Way Past Equestria

by Onomonopia

Planning and Meetings

The two groups had gathered around Twilight's war table, which had used to be Celestia's. The Freedom Fighters and ponies had mixed and matched, with most of them trying to meet someone new from the other group. Some made sense, like how Bunnie and Applejack hit it off almost immediately, while some were a little more strange, like Pinkie trying to figure out how Tails tails allowed him to fly. And Sonic and Rainbow refused to stop butting heads, leaving poor Twilight to try to get them all to focus.

"Ah love yer cowboy hat. Ah used to wear one mahself, but then it got blasted to ash in a battle with Eggman," Bunnie said.

"Ah've lost a few of mine in the past, that's why ah've bought them in bulk. Ah just feel naked without it," AJ replied.

"Wouldn't they just get tangled up? I mean, if they can fly like a helicopter, but are connected to you, they'd just wrap around each other, wouldn't they?" Pinkie asked.

"Oh my god you're right. They would," Tails whispered as everything he knew came crashing down.

"The moment this meeting is over, crystal kingdom and back," RD demanded.

"After the meeting is over? I already did it. You were just too slow to notice."

"Please, I could have done it three times in the time it took you to get that sentence out. In fact, I think I might."

"Everypony, please!" Twilight yelled.

"So you take care of ze animals?"

"Oh I love animals. I patch them up, give them food...now that I think about it, I do that for my friends to."

"Ah. You are ze team medic. Zat makes sense."

"Your vest is so chic. And I love those bracelets you have."

"Thanks. The vest is laser resistant and the bracelets have hard light weapons inside of them. Swords, shields: you know, the works."

"Fashionable and dangerous. I like it. You must introduce me to your tailor."

"Everypony, please! We have to focus!" Twilight tried again.

"It's fun being in charge, isn't it Twilight?" Luna "helped" from beside the princess.

"You should try it with a room full of Yaks. Took days to get anything done," Celestia added.

An explosion went off, getting everyone/pony in the room to jump and swing their heads around to the source of the noise. Rotor had fired off the laser launcher he carried with him, getting the room to stop talking while also punching a hole in the ceiling.

"Come on guys, show some respect. The floor is yours princess," Rotor said with a small bow...and then a chunk of the room collapsed behind him. "I'll fix that later."

"Thank you, Rotor. Now then, Elements and Fighters, as you have all clearly seen for yourselves, our worlds are...a mess. Both Mobius and Equis have been forced together in a haphazard way that endangers all life on both of our worlds. For now, the worlds seemed to be stable, but I'd bet my last bit that isn't going to last. So our mission is clear. Find a way to separate our worlds and find a way to, hopefully, set everything right. Now while I have a few ideas, since the Freedom Fighters are our guest we will let them go first. Sally?"

"Find the chaos emeralds," Sonic cut in. "Every time something like this happens, we find or use the emeralds. Chaos? Use the emeralds. World falling apart? Emeralds? Crossover with a super fighting robot? Better find those emeralds. At this point we should just keep them in a glass case that says emergency. Speaking of, Rotor?"

"Got it," Rotor replied as he pulled out a yellow colored diamond. "We have one of them, but the rest have been scattered across our combined worlds. We were searching for them with the Sky Patrol, but then Eggman took us out of the sky. Right now I have no idea where the rest are."

"So yeah, that's our plan unless any of my friends have anything to add?" Sonic asked. He glanced around at his friends, but all of them smirked and conceded the point to Sonic. "Alright. We're all in agreement."

"It's funny that's their plan, because that's basically our plan!" Pinkie exclaimed, turning all eyes to her.

"What? That's not what we do," Twilight argued. "Our plans involve a lot of thinking, teamwork, overcoming our obstacles-"

"Twilight, let's be honest. Our plan is go in, get our flanks kicked, activate the Elements or Rainbow power and save the day while looking amazing," Rainbow cut her off.

"But that might make things problematic," Fluttershy added. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I haven't been able to summon my element or the rainbow power ever since Sombra's attack."

"I've held onto mine, hence the reason Sombra came after me," Rarity said. She pulled out her Element so the Freedom Fighters could see it.

