Hi, so this is a new thing for me and my boyfriend. He'd had this idea for ages and never acted on it so I sat him down and came up with this. I did most of the work but he helped with the dialogue and stuff. Anyways, this is actually our first attempt at a MLP/Sonic crossover so enjoy!
Oh, and we don't own My Little Pony or Sonic the Hedgehog. Rich people do.
Chapter One: The Trial
"Everything's gonna be just fine"
Twilight Sparkle remembered those words and that day as clear as the dawn. It had only been a week since she had become an Alicorn and was named fourth Princess of Equestria. She could still hear and see the cheers and smiles of the crowd, the music of the marching band, and the smiles of her best friends and mentor, and for the first time in a very long time, it truly did look like everything was going to be fine.
Today was a far cry from fine as anypony could get.
Everything had continued placidly in Ponyville as it had for numerous years, the population continuing with the usual chores and pleasures of daily life. Then, without warning, early into the evening, Rainbow Dash, who'd been napping on a cloud after a practice session and a hard day's work, found herself dodging rogue lightning bolts, tornadoes, hail and sleet with no trace as to where it came from, which spelt disaster for Rarity's latest hairstyle and newest dress, and Pinkie Pie's latest masterpiece: The Leaning Tower of Pizza. Fluttershy's typical frolic with her animal friends had been rudely interrupted when the wild life began running rampant with reckless abandon. The flora had begun aging rapidly, causing Applejack's latest harvest to go to waste before she could even collect it. The madness quieted, for just a moment, and as the populace began to recover, an earthquake struck Ponyville quite unexpectedly, and Twilight Sparkle was more than annoyed when the books she'd spent all day rearranging fell off the shelves and nearly buried her alive.
No one knew what the cause of all of this was, but all they did know was: The events were random and senseless.
The only way to describe it was chaos.
Dishevelled and shaken, but otherwise unharmed, the six ponies met up in the Ponyville library, a natural instinct, because Twilight, or rather Celestia's letters, would usually answer all their questions. Princess Celestia had sent Twilight a letter via Spike that a chariot would be arriving to take her and her fellow Element Bearers directly to Canterlot Castle for what was only described as "The Trial". The Elements were donned quickly, and they bustled into the chariot, but Twilight was confused as she read over the contents of the letter for the third time since it was received.
"The Trial?" She wondered aloud, more to herself than anypony else. "Trial for what? And for whom?"
"C'mon Twilight," Rainbow Dash spoke up. She had chosen to fly alongside the chariot rather than be cramped in with the others, regulating her speed so she wouldn't rush ahead. "We all know it's for you-know-who,"
From her seat, Fluttershy gave her oldest friend a doubtful glance. "But, Rainbow Dash, he's reformed," she said, and Rainbow couldn't help but roll her eyes at her naïveté. "He-he's not a bad guy anymore….right?"
"Well, he's never been the most honest apple in the tree, Fluttershy," Applejack's tone was soft and almost maternal as she addressed the passive pegasus. "He coulda been playin' us the whole time!"
Pinkie Pie had been sitting upside down in her seat, giggling to herself at the funny angle the world had taken, but now she turned around, right way up.
"Yeah!" she added. "He might have been pretending to have changed, but deep down he was still a big meanie-pants!"
"Darling, he never wore pants" Rarity was completely focussed on her necklace, polishing it fervently and becoming irritated because it wasn't as shiny as she wanted it to be.
"Well if he did," Pinkie continued, "They would be JEANIE MEANIE PANTS!"
Applejack raised an eyebrow, more at Rarity than at Pinkie Pie's antics. "Rarity, you've been scrubbin' down your necklace since we left Ponyville,"
"But it's just so dull!" she protested, still not looking up from her work.
"Chill girl! We ain't goin' to the Grand Gallopin' Gala!"
"No, I don't mean dirty, I literally mean dull, as in my Element seems to be losing its colour," Rarity couldn't help but notice that Applejack's Element of Honesty also appeared to be faded.
"And so does yours!"
Each of the mane six looked down at their Elements of Harmony (up in Twilight's case) and noticed that the once vibrant gold necklaces and crown now seemed tarnished to a lacklustre bronze, their gemstones looking lighter than usual.
"Hey, Applejack's right!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "The Elements are looking kinda down in the dumps. What's all this about?"
A worried look crossed Fluttershy's face. "You don't think this has anything to do with the storms or the earthquakes or the animals acting troublesome, do you?"
"No darling, I just think we haven't taken very good care of them," Rarity finally gave up on her necklace and pulled Fluttershy closer to start work on her Element. "Any jewel needs regular care and attention to keep them looking their best."
