwards as she prepared to land. Both of the hedgehogs and the pegasus landed on the ground, Aladdin landing on his rear while Sonic and Rainbow landed on their feet/hooves, all of them sliding towards one of the dome’s walls. They came to a stop in front of it and pressed their backs up against it, now out of Erazor’s grabbing range as well as the vortex’s pull.


ONE LAST GRAB


Without the Essences of the World Rings to maintain him, Erazor began to shrink, returning to a more normal size. As he let out a shaky groan, he desperately looked around. Everyone else was doing the same thing Rainbow, Sonic, and Aladdin were doing. Badoura and Sinbad were helping Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy stay against their part of the wall not far from the trio, and further along the wall, Rarity, Shining Armor, Cadance, Twilight, Shahra, Ali Baba, and Spike were helping each other out too. With his shrinking size, Erazor couldn’t possibly grab at anyone. Except for…

He whirled around quickly, feeling the vortex starting to pull him in, and saw the purple sphere he had trapped Haman in. Because his prison had remained in the air, the sorcerer had been floating around the outside of the circle the entire time the group had been trying to stop Erazor, anything he might’ve said muffled by his prison. Now it was the last magic thing Erazor had created to disappear, Haman falling to the ground on his rear with a yell. He looked at Erazor’s sinking form and turned himself around, trying to crawl away to get out of the vortex’s pull and hopefully get out of the dome without anyone noticing.

Erazor had seen him, however, and just before the sorcerer was out of his reach, he reached out with his left hand and managed to grab his left foot. Haman let out a startled cry and looked back over his shoulder, yelling at Erazor, “What are you doing?! Let me go!”

Erazor growled back as he held on tightly, “YOU! I choose you to suffer eternal torment!”

Haman let out a gasp at this and began struggling, trying to pull himself free, but to no avail. While still trying to crawl away, he looked over at Sinbad, Badoura, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Applejack and called, “Hey! Help me! Don’t let him take me!”

Fluttershy tried to slip free of Sinbad’s hand, but he pressed it harder against her as he felt her movements and said, “Don’t do it! He’ll drag you to the Netherworld with him!” Fluttershy looked at him in surprise at that. Pinkie had seemed to be thinking whether or not to help him as well, but at Sinbad’s words, she pressed back against the wall harder.

Both Applejack and Badoura glared at Haman, the latter saying loud enough for him to hear, “You reap what you sow, Haman.”

The sorcerer stared at her in shock at that, forgetting that he was supposed to be struggling at the moment. “What?!” he gasped; he then felt a sharp tug on the back of his leg. “No!” he cried when he realized he had been dragged much closer to the circle. He tried to struggle, but it was hopeless; at this point, there was no way he could escape the pull of the vortex, and after a few seconds, he was pulled from the ground as Erazor disappeared into the vortex save for his right arm! “NOOOOO!” Haman screamed as he was pulled into the vortex.

Despite the two being pulled into the Netherworld, the gateway remained open, still trying to pull anything loose into it. Everyone kept their backs pressed up against the walls at the edge of the arena to avoid being pulled in. The only explanation Shahra had for the portal’s behavior was that the fusion of varying levels of Arabian Nights, unicorn, and alicorn magic had had an unexpected effect on the spell’s power and it was the cause of not only the size of the portal, but also how long it was remaining open. While this would normally be a bad thing, the size of the portal was also stretching the magic thin, making it unstable.

As the group was debating to themselves what to do, a shaft of white light shot out of the center of the vortex, going up to the ceiling. Shortly afterwards, while everyone was staring at it, the ground began to rumble, causing everyone to grab onto the wall tightly. The rumbling continued for nearly half a minute, the vibrations seeming to get worse all the while, before a bright white light filled the Skeleton Dome, forcing everyone to close their eyes and look away. After several seconds, the light had died down.

After a few seconds, everyone looked to see that the vortex had closed, but something seemed different about the center. Everyone moved in for a closer look and found that a sizable, bowl-shaped hole had been made in the ground. It was mostly dirt and rocks in the hole; the one thing that everyone noticed was the Eye of Gazeem, lying on its side in the center of the hole.

