Sol Umbrae

by Dream Bolt

I Have To Find a Way

Chapter 12: I Have To Find a Way

“You do make a good pizza.” Twilight stated to Silver as she finished her last slice. “Thanks for that. Maybe someday you can come visit me, and I can introduce you to Spike.”

Silver looked a little surprised. “Spike?”

“Yeah. My number one assistant.” Twilight said. “He’s kind of like my little brother.” She gave him a shrewd glance. “Do you… know anything about him?”

Silver sighed. “Well, I can’t really cause any problems the timeline if I’m already trying to make this future not exist.” he said thoughtfully. “I suppose I might as well tell you that he’s here. But he’s no baby anymore. Not as big as the other dragons, but still, his magic is more powerful than most of them.”

Twilight looked shocked. “Spike… he’s… he’s grown up?”

“Yeah.” Silver said. “He’s been a great help. He’s now our head of communications. But I’m afraid I can’t let you see him.”

“Why not?” Twilight asked disappointedly.

“Because it would be too dangerous.” Silver replied. “Discord isn’t going to change in just a few centuries, but… well, Spike’s different in this future. I don’t want to influence what you may expect of him.”

Twilight sighed. “I suppose that makes sense.” she stated dejectedly. She got to her hooves. “So, when do we leave?”

“In a moment.” Silver replied. He gestured to a closet, which opened. Silver then telekinetically lifted out two black scuba outfits and a pair of oxygen tanks.

“I know where we have to go next.” Silver stated, stepping into the suit. Twilight put on her own suit, surprised that it was made for a pony.

“Where exactly is that?” she asked.

“To where the first sample of Celestia’s blood is kept.” Silver replied. “The underwater Solianna lab.”

Silver and Twilight put in their mouth pieces, then Silver held his magical gem up high.

“Kronos Control!”

*************************************************************************************************

Twilight felt very odd as she suddenly appeared underwater. For a moment, she panicked, then she realized that she could breath through the strange suit.

“I could have performed a spell for us to breathe underwater, you know.” she said in a garbled voice.

Silver simply shrugged. He pointed towards a large structure that surrounded them.
Twilight stared in surprise. She could see people walking through thick glass tubes that connected the various parts of the base.
Silver motioned for her to follow him. They moved over to a glass tube where Twilight could see a heavily locked door. On the outside were some words. She looked closer and read them.

Solaris Project. Top Secret. Do Not Enter.

She gave a nod to Silver. Suddenly, there was a flash of magic, and they appeared inside the lab beside the door.

Silver pulled his mask off and gasped. “Are you crazy?” he cried. He put a hand on Twilight, and she felt his telekinesis pulse through her.

“You could get the bends depressurizing that quickly.” Silver said, as his telekinetic force gradually weakened around both of them. “I had us when we came in, and was keeping our pressure stable. Next time, warn me before you do something like that!”

Twilight slapped her forehead. “I know, I’m so sorry. I can’t believe I forgot that, after all I read about diving safety. I guess I just was so intent on getting to the door….”

“Hey, no big deal.” Silver said, catching his breath. “I just… overreacted. I made sure we’re safe now. We’ve adapted to the pressure normally. I’m sorry I freaked out. I’m just… nervous.”

“You’re not alone there.” Twilight agreed.

There was a flash, and they appeared behind the door. Twilight shook her head.

“You people really need some decent magical wards.” she mumbled.

Silver approached a small phial which stood in a small stand by itself. It bore no label, just an emblem.

Celestia’s emblem.

“Those humans knew exactly what they were doing.” Twilight said angrily.

“I don’t think they meant any harm.” Silver said. “With my memories restored, I can remember them. The king of Solianna was one of the people who worked on this. I think their hopes were that Mobius could have a guardian like Celestia as well.”

“Doesn’t justify what they did.” Twilight replied, picking up the phial with her magic.

Silver gave a mirthless smirk. “I’m the last person you need to tell that.” he said. “Iblis was all I knew for much of my life.”

Twilight set the phial on the floor. Her horn charged up with magic. A bolt flew out, striking the phial, as it turned into….

“An orange?” Silver asked, raising an eyebrow.

Twilight shrugged. “First thing I thought of.” she replied.

“Well, that’s one down.” Silver stated. “Three more to go.” He pulled out his gem.

“Kronos Control!”

*************************************************************************************************

Twilight suddenly found herself aboard a train, but it was sleeker and more metallic than the trains she was used to.
She pulled off her scuba gear, dropping in on the ground, but left the wetsuit on, as did Silver.

“Why are we on a train?” Twilight asked.

“Because this is the only time that this phial could be retrieved, or at least so my research said.” Silver replied. “It was going from one hyper-secure base to an impenetrable one. Magic or not, we would have been spotted and caught in minutes. Furthermore, I didn’t try to land us on the train. I tried to land us nearby so that we could jump aboard. Appearing on a moving train can be very dangerous. We were lucky we didn’t go through a wall.”

“You mean because of the velocity?” Twilight asked.

“No, I mean literally appear through a wall.” Silver said. “The gem won’t target areas where solid objects are, but when the target is moving, we could appear straight through a wall.”

“Wh-what would that do?” Twilight asked.

“Dunno.” Silver replied. “You might just end up stuck, which wouldn’t be so bad, since both of us have powers that could get us out easily. Or two solid objects occupying the same space may cause an atomic explosion.”

“And that would be really bad.” Twilight stated.

“Exactly.” Silver said. “Now, let’s find out which car has the phial.”

Silver went over to a pile of crates that were in the car. Every single one was marked “Top Secret”.

“This is going to take too long.” Silver mumbled. “Can’t you use some sort of detection spell?”

“Detection spells are pretty difficult if you don‘t know the specific one, especially when the target is highly magical.” Twilight stated. “But maybe there’s another way.”

Her horn glowed, and rays of magic shot out. Each crate that they hit turned as transparent as glass.

“You see anything?” Twilight asked.

