The Phantom Threat
“Breaking news! The royal princesses retiring! I have so many questions! Who’ll take over? Who will run Equestria? Will it be someone tall, dark, and handsome? Or will it be the Lord of Chaos? …Oh, fine. Go with the obvious choice.”
Discord’s words echoed in Twilight’s head as she frantically paced in a circle around her room. She still couldn’t believe it. Celestia and Luna, retiring? And putting her and her friends in charge of Equestria? It was unthinkable. Laughable, even. It had to be a joke. But she saw the looks on their faces, heard the sincerity in their voices. She knew deep down the only one she was trying to fool was herself.
Her friends had managed to calm her worries back in Canterlot, but now she was back in Ponyville and it was a new day. A day closer to the princesses publicly announcing their retirement. She shuddered at the reminder of how little time she had before then, to make her decisions before her life changed dramatically. What was she going to do about the School of Friendship? What about her castle here in Ponyville? And what were her friends going to do? If they went with her, they’d be leaving so much behind, but if they didn’t, would they be able to stay in touch and help her handle all her new responsibilities?
Twilight stopped pacing suddenly and sat down, dragging her hooves down her face as a groan escaped her lips. “Why is this happening so suddenly? Why now?” she wondered to herself. The Princesses had given the long period of peace in Equestria as their reason for stepping down, but Twilight wasn’t sure she agreed with their definition of ‘long’, especially not recently. She looked over at her bed, at the long cylindrical glass container and the notes she had left on top of the made sheets. She’d gotten them both out minutes ago, just before the feeling of refreshment from cleaning herself up had worn off and she remembered what happened yesterday.
“It feels like it’s been about that long since we took on Lyric with Team Sonic and were nearly overwhelmed. Even the other Eggman and Shadow couldn’t handle him. I think we were very lucky that the gamble I took worked in the end; I’m not sure we would’ve been able to stop him otherwise,” she thought. It had been several weeks since that night and things had thankfully been quiet in Equestria since then. Twilight and Starlight’s research had so far yielded the results they were hoping to see, and they were getting to the point where they were fairly confident that they could get the Warp Ring working. And now this bombshell had to come along and throw all those plans into disarray.
Realizing she was going around in circles with her thoughts now, Twilight stood up, walked over to her bed, and rolled the canister next to her notes before flopping down on her back. She stared up at the canopy, her forelegs and wings splayed out on the sheets. “I only really told them about the crystal that Sunset and Twilight gave me. I was so excited to tell Princess Celestia and Princess Luna about it that I didn’t really mention Lyric. Should I have told them back there? Should I have made a case that maybe things aren’t as peaceful as we’d like to believe?” she wondered. She tilted her head back a little and raised her eyes to look at the container behind her, seeing the crystal shard through the glass and the slight rainbow glow it was giving off.
She raised her head after a few moments and looked to her right over at her bookshelf. She noticed she liked to switch out what was on top of it a lot. Because of recent events and her own hopes, she currently had two photo frames, one containing the group photo from Sonic’s birthday party and the other containing the photo of her, Sonic, Shining, and Cadance that her brother and sister-in-law had insisted they take that they’d recovered from the remains of the Golden Oak Library, on the sides of the top, and in between them, sitting on top of her own CHS yearbook, was the Warp Ring and the latest addition to her photo collection: a group photo she, Spike, and the girls had taken with Team Sonic, Eggman, Orbot, and Cubot before they parted ways.
She kept staring over at the photos as the memories came to her, remembering all the times that had led up to those pictures, remembering all the signatures and notes the other students had written to her and Spike in the yearbook. Even if she didn’t know all of them as well as she knew her closest friends, they knew what she was like and they liked her and had faith in her. They would surely support her and say she was ready if they knew she was about to take such a big step into a new life, but she supposed that was the problem. Whether protecting it or running it, Equestria was a huge responsibility and she wasn’t sure she was ready for it. It meant there would be even more eyes on her than she already had, and she certainly wouldn’t have time to do all the things she wanted to anymore.
Twilight sat up suddenly, a newfound determination filling her. “I might be allowed to move things from here to Canterlot, but even if I found time for it, I can’t be doing experiments in the castle. This has to be done now, before Princess Celestia and Princess Luna step down. At the very least, I want to see them and talk to them one more time,” she thought. She used her magic to grab the container, the Warp Ring, and her notes before she leapt off of her bed, one stray scroll falling back onto the bed as she lifted everything up and trotted out of the room.
Starlight and Spike found her in the library a short while later, working with the wiring, cables, and pieces of machinery they’d brought back to develop an apparatus for the Warp Ring similar to the one she’d built for the Crystal Mirror. Starlight was quick to join in to help her complete it and test it faster after she explained what she was doing, helping her move the tables off to the sides while Spike excused himself from the room, leaving them to work out the details while he took advantage of having a little downtime after having a lot to do recently. It also didn’t hurt that Twilight being preoccupied kept her from fully Twilight-ing over becoming the new Princess of Equestria. Of course, he wanted to see Sonic and his friends again too, but he had a feeling Twilight and Starlight could handle all the difficult stuff without his help.
He came back around lunchtime to check how they were doing. As he stepped in, he saw Starlight pull away with the crystal canister in her magic as the Warp Ring suddenly expanded to its full size in Twilight’s grip, the golden part of the ring now shining brightly like it had before it ran out of energy, matching the magenta luster her magic had given it. “All right, that looks good,” Spike heard Twilight say before she levitated the ring over to a raised metal platform, holding it up above it. Starlight brought over a clamp that had a cable running to the top of a nearby tower that had a computer built into it and cables coming out of the bottom of it. She fastened it to the left side of the ring, the clamp covering about a half-quarter of it, and made sure it was secure before signaling to Twilight to stop using her magic. She then went to drag the cables from the tower behind the ring over to a computer console on the other side of the ring while Twilight checked the platform.
