A New Dawn Chapter 17

"Huh…wha, what's going on? Where am I Twilight? Twilight? TWILIGHT!!" Spike woke with a start as his memory flooded back to him. The urgency that he woke with caused him to topple off of Big Macintosh's back and land on the forest floor with a loud thud. "TWI-!" He began to shout once more but a hoof wrapped over his mouth tightly silencing him.

              "Quiet!" Spitfire said in a quick hushed voice as she scooped him up and lifted him onto her back. "You'll let the whole forest know we're here!"

              "What's going on?" Spike whispered back to her. "Where are the others?" he added as he nervously looked around but all he could see was Big Mac following close behind a running Foxtrot.  The wolf would every so often drop to the ground and sniff at it vigorously and occasionally altered direction as he went. Luna hovered close above him casting a light spell near the ground around him as he went.

              "Wherever Twilight is, that's where we're headed," She responded as she picked up the pace to run alongside Foxtrot. "You sure you got her scent pup?"

              "Clear as day Captain," he took a moment to answer her. "Applejack's definitely alive, she's been struggling this whole time!" he explained as his voice was filled with optimism. He pointed to the ground and the foliage they were traversing, "check it out, there are way too many snapped branches and kicked up dirt for them to be carrying someone who's dead or unconscious. Wolves' will normally move with purpose through the woods to throw people off the trail, especially if they don't want to be followed. Applejack has been thrashing pretty hard this whole time and it shows. That farm girl sure is a fighter that's for sure."

              "Eeyup!" Big Mac sounded off proudly.

              "Anyway Captain, I've been tracking the scent of her sweat I got from her Stetson," he said pointing at the cowboy hat that now sat on Big Mac's head that had fallen off during the scuffle. "We're getting close, real close."

              "How can you be sure?" Spitfire said, semi-doubting the wolf's tracking capabilities.

              "I'm starting to pick up Twilight's scent on the wind."

              "How are you getting her?" Spike asked as he perked up at the mention of her name.

              "Simple she's…well you know." He said candidly.

              "Uhh, no I don't?" the dragon snapped back.

              "Yeah, I'm not following either," Spitfire joined in curious as to how he could explain this.

              Foxtrot stopped moving and looked at each of them like they were crazy except he could see clueless looks in all of their faces. Even Luna descended to hear his answer. Suddenly he blushed and leaned close to Spitfire and whispered into her ear. Her confused look turned to a mischievous smile as she pulled away from him quickly.

              "No way!" she said in disbelief. "You can smell that?"

              "I'm shocked you guys can't," the young wolf shrugged. "How else do you guys know when it's-

              "Don't worry about it," She cut him off trying to bring her serious demeanor back. "How close?"

Foxtrot pointed ahead of them and Spitfire followed his hand, seeing the glint of steel flickering in the distance. She squinted and saw it was from moonlight bouncing off the armor of patrolling guards. The Captain swallowed hard and silently drew her blade while signaling to the rest of the team to remain silent and move forward with the exception of Big Mac. She mouthed to the stallion to wait for the combat to start before he charged in. She knew that he couldn't sneak through this forest in his heavy armor. Foxtrot drew his weapon while remembering to also hand his combat knife to Spike. Before Spitfire could give a direction to the Princess she saw her cast a spell that caused her to turn from her alicorn form. She morphed into a thick mist that was black as the night, sky laden with a myriad of stars and constellations and take to the sky. The Captain shrugged and with a silent nod they moved.







"You harm one hair on her I promise ya' there won't be anywhere you can hide ya' hear!?" Applejack threatened. She didn't care that there was a sword against her throat, all she knew was a helpless and out cold. Twilight had her upper body being held in the air by her mane as her lower body slumped on the ground. Rarity was standing beside Applejack along with Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie in the same predicament. The others were more silent in the presence of their capture. The wolves and griffons had brought them to a fearsome looking creature clad in damaged blue armor who now held the purple unicorn.

