Sonic and the Secret Rings, Volume Four
Up on the path on the Rukh’s back, Rainbow sat, still dazed from crashing into the wall Haman had stopped her with. As she wobbled slightly, a pink ball of light flew up to her, Shahra quickly appearing from it. Quickly noticing the pegasus’ condition, the genie placed her hands on the sides of Rainbow’s head and said, “Rainbow! Rainbow Dash!”
At the sound of Shahra’s voice (and the little bit of magic she worked into her to help her recover faster), Rainbow shook her head and asked, “Huh? What?” She looked around quickly before looking at Shahra, “What happened to Haman? Where is everypony else?”
The young genie answered, “Haman used a spell on the magic carpet to make it unusable! They all fell off the Rukh!”
Rainbow gasped, “WHAT?!”
Shahra pointed to the back of the Rukh as she said, “I’ll restore the carpet! While I’m doing that, go help them as best you can!”
Rainbow quickly leapt to her hooves, “I’m on it!” She then spread her wings and took off, flying around past Haman and briefly distracting him, allowing Shahra to gather up the broken pieces of the carpet with her magic and slip away before he could notice her.
Rainbow soon got behind the Rukh, the tailwind increasing her normal speed, and spotted Sonic and the others falling through the air. She slowed slightly when she noticed they were doing what they could to slow their descent. Cadance had Spike on her back and her forelegs wrapped around Shining Armor, who had Sonic hanging from his hind legs with Twilight and Aladdin hanging onto him, Fluttershy was holding onto Applejack along with Rarity and Pinkie Pie, and Aladdin was holding his right hand out, which had a blue glow coming from it, whatever he was doing likely helping to slow every down.
Despite their efforts, they weren’t slowing themselves down much. Both Cadance and Fluttershy were flapping their wings as hard as they could, but they weren’t going up. Rainbow called, “Hang on, guys!” and shot to full speed again, this time aiming underneath the others. Once she was a fair distance underneath them (based on how far she expected them to fall by the time she was done), she began to fly in a tight circle like when she was performing her rainblow dry. At the speed she was going, she was able to produce a small whirlwind, the rush of the wind helping to push the rest of the group up.
Although Rainbow was able to keep doing this, both Cadance and Fluttershy’s forelegs were starting to get tired from trying to hold everyone. After less than a minute of being pushed upward, Cadance’s forelegs began to shake and she grunted, “Shining, I can’t… hold on… much… longer!” Seconds after saying that, she was forced to release her hold on Shining, and not long afterwards, Fluttershy did the same with Applejack!
Rainbow came to a stop when she saw everyone fall past her whirlwind, both her and Fluttershy crying, “Oh no!”
Cadance called, “Fluttershy, Rainbow, quickly!” She then flew down after everyone, trying to grab onto as many of them as she could.
Fluttershy quickly followed her, but Rainbow took a moment to call, “Shahra, hurry!” She then flew down to join Fluttershy and Cadance, but the group was already starting to pass through the sea of clouds.
After a short time of falling, during which they all passed through darkening clouds, the carpet suddenly shot through the clouds and past the flying ponies, a pink ball of light following after it. The carpet soon got underneath everyone and they all landed on it a second later, the magic in the carpet preventing most of the bounce that would’ve followed such a fall while still allowing for a soft landing. Once everyone had settled down and Rainbow, Cadance, and Fluttershy had landed on the carpet as well, Shahra appeared from the ball of light, hovering next to the carpet. Sonic grinned at her, “Nice entrance, Shahra!”
Cadance nodded and added, “And perfect timing, too. I don’t know how much longer we could’ve kept everyone up.”
Shahra giggled and replied, “I’m just glad to help. I might not have been able to do anything to Erazor Djinn’s magic, but I’m certainly proficient enough to counter Haman’s magic.”
Aladdin said, “Way to go, Shahra.” He glanced off to the side as he thought to himself, “What a mess this all is… And it’s all my fault for letting Haman get close to me…”
The white hedgehog snapped back to reality when Spike asked, “Hey… where did we end up, anyway?” At his question, everyone looked around, noticing for the first time the darker and cloudier sky overhead as well as the water far below the carpet that stretched as far as their eyes could see.
“It looks like we’re over the ocean,” Shining said, looking down at the water.
“That wind must have blown us back quite some distance,” Cadance noted as she looked up at the clouds. “With all those clouds, a storm must be scheduled for this area.”
“Excuse me fer sayin’ so, Princess, but we shouldn’t be worryin’ about rain right now,” Applejack said.
Rainbow nodded, “Yeah! Let’s get back up in the sky and stop Haman!”
Aladdin quietly added, “And save Badoura.”
Rainbow looked at him and said, “Well, yeah! I didn’t forget about her! We gotta stop him if we’re going to save her, so…”
Pinkie interrupted her, pointing and saying, “Hey, look! There’s a ship over there!” Everyone looked where she was pointing and saw a large wooden ship off in the distance. Judging from its size, its three masts, each one having a large white sail, and the figurehead clutching some sort of staff between its hands underneath the bow, it was some type of galleon.
“A ship? We can’t worry about that. Now…” Shining spoke, starting to turn around, only for Sonic to place a hand on his shoulder, as if he was going to stop him. “What?” Shining asked, turning his head to look at the hedgehog.
Sonic looked at the ship, sensing a familiar power emanating from within it. “It’s just a hunch, but there’s something about that ship that seems familiar,” he said.
“I think you’re right, Sonic. It almost feels like…” Shahra nodded, looking towards the ship’s echidna-like figurehead. After a few moments, she smiled, “I’ve got it! It’s one of the World Rings! That must be Sinbad’s ship!”
Rarity raised an eyebrow, “‘Sinbad’?”
Sonic nodded, “That’s right. Then that’s coming from the Water Blue Ring.” He looked up at Shahra a moment later and said, “Hey, we should probably warn Sinbad and Ali Baba about Haman’s plan.”
The genie nodded to him, “Yes. Even though Haman said he’s not strictly going after the World Rings, he might still come after them. They need to know.” Without another word, she turned the carpet around and it shot off towards the ship.
As the group got closer to the ship, they were able to get a better look at the deck of the ship. There were two sets of stairs leading up to the stern of the ship with a pair of doors leading below deck between them and some sort of stand and a pair of hatch doors in front of them. The rest of the deck, from the doors to the bow, seemed to be level. The carpet flew around near the top of the masts once it reached the ship to get a better look at the crew.
As they were flying, they heard a call of “Hey!” and looked to see a familiar-looking fox in the crow’s nest atop the center mast holding a small brown telescope in his left hand and waving to them. He was wearing a white turban, a red vest with yellow trim, a brown belt around his abdomen, white gloves and socks that had small black belts to secure them, and red and white shoes that had pointy toes, and he definitely had two tails. Sonic and Shahra waved back at him, as did Spike and the ponies while Aladdin just looked back at the fox. Now sure of the ship’s captain, Shahra brought the carpet in for a landing on the deck, landing near the stairs on the ship’s port side and across from the stand and the hatch.
After everyone stepped off the carpet, while Shahra stashed it away, Cadance looked at Sonic and asked, “So Sonic, who are Sinbad and… Ali Baba?”
Sonic replied, “They’re friends of ours. They helped me and Shahra stop Erazor Djinn, and we traveled together for a while afterwards.” A creaking noise came from the stairs and Sonic and the others turned to look. At the top of the stairs was a red echidna who was wearing a white igal atop his head, an open white vest with a purple belt, gray metal wristlets, white gloves with pointed knuckles, and red shoes with pointy toes and a yellow metal green edge. Sonic grinned up at him, “Hey, Sinbad! Remember me?”
The echidna crossed his arms and smirked, “Well, well. Look what the sea washed up. Can’t say I was expecting to see you again, hedgehog.”
Rainbow flew up next to Sonic and exclaimed, “You’re friends with pirates in this world, Sonic?! That is awesome! Pirates are so cool!”
Before Sonic had a chance to reply, Sinbad leapt from the stairs and landed directly in front of him and Rainbow Dash. The echidna pointed his right fist at the latter as he said, “I don’t know who you are, but don’t you dare compare me to a band of cowardly spirits!” He then pointed his right thumb at himself, “I am Sinbad of the Seven Seas, the Adventurer of Adventurers!”
A familiar voice from above spoke up, “And I’m Ali Baba. Hi!” Everyone looked up to see Tails’ Arabian Nights counterpart hovering overhead, waving down at them.
While everyone else looked happy to see the fox, Rainbow quickly turned back to Sinbad and said, “You really think you’re better than any other adventurer, pal? In your dreams! Daring Do is twenty percent more of an adventurer than you’ll ever be!”
Amused, Sinbad asked, “Oh yeah? And who is this ‘Daring Do’ you speak of?”
Rainbow replied, “She’s the awesome main character in all of her books. And I’m sure she can be brought out of one of her books to show you what a real adventurer is like!”
Sinbad held up his right hand and grunted, “Comparing me to a character that may not even be real? Please! Unless you know she actually exists, don’t give me that pile of Daring DON’T!”
Rainbow glared at him and looked ready to retort, but Ali Baba flew down and got between them, holding his hands out as he said, “Come on, you two, stop it! Can’t we have one new introduction that isn’t preceded by a fight?”
