//------------------------------// // The Calm Before The Storm // Story: Go go Megaforce 2: The Eternal Nightmare // by Time Agent pony //------------------------------// "Luna! What happened?!" Twilight asked. The Freedom Fighters and Team StarFox had landed their ships and joined the others inside the castle. "They came out of nowhere," Luna replied. "They took the adult ponies," Apple bloom said, shaking in fear. "Luna protected us," Scootaloo continued, just as scared. "They left this behind," finished Sweetie Belle, she placed a small device on the ground. It activated and an image of a man with a red jacket and a moustache appeared. "Welcome back, my friends hoo hoo hoo," the figure laughed. Sonic and the Freedom Fighters recognised the figure, "Eggman!?" they gasped. "You know him?!" Twilight asked. "He's been trying to conquer our world with his robots for ages," Sonic explained. "Vrak must be pulling in bad guys from everywhere," Troy said. "Anyway," the holographic Eggman continued "every pony and human on this earth is now the property of the Nightmare King". The image changed and everyone gasped in horror, every single pony and human from the unified world had been encased in spheres, shaped like giant grapes, attached to giant metal grape vines. "Their life force is being drained directly to the Nightmare King," Eggman finished. "Try and save them all if you can," Vrak's voice spoke from the background. "That is all for now," Eggman smirked, the image faded. "What do we do now?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Well, we can't stay here," Twilight said... "Because Vrak already knows where we are," Troy finished. "We could use Sky Patrol as a base of operations, where we can work and execute a plan of attack," Sally suggested. "Nice plan, Sal," Sonic nodded. "We could use the Sky Patrol's scanners to see if we can find a weak spot or weakness," Tails added. "We can provide cover fire if you run into any trouble," Peppy finished. "Nice plan," Troy nodded. "We're coming too," Apple Bloom said. The other two CMC members nodded. "I will also aid you," added Luna, who looked defeated, but she wasn't giving up. Everyone agreed. A few hours later both the Sky Patrol and the Great Fox were stationed a good distance from the Everfree Forest. All the leaders of the team from other worlds were present at the meeting room: Twilight leading The Mane Six, Troy leading Team Rangers, Ruby Rose leading Team RWBY, Fox McCloud leading Team Starfox, Mega Man leading the Robot Masters, Palutena leading Team Pit and finally Dante, Sonic, Shadow, Sliver and Blaze took their seats around the meeting room table. "Now that we're all here we can get started," Sally said. "Since the Rangers have the most experience dealing with our mortal enemy, I'll turn things over to Troy," she finished. "Thank you Sally," Troy said, he stood up and faced everyone present. "Our enemy is the alien prince called Vrak, a villain from our world. We first encountered him when he tried to help the Warstar invade our planet. We thought he had been destroyed. But he was rebuilt into a cyborg by one of his followers and he was defeated by us again. He survived and went into hiding, after which he returned and used our own power against us. Now he has merged the human world with the land of Equestria and is draining it of energy as we speak." "That's where you all come in," Twilight continued. "You all have fought and defeated similar enemies so we've gathered you all here to help us stop this evil from going any further," she finished. "So why don't we just storm the place?" Sonic asked. "We need to work out a plan," Sally replied. Before Sonic could answer, Nicole appeared. "Sally we've got three unidentified crafts approaching," she said. "You think it's Vrak?" Sally asked Troy. "They're hailing us" Nicole said. A screen behind the meeting room table turned on and a figure who looked a bit like Fox appeared. "Hello," the figure said. "I'm Princess Sally Acorn, who am I speaking to?" Sally asked. "Hello Sally, I'm Wolf" the figure replied, "me and my team want to join your little army, do we have permission to come aboard?" "Let them land," Fox said. "You know them?" Sally asked. "Wolf and his team have helped us out a few times in the past," Fox explained "I think we can trust them". "Ok then," Sally said, she turned to the screen. "Proceed to the hanger, you are clear to land". "Thank you, Princess," Wolf replied, his image faded from the screen. Fox and Troy headed to the hanger to meet Wolf and his team. Wolf and the other members of Team StarWolf landed their ships, called Wolfens, in Sky Patrol's hanger. "Thanks for letting us in," greeted Wolf O'Donnell, the leader of Team StarWolf. "You won't regret it, buddy," added Leon Powalski, the second member of StarWolf. "With our help the enemies are