"So those are your objects of incredible power," Sally said. "While I normally would believe the Chaos Emeralds to be enough to win the day, we're dealing with villains from two separate worlds. I have a feeling that we won't be able to win the day without both sets of objects."

"I am in agreement as well," Twilight said. "We need to find those emeralds and the rest of our Elements as soon as possible. First thing that needs to be done is a way to find them. Is there anypony on your team that can track the Chaos Emeralds?"

"Sorry princess. Like Rotor said, our scanner went down with the rest of the ship," Tails said.

"What about Discord?" Applejack suggested. "Back at Fluttershy's, he said he was able to sense the Freedom Fighters despite having only met Sonic. Well, considering these here gems are called CHAOS Emeralds..."

"It would only make sense that a god of chaos would be able to track them. Nice call, AJ," Sonic replied.

"Alright, Discord can (hopefully) help us find the Chaos Emeralds. Now, as for the Elements of Harmony..."

"That is where my sister and I will be able to aid you, Twilight." Twilight turned around to Celestia and Luna, who were both using their magic in sync. "As we wielded the Elements for eons, we can always sense them, be it their physical forms or those who can wield them. I was able to sense one of the Elements in you when you were young and knew you would seek out the others who could wield them. Finding their physical forms should be much easier, though will take a while."

"Okay, so we have two plans for finding our artifacts. Good. Next...we need to think of how we're going to pair off into smaller groups."

"Pair off?" Bunnie asked. "Ah'm not against working with any of ya, but wouldn't it be better to move in a big group, fer safety?"

"I must agree with ma cherie. Things are too weird for us to risk smaller groups," Antoine added.

"Well I'm fine going solo. Finding all the emeralds will be a breeze if I'm on my own," Sonic said.

"Bet I can find all the Elements before you find all the emeralds," Rainbow teased.

"And it doesn't bother you at all that there's one more emerald than your Elements?" Sonic asked.

"Fine, I'll find the other emerald along with the Elements," Rainbow replied.

"No." Twilight's words put an end to both Sonic and Rainbow's arguing, get them and everyone else to look at her. "Nopony will be going alone. If anything, I'd rather go with Bunnie's plan and gather each object together, but time is of the essence. The attacks by Eggman on the Sky Patrol and Sombra on Rarity show that they are hunting for the emeralds and Elements as well. So teams comprised of members from both teams is how we will be doing this, but I want no less than four per group."

"Twilight, why are you so adamant on the large numbers?" Sally asked. "I know Eggman and Sombra are dangerous, extremely dangerous, but wouldn't smaller teams of two or three cover more ground and find more of the objects quicker?"

"Perhaps. But allow me to put forth another question. Is Eggman the only villain on your world?" Twilight asked. Sally's eyes narrowed as she pieced together exactly what Twilight was getting at. "Because I know Sombra is far from the only foe we have. Chrysalis, Tirek, Cozy Glow, etc...there are plenty of villains that will take advantage of the chaotic state the world is in and wouldn't mind getting the grips on an Element or emerald. And those are just the villains from our world. If I'm right..."

"No, you make a good point. Eggman might be our biggest threat, but there are others. Ixis Naugus, the Iron Legion, the Deadly Six, Shadow, depending on his mood..."

"And what would happen if we set a team of two and they came at us with a group of six? Or ten?" Twilight asked. "The only thing more terrifying than numerous villains is numerous villains working together. Sombra and Eggman showed that they are willing to work together. What if the rest of our foes are willing to as well? Tell me Freedom Fighters, as good as you are, do any of you believe that you could handle all those villains by yourself?"

The looks on the faces of the Freedom Fighters and the Elements answered Twilight's question. Yet, not that she was surprised, Sonic was the only one who raised his hand with a smirk on his face. Twilight smirked back before noticing that Sally was walking over, so Twilight moved to allow her to speak.

"Twilight is right. There are too many unknown variables at the moment to risk small teams. We have to find our objects of power fast, but we can't risk exposing ourselves to our enemies and allowing them to pick us off. We'll go with her plan. Teams of four or more. We have two worlds worth of items to find, so find your partners and find them fast. First thing tomorrow we're going to start searching."