"But the Elements of Harmony aren't just any jewels," Twilight spoke up, "And why would they be dull? Why haven't we noticed until now?"
If there were any more doubts they didn't have a chance to raise them. It was fully night time as they flew over Canterlot, and they were stunned into silence as the lamplight revealed several houses in ruin from the earthquake. Many ponies could be seen running around to try and save their homes, snobby unicorns getting their fresh hooficures ruined as they scrabbled around in rubble trying to salvage their memories. The capital city seemed to be experiencing the same random events that Ponyville was, but what really caught Twilight's eye, much to her relief and slight confusion was the overall good condition the castle was in. As the chariot landed the mane six were greeted by Princess Luna. She looked weary and a little worried at first, but the sight of Twilight and her friends were enough to bring a small smile to her face.
"Princess Luna!" Twilight hopped off the chariot and made her way towards the Night Princess, the others following suit. "What's going on? What's happening to Ponyville and Canterlot?"
Luna cleared her throat and turned to the main castle, her face solemn. "Follow me,"
As they headed towards the grand hall, she looked back at them, letting out a small sigh as she answered the question before.
"It is not just Ponyville and Canterlot, Twilight Sparkle, all of Equestria is being affected,"
All six ponies spoke at the same time.
"What?!"
"Yes, Saddle-Arabia, Trottingham, Manehattan, all falling victim to these random events,"
"But then why does the castle look fine?" Twilight pondered.
"My sister has a theory about that,"
They approached the doors to the main hall, but before they opened she turned back to the six ponies.
"I must warn you, she is not herself today,"
They entered, and sure enough Twilight noticed that Celestia was pacing, her former teacher's face creased with a mixture of worry and anger. She also appeared to be muttering to herself, but at Luna's prompt she finally looked up, stopped pacing and her expression softened.
"Welcome, all of you," she said. "These are dire times, my little ponies. Today Equestria's fate lies in your Elements of Harmony,"
"The Elements of Harmony?" Twilight asked. "Princess Celestia, I don't understand. What's going on? Please tell us what we're supposed to do,"
Celestia paused, conflicted with how the other ponies would react to what she had to say next. After a moment she let out a sigh, and decided to get it over with quickly.
"I want you to summon Discord,"
The Mane Six gasped, unintentionally speaking in unison again. "Discord?!"
"He is the only one with the power to create these disasters out of thin air," Celestia replied, and without realising she started pacing again. "He has obviously taken advantage of our kindness. He will regret the chaos he has caused today,"
Applejack was doubtful, and as much as she respected the princess, she had to voice her opinion. "Princess, Ah've never trusted Discord as much as Fluttershy here, but Ah don't think even he is capable of what's goin' on,"
"Where is your evidence, Applejack?"
"Well," she continued. "Discord's idea of chaos is fun at the expense of others like cotton candy clouds and chocolate rain. Ah don't see how even he could have fun from all this,"
"Unless he has used his freedom to test the limits of his powers," Celestia countered.
Rainbow Dash normally wouldn't stand up for the spirit of chaos, but Celestia really didn't seem to be in the right state of mind to be dealing out judgement on anybody, especially since she was criticizing Discord based on assumptions, not facts. Her wings flared and she took a defensive stance, and before she could stop herself she had spoken without thinking.
"Where's your evidence, Celestia?"
The Sun Princess stopped and whirled around, her eyes blazing, and the look she gave Rainbow was one of fury, something not many ponies saw often.
"Are you saying I'm wrong?!"
She practically yelled the question, her voice almost rising to the Traditional Canterlot level, and every pony in the room seemed to shrink back and focus on the scene at the same time. Rainbow relaxed and remained silent, staring at the floor in a show of submission, biting her tongue to keep from saying anything more, though she was tempted to tell Celestia that yes, yes she was wrong and this whole conversation was clearly one-sided.
Twilight stepped forward, in an attempt to defend Rainbow Dash. This was getting ridiculous, and she realised Luna was right: Celestia wasn't herself. In fact, even in all her years as Celestia's student, she'd never once seen the Alicorn raise her voice like that to anypony.
"No, Princess, we're not. But—"
Celestia cut her off, scowling.
"No more arguing, then. Summon. Him. Now,"
Her voice echoed through the hall, and out of curiosity, a small crowd began to gather behind the Element bearers as, reluctantly, they formed the circle that would summon the Draconequus. Twilight hoped that this was only a trial, and not an execution. With a worried glance at her former mentor, she concentrated hard, and a gentle flash lit up her eyes, a ribbon of rainbow light snaking from her crown and joining the other elements. Another soft, white flare and Discord materialised, floating upside down on a throne of bubbles, immersed in a book titled 'Scented Venom'. He quickly realised he was somewhere else, without wanting to be, and he looked up from reading into the angry face of Celestia, a lazy smirk slowly playing across his mouth as the bubbles and the book blinked out of existence.
