//------------------------------// // Chapter 16 // Story: Equestria Crossover Confusion // by Garfield23 //------------------------------// “Hahaha! That’s it crush them!” Chrysalis declared as the changelings supported by the putties launched their attack, the crystal pony guards were able to put up a valiant defence, able to hold the surge of enemies long enough to allow non-combatant ponies to run for the castle but even with support from Princess Cadence and Shining Armour their defensive line was crumpling back to the castle “So Princess, you won’t escape my grip this time!” Chrysalis declared as she started to exchange blows with Cadence “Do you think the power of love will stop me this time?!” Cadence blocked an attack with a crystal spell and said “You’ll never win!” she flew high up eager to avoid damage to her kingdom, her concern wasn’t unfounded, the crystal heart had been acting strangely since the portals had opened so she had to defeat Chrysalis and hopefully get the portals closed “I will defeat you!” Meanwhile on the ground Octophantom had been stopped by Shining Armour who stood defiantly blocking him from proceeding “Get out of the way, you wimpy pony!” Octophantom yelled frustrated as the tall white pony wasn’t budging even a little. As the monster charged forward, Shining jumped into the air and delivered a kick to the monster’s head causing the monster to crash into a building “You’ll pay for that!” Shining panted and looked around as the crystal pony guards fought not only putties but Changelings, it was becoming harder and harder to know how much longer they were going to hold off the oncoming attack without back up “Sorry I’ve not got the change for that!” he joked as he jumped over the monster, avoiding another attack shooting out a spell “Come on Twily” he whispered as he fired off a spell that caused Octophantom to be buried in a pile of rocks. Elsewhere Knasty Knight had reached his target, he then thrust his sword into the ground and uttered the words he’d been ordered to by Zedd “Arise evil’s light! Revenge will be yours, come back from the never world and rain fire down upon this land!” from the sword out the land turned a sickly black colour and Knasty Knight continued “Your time was short! Come back and make your enemy’s time short!” suddenly fire surrounded the monster and then converged on a single point in front of the monster taking the shape of a large pony “Arise Sombra the great!” As Sombra began to reform, it was clear his power was beyond that which it once was and then he stepped out from the fire spreading his wings, the spell had granted him the power of an alicorn “Ah my new body and it feels so good! My power will never be opposed again!” he said as he turned to the monster before him “My thanks to you but how is our master’s plans developing?” Knasty Knight nodded as he bowed low “Everything is going to plan, soon we’ll be able to unleash it through the portal!” he said as he raised his sword as they headed for the centre of the crystal empire and the battle. “Fall back!” Shining yelled as they were able to shut the doors to the castle but Cadence was still flying above them fighting Chrysalis “Hold them here! I need to go help my wife!” he knew he couldn’t fly but he could at least fire spells from the balcony at the attackers. As he arrived on the balcony he could see Cadence fighting Chrysalis but there was something flying towards the two “Cadence watch out!” Cadence turned just in time to be hit by the full power spell of Sombra and she fell to the ground but she was caught by two changeling fighters “Shining…close…the doors” she whimpered as she was flown up to Chrysalis who smirked at her new ally “Sombra…how?” As Shining Armour ran inside he locked the doors and collapsed in tears “Cadence…no!” he whimpered as the crystal guards gathered round him and he rose to his hooves. He needed to give them orders Cadence’s capture couldn’t be for nought “I want each possible entrance secured! Don’t let a single changeling in!” he then put up the shield spell but he was well aware this was nothing but a delay and soon the forces of evil would break through. “Ah Princess Cadence, this time, you will not escape my wrath!” Chrysalis taunted as she ran a hoof through the princess’s mane who flinched away but her hooves were chained so she was unable to escape “I’ll take my revenge slowly, I might even make