> Dr. Robotnik attempts to conquer Equestria > by SgtRatapus > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prologue > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wha... Where am I? This feels strange, I seem to be knowledgeable yet have no memory of who or what I am. I take a look around and see a wide expanse of things even I with no prior history would find chaotic. Off to the side I see a strange creature crafting something together. Discord, yes Discord is his name. Not sure if we met before, but I definitely know this being as Discord the spirit of chaos. Discord was having too much fun, seems he recently conquered the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. He was on a reality altering spree to sate his hunger for chaotic pleasure. All this altering though and no substantial creation, he felt it was high time he invented something truly chaotic. He started with a pear since pears seem to have quite a distinct shape. Unique shape draws inspiration yes, and uniquely chaotic helps add a bit of variety. With some normal magic which he slightly recoiled against using, he grew the pear to an absurd size (compared to other pears) and used that as his base to work off of. With all the quadrupeds running around already he decided to make this soon to be vile creature a biped. So he gave it two stumpy legs and two slightly less stumpy arms. Discord took a look around and noticed plenty of pinks, browns, purples and other less dominant colors. He decided then to make this thing have distinctly colored overalls as a bold contrast. A black lower half and red top half to it's 'body' with little yellow stripes to separate it all into four areas on it's front. Grey covered his legs down to his red shoes and grey arm covers as well with rings in the middle up to his white gloves with four digits on each hand. The top of the pear-shaped object before him still blank, he placed together the head for his final touches. A big pink oblong nose which sported a massive orange mustache underneath it and two eyes which were made black with red pupils just to stand out even more. To make up for all the hair there, he plucked the stem as the final step, leaving him bald. Discord shot some chaos magic into his new experiment and was about to test his personality when he looked right at me. No... He's looking through me, past me. Strange, my existence here does not appear physical at all. Down a ways he spotted six ponies searching for him. With a flick of the talon he vanishes, reappearing in a throne he crafted for himself as he waits to taunt and humiliate the ponies who seek him out. ...Well as much fun as observing this random group of characters is, I think I will take my leave and try to figure out what or where exactly I am. I traveled in the opposite direction and noticed right away that everything started to slow down. Chocolate rain off in the distance that was once pouring buckets in seconds slowed down to a cup a minute. A buffalo in a ballerina get-up that was mid jump is still mid jump, slowly descending back down. The further I get from Discord and the other ponies the more time slows down. It won't be long until time stops completely. I hesitate to go back, but is there another way? A timeless existence isn't much of an existence at all. Let's see if heading back brings forth time again. With just a thought I appear between Discord and the ponies that were after him. "Not as wonderful as friendship!" Twilight Sparkle declared. Time jumped back to a normal rate, so it seems I'm stuck with following the events here until some unspecified time. "Oh, this again?" Discord's response. He pulls a glass out of thin air and lets an overhead cotton candy cloud fill it with chocolate rain. I wonder, if me leaving the area with action slows down time is there perhaps a way to speed it up as well? Yes, I do somehow already know what's going to happen here though not much afterward. So basically Discord taunts, the six ponies gather together and shoot him with some magical friendship beam. Said beam is too much for Discord to handle, which turns him to stone. Time whipped by as the events I just stated came true at an astoundingly fast rate. In mere seconds Discord goes from gloating to obtaining a stone coating. As a last effect of the Elements of Harmony, Twilight focuses the energy to undo all the altering Discord did to Equestria and return it to normal. A bright flash engulfs my vision. As it fades out everything does indeed return to normal. Green grasses, white clouds and blue skies as far as an eye could see. The ponies congratulate each other for conquering Discord and head back to report to Princess Celestia. Alas all altered things returned to normal there was one thing Discord didn't alter, but create. As the ponies left the area, over the crest of the hill in the distance, an orange mustache protruded out of a bush. I'm not allowed to leave until I find out what happens to the pear shaped weirdo am I? Well let's hope this is interesting... > Six little catastrophes > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The heroes who saved Equestria from Discord finished their celebration as they returned to their homes in Ponyville. Many festivities were had as various drinks and food stuffs got enjoyed, mostly alcoholic. To say most of the ponies who attended were buzzed would be an understatement. But we're following Twilight Sparkle at the start of this chapter who's responsible and unadventerous (as far as adventurers go anyway). "Sorry Spike, I didn't know the party would be aimed at adults. Would you like to pick something up from Sugarcube Corner?" "Yea I suppose. Can I get some emerald encrusted cookies?" "Sure. How about I meet you there? I'll get some bits from the library." Twilight and Spike split ways. The distance from the library to Sugarcube Corner wasn't far so he wouldn't have to wait long once things went wrong. Twilight was humming a happy tune as she trotted back home on this peaceful day. After a little travel she got to the library and opened the door. "AhHHhh this'll do nicely." Said a strange figure cloaked in darkness. "Huh?" Curious and confused, Twilight went to flick on a nearby light switch. When the lights turned on the now illuminated thing turned it's neck to face her. If his big curly orange mustache wasn't hint enough I'd say this was the product of Discord mentioned in the Prologue. "Who dares intrude on Doctor Robotnik! Don't interfere with my plans to conquer Mobius." With that said, Robotnik swiftly dove out of a nearby open window with a book in his grasp. When he landed a little *clunk* sound was made as he started up a motor, lifted off the ground in a egg-shaped machine and took off into the sky. Twilight stood there with her mouth agape as the events with this unknown creature happened in a matter of seconds. She was shocked, happy, confused and upset at an unknown sentient being having been in her library and taking a book without properly checking it out. And something about conquering a Mobius? With all the possible responses she could've had she settled with an eye twitch and making a sound similar to something a squirrel might make. "Gaba deh, daba teh?" "SPIKE!" Twilight Sparkle blazed down the street towards Sugarcube Corner. Spike looked up from a bench located outside said building. "Hey Twilight, are you alright?" "NO I am NOT! Spike I need you to chase after that thing in the sky and get whatever book he has back. While you do that I'll see which book he may have taken. The fate of the Mobius could depend on it!" "...What's a Mobius?" "I don't know! I'll have to research it when I get a chance." Twilight said. "Okay I'll try, but that thing is moving pretty fast; I don't think-" Spike attempted to say. "I know, I'll cast a spell that'll let you run super fast!" Twilight's horn lit up intensely within a few seconds for a few seconds. Spike tried to shield himself with his arms hoping this wouldn't be one of the times that the spell blew up in his face. "Twilight calm down!" "There, finished! Come back to the library right away when you're done." Twilight then teleported away, assumably to the library. Spike sighed. "Couldn't you just wait three minutes, Equestria? Three minutes??" "Here! Would you like a emerald encrusted cookie? Just finished this batch." Pinkie Pie said while popping out from behind the bench. "Whoa! Uh, sure thank you." Spike hesitantly took a cookie from the tray Pinkie Pie was holding and took a bite. "No problem! Oh no twitchy tail twitchy tail!" Pinkie disappeared back behind the bench. "Twitchy tail? Which one was that..." Spike didn't get to finish his thought as a bunch of blue paint dropped on him from above. Spike deadpanned, thinking his day couldn't possibly get any crazier. Oh how wrong he is. "Sorry Spike! I lost my grip on the paint bucket when I tried to paint this hard to reach spot over here." Mr. Cake said as he pointed to my left. "No no, over here." Oh, his left. "It's fine, nothing's hurt... except my dignity." Spike muttered. With all these recent distractions Spike almost forgot about what Twilight wanted him to do. In the distance the outline of that thing could still be seen flying around Sweet Apple Acres. Spike gave his now paint covered cookie a glance before regretfully tossing it into a nearby garbage bin. Spike jumped off the bench to take his first step and- "WHOOOOOOooooooooaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhAHHHHHHH!" Spike yelled as he took off from the bench running at speeds that I can't narrate fast enough to. --- Recently at Sweet Apple Acres "Applejack you gotta listen to me! There's some weird flying thing coming this way!" Rainbow Dash said, waving her front legs frantically at Applejack. "Let me guess, it had a menacing orange mustache and cackled maniacally too?" "Yes! How did you know?" "Rainbow Dash go home, you're drunk. Whatever you saw was probably a funny looking cloud, like that one over there." "I'm not that drunk. The party ended like, hours ago. You should be more drunk than I am based off the amount you oh hey that is a funny looking cloud." Applejack and Rainbow Dash looked distractedly at a cloud as Robotnik came in behind them and flew through a tree full of apples. The noise got their attention as Applejack shouted after him. "Hey those are my apples! Give 'em back!" Maniacal laughter is all she got in response as Robotnik turned around in the air and made his way towards the edge of the Everfree Forest. "Don't worry Applejack, I'll stop him!" Rainbow said. Rainbow took to the air after Robotnik. Robotnik checked his side mirror just in time to see Rainbow Dash coming in. With a glance back, he reached down into his pod and pulled out a huge boot attached to a stick. Robotnik took a swing as it landed square on Rainbow Dash's cutie mark. "I hope you got a kick out of that one! AhhhahahahahahHAH!" Rainbow Dash's trajectory changed drastically as she went flying into a tree below while Robotnik disappeared over the canopy. She was about to take off after him again when a blue blur got her attention. "What is that?" "AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Spike screamed as he came to an abrupt halt just below