"Hello, Celestia, I was just thinking about you,"
She didn't bother to answer him, and, without any word of warning, fired a beam of yellow light at him, hitting him squarely in the chest. A strange, but pleasant sensation swept over him, a feeling of warm and cool at the same time, and when he tried to move, he realised he couldn't. He was righted by means of Celestia's magic, and he found that he could only blink. His mouth twitched as he tried to speak.
"What-?"
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just destroy you right now,"
For the first time in his life, Discord felt like cringing, instead of laughing, at the anger radiating from Princess Celestia. She towered above him, her wings flared wide, looking down on him almost with disgust, her horn sparking with energy and aimed straight at his head. The Alicorn looked furious and, had it been another situation, he would have poked fun at the look on her face, but she appeared ready to vaporise him on the spot if he so much as sneezed without her permission. Discord kept it to himself, and would, of course, die before admitting it, but he was actually scared. He opened his mouth to say something—he had no idea what, but he planned to improvise—but Celestia stomped a hoof and continued.
"You've gone too far this time. This is…it's downright evil, even for you,"
Finally Discord gathered his courage and spoke up. This wasn't fair: hoof-pointing out of absolutely nowhere and no explanation to what he was being accused of. Even the spirit of disharmony had his morals.
"I don't-"
"How DARE you?!" Celestia's tone of voice had been scarily calm before, but her voice rose unexpectedly to the Traditional Canterlot level, something she rarely did. Even Luna, who was beside her sister but out of her way, glanced at the Sun Princess in surprise.
"Why do you try to deny it?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Discord growled through clenched teeth. Fear was quickly giving way to frustration as he floated there, growing rapidly annoyed as he was interrupted again. A thought crossed his mind: Celestia in a Judge's wig, pounding her hoof like a gavel and screaming "ORDER! Order in the court!" and he had to stifle a giggle. The more he infuriated the Princess, the more he didn't feel like himself. He liked it when Celestia was pissed off, he found it hilarious in fact, but this time was different. Faking all this obedience was out-of-character for him, but as much as he wished he could turn Celestia into a court judge, maybe give the statue-serious guards bald heads and green tails and turn the entire Canterlot castle into a giant, spinning sandwich, he also wanted to keep his own head.
"What I'm talking about is chaos," Celestia continued to glare at him as she spoke, her voice still tinged with venom. "Through all of Equestria. I'm sure you're familiar with it,"
Discord let out a bored groan, rolling his eyes.
"I don't see what-"
"You should!" The Alicorn yelled, and Discord saw Twilight Sparkle flinch. "You should have seen what you did to Equestria. Los Pegasus is in ruins, Cloudsdale is causing abnormal weather patterns, Manehattan's on fire. I should have known you couldn't be reformed. My country's in turmoil, Discord, what did you expect me to think? Who else could have done this but you?!"
The crowd of ponies behind the Mane Six raised their voices in agreement, and the Draconequus clearly heard a pony yell out "Turn him to stone, Princess!"
Celestia heard it too.
"I should, you know; it's what you deserve. To say the very least,"
"Well," Discord began, and he waited for another interruption from Celestia, but she raised an eyebrow and let him continue. "If I did do this -and I'm certainly not saying I did—but if I did, I would want you to know it was me. And you and I both know by now that if it was me, I'd be gloating right now, but I'm not. So where does that put you in your little predicament?"
Celestia hesitated. She hated to admit it, but he had a point. Discord had never been one for subtlety or modesty regarding his chaos. She had almost been expecting his usual mocking laughter and some sort of proud speech about how much fun this all was, but had overlooked the obvious in her anger. Maybe he wasn't to blame. Maybe it was somepony else who was causing this…
Or maybe he was just messing with her head. As quickly as they had come, Celestia pushed away her doubts. He was responsible for this. There was no way anyone else had his sort of power. That was just the way things were. She steeled herself and her voice was loud enough to be heard by everyone in the hall.
"I have no choice, Discord. I hereby sentence you to be imprisoned in stone. Indefinitely,"
Celestia's face seemed completely void of any kind of emotion as she spelled out the Draconequus' fate to him. The words hit him like a buck to the face and he felt that all too familiar twinge of fear at the thought of returning to his world of paralysed grey. That scared him more than Celestia's fury ever could: day after day of sensory deprivation minus his sense of hearing, and the inability to move, left alone with only his thoughts.
