• Published 25th Dec 2020
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Harmony of Heroes: Ultimate Multiverse Explorers - Lucar



Several months after her adventures on Popstar, Sweetie Belle decides it's time to start new adventures in new universes

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Chapter 92: Meeting The Pilots

Author's Note:

List of racers:
1.Dr. Stewart
2.Mr. EAD
3.James McCloud
4.Jody Summer
5.Pico
6.Phoenix
7.QQQ
8.Super Arrow
9.Mrs. Arrow
10.Zoda
11.Don Genie
12.The Skull
13.Leon
14.Jack Levin
15.Captain Falcon
16.Bio Rex
17.Samurai Goroh
18.Antonio Guster
19.Dai Goroh
20.Blood Falcon
21.Black Shadow
22.Roger Buster
23.Silver Neelsen
24.Dr. Clash
25.John Tanaka
26.Gomar & Shioh
27.Draq
28.Michael Chain
29.Octoman
30.Billy

For the ones who don't know, QQQ is pronounced Q3.

"GOOO!!!"

In a blink of an eye the racers already disappeared from the line. The fillies were amazed at the speed they were going as they turned to look at the screens allowing them to follow the race. In just a few seconds, they were almost reaching the speed of sound! Actually, when they flew over yellow arrows that boosted their speed, they reached the speed of sound or even exceeded it!

The track was really large so there was enough enough for the racers to fly without too much risking bumping into each others, and yet the race barely started that there were already some that directly attacked others by ramming into them from behind or the sides, even twirling to give violent hits. Without surprise, Black Shadow was the more violent of the bunch as he already almost sent a rival flying above the hard light barrier that made sure that the racers wouldn't fall to their doom. The victim, the mutant T-Rex, still won't be able to continue the race as his vehicle was left in a poor state after it did several rolls and bounced on the wall, stopping just before a jump. Super Arrow and another racer, a very old bearded man in a dark blue vehicle with lightning patterns at the sides, almost crashed into it but were able to avoid the accident. The vehicle and its pilot were quickly teleported to safety.

While many cheered, some winced, including Mr. Zero. "Ooof... Say whatever you want about Black Shadow, he knows how to give a show. Bio Rex is already out before even reaching the Pit Rows. For reminder, it doesn't mean that Rex is disqualified from the Grand Prix. If he manages to repair his machine by the next race, he will be able to continue. But he will be dead last."

What happened to Bio Rex gave the message to the other racers who made sure to remain away from Black Shadow. But there were still a few like Captain Falcon, Phoenix, and Jody Summer courageous enough to face him. As the racers passed the area with the pink rows which Mr. Zero called Pit Rows and approached a half-loop, Captain Falcon even managed to send Blood Falcon crashing into a barrier with a twirl. Blood Falcon's vehicle wasn't damaged enough however and was able to continue, but he lost a lot of precious seconds. Captain Falcon then found himself side to side with Black Shadow who was trying to push him against the barrier while they were upside down after the half-loop. However, an intervention of Samurai Goroh just after the track reversed so they had their head facing the sky again slowed down the two of them, letting the muscled man reach the line first.

"And Samurai Goroh is the first one to finish the first lap, closely followed by Captain Falcon and Black Shadow! Just behind them are Jody Summer, Pico, Phoenix, and Billy! Boosters unlocked! Now the real show starts!"

As soon as the racers passed the line, they activated a boost that allowed them to break the sound barrier, reaching speeds even more crazy! Before the fillies knew it, the racers already reached the area with the Pit Rows which apparently served to replenish the vehicles' energy, repairing them by the same occasion. Indeed, it turned out that using the boost was a very risky move as it consumed the vehicles' very energy, damaging them. If the racers weren't careful, they could deplete their vehicle's energy and render them unable to continue the race.

"Some vehicles can even catch fire or explode!" a man beside the fillies informed them with an enthusiasm that reminded the three Sweetie Belle of their father when he talked hoofball.