Aladdin stepped forward, “We don’t have time to be fighting right now. This is serious.”
Sinbad looked over at him and asked, “What? Who are you?”
Shahra floated forward and said, “This is Aladdin, Sinbad, and I’m afraid he’s correct. When we saw your ship, we thought it best to warn you about a new threat.”
Sinbad raised an eyebrow, “A new threat?”
Before anyone else could say something, Spike spoke up, “Hey, uh… I think that threat just found us!” Everyone turned to look at him and saw he was looking towards the starboard side of the ship, pointing upwards. Looking up, the group quickly recognized Haman’s flying cobra coming down from the clouds, seemingly aiming straight for them!
“What is THAT?!” Ali Baba exclaimed.
“It’s him. Get ready!” Aladdin said as he prepared to draw his saber, but everyone was surprised a few moments later when the cobra flew over the ship entirely. They all looked towards the port side and saw that it was still going, though it was no longer angled downwards. After several moments, the massive snake came to a stop, hovering high above the water.
“What’s going on?” Sinbad asked.
Pinkie gasped, “He must’ve found another World Ring! He’s going to remove its Essence and make it impossible for ships to sail the seas!” Ali Baba and Sinbad stared at her for a moment, but before they could say anything, the ship suddenly began to rock due to waves crashing against the side of it. They looked forward and saw the water below Haman raising up as though something large was surfacing, a pillar of white light emerging from the top of it.
After about a minute, the rising water receded to reveal a dilapidated ship with three broken masts that had bits of seaweed and other marine life clinging to its exterior. The number of holes that could be seen should have made it impossible for the ship to stay afloat. “That looks like the pirates’ ship!” Shahra exclaimed.
“The ones that stole the Water Blue Ring? When did that ship sink?” Sonic asked.
Sinbad scratched his head, “Um, I think it was after you left. I think we had a run-in with that ship, and I might’ve caused a storm…” He trailed off, trying to remember the details.
While they were talking, Haman extracted the Essence of the Water Blue Ring from the ship and stored it in an empty vial. “Five down, two to go,” he murmured to himself as he held up the vial in his left hand and looked at it.
He soon perked up when he heard a familiar voice shout, “You’re not getting away this time, you jerk!” He looked to his left to see Rainbow Dash flying towards him.
Haman sighed as he tucked the vial away underneath his cloak and said, “It’s no use. It’s no use, foolish pony!” He took his staff in both hands and held it up as Rainbow came at him with her hooves outstretched. They came into contact with the staff and they began to push against each other once again.
This went on for several seconds, during which the cobra brought its tail around beneath Rainbow. Sonic, Applejack, Pinkie, and Shining Armor were the first ones to notice it and they all called as loud as they could, “Rainbow, look out!” She didn’t hear them, though, and the snake wrapped its tail around her!
The pegasus struggled, but with her wings restrained, she was unable to do much more than shake and kick her legs. The cobra raised her above its head and shook her a few times before throwing her back towards Sinbad’s ship. Sonic guessed she might overshoot the deck and ran to the other side, getting in her path. She crashed into him, the impact knocking him over the railing behind him, but he managed to grab it with his hands while she wrapped her forelegs around his neck.
While the others helped them, Haman looked on and sneered, “Hmph! It was fun at first, but now you’re all starting to wear on my patience!” He looked down at the ship he pulled up and an idea came to him. He held his staff up, the tip glowing as he said, “You keep them company! I have preparations to make.” With that, his cobra turned and shot off over the water while the magic seemed to course through the ship and a light rain started falling.
Back on Sinbad’s ship, Ali Baba and Applejack were able to pull Sonic and Rainbow back onto the deck. Everyone’s relief at this was short-lived, though, as they began to hear booming sounds. They all looked towards the other side of the ship and saw that the ship was beginning to come towards them, the sounds they were hearing coming from the cannonballs it was firing. “What’s going on?!” Twilight asked.
“Oh great! Haman must’ve used his magic to turn it into a ghost ship!” Sonic grunted.
Sinbad growled, “Ghost ship, huh? Well, it’ll take more than that to sink this sailor!” He turned to look at Sonic, Aladdin, Spike, and the ponies and, while pointing to the doors leading into the ship, said, “I’ve got some cannons hidden on the lower deck! If we pound on that thing enough, we can send it back to the bottom of the sea!” He had barely finished his sentence before Sonic dashed towards the doors and pushed them open. Aladdin quickly followed after him along with the others save for Fluttershy. The shy pegasus seemed hesitant at the idea of using a cannon, so Ali Baba stayed with her on the deck while Sinbad ran back to the helm to steer his ship.
Below deck, Sonic passed through an entryway and quickly looked around the room. On both the left and right sides of the room were four cannons, each one covered by a sheet. Nodding to himself, he ran over to the closest cannon on the left, lifting the cover off of it and then pushing the porthole open. As he was doing this, Aladdin ran into the room and quickly selected the cannon next to him. Shining Armor and Rainbow Dash soon took the remaining cannons while Applejack, Princess Cadance, Rarity and Pinkie took the cannons on the other side of the room. Shahra soon found a spare room containing all the materials for the cannons and both she and Twilight opted to do the job of refilling the cannons while Spike lit the fuses.
After Shahra had instructed everyone on how to operate the cannons and how to make the reloading process go faster, Shining placed his hooves on his cannon and said, “All right, everypony, we need to sink that ship! Don’t be too quick to fire; we need to make our shots count!” Everyone faced forward at that, waiting for the pirates’ ship to appear in their sights as they felt the ship moving and bobbing against the waves, listening to the sounds of the ship creaking and cannonballs splashing outside.
Suddenly, the ship appeared in front of the port side cannons and Shining Armor said, “Fire!” At this, Spike leapt up and unleashed a stream of green fire from his mouth that lit their fuses, the cannons going off soon afterwards. The cannonballs hit the ghost ship dead on, the ship pausing and shaking from the hits. Almost immediately afterwards, the cannons were pulled back to allow Twilight and Shahra to refill them. While they were a little slow in getting them ready, they were able to finish the process with enough time for the cannons to pull off another round of shots before the ghost ship began to leave their sight.
Up in the crow’s nest, Ali Baba and Fluttershy noticed that the ship was pulling ahead, seemingly getting out of attack range. When he raised his telescope to his eye, however, Ali Baba was able to see that the ship’s cannons were turning in the direction of their ship. He quickly lowered his telescope and called, “Sinbad! The ship’s cannons are preparing to attack again!” Not long afterwards, the cannons started firing again and Sinbad turned the wheel to avoid the shots as best he could. Despite his ship’s size, he was able to steer around most of the shots, though there were a few that crashed against the sides and others that raised columns of water that splashed onto the deck.
Growling, Sinbad spun the wheel to the left, intending to catch a breeze and get up along the left side of the ghost ship. After a moment, he turned the wheel back to go straight and the sails caught a wind, Sinbad’s ship soon getting back up alongside the ghost ship. Down on the lower deck, once she saw the ship, Cadance called “Spike!” Spike ran to their side at the sound of his name and lit the fuses for her, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie, the cannons going off at roughly the same time and hitting their target. Shahra and Twilight soon had the cannons set up again and they were able to fire one more time before the ghost ship fired its cannons and Sinbad was forced to break off to avoid the cannonballs.
This sea battle continued on like this for a short while, Sinbad getting up alongside the ghost ship whenever there was a break in its attacks to give Sonic and the others a chance to attack before breaking off to avoid having any cannonballs go right through the deck. After managing to avoid a shot that would’ve likely made a sizable hole in the starboard side of his ship, Sinbad managed to get up along the port side of the ghost ship, giving Cadance’s side a chance to fire. Their cannonballs hit their mark, and moments later, the ghost ship began to explode before it began to sink, the ship starting to break apart as it began to sink beneath the waves.
“Whoo-hoo! Bye-bye, ghost ship!” Pinkie exclaimed, Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash joining in on the cheer while Shining Armor and Cadance hugged, Twilight, Shahra, and Spike shared a fist/hoof bump, and Sonic gave Aladdin a slightly awkward high-five (it took the white hedgehog a second to catch onto what he was proposing).
After the cheering died down, Ali Baba poked his head into the room through one of the port portholes and said, “Hey, great job, guys! These cannons don’t see a lot of use, but you all sure used them to make short work of that old pirate ship!”
Rainbow just grinned, “Well, of course! We’re awesome! I’m sure even that loudmouthed sailor could see that!”
Ali Baba replied, “Yes, well, I wanted to let you guys know that you should come up on deck now. The rain is stopping and the waters are calming down, so we’re going to drop the anchor for a bit. Sinbad wants to know what’s going on.” With that, he pulled his head out and flew off to drop the anchor.
Silence ruled the room for a moment before Shahra asked, “Well, shall we?” Everyone nodded and they left the room after closing the portholes and placing the covers back over the cannons.
Up on the deck, everyone met up with Fluttershy, Sinbad, and Ali Baba, and after a short while of explaining, the latter two were up to speed on the situation. “I see. So this Haman guy is responsible for the release of Erazor Djinn and everything that happened afterwards, including those pirates stealing from me and locking me in that cage,” Sinbad said.
