Chapters Chapter 1: I'm Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog
“W-wh-wh," Sonic stuttered, “who and what are you"?
“Well," the horse with the southern drawl began, “Ma’ names Applebloom and this here’s Scootaloo an’ Sweetie Belle”, Applebloom said while pointing to the others in which they were announced. “And together," they said in unison, “we are the CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS, YAY!!".
Sonic had to cover his ears to protect his ear drums from the shouts that came from the three fillies. Sonic sat up in the middle of them, unable to speak. He was astounded at the place he was sent to, how were they able to talk, how was it even possible? Then again, he was in no position to think that because he had a talking, engineer fox as a best friend and a bunch of other animal friends that were able to speak as well. That is when it all came crashing back down on his conscious.
“I," Sonic started, “OH NO, WAIT!”. Sonic began to frantically look around himself and the three fillies who gave him curious and confused looks as he searched the immediate area. “WHERE ARE THE CHAOS EMERALDS!?!". This gave the three fillies a look of horror and bewilderment as they still processed part of what he just said.
“Did you say, ‘chaos’ emeralds," Scootaloo asked.
Sonic stopped his panicked search of where he sat on the ground and immediately turned his attention to the orange Pegasus filly. “You’ve seen em’,” Sonic asked with hint of hope in his voice.
“No," Scootaloo responded, making Sonic's look of hope vanish completely from his face, “it is just… strange".
Sonic now gave Scootaloo a look of confusion and asked, “Strange how"?
“It is strange because,” the Cutie Mark Crusaders looked at each other, deciding who would finish the response, “it’s strange because we thought Discord only had the power to create chaos”, Sweetie Belle finished.
“Who’s Discord," Sonic asked, causing the Cutie Mark Crusaders to gasp in surprise.
“Discord," Applebloom began, “is the demi-god o’ disharmony and chaos, wherevr’ he walks, everything will be out o’ tune and be all… Wonky, a' guess would be the best word to describe it.”
“What are you, a dictionary," Scootaloo retorted.
“Oh, so you wanna start this now in front of our new friend," Applebloom practically barked than asked.
“Maybe I do," Scootaloo snapped back.
Applebloom pounced on Scootaloo and began tumble and wrestle around with inaudible arguing occurring as they did. Sonic and Sweetie Belle just sat there watching it happen. Sweetie had the biggest grin of amusement as Sonic looked on, astonished and confused. After a few seconds of the fight, Sonic looked to Sweetie Belle.
“Does this usually happen when they meet someone new," Sonic asked.
“No," Sweetie answered, “only when Scootaloo feels like getting under Applebloom’s skin”.
From the commotion, Sweetie and Sonic could make out a few phrases as they fought. Some such as “HEY, NO BITING” and “EYE POKING IS CHEAP”. This was better than any other entertainment you had to pay for, at least to Sweetie Belle. Sonic, though, could no longer take any more of it. Sweetie looked at Sonic amazed as he stood up, he was about a foot taller than the fillies were, and walked over to the fighting friends to break them up. He got to them and grabbed both by the scruffs of their necks and picked them up out of reach of each other.
“Alright, ALRIGHT, break it up you two," Sonic commanded.
“Oh come on whoever you are, let me at her, I almost had her," Scootaloo complained still swinging her hooves in Applebloom’s direction.
“You almost had me," Applebloom sarcastically asked, “your mind must be all sorts o’ messed up Scoots, probly from those hits I got in on ya”. This angered Scootaloo and she swung even harder at Applebloom, but it was all for not because she was nowhere near close enough to hit her while she was in Sonic's grasp.
Sonic felt his blood boil as they still went at it, trying their hardest to hit one another as they dangled in Sonic’s hands. Applebloom and Scootaloo insulted each other some more until Sonic hit the breaking point and yelled, “ENOUGH," causing Applebloom, Scootaloo, and even Sweetie Belle to look at Sonic in fright. “I swear," he began again after a few seconds of peaceful silence, “the way you two fight and argue, I would say that you were married to each other”. This caused Applebloom and Scootaloo to look at each other and get a look of disgust on their faces and Sonic an amused smile on his. Sweetie Belle burst out into an uncontrollable fit of squeaky laughter, causing both Applebloom and Scootaloo to give her a look of anger.
Sweetie Belle noticed their hateful gazes and slowed herself to a few chuckles, eventually stopping completely and clearing her throat. She was able to say, “Sorry," with a sheepish grin, but she still giggled a bit at them, looking away with her eyes closed and her hoof covering her mouth hoping to stop the flow.
Sonic chuckled, causing all three to stare at him with blank looks. He noticed them and began to speak. “I’m going to put you both down now, but you have to promise not to fight anymore, and by the way”, Sonic paused and looked at Scootaloo, “my name is Sonic , Sonic the Hedgehog”. Applebloom and Scootaloo nodded in agreement at the same time and Sonic placed them both back on the ground.
They both rubbed their necks where Sonic had grabbed them as Scootaloo said, “Man Sonic, you are strong, you lifted us both without any effort what so ever”.
“Well," Sonic gushed, “I have lifted some heavy things in my days and will more than likely need to in the future so I got used to doing heavy lifting”.
“How much can you lift," Sweetie Belle asked with peaked interest.
“Well I never really measured it before but I would say at least twice my size," Sonic answered.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders all Ooooed at this as they all began to ask him various other questions. Some included who his other friends were, where he was from, but one question beckoned them all.
“So," Scootaloo started, “tell us more about these ‘chaos emeralds’, what makes them so special?”.
“The chaos emeralds are very powerful gems from my world that turn thought and passion into power. There are 7 in total and are colored in red, yellow, blue, light blue, purple, white, and green. When all 7 are gathered together, they create this very powerful force called ‘chaos control’ which can do different things such as teleport you to far locations, open a portal to another world; which has happened to me, or create a very wide blast if not contained or controlled. Unlike most, I am one of few who can use just one emerald to create a weakened version of chaos control. Though, once they are all gathered together and chaos control is created and done with they spread out all over the place and must be recollected again. My arch-enemy, Dr. Eggman," Sonic was interrupted as the Cutie Mark Crusaders giggled at this. Sonic gave them an agitated look and they quieted down.
“As I was saying," Sonic continued, “my arch-enemy, Dr. Eggman, must have collected them all behind my back with his robots because I always stopped whatever plans he thought up and put into action and was going to try and control another world with their power by using a special made portal designed for the chaos emeralds, not once has he gotten away with anything, not as long as I’m around”. Sonic’s eyes suddenly shot open, unaware that he had closed them, and a look of fear came over him.
The Crusaders noticed this and Sweetie Belle asked for them, “what’s wrong Sonic”.
“If I’m here," Sonic began to answer, “that means there is no stopping Eggman from trying to take over my world again, that is why I need to collect them again, so I can go back home”.
"What about your other friends," Applebloom asked, "can't they stop him".
"Maybe," Sonic answered, "but I am what you might call a 'leader' and without me they would attack without order and Eggman could probably take them down, but I hope they are strong enough without me".
All three fillies looked at Sonic horrified. This Eggman guy didn’t sound too nice to them, so they were going to find out about him more.
“What about this Eggman character," Applebloom questioned, “he doesn’t sound too nice”.
“He isn’t”, Sonic answered, “he is an evil genius mastermind that will do anything and everything he can to get his way. He claims to have an IQ of over 300 and he uses it to build his robots that he calls ‘mechs’ to try and stop me and to also do his dirty work. He also puts little animals inside them to power them. They aren’t that hard to destroy however, one little homing attack and they’re done for and the animals are freed without a scratch”.
The Crusaders became puzzled at this response. “What the hay is a ‘homing attack’, huh," Scootaloo asked in a demanding tone.
“My homing attack is one of my so called ‘talents’ that I have, just like using chaos control," Sonic responded with a smirk in his voice.
“Well Sonic," Scootaloo said, “will you show us this homing attack and afterwards tell us more about your other special traits, if you have any”.
“Alright," Sonic said as he stood up, the crusaders standing as well, “do you have anything for me to demonstrate it on”?
They all looked around, but were unable to find anything that Sonic could demonstrate his homing attack on. All three sighed together and looked down with their eyes closed, that is when an idea sparked in their heads. “Hey," Scootaloo began to ask as Sonic looked at her, “why don’t you try it on one of us”. All three crusaders put their heads together and gave the most innocent smiles they could make.
Sonic’s eyes became wide at the idea and immediately began to shake his head no. The crusaders gave him an upset looks as they all asked together, “why not”?
“Didn’t I say it could destroy a robot, what do you think it would do to you," Sonic asked in an angry, panicked tone.
The smiles the crusaders had plastered on to their faces slowly melted away. They went into deep thought about it, but decided he could do it later. “Alright," Scootaloo began, “how about you tell us about your other talents then, since we have to skip over the homing attack”. The other crusaders all nodded their heads in approval to the idea Scootaloo pitched.
“Weeelll," Sonic contemplated, “I can demonstrate this one talent I have called a spin dash, it helps me to get a boost and take out enemies that can’t be homing attacked, would you like to see it”? Sonic knew it was a rhetorical question for he already knew what they would say, yes. As expected, they all nodded with each other, so Sonic had no choice but to show them now. He crouched and placed his hands on the ground and began to charge up, making sure he was faced in a direction the crusaders weren’t in.
The three fillies looked at him in awe, as they saw him spin around in a stationary circle with some mystical forces flying in and out of him until finally, he took off. It was difficult for the crusaders to keep up with him because he moved really fast, he even left behind a blue streak as he went and rolled in a circle around them until finally stopping where he had started.
Scootaloo, of course, was the first to speak. “Do you ever feel sick when you do that," she asked. Sonic chuckled at this question but soon answered it.
“The first time I did it, I felt a bit queasy. After a while though, it just feels second nature to me," Sonic said. “And while it may look like I am spinning in a circle, I’m not. That force that gathers around me just makes me look like I am doing that. I am actually stationary in the ball I’m in, that is how I was able to control where I rolled”.
The crusaders stared at Sonic in astonishment, but were soon right back into it. “TELL US MORE," they all commanded at once.
“Let’s see," Sonic pretend pondered, “I have this special little amulet that allows me to turn into something else. I gained a special power from the first time I used chaos control I call ‘Sonic Wind’ where I basically kick a line of wind at an enemy to stun and/or destroy them. Hmmm, what else," Sonic thought long and hard about it, with his thumb and pointer finger rubbing his chin and his eyes closed in deep thought. Sonic’s eyes shot open and he snapped his fingers. “Of course, how could I be so dumb, it is like the best thing about me”. This caused the crusaders to get all giddy with excitement as Sonic was about to reveal to them his best quality. “I can run really fast”. That response caused all three of their excited smiles to fall. Scootaloo scrunched her eyebrows together in anger and confusion.
“Hey," Scootaloo said angrily, “how is running special, if running is a special talent then everypony should have another cutie mark like that”. The other crusaders agreed with Scootaloo’s statement.
“Well, because I can runREALLY fast," Sonic retorted.
“Well how fast are we talking here," Scootaloo asked, “probably not any faster than AppleJack or Rainbow Dash”. All three looked to him waiting for an answer. Sonic leaned in to whisper to them.
“Try the speed of sound," Sonic said in their ears with a smug smile. This gave them all a surprised look to their faces and caused a smirky smile to crawl its way onto Sonic’s face as he leaned back away from them and crossed his arms.
“U-um," Scootaloo stuttered, “prove i-," Scootaloo was cut short as they heard a howl in the distance. Sonic’s ears perked up as screams of terror followed shortly after it. “Oh no," they all said together. “Sonic comin’ here must have disturbed em’ and now they’re on a rampage in Ponyville," Applebloom exclaimed.
“Wh-what was that," Sonic asked, panicked.
All three of the crusaders looked to Sonic with fear tears welling up in their eyes and said the answer to his question together in unison, “Timberwolves”.
Author's Note
I hope this will allow my story to pass moderator examination. If it doesn't I am going to be P to the ISSED. Because this, in my opinion, is a great story idea and would be a shame to see it go to waste. Hopefully I will see you all in the next one. :). I also plan to update this every week because, some may not believe this but, I have a life. (Okay not really I am just lazy and have a bad disease called procrastination, not sure if you heard of it but it is pretty bad. I also have school to focus on, so, expect updates on weekends) :)
Chapter 2: Eggman's Revision
"Equestria," Eggman began, still in disbelief over what had just happened, "sounds like a very peculiar place."
"Boss," Orbot started, "what do you plan to do," he asked.
"What do you mean 'what do I plan to do'," Eggman asked back.
"I mean, what do you plan to do about Sonic. You forgot to set the portal to send him to the Snogroz err.. Zorgons to be eaten. He is more than likely still alive in the place where he has been sent."
"What's that I hear about sending stuff," Cubot asked out of the blue, "because I love sending stuff and receiving things too. I especially love getting packages and letters, but not as much as packages. OOH!! Remember that one time I sent you guys something in the mail which really wasn't necessary because we all live together but hey, who cares, right? Anyway.."
Cubot went on to ramble about sending items to others and skipping from one subject to the next, somehow the last thing he says of a topic connects with another subject of discussion. Eggman and Orbot just stared at him for a second, appalled, until they both face palmed themselves.
Orbot didn't mind his friend's incessant talking because he could just tune it out if he wanted to. Not Eggman though, he had to endure every word that came from the annoying little cube-shaped, yellow robot until he could not take anymore. Eggman felt a something snap in his head, afterwards he had no control of what came out of his mouth.
"Oh for crying out loud Cubot, SHUT! UP!!" Eggman said with the last words coming out in as a staccato.
"Then the bunnies..," Cubot stopped short of the rant he was on after he heard the words that exploded out of Eggman's mouth. He immediately shied away and didn't make another sound.
"That's better," Eggman said with relief in his tone, "now, onto the issue of Sonic. He probably still would be alive, but how would we know?" Eggman asked Orbot.
"I know," Cubot blurted, "why don't you check the description of the world with your thingy majigger there."
"That is actually not a bad idea Cubot," Eggman praised, "alright then. Let's see here," Eggman said as he scrolled through the names of the holographic projector screen, finally stopping on Equestria.
"Alrighty, aaahhh here it is, Equestria." Eggman began to read it out loud for his robots to hear, "Equestria is a world inhabited by talking colorful ponies. These ponies come in an array of four types of species: Earth, Unicorn, Pegasus, and Alicorn. They all live together in harmony, mostly. Some may fight with one another but the magic of friendship and the power of teamwork always keep them together." Eggman stopped reading for a moment to look away from the screen and pretend to gag on what he just read. "Should I still take over this world," he asked himself. After his moment of melodrama he began to read again. "There are six special artifacts that protect their world from all kinds of evil called the 'Elements of Harmony' wielded by six ponies, each one of them representing an element of harmony, the six elements are: Generosity, Honesty, Laughter, Kindness, Loyalty, and Magic." Eggman finished reading the description of the world and turned from his monitor. He bent over and fell to his knees in fake agony.
"I am not sure which is worse," Eggman started, "the Zorgons or, THAT place."
"Well boss, look at the bright side," Orbot said.
Eggman looked up to his robot and said, "which would be?"
"Well, Sonic isn't here."
"Yes, we have established this," Eggman said in a mocking, sarcastic tone.
"Which means he won't be bothersome."
"Just get to the point," Eggman commanded.
"Point being, instead of trying to take over Equestria now, why not focus on Mobius again. Sonic is out of our, I mean, your hai-," Orbot stopped after he noticed the coldest stare his creator ever gave him, "Oh, you know what I mean," Orbot said, trying to ignore the dark gaze from Eggman.
"Let me tell you why Orbot," Eggman said as he stood up, "because Sonic's other stupid animal friends would interfere and I would definitely be outmatched and outnumbered. If I went outside and so much as sneezed, they would be there on the spot with a handkerchief and a containment unit. But with Sonic in Equestria, he is cornered. The chaos emeralds most likely spread out again in Equestria because of chaos control. That won't matter though, he has probably already collected some of them trying to get back here. It seems like I am stuck between a rock and a hard place, what to do, oh what to do," Eggman said as he closed his eyes and tilted his head forward while scratching his chin in contemplation.
Eggman became frustrated the more he thought about how Sonic was messing up his plans even though he wasn't there. Every second that thought went through his head, the angrier he became. Soon his anger got to extreme heights in his mental state. Then, all at once, it began to seep out slowly, like someone purposely cracked the container for an explosive device so it would come out slowly instead of building up and exploding.
"GRRRAA," Eggman growled as he began to stomp his foot on the ground in anger, "even when that blue menace isn't in this dimension he somehow finds a way to screw everything up. If only I could find another way to travel between dimensions, I could go there and take care of Sonic myself. I could download a map of the land into my Egg Mobile and hunt Sonic down, he would be trapped like the rat he is. If only...," Eggman trailed off and looked to Cubot, who had found interest in something apparently only he could see on the wall. Eggman thought about if for a second and then cracked a small smile. "Ooohh Cubot," Eggman called.
Cubot looked to his creator who was motioning to come to him. Cubot hopped over to his master, stood in a salute and said, "Yessir."