Silver levitated the crates and looked inside each one.

“Wow.” he muttered. “What the heck is G.U.N. working on?“

“Wait. This is a G.U.N. train?” Twilight asked.

“Of course.” Silver replied. “Who do you think would have top-secret blood samples of a demigoddess? The only other people who would have them would be the Solianna government or Eggman, and Eggman would have unleashed something horrible long ago if he had had it.” Silver looked inside one of the boxes. “This one says ‘Fire Flower’. They aren’t trying to cross plants with the Solaris Project, are they?”

“Better be safe.” Twilight said, zapping the crate. It and the flower instantly turned into….

“A sandwich?” Silver asked. “What is it with you and food?”

“Sorry, I’m a bit hungry.” Twilight said.

“You ate four pieces of pizza not half an hour ago!” Silver cried.

“It’s been a while since I had anything but that pizza!” Twilight replied. “And I don’t want to try eating the sandwich. If it is magical, I have no idea if the transformation will negate that.”

“Well, let’s keep looking, anyway.” Silver said. “Maybe you could whip up some cookies or something next.”

“Very funny.” Twilight replied, turning to look at the transparent crates. “Let’s see. That looks like a weapon. Here’s some samples of water or something marked Chaos. That’s odd. And here is a whole heap of weird weapons. Hey, a blood sample! No, wait, it says ‘Black Arms’. Here’s a jar of something called ‘Mega-muck’. An oddly-shaped gold mask marked ‘Persona’. A whole slew of plans for various things. Wow. Does G.U.N really have a truck like that?”

“No idea.” Silver replied. “Let’s see. Some odd gems marked ‘Anarchy Beryl’. A few prototype weapons. Some document on… hey, here’s some blood samples!”

Twilight dashed over. As they opened the box, they saw that there were multiple phials. As Twilight looked through them, she felt rather shocked as she read some of the labels.

“Shadow the Hedgehog. Miles Prower. Knuckles the Echidna.” she read. “No wonder Sonic doesn’t trust these guys.”

“Hey, I think the sample we’re looking for is in here.” Silver said, picking up a box beneath the other blood samples. Within it rested a single phial, labeled only with Celestia’s symbol.

“I’m destroying these both.” Twilight said. “I don’t like the idea of these G.U.N guys with their hands on anyone’s blood, if cloning is more than just science fiction in your world.”

“Good idea.” Silver agreed, as Twilight zapped the creates and turned them into potted plants.

“Sorry, but I just don’t trust G.U.N.” Twilight said. “Tails said it was pretty corrupt in the past, and I don‘t want to take chances.”

“I wouldn’t know.” Silver replied. “Government organizations don’t tend to exist in post-apocalyptic worlds like I come from.”

Twilight sighed. “Well, I suppose we should get going. Where’s the next….”

There was a sudden flash of bright light in the car. Twilight and Silver covered their eyes.

“Well, well. Fancy meeting you two here.” a mocking voice said. It was feminine, but deeper than Twilight’s.

As Twilight and Silver looked, they saw an alicorn mare. She was dark purple, and her mane, which was styled exactly like Twilight’s, was black, with a pink stripe running through it. Her eyes were bright pink with green irises, and were catlike.

“Who are you?” Twilight asked.

The mare laughed. “You shall see. For now, I am Dusk Flicker. And you have something I want.”

Her horn flashed with dark magic, and the potted plants transformed back into blood samples.

Suddenly, Silver’s time travel gem was pulled from his pocket, as the mare used her magic to grab it.

“Sorry, can’t have you messing up my plans any longer, weaklings.” she said. “Ta-ta!”

But before she could react, there was a blur, and Silver had transported himself directly next to the dark mare. With a wave of his hand, she soared across the car and struck the wall, while Silver grabbed the time travel gem.

“You’ve got to do better than that.” he said mockingly. He raised his hands, and suddenly dozens of prototype weapons floated out of their boxes and aimed at Dusk Flicker.

Silver gave a triumphant grin. “It’s no use.”

Suddenly he swung the guns about and blasted the blood samples, scorching them into oblivion.

Unfortunately, Silver had underestimated just how powerful G.U.N.’s prototypes were. With the shriek of scraping metal and a shower of sparks, the train car fell in half.

“You idiot!” Dusk Flicker cried. “You shall pay for that!”

“Sorry, my insurance doesn’t cover trains!” Silver shouted back, using his telekinesis to propel himself on top of the half of the car which was still attached to the train. Twilight teleported up next to him.

“Ugh this wind is blowing my mane everywhere! I can‘t see a thing!” she cried. She grabbed a cover cloth and tore off a strip, tying her mane back to keep it out of her face.

Dusk Flicker teleported up in front of them. Bolts of dark magic soared at them as Twilight and Silver dodged and blocked the bolts.

“Hey, you three!” a voice shouted.

All three of them looked down to see G.U.N. agents crawling out of every part of the train.

“Hands in the air!” they shouted. “Identify yourselves!”

“Ignorant whelps.” Dusk Flicker mumbled. She raised her horn and zapped an agent, turning him into a lizard.

“They’re hostile! Open fire!” the agents shouted.

Silver and Twilight shielded themselves from the incoming bullets, diving onto the next intact car. Silver raised his hand, tossing the remains of the other car at Dusk Flicker.
But the blow was caught and hurled aside.
“Fool!” she shouted. “You think you two can challenge me?”

Suddenly, everything around them began to slow down as a black haze surrounded the train. Both Twilight and Silver fell off their feet, and many of the G.U.N. agents had to catch a railing or comrade to keep from falling off. As they looked down, they saw that the train was hovering above the ground.

“She’s lifting the entire train!” Twilight shouted.

“Wrong.” Dusk Flicker said with a cruel grin. “I was lifting the train.”

With a jerk, the entire train went hurtling through the air. It was about to crash down upon the tracks, but suddenly it slowed down, then gently came to a rest.