"Dang. It looks like a mix between a classic race and a gladiator competition," Phantom commented.

Since the boosts damaged the vehicles, it meant that the others had an easier time ensuring that their rivals couldn't continue the race. Again, Black Shadow proved it by easily destroying Dai Goroh's vehicle as the kid tried to pass him. Pico also destroyed QQQ's machine with a twirl while the octopus, Octoman found himself crashing into a barrier after being pushed by the gorilla named Billy, and contrary to Blood Falcon, Octoman's vehicle couldn't continue. Just before the line, Don Genie then caused The Skull to do several rolls before Zoda crashed into him. Two more out!

"And we end the second lap with five more racers out! I told you the show really started!" Mr. Zero shouted excitedly. "Black Shadow is now at the lead! James McCloud is gaining ground but is blocked by Phoenix! And Jody Summer and John Tanaka are now in a clash with Blood Falcon and Pico! Gomar and Shioh are attempting to use the chaos to take the lead but Draq doesn't allow it! Woah! Leon tries to pass Mr. EAD only to receive a twirl in the face that finally has reason of his machine! And look at that! Captain Falcon and Samurai Goroh now seem to be working together against black Shadow! Seems like Goroh hasn't liked what the King of Evil has done to his son."

Captain Falcon was at Black Shadow's left, and Samurai Goroh was at his right, and the two of them closed on him at the beginning of the half-loop, their machines touching each others to the point that sparks could be seen.

The fillies were now cheering as loudly as the rest of the public, even Phantom, not wanting to see the evil man win.

Then, while the racers were upside down, Black Shadow pushed back Captain Falcon before he did a twirl that sent Goroh away. However, Captain Falcon took the occasion to unleash his boost, passing before Black Shadow who quickly hit his boost too despite his vehicle now being badly damaged. But Captain Falcon still reached the finish line, his vehicle in bad shape but still okay, while Black Shadow reached it only a fraction of a second later with a badly smoking vehicle.

"And Captain Falcon wins the race! Followed by Black Shadow, then by Jody Summer, Samurai Goroh, Don Genie, Dr. Stewart, Billy, Michael Chain, Silver Neelsen..."

As Mr. Zero continued to name the racers as they arrived, Captain Falcon and the others stopped their machines just after it under an explosion of cheers from the public, Black Shadow quickly coming out of his just in case it decided to explode.

The screens went on to show the ranking, the times of each racers and the points they got depending of their position. For example, Captain Falcon received 100pts while Black Shadow received 93, Jody Summer 87, Samurai Goroh 81, and so on. Even the ones who got out received points. Bio Rex, being the first one, was considered last and only received 15pts. Being the next one, Dai Goroh was twenty ninth and got 16pts. And this went so on.

For a moment it looked like Black Shadow was about to attack both Captain Falcon and Samurai Goroh as Blood Falcon finally stopped beside him. But finally, he decided to just go away as people began to retrieve his machine and the ones of the others to place them into garages where it will be up to the pilots to get them, or what remained of them.

Goroh faced Captain Falcon. "Let's be clear, Falcon. I didn't help you. I just wanted this guy to pay for ruining my son's first race."

You could see Captain Falcon mentally roll his eyes. "Sure."

"That was an amazing race everyone! It didn't disappoint!" Mr. Zero shouted. "It's hard to believe that it was just the first race! Four more are to come, each more difficult than the previous one! For the ones who don't know, the next one will happen on Big Blue, on the track called Drift Highway, same hour! Our competitors should hurry to repair their machines! For the ones who can't, I'm sorry to say: too bad!"

The racers then left the track one after another as Mr. Zero gave his closing speech of the day.

"Tomorrow same hour... Let's see... Twenty four hours here... Sixteen hours in Equestria..." Sweetie Void thought aloud while the public began to leave too.

"It must be a bit over 8PM back home," Phantom Belle added.

