Epilogue - Living Amongst the Mobians
One year later, the ponies were ready to go visit their friends on Mobius. Thanks to Tails sending them assorted stuff through portals, Twilight and Adam managed to re-create a teleportation device that would allow them to visit Mobius. It took some time without Tails or some other tech-savvy guy helping them, not to mention it was hard to work with some of the most delicate systems without the right tools (Tails had to send them some adapted ones, that could be used by hooves instead of hands), but Twilight and Adam did a pretty good work once they got used to the technology.
"Alright, are we all ready to go?" Twilight asked her friends, all of them gathering outside the library.
"You can ask Pinkie." Rainbow grinned and pointed at Pinkie Pie, who was dressed with a hawaiian shirt, shades, a camera hanging from her neck, and holding a suitcase with stamps reading 'Las Pegasus' and 'Saddle Arabia'.
"Mobius or Bust!" Pinkie said in excitement.
"If that thing doesn't work, we might get the 'bust' for real." Sweetie Belle, who was among the group, gulped a bit while Rarity calmed her down.
"Oh, don't worry, Sweetie. You know Twilight wouldn't even let us near that thing if she hadn't triple-checked it first." Rarity assured her.
"And I also triple-checked the triple check." Twilight nodded. "I admit... it wasn't easy without Spike."
"Don't worry, Twi; yah will see yahr little brother in a few moments." Applejack smiled at Twilight, knowing how hard this year was for the purple unicorn turned alicorn.
After Spike left, Twilight had to get used to living on her own. Obviously, Cadence and Shining Armor couldn't move in with her to the library, as they had their own obligations and private life, and even if her friends took turns to stay with her and help with the library's maintenance, Twilight still had problems to keep up with her studies and magical practices, along with the library's normal chores; Owlicious helped her a bit, but Twilight still had to hire occasional help for clean-up and buying her groceries.
"Don't worry, Twilight. I'll take care of the library while you visit Spike." Twilight turned to see her current assistant...
CRASH!
...right before she broke a window.
"OOPS. Sorry."
"Twilight, remind us why Derpy is the one taking care of your house." Rainbow questioned Twilight's choice, with good reasons.
"She works for muffins." Twilight sighed and shook her head. "Okay, the sooner we leave, the sooner we can see our friends... and the sooner we return before the library disappears."
CRASH!
"Sorry again."
"Uh... Twilight, you have insurance, right?" Apple Bloom asked Twilight, who simply nodded at her. She had just acquired an insurance policy against earthquakes, floods, and Derpy; the company's most used insurance ever.
The whole traveling group was composed of Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Braeburn (who just happened to visit Sweet Apple Acres those days), Babs Seed (who got invited by the other Cutie Mark Crusaders), Apple Bloom, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, Prince Blueblood, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Discord, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadance, Shining Armor, Adam Warcolt and his brother, Drake Warcolt. Many ponies got a bit surprised that Discord was allowed to come, but Fluttershy had advanced a lot with him, and Celestia and Luna confirmed he was well-behaved enough by now; still, he would be under constant supervision, especially considering the stories the Mobians told the ponies during their stay in Equestria, concerning the existence of Chaos Emeralds in their world; 'chaos' and 'Discord' weren't a good combo.
Twilight and Adam activated the device, and soon a large portal appeared from thin air. The whole group entered, and a few moments later, they were in Knothole... that had changed a lot in this last year.
"Whoa... this place is impressive." Twilight commented.
"Yes... I know... Tails and Nicole often said their home was very technologically advanced, but this goes beyond their descriptions." Celestia added. Of course, the ponies had no way to know the Mobians had made further changes in Knothole, making it much more futuristic; in fact it was now called...
"New Mobotropolis..." Applebloom read from a nearby sign. "Are you sure we arrived at the right place?"
"Completely. I can even feel the Infinity Staff's power as we speak." Adam confirmed. "The Mobians are often improving their technology, and if having the Power Stone as an energy source, they surely can do it much faster and better now."
"Hmm... I think I kinda like this place. Lots of 'variety'; nothing against ponies, but it's nice to see other species." Discord grinned while looking around. By now, several citizens had already noticed them, and a few were contacting the authorities, yet everyone seemed to be friendly enough.
"Oh, hello..." Fluttershy addressed a little bunny girl. "Excuse us, but we came to visit some friends. We know Princess Sally and..."
"Oh, so you are the ponies, right?" The girl smiled at the yellow pegasus. "The dragons talk a lot about you all, and said that you would probably pay us a visit anytime now."
"That's right, Little One." Celestia now walked next to the bunny. "Do you know where can we see our friends?"
The girl started giving her a few directions while Drake gave Celestia a puzzled look.
"Why we need to ask for directions?"
"Yes, you're right. We're royalty." Blueblood agreed. "We should just be announced and..."
"Blueblood, Darling, it's not that easy." Rarity smiled at him before looking at Drake. "Remember we're not just ambassadors here, but we're also foreign species, and most Mobians had never seen anypony like us. Even if Spike and the other dragons have told the locals about us, they don't know several members of our group are royalty, not to mention that Sally herself, who's the Princess here, seems to have a very personal and mostly informal relationship with her people, so they'd treat us in an informal way unless it's a special occasion."
Drake and Blueblood seemed to understand it now; of course Cadence, Shining Armor, Luna, Adam and Celestia, used to informal dealing with non-royals, needed no explanation.
"Heh, a place where Celestia and Luna are treated like any daughter of neighbor... I like this place already." Discord grinned a bit at this.
At that moment, a loud noise was heard all over the city. All the Mobians got a scared expression while all the ponies and Discord got immediately alerted.
"Okaaaaay... before anypony starts pointing hooves, that wasn't me or my party cannon." Pinkie said.
"Let's go see what's going on. I don't think that's how they welcome visitors." Rainbow said before flying ahead of the group. The other ponies soon followed after her.
The ponies arrived at what seemed to be the city's hall, where a large group of Mobians were already crowding. Then, a large, royal-looking figure emerged from the building; he looked a lot like Daemon, even with the angel-like wings and armor, but with red and black tones instead of Daemon's black and silver; plus, his fur was a mix of black and intense red.
"This guy looks evil... a lot." Braeburn gulped a bit.
"Statement of the year, Cousin." Babs rolled her eyes at this but she was a bit scared herself.
"Hello, My Dear Mobians. I like what you did to your place; maybe I won't destroy it completely." The, by now obvious, villain grinned at the crowd. "I don't think all of you know me; let me introduce myself; I am Mandara."
"Great, here comes the villainous rant." Applejack rolled her eyes.
"Hope it's a good one; I'm qualifying him." Discord whispered while Luna and Celestia rolled their eyes.
"You Mobians, and mortals in general, tend to fool yourselves. You think you can be great, or important, or whatever, but the truth is, and you know it in your hearts, that the only thing you are good for is to serve those who are truly superior. You actually crave being dominated and ruled by someone with the power to do it. You want to live on your knees and looking up at the truly important ones. So, why don't you stop fooling yourselves with false delusions of importance and start to adore me?"
"And other ponies say I have an ego." Blueblood whispered to himself.
The Mobians then started kneeling, surprising the ponies, until Celestia realized that, through his speech, Mandara had been using a mind-control spell, and now it was working. The ponies weren't affected due to their own spellcasters and because Mandara wasn't targeting them directly unlike the Mobians.
"Okay, I think that's enough."