Silver turned towards Twilight. “You did that?”

Twilight nodded, panting. “I… lifted an… Ursa Minor once. This was… nothing.”

“Yeah, but I’ll bet that Ursa whatever wasn’t traveling at high speeds like this thing.” Silver said.

Dusk Shimmer soared down beside them. “Enough of this!” she cried. “I will finish this here and now!”

Suddenly, from down the tracks, they heard a sound. A rumbling sound.

It was another train.

*************************************************************************************************

“Silver, I’ll deal with this Dusk Flicker!” Twilight shouted. “You stop that other train before it crashes!”

Twilight let a bolt of magic loose, making chains appear around Dusk Flicker. Silver soared over their heads, bracing himself for when the train came around the corner.

Dusk Flicker shattered the chains about her, then summoned a horde of bees that immediately dove for Twilight. Twilight countered with a simulacrum of a giant frog, which promptly swallowed the swarm.

The train rounded the corner. Silver held his hands out, trying to use his psychokinesis to slow it down. Inside the train, the driver could see the wreckage in front of him, and hit the emergency brakes, but they were still going too fast.

Silver strained to stop the train, but he knew his strength couldn’t hold out for long if he was under attack, and despite Twilight’s attempts to distract Dusk Flicker, the evil mare was still managing to fire at them both.

But suddenly, an idea came to Silver. He whipped about and used his psychokinesis to grab a few jars from the wreckage, which had cracked, but not shattered, held together by the incredibly sticky goop inside.

“Mega-muck.” Silver exclaimed with a grin, tossing the jars onto the tracks. “This is probably the first time a hedgehog has been glad to see the stuff.”

The train began to catch in the thick, gluey substance. “This is working!” Silver thought to himself.

Suddenly, he heard a rapid popping noise, and felt like a million needles had jabbed him in the back. Around him, everything began to go blurry, and his limbs felt like lead weights.

“Not… now.” he thought hazily as the train came closer and closer. He fell upon the tracks, unable to move. He could see the G.U.N. agents surrounding him, moving in closer.

“He’s lucky.” one of the agents said. He sounded very far away to Silver. “I almost was about to switch my tranquilizers out for normal bullets because of that purple thing with the pink eyes.”

“Take them alive if possible.” another agent cried. “If they attempt lethal harm, use any necessary force to subdue them, but try to keep them alive. We’ll want to interrogate them.”

Silver felt himself falling asleep. His hold on the train was barely more than a toddler’s push.
But the Mega-muck had done the trick. Slowly but surely, the train grinded to a halt, stopping inches from Silver.

“What is going on?” a passenger shouted.

“There’s been an accident.” one of the G.U.N. agents stated.

“What?!” a familiar voice cried as Amy Rose stuck her head out of the window. “I’m going to be late! And Sonic said that he has some very important new friends to introduce us to!”

“Sorry, ma’am, we’ll try to have the track clear soon.” the agent said.

Silver could feel a pair of G.U.N. agents lift him up off the ground. But before the could haul him off, there was a flash, and they turned into a pair of butterflies.

“I’m not finished with you, interloper!” Dusk Flicker screamed. “You will pay for what you did! You will….”

Suddenly, she erupted with light.

“No!” she cried. “Not now! It’s too soon!”

She began to disappear into the light.

“I will have my revenge!” she shouted as she faded away. “Mark my words! I shall have my….”

Suddenly, she was gone.

And consciousness slipped from Silver.

*************************************************************************************************

Silver awoke to a splash of cold water in his face.

“Augh!” he screamed.

“Sorry, sorry!”

Silver turned to see Twilight Sparkle standing over him.

“It was the only thing I could think of to wake you up.” Twilight stated. “Either than or an electrical shock. You were out for a few hours.”

“I guess I took quite a few tranquilizers.” Silver said groggily. He looked about. They were in a shipping yard, hiding behind some giant metal crates.

“I would have brought you home, but I have no idea how to work that gem.” Twilight explained. “I teleported you out of there, and then brought you here. It looked deserted, so I thought I could wait here until you woke up.”

“Just… give me a minute.” Silver said, rubbing his head. “I feel like you do when you’re woken up a few hours early, only about a million times more groggy
.”
Suddenly, there was a crash above them. Silver suddenly felt very much alert.

He and Twilight peeked out from behind the crates. What they saw made Twilight’s mouth drop open.

Not too far away was Shadow the Hedgehog. And locked in combat with him, was herself.

“This is when I first met Shadow!” she exclaimed. “Wow! The implications of this are just….”

“Dangerous.” Silver interrupted. “I think it’s time we get back. Where’s my gem?”

“Here you go.” Twilight said distractedly, handing the gem to him while keeping her eyes on the fight.

Silver held the gem up.

“Kronos…Control!”

*************************************************************************************************

They suddenly found themselves in someone’s apartment, but it wasn’t Silver’s.

“Augh!” a pale pink pony with a red mane cried. “Silver! What are you doing here? And who’s that?”

“Hey, Maraschino Cherry.” Silver said with a weak grin. “Sorry. My concentration’s off.”

“He got hit by some tranquilizers, and is still recovering.” Twilight stated. “By the way, my name is Twilight Sparkle.”

“The Twilight Sparkle?” Maraschino Cherry raised an eyebrow. “Well, I would expect one of the changelings were playing a joke, but… well, I know how young Silver here travels through time constantly.”

“Could you direct me to his apartment?” Twilight asked.

“Three doors down, to the left, left side.” Maraschino Cherry stated. “And tell me if he need anything.”

*************************************************************************************************

Back in Silver’s apartment, Twilight shook her head.

“The future is still the same!” she shouted. “Shouldn’t something have changed?”

“Perhaps we haven’t made any significant changes yet.” Silver suggested. “After all, Mephiles, who I can only assume is in league with this Dusk Flicker, would only need one blood sample to replicate the gene necessary for him to take over the princess’s mind or whatever he’s trying to do.”