After a moment, Rainbow spread her wings and flew down to retrieve the gem, holding it up in her hooves and looking at it for a second before she flew back to Sonic and Aladdin with it, coming to a stop and hovering in front of them as she held the stone out to the latter. The white hedgehog tossed it up once with his right hand while Rainbow landed next to him and said, “Figured you’d want it back. That was a pretty cool move you did back there, you know.”

While looking down at the gemstone, Aladdin replied, “I guess so. It’s not like it actually belongs to me, after all.”

Rainbow shrugged, “Still pretty cool, though.” Sonic nodded at that.

Ali Baba, Spike, Sinbad, Badoura, and the ponies began to move towards the three, Sinbad saying as he, Badoura, Pinkie, Applejack, and Fluttershy got close, “I’ll admit it, you three weren’t half-bad back there. Nice job.”

Pinkie piped up, “Yeah, that was super duper! That big, mean genie got totally sucked away along with that meanie sorcerer!”

They all looked to the left to see most of the rest of the group a short distance away. As they were coming to a stop, Cadance said, “That’s right, Pinkie. The world of the Arabian Nights should be much safer now.”


MOVING FORWARD


Twilight nodded, “Erazor Djinn’s back in his own Tartarus, and he took Haman with him. Everything should be fine now, right Shahra?” After a moment of silence, Twilight looked to her side, “Shahra?” Everyone looked to see that the young genie hadn’t followed Ali Baba, Spike, and the ponies; she was still kneeling at the edge of the hole, looking down into it.

“What’s wrong with Shahra?” Applejack wondered. Sonic didn’t say anything; he simply pushed past the others and half-jogged over to his friend, Aladdin slightly hobbling after him with Sinbad and Ali Baba, Badoura, Spike and the ponies following them.

As Sonic got closer to Shahra, he could see that her eyes were misty with tears again, the genie hardly reacting to his approach from her right. When he was standing next to her and she still didn’t move, he slowly moved to place his left hand on her shoulder as he asked, “Shahra…?” Shahra blinked at the touch and the sound of her name, looking up slightly for a moment before suddenly turning and wrapping her arms around Sonic, pressing her head into his left shoulder as she sobbed softly. Although surprised, Sonic lightly put his arms around her. “Shahra…” he murmured, inviting her to share her feelings with him.

Although her eyes were still wet, Shahra managed to stifle her sobs as she spoke, “Oh Sonic… I thought I was over him… I thought I had left Erazor behind… But…” She paused to let out a sob before taking a breath, “When I saw him, part of me hoped he was back, that we could be together again. In that instant, I was willing to let him do whatever he wanted to the world of the Arabian Nights, all of our friends… and you…”

Sonic was silent for a moment at this admission. He blinked in thought, knowing what she was talking about. No matter how much time passed, no matter how hard someone tried to keep something buried, some things just refused to be locked away. He patted her on the back and slowly said, “Shahra… I know you feel like you have to be true to me since I’m your master and all, but there’s nothing wrong with having hope.” He moved his hands to her shoulders and stepped back to get a good look at her before continuing, “Call it a moment of disloyalty or whatever, but you didn’t need me to tell you to do anything other than to trust me this time. That means something, doesn’t it?”

Sniffling a bit, Shahra replied, “I suppose… But still, the Essences were the only thing keeping him alive… Without them, the world would surely…”

Aladdin stepped up and said, “You said it yourself, Shahra. That wasn’t really Erazor Djinn. If it had been him, maybe we could’ve found a way through to him and found another way. But it was just a monster…”

Sonic looked back at Shahra and nodded, “Some of him may have been in there. Like you said, he did hesitate.” He smiled softly, “Look at it this way. If he was in there, he had no control over what he was doing. We probably set him free by sending him back.” He let his left hand drop to his side, “I’ve gotta admit, I wouldn’t have minded meeting the Erazor Djinn that wasn’t set on conquering or destroying worlds.”

While she did sniffle a bit, Shahra raised her right hand to her eye and wiped the tears away. “Sonic, Aladdin, you’re both right,” she said softly. She looked towards the hole again, “Maybe there was something there after all.”

Aladdin came up along Sonic’s left and said, “We stopped Haman and we saved Erazor Djinn from himself. We did a lot of good today, Shahra.” She turned and smiled at him at that.

