Through The Crack

by grimchi3f

Return of Disharmony

Part 3: Last Story - Chapter 1: Return of Disharmony

Princess Celestia gazed out her window overlooking Canterlot, searching for the elusive Dr. Eggman. Ever since Spike had told her about meeting him, nearly 45 minutes ago, she'd sat herself down next to this window and searched for any sign of the evil scientist. So far though, she hadn't seen anything unusual. This surprised her; she'd expected something to have happened by now. The Princess sighed and glanced down at the purple dragon sleeping directly on her right, his head resting against the window pane.

When Celestia had told Spike exactly who he'd run into, he hadn't taken it seriously. She'd explained a bit more and Spike seemed to take it more seriously, but Celestia had a feeling he didn't truly understand the gravity of the situation. Then again, who could? She was the only one to have discovered the Gates and seen into the other worlds. When Spike had questioned where she'd gotten the information from, of course she had to keep it a secret. Only she could possibly handle the knowledge of the atrocities the other worlds had committed. Yes, the Gates must be kept a secret.

Celestia looked back out the window. Maybe... maybe Eggman had changed. The Princess knew that if you went into a universe unprotected you'd forget everything that happened in the last universe you were in. Of course, if Eggman had forgotten everything, then he wouldn't even know who he was. If that was the case, it might cause more problems and questions than Celestia was prepared to deal with. She needed to find Eggman now before those problems could occur.

Suddenly, a red, sandy-maned stallion barged into the room, the mark on his flank was that of a winged sandal. "Princess, Princess!" exclaimed the royal messenger, Swift Wind, rushing up to the small stairway that led up to the throne. The shouting immediately woke up Spike who began grumbling about not getting a decent sleep.

Celestia gazed down at the messenger. "What is it, Swift Wind? Please tell me it's good news, I don't think I could take anymore bad news," she replied.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you Princess, but I do have bad news," Swift Wind said. "In fact, it's downright terrible news!"

"What is it?" sighed Celestia. She already had an idea of what this was about.

"Reports coming out of Ponyville indicate that Ponyville is under attack by some sort of large machine piloted by a pale-skinned creature with a mustache and a red jacket," explained the messenger. "Reports also say that he has taken a prisoner. The prisoner is said to be a brown, spiky-haired Earth pony."

"Oh no! That must be that Eggman guy terrorizing Ponyville! We have to go and stop him!" Spike exclaimed, looking up at the Princess. He instantly regretted the action however, as the expression on her face nearly scared him half to death. She looked horrified! "Princess?"

"Did... did the reports say anything about this Earth pony's cutie mark?" Celestia inquired.

"As a matter of fact, they did," Swift Wind said. "They said that the cutie mark was an hour glass."

The Doctor. Celestia knew who he was, the same way she knew who Eggman was. She'd seen him save his universe a countless number of times. She'd seen him survive everthing that was thrown his way. She'd also seen him cross over into this world when he was running from his death. Celestia hadn't really minded as long as he didn't cause trouble. If Eggman had captured the Doctor, then things were worse than she had imagined.

"Wait a second," began Spike, scratching his chin. "I remember seeing somepony that matched your description with Eggman here in Canterlot. But... he didn't seem to be Eggman's prisoner then. In fact, they looked like they were friends!"

"He was probably tricked into thinking Eggman was a good guy. Eggman's done that before," Celestia replied. "C'mon Spike, we need to get to Ponyville fast, and stop Eggman."

Spike saluted. "Yes ma'am!"

Celestia closed her eyes and let the magic flow through her. Her horn began glowing as she readied the teleportation sp--

"Wait, Princess! There's one more thing!" interrupted Swift Wind.

Celestia opened her eyes. "What is it?" she asked, slightly annoyed. What could possibly be more important than stopping a mad scientist from destroying an entire town? A town that housed the ponies who represented the Elements of Harmony no less!

"Discord's statue is gone!" answered the messenger. "He's been released!"

Celestia froze, letting the magic ebb away. That was most definitely more important. "Why didn't you tell me this before you told me about Ponyville?"

Swift Wind blushed and looked at the ground. "I'm sorry, but you told me that, whenever I have news for you, to tell you any news that could put immediate danger on Twilight Sparkle before anything else."

Spike scratched his head. "Why would you have a rule like that for?"

"It doesn't matter," Celestia said, shaking her head. "We need to get to Ponyville with the Elements of Harmony. I have a feeling Discord's going to be there and, if so, we might be able to kill two birds with one stone."

-------

Sonic looked from the pink cloud to the six ponies beside him. Their faces were a mix of horror and shock. Sonic glanced at Tails and his confused face told the blue hedgehog that he was asking himself the same question: what was so bad about the pink cloud?

"You lied to me again!" shouted the caged pony, breaking the silence. "You did release Discord!"

Eggman shook his head, still staring up at the pink cloud. "I didn't, I swear! I wouldn't even know where to begin trying to release him!" he replied frantically.

"Can someone please tell me what is so terrible about this pink cloud?" Sonic asked, finally voicing his question.

"That pink cloud is a sign that Discord, the god of chaos, has been released from his stone imprisonment," responded Twilight Sparkle. "The last time he was free, he turned all of Ponyville upside down and took away our friendship."

"Yep," said the caged pony, glaring up at Eggman, "and this egghead just released him again."

"I did not!" exclaimed Eggman who was still staring up at the cloud.

"Well, how'd you guys beat Discord then, if he's so powerful?" Tails asked. Sonic had been wondering the same thing.

"We renewed our friendship and used the Elements of Harmony to imprison Discord once again," explained Twilight.

"You know," began Rainbow Dash, tapping her hoof against her chin, "I still can't believe he made me think a tiny little cloud was Cloudsdale."