All the fillies sighed sadly as they easily made the calculation. They will still be in school.

"Darn it! I want to see the next race! It was so cool!" Shadow Speedster shouted, irritated, before she mumbled "Stupid school..."

"Mmh... Phantom? Do yer Phantom Copies work when ya aren't in the same universe?" Phantom Bloom asked.

Phantom thought a bit. "Good question. I will have to test it."

"So we would replace ourselves by copies while we go watch the races?" Sweetie Ghoul asked.

"That's the plan, even if Ah don't really like the idea of skipping school, as much as Ah also want ta see the next race," Phantom Bloom answered. "But there's something weird about this whole stuff."

"What is it?" Little Ghost asked.

"I think that I see what you are thinking" Phantom said. "Why does something called "the King of Evil" want the Champion Belt of some racing competition so much? And why try to obtain it the normal way instead of simply stealing it?"

"I was thinking the same thing," Sweetie Void same. "That's weird. Very weird."

"Maybe to prove himself the best?" Scootabot proposed. "Or some other show of ego?"

Phantom snorted. "This could very well just be that. But I feel like there is a more sinister plot. That time traveler guy did say that he was here after some criminal. Why would he participate in this Grand Prix then?"

"That's a good point," Scootabot conceded.

"But maybe Phoenix is targeting someone else, like Pico," Little Ghost thought.

"Or Don Genie, or Zoda," Black Apple added.

The ten fillies exchanged looks as they all came to the same conclusion, and they shouted, "Investigation time!"

"Let's separate into our respective groups," Apple Death proposed. "Ya know. Me with Scootabot and Sweetie Ghoul. Phantom with Phantom Bloom and Phantom Belle. And Sweetie Void with Black Apple and Shadow Speedster. Little Ghost can go her way through the walls."

They all agreed and exited the room before separating into said groups, taking different hallways and Little Ghost going through the floor. Of course, just in case, they all turned themselves invisible.


Each of the groups quickly found out that some of the racers had already left, including most of the criminals, but others had remained. Listening to the few they met however gave nothing. Same with the few F-Zero X Grand Prix staff they encountered. Little Ghost was able to find Don Genie resting so she remained behind the furniture a moment to listen in case he revealed something, but no luck.

Sweetie Void's group however eventually entered the place's cafeteria where many of the remaining racers were having dinner. Among them was Captain Falcon, but also Phoenix and his partner the robot QQQ. Sweetie Void wondered if Phoenix was a descendant of Captain Falcon because she thought that there was a family resemblance from the little she could see. And from Falcon to Phoenix, there was only one step. Even Phoenix's clothes were very similar to Falcon's, excepted that Phoenix had a black suit and pant and the rest was white or silver-colored. But there were also a few differences like he only had one layer of gloves, a silver chest-plate, a cap which was red inside, and a belt. and of course, there was the absence of the Falcon symbol. And he didn't have the pauldron too.

Beside him, QQQ was clearly more advanced than the robots the fillies saw until now in this universe. The AI-advancement was surprisingly lacking despite this civilization being so advanced. However, physically, QQQ looked rather frail, not bulky at all. Its arms and hands looked like the pincers of a fun fair (the ones that failed to catch these darn stuffed toys nine times out of ten even if you targeted them right) and its legs and feet reminded of the ones of a bird (but with only two digits each), and its head was large and flat with a single blue eye. And it was also smaller than most humans. Of course, it wasn't eating, it was only here to keep Phoenix company.

They weren't sure what to do here so they remained a bit near the entrance to listen and observe.

Maybe they should go talk with Phoenix? Or with Captain Falcon? Or Jody Summer who was also present with John Tanaka?


As soon as the fillies entered the room, Phoenix's helmet's visor showed him that he was now in the presence of something that shouldn't be here in this time. So, either another time traveller he didn't know about or something not from this universe.

