Sonic SatAM is copyright of SEGA and Sonic Team, the late Ben Hurst, and DiC Entertainment/Cookie Jar TV. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is copyright of Lauren Faust, The Hub, and Hasbro. Nothing is owned by me.
While there have been a good number of Sonic/MLP:FiM crossovers, what's gotten me is that all of said crossovers are based on SEGA Sonic. I really wanted to see someone do one with the SatAM universe, especially with the blatant similarities some of the Mane 6 have with the Freedom Fighters, and so I came up with this. This takes place following Ben Hurst's outlines for Season 3 of SatAM (Naugus has taken command, Snively's joined the Freedom Fighters, and Knuckles is now part of the team) and following the Season 2 finale of MLP. Hope you enjoy.
Elements of Freedom
While Robotropolis remained as bleak and dreary is it had been during the past fifteen years, the major difference about the latest in the dark city's recent revolving door of new management was that the countless factories that had once contributed to the mass pollution being spread into the air were now basically shut down, only to be used when their technophobic new master needed something his magic alone could not provide. That's what made one particular factory working in the city all the more suspicious.
Above, hidden in the rafters of the factory, Sonic, Sally, and Snively watched as the SWAT-Bots guarded and worked on the construction of what appeared to be a giant platform with an archway and a computer control panel in the center of it. "Every time I see how easy it is for us to sneak into the city, I wonder how Julian and I ever thought we could keep you Freedom Fighters out," commented Snively sarcastically as he and the others watched the construction.
"Yeah, yeah, keep it down, will you Snotley? We don't want your old pals to find out we're here, you know," replied Sonic annoyed. Snively just sighed. Even though the former lackey-turned dictator-turned lackey again-turned Freedom Fighter had proven his new loyalty to the Freedom Fighters several times over, there was still tension between himself and Sonic, not to mention himself and Antoine, himself and Ari, himself and the King…scratch that, there was pretty much still tension between himself and all of them.
Sally ignored her companions' bickering as she brought out NICOLE. "According to the information Rotor and Uncle Chuck were able to intercept, this is supposed to be where Naugus is having Robotnik build this mysterious new project for him," the Princess explained as she gazed at the mechanical platform. "I suppose that machine is it."
"So what are we waiting for, Sal? Let's just trash it and juice on back to Knothole, mission accomplished!" exclaimed Sonic impatiently as the hedgehog began tapping his foot.
"It's not that simple, Sonic," replied Sally annoyed as she rolled her eyes. "We don't even know what Naugus has planned for this machine. Destroying it could end up causing more damage for us and Mobius than it would for Naugus."
"Well, we can't just let Ol' Bat-Ears use it either," countered Sonic. "If he does, than who knows what trouble Mobius could be in for?"
"If the two of you are done arguing," interrupted Snively sarcastically, "I'd say it looks like we're about to find out," he added, pointing down below, where Naugus had just entered the factory on a floating throne, Robotnik at his side.
"This contraption of yours better work as good as you say it does, Robotnik," the ancient wizard wheezed. "Because if it doesn't…" Naugus snapped his fingers, replacing Robotnik's head with that of an ostrich for a few seconds before restoring the former tyrant to normal.
"I assure you, Naugus, my Dimensional Platform will work exactly to your specifications," pleaded Robotnik fearfully. "Provided, that is, that you're certain the coordinates you've provided are correct."
"My memory's good enough to remember the dimensional coordinates he was sent to," wheezed Naugus irritably. "Once I return him to Mobius, the Freedom Fighters will be unable to resist our combined power, and the planet will finally be all mine!"
Above in the rafters, Sonic and the others watched this entire exchange. "A Dimensional Platform?" Sally repeated confused.
"But that doesn't make sense," agreed Snively. "Naugus can already open portals to the Void at will, why does he need a dimensional transporter now? Unless…" Snively's eyes widened in realization. "…this 'he' Naugus was referring to isn't in the Void at all but some other dimension."
"Well, I ain't letting Horn-Head get a chance to spread his evil to some other world!" exclaimed Sonic as he began revving up. "Time to juice!" With that, Sonic sped down to the factory floor, attracting laser fire from the SWAT-Bots.
"The Hedgehog!" Robotnik and Naugus exclaimed in unison.
"That's who I am, don't wear it out!" smirked Sonic as he expertly dodged the various laser blasts from the SWAT-Bots, only to suddenly get caught in a red glow as Naugus' magic tossed the hedgehog into one of the factory's walls. Grinning malevolently, the wizard soon teleported onto the Dimensional Platform and inputted a combination into the control panel as a giant vortex appeared in the archway.
"You're too late, Sonic Hedgehog!" Naugus crowed triumphantly. "Discord shall return to Mobius, and the planet will soon suffer under the full force of his wrath!"
"No!" gasped Sally as she saw Naugus enter the archway as the portal faded away. She was soon distracted, however, as the SWAT-Bots began firing into the rafters at her and Snively. The two of them soon swung down on ropes to where a recovering Sonic was getting up off the factory floor.
"Get the Freedom Fighters! Get them!" ordered Robotnik angrily as the robots continued firing.
"I don't know about you guys, but I'd say it's time to cut our losses and run!" shouted Sonic as he grabbed his two companions and zoomed out of the factory at top speed as Robotnik's subsequent furious roar of "HEDGEHOG!" echoed throughout all of Robotropolis.
Sonic soon stopped once the three of them were at the edge of the Great Forest. "I don't think I'll ever get used to that," groaned Snively as the diminutive man attempted to straighten out what little hair of his he had that had been messed up by the sudden trip at Sonic-speed.
"Well, that could have gone better," muttered Sally. "Not only did we fail to stop Naugus from using that dimensional portal, but there was no chance for us to destroy it afterwards."