"You seem to be an idea guy, tell me, do you know how we could try traveling across other dimensions without needing chaos control."
"Uuuumm," Cubot ponered as he scratched his chin, "how about you try reading that description on your thingy majigger there."
Eggman's hope for a good idea was flattened like a pillow when it was sat on, also resulting in losing his smile. Eggman soon became angry with his robot and began to seethe and shake in rage. Eggman's entire face and the top of his head became bloodshot red. Eggman began to speak after he calmed himself the most he could, which wasn't very much.
"NO YOU USELESS PILE OF BOLTS, WHY WOULD I DO THAT AGAIN. YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO HELP ME, NOT SPITE ME!!" Cubot had never seen Eggman this mad before. He had to dodge of the way when Eggman tried to kick him, resulting in Eggman falling flat on his back. Cubot quickly hopped away and hid behind another machine in the lab.
Orbot floated over to his delirious creator who was groaning from the pain he just experienced and from having the wind knocked out of him. Orbot chuckled a bit a this, just as Eggman was coming to mentally.
"Oh, so you think this is funny," Eggman asked with an obvious hateful tone to his voice. Orbot immediately stopped chuckling and cleared his throat, which was still non-existent.
"Well," Orbot started, "it is kind of ironic in a way. But anyway, are you alright sir," Orbot asked with genuine concern in his voice.
Eggman groaned as he sat up looking toward the machine Cubot was hiding behind, just in time for him to notice Cubot to duck behind it. I will as soon as I disassemble that idiot piece-by-piece." Eggman said this loud enough so Cubot could hear it. Orbot shuddered at the angry threat but was quick to try and defend his friend.
"Maybe he was onto something sir." Orbot knew this response would probably not help in the slightest because he couldn't think of a way in which Cubot was onto something. He was mainly just trying to buy some time for his startled friend cowering behind the machine. Orbot readied himself for the yelling he expected from Eggman for siding with his friend, so he closed his eyes and waited. When the yelling did not come, he opened his eyes and looked to Eggman, a look of confusion was adorned to his face.
"Maybe," Eggman whispered to himself, "just maybe." Eggman quickly got up and power walked back over to the monitor. He began reading the description of Equestria again, making gagging sounds as he read the parts that mentioned friendship and other cute things that made evil-doers like him sick.
While Eggman was a grown man and an evil genius mastermind, he was still immature and acted like a child from time to time. Whenever he didn't get his way he would just whine and complain about it to Orbot and Cubot, then get depressed and just mope around, but not for long because soon after that phase of his childish act was done he would begin planning out another scheme and put it into action, all just for it to come crashing down again because of Sonic. While Eggman did act like a kid, he never gave up. Whether it was a last resort move or he had to think of a new plan after the last resort on one plan failed, he never gave up. Cubot even complimented him on it, saying that he gets an 'A for Effort.' (More like F for Effort.) That is what made Eggman powerful in his own way, his head-strong attitude and will to accomplish his goals at any means necessary, even if they do mostly end in failure. While everything we try either ends in success or failure, it is in the attempt itself where we find the true meaning.
Anyway, getting back to the monitor, Eggman speed read the description of Equestria. Cubot came out from hiding behind the weird lab machine and watched Eggman read from the holographic screen along with Orbot. Orbot noticed Cubot was still a little shook up from what Eggman said and did and had said again. He pat Cubot on the back and whispered, "it is alright buddy, he didn't mean any of that stuff he said, and look, he isn't mad anymore and is doing the idea you suggested again, isn't that great, " Orbot asked in an attempt to calm his friend.
Cubot look at Orbot, then to Eggman, then back to Orbot and said, "yeah, that is pretty great." Cubot immediately stopped shaking and began to calm down, finally relaxing. Cubot wasn't sure how, but his best friend Orbot always knew how to make him calm down, he guessed it was just a special talent that Eggman uniquely installed into Orbot.
Back at the holographic computer screen, Eggman found the part of the description he was looking for and read it over and over again to himself. "Six special artifacts... wielded by six ponies... the six elements... the six elements... six elements... the six."
Author's Note
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. As always, please point out any mistakes I made. I didn't type this in word this time so there is bound to be more mistakes. If anyone would like to be a proof reader or knows a good proof reader, I am open to suggestions. See you all next week in the next chapter, BACK TO EQUESTRIA. And as always, Stay Beautiful :D.
Chapter 3: Everfree Forest - Act 1 and 2
Sonic felt his heart pounding in his chest from the panic and worry he noticed the Crusaders gave off, and a little bit of panic struck him as well. He could tell that the friends the Crusaders had back in this "Ponyville" were in deep trouble and would need a hero, a Sonic hero. Sonic shed himself of the anxiety, put on a serious face, looked at the Crusaders and began to speak.
"Point me in the direction of this 'Ponyville' you mentioned earlier Applebloom," Sonic said sternly, wanting to get an immediate answer.
"It's this way," Applebloom said excitedly, pointing her right hoof in the direction she was speaking of.
Sonic turned his head to look at the huge forest Applebloom pointed at.
"We cut through it to get to you," Scootaloo added in.
Sonic just nodded his head at this, then he began to speak. "Alright, you three had better stay here while I run to the town and see what is going on," Sonic said commandingly.
"NO!!" Sonic jumped at this very loud exclamation that came from all three Crusaders. "Those are our friends over there," Sweetie Belle said, pointing her hoof in the direction of town. "If you go, we are going with you and there is not a thing you can do about it," Sweetie finished.
Sonic sighed and shrugged at Sweetie's reasoning. Sonic knew they weren't going to take no for an answer, so he had to keep his defense up extra high for his and their sake. Sonic was raring to go, but there was a small problem he had to address before running off. "How do you three plan to keep up with me," Sonic asked.
All three Crusaders gave him blank stares before saying anything. Scootaloo was the first of the three to speak. "What do you mean, 'how do we plan to keep up with you' Sonic," Scootaloo asked for the Crusaders.
"Didn't I just tell you I was really fast," Sonic asked back.
"We didn't believe you." Sonic stared slack-jawed at this comment, what would make them not believe him? "And to answer your pointless question," Scootaloo started, getting an angry look from Sonic in response, "we have my scooter right over there," Scootaloo said as she pointed to a stump that was a little in the distance from them. "It has a wagon attached to it so these two can ride along with me," Scootaloo said as she trotted over to Sweetie Belle and Applebloom and put her arms around them, pulling them into a semi-tight hug. "It goes pretty fast even with the other two weighing it down so you might have a hard time keeping up," Scootaloo said with a smirk in her voice as she rubbed her hoof on her chest and examined it.
Sonic, at this point, was way past angry, he was more in between of being of furious and going on a rampage. Sonic knew though that he had to stay calm or else, "It", would happen. Sonic started to take this as more of a challenge rather than an insult. So Sonic began to calm down as he crossed his arms, leaned back, closed his eyes and chuckle.
"Well, if your scooter is SO fast, why don't I put it to the test," Sonic asked with all the confidence he had in his voice.
"What do you mean," Scootaloo asked back.
"I mean a race, the first one through the forest and into Ponyville is the victor. I'll even carry Applebloom and Sweetie Belle so they won't be weighing you down, what do you say," Sonic asked as he held out his hand.
Scootaloo pondered this for a moment before her train of thought was derailed by another roar followed by a loud scream was heard coming from the direction of Ponyville. Scootaloo quickly grabbed Sonic's hand with her hoof and shook it vigorously while saying, "Deal."
With all the arguing that Sonic and Scootaloo did they had forgotten what was important at the moment, so they worked fast to go see what was happening in Ponyville. Scootaloo ran over to the stump, grabbed her scooter and helmet, and went to the entrance of the Everfree Forest. Sonic also jogged to the entrance of the forest, scooping up Applebloom and Sweetie Belle on his way there, tucking them safely in the O shape his arms made, making sure they were secure.
Now that they were all ready, it was time to race to Ponyville to stop the Timberwolves and to prove who was faster, but mostly stop the Timberwolves.
"Someone countdown for us," Sonic asked, getting in a comfortable starting position.
"Alrigh'," Applebloom said, "3," Scootaloo revved her engine, "2," Sonic got ready to take off, "1," the tension for both was unbearable. Scootaloo didn't know why she was worried that she was going to lose, but a bit of doubt still floated in her cloud of thought. "GO!!" Applebloom shouted and almost instantly, they were off.
Due to Scootaloo being small, agile, and a bit acrobatic, she was able to dodge any hanging or sticking out branches they may hurt her, or her chances of winning the race. Since Sonic was bigger than the three fillies and because he had two to take care of and watch for, Sonic lost the lead. Thankfully his quick reflexes aloud him to see what was coming and dodge it easier and make some progress to keep up with Scootaloo. Sonic had to prove he was the fastest, but he couldn't go the speed of sound because of the fillies he held in his arms.
Scootaloo thought she was in the clear, but soon she saw a blue blur out of the corner of her eye. Of course, it was Sonic, catching up with her. She threw her scooter into a higher gear to try and get ahead, but it did not seem to help at all because Sonic still kept up and even gained on her, getting to the point of being neck and neck.
Sonic looked over to Scootaloo and Scootaloo looked to Sonic. Sonic gave the biggest and smirkiest grin anyone would ever see and gave a two finger salute to her in a way where he could still hold on to Sweetie Belle without dropping her. After that, Sonic just blasted off, getting who knows how many feet ahead of Scootaloo, leaving a big dust cloud behind and literally leaving her to bite the dust. She coughed into her hoof and used it to try and clear the dust away. After the dust cloud dissipated though, she just saw nothing but forest. No Sonic, no Applebloom, no Sweetie Belle, nopony. That is, until she heard the growl.
Sonic ran still, jumping over logs and ducking branches. He was getting sick of seeing all the trees and just wanted to win and get to ponyville, there were others to save. Finally, he saw a light at the end of the trail and headed straight for it. After somersaulting over some more fallen trees in the path and dodging branches, he finally burst through the Everfree forest entrance into open space. He could see ponyville in the distance so he slowed to a stop. He put the two ponies who shook in his grasp down, and waited for Scootaloo, doing a little victory dance in the process, then lied down on the ground to wait for the slow-poke. Sonic waited, and waited, and waited, but still no sign of Scootaloo.
What Sonic thought was a scream from Ponyville turned out to be coming from the forest, Sonic thought Scootaloo was in trouble, so he sprang to his feet, told Applebloom and Sweetie Belle to stay put, and rocketed back into the forest. He was now able to to more agile stunts without having to carry the two small horses, which made jumping and dodging branches a lot easier.
He followed the source of Scootaloo's screams to a little clearing with a hut in the back, along with a lion-looking animal, a Zebra, and the very frightened Scootaloo cowering behind the Zebra. The Zebra was throwing some types of glass bottles that broke and produced a little puff of smoke, but all it did was anger the creature. That is when the Zebra spoke up.
"Back you manticore beast, this little filly is not to be your feast," the Zebra said, Sonic noticing she spoke in rhymes.
"Thank Celestia you arrived Zecora, or I would have been done for," Scootaloo said with a bit of shakiness in her voice. Zecora only nodded as she continued fighting the beast.
The manticore could not longer take the annoyance of the smoke bottles and lunged toward Zecora, pinning her to the ground and causing Scootaloo to scream and take refuge behind a rock. This was Sonic's cue to take action.
"HEY, UGLY," Sonic insulted the beast causing it, Zecora, and Scootaloo to look in his direction. "Eat, THIS," Sonic said as he ran a few feet steps ahead and jumped into the air. Things slowed down in this instant, the only thing anyone was concentrated on was Sonic. Sonic was locked onto the manticore now and the timing was just right. He blasted off in the shape of a ball, using nothing but the air behind him and hit the manticore square in the nose, causing it to fall back and whimper. Scootaloo was amazed at the performance she just saw, it was just like Sonic said, it was very powerful indeed. Scootaloo had just witnessed a "Homing Attack."
The manticore ran off whining, holding its face with one paw as it did. Making sure it was gone, Zecora got up and dusted herself off, then motioned for Scootaloo to come over to her. After Scootaloo was beside her, Zecora began to speak.
"Tell me, creature of blue, just who exactly are you," she asked Sonic in rhyme.
"I would love to stay and explain," Sonic began to answer, "but I have a Ponyville to save, get your scooter Scootaloo." Scootaloo nodded and ran over to her scooter, secured her helmet, picked up her scooter and began riding.
0o0o0
After getting back to the entrance of the forest Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were all over them, scared and excited about what happened. When Sonic got them to calm down, Applebloom asked the question that the two uneducated Crusaders were begging to know. "Wha' happnd," Applebloom asked. Scootaloo looked to Sonic, who gave her a smile and tilted his head towards the other Crusaders, signaling for her to go ahead and tell them. Scootaloo breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly, looked to her friends, then answered.
"Guys," she said slowly at first with a frown, but her frown soon turned into a very bright smile, "I think I witnessed Sonic's homing attack."
Author's Note
I hope you like it, I wrote this very late at night and kind of rushed it so I could sleep so it might be shorter than the others and might have quite a few errors. Either way, just go ahead and point out the mistakes and I will fix them. And as always, Stay Beautiful.
Chapter 4: The Deadly Meeting
Eggman rode up the elevator, impatiently tapping his foot and moving his left sleeve to check his non-existent watch. With him in the elevator were his two "dumbots" as Sonic liked to call them from time to time. Orbot and the somehow still loyal and faithful Cubot, stood, or, floated rather, on either side of him.
*Ding*
"It's about time," Eggman said with as much gruff in his voice as possible.
The doors slid open slowly to reveal a launch pad with Eggman's trademarked Egg Mobile, prepped and ready to go. Eggman hurriedly ran over to it, along with his bots, jumped in and started it up. The machine sparked to life in an instant, then Eggman gave his computer a command.
"Computer," Eggman started, "open the roof hatch so I can take off." The roof to his launch pad building slowly split open, just like the elevator. As soon as it was open enough, Eggman floated up and out of the secret base launch pad. After Eggman had flew out, the roof automatically began to close itself and engaged a cloaking device, more than likely to hide it from any military aircraft that flew over.
Now Eggman was on his way, ready to anything that he could to destroy that hedgehog, get the chaos emeralds, and take over another world, and if he became powerful enough, EVERY world.
o.0.o
Eggman flew for what felt like hours, which it probably was, until he finally arrived at the place where he and Sonic's last adventure had taken place, the Lost Hex, home of the Zeti, or Deadly Six. Eggman gulped at the pending future ahead of him, the Zeti were probably still mad at him from his last excursion there and probably weren't going to be the happiest to see him. He shook off his fear and narrowed his brow and eyes, there was no way they could resist negotiating with them, especially with his "ace-in-the-hole" proposal that he had if they were unconvinceable or tried to harm him. It was time to land.
o.0.o
Zazz, a tall, pink monster that was covered in spikes and what appeared to be black pants, stared at the computer security camera monitor that was in Eggman's abandoned base in bafflement. Their enemy, Dr. Eggman, had the nerve to show his face after what he had did to them. Zazz got out of his astonished faze and the most devilish grin spread on his face.
"Hey Zavok," Zazz said, referring to the giant, red monster that looked a lot like the devil himself, in the same room as him, "come check this out."
Zavok looked at Zazz, uncrossed his arms, and walked over to Zazz. He reached Zazz in a matter of a few seconds and stopped to stand right beside Zazz. Zazz pointed at the comptuer screen, to which gave Zavok a look of surprise at first, but then gave him an idea.
Zazz saw the look on Zavok's face and knew he had a wicked idea, and Zazz was all for it no matter what it was. They both turned to each other with wide, evil smiles on their faces.
"Well," Zavok started, "let's go give him a warm welcome."
o.0.o
All of the Deadly Six hid behind or in the trees near the clearing of where they predicted Eggman to land in the Windy Hill Zone. They had no idea what he wanted and they didn't care, all they were going to do is show him what for.
The Egg Mobile gently hovered down to the clearing of where the Deadly Six imagined he would. He turned off his machine and hopped out, his two robots following after him. Eggman walked a few steps, then stopped. He put is hands on his hips and took a deep breath through his nose, then exhaled out of his mouth. He had a feeling that he was being watched, but he didn't know why. If he only knew how right he was.
Zazz was in the tree next to Zavok waiting for the signal. Zavok turned his head to Zazz and nodded his head, giving Zazz the okay to put the plan into action. Zazz bent his legs, put on an unfriendly smile, and jumped high into the air while doing a combination of screaming and laughing.
"YAAAAAAAHUHEHA," Zazz screamed as he fell and landed in front of Eggman, the other Six showing themselves soon after him.
Eggman gave a short yelp and fell down, cowering away until he was forced up against his Egg Mobile with no where else to go. He looked up to Zazz, forgetting briefly why he was here in the fist place and only thinking how he would get out of here alive.
Zazz looked down on Eggman with his evil smile, and gave his well-known chuckle. Eggman looked up to Zazz and remembered why he was here, so just like he did with Sonic, he was going to play it cool.
"Zazz ol' buddy ol' pal," Eggman started, "how have you bee-."