the tree Rainbow Dash crashed into. "Twilight you need to test these spells before you approve them for use! Sheesh." A dust cloud from the heart of Ponyville all the way to Spike's current position could be seen. Rainbow Dash's eyes widened. "Whoa Spike you're pretty fast! How'd you do that?" "I haven't figured it out yet, all I did was leap off a bench!" Spike said as he attempted to dust himself off a bit. "I came here looking for a strange flying object with some guy in it, have you seen anything Rainbow Dash?" "Oh. Yeah. He just took a bunch of apples from Applejack and was heading for the Everfree Forest I think? I was chasing after him but then something hit me." Spike looked around seeing nothing but trees and clear skies, then up to the tree Rainbow Dash crashed into. Spike facepalmed. "Rainbow Dash go home, you're drunk. If stationary objects are hitting you then it must be really bad." Spike attempted to slowly tip-toe forward this time to see what would happen. He took off at a fairly remarkable but manageable speed this time. "Hey I'm not drunk!" --- Fluttershy happily hummed a sweet tune as she tended to some woodland creatures outside her cottage. Is anything else she's doing matter at the moment? We all know it's about to be interupted anyway. Robotnik flew in and stopped at a hover above her chicken coop. A huge metal claw dropped from below his pod and latched onto the sides of the coop then lifted it off the ground. Next a long tube extended from below his pod and landed at ground level next to the now exposed chicken coop. A vacuum turned on as all the eggs, and somehow only eggs, started rolling off the nests and towards the tube, getting sucked in. "Excuse me mister but umm, I believe that's my chicken coop you're destroying and my chicken eggs you're taking." Fluttershy said though barely audible over the loud vacuum running. "Who cares." Dr. Robotnik said. "Oh, umm, I kind of do..." Fluttershy trailed off, not quite sure how to deal with this. There was an awkward pause as Robotnik vacuumed up all the eggs then dropped the chicken coop that the claw had in it's grip then retracted the claw and tube. Robotnik cackled as he took off once more heading back into Ponyville. Spike arrived on the scene shortly after. He didn't know where in the Everfree Forest to even start looking when Rainbow Dash said he went that way but he thought he heard strange activity coming from over here. Spike stopped near Fluttershy, concerned as he saw how sad she looked. "Hey, are you alright?" Spike asked. "Those were Elizabeak's first eggs. She'll be so miserable when she finds out they were taken." Fluttershy squeaked out. A few tears fell from her eyes as she was on the brink of fully crying. Spike knew this flying weirdo was crazy but this was going too far. Nobody messed with Fluttershy! Spike would see to it that her eggs are recovered and that the thief paid dearly. "I'll get them back Fluttershy, but can you tell me which way he flew off to?" "I think he was heading into Ponyville but I'm not sure..." Fluttershy sniffled. Spike nodded. No dilly-dallying this time. He took a full step and made his way into town. --- A blood curdling scream was heard as Spike got closer to town. "Rarity!" He'd recognize that scream anywhere. Spike rounded a few corners and arrived at Carousol Boutique. Rarity was found curled up in a corner muttering incoherently to herself. No sign of the weirdo here, he must move really fast Spike thought. Nothing looked out of the ordinary in the shop, but Rarity being tramatized would be enough reason to hunt him down not including everything else. Still, Spike needed to know where he went. "Rarity, tell me what happened! What's wrong??" "He... He... He had red overalls mixed with yellow and black!!! And with a orange mustache?? Such a terrible color mashup! Whyyy-hyy-hyy-hyyyy!" Spike deadpanned. Again. "Rarity do you know where he went? I'm going to put a stop to him!" "And Bald! Eww! So bald..." "Rarity!" "Oh? Spike! What happened to you? You're slick purple scales are now blue, though I suppose it isn't a bad look..." Rarity said, bringing a hoof up to her chin as she pondered. Spike had forgot about the paint mishap at Sugarcube Corner. "Yeah there was an accident earlier but I haven't had time to clean it. Anyway did you see-" "You know what would go great with that getup of yours? I recently got these white shoes with red stripes and had no idea what I could use them for. But when I see you now I think it'd be the perfect fit!" Rarity magicked a pair of red-striped white sneakers onto Spike. "Rarity-" "Ooh and perhaps these white gloves would help eccentuate your eyes a bit." "Rarity, there's no time!" Rarity flew a pair of gloves and placed them over Spike's claws. "But... I have this suit that would match your outfit perfectly..." Rarity pouted. "There's no time to put pants on. Some weirdo is causing trouble and must be stopped! So now can you tell me which way that weird flying guy went?" "Hmm, no. But he mentioned something about using a magnifying glass he took from me for some gemstones. Maybe he's near that place where we encountered the Diamond Dogs?" Spike nodded. It was the most recent and only lead he had to work with; if nothing else he could climb the mountain there and get a better view of the land around Ponyville. --- Spike would have to climb the mountain, but not to get a better view of Ponyville. Atop the mountain a gold statue of some resemblance to Doctor Robotnik stood on two feet with one arm pointed out. Besides the posture the only details the statue had were of two eyes and a large mustache at the top of the statue where it's head was and a window for a mouth. Next to the statue was a average looking 2 story building which didn't seem made to match the overglorified pose the statue had. Spike had to make haste; if this guy could take everything as fast as he did who knew how long it would be before he used it for something. Not to mention that this statue and building setup was made just as quickly since it definitely wasn't here a few days ago. Spike traveled up the spiral mountain and entered into this strange fortress. Gadgets whirred and sprockets blurred... I guess... as Spike raced through to find Robotnik. After climbing numerous floors he reached the top where Robotnik had a crazy machine set up. A large metal contraption holding a few gemstones was aimed at the base of a frying pan while at the top a magnifying glass was being pointed at it. Spike thought Twilight got crazy with the experiments but this went to a whole new level. "Sonic!? How did you get here?" Robotnik said. Spike looked around before his eyes settled on him. "Not sure who you're referring to, but you stole from my friends and I intend to get it all back!" "You're too late Sonic! Once the sun goes into the right position in thirty seven seconds the rays will go into that magnifying glass to heat that frying pan and then you won't be the only one who's slightly runny!" Gasp, Robotnik was about to cook eggs! Sonic will need to act fast before- "My name is Spike sir and I can't allow you to do that!" Spike scratched his chin with his claw. What could he do to prevent this from happening in approximately thirty seconds? With a snap of his claws he had an idea. He'd write a letter to Princess Celestia! Dear Princess Celestia, This may sound incredibly out there, but could you prevent the sun from moving for a while? If the sun hits a certain angle in the next thirty ten seconds all of Equestria could be doomed. Sincerely, Spike. He hoped that would work. With a quick puff of green flames the letter was sent on it's way. Sweat started dripping off his brow as he watched a nearby clock tick the seconds away. Robotnik laughed some more as he tied a bib around his neck and started drooling at the empty frying pan, ready to toss some eggs on once the heat was there. Spike started chewing on his glove-covered claws as the clock ticked off the last few seconds. The magnifying glass lit up slightly but stopped there. Did it work? When the frying pan didn't heat up Spike started cheering since Celestia came through! With a grumble Robotnik got up and stomped in place. "Curse you, Sonic! It's not fair! I hate that hedgehog!" "My name is SPIKE and I am NOT a-" Spike took a step forward, temporarily forgetting about his super speed. "HedgeHOWHOAA!" He took off and crashed into a bunch of nearby levers. A monitor on the wall started flashing red as sirens went off. Spike spotted the book that started this whole thing on a nearby counter and grabbed it, the magnifying glass, and eggs that were collected in a basket before taking off. Explosions went off behind him as he evacuated the building and made it to the base of the mountain in record time. One last explosion could be heard as a random missle launched, heading straight for the Everfree Forest. --- Zecora was busy collecting some herbs just outside of her hut when she heard something strange. It was getting louder and louder so her curiousity was piqued. "For the quiets of the Everfree something sounds amiss..." From her position a flaming projectile made itself seen above the trees as it swiftly came down and made contact with her hut. With her roof punctured, the missle exploded and applesauce was splattered everywhere in and outside of her hut. A chunk of the missle then fell in front of her with the face of Dr. Robotnik stamped on it, winking with a huge grin and a massive thumbs up. "Whoever's weapon caused this I won't easily dismiss." --- Spike wasted no time in returning all the items back to their owners. Rarity was pleased to see her mirror again. Fluttershy got her eggs back. Yay! All Elizabeak has to do is pick her eggs out from all the other ones that were mixed in. Last stop would hopefully put an end to his running around as he came up to the library entrance and went in. Books were thrown haphazardly around as Twilight manically skimmed through a dozen books per minute. She was so focused on her task that she didn't acknowledge when Spike came in. "Manitee? Monkey? No, Mobe- Mobe-!" Spike dropped the book in front of her to grab her attention. "Spike! You did it!" Twilight lifted Spike up in her magic and nuzzled him quite roughly. Spike put up with it; if it meant they could both rest easy tonight it'd all be worth it. "Yeah, though it wasn't an easy task. Do you want to hear what I had to do to get it?" "In a minute Spike, I need to see why Doctor Robotnik took this specific book." Spike, finally learning the weird guy's name, was curious as well. He never had a chance to look at the book when fleeing the exploding fortress. Twilight read the cover of the book. "House Maintenance 101: Plumbing for Dumbees. Huh? Why would he want such a specific book? What does this have to do with the Mobius?" While Twilight mused, Spike noticed a bookmark placed in the book. With a flick of the claw he opened it and read "Chapter 2: How to unclog a toilet." Various parts of the page were heavily highlighted. "Umm Twilight? I think he just wanted this book for personal use..." --- Princess Celestia sat on her throne. It had been a half hour since she halted the sun and hadn't heard back. Equestria wasn't in peril