the ones who should be scared," finished Panther Caroso, the final member of StarWolf. "How did you even end up here, Wolf?" Fox asked. "We followed your ship through a portal and we found ourselves in this strange world," Wolf replied. "So we figured we'd join the little band you have going," Leon added. "Glad to have you with us," Troy said, he and Fox led Wolf and his team out of the hanger. "Now back to the plan," Sally said when Wolf was seated at the meeting room table. She turned to Tails, "What do we know about the dark portals?" she asked. "Well," Tails replied, "based on what Troy explained and from what Sliver told us, it appears that when Equestria and Earth collided it caused a shock wave that severely damaged the universe". "How So?" Pit asked. "Well, from there," Tails continued, "we can theorise that reality was shattered and in the process it's shards tore holes in the 'fabric' of space-time. These holes, these 'Dark Portals', lead to entirely different universes. Whole universes different and separate from each other," he finished. "So that means?" Dante asked, confused. "The longer the two worlds stay together the worst the cracks in reality become," Tails replied. "So we have to find a way to separate our worlds," Troy guessed. "How are we going to do that?" Mega Man asked. "Me and the other robot master's weapons can't get through the shield surrounding the Fusion Engines and the resurrected robot masters can heal themselves even when we hurt them". "Not quite," Proto Man said. "I think that Vrak's robot masters may have weaknesses that might work in our favour". "Well, please Blues" encouraged Luna, "tell us your findings". "Thank you, Luna," Proto man smiled, "anyway, when we were watching Rex fighting Magnet Man and Wave Man I picked up some interesting readings" "Interesting how?" asked Wolf. "Well," Proto Man continued, "when the robots get damaged they have to use a little bit of their own energy to heal themselves and when that happened I noticed that their energy levels started dropping". "Some of us can't understand your techno-babble," Sonic interrupted, "speak english!" "What Proto Man means, Sonic," Tails sighed, "The more energy the robots use to heal themselves, the weaker they become". "So we just have to turn up the heat," Ruby said. "Right," Proto man replied. "Or we could find a way to drain the energy or naturalise it," Sally said. "I don't think that will stop them for good," Luna cut in, "the robots are all powered by small parts of the Nightmare Force". "So we have to destroy Vrak to end this nightmare," Virgil finished. "Correct," Troy replied. "We still need a plan before we do anything," reminded Twilight. "I suggest we send two groups to attack, while the rest infiltrate the base," Sally said, "that way we can keep the enemy distracted and the others can go and confront Vrak". "If anyone has to confront Vrak it should be me," Luna said. "Can't argue with that," nodded Proto Man. "I'll go with you". "OK teams, gather your members," Sally said. "But what can we do," Troy said, "Vrak took our powers and Twilight's Elements of Harmony. We have nothing to fight with". "I can help with that" Shadow said, "if I just use a little Chaos energy that should restore your powers to morph and call your zords". Sally handed Shadow one of the Chaos Emeralds, he held it in his hand and with his other, touched the Ranger's morphers and keys. "Chaos control" Shadow said, in a flash of energy the rock that covered the morphers and keys broke away. Next Twilight pulled out the Elements of Harmony and the Mane Six's own morphers and keys. Shadow repeated the same process and the stone Elements, morphers and keys returned to the normal form. "Alright we've got our powers back," Troy said. "And with the Elements we'll have a fighting chance," finished Twilight. "Right, let's get battle ready," Sally said. "But first, it's time to eat," Applejack added. She entered the meeting room, wheeling a trolly with apple pies and chilli dogs on top of it for the humans and E-tanks on the lower shelf for the robot masters. "Y'all can't save the universe on an empty stomach," she finished, as she allowed everyone to take food they wanted. "Good pie Applejack," Pit said, as he dug into his apple pie. "I think that I may have found my next favourite food after strawberry sundaes and pizza" Dante said, as he munched on a chilli dog. "I'll admit," Virgil said, tucking into an apple pie and a chilli dog, "the taste is growing on me". After they were all done eating, everyone rallied their respected teams and divided into three factions. "If only I could contact my navigator for some support," Rex said, as he was getting ready. "I hoped that Vrak's abuse of space-time might give me the benefit of a line back to head-quarters". "Who is this person you're trying to call?" Sally