It couldn't be helped.
Once Celestia's mind was made up, there was no changing it.
With a heavy sigh and great reluctance, Discord silently admitted defeat.
"Nothing I say will change anything," he said sulkily. "So go ahead,"
The element bearers took their positions, their elements glowing as they began to float off the ground, Twilight's eyes turning white. Just before the rainbow stream of light fired, he heard Celestia speak, the last words he imagined he'd ever hear from her.
"I'm not sorry. Equestria will always come first,"
Discord squeezed his eyes shut as it enveloped him, pleasantly warm and painfully uncomfortable at the same time. He waited for his body to stiffen and cool and the world to become muffled and grey.
He waited, but it never happened.
After a moment, he dared himself to open his eyes, breathing a sigh of relief when the simple movement proved that he was still in his usual form. But what drew his attention, as well as every other pony in the room, was the Mane Six. They still hung suspended in the air, as if hung by some invisible string, their eyes opened wide and staring toward the ceiling, frozen in a state of fear. Their colours had faded, and every pony was now a dull shade of grey, like the spell had backfired and had turned them to stone instead of him. Suddenly a collective scream exploded through the hall; all six ponies at once—the kind of scream that radiated agony and dread simultaneously. Celestia panicked and fired a counter spell, but it bounced uselessly off an invisible barrier.
The screaming rose in pitch and volume until it became unbearable, gradually dissolving into shrieking, maniacal laughter. Their legs began moving, bending in jerky, twitching movements, further and further back until a new sound joined the insane laughter: it was a cracking, straining sound, like breaking twigs, and the Alicorns, and the small crowd of ponies could only stare in wide-eyed horror and open-mouthed disgust as their legs twisted and contorted slowly.
They didn't seem to feel the pain when their legs broke. They just continued to laugh.
As quickly as it had come, the laughter abruptly stopped. The mane six dropped to the floor with a weighty thud and lay there, unmoving. Thinking they were injured, Celestia started forward, concerned for their well-being. Another cracking sound filled the air and stopped her in her tracks: the sound of breaking stone, and she watched as the grey fell off them like shattered eggshells. One by one they picked themselves up off the floor, and instead of grey, the main six had taken on new forms and colours. They were all considerably taller; about the same height as Luna, but that was where the similarities ended. The colours of their manes and coats had changed, inverted, and it was like looking at a photo negative of the six ponies. Pinkie Pie's mane hung down in a deflated curtain, Applejack's beloved Stetson lay neglected on the floor, both Rarity's and Twilight's horns had grown longer and came to a finer point, and Rainbow Dash's once vibrant mane was now shades of black and grey. Their eyes opened, and where there was supposed to be white, there was black. And where there was meant to be colour, there was white.
There was only silence as these six new mares stood where Equestria's Element Bearers once did, and not even Discord could find anything to say. Celestia decided to make another attempt to approach them, not sure if there was anything left of the Mane 6 within these ponies or what their intentions were.
"Twilight?" she began, in a small, timid voice that didn't suit her at all. "Girls, are you alright? What happened?"
Those strange black and white eyes turned on her, and with slow, sadistic smiles all six ponies marched towards her, backing her and Luna up several steps, where they stopped, and in voices deeper than their own, they finally spoke, first Fluttershy, then Rainbow Dash, then Pinkie Pie, then Rarity, then Applejack.
"We are Cruelty,"
"We are Betrayal,"
"We are Desolation,"
"We are Avarice,"
"We are Deception,"
"We are the Power of Disharmony,"
Twilight was the last to speak, spreading her wings wide and looking down her nose at her former mentor.
Celestia was at a loss, until it clicked:
There had only been one time when her six element bearers would ever have embraced their negative element, and that was when they were under Discord's control. Her eyes widened at the realisation, her breath caught in her throat and she became numb.
"Well…this is an interesting change of events," Discord muttered.
He had been watching the entire scene with shocked amusement, as if the ponies' transformation was the major plot twist in a movie.
That did it.
Something inside Celestia's head snapped, and every emotion she had tried to keep hidden for the sake of her reputation came pouring out in one big flood. Her eyes narrowed to slits and she charged at the Draconequus with a shriek of rage. She knocked him to the floor, ramming a golden clad hoof into his neck and cutting off his air.
"WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
She screamed the question in his face. The combination of surprise at her outburst and the increasing pressure on his throat prevented him from replying, and he could only lie there and try to take in air that wouldn't come, attempting to struggle but still unable to move because of the immobilisation spell. She saw a flicker of fear in his red and yellow eyes as they met hers and she was glad. All those years of him causing mayhem and treating it like one big joke, every time he had disrespected her, every sneer and infuriating trick had built up to this. Discord was getting his comeuppance and she felt not one shred of regret for it, and if that ruined her reputation, then so be it. She didn't feel anything but the numbness of her fury, nor Luna trying to pry her off him. She heard nothing but his choked, strained cries and saw only his face, silently and desperately pleading with her to let him go.
Funny how villains changed their tune when their lives were threatened.
Suddenly a heavy explosion rocked the castle, and the large, magnificent stained glass windows displayed at the top of the main stairs imploded. Surprised, Celestia's hoof lifted off Discord's neck and he lay there coughing and gasping. Laughter rang through the hall, deep, mocking and velvety, and a loud buzzing joined it as a thin, shadowy, perforated figure appeared in the jagged space where the windows had been. It opened two glassy, green eyes, and fangs showed as it leered down at the now panicking crowd, long, stringy, dull blue hair flowing around it. Celestia gasped in recognition.
"Chrysalis?!"
The insect-like Queen looked down at her, her smile growing wider.
"Lovely to see you, too, Celestia," she purred. "It's been so long, hasn't it?"
"Not long enough," Celestia growled. Her body still trembled with adrenaline and she was more than willing to fight the Changeling Queen if she had to. Suddenly the buzzing grew louder and a flood of changelings poured into the room, advancing on the gathering of ponies. A few turned and ran for the exit. Just as they reached the doors, they burst open, and the willing escapees shrieked and scrabbled their way back into the castle.
Celestia whirled around…
And was met with three pairs of glowing, red eyes.
Or at least she thought they were eyes; they seemed more like pinpricks of sunken red light, burning blood-like in void.
Every muscle in her body screamed at her to run, to protect her subjects, but she couldn't move. She could only gape, dumbfounded, at these new and frightening…things…standing in front of her.
They stood shorter than her and seemed to be of the same species. All three were different colours: two were blue: one darker, the other more vivid, and one was a pale grey. They had squat, triangular bodies with long, thin arms, standing on hind legs that ended in odd, pointed, red appendages. On the ends of their arms was a strange kind of hoof that split in five places; three on one. Their heads looked much too large for their bodies; the only facial extremities were those strange 'eyes' and a spike that seemed to substitute for a nose. All three had numerous sharp looking fins protruding from the back of their heads.
A mass of other creatures appeared, mostly unidentifiable to the Equestrian Princesses, but the forms they could recognise looked like large ladybugs and wasps. They made strange whirring, clanking sounds.
"What are these creatures?" Luna asked. She stretched out a curious hoof but Celestia stopped her, an uneasy feeling rising in her gut. Both Princesses jumped as a new voice boomed through the hall.
"THEY ARE MY CREATIONS: SILVER SONIC, MECHA SONIC AND METAL SONIC!"
Celestia wondered briefly if it was Chrysalis who'd spoken, then quickly dismissed the thought as she realised the voice was male. The owner of the voice didn't appear to be in the room, adding to her frustrations.
"Show yourself immediately!" she cried.
Chrysalis let out a short peal of taunting laughter.
"Oh yes, how rude of me to forget to introduce my new friend," She held a hoof to her chest in a show of mock guilt and her gleaming eyes flicked towards the open doorway.
"Would you care to do the honours, Doctor?"
Celestia saw…something…coming slowly out of the darkness, moving smoothly and steadily towards her.
"It would be my pleasure, Your Highness,"
It was then that the creatures moved. In slow, deliberate, jerky movements they parted to one side like obedient soldiers, and the thing stepped into the light and bent at the middle at the sight of her.
"It's an honour to finally meet you at last, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna,"
The three creatures now seemed trivial compared to whatever this thing was. It was tall; about her height, and looked to be both bloated and gaunt at the same time, with a tiny head and two long tufts of hair under what she guessed was its nose. Two vacant blue orbs, which may or may not have been eyes, glinted at her and a leering smile split across its face as it straightened its posture and spoke. Its voice was deep and clearly masculine but for all Celestia knew, it could've been genderless.
"My name is Doctor Robotnik. And it appears that our plan has worked better than anticipated,"
For the second time that night, Celestia found herself speechless in the presence of a creature she'd never seen before.
"Plan?" Luna spoke up.
"That's right, Luna," The Robotnik-thing addressed her as if she was a mere filly who'd answered a question correctly in school, and Celestia bristled at its impudence. Clearly it knew that they were royalty; it just didn't seem to care.