Sonic shrugged at his Equestrian friends when he saw their quizzical looks while Aladdin scratched his head with his left hand as he spoke, “Uh, yeah, in a way, I guess.”
Ali Baba looked at Sonic and asked, “So now that he’s resurfaced, he’s trying to gather these… Essences of the World Rings?”
Sonic nodded, “Yeah. That’s why I thought we should warn you guys. I figured it would’ve been easier to get the Essence from the ring itself rather than finding where the ring was originally, but apparently the Water Blue Ring left its mark on that ship and he knew where to find it.”
Sinbad said, “Well, I did find it and learn how to control it during my solo travels, so I can see why it would be connected to the sea. Interesting how this ‘Essence’ provides a source of life to their original resting places, though.” He looked at Shahra and asked, “You said you thought that he’s also come into possession of another magical artifact, Shahra?”
Shahra nodded, “Yes. I’m certain of it now. That crystal his staff is holding… It has to be a piece of the Eye of Gazeem.”
Ali Baba’s eyes widened, “The Eye of Gazeem? Isn’t that…”
Sinbad nodded, “Yeah. No wonder he’s just now pursuing whatever he’s planning; it probably took him a long time to find that.”
Sonic asked, “You know about it?”
Sinbad replied, “Only what I’ve heard on my travels. I’ve never seen the eye for myself.”
Shining asked, “Well, what is this eye, and why does he need it?”
Shahra spoke up, “If I may, I can tell you about the Eye of Gazeem.” Everyone looked at her expectantly, so she explained, “The complete eye may look like an ordinary crystal, but it contains an unusual power. The most well-known tale is that whoever rubs it gains the ability to pass through solid objects.”
Spike smiled, “Cool!”
Shahra continued, “However, something that never seems to make it into these tales is the fact that the eye, when rubbed, opens a gateway to the Netherworld, the land of the dead.”
Spike winced, “Uh, not so cool.”
Twilight asked, “The land of the dead?”
Shahra nodded, “Yes, where the spirits of the dead reside. With one rub, the Eye of Gazeem can transport the living to this world, where, even though they are still alive, they become like spirits. That’s why the tales say it allows one to pass through solid objects, but once you’re there, you can no longer communicate normally with the living, and the only way to get out is if someone rubs the eye and reopens the gateway.”
Sonic crossed his arms, “The living in the land of the dead, huh? Clever…”
Applejack said, “More like creepy, ‘specially if ya can’t touch anythin’ or talk to anypony.”
Rainbow raised an eyebrow, “How do you know all this, Shahra?”
Shahra shrugged, “I’m a genie, and I’ve learned a lot about this world since Sonic and I traveled together. And I’ve continued learning since he returned to his world.”
Rainbow nodded, “Huh. I guess that makes sense.”
Ali Baba spoke, “So that’s what it really does… If the whole thing can open a portal to the land of the dead, Haman must’ve taken a piece from it because his plan involves the dead somehow. Maybe he’s planning to summon something?”
Shahra nodded, “That’s what I was thinking as well.”
Sinbad spoke, “Then we need to figure out where he went.” He looked at Sonic and asked, “Presumably, he has five of the Essences, right? Where were the last two World Rings?”
Sonic held his right hand to his chin, thinking for a moment before replying, “Uh… one was in the Skeleton Dome, and the other was inside of that… pocket dimension or whatever that space inside of that palace that Erazor Djinn had taken over was.” Aladdin flinched slightly when he heard the word ‘palace,’ knowing which one Sonic was talking about.
Ali Baba murmured, “The Skeleton Dome…” His eyes widened a moment later as he gasped, “King Solomon! If Haman is able to amass a large enough army of spirits, he could be in danger!” Sinbad, Sonic, and Shahra stared at him, realizing he was right.
Pinkie asked, “King ‘Solo-man’? Who’s that?”
Shahra answered, “He’s the ruler of the Skeleton Dome, Pinkie. After we helped him, he told us how to reach Erazor Djinn.”
Sonic spoke, “Speaking of which, considering how warm and fuzzy Haman isn’t, I’m willing to bet he won’t be content with leaving the king as a collection of parts, unlike Erazor Djinn.”
Sinbad grunted, “Well, that settles it! We’ll help you guys stop him!” He turned to Ali Baba and said, “Get the sea chart! We set sail for the Skeleton Dome at once!” The young fox saluted and then ran towards the ship’s double doors, disappearing through them and heading for Sinbad’s cabin.
After Ali Baba was gone, Aladdin looked at Sinbad and asked, “We’re going to set sail right away? I’m amazed you came up with a plan that quickly.”
Sinbad raised an eyebrow, “Plan?”
Aladdin shrugged, “Y-yeah. F-for stopping Haman?”
Sinbad replied “Oh.” After a moment, he said, “There is no plan for that.”
Before anyone else could say anything, Rainbow commented, “Wow! He really is the adventurer of adventurers, isn’t he? Goes after a crazy sorcerer with no plan in mind!”
Sinbad retorted, “You’re one to talk, especially after that display earlier! You got some vital information that you haven’t shared with the rest of us, Ms. ‘Charge First and Ask Questions Later’?”
Rainbow glared at Sinbad and looked ready to get into another argument with him when Twilight stepped between the two of them, filling in for Ali Baba, and exclaimed, “Stop, both of you!” Turning to Sinbad while standing in front of Rainbow, she asked him, “Sinbad, I’m not trying to doubt your abilities as an adventurer, but do you really think going after Haman without a plan in mind is a good idea?”
The echidna sailor replied, “Absolutely, and if your friend is willing to stop firing her mouth off for a minute, I’d be happy to explain why.” Rainbow let out a huff at that, but crossed her forelegs and shut her mouth. Satisfied with this, Sinbad explained, “Based on what we know, we have a pretty good idea of what Haman is planning. He wants to use the Essences of the World Rings and the Eye of Gazeem to summon something from the Netherworld, but I have a feeling his plan is missing one thing.” He pointed at Sonic and Aladdin, “One or both of you.”
Everyone looked surprised at that, Aladdin asking, “What?! Us?!”
Sinbad nodded, “Of course. That’s why he kidnapped the princess. He knows we’re trying to stop him, you two especially. He took her as bait, to give you the extra incentive to go after him. I don’t know who he needs, but I’m sure he’s expecting us to follow him.” As he was finishing speaking, Ali Baba came back out onto the deck carrying a fairly sizable piece of parchment in his hands. Sinbad turned to him and noticed that he was already starting to unroll it. He turned back to the others and said, “Come, gather around and I’ll share the rest of my reason with you.” The others followed him over to Ali Baba, everyone gathering around the fox as they looked at the chart on the parchment.
The chart was hand-drawn, but it appeared to be well-made, the seas of the world of the Arabian Nights carefully mapped out with a number of landmarks marked on it. Ali Baba raised his right hand and indicated an area on the chart, “We were roughly around this area before Haman raised the pirates’ ship.”
Sonic asked, “We couldn’t have gone too far from there, right?”
Sinbad nodded, “Right. And if you look around this area, we’re pretty far away from any place where we could stock up on supplies. We’re not exactly in a position where it would be beneficial for us to gear up.”
Cadance asked, “You don’t think so?”
After telling Ali Baba to try to figure out where they were in relation to the Skeleton Dome, the fox flying up to the crow’s nest with the chart, Sinbad replied, “To be fair, we probably could go to the closest port and restock, but I have a feeling that the sooner we track down Haman, the better. He doesn’t seem like the type who likes to be kept waiting, and if we’re lucky, we might even be able to catch him by surprise.”
Sonic said, “Sounds as good a plan as any to me. So we’ll just make up the rest as we go along?” Sinbad nodded in confirmation. A few members were still a bit unsure about going after Haman right away, but ultimately, everyone agreed, as they could see the logic in what the red echidna was saying. Rarity in particular seemed quite willing to agree with him…
Sinbad then looked up towards the crow’s nest and called, “Hey, Ali Baba! You figured out where we are yet?”
After a few moments, the fox called back down, “Yes!” He flew down, holding the open sea chart in his left hand and his telescope in his right hand, and landed on the deck before saying, “I’ve got a pretty good idea of where we are.”
Applejack whistled, “That was quick, pardner.”
Ali Baba giggled and then pointed at a spot on the chart close to the original area. “Based on all that evidence available, I can conclude we’re roughly around here. That means it’ll take a little while, but,” he turned and pointed towards the starboard side of the ship, “if we go straight that way, we’ll end up at the Skeleton Dome.”
Fluttershy noticed the dark clouds gathering in that direction and murmured, “Tails- I mean, Ali Baba… It looks like it’s getting ready to rain in that direction… M-maybe you could… plan a new course? One that goes around the storm?”
Rainbow patted the shy pegasus on the back, “Don’t worry, Fluttershy! A little storm’s not gonna get in our way, especially not with me around! I’ll just go up there and push it out of the way; it’ll be just like weather duty in Ponyville!”
She spread her wings, but before she could start flapping them, Sinbad spoke, “Not a bad idea, but I think I’ve got a better, faster way of taking care of that storm.”