"And what's worse is that if Naugus is to be believed, then he'll soon be back with someone even more terrible than himself," added Snively.
"Naugus said that discord would return to Mobius, discord meaning division and strife," pondered Sally. "But the way he said it, it sounded more like 'Discord' was the actual name of the being he was attempting to contact. NICOLE," she added, turning to her computer, "Is there any information on a being known as Discord?"
"No information available, Sally," NICOLE replied in her computerized voice. "Sorry."
"So NICOLE doesn't have any info on this Discord guy, so what?" replied Sonic nonchalantly. "In case you're forgetting, we have our own magic expert in Knothole who more than likely knows everything about Discord. If anyone on Mobius besides Naugus knows about what's going on, it's gotta be Lazar!"
Princess Celestia sighed as she stood on the Canterlot Castle balcony, watching as her sister's moon rose up over Equestria. While in the past year, the Sun Princess had enjoyed seeing the moon rise, seeing it as a sign that Luna had begun to find her place back in the land, ever since Shining Armor and Candence's wedding, all the moon provided for her lately was a source of contemplation and angst over failures that had occurred in her recent past.
It hadn't just been her failure to defeat Queen Chrysalis during the Changeling invasion that had brought this upon herself, though it disturbed Celestia to realize just how atrophied her combat skills had become over the centuries. What really troubled the Princess was how she'd become so blind to problems that were existing right under her nose.
She'd failed to realize the Changelings had had plans to invade Equestria and had been content just to let the shape-shifters be. She'd also failed to notice that her own niece had been replaced by Chrysalis, while Twilight Sparkle, who hadn't seen Candence in years, had noticed something off about her almost immediately upon arriving in Canterlot.
Even before the invasion, Celestia had to admit, her judgment choices as of late had left much to be desired for. She'd fallen for Discord's trick about the hiding places of the Elements of Harmony as easily as Twilight and her friends had, and even failed to realize that the six of them had fallen to the draconequus' corruptions until Discord had re-popped up on the stained glass windows several hours later bragging to her about it. She also had no doubt that Twilight's brief bought of insanity over not having a friendship report ready for her several days later only happened because Celestia had severely misjudged her student's recovery time from Discord's manipulations. In retrospect, at the very least, she should have let Twilight have known that she could have a few weeks of relaxation to recover from the damages the Spirit of Chaos had placed upon herself and her friends before expecting any new friendship reports.
As Celestia continued staring at the moon, consumed by her recent failures, she almost didn't notice the sudden ripple of unfamiliar magic spread throughout the palace. She did, however, and that was enough to snap the Sun Princess out of her contemplations. "What was that?" Celestia wondered, her horn glowing to show her the source of the magic. Her eyes soon widened as she realized it was coming from…"The Statue Gardens!" Celestia gasped as her eyes narrowed in anger. "Discord!"
Immediately, the alicorn princess began galloping towards the Statue Gardens at top speed. At the time, she'd considered it lucky that the sheer amount of chaos brought about from the wedding and Changeling invasion hadn't been enough to release Discord from his statue prison. Could it be that she'd spoken too soon? Was her poor judgment about to cause yet another tragedy to occur?
Celestia soon arrived in the Statue Gardens just in time to see that Discord's statue was still in one piece. However, in front of the statue was no doubt the cause of the strange magic: a hunched, wizened being wearing a purple outfit with grey boots and gloves and a dark purple cape with a crab-like claw for a left hand, a long tadpole-like tail, bat ears, a horn on the top of his head, a thick white beard, razor-sharp teeth and evil-looking red eyes that left Celestia with no doubts of his intentions. "Who are you? What are you doing here?" the Sun Princess demanded accusingly.
The strange being ignored Celestia as he stared at Discord's statue. "So, this is what the great Discord has been reduced to," the being wheezed as he continued gazing upon the fallen draconequus. "Well, let's see what we can do to fix that, shall we?" he suddenly grinned as his non-claw hand started glowing red with magical energy as Discord's statue did the same.
As Celestia watched in horror, cracks started appearing upon the statue, the pressure soon causing the stone prison to shatter and a cloud of dust to form, fading away to reveal Discord in all of his mismatched glory. "Boy, does it feel good to be out of there!" the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony shouted happily as he stretched out his back, grinning. He soon stopped as he saw who it was that had released him. "Ixus Naugus?" Discord's eyes widened with recognition. "Not that I don't appreciate the gesture, but why?"
Naugus' grin was shark-toothed as he approached the draconequus: "The offer you once made to my former mentor Lazar, Discord…is it still open?"
Discord stared for a few seconds before finally grinning as he gave an answer: "Very well. But now I have an additional demand to go with the one I once gave to your mentor: In return for my assistance, you must help me get my revenge on six certain little ponies here in this world before I help you take over our home one."
"Done," replied Naugus, extending out his lobster claw, which Discord eagerly shaked with his eagle one. Just then, Discord looked toward Celestia as if actually noticing her for the first time as he grinned malevolently at the alicorn.
"Ta-ta, Celly!" called the draconequus sarcastically. "My 'old friend' and I are off to cause untold havoc to your little kingdom! Be sure to give Twilight Sparkle my regards!" With that, Discord and Naugus soon teleported out of the Statue Gardens, leaving Celestia staring at where they had been.
Soon, Celestia felt the usually-comforting presence of her sister behind her. "Sister…that disturbance we just felt," began Luna as she stared at the shattered remains of the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony's prison. "'Tis what we fear it wast, isn't it?"
"It's worse than you fear, Luna," replied Celestia as she made her way back to the castle. "I'm contacting Twilight Sparkle and her friends first thing in the morning. Hopefully Equestria will still exist by the time the Elements are ready to do something about this."