"The natural disasters you've been experiencing aren't natural at all. We control them,"
Celestia's mind reeled. There was no way this thing was manipulating the mayhem they'd experienced. It didn't seem magic; if it was she'd seen no proof. One, and only one, was responsible for this. Finally she found her voice and she walked forward a few paces, still trying to maintain her confident ruse, although she was inwardly screaming in absolute terror.
"That's impossible. This kind of land altering chaos can only be performed by Discord. He is guilty of this!"
A deep, booming chortle escaped the Robotnik-thing, and it moved closer to her, its thin arms behind it in a kind of at-ease stance. Celestia backed up, crouching low and scraping a hoof against the floor threateningly, flaring her wings again.
"Thanks to my brilliant ideas and the Queen's ideal brilliance—"
Chrysalis giggled and swiped a hole-ridden hoof down through the air in a fake show of modesty. "Oh you,"
"—anything is possible. So as much as it may disappoint you, Princess, Discord is not directly responsible. However, he has been…useful,"
Its head turned in the direction of the six ponies still standing, unmoving, on the very top step.
"As Princess of Equestria I command you to free them from whatever curse you have them under!" she growled, and for a second, the Robotnik-thing hesitated. Then suddenly it gave her that sadistic grin again, and Chrysalis nodded to the corrupted Twilight Sparkle. With a green flash, the royal ornaments disappeared from Luna and Celestia, only to reappear at Chrysalis' feet, and with a greedy grin she donned Celestia's golden yoke, slippers and crown.
"You seem to have forgotten that a Queen outranks a Princess," she sneered. "Now as my first order as Queen of Equestria: Celestia and Luna, we must ask you vacate our castle. Refuse and we will have no choice but to take you as prisoners,"
This was no longer about Discord, Celestia realised. In fact, in that moment she had completely forgotten about him. "Chrysalis, you may have taken the castle and the Crown Jewels, but the brave colts and mares of the Canterlot army are still loyal to us, and as long as we have that we will fight!"
Luna jumped in front of Celestia, her horn charging with powerful magic. She lowered her head and directed it at the Changeling Queen. She'd finally decided to take action, because talking about it was clearly getting them nowhere.
"Enough of this!" she bellowed. "Chrysalis! End this now or be destroyed!"
Chrysalis simply smirked, making no attempts to run. "Hit me with your best shot,"
Without hesitation, she released a bright, indigo blast. It seemed to hit its target dead on, but no one could be sure because of the dark blue smoke that had filled the room upon impact. Luna swayed unsteadily, weakened after putting such tremendous force into the attack, and Celestia rushed to her aid and caught her on her back before the younger Alicorn collapsed. She lowered her little sister gently to the floor.
"Luna! Are you alright? What were you thinking?"
"I'm sorry sister, but I had to act. Did I do it?"
There was silence while the blue smoke began to clear... only to reveal Twilight standing defensively in front of the changeling queen, her horn glowing green as it protected her from the blast.
"Not even a scratch," Chrysalis taunted.
The Robotnik-thing laughed again at Luna's dramatics, and Celestia didn't like the sound of it one bit.
"Well, if you are quite done…Badniks, Changelings, Elements of Disharmony: seize them!"
At the cry, the room erupted into a flurry of madness. Hissing, screeching, screaming, whirring and clanking deafened the room, and everything was a complete blur of activity. From the floor, Discord suddenly found he could move again. He sat up, stretching out stiff joints, surveying the scene, and chuckled as he watched karma coming back to bite Celestia in the flank.
"Oh this is absolutely rich!" He snapped his fingers, summoning a recliner chair and a bag of popcorn.
"…and I've got a front row seat! How could it get any better?"
The three metallic red-eyed creatures quickly surrounded him. Annoyed, Discord threw a popcorn kernel at the smaller blue one as it cut off his view of the unfolding mayhem. The buttery morsel bounced off its head, but it didn't move.
"Hey! Down in front!"
Before he could even think of turning it into a marvellous mess of candy and feathers, the creatures' chests opened, and he noticed several multi-coloured gems glowing inside each of them. A beam emitted from each creature, and as it hit, he felt stabs of cold pain through his entire body, like being impaled repeatedly with millions of tiny icicles, and a claustrophobic pressure wrapped tightly around him, like two giant hands gripping him like a squeeze toy. Instinctively his body tried to struggle, but once again, he couldn't move. He tried to speak but even his mouth was frozen shut. The only thing he could do was stare, in a state of unmoving shock at those strange creatures with the burning, empty eyes and try to keep breathing, though it was difficult with that unbearable compression.