When it seemed like they were finished, Spike cleared his throat, causing both mares to notice him. “So… it seems like you two have made a lot of progress in one morning. That’s my girls!” he remarked while walking closer and fiddling with the wrist straps of his Enerbeams.
Starlight gave him an odd smile as she said, “That’s kind of an odd thing to say, Spike, but you’re right. We should be ready for our first test of this system soon.”
Spike asked, “Do you really need all these machines hooked up to the Warp Ring? It never needed them before.”
While still checking the platform under the ring and grabbing the canister and placing it in, Twilight said, “Well, that was back when it was on the world it came from, Spike, back when it was charged the way it was supposed to be. It hasn’t had any Chaos Energy in it for a long time, plus it has magic in it as well. This crystal contains several different types of energy in it. We think we’ve got it all worked out; we just have to be sure. We want to be able to visit Sonic’s world, after all. We don’t want to get stranded there.”
Starlight checked the console on the right as she added, “We also want to make sure we don’t end up in the wrong world. Star Swirl’s notes mentioned that happening before.” She finished after a few moments and made her way over to the tower to look at the screen. She watched it while Twilight double and triple-checked everything. As she was finishing up, Starlight reported, “Okay, it all looks good here. The readings are coming in and they’re consistent with what we expected to see. I’m not picking up any problems with the equipment on this end.” She looked over at Twilight, “I think we’re ready.”
Twilight nodded and walked over to the other computer. “We’ll start with the gateway test like we planned, then. We’ll select the destination and see what kind of effect the crystal has on the ring and the portal,” she said as she stopped in front of the console.
Starlight brought a hoof up to the base of her neck like she was reaching for something and, when she didn’t feel anything, began looking around on the floor. “Where did I put that stopwatch?” she asked.
Spike’s gaze drifted over to the table and he noticed the metal casing of the circular watch on the edge of it. He flapped his wings a bit to get off the ground and used the Enerbeam on his right wrist to grab it and pull it towards him. He then landed and called to Starlight, who was still looking around her while Twilight was messing with the computer, “I found it, Starlight! It’s right here!”
Starlight turned to him as he walked up to her and took the stopwatch with her magic, saying, “Oh, thank you, Spike.” They both looked over at Twilight and saw that she seemed to be done and was just staring at the screen in front of her, an apprehensive look on her face. “How long should the test go, Twilight?” Starlight asked.
“Please make it short, Twilight. I want to get something to eat,” Spike thought.
Twilight looked over at her for a moment before glancing up, “Uh, let’s see…” She looked down a moment later, “Let’s do three minutes. If there are any problems, it shouldn’t take long for them to show up, right?” Starlight nodded and looked at her expectantly. Twilight turned back to the computer and, after checking the information on the screen one more time, raised her right hoof up. “Contact!” she said before she brought it down and pressed a button that lit up blue below the keyboard. Starlight clicked the stopwatch and they all turned their heads to look at the ring.
Both it and its magic luster had begun to glow brighter, but there was nothing in the center yet. Suddenly, magenta-colored streaks of light began to emanate from the inside circumference of the ring, all moving towards the general center and forming a glowing point like a small star. It flashed a few times before it began to shine brightly, forcing everyone to look away. When it died down a little several seconds later, they looked to see that the streaks of light and glowing point were gone and were replaced by a shimmering surface that Twilight and Spike recognized showing checkerboard hills that they’d only heard about. As well as a lot of sand…
“Look at that! That must be that Green Hill place Rainbow Dash told us about! The Warp Ring is working again!” Spike cheered. He then held a claw up to his mouth, “She didn’t say anything about there being a lot of sand, though.”
This new detail wasn’t bothering only him. “Starlight?” Twilight called while looking down at the computer screen.
Starlight blinked and looked down at her stopwatch and then at the screen next to her. “Uh, twenty seconds, no abnormal readings on this side,” she reported.
Twilight looked back up at the ring, still feeling uncertain. “I guess it has been a while. Did things really change that much, though? Oh please, let this be right. Let this work,” she thought. She and Spike continued to look at the ring while Starlight watched the test time and readings, reporting at fifteen second intervals.
“Still no changes, and we’re at a minute and forty-five seconds,” Starlight reported, turning her eyes to look down at the stopwatch. She started to raise her eyes back to the screen, “I think… huh?” She blinked and squinted at the screen.
“What’s wrong?” Spike asked.
Starlight brought her head back a little, still staring at the screen as she said, “I thought I saw something. Not a reading change, but… something. Maybe…” She hesitated, wondering if she’d just been seeing things, but her eyes widened a moment later. “What the-?!” Spike peered around her to look at the screen. It looked like it was malfunctioning, flickering and glitching out part or all of the screen. The numbers and visual displays were all over the place as well, going far above or below what the norm had been and showing up in the wrong places. Electric sparks were starting to come out from behind the screen as well as small smoke trails.
Twilight was starting to notice some errors occurring on her side as well and called, “Starlight?! Spike?!” Before either of them could say anything, they heard an odd sound followed by another one as the colors of Green Hill in the portal turned negative. Suddenly, it was replaced by a new swirling pink-purple portal accompanied by a gust of wind blowing out into the library, causing them all to shield their faces and look away, leaving them unable to see anything or hear much else besides the wind and books being blown off their shelves nearby.
Several seconds passed with the wind not letting up before Starlight cracked her left eye open and looked towards her screen. It was still displaying information, but it looked incomprehensible now, and there were more sparks shooting out from behind it. She gasped and placed her hooves on the tower before calling over the wind, “Twilight, it looks like it’s about to burst! Cut the power!”
Twilight, who was trying to keep her hooves on the ground and not get pushed back any more by the wind, opened her eyes and looked towards her as she called, “What?!”
