It was a beautiful day in the land of Equestria, or it would have been had the world been working as it should. As it was, the rolling blue pinstriped hills and green skies made for some interesting vistas, but if he wasn't stopped as soon as possible, then it would get a lot worse for all of them.
Her name was Twilight Sparkle, and if you had told her she'd be saving her world from the embodiment of chaos again a few weeks ago, she'd have called you crazy. Since Discord had been unleashed upon her world yet again however, she and her friends would do what was necessary to stop him.
'How did he escape?' How can we stop this? Who knows, perhaps we cam reason with him and turn him into a friend, and not have to turn him back to stone.' she wondered. It was worth a try at any rate. It would certainly give her and her friends a chance to rest after their attempt to chase him down. 'Here goes nothing' she thought to herself.
"Discord, wait, we just want to talk!"cried the Purple unicorn. That seemed to get his attention, as he skidded through the air to come to a stop, making an unearthly screeching noise as he did so.
"Alright dearie, if you're so insistent upon it, let's sit a spell, maybe have some tea and crumpets as well." Said the draconequus, snapping his fingers. As he did so, a round table appeared with seven chairs, him taking up the biggest chair and sitting quietly, waiting for the ponies' response.
As Twilight walked up to the table, the cyan Pegasus known as Rainbow Dash put her hoof in front her. "What are you doing? We can't just talk to him like that" she yelled.
"And why not? He seems to want to talk, and besides, I want to know just how he got out of that statue." Twilight stated.
Dash looked at her friend with much concern. "We can't trust him, last time he turned us into entirely different ponies, and I don't want that to happen again."
"Dash has got a point Twiley, what makes you think he won't just up and trick us?" queried the orange earth-pony known as Applejack.
Twilight shook her head. "I'm not sure he won't, but he seems to be the kind of person who would boast about getting out of being encased in stone. Besides, if he tries to trick us we can use the elements of harmony on him, right?"
"Hello, I thought we had a conference going on over here, not over there. Am I going to have to move everything over there?" They looked up and saw that Discord was looking impatient.
"Hold yer horses, we just need to clear something up" All six of them huddled together and took a look at each other.
"Let's just see what we can find out, and if he makes a wrong move, we hit him with the elements, agreed?" The five others simply nodded, though somewhat hesitantly, and they walked to the table.
"Alright, first things first, how did you escape from the stone this time? Did you have outside help?" Twilight asked.
He smirked at this, saying "Right now, there are forces far from here working up something big, though I'd be lying if I said I knew what said something was, it was they who released me for some reason, and that seems rather interesting, don't you think?"
"Whatever do you mean 'forces far from here'? How far are we talking?" asked the purple maned white furred unicorn Rarity.
"That depends on your definition of far my dear, but I think an entirely different universe is far enough, don't you?"
"A-a-an-another universe?" squeaked the yellow pegasus Fluttershy.
"Yes, 'a-a-a-another universe'. Say, your pink friend doesn't seem talkative, is something the matter? Does the proverbial 'cat' have your tongue?" he mocked, referring to the pink pony known as Pinkie Pie, who was currently staring into space.
"Who knows why she does anything? That's not the point here, the point here is that you're causing chaos throughout Equestria and we want you to stop now!" Dash exclaimed.
"Aww c'mon, don't you like the improvements I've made to this place? Green grass and blue skies are sooo last semester, don't you think? Besides, what's life without a bit of zest every now and again? All work and no play make Sparkle a dull foal."
Sparkle glowered at that, but continued on."We would like you to stop the chaos that you're causing, and are prepared to offer you a deal. Stop this and we will let you go, free of charge." The others were flabbergasted at the offer, except for Pinkie, who just kept staring into space, apparently oblivious to what was happening. "
Well now, that is a generous offer, however I feel that I must decline." Discord replied.
Twilight was shocked "Decline? But why? It's a fair offer isn't it?"
"More than fair my dear, but if I give up now all my hard work will go to waste, and that just wouldn't be good of me, would it?"
She didn't want to fight, but she couldn't let him continue, it wasn't good for anypony. "If you persist in this we will have to use the elements on you."
He laughed at that. "If you can handle it, be my guest." He replied, cracking his neck and standing up. All hell was about to break loose.
