Metal’s POV, the following night

I ran down the dark hallway with as much speed as I could muster in my damaged condition.

Now I bet you're wondering how I got so hurt, well let me explain what happened.

After I had warned Jack and Gilda about Discord and Mephiles' alliance I quickly went to face the spirit of chaos in hopes of being able to distract him. What I didn't know was that Mephiles had granted Discord with higher tier magic. Instead of chaos magic, he now had what he called 'Apocalypse Magic' I was able to hold off the demon for a good while before Chaos had finished collecting the last shards of the master emerald.

Once that was done I teleported out of the area. I decided that it was best to keep the now complete master emerald in my storage, making it impossible for someone to take it. I warned Chaos of Mephiles and what he could do. Without Iblis to be the brute force and strength of Solaris, Mephiles would go for the next best thing, my watery friend Chaos.

So, I was taking a breather in a nice field outside Ponyville with Luna when Spike, Tails, Omega, Gamma and the Mane 6 showed up, a look of urgency upon their faces.

“Rainbow, Metal, I’ve just received a letter from Princess Celestia. She wants all of us in Canterlot ASAP. Something about a second Shadow and a being that can wipe out the whole multiverse if it isn’t stopped…you wouldn’t happen to know anything about this second Shadow, would you Metal?” asked Twilight.

"Hmm? Oh, that's just Jack, another displaced like me, Gale and Lisa." I answered with my eyes closed and a tired tone.

"What about the being of destruction?"

"That would be Mephiles the Dark. You really should be worried about that since Discord has allied with him." The group just stared at me with disbelief. "What?"

"Discord is free!?!?" They all yelled, causing me to jump at the outburst.

"Yeah, I just got back from facing him, and boy is he a lot stronger now, something involving 'apocalypse magic' or some shit like that." I said like this was just a normal thing.

Twilight looked among her friends and noted the fear in their eyes. But, we all knew that something had to be done to stop those monsters from destroying everyone and everything. “We need to get to Canterlot and find out what this Shadow knows about this Mephiles. It’s the only chance we have at saving not just Equestria this time, but the entire multiverse,” she said, her voice wavering slightly.

"Great, another Xram incident. Fine, I'll take us there now. Chaos Control!" With a bright flash of light we appeared in the throne room in Canterlot, where Princess Celestia, Jack, and Gilda were waiting for us.

“Metal Sonic and friends, thank you all for coming under such dire circumstances,” said Celestia.

I just walked to the side of the room and leaned against the wall while Celestia informed the group on the situation with Jack and Gilda. As they were talking I suddenly heard a voice in the back of my head.

'What are you doing to yourself Metal Sonic, you could take this world as your own! But instead you spend your days protecting these inferior creatures!'

'I know that's you Mephiles, don't try and sway me with your mind games.'

'Oh but Nathan, I already have.'

The voice ceased and I looked around the room, everyone was gone. The walls were now a dark blue and the moon shone through the window behind the single throne. I looked to the throne and saw a dark figure sitting in the chair.

'Look closer Metal, what do you see?'

"What I see is a sorry attempt at tricking me into switching sides."

'Look closer...'

Humouring the being of darkness I walked forward to get a better look at the figure. Once I got a glimpse of who was in the chair I stopped dead in my tracks.

"No..."

Jacks POV

We all gathered around Metal who had fallen unconscious all of a sudden. Luna and Rainbow began looking him over and calling out his name but he just wouldn't active. Just then we heard the laugh of Discord and Mephiles echoing through the throne room.

Suddenly Metal was hit by an explosion and blasted out of one of the glass stained windows. Luna and Rainbow tried to catch him but he fell into a dark portal that disappeared when he fell into it.

I looked over to the throne where Mephiles was now sitting with a smug look on his face.

"You! What did you do to Metal!?" Demanded Luna as she charged her horn. Mephiles snapped his fingers and teleported away before a blast of magic could hit him.

"Why, I've merely borrowed him for awhile. He's the biggest threat to me and my plans in this world so I'll need to...make some adjustments."

Luna and Rainbows faces became furious. "Give us back our coltfriend you monster!" They yelled in unison.

"In due time my dears, in due time. Until then, have fun with Discord." The echoed voice ceased and the ground shook. Outside Discord was laughing like a psychopath with a dark red aura emitting from his body.

"Welcome to the apocalypse boys and girls! Uncle Discord's gonna show you a good time. Trust me...it'll be a blast!"

Just then multiple sections of the castle exploded. Celestia and Luna teleported us out of the castle and onto a cliff on the mountain the city was supported by.

"Um, was that there before?" Asked Tails as he pointed up in the air. We all gasped at what we saw.

A dark floating island had appeared surrounded by storm clouds. A dark castle sat at the top of the floating land.

I pulled out one of my pistols and sighed. "Breaks over kiddies, time to go to school."