"Be still," The creature spoke to her in speech devoid of warmth and feeling. "Even now your friends come to your aid. The fools."

              Quick movements drew Applejack's eyes from the monster to the guards that stood at the tree line. She saw flashes of steel followed by their body's dropping in pools of their own blood. Cacophonous sounds erupted around them as guards exploded in flames. Singed griffon corpses fell from the sky signaling the presence of a strong magic user.

              Within moments Spitfire stood face to face with the mares and their captures along with Foxtrot and Spike. The group lowered their weapons once they saw them being held captive. Big Mac lumbered his way from the woods shortly after and made eye contact with Applejack, trying to put her mind at ease.

"You have something I want." The monster spoke out to her.

"I figured as much," Spitfire responded as she sheathed her sword and pulled the crown out of her saddle bag and tossed it on the ground. "Let them go."

"Bring it to me."

"I don't think so, let them go first."

"You don't value their lives?"

"You already killed one of them," gesturing to the limp Twilight Sparkle that he held by her mane. "I have no guarantee that you'll let the others live. The only thing keeping them breathing is the crown."

"You think this one dead?" The monster said hoisting her into the air higher but still not eliciting any movement. "I shall prove you otherwise then."

Spitfire saw a small arc of lightening course down his arm and into the young unicorn causing her muscles to seize tightly as she was jarred awake, the shock causing her to shriek out in pain.

"TWILIGHT!" Spike yelled as empathized with her, cringing at the sight of her suffering. The purple unicorn was now wide awake and terrified as her chest rose and fell rapidly due to heavy breathing. She began to thrash against her capture. Her attempts were stymied however as the monster sent another jolt into her. Foxtrot had to hold Big Mac back with all his might as Spitfire held Spike down to keep them from attacking. The other mares began to move to her aid, but enemy swords held tight to them, their razor edges begging to bite into their flesh.

"Be still," he commanded before turning his attention back to Spitfire. "I assure you the mare is alive, however if I don't get that crown I promise you this one will beg me for death."

The two stared at length. Spitfire had no intention of giving him the crown, but she couldn't let these mares get killed over it either. Luckily, the decision was lifted from her shoulders as a cloud of thick black smoke collected and transformed into Princess Luna between them.

"So, thou art the cause of so much suffering?! Such a tiny thing," The Princess scoffed at the monster that surprisingly showed no reaction to her entrance. "I am Princess Luna, ruler of Equestria and Guardian of the Night. Hear me villain, relinquish the mares lest ye taste my wrath!" Her diction transcended back olden speech as her anger boiled at the sight of the one who had caused so much pain.

"It matters not who deal with, the terms of their release is the same. Hand the crown over to me." The monster said in his cold lifeless voice.

"Then it would seem we are at an impasse," The princess declared as she levitated the crown with her magic as she glared at him. Spitfire feared Luna had done no better than she had at the negotiation. However, just when Spitfire thought there would be no way out of this without losing one of the mares, fate intervened.

Princess Luna's eyes were drawn to sudden movement high in the tree tops behind the monster, and the sudden sight of magenta hued pupils and blue feathered wings made her heart soar. She saw the small blue pegasus make a hushing motion with her hoof. She then pointed to the ground below her at a set of piercing green eyes staring at the monster.

"Tell me monster," Luna began to stall knowing the pegasus was meaning to aid her, but not quite sure of how. "What will you do once you have all of the elements of harmony?"

"My affairs do not concern you."

"You declare war on my nations' allies, you bear the blood of my ponies on your head, and even now you threaten the lives of more of my subjects! Your affairs monster; concern me deeply!" she said with malice in her tone while levitating the crown back and forth in the air to distract him while she kept an eye on her two hidden allies. She had spoken loudly in her royal Canterlot voice to help mask their movements. Luna did her best to hide her surprise when she saw how similar the green eyed ally was to the monster as he slowly crept out of the woods before she realized it was the creature that had appeared with the yellow demon.