Rainbow turned to him, “Oh yeah? What’s that?”
As he turned around, Sinbad replied, “Allow me to show you the crown jewel of my ship.” He then walked over to the stand in front of the double doors, which was revealed to have a compass built into it. Everyone came closer and watched as he began to mess with the top of the stand, first turning it to the left and pulling it up followed by pressing it down and quickly turning it to the right. Once he turned it all the way, everyone began to hear some sort of mechanism shifting, and the hatch doors in front of the stand began to open.
After several seconds, some sort of contraption had been raised up to the deck. It looked like a miniature pyramid, only instead of being pointed at the top, there was instead some sort of blue pillar of light emerging from the top. And above the center of the pyramid, seemingly held in place by four rays of blue light coming from the small columns at the edges of the pyramid, was the Water Blue World Ring, the ring glowing brightly from the power it contained.
Amazed at the sight, Cadance started, “Is that…?”
Shahra nodded, “Yes. It’s the Water Blue Ring. It really was the source of the power we were feeling…”
As he stepped around over to the device holding the ring, Sinbad said, “I’m surprised any of you were able to sense it at all. I specifically had that compartment made to hide its energy from the outside world.”
Sonic refrained from making a different comment and instead shrugged, “Well, I was carrying it around for a while, Sinbad. Maybe that has something to do with it?”
Sinbad replied, “Yeah, maybe. Still, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to give it a look later. Anyway…” He turned to look back at the ring and held his arms out towards it, slowly holding them out as he began to chant in Arabic. After about a minute, the echidna’s chanting came to an end and the Water Blue Ring began to glow brighter, releasing a halo of blue light that spread out from the ship seconds later.
Shahra, Ali Baba, and Sonic turned to look up at the stormy clouds off the ship’s starboard side, Sonic soon grinning, “That did it!” Aladdin, Spike, and the ponies turned to look and saw that the storm clouds were being pushed away, leaving only the overcast sky overhead.
“The clouds are parting? Is that the World Ring’s power?” Twilight asked.
“It sure is,” Sinbad answered. He gestured towards the ring, “The Water Blue Ring allows whoever holds it control storms. It’s an invaluable tool for a sailor like me, and that’s why I made sure he found it and brought it back to me before he returned home.” He pointed to Sonic as he finished speaking.
Sonic crossed his arms, “And held it up in the air for, like, half an hour while you built that gizmo that keeps it in place. Don’t forget that part, Sinbad.”
Sinbad smirked, “Of course I wouldn’t forget that part. After all, it nearly killed you to stand still for that long.” Sonic just rolled his eyes at that. Sinbad then turned to Ali Baba and said, “All right, Ali Baba, you’re on lookout duty, as usual.” The fox saluted again before flying back up to the crow’s nest with his telescope and the sea chart. Sinbad then looked at the others, “I need somebody to bring the anchor up so we can get moving.” He then eyed the deck before adding, “And if you’ve all got nothing better to do, you could each grab a mop from the closet and start cleaning up this mess.”
Rainbow spoke up, “Whoa, whoa, whoa! What are we, your swabbies now?”
Sinbad replied, “Hey, you heard Ali Baba. It’s going to take us a while to reach the Skeleton Dome, and it sounds like you lot have had to deal with plenty of stuff already. Whether you want to do something worthwhile with this time or not is up to you, but I’d suggest relaxing while you have the chance.” As he turned and started walking up to the helm, he finished, “Once we hit land, there won’t be much time for that.”
A few seconds passed before Sonic sighed, “I’ll get the anchor. If somebody wants to grab me a mop, I’d appreciate it.” As he turned and started walking towards the ship’s bow, Aladdin and Twilight headed inside to search for the closet Sinbad had mentioned.
It wasn’t long before the ship and its crew had set off for their destination, the wind at their back and the clouds parting overhead due to the power of the World Ring. As he steered the ship, Sinbad looked down at the deck and noted what everyone was doing. Sonic, Spike, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Shining Armor, Aladdin, and Pinkie Pie were all mopping the deck, Shahra was helping Applejack repair the ship’s railings, and Twilight and Cadance were overseeing everything. Glancing over all of them again, he realized there seemed to be a pony missing…
“Excuse me, Sinbad.” The echidna looked to his left in surprise and saw Rarity walking towards him, a smile on her face.
“Oh, there you are, uh, Rarity. I was wondering where you were,” the sailor said as he stepped back from the wheel.
Rarity smiled a bit wider, “Oh, were you now?”
Sinbad regained his composure and said, “Yeah.” Turning his head to look at the deck, he asked, “Why aren’t you down there, helping the rest of your friends?”
Rarity replied, “You don’t really expect a lady to dirty herself, ‘swabbing the decks’ as you might say, do you?” Sinbad just crossed his arms as he looked back at her. The white mare then shrugged, “Besides, there aren’t any more mops. I must say, it’s interesting that you have a ship this size and enough to clean it with, yet Ali Baba is your only crew member.”
Turning back to the wheel, Sinbad said, “He doesn’t mind having to do extra work on this ship. We’re best friends, after all. As for my ship, I used to use travel on a much smaller one, but I got this one during our adventures with your blue buddy after he stopped Erazor Djinn. We went to a lot of places and found a lot of treasure during our adventures, so we had to get a bigger ship to carry it all.”
Rarity asked, “Really? Are you carrying any now? Where do you keep it all? I don’t recall seeing a room that would have been suitable for holding treasure when we were below deck.”
While steering, Sinbad answered, “I keep it all in the hull, but the entrance is hidden. That makes it harder for pirates to steal, not that I’d ever let any set foot on my ship.” He then glanced over at the unicorn as he said, “And no, there’s no treasure onboard right now. All the treasure I’ve gathered is kept safe in my island home, and Ali Baba and I were starting on a new adventure when we ran into you lot.”
Rarity shuffled her hooves, “So… your treasure is kept secure, but you don’t have anyone watching it?”
Sinbad raised an eyebrow, “Yeah, why?”
Rarity replied, “I must say that’s a bit surprising. You must have so many treasures, yet they’re left all alone waiting for you to return without the company of somepony… special.” She fluttered her eyelashes as she finished speaking.
Sinbad blinked twice before saying, “That’s a mighty bold move of you, making a move on a sailor when you don’t know if he’s married or not.” Rarity looked at him expectantly, so he sighed and said, “Yes, I was married once. It worked for a while, but… well, let’s just say death did do us part.”
Rarity sympathetically said, “I see… Are you still upset by her passing?”
Sinbad bluntly replied, “No. Not once I found out I had to be buried with her. No way was I spending the rest of my life buried alive.”
Rarity blinked, “Oh… Well, then perhaps you’re looking for someone else?”
Sinbad turned to her and asked, “What’s your deal? Are you actually saying you’re… infatuated with me?”
Rarity replied, “Mm, perhaps. I used to pine for a handsome prince, but he was nothing like I thought he would be.” She smiled, “You’re not at all like he was. You’re bold, inoffensive, strong-willed, and you travel the world looking for treasure. And I… I would remain at your side even as you traveled far and wide and stand watch over your many treasures.”
Sinbad replied, “Really? Well, if I had to choose between you or going back into the ground…” After a moment’s pause, he turned back to the wheel and finished, “I’d rather be buried alive again.” Rarity’s eyes went wide and her mouth fell open, her heart shattering at the thought that her newest (spontaneous) crush would reject her, and so suddenly! Unbeknownst to either of them, Aladdin had been mopping underneath them near the doors, and so he heard their entire conversation. He stopped mopping, holding his mop up straight and leaning his forehead against its handle as he looked down at the deck sadly…
The white hedgehog looked up a few moments later when he heard Applejack say, “All right, then, just about done here! Just gotta fix this railing over here and this tub should be closed up like a barrel full o’ apple cider!” Aladdin looked up to see her walking over to the port side with Shahra in tow.
At the apple pony’s words, Rainbow sighed, “Ugh, good! We’re finally done!” She let go of her mop and plopped down on the deck, “I could sure go for some cider right now…”
Twilight looked over at her, “It didn’t take that long, Rainbow.”
The pegasus grunted, “Yeah, well, I’m still not a big fan of this Sinbad guy, Twilight. Can’t believe he made us do this…”
Sonic stopped mopping to allow Fluttershy to pass, the yellow pegasus singing a show tune to herself as she pushed her mop, and asked, “You do know pirate crews typically make you do this kind of thing when you first join them, right Dash? What makes this any different?”
Rainbow replied, “Because he’s not a pirate! He doesn’t even like pirates! That’s what makes it different!” Sonic just shrugged and then raised an eyebrow as Pinkie moved past him, the party pony somehow mopping the deck with her bouncy mane while she pushed herself forward somehow. Even Spike stared at her, the baby dragon coming to a stop close to Sonic’s side.
About a minute later, Applejack announced, “There we go! We’re all done here!” Everyone turned to look and saw the orange pony testing the repaired railing with her forehooves while Shahra used her magic to send away the hammer and nails she conjured up.
“I think the deck’s all clean as well, so once we’re done cleaning up, we should be able to relax for the rest of the trip,” Cadance said.