"Cut it Eggman, because right now, I'M GONNA MESS YOU UP!!" Zazz was raring his arm to punch Eggman, but was stopped short when Eggman started motioning with his arms for him to stop.
"W-WAIT," Eggman shouted. Zazz looked at Eggman confused with his arm still back in punching position. "I didn't come here to fight, I came here to make a deal." Zazz scoffed, but he still lowered his arm to listen to what he had to say.
"Why should we work with you, after all you've done to us," Zazz asked in a dark, angry tone.
"Calm down Zazz," said Zeena, a green Zeti with really thick and long green hair, "we'll hear what he has to say and if it isn't a good deal, you can turn him into a pile of scrambled eggs." This made Eggman gulp hard, audible enough for everyone to hear and made Zazz lick his lips and smile deviously.
"Alright Eggboy," Zazz began, "what is this 'deal' of yours."
Eggman stood up, brushed himself off, and chuckled. "Alright, I need everyone to listen up because I am only going to say this once, for the reason being I don't like to repeat myself."
"What was that," Zazz asked in a sarcastic, joking manner.
"I said, I-," Eggman stopped after realizing what just happened. He saw the entire Deadly Six chuckling softly, even Zor, the supposed "goth" of the Six. Eggman became red in the face instantly, he wasn't even sure if it was anger or embarrassment, and stared coldly at Zazz. Eggman soon afterwards regained his composure after the Six stopped laughing and said, "Anyways, as I was saying."
Eggman explained what had happened at his lap, how he tried to take over another world, how Sonic was sent to Equestria, and why he still couldn't take over this world. Soon getting to where the Six came into the picture.
"That is basically it in a nutshell," Eggman said, concluding what had happened to him.
The six stared at him in awe, at how the powerful doctor needed the help from the recent enemies. There was something they still didn't understand, why did he need their help, thankfully Master Zik, a short, blue kung-fu looking teacher with a long mustache, asked for them.
"So why do you need our help, Eggman," asked Zik.
"I am glad you asked," Eggman said with a bright smile, "you see, when we actually worked together and even after you betrayed me, I studied the Zeti and discovered they have very powerful and mystical powers. I was thinking that if you all combined your powers, with the help of my technological genius of course, we could open a wormhole to any world we wanted, what do you say?"
"Not a bad deal Eggman, not a bad deal at all," said Zavok, "yet, still not a good one either." Eggman became worried at this, if they didn't accept his deal, they would probably do very not good things to him. "So this brings us to our last question," Zavok continued, "why should we help you open a wormhole, just so YOU could conquer Equestria, give us one good reason why Zazz shouldn't beat you to a pulp."
This was starting to look bad for Eggman, he could see already that the Six we closing in on him. It was now or never, this was his last and only chance. It was time for him to use his "ace-in-the-hole."
"Because," Eggman started with a cocky smile, "if you do help me, it includes revenge on that blue meddling menace known as Sonic." Eggman knew he had the Six at this point, it was an offer they couldn't refuse. Even if Eggman did enslave them for a short while with that infernal conch shell, Sonic was the one who beat them all up. Zeena was especially angry with Sonic because for one, he beat up a girl and you are supposed to never hit a girl, much less beat them up, even if they used a giant snowman to fight you. No, she was especially angry with Sonic because he called her ugly, and no one calls Zeena ugly and gets away with it. Not even tough guy Zazz who jokingly called her ugly one day. Let's just say he couldn't sit down for a week or two when he did.
Zavok motioned for all of the Six to huddle together for discussment. Eggman heard the small whispers but couldn't quite make them out. After a few minutes of thinking this through, they broke out of the huddle and Zavok walked up to Eggman. He flinched at first when he saw Zavok move his hand, but smiled right after he noticed that Zavok was holding it out for him, waiting to be shook. Eggman stood up tall and shook the offered hand. "We have a deal," said Zavok, still shaking Eggman's hand. They stopped shaking hands after a few seconds then dove straight into the plans of how this would work.
o.0.o
"It's simple," Eggman said to the Six, "you just transfer your powers into my machine, which will then store it, harness it, and use it to make the portal work, that's it, then we can freely walk into Equestria. Also, to save the power, I will have a control on my Egg Mobile that will open and close the portal when needed. I will also have a map of the terrain in Equestria. I will give you all a GPS handheld copy if needed. Eggman said as he pointed out all the different parts to his machine back at his secret lab on Mobius.
"Well, I have to say Eggman, I am impressed," Zavok said. "So do you plan to lead us in there or what."
"No, I am just the overseer, I have a special friend who will be leading you six in there, the reason being we can't just go crazy in there, Zazz, we will need to have order." Zazz shook his head at Eggman singling him out. He angrily walked up to Eggman.
"Are you saying that I am just crazy, that I couldn't keep myself under control," Zazz asked threateningly.
"Yes, that is exactly what I am saying," Eggman responded, along with the other five of the Six concurring with him. Zazz looked around at all his comrades then stared back at Eggman. He looked down at the floor angrily and mumbled somethings to himself while walking back to his spot beside Zomom, a giant, yellow Zeti who always liked to eat, and Zor.
"Anyways," Eggman continued, "my friend-," Eggman was cut short when the elevator door opened to reveal a person wearing a really weird suit of beige side armor with purple stripes and a mask with two horns and two prongs on each, also with purple stripes. His eyes glowed yellow behind the mask and his chest had a patch of gray fur and the bottom layer of his suit looked like a bee, except it was gray with purple stripes as well and on the back it had a little yellow part sticking out, just barely enough for you to see. Eggman smiled upon seeing him enter.
"Aaahhhh, here he is now," Eggman said as he pointed to their mysterious leader with his entire arm, "everyone, I would like you to meet my very good friend, General Ember Q Hewdraw."
Author's Note
Hope you enjoyed the latest installment of Sonic New World. Also sorry that this is late, I was out ALL day, and if the quality of this chapter isn't quite up to par, I have been trying to teach myself how to draw better and how to animate. So that way, if my drawing skills get better in the future, this could possibly be animated on my Youtube channel 0.0. Also, how did I do in implementing your cameo Hewdraw? Please let me know. Also, thanks for reading, all of your positive comments that I love, for liking, sharing, licking (just kidding, please don't lick the story), and as always, Stay Beautiful.
Chapter 5: Welcome to Ponyville - Boss
The looks of excitement and fright were practically beaming from Applebloom and Sweetie Belle's faces. Question after question came to their minds. Questions such as "What happened to you Scootaloo" and "What did the homing attack look like" also "Is it as powerful as Sonic said it was". All these questions, however, would either go answered or unanswered for Sonic decided to cut in.
"You two might be able to see it too, if we were to get to Ponyville that is," Sonic said to the two fillies who were curios as to what happened. They immediately snapped their attention from Scootaloo to Sonic, reminded of what the main task at hand, or, hoof was other than this silly race. Scootaloo turned to Sonic and began to speak to him.
"I guess you really are faster Sonic," Scootaloo stuck out her hoof, "congratulations," she said with a sorrowful sigh. Sonic eyed her hoof for a second before reaching out for it with his gloved-hand. But instead of shaking it like everyone expected him to, he simply lowered her hoof with his hand. Scootaloo looked up to Sonic in surprise and locked eyes with him, waiting for his reasoning for not shaking her hoof.
"You got caught up in that forest and barely survived thanks to your friend Zecora. If I were to accept the hand-shake it would be a dishonorable win." All three fillies just stared at Sonic with mix feelings, Scootaloo the most intrigued at his response. Not only was he a hero, but he was also an advice giver and a lesson teacher as well. Scootaloo kept the words he spoke with her, storing them in the recesses of her mind. "I would be more than happy to race you again someday, but right now your friends in Ponyville need help. So come on, LET'S JUICE IT!!!" Sonic said the last words with more excitement and passion than needed and/or expected, causing the fillies to jump a bit at his sudden outburst. They quickly recovered however and prepared to ride off.
Scootaloo prepared her scooter and motioned for Applebloom and Sweetie Belle to get in the wagon. Scootaloo secured her own helmet before handing the other two fillies their respectable helmets. Putting them on and buckling them quickly under their chins, giving them slight taps to test their tightness, they were ready to go. Scootaloo looked to Sonic, who also turned his attention to Scootaloo, and gave him the okay with a small nod. Sonic got into take-off position, Ponyvile just a ways in the distance; probably no more than a mile. Then they were off, off to rescue the Crusader's friends. Sonic didn't know what to expect in Ponyville, other than more talking horses. That didn't matter right now though, what did matter was that others were in trouble and he planned to save them, he planned to save them all.
o.0.o
Smoke plumes from small fires in Ponyville and a foul stench fill the air as, along with spike, five of the mane six: Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, AppleJack, and Pinkie Pie are surrounded by three timber-wolves on each side with other small groups of background ponies on each side are being closed in on by timber-wolves. Princess Twilight Sparkle was on her way to Canterlot to tell Princess Celestia of what was happening in town.
AppleJack pulled out one of her lassos to use against the timber-wolves. Holding it in her mouth, she began to twirl it around to get a good momentum to throw it going. After the lasso was at a good speed, AppleJack said through clenched teeth, "take this ya' varmit," and threw it at a timber-wolf. The timber-wolf was able to dodge the lasso, however, and catch it in its mouth. The timber-wolf gave it one good tug and AppleJack came flying forward towards the wooden animal. She landed in front of the wolf with a hard thud, its looming figure looked down at her with snarling teeth. AppleJack gave a sheepish smile at the wolf, only for it to rear back and roar loudly right in her face, sending a torrent of its foul smelling breath into her face. One good whiff of the smell and she was out like a light, dropping faster than a rock ever could.
The wolf began to lean its head back to take one good, quick bite out of AppleJack. All of the other four, including spike, yelled in unison at the wolf, "NOO!!" The wolf didn't even take a second to reconsider eating AppleJack. Its head shot down fast, with a very loud and audible crack from its jaw connecting with the upper portion of its mouth. The timber-wolf had a wide smile on its face, but opened its eyes to notice that no orange horse resided in its mouth or on the ground. Instead the wolf only saw a light streak of blue, while the other four saw something, plus spike.
The other four of the elements of harmony, plus spike, looked on at amazement of the quick blue blur bouncing around the different buildings and off of street lamps. The Crusaders rode underneath the same timber-wolf and came to skidding halt in front of the group to notice the others watching the blue streak, with a hint of orange, bounce from one object to another.
The streak eventually bounced to the front of the group and dropped off the unconscious body that was AppleJack. The streak continued to bounce around for a short bit until finally stopping in front of AppleJack's body and jumped into the air, spinning in a circle for a few seconds before opening to reveal a strange blue animal and dropped to the ground, catching itself in a kneeling position. Sonic stayed like that for a few seconds, everyone staring at him with slacked jaws, even the timber-wolves. All the ponies and timber-wolves around just stared at him, everything and everyone was quiet.
Sonic slowly rose up from his kneeling position on the ground at gave a very cold, emotionless stare to the timber-wolves. All the ponies around still waited to see what feat he would perform next. Sonic crossed his arms and closed his eyes, giving a cocky grin. Sonic's eyes shot open, pointed at the timber-wolves and shouted, "IT'S SONIC TIME!!!" After his pronouncement, Sonic jumped into the air with everything and everyone still staring at him. He targeted the leading timber-wolf first to take him out.
"Sonic," he said before bringing his leg back and shouting, "WIND." After Sonic said that, he did a back flip in mid-air, causing a stream of air to fly straight towards the timber-wolf. The air connected directly with the timber-wolf's face, causing it to go into a daze and stumble in its spot. Now that it was in no fighting condition, he also targeted the other two with it.
Sonic shot out in his ball form and hit the timber-wolf directly in the head, causing it to fall apart in an instant. After the first one was gone he then shout out for the other two and made them fall apart at the hinges as well. Sonic landed on the ground and looked back the others, who still had looks of pure shock adorned on their faces. Sonic wasn't done yet though, their was still a bunch of other timber-wolves to take out. Sonic was soon on the case of destroying the rest of the timber-wolves.
o.0.o
Sonic finished off the last of the timber-wolves just as Princess Twilight, along with Princess Celestia and Luna, were arriving in a royal golden chariot. All three stepped out of the chariot to rubble from building and fruit stand carts and piles of sticks and wood. Sonic landed right in front of the three princesses and wiped his hands together, with bits of dirt and pieces of wood shaking off as he did. All the ponies still looked at him with shocked expressions, but not as much as the princesses gave him now. Sonic whistled before speaking, "Man, is that it? I was expecting more of a challenge." At this point, AppleJack came to and looked around at all the broken wood and damaged buildings.
"Di-Did I get im'," AppleJack asked to basically anyone.
"No, but he almost got you," Sonic said as he pointed to AppleJack, "good thing I was here though." Now it was AppleJack's turn to give a shocked expression like everyone else. There were three certain fillies who were not frozen in amazement and came out from behind everyone else cheering for Sonic.
"Wow, that was awesome Sonic," Scootaloo started, "you are just as powerful as you said." Now all the ponies looked to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, expecting to find out how they knew him.
"How," Twilight began, "how do you three know this... thing."
"Standing right here," Sonic said with a serious, hurt tone to his voice. They all looked to Sonic, he stood with his arms crossed and looked off in any directions but theirs. Then everypony turned their attention back to the Crusaders and waited for a response.
"We met him while trying to get out Cutie Marks in Wildlife Exploration. When we didn't get them we decided to go home, but a weird noise came from a nearby field in the part of the Everfree Forest we were in. We went to go check it out and saw a huge, weird vortex. We approached it and after a few seconds we heard a screaming coming from it. We ran and hid behind some trees, then out popped Sonic. He passed out and we took that as our chance to go meet him when he awoke." Scootaloo went on to explain the rest of how they raced, how she was saved by Zecora and Sonic, and when they arrived in Ponyville. Then Sonic explained about his world, told them about Eggman, the chaos emeralds, and his other friends back home.
"Wow," Princess Celestia began, "that is some story, and you say you took out these timber-wolves single hoofedly," Celestia asked.
"That's right, nothing I'm not used to though. Fighting evil is basically my job, a passion even," Sonic responded.
"Well," Twilight began, "we can't thank you enough for your help and for rescuing us."
"Ya', 'specially me," AppleJack added.
"It was seriously no problem, those timber-wolves were super easy to take out," just then, all the pile of sticks began to glow green and float into one area in the air as sonic rambled on, " I mean, seriously, what is with those things. If they are easily defeated like they were, they shouldn't even exist now," at this point, Sonic hears they magical reconstruction of the timber-wolves and starts to turn around, "those timber-wolves were even easier to defeat than... the.... bots....." Sonic trailed off as he looked up at the twenty foot tall timber-wolf that had reconstructed itself behind him. The timber-wolf emitted a loud roar, causing all the ponies to cover their ears, sonic included. After the roar was over, he looked up to it again, straining to see the top of it. Sonic didn't panic though, instead he just gave a cocky grin and a smirky laugh and said, "finally, a challenge."
And with that, Sonic jumped straight into the air and began charging what looked like a mid-air spin dash. Magical balls of energy floated in and out of him as he spun. The others on the ground could only look on in awe as they watched the strange creature just float there. The Giga timber-wolf didn't know what to expect, until it was too late.
After a moment of charging, Sonic shot out straight towards the timber-wolf. The timber-wolf look horrified and opened its mouth as a result. Sonic went in the timber-wolf's mouth and shot out its "other end" in a fraction of a second. When Sonic was out in the open he stopped in mid-air and came out of ball form, with strands of the force he used still flying a foot forward before dissipating into thin air. Sonic dropped to the ground, landing with a gentle thud as everyone watched with hanging jaws again.
The timber-wolf just stood there unmoving, it blinked before moving its head around. It smiled evily and growled as it turned around to Sonic, growling. It bent its legs and pounced at sonic while roaring. Sonic didn't even react, he just stood there with a cocky grin plastered to his face. The wolf was almost at Sonic, ready to take a bite out of him. But right before it got him, the wolf fell apart into small bits of wood and string. Sonic had his arms crossed as he looked down at the pile in front of him with an eye-brow raised and said, "guess not," before chuckling victoriously.
All the ponies looked from the pile to Sonic, the pile to Sonic, before any of them said anything. Twilight knew she spoke for everypony when she says, "Wow."
Author's Note
Hey everyone, thanks for reading the latest chapter of Sonic New World. I hope you had a wonderful christmas this year, go ahead and tell me what you got. This year, I got a black Wii U, JACKPOT. Also sorry this was late again, I didn't have time to upload it, plus I needed to revise it because I didn't plan to put the last part after he says, "finally a challenge," until next chapter. Anyways, thanks for liking, commenting, favoriting, and/or following. As always, Stay Beautiful.
Chapter 6: When Worlds Collide
Eggman, the Deadly Six, Orbot, Cubot, and General Hewdraw all stood in the impressive secret underground base that belonged to the genius doctor. They all stood before the massive portal that had previously sent Sonic to the world of Equestria, as well as the chaos emeralds. Eggman looked from each one of them to the portal, pondering the plan as he did. A cable lied in front of each of the Deadly Six that ran from them to the portal, awaiting the command from Doctor Eggman.