Mandara finally noticed the ponies, surprising himself a bit when Adam walked towards him.
"Looking up, uh? That's what you want? Well, not to guys like you." Adam looked at him defiantly.
"There are no guys like me, Stranger." Mandara frowned at him.
"There are always guys like you." Adam continued. "You see, from where we come from, we have seen others coming with similar speeches... and let me tell you, they usually don't end well."
"Gee, you think he thinks we'll not realize the indirect?" Discord whispered at Drake, even if they both agreed with Adam.
"Ending well, uh? Well... neither will you." Mandara charged a sphere of dark elemental power, and shot it at Adam... who deflected it with his own magic.
"You know magic." Mandara growled.
"And you are in trouble." Adam grinned and then raised a hoof to stop his friends, all of them getting ready to defend him now. The alicorn then moved a few steps back.
"Scared?" Mandara smirked.
"No, just giving him some space." Adam, casually, pointed at one side with his horn. Mandara, a bit puzzled, turned his head at that direction... and got hit by a flying shield.
"Hey, guys, if I knew you'd arrive today, I'd have a cake ready." Spike landed a few feet away from Mandara, catching back the shield. The ponies and Discord noticed he was considerably taller and more muscular, and the 'shield' was in reality the Infinity Staff changed into another weapon.
"Hi, Spike! Looking good." Twilight smiled at her 'little brother' while Rainbow grinned and pounded her front hooves together.
"Need some help with this clown, Spike?" The blue pegasus asked.
"Oh, no, please, allow me; you are my guests here. Let me take out the garbage so I can attend to you all properly later." Spike said to the group before turning back at Mandara.
"You, I've heard rumors about you; you're the Infinity Dragon I've been hearing about." Mandara smirked at him.
"And I've heard about you. You're Daemon's ugly brother... Maybe I should warn you I have some experience at dealing with my friends' difficult siblings." Spike grinned while taking a battle stance. "Last time I faced one of those, we had an argument; it wasn't nice."
"Then, let's continue the tradition." Mandara then attacked Spike, who blocked the strike with his shield. Meanwhile, Celestia and the other alicorns/unicorns moved all the Mobians out of danger, with the rest of the group playing crowd control.
Mandara then created a large sword out of dark magic and continued striking at Spike, who kept dodging and blocking all the attacks. Then, the dragon kicked his body and threw the shield again, but this time Mandara caught it; however, before he could use it, Spike punched his face and grabbed the shield back, just in time to block another sword attack.
"Not bad for a mortal, but I'm surprised you, a dragon, not using fire to attack me." Mandara commented while attacking.
"Oh, you want dragon fire? No problem." Spike whistled. "Now, guys!"
Mandara looked up and saw Garble, Puff, Clud and Vex striking from the skies, breathing large flames over him. The ponies noticed they were all now wearing jackets and shoes, an obvious showing of them adapting to the native's culture, but also that they were all using swords. After they finished breathing fire on Mandara, the dragons aimed with their swords at him, and each weapon shot what seemed to be elemental energy; Garble's sword used Fire, Puff's wind, Clud's earth (it caused small tremors when hitting the ground), and Vex's water. Mandara was now doing an obvious effort to protect himself, as the combined forces were very similar to his brother's attacks.
"Hey, cool swords!" Scootaloo commented, watching in awe.
"Spike created them." Adam said without any doubt, recognizing the Infinity Stones' energies within the swords.
"You fools... this isn't enough to stop me..." Mandara growled while getting ready to fight back.
"Then, what about this?" Spike grinned. "I'm just a clone; the real Spike is coming."
Mandara was surprised at this, and, a moment later, realized this dragon was telling the truth, as some music announced the arrival of the real Spike, wearing high tech armor and flying towards him at high speed. Before Mandara could defend himself, Spike blasted him with energy coming from his gauntlets, a combination of the Infinity Stones' 'normal' magic with Mobian technological lasers.
Mandara fell down, now visibly injured, and Spike landed in front of him, aiming at the demon's head with both blasters and other armaments. Soon, the other Spike and the rest of the dragons surrounded him.
"Make your move, Cujo." Spike smirked at him.
"Oh, yeah, please, do it." Garble added, with a similar smirk. "Make our day."
Mandara was tempted to fight back, but he was too weak now. He had just escaped from the magical prison that had contained him until now, and his power wasn't back to its original levels; he intended to mind-control the Mobians and steal their life force to get back his energy, but the dragons had stopped him, and now he wasn't strong enough to even try escaping. The demon groaned and nodded, giving up; then, the shielded Spike used the Infinity Stones to summon a pair of handcuffs with runic symbols carved into them; when slapping them on Mandara, his powers were neutralized.
With Mandara captured, Spike finally could get back to normal, and greet the ponies and Discord in a more proper way; he had adopted an outfit consisting of a white jacket with red trims and a pair of green and yellow sneakers, plus keeping the Infinity Staff in the shape of a gauntlet. He had also grown up a bit, now being slightly taller than Sonic or Knuckles.
Daemon arrived shortly after that, and after greeting the ponies as well, he got in charge of transporting Mandara to the special prison Spike, Tails and Rotor designed for him. Even if Mandara could break free or escape the handcuffs, he wouldn't be able to fight his brother, who was at full power while Mandara himself was currently at his weakest point.
"Okay, business is over for now. So, how about I take you all to the castle we're living in now?" Spike said to the guests.
"That's great. You're teleporting us?" Babs asked him.
"Nah, I think you'd like a 'royal' transport better." Spike chuckled before taking out a technological device, a transponder, to call a large, technological carriage that instantly morphed into a moderately large aircraft, big enough for everypony to get in. The travelers were quite surprised by this, especially the youngsters.
"Can we get one of these back in Equestria?" The Cutie Mark Crusaders chorused.
"Girls, behave yourselves. You know it's not easy to have high technology at home; and if it needs repairing, it would be hard to get spare parts." Twilight explained them.
"Awwwww." The CMC (and Pinkie) groaned a bit at this.
Soon, Spike was piloting the aircraft, with the other dragons flying around it, and took it up to the sky. Celestia was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable and silent it was, barely making any noise while flying.
"You use the Power Stone to power up this machine, Spike?" Celestia asked him.
"No; most of the high tech here on Mobius works with power cells; they're like... mmm... batteries, or small energy packages. Depending on how much you use it, the battery can last from one to three months, unless I force it too much, like, going at top speed for a long time; in those cases, the energy is over in a few minutes." Spike confessed.
"It would be great to have one of these back at home." Rainbow agreed with the Crusaders. "That way, the unicorns and earth ponies would be able to visit pegasi cities regularly."
"Maybe we can talk with Tails so we can create batteries you can make in Equestria with your current technology level... Hey, look, we're here." Spike pointed out.
"Whoa... I must take a few ideas for my summer house." Blueblood said while admiring the castle. The others were just as excited, with the castle being as big as Celestia and Luna's in Canterlot, or Shining Armor and Cadence's in The Crystal Empire. It didn't seem to be 'high tech' like Mobotropolis, but as they got closer, the group could see it had some very advanced machinery, just hidden to keep up with the 'classic' castle image. It was more evident when Spike pushed a few buttons on the aircraft's controls, and opened a hidden hangar that lead right to a huge laboratory/garage.
"We keep all the big machines here, especially the vehicles." Spike explained to the group as they walked out of the aircraft. "Like that one, The X Tornado; it's Tails' 'baby'. He loves that plane."