Celestia took flight, avoiding the mayhem below, and was promptly tackled from the air and pinned to the floor. The breath was knocked out of her, and she looked up to see two black and white eyes leering at her: the unfamiliar eyes of her former faithful student. She struggled to get free but the corrupt Alicorn was surprisingly strong.
"It's me," Celestia babbled uselessly. In some blind way she believed that simply talking to Twilight would snap her out of it. "Twilight, faithful student, it's Celestia, don't you remember at all?"
"I am faithful only to the Queen," she replied, in that strange, deeper voice. Her horn glowed with a charging spell…and then with a grunt she was suddenly shoved aside. Celestia clambered to her feet, and smiled when she saw Luna there, fending off Twilight with her magic. Reluctantly, she added use of her magic to her sister's, and Twilight was thrown from the staircase into the throng.
"Sister," Luna panted. "We must leave. We cannot possibly fight on our own,"
She hesitated, but unwillingly nodded and took to the air, taking one final, despairing glance at the castle and her former home. Her wings felt like lead, and each beat away from Canterlot stabbed a dagger of guilt deeper into her heart. Luna stayed by her side, directing a worried glance at her when she stopped and turned, and they were only able to watch as the distant city fell to the foreign invaders.
"Luna," Celestia whispered, as tears began to fall. "What have I done?"
The Robotnik-thing was prattling on about something as the creatures took Discord out of the castle —a victory speech possibly— but he hadn't heard a word. All his focus went into trying to breathe.
He looked stoic and mildly shocked on the outside, but inside he was screaming in a wild-animal panic. The pain and the pressure hadn't left, and he was certain that, if he was able to move, he would've been reduced to a quivering, unflattering wreck. His life as a lawn decoration hadn't felt like this. It had been uncomfortable and extremely tedious, but nowhere near as painful. On top of that, the Robotnik-thing hadn't said a word to him since they'd left the castle—it seemed more pre-occupied with talking to itself or occasionally the three creatures that followed it like weird, pineapple-headed guard dogs- and of course Discord had a million questions clouding his head at once that he couldn't voice.
As they approached their destination, the Canterlot Gardens, a hulking, shadowy mass became the focus of his field of vision. And it appeared that's where they were headed. As they got closer he noticed it was a muddle of black metal mostly, scattered around the skeleton of something that was yet to be completed, many metallic creatures swarming in and around it like busy ants. There was one part of it that looked fully complete, and they moved up a small ramp to what seemed like a dead end.
The Robotnik-thing pressed a button on the outer wall. It slid away as if it had a mind of its own, and they continued down a broken hallway.
Finally they stopped outside what seemed to be another wall, but at another press of a button, it, too, parted to one side, revealing what lay within. The room was exactly square, about five meters by five meters. The only source of light was an eerie, pale blue glow from a tiny speck that floated idly between two hexagonal, pronged platforms; one hanging from the ceiling, the other implanted in the floor. He was ushered to the very center, to a dark grey, slightly raised platform. Yet another press of a button and a whirring sound filled the room. A large, glass dome descended from a hatch in the ceiling, trapping him beneath it, and eight thin poles rose from the floor inside, surrounding him. The unmistakeable, droning, crackle-snap of electricity sounded as a current surged to life and connected them. At long last, the crushing pain of the beam ceased as it was shut off, and Discord buckled, gasping for air for the second time that night.
At last he managed to rise to his feet. He straightened, dusted himself off…and applauded the Robotnik-thing with slow, sarcastic claps.
"Well!" he huffed. "Apart from being nearly suffocated twice- I repeat: twice- I must say that I've quite enjoyed tonight's entertainment, Mister Whatever-You-Are,"
It was occupied with the three metal creatures, and ignored his mockery, taking out the multi-coloured jewels—Discord guessed that they might've been diamonds or something— from their chests and placing them gently into a simple, short cylindrical podium bearing seven indentations in which the gems fit perfectly.
"The name is Doctor Robotnik," It replied almost dismissively. "And if you must know, I'm a human being,"
From his tone, he seemed to expect an awed response, but the draconequus scoffed. "A human? They only exist in fiction,"
"Perhaps in your world, but in my world, humans are very real,"
He was bored now. He sensed a lecture on the history of the human's world and tuned out, taking in his surroundings. His means of imprisonment looked oh-so-much like a snow globe; he figured he'd add his own 'personal' touch.
"Are they as real as a snow storm of white chocolate ice cream?"