As everyone started to move at that, Aladdin spoke up, “Hey.” Everyone looked over at him and saw him standing near the back mast, holding his mop in his right hand and the bucket of water in his left hand. “I’ll take the mops and put them away for you guys,” he said in a soft tone.
Sonic smiled, “Yeah? Thanks, Al’!” He shifted his right arm and threw his mop towards Aladdin, the white hedgehog letting go of the bucket and quickly surrounding it with a blue field that held it up before catching the mop with his now empty hand.
As he was putting the mops together in his right hand, Fluttershy spoke, “Oh, that’s all right, Aladdin. I can put my own mop away.”
Rainbow flew up to her, carrying her own mop as she wrapped her free hoof around her shy friend’s mop as she said, “Come on, Fluttershy, he offered! There’s nothing wrong with taking him up on it.” She then snatched the mop from Fluttershy and threw them both at Aladdin with a “Heads up!”
Reacting quickly, Aladdin let go of the mops he was holding and surrounded them with a blue field to hold them up while he caught the two mops. After he grabbed their handles, he glanced behind him when he heard Pinkie cheerfully say, “Clean-up party time~!” She was seemingly still mopping and she was coming towards him! Not wanting to know what would happen if she bumped or hit him, he used the mops he was holding to push himself up off the deck and vault over her, landing crouched on one knee. He then dropped the mops and used his magic to take both Shining Armor and Spike’s mops, gathering them all together along with the bucket of water before he cancelled his magic.
Sonic whistled, “Nice moves, Al’.”
The white hedgehog chuckled quietly, “Heh… thanks.” Without another word, he turned and headed into the ship, putting everything back in its proper place before he came back up on deck and noticed Sonic and his friends, including a distraught (or rather, dramatic) Rarity, hanging around close to the bow. Aladdin briefly felt a pang of jealousy, but he shook it away. He had to be better than that, and he knew what he had to do as he began making his way over to the group.
“Sometimes ya confuse the hay outta me, Rarity. Why would ya do that ta someone who lost their special somepony?” Applejack was saying.
“But… But… Sailor!” the fashionista protested.
Sonic leaned over and asked, “What does that mean? He has rugged good looks?” Rarity looked at him as though he had answered his own question. Sonic sighed and pressed a hand against his forehead before saying, “You know, seeing as you were willing to do that, maybe you should consider looking closer to home for men.” His eyes briefly shifted in Spike’s direction as he spoke, catching the little dragon perking up a bit at his words.
Rarity huffed, “In Ponyville? Please, Sonic. It is and always has been a quaint little town, but there are hardly any stallions worthy of a Canterlot lady like me.”
Sonic regarded her with a flat look. “Right, I gotcha. Would you like some reality with your fantasy?” he asked. Rarity’s response was a glare while Applejack and Rainbow Dash snickered to themselves.
At this point, Aladdin was standing just across from Sonic, currently unnoticed by anyone. Steeling his nerves, he took a breath and spoke, “Sonic?”
Sonic turned to look at the white hedgehog, as did everyone else. While Rarity and Rainbow regarded him warily, Sonic simply said, “Hey, Al’. What’s up?”
Aladdin placed his left hand on his hip and scratched the side of his head with his right hand, glancing down briefly before looking up and saying, “Well, uh, with all the crazy things that have been happening so far, I… haven’t really had a chance to thank you.” At the look on Sonic’s face, he added, “You know, for stopping Erazor Djinn last time you were here.”
Sonic realized what he was getting at and replied, “Oh yeah. That’s all right, Aladdin.” He scratched the side of his head as he said, “I gotta admit, part of me was actually a little worried you’d take that, uh… not so well.”
Aladdin shook his head, “No, not a chance. Did Badoura tell you what happened when he was released from his lamp?”
Sonic shrugged, “She mentioned a little bit. Uh, she said you rescued her when Erazor Djinn came after her and you protected her?”
Aladdin nodded, “She doesn’t have any reason to lie about anything, but I can assure you she was telling the truth. When Haman’s wish took the palace I’d wished for away, that was when Erazor Djinn was set free and he made his intentions clear. I didn’t know Haman had escaped him; I didn’t bother waiting because I was worried about Badoura. My wishes had been made with her in mind, so I was sure he would go after her. We managed to escape her palace as it was being consumed by the flames.” He gave Sonic a serious look, “I understand that it wasn’t an easy decision for either you or Shahra, but believe me, Badoura and I were both happy when we found out you’d sealed Erazor Djinn away forever.”
Cadance asked, “Sealed away forever? How did you do that, Sonic?”
Applejack added, “And what’s he mean by it not bein’ an easy decision?”
Sonic turned to look at the rest of the group and, while scratching the side of his head, stammered, “Uh… Well…” He glanced up in Shahra’s direction and noticed the pained look on the young genie’s face.
Shining raised an eyebrow at the hesitation. “What? What happened?” he asked.
Twilight turned to look at Shahra and noticed she was lowering herself while looking off to the side. Once she was sitting on the deck, Twilight asked, “Shahra?” Everypony looked back at that, all of them noticing the change in the genie’s demeanor. “What does Aladdin mean? Was it… hard for you to seal away Erazor Djinn?”
Shahra faced the unicorn and started, “N-no. …Well, yes, but…” She hesitated before glancing off to the side again. Taking a breath, she spoke, “When I sought out Sonic to ask for his help, to save the world of the Arabian Nights, I… was not entirely truthful.” Before anyone could ask, she said, “I kept… secrets from him…”
Pinkie piped up, “Well, of course you did, silly! You always keep secrets or bad things will happen!” She gave Twilight a meaningful look as she asked, “Wouldn’t you agree, Twilight?” The lavender unicorn blushed and looked away, remembering to keep her mouth shut.
Fluttershy stepped up to Shahra and spoke, “Shahra, you don’t have to tell us anything. I’m sure Sonic can explain it to us, so…” She held out her left hoof, intending to place it on the genie’s shoulder, but Shahra intercepted it with her right hand. Fluttershy looked at her questioningly at this. Despite how dainty her hands looked, she had a firm grip on the yellow pegasus’ hoof, and she was frowning.
“I have no objections to Sonic helping with explaining this, Fluttershy, but I am going to talk as well. Because this is something that needs to be said,” Shahra said. She pushed the yellow hoof back, allowing it to drop to the ground, and looked over at Pinkie, “And I must question your philosophy on secrets, Pinkie Pie. You always keep secrets, even if said secrets could prevent death and destruction, especially when they involve those close to you?”
Pinkie blinked at this, but Rarity huffed, “Oh please, Shahra dearie. There’s no need to be so dramatic.”
Sonic folded his arms and glanced at the unicorn, “You’re one to talk, ‘Juliet’.” Rarity glared at him while he nodded at Shahra, motioning for her to continue.
After Fluttershy stepped back, Shahra spoke, “Erazor Djinn and I… There was a time where things were different between us. When he was still a free spirit, there was a certain… magic shared between us. At least I thought so…”
Shining asked, “Are you saying you were… in love with him, Shahra?”
The young genie looked slightly surprised at this, but she said, “Yes, I suppose. Despite the trouble he caused, there was just… something about him that drew me to him.” Rainbow gagged loudly at this, but she shut up when everyone, even Fluttershy and Shahra, glared at her. Once the pegasus had settled down, Shahra went on, “When he was finally released from the lamp, part of me hoped that the feelings between us were still there. Even though I sought out Sonic to stop him, I did it with the intention of being back together with him, whether that was achieved by him abandoning his ambitions… or him conquering this world and more.”
Spike and the ponies were shocked by this. “You would have willingly let him do whatever he wanted?” Fluttershy asked.
Shahra answered, “That part of me would have, and it nearly consumed me when we brought him the World Rings. That’s not what I truly wanted, but it took Sonic commanding me to do what I thought was right to stop me.” She looked down, “Being forced out of the spell I was essentially under was painful, as what came afterwards, but breaking the promise we made… That would’ve hurt more.”
Twilight asked, “What happened afterwards…?”
Shahra didn’t respond, still looking down at the deck, so Sonic spoke up, “Erazor Djinn took the World Rings while Shahra was down, so all that was left to gain their full power was to kill me. He came at me with his blade, but… Shahra got in his way.” He looked down at the ring on his right hand, remembering how it shattered into pieces as he muttered, “She died in my arms…”
Silence ruled the air at this admission. Eventually, Applejack quietly asked, “He… killed her?”
Sonic let his arm drop to his side as he replied grimly, “And he didn’t show any regret over it. All he did was mock her one last time.” Looking back up at the group, he continued, “Since he didn’t kill me, Erazor Djinn only got a fraction of their power, and they weren’t bound to him completely. The World Rings containing Rage, Hatred, and Sadness responded to how I was feeling and broke away from him, coming to me instead.”
Cadance asked, “So you only had three rings, not all seven?”
Sonic replied, “Right, but I only needed those three rings, and Shahra’s magic.” Before anyone could ask, he went on, “I’m sure I only got a fraction of the power those rings had, but it was like nothing else I had ever experienced before. When they came to me, I thought I was gonna lose it just from how much they amplified my emotions, but I was able to keep it together and bring Erazor Djinn back down to normal. And when he refused to admit defeat, I brought out our trump card.”