Eggman had already prepared the necessities for them and himself. He had made digital maps of the land of Equestria for the Deadly Six and for their leader General Hewdraw so they could easily navigate the land without getting lost. They also had homing devices on them with a little "return" button because the portal only opened in one place in Equestria, depending on its position in Mobius. Eggman deemed them ready to go after doing some double checking and making sure his calculations were correct. Eggman smiled at the sureness of his plan and clapped to get their attention.
"Alright everyone, you remember the plan, right? If not, I will go over it once more to make sure were clear. Now-," Eggman was cut off as Zazz started to speak.
"I thought you didn't like to repeat yourself Doc, what happened to that?" Zazz chuckled at what he thought was his witty humor, but Eggman was ready to respond.
"I don't, but their are some nimrods who don't like to listen. So Zazz, would you care to explain the plan to everyone?" Eggman asked with a winning smirk.
Zazz froze immediately with his eyes wide open, his chuckling ceased quickly as well. He looked back at the other 5, who began to laugh also, except for Zor. Zazz's eyes soon turned to an angry glare and turned back quickly to look at Eggman. Pointing his finger at him, Zazz yelled, "you win this round Eggman, but I'll get you back, someway, somehow." Zazz cooled down after getting that out of his system and said, "go ahead and explain it again," he said throwing his hand up as he looked away and crossed his arms, knowing he was defeated.
"As I was saying," Eggman began, "in front of each of you is a cable that is connected to an Energy Reserve Tank that is connected to my portal. All six of you will grab the cable in front of you and transmit some of your power to the cable, which in turn, will send it to the E.R.T to store it. So as to keep from becoming trapped in Equestria I will give each of you a type of remote control, which also acts as a map, that will open or close the portal upon the press of this button labeled "return". The remote has a digital map that shows the land you will traverse and a home compass that will lead you back to where the portal opens because as far as I know, it only opens in one place. Do NOT lose these, they are your only ticket back here. I believe that about covers it, now, are there any questions?" Eggman finished and waited for them to ask something. They all looked to each other to see if any had a question. It didn't look like they did until Zeena raised her hand.
"Um, yeah I have two, how will you be getting back if you don't have a remote and what exactly will we be going up against in this world," she asked with a hint of concern in her voice.
Taking the two-part question into consideration, Eggman readily replied to her question, "Good questions Zeena, I have already jury-rigged my Egg Mobile with the same capabilities as your remotes have and as for your second question, there is a big array of different creatures that inhabit this world such as manticores, dragons, but they main inhabitants of this world are colorful Equines that can either be normal, a unicorn, a pegasus, or a special mix between the two to be what is known as an Alicorn." Eggman finished the response, just as Zazz let a few laughs escape his lips until it turned into an all out fit.
"Th-That's it, were supposed to worry about a few ponies, oh no, I'm shaking already, AHAHAHAHAHAHA." Zazz said the words with obvious sarcasm as Eggman stared coldly at him. As soon as Zazz noticed him he slowly began to regain his composure before clearing his throat.
When Eggman was done glaring at him he turned to the rest and asked, "anymore questions?" Eggman was surprised to see Zavok raise his hand.
"What exactly is our objective other than destroying Sonic," Zavok asked in a stern voice.
"We won't be able to conquer that world with that blue meddling menace in the picture, but we also don't want to reveal ourselves right away because it says on the display here that they have an excellent military there. So for now we are just to observe, see who he is close with, and use that against him." Eggman was pleased when he saw all the six and Hewdraw nod their heads in agreement. Eggman was about to ready them until Zor raised his hand for a question.
"So, if you are coming with us, why do we have General Hewdraw leading us," Zor said as he pointed to General Hewdraw, "shouldn't it be you?"
Eggman pondered this for a second before finding the right words, "I lead more with robots, not Zeti, so I won't be able to keep you in line, that is why I asked him to lead you, he will know exactly how to handle you. While your power is required to power the machine, I also need you to be a sort of 'search party'."
"A search party in what, might I ask," said master Zik.
"I want you six to search for the chaos emeralds while I keep an eye on Sonic, because I know that speedy rat will be looking for them so he can come back here and try to attack me," Eggman finished with tinge of hate dripping in his voice. Master Zik nodded his head in understanding.
Eggman waited for a few seconds to see if anyone else had a question. When he was relieved that no one else raised their hands for a question, he gave the signal to ready them for the power transmission. All six stepped up, grabbed a cable and held them in both hands. Eggman nodded to them and they nodded back, then turned to the cables in their hands. They closed their eyes in concentration as they sent their mystical power from their hands to the cable. Eggman watched with glee as he saw the meter on the tank go up in glee. He chuckled lowly and got louder as the needle went higher before talking.
"Yes, YES, IT'S WORKING... AGAIN." Eggman looked on as the six slowly began to stop the transmission. They all breathed heavily from the toll of the power transmission they had just took place. He looked at them with a satisfied look on his face, he then said, "I am not sure how fast the energy will drain from the machine when we use it so I will pay close attention to the meter on my Egg Mobile to see how fast it drains and when we will need to come back for a recharge." They all looked at each other with unsure looks on their faces, still panting from the transmission, until Zazz decided to throw out a question.
"Wait a minute, this isn't a trick is it, actually deciding to use our power against us and not use it on this hunk of junk," Zazz said in an angry tone and surprising the other five with how he may have possibly discovered Eggman's true intentions. The six suddenly gave Eggman an angry look.
Eggman became nervous at this, he hadn't thought about that and the six weren't giving him any time to reject the assumption, until General Hewdraw stepped in. He spoke in a very low monotone voice.
"Eggman is not going to use your powers against you," Eggman gave General Hewdraw a thankful look, "he isn't smart enough to think of something that convoluted." Eggman's look soon became sour and hateful as he saw the six began to laugh, even Zor.
Eggman began to growl lowly, but got higher and higher until he was at screaming levels, "ARE YOU READY TO GO OR NOT??!" Eggman asked in mock frustration, instantly silencing the six. They all nodded their heads rapidly at Eggman, causing him to let out a soft laugh and say, "good."
Eggman prepared the everyone to go to Equestria by handing out the remote GPS's to them. He then asked them the most important question ever.
"Everyone remembers what they are supposed to do right, only look for the chaos emeralds right now, and General Hewdraw," Eggman said, getting the attention of the General, "make sure they remain hidden and not go looking for trouble, and keep a specially close eye on Zazz, even the other five have no idea what he will do next."
General Hewdraw nodded and said, "you have my word," and turned back to stand towards the front of the portal. Eggman brought up his calculations of everything they needed to go to Equestria.
"Computer," Eggman said.
"Yes doctor," asked the computer in a generic female voice.
"Open the portal to Equestria," Eggman said in a requesting tone.
"Right away doctor," said the computer as it flicked off and the portal began to spark to life. The needle on his Egg Mobile immediately jumped backwards half an inch at the machine turning on. Eggman took notice of this and did the calculations in his head of when they would have to come back and recharge it.
All of the Deadly Six stared at the swirly purple vortex before them. All wondering what would wait for them on the other side. General Hewdraw stood in front of them to lead them into the unknown world that lie ahead.
"Grrrr, I'm ready, I'M GONNA SHOW THAT STINKIN' HEDGEHOG WHAT FOR," Zazz said as he began to walk towards the portal in an angrily manner before he was stopped by General Hewdraw's arm. The General then looked at Zazz with his glowing yellow eyes.
"Wait for the doctor's signal," he said in a stern commanding tone. Zazz stared at him for a few seconds before nodding and stepping back.
Eggman threw his had back and began to laugh out loud, drawing the attention of everyone.
"Alright General," Eggman began as he regained his composure, "I think he has waited long enough, and I'm afraid he will have to wait a little longer because we are looking for the chaos emeralds right now." Zazz growled at this but did not do anything else. Eggman noticed the anticipation welling in everyone's eyes. All the preparations were made, it was time to head out.
"Alright everyone," Eggman said, getting the attention of everyone. He eyed them all and smiled evily before continuing his sentence, "let's MOVE OUT!!"
o.0.o
"So let me get this straight," Twilight began, "you're name is Sonic the Hedgehog and you were sent here from the world of Mobius by a crazy doctor named Eggman with these special gems called the Chaos Emeralds that can turn thought and passion into power and now you are trying to collect them all again to do what exactly?"
Sonic stood there, impressed at her absorbing the knowledge so quickly. He eyed all of the ponies that sat around to listen to his tale, especially the princesses before saying, "I need to collect them all again so I can return home before Eggman decides to do any funny business over on Mobius."
"Well these gems sound absolutely exhilarating," Rarity began," I could help you find them if you'd like. I know a spell that can track any kind of gem down."
Sonic shook his head before answering Rarity, "I appreciate the offer, Rarity was it? But these gems can only be tracked by each other. If you have one emerald they can lead you to another. You see, the chaos emeralds-,
"Did someone say chaos," asked a voice from seemingly out of nowhere.
Everyone looked around for the asker before eventually Discord came floating down from the side and walked up to where the mane six, the princesses, and Sonic were sitting where Sonic explained what happened and where he came from to every pony.
Discord walked right up to them and said, "because chaos is my specialty."
Author's Note
Hello everyone, I hope you enjoyed this chapter of Sonic New World. Good LORD this took a long time to write, I started at 9 p.m. and it is now currently 11:35 p.m. at the time of writing these author's notes. But hey, it is all worth it to read such lovely comments from all you beautiful people. Now let me get something out of the way, these chapters won't be separated from going to Sonic one chapter and then to Eggman to the next anymore because they are now all going to be in the same world and they will only be observing Sonic's actions and looking for the chaos emeralds. I just wanted to get all the other Eggman things and stuff out of the way so we could get to the good stuff. >:). Please forgive any grammar errors and point them out to me so I can fix them. Thank you for liking, commenting, and/or following and as always, Stay Beautiful. :)
A strong wind picked up in the open field. The small creatures that were roaming around in the open all ran for cover in some bushes or the trunks of hollowed out trees. Leaves and twigs started to float off the ground a bit at first before they became a full on twister of natural debris. All the animals hidden at the edge of the Everfree forest shook in fear and in anticipation. They looked up and saw a giant tear in the sky. A swirling vortex with a purple hue and white streaks turned in the sky as they heard a yelling.
Out of the vortex fell a familiar pink-skinned Zeti screaming with bit and pieces of his maniacal laugh as he fell towards the grounds of Equestria. Zazz was halfway to the ground until the rest of the Deadly Six and General Hewdraw fell out after him as well. Thanks to Eggman's Egg Mobile he did not have to worry about falling and possibly breaking his leg or his back. General Hewdraw did not fall for long as well as he stretched out the armor on his sides, using a powerful force of magic to allow him to gently drift down.
Zazz landed on the ground with a loud grunt, leaving a small crater where he landed. He slowly stood up to stand on both legs to scope out the scenery, imagining what the world past the immense forest would look like. He could just picture all the ponies now cowering from him in fear and running away from open fires or the other six, seeking help or some form of shelter. It was all for not, though, for he was ordered by everyone to remain hidden for now. He was at least smart enough to obey, because he would be severely punished for going against everyone's wishes, who also landed on the ground during his day dreaming while Eggman just hovered above.
His sadistic smile slowly fell as the realization that he was just to look for the chaos emeralds and keep out of sight of others dawned on his conscious. He got a look of annoyance and anger on his face as he mumbled a few key things to himself and lightly kicked at the ground.
The other six had their eye on Zazz, but soon looked away to examine the scenery themselves when they made sure Zazz wasn't about to go on a wild spree. Zazz was hunched over sliightly, gazing down at the ground until he got a feeling that he and the other six werebeing watched. He slowly turned his head to the left and saw a few woodland critters spying on them behind the bushes and trees. Zazz plastered on a wicked smile as he turned his entire body towards the small, defenseless creatures. They cowered away a little bit as they noticed he had spotted them.
Zazz was told not to be spotted by other ponies, so he says he couldn't scar a few animals for life. Zazz chuckled and began to slowly walk towards them. The shivering that came from the critters would have been visible from two feet away; unable to run due to being frozen in fear. The others stopped examining the new world to cast their attention to Zazz.
"Whats the matter little guys, it looks like you've seen a GHOST!!" Zazz practically shouted the last word as he lurched forward and started yelling and flailing his arms around. The animals only made sounds that Zazz could only guess were screams of sheer terror as they ran off into the forest with memories of what just happened still fresh in their minds and will haunt their dreams for the rests of their lives.
Zazz fell backwards on the ground and started rolling around laughing. He ceased his rolling and clenched his gut as he struggled to breathe from the aftermath of the stunt he just performed. The others ran over to him quickly and crowded around him. Zazz noticed the immediate shade that covered him and slowly opened his eyes to look up at 7 pairs of angry ones staring back down at him. His laughing came to a screeching halt as he looked at the faces they made at him.Zavok picked him up by the skin on his collar bone and stare darkly at him for a second before talking.
"Zazz, WHAT, do you think you're doing? We are supposed to remain hidden and search for the chaos emeralds, remember?" Zazz knew the question was rhetorical, but he didn't understand. He thought it was only for the ponies that could actually do something to them. It was now his turn to get a look of anger on his face.
"WHAT!! I thought that only applied to the ponies that could actually give us trouble, not some stupid woodland animals." Zazz said every word with a drop of venom in his voice, but not too angrily so as to avoid getting himself into a bad situation with awful consequences.
"We do not know what anything is capable of in this world. So it is best to assume that everything can be a threat, even if it is a small humming bird." Zazz understood what they were getting at, but how could the animals be a threat. Zazz, though, decided it was best to not argue with him, he simply nodded and Zavok release his grip on Zazz, dropping him to his feet. Zazz began to brush himself off as Eggman began to call everyone to gather around him. They all walked over to the Egg Mobile as it slowly lowered is altitude to be at eye level with everyone. Then Eggman began to explain the strategy for right now.
"Alright everyone, here is the plan for right now. Now that we are in this new territory, General Hewdraw will lead you all out to begin hunting for the chaos emeralds. Sonic will be more than likely searching for them as well so he may return home, so we must find them first to prevent that. We will also have to periodically check from time to time on the E.R.T because I am not sure if the power will leak out of it or not. If it doesn't, then we have nothing to worry about," Eggman paused to make sure that everyone was following what he was saying then began again," and while you all are doing that Orbot, Cubot, and myself are going to do some reconnaissance on Sonic. Now you all are aware of your job so hop to it, quick as a bunny," Eggman said as he made a shooing motion with his hands. Eggman was about to take of until he was stopped when Zor rose his hand.
"So, how long are we supposed to remain hidden from everything until we actual do some confrontation."
"Well, I have noticed with my plans in the past that I always rush into things and never take the time to actual sit down and right out a strategy, that is how this plan is going to be different. So for right now we are just to keep a look out, take in the details of who he might be close to, and use that to our advantage. Also this land is pretty big so it might take a long time to find all the chaos emeralds unfortunately, I will say about a maybe a month or two. Time enough to find the emeralds and right out a plan. Does that sound like a suitable amount of time?" Everyone simply nodded and began to disperse from their gathering, only to gather again at General Hewdraw.
Eggman began to take off to search the land for Sonic. He activated the cloaking device on his Egg Mobile to hide from any eyes that might see him flying over head. The others watched as the Egg Mobile instantaneously vanished from their sight. They all then turned to General Hewdraw who had them at the ready to begin their search. Not before he went over the plan once again with them.
"Remember, stay hidden and stay together while we search. There is to be virtually no noise if we get close to anything. Got it? Good. No-," General Hewdraw was cut off as Zazz sped past running towards the forest. General Hewdraw shouted "NO!" at him but Zazz didn't care enough to listen. He wanted to get this show on the road and the General was just delaying it. He almost made it to the forest until he tripped and fell, hitting the ground and immediately spinning around to grab his knee.
"Ahhh, Son of a saltine cracker," he said as he held the skinned knee in both hands, rocking forwards and back while breathing in sharply through his teeth. He looked to the ground and began to look for what might have tripped him with his left hand. He felt along the ground to no avail until he took his attention away from his knee to search with his eyes. He froze almost immediately, completely forgetting about his knee. Using both hands he parted the grass and looked at the ground. His frozen state of shock soon became a wide devilish grin as he began to chuckle darkly.
o.0.o
A chuckle found its way out of Sonic's throat as he stepped up to Discord. He look at him with the up-most confidence in his eyes as he walked around Discord with his arms behind his back, taking in every detail of the draconequus.
"I guess you are who they call Discord, the god of chaos. I've gotta to say, you don't look near as threatening as I thought you would." All the ponies gasped at this as Discord sputtered and stepped back, disgusted and offended. He got a look of hate in his eye as he lowered his head to be leveled with Sonic's and stared him straight in the eye while Sonic just stood their with a cocky grin.
"You are lucky I'm reformed and takes a lot for me to get mad," Discord said as he poked a claw to Sonic's chest, "or else you would have regretted those words."
"Heh heh, I like you. You remind me of my friend Shadow."