The moment was cut short when Badoura spoke, “I’m afraid the day isn’t quite finished yet, Aladdin.” The white hedgehog went rigid at that and whirled around to see the cat walking slowly towards him, her hands on her hips.

Aladdin began to back away from her while stammering, “B-Badoura…! I… AGH!” The last was an exclamation as he put too much weight on his left leg after a step, causing a spike of pain. He fell backwards on to his rear, the Eye of Gazeem flying out of his hand as he fell. It flew towards Sinbad, who caught the gemstone with his hands.

Badoura was soon standing over Aladdin and she reached down, grabbing him by the vest and pulling him up to his feet, their faces just inches apart. Still gripping his vest, she glared, “You have some explaining to do!”  While Aladdin fidgeted in her grip, trying to avoid putting too much weight on his left leg, she demanded, “What were you doing?! How could you let Haman hypnotize you?! You of all people should be able to recognize him!”

Calming his jittery movements slightly, Aladdin shakily answered, “I-I didn’t know it was him, Badoura! He kept his face hidden from me! I didn’t realize who he was until he got me alone and cast his spell on me!”

Badoura backed up slightly, but she still held onto his vest as she asked, “You’re smarter than that, Aladdin; why would you let him fool you? What did he do that would cause you to leave yourself open to him?”

Aladdin looked away at that, hesitant to say any more until Badoura shook him. “Okay, okay! He was posing as a vendor in the marketplace and he… he played with my insecurities,” he admitted shamefully.

Badoura let go of his vest, but she kept looking at him intently as she placed her hands on her hips again. “What do you mean by that?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Aladdin talked slowly, trying to find the correct words as he spoke, “I… I love you, Badoura. I’ve loved you ever since I first saw you. But… without my palace, I just… I couldn’t…”

Badoura asked, “Is it that law? Is that what this is about?”

Aladdin answered, “It’s not just the law. …You’re a princess, Badoura; you deserve a prince, especially now after you’ve lost everything. You should be able to get it all back, or at least have a new palace to move into. Me? I may be one of King Shahryar’s servants, but I’m still a street rat. I can’t do much for anyone, and I’m really not anything special, something I got yet another reminder of on the way here…”

Nearly everyone turned their heads to look in Rarity’s direction at this, Spike, Ali Baba, Aladdin, and Badoura being the exceptions. The fashionista glanced between all of the eyes on her before incredulously asking, “What?”

Badoura looked back at Aladdin, having turned her head when Rarity spoke. After staring at him for a moment, she shook her head, “You’re so foolish…” Aladdin looked down sadly at that, but his eyes widened and shot up when Badoura moved closer, placed her hands behind his head, and kissed him! They remained like this for a moment, everyone else looking on with a mixture of expressions, before Badoura stepped back and looked at Aladdin, her eyes slightly wet. “You should’ve just told me. Do you know how long I’ve been waiting to know how you feel?” she murmured.

Aladdin stammered, “But I… But you… But…”

Badoura responded, “I don’t care what any law says. I’ve been enamored with you since I first saw you as well, and our time hiding from Erazor Djinn only made it stronger.” She leaned forward, “You not only rescued me from Erazor Djinn; you kept me safe for who knows how long while he tried to destroy our world. Unable to do anything for anyone else? That hardly seems to be the case.”

Shining Armor spoke up, “She’s right, you know. We may not have been around to see what you did before, but ever since we got here, you’ve been anything but extra weight.”

Sonic nodded, “Yeah, Al’, don’t knock what you’ve done. I may have been the one to stop Erazor Djinn the first time, but things were different this time. After all, you came up with all the plans here, and you took a big risk sealing the fake Erazor away yourself. Things might be a little different in this world, but Erazor Djinn getting free didn’t change who you are.”

A new voice sounded, “Indeed.” Everyone turned to look towards the opening that Haman’s magic had previously been blocking. In the entryway stood a tall skeleton that was dressed rather regally. It was wearing a white robe with golden trims, a dark purple waist cloth, a golden crown topped with a purple beehive, and various bits of jewelry. Its robe was open around the chest, revealing the skeleton’s ribcage, it held a tall wooden staff topped with a green gem in its left hand, and it had gray hair that had locks on the sideburns and pale yellow eyes.