"Whoa, I remember it from Sonic and Tails' stories." Rainbow looked at the plane in amazement. Even if it didn't look as 'futuristic' as Spike's ship, it was still the very first plane Rainbow Dash or any of the ponies had ever seen, and she was more than eager to see it in action. "You think Tails will let us use it?"
"Not without my supervision, Rainbow."
Everypony turned when hearing Tails' voice, a bit surprised it sounded deeper and somewhat artificial, as if talking through a microphone, but they were all (minus Spike) very surprised when realizing the one talking to them was a fox-shaped machine.
"T-Tails?" Fluttershy was the first one to talk.
"Yep, the one and only... just with more metal." The machine talked to them, his body language being identical to Tails. On a closer inspection, the ponies realized he definitely had the general Tails' shape, but with very drastic changes. His lower legs resembled white boots, while his forearms were white and cylindrical; instead of a muzzle, he had a flattened faceplate beneath his two blue eyes, with a gray plate of metal with triangular points on his forehead. His organic tails had become metallic rotors/wings that spun around to enable flight and the white fur on Tails' chest had also become a white plate below his neck.
"What happened to yah?" Applejack asked while carefully touching his shoulder, feeling Tails' new metallic skin.
"A 'roboticizer' accident." Tails shrugged. "Remember all the stories we told you guys about Robotnik?"
"If he did this to you, I like the guy already." Discord grinned yet gulped a bit when Fluttershy gave him an annoyed stare.
"Well, we had been working with his old technology, trying to find any useful thing and destroying those inventions that are nothing but trouble." Tails explained. "I got affected by the machine he used to transform Mobians into robots when I was testing it on some plants... Spike tried to talk me out of testing it until we had safe-proved it enough, but I was a bit too persistent..."
"Not to mention, 'stubborn'." Spike rolled his eyes before looking back at Twilight. "Seriously, Twi, why you super smart guys and gals are brilliant enough to do amazing things with science or magic, yet are thick-headed enough to ignore common sense?"
"Remind me to start a research paper on that." Twilight sighed, agreeing with Spike.
"Anyway, Spike was right. I didn't have enough safety measures, and instead of robotizing the plants, I ended up robotizing myself. Luckily, since the Roboticizer was already modified by Rotor and I, I didn't become a mindless machine, and I conserved my normal personality and free will, so, after some time, and using Spike's Reality and Power Stones, Rotor and I found a way to reverse the process. The point is, now I can change back-and-forth between this robotic form and my normal, original one; I often conserve the metallic look when working here in the lab/garage because, as a robot, I'm stronger and more resistant to damage, so I'm more suited for testing dangerous inventions with less risks." Tails finished.
"And it doesn't hurt?" Fluttershy asked him, while the CMC looked at Tails and touched his body, fascinated by his new looks.
"No... and that's one of the very few issues with this form. I don't feel pain, true, but I also have less 'sensory' feeling; I can analyze substances with my special sensors, but I can't taste food or smell anything. And I feel when you touch me, but I can't enjoy a caress, or a warm wind, or a fresh breeze. The point is, I'm very well protected when I'm a robot, but I can't really enjoy most of the simple yet nice things of life." Tails explained. Discord couldn't help but touch his own skin and cringe a bit while the fox continued; this was too close to how he felt when he was a stone statue, capable of seeing and hearing yet unable to move or enjoy something as simple as eating a sweet snack or just talking.
"That's why I change back to normal when I wanna eat or drink something, or when I just wanna spend a nice time with friends." Tails continued. "For example, now you guys are here, I'll go to the Roboticizer to change back to normal so we can have dinner before attending Spike and the Dragons Induction Ceremony into the wolf pack later."
"Okay, another question... why yah would want to turn into a robot in the first place? Yah say it helps yah work here, but Ah doubt that was yahr first idea." Applejack pointed out.
"For combat purposes." Shining Armor, being a career soldier, guessed correctly.
"Exactly. The robots' bodies are very resistant, and they have special weaponry." Tails explained while morphing his hands into cannons to illustrate his point. "But, of course, there are disadvantages, like the sensory deprivation and the fact most robots lack a mind of their own. That's why we worked on a Roboticizer that can allow us to turn ourselves into robots for extremely dangerous situations, and change back to normal when the crisis is over. I've actually joined Spike, Sonic and The Dragons in some missions; of course, I used to do that in the past as well, but now I can participate more actively in conflicts."
"So, you became... 200% more awesome?" Rainbow grinned at him.
"Not sure about what scale you use to measure 'awesomeness', but yeah, that's more or less the point." Tails chuckled while flying upward to high-five Rainbow Dash. "I'm glad that, out of all the senses I lack as a robot, I still have my sense of humor."
"And what do you shoot with these? Oh, you shoot parties?" Pinkie asked Tails while looking at his hand cannons.
"No, I shoot wind blasts." Tails chuckled a bit while using one of his cannons to produce a short yet still strong wind blast. It wasn't enough to cause any damage but still moved Pinkie back a couple of feet.
"Whoa. You shoot wind by the hands? Almost anypony else can only shoot it by the mouth and by..." Braeburn was cut by Rarity and Applejack's glare. "Oh, right; not in front of the fillies."
"Anyway, we'll show you around the place later. Now, I'm sure Sally and the others will be glad to see you all... and I want to introduce you all to the family's newest member." Spike smiled at his Equestrian friends.
"Newest... oh, my..." Twilight and several other ponies gasped and blushed in realization.
"Whoa, Sally and you had a baby?" Pinkie asked Spike, making the CMC and the other ponies who hadn't realized it yet to gasp as well. "I have to organize a birthday party!"
"Pinkie, calm down." Spike chuckled. "Yes, Sally and I have a daughter, but she's not a... naturally born one."
"Ah, you adopted." Princess Cadence smiled. "Very nice of both Sally and you, Spike."
"Thanks... well, it's not exactly an adoption. Anyway, you'll meet her now. Come on." Spike leaded the group out of the lab/working station, with Tails nodding at them and flying to the Roboticizer to get back to normal.
"Mmm... chaotic, demonic creatures... flying machines... metal-to-flesh transformations... Any chance I can stay here?" Discord grinned. "This looks like my type of place."
"We'll consider it, Discord. No offense, but I doubt you're fully reformed, and therefore still not good enough to let you stay here... unless you don't mind being supervised by Spike and Sally's friends instead of Fluttershy and I." Celestia gave Discord a little smirk. The formerly magical chaotic being sighed and rolled his eyes; he knew the main reason Celestia allowed him to come was because she didn't want to leave him unsupervised when pretty much everypony that could handle him if he got troublesome again when leaving Equestria.
The group didn't have to walk too much to find another friend. Nicole, dressed in a red and black Oriental-like dress, greeted them almost immediately after they left the laboratories.
"My friends, it's so nice to see you all again." Nicole smiled at them. The ponies were quite happy to see her again (and Discord dissimulated it well), especially Rarity, who simply loved the dress and was already having a thousand ideas for similar designs when returning home.
"How have you been, Nicole?" Twilight, who due to their work together was one of the ponies closest to Nicole, did a little hoof-to-hoof handshake with her; Nicole using her powers to mimic a hoof.
"Very good, thanks for asking, Twilight. How have you been doing? Did you get yourself another assistant?"