it seemed but she was still concerned. She was about to write a return letter when it seemed Spike finally followed up. Dear Princess Celestia, Thanks for stopping the sun on such short notice, it really saved the day! Another few seconds later and Elizabeak might not have gotten her eggs back! Sorry for the late reply but if you still have the sun frozen in place it should be safe to move. Hopefully no more crazy events will happen around here for at least a while but who knows... With Thanks, Spike. Princess Celestia looked up from her letter with an eyebrow raised. "So I stopped the sun to prevent a couple of eggs from being cooked?" > Fail with flying colors > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight and Spike had spent the remainder of the day easing the minds of the Ponyville citizens and cleaning up the aftermath; which considering the crazy events that happened actually wasn't much. Once Ponyville was sedated to hopefully prevent mob panic, Twilight and Spike cast a glance out where the still smoking remains of Doctor Robotnik's fortress lay; Twilight finally getting her first chance to see it. "If the explosions were enough to cause that much damage it doesn't sound good for our... mysterious visitor." Twilight said. "You mentioned there was no sign of him anywhere?" Spike nodded. "Yeah. Most of the rubble was too big for me to handle so he must've been crushed somewhere underneath all that. Poor guy. He was a bit of a jerk, but he didn't deserve this." Spike sighed; the sorrow evident on his face. "Spike you know it's not your fault, right? If he was capable of making such dangerous objects then he should have put some sort of fail-safe in to prevent all this. And who knows? Maybe he managed to get out too. Either way it's too late in the day now so let's head home for now. Tomorrow I'll get some volunteers around Ponyville and see about exploring the area." Twilight said. Spike nodded, having overheard her talks with other ponies earlier. "And we can't go now anyway because this Robotnik guy is potentially aggressive and it might put other ponies at risk?" "Right." They paused for a moment to let it all sink in then headed home for the library. Spike still felt responsible for what happened and would insist on helping tomorrow. Spike paused before nesting in his basket for the night; he had almost forgot about the shoes and gloves Rarity gave him. He decided to take them off while he slept, but intended to wear them again next morning. The shoes were comfortable and the gloves he was indifferent to, but he wasn't about to shun a gift from Rarity. --- As Ponyville slept for the night, one rainbow-maned pegasus tossed and turned. Normally sleep came easy for Rainbow Dash, but tonight was different. Somehow, after everything that happened today, she came home to find (or not find) that something very personal to her went missing. There was no way she mislocated it oh no, it was always kept there and she suspected that this Doctor Rofatneck or whatever managed to nab it; if the eggy mustached-shaped hole in her cloud-wall was any clue. "That's it!" she suddenly yelled. Too bothered to sleep at this point she made a fast dash out of her home towards Robotnik's lair. She had to make an effort to find it before anyone else spotted it for she did not want to face the humiliation that might ensue if others found it first. Moments later and Rainbow was at her destination. Her jaw dropped upon seeing it. She had seen the damage earlier and knew it was bad which made seeing what was there now unbelievable. Robotnik's fortress stood strong like it hadn't ever been scratched, or exploded. Somehow in two hours or less it had been reconstructed to look exactly as it did before it blew up. Rainbow actually didn't know what that looked like though, so she got to experience her first basking in Robotnik's creative glory. Or just extended disbelief. At the top of the statue a lit square opening could be seen as she finished scanning the place from the outside. Shaking off her shock she flew into the window to take a look around. Strange gadgets lined the walls as Rainbow explored. Even with the dim lighting everything looked foreign and unusual to her. She was having second thoughts about this when around the next machine her prize conspicuously rested on a pedestal. Conspicuously because a light shining from the ceiling made it obviously stand out from everything else, not including the sign with a arrow pointed at it reading "This way". Rainbow took a quick look left then right. Then she looked left again. She raised an eyebrow then walked up to it casually. After pausing a moment she scooped up her prize and tucked it under her wing. She turned around and shrugged before taking a step away from the pedestal. A huge cage dropped from the ceiling, trapping her. "H-hey! What's the big idea!?" Rainbow exclaimed. "Ahh Rrrrainbow Dash is it? How nice of you to come in unannounced." Robotnik said, unnecessarily rolling his R's, as he appeared from the shadows with a remote in his hand. I had to rewind a bit on that one to make sure he did just appear out of nowhere, for he wasn't in the room until the cage dropped. "You better let me out. It won't be long until my friends see your fortress and whoop your big butt!" "That's what you think, but totally irrelevant none-the-less! For you are going to help me capture Sonic and your friends will be none-the-wiser." Robotnik said as he walked up to a large console with various buttons and levers. Two button presses and a lever pull later a video of Spike, still painted blue, showed up on screen with him sleeping in his basket. Rainbow gawked at the screen, confused. She recognized Spike on the screen but what Robotnik said seemed unrelated. Something about 'Sonic'? She understood one part of what he said though. "There's no way I'd help you in whatever slimy scheme you're doing!" "No YOU aren't going to help me, but YOU." On Robotnik's remote containing one button and a dial to measure something, he pressed the button numerous times as a robot replica of Rainbow Dash flew into the room in front of the cage the real Rainbow Dash was in. "Say hello to the Rainbot." Close examination would reveal a few bolts that attached to flexible joints and a metallic skin instead of fur and feathers. You could say anyone with a little common sense could tell it wasn't the real one. If inspecting it didn't work then hopefully the loud jets connected to it's hooves used to fly around would be enough of a hint. "So long as no one knows you're here they won't know the difference!" Robotnik said. "Pfft. There's no way they would fall for that." The identical robot's eyes lit up and repeated in a similar yet mechanical voice. "Pfft. There's no way they would fall for that." Rainbow reared slightly for a moment, then angrily squinted. The Rainbot did the same. Rainbow trotted up to the edge of the cage as the metal doppelganger did the same from the outside. Rainbow twisted her neck and made a few silly faces that the Rainbot mirrored rather accurately. Rainbow brought a hoof to her chin and pondered for a moment as she watched the Rainbot do the same. "Well it may imitate me decently, but there's no pegasus faster than myself. I bet that thing could barely fly!" The Rainbot crouched slightly and extended it's wings. The floor underneath it's hooves lit up a dim blue, gradually becoming brighter. After a moment it blasted off and proceeded to do a few laps around the room with a few loops and corkscrews scattered about. It's demonstration completed, the Rainbot landed in front of the cage Rainbow Dash was in and went idle; the light showing from it's hooves and eyes gradually dimmed until no light shown from it at all. Rainbow gawked at the display. She could've done much better herself, but this robot was giving her cause for concern. "Well... I bet- I bet it can't lick it's own back!" Rainbow said as she started straining her neck as her head twisted with her tongue out. "Now you're just being ridiculous." Robotnik said. Robotnik walked to his ego-matic hovercraft, remote in hand, and got in. "Now to set off and conquer Mobius! And it was all thanks to that little item of yours. It was key to the creation of Rainbot!" A few button presses on his remote and the Rainbot activated; flying out into the middle of the night with Robotnik leaving shortly after. Rainbow watched them leave. With apparently no option for escape she had to wait until she was freed. No wait stop. Rainbow Dash, seriously? The bars on that cage are spread apart farther than the width of your body, including if your wings were extended. Whatever. She started inspecting the item she ventured here for to make sure it was still in good condition. Satisfied, she closed it back up and asked noone in particular. "He had made the Rainbot using only my stamp collection...?" --- Celestia's morning rays peaked the horizon as Spike laid blissfully asleep in his basket next to Twilight's bed. His internal clock was ticking however, and in a few minutes he slowly blinked his eyes open. He was eager to start the day and hopefully discover some positive news regarding Robotnik. Noticing that Twilight was still asleep, he decided he'd carefully and quietly go down into the kitchen and get breakfast started so they would be ready to leave sooner. With a well practiced leap of his legs and a push from his arms, he proceeded to get out of the basket and slam incredibly hard into a bookcase on the opposite wall. On top of the loud collision, all the books managed to bump and smack into or near him as they fell off the shelves. "Aahee!" Twilight squeaked as her covers flew off the bed while she leapt onto her nightstand. Her front hooves scrambled backwards to meet her hind ones as her back arched at an intense angle. With her eyes going from pin pricks to dilated she quickly scanned the room for the cause of all this commotion. "Spike!?" Twilight said as her posture relaxed a little. "What was that for!?" Spike groaned, still recovering from his collision. Being a dragon with scales though he was made of stern stuff and was able to shake it off, or so I assume. "Urgh. If I had to guess, I'd say the super speedy spell you used on me still hasn't worn off." Twilight quickly took on a puzzled expression as she cautiously made her way off the nightstand. She helped get the books on and around him with levitation and re-shelved as she explained. "Hmm. Yes, normally the spell would have faded in time; probably an hour or two after I cast it. It seems, however, that this paint somehow contained it." Twilight's eyes lit up as she pondered on it more. "Oh my gosh! This could have so many applications! I need to talk to Mr. Cake and find out which paint he used so I can run some experiments!" Spike gave both his legs a glance before he asked. "So... I'll have to be fast until the scales shed? Would you be able to apply some sort of slowing spell to neutralize it?" Twilight shook her head. "No. Any slowing spell would be temporary and that's assuming it did work. Combining multiple spells layered like that could be unsafe. We could try to scrape your scales clean but that could be uncomfortable..." Spike did think that sounded