Shining Armor raised an eyebrow, “‘Trump card’?”
Aladdin spoke up, “Erazor Djinn wasn’t able to destroy his lamp completely, and Shahra managed to find it in its damaged state before she met Sonic. She told me she gave it to him to hold onto during their travels as a last resort.”
Sonic nodded, “Shahra wasn’t able to grant my wish when I asked her to go back to the way she was, but it did restore the lamp to a less-damaged state. And since he was still bound to it, he had to grant my wishes. I wished for Shahra to come back to life and for the stories of the Arabian Nights to be restored, and for him to go back to being sealed inside the lamp like he was before.”
Twilight asked, “And that’s how you sealed him away?”
Shahra spoke up, “Initially, yes.” Everyone looked at her to see she was once again hovering above the deck, but the expression on her face had not changed much. “But we weren’t sure what to do with him afterwards, so Sonic held onto the lamp for some time. We eventually decided the best thing to do was to make sure he could never be freed from the lamp again, so we took it to the ancient palace where we found the Red World Ring and dropped it into the molten metal in the palace’s depths,” she explained.
At this, Shining started, “You mean…”
Sonic quickly interjected, “I don’t know what’s changed since then, but Shahra and I did not see what happened to the lamp. When we turned to leave, it looked like it was starting to sink, but it didn’t look like it was melting.” He crossed his arms, “If it did survive, then maybe someday he’ll have a chance to redeem himself.”
Rainbow asked, “Still, you guys actually did that?”
Rarity nodded, “Yes, it is a bit surprising to hear. Couldn’t you have left it somewhere and… have him serve his sentence again? Maybe started him on his path to redemption?”
Shahra spoke, “We did consider that possibility, Rarity. We held onto the Magic Lamp long enough to consider all sorts of possibilities. Our decision was not made lightly.”
Sonic nodded, “Erazor Djinn crossed the line for me when he killed Shahra and wasn’t upset by it, but while that may have factored into making him grant my wishes, I didn’t let it get in the way of deciding what to do with him.”
Aladdin added, “Serving a thousand masters turned him from a troublemaking spirit to a malicious one. How likely do you think it would be that a thousand more masters would change him for the better?”
Silence ruled the air at that question, only being broken when Ali Baba announced, “Land ho! Land ho!” Everyone looked towards the bow of the ship and saw that they were indeed approaching a landmass, one that looked like it had a number of mountains.
As the ship continued towards land, Sonic said, “Shahra and I did what we did with the Arabian Nights in mind. We didn’t want something like what Erazor Djinn tried to do happen again.”
Aladdin placed a hand on his shoulder, “And Haman’s trying to undo it all, but we’ll stop him, make sure doesn’t ruin the world himself.” Sonic nodded and they turned to look back at the land, wondering what Haman had planned for them.
It wasn’t long before Sinbad’s ship reached land, Sinbad steering it into an inlet where they dropped anchor. Coming ashore, the group found a path leading further inland, and while the inlet had some green in it, they could already see a grayish-white powder falling, seemingly from the cloudy sky overhead. “Ooh! Is that snow?” Pinkie asked while pointing at it.
Shahra answered, “No, I’m afraid it isn’t, Pinkie Pie. It’s certainly cooler here, but that’s not snow.”
Spike asked, “What is it, then?”
Sonic looked down at him, “Let’s just say there’s a reason why it’s called the Skeleton Dome, Spike.”
Twilight looked at him, “You mean…?” Sonic nodded in response to the unasked question.
Sinbad spoke up, “If we’re all done gawking here, maybe we can focus on finding and stopping that crazy sorcerer we’re all after!” Everyone nodded and Sonic and Shahra took point, leading everyone down the familiar, dust-covered path.
As they were running, everyone noticed how fast Aladdin was, as the white hedgehog was able to keep up with Sonic quite well as he led the way past the bony remains of various creatures. From what little Spike and the ponies had seen of Silver, it seemed like he could be fast when he needed to be, but with Aladdin, it was likely that his past as a thief had made him focus more on being faster rather than mastering psychokinesis/magic. It was an interesting comparison…
It wasn’t long before Sonic led the group into a more open area. As they were running, Shining called, “How much farther do we have to go, Sonic?”
The blue hedgehog pointed ahead as he called back, “The entrance is over there!” As he looked forward again, he saw that, unlike the first time he’d come here, the entrance was open. Deciding not to think about it too much, he pressed forward, Aladdin and Shahra at his sides and Rainbow close behind, everyone else behind her.
Once Sonic, Aladdin, and Shahra had passed through the opening in the rocky wall, however, they were brought to a stop when they heard a noise behind them. Turning around, they found that the bars had been lowered, locking everyone else out. They hurried back to the bars, Sonic asking, “Are you guys all right?!”
Shining Armor answered, “We’re fine, but it looks like Sinbad was right. Haman has been expecting us.”
Rainbow growled, “Well, he’s not locking us out!” She grabbed onto one of the bars and tried to push it up, Applejack, Shining Armor, Sonic, Aladdin, Sinbad, and Ali Baba doing the same.
They were all brought to a stop when Haman’s laughter rang through the air, causing them to all look around. His voice then echoed, “Hear me, servants of the dome! The guests of honor have arrived! Do give them a warm welcome and bring them to me while I finish up my preparations! You are my servants now; do as I say or your punishment will be worse than anything they could do to you!”
Aladdin grunted, “Typical. He just loves to hear himself speak.”
Shahra looked around as she said, “Wait… Something’s happening… I can feel some sort of energy coming from the Skeleton Dome. Haman must be moving forward with his plans!”
Sinbad grunted, “Then we don’t have time for this!” He looked at Sonic and Aladdin and said, “You two go on ahead with Shahra and get down there! We’ll catch up as soon as we find another way in!”
Sonic started to open his mouth to say something, but then Twilight exclaimed, “Look out behind you!” Sonic, Aladdin, and Shahra turned around to see several Skeleton Djinns materialize out of thin air, their normally yellow eyes now a bright red color. They creaked as they shambled towards Shahra and the two hedgehogs, the broadsword blades they had in place of forearms ready to slash as Aladdin and Sonic tensed up.
A split second later, both hedgehogs shot forward, Sonic crashing through one of the Skeleton Djinns with his foot while Aladdin used his saber to cut through another. Taking a moment to look back over his shoulder, Sonic said, “There’s another entrance out there, right overhead! See if it’s open; it’ll get you inside quicker!” With that he stood up, Shahra disappearing into the ring as he and Aladdin began making their way inside, more Skeleton Djinns materializing in front of them.
Spike spoke up, “Well, you heard him! Let’s find that entrance!”
Sinbad nodded, “Right. But first…” He glanced behind him and then suddenly turned and shot forward while swinging his fist, shattering a Skeleton Djinn that had been trying to sneak up on the group!
Another djinn appeared near Sinbad and Applejack galloped forward while saying, “This one’s mine!” As soon as she got right next to the djinn, she spun around and bucked it as hard as she could, its bones sent flying!
Sinbad grinned at her, “Hey, not bad!” Applejack smirked back at him, Rarity growling to herself at the sight of this.
While they were talking, Rainbow Dash and Ali Baba flew up to the ledge above and spotted an opening in the rock wall. “Is that…?” Rainbow started.
“Yeah, I think that’s it!” Ali Baba nodded. He called down to the others, “It’s up here, and it’s open! We should be able to get in through here!”
Shining called back, “All right, hang on, you two! We just have to get up there ourselves!”
Pinkie piped up, “No problem! The Pinkie Blast Express is at your service!” So saying this, she grabbed Rarity with her forelegs and carried her over to her party cannon (which she had produced from somewhere at some point in the confusion).
Rarity squirmed and started, “Pinkie, what are you…?” Pinkie silenced the fashionista by shoving her into the opening of the cannon, at which point she ran around to the other side while giggling. Rarity’s eyes grew wide, “Oh no, Pinkie, don’t you dare…!” Her protests were cut off when the party pony pushed the button, firing the white mare up at the ledge.
Despite being fired hard enough to reach the ledge, Rarity ended up landing without any unpleasantness, landing on her rump and not sliding forward very much. “Nice landing, Rarity!” Rainbow said from above, the white mare giving her an indignant look in response.
While Pinkie was trying to coerce Fluttershy into getting into the party cannon, Sinbad began climbing up to the ledge himself with the aid of his knuckles. While this was going on, Ali Baba looked towards the entrance and saw more Skeleton Djinns appearing. “Look out! More of them!” he exclaimed, both Rarity and Rainbow turning to look.
One of the djinns was dashing towards them, its blades swinging back and forth as it did so. Rarity glared at it and focused her magic into her horn, her light blue aura wrapping around the djinn’s right and causing it to stop as she began to pull on it. After a few seconds of this, Rarity managed to pull the blade free and used it to take the djinn out, also using it to distract the other approaching djinns while Rainbow dealt with them.