Starlight called back, “We need to try to shut it down! If this continues, we’ll lose everything!” Twilight looked at her for a moment before looking at Spike, seeing the baby dragon using both Enerbeams to hold onto the tower as he bobbed up and down in midair. Seeing this, she faced forward and steeled herself before dashing forward against the wind, aiming for the computer. She managed to reach it and slapped her right hoof down on a red button in the middle of a black and yellow striped pattern below all the rest.
It had an immediate effect as the wind began to die down and the portal began to shudder before it began to diminish, the Warp Ring’s usual shimmering surface reappearing as it shrank away completely. They only saw it for a moment or two before it vanished and the wind stopped. Spike landed hard on his front, but he was quick to look up, half-expecting something else to happen. After several long, tense moments, nothing did; whatever the strange occurrence was, it seemed like the only thing they had to deal with was the damaged equipment.
Spike let out a sigh before standing up and dusting himself off. “Well, that was unexpected. I guess maybe there’s still something you need to figure out before it’ll work?” he asked.
Starlight looked up at her screen as she said, “I don’t think that was us, Spike.” She slapped the side of it with a hoof. This caused it to come back on, but it flashed with static every few moments. “I have no idea what that was. All the equipment was working as it should, the readings fell within the expected range, there was nothing wrong with the ring, and then it just suddenly went haywire without any warning! With no logical explanation either!”
Spike walked up next to her as he asked, “No explanation? You sure it didn’t have anything to do with magic?”
Starlight looked down at him, “If that was magic, then it was no magic I’ve ever seen or heard about before. I do think there was some sort of interference, but it would have to be some incredibly powerful magic to do that.”
Spike was going to continue asking questions, but then he realized Twilight hadn’t said anything since the ring powered down. He looked over at her and saw her sitting in front of the console with a hoof on it. She wasn’t looking at it or them; her gaze was directed downwards, a despondent look on her muzzle. It almost seemed like she hadn’t even heard their discussion. “Uh, Twilight?” he asked as Starlight looked over at her as well.
When she didn’t respond, Starlight made her way over to her and said in a louder tone, “Twilight?”
With as close as she was to the mare, she could hear Twilight muttering to herself. “That wasn’t supposed to happen… It’s going to take too much time to figure out where it went wrong, fix the ring, and get it working again… I guess we won’t get to see them again after all…”
Her mumblings were cut off when Starlight grabbed the sides of her head with her hooves and made her look at her. “Twilight. Twilight, look at me. Do not start that now. I would prefer if you started ‘Twilight-ing’ rather than ‘Tempest Shadow-ing’ on us. …Actually, don’t start ‘Shadow-ing’ on us either,” she said as she briefly put her face closer to the alicorn’s before backing off.
“You’re using that now too? And what do those last two mean?” Twilight asked as Starlight let go of her head.
“You know, angry all the time, looking down on everyone else as inferior, preferring to be alone because of that…” Starlight listed.
Twilight looked at her for a moment before saying, “Okay, I don’t know if I would say all that about Tempest when we first met her, and while that does describe the other one pretty well, I’ve told you about Shadow, how…”
Starlight interrupted her, “Yes, how he’s capable of working with Sonic under certain circumstances, is calmer by comparison, actually has a reason for all that. I know what you said and I’ll believe it when I meet him. But you still don’t want to turn out like him or the other guy, do you?”
Twilight started, “Well, no. I just…” A loud cracking sound rang through the library, startling Spike and both mares. “What was that?” Twilight asked as they all looked around.
A couple of tense seconds went by before Starlight said, “I don’t know… It sure was oddly timed… Hopefully, that’s a coincidence.” She looked back at Twilight, “The point I was trying to make is, it’s not too late. If you really want to insist on getting this done before the Princesses step down, there’s still time to do it. It shouldn’t take long to repair the machines, and I should be able to extract the readings from when things went haywire. We can use that to help figure out what happened and prevent it in a future test.”
Spike came over and said, “And I have no doubt you two will be able to figure it out.” He then patted his stomach with his claws as it let out a rumble, “Of course, it’s not a good idea to think on an empty stomach…”
Starlight replied, “You’re right, Spike. I do feel a little hungry myself.” She looked back at Twilight, “Why don’t we go out and get something to eat? Spend some time outside before we come back to this.”
Twilight’s gaze wandered around the library, properly seeing the mess that had been made. “I should probably clean this up and gather up and put away my notes before we go…” she uttered.
Starlight stared at her for a moment before saying, “Well, we can take care of the books while you get your notes together. It shouldn’t take too long to put everything back where it belongs.” Twilight decided not to argue and began looking for her scrolls while Spike gathered up the books and Starlight returned them to their proper spots.
They were close to finished by the time Twilight had gathered up all the notes she’d brought and was leaving the library. As she was passing through the open doors, she suddenly stopped, blinked, and took a few steps back, turning her head to her left. There on the inside of the door frame, below where her neck would be if she was standing right next to it, were five jagged parallel lines etched into the frame. She raised an eyebrow and thought to herself, “I don’t remember seeing those before… Then again I don’t usually look there.” She shook her head after a moment and continued on her way, though she still felt uneasy about this discovery.
She soon reached her bedroom and shifted her stack of rolled up scrolls to lay them out on her bed. As she approached it, she noticed the one she’d left behind. Initially surprised by this discovery, she became a bit concerned when she noticed it seemed to have holes in it that she was positive it didn’t have before. She set her stack down near her pillows and grabbed the scroll with her magic, bringing it up to her face before unfurling it. She found that it was indeed full of holes, or more accurately scratch marks. Scratch marks that went through the paper and were shaped like letters that seemed to be arranged to make a message. By holding the scroll sideways, she was able to read it, though it didn’t make it any less confusing. “‘THE FUN IS INFINITE’? What does that mean?” she wondered aloud. She looked around the room as she lowered the scroll down and soon noticed something off to her left.