"Well we're moving pretty fast. Just the way I like it," Sonic nodded. "Alright, I'll pair up with Tails, as usual, as well as Fluttershy and...Rainbow Dash. How about it? This will give you a chance to put your money where your mouth is."

"Heh, I'm game. Just don't get all blue when you lose," Dash replied.

"Nuh uh. We are not having your two egos on the same team. I know how that ends," Sally instructed. "Pinkie, was it, would you mind going with Sonic and his team?"

"Okie dokey loki! Any chance to make new friends is perfect for me," Pinkie exclaimed. She then...appeared next to Sonic and Tails. Sally glanced at Twilight, Twilight shrugged and Sally shook her head.

"Ah'm going with Sugar-Twan, obviously, but Rarity, would ya want to work with us again?" Bunnie asked.

"Certainly darling. There are plenty of things I still wish to know about you...like how you managed to get a husband," Rarity whispered under her breath.

"And ah have to ask Applejack to join us. We're like two peas in a pod and ah would love to hear all about yer farm."

"Of course. Ah can also bring along some of mah hats. Maybe ya will find one ya like," Applejack said with a wink.

"That okay, Sugar-Twan?"

"But of course. If it makes ma cherie happy, it makes me happy," Twan replied.

"Alright. Then I'll go with Twilight, Rotor and Rainbow," Sally instructed. "Be warned, Rainbow Dash, I've spent most my life wrangling in a fast hothead. None of your showboating will fly with me."

"Please, if Twilight couldn't stop my awesomeness, how could you?" Rainbow smirked. Then she looked over at Applejack. "Think you'll be okay without me for a while? You're still pretty messed up."

"Ah'll live, Rainbow. Takes more than the forces of evil to keep me down," AJ replied with a smile. "Just stay safe yerself and don't do anything stupid."

"No promises."

"Alright everyone, these are the teams. Take some time to get to know your new partners. They'll be the ones watching your backs and keeping you alive, so try to learn how everyone in your groups works. Because tomorrow we'll be heading out. You two will have something for us by then, right?"

"We should at least have an idea of where one of the Elements should be," Celestia said. "And we have sent word to Discord about the Chaos Emeralds. He may be in a weakened state, but he even that lazy bones should be able to find them by tomorrow."

"Alright then. Tomorrow will begin our combined efforts to save our worlds. I know this is nothing new to either teams, but still, be careful, be brave and, above all else, be heroes. Okay, any other questions?"

"Who wants food?" Pinkie asked the group.

Every hand/hoof went up in response.

Author's Note:

"Wow, so many characters together in the same place."

"Ah know. Ah don't envy the writer fer this story. It's going to be darn near impossible to keep track of everything."

"I wonder how they're going to handle it?"

Poorly. The answer is poorly.

Comments

[badninja]

Good idea on separating Rainbow and Sonic. Do what other villains do we think will be showing up? I bet Chrysislis will make an appearance.

[GTthe4th]

"Wow, so many characters together in the same place."

"Ah know. Ah don't envy the writer fer this story. It's going to be darn near impossible to keep track of everything."

"I wonder how they're going to handle it?"

Poorly. The answer is poorly.

Yeah, it can be tricky, but remember, not every character has to speak in a dialogue scene. Sometimes it's better to have a character be there but be silent, and only give acknowledgement if they are directly spoken to. It's a little cheap, I'll admit, but it helps in the character juggling a bit, at least until you separate them.

[Omegamorph]

Iron Legion? That some merger of the Iron Dominion and Dark Legion?

[Onomonopia]

10846737
Worlds weren't the only thing merged.

[Grahf]

Poorly. The answer is poorly.

I remember when you gave the poll for which story you would do next and SRMTHFG was on that and you mention juggling so many characters would probably be the story to break you, well you just started something that is on par with how many characters

[Onomonopia]

10846985
I thought it wouldn't be that bad. I was wrong.

[Velvet-Fresh]

just realized something. Where's Amy?