Discord snapped his lion paw to summon the flurry…only to be met with silence and a lack of ice cream-y 'snowflakes'. Frowning, he tried to summon his chaotic magic several more times, but he was unable to make it rain green squirrels, turn the Doctor into a winged egg or worse still, teleport out of his cage.
"Strange…" he muttered. "This normally works,"
Robotnik perked as he noticed distress in the draconequus' voice. He fit the last gem into its place and spun on his heel, still trying to appear indifferent as another button-push summoned a chair and a desk/keyboard hybrid from the floor.
"Oh, I forgot to explain," he said with a smile. "This cage is designed to harness and control your chaotic powers. You won't be doing much unless I wish it,"
"What!?" Discord protested. He felt like laughing at the concept. It was an obvious paradox: controlling chaos- how delightfully ridiculous it seemed- but for once he didn't relish the idea. It conjured an image of chains, with others telling him what he could and couldn't do and him obeying obediently like a faithful pet. He tried to repress a shudder.
"One does not simply control chaos!"
This time Robotnik couldn't help but laugh slightly at his captive's doubt.
"Oh, but I can, with the help of the seven Chaos Emeralds!"
He sounded like an advertisement.
"Chaos…Emeralds?" Discord asked, amused. He couldn't hide a smirk as his gaze wandered to the podium in which the 'emeralds' sat. Of course they were emeralds. Rationality declared that emeralds were green and only green, but these mutated gems were unusual. They were right up his alley.
Oh, they were so aptly named…
The doctor was busy typing furiously into his keyboard, and didn't even bother to look up.
"Yes," he replied, "They are a necessity I've brought from my world. I figured I'd need all seven of them if the Queen and I were to complete our goal,"
Discord made a show of yawning, feigning tiredness. "And what 'goal' would that be?"
"For now, you needn't concern yourself with such matters. But I do require your help,"
"My help? What do you want from me?"
"I want you to create chaos,"
"Huh?"
He'd finished with the keyboard, and began pacing the perimeter of the cage, with both hands clasped behind his back, like a tourist regarding a creature in the zoo.
"Yes, my chaotic friend. I have heard much about your particular form of chaos and I wish to see it for myself. Just think of this as your own personal bubble where you can do whatever you wish,"
"Well, so sorry, 'friend'," Discord hissed. "But I only create chaos when I feel like it, and even though I applaud you and chrysalis for evicting Celestia and putting on a wonderful show, I certainly won't do it for some bloated egg man who imprisons me like an animal!"
The draconequus smirked as the Doctor jerked to a halt, right in front of him, and from the look of shock he knew the insult had struck home. The human turned, observed the smug expression on the creature's face…
Then something shifted. Discord hoped it was just a trick of the light, but the slow, sadistic grin that suddenly spread over Robotnik's face suddenly seemed wider, toothier, and downright maniacal, like he'd wanted Discord to be defiant.
"Oh…" he said, and his voice sounded lower, slower and smoother. He produced a remote control from his pocket and held it up mockingly in front of Discord's face.
"…What a shame,"
He practically purred the words, and the lack of any emotion in his voice whatsoever was worrying. His thumb hovered teasingly over the single button on the remote, and, acting on instinct, the draconequus backed up, bristling distrustfully.
Robotnik continued to grin as he pressed the button and held it down.
Discord tried to scream as tendrils of electricity and pain surged through him, but every muscle in his body seized simultaneously and began to spasm; his whole world was now only blinding light and flaring agony and jumbled thoughts and make it stop make it stop make it stop!
And the Doctor was still smiling that Cheshire cat grin.
The current shut off, and he fell to the floor, twitching. Tiny needles of pain still pricked all over, and there was a buzzing in his head. He felt somewhat...incomplete, and just lay there for a moment, trying to compose himself. When Discord finally found his voice it was as jittery as the rest of him.
"W-what is this...what are you d-doing to me…?"
"It's very, very simple," Robotnik replied. Discord didn't want to look up, but simply the sound of that voice sent chills through his spine. It was rational, yet wild. Tolerant, yet impatient.
"If you won't produce the chaos, I'll have to extract it out of your body myself,"
It was the callous, unfamiliar voice of a madman.
The electricity hummed to life a second time. Discord's breath hitched and his claws scratched and scrabbled uselessly at the floor of the cage as he convulsed again, writhing like a wounded snake.
"Now you will learn the same lesson as Equestria: submit to the Robotnik-Changeling Empire and you will be allowed to live, but defy us—"
A loud wail of agony finally escaped him as the button was pressed a third time.
"—and we'll make you beg for death,"
So, there you go. Any reviews will be rewarded with muffins, chocolate milk and cotton candy.
XO Valley-and-Tyro