Fluttershy let out a yelp and dove behind Rainbow Dash and Applejack, the former already spreading her wings and preparing to charge. Before she could move, Sinbad held his left hand up in front of her and said, “Calm yourself, O feathered, impatient one.”

Rainbow started, “But it’s…!”

Sonic interjected, “He’s King Solomon, Dash.”

Spike, Badoura, Aladdin, and the ponies looked at the skeleton in surprise at this as he made his way over to the group, using his staff to support him while walking. “Really? You’re King Solomon?” Twilight asked.

“Indeed I am, my dear,” the skeleton responded as he neared everyone. As he came to a stop, he said, “I apologize if my appearance frightened anyone. The servants of the Erazor Djinn may have taken my flesh, but they could not take away who I am. Try as they might, they could not change me.” He turned to look at Aladdin, “The same can be said for you, white hedgehog. The only thing Erazor Djinn’s escape did was delay you awakening your true potential.”

Aladdin looked down at his hands, “My… potential?”

King Solomon nodded, “It’s been your fate to do great things. Being able to rise to the level of a prince pales in comparison to what you’ve had in you from the very beginning. The experiences you’ve had have merely blinded you to that fact.”

Aladdin replied, “Yeah, but… most people don’t care about that. Like King Shahryar.”

Sonic rolled his eyes, “Oh yeah. That guy’s usually breathing down your neck, isn’t he?”

Aladdin nodded, “That’s why I try to sneak out a lot: to get away from him for a while.”

King Solomon questioned, “Is this king causing problems?”

Badoura answered, “No, Your Highness, he… Aladdin is one of his servants, and I’ve been under his protection since we came to him. He does not think highly of Aladdin.”

King Solomon replied, “I see.” After a moment, he said, “You should not let that stop you. Go to him when you return home and tell him how you really feel about each other, and if he should protest, tell him that I, King Solomon, decree that a princess may choose whoever she deems worthy to be her suitor.”

Badoura gasped happily, but she retained enough poise to bow to King Solomon and calmly say, “Thank you, King Solomon.” She then stood up and turned to Aladdin, taking his hands in her own as she said, “I made my choice long ago.”

Aladdin smiled back at her. “I… I…” he tried to say, but he quickly gave up and instead leaned in to kiss her, a kiss the princess accepted as they wrapped their arms around each other.

While the others smiled at the two, Sonic leaned over to Shahra and smiled as he whispered, “Not quite the ending I remember, but it’s probably a better happy ending for this version, wouldn’t you say?” Shahra smiled and nodded, giggling.


THRONE ROOM SCENE


Soon…

Aladdin sat on the top of the steps leading up to King Solomon’s throne, Badoura sitting to his right and Cadance standing in front of him. The pink alicorn’s horn was glowing as she touched it to the white hedgehog’s left leg, Aladdin trying to keep it steady for her as she tried to ease the damage. Suddenly, Pinkie popped up next to him, surprising all of them when she exclaimed, “Hey, Aladdin! You’ve stopped Haman and Erazor Djinn, and you’ve won the heart of Princess Badoura! What are ya gonna do next?! Gonna get a movie contra- oh, wait.” She gave him a knowing smile as she plopped down next to him, “You probably want to go home with Badoura and tell King Shahryar to start planning for the wedding, right?”

Aladdin’s cheeks turned a slight tinge of red as he replied, “Uh, something like that, Pinkie.” He looked down again as Cadance brought her horn down to his leg again, resuming her work. The rest of the group, save for Shahra, were all spread out around King Solomon’s throne, the king sitting in the chair and watching with the others.

After a minute, Sonic came over and asked, “Hey Al’, how’s the leg?”

Aladdin looked up at him and replied, “It’s feeling better now. Cadance’s magic is amazing.” A few seconds later, Cadance raised her head up and smiled at Aladdin. The white hedgehog moved his left leg a bit before he stood up and placed his left hand on Sonic’s shoulder for support as he flexed the leg. After a few seconds, he placed his foot on the ground and slowly put pressure on it to test it. He soon said, “Yeah, that’s much better. Thanks, Cadance! I should be able to walk just fine now!”

As Badoura stood up, Cadance replied, “I’m glad, and you probably should just walk for a little while. Unless you absolutely need to put any extra stress on it, you shouldn’t.” Aladdin nodded in understanding.