you watch as I kill your husband!” she laughed as Sombra approached her. “Ah Sombra, our master’s plan has finally begun to bear fruit! We’ll soon have the crystal heart in our grasp!” Sombra nodded and smirked at the captive Princess “When that happens I want to watch her scream in agony” he laughed cruelly as he stopped in front of Cadence “I wonder if that pesky unicorn with that annoying dragon will dare show?” Chrysalis sighed and shook her head “That Twilight Sparkle is now an Alicorn” she said and smirked “I guess you need to be filled in on the latest developments” she then turned to the princess “We better keep her alive, otherwise Tirek might be upset” Cadence’s eyes widened in horror “You…can’t!” she yelled trying to free herself of the chains but her magic was cut off “Why would you free him!?” “It’s our master’s orders!” Chrysalis smirked and laughed “Our master’s dark intent will be fulfilled and when it is we’ll split Equestria between us” she said as she licked her lips “I can hardly wait to taste all that love energy but you won’t live to see that!” Sombra however shook his head and said “You forget the agreement! The princess here falls under my territory! So I’ll keep her as a slave and if that Twilight shows up she’ll be my slave too!” he then flapped his wings “But maybe if you ask nicely I’ll let you have them if you surrender a third of your territory!” Chrysalis cocked her head and said in a seductive tone “Maybe we could become more than allies?” she suggested to which Sombra visibly shuttered “Sadly that pesky Twilight sparkle does belong to our master!” It was at that moment a Changeling flew up panting and said “We’re under attack in the south our forces can’t hold them!” Chrysalis, Sombra and Cadence all said with various reactions “Twilight!” Basil kicked a changeling as he and Sailor Jupiter supported Twilight’s attack “These stickers just can’t resist getting their butts kicked by me!” he said as he jumped high and landed behind two changelings “Your not too hot at this are you scraggy pants?” he asked before kicking the changelings. Sailor Jupiter just finished toasting a changeling when she spotted the Octophantom “Incoming!” she called to the other two “Looks like they send out the welcoming party!” she then jumped to avoid two putties jump kicks “Jupiter Thunder Dragon!” the large lighting attack struck down more enemies before hitting the monster “Wow he’s tough!” as the Octophantom shook off the attack. “Owowow! You hit my truck!” Octophantom yelled enraged but wasn’t paying attention as Basil jumped forward and kicked upwards “Heyhey watch the truck! Ohoh I guess if you won’t play nice, I’ll just have to finish you off!” he charged forward but didn’t get the chance as Twilight landed in front of him and in one earth shattering blow Octophantom was defeated, the silver Z appearing on the ground. Twilight frowned, she didn’t much care about the monster, since she knew they were just creations of the monster who’d taken Fluttershy and turned her into a monster but the Z was a worrying sign “We better split up! I’m going to go find my brother and Cadence! Basil you better go find more changelings and Jupiter could you go after Chrysalis?” “Terribly bad idea, mam” Basil said looking up at the tower in the distance “We’d best stick together, safety in numbers, eh what” he folded his arms and looked to Jupiter. “Despite not understanding most of that, he’s right” Jupiter said with a raised eyebrow to Basil “If we split up, we could be picked off, one by one but if we encounter this Chrysalis thing, I’ll fight her okay?” Twilight knew she was outvoted, still having such good allies as them would have made the whole job a whole lot more difficult “Okay but Basil could you possibly speak slower” she said, even with Applejack’s odd choices of wording, Basil certainly outdid the orange Earth pony but he was a nice hare “Alright let’s head that way” As they walked on Basil was beginning to look around the place and with a smile he said “Funny old place, eh what?” he sniffed the air and frowned “Dashed blighter incoming!” and as he finished speaking the Knasty Knight popped out “Excuse me, ma dears but he’s mine!” Twilight looked at the rabbit with a concerned look “Are you sure Basil?” she asked, she didn’t know if the stubborn rabbit was brave or just stupid but she didn’t want to risk it “We could take him together?” Basil