"More or less... but trust me, Spike is pretty much irreplaceable." Twilight rolled her eyes while smiling at Spike. "I left Derpy at home watching over the library... and I left Owlicious to watch over Derpy."
"Gee, poor owl; taking care of Derpy?" Spike groaned before looking at Adam. "And here I thought that finding all the Infinity Stones would be the hardest thing ever; compared to Owlicious' job, it's a picnic."
"We're having a picnic, Dad?"
Everypony, plus Spike, Nicole and Discord, looked up when hearing a voice that was too similar to Sally's, just much more youthful. Up in the sky and approaching them, a cute furry gal, that looked a lot like Sally, flew towards them, thanks to jet-like boots. Her outfit was also very similar to Tails' metallic skin, except that it was blue, black and silver.
"Guys and gals, meet Ally." Spike, smiling, made the proper introduction. Rainbow grinned and flew up to meet the little girl.
"Hi, Ally! Hey, cool boots."
"Hello, Miss Pony. Cool wings." Ally and Rainbow made a fist-hoof bump.
"Heh, thanks, but I'm Rainbow Dash, not 'Miss Pony'..."
"I know. Dad talks a lot about you all." Ally grinned at her.
"Okay, it's official, I like this gal already." Rainbow smirked and looked back at the group as she and Ally finally landed.
"I think I can recognize you all from my Dad's stories." Ally quickly identified everypony, but stopped when looking at Discord. "Mmm... and this one, is... 'Mischief'? 'Chaos'? 'Irresponsibility'?"
"Discord, girl, Discord." The guy frowned at her before Ally grinned again. "Wait, you were kidding, right?"
"What can I say? She spends too much time around Sonic." Spike rolled his eyes.
"One thing; are you wearing some sort of armor?" Rainbow asked Ally. "When I did the hoof-fist thing with you, I noticed your hand felt a bit too hard... even with those gloves of yours."
Ally's mood changed slightly, looking a bit more serious and even slightly shy.
"Uh... Did Rainbow say something to make you feel uneasy about something?" Fluttershy asked the girl.
Ally was trying to find the words to explain herself when Spike calmed her by gently placing a hand on her shoulder.
"You can show them, Sweetheart; they're family." Spike smiled at her before looking back at the Equestrians. "You see, when I said Ally wasn't our 'natural born' daughter, I wasn't talking about adoption... She's a cybernetic organism."
"Okaaaay... and for those here who don't speak 'techno-sciency-thingy'?" Braeburn arched an eyebrow at this.
"Ally is a robot... similar to Tails' metallic form, but with the difference that she was born this way." Spike explained. "In fact, she's using an holographic distortion field belt so you guys can see her as a normal Mobian... basically, it's like a magic that creates a very convincing image." The purple dragon continued, realizing some of the Equestrians wouldn't get the technological terms.
"You mean, that, what we're seeing isn't her true form?" Applebloom asked before she and the CMC (and Pinkie) grinned. "Great!"
"Can we see your true form, Ally?" Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell chorused.
"Pretty-pretty-pretty please with a cherry on top?" Pinkie joined the 'petition' group, before taking out a cherry-filled chimichanga. "Or maybe with a 'cherri-changa'?"
"Uh... well, I don't eat, Pinkie... I get my energy from a crystal heart my Dad made for me; it also helps me have real emotions." Ally smiled while touching her own chest. "I'll show it to you... but first I have to deactivate the hologram distortion field."
While Ally pressed some buttons on her belt, Cadence, Twilight, Luna and Celestia gave Spike a knowing smile each, realizing this Crystal Heart was surely the same one Spike created back in Ponyville by using Cadence's cutie mark as a reference. After a few seconds, the holographic disguise was gone, and Ally now looked a lot like a shorter roboticized version of Sally, similar to Tails' new secondary form.
"Whoa." Most of the Equestrians watched in awe while Celestia and Luna gave Ally a good look.
"The Crystal Heart isn't the only 'extra' you gave her, is it, Spike?" Celestia asked him.
"You're right. Ally, can you..." Spike said to his 'daughter', who immediately showed her back to the group. Spike opened a compartment and everypony and Discord could see a golden power ring. "This ring allows Ally to have her own personality and prevents her from losing her free will to any outside control."
Ally nodded and then showed her chest to the group, opening another compartment to show them the Crystal Heart. Almost immediately, Twilight, Luna and Celestia felt an energy very similar to the Elements of Harmony; obviously, Spike wanted Ally to be as close to a normal, flesh-and-bone daughter as possible, so her heart gave her qualities like Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity and Loyalty; all of those combined, plus the power ring, and the friendship and love she surely received from her family would provide the final element, Magic.
"Wait... so, the flight boots... they're not boots, right? They're part of your feet!" Rainbow guessed correctly.
"You got it right. Whoa, Dad was right; you ponies are pretty smart." Ally commented.
"Heh, you had any doubt?" Rainbow smirked.
"Sorry; most of the Mobian horses aren't that smart. The only one I know has to hit the ground to count." Ally rolled her metallic eyes. "In his defense, having hooves, he can't use his 'fingers' to count."
"What other things do you have besides the flight boot-feet-whatever?" Pinkie asked again.
"Since I have no 'organic' form, Tails and Rotor could add several defense systems on me without causing me any pain." Ally explained while a pair of sword-like energy blades appeared on her forearms; she retracted them a moment later. Then, a little cannon appeared from one of her locks of hair on the top of her head; Spike, realizing she wanted to make a demonstration, used the Reality Stone to create a pair of discs, and threw them up so Ally could shoot them to pieces with a laser beam. Finally, Spike threw another disc at her, and it crashed before even touching Ally, thanks to a force field generator that immediately got Shining Armor's interest.
"That's my girl; but please, do not tell Queen Alicia and King Maximillian Acorn that I let their granddaughter fire a weapon indoors, especially in the castle." Spike chuckled before getting a bit serious. "Everypony, look at me; not a word."
"Mmm... and how much are you willing to pay for me to keep that a secret?" Discord grinned at Spike.
"That depends, how attached are you to your horns, Draconequus?" Spike frowned at him as he used the Reality Stone to make a katana sword appear, and pointed it at Discord.
"Okay, I'll take the offer, sheesh, you little psychopath." Discord couldn't help but cover his horns and gulp a bit.
"Now, now, Spike, threatening him with physical violence is not the way to handle this situation." Fluttershy said to the purple dragon, who just sighed and made the katana disappear. "Discord will behave properly out of kindness and friendship."
Discord couldn't stop himself from moaning at this.
"Fluttershy, why you have to talk like that? Seriously, every time you do that, I can't misbehave without feeling like a... uh..."
"A cockroach? A two-legged rat? A pest?" Pinkie grinned.
"Thanks, Pinkie Pie." Discord frowned at the pink pony, who simply smiled in reply.
"You forgot Butensky." Said an unfamiliar voice.
"Nah, I was reserving that one for the finale, Pee Wee..." Pinkie stopped talking and then took out a glass of water to drink a bit and do a spit-take... drenching Discord. "PEE WEE?"
The group looked at Pee Wee, who now looked slightly bigger, but, more surprisingly, was capable of talking, something normal Equestrian phoenixes couldn't do. Nicole smiled and allowed Pee Wee to rest on her head for a moment .
"Yes, he is Pee Wee." Nicole explained. "Spike used the Reality Stone to give him the ability to talk."