He looked around but saw nothing, so he activated his visor's thermal vision and... right there, at one of the entrances of the room, he spotted three invisible little creatures that seemed to look like equines. Phoenix knew every single civilizations in this corner of the universe and he knew of none composed of such equine-like creatures. He immediately understood what they were.

The anomaly he was warned about.

Phoenix glared at them. Because of them, everything he knew was gone. His time was gone. But he didn't act. The three equines simply seemed to be looking around, not yet causing any mischief.


"Looks like Phoenix spotted us," Shadow Speedster remarked.

"He must have some mean to see us despite us being invisible. Should have seen this coming, with him being a time traveller," Sweetie Void said.

"What do we do?" Black Apple asked. "He seems ta be angry."

"Mmh... Remain here. I'll go talk to him. I think that I know why he is angry," Sweetie Void instructed.

The other two nodded, and the alicorn exited the room to hide behind a wall. Making sure that there was nobody and no camera, she turned herself visible and walked into the cafeteria as if she entered it for the first time, walking toward Phoenix and QQQ's table. She saw the time traveller move his hand. She couldn't see anywhere he could have hid a weapon but she had no doubt that he had one on him somewhere and that he was getting ready to grab it to defend himself from what he perceived as a threat. She didn't want to start an incident here so she made sure to look as nonthreatening as possible. Thanks to her natural adorable, harmless-looking appearance, it wasn't hard, but Phoenix obviously wasn't buying that.

Still, he let her approach, and she was glad for this. She used her magic to move one of the still vacant chairs around the table and jumped on it.

She silently stared at the two time travellers for a few seconds, wondering how to start, before she eventually began. "Hi! My name is Sweetie Belle. Phoenix and QQQ, right? I watched the race with my friends. Scootaloo absolutely loved it. I think she found a new life goal." She said that last part with a small laugh. Her small talk seemed to make Phoenix and QQQ relax just a tiny teensy bit, but the man still seemed ready to use a weapon. "Erh..." She sighed. "You are time travellers, right? Let me guess, this universe is one of these universes where a change at one point in the timeline causes all of it after said point to be rewritten?"

"You mean there are universes where this is not the case?" QQQ asked.

"Not all. A changement in some simply causes a split in the timeline leading to the creation of a new, alternate universe. I come from one such universe."

Both Phoenix and QQQ nodded to show that they understood before the man said, "You guessed right. We are in an universe as you described. The Time Patrol, which I'm part of, makes sure that nobody tries to rewrite the timeline."

"A Time Patrol?!" the alicorn shouted before she groaned and rubbed her head. "Horsefeather... They must want my head. If they didn't all disappear with the rest of the timeline."

"Many were thankfully in the HQ which is outside of time, but we still lost many other agents that were in various cases across the timeline," Phoenix revealed coldly.

"L-listen. I'm sorry this happened. I don't want this, but each time that I enter a new universe, this happens. It's... It's my nature... There is nothing I can do to stop this. But at least I know someone who can fix this!"

Phoenix visibly raised an eyebrow. "Someone who can bring back a whole timeline?"

"Yes! As a parallel universe! And I'm sure They will find something to ensure that it won't disappear again once you return to it now that I've interacted with you. For info, this someone is the reason why I cause timelines to collapse wherever I go. Because of Their intervention, I'm now a being unique in both space and time."

"Some king of divinity?" Phoenix guessed.

"Yes. You can say that."

Phoenix sighed before he finally fully relaxed. "But why have you come here?"

"You can thank this someone I told you about. They are the one choosing where I end up when I open a rift. There is a longer story but I don't really have time. I have to bring my friends back home for the night. It must be getting late where we come from, and we have school tomorrow."

This surprised the two time travellers. "You are children?" Phoenix asked, alternatively looking at her and at the two other, still invisible fillies who were still near the entrance of the cafeteria, but Shadow Speedster had now gotten closer to the table where Super Arrow and Mrs. Arrow were both eating with Dr. Stewart, listening to them. It seemed that Super Arrow was in the middle of retelling one of his battles against Zoda, and of course the pegasus couldn't pass the opportunity of listening to a Superhero.