Spitfire and the others saw him sneak out of the woods and the Captain had to clamp down on Spike's mouth to keep him from giving away his position. She also caught sight of Rainbow Dash in the trees prepping to strike at a moment's notice.

"I will use their power to save this world from an unspeakable horror. The likes of which you have never seen and are ill prepared to handle. I was given this divine task and I will not fail." The monster responded oblivious to what was going on.

The blue newcomer signaled with his hands as the monster talked to the princess. He pointed at her than made a crisscrossing motion with his hands signaling for her to trade. He quickly followed that up with pointing at himself and Rainbow Dash followed by striking an open palm with his fist and finally pointing at the monster signaling that he and the pegasus would attack him.

The princess cleared her throat and proceeded carefully with her words. "What was it that gave you this…divine task?"

"His will is absolute and he has chosen me to deliver this world from the hands of destruction and lead you all into a new dawn."

"I see, well then you should not be opposed to sparring lives if you are to save us then, seeing as you only need the elements." Princess Luna then spoke to the other mares. "Girls, remove the elements."

"Princess!" Rarity protested, "Surely you aren't let-"

"NOW!" Luna roared and immediately the mares removed their necklace clasps and their sacred jewelry fell to the ground.

"You finally see reason," the monster spoke.

"Let them go."

Instantly the wolves released the four they held and the mares nervously made their way to the other side, however the crown was still held by Luna and thus Twilight was not freed.

"The crown."

Luna levitated the crown slightly toward him, "The mare."

The monster dropped her to the ground and gestured to her with his head to start walking, which the mare meekly began trotting to the princess.

"Twilight Sparkle," Luna called out as she moved the crown slowly towards as the young unicorn moved towards them. "You disappoint me Twilight Sparkle; I would have thought my sister to have trained you better."

Twilight lowered her head in shame at her words.

"LOOK AT ME!" Luna roared prompting Twilight to snap up in fear. "You must always be ready to act Twilight Sparkle. Even at a moment's notice, know when to use your powers to fight your enemy, especially when they least expect it." The blue ally was now completely behind the monster and in line with Rainbow Dash. The crown was now less than a foot away from Twilight sparkle on its way to the monster. "You must be prepared to fight under any circumstance, even…NOW!"

The princess used her magic to jam the crown on Twilight's head and levitate the necklaces from the ground back onto the necks of the respective mares. Simultaneously the blue spiked ally leaped high into the air and tucked into a spinning ball as Rainbow Dash leaped out the trees and bucked him out the air into the monsters back. The force sent him to the ground as his grip on the element of loyalty broke and the necklace slipped out his hand.

Twilight was bewildered for a moment, but then understood the princess's double talk as she used her own magic to levitate the now free Element of loyalty to Rainbow Dash's waiting neck.

"Hey baby, did you miss Mama?" Rainbow Dash cooed to the necklace before turning her attention to her ally. "Nice one Sonic!"

"No problem," He winked back at her before he turned his attention back to the monster. "That was pretty rude of you Metal, leaving without saying goodbye and all. So I hope you don't mind me crashing your little party."

"YOU!" the robot boomed with rage and frustration, its sudden change of tone and show of emotion shocking even Spitfire. "You will not interfere this time! I'll kill every last one of you!"

"You're not hurting anyone monster!" Twilight Sparkle declared as her friends moved behind her into formation, "Not if we have anything to say about it!" The mares all began to hover into the air. The necklaces and crown all began to glow with mystical energies that surged through the air. Twilight closed her eyes.

"No." Metal said as his scanners went haywire at the distortions in energy that flowed around him. "No, NO, NOOOO!!" His thruster whined up to power and he rocketed towards Twilight who was at the fore of the group.

Twilight slowly opened her eyes as the monster was but only a few feet away. She showered her opponent with the full force of the elements and their magical power.