“Who was that Dusk Flicker, anyway?” Twilight asked. “I’ve never seen anypony like her before. What scared me is how much she looked like me, but with dark magic.”

“I have no idea.” Silver stated. “She’s not from around my time I can tell you that.”

“Well, I saw how she disappeared into that light.” Twilight said. “It was much the same as the time travel spell I once used. My guess is that she wasn’t from that time any more than we were.”

“Well, if she’s working for Mephiles, there’s no telling what time she could be from.” Silver stated.

Twilight shook her head, pacing the floor. “I’m still bothered that I haven‘t changed the future, at least a little bit. You would think that….”

She suddenly stopped in her tracks as she passed a mirror. Turning about, she looked at her own reflection. The black suit. The bandanna.

“Maybe I already have.” she murmured.

She turned towards Silver. “When I first came to Mobius, someone mistook me for a thief who had broken into top-secret bases and destroyed and stolen top-secret property.” she stated. “The pony who did it looked exactly like me, and was dressed exactly like I am now! Now what if those items weren’t stolen. What if they were transformed into something that G.U.N. wouldn’t think was significant.”

“Like an orange?” Silver said, raising an eyebrow.

“Exactly!” Twilight exclaimed. “Shadow was right all along! I am the infiltrator!”

Silver gave a smirk. “Welcome to the boggling world of time travel.”

Twilight looked suddenly hopeful. “Then perhaps this already are set in motion! Maybe this means we will win!”

“Or it could mean that Dusk Flicker stole one of the samples and pinned it on us.” Silver pointed out. “We can’t afford to be careless here.”

“Right.” Twilight replied thoughtfully. “So… where to now?”

“We’re going in to a high-security G.U.N. base.” Silver stated. “It’s not impenetrable, but we’re going to have to be very, very careful. If we’re caught, I have no idea what could happen.”

“Are you feeling up to it?” Twilight asked.

“Those tranquilizers have pretty much worn off.” Silver assured her, getting to his feet. He held the gem in the air.

“Kronos Control!”

*************************************************************************************************

Twilight was suddenly glad that her suit had dried by now, because they were surrounded by flurries of snow. In front of them, a heavily guarded gate stood, with spotlights searching the surroundings for intruders.

“If you’re spotted, take out the spotlights.” Silver whispered. “But… well, just try not to be spotted in the first place.”

“Got it.” Twilight replied. “Hold on. I’m teleporting us up to that tower there. It will give us a good view of the base. But be careful. There’s some guards up there.”

“There’s guards everywhere here.” Silver muttered as he looked at the walls, where G.U.N. agents marched about on top and below.

There was a flash of magenta light, and Twilight and Silver appeared atop the tower. Silver gestured, and the two guards slammed together, being knocked unconscious.

“You didn’t have to hurt them!” Twilight whispered loudly.

“Sorry.” Silver apologized. “Don’t worry, they’ll just have a little headache when they come to.”

As the two of them scanned the compound, Twilight shook her head.

“We’ll never be able to find the blood sample.” she groaned as she saw the size of the base.

“And this is just the surface.” Silver stated. “Most of the base is underground.”

Twilight groaned and covered her head with her hooves. “Guess I’d better start working on that detection spell.” she murmured.

Silver grinned. “Nah. Let the psychic do his stuff.”

Silver silently glided down next to a soldier, closely followed by Twilight. As he came near the guard, he raised his hand silently.

Suddenly, the guard activated his communicator. “H.Q., is everything okay down there?” he asked.

“Down where?” a scratchy voice replied.

“Level 30, genetics division.” the guard replied. “I thought I just heard a radio saying the blood samples were in jeopardy.”

“Must have been a fluke.” the voice replied. “Nobody made any transmissions.”

“We should scan the area.” the guard stated. “Maybe the Doctor is messing with our transmissions.”

“Understood.” the voice replied. “H.Q. out.”

As Silver and Twilight quietly glided to a shadowy patch near the door to the base, Twilight turned towards Silver.
“How did you do that?” she asked.

“Telepathy.” Silver explained. “I’m really weak at it, but I was able to mimic a radio distress call for a couple seconds.”

“Not bad.” Twilight said with a grin. “Now to get inside. I can’t teleport us in without knowing what we’re going to encounter. I could land us in the middle of an entire platoon of soldiers. Do you think you could use your telepathy to trick the guards?”

“No can do.” Silver replied. “That radio trick was one of my best. Other than that, I can make a person woozy, and that’s it. Most of my skills are focused on telekinesis.”

“Hmm.” Twilight said thoughtfully. Then suddenly her face lit up.

“I have an idea!” she stated.

*************************************************************************************************

“This will never work.” Silver exclaimed as they stood outside the base once again.

His spikes had been combed back, and Twilight had used a couple spells to paint him with Shadow the Hedgehog’s colors.
“It’s simple.” Twilight assured him. “Just act really grumpy. I’ll hide in the back of that car, and you drive us in.”
As Silver turned to see an off-road vehicle approaching through the flurries of snow, he looked skeptical.

“How are we going to convince those guys to give us the truck?” he asked.

“Trust me.” Twilight Sparkle said confidently. “Now, shield you eyes.”

Silver did as he was told, while Twilight zapped a nearby army knife that a soldier had dropped. For a moment, heart-shaped sparks flickered around it, then vanished.

“Can I look now?” Silver asked.

“Nope.” Twilight replied. “This is a pretty strong spell. It took me some time to perfect. The last time I tried it, the results almost caused total chaos in Ponyville.”

“Aw, now I really want to see it.” Silver grumbled.

As the vehicle drove by, Twilight used her magic to levitate the army knife in front of the windshield.
The soldiers inside suddenly hit the brakes and stared, entranced. It was the most perfect, amazing, beautiful knife they had ever seen.

As it floated away, guided by Twilight into the woods, the soldiers jumped out of the car, scrambling to get the incredible, amazing knife. Twilight stuck it in a tree, high up so that the soldiers would have some difficulty getting it down.