Fluttershy, flying over the table, intervened at the last second "WAIT! Why can't we all be friends here? Can we at least talk a bit more before we get into a fight?"
Discord mulled over this before answering "I suppose so, it's not like I've got anything to lose." He said, sitting back down. This would be a while.
Her name was Pinkamena Diane Pie, though she preferred Pinkie Pie, it was much shorter and sweeter (Like her namesake). She was the holder of the element of laughter, so she was usually the funniest and most talkative of their group, but right now, she was looking at something that wasn't there, at least not physically.
Ever since she had been a little filly, she could see things outside of her dimensional plane of existence, which some called 'the fourth wall'.Not only that, she could talk to and hear people on her end, though they did not always hear her on theirs. She could even pull things out of this wall and use them.
Her friends didn't know that she had an actual legitimate claim to be scared of the dark, with the things that moved inside of it. The only thing that kept her from screaming and running like a chicken with her head cut off was the fact that she had accepted there was nothing she could do about it, and that life was too short to worry about what was happening outside of her control, focusing instead on bringing joy to those who she could help.
She had gotten good at focusing on her dimension, in a sense, blocking her visions of other worlds, but today her senses had become insistent, as if somepony were trying to tell her something. The images that flashed through her head this time were of beings that bore a slight resemblance to animals she had seen, but they walked on two legs like monkeys
. A red echidna in a turban walking through a palace, a purple cat brandishing a sword standing next to a two tailed fox in a blacksmith shop, a black and red hedgehog running from a large fortress and a large amount of robots, and a blue metallic hedgehog, ready to charge at a being who looked like big hairless ape with a red suit and a giant robot behind him.
'Why are these images popping into my head, who are these beings that I'm looking at, and why now of all times?' she thought to herself.
He was Sinbad, sailor, adventurer, ladies man and favored subject of his lord the Shah. It seemed that every other day he had a new adventure story to share with the Shah's court. Today, however, he was going to see the lady Rannah, the Shah's resident magician.
To the court she was merely the person who would put on a show when The Shah had one of his banquets, but to him, she was the greatest fortune teller in the world. In all his years of going to her, she had never been wrong, and he was hoping to get some advice on a venture he was about to embark on.
The city streets were crawling with people from all walks of life, merchants, peasants, nobles and thieves, all milling about and enjoying their lives. Color and beauty abounded through the streets, and the smells of spices and baked goods from all over the world wafted into his nose with their sweet and tangy smells, all of them delicious.
He soon found himself standing next to Rannah's home, a modest house in the capital city of Shamar, and unhesitatingly entered. It was only a moment before he spotted her, a cream furred echidna with ice blue eyes, and contrary to her usual self, she looked beset with worry. "Hey Rannah, what's up? You don't look too good. You didn't eat some of Rameses' 'fresh' fish did you?"
She looked up at him shocked, as if she hadn't expected to see him. "Sinbad? You can laugh as much as you want, it's not like you have to worry about the end of the world as we know it!" she shot at him, catching him off guard.
"Wait a minute, maybe we got off on the wrong foot here. What's this about the end of the world?" she visibly calmed, but still seemed worried.
"It's my latest vision, at first everyone's fine then, there's a giant white flash of light and, then there's nothing, no city, no people, nothing. I've tried everything I can to get past the flash, but everything stops after that, it's as if the gods don't even know what's going to happen and it makes me feel…"
Before she could finish her sentence, the red echidna merely held her in his arms. "Listen to me, I may not know what is going to happen here, but I do know that I'm not going down without a fight, so do you have any suggestions on where to start?"
She looked up at him and saw a fiery resolve in his purple eyes. "If there is any chance, it's probably within the prophetic scrolls in the Great library."
His face curved into a small smile "Excellent, let's go there now."
Lady Percival rode through Camelot castle searching for the blacksmith, watching as she passed the peasants below her. They all showed their respect towards the lady knight, all grateful for her role in the defeat of the wizard Merlina, though that was not her doing.
That was all thanks to the tenacity and heroism of a blue hedgehog by the name of Sonic. This 'knight of the wind', as she had so dubbed him was to be the true King Arthur, but he had to leave, and gave the lady of the lake the sword Excalibur, which merely awaited his return.