Applejack shrugged. "I can't believe he made Rarity here think that an ugly old boulder was a bonafide diamond."

Rarity glared daggers at Applejack. "I thought we agreed never to speak of that again," she whispered icily.

"So wait," Sonic started, scratching his head, "what are these 'Helements of Armory' exactly?"

Twilight facehoofed. "I forgot to tell you guys about the Elements, didn't I?"

"No worries Twilight Sparkle, I can explain it," the caged pony offered. "The Elements of Harmony are--"

"QUIET!" yelled Eggman, finally turning back to face Sonic and company. "Doctor, I'm going to kill Sonic now, and nothing is going to stop me, not even some silly god!" He raised his finger to press the button again.

At that moment, a sinister chuckle filled the air, growing in volume. Suddenly, the pink cloud exploded and became a tall serpent with the head of a pony and limbs from a multitude of other creatures.

The serpent wagged a finger. "Tsk, tsk. Now where's the fun in that?" With a snap of his fingers, the mech disappeared from under Eggman, as did the cage trapping the Doctor. They both hit the ground, each with a particularly nasty thud. "I can't have you killing the person who's responsible for releasing me; we should be throwing him a party!"

At these words, everyone turned to stare at Sonic who's expression was just as confused as the rest their's was. "M-me?" the hedgehog stammered. How in the world had he released this Discord guy?

"Yes, of course," answered Discord, smiling down at him. "Without you, I would still be a statue on the castle grounds."

Applejack snorted. "Quit lyin', we all know it was that Eggman feller who released ya."

"Oh, come now Applejack, you're the Element of Honesty, surely you'd be able to detect the truth when you hear it?" replied Discord. "Eggman helped it along, in more ways than one, but Sonic's rainboom is the main reason I'm free."

"Now I know you're lying," Rainbow Dash retorted, flying up to eye level with the serpent. " I do sonic rainboom's all the time, but you're never released when I do them."

Discord rubbed his chin. "Maybe I didn't say exactly what I meant. You see, it's more of what the boom caused to happen... Eggman, I think you know what I'm talking about," said the serpent, turning to face the fat scientist who was currently sitting on the ground, recovering from his fall.

Eggman thought for a moment. "Yes... yes, I think I remember." He thrust his had into one of his jacket pockets and pulled out an ordinary looking key. "I was holding this when I saw Sonic's boom. I was... startled by it and the key flew out of my hands right onto... the statue's foot." His mustache drooped a little. It was obvious to Sonic that Eggman hadn't meant for this to happen.

"Bingo!" exclaimed Discord, clapping his hands together. It seemed to Sonic that he was enjoying this way too much.

"But how exactly did that release you?" the Doctor asked, eyeing the key with avid curiosity.

"Good question, Doctor," complemented Discord. "You see, while Eggman was standing in front of my statue debating on whether to attempt to released me or not, his inner turmoil caused the stone imprisoning me to soften. Then, when Eggman was startled, the key landed on my feet, causing the stone to crack, thus allowing me to escape."

Sonic crossed his arms. "So, technically, it was Egg--"

Discord raised a finger to silence Sonic. "I wasn't finished yet. It couldn't have been just any old key that could've caused it to crack; no. This key was special," said Discord. He glanced down at the Doctor. "Care to explain, Doctor?"

The Doctor sighed and faced Sonic's group. "The key I gave Eggman was a key to my TARDIS, which is my time and space machine. Not only that, but the key was also a 'perception filter' which makes it so that no one pays attention to the holder of said perception filter unless the holder draws attention to himself."

"Exactly," replied Discord, rubbing his hands together. "That key is from a different universe; it causes a small amount of chaotic energy just by being in this universe!" The serpent laughed heartily. "The chaos caused by that key, combined with Eggman's inner turmoil, is what caused me to be freed!"

Applejack glared at the Doctor. "Now why'd you go and give a key like that to this guy right here?" she questioned, pointing at Eggman.

"Well, I didn't know he was evil until after I gave him the key," the Doctor retorted.

Sonic barely noticed this little exchange because he was busy staring at Eggman's face. The mad scientist was currently staring up at Discord with an expression that Sonic had seen only once before, back during the whole Chaos business when Chaos had turned on Eggman. Stripped of the usual anger and insanity, Eggman's face was a strange mix of fear, sadness, and regret. However, unlike the time with Chaos, something was different. Something had changed, although Sonic couldn't put his finger on what exactly that something was.

Discord let out another hearty chuckle. "It's been a riveting discussion everypony, but I have lots of chaos to wreak!" He looked down at Eggman and added, "Oh, and thank you for causing some splendid chaos in Ponyville already. Makes my job just that easier."

"Just you wait, Discord!" shouted Twilight, her face set in determination, glaring at the chaotic serpent. "Once we find the elements, you're going down!" There was a chorus of "yeah's" from the other five ponies.

"Oh Twilight, you don't need to worry about finding those silly elements," replied Discord, pointing at the undestroyed back wall of the library, "they'll be arriving in about 3 seconds."

Twilight scrunched up her eyebrows. "What do you--"

There was a bright flash of white light from where Discord had been pointing to. Standing where the flash had emanated from, was a tall, alabaster pegasus-unicorn hybrid with a flowing multi-colored mane. Next to the hybrid stood a small, purple scaly creature with green spines and, in its hands, was a jewel encrusted box.

"This stops now, Discord!" commanded the hybrid, glaring up at the serpent.

"Princess Celestia!" the six ponies exclaimed in tandem.

"Hello Celestia," sneered Discord. After a quick glance at Sonic and Tails, he added with a grin, "Long time no see."

Comments

[The Broken Machine]

"Helements of armony"
Love these references!

[Shard The Ice]

HEY THATS SONIC'S LINE!!!!!