Sinbad witnessed all this as he got up to the ledge and, after he climbed up and dusted himself off, he said to the girls, “Pretty good teamwork, you two! Not bad at all!” While Rainbow looked proud at this, the sailor leaned over to Rarity and whispered, “Don’t think I’m going to change my mind about you that easily, though.” The fashionista just gave a huff at this and examined her blade for a moment before tossing it aside, deciding not to take it from the djinn. It wasn’t long before everyone else had joined them up on the ledge and they all hurried into the opening.
A little deeper inside, Sonic and Aladdin were still being bombarded by Skeleton Djinns trying to cut them down to size as they went down a spiraling path. They were managing to stay on top of them, though, Sonic using his Homing Attack to zero in on their weak spots while Aladdin had little trouble striking them down with his saber. As they stopped for a moment after dealing with another group of skeletons, they saw another group materializing just up ahead. “They sure are persistent, aren’t they?” Sonic asked.
“Sure seems that way,” Aladdin sighed as he tucked his blade into his belt for the moment.
Shahra spoke up from her ring, “We can’t let them keep slowing us down! The longer it takes us to reach the Skeleton Dome…”
Sonic nodded, “Right. I’ve got an idea, but I’ll need your power again to pull it off, Shahra.” The genie didn’t respond, but Sonic noticed that the ring’s jewel began to shine, which gave him all the answer he needed. He turned to Aladdin and said, “Quick, get on my back and hang on tight!” Although confused, Aladdin did as he was told, pulling out his saber and holding it in his right hand before climbing onto Sonic’s back. Once he had a secure grip, Sonic looked at the approaching djinns before he got into a running stance, suddenly shooting forward and being surrounded by red as he yelled, “SPEED BREAK!”
Aladdin was surprised by the sudden burst of speed, but he was able to hang on as Sonic blasted down the path, both of them cutting through any skeletons in their way. They managed to reach the end of the spiral as the speed boost wore off, disappearing into the passage beyond as Sinbad’s group reached the area. They saw that there were only a few Skeleton Djinns left along the path, so they knew they were going the right way.
After a few seconds of running along the corridor, Sonic came to a stop, both to let Aladdin off and for another reason: the end of the corridor looked different. There was a big hole in the wall that extended into blackness, and the teleportation device Sonic and Shahra had used to get deeper had been destroyed, the skull from the top laying on the ground nearby.
“It looks like Haman has created his own entrance into the Skeleton Dome,” Shahra noted.
“King Solomon’s not going to be happy about that,” Sonic said.
Sonic and Aladdin stared at the darkness for a second before they looked at each other, the latter putting his sword away as he spoke, “Well, it looks like we don’t have much of a choice but to use it. When we find Haman, we should make sure to free Badoura first so he can’t threaten her.” Sonic nodded and they both ran into the hole, following the path Haman had carved for himself.
In the Skeleton Dome’s main arena, Haman grinned proudly to himself as he admired his work. The center of the dome, which had been a cemetery of sorts, had been almost completely defiled, the grass and pieces of various tombstones ripped out and scattered near the outside of the circle. In the center of the circle was a seven-pronged white rune that he had created himself, with six of the seven prongs having a vial containing a World Ring’s Essence within it. Haman stood at the center of the rune, looking up at the hole in the wall he had created, the end of his tunneling through to the dome. Behind him, Badoura was being held in place a short ways away from the rune due to red-orange magic handcuffs keeping her arms raised, and further behind her, one of the dome’s passages had a similarly colored magic barrier in front of it. And hovering high above the rune was some sort of swirling, small purple vortex.
Turning to look at Badoura, he began to walk over to her as he said, “Ah, I just love it when a plan comes together. All the hard work, all the setup, all the… deception can really produce a work of art.” Standing over the cat now, he asked, “Don’t you agree, Princess?”
Badoura growled, “Don’t get too comfortable just yet, Haman. You’re going to get exactly what’s coming to you.”
Haman replied, “Indeed I will, Princess.” Leaning over, he went on, “All of this world will soon belong to me, while you…” He stopped to chuckle before he continued, “You, my dear, shall weep at my feet for all eternity.” Badoura’s eyes widened at this, but then they narrowed as she struggled to pull her wrists free. “Now, now, Princess, there will be none of that,” Haman said, bringing his left hand under the cat’s chin and forcing her to look up at him. He smirked deviously at her, “I’m sure right about now your precious Aladdin is whispering your name as he and the blue rat draw their last breaths.” Badoura pulled her chin free and glared up at the sorcerer while he merely grinned back.
Suddenly, Aladdin’s voice spoke up, “What’s that you were saying, Haman?”
Badoura gasped at this, peering around Haman to look, but the sorcerer was caught up in the moment and simply growled, “I said, I’m sure right about now…” He stopped short as realization caught up with him and he turned to look. Both Aladdin and Sonic were standing on the outside of the large circle, just underneath the hole in the wall, looking at him and Badoura. “What?! But how?!” he exclaimed.
“You brought this on yourself, creep. Don’t you know knocking over gravestones is bad luck?” Sonic asked.
Haman growled, “Bah! You two rats will be the bearers of bad luck… for interfering with my plans!” Without another word, he thrust his staff forward and fired a red-orange beam at them, both hedgehogs leaping into the circle to avoid it.
After they landed, Sonic looked at Aladdin and said, loudly, “I’ll get the Essences! Cover me!” The white hedgehog nodded and drew his saber, following behind Sonic as he ran towards the rune.
“No!” Haman exclaimed, levitating off the ground with his magic and shooting towards the hedgehogs. Sonic was down on his knees, about to grab the closest Essence when Haman appeared in front of him and pressed the bottom of his staff down on the hedgehog’s hand. Grunting in pain and surprise, Sonic looked up, only to get whacked across the face by the back of the sorcerer’s staff.
As Sonic was backing up, Aladdin came up behind him and leapt up while holding his saber above his head, ready to bring it down on Haman. The sorcerer retaliated by blasting him out of the air with a magic beam, Aladdin dropping his saber as he was sent flying backwards. Haman then wrapped Sonic in a red-orange aura and threw him back as well before tapping the bottom of his staff against the ground, causing a tall, translucent red wall to surround the rune and the vortex. “You won’t interfere with my plans any longer! Now is your time to die!” he yelled as the two hedgehogs got up, determined to keep fighting. Sonic ran at Haman while Aladdin retrieved his saber, Haman preparing his magic to push both back accordingly.
As the fight continued, Shahra, in her pink ball of light form, silently floated around the protected rune over to Badoura, having emerged from her ring when Sonic’s hand had been pinned down. She remained in this form until she was floating above the cat, at which point she assumed her true form and whispered, “Princess!” Badoura looked up and gave a relieved gasp when she saw the genie. Shahra floated down and held her hands out towards the handcuffs, her magic flowing from her fingertips. “Don’t worry, I’ll get you out of here,” she murmured, Badoura nodding and looking back towards the fight.
Sonic and Aladdin continued trying to attack Haman, but neither one was making a very strong effort to try to get past the sorcerer, often deliberately taking hits (or pretending to) and acting as though they had been cut off. Had he been less self-assured of his victory, perhaps Haman might have been suspicious of their actions, but alas, he was certain that he was stomping all over the heroes’ best efforts.
After a minute, Sonic ran at Haman after Aladdin had been knocked back onto his side, the blue hedgehog grabbing the sorcerer’s staff and trying to wrestle it away from him for several seconds before Haman pushed him back and, before he could react, jabbed him in the stomach with the end of it, causing Sonic to drop to his knees with a groan. While he was hunched over, Haman towered over him and grinned widely, “What’s the matter, blue rat? Your best moves not working for you?”
Sonic shot him a sneaky smirk as he looked up, “You really think that’s the best we’ve got? No need for us to bring out our best when we’re running a diversion!”
Haman’s grin was replaced with a frown at this. “What…?” He began to turn around when he heard Badoura let out a shout, only to let out a shriek when he saw her unleash a crescent-shaped wave of flames at him as she and Shahra came around his barrier! He managed to duck and avoid the brunt of the wave, but the bottom of it scraped along his back, slightly singing his robes.
While the sorcerer was down, Aladdin quickly climbed to his feet and charged at him, Sonic getting up and flipping back as the white hedgehog leapt up into the air with his sword held high. Haman barely managed to block his blade with his staff and push him back, but he was surprised when the hedgehog rushed up to him and pushed back against him again. Clearly he wasn’t trying earlier after all! After a few seconds of this, Sonic leapt up towards him as, at the same time, a rainbow blur shot out of the hole in the wall, Sonic and Rainbow Dash kicking/bucking him in the face together! Following up on this, Badoura jumped onto his back and swung him around, throwing him towards his barrier. The sorcerer landed in a crumpled heap on the ground.
The rest of the group soon joined Sonic, Aladdin, Badoura, Shahra, and Rainbow Dash, all of them looking at Haman as he let out a growl. As he climbed to his knees, he glared at the group and thrust his staff forward, firing a red-orange beam that was blocked by both Twilight and Shining Armor forming a force field around the group. After several seconds of unsuccessfully trying to break through, Haman pulled his staff back and grunted, “Not bad, rodents. It seems you may have a magical edge over me after all.”
While the combined force field was lowering, Shining Armor asked, “I don’t suppose that means you’ll give up and come quietly?”