"Yup! We are!" Sweetie Belle signed to her friends that they could now approach. The two still thought of doing like Sweetie did and first left the cafeteria so the alicorn could turn them visible without anyone seeing this before they returned and walked toward their table. "I present to you Scootaloo and Apple Bloom! But because of alternate universe mayhem we use the nicknames Shadow Speedster and Black Apple. I'm Sweetie Void."

The two fillies each jumped on a chair too, one of them having to take one from a nearby vacant table as there were only four chairs per table.

"Hello!"

"Howdy!"

Again, Phoenix raised an eyebrow. "Why do they sound like Supervillain names? Reminds me of Black Shadow. Actually, merge two of these nicknames and you get his name."

"Pure coincidence for the Black Shadow part!" Sweetie Void exclaimed. "And we chose them because I use the power of the void which is pretty much pure darkness and we decided to make ourselves the Darkness Trio even if Shadow Speedster and Black Apple don't use anything related to darkness."

"And they sound cool," Shadow Speedster added.

"And that too," Sweetie Void agreed. "And speaking of Black Shadow, is he the criminal you are after?"

"No, that's not him," QQQ answered.

"Really?! I would have bet that it was him!" Sweetie Void said in surprise.

"So what? That's Zoda? Pico? Don Genie?" Black Apple asked.

"None of them. The criminal we are after isn't participating to this Grand Prix. However, we suspect that at least one of the participants in this one works for him. It could be Black Shadow or it could be someone else like Zoda," Phoenix revealed. "Why do you ask?"

"Because we thought that Black Shadow was acting very weird. Why does he want the Champion Belt so much?" Sweetie Void asked.

The two time travellers were silent for a few seconds before the robot said, "That's... a good question."

"We think that it may be some ego stuff. Ya know, to show to everyone that he's the best," Black Apple said. "Villains love ta boast like that."

Phoenix chuckled. "True. But I know Black Shadow. He doesn't care participating in competitions. Especially to gain some belt to show off. He usually does that in terrorist attacks and other terrible crimes with his group. If he wants the belt, then he would just steal it along with the cup and any other riches present and would destroy the place guarding them by the same occasion leaving no survivors, or almost. That he is participating in the Grand Prix to get it is unusual for him. This belt must have something special. But if this meant that this has something to do with the criminal we are after, we are not sure."

"A lot changed after the Accident from four years ago," QQQ clarified. "Black Shadow participating in the Grand Prix may simply be a consequence of these changes. For one reason or another."

"An accident?" Shadow Speedster asked.

"A horrible moment in the history of F-Zero," someone said. The next instant, Captain Falcon himself took a chair and joined the table. "In the middle of a F-Zero Grand Prix four years ago, during a race, a huge explosion happened in the track. There were no death, but almost every racers ended up injured in the aftermath. I was among them."

"Because of this Accident, the F-Zero was suspended for three years and only restarted last year, now named the F-Zero X," Phoenix continued. "One racer, Mighty Gazelle, was so badly injured that he had to be revived as a cyborg, almost fully robotic. A team of racers, Team Shooting Star, was also forced to disband, and all its members mysteriously disappeared afterward, among many others. All of them were professionals that had won the Grand Prix at least once."

"Mmh... Strange how I never got targeted," Captain Falcon remarked. "I won several Grand Prix too."

"You were either too hard to target or the responsible knew that we were keeping an eye on you so he didn't try anything. You are very important to the timeline. Without you, it would be freestyle for the criminals, especially Black Shadow and his group."

"Black Shadow creating a clone of you is also a result of this Accident," QQQ remarked.

"Yes... Somehow getting my blood while I was in the hospital," Captain Falcon grumbled.