"Ah, Shadow," Twilight began, "the black and red hedgehog you told us about," Twilight asked.
"Yep, that's him," Sonic responded.
Discord looked from Sonic to the ponies baffled, amazed that he was already buddy buddy with the other ponies. Discord somehow easily excepted it, but still wanted to lay a few ground rules down.
"Alright, a friend of theirs is somewhat an acquaintance of mine. But just you remember, do NOT get on my bad side or else you'll regre-," Discord was cut off as a ringing came from somewhere. It couldn't be far though because it was right next to Discord's ear, he knew it was.
Sonic looked to his back pocket with a shocked expression. All Sonic could say was a barely audible whisper, "How?"
That is when Discord eyed Sonic with suspicion. "Just what are you playing at?" He asked in jokingly serious tone.
All the ponies looked on curiously as Sonic pulled out a giant, yellow piece of plastic with a display on it that said, "Tails." Sonic was quick to answer it. Soon the image of a yellow fox was displayed on the screen, along with a red echidna and black hedgehog. Tails eyes soon filled with joy as the all too familiar hedgehog finally answered.
"Sonic," tails began, "What happened, where are you, why haven't you answered."
"Woah Woah Woah, buddy, calm down. I'm fine, Egghead built a portal to alternate dimensions and used the power of the chaos emeralds to make it work. We got into a scuffle and I was sent to this land called Equestria where I met these guys." Sonic then stepped out of the view of the camera and showed all the ponies in the area, even Discord, before beginning to explain who they were individually to the three friends on the other line.
"Wow," tails said, "I built our handhelds to be long distance, but I didn't think the signal would be able to reach through to a whole new dimension."
"Look, tails, I am trying to find the chaos emeralds so I can try and come back home. That may take a while, so I am counting on you and the others to stop Eggman if he causes any trouble there, okay?"
"Alright," tails responded enthusiastically.
"Good. Okay, I have some emeralds to find, take care bud."
"Good luck Sonic." With that, the call ended. Sonic was unsure if the signal would reach again, but he remained hopeful it would. The real problem was the batteries could possibly die on him, so he was going to try and reserve them as much as possible. He stored the handheld away as discord walked up to him.
"Sooooooo," Discord began, "chaos emeralds," he asked.
"Probably completely different from the chaos you create. They are basically these special artifacts from my world that can turn thought and passion into power."
"Hmph," was all discord could respond with.
"Well Sonic," Twilight began, "based on what you told us, it could take a long time to find the chaos emeralds, and since they are your only way back to your home, we could help you look for them," twilight said as she pointed to everyone, who nodded in agreement.
"Yeah," Rainbow Dash began, "And with the way you single-hoofedly took out those timber-wolves, nothing can stand in our way of getting them. Which, by the way, was So. Awesome."
Sonic looked out all the colorful equines as they nodded at first but then began to whistle and cheer and stomp their hooves. Sonic was more than thrilled to have so many help him search.
"Thank you everyone, truly. I am so grateful that you are willing to take time out of your busy lives to help me search. Although I can almost guarantee you that the emeralds will not all be in this town alone. They will have more than likely spread out all over the entire planet. It is completely random where they end up. Some of you may not be able to travel that far to search, it means more than enough to me to have your moral support.
"Hey man," began a muscular, white, Pegasus pony with blond hair and red eyes, "it is the least we could do for you for saving all of our rear ends." "Yeah," shouted another pony. "You rule Sonic," said another pony. "I wouldn't mind staying here for a while ," Sonic thought as he put on another cocky grin, "things are about to get interesting ."
"SONIC, SONIC, SONIC," shouted all the ponies in unison. Sonic felt so appreciated here, everyone was so nice. All but one pony wasn't cheering though. They slipped away from the crowd and around the corner into an alley. An evil smile spread across their face.
"Well Well," they said as a green flame engulfed them and their body became black and got pure blue eyes with legs that were riddled with holes," looks like we've got ourselves a new hero, the queen will be most pleased to hear this," it said, chuckling darkly.
Author's Note
Can I get a like for longest chapter so far? JK, only like if you want to. Anyways, thanks for reading the latest update of Sonic New World, looks like storms a brewin' now. What will become of this? Find out eventually on, SONIC NEW WORLD. We probably won't be seeing much of the six or Eggman or G. Hewdraw for a little while. As I've said, I wanted to get them out of the way so I could get to the hot juicy stuff. And now I can because all they will be doing is watching Sonic from the shadows now. Please point out any errors that have occurred so I can fix them. Like, Fav, and comment if you want and As Always, Stay Beautiful.
Chapter 8: Preparations for Travel
The word of Sonic spread all over Equestria like wild fire. He was on the headlines for Equestria's newspaper, Equestria Daily, for a whole straight week! He became very popular in Ponyville and was easily recognizable to all the ponies in town. The lot of them would still come up and thank him for saving the town, ask for an autograph, or ask for a menial favor from him such as "please get my kitten out of that tree" or "does this rag smell like chloroform?" Sonic was smart enough to evade that last question though and speed off down the road. He never was sure if it was a joke or not, but that was a risk he wasn't willing to take.
Anyways, Sonic has been in Ponyville for one week now and in that time the most notable thing he could imagine was the "Welcome to our World" party that Pinkie threw for him, he had not seen shape nor shine of a Chaos Emerald. Twilight was nice enough to allow him to sleep at the library so that if there was a chaos emerald found in Canterlot, one of the princesses would send them a letter. They would occasionally get word from Celestia or Luna updates on how tracking down the emeralds was going, unfortunately they always got negative results. Sonic was trying to think where they could be, but the mental stress was starting to add up on Sonic because he guessed Tails must have told Amy that Sonic's hand held could work inter-dimensionally and she called every hour of everyday asking how he was, where he was at, when he would be home. It was too much for a single hedgehog. Sonic was tough though, and he was bound and determined to get home.
In the library, spike was clutching his mouth trying to hold in something that must have been trying to get out. He could no longer hold and let a small burp with a puff of green smoke, a letter appearing not long after. Twilight looked up from her book, the "Universes Secrets and Possibilities of Different Worlds" Second Edition, and walked over to the letter, picking it up with her magic. She took off the royal ribbon that was wrapped around it and quickly unraveled it to see what words lie on the paper. She read the words with great anticipation to see if their searches paid off. The twinkle of hope that shone in her eye quickly disappeared as she shook her head and looked over at Sonic who was laying in one of the circular windows like a hammock.
Sonic stared back at her when he was awaiting what response he would receive from her. He simply scoffed and turned his head back towards the ceiling, seeming to not be fazed by Twilight's answer.
"It doesn't surprise me at this point, it has been nothing but a week's worth of disappointment, I haven't lost my hope though. I KNOW we will find them it is just that I should get out there and help look too. I have been over every inch of this town and did not spot any. I need to expand my search to farther regions than just Ponyville," Sonic said, finishing with a sigh.
"Sonic," Twilight began, "we have been over why you can't go running off on your own. This is foreign land to you and there is all sorts of who knows what out there that we don't even know about. Just be patient, Celestia's guards are searching every nook and cranny of Canterlot. Even some of the citizens are helping too by looking around the city and starting campaigns to help fund the searches the guards are doing. Everypony really cares about you and really want to help you get home," Twilight finished, taking in a deep breath.
Sonic sat up and turned towards twilight before saying, "And I appreciate all that your doing for me, I just feel useless and bored sitting around all the time waiting for a response that will never come. I need to get out and stretch my legs, maybe have a miniature adventure while looking for them. I feel we ne-," Sonic was cut short when a familiar ringing assaulted his ear drums. He let out a loud groan before reaching into his "back pocket" and pulled out his hand held. He answered the call and mentally rolled his eyes as the picture of a familiar pink hedgehog slowly fuzzed onto the screen. Sonic prepared himself for what was to come.
"SOOOOONNNNIIIICC," Amy said in a high pitched, whining voice, "Where are you, why won't you come home? Are you really that desperate to get away from me that you would go to another WORLD?"
"Amy," Sonic began, "I thought this was explained to you before by Tails, I was sent here on accident by a huge portal that Eggman built. We got into a little scuffle in his secret underground lab and I was sucked into the portal. You want more details? Go talk to Tails and he will be glad to tell you how you can BUILD a portal." Sonic switched to a sad, pleading tone, "Please Amy, do this for me, come and rescue me this time, be MY hero." Sonic stopped his fake begging and looked at Amy, she was just frozen in place in some sort of petrified state. It was a few moments later until she vigorously shook her head, finally processing what Sonic had told her. She looked Sonic straight on before talking nervously.
"U-um, Sonic I have to go." Amy turned to her right and yelled," HEY TAILS, I HAVE TO TALK TO YOU FOR A SEC." After this, the image started to fade until it blanked to black. Sonic leaned back with a victorious smirk on his face and lightly tossed the hand held onto the cushion that was on his window hammock. Twilight walked up to Sonic staring at the hand held as she did. She stopped right in front of him still staring at the hand held until she turned her attention to Sonic.
"So... you really don't like her, do you?" Sonic almost fell over at this accusation, shocked that she would say that. Sonic started making every possible motion with his body that meant "no" before talking.
"No, no, nononono." It's not that I don't like her, it is just that she is extremely obnoxious. You see how she is, always calling everyday asking questions that I can barely give answers to. It's stressful, and being cooped up in the same town isn't helping with that. I need to get out there and explore and search. If I run into trouble, chances are I could probably take care of myself and get out of the situation. I can find them I know I can, you just got to let me try." Twilight was unsure of this. Sonic was still new to the land and she didn't feel comfortable with him going out there without any decent knowledge on the world he would be exploring.
"I don't know Sonic, I just don't feel comfortable with you going out there with no knowledge of our world and what is contained. You could get really hurt, or worse." Twilight finished her sentence in a deep and dreary tone, imagining the possibilities of what could happen to Sonic, they just didn't know what to do. That is, until a certain purple and green dragon decided to speak up.
"Well Twilight, if you aren't sure about Sonic going out there on his own, why don't you go with him. And the others could go too, it will be your own special search group, I bet you guys could have so much FUN!!" Spike's enthusiasm was radiating from his face. They both stared at him, amazed at the proposition.
"You know," Twilight began as she turned back towards Sonic," that isn't a bad Idea. It would give us a chance to find the emeralds and me a chance to discover and study new places, Fluttershy could probably find all sorts of new animals to make friends with too. It would give Rainbow Dash a chance to have new terrain to explore and Pinkie could probably find all new types of party supplies. Rarity would probably find new gems to add to her collection and Applejack... she would probably just like to go out and see more places, I guess." Twilight finished with a sheepish grin at her last statement, honestly not knowing what Applejack would like to do. Sonic hopped down from his window and walked up to Twilight.
"Alright," he began, "I guess we've got a plan then. You inform the others of what were doing and I'll go do something someplace else." Sonic zipped past Twilight and Spike and out the through the library door, leaving a transparent blue streak in his wake. Twilight and Spike blinked, Twilight's hair and Spike's scales sticking out from the back of their heads. That is something Twilight noticed about Sonic, he could be so random at times, like Pinkie Pie.
They shook their heads simultaneously, still astonished at the incredible speed that the hedgehog possessed. Twilight finally came to her senses and walked over to her quill and parchment to begin writing letters to her friends to inform them of the details of the plan they devised. She knew they would all be on board with it. She told them to meet her and Sonic at the library tomorrow at 12 with everything they would need for the trip, then they would make the long trek to the train station. Sonic zoomed out to fast for her to inform him of that detail, so she would have to tell him whenever he gets back from wherever he went. Sometimes, she just couldn't understand that hedgehog. She giggled to herself at her own thoughts as she handed all the letters to Spike to be sent out to her friends.
o.0.o
"So, a blue hedgehog took out an entire pack of timber-wolves and easily defeated the Giga-wolf form they took on?"
"Yes my Queen"
"Do you have anything else to report?"
"Yes, he also said that he is looking for these special gems called the chaos emeralds. From what he has said, they are very powerful items indefinitely if you gather all 7 together, but just one could do quite a bit of damage as well. He said, they turn thought and passion into power and are the only means of him getting home."
"Hmm... I see. Have you anything else to say?"
"No, my Queen."
"Then you are dismissed."
"Yes, my Queen."
The changeling spy bowed to Queen Chrysalis before running out through the poorly manufactured doors of her so called "throne room." The changelings have had to construct a camp for them to live in after being banished by the love of Prince Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. The camp was pitiful and full of starving changelings, only dreaming of being able to suck the love out of everyone.
Chrysalis sat up in her throne contemplating what her spy told her. She imagined if sh could get her hands on one of those things, then maybe it could really turn her life around and finally be able to feed her people. She actually began to smile at the thought of her ruling everypony and have enough food for her army to eat. Her daydream was perfect until it was interrupted by the sound of doors slamming open. She shot her eyes open to see what the commotion was about. Three guards came running in, apparently what they needed was urgent.
"My Queen, My QUEEN, we request you immediate attention," the leading guard said.
"WHAT IS IT YOU IDIOTS, I WAS THINKING ABOUT SOMETHING... important," Chrysalis decided to hide her daydream in fear of her subjects thinking less of her from it.
"My Queen, we think-,"
"Oooo, thinking, that's dangerous," she retorted.
"My Queen, we really think you should see this."
Queen Chrysalis let out a loud groan before saying, "alright, let's get it over with."
The guard nodded his head and motioned for one changeling to step forward. He was carrying what seemed like a pillow with a small cloth on top.
"We found this outside the camp perimeter. We don't know what it is so we thought you might know what it may be."
"You idiots."
"I-I'm sorry?" The guard questioned.
"If you don't know what it is then how in Equestria am I supposed to know what it is. I mean, really, do you ever stop to think for one second that-," Queen Chrysalis was cut off as the changeling holding the pillow with the cloth stepped forward and revealed it to her. He swiftly took off the cloth and shone what lay on the pillow.
Queen Chrysalis stared at the foreign object in amazement. A beautiful, green, emerald shaped gem shined brightly on the black pillow the guard held. Queen Chrysalis stared at the item slack jawed for a full minute before closing her mouth and start laugh evily. The guards started to back away at this but as soon as they made a move she shot her head towards them. They stopped moving and just stared at her. Queen Chrysalis slowly regained her composure and cleared her throat.
"Perhaps you idiots are more useful than I imagined," She said, as an evil grin began to spread across her face. Three very audible gulps were heard though out the room.
Author's Note
YAY, ANOTHER CHAPTER!! Thank you all for reading the latest installment of Sonic New World, the plot thickens in a bunch of different ways. Thanks you all for reading, liking, faving, and/or following. Also, sorry this is late, I went to go watch bull riding today and it was AWESOME. SOMEONE DIED!!!....... JUST KIDDING. I'm sorry, that isn't something to joke about, it was still pretty cool though. Anyways enjoy this chapter and as always, Stay Beautiful.
Chapter 9: The Long Ride Ahead
"My Queen, what do you say we do?" Asked the lead changeling guard. Queen Chrysalis looked up from the chaos emerald to look at the guard before answering him.
"Send out the spy again, I want to keep in check exactly what that hedgehog is doing. Do not interfere with him though unless he does something that is not in our favor. He could be trouble if he found out we have this emerald. Our spy is going to make sure that doesn't happen, understood?"
"Yes, my Queen, we will send the spy out again immediately. We'll make sure the hedgehog doesn't do anything that isn't beneficial to us."
"Very good, you are dismissed."
With that, the guards gave a final salute before piling out of the throne room. After they were gone, Queen Chrysalis gave a low dark chuckle. "Excellent, I have a feeling that everything be in our favor now," Queen Chrysalis picked up the emerald with her green aura of magic and began to twirl it around in front of her face, "Yes, everything will be in our favor," after that, she began to laugh maniacally as she still stared at and twirled the chaos emerald around.
o.0.o
Everyone stood in front of the library waiting for Twilight to finish her final preparations and to finish packing her bags. Sonic tapped his foot and kept checking his non-existent watch impatiently. Everyone kept looking around or kicking at the ground, anything to keep them occupied until the purple princess got ready. They all guessed that she had to pack extra quills and parchment for taking notes and documenting important events. Sonic began to get antsy, he wasn't really one to be patient and hated waiting. He was about to run on ahead to the train station but was stopped by the library door opening and a purple alicorn along with a purple dragon walking out.
"All right, I believe I have everything. I have checked, double checked, and double checked my double check. Everything is in order, I hope. Now spike," the purple dragon looked up at Twilight as he closed the library door, "you are in charge of keeping the library in order while I'm gone. That means you need to keep all the shelves dust free, and clean up any messes that may occur. If a pony checks out a book, make sure they get the correct one they ask for." Spike nodded his head at all of it. Twilight put her hoof under her chin to think of anything else she may need to tell Spike. Her face lit up as if something very important just occurred to her, "Also, no staying up late. You need your sleep." Spike saluted at the last thing Twilight said.
"Yes your majesty, you will not be disappointed."
"That's what I like to hear, except for the majesty part. You can still call me just Twilight, Spike."