uncomfortable. Terrible, even. Between Twilight's expert opinion and Spike unsuccessfully removing any of the paint during his one hour bubble bath the previous night he decided not to dwell on it for now. "Eh, I can get used to it." Spike said. Spike continued. "Your plans to test this paint idea will have to wait though, remember? We still have to deal with the remains of Doctor Robotnik's lair." Before Twilight could respond there was a knock at the door. "Spike could you get that? I'll finish tidying up around here. And be careful!" Spike saluted and was at the door a moment later. He thought it a bit weird that a pony would be here this early since the library would be open publicly in thirty minutes. When Spike opened the door his weirdness detector skyrocketed along with his right eyebrow seeing as how this pony was rarely up this early; especially to check out a book. Beyond the threshold stood what appeared to be Rainbow Dash. This, of course, was the Rainbot which Spike was slowly noticing as the various screws and the metal reflective coating it had as the sun easily bounced off it. Unsure at the moment, he thought he'd ask a relatively safe question. "Hey Rainbow Dash are you... alright?" The Rainbot's eyes lit up unnaturally and looked down at Spike. "Oh hey Sonic! You're just the hedgehog I was hoping to see! I was just stopping by to invite you to the big race the glorious Doctor Robotnik is hosting!" If it wasn't obvious to Spike before, the blatantly incorrect name and species label gave it away along with the praise of Robotnik. Which caused Spike some confusion. "Robotnik is alive somewhere??" Some curious expression showed on the Rainbot's facial features. "Of course he is, and you could win a chance to meet him exclusively and make one request! Here's a flyer with details; I'll see you at the race, 'kay?" So many questions were on Spike's mind, but he never got a chance to ask as the Rainbot swiftly turned around and blasted off into the sky. After coughing a bit from the dust and smoke caused by the propulsion he deadpanned at the obvious display of a fake Rainbow Dash. Determined, however, to answer a question of his own he quickly made a trip to the outskirts of Ponyville and did indeed see that Robotnik's fortress was standing the same as it was yesterday. Quite shocked with the results, Spike went back to the library to deliver the news to Twilight. Twilight read the pamphlet and pondered this new update. "So very strange. And you're saying Rainbow Dash already made friends with Doctor Robotnik and also plans to participate in this race?" "I don't know how, but the thing that delivered that pamphlet wasn't Rainbow Dash. It seemed like some sort of advanced robot which had a metal exterior and somehow flies around expelling explosive gas out of it's hooves." Spike said. Twilight gave a sad yet slightly smug smile as she said "Oh Spike, there's no technology known in Equestria to be that advanced. Perhaps you were still waking up and missed some details. Either way this race sounds like a fun idea; perhaps Doctor Robotnik is trying to make new friends and Rainbow Dash is already one of them. Although I will have to ask him to refrain from conquering any Mobius'... whatever they are, because that doesn't sound nice." Spike raised one claw and opened his mouth as if to defend what he saw, but his words died in his mouth. Just one of those things she'll have to see to believe, right Spike? He decided to wait for now, surely this imposter would be revealed to everyone in due time right? --- Spike couldn't believe it. Sure it was a huge gathering of ponies with plenty of contestants for such a rushed event, but what was unbelievable was the huge cheering section for 'Rainbow Dash'. The imposter did some minor tricks with it's loud thrusters as it flew around basking in the praise. "You can't be serious..." Spike said. "Oh come now, Spike, you know she likes to show off." Twilight said. "Listen just be safe, okay? I know you're probably eager to win, but just one mistake could be very painful!" Disregarding the second comment, Spike insisted on his point from before. "Oh come on Twilight! Isn't it so obvious this Rainbow Dash is a fake? I mean the sun is reflecting off of it so much that it practically looks like a sky blue disco ball!" "Spike! Not so loud! You might hurt her feelings. Look, how about after the race I help you get to the bottom of this okay? I'll scan her for metals or anything you think she might be hiding. It'll be fine, Spike! Just have fun and don't be reckless!" Twilight said. Spike wondered why she couldn't just do a scan now if she was able to, but that possibility was interrupted as somewhere Robotnik was about to make an announcement. "All contestants report to the starting line for Rrrrobotnik's Rrrrounceval Race!" Robotnik proclaimed as he floated around in his hovercraft. Rounceval meaning 'obsolete' incase you readers were wondering. "Good luck, Spike!" Twilight said as she made her way back into the crowd. Spike waved goodbye as he made his way to the starting line. Upon approaching it some unsuspecting faces appeared amongst his other competitors. He saw Big Mac, Pinkie Pie, Snips and Snails in some sort of hamster wheel-like contraption and lastly Rarity. "Rarity?" Spike mumbled in disbelief. He would have gotten her attention, but she seemed so focused sorting through her saddlebags. Robotnik was approaching the start line presumably to start the race soon anyway. Instead, however, Robotnik came right up to Spike. "Ahh if it isn't Sonic. I knew you wouldn't be able to resist a race!" Unsure if he should try to correct Robotnik right now, Spike narrowed his eyes and went with the more important topic. "I'm onto you... I know the Rainbow Dash here is fake and when I win this race I'll make sure you release her!" "Tsk Tsk Tsk. You'll have to win this race first which will be impossible!" Robotnik said. Robotnik started floating towards the other competitors as he started monologuing his plan. "With all the traps I have set there's no way he'll win. Soon Sonic will experience overpronation while I go for domination! Of Mobius!" With his distinct and rather clamorous voice, however, Spike had no problem overhearing all of that. More determined than ever, he took his place at the starting line; weary of that warning and waiting for Robotnik to proceed with the race. Robotnik hovered next to his creation and angrily said "You better win this race, or else I'll melt you down and use you as a paperweight!" The Rainbot nodded and whipped out a visor from somewhere that covered it's robotic eyes. "So it seems we have six contestants competing in this race in honor of me! Be ready to go on my word." Robotnik said. "Let's win this buddy! With any request there's no limit to the possible things we could get!" Snips said. "Dahh, Yah! With that request we could get a shovel. No... We could request two shovels! That's something we could do, right?" Snails said as he lifted a hoof up to his partner. "Uhh, yeah sure I suppose that's one possibility..." Snips said as he hesitantly brought his hoof up to bump it with Snails. "On your mark." "I'm going to win this and make sure Robotnik accepts his party invitation this time!" Pinkie exclaimed. "When I win I'll make sure his attire never sees the light of day again! Who could insist on wearing something so outlandish??" Rarity said. "Get set." Between the determined contestants and trying to keep some dignity by declining to race against fillies and kids, he decided to say "Nope" and walked away from the starting line. He was just here to demand compensation for the apples this Robotnik fellow stole, but that was something he could do some time without winning some race anyway. "Go!" The five contestants were off. Spike and the Rainbot got a significant lead with Rarity and Pinkie a ways behind them neck and neck. Snips and Snails had barely passed the starting line due to some difficulties. "Snails! Your legs are too long, I can't keep up! If you go too fast I might start-" Snips tried to say but couldn't finish. Snails was too focused on the race to comprehend on what Snips was saying and proceeded to push their wheeled contraption forward by himself. Snips, unable to keep up, started spinning around and around as Snails finally got them some distance from the starting line. Spike and the Rainbot were at a near tie, neither of them quite going full speed. Spike maintained focus on what was ahead, and the Rainbot used this chance to execute one of it's dastardly plans. Using a boost of propulsion, it got ahead of Spike and a panel under it's tail opened up as some black slippery substance started covering the dirt road ahead of Spike. Spike, unable to react in time, started slipping out of control as his legs couldn't gain any traction. With some quick thinking he regained his balance and started sliding on it like one might when using skiis on a snowy surface. It worked for a few seconds until the oil slick dried out and the sudden increase in friction caused him to faceplant into the ground, causing a small ditch as his momentum kept him moving forward. Spike was not pleased. Not angry, maybe a bit upset, but this little diversion was cheap! He knew Robotnik was up to no good but now he got to see what kind of low Robotnik was going to sink to. Spike was about to get up when white and pink hooves entered his peripherals. He reached one of his arms up where Rarity and Pinkie could lift him up and out of this little ditch. "Thanks guys." Spike said. He felt a little bashful receiving help from Rarity like this; he would've preferred that the roles were switched. Not that he wished Rarity ate a face full of dirt while traveling at high speeds, but you know what he means. "No problem, Spike!" Pinkie said as she continued to hop down the race track. Rarity paused as she inspected Spike further. "Are you feeling fine Spike? That looked like a dastardly fall." She said. Spike quickly brushed himself off and puffed up his chest. "All fine here! I wish I could stay and chat, but I have a race to win. You should get going too." "Alright if you insist, just try to be more careful Spikey Wikey!" Rarity said as she started up her trot. Determined to show that Rainbow imposter who's boss Spike took off as fast as he could and quickly passed Rarity and Pinkie. --- The Rainbot snickered as it looked behind itself to see the effect it's trap had. "Trap one is a success. Sonic tripped and fell as planned!" Although the plan had worked, the sudden impact the Rainbot had, while not paying attention to what's ahead, with a tree did not. With such tremendous speed, the Rainbot's head ended up going through the tree and out the other end. The Rainbot shook it's head a bit to regain it's bearings then tried to pry itself out of the tree. A few errors showed up in it's visor briefly before vanishing back to a normal state. "You Nincombot!" Robotnik said as the speakers in the Rainbot's ears vibrated. "If you lose this race I'll make sure your paperweight ends up being used on the letters sent from my mother!" Right, no more screwups thought the Rainbot. Using it's thrusters as extra leverage it broke free of the tree after a few