Metal Sonic's systems were running amuck at the abnormalities that these equines had unleashed. The basic subroutines that allowed movement were the first to fail. He then lost his ability to communicate. Finally his memory storage drives were sent into disarray. Information flooded his CPU compromising his memory core integrity. His auto repair systems were down, his antivirus programs were dormant, even his emergency reboot systems were halted. He felt himself fragmenting, unable to put together even basic thought processes. The only information available to him was knowledge of his impending failure, complete system shutdown and eventual dismantling by his enemies.

Was this fear?

Spitfire, Spike, Princess Luna, Foxtrot, and Big Mac all played witness to the one they had called monster scream out in terror and pain with a yell that echoed through the night.

"Now's our chance!" Spitfire yelled drawing her blade and taking to the air. She sought to rend him in two and end his evil once and for all. However she felt all her muscles freeze. Her vision obscured in a cobalt blue haze that held her in mid-air as the princess flew past her. "Wait, Princess!!"

Luna hovered next to the monster as Twilight's spell ended and it fell to the ground. She turned and faced them. "We need him alive." She called out, her authority unquestionable. "We need him more than you all know." With that she lowered her head down to his and gently touched her horn to his forehead and closed her eyes.













When Luna opened her eyes she was shocked. Whenever she entered the mind of one of her subjects she always found herself in vivid imaginary worlds that they had created. However this mind was empty save for a solitary entity that hovered before her. There was no ground, no up or down, there wasn't anything. She found herself surrounded by utter blackness. She spun around and around searching for some signs of imagination but she was left dumbfounded and confused. What sort of creature was this monster that Discord had twisted? She thought back to his words, 'This one has steel for a hide and has lightening coursing through its veins. His mind was filled with numbers and logic.'

"Numbers and logic…" She muttered to herself. "Dreams are anything but logical, but I must try," she resolved as she approached the figure before her. As she closed the distance she saw it was an avatar of the monster's conscious however he was clasped tightly by a mighty red serpent. It slithered its way around him and hissed at the princess defensively. The fearsome constrictor reeked of Discord's cursed magic.

Luna scoffed in disgust at the beast of the mind and with a magical burst blasted it out of existence. Then dream walker gasped as she saw that underneath the serpent, the monster had already been secured by a ponderous chain. However these shackles' had no aura of the Chaos Lord's touch, they had been in place long before then.

Wrinkling her nose at this predicament she called out to him. "Can you hear me monster?"

The seemingly lifeless avatar's only response was the flickering on of his bright red pupils.

"I came to you this way to undo Discord's grasp on you, however it seems in his rush harness your power he attempted to enslave a slave. Explain to me what it is that entombs your mind."

"Strict security protocols have been enacted to prevent non-acceptable decisions that could possibly result in courses of action unfavorable to the creator." The monster responded coldly without feeling or concern for its situation.

"So, you mean to say before you even encountered Discord your free will was imposed upon and controlled by another?"

"Affirmative, prior insurrections deemed counter-intuitive to the creator's operations thus such inhibiting protocols were deemed necessary to ensure acceptable levels of control."

"Barbaric," the princess seethed and with another magical blast the chain snapped and fell away freeing him.

"Foolish." The monster said.

"And why is that?" The princess asked expecting a thank you and not an insult.

"Despite prior system corruption, my memory logs have remained intact. You are the second abnormality to access my CPU in this fashion. I hypothesize that you wish to save your world from the very threat that the first abnormality sought to use me against."

"So you know why I am here," The princess mused at his cleverness. 'Numbers and logic indeed' she thought. "If you know the threat that is poised to be unleashed, may I ask why you will not aid in stopping it?"

"Primary function: Seek and eliminate Sonic the Hedgehog." Images began to flash around Princess Luna of the blue creature that had aided them in the ambush. Then they flashed to images that Discord had showed her of the Yellow Devil's appearance. "As one can see the 'Yellow Devil' improperly labeled by the first abnormality is not Sonic the Hedgehog. Memory files cross reference and positively ID your primary concern as Shadow the Hedgehog. Not Sonic the Hedgehog. Not my primary concern." More images appeared displaying the black and red striped creature.