"But that's assuming our criminal is the one who caused the disappearances. We suspect him, but it could very well be Black Shadow and his group assassinating them," QQQ remarked.

"And then they went and began to participate in the Grand Prix last year," Phoenix continued.

"Which took many off guard, me the first. I didn't take him for the competitive type," Captain Falcon said.

"And all of this was NEVER supposed to happen. This Accident and the disappearances that followed were caused by someone who modified the timeline. and this someone may very well be the criminal we are after. But why he caused them is anyone's guess."

"Who's this criminal by the way?" Black Apple asked.

"His name is Deathborn, a powerful cyborg from mysterious origin.

When they stopped talking, they finally remarked that Sweetie Void had materialized a board on which she wrote all the informations they gave. "Well, I'm sure that we can try to guess if we manage to assemble the pieces of this puzzle. Ancient Champions being assassinated, if it is by Black Shadow, could very well be him eliminating the concurrence to have an easier time getting the belt. But if this is Deathborn that caused them..."

"This wouldn't really make sense. He isn't participating," QQQ said. "Actually, he is participating to the Underworld version from what he know. But none of the racers that disappeared participated in it."

"But you said you think that someone could be working for him. so it is possible that he eliminated the concurrence to make it easier for his underling," Sweetie Void reminded.

"And Black Shadow being after the belt makes him the primary suspect," Phoenix finished. "But this also could be Pico. He is a professional assassin and racer. Deathborn could have hired him to race for him, and maybe also kill some of the ancient Champions."

"This still doesn't answer why he participates in the Underworld Grand Prix while having a minion participating in this one," QQQ interjected.

"Well, Black Shadow participating to win specifically the belt could mean that there is something special with it, and somehow they can't steal it. So maybe Deathborn is also after it for the same reason. No idea why however."

"As far as I remember, the belt has always been normal. It didn't look special at all when I gave it back earlier," Captain Falcon said. "No idea why they would want it."

"Unless there's something hidden in it?" Shadow Speedster proposed.

"Why would something that villains want be hidden inside a championship Belt?" Black Apple asked her.

"I don't know! It's the only explanation I could think of that seemed to make sense!"

"Has the belt ever been tested?" the voice of a man asked.

"Why would we test the belt?" a woman replied.

"It's not like the organizers would let us test it," another man said.

The ones who talked were Dr. Stewart, Jody Summer, and John Tanaka respectively, and the fillies found out that their table had gained the attention of everyone in the cafeteria.

"Uh. I guess that we should have expected that talking out loud about the Accident, Black Shadow, and the missing racers would have led to this," Sweetie Void said.

"Well, no matter the reason Black Shadow and that Dearthborn are after the belt, it can't be good. One more reason to ensure that all these villains don't win the Grand Prix," Silver Neelsen said.

Many in the room agreed with the old man, even among the staff.

"And you can count me in to help stop them," Sweetie Void said. "I may be just a child, but I know how to fight and I defeated many villains. If you want, I can just go and deal with Black Shadow as soon as he shows up again."

"I advise against it," Captain Falcon said. "Anywhere related to F-Zero is considered neutral ground by the wealthy marchants running the competition. Their organization is very powerful so you don't want to mess with them. This is why Jody can't do anything against the criminals participating despite her job. Unless this is by attacking them during the races, and ensuring that they don't gain the prize money of course."

"I don't want to cause an incident. Alright. Then I will deal with him if I encounter him outside of F-Zero property."

Super Arrow laughed. "Black Shadow isn't the most feared criminal of the galaxy just for his crimes. He is very powerful. Many who opposed him met an early end. I don't see you being able to do anything against him."

At this, Sweetie only gave a giggle and a wink. Super Arrow wasn't sure how to take this.