“Okay, follow me.” Twilight exclaimed.

As she and Silver got into the truck, Silver looked at the soldiers’ blurry figures, jumping up and down far off.

“What was that?” Silver asked.

“The Want-it-need-it spell.” Twilight replied. “I used it on a knife. It will make any inanimate object so that it is almost irresistibly appealing, making anyone who looks at it instantly want it, and it’s extremely difficult to resist the spell.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad.” Silver exclaimed, checking out his new colors in the rearview mirror.

“The last time I used it, half of Ponyville got into a fight over it, and I couldn’t stop it.” Twilight said. “Princess Celestia came and saved the day, not me. I’m not sure how long the spell would have lasted. For all I know, it could have caused all of Ponyville to riot and abandon their jobs, causing our town to fall into ruin.”

“Ouch.” Silver said as he adjusted the seat for his height. “Sounds pretty bad. Are you sure it’s safe to use?”

“Well, this one will wear off in about six minutes.” Twilight replied. “And I put a spell on it to help keep it from becoming a source of conflict among the soldiers. But these attraction magics are like Love Poison. Luckily, they only last for a couple days at best, and a strong mind can resist them, so they haven’t started any wars. Yet.”

Silver revved the engine and started to drive up to the base. “So… could you use that spell to get a date?” he asked jokingly.

“It doesn’t work on ponies or other lifeforms.” Twilight said. “That’s more the job of a Love Poison. And just one of those caused two empires to collapse, because their rulers paid so much attention to each other instead of their kingdoms.”

Silver shook his head. “Forced love never works.” he stated. “Who would have thought that ponies would be so into mind control.”

“It’s not mind control, it’s very strong suggestion.” Twilight tried to explain. “You see….”

“Shh! Get down, we’re almost there.” Silver said in a hoarse whisper.

As they reproached the gate, Silver made his voice as deep as possible.
“Um… Shadow the Hedgehog reporting.” he said with a frown.
The guards looked at one another, then back at Silver.
“You… look a little different, Agent Shadow.” the one guard stated. “Did you do something with your spikes? And you’re voice sounds a bit odd.”

“Erm….” Silver fidgeted nervously.

“I’m a little hoarse.” Twilight whispered.

“I know you’re a little horse!” Silver whispered back.

“Not me! You say it!” Twilight hissed. “Act like Shadow would!”

“Uh… mind your own business, pathetic human! I’m just a little pony. I mean horse. I mean hoarse, like…like a frog in my throat.”
“Are you okay, Agent Shadow?” the guard asked.
“I’m fine! Uh… now get out of my way! Your pathetic questions are getting in the way of my… uh, top-secret business!”
The guards nervously backed up. “Y-yes Agent Shadow!” they replied. “You may pass.”
As the truck drove up past the gate and into the base’s giant garage, Twilight stared very hard at Silver.

“Little horse?” she asked amusedly.

“I was panicking!” Silver replied, breathing heavily. “I sure hope my sweat doesn’t cause this paint to run!”

“Well, at least we’re in.” Twilight said. “Okay, so is the coast clear?”

“No.” Silver replied. “We’re surrounded by G.U.N. agents everywhere.”

Twilight peeked out, then smiled. “There’s none on the roof.”

*************************************************************************************************

Twilight and Silver quietly snuck along in the shadows of the roof, above where the lights hung. Stealthily, they approached an air vent. Silver used his psychokinesis to pry it open, and the two of them slid inside.

“Gravity-shifting spells, transformation spells, mind-control spells.” Silver whispered. “You’re quite the expert.”

“I told you, it isn’t mind control, it‘s strong suggestion.” Twilight whispered back as she scooted along behind Silver. “Not even Discord can create an unbreakable mind-control bond.”

“What about Nightmare Moon?” Silver asked.

“Luna allowed the evil into herself.” Twilight replied. “That’s the only reason it had such a strong hold. Although it appears that Mephiles might have found a way to overcome this, if Sol Umbrae is Princess Celestia.”

“But we have a chance, then.” Silver stated. “She can fight him from the inside. If she doesn’t willingly let him in, then odds are things won’t go as easily for Mephiles.”

Silver suddenly stopped. “Elevator shaft.” he whispered back.

“Hold on.” Twilight replied. Her horn flashed, and suddenly they both fell on their sides onto the wall.

“We can run down the side of the shaft this way.” Twilight exclaimed.

As Silver floated out and set his feet down upon the elevator shaft wall, he looked down… or was it ahead… into the darkness.
“This is going to be interesting.” he muttered as Twilight squeezed out of the air duct.

Twilight looked down as well. G.U.N. was indeed very high on security. Fields of high-intensity lasers and electrical fields were spread in front of them.

Twilight gave a confident smile. “Seriously, you need some good counter-spells in these places.” she stated.

With a flash, she and Silver teleported past the first electrical field.

“Why can’t you just teleport us to the bottom?” Silver asked.

Twilight shrugged. “Long-range teleportation is a lot harder, and it takes more energy. Plus, with these traps, I want to be careful where I teleport.”

“Well then, let’s see if you can keep up!” Silver said with a grin.

Before Twilight could respond, he was soaring and looping through the barriers ahead of her.
Spreading her wings, Twilight began to soar after him.

“Won’t they hear us?!” she hissed is a loud whisper.

“Nah, they don’t have constant surveillance in elevator shafts.” Silver replied. “They probably think that these traps are good enough to….”

Suddenly, they heard a loud, rushing sound behind them. They turned about.

And saw the last thing they wanted to see.

“Run! It’s the elevator!” Silver cried.

Twilight and Silver began to run, fly, and teleport as fast as they could without hitting into a trap, but the elevator was gaining on them.

“Isn’t it going to stop at a floor soon?” Twilight asked.

“It might be going all the way down!” Silver shouted back. “Keep going!”

