Twilight Sparkle's Story

Again, Twilight charged up her magic, this time launching it into the fog's focus in the form of a magic arrow.

At this time, Damian soared overhead with Sonic, taking notice to what Zeta and Garrison are doing. "Oh no - ! They're more than halfway through!"

The fog dissipates and the indigo light is revealed.

"-AAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaane!" shouted Alex, being carried past Damian by Terrus and followed by Duma.

"At least it gives us some time to stop them! Let's do this!"

Sonic jumps off from Damian, forms into a flaming ball, then charges down Zeta and Garrison like a blue meteor.

Zeta is quick to notice this. "Well, at least I won't be needing you anymore." With that, he had Sigma shoot Andy toward Sonic.

"(!!!) Oh crabshacks!!" Andy screamed as he was sent flying toward a blazing Sonic.

"Princess! Fend them off. We just have a little more to go," Zeta told Twilight. The alicorn looked up at Terrus and Damian, and sent a salvo of magic bolts toward them.

"(!) Get on the defensive!" Damian shouted while parrying incoming shots with his wings.

At this time, the aircraft that Lucas is piloting flies in, with Mario, Kokonotsu, and Xi on board.

"Where is he? Where's he at??" Xi asked desperately.

"(!) Down there!" Mario said, pointing to Zeta down near the barrier.

"Charge up, Sigma! We're going to bleach out this light." With that, Zeta charged a new essence through Sigma, its maw casting out a pale-golden light, much like the sun, on the layer.

Garrison assists with the defense, materializing a large metal hand from within his miasma form and beginning to fire several bolts of dissonant energy at the Templar aircraft, in an effort to discourage Lucas from piloting it any closer.

"You're far too late to stop us, little worms!" shouted Garrison.

Elsewhere, Ripsaw soon flies into the area as well, following after Terrus.

Terrus also parries the shots with his wings, Alex cursing up a storm as the shots narrowly miss him. Meanwhile, the light cancels out the indigo layer, leaving only one between Zeta and the inside of the chamber.

"Crud!" Sonic goes up to Andy and gets him on his feet, "Sorry about that, kid. Didn't mean to do that." Then he angirly points at Zeta while giving him an angry look in his eyes, "As if trying to break the seal is bad enough, that was a cheap trick, Zeta!"

"Ooooogh..." Andy replied in a dizzied state.

"You can take that up with him soon," Zeta replied. He was about to re-conjure the Turnabout portal to suck away the purple layer's essence...

"Zeta, stop!!"

"...!"

Zeta stopped as he turned toward the source - Xi, hopping out of the landing aircraft and approaching him. Damian also touched down.

"Wh...? {shakes head} N...No! That's impossible! You...You can't possibly be here!" he said in confusion.

"Please, brother! You can't possibly mean to free him!" Xi pleaded.

This news surprised a lot. "Did...Did she just call him 'brother'?" Lucas asked.

Terrus tries flying down closer so Alex can get easy access to the ground. Despite Alex's protests.

Zeta was truly confused right now. "That can't be...They said...They said you were taken out...! How can you possibly - ?!"

"I don't fully understand it myself...but I did survive somehow," Xi replied. "Please...you don't need to do this. We can find peace somewhere, I know it!"

"..." Zeta wasn't sure what to do now. Should he continue on with this plot? Or should he have faith in his sister's words...?

"Don't listen to her, Zeta," Garrison's voice whispered to him. "We've come so close to changing everything. This world runs on lies, on fear; on cowardice, manipulation and prejudice! You know this."

Ripsaw meanwhile touches down in the background as well, watching the scene unfold - causing a pause from Garrison, before he quickly resumes, motioning to Alex.

"Remember how easily they threw away that Koopa over there? The man they praised as 'hero', they just as quickly discarded when Morbul and those like him were no longer deemed a threat to their influence, fearing his own power! With such real evil in charge, who's to say they won't hunt YOU and your sister down next time, if you decide to turn your back on this, after jeopardizing their regime?"

Garrison pauses for dramatic effect, before leaning in close to Zeta and whispering.

"Who's to say, during her absence.. that she hasn't been indoctrinated?"

"..."

Without a word, Zeta begins charging up the same solar energy as before. Lucas, Mario, Kokonotsu, and Damian nearly flinch as he did this. Xi wasn't sure if what she said even mattered. Zeta then aimed Sigma at the last barrier, and fired the amassed energy...

...which veiled itself over it, forming a new layer.

"I practice indoctrination," Zeta said to Garrison. "I know it when I see it." He then jumped back, aiming Sigma's charging maw at Garrison. "The deal's off!"

"Alright! Now we're talkin'!" Sonic cheered for Zeta's decision. Maybe Unita will not have to worry about Morbul now that Zeta refused to continue any further.

Garrison merely sighed at this.

"..I had high hopes for you, Zeta. Sky high, in fact," he said. "With Morbul free we could have watched, laughing, as this foul world descended into an irredeemable abyss of anarchy, at the hands of the immortal Messiah. I was even prepared to help you find your lost father, in the end; although, I suppose it matters little now."