tries and continued the race. With the error made, Spike had nearly caught back up to the Rainbot hereby removing any lead that trap helped gain. "There's not much time left." Robotnik said. "On this turn up ahead I need you to lead Sonic to the right spot for this next trap." The Rainbot gave a salute and deposited numerous smokebombs ahead and around itself. A thick cloud suddenly blocked Spike's vision up ahead. The only detail he could really make out was the Rainbot's thrusters as it continued to fly forward. "Forget this, if Robotnik wants to play dirty then I'll just pound his butt the next time I see him and demand to see the real Rainbow Dash!" Spike said as he slowed to a stop and crossed his arms. Through some astronomically low odds, a hidden cage below him sprung up and closed Spike in, hereby trapping him. Spike was briefly surprised, but still maintained a serious arm crossing as he waited for the smoke to clear. "Surpriiiiise!" Robotnik said as he appeared in front of Spike inside his ego-matic hovercraft. He brought his hands together and started rubbing them menacingly. "With Sonic out of the way soon Mobius will be mine!" Spike didn't move from his posture as he glared at Robotnik. A brief look around the cage showed once again that the bars were spaced far enough apart that he could probably squeeze through them. If not then his fire should be able to melt the cage. Or send it to Princess Celestia, he wasn't sure. Spike didn't have to take any action though, as soon Pinkie and Rarity caught up to them and took action. "You brute! It's not enough that your taste in fashion is simply awful but now you're being mean to poor Spikey Wikey!?" Rarity seethed. "Yeah you big meanie! Not only that but you rejected your party invite! No, worse! You left the invite unanswered! Do you know how much time it takes to organize and arrange these things??" Pinkie said. "Take this you heathen!" Rarity said as suddenly multiple unusual and wacky wigs floated out of her saddlebags and speedily made their way to Robotnik. "Doww! Dohh!" Robotnik grunted as various wigs slapped him in the face. The last one, a rainbow wig, managed to stick to his head and make him look ridiculous. "And this and this!" Pinkie said as she pulled a party cannon out of nowhere and fired two shots. The first one had some facial paint on it that landed squarely on Robotnik's face which made him look like a clown. The second shot blew a bunch of confetti that also managed to stick to Robotnik's face and all over his hovercraft. Some of the confetti made it into Spike's cage though and dangerously tickled his nose. With a unsuspecting and mighty sneeze he released a massive wave of green fire. With it all coming out he regained his bearings and took aim at the whole cage, causing it to disappear into the air in a plume of smoke. --- Princess Celestia was having a meeting with two ambassadors of the Griffon and Minotaur kingdoms respectively. As they walked through her gardens they came upon her animal sanctuary area. "This is where we allow various animals to enjoy co-existing together peacefully in a free-range environment. With your help we can expand this further and add even more wonderful creatures to this mini paradise." Celestia said as she finished her selling point. The ambassadors nodded in approval while a little raccoon scampered it's way across the grass to investigate these newcomers. It tilted it's head for a bit then started licking it's paws and grooming it's head. "Daww!" The ambassadors said in unison as they started making cutesy noises; enjoying the adorable display this raccoon was showing. Suddenly Celestia's horn lit up and a cage popped into existence around the raccoon. Surprised by the sudden small environment it was in, it scurried around the cage squeaking frantically. Eventually after nibbling on the bars and jumping around a bit, the scared raccoon dashed through the bars of the cage too big to contain it and disappeared into the sanctuary. The minotaur gasped and covered his mouth while the griffon's jaw was open in disbelief. They both slowly turned their heads and glared at Celestia who was now sweating. "I can explain." --- After recovering from his sneeze, Spike got into a determined stance and was finally ready for action. Rarity and Pinkie were still distracting Robotnik with various fashion statements and party supplies so Spike took this chance to charge forward. Once he got enough momentum and was in the right spot he jumped and started spinning in midair. At high speed, his spinning body made contact with Robotnik's hovercraft and sent Robotnik flying. "AHHHHHHHHHh! I HATE THAT HEDGEHOG!!" Robotnik yelled as he disappeared off into the distance. "Hurray you did it Spike!" Rarity said as she jumped into him and gave a hug. Spike blushed at the praise and affection. "You know what this calls for? A party!" Pinkie excitedly said. "Not yet Pinkie. We still need to find the real Rainbow Dash and put an end to this imposter business." Spike said. "But if I don't host a party soon I think I'm going to explode!" Pinkie said, accentuated with a tiny hop and a mini explosion of confetti and streamers coming out of her mane. Pinkie didn't appear to be kidding either; her face was super serious and one of her eyes twitched. "Wait did you say there was an imposter?" Rarity asked, apparently not concerned with Pinkie's current mental state. "Yeah! Let's go find this imposter and get some answers!" Spike said. --- The Rainbot was closing in on the finish line. Although there was a slip up, both traps had worked and the Rainbot would be winning the race as well. Once this race is finished Doctor Robotnik will definitely give me a promotion! It thought. The crowds in Ponyville cheered as they saw the soon-to-be victor. Moments before the finish line a different sky-blue blur collided with the Rainbot. Rainbow Dash and the Rainbot went off course and spiraled through the air until Rainbow Dash got in control. "Maybe it's time you saw how awesome you have to be to be the real Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow said. Higher and higher they flew as their speed increasing dramatically. The Rainbot struggled to escape but Rainbow's grip was too strong. Once at a extreme height, they suddenly made a steep decline as their speed continued to increase. Rainbow knew she was close, but she wouldn't be able to break the sound barrier while holding onto the Rainbot. Sticking her tongue out and hoping her timing was just right, she let go of the Rainbot and sped up to the last distance she would need. "This is for my stamp collection!" Rainbow said as a sonic rainboom went off behind her. The Rainbot, rendered speechless, had experienced the full effect of it right in it's face. "Too awesome..." The Rainbot said as various error messages and awesomeness warnings went off in it's visor. Losing motor control, it simply plummeted from it's current position down into the waiting forest below. --- Zecora was just finishing up cleaning everywhere around her hut. She had spent all of the previous night, needing to forego sleep, trying her best to be rid of this horrid applesauce smell. Not that apples smell bad, but something about the concoction inside that missile combined with her pot of brew at the time really made her hut smell like one giant fart. With a huff Zecora said "All of this cleaning has made my back feel uneasy. At least breathing no longer makes me queasy. After a rest I'll fix this roof, unless something decides to go aloof." You just had to jinx it, didn't you Zecora? At that moment, the Rainbot crashed through the trees and collided with the ground in front of Zecora's hut. She nearly jumped out of her skin and hastily made her way outside to see what the commotion was. With Zecora's face exposed, the Rainbot exploded; sending out a big black smokescreen that stained the outside of Zecora's face and her hut. A piece of the Rainbot landed in front of Zecora as she read the smooth printing on it: 'Manufactured by Doctor Ivo Robotnik'. Having a name for the face she saw on the logo of the missile from yesterday, her face twitched. --- Rainbow Dash glided around as her speed from the sonic rainboom tapered off. She eventually made her way back to Ponyville to reunite with some familiar faces. The crowds were currently cheering which she thought meant they were happy to see her. She would tell them about her great and daring feat about how she threw her stamp collection across the room to hit a button that unlocked her cage. Well, I might make some alterations and add more explosions to make it sound cooler Rainbow thought. Once Rainbow got closer however, she could hear them cheering 'Snips and Snails!' which confused her a bit, but she had to show herself sooner or later. She landed by a starting line. Were they having a race without her? The cheering stopped and Rainbow was about to reintroduce herself when suddenly "Imposter!" "It's a changeling!" "The horror!" amongst various other comments came out of the crowd. With one ear cocked and the other bent downward, Rainbow had a very confused expression showing. "Get her!" Someone from the crowd yelled as suddenly a whole mob of ponies poured out of the stands and nearby homes and windows as Rainbow suddenly found herself fleeing in terror. "Wait it's really me! It's the other Rainbow Dash that was the fake!" Rainbow said as she ran away. "Yeah right! That's something a fake would say!" "Yeah!" "Go back to derby you overglorified spectrum!" Rainbow's running speed was easily faster than the mob's, but she was still about to take off in flight until Twilight who was in front of her, teleported behind her with a shout. "Stop right there!" The mob and Rainbow Dash stopped as Twilight and soon Spike, Rarity and Pinkie appeared between them. "I think I have a solution." Twilight said. --- After scanning the real Rainbow Dash for metal and changeling shifting powers, the crowd seemed unpleased, but willing to accept the results. The residents made their way back to their homes and Ponyville eased back into a peaceful state even with Pinkie throwing a sudden party for everyone. It was thanks to Spike's earlier warning that Twilight knew something was wrong when the real Rainbow Dash had come out of nowhere and took down the Rainbot. Twilight tried to follow them at the time, but they were too fast. It was a bit of lucky coincidence that she ran into Spike, Rarity and Pinkie. Off in the distance however, back in this lair, Robotnik continued to scheme and plot. He was busy vigorously typing away on a keyboard only using one finger from both of his hands when suddenly the door bell went off and interupted his train of thought. "Who dares interrupt the great Doctor Rrrrobotnik??" He said as he made his way to the entrance of his fortress. He opened the door abruptly and shocked the two foals outside out of their conversation. "What do you want!?" Robotnik said. Snips and Snails were caught a bit off guard, but Snips took the initiative. "Well, uh, we were just here about that request you said you'd give to the winner of the race!" "Yah. Only thing is we still haven't decided on what to request yet..." Snails finished. Robotnik started pondering