Down, down they ran, until suddenly, the shaft ended. And the elevator was still coming.

“Stay close!” Twilight cried. “I’m going to teleport us onto the other side of the bottom door!”

“But we don’t know what’s over there!” Silver shouted worriedly.

“Well, we do know what’s over here!” Twilight cried back. “Get ready!”

There was a flash of magenta light, just as the elevator landed.
On the other side of the door, Twilight and Silver were relieved to find that the hall was empty.

But only for an instant.

Behind them, the elevator door opened, and six G.U.N. agents were inside. They suddenly noticed the two intruders and raised their weapons.

“Halt! What are you doing down here?” they shouted.

Silver gave an awkward grin. “I’m… Shadow the Hedgehog? Pathetic human? Hmph?”

“It’s those criminals which invaded the train!” one of the guards shouted. “Get them!”

Twilight jumped in front. “Cover me, Silver.” she exclaimed.

The agents fired, but their bullets were caught in midair by Silver. Twilight then zapped each soldier, turning them into various objects.

“The transformation spell should only last a while.” Twilight stated as she turned the last soldier into a lamp. “They’ll be fine, but that means that we’ll have to get to those blood samples quickly.”

“Then let’s go!” Silver cried. “I counted the floors. The samples should be down here!”

The two of them dashed through the halls. Stealth was now abandoned as time took precedence. It wouldn’t be long before one of the soldiers reverted and radioed for support.

“Wait, here we go!” Silver cried. “Genetics Division! That should hold the samples!”

Silver put his hand on the door, using his telekinesis to open the lock, then he and Twilight dashed inside.

But what they saw didn’t please them.

Scientists, frozen solid in positions of fear, filled the room. And standing in the center, tearing through hordes of samples, was Dusk Flicker.

“Well, it seems we meet again.” she said mockingly. “So, are you here to try and stop me? Good luck with that.”

“We don’t have to beat you.” Silver replied. “Just keep you down long enough so that your time-travel spell wears off.”

“And what makes you think you will be able to do that?” Dusk Flicker said with a smirk. Her horn crackled with dark magic. Bolts of arcane energy shot out, striking nearby pieces of furniture and lab equipment, turning them into frightening monsters which began to charge at Twilight and Silver.

But they stopped short. Silver waved a hand, and the monsters were thrown through the air at Dusk Flicker. As she blocked the attack with a magical shield, the beasts returned to their ordinary forms, smashing and clattering upon the floor.
Twilight was firing beams of magic off at Dusk Flicker, when she suddenly noticed a strange device on the wall.

A surveillance camera.

“This room seems familiar.” she thought. Then she realized.

It was the same room in the video where she had seen somepony breaking into the G.U.N. base.

That video was of her.

“But where did I search for the sample?” she thought to herself, dodging a bolt of dark magic.

Dusk Flicker may have had powerful dark magic, but she was having a hard time keeping a lock on Silver, and the entire room was filled with ammunition for Silver, as he tossed all sorts of equipment at her. A fire extinguisher went off, and the room filled with billowing clouds.

“Do you think that can stop me, fool?” Dusk Flicker cried out.

Suddenly, she was snagged by a tangled mess of electrical wires, and was pulled to the ground. She teleported away, but more wires ensnared her.

Silver was playing a very risky game. He knew that even together, he and Twilight still would have a very difficult time facing off against this foe. So instead of attacking with what did the most damage, he was doing everything he could to slow Dusk Flicker up, hoping that the time-travel spell would wear off soon.

Suddenly, he heard Twilight’s voice shout “Silver! I’ve got it! Catch the phial!”

Through the fog, Twilight tossed a blood sample to Silver. Silver reached out to catch it.

But Dusk Flicker reached it first.

As she caught it with her magic, she turned for an instant to look at Silver.

“You lose.” she said with a smug grin.

There was a flash, and she was gone.

*************************************************************************************************

“She has the blood sample!” Silver cried, dashing over to Twilight. “We have no idea where she even is going with it!”

“Calm down.” Twilight said. To Silver’s surprise, she was grinning.
“I came up with a plan to get rid of her early.” Twilight explained. “I merely tossed you a random phial, which I had changed the label on to look like the sample we’re looking for.”

Silver looked extremely relieved. “So… it was a trick?”

“Exactly!” Twilight said proudly. “Now, let’s try and get the sample.”

She looked around the room, trying to remember the video she had seen.
Then she noticed a small wall safe, revealed by the damage to the wall.
“There.” she said, pointing.
Silver used his telekinesis to force the lock open, and sure enough, there was the blood sample.
Suddenly, they heard the sound of approaching G.U.N. agents. Lots of them.
“Let’s do this quickly.” Twilight said. Firing a bolt of magic, the blood sample turned into a flower in a tasteful glass vase.
“Now, let’s get out of here!” Twilight cried.
“Agreed!” Silver said, pulling out his gem.

The G.U.N. agents burst in. “Freeze!” they shouted.

But Silver and Twilight were already gone.

*************************************************************************************************

Twilight suddenly found herself in a library. The silence compared to the noise they had been hearing only seconds before seemed as if time itself had stopped.

“Where are we?” she whispered.

“The location of the last sample.” Silver replied. “The Solianna secret archives.”

Twilight looked about in silent awe. She felt a chill down her spine as she imagined all the secret knowledge housed in the surrounding books. It was all she could do not to grab them and start reading some of them.

Silver looked about. “There has to be a secret door or something.” he muttered. “Odds are it’s behind a bookshelf.”

“But how will we know which one?” Twilight whispered.

Silver shrugged. “Maybe you should try a detection spell.”

“But those are really hard when involving highly magical things!” Twilight replied. “And they tend to be pretty case-specific, like Rarity and her ability to detect jewels. I don’t think I know any blood-sample-detecting spells, and a generic detection spell would take a while to focus.”

“We’ve got time.” Silver replied. “Nobody really comes in here very often, can’t you tell? Everything is all dusty.”