Garrison shifts his mass, the cloud of miasma making up his form churning and swirling.

"Daedalus," he uttered.

Out of nowhere, a large, albeit unusual-looking saw blade suddenly flies out from behind the crowd of heroes, striking Zeta from behind in his exposed flesh and embedding itself. This sudden event doesn't stop there, however - once embedded, a surge of electricity erupts from the blade, shocking Zeta with enough juice to induce paralysis.. whereupon the cyborg should soon coincidentally start to feel his energy draining.

"COMMAND CORRRE OVERRIDDEN. PRRROTOCOL DAEDALUS NOW IN EFFECT. GOOD DAY, LORRRD PLANTIUM," a booming robotic voice roared, coming from behind the heroes.

Terrus has a bad feeling and turns to see the source of the voice, turning Alex with him.

Behind the heroes is Ripsaw; looking much more monstrous than before, however. He stands in his full splendor, rigid metal plating shifting about over his limbs and head as he vents steam from his body, numerous metal tendrils meanwhile writhing about in the air around him, many of them carrying several more of those special saw blades that he just attacked Zeta with, some instead holding onto full-fledged buzz saws. Not only this, but sitting on his shoulders is a fairly large rail gun; his glass eyes meanwhile glowing with a foreboding pale-yellow light, instead of their usual sapphire hue.

"COMBAT ANALYSSSIS ENGAGED, MOVING TO INTERRRCEPT."

Roaring in a bestial rage, this 'new' Ripsaw soon leaps forward over the heroes, landing in the space between them and Garrison/the barrier. Facing the heroes and brandishing his blades and talon-like claws, the rail gun on his shoulders starts whirring loudly as it takes aim at them.

"They say betrayal cuts deepest when the knife is being held by a friend," said Garrison snidely, as his physical body formed. "In this case, the friend is a giant killer robot with hundreds of them. Have fun."

Ripsaw roars again as his rail gun starts charging vast amounts of energy, before he fires it upon the heroes.
Garrison in the meantime quickly turns back towards the prismatic barrier, not content on giving up - he had already bore witness to one major defeat already. That was enough, and by the goddess he would succeed this time; with or without Zeta's assistance.

Clenching a shadowy hand in disgust and anger, Garrison channeled his dissonant powers - a foul aura glowing around it - before firing a concentrated beam of indigo light at the barrier, in an effort to counteract and dispel the new solar layer Zeta had put in place.

Zeta let out a distorted scream of agony as the sawblade electrocuted him and sapped his energy.

"Brother - !!" Xi cried out in shock.

This, of course, resulted in Zeta's control over Twilight Sparkle to break, making the alicorn snap to her senses, albeit rather exhausted. "Ooooogh...what...what happened...?"

As for the barrier that Zeta applied, it soon gave way to Garrison's furious assault. No telling how the purple layer would take to it...

"C'mon!" Lucas said, hurrying toward the scene.

"No need-a to say that twice!" Mario said, leaping in, followed by Kokonotsu.

"Why you...!!" Damian growled, sidestepping the railgun shot and clawing through several of Ripsaw's tendrils with his Griffe Noire.

Meanwhile, Andy came to his senses, taking notice of the scene around. He first saw Garrison tearing into the barrier, then he saw the enraged Ripsaw, and then Zeta suffering.

The final purple layer seems to be doing just fine, transporting the dissonant energy somewhere else, but it can't hold up forever. Meanwhile, Terrus drops Alex (safely... ish) to the ground, landing under the rail gun shot while Duma dodges to the side.

"Designation Ripsaw," said Terrus. "I don't believe I have told you how much I hate traitors."

Terrus transforms his right arm into a rail gun much like the one Ripsaw is currently using.

"So let me tell you now," said Terrus. "I hate traitors."

Terrus opens fire on Ripsaw.

"Wrong move, Ripsaw."

Sonic charges his spin dash. Once charged, he shoots himself towards Ripsaw's head and bashes him in the noggin.

"I guess playing a role of a double agent wasn't your best idea, was it?"

The tendrils Damian cuts off fall harmlessly to the ground, although some of the ones that are equipped with buzzsaws swoop after him and try to slash him. Meanwhile, Sonic's attack hits Ripsaw successfully, leaving the robotic goliath disoriented and open to Terrus' rail gun shot, the force of the blow cracking part of his outer plating. Ripsaw turns directly to Terrus after this, however.

"PROCESSSSING RETORRRT. YOUR MOTHER," Ripsaw droned uncreatively, charging up a rail gun shot once more and firing it at Terrus, some of his tendrils throwing a number of sawblades at Sonic in the meantime.

Back over with Garrison, the metal man turns his head over towards Ripsaw as he works, trying to see how his old-turned-new friend is fairing (which is not too good). Rolling his eyes with dissatisfaction, he turns back towards the prismatic barrier and outstretches his other arm, firing a second beam of dissonant energy into the void layer to help speed up the process.