"It was a fair deal." Spike chuckled while Pee Wee was now flying over the group and taking turns to land on everypony's head as a greeting way. "After all, most species here on Mobius can talk, and Pee Wee is as much part of the family as Ally, so him talking makes it easier to communicate with him... Besides, I didn't want to end doing the 'Who' thing again like I did with Owlicious."
"Heh, but he's a phoenix, not an owl." Twilight chuckled as Pee Wee landed on her head.
"Yeah, but I spent so much time with Owlicious back at home that I was learning 'Owl' better than 'Equestrian'... or 'Ponynglish', or Mobian, or whatever language we talk." Pee Wee explained to Twilight. The purple unicorn noticed Pee Wee seemed to have a very good vocabulary despite his short age, probably from living in a library for such a long time and hearing Spike and herself talking, plus whatever education he was receiving now on Mobius.
"Anyway, Sally must know by now that you ponies are here, so let's go with her already." Spike chuckled as he and the group finally entered the palace's main room. Sally was already there, using her stretching powers to check out the ceilings and walls.
"Hey, Sal, look who's here." Spike smiled at his beloved.
"Good to see you all." Sally, quite happy, jumped down and changed her looks to a more royal one, long dress and crown included. The alicorns understood this immediately, and they all made a very respectful bowing at Sally, who bowed back in return before changing to her usual attire and having a more informal greeting with the ponies.
"Royalty rules, uh?" Twilight smirked at Sally as they hugged.
"Yep, they must be respected everywhere, even in other dimensions." Sally chuckled.
"What were you doing up there?" Rainbow asked Sally, referring to her previous wall-crawling.
"Oh, we're adding a new electric system to the palace, plus other technological features, but I have to see if they work properly without messing with the palace's classic look." Sally explained. "We might be more technologically advanced than you ponies, but we still want our place to look natural and homely. And I have to check it all now because we're leaving to the Wolfpack Nation in a while."
"Great, we can visit Lupe, Lobo and all the others!" Applebloom said in excitement. Due to Lobo and Lupe spending a lot of time in Sweet Apple Acres when they first visited Equestria, the wolves became closer to the Apples than with most of the other ponies.
"It's more than a visit, Applebloom." Spike now explained. "Besides celebrating your visit, we're gonna attend an induction ceremony."
"Uh... and what's that?" Braeburn asked, a bit surprised.
"Ah, it's like when you enter a club, right?" Babs grinned, remembering her own induction into the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
"Heh, more or less, Babs, but in this case, the inducted ones will become official members of the Wolfpack Nation, like Sally and the others." Spike pointed out.
"You're getting inducted, Spike?" Now it was Adam's turn to ask.
"Yeah, and I'm not the only one; all the other dragons are getting inducted too." Spike continued.
"Garble and his group, uh? Nice." Shining Armor grinned while the other ponies nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, besides being a very big honor, it's also a necessity, since only pack members, regardless of species, can marry other pack members." Spike pointed out.
"Ooooooh... like you and Sally, uh?" Rainbow smirked and elbowed a blushing Spike.
"Heh, you're right, Dad; I like this pony already." Ally chuckled at this while Sally rolled her eyes and continued.
"Also, Leeta and Lyco want to get married to Shakes and Fumes already, and they can only do it if they're official members. And of course, since the rest of the dragons are pretty much family by now too, they also want to get inducted." Sally said while guiding the group to a large dining room. "We'll just have a light snack now because we're having dinner there tonight, to celebrate the induction."
"You got me when you said 'celebrate'." Pinkie grinned while taking out her party cannon. "Good thing I brought this."
Sally and Spike chuckled, more than happy to see a bit of Pinkie's crazy sense of humor, as the group finally got to eat. Since ponies didn't use chairs, Sally got most of them removed, and only the Mobians plus Spike and Discord used the ones left. The lunch was mostly uneventful, except for Discord trying to animate the dishes... and then groaning in frustration when remembering he no longer had magical powers. The chat focused mostly on Spike's new life in Mobius, but the purple dragon also had a million questions for his pony friends... the main one being 'Twilight, were you in your right mind when you hired Derpy as an assistant?', a question Twilight herself was still trying to answer herself.
After lunch, Sally excused herself to go to her room and change her outfit; even if she could always morph her body and clothing, Sally still used normal outfits for special occasions; in this case, a greenish-blue, shoeless harem dancer-tribal dress mix-up, that showed her sexy body quite well, as Spike's huge grin proved. Rarity proposed that she and the other ponies should wear special outfits as well, since they'd be attending the induction ceremony too; unfortunately, most of the Mobian clothing wasn't fit for four-legged-walking ponies, so they set up with just minor accessories.
Garble and the other dragons were already at the hangar when Spike, Sally and the rest of the group finished getting ready themselves.
"Hey, Princess, looking good." Garble grinned at Sally before turning at Spike. "And you won't let me lie, uh, Spike?"
"In the immortal words of Big Macintosh... E-Nope." Spike chuckled.
"Why you guys didn't have lunch with us?" Sweetie Belle asked the dragons.
"We had to finish our patrolling before leaving." Puff informed her. "Even if this place is mostly pacific, we still have to patrol it regularly, just in case."
"Well, we're ready to go." Tails, back in his furry shape, said to the group. "I'll take the X Tornado..."
"AND WE'RE GOING WITH YOU!" The Cutie Mark Crusaders and Pinkie chorused. The group's adults chuckled and nodded, with Rainbow offering herself to fly alongside the plane.
"... and the rest can take Spike's craft." Tails nodded at the purple dragon, who nodded back and used his Infinity Gauntlet on his ship to make it large enough for the group, that this time also included the other dragons.
"Hey, I just realized something; where's Sonic?" Rainbow asked to nopony (or no Mobian) in particular.
"He's doing some patrolling too." Vex told her. "He's probably stuffing himself on chili dogs before going to the Wolf Pack Territory by himself."
"That wouldn't surprise me." Fiona entered the hangar at that moment, with Amy right behind her. The ponies greeted them and asked why they didn't join for lunch.
"I was getting my outfit for the ceremony too." Amy explained while showing everyone a box. "Give me a moment and I'll be ready to go."
Fiona then used her powers to mimic Sally's outfit while Amy went inside a little room inside the hangar; after a minute or so, she was dressed up with a pink and red version of Sally's dress. Now everypony and Mobian was ready to go.
Tails opened the hangar's doors, and a few minutes later both flying machines left at high speed, with Rainbow having a nice time flying aside the Tornado X; due to being an 'open' plane, the pilot and passengers could feel the wind while flying and have a much better view of the territory.
After a while of flying, Rainbow looked down to enjoy the view, and grinned when looking at a blue blur running right under them. The multicolored pegasus nodded at Tails, who had already detected the 'blur' too, and a moment later she was diving down.
"Hey, Sonic, heads up!"
"Hey, Rainbow, looking good!" Sonic chuckled while looking up at his speedster colleague. "When did you guys arrive?"
"A while ago." Rainbow grinned at him. "I'd like racing you to the Wolf Nation, but I don't know my way around here; you have too much of an advantage."
"We can race later. Just follow me and we'll be there in no time... if you can keep up with me." Sonic grinned before accelerating. Rainbow smirked and flew faster, soon getting right aside Sonic; they'd both be able to move even faster, but, as the pegasus had confessed, she didn't know this territory at all, so depended on the locals, like Sonic or the airships' pilots, to show her the way; still, Sonic and Rainbow arrived to the Wolf Nation at least 5 minutes before the airships, which happened to be a good thing since they could tell Lupe and the others to prepare a quick welcome for them, mostly a few fireworks, plus setting up the landing area; the wolves have set up one large enough for Spike's aircraft, but now they'd need a slightly larger one to accommodate the Tornado X as well.