sniffed hurtfully “Nothing doing” he said as he smiled at the two “There are others waiting for you two to arrive, I’ll be alright” he then charged screaming “Give 'em blood and vinegar!” he jumped over the monster kicking him “GO!” Twilight and Sailor Jupiter ran past the two but Jupiter looked back with a concerned frown “Are you sure he’s going to be okay?!” she asked but at that exact moment a spell missed them by inches and Sombra landed in front of them. “Ah! Miss Sparkle, you look as if you’ll make a fine slave!” Sombra cackled and approached “I knew you’d turn up, at least I’m not the only one to have gained their wings but then again, you won’t be keeping yours!” he shot out a powerful spell but Jupiter blocked it with a blast of thunder “So who are you?” “Sombra!” Twilight frowned but Jupiter stopped her from attacking Sombra and she knew this was Sailor Jupiter's fight but she did say “Be careful, Jupiter, he’s ruthless” she looked up hoping the woman wouldn’t underestimate the dark pony before them “Please be careful!” Sailor Jupiter however nodded and whispered “Go!” Twilight ran on fighting off Changelings as she went before long she spotted Cadence in a clearing of rubble “Cadence!” she screamed running forward without thinking and was struck by an attack from above and looking up she saw Chrysalis “You…you won’t get away with this!” she was then pinned by four putties “No, no this can’t be how it ends!” Chrysalis landed near Twilight and walked forward “Revenge, I look forward to seeing you scream in agony!” she said as she licked her lips “Your pain will be delightful!” Suddenly a portal opened up beside Cadence and as Chrysalis turned she saw a human step through the portal. Cadence screamed to the human “Please help me!” the human, looked at the battle before him and smiled. The Changelings perhaps a little quicker than they should have flew at the human but the human moved so fast they were all defeated in seconds “What the?!” Cadence said in awe “Who are you?! And why do you have a third eye?” “The Name’s Tien!” Tien said with a wink and snapped the chains on Cadence “Sorry I wasn’t sure who to attack just there but then they attacked first and as for the third eye I've always had it” Chrysalis fumed and flew forward but Tien was too fast and dodged her lowered horn “How is he so fast?!” she snapped as Tien took out the putties that had Twilight pinned “Stop him!” Tien zipped through the changelings and putties before flying high above them “This isn’t much of a challenge but a fight is a fight!” he then flew downwards and crushed an unlucky changeling, a swift kick then send a changeling flying into three of its kind “Come on is that all you got?” he joked but he’d been careless, Chrysalis was able to fire a spell and as it struck Tien it paralysed him. “Cocky human! Now you die!” Chrysalis yelled but she in turn was hit from behind by Twilight. It was at that moment a changeling flew up holding the crystal heart. Having snuck past the Crystal empire defences, it had managed to steal the defence item. Chrysalis snatched the heart and cackled “We have what we came for! Sombra let’s go help Zedd! Don’t think though we’re going to leave without leaving a parting gift!” she cast the spell to open the portal and through the portal came a sight many would have never dreamed of seeing “May I introduce you all to Shadow the hedgehog!” The dark hedgehog had a shiny silver Z on his forehead and then he said “What is your command my master?” he sounded as if he was under a deep trance. “Destroy them!” Chrysalis screamed and then she disappeared along with Sombra, Twilight and Cadence were weakened by the blasts of magic they had taken, so as soon as they started to try and protect Tien, they were fighting just to spot him before he attacked “Twilight! You came!” Cadence said in a relived tone “I thought you wouldn’t make it!” Twilight send out a blast of magic but the attack missed and she said “I’m sorry. We got word from throughout Equestria that many cities have been attacked” she paused as she tried to hit Shadow again but she was no closer to hitting him and she knew once he started attacking they wouldn’t last long. However with Sombra no longer fighting Jupiter maybe she’d come and help “How can he be so fast?!” It was at that moment Shadow hit Cadence and Twilight was left in the fight alone except for Tien who still couldn’t