and looked up. A literal thought bubble appeared above his head as he started thinking. Hmm, perhaps I could make use of these two. With these two bozos to order around I should be able to capture sonic for sure! He thought as his thought bubble showed Snips and Snails dancing around a caged blue painted Spike with Robotnik cackling above it all. "How about this. In exchange for winning the race I'll let you two be my new lackeys-err I mean assistants." Robotnik said as he tried to innocently smile. "Whoa so kind of like your sidekicks?" Snips said. "No!" Robotnik yelled as he leaned into the two colts who recoiled. Robotnik tried to recompose himself. "That is to say, if you prove yourself worthy by capturing Sonic then I'll consider thinking about you two nincompoops-err I mean delightful dolts as my sidekicks." Seemingly satisfied with that answer, both colts grinned and gave a nod as they entered Robotnik's fortress to help enact whatever scheme Robotnik had planned next. > Pink-mane'd initiator > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It's currently the next morning after the whole Rainbot fiasco Robotnik used in an attempt to capture Spike. Pinkie Pie recently woke up and has started a new plan to get Doctor Robotnik to attend a party of hers. Pinkie knows he's a big meanie pants, but she believes that even the most miserable and obnoxious people just need to be reached out to and given a chance. With one of her parties she might just get a genuine smile on his face. Suddenly Pinkie lifted her head from her plans and scanned the room. "Hello?" She stood up and started scanning the room with her ears; both ears swiveling the room, eventually honing on- "Helllloooo?" ...the alarm clock I'm next to? Pinkie started sniffing the ground as she made her way over. With a deep inhale her face scrunched up and she- "Hello? Hello hello hello!" Pinkie sniffed a circle around me. This isn't supposed to be part of the story. My personal space somehow feeling invaded I decided to see what the other Cakes of this household were doing. "Wait don't go!-" Downstairs Twilight stood behind the counter as Mr. Cake was answering some questions. "So you say this paint was special ordered? The one you were using that you accidentally spilled onto Spike?" Twilight inquired. "Yes. It has some more dangerous chemicals in it, but it's guaranteed to last five times longer than normal paint." Mr. Cake said. "Do you have some extra still? I would like to run some..." Twilight inhaled slowly as she scribbled into her notepad and briefly licked her lips. "Experiments." Pinkie started coming down the stairs sniffing like a track dog. She sniffed around a table and a few chairs before slowly making progress towards me. "Twilight you did hear me say dangerous chemicals, right? That stuff is dangerous to breathe and incredibly poisonous to swallow! Extended exposure could cause mental problems!" Mr. Cake said. Which probably isn't healthy for Spike, unless his dragon endurance really doesn't- "Hi!" Pinkie said right in front of me as she tilted her head to and fro, trying to make sense of the voices she was- "I can't understand you!" Twilight, slightly distracted by Pinkie talking to a bush in the corner of the store, slowly turned back around and whispered to Mr. Cake while slowly winking. "I know." "Honey? I think I need an adult!" Mr. Cake said as he called back into- "That's it I'm coming in!" Pinkie said as she suddenly jumped into the bush and somehow broke the boundaries between reality and wherever I am. Whoa this is neat! Hello? I still can't see you. Pinkie? Hi! Oh my gosh, a new friend! I'm Pinkie Pie! What's your name? ... You know? I never really gave it much thought. WHAT?? I appear to exist just to tell the story, or at least I believe that's my purpose. Story? Is that why you're invisibly sneaking around people's houses narrating about the things they're doing? Something like that... What are you doing here? Talking to my new friend, silly! Or at least, I hope we can become friends. ... Twilight and Mr. and Mrs. Cake argued in the background; it seems the questions involving paint got a bit more heated than- Whoa so is that what you do the whole time? Your voice is really smooth. I don't have a voice, you're just hearing my thoughts and your mind is assigning it a voice, or so I assume. That's deep. ... ... Hey if you don't have a name can I at least give you a nick name? I need something to put on your party invites. Party? Who would go to a party for me if I can't exactly show physically? We'll work something out! Not interested, Pinkie. The story must go on and you're supposed to be a part of it soon. Okay, fine... Don't think you're off the hook yet though, buddy! Can I at least give you a nick name? I suppose, what did you have in mind? Hmm. Pinkie scanned the current room, looking at various baked goods that lined the shelves behind glass cases- Hey, it's hard to think while you're doing that! Sorry. ... How about Long John? You sound like a tall guy! Very well. Now hurry up, you may have missed too much! Check upstairs on the baby twins. Alright, Long John. I'll see you later~ Pinkie jumped out of the bush and made her way upstairs with tiny little hops while humming a tune. Twilight was looking nervous as a guard pony was now in Sugarcube corner asking questions while Mrs. Cake was telling her side of the story with Mr. Cake crying into her shoulder. Pinkie made it to the top of the stairs and stopped mid-hop as she heard a very unhappy noise. The twins were screaming! Long John had been right when he said she missed too much! With a whip of her tail she rushed forward and nearly catapulted through the door to see what auntie Pinkie could do. Outside the twin's bedroom window Robotnik was seen holding one baby in each hand while floating off the ground in his ego-matic hovercraft. Pound Cake, a baby pegasus, was slapping Robotnik's big nose with his little hooves. Pumpkin cake, a baby unicorn who was screaming a moment ago, suddenly took interest in his large mustache and started sucking on it. "You miserable pests!" Robotnik said as he pushed a button on his dashboard that caused two small cages to come out of the bottom of his hovercraft, loop up and around, then closed around the baby twins. The twins started crying in full force. "Hey! Let them go you big meanie!" Pinkie said as she crouched down and growled. "Ahh if it isn't the problematic pink pony. Though it wasn't on my mind at the start of this scheme, I can get revenge on you too for ruining my previous plans to capture Sonic!" Robotnik said. "Oh yeah? What are you going to do, huh??" Pinkie said. "I didn't have anything extra planned exactly; just the taking of these babbling babies ought to make you uneasy." "Oh." ... Robotnik turned around in his vehicle and took off into the sky as the baby twin's cries and maniacal laughter could be heard fading away. "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Pinkie frantically rushed downstairs as she looked around for supplies. She had to go inbetween a few ponies legs to get to the other side of the room. Twilight was frantically trying to defend herself, saying there was a big misundersta- "Long John!" Pinkie scurried back across the room and leapt into the bush I'm apparently nearby again. Phasing between realities Pinkie- Long John I could reeeeaallly use your help right now! The twins were abducted and- I know, I was there. Oh, right. Well, can you use some of your powers and help me get the twins back? Pretty please?? It doesn't work like that, Pinkie. If I were to go too far ahead of where the story is supposed to be I won't be able to advance the story until I return to the point it's supposed to be at. Mmhmm, mmhmm. I think I get it. Where's the story supposed to be now though? Maybe I can hitch a ride! Well, you were supposed to meet up with Spike at the library and tell him what happened. Great let's go! ... Alright. ~ ~ ~ --- Spike was going around the library watering the plants as he went. He had just finished watering the ones upstairs and was about to start downstairs when- "Hi Spike!" Pinkie said as her head poked out of a potted fern. "Ahh!" Spike yelled in surprise as he leapt backward and caused his super speedy legs to run backwards into a bookcase causing the books to rattle and fall to the ground. "Pinkie?? What are you-" "There's no time, Spike! Robotnik has captured Pumpkin and Pound Cake and probably plans to do something evil with them! Spike tried to regain his bearings, shaking his head a bit. "Robotnik? Doesn't this guy ever quit?" "I know!" Pinkie said. "What do you think we should do?" Spike and Pinkie pondered for a bit to come up with ideas. Suddenly, with a pop of a teleport, Twilight appeared inside the library and leaned against the door, panting heavily with a few strands of hair jutting out of her mane. "Twilight? Are you okay?" Spike asked. Twilight's eye twitched as her pinprick eyes tried to focus on Spike. "Yes, of course. Everything is fine... I definitely didn't cast a really weak version of the want-it-need-it spell on somepony's tie as a means of distraction to get away from the tabloids and local authorities. Nope!" Then Twilight's horn rang. While ringing her horn lit up and shook a little. The ring sounded like how a older telephone rings with the physical sound of it vibrating and clinking on it's base included. Somehow less stressed than before, Twilight cautiously lit up her horn and attempted to answer it. "Hello?" A mini display shot out of her horn and projected to a nearby wall with a video image of Robotnik and the twins in a big play pen next to him. Twilight's eyes widened at the unusual magic which she currently wasn't channeling while Pinkie and Spike gathered around and exclaimed together. "Robotnik!" "Sonic, how undelightful it is to see you." Robotnik said. "You better release the twins Robotnik. I've had it up to here with you!" Spike said as dramatically raised his right arm as high as it could go. "What, you think I want to see YOU you despicable rodent? No, I've called to offer you a proposal. Don't interfere with my plans and I guarantee these drrrooling diaper-wielding dopes will be returned only slightly traumatized. And to prove my point..." Robotnik trailed off. The video showed Robotnik acting innocent while waving a candy cane in front of Pumpkin Cake. Pumpkin gained a curious expression at first, then her face lit up as she approached the candy to try and take it. Robotnik quickly lifted it and started licking it as he laughed to himself. Instead of getting upset though, Pumpkin pouted then ran her horn as hard as she could through the play pen poking Robotnik right in the butt. "Doww! Grrr..." Robotnik got really close to the camera and started tapping his fingers together. "Stay out of the way Sonic! Or I'll resort to more fiendish methods..." He said as the image died out and Twilight's horn turned off. --- As the transmission ended, Robotnik soon called out an order. "Snips! Snails!" "Yes oh great one?" Snips said as they both stood at attention. "Even though Sonic should stay out of my plans, I still want you to go out and catch him! Should you end up proving to be failures at least your