"My friends, it is wonderful to see you again." Lupe greeted the ponies as they walked down the aircrafts. She then arched an eyebrow at Discord. "And you brought him here because..."
"He's on parole." The Mane Six chorused.
"And Fluttershy here is my parole officer." Discord rolled his eyes. "At least she's a nicer company than Shining Armor."
"Don't start that again, Draconequus." Shining Armor frowned slightly at Discord.
"Whoa, we're back to calling each other by our surnames, Officer?" Discord said in a very dramatic and obviously fake hurt tone. "And here I thought you were trusting me now. Oh, yeah, the society, once again, keeps the oppressed species... well, oppressed."
A sad violin music was then heard.
"Pinkie Pie, not helping." Twilight frowned at Pinkie, the one playing the violin.
"What? I have to practice my lessons." Pinkie shrugged.
"Three questions, Pinkie; one, where do you keep your 'everything' you use all the time? Two, how do you play a violin without fingers? And three... it's that a Stradivarius?" Lobo, who, as usual, was next to Lupe, arched an eyebrow at Pinkie.
"The answers are... No idea myself; I find my way; and no, it's a violin." Pinkie grinned.
A collective face-palm/hoof (and a good laugh from Discord) later, the ceremony's preparations continued. Shakes and Fumes were nowhere in sight since they were with Leeta and Lyco, hanging around in private before the ceremony; Discord guessed this 'hanging around' involved a constant facial contact.
Lupe and Lobo were discussing some aspects of the ceremony with the alicorns and Twilight when one of the pack's sentinels arrived in an obvious hurry but trying to be as discreet as possible.
"Excuse me... for interrupting... but... I think... we have two problems..." The sentinel took some deep breaths; he then jumped in fear when Pinkie popped from behind him.
"Not enough balloons for the party, and we need more cake? I can solve both."
"Thanks, Pinkie, but let him talk first." Lobo said to the pink mare while Lupe and Twilight comforted the still scared sentinel.
"Don't worry; Pinkie does that all the time." Twilight sighed. "Still, she's lovable. And friendly. And yes, we all like having her around. Most of the time."
"Aw, thanks, Twily!" Pinkie hugged the purple alicorn in her usual childish way, while Twilight just made a silent sign to the others, pretty much saying 'Continue with your things while I distract Pinkie'.
"Right... the message... Some of our sentinels... saw two intruders at the northeast part of the territory." The sentinel wolf took a deep breath. "Drago and Razorklaw."
Lupe and Lobo frowned at this, while the ponies arched an eyebrow each.
"Uninvited, unwanted guests?" Adam asked the wolf leaders.
"Very unwanted. Drago is a renegade wolf while Razorklaw is a very violent lynx; a disgraced warrior from our neighbor tribe. And they both have cybernetic limbs that make each of them more dangerous and powerful than a whole group of normal warriors, so you can imagine how bad it is when they're teaming up." Lupe explained.
"I'll take a group of warriors and some Freedom Fighters to deal with them while you continue with the ceremony." Lobo proposed.
"We can provide some assistance. These warriors are obviously used to facing Mobians, but they have no experience against Pony Magic." Celestia suggested.
"Thanks for your offer, Princess Celestia, but you ponies are our guests, and we'd like to attend this issue ourselves. However... you make a good point. They're not used to battle magical opponents." Lupe pondered about this for a moment before getting a little grin. "Lobo, take just a couple of sentinels, and only one Freedom Fighter."
"Spike." Lobo and Lupe chorused while grinning at each other.
A few moments later, Spike was already aware of the situation. Since he also wanted to continue helping with the ceremony, plus it would be suspicious for him to leave, the dragon cloned/divided himself in two, so one Spike could stay and the other could go with the search party. To distract everyone so they wouldn't notice Spike doing this, plus giving Sally and Lupe more time to explain him the whole situation, Lobo called the ponies and Discord to show them a little extra he had recently acquired.
"Daemon gave me the capacity to summon wings similar to his own. Heh, pretty much, it's the divine equivalent of a son-in-law giving his father-in-law a present." Lobo half joked while raising a small mace that immediately started glowing with the very same energy that usually came out of Daemon's mace, and a pair of large, silver and blond colored wings appeared on his back; obviously, the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Pinkie were the most excited about this, while Rainbow and the alicorns, being (obviously) experts when it came to wings, gave them a good check-up.
"Hey, neat... how fast can you fly?" Rainbow asked while checking the wingspan.
"Well, I fly a bit slower than Daemon; not a big surprise since, obviously, he has more experience at flight." Lobo told her. "Anyway, Spike and I are gonna give a last check-up with the sentinels before the ceremony, so I'm using the wings now. Normally, I don't use them when I'm gonna stay on foot for a long time; remember we wolves have no clothings, buildings or furniture adapted to winged creatures; even Daemon has a few problems at times because his wings keep knocking things down."
"Heh, yeah, it's one of the first things we alicorns and pegasi have to learn." Drake rolled his eyes. "I lost count of all the vases and jars I broke when I was a teen."
"And we all have lost count of all the things Derpy continues breaking." Rarity rolled her eyes.
"Anyway, we better get going."One of the Spikes finally joined the group, using his Reality Stone to create his dragon wings. "My other half is gonna stay to help with the ceremony, but we'll try to get back soon anyway."
Adam, fully aware of what was really going on, frowned a bit when realizing Spike had divided the Stones' powers when dividing himself, meaning each clone only had half of the Infinity Staff's power. He then smiled a bit when remembering Spike was already used to divide the power and still defeat his enemies, plus he would be working alongside Lobo and other equally well-trained warriors. A moment later, Spike and Lobo, both carrying a pair of sentinels (including the one that gave the message), flew out and away from the village.
After flying for a few minutes, the sentinel pointed at the area where Drago and Razorclaw had been spotted. Spike and Lobo landed, and then they started sniffing the air, trying to locate the villains; his time with the Mobian wolves had been a great chance for Spike to train his senses.
"I smell a wolf that way. Not any wolf I've met recently, or in a long time." Spike pointed at his left.
"That must be Drago. It seems he and Razorklaw split up; and I can smell the lynx's scent that way." Lobo pointed at the opposite direction. "I'll take the sentinels with me to track down Razorklaw. You go get Drago."
Spike nodded, understanding why Lobo didn't want his wolves to fight Drago; being a traitor, Drago was greatly resented and even hated by many Mobian wolves, and they'd probably attack him right on sight, despite knowing about Drago's cybernetic enhancements and therefore running a bigger risk; with Razorklaw, despite the traditional rivalry with the feline tribes, the wolves would be more careful and keep their cool when finding him. Also, despite both villains having superweaponry, Lobo's new flight capacity and magical mace, added to his own fighting abilities and the support of his warriors, would make him a more than worthy opponent for the lynx even without Spike's help.
The purple dragon separated from the wolves and started tracking down the cybernetically enhanced renegade wolf. Despite his metallic limbs, Drago's warrior training still made him a stealthy fighter plus he had his own trained, enhanced senses, so locating him wasn't easy at all. Spike had to search for almost half an hour before a breathing sound alerted him.