Badoura gave a nod, “Thank you, Princess Cadance.  I hope Shahra has been as successful.” It wasn’t long after she said that the pink-haired genie floated into the chamber, her magic holding seven objects up in the air, which were revealed to be the vials that Haman had stored the Essences in.

When Shahra got closer to Sonic, Aladdin, Badoura, Pinkie, and Cadance, Pinkie piped up, “You found them, Shahra!”

The genie nodded, “Yes, Pinkie Pie. I had to do a little searching, but I found the vials, and they still have the Essences within them.” Indeed, each vial was still filled with the seven World Ring Essences. Shahra floated up to King Solomon’s throne and said, “Here they are, King Solomon.”

The skeleton king nodded, “Wonderful work, my dear.” He held out his left hand and Shahra levitated the vial containing the Essence from the White World Ring towards him. Taking the vial between his thumb and finger, the king’s pale yellow eyes examined it for a moment before saying, “So this is the physical representation of what the seven World Rings bestowed upon their lands.”

Shining Armor nodded, “That’s what that Haman made it sound like, Your Highness.”

Fluttershy said, “He used his magic to steal them from each of their lands.”

Applejack added, “And he made it sound like they were so connected that bad stuff would happen without ‘em.”

Pinkie exclaimed, “Yeah, like here for example! Without the Essence, the world might come to an end! Forty years of darkness! Rivers and seas, boiling! Earthquakes, volcanoes, the dead rising from the grave, sacrifice, mass hysteria!”

Everyone else stared at the pink pony strangely at that, but King Solomon’s expression did not change. “I see,” he stated simply. After a moment, he said, “I believe we should see for ourselves how deep that connection is.” Without another word, he released the vial from his grip and it fell to the ground, the glass shattering upon contact.

A moment later, the Essence began to glow brightly and it lifted off the ground, turning into a streak of white as it flew around King Solomon’s throne and then down towards the passage out into the main dome area. Sonic and Rainbow hurried after it as it left the throne room, both coming to a stop when they reached the dome. The streak had come to a stop high above the ground, now appearing as a glowing white ball. As they watched, it began to glow brighter and little bits of the powder began to sprinkle down from the ball over the area. The particles glowed brighter when they touched the ground and then vanished from sight. It wasn’t long before every bit of the Essence had rejoined with the Skeleton Dome, the ball of light vanishing afterwards.

As they stood in the entryway, both Rainbow and Sonic looked around a little bit. After a couple of seconds, Sonic asked, “Do you feel that, Rainbow?”

The pegasus nodded, “Yeah… Something about the air in here feels different now. The Essence must already be doing its thing.” The two hurried back to King Solomon’s throne room to tell the king and the others about this.

“Indeed. I can feel the change in my domain from here. It seems that foolish sorcerer was correct about the connection shared between the World Rings and the lands where they were found,” King Solomon rumbled once Rainbow and Sonic were finished. He turned to Shahra, “I believe that solves that problem. If you would do the honors, my dear…” Shahra nodded and let her arms drop to her sides, cutting off her magic and causing all of the vials to crash to the ground. All of the remaining Essences did the same thing as the first one, six differently colored streaks of light shooting out of the throne room back to where they belonged.

“There they go,” Ali Baba, who was standing next to Sinbad, commented.

“Yep. With all the digging Haman did, they should be able to get out of here pretty easy,” Rainbow nodded.

Sonic turned to King Solomon at that and said, “Uh, sorry we weren’t quick enough to stop him from causing all that damage, King Solomon, especially to the, uh, cemetery.”

The king of bones replied, “Fear not, blue hedgehog. Much of that damage was caused by my servants when that sorcerer took control of them. They will get the punishment of repairing the Skeleton Dome, not you.”

Ali Baba turned to look at the Eye of Gazeem in Sinbad’s right hand and said, “Well, then that just leaves us with the matter of what to do with that stone.”

Sinbad glanced down at the gem as he nodded, “Yeah.” He held it up and examined it as he went on, “I wonder how that guy managed to get a hold of this. Obviously, it took him a long time to find, but I wonder why he didn’t get the whole thing.”

Aladdin suggested, “Maybe he knew someone who knew a lot about magical artifacts.”

Badoura said, “If that’s the case, he might not have even gotten the genuine artifact.”