One of her photo frames was lying face down on the floor in front of her bookcase. She let go of the scroll, causing it to fall back onto the bed, and ran over to it, picking it up with her hooves. Flipping it over, she saw that it was the picture of her, Sonic, Shining, and Cadance. There were cracks in the glass, but it didn’t seem to be damaged as if it had fallen. There was a hole right over Sonic’s face that looked like it had been made by something hitting that exact spot, and there appeared to be scratches almost covering up the ponies. A shiver ran down Twilight’s spine; she was starting to have second thoughts about the marks she found in the library.
She sat up a bit to look at the top of her bookcase and saw that while the other two frames were still there, they were similarly disturbed. They were both lying on their backs and had the same damage done to them: a hole over Sonic and the rest of the glass scratched. Her yearbook was missing and the pictures she usually kept taped to her mirror had been ripped off as well. She was getting really freaked out, but she wasn’t addled enough to not notice one detail. “Why was this one the only one on the floor?” she wondered aloud as she looked down at the photo in her hooves. She had a thought and lowered herself down again to check her books. Sure enough, they’d been disturbed too, and there were some missing. She looked to her right and saw a pile of books against the wall near her telescope, including her yearbook. She set the frame down on the bookcase and moved towards the pile. They were all there, but one had pages torn out.
Spike and Starlight came in while she was over by the pile, the former calling, “Twilight, we’re finished! Are you done yet?” Twilight sat up straight at that, but she just looked around at the books on the floor, her mouth hanging open and her worried expression visible to Starlight and Spike even from where they were standing. “Uh, Twilight?” Spike asked.
The strain was too much for Twilight and she placed her hooves on the sides of her head as she let it out in one loud panicked shout, “WHO WAS IN HERE?!”
Meanwhile, in a remote part of Equestria…
Three swirls of black smoke appeared in a cavern, each one depositing a being that had been a threat to Equestria in recent times. The first to appear was an elderly-looking centaur whose coat and skin were faded. He had little stubs for horns, a metal chain that went around his chest, and guards on both of his forearms. He was frail and had very little muscle mass, but he once had so much more, back when he had absorbed the magic of all the ponies in Equestria. He was Lord Tirek, and he was disoriented and confused by his sudden teleportation from Tartarus.
Another swirl of black smoke briefly appeared next to him and he turned and looked down to see his fellow prisoner, a young pegasus filly named Cozy Glow who had a pink coat and a curly pale blue mane and tail with a light gray stripe running through them. She had briefly managed to become all powerful by stealing magic artifacts from Twilight’s School of Friendship and tried to gain even more power for herself. Her efforts were undone by the Tree of Harmony stripping the magic from her and returning it to where it belonged. She was sentenced to Tartarus for her actions and now she was as surprised as Tirek by the sudden change in location.
On the other side of the cavern from the two, a third swirl of black smoke deposited Chrysalis, the former Queen of the Changelings. After that traitor Thorax had caused the changelings under her rule to become something different and destroyed her throne and kingdom, she’d sworn revenge on Starlight and her friends and has been trying to carry out her revenge ever since. Her attempt to create evil clones of Twilight and her circle of friends had failed, but she had still managed to avoid being captured, and now she wasn’t sure why she’d suddenly disappeared from the nest she’d made in the woods.
It didn’t take Chrysalis long to notice Tirek and Cozy Glow behind her, and she immediately recognized the former. “Lord Tirek!” she sneered.
“A changeling?” Tirek asked as he and Cozy Glow stared across at her. He leaned over Cozy Glow a moment later and held his arms out towards Chrysalis as he told her, “See? She gets it.” The filly just rolled her eyes in response as she looked back at Chrysalis.
“Chrysalis, queen of the changelings! Or at least I WILL be when I’m restored to my rightful place!” the former queen stated as she made her way down the carved steps of the ramp in front of her while Cozy Glow and Tirek descended the path and steps on their side. Once they were standing across from each other, Chrysalis’ horn glowed green as she demanded, “Why did you summon me? What do you want?!”
Cozy Glow yelped and hid behind Tirek’s left foreleg before saying, “Oh golly! We didn’t bring you! I thought YOU freed US from Tartarus!” She grinned nervously with big eyes at the changeling.
Chrysalis’ horn stopped glowing, but she still regarded the pair with suspicion. “Tartarus? Whoever pulled you from there must have been somepony very powerful indeed,” she remarked. They were all struck silent when a dark laugh rang out through the cavern. The three of them turned towards a nearby table with a glowing crystal ball on it, looking at the pedestal above it as another swirl of smoke appeared and faded away to reveal King Sombra, a unicorn who used dark magic and ruled the Crystal Empire a thousand years ago before his curse caused it to disappear when he was banished. It was believed he was destroyed by the Crystal Heart when the empire returned, but Chrysalis and Tirek could clearly see it was him standing there, looking down at them. “King Sombra! You have returned? Why did you bring us here?” Chrysalis asked while Tirek created a small red orb of magic between his horns.
“He didn’t,” a new voice stated, causing Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow to look behind them towards the cavern’s entrance. A silhouette was emerging from the fog at the cavern’s entrance, revealing a blue ram with dark azure horns and a light blue-gray mane and tail. Cozy Glow stayed behind Tirek’s foreleg as the ram walked past and Sombra turned into black smoke before he sat behind the crystal ball. “It was I. You may call me… Grogar,” he said, leaning forward to put emphasis on his name.
Both Chrysalis and Tirek gasped in surprise while Cozy Glow looked confused for a moment before looking worried again. “THE Grogar?” Chrysalis asked.
As Sombra reappeared next to Chrysalis, Tirek admitted, “I thought you were a legend!”
Sombra pointed his left hoof at the ram, “I’ve heard of you.”
As they all approached the table, Cozy Glow asked, “Who?”
Grogar eyed them all as they gathered around the table and said, “I assure you, I am VERY real. And you have all been brought here as part of MY plan to rid Equestria of Twilight Sparkle and her friends once and for all.” He let out a sinister chuckle afterwards.