Twilight sighed. “Very well. Give me a moment.”

*************************************************************************************************

“There!” Twilight cried after fifteen long minutes. “I really should have worked more on detection spells. At the time, I though that object transformation was more important.”

“Well, where is it?” Silver asked.

“Behind that bookcase.” Twilight replied, pointing with her hoof.

Silver went over to it and began to examine the books.

“Let’s see.” he murmured. “These kind of things usually are triggered by a hidden switch, like a specific book or something.”

“Look for something on Solaris.” Twilight suggested.

Silver looked about. “Ah, here we go.” he stated. But as he pressed the book, nothing happened.
“Wait, here’s another one.” Twilight exclaimed, but as she pressed the book, again nothing occurred.

“Maybe it’s a code.” Twilight mumbled to herself. “Perhaps we have to press the right books in the right sequence in order to….”

“Twilight.” Silver interrupted. “Look.”

He pointed towards one book which stood apart from the rest. It was brown, with gold trimmings. A gold leaf unicorn’s head decorated the side.

Twilight stared in utter shock.

She knew that book.

Even as Silver hovered up close to it, she already knew the title.

The History of Equestria.

“Well, that’s interesting.” Silver murmured. He reached for the book. But as he pulled it, there was a creaking noise, and the bookshelf swung open like a door.

Silver and Twilight stared in awe.

“This… this is….” Twilight was at a loss for words.

“Wow.” Silver breathed.

All about them were ancient artifact and scrolls. But not just any artifacts.

They were Equestrian.

“Princess Celestia must have brought these to Mobius when she visited long ago!” Twilight exclaimed, staring at a shelf of scrolls marked with Celestia’s royal seal. “Look at these! Letters to the Solianna royalty!”

“Wonder why this is all locked away, and not in some museum.” Silver mused, staring at a golden statue of Celestia. “It’s as if they don’t want to remember.”

“We do remember.” a soft voice stated.

Silver and Twilight whipped about. Standing there was Princess Elise.

“Don’t worry. I’m not here to tell on you.” Elise stated. “I came in here to look at the secret chamber, as I hadn’t done so in a while, and I saw that the chamber was open. Although I must ask who you are and what you are doing here. And tell the truth. I know from legend that you are Equestrian.”

Twilight sighed. “I am Princess Twilight Sparkle. I trained under the tutelage of Princess Celestia herself, and have been sent here to stop a dark evil, known as Mephiles.”

Elise suddenly looked very grim. “That name is only spoken of in our darkest legends.” she stated. “Are you saying such a being exists?”
“With your permission, your highness,” Silver stated, “Twilight here can restore your memories, as she restored mine.”

“My memories?” Elise asked with confusion. “What have I forgotten?”

“Much evil, and much good.” Silver replied. “How the Blue Wind arose, how he conquered the Flames of Disaster. And how you, your highness, were the Iblis Trigger.”

Elise looked shocked. “Do you swear this is true?” she asked.

“Pinkie Promise!” Twilight exclaimed. “It will all make sense once your memories are restored.”

“Very well then.” Elise said, kneeling down. “Your words ring of truth, for some reason, and legends say that the ponies of Equestria are generally a good folk. If I have lost my memories, then please restore them.”

Twilight touched her horn to the princess’s forehead. There was a flash, and the princess blinked a great deal.

“I… remember.” she whispered, not to anyone in particular. “The Flames of Disaster, Silver, Eggman… Sonic.”

“Then you know why we have to do this.” Twilight stated. “Long ago, your people stole a blood sample from Princess Celestia.”

“A fact we have deeply regretted.” Elise replied. “We chased away one of our most beloved defenders. Over time, history became legends, and then the legends became myths. The name of Solarstia, the mother of Solaris, still lives in our culture.”

“Yeah, well, Solaris was some half-baked attempt at cloning Celestia.” Silver stated. “You know that now.”

Elise shook her head. “My father meant well. He hoped to give us a protector, a ray of hope. But… things went wrong. And yet now they are right. Mephiles remains bound in the Scepter of Darkness. And there he shall remain.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that.”

Twilight, Silver, and Elsie whipped about. Standing between two of Elise’s personal bodyguards, was Eggman.

“Hello, princess.” he stated with a toothy grin. “So good to see you again.”

*************************************************************************************************

Twilight and Silver leapt to battle-ready positions, but Eggman merely laughed, raising his hands.

“Are you trying to stop me?” he asked. “Well, that might be good for some laughs, but ultimately it is futile.”

“What did you do to my guards?!” Elise exclaimed angrily.

“You mean my guards.” Eggman replied. “Only the best soldiers get to be your personal guard. Funny thing is, machines always make better soldiers than humans, and they have a tendency for surpassing human soldiers in performance… which leads to recognition, and then promotion. Before you even knew it, most of your personal guards were my own androids.”

Eggman grabbed the face of the one guard, pulling on it and ripping off a latex mask. Beneath it, a mechanical face stared unblinkingly. Elise shrieked, and Twilight gasped.

“I’ve been watching you and making plans for quite some time now.” Eggman explained. “During the Solaris incident, I launched a time-probe to keep me informed of the events I had forgotten during the time-space reversion. Ever since, I have kept an eye on this place. Now, I can’t use the princess to release the Flames of Disaster, but right now, I have a more interesting target: Equestria.”

“You’ll never be able to win!” Twilight shouted. “Celestia and Luna will stop you!”

“I highly doubt it.” Eggman replied casually. “My probe informed me of the Nightmare Moon incident in your world, Miss Sparkle. Sonic didn’t smash it fast enough to stop me from learning all sorts of interesting tidbits about your world. Like how Princess Luna was overcome by this dark force. Well, that sounded familiar to me. So I looked through my databases, matching your conversations with Sonic to the information in my research files. It turned out that the one that matched the closest was Mephiles the Dark. Imagine how I felt. I had finally found a way to defeat these goddesses. And if Mephiles can control them, why can’t I? Soon, Equestria will bow before the Eggman Empire, and then Mobius!”