"Okay, Drago, get down here." Spike looked up a tree, and a moment later, Drago emerged from the foliage, hanging from the branches like a large, muscular ape.
"Well, well, well, look who's here. If it isn't Princess Sally's little pet."
"Drago, you better make this easy for all of us. You know why I'm here; you're a traitor, a renegade, an exile..."
"... a burglar, a bad guy in general, and I don't brush my teeth after eating." Drago replied mockingly while finally landing in front of Spike, looking down at the dragon. "So, you're the great Infinity Dragon I've been hearing about for the past year."
"And you're a deluded sociopath." remarked Spike.
"I missed you back in New Mobotropolis," Spike frowned slightly, referencing a previous encounter.
"No you didn't; you got me good." Drago flexed one of his arms, revealing a now-repaired hole in his cybernetic limb.
"Let's cut to the chase. Lupe and Lobo want me to take you back to the Wolves' Village, and get you caged so we can take you to New Mobotropolis' prison; if possible, peacefully, and maybe try to analyze your cybernetic limbs, so we can use their technology for peaceful purposes, like, prosthetics for our soldiers who lose their limbs in battle."
Spike frowned as Drago jumped over him and leaned on his shoulder.
"Oh, I bet they would." Snarled Drago with a sadistic look on his face.
"Personally, I'd skip the 'peaceful' part and just beat you up and drag you back unconscious, but let's make this your decision, shall we?"
"Mmmm... Do lets..." Drago rubbed his chin, pretending to think about the whole deal until he threw a hard punch at Spike's head. The dragon received it and rolled in mid-air, landing on his feet and ready for battle.
Drago tried to punch Spike, who blocked and kicked him away. Despite the impact's power, Drago had enhanced himself since last time they fought, so now he was much stronger and could stand these and harder attacks.
"Ready or not, here I come!" Drago charged at Spike, who started morphing his staff into something resembling a chainsaw. Then, Drago surprised him when his cybernetic arms produced what seemed to be an energy field; Drago then jumped on top of him and trapped Spike under the dome.
"Heh, you like the new 'extras' I added to my cybernetic parts?" Drago cackled. "I know you can chew your way through solid rock and diamonds, but this is solid energy! And..."
Drago stopped talking when hearing loud, digging/sawing noises coming from under the dome. He thought about disappearing it to get a clear look, but realized he'd need it to trap Spike again if the dragon charged at him, so the villain just lifted the dome and growled when seeing a large hole in the ground.
"You digged your way out..." Drago soft growled, not noticing that Spike was actually hidden under the dome's ceiling, and looking down at him. Then, Spike jumped down, and used his saw on Drago's right arm; the wolf howled/yelled in surprise and anger, and the dome disappeared as his arm fell to the ground.
"Now, unless you wanna lose the other..." Spike growled at Drago but stopped when Drago grabbed him by the collar with his remaining hand and threw him up at the closest tree top.
"You are not gonna..." Drago yelled when a harpoon/grappling hook hit his body; Spike had morphed the staff again, this time into a grappling gun with a line attached, and then the dragon pulled up Drago with all his might... maybe a bit too much, because Drago flew up, way over the trees and far away.
"Oops. My bad." Spike half-chuckled before summoning his wings again and flying after Dragon.
Meanwhile, Lobo and his warriors had already found Razorklaw, and were in the middle of a fierce battle. The lynx had the edge in strength and speed, plus he had upgraded himself just like Drago, but Lobo was giving him a very good fight with his flying ability and magical mace, and the two sentinels provided him with a very good back-up, so the combat was pretty even.
"You are doing good, Lobo, I admit it, but I'm gonna rip-off those wings of yours, and then I'm going to make you eat that mace..." Razorklaw stopped talking when hearing a howling noise. "What the..."
WHAM!
Drago landed right on top of Razorklaw, injuring them both. Lobo, grinning, lost no time and used his mace to summon a powerful lightning attack, hitting the villains at full force. Spike landed next to him a moment later.
"Keep them like that for a moment, Lobo." Spike grinned while calling the sentinels to stand next to him. "Time to show them what happens when you combine the Time and Space Stones' powers." Spike grinned while a little energy dome covered them all, courtesy of said Stones. "Teleportation!"
Back at the wolves' village, the ceremony was almost ready to start. Basically, they were just waiting for Lobo to arrive; being the wolves' co-leader, his participation was pretty important, and his absence was making the dragons a bit nervous, since they were all eager to become part of the pack as soon as possible.
"Don't worry. I know Lobo; he always arrives on time." Lupe smiled at the dragons.
A split second later, a blinding light appeared in the middle of the village, and when it disappeared, revealed Lobo, Spike, the sentinels and the villains.
"Whoa. Your husband doesn't like making you a liar, uh?" Discord grinned, enjoying this little surprise.
"Heh... hey, Drago, need a hand?" Garble joked when noticing the cybernetic wolf's injuries.
"Hey, Lobo, Spike, joking aside, you guys need a hand?" Sonic asked his friends as the blue hedgehog, the ponies, dragons and the villagers got ready to assist in the battle.
"Thanks, Sonic, but we've got this covered." Spike grinned before whistling at his other half (the other Spike, not Sally); both Spikes fused back together a second later, meaning the dragon had full power again.
"What? More dragons... or whatever?" Razorklaw, recovering partially from the last attacks, groaned when spotting Discord and the ponies.
"This is getting overcrowded." Drago groaned, realizing that now he and Razorklaw had lost the element of surprise and weren't in the best conditions for a long battle. "I'm out of here!"
Drago activated another new enhancement of his; hyper-speed. However, when he tried to escape, he was quickly stopped by Sonic and Rainbow Dash standing in his way, and then hitting him full force, Sonic with super fast punching and Rainbow with a hyper-fast double kick, sending him back against Razorklaw.
"Ow! Again?" Razorklaw groaned. "This is becoming a running gag or what?"
"Oh-oh-oh, do it again!" Pinkie said in excitement. "Rule of three!"
"Heh, in a moment, Pinkie." Spike grinned as he had another idea. "Mmm... this would be better with some background music."
Spike used his Reality Stone to create exactly that, background music, as he charged at the villains. The purple dragon started doing quick martial arts moves, punching and kicking Drago and Razorklaw while dodging all of their attacks with ease; the villains tried to coordinate themselves, but the fact they were still surrounded by their enemies (meaning this was a lost battle anyway) and that Spike was now getting access to Sonic and Rainbow's minds, with their permission, meaning he was getting an insight on high-speed-battling, was a combination they couldn't beat, with Spike seeing all their moves in slow motion and connecting all his attacks with ease. The moment the song ended, both villains were barely conscious; Spike then stopped and morphed his Infinity Staff into a pistol-like device.
"Well, guys, I hate to do this, but since it's obvious you two are gonna be a pain in our tails while you still have those cybernetic limbs, maybe you should lose them. Tails, may I..?"
"Go ahead, Spike." Tails grinned while concentrating on his Roboticizer's design and basic mechanisms. Spike used the Mind Stone to connect himself to Tails' brain, and used his knowledge to modify his pistol, until it was pretty much a portable version of the Roboticizer, powered up by the Power Stone.
Spike shot both villains, who yelled in surprise and pain as their cybernetic limbs were changed into organic ones. A few seconds later, they were 100% flesh and bone.
"Our... arms... and... our power..." Razorklaw gasped when looking at himself.