Cozy Glow fluttered up to the edge of the table and spoke, “I am so sorry, but the name ‘Grofar’? It just doesn’t ring any bells.”
She was sent reeling back when Grogar leaned across the table and angrily shouted, “GROGAR!” Sombra, Chrysalis, and Tirek looked down at the filly laying on her back as the ram came around and stood over her as he said, “I have been away too long if my name no longer strikes fear into the heart of one so tiny.” He went back behind his table and faced everyone again, “Perhaps a demonstration of power is in order?” Once Cozy Glow was seated on the table, Grogar reached his left hoof up to his bell necklace, causing the symbols on the side to glow brightly. From the necklace he produced a yellow sphere of magic and blew it towards Tirek, the centaur catching it in his hands.
After examining it for a moment, Tirek eagerly placed it in his mouth and his body began to glow white and grow. When the glow faded, he was taller and more muscular. Not as tall and muscular as he had been in the past, but certainly a far cry from the frail centaur he’d been just moments ago. After kissing his biceps, he began, speaking mainly to Cozy Glow, “Grogar is ancient and extremely powerful. The land that would become Equestria was a mere collection of farms and pastures until he declared himself emperor of all he saw. I remember hearing tales of his tyranny when I was young.”
Sombra added, “I have also heard of the First Emperor of Equestria. The ‘Father of Monsters’.”
As the villains continued their discussion, they were unaware that a pink-purple portal opened at the back of the cave, someone stepping out of it. The new arrival was a jackal that walked on two legs that ended with pointed, metal black hi-tops on his feet that had an infinity symbol on the soles, he was covered with black fur save for some white stripes on his back, had a bushy tail with a white tip, he wore black gloves that had a silver streak on the back as well as a silver mask that had a black lightning bolt-shaped piece that covered his right eye entirely, had a red visor over his left eye, and large ears on top of it. His sharp fingers ran over a tetrahedron-shaped gem on his chest as he hid behind one of the rock columns and listened in.
“What are you suggesting?” Chrysalis asked Grogar.
“I suggest nothing. I DEMAND that you join me, and together, Equestria will be ours!” the blue ram answered.
Sombra stuck his nose in the air and threw his mane back as he said, “I don’t do ‘ours’. I only do MINE.” He jumped up onto the table and stood in front of Grogar, briefly pointing his right hoof at him before turning away as he went on, “I will take back the Crystal Empire on my own, and I will destroy any pony who gets in my way!” Before Grogar could reply, a short, dry laugh rang out, causing Sombra’s eyes to snap open. He glared back over his shoulder at Tirek, “You dare laugh at me, Tirek?” The centaur just shrugged and raised an eyebrow in reply.
Suddenly, they all heard a new voice say, “Laugh at you? Don’t be mistaken, Sombra.” All of them, including Grogar, turned to look up at the pedestal as the newcomer stepped out onto it and crossed his arms as he looked down at Sombra. “I simply have respect for your desire to go solo. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were after my own heart. Of course, if I actually had any respect for you, I would’ve applauded you.” Sombra didn’t reply; he simply glared up at him.
“And you are?” Tirek asked. The stranger turned his head to look at Tirek, but didn’t say anything.
“He asked you a question,” Cozy Glow piped up after a few seconds of silence.
“I don’t speak to old fossils. And what are you? His pet?” he replied.
“What?! No! I’ll have you know that I-!” Cozy Glow’s rant was quickly cut off by Tirek reaching up and closing two fingers and his thumb around her mouth.
Chrysalis narrowed her eyes as she looked up at the jackal. “I don’t know who you are, but there’s something familiar about you,” she said.
He looked at her, “Ah, I see you remembered.” He then looked down at Grogar, “As do you, don’t you, ‘Grogar’?”
Sombra looked at the ram and asked, “Do you know him?”
Grogar stepped down from the table as he said, “No. I don’t associate with nobodies, and certainly not nobodies who are more overconfident and reckless than you.”
The jackal replied, “Is that so? Well, you can continue to feign ignorance if you wish, ‘Grogar’, but it’s not going to last.”
Cozy Glow managed to get out of Tirek’s grip and fluttered next to him as she spoke, “Well, you know, you talk big, but it doesn’t sound like you’ve done anything to back up what you’re saying! Who are you and what are you doing here?”
The jackal looked away, “Well, if baby must know…” He faced forward and, in one quick movement, bent his knees slightly and leapt forward, Equestria’s villains following him with their eyes as he flipped around in midair and landed facing them at the edge of the water in the cave. “You may call me Infinite, and I was drawn here because I sensed your meager gathering of power.”
Sombra stepped off the table and growled, “Meager?!”
Chrysalis supported him, “And what sort of power do you possess that you believe is SO much greater than ours?”
Infinite raised his right hand up next to his head, a red orb of energy beginning to form above his palm. “I understand your species likes to prop themselves up behind magic and a wall of lies, so you’ll surely enjoy this. Allow me to expose the lie that’s been in front of you all this entire time.” The orb continued to hover above his palm as it finished forming. Suddenly, they all heard a strange sound and it seemed to them that all the colors they could see were either inverted or replaced by pink or pink-purple. This lasted for several seconds before everything went back to normal and the orb vanished.
Sombra returned his gaze to Infinite. “A light show? Is that all?” he asked, unamused.
Grogar spoke up, “How pathetic. There is no place here for those pretending to have power. I will send you back to where you came from, you little fool.” While he was speaking, Tirek briefly glanced back in his direction before returning his gaze to Infinite, only to do a double take and look again. There was no longer a blue ram standing behind the table; instead, there was someone far more familiar to the centaur.
“Discord?!” Tirek exclaimed, the other villains turning and staring at the draconequus as well, who looked surprised at being called out.