move. Shadow ran round and it was only thanks to luck Twilight seeing him a moment or two before he attacked she able to avoid two attacks in a row before the hedgehog stopped in front of her “Surrender and I’ll show mercy!” he said Twilight knew this was the time to try and buy time “Why would you do that?!” she snapped Shadow smirked as he raised his glove “My masters want the elements of harmony undamaged” he said as he opened his hand to reveal a small cage, Twilight knew it would shriek her for easy storage and the thought chilled her blood “What good are slaves that can’t do as they’re told?” Twilight swallowed and said in a small voice “Who were you before you were brainwashed?” however before the hedgehog could respond, he was kicked in the back of the head and send flying into a wall “Basil!” Basil smiled and said “Terribly sorry mam, Jupiter came and helped me defeat that knightly fellow but that Z thing appeared again” he then sniffed as he then pointed to the tower “She’s gone to help them” Shadow stood from the wall and said “You’ll pay for that” Basil whistled and said “Well I must say I’m impressed, the last blighter I kicked with that kick, didn’t get up but then again neither did the walls he hit” he then got up his guard “Mam, you’d best get our new friend ready to fight, suspect we’ll need his help” Twilight nodded “Right!” she quickly started to think of ways to get Tien moving but her mind was drawing blanks “Come on Twilight think” she said to herself she could see out the corner of her eye that Basil was struggling to see where Shadow was coming from. He was dodging but that was best he seemed to be able to do. “Darn tricky spotting where this dashed fellow is going to attack from” Basil said to Twilight as he dodged another attack. “Twily!” Shining Armour yelled as he ran forward with some crystal guards and Sailor Jupiter “Can we help at all?” Twilight turned to her brother and said “Cadence is over there! She needs help!” she then turned back to Tien and said “Also do any of you know any Paralysis heal spells?” Shining nodded and pointed to two guards to go help Cadence but they were stopped by Shadow. A tall black stallion nodded and said “I do” he then started to work on charging the heal spell on Tien “I’ll need time though!” “Do it” Shining said as the ponies, Basil and Jupiter formed a circle around the stallion “Well Twily looks as if we’re in for the long haul” “Don’t tell me you’re giving up BBBFF?” Twilight joked as Shadow began to attack again “Stay strong!” the attacks were coming in thick and fast many of the guards were quickly overwhelmed before falling forward “How’s the spell coming?!” The black stallion nodded and turned saying “It’s ready!” he fired the spell at Tien but it had no effect and he turned saying “That should have worked!” he cried out desperately but he was so distracted he didn’t see Shadow zip in and attacked him from behind. This left Twilight, Shining Armour, Sailor Jupiter and Basil with Tien still frozen in place, his eyes darting around, desperate to move and help in the fight. “Terribly sorry to say, unless we can come up with a decent plan we’ll be heading for an early bath” Basil said raising his fists to defend his chest. Shining armour looked to Basil and smirked “You know, you didn’t strike me as a quitter” he joked, they needed to help Cadence but Shadow had stopped the two guard ponies that gone to help her “We better think of a way out of this and help Cadence!” Sailor Jupiter then had an idea “Stand back!” she said as everyone moved away from Tien and she charged her electric attack, using the weakest one so she wouldn’t hurt Tien too much “Jupiter Thunder Crash!” the attack hit Tien square on. “What are you doing?!” Twilight yelled in shock, of all the things they should have tried that was the last thing they should have and she looked to Jupiter with concern “That won’t help!” Basil however placed a hand on Twilight’s head “Calm down mam, I get the impression Jupiter knows what she was doing” he said as Tien’s fingers slowly started to move and then he quickly moved behind Basil “See what I mean, she’s a sharp one, eh what?” Tien smiled and said “Yeah but I’d rather she didn’t shock me!” he then paused and turned to Shadow “Leave him to me” he smirked before pointing a finger towards the hedgehog “Dodon ray!” Shadow dodged the attack but was stopped as Tien appeared in