Sir Lancelot was leader until someone could be found to take his place. In the meantime, her blade had gotten dull and needed to be sharpened, and only one being in the kingdom could be trusted with that.
Miles Prower, Camelot's resident blacksmith was an expert in his craft despite his young age, though he wanted to do a bit more than smithing his entire life. He wanted to be part of an adventure, do something that others might call impossible, but alas, the opportunity never arose. He would probably be stuck where he was until further notice.
Suddenly the door to his shop opened up, and stan in his doorway was a purple cat in armor. "Lady Percival!" he cried in near disbelief, "Tis an honor to have you here. What may I do for you, milady?"
She walked over to him as she spoke "My blade doth need sharpening; I was hoping you would do so for me Mr. Prowers."
"Certainly milady, I'll have your sword sharp as Excalibur when I'm through with it!" So she handed him her blade and he went to work.
Moments later he had finished his work, and her sword was truly as he had described. He handed it to her. "Ah, Laevatien, thou art once again sharp, but I wonder, is there anything that requires you to be sharp?" It had been a while since she had had a challenge worthy of a true knight, and she was beginning to wonder whether or not she would have one any time soon.
"The challenge that you seek will soon be at hand, but I must ask, will you be up to it?" A voice spoke.
They looked around for the source, till Percival saw something moving in the water barrel. It was like a reflection in the water, though no one was over the barrel. A pink hedgehog looked up through the water. "The Lady of the Lake!" She cried, nearly dropping to her knees.
"Lady Percival, this is hardly the time for formalities. You are about to embark on the greatest adventure that you could ever have and you ought to be prepared." Nimue chastised.
"An adventure?" cried the two-tailed fox over excitedly, stars nearly forming in his eyes.
"Yes young blacksmith, I suggest that both of you come to my alcove on the lake immediately, I will discuss it with you there."
"Wait, both of us?" questioned Percival. Miles was ecstatic. The chance he had been waiting for all his life was finally here.
"Don't worry your ladyship; we'll be there before you can shake a lamb's tail."He replied, running for his supplies.
"But the boy is too young, he wouldn't last five minutes in the wilds." Percival argued, fearing the boy's inexperience and naivete would end up hurting him.
Lady Nimue shook her head. "Let him go Percival, you might just need him for what lies ahead. I will see you when you arrive."
At that the Lady vanished. Before she could say anything the young blacksmith had grabbed his sword and a few supplies and jumped onto his mule. "Lady Percival, we are off!" he shouted at the top of his lungs before spurring his mule on. Shaking her head, she walked towards her horse and started riding after him.
It was not supposed to end this way. He had been bred from birth to be the ultimate life form, the pinnacle of evolution, a being with no fear. And now here he was, running from the foot soldiers of Dr. Robotonic's horde like a true coward.
'Sally wasn't supposed to die. It should have been me in there, not her. No no no, have to focus, can't change the past because it's already happened. Focus on your situation Shadow, or else everything they worked on will be for nothing.' He thought to himself.
He hid in an alleyway, weighing his options. 'Situation is critical, the seven emeralds have lost their power, Light Gaia's champion is dead, the resistance is scattered and leaderless, and I'm running for my life from the main horde.'
He surveyed the area, looking for anything to help him possibly escape. No such luck there. Robots were flying and rolling in every which way, and nothing seemed to jump out at him as escapable material.
Suddenly, one of the robots spotted him and sounded the alarm. He tried to run down the other end, but a badnik spotted him and alerted the rest.
'I'm sorry, I wish I could have stopped this, but it's too late. Perhaps I should accept this fate like the coward I am.' he thought, a tear rolling down his cheek
He then felt power within him, the power of the emeralds. Maybe… maybe she was still with him, even now. And he might have a way to fix all of this. If not, he'd go out with one hell of a bang, and that was fine with him. He stepped out on the street, ready to face what was to come. No fear.
His creator laughed a maniacal laugh, obviously amused by what had just happened. Unit MS01, the pinnacle of his robot hordes, had decided that he was a being in his own right and that the egg shaped man in front of him had to be eradicated, for the good of all beings on the planet below them.