distraction should buy me enough time to finish my plans." Robotnik said. "Dahh, what kind of plan are yah planning Robotnik?" Snails asked. Robotnik made his way over to his computer. After pulling a lever a slide show started on the monitor. The first slide revealed a weird looking ray gun. "With this Brain Altering Name Changerizor I can manipulate all the citizens of Mobius I hit with but a single shot! This magnificent weapon is designed to replace the name of whoever the current ruler of Mobius is with my name and face. With it's citizens thinking the great Doctor Rrrobotnik is their leader I will become the new ruler!" The next slide showed a strange looking yellow plant. "All I need to finish this masterpiece is a couple of these. These are crucial to the success of my plan!" Robotnik finished. "Whoa. What is that?" Snips asked. "What do I look like, a horticulterist to you? Now get going!" Robotnik said as he shut off his two frame slide show. "Yes sir, Doctor Robotnik!" Snips and Snails shouted in unison as they vanished out the front door of Robotnik's fortress. "Agoo mmm." Pumpkin Cake mumbled tiredly. "Goo goo poo poo to you too!" Robotnik said as he put on some smooth jazz music and shortly after flew out of his fortress in his ego-matic hovercraft. The twins seemed to like the music and managed to nod off to sleep. Lucky him, this seems like poor childcare practices. --- Spike was guiding Twilight up to her room, gently coaxing her into taking a nap. He knew what built up stress would do to Twilight and it looked like she was about to pop. "It'll be fine, Twilight, just take deep breaths and rest for a while all right?" Spike said softly. "Yes. Of course. I'm sure nothing of consequence will happen. The ponies at Sugarcube Corner are probably fine... But what if my horn starts doing it's own thing again!?" Twilight gasped. "Nonono! Twilight, you're the bearer of the Element of Magic. It's something you'll figure out once you've cleared your mind. Now go in there and take it easy for a while." Spike said as he opened the door to Twilight's room and gestured for her to enter. Twilight was quietly mumbling to herself as she went in. Once she was completely in her room, Spike quickly shut the door and dashed back to Pinkie. Spike found Pinkie in a completely different state. Visually anyway. Pinkie adorned a camouflage helmet and face paint while also wearing a clown suit over her body. "Uhh, Pinkie? What's with the get-up?" Spike asked. "Well I can't exactly prepare for both situations here, Spike. I need to be ready for our rescue mission as well as a class four party emergency!" Pinkie said. Spike scratched his head in confusion for a moment, but decided not to pursue a logicical answer to that and became determined to rescue the twins. "So what's the plan?" Pinkie pulled a map of Ponyville out of her mane and spread it out for both of them to see. "So we're here, and Robotnik's fortress is here. I'll take this path to the outskirts of Ponyville to divert attention from myself. Once there I'll sneak into a carriage going back into Ponyville! After that I'll talk to Bon-Bon about preparing some emergency chocolate and see if Vinyl Scratch can set up some music for the party later!" Now Spike was concerned about Pinkie's train of thought. "But what about the twins?" "Taken care of, Spike. You just leave that to Long John and I! As for you, you need to find out where Robotnik is and stop whatever scheme he's trying to complete!" Pinkie finished as she rolled up her map, soluted, then jumped out of a nearby window. Too much exposure to Pinkie was starting to numb Spike's brain. Spike shook his head hoping it would somehow make more sense then ran out of the library. He didn't know where to begin searching for Robotnik except for Robotnik's lair itself, but weary of the warning given Spike didn't want to risk any more evil-doings to the twins. Not too far out from the library Spike found a peculiar sight and decided it was unusual enough to ask about. "Snips? Snails? What are you guys up to?" Spike asked. The two colts had a roped contraption set up involving the tension of a nearby bent tree along with some attempts to hide the circle of rope they had put on the ground. "Oh hey Spike. We were just setting up a trap to capture Sonic!" Snips said. "Yeah! We haven't set up traps before, but this one seems to have come out alright." Snails said. "Only problem is we don't know where Sonic is or what he looks like." Snips added. "Wait, you guys are trying to help Robotnik??" Spike asked. "Yeah! All hail the glorious Doctor Robotnik!" They shouted in unison. Spike started rubbing his temples with his gloved-claws. At least they didn't assume I was this Sonic guy; maybe I can use this to my advantage Spike thought. "Well good luck capturing... Sonic. Hey do you guys know where Robotnik is right now?" "Yuh-huh, yuh-huh! He's picking some yellow plants in the Everfree Forest to use in his new weapon!" Snails said happily. "What about the twins, are they still safe?" Spike asked. There was a awkward pause before Snips responded. "Well Robotnik assigned us to set up this trap, and Robotnik went to find that yellow plant. I think they're currently unattended to in his lair." "WHAT!?" Spike didn't stick around long after yelling that. He had to find Pinkie and let her know. It was a good and bad thing that the twins were unattended to since it meant Robotnik wasn't there to threaten them, but leaving babies, especially those two, unsupervised meant untold destruction could be had! He found Pinkie shaking hooves with Vinyl Scratch as he rounded a corner and closed the distance. After a brief recap of what happened Pinkie saluted and sprung into action. "Understood Spike. Long John! It's time to go!" What? Not this again. "Long John?" Spike asked. He never got an answer as a Pinkie pulled down her camouflage hat and somehow entirely covered herself. The hat then shrunk and disappeared into- Quick Long John, let's go! Pinkie... I can't keep breaking the rules like this. The universe might collapse or something. Please please please! This time is an emergency! I Pinkie Promise that I won't bug you about it in the future... as much. Fine, Pinkie. I would like to see the story have a happy ending too. Let's go. ~ ~ ~ --- Robotnik's fortress was eerily quiet even with the knowledge that no one was here guarding it. If you focused hard enough though, some faint jazz music could be heard playing deeper into the fortress. Pinkie poked her head out from behind a machine, checking both ways, before proceeding further in. She strained her ears hoping she might hear a sign of the twins, but no luck yet. Without any other audio cues, she searched high and low for the play pen seen off the screen that came out of Twilight's horn. Deeper in she got as the jazz music gradually became louder. After a few minutes of searching. "Whew, all this searching has me beat!" Pinkie said as she started fanning herself with her hoof. "This place is so big it might take me years to scope this place out!" Pumpkin Cake quietly crawled up to her and tried to get Pinkie's attention. "Ahmah!" "I know! All the missed birthday parties for the twins!" "Mmmnah!" "You're right, the search must continue. Don't worry babies, auntie Pinkie is coming!" Pinkie got up and immediately found Pumpkin sitting on the ground before her. "Pumpkin!" "Pbbbinkie!" "But... Where is Pound Cake?" Pinkie trotted around with Pumpkin riding on her back. It wasn't long before Pinkie found the play pen they were supposed to be in. Only problem among many was that it was empty. "Pound Cake?" Pinkie asked cautiously. Pumpkin suddenly started giggling at something happening off to the side of the room. When Pinkie's eyes followed to where Pumpkin's attention currently was Pinkie let out a strangled gasp while wrapping her front two hooves around her head as if to prevent it from flying off. Pound Cake was seen slowly flying towards a big red button that said 'Do Not Touch!' Pinkie quickly closed most of the distance between them and desperately tried to coax Pound out of approaching that button any further. "Come here, Pound Cake! Come to auntie!" Pound giggled and kept approaching the button. Once upon it he started poking it with one of his front hooves. Every poke made Pinkie's face cringe. "Now now, Pound. Auntie Pinkie really needs you to come here. Like, right now!" She said as she continued to slowly approached him. Seemingly satisfied with the reaction he got out of Pinkie, he turned in the air and started flying towards her. Pound became shocked though as his wings started flapping out of sync mid-air and caused him to backpedal into the button by landing on it in a sitting position. The button pushed in a bit but didn't activate. Rearing back on one hind hoof, Pinkie used her other three hooves to wrap around herself as she recoiled as hard as she could with a wheezing gasp. Pumpkin and Pound giggled some more as Pinkie finally made it up to Pound. Pound was so happy to see Pinkie that he started bouncing in place; each bounce slightly pushing the button further in. After the second bounce Pinkie quickly scooped him up and started to hyperventilate. Once Pinkie had a moment to compose herself, she wiped the sweat off her brow with one hoof and said. "Phew. Well I did want to throw a super-funerific surprise party for Doctor Robotnik to hopefully make him a good-pants, but with how mean he's been to my friends I see this calls for a special party. One that will make him second guess messing with the Cakes ever again! Muahahahahaha!" Pinkie got to work throwing the most prank-filled party she could think of. With Vinyl Scratch and Bon Bon coming soon to deliver music and sweets there was still much work to be done. Thanks Long John! --- Spike was making his way to the Everfree Forest as he dashed through Ponyville. He thought he would have to be quick to be able to find him in time, but it seemed he had gotten lucky. Snail's information about Robotnik's whereabouts ended up being slightly inaccurate. On Spike's way to the Everfree Forest he usually passed by Fluttershy's cottage. Seen hunched over with Fluttershy pleading next to him, Robotnik appeared to be blatantly helping himself to the flowers growing in Fluttershy's garden. Spike was about to get Robotnik's attention when suddenly Fluttershy spoke up. "Alright. I didn't want to do this but you leave me with no choice!" She said as she brought the whistle around her neck up and blew into it really hard. Robotnik finally reacted a bit to that. Both him and Spike a little confused, started looking around waiting for something to happen. Fluttershy blushed a little bit and looked away. "Um, it'll be a little bit before they come if you could please wait for them." "Sonic!" Robotnik and Spike's eyes met. Spike didn't like the evil grin Robotnik was sporting and got into a ready stance. "I'm going to stop you again Robotnik, you should just stop this and find a new hobby. You owe a lot of ponies an apology!" Spike said. "Me? The most rotten villain of all? Bahahahaha! Why stop when we're just getting started?" Robotnik said as he pulled out his ray gun and fired it at Spike. "Whoa!" Spike said as he hopped