asked. "My supervisor and navigator back home," Rex replied. "What is a navigator?" Sweetie Belle asked, as she and Scootaloo entered the room. "My navigator," Rex explained, "helps me make good decisions and keeps me aware of my surroundings," he sighed. "It's going to be tough fighting Vrak without her". "Well, the Sky Patrol has a suite of scanning equipment," Sally suggested, "I'll hang back with with Nicole and we'll be the team's navigators. Our non-combatants can help too, right, Sweetie Belle?" "Yeah!" replied Sweetie Belle, "Apple Bloom will be excited to help, too" "We're going to be navigators!" Scootaloo smiled, while trying to contain herself. The last final hours were taken up with last moment preparations. "So your scythe is also a sniper rifle?" Dante said, as he admired Ruby's weapon, Crescent Rose, "I gotta get me one". "My weapon may be cool," Ruby replied, as she and Dante put in some last minute training, "but it's nothing compared to your Devil Arm weapons". "Can't argue with that," agreed Dante, readying his weapons and himself for the upcoming battle. "Nearly every weapon on our world doubles as a gun," Ruby finished. "I think I could consider your world as my retirement plan," Dante smilied, as he hit some targets with some swords from one of his Devil Arms, weapons that are physical manifestations of powerful demons Dante had defeated. After everyone had finished, they were divided into three teams: the first two teams would keep the enemy occupied and provide air support and the last team would infiltrate the castle and confront Vrak. The third team was made up of: Luna, Proto Man, Rouge, Shadow and Gemerl, the last much to Omega's jealousy that a more advanced robot was replacing him. Once the teams were ready, they all met on the bridge of Sky Patrol for one final briefing. "This is it, everyone and everypony" Twilight said, a look of stern leadership in her eyes. "We will be launching the largest attack in the history of the multiverse, we will be united in our common interest. Today we will be fighting for our freedom, not from a simple enemy....but from darkness. On this day, the multiverse declared in one voice: 'we will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to fight on! We're going to survive!' The room erupted into applause, Troy brushed what could have been a tear out of his eye. "You know" Sonic said, "you and your friends would make great Freedom Fighters". "Did you just make up that speech on the spot, Twilight?" asked Jake, "Cue cards" Twilight replied, pulling out the cards in question. "Is everyone ready?" Troy asked, "Navigators! Are you ready?" "Ready!" Sally, the CMC and Nicole replied in one voice. "Freedom Fighters! Are you ready?" Troy continued. "Born ready!" Sonic replied. "Robot Masters! Are you ready?" Troy finished. "Ready" Mega Man replied. "Team RWBY! Are you ready?" Twilight called. "Ready!" Ruby, Yang, Blake and Weiss replied in one voice. "Teams Starfox and Starwolf! Are you ready?" Twilight continued. "Always!" Fox and Wolf both replied at the same time. "Team Pit! Are you ready?" Twilight added. "Filth of the land, hear our words!" Pit cried. "And see our actions!" Dark Pit continued. "I am Pit, servant of the goddess of light!" Pit added. "And I am Dark Pit, servant to no other but myself!" Dark Pit cried. "Together we will rain death upon you!" Pit and Dark Pit cried in one voice. "So, anyone who wants to die, step right up!" Dark Pit growled. "And anyone who doesn't want to die, too bad!" added Pit. "Aw, yeah!" Pit and Dark Pit finished, striking poses. "We're ready," Palutena said, calmly. "Team Dark, Sliver, Blaze and Knuckles! Are you Ready?" Twilight asked. "Ready for action!" Silver, Blaze and Knuckles cried. "Ready to do some damage" Omega said, bring out all his weapons. The three teams exited Sky Patrol, while the air support team, Starfox's Arwings, Starwolf's Wolfens and Tails Biplane called the Tornado, launched from Sky Patrol's hanger. "We're heading out" Fox said, "all aircraft report." "Look's like it game time" acknowledged Falco. "Time to put a end to this evil" Krystal said. "Right behind you, Fox" Slippy replied. "Playtime's Over" Wolf said. "I think I'll torture the enemy for awhile" Leon replied. "My rose will be the last thing the enemy sees" acknowledged Panther. "All systems go... full speed ahead!" finished Tails. "This is it" Troy said. From out of the Everfree Forest came the sound of marching metal feet as a massive army of: evil Robot Masters, Badniks, E-100 robots, Dark Rangers, other different looking robots and two giant robots at the back of the army, some of them the Rangers and ponies had fought before. "Looks like Eggman's Badnik factory has been working overtime" Sonic said. "I see 'em up head" Fox said, "let's rock and roll!" "OK, everyone stand your ground!" Troy cried.