Discord looked down at himself, noticing for the first time that his disguise was gone. “What… How…?” he stammered, the occasionally loudmouthed Lord of Chaos who loved to showboat suddenly at a loss for words as he realized he was completely exposed. He looked up and saw some of the villains' expressions beginning to shift to anger, causing him to grin sheepishly and give them a nervous expression. He raised his lion paw and snapped his fingers… only for nothing to happen. He looked at his paw and snapped his fingers again. Still nothing. He began snapping his fingers repeatedly, looking more and more worried each time. He stopped after a few seconds, still staring at his lion paw. He could feel his magic; it hadn’t been taken from him, so why wasn’t it working?
Infinite let out another dry laugh, causing everyone to look back at him. “I know what you’re thinking, Discord. Yes, you do still have your magic, but under my power, it’s nothing. I don’t need to take it away to render you powerless. Right now, you are no more than a circus freak.” Discord looked at Tirek when he heard him crack his knuckles, seeing the centaur glaring at him. Before anyone could move, Infinite spoke, “Wait.”
Tirek whirled his head around to look at the jackal, “What?!”
Infinite replied, “I came to this world to deliver a message to him, and since you’re all here, you’ll want to hear it too.” He looked back at Discord, “If you were still a statue, Discord, I would’ve left you as one for this despite being told otherwise. Regardless, this message is from the Doctor.”
Discord blinked and his eyes widened a moment later when the title clicked in his head. Like Chrysalis, he’d noticed something familiar about Infinite when he saw him and had been trying to piece it together while still keeping up the Grogar act. He knew only one person who might be referred to by that title. “Eggman?!” he managed to say loud enough to be heard.
Infinite continued, “You lost to Sonic. Sonic lost to me. Thanks to my power, the empire has controlled the planet for months now and he’s going to add this world to it very soon. I don’t know what you were actually planning to do with this band of fools, but it doesn’t matter. By bringing them together in one place, I now have everything I was missing and more. You and the rest of these pathetic failures are no longer of any use.”
Sombra growled and dark magic started to flicker around his horn like a flame. “Is that so? Well, I can still call upon my magic, so I’m not impressed by your power. And I will not stand here and let you claim you’re greater than me.” Chrysalis and Tirek stepped forward as well, ready to challenge his words, while Cozy Glow hid behind Tirek once again.
“That was only ever intended to affect the reject. I was hoping the rest of you would not be so easily cowed. I could use some entertainment. Putting down the Resistance has become boring,” Infinite stated.
Cozy Glow nervously peered at him from behind Tirek’s back. “W-We can take him, c-can’t we? I mean, there’s four of us and one of h-him,” she squeaked.
Infinite spoke, “You think you have me outnumbered? Hardly. It was going to be a surprise, but why bother anymore?” He raised his right hand and tapped the tip of his gem with two fingers, causing it to start to glow and make that strange sound again, though it was at a lower pitch this time.
Suddenly, a pink-purple portal opened where Tirek and Cozy Glow had appeared from, a large muscular creature coming through it and landing on the ground before it closed. It was Zavok, the leader of the Deadly Six. He rotated each of his shoulders before his purple eyes settled on Tirek and he beckoned to the centaur with his left hand. Tirek growled and began to form a sphere of magic between his horns as he turned to face the Zeti.
A roaring sound came from the cave entrance and Metal Sonic suddenly shot in through the fog, coming to a stop above the ground in front of Infinite and off to his right. He landed and pointed his right finger at Chrysalis before beckoning to her. The former Queen snarled and her horn lit up green, almost immediately knowing who the robot was based off of. “You just had to say something, didn’t you?” she growled to Cozy Glow as she readied herself.
The pink filly said nothing as she looked between Chrysalis and Tirek nervously. Suddenly she felt drops of water landing on her head and looked up. There was a big blue puddle on the ceiling that stopped dripping after she saw it. It fell from the ceiling and landed between her and the table, Chaos Zero rising up out of it and staring at her with his big green eyes. Cozy Glow shivered; she didn’t like the way that… water creature was staring at her.
Sombra stepped forward and glared at Infinite, the jackal having hardly moved the entire time. “Well, looks like it’s just us now. Shall we?” he mocked. Sombra replied by filling his horn up with dark magic and leaping towards the jackal, Infinite responding in kind.
Discord backed up against the base of the pedestal as he watched the fighting break out in front of him. He’d only meant to bring Tirek, Chrysalis, Cozy Glow, and Sombra together to act as a sort of final test for Twilight and her friends to prove that they were ready to take over for Celestia and Luna. It had been genius and there was no possible way it could go wrong. What sort of forces beyond his control conspired to not only make it go off the rails, but also over a shark and inside a fridge just in time to escape a nuclear explosion?
After a quick snap of his fingers to determine if he could teleport away again, he turned and began climbing up the pedestal. He had to get out of this cave first of all. Hopefully without anyone noticing; they might just all stop what they were doing and start attacking him if they saw him trying to escape. He then had to get to Ponyville and alert Twilight and the others about Infinite and that Eggman was coming, even if he had to go on all fours to get there. And then…
He had his lion paw and eagle claw on top of the pedestal when he heard a footstep in front of him. He looked up and his eyes widened again when he saw a familiar black and red hedgehog standing a short distance away staring directly at him. “Shadow?!” he squeaked, the hedgehog narrowing his eyes in response.
Outside the cave, the real Infinite stood on one of the stone blocks in the swamp as he looked at the structure shaped like Grogar’s head, seeing various flashes of light and hearing the sounds of fighting coming from within. “That should keep them occupied for a while,” he said to himself. He raised his left hand and looked down at the pages he’d ripped out of Twilight’s book. While trying to find the information he’d actually been looking for, he had learned of the existence of Lord Tirek and Cozy Glow as well, and now that he’d seen and learned enough about them, he could return to the real task at hand.
He looked up at Grogar’s Lair and remarked, “I’ll be back later to finish off you lot.” He raised his right hand as he looked back down at the pages and slashed his claws across them, cutting right through them. He then turned and let go of the shreds, letting the wind carry them off as he left the swamp, “Now I need to find this ‘Tempest Shadow’.”