“You’re insane!” Silver shouted. “What makes you think you can even get past us?”

“Because the real Dr. Robotnik is safe and sound in his base.“ Eggman replied, as he held his palms up. The centers glowed with energy, as Eggman’s eyes flickered with electricity. “I’m simple transmitting my actions into this robot duplicate. Had it hidden in a castle broom closet for such an occasion. And now… it’s time to zap some rodent and equine interlopers!”

Lasers flew out of the robot-Eggman’s hands, scorching past Twilight and Silver.

“Elise, take cover!” Silver cried.

As Elise leapt behind the large Celestia statue, the two guards held up their hands and began firing upon Twilight and Silver as well.

Silver threw the one guard away, but the robot-Eggman tackled him.

“You hedgehogs are all the same!” Eggman cried. “Annoying interlopers! Well, I shall enjoy blasting you into oblivion, rodent!”

“Not this time!” Twilight cried. Using her telekinesis, she the robot-Eggman across the room, smashing into a large suit of Equestrian armor.

“Break my toys, will you?” Eggman cried as the robot got to its feet. “Eat missile!”

Twilight dove out of the way as the Eggman robot began to fire wrist-rockets at her. As she did, the second guard tackled her to the floor, holding her in its strong grasp. They rolled across the ground, crashing into a pedestal which lay in the corner.

Suddenly, there was a click. A panel suddenly opened in the wall, revealing another pedestal. And atop it rested the Scepter of Darkness.

“At last!” the Eggman-robot cried, charging towards the scepter. “There it is!”

But something went wrong. As Twilight struggled with her robot attacker, its laser went off. It struck the statue of Celestia, and ricocheted off, hitting the robot Eggman.

Which crashed to the pedestal, launching the scepter into the air.

CRASH!

The scepter shattered upon the hard tile floor.

“NOOOOOO!!!” Eggman cried.

From the staff, a dark, shapeless form emerged. It streamed across the floor.

Silver saw it, and shouted. But Twilight didn’t see it.

Until it was almost on top of her.

She screamed, but the dark shape made no move towards her. Instead, it moved towards her shadow, swallowing it up like a vacuum.

And slowly the shadow took form. Twisting, changing.

Until it took the form of a pony. An alicorn.

“Dusk Flicker.” Twilight breathed.

The pony shook her dark mane. “I am free at last!” she shouted. “Mephiles rises again!”

“You’re… Mephiles?!” Twilight gasped in shock.

“You!” Silver shouted. “You’re the cause of Sol Umbrae!”

The Mephiles-Flicker gave a smug grin. “It has been so long since I have seen ponykind.” she stated. “And you, of all ponies, Twilight Sparkle. How ironic that I take the form of the pony who cast me out of Luna.”

“You won’t rise again, Nightmare Moon!” Twilight shouted.

“Nightmare Moon?” the dark pony replied amusedly. “I am not just Nightmare Moon. I am the darkness in each of your hearts. Nightmare Moon was what Luna’s darkness was. And you, Twilight Sparkle. So much good, and yet so much potential for evil.”

“I will never give in!” Twilight shouted.

The dark pony grinned. “You are not my interest. You never have been. I seek only one thing. Revenge. Revenge upon Celestia.”

The pony turned away from Twilight. Silver hurled the Celestia statue at it, but it just tossed the statue aside with the same casualness as one treats a mosquito.

“For releasing me, I shall be kind enough to let you live.” the dark pony stated. “But I can’t have you getting in my way. But before I deal with you, perhaps I should deal with one who thought he could control me.” the dark pony turned towards the Eggman robot.

The android frowned. “If I can’t control you, you are too great a threat to be left be.”

A red light suddenly flashed in all three robots’ chests.

“So long, interlopers!”

There was a flash, and a wave of heat and shrapnel, as the robots self-destructed. Silver leapt to Elise’s side to shield them both, while Twilight used her magic to block the explosion.

When the smoke cleared, flames were spreading everywhere. The dark pony, who had also shielded itself from the explosion, looked about amusedly.

Then, it suddenly looked closely at a shattered glass phial on the ground. It stared at the symbol upon the glass, and the red liquid which had spilled upon the ground.

“Interesting.” it muttered. “It looks as if I might have found something useful. Something Celestia did not expect me to find. This one is useless, but I highly doubt it is the only one.”

The dark pony turned towards Twilight and Silver. “I have the perfect place to send you.” it stated. Its horn flashed with dark magic, and a portal opened.

“I trust you’ll enjoy it there.” the dark pony said with a cruel grin. “You’ll get to see everything from high up. And after all, what better place to put those you want out of your way?”

Twilight and Silver suddenly were enveloped in a flash. As they landed upon rocky, dusty soil, they turned about to see the portal closing behind them.

“NO!” Twilight and Silver both cried at once.

As the portal flickered away, Twilight looked about at their new surroundings.

“Where are we?” Silver asked.

Twilight looked about at the starry skies. She recognized those constellations. But they were little comfort now.

“I suppose this is meant to be ironic.” Twilight grumbled.

“Do you know where we are?” Silver asked.

Twilight pointed behind him. Hovering in the sky was a giant orb of blue and green, looking just like the globe in her room back in Ponyville.

“That’s Equestria.” she stated. “And this… is the moon.”

Author's Note:

Little horse. Heh heh.

Time travel is really confusing to write for. Also, again, Marachino Cherry is not based off of anypony's OC, but if you own an OC with a similar name and appearance, then feel free to claim this as a cameo.

Comments

[Bluebottle27]

Twilight set the phial on the floor. Her horn charged up with magic. A bolt flew out, striking the phial, as it turned into….

“An orange?” Silver asked, raising an eyebrow.

Twilight shrugged. “First thing I thought of.” she replied.

Blood Orange. HaHaHa (men in white coats appear and drag me off)