"Heh heh, okay, just Twilight," Spike chuckled into his claws after he said this.
Twilight looked at Spike with a smug expression, "Ooohh, you."
Spike just shrugged at her comment, but stopped when they heard an annoyed hedgehog clear his throat. Everyone turned their attention to him to listen to what he had to say.
"If you're done, I'm ready to GO. Let's go see this world of yours. I am ready to explor-," Sonic was cut short when he heard a faint shouting and the sound of a scooter.
"WAIT, WAIT." Everyone looked to see Scootaloo and the other Crusaders riding towards the group. Scootaloo came to a skidding halt in front of the group, Scootaloo cut the engine and jumped off her scooter, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were in tow right behind her.
"Were coming with you." Everyone looked surprised at this exclamation by the Crusaders.
"Oh no," Applejack began, "it'll be too dangerous for ya'll. It'd be best if ya' just stay here."
"But Applejack, we found Sonic so were technically responsible for im'. We go where he goes Sis." Applejack was flabbergasted at this remark from her sister, she knew what Applebloom was talking about though, just like how she was responsible for Winona. None of them knew what to do, only half of them had authority over the Crusaders and they certainly couldn't say no at Applebloom's statement. They were in a bind, until Sonic stepped up to them and kneeled down to be level with the Crusaders. He looked each on of them in the eye from Applebloom, Scootaloo, then Sweetie Belle.
"Now, I am not sure if I speak for everyone but I know where you are coming from. If you do come, that will make me responsible for all of you as well. There may or may not be dangerous things where we go, and we will be gone for a long time. If your sister and parents do allow you to go, you must stick close to me and not go running off unless someone is with you, understand?"
"Yes," Scootaloo said.
"Yep," Sweetie Belle said.
"Affirmative," Applebloom said, coaxing strange looks from the other two Crusaders.
"Dictionary," Scootaloo said under her breath. Sonic turned back to the rest of the group to await their answers. They all began to look around, not really wanting to answer. Rainbow Dash wasn't afraid though, she flew over to Scootaloo and rubbed her head with her hoof and said, "It's alright with me pipsqueak, if you think you can handle yourself."
Scootaloo gave Rainbow Dash a cocky smirk at her words, "Definitely."
"Well, it is alright with me," Rarity began, "but Sonic dear, if anything is to happen to Sweetie Belle. Well, let's just say you will have a bad time for the rest of your stay here. I am not worried anything will happen though, it is just a forewarning." Rarity ended her sentence with a warm and happy smile. All eyes then turned to Applejack, who then turned to look at the puppy dog eyes Applebloom gave her. A bead of sweat dripped down her head at the intensity of the decision she had to make. She finally gave in and sighed, then looked at Applebloom.
"All righ', you can go. But I want you to stay close to one of us at all times, especially Sonic if things get too dangerous."
The Crusaders then gave each other high hoofs and cheered, "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS EMERALD HUNTERS, YAY!!!"
Everyone covered their ears at the loud out burst from the Crusaders. Everyone loved them to death, but they just couldn't handle how loud they could be sometimes. After the shock of their loudness, Scootaloo walked over to Sonic.
"So, how about another race." Sonic could only blink at this, they had no time for a race right now for it was time to go.
"I think we might have to do that later, right now we have to get down to the train station."
"That is what I mean silly, a race to the train station. The winner will be deemed fastest in all of Ponyville. From here to the Train Station, you up for it."
Sonic chuckled at this before turning to the others, "I'm already the fastest in this world but whatever. Hey, me and Scootaloo are gonna rush ahead, alright? Don't wait up"
Sonic and Scootaloo stood right beside each other, Sweetie Belle being the one to do the countdown.
"Scootaloo, I think you are definitely going down this time. I don't have your friends weighing me down this time, so you can kiss the title goodbye."
"That's some big talk, I hope you can cash the check your mouth is making out."
"Ready," Sweetie Belle asked. They both gave her a confirming nod. She then began her countdown when they were set.
"3," Sonic kicked the dirt off his shoes by tapping his toes on the ground behind him as Scootaloo started her engine.
"2," Sonic placed his hands on the ground in a crouching position as Scootaloo revved her engine.
"1," Sonic was now in a take off position, Scootaloo tightened and tapped her helmet to test its resilience. It was now or never for Scootaloo, and she awaited for the horn, in this case the 'horn' was Sweetie Belle saying "go."
"Go," Scootaloo was off like a rocket, but Sonic still stood there in his take off position. Rainbow Dash flew over to Sonic to see what was keeping him.
"Uuuhh, Sonic, the race has started."
Sonic looked over his shoulder at Dash at smiled. He began chuckling and slowly came to a standing position.
"Yeah, I know, I just thought I'd give her a head start. She's already lost." Dash's eyes opened wide and her pupil took up nearly all of her eyes, a very thin line of magenta could be seen.
"Watch this," and after that. Sonic was swirling around in a ball with with little orbs of energy flying in and out of him. All of the ponies just stared amazed, Dash reared back and stared along with the others. After a few seconds of charging Sonic shot off after Scootaloo, passing other ponies along the way and leaving only a streak of transparent blue behind him.
o.0.o
Sonic leaned against the wooden support beam of the train station with his arms crossed, eyes closed, and one foot pressing against the beam as well. It was a while before Sonic heard anything, but after what felt like hours he finally heard the rumming of the all too well known engine of Scootaloo's scooter. Sonic opened his right eye and smiled when he saw the orange pegasus ride up the ramp and skid to a halt in front of him. Her mouth was agape as she stared at him, with the smirkiest smirk he could give.
"W-wha, b-but, how? I even took shortcuts to get here." Scootaloo asked, fumbling over her words.
"Heh, you're not the only one who knows about shortcuts, but I guess it was good I didn't take any or else I would have had to wait longer for you."
"But, but I, huuuuh, welp, it was bound to happen sooner or later," Scootaloo held out her hoof, "you were a very worthy adversary Sonic and I am glad I was able to have a chance to race against you."
Sonic stared at the offered hoof until he finally took it in his gloved hand and shook it. "Yeah, good race, and you aren't too bad yourself. I just can't help that I'm so fast though. Now, let's go find some emeralds."
Scootaloo smiled at his words, "Yeah, let's."
They both turned to the sound of huffing and puffing of tired ponies running up behind them. Everyone was there ready to go, desperately gasping for air as they walked over to the racing pair. Twilight huffed as she tried to ask them something. After a minute or two of heavy breathing.
"S-so, who won?" Twilight asked.
"Ladies and... ladies," Scootaloo began, "may I present to you, our CHAMPION." Scootaloo pointed both hooves at Sonic, as if presenting him to a crowd of investors to a new product. The Crusaders aww'ed at the news of their friend not winning, but she waved her hoof to them, telling them not to worry and that is was alright. Sonic had won fair and square this time.
"Well," Twilight began, "let's go ahead and get our tickets." Everyone nodded and walked over to the ticket booth. Twilight was the first to get her ticket.
The ticket booth pony brightened when he saw her, "hello Princess Twilight, what can I do for you today?"
Twilight only smiled at his politeness and said, "One please," followed by Rarity and Sweetie Belle, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo, Applejack and Applebloom, Fluttershy, and finally Pinkie Pie, all paying for their respective tickets. Sonic was the last to walk up to the booth and ask for a ticket.
"One please," Sonic asked.
"All right, that will be seven bits," Sonic stopped as he was reaching into his supposed 'pocket'.
"Uh, what was that?"
"Sonic, you do know that we use bits as currency here right?" Sonic just stared at the ticket pony at the sudden revelation of which everyone has refused to tell him. The others over heard the others conversation and all gave each other an "oh no" expression.
Sonic got out of his stupor and shook his head to clear it, "that is all right, I will just run alongside the train and follow it to where we need to go."
"I am sorry Sonic," the ticket pony began, "but I cannot allow that. It is for your own safety and against the Railroad Regulations Code, you must buy a ticket and ride the train."
"Hmm," Sonic thought as he closed his eyes and crossed his arms to think about what he could do, until Twilight jumped in.
"Oh, it is alright Sonic, I will pay for your ticket, it is no trouble," Twilight said as she pulled out the correct number of bits and paid the ticket pony.
"All righty, here is your ticket Sonic, enjoy your ride," the ticket pony said as he handed Sonic a golden slip of paper.
"Yeah... thanks...," was all Sonic could say at the ticket pony. The conductor began to yell "ALL ABOARD", which was everyone's cue to get on the train. They all piled onto the train, flashing their tickets at the conductor as they did.
They chose an empty boxcar to settle in for their long trip. After a few minutes of waiting the train's whistle gave a loud blow and shortly after the train lurched forward slowly picking up speed. Sonic watched as the station passed and the scenery was replaced with open fields of nothing but grass. Sonic got bored of the scenery pretty quickly and turned to watch everyone converse. Twilight noticed Sonic's agitation and giggled before talking to him.
"Might as well get comfortable Sonic, this is a 10 hour train ride." Sonic's eyes shot open and sat up in a record time to stare at Twilight."
"10 HOURS, WHERE EXACTLY ARE WE GOING." The excitement and agitation in his voice could almost be felt physically.
"Buckle up if you need to Sonic, were on our way to Saddle Arabia."
Author's Note
HOORAY FOR ANOTHER CHAPTER!!!! Sorry this was late publishing, I neglected to do so because, well, I wasnt on fimfiction at all today. Nevertheless, here is to a new chapter *clink*.
Chapter 10: Train Troubles
The train to Saddle Arabia pushed along at a brisk as all the ponies on board found a comfortable position to sit in while they patiently for their arrival, all except for Sonic of course. Sonic refused to sit still, whether it was squirming in his booth to running up and down the aisles or through the other boxcars. Every time he started to get restless and run again he would be brought back by the conductor, a waiter, or a waitress. No matter what Sonic did he couldn't face the harsh reality of his fate, he still had another nine and a half hours to go until they arrived in Saddle Arabia, Sonic was not the happiest at this time. Sonic was starting to get riled up again, but Twilight couldn't take anymore of his nonsense and decided to intervene this time.
"Sonic, please don't start again, you know what will happen. You will start running around through the aisles and the other cars until a train official catches you and brings you back here. I will then have to apologize for your disruptions and feel completely silly, just sit down and relax. It is not the end of the world that you have to wait to run for a few hours, why don't you take a nap? You always take naps around the library." Sonic stared at twilight for a few moments before answering her.
"Yeah, I do take naps around the library on occasion, but this time is different. When I was at the library I knew I had the freedom to get up and go for a run whenever I wanted, but being stuck in this thing makes me feel trapped. And I am too jittery to take a nap because I know that when I wake up, I can't go running to wake myself up completely. You understand, don't you?"
"Completely, but that still is no excuse to disturb others because of your hyper-active nature. Just sit back and relax, you'll find that it is nice to take a break every once in a while. Ever since I became a princess my schedules have been booked and I can never find time to rest or to spend time with my friends. Weekends are really my only free time now to do whatever," Twilight stopped to take in a long, deep breath through her nose before shaking her head, "anyways, I am getting off topic. In short, just cool it, okay Sonic?"
"... Okay, you're right, I will try to calm myself. Maybe I'll go to the food car and grab a bite to eat, maybe they'll have some chili dogs."
"OOOH, Chili dogs, what's that," Pinkie asked in an excited questioning tone. Sonic stopped dead in his tracks and turned back towards the group of ponies, all of them adorning looks of confusion.
"Yeah," Applejack began, "why would you wanna eat a cold dog, that is just... BLEGH!"
"Oh, no no no. See what I meant was, well, you see, ohh never mind, you wouldn't understand. Anyways, don't wait up." With that last statement, Sonic rushed to the food car. Mainly to get food of course, but partially to avoid anymore questions the others might have about his "eating habits". While he did eat the terrible sandwiches they gave him and went down to Sugarcube Corner nearly everyday to eat the only edible things that he enjoyed, they never really asked what he mainly ate. They might suspect him of being a carnivore now due to the recent events that had taken place inside their car, Sonic didn't worry too much about it though, they wouldn't go so far as to drive him away or arrest him if they became paranoid. *Gurgle* That was the sound of a stomach that needed to be filled with something other than daisy and daffodil sandwiches.
o.0.o
Sonic walked backed into his respectful car and sat down at his booth with a satisfying "Oof". Sonic sat with his arms behind him in support and his legs out front with a gleeful smile on his face. Twilight looked at him and giggled at his sudden cheeriness.
"So, I take it you like the food here?"
"Yeah, it is entire buffet of sweets and other good stuff back there. I thought it was impossible for so much food to be in one place at one time. Maybe this train isn't as bad as I thought it was, I would still like to run off all this food I ate though, gotta keep my figure." Everypony in the car laughed out loud (lol) at Sonic's comment. Their eyes teared up at the strenuous, ear wreathing laughter they were doing. Sonic put on a winning smile as he sat back in victory.
"So your a hero and a comedian, huh? You are full of surprises Sonic, I wonder what will be next, FLYING!?!?" Sonic didn't have the nerve to say he could fly, but only with the power of the chaos emeralds. He thought that was best saved for a later time, but right now, he was going to nap the rest of the way to Saddle Arabia. So whenever he woke up or someone woke him up, he would be free to roam around as he pleased. As long as he stayed within range of the groups sight. He was about to drift until he thought of a vital issue, where would they stay during their time in Saddle Arabia, this problem must be dealt with or he will never be able to sleep.
"Hey Twilight, where will we be staying when were in Saddle Arabia?"
"I am way ahead of you Sonic, I already booked our group to stay at the best hotel there, the Golden Dragon Lodge. We have the Platinum package I believe; that comes with 3 rooms, complimentary room service, access to the spa, unlimited play tokens for the game room, party room rights, pretty much anything at the hotel. Also, since Sonic is with us, they are giving his group a special hero discount. Isn't that great?!!"
"Wow, these Saddle Arabians must be a very nice group of ponies?"
"Yes, they are. Very formal, SUPER polite. They are also willing to help you in anyway possible to get home."
"Well," Sonic said with a yawn, "wake me up when we get there so I can thank them." With those final words, Sonic lied against the side of the booth he was in, crossed his arms behind his head, and crossed his right leg over his left one. He then began to drift off into a peaceful sleep with a grin that told everyone that everything was going to be okay.
Author's Note
NEW CHAPTER (yay). Sorry this one is so short, I have been feeling pretty unmotivated in writing lately so the next chapters or rest of the story my suffer from it. I will try my best to energize myself for this, but I can't make any promises. Like, comment, fav, and/or watch if you want to. As always, Stay Beautiful.
Chapter 12: Through the Desert - Boss
"Welp, I guess this is it," Sonic said as the entire crew stood at the border from the edge of the Aristocratic Quarters looking out at the desert.
"Wow, I am starting to sweat already and we haven't even moved," Twilight said as she wiped her brow.
"Did you pack enough water for everyone," Sonic asked Twilight.
"Yep, I packed about 10 canteens of water, each worth about 2 bottles of water," Twilight responded.
"Cool, hopefully that will be enough to get in and get out before we run out or gets dark."
Sonic turned to look at the group of anxious and excited ponies. The crusaders seemed to be acting the bravest of the group, talking about what they would do if they ran into any monsters out in the desert. She was hard to see, but Sonic noticed Fluttershy cowering and shivering in the very back, covering her head with her hooves. Rainbow Dash was trying to pep talk her into getting her psyched up for the expedition, doing that though was like trying to talk to a brick wall. Rarity was trying to talk her way out of going into the desert claiming that it would "ruin her complexion", Applejack would not allow her to, countering by saying Sonic needed their help with finding the emerald. Pinkie Pie was just hopping up and down while continuously asking when they would be going. Sonic looked up to Twilight and Twilight looked down at Sonic. They both stared at each other, sending a mental message to one another. Sonic gave a slight nod to Twilight and stepped up to the group, prepping for a speech.
"Alright everyone," Sonic said, getting their attention, "It may or may not be dangerous in this desert, so I want all of you to stay close to me, no splitting up and no going off on your own to explore something that caught your eye. Stay in the group, stay close to me, and stay safe. Is everyone ready," Sonic was met with silence, "Good, let's move out!" Sonic said as he turned around and pointed out towards the desert. Marching, leading the group into the unknown.
o.0.o
"Oooh, this is so boring," Zomom said as he sat up straight on the rock he was on, "Dr. Eggman said that I was supposed to watch out for the blue morsel and stop him from getting too close to the emerald, but I haven't seen it or him yet and it is almost lunch time. Or is it dinner time? Oh well, either way, it is time to eat." Zomom pulled a huge sandwich from his supposed back pocket and was about to take a bite until he saw something in the distance.
"Huh?" Was all he could ask himself as he watched the figures in the distance, not noticing the sandwich slipping out of his grasp. The sandwich fully slid out and landed on the ground with a pitiful plop. Zomom looked down at the sandwich and stared at it for a short while until the saddening realization hit him. "OH, DARN IT, whoever made me drop my sandwich is going to pay," he said as he jumped to his feet to stand on the rock, shaping his hands into a crude pair of binoculars and staring out at the silhouettes.