out of the way where the shot scorched the grass instead of hitting him. "Who better to test my Brain Altering Name Changerizor on than my arch nemesis!" Robotnik said as he fired multiple rounds. Spike dashed to and fro, dodging all of them. Robotnik never let up and kept firing. "Hold still you blue pest!" Watching the whole time, something finally triggered in Fluttershy. She flew bit away then charged at Robotnik. "Leave him alone!" With a mighty kick to Robotnik's buttox, Robotnik fell flat on his face as Fluttershy brought one of his feet up and pulled it back while using one of her hind hooves between Robotnik's shoulders to pin his head to the ground, rendering him immobile and at Fluttershy's mercy. Meanwhile, the ray gun flew from Robotnik's hands and landed on some rocks a distance away. The way it landed caused it to shoot one final time into the air over the Everfree Forest as it shot off into the distance where it eventually started arching back downward. --- The Everfree Forest was a pretty dense area. There were a few rare patches where the sun could shine through and hit the forest floor, which is why this particular spot was often sought for. A manticore was laying on a rock warmed up by the sun's rays as he also absorbed some sunlight for himself. The rock was positioned in just the right spot in the middle of this opening and he had it all to himself. Creatures might come and mooch off his spot when he wasn't there, but when he was there they knew who was the boss of this area. A strange yellow beam quickly came down and hit the unaware manticore. Hit by the sudden projectile, the manticore jumped up and started growling in every direction. After a few moments and unsure where the threat came from he sat back down. The manticore continued to sit there. A part of him wanted to lay down and continue to relax on his special rock, but this pressing need to find this new word in his only vocabulary made him anxious. The word came with a face too, somehow. He knew this face was called Robotnik and there was something calling to him to go admire this figure. He leapt off his rock and briskly made his way into the forest hoping to sate whatever need his brain was demanding. --- Fluttershy continued to hold down Robotnik. Every time Robotnik tried to move Fluttershy just pulled on his leg harder causing Robotnik some discomfort. "Are you going to stop being mean now?" Fluttershy asked. "No." Robotnik casually answered. With another tug on his leg he quickly answered again. "I mean yes, yes! Of course!" "You're not lieing to me are you?" Fluttershy said as her eyes appeared next to Robotniks and he was forced to look into them. "Oh no, I'd never lie!" Robotnik said as he crossed his fingers. The ground started rumbling as various animals and critters started pouring out of the forest. "Good. My friends will help see you off. If I hear you were being mean to my friends again you'll have to answer to me, got it??" Fluttershy said as she let go of Robotnik and hopped off. Robotnik didn't get a chance to respond as a huge wave of forest creatures were coming out of the trees towards Fluttershy's cottage. Robotnik's eyes widened as they came to a halt and all had their eyes on him, awaiting an order from Fluttershy. "Sic 'em" A loud mass of roars, squeaks and chittering followed as Robotnik quickly leapt off the ground and, as a fat man with stumpy legs, put most athletes to shame as he sprinted off at an incredible speed. "Aahhhh! I hate that hedgehooooog!" Robotnik said as he tried to flee to his fortress with Fluttershy's army chasing him the whole way. Spike watched the whole scene unfold in awe. "Wow Fluttershy, that was amazing!" Fluttershy blushed at the praise. "Oh it's nothing. I just hope he learns his lesson." "Somehow I doubt he has..." Spike said. --- Zecora managed to find time to sleep after the previous day's events. Only really having time to clean herself off before heading to bed, the front of her hut was still covered in black soot as well as the hole in her roof still open and exposed. At least at this moment in time, Zecora was at peace and able to regain her energy. The wall above Zecora's bed suddenly exploded open. A manticore, it's teeth showing and paws spread wide, roared and started swiping more of the wall away with it's claws so it could fit through. Her eyes widened and she rolled out of bed; grabbing a nearby staff that was fortunately there incase it was needed for self defense. The manticore didn't need much time to pry away enough wall for it to make it's way inside. "Breaking into my home how dare you heathen! Disrupting my sleep... why would you even?" Zecora asked...? Later she'd reprimand herself for such a weird rhyme, but she would also admit it was probably because she only had a moment to wake up and think. Growling, the manticore proceeded further in as Zecora slowly backed up with her staff extended to keep him at bay. He creeped in further until the manticore dropped it's aggressive stance and looked up at a shelf on the wall. His strong desire to check here was answered as he found the face of this Robotnik guy on a piece of metal resting there. He didn't know how, but he could smell his scent too. Finding this behaviour rather unusual for a manticore, Zecora followed his eyes to the shelf where she kept her proof of Robotnik's vandalism causing devices. Hoping to prevent further damage she slowly raised her staff in an attempt to push the items off the shelf and let the manticore have them The manticore growled, misinterpreting the action, and leapt for the shelf himself. Zecora's eyes widened as the weight of the manticore brought the shelf down and came into contact with various pots and pans below as they all clattered to the ground. With both pieces of metal from Robotnik's devices in his mouth, the manticore quickly fled the scene through the hole he made. Zecora just stood there for a few minutes. The manticore had left completely and everything returned to a quiet and peaceful state given the circumstances. Giving her hut another look around showed the massive mess on the floor with all her cooking utensils scattered around, the hole in her roof and wall, and the messy paw prints the manticore had left when it walked across her bed. She reminded herself that the outside of her hut looked hideous with the black soot all over it as well. Her eye twitched. Somehow Zecora knew Robotnik was involved. If she wasn't so busy with repairs she'd go find out about him and give him a piece of her mind. "As much as I'd like to I can't dish out vengeance. For my hut desperately needs my attendance." Seething with anger, she got started on cleaning her hut once again. --- Robotnik closed the door to his fortress behind him, panting for breath. A few moments later all the animals chasing him caught up and started scratching and pounding on the door. Robotnik pulled some wooden boards, nails and a hammer out of nowhere and started hammering away to help keep the door shut. "Surprise!" Nearly leaping out of his skin, Robotnik turned around to find Pinkie, Snips and Snails were there to greet him with a banner overhead saying 'Happy Birthday!'. "Wow, Robotnik, you never told us your birthday was coming up!" Snails said. "Yeah! If we knew we would've gotten you a birthday present!" Snips said. Robotnik looked around at all the party decorations in confusion. "It's my birthday?" "Of course it is silly, and it would be rude to keep the rests of the guests waiting." Pinkie said as she opened the door to Robotnik's lair with ease even with the boards nailed in to block it. All the forest creatures piled in and surrounded Robotnik with upset glares, some also crossing their arms. "Err-uh, perhaps we could talk about this?" Robotnik pleaded. "In a minute, but first we need to get you set up!" Pinkie said as she brought him over to a booth and got him sitting in a spot over a pool of water. Robotnik wasn't given a moment to understand what was going on. A distance away a table covered with pies stood. "Come on over guys!" Pinkie said as all the animals took a spot behind the table along with Pinkie, the twins, Snips and Snails. Pinkie picked up a pie and said "Take aim..." Everyone seemed to understand what was happening now, even Robotnik. The twins clapped excitedly while everyone else lifted a pie, ready to throw. "Fire!" Pie after pie headed for Robotnik as he tried his best to dodge them. He was successful for a little bit. He got cocky and put his hands up by the sides of his head and stuck his tongue out before the first pie to hit struck him square in the face. Soon after multiple other pies hit and he was covered head to toe in pie filling/crust. A target to the side of the booth was hit with a pie as well which caused him to fall into the water below. After a moment a door to the pool of water Robotnik was in opened up and he spilled out with the water. He shook his head like a dog as Pinkie Pie came up to him. "Thirsty?" She said as she offered a drippy cup to him. Robotnik tried to drink it but it all ended up on the floor. Robotnik was given no time to think as Pinkie immediately lead him over to a new area. "I was thinking about setting up pin the tail on the pony, but after some thought I came up with a new idea! Mustache the minotaur! You have such a big mustache it seemed like the perfect game!" Pinkie said as she blindfolded him. Once blindfolded, Pinkie spun him around and around. Once Robotnik was thoroughly dizzy she handed him a fake mustache and sent him off. Robotnik waddled off but Pinkie's intended destination where she expected him to pin the mustache to the minotaur's butt was not where he was heading. "No, not that way Robotnik!" Pinkie yelled. Robotnik didn't respond though and kept going forward. The 'Do Not Touch' button was about to get dangerously close to Robotnik's blindly extended hand holding the mustache. "Everypony run away!" Pinkie yelled. All the critters and ponies made a break for the door and open windows. From a distance you could see the strange sight of Fluttershy's army quickly leaking out of the first floor of Robotnik's lair. It only took a few seconds to evacuate the building as they fled out of the door and windows in droves, but the animals and ponies all made it out and got a good distance away before Robotnik's lair exploded and collapsed in on itself. --- Pinkie Pie made her way through Sugarcube Corner as she hopped over a bunch of passed out ponies on her way to the stairs. Once upstairs, Mr. and Mrs. Cake were looking around the twin's room getting a little worried until Pinkie came in with the babies on her back. "Pinkie! Oh thank goodness!" Mrs. Cake said. "Yeah. We're not sure what happened earlier, but we knew it was too long since we checked up on them. Thank you for taking care of it Pinkie!" Mr. Cake said. "Aww thank you! Though it wasn't all me; I did have a little help." Pinkie said as she winked at me. "Well as long as it's all over we can close shop and rest easy tonight." Mr. Cake said. "Oh I wouldn't be sure it's all over..." Pinkie trailed off. Mr. and Mrs. Cake shared a concerned look while Pinkie stuck her head under the babies crib and- Dun dun dun! ... That's one way to sum it up.