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SWEET!!! THE SEQUEL WE'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR IS FINALLY HERE!!!!!!!!!!!
Won't the villains fighting against Infinite's copies turn out to be a test, and when they succeed (which I'm positive they will), they (Along with the Storm King and the Pony of Shadows, I assume) will join the Eggman Empire in their domination of both Mobius AND Equis?
I'm also going to go out on a limb here and say that the Phantom Ruby itself is indeed sentient, and is just using all the villains to take over both worlds, just like it's most likely done to several other worlds before them?
YES! THE SEQUEL IS HERE!
And what a strong opening! I can't wait for the next chapter!
A Sequel to the story that drew me here to FIMFiction.net from FanFiction.net, and inspired me to actually write fanfiction…
Nice…
Looking forward to this story, pal…
YEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!! This is gonna be great.
Nice idea to get Tempest/Fizzlepop in this, since this will be like a war, Tempest would be great for the Resistance since she’s had military expertise.
The bottle part of the story description came from the Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon! That was similar to Ignitus' line when the game was starting! Sweet!!
10267185
Maybe, but we know the Rookie and the Resistence are gonna beat them and let's just say they won't stand a chance. Can't wait to see something good at the end.
After Tirek, Cozay Glow, and Chrysalis were turned to stone Eggman who was flung across Möbius and stuck in the middle of nowhere just grumbled in humiliation after he got blasted into next week. Then a certain sphere like robot rolled out of his Eggmobile and hit the ground. Seconds later Argo pops out of his closed state and said to Eggman as they looked at the rising sun, "Plesent morning isn't doctor."
Eggman just grumbled with annoyence as Orbot has somehow gone back to his orginal voice setting and now he was stuck with him and a knocked out Cubot. Then Argo turned around and landed on the ground looking at Eggman while in a lazy sitting position and said to him, "You can simply start your plans anew."
Then the screen zoomed on Orbot a little before saying to Eggman, "Even though all your efforts were ultimately wasted by Tirek and his fellow villains including Infinite."
The screen zoomed in on the sphere robot again this time a bit more closer to him as he continued saying, "Even if it was a complete…"
The screen zoomed in on Orbot until one more time before it was close to his face as he finished his sentence, "and utterly humiliating loss to you."
Eggman who now starting to get very irritated by the comments that Orbot was making about him began to growl. Then finally having enough out of the robot he just got up and yelled at him in fury, "Ohhh SHUT UUUUUUUUP!"
Eggman tried to kick Orbot with his right leg, but missed when he ducked under the kick before Eggman slipped and rolled in midair before landing on his back in pain. Orbot on the other hand looked at the screen and pointed his right hand's thumb at Eggman before chuckling in amusement before running off into the rising while Eggman who managed to get back jumped into the air chased after the bot shaking his hands in utter rage as he chased after the robot.
I love how the story start!
I am really looking for the next chapter!😆🤣
So this is your sequel? I'll be damned I am smiling so much right now. Know that if you feel down, you've got fans and friends supporting you the whole way through, just like in the show.
Oh, and you made a mistake: Cozy Glow didn't become an alicorn in the season 8 finale.
10267539
Yeah, I finally got around to owning and playing at least part of the Legend series at last.
10267659
Whoops, my bad. Made a slight change to that. Thank you.
10267717
Cool. Don't worry you won't be disappointed by the game. Which game do you have?
10267723
I got New Beginning and Dawn on the Xbox 360 store.
10267746
We'll do you know I got New Beginning too, but it's on GameCube and also have Dawn of the Dragon for Xbox 360. I'm only missing The Eternal Night.
Did you name this story based of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse?
Alright, let's do this one last time.
10267780
Now that you say that, I realize it actually does almost sound similar.
I don't see Cozy Glow or King Sombra on the picture. Any reason?
10268114
Main reason was I was trying to make the additions fit in with the original image. Since Shadow, Chaos, and Zavok weren't shown, I decided I had to pick two MLP villains to stand with Eggman. Tirek and Chrysalis seemed like they fit with Infinite and Metal Sonic the best, plus I couldn't find a lot of good vectors of Sombra when I put the image together and Cozy Glow... well, let's just say she's not going to be called upon much if at all.
You know I am actually quite curious as to what you thought about Sonic Forces. Personally, I felt it was WAY to easy, but I at least appreciate the work they put in in terms of story, gimmicks, music, and overall, it was quite the compelling story (or at least a compelling idea).
Alright here we go the reunion we’ve been waiting for... though I’m not sure it’s the reunion Twilight wanted.
Ah so this starts right in the beginning of season 9. Things definitely went off the rails right off the bat. A least Discord’s plan isn’t going to happen in this timeline.
Ah there he is!!! The not so tall, black, sonadow fan, jackal edgelord. He’s apparently also a Sonic.exe fan according this chapter. You even got his song playing!!!! I like to think he plays that every time. Yeah his backstory isn’t too great and he didn’t have a good ending, but I can’t help but love the guy. Maybe it’s my inner edgelord showing up.
Well sad seeing Discord rendered useless again, but it does make sense considering the Phantom Ruby is able to bypass Super Sonic’s invulnerability and even depower him it would make sense it would do the same to Discord.
So sense he doesn’t need them he’s probably just goin to copy the villains and tempest. Dang I was kind of hoping for a real team up with Eggman and the evil trio. I guess after all the betrayals in the games and what happened with Discord last time he isn’t looking for teammates anymore. Which with all the things wrong with Forces i am glad Eggman made sure Infinite could never betray him. Shows he’s finally learned his lesson from all those other games. It took him 25 years to take over the world and he doesn’t need another villain stealing his thunder for the whatever time we’re up to. It’s his time to shine.
Though I do wonder if the equestrian villains would be willing to work with the heroes for a little payback.