"Hmm, *GASP*, IT'S THAT BLUE HEDGEHOG, I guess it is time or action now," Zomom said to himself. He jumped to the ground, causing a miniature earthquake in the process, and began stomping on the ground in rapid succession. "Hey you, wake up, it is time to fight," he yelled at the ground. After a few more stomps the ground began to shake on its own. Zomom felt the vibrations and jumped out of the way just in time for a giant, 10 story tall worm with teeth going around the entire circumference of its mouth, to pop out of the ground. Zomom looked up at the worm waiting for it to notice him. The worm looked around for the source that was disturbing it until it looked down and saw its master standing a mere 2 feet away.
"Hey, that blue snack is on his way, you know what to do. Eat him, crush him, anything. Although I prefer eating him, no use letting him go to waste. Got it?" The worm gave an ear killing screech in response. "Good, now go get him." The worm obeyed its master's command and dove underground again, heading towards Sonic and his group's location. "Now I will make another sandwich."
o.0.o
"Um," Fluttershy umed, "Excuse me, but does anyone else feel that?" The group stopped in their tracks at Fluttershy's question to feel what she was talking about. The group all felt a slight vibration underneath their hooves, which worried Sonic for he had felt a vibration like this before. Sonic knelt down to both knees and put his ear to the ground to listen. The group noticed him, and they all eyed Twilight to ask him what he was doing. Twilight got their message and walked over to Sonic to see what was up.
"Uh, Sonic, what are you-"
"Sh, I am listening, because I've felt this kind of quake before." Sonic focused very intently on the ground, listening to what possible threat lie underneath. Sonic's eyes widened as he heard the screech of the all too known well animal. Sonic shot to his feet and turned to the group.
"EVERYONE, JUMP," Sonic exclaimed as he jumped to the side, followed by the others. They were just in time as the giant worm shot out of the ground and screeched, causing a visible air-wave to rip the sky.
"WHAT IS THAT THING," Twilight frantically asked turning to Sonic, waiting for a response.
"It's a Sandworm, but I thought they were only found on the Lost Hex in my world, have you ever read a book that mentioned one of these things?"
"None that I've read, but we have a lot of mystical creatures in our world. I am sure all of them would have been cataloged though, so I am not sure."
Everyone stared at the worm that looked around for its target. It searched every direction but wasn't getting any good signs. The group was glad that it was confused and couldn't find them, until it dreadfully looked down upon them, taking a keen interest in Sonic's position. Sonic knew the worm was after him, but everyone that was close would also be harmed as well, so that is why he knew there was only one thing to do.
"Everyone, run, find some type of shelter while I take care of this thing."
"Sonic, have you ever fought one of these things before," Scootaloo asked.
"Not exactly."
"What do you mean, 'not exactly'?"
"I have encountered them before, I just never fought one of this size before because they didn't have a very clear weak point."
"Oh, well, we believe in you Sonic, we know you can do it."
"Thanks, I just hope you're right, now GO, RUN!!" Everyone obeyed Sonic's command and ran behind some big piles of rocks that were nearby, peaking over them to watch the action that was about to take place. "Now, as for you," Sonic said, pointing at the giant blue worm in front of him, coaxing it to roar at him. Sonic started to run around the worm in circles, confusing it and making it dizzy. This caused it to keel over and fall to the ground. Sonic saw his opportunity at the exposed, weak under belly. He jumped, locked onto it, and with one quick motion he shot through the air and struck it head on. The worm gave out a screech of pain in response to the attack. The crusaders all went "Cooool" in unison at the action. The worm wasn't finished though, it got up and shook off the pain before diving down underground.
Sonic knew what was coming, and stopped to listen for the worm. He closed his eyes and concentrated all his senses on his feet, feeling for any kind of vibration. As he predicted, he felt the worm coming straight at him underneath and jumped to the side just in the nick of time. The worm got frustrated at this point and decided that physical attacks are too slow. The worm stated to hack and cough, causing some sort of bulge to make its way up its serpentine body. Sonic knew what attack this was and was quick to dodge it. The worm shot out ball after ball of purple acid at Sonic's locations, missing everyone of them.
Sonic dodged and attacked the worm's weak spot every chance he got, but was starting to get agitated and tired at the worm and decided it was time to end it. Sonic started to pick up his speed and ran towards the worm, dodging any and all acid it shot at him and ran around the worm's body to the very top. When he was at the top he jumped away from its face and did a Sonic Wind/ Homing Attack combo, dazing the worm and nearly knocking it out. Sonic landed on his feet and ran towards a giant rock that had concave shape to it. He ran up the rock's shape and turned almost immediately to start charging up a Spin Attack. Sonic's spin speed gained more and more with every second of power he charged until finally, he shot. Sonic rocketed down the rock and blasted past the group of ponies, blowing a gust of wind in their faces, Sonic could hear a faint voice of one of them complaining about their hair.
Sonic neared the worm after every passing second. He finally made it to the worm and blasted through its weak spot, causing the worm to rear up and screech in pain. Sonic rolled out of the other side and back towards the group, getting out of his spin attack and standing to look at the worm. Its screeches rang throughout the entire desert and into the streets of Saddle Arabia, causing everypony to stop and try to deduce where the sound was coming from. They quickly stopped caring, however, and went along with their business.
The group came out from behind the rocks and watched as the worm screeched for what seemed like hours, no one in the group seemed to be fazed except for Fluttershy, sniffling and crying at the pain it was in.
"Oh stop crying Fluttershy, there is no use in getting upset over a monster like that," Rainbow Dash said. Fluttershy stopped immediately and turned slowly around to look at Rainbow Dash.
"How dare you. That is a living creature and it is in pain because of him," she said, pointing an accusatory hoof at Sonic. "Oh the poor baby, I can only imagine the pain he's in."
"Uh, Equestria to Fluttershy, did you miss the part where that thing tried to EAT US, we were lucky Sonic was here to stop it," Rainbow Dash countered.
"I am sure he didn't mean it, maybe all he needed was somepony to care and love him, perhaps he was just misunderstood, he didn't need to be assaulted."
"Oh, I understood him alright, he was crystal clear on what his intentions were, we all need to be thanking Sonic for what he did. Without him, we would all probably be-," Rainbow Dash was interrupted when Sonic held up his hand to stop Rainbow Dash from talking and signaling that he wanted to say something. Rainbow Dash nodded and backed down to allow Sonic to talk to Fluttershy. He came up to her slowly and knelt down, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Fluttershy, I know you have a deep passion and love for animals. But most of the things Rainbow Dash said were true, that thing was out to harm, well technically me, but it would have also attacked you all too if it got the chance. I was not going to allow it to have that chance. Yes, it may be screeching in pain right now, but it is still a worm. A worm can recover from all sorts of different kinds of injuries," Sonic put his hand underneath Fluttershy's chin in order to get her to look him in the eye, "This worm will more than likely recover, this was just to show it not to mess with us. So, don't worry your pretty little head, this worm will be fine." After Sonic's words, the worm stopped screeching and seemed as if it were choking. Sonic's eyes widened at what he predicted it to be doing.
"Everyone, behind the rocks, NOW!!" The group nodded at Sonic's command and sheltered themselves behind the rocks, looking over them to see what it and what Sonic would do. Sonic ran to the other side of the worms vision, away from the group so the acid wouldn't splash them, but it did not turn. This worried Sonic as he thought the worm was aiming to blast them with acid.
"Everyone, DUCK," Sonic yelled to the group in order for them to be safe from the worm's attack. They all hid themselves behind the rocks and awaited Sonic's next command. After a few more hacks and coughs, the worm finally shot out what was choking it and fell to the ground, but it did not shoot out what Sonic expected it to be; the others looked out as well to see what it was. A shiny ball of yellow light shot through the air towards the group and over them from the force of the cough. Sonic and the group immediately recognized what it was, a chaos emerald.
"I'VE GOT IT," Rainbow Dash yelled, taking off towards the sky in chase of the emerald. Sonic was quick on his feet too, running after Rainbow Dash in order to catch the flying emerald. Rainbow Dash caught up to the emerald and tried to grab it, but all she did was fumble with it and caused it to start falling towards the ground. "Oh man," she said as it started falling. Sonic, however, was coming up that same concave rock formation and shooting off the top to intercept the falling emerald. He caught it in mid flight and landed on the ground, sliding to a stop in front of the group. Rainbow Dash landed behind Sonic with wide eyes, amazed at the stunt he just performed. "Wow," was all she could say.
Sonic held out the emerald to the group to allow them to see the emerald. Everyone gathered in a circle and stared down at it. They became mesmerized at the shininess of the emerald, excited and scared at the power that was contained inside of it. Sonic chuckled at all of their admiration and got their attention.
"One down, six to go," Sonic said with a new found confidence. Sonic stowed the emerald in his "pocket" and walked around the rocks to the worm, followed by the group. Sonic tapped on its cheek and stepped back to allow the others to examine it. Fluttershy was the most anxious about the worm.
"I-is it-," Fluttershy stuttered.
"No," Sonic responded immediately, "No, it is just knocked out from pain and exhaustion. It should be moving here soon so we should probably get going. We sure showed it though huh?" All Sonic got in response was a cold glare from Fluttershy. His smile disappeared instantaneously and cleared his throat. "Anyway, we should probably get goi-," Sonic was interrupted as the worm slowly got up and shook its head. The worm looked at Sonic and the group for a moment before giving and angry screech and dove underground. It was too silent for what just happened and Sonic decided it was time to leave.
Sonic was about to open his mouth until he noticed that everyone was moving, and so was he. Everyone started panicking and started yelling for help to get them out. The worm had started and whirlpool of sand underneath them, it was far from being defeated. Sonic couldn't think while everyone was in a panicked state so he did the only thing he could do, run.
"He used every ounce of strength in his body to run around the whirlpool and grabbed one pony at a time. He could not hold on to all of them at once so he told them to start a chain. The chain consisted of Sonic at the front, followed by Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and the 3 crusaders. They all held on to each other for dear life and prayed that Sonic could save them from the huge whirlpool of sandy death.
Sonic did not have enough energy to run all the way out of the sand-trap. Sonic felt that this might have been the end for them. The whirlpool increased in speed with every passing moment, Sonic was weak from dehydration, and was slowly moving away from the edge of their freedom. He frantically reached for the edge of the ground and put all his strength into running to it, but it was all for not as he barely kept them in the spot the were in now. Sonic looked back at the others with tears in his eyes and gave them a look that said "Were not going to make it". They all frowned and looked down with their eyes closed, thinking that at least they were going to go together. Sonic felt the last of his hope slipping away and accepted the truth of their demise, until they all heard a strange sound .
They all looked up and watched amazed as a strange, blue, wooden box appeared out of nowhere. They continued to watch it until it fully faded into reality and the sound stopped. Without much time to think, the doors opened up to them and a caramel stallion with a spiked back, black mane and a blue suit with a white tie appeared in the doors. He held out his hoof to Sonic and said, "Come with me if you want to live." Without a second thought, Sonic grabbed his hoof.
"Alright, ready in there, ONE, TWO, THREEE," he counted as he heaved the group into the box. They all tumbled inside and the doors closed behind them. They all looked inside at the strange place, what they thought was just a small box made of wood was an entire building on the inside. Sonic turned to look at the strange stallion that had just saved them and was met with a knowing smile. "Yep, it's bigger on the inside, I've noticed," the unknown stallion said, somehow knowing what Sonic would say.
Sonic looked around the room at everyone else to see if they were alright, but noticed there were two others that were recently not in his group. A gray mare with blonde hair and bubbles for a cutie mark and a unicorn filly with a more purplish coat. They both waved at Sonic with sheepish smiles, which made Sonic turn back towards the stallion in question who was walking towards a big control panel.
"Who are you," Sonic asked the stallion, who chuckled at his question; almost expecting him to ask it. The stallion slowly turned around to Sonic to answer his question.
"I'm the Doctor."
Author's Note
HOLY JESUS THIS IS A MILESTONE. Over 3,000 words, that has got to be some sort of achievement or something. Where is my reward? (JK) Anyways, can I get a like, comment, fav, and/or follow for the longest chapter so far. Thank you so much everyone for reading this story and I hope you had a great Singles-Awareness day yesterday. Thank you all again and REMEMBER, Stay Beautiful.
Chapter 13: Meet the Doctor
Author's Note
Let me explain some things before the chapter. It may get a bit confusing because this chapter contains flashbacks, so this is how you are going to be able to tell when a flashback begins and when it ends.
o.o.o = flashback
o.0.o = new scene/later time
0.0.0 = back to present
Chapter 13: Meet the Doctor
o.o.o
Zomom sat atop a giant cliff eating another 5 foot sandwich, watching from a distance as his giant sandworm henchman lashed at and spat purple acid at Sonic. Zomom could see the look of weariness on Sonic's face from the toll of the fight and knew Sonic might give in any minute. Zomom was sure that Sonic was going to fall to the ground soon, until he saw Sonic starting running. He saw Sonic run to a giant concave stone, run up its shape, and rocket back down it towards the worm. He saw Sonic blast through the base of the worm's weak-point and looked on in horror as his ally fell to the ground, unmoving. Zomom was to his feet in an instant to go assist his comrade, but he saw the worm begin to what looked like one final acid attack, one last redemption strike. Zomom figured Sonic was finished now for he was to close to dodge it.
Zomom watched with a smile of victory of his worms final attack, but his mouth soon gaped open to impossible lengths as the worm spat out not acid, but instead a yellow orb of light. He watched as Sonic and the Rainbow pony raced to catch it before it flew to far. He saw them intercept it and take it back to the group. Zomom was in trouble now, for he knew the other six and Eggman were going to be angry that Sonic obtained an emerald and that he was not incapacitated or even slowed down. In fact, Zomom thought that it made him stronger than he was before. When the others heard of his failure, he knew they were going to give the worst punishment they could enforce, no dinner.
Zomom shivered in fear at the thought of not getting one single morsel of food and the fact that his friend was dead, but his fears were soon cast aside as he saw his worm dive underground and start a whirlpool of sand on Sonic's group. They were all sucked into the vortex's pull, but Sonic, like the hero he is, tried to gather all of them up in a chain and try to run out of the whirlpool with them in tow behind him. The suction at that point though was too powerful, even for him. Zomom was sure that his worm henchman was alive and well and that Sonic and his friends were goners for sure.
Zomom smiled victoriously once again and began to turn and stride away, but he noticed out of the corner of his eye something appear in front of the sandy vortex. He could only make out what was a brown pony that stood at the door of the blue box that had appeared. He saw the pony take Sonic's hand and pull them all into the box. Although Zomom wasn't the brightest light-bulb in the house, he was still smart enough to know that not everyone should have been able to fit inside that box.
Zomom realized soon enough that he was staring at the scene with his eyes wide open, and due to being in the desert his eyes dried out quickly. He closed and rubbed his eyes to rejuvenate them so he would not go blind. He then turned and began to run away from the sorcery that was the mysterious blue box.
"The others have to know about this, but what if I don't get any dinner because Sonic wasn't slowed down. Oh well, they still might like to know this," he said as he ran off in the direction of the sun.
0.0.0
Sonic just stared in awe as he watched the mysterious doctor mess around with a few things on the giant control panel, assisted by the gray pegasus and the unicorn filly who would turn a knob or flip a switch when they were asked. Sonic and the others didn't know what to do at this point, one moment they are staring death in the face and the next they are inside an impossibly large small box.
Sonic turned his head to the others in hopes that they would give him an answer or a suggestion on what to do or what was going on. Unfortunately, he was only met with silence from the group. The crusaders were speechless, they just sat on the haunches with their mouths gaping open, trying to make sense of what was going on.
The rest sat on their haunches as well, glancing about the gigantic machine wondering how in Equestria this was even possible, some even considered that it wasn't from Equestria at all, giving themselves an explanation of how this was possible.
Sonic sighed his disappointment when he did not receive any useful tips or advice from the others about the situation, so he decided it would be up to him to try and solve this mystery. Sonic stood up and approached the mysterious team of heroes.
"So, Doctor," Sonic began.
"Hm," the Doctor asked, acknowledging Sonic but not taking his eyes off of the controls.
"What even is this thing that we are in," Sonic asked carefully. The Doctor looked at Sonic with sparkling eyes and adorned an all too happy smile on his face.
"Ah, I am glad you asked. Everypony, may I get your attention please," the Doctor asked above normal talking tone, drawing the attention of the others. "Now, I know some of you may be confused on what this is and where you are, but I can assure you it is nothing to be alarmed about," the Doctor paused to see if the look of confusion and worry left everyone's faces, smiling when he saw that it did.
"Everypony, may I be the first to welcome you aboard my ship. Everypony, welcome to, the T.A.R.P.I.S ," the Doctor concluded and admired how everyone suddenly got a happy and relaxed look on their faces. They all soon felt comfortable enough to get up and explore, Sonic did not though. He felt that there was something more to that name and he was bound and determined to figure it out.
"T.A.R.P.I.S? What does that even mean?" Sonic asked the group of three.