King Solomon spoke, “There’s no telling how he came in possession of it, but I can say for certain that that stone is indeed a piece of the Eye of Gazeem. As for the rest of the gem, I can’t say for certain, but I’m sure it’s out there somewhere, waiting to be made whole again.”

Sinbad held his left hand up to his chin, “Made whole again, huh? The only way that would happen is if someone were to go on a long journey to find it, going to the distant land that the gem is rumored to be found in and maybe even further. It’s a journey that would surely take many months of travel.” After a moment of silence, he flipped the gem up in his hand and smirked, “Sounds like I just volunteered myself for the journey.”

Both Sonic and Rainbow Dash smirked at each other, “Bragger.”

King Solomon pointed at Sinbad, “If you are willing to do it, you have my permission to embark on such a quest, Sinbad. As king of the Skeleton Dome, I would be very grateful to you if you were to find and repair the Eye of Gazeem.”

Sinbad briefly wondered if the king’s gratefulness included any of the treasure in the Skeleton Dome before dismissing the thought as he said, “I would gladly do that for you, King Solomon.” He then gestured to Aladdin and Badoura, who were standing a short distance away, “But first, I’ll make sure these two get back to King Shahryar safely.”

King Solomon nodded and then turned back to Sonic, “As for you and your new friends, blue hedgehog, you’re all in the middle of a journey yourselves, aren’t you?”

Applejack asked, “How’d ya know that… uh, Yer Highness?”

King Solomon replied, “My position has granted me the clairvoyance to sense the future, and at times see beyond what many mortals can perceive. As such, I have seen that there is a larger evil that is posing a threat to many worlds, even some that you may not be aware of yet.” He turned to Shahra, “I believe they will need to return to where they entered our world from, my dear. Perhaps you could assist them with that?”

Shahra bowed, “I will, Your Majesty.”

Twilight asked, “You’re not coming with us, Shahra?”

The genie turned to the unicorn and gave her a sad smile, “I’m sorry, Twilight. If it were possible, I would have stayed with Sonic when he left last time. But this world is where I’m meant to be, and now that Aladdin and Badoura are to be wed, I want to be there for their marriage.”

Sonic grinned, “You gonna be the Maid of Honor, Shahra?”

Shahra blushed slightly, “Perhaps. But at any rate, I will help you all get back to your world faster.”

While Shahra began working her magic, Sonic walked over to Ali Baba and Sinbad and said, “Hey, it was great having another adventure with you again, Ali Baba, Sinbad.”

Ali Baba nodded, “Yeah. Not quite the adventure I would’ve picked, but it was fun in its own way.”

Sinbad smirked, “Just one more job I won’t get paid for. But since it was kind of a personal matter, I won’t put it on your tab.” Sonic just gave a snort of amusement at that.

He turned to look at Aladdin and Badoura as they walked over, the latter bowing slightly as she said, “Words cannot describe how grateful we are for your help, Sonic. I wish you could stay longer, but I understand that you have bigger concerns that could undo everything you and your friends have worked for.”

Sonic replied, “Hey, just have a great wedding, you two. That’ll be enough for me.” He then looked at Aladdin and asked, “You ready to start a new chapter, you diamond in the rough?”

The white hedgehog nodded, “Yes. You and your friends have really helped me today, Sonic. I did get discouraged and believed that I wasn’t good enough for Badoura, but you all reminded me that it’s not all about looks and status; it’s about knowing what you can do and taking responsibility to do the right thing.”

Badoura looked at him, “Does that mean I can count on you to be a loyal suitor who will stand strong and defend me when I need you?”

Aladdin nodded to her, “Absolutely.” He then looked at Sonic and said, “Sonic, I just want you to know that, no matter what, you’ll always be a legendary hero to me.”

Sonic replied, “Thanks, Aladdin.” He reached down with his left hand and gripped Shahra’s ring between his thumb and fingers. After a second of pulling and a slight flash, it came off of his finger. He held it up and looked at it for a moment before looking at Aladdin and saying, “I know it’s probably not going to be your wedding ring,” he held his arm out, his hand pointing towards the ground, “but you’ll take care of her, won’t you?”

Aladdin blushed a bit, but he held out his right hand, allowing Sonic to drop the ring into it. “Of course! Shahra’s ring will be safe with me, I promise. You can trust me,” he replied.