"No... you didn't..." Drago growled.
"Hey, look on the bright side; you got your arm back." Spike grinned.
"And I'm using it for this!" Drago, furious, tried to punch Spike, but the dragon caught his fist with ease.
"Drago... stop. You don't wanna get your new arms broken, right?" Spike grinned at him.
"You... stupid lizard... you don't deserve this power... You are nothing but an overgrown pet that got lucky... You don't deserve to be a hero, or a warrior, or to be a princess' boy toy... Without your stones, you're nothing..." Drago snapped at Spike while still trying to break free from his grip.
"Yeah, I'm lucky; but I worked hard to get what I have. You don't think I got these stones in a cereal box, right?" Spike smirked at him.
"You can't. I already tried." Pinkie chuckled while taking a cereal box out of nowhere. However, this didn't stop Drago from talking.
"Nnnngh... whatever... the only reason you became a hero and a princess' boy toy was because some girl in your world broke your heart after she chose a prince over you." Drago frowned, still trying to get free.
Rarity frowned at this, hating whenever anypony (or whatever) reminded her of all the heartache she gave Spike; Blueblood felt very uncomfortable as well... and Spike frowned too, hating himself for making that part of his life pretty much public knowledge after he moved to Mobius.
"You know what, you're right, but, guess what? I got over it, because I learned to accept it and move on. And you know what?" Spike now grinned. "Rule of three."
Spike swung Drago around, still holding him by his hand, and threw him back at Razorklaw, who had no time to even try dodging, and got hit again. Spike grinned and approached the two fallen villains.
'Oh, and one last thing, Drago."
"What!?" Drago, in very bad shape by now, looked up at Spike.
"Punch in the face." Spike yelled as he punched Drago in the face and knocked him out... and also knocked out Razorklaw, since the lynx's head was right behind Drago's, and when the wolf's head was sent back by the punch, it hit the feline's head as well.
"Heh, that counts as Double Knockout, or single knockout with collateral damage?" Ally chuckled at the scene.
"We'll let the judges decide that later." Sonic joked back.
The whole village cheered on Spike, and a moment later Sally stretched herself to hug him and give her beloved a very long, passionate kiss. Once the excited Mobians and Equestrians calmed down a bit, the villainous duo were carried to a cell so the ceremony could finally start; Allly and Daemon offered themselves to carry the villains, since they could fly and do it a lot faster.
The dragons got in line in front of Lupe and Lobo, all of them ready now for the ceremony. Once the first steps of the ceremony were done, Sally, behind the dragons, morphed her clothing again, this time having long white gloves and showing a good section of the arms as she did the outfit sleeveless. She also changed the mid-section, so her athletic waist and abdominal muscles were visible, and shortened her pants while making her boots to cover the most part of the legs. Finally, she made her hair to grow a lot more, giving herself an overall sexier, wilder look, as her 'royal', more formal duties were now fulfilled and she felt like getting a more natural, wild appearance; Spike didn't mind at all.
The ceremony continued, and all the dragons received a little feather in their heads, a symbol of officially getting accepted in the pack. Then, they all took turns to touch a large artifact, similar to a purple gem (the dragons had to pause for a moment to remind themselves it wasn't dinner), with Shakes and Fumes being the first ones, as they were, by now, more than used to the wolves' ways plus having already focused themselves on not eating the artifact; and then all the dragons, and Lupe (the one holding the gem and directing this part of the ceremony) howling in a perfect chorus, completing the induction; the whole village, including the ponies, Discord and the other Freedom Fighters, joined in the howling... and Babs Seed wore a wolf disguise, provided by Pinkie Pie, while howling much louder than the other Cutie Mark Crusaders.
"We really need to discuss your canine instincts when we get back to Equestria." Apple Bloom grinned at her cousin, who just shrugged and continued howling.
After a few minutes of howling, the celebration started officially; the Mane Six felt quite comfortable with the wolves, due to the time Lupe, Lobo, the twins, Daemon and Maria had spent at Equestria plus the fact the village reminded them a lot of the Appleloosa's buffalos' town. Pinkie, not surprisingly, was wearing a buffalo-inspired outfit while dancing and playing with some of the youngest wolves; no matter the place or dimension, she would always be one of the kids.
After a while of regular dancing and celebration, the dragons decided to do something special for the villagers and, of course, their respective couples. They all got together and started singing, with Ally directing them; obviously, they had been rehearsing this for a while now.
Garble: Woah Oooh
Spike: Celebration
Garble: All this talk about being in love
I could never get into the party
Puff: Never really understood what it was
Like what's the big deal anyway?
Spike: Oh, but I decided I should give it a try
The very moment that you gave me the invite
I've never seen anything like it before
Once you open the door
See I was like…
Altogether: Oh yeah yeah don't get any better
Oh yeah yeah wish that this was forever
Your heart calling
Feels like confetti falling
And it's a celebration,
Feels like a celebration
Cause your heart calling
Feels like confetti falling down, down, down.
Clud: And everybody's gonna make an appearance
Even the butterflies came, what a feeling.
Fumes: And then bliss came with Mr. First-Kiss
It was better than they ever explained it
Vex: I think I even saw Cupid flying 'round
I caught a glimpse before the lights went down
Shakes: And when I turn to see the stars in your eyes I realize…
And I was like
Altogether: Oh yeah yeah don't get any better
Oh yeah yeah wish that this was forever
Cause your heart calling
Feels like confetti falling
And it's a celebration,
Feels like a celebration
Cause your heart calling
Feels like confetti falling down, down, down.
Vex: See I know it's getting late
Only wish the sun would wait
Spike: And let this party last a little longer, yeah.
Fumes: See I know love it comes and goes
But this right here
Shakes: I don't think that I ever want to let it go
I wish I would've known….
Spike: All this talk about being in love
I could never get into the party
Now I understand only because
You show me the way
And I was like...
Suddenly, twelve cannons fired a whole mess of confetti simultaneously and made a surprising finish for the song. Pinkie took out a sign with a '10' on it, approving the idea.
Altogether: Oh yeah yeah don't get any better
Oh yeah yeah wish that this was forever
Your heart calling
Feels like confetti falling
And it's a celebration,
Feels like a celebration
Cause your heart calling
Feels like confetti falling down, down, down.
Whoa down, down, down
Whoa down, down, down
Your heart calling
Feels like confetti falling down, down, down.
Whoa down, down, down
Whoa down, down, down
Cause your heart calling
Feels like confetti falling down, down, down.
"Encore! Encore!" The Cutie Mark Crusaders and several villagers chorused while the others clapped and cheered for the dragons' performance. The dragons' mates then joined them and kissed them long and tenderly, Twilight smiling happily when seeing Spike and Sally enjoying themselves.
"I might miss you alot at home, Spike, but it's obvious your happiness is here. And your happiness is mine as well." Twilight shook her head. "Except when I have to clean up Derpy's messes."
"Give her time, Twi. She'll get better." Spike replied via the Mind Stone, and then smiled both at Twilight and Sally. "I know I did."
And a few days later, when the ponies and Discord returned to Equestria, Twilight knew, more than ever, than her little brother was in the right place...
CRASH!
"Sorry.."
… and that she needed to buy more resistant furniture.
- The End.
*Disclaimer: The song 'Confetti Falling' is sung by Big Time Rush which is owned by the Columbia/Epic Label Group, I have no ownership of it in anyway possible.