front of him “How?! How are you so fast!?” he said before Tien kicked him into a wall. Rising on shaky legs Shadow looked up with hatred in his eyes “Chaos con…” he was interrupted by Twilight using a spell to hold him in place. “Now Tien get that Z off his head!” Twilight screamed the pain of holding Shadow was driving her nuts “Hurry!” Tien nodded and flew close to Shadow before aiming his finger carefully even an inch off and he’d destroy the hedgehog “Dondon Ray!” he yelled and struck the Z on target “There that should do it!” Shadow’s Z disappeared from his forehead and reappeared on the ground in front of him. He shook his head and held it before saying “Ow! My head, where am I?” he enquired but as he looked around he didn’t recognise where he was and groaned “What are you all staring at?! You never seen a black and red hedgehog!?” Basil imminently said “Well in all of Mossflower and Equestria, you’re the first I’ve seen old chap” he then walked up and offered his hand to Shadow who looked at the hare with a very cautious look “Read your mind, sir! Neither mad, nor dangerous. Delighted to meet you, dear!” he said as Shadow took his hand “The name’s Basil” Shadow nodded and said “The name’s Shadow. Shadow the hedgehog” after everyone had introduced themselves, Cadence was quickly seen to, she was okay but she would need some rest. It was then Shadow noticed a shadow flying towards them “Who’s that?” Twilight and Shining both turned their heads towards where Shadow was looking and Twilight screamed “It’s Princess Luna, she looks hurt!” Tien flew forward and grabbed Luna before she fell, bringing her over to the others “Princess? Are you okay?” Luna’s body was covered in scratches and her wing looked damaged “I…I was attacked by some black crow things” she breathed out as Shining Armour tried to patch up her injuries “Canterlot…Celestia has been captured!” she breathed out before fainting and some guards took her to the castle for some rest. “No” Twilight whispered tears taking over her eyes “We need to get to Canterlot! Basil, Jupiter are you ready?” Shining Armour however said “No! Look at yourself Twilight you’re injured and your new friends don’t seem much better!” He wasn’t wrong, Jupiter was holding a horrible looking cut from a sword and Basil was still rubbing his legs “We better get word to your other friends and they can meet us here to think about our next move!” Basil however stood up and said “With all due respect, ole chap! If we wait we could be walking into that Zedd chap’s trap! I’m ready to move!” “He’s right!” Tien nodded and said “If you guys are going to fight that evil looking pony. I’m game” Shadow nodded “I owe them payback for brainwashing me!” Jupiter wrapped a scrap of cloth around her cut and smirked “I’m ready to move” Shining looked at the four and smiled “Looks like I don’t have much choice, I’ll have to come with you idiots to keep an eye on my LSBFF” the group looked to Twilight and with a nod they all looked towards Canterlot “So Twily we should still contact your friends?” Twilight nodded but a voice behind them made them all turn “Well then leave that to me!” Discord’s head said “I came here to tell you those Zs are part of Zedd’s plan but I’ll let your friends know to head for Canterlot!” he then disappeared. Shadow and Tien both had the same reaction “What the heck was that?!” Twilight sighed “Discord, he’s a friend” she said as they all looked south to Canterlot again. The reality of what was about to happen scared her. They were about to head south to fight, Lord Zedd, Sombra, Chrysalis and who knew how many more of their allies but Twilight knew she had to hope they had new allies of their own. As the word spread to Applejack, Zorro, Mustang and Armstrong, they prepared for the long run north from Appleloosa. Rarity and Jiraiya both ran from Manehatten with all due haste followed by an unseen being who was neither friend nor foe at this point. Pinkie Pie, Cheese, Gandalf, Kisuke and Yoruichi headed for Canterlot with the two hyper ponies shaking every once in a while as their senses went off. Warmachine carrying Iroh on his back flew from Vanhoover since Discord had already left. However Rainbow couldn’t leave as she was struggling to defend Cloudsdale and there was worse news Ponyville was watching in horror as the massive monster drew closer to Sweet Apple Acre! Zedd’s plan seemed so close to success.