Placing his hands on his hips, Sonic nodded, “I already do.” Afterwards, Spike and the ponies said their goodbyes to Sinbad, Ali Baba, Badoura, and Aladdin as well. By the time they were done, Shahra had finished creating a new magic carpet, this one made up of all the carpets Sonic had wished for earlier. As such, it was slightly bigger than the carpet the group had used to travel earlier, the carpet hovering just above the ground.

As they all gathered around it, Shahra explained, “After Sonic defeated Erazor Djinn, while traveling the world and having other adventures, he looked for a way to return to his world.  I’ve added an extra bit of magic to this carpet that will not only take you all to the point where he left this world, but it will also take you back through the passageway between the worlds. Afterwards, you can keep it as a memento of the adventure we’ve shared if you wish.”

Cadance bowed, “Thank you for everything, Shahra. We couldn’t have stopped Haman and that Erazor Djinn without you.” Everyone agreed with her, all of them thanking the young genie for being strong and standing with them.

Before they all started getting on the carpet, Sonic turned to King Solomon one last time and said, “King Solomon, there’s one last thing I’m wondering about.”

As everyone turned to look, the skeleton king asked, “It has to do with the Erazor Djinn, doesn’t it?” At Sonic’s nod, he answered, “You don’t need to worry. Indeed, what that sorcerer summoned was not the true Erazor Djinn. It was merely another spirit in his guise, one that desired destruction. The real Erazor Djinn is still sealed away.” Sonic nodded and was about to leave it at that, but then King Solomon said, “Although… it feels as though something is… different.”

Rarity asked, “Different how?”

Twilight added, “Is the seal starting to weaken?”

King Solomon replied, “No, but I sense that Erazor Djinn, despite not being freed, has been affected by what the sorcerer tried to do. It feels as though… he has been broken up, separated into smaller spirits that do not have his full power. But indeed, he is still sealed. Perhaps he will have to grant wishes again if he wants to be complete again.”

Sonic nodded, “Hm. Well, maybe this time, he’ll get lucky and have some better masters, and maybe then he won’t be so bad.” With that, everyone began to climb onto the carpet, everyone saying their goodbyes to Shahra before they took their seat.

Sonic was the last one, and as he approached Shahra, he said, “Well Shahra, it was great to see you again.”

Shahra nodded, “It was. I’m glad we got to have another adventure together, Sonic.”

Sonic replied, “Same here.”

Shahra looked at him, smiling for a few seconds before asking, “Will I… get to see you and your new friends again?”

Sonic looked back at her for a moment, then smiled and held up his right pinky finger. Shahra stared at it and then smiled, raising her own pinky finger. As they joined their fingers together, Sonic simply said, “Count on it.” They remained like this for several moments before coming apart, giving each other one last look before Sonic walked over to the carpet.

As he took a seat on the carpet, Spike called over to him, “What did that mean?”

Sonic replied, “Mm, call it as a guarantee that we’ll be coming back here sometime after things settle down.” Spike didn’t really understand how that gesture symbolized anything, but he shrugged and nodded, figuring it was something he either would learn more about later or something he could ask somepony about.

Once everybody was comfortably seated on the carpet, it lifted up into the air and after circling the room once, giving everyone one last chance to shout out their goodbyes, it flew out of the throne room and began making its way back up to the surface, where it would then take them back to Equestria and Tails.

After the carpet had left, there was silence in the throne room for several moments, then Shahra smiled, “They’ll be okay, as long as they’re together.”

Badoura turned to Aladdin and asked, “And so we will, right Aladdin?”

The white hedgehog looked back at her and replied, “Yeah. No matter what.”

Sinbad smirked at them, “Easy there, lovebirds, you’re not even married yet.”

Ali Baba giggled, then put a hand on Sinbad’s arm as he said, “Come on, let’s take them home.”

King Solomon spoke, “I wish you all a safe journey back to King Shahryar, and good tidings for the future.” They all said their goodbyes to him and made their way down the stairs and out of the throne room, making their way out of the Skeleton Dome. Once they had left the room, King Solomon was silent for several moments, his pale yellow eyes glowing. He then murmured, “I sense ambivalence among them…”


UNTIL ANOTHER ARABIAN NIGHT