Analysis activated: Chaos Energy in mass quantities emanating from large emerald in red container. Wires leading from the emerald suggest that this is powering his station. No back up power generators detected. Conclusion? Destroy the Emerald, and all power flow will cease. Analysis end.
The blue AI transformed his hand into a gun and pointed it at the emerald. "No! What are you doing? Destroy that emerald and everything loses power you fool!" cried the mad Doctor.
"Indeed. I think it's about time we suffered the same fate as those we have destroyed. See you in hell, Master." the robot replied coldly, his cannon powering up, ready to strike…
The robot was then deposited onto his backside by a giant robot walker, with an enormous spike on its one hand and a chain gun in the other. "I see you've met my Egg Dragoon prototype 01. She's a beauty isn't she? I built this to deal with those pesky little 'heroes' that try to get in my way, but a test on you seems warranted, don't you agree?"
With that, the giant robot attempted to gut him with his spear arm. He only just managed to roll away from that. Analysis activated: Robot designated Egg Dragoon. Power levels suggest several chaos drives within titanium frame. Accounting for usual hardware, carries approximately 1,000 anti-armor rounds for chain gun. Wires from arm to spike indicate some kind of power transfer, perhaps electrical. Based on general shape and approximate weight, weak point should be the knees. Analysis end.
The chain gun spun up, preparing to fire. His jets revved up, ready to burn. The jets were faster than the gun, and only the door was perforated. He turned towards the robot, knocking into its knees.
The robot fell, but quickly brought its gun up, nearly destroying the metallic hedgehog. This time, he brought up his cannon, power to maximum, aiming at the cpu cluster in it's head.
Every part of its head flew in several directions at once; the headless prototype slumped to the floor. He then looked for the Doctor, finding nothing. Then, a screen popped up on the robot's chest, his insane creator looking straight at him.
"I forgot to tell you about the fail-safe didn't I? Sorry, forget to do that sometimes. Especially when I'm fleeing from a giant explosion. See, I installed a self destruct program on the robot and set him to use it if he were defeated. Oh, and don't think about using the doors, they're all dead locked and magnetically sealed."
The robot looked up at the screen, saying "If you wished to eliminate me, why throw your prototype at me?"
He smirked. "I just wanted to get one last bit of data off of you, so that I could improve both you and my Dragoon when I build your replacements. Au revoir, Metal Sonic. I would say it's been a blast, but the blast hasn't happened yet. Ha ha ha ha HAAAAA!"
Metal Sonic looked up at the screen, and a timer had replaced the madman's face. "30 seconds till detonation." No way he could get to the bomb and disarm it in that time, not with the titanium plating.
There had to be a way out, He just had to find it. He went through his memory banks of everything, trying to find something from anything that could get him out. "15 seconds to detonation." Then he came across some old footage from when he had fought Shadow the hedgehog, a chaos emerald in his hand. Perhaps that was his way out, he certainly had enough chaos energy around himself, he just needed to utilize it.
"Ten seconds." He dashed for the Master emerald. "Nine" He grabbed onto it for a moment before ripping it out of its place. "Eight." He reviewed the footage in order to get the correct words. "Seven." He paused for a moment to make sure he was ready. "Six." Then He cried out the words necessary.
"Chaos Control!"
Pinkie Pie fell onto the floor, the chair having disappeared under her rump. Suddenly there was the sound of a magical discharge. She looked over at her friends, and saw them prepared for battle.
"Hey guys, what did I miss?" She asked as cheerfully as possible.
"Great, now you show up." Exclaimed Rainbow Dash somewhat angrily.
"Well, as you can probably see darling, negotiations have failed and we were about to have to snap you out of your little trance, thing. We're going to have to use the Elements of harmony on him, are you ready?" asked Rarity.
"Yes indeedly-doo Rarity." she replied cheerfully.
Twilight then said "Alright, here goes nothing then."
They felt the magic of the elements of harmony surround them, nearly bringing them together as one, and focused them at Discord. A rainbow colored beam shot at him, read to turn him back into a statue...
Then, as suddenly as a gust of wind, it changed directions, heading for the sky. The energy wrapped itself around and around, until in the center a white light appeared.
Discord simply laughed and said "I do believe chaos has won this round, don't you?" He snapped his fingers and then disappeared. Then the white light exploded, and everything went dark.