I gotta say this was a really good opening. Gets yore attending immediately when Signs of infinite in the story. For all of his faults he definitely had a presence in any cutscenes he’s in and I feel like you did a good job with it here so far. Let’s hope he gets a more satisfying ending here.
Great chapter can’t wait for more!!!! Forces had a lot of story potential I think you can use in a similar way Generations did.
Need... More....
I love it greensonic21 and it’s good to have you back. I think this chapter went well although I think it wouldn’t have hurt to add chrysalis to join up. It would give an ideal idea if her as well as tirek and cozy glow to join up with eggman. And it gave me a thought if they joined up with eggman as partners they would probably get a 50 percent chance to rule a portion of each world 25 percent for eggman and the villains in equestria and 25 percent in Sonics world splitng both worlds for 25 percent each villain. Seems like a good idea. But over all I like it and can’t wait to see the rest of the story goes on.
10268777
I made you think of Sonic.EXE?!
NO! I don't want that!
I don't think they or Discord will get that chance... this time around.
10270679
Eggman didn't trust Chrysalis enough to let her in on his plans back in FiT, and that was back when she was sane...r. He didn't consider Sombra because, like he said, he considered him a psycho, so I can't imagine he would trust Tirek any more. And Cozy Glow... well, for one thing, she' s not exactly a threat at the moment, and I think Eggman's had his fill of children over the years.
10270769
Well you got a point still would have been a good idea. Question if discord was captured by eggman would he meet up with sonic and they would talk on what’s been happening. Mabye this would allow discord to apologize to sonic for all the trouble he caused and mabye get to know sonic a bit better.
10271627
It's going to be a while before those two butt heads again.
10270762
NO! I don't want that!“
“I made you think of Sonic.EXE?!
Yeah, I guess I let the horror feel from that make me think that. Though honestly the CD reference is far superior.
“I don't think they or Discord will get that chance... this time around.“
Dang.... oh well hopefully Discord gets to do something in this story.
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I know and I can’t wait
10271705
Whenever I think of that name, I think of the original story before I think of the fan recreation, and thinking of a poorly written story that seems to imply the author thinks the Virtual Boy is scary isn't a good thing.
I like to think that, in the game itself, out of all the characters that Infinite has faced and/or made illusions of, Shadow was the only one who made it through the mind games relatively unscathed. Everyone else is either being held at bay like Chaos or has been unable to get free. One of the two will appear in this story.
10271780
“I like to think that, in the game itself, out of all the characters that Infinite has faced and/or made illusions of, Shadow was the only one who made it through the mind games relatively unscathed. Everyone else is either being held at bay like Chaos or has been unable to get free. One of the two will appear in this story.”
I think the relationship between Infinite and Shadow in the game is kind of interesting. Like compare how Infinite acted in episode Shadow to how he acted in the main game. In the main game he’s pretty stoic and treats Sonic and the avatar as not worth dealing with, meanwhile with Shadow he’s laughing and acting a lot differently than he did with Sonic and the avatar. It seems like he’s having the time of his life messing with Shadow where he’s just annoyed with sonic and the avatar. I guess that shows the difference between someone who infinite deems worthy of his time and those he doesn’t.
I also do like how things get a little creepy in the virtual reality level where Omega constantly says he’s not weak and Rouge saying Omega was destroyed months ago.
I think Shadow over all was done well in Forces especially compared to Free Riders and Boom. I also think Kirk Thornton improved voicing him too.
10271642
You know, I caught that Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull jokes. You don’t like it?
I still don’t understand the problem with surviving a nuclear explosion in a refrigerator.
10272370
I actually haven't seen that movie yet, but I have heard of all the things that people have complained about. I don't get what the problem is, either; I mean, it's not like Indy was ever in a crazy situation that he happened to survive in the previous movies, right?
I was actually thinking of a reading of a creepypasta called "MaRIo II" where, when the story hits a point where it just becomes utterly ridiculous, the readers say the same thing. That's what was on my mind when I wrote that.
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Looking over Episode Shadow again, I get the feeling the difference was due to Shadow making it personal. Eggman disorienting Infinite and his squad with the original Phantom Ruby was one thing, but it was implied Shadow destroyed the rest of his squad and probably didn't even need to his Chaos powers to take down Infinite. Leaving Shadow powerless against probably gave him a joy like no other. Not sure if it would still have that effect six months later or if he'd be like The Joker in the season 1 finale of "Harley Quinn" at that point.
10272436
Really? Not much of an Indiana Jones fan then?
10272870
No, I like Indiana Jones. We have the first three movies on DVD. I just never heard about Kingdom of the Crystal Skull until the AVGN talked about it in one of Cinemassacre's Top Ten videos. Somehow, it flew under the radar where I live.
You know, I was wondering if the Metal Sonic and Zavok we see will just be the replicas of the Phantom Ruby. I was also curious if the other members of the Deadly Six would appear as well.
10272940
Well, I think that might be veering into spoiler territory a bit. All I'll say is there's a couple surprises in store.
I was just thinking, if you ARE going to have the Legion of Doom reform and fight with the good guys in the final battle, maybe you could make their entrance scene just like the entrance scene in the final battle of Spies in Disguise, complete with the song 'They Gotta Go' and everything!!!
Truth is I had some fantasies if Infinite were in Equestria. He could use his powers to create replicas of Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker. Ever thought about that?
Does Amy still don't like Spike, or did she get over it in this story?
dang. things jest got intense.
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I wouldn't say she disliked him. She just didn't like him talking back to her or what she perceived as making fun of her when she saw an opportunity to impress Sonic.
10278013
So are they going to be okay with other now or is she still going to be annoyed with him?
10278029
They were okay by the time the MLP characters left.
10278126
Is Eggman empire will invade equestria?
curious question with the title. Since your mentioning Mania in it... does this mean Classic Sonic is going to appear? Or are you still not including him like you did with Generations?(I know he has nothing to do with the actual story, just curious)
10289408
You just have to look at the story image for the answer to that...
10289418
nice hehe