Haman merely replied, “Bah! Now it’s my turn!” He tapped his staff against the ground, and in a second he vanished, reappearing within the barrier he created in the center of the rune. As he stood up, the group surrounded the barrier and began trying to break through it. Haman eyed Shahra and asked, “You may have been able to break a small amount of my magic, Genie of the Ring, but do you really think you can get past this?”
Applejack spoke up, “‘Course she will, especially with us helpin’ her!”
Badoura said, “You have to come out of there sooner or later, Haman. You’ve got nowhere to run, no more leverages; you’re only delaying the inevitable!”
Underneath his hood, Haman gave a grin as he said in an unsettling tone, “Oh, I’m afraid you’re incorrect, Princess. I’m not delaying; I’m stalling long enough for this!” He gestured to the vortex overhead as he spoke, everyone looking up at it. Suddenly, it began to pulsate, the vortex swirling faster for several seconds before lightning began to shoot out of it, the purple soon fading away to reveal what appeared to be a starry sky.
“What’s that?” Ali Baba asked. Haman simply chuckled as he reached his left hand into his cloak and pulled out a small vial, popping the top off. A few seconds later, a purple powder emerged from the starry sky and shot into the vial, Haman capping the vial once there was no more coming.
“Shoot!” Sonic growled.
“That’s the last World Ring’s Essence!” Shahra exclaimed.
“Indeed. I’ve done far too much here to move very far from this spot. Why bother moving if I can have my magic do my work for me?” Haman asked as he held the vial up in his hand. He used his magic to place the vial on the empty prong as the group resumed trying to get through the barrier. They all came to a stop when Haman spoke, “That’s one spell complete. Now to complete this one…” He turned to look specifically at Sonic and Aladdin.
Sinbad growled, “Haman, what are you planning?”
While shaking his right arm slightly, the sleeve over it moving back somewhat, Haman spoke, “I had hoped that King Solomon’s servants would be able to carry out a simple task, but still you all managed to get here in one piece. That should present a problem because I’m still lacking something, but no matter.” He reached his left hand into his cloak again and this time brought out a sizable dagger. “I’ll just have to make do,” he said as he gripped the handle of the dagger.
Rainbow realized just why he was looking at Sonic and Aladdin and asked, “You really think we’re gonna just stand by and let you come at us with that knife? Well, bring it on, big man! As soon as you come out from behind that barrier, we’re gonna…”
*SLASH!*
Rainbow was brought to a surprising stop, everyone staring wide-eyed at what Haman had just done. He’d used the dagger on himself, slashing himself along the exposed skin of his right arm and leaving a long red mark along it. As it began to leak, Haman weakly laughed, “Now… it’s complete.” As he finished, several red drops dripped down onto the center of the rune.
The shock of Haman’s actions quickly wore off when the rune began to brightly glow an ominous orange color and the ground began to shake, cracks beginning to form near the rune. As the orange light rose up out of the ground, Haman brought his staff down, touching the crystal it was holding against the ground. Almost immediately, it began to glow a bright whitish-blue color and something began to spread out from it. It appeared to be some sort of vortex, but there wasn’t much time to look as long wisps of dark purple energy began to emerge from it and swirl around inside the barrier, Haman vanishing as the vortex grew bigger. The swirling energy soon became too much to bear and cracks began to form all over the barrier, the whole thing soon shattering due to the swirling energy creating a shockwave that threw everyone backwards and raised a cloud of dust and purple mist.
Once the shockwave had subsided, everyone began to get their bearings. Sinbad grunted as he tried to climb to his feet, waving a hand in front of his face and coughing a bit. He then looked forward and saw Ali Baba lying on his back. He gasped and ran over to the fox, shaking him slightly as he asked, “Ali Baba! Are you okay?”
Ali Baba soon groaned, rubbing the back of his head as Sinbad helped him up into a sitting position. “I’m okay. I just hit the ground kind of hard,” the fox said. Sinbad smiled, but he soon frowned as both he and Ali Baba looked around, the dust and purple obscuring most of their view, but from what they could tell, they had been thrown out of the circle. “Where’s everyone else?” Ali Baba asked softly.
Sinbad shook his head, “I don’t know. Hope they didn’t fare much worse…”
Cadance looked around worriedly as she climbed to her hooves, having landed close to the outside of the circle. “Twilight?! Shining Armor?! Spike?!” she called.
Shining Armor’s voice called from outside the circle, “Cadance, we’re over here!” She turned and ran towards the source of the voice, finding her husband helping Twilight stay steady as she stood while Spike looked no worse for the wear. As Cadance approached them, Shining said, “She landed pretty hard on her backside.” He turned back to his sister, “Are you sure nothing’s broken, Twilight?”
Although she winced a bit while moving her hind legs a bit, Twilight responded, “I’ll be fine, Shining.” After looking down at Spike and making sure he was okay, she asked, “Where are the girls?”
Pinkie suddenly popped up beside the lavender unicorn and said, maybe a little too cheerfully, “Right here, Twilight!” Although surprised, they all turned to see the others coming up behind the pink earth pony.
Applejack was the next one to speak up, “We all landed kinda hard too, but Ah think we’re okay, Twi’.” Twilight nodded, relieved, though they were still missing their new friends.
Fluttershy looked towards the center of the circle, where the dirt and mist were thickest, and nervously asked, “Was that a summoning spell? What did Haman summon?”
Spike twiddled his clawtips nervously, “If the summoning was this bad, how bad is whatever he summoned…?”
Closer to the center of the circle, Shahra was shaking Sonic as he lay on his side, both Aladdin and Badoura lying nearby, Badoura having landed on top of Aladdin. “Wake up, Sonic! You can’t be laying down now!” Sonic soon groaned as he began to move, Shahra sighing in relief and then asking, “Sonic, are you okay?”
As he sat up and raised his right hand to his forehead, Sonic replied, “Ugh… Yeah, I’m okay, Shahra. Just give me a minute here…” Shahra sighed again and looked over at Aladdin and Badoura, relieved to see that they were beginning to get back up as well. She smiled softly at their embarrassment when they realized how they’d landed, but she frowned as she looked towards the center, “Haman… What have you done…?”
As the young genie stared, a silhouette began to appear as the dust began to dissipate. At first, she couldn’t make it out much, but as the air settled, the shape became clearer. It was only when she could make out two red glowing eyes staring at her that she gasped, realizing what it was. “No…! It can’t be! NO!” she cried.
Next to her, Sonic was still shaking off the disorientation. As she finished speaking, her hands held up to her mouth, he started, “Stop yelling, Shahra. What’s…” When he looked up, he froze as he saw the red eyes too. “No way…” he muttered as he slowly stood up. As the air cleared enough to reveal the black sclera around the eyes as well as the pinkish-purple skin around them, he shouted, “Erazor Djinn!”
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Oh shell no.
Holy *beep*! Erazor Djinn has returned. I understand now what you meant on why Haman didn't need an achievement. But what has happened to him now?
Also, regarding that scene with Sinbad and Rarity: OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I can only imagine Discord having a field day when he saw this
I think it burned worse than this vine.
Holy f
! Erazor Djinn was summoned by Haman, in spite of the group's best efforts!
This is gonna suck...
Here is a new achievement to replace Haman's
Seven Rings, Seven Heroes: Defeat Erazor Djinn.
6285415
Unfortunately so. It might be even worse than you think...
6285706
Oh, don't worry. Haman will be making an appearance in the next part, and I don't think it's going to end well...
6285885
Oh yeah, big time. And it might be even worse than before...
6299270 how bad can things possibly get for the crew?
6300008
Well... things didn't necessarily start out right here. It could be all downhill for one party.
6300264 one party?
6300355
Either the heroes or the villains.
6300374 this should be enticing. Can't wait to see the epic conclusion to the Secret Rings story arc.
When Haman was about to use his blood to summon Erazor, I thought he was going to reference Jafar's "eternal reward" line. Will Erazor show any hint of his alf Layla wa Layla form or was the mention of his transformation by Sonic the closest it will come to appearing in the story?
6305333
Alf Layla wa Layla will not physically appear here, but the upcoming battle with Erazor Djinn will show that he has absorbed the Essences, so I can safely say it will have moments reminiscent of that final battle.
6305390 What about Sonic? The mane six don't find out about Darkspine until the final battle. How will work that mechanic?
6305538
I have a feeling he won't fight alone, and he'll find a way to fly without wings.
6305552 Wings?
.
Risky's...boots?
Well...crap...that is not good, not good at all. At least this time around, Sonic is not alone. Can't wait to read the next chapter to see how this will play out. The whole battle with the Ghost Ship, the undead djinn, and Haman was awesome by the way. Great job with this chapter!
Poor Rarity, always so willing to go after her fantasy, just to have it ended badly. And I got to say that it is rather interesting to see Sonic, of all characters, playing matchmaker.
C&Cs:
Sonic stated, “You know about it.”
> Shouldn’t this be a question?
Rainbow nodded, “Huh. I guess that makes sense.”
> Remove the extra space.
Aladdin shrugged, “Y-Yeah. F-For stopping Haman?”
> Lower the casing for the letters after the dash.
M-Maybe you could… plan a new course?
N-No.
> Lower the casing for the letter after the dash.