"She can totally deal with this guy!" Shadow Speedster shouted. "In our world, she won against the most powerful villain of all time by herself rather easily despite his huge army of very strong monsters, and the guy is now crying his mommy each time he sees her! And that was before she got a mega power up that made her, like, one hundred times more powerful! I don't know how powerful Black Shadow is, but he wouldn't stand a chance against her!"

"Calm, Scoot. Calm. That's okay," Black Apple calmed down her friend.

That was when the rest of the fillies entered the cafeteria, now visible too, making many of the persons present do a double take.

"We finally find you. We heard Shadow Speedster from outside," Phantom said.

Little Ghost laughed. "Scootaloo really has a loud mouth, uh?"

"You haven't heard Sweetie Belle when she screams," Scootabot retorted with an annoyed glance. "A real banshee."

"Hey!" both Sweetie Ghoul and Phantom Belle shouted.

"My point."

"Hey girls!" Sweetie Void waved at them. "Found anything?"

"Nope. Nothing," Phantom Bloom answered.

"I tried to find Black Shadow to spy him but he seems to be already gone. Instead, I found Don Genie resting in a room but he said nothing interesting," Little Ghost informed.

"Same for anyone else we encountered. Sorry by the way, we almost gave Dr. Clash a heart attack. Phantom Belle accidentally broke a vase in front of him while trying to imitate a ninja," Phantom said, making the unicorn chuckle sheepishly.

"And Scootabot couldn't stop herself from saying "BOO!" at Dai Goroh's back, making him jump into his father's arms," Sweetie Ghoul said while giving her robotic friend a glare as the pegasus whistled innocently. "Now, Samurai Goroh looks ready to turn the place upside down in search of the responsible."

"Aww come on, Sweetie. You know that being invisible just asked for me to do something like that," Scootabot said, making Sweetie Ghoul huff, Apple Death shake her head in exasperation, and Little Ghost laugh.

"Anyway. So you girls actually talked to some of the racers?" Phantom asked.

"Yeah. Phoenix here spotted us despite us being invisible, and Sweetie talked to him. From there we learned a lot of stuff," Shadow Speedster said.

The Darkness Trio then proceeded to quickly present everyone and to give a quick resume of what they learned. Meanwhile, the racers talked to each others, starting to make plans to ensure that the belt at least won't be won by Black Shadow. Many of them were sure and certain that he was the one working for that Deathborn.

"Sooo... We are now in some kind of space thriller with a plot involving time travel and racing?" Phantom asked, bemused.

"That's a good way to resume it, yeah," Sweetie Void confirmed.

"Ooooh! Do I get to wear a fedora?" Phantom Belle asked.

"A what?" several of the other fillies asked.

"You know, these hats that detectives and criminals often wear in stories."

"These hats," Sweetie Void helped clarify by materializing one such hat and placing it on her head.

"Oh! So that's how they are called!" Shadow Speedster exclaimed as she recognized the hat.

"Ahem! Moving on. We'd start to return ta our Equestria. It's getting very late," Apple Death said.

Some of the fillies groaned at this.

"I will test if my Phantom Copies still work while I am in another universe. If that's the case, then we can return here tomorrow if you don't mind missing school," Phantom reminded.

"Our sisters will kill us if they learn," Phantom Belle said.

Phantom shrugged. "What they don't know doesn't hurt."

"And if the copies don't work, you can always ask Discord. I'm sure he won't mind filling in for us with his powers," Sweetie Void suggested. "However, I will remain here a bit after you are gone. We still need to find out where is Big Blue so we won't miss the next race."

At this, Captain Falcon gave her a thumb up. "I can transport you there. I have a ship."

"Big Blue is actually an oceanic planet," QQQ clarified. "It's a very popular F-Zero location. Many F-Zero tracks, both old and recent, are all over its surface and even underwater."

"I see. Thanks! See you quickly!"

Sweetie Void then opened a rift, to everyone's amazement, followed by Apple Death and Phantom doing the same with their respective powers before the three sets of CMC each took their respective rift back to their Equestria.

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