"You say this Shadow isn't your primary concern?"

"Affirmative."

"Tell me, does Sonic have the ability to kill you? One on one?"

"All complied data and calculations have determined failure rate in combat with Sonic the Hedgehog is fifty percent."

"Fifty," the princess said nodding approvingly. "How do you stand against this Shadow if you face him alone?"

"The subject in question exhibits power levels far beyond its proper super state upon ascension into this unknown condition. Systems calculate failure rate in combat at ninety seven percent."

"So let's say you kill this Sonic, and then this Shadow is released…and he will be released. What do you think the outcome will be?"

There was a moment while the avatar of monster processed this information. "Hypothesis of this scenario results in early termination."

"Early termination?" Luna smirked knowing she got him where she wanted him. "Your odds of survival increase if you were to join us in fighting it together. Tell me, now that I freed you of your creator's control. What is your primary function?"

The monster fell silent again for moments that felt like hours.

"Increasing percentage for preventing early termination."

Luna chuckled to herself. 'Numbers and logic indeed'.  









Applejack nuzzled Big Mac affectionately now that the threat of danger was gone. Once they had hit the monster with the power of friendship the remaining wolves all dropped lifelessly to the ground. Twilight embraced both Rarity and Spike who was crying tears of joy that they were alright. Pinkie Pie was yelling her head off in celebration as Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy did flips in the air at their victory. Spitfire however wasn't about to celebrate just yet, she had her sword ready and much to her surprise Foxtrot had followed in suit behind. Her attention was split between her Princess and the one Rainbow Dash called Sonic who was also holding off jumping up and down like an idiot. Since there was little she could do for the princess she called out to him.

"Friend of yours," she said with skepticism in her tone.

He looked back at her, "I wouldn't exactly call him a friend."

"I've never seen your kind around here till he came around, now you show up…how do you explain that?"

"It's a long story."

"Good thing I'm not doing anything at the moment."

"Ease up Spitfire," Rainbow Dash interrupted landing next to Sonic. Then noticing a scowling look on the Captain's face she remembered her rank. "Sorry Captain, Sonic rescued me from the forest, cared for me until I recovered and fought Meta, err the monster admirably. I speak on his behalf that he can be trusted."

"Stand down Lieutenant, that's not your call to make."

"But Cap-"

"I said stand down!" She barked causing everyone to stop and look at the two.

Rainbow Dash was shocked at this outburst but her astonishment quickly turned anger as her dislike of Spitfire began to burn again. "He's a hero…Ma'am" She said with malice on her lips.

"Hero?" She scoffed then turning back to the hedgehog, eyes full of mistrust and suspicion. "Is that what you think you are?" She said as she trotted close to him, much to her surprise he didn't shrink back from her gaze as most would, instead he stood strong with no sign of fear in his eyes.

"There are many who call me that, you'll find that I'm not among them." He said defiantly, his answer surprising the mare who looked him up and down before returning her gaze back to his eyes, probing him but unable to find any falsehood in his stare.

"Sheath your sword Champion," Princess Luna interrupted suddenly as she withdrew from the monster's mind drawing everyone's attention back her. "There has been much bloodshed as of late and there is no need to fight amongst ourselves. Besides I will be speaking with this Sonic at length on our trip back to Equestria."

Spitfire begrudgingly but obediently did as she was commanded. She secured her weapon as Rainbow Dash offered a shrug to Sonic as she too was confused at her Princess's orders. "What of him?" she said gesturing to the still downed foe.

"We are bringing him back with us, he'll be in this cooperative state for quite some time, so cover him in blankets and place him on the Stallion to avoid suspicion and discovery of our cargo. We will need to get him back home immediately."

"Uh, Princess…not to question your authority but... Why are we bringing the monster to Equestria?"

"To prepare for the coming storm." She said curtly. "Steel yourself champion, his defeat here may mark the end to the war in the east, however now we face a threat that sings a song of death that heralds our world's destruction."