"Time And Relative Ponies In Space," responded the unicorn filly. Everyone looked to the filly in amazement of the words she just spoke, thinking that she somehow knew there was everything to know about this machine. The filly noticed their glares and decided to explain the meaning.
"This machine we are in is very special, it can travel through space AND time. We can go anywhere in the universe to any time in the universe, we just say where and Da haaaa-, I mean the Doctor takes us there," the filly finished saying, plastering on a sheepish smile after her words. Everyone nodded their heads in understanding, relief washing over them after finally getting some answers. Sonic was still jittery though, not because of the strange machine, but because of the wrong picture going on with these travelers. Sonic still wanted answers, and he planned to get them.
"Doctor, if you don't mind me asking, but are the three of you a family," Sonic asked at first, not wanting to jump to any conclusions. The others froze and looked to each other nervously, but they finally gave in and the gray pegasus approached.
"Yes, it's true, we are a family. I guess you've figured us out." Rainbow Dash's ears perked up at hearing the voice. She looked at the others in a frantic manner which drew their attention.
"Rainbow Dash, are you alright," Twilight asked concernedly.
"I've heard that voice before and it is very familiar," Rainbow Dash said as she started flapping her wings and hovered above the group a little to get a better view. Rainbow Dash stared hard at the pegasus with the familiar voice, the look of her rang a few bells in her mind and she instantly knew who the pegasus was.
"...Derpy?" Rainbow asked carefully. The mention of her name made Derpy look more alive and caused her to frantically search for the one who said her name, but the rainbow pegasus coming into view answered that question.
"Oh, hello Rainbow," Derpy said nervously. The group gasped after she responded to Rainbow Dash, causing the group to talk amongst each other.
"Wait, Derpy the mail-mare?" Scootaloo asked.
"M-Maybe," Derpy stuttered.
"Yeah, yeah, it's definitely you. I've seen you deliver mail and packages to our house before, but you were wearing your uniform then. I guess that's why I didn't recognize you right away, but you are definitely her." Derpy didn't know what to do at this point, a bunch of ponies she knew were now aware of her secret double-life from the normal clumsy, muffin loving, mail-mare. Derpy decided at this point that honesty would be the better option.
"Alright, you've caught me," Derpy began, bowing her head in shame, "you all now know my secret. All three of us travel the stars and the across the fabric of time, saving worlds and entire civilizations alike. This is Dinky," Derpy said, pointing to the filly unicorn, "she is the bravest filly and the most wonderful daughter in the entire universe. And this is the Doctor," she said, pointing to the Doctor, "he is an amazing husband and a very daring explorer. I have never seen anypony find more trouble than he does," Derpy stopped her explanation and looked to the group with a spark of passion in her eyes, "THIS IS MY FAMILY AND I LOVE THEM WITH EVERY CELL, EVERY FIBER OF MY HEART," Derpy finished, gasping to catch her breath from the intense speech.
No one knew what to say, the speech she gave was too passionate, too full of love to even respond to. Everyone just accepted her heartfelt speech and went on to the next topic.
"Don't worry Derpy, you're secret double-life is safe with us," Sweetie Belle began, "our muzzles are sealed," Sweetie Belle finished, dragging her hoof across her mouth to emphasize their willingness to not share the secret, mimicked by the other crusaders.
Sonic was still confused on one thing though, there was some pieces of the puzzle that weren't fitting together. He remained quiet for a short while before gathering up enough courage to be bold and just come right out with his curiosity.
"Hold on a second here," Sonic said, drawing all the attention to him, "there is something wrong with this family portrait," he said, getting looks of confusion from the others.
"Sonic, darling, what are you talking about," Rarity asked him with the utmost confusion in her voice.
"Look closely," Sonic said, pointing to the trio of travelers that stood side-by-side.
Everyone looked to the family to try and figure out just what exactly Sonic was getting at. The others eventually noticed, but Twilight was the first to realize what Sonic was talking about.
"Oooohh," Twilight started, "Sonic, that is perfectly normal in families. It just depends on the ponies that came before you."
"Hold on, I am actually confused. What are you all talking about," the Doctor asked everyone from the front of the room.
"Uh, Doctor, I think it is-", Derpy tried to answer, but was silenced by the Doctor.
"No, wait, sh sh sh sshhh. I am going to try and figure it out." The Doctor put on his metaphorical thinking cap and looked to his Wife and daughter to try and figure out the problem Sonic was getting at. He put a hoof to his chin and his other foreleg under his first to provide support while he worked out what was the matter in his head.
Everyone was completely silent in the room.
The only things that would make noise was the occasional Wurr of the T.A.R.P.I.S's main control panel and the Doctor "Hmm" ing every few minutes as he tried to figure out what was wrong. Sonic eventually got bored and decided to tell him what was wrong.
"Uh, Doc, its-"
"Sh sh sh sh sh sh sssshhh, let me work this out," the Doctor said, quieting Sonic down from spoiling what the answer was. Everyone sat patiently, waiting for the Doctor to discover the hidden truth about his family. The time passed slowly, but after about seven minutes or so the Doctor finally concluded what the problem was.
"AH HA," the Doctor yelled and stomped his right hoof on the ground, startling everyone in the room.
"I'VE SOLVED THE MYSTERY," the Doctor exclaimed.
"And what is the final verdict," Sonic asked sarcastically.
"How can Dinky be a unicorn if I am an earth pony and Derpy is a pegasus," the Doctor proudly answered. Sonic was astonished at his answer, amazed that he was actually able to figure it out.
"So you did figure out the problem," Sonic remarked.
"Of course I figured it out, I knew I would. It just surprises me that it took until now for me to notice that because I never really examined it before. Thanks for not spoiling the answer by the way, I hate spoilers." Sonic simply nodded at his gratitude.
"Well," Twilight spoke up from the back, "it is actually very simple how Dinky can be a unicorn and neither of her parents are unicorns themselves. You see, while neither of you may have dominant unicorn genes, you could have ancestors that were unicorns themselves and those genes were passed down and remained dormant until they were finally awoken and Dinky got mostly unicorn genes from your ancestors." The family stared at Twilight, absorbing the information that was just told to them. The Doctor and Dinky seemed to understand perfectly, but Derpy had a hard time following the explanation. She just made sense of what she could of and decided to move on. While it seemed everyone excepted Twilight's explanation, the Doctor was ready with his own remark.
"EXCELLENT, My dear Princess Twilight, excellent indeed. Princess Celestia has taught you well," the Doctor praised.
"Thank You, Doctor."
"But, there is just one small problem in your hypothesis," the Doctor said in a disappointed manner.
"And what would that be?"
"While that was a very excellent explanation, I must inform you that I do not have any unicorn ancestors, so the unicorn DNA could not have come from me. What about you Derpy, do you have any unicorn ancestors?"
"None that I can think of, just earth and pegasus ponies. But I think I may have an answer to the question at hoof."
"What is that, then," Twilight nearly commanded.
"When you're with the Doctor," Derpy began as she walked over to the Doctor, "anything is possible," she concluded, nuzzling the Doctor.
"That answer, I am willing to accept," the Doctor said as Derpy stopped nuzzling and gave him a small peck on the cheek, causing them to turn a crimson red. The cutie mark crusaders all "aaawwweedd" at this show of affection for one another.
"Yep, aaawww indeed. I have a great life. it is full of adventure, and I have a wonderful daughter and an amazing wife to share it with. Traveling the cosmos, fighting bad guys, rescuing planets, and all before breakfast. It truly is, amazing. I remember the first time I ever met Derpy, it was during lunch hour in the market and everypony was rushing from stand to stand, I can remember it like it was yesterday," the Doctor started to flashback to the past, but stopped and shook his head, "but that is another story. Right now, I bet you are all wondering how we knew you were here and why we rescued you."
"Actually, yes, I am wondering that," Sonic said.
"Well Sonic, we were just returning the favor."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, we were there when the timber-wolves attacked the town, and we were fascinated by your story of coming from a completely different dimension with artifacts that could theoretically be more powerful than the Elements of Harmony. So we, well, I decided that if we could meet you, I could study the differences between beings from this dimension and yours are different, completely new scientific discoveries." Sonic just bobbed his head at the confession of the Doctor, one thing still sticking out of his mind.
"I still don't get what you mean by 'returning the favor'," Sonic replied.
"You see Sonic, it happened like this"
o.o.o
"As I said, we were all there when the timber-wolves attacked and were kind of defenseless. The T.A.R.P.I.S was about 10 blocks away from our position. A timber-wolf had blocked our path and none of the weapons I had would work and Dinky doesn't know that many defensive spells or attack spells, or at least ones that would work on timber-wolves. I stood our ground, separating my family from the wolf, willing to give my own life in the hopes that Derpy and Dinky would be spared if I did. The timber-wolf clawed and slapped me to the side, leaving a gash on my left cheek and leaving both Derpy and Dinky wide open. I remember seeing them both cuddle close together and prepare for what the wolf would do next. I tried to get up, but the power of that wolf's attack knocked all the strength out of me. I thought that was the end for them, I closed my eyes as well for I could not bring myself to watch. I can remember hearing the wolf pounce, a crack followed by a screech of pain, and the sound of a pile of sticks hitting the ground. I slowly opened my eyes to see I semi-big pile of sticks lying in front of my loved ones, the look of astonishment plastered onto their faces. We saw some blue ball rolling away towards another wolf, immediately destroying it with one swift movement. We followed you to the spot where you took down that timber-wolf Mega, saw you destroy it, and listened to your story."
0.0.0
"I think I speak for all three of us when I say that we are truly grateful for what you did. We will never forget you act of bravery, so we have vowed to help you in any way possible. Finding the chaos emeralds? If you have at least one of them, we could use the T.A.R.P.I.S's radar to search for them, land in the area, find it, and be on our merry way. What do you say?"
Sonic listened to the Doctor's tale in awe, how his convenient appearance was the decision for whether his family would live or die. How if he would have been a minute longer than normal, his family would not be there and he wouldn't have been there to rescue the group from the sand whirlpool. Something unlocked inside Sonic, like a new found strength that he never knew was inside him. Sonic realized a few moments later that he was staring off into space. He snapped his head to the Doctor in order to reply.
"Doctor," Sonic began, "let's go emerald hunting," he said as he reached around behind him and held up the newly obtained chaos emerald. Sonic remembered another detail from when the Doctor was talking earlier as well; lowered his arm, stored the emerald away, and asked:
"Wait Doctor, what I still don't understand is, how did you know we were here?"
"Oh, uh, we, well we sort of, kind of, followed, you," the Doctor sputtered out.
Sonic could only muster the best poker face he could at the Doctor's admittance.
o.0.o
"You fool, HOW COULD YOU LET THEM ESCAPE," Eggman yelled, his voice echoing around the walls of the lab.
"I'm sorry sir, the sandworm almost had them, but-,:
"BUT, NOTHING. Sonic most likely knows that we are here now thanks to you, I don't even remember giving you orders to send a sandworm after him."
"No, the General told me to send it, but only to slow Sonic down sir. Not to do anything drastic, just something that would keep him off his feet for a few days, something to buy us time."
"Well, I am going to have to have a talk with the General later. But for now, get out of my sight, you sicken me."
"But sir, I think you would like to know how Sonic was saved."
"Not really, that make me more nauseous."
"Some weird blue box appeared out of thin air and a strange caramel brown pony pulled them all into it. The box it somehow bigger on the inside, sir." Eggman nearly spazzed out after hearing this revelation. Someone who has very advanced technology that can match or even surpass his own sounded threatening. Now Sonic was buddy buddy with them. It was time for Eggman to step up his game if he wanted to win this race against time.
Chapter 14: Good or Evil - Choose Your Side
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. Chapter 15: To the Rescue... Or Not
Tails, Amy, Knuckles, Rouge, and Shadow all rode down the elevator in complete silence. They were all dead set on finding out how Sonic was sent to this 'Equestria' and if there was a way of bringing him back. They all knew Eggman had a secret base somewhere on Mobius, but they thought with the way it was hidden, it might as well be a secondary base. Tails brightened up when the elevator finally stopped and dinged open at the bottom. The group of friends looked around the base in amazement, Tails thinking that the technology down here was impressive even for Eggman's standards. What really drew their attention was the giant circular machine near the back of the room. Everyone stepped out of the elevator to admire the room for a bit, all except for Tails who went straight to the portal and started scanning it with his hand held. Amy came up from behind Tails to examine what he was doing and to patiently wait for him to finish... but not really.
"So," she started, "is that the portal that sent my poor Sonic to that weird, other worldly dimension," she asked Tails, hoping for a positive response.
"Yep, it sure is," Tails answered, "And I've got to say, this is pretty impressive stuff Eggman's got. This even out does my technological understanding, but I will get the hang of it very soon."
"Well I hope you finish soon, I haven't heard from Sonic in weeks. He hasn't answered any of my calls on his hand held."
"Gee, I wonder why," Tails mumbled under his breath.
"What was that Tails dear?"
"I-I said," Tails stuttered, looking for answer until his hand held started beeping, "I said I think I've got something," he announced loudly to everyone, drawing them over to his location.
They all gathered around him and gazed upon his hand held, wishing for an understanding of what exactly was on it. Tails looked at it and "oooed" and " awwwed" from time to time when a new bit of information would appear. Everyone cast their glances from the hand held screen to Tails, waiting for an explanation. Tails did not notice their looks but still absent mindedly said aloud what the screen displayed.
"Amazing," he began, "Eggman created this machine to travel across and conquer different worlds. It would not work, however, because electricity was not a strong enough power source to run it. So that is why he needed the deadly six after the chaos emeralds were sucked into the portal with Sonic. He used their mystical power that Zeti possess in order to make it work again, and you see that machine over there," Tails said as he pointed to a small, generator, looking machine that had power cords running from it to the portal, "that is, well, it sort of acts as a battery for the machine. It holds, and when needed, uses the power that the Zeti have to power the portal; and by the looks of it, it is about 3/4 of the way empty. Very clever of him, the only thing he has done wrong is not hiding his base better for us to discover." Tails finished his rant and looked to the others and smiled, knowing that with them, this mission was going to be easier than pie. After Tails' small speech, everyone dispersed to explore the underground base some more while Tails worked out a plan and tried to understand the technology of the portal, until it suddenly sparked to life all on its own.
Tails fell backwards when the machine came on and the swirly vortex of the portal appeared in the middle. He was not expecting it to come on, and he definitely was not expecting to hear other voices coming through the vortex. The others noticed the portal appearing and the voices, looking to Tails for what they should do.
"EVERYONE, HIDE," Tails yelled, panicked.
They were all quick to obey his command. Everyone jumped to a different hiding place in order stay out of sight. Rouge flew to the ceiling, Tails and Knuckles hid on the other side of the portal, and Amy and Shadow hid behind a giant computer console. They all stood still and remained absolutely silent as they witnessed Eggman and three of the deadly six, Zazz, Zomom, and Zavok, walk through the portal, continuing a discussion they must have started in Equestria.
"Uuuaaggh, what are we here for again," Zomom asked.
"I am here to retrieve a very special and secret weapon to use on Sonic," Eggman answered.
"And what would that be," Zavok asked.
"It is something that I have worked and tested many times before perfecting, and I feel that now is as good a time as any to use it. I just need to," Eggman said as he searched around the lab for his weapon, nearly discovering Amy and Shadow's hiding place in the process, "find it," Eggman finished.
Eggman continued to search for his weapon while the three Zeti waited patiently for him to find it. Zazz of course finally got bored and decided to step in and add more to the conversation.
"With it being a very secret and important weapon you sure don't care to put it in a place that you'll remember," Zazz said in a mocking tone.
"Oh shut up, with everything that goes on in my life I don't have time to be organized. I just build the machine and then place it off to the side until it is needed. I think I built and organizer robot at some point, but I never got around to switching him on and he was lost in time.... AH HA, FOUND YOU," Eggman proclaimed.
Tails and Knuckles gasped at Eggman's proclamence and peeked around the corner of the machine, believing that one of them had been discovered, but instead he held up a semi-large, gun looking device. He showed it to the others that he was with before handing it down to them to examine further, Zavok held it so the others could look down and admire it. Zazz looked up after seeing enough, determined to figure out what it was and what it did.
"So what exactly is this thing, it just looks like any normal gun," he asked.
"To the novice eye, that is what it would look like, but this," Eggman responded, taking the machine back from Zavok, "this is my Proton Plasma Canon. It charges and concentrates a ball of energy. Once it has a big enough charge, you aim and fire it at the victim or your enemy. It damages the atomic structure of the target and can be quite painful. It is not really that deadly, but if the charge is big enough it can cause major or even permanent paralysis, and that is exactly what we want to happen to Sonic," Eggman concluded with an evil laugh to add to the seriousness of the situation, Zavok joining in with him.
Everyone, except for Shadow, looked to one another from their hiding places with looks of worry and fear pasted onto their faces. They were not sure how, but they needed to prevent Eggman from using that canon on anyone at all costs. They looked back to the group of bad guys when they noticed that they were not laughing anymore and they began to walk back towards the portal. Eggman walked over to the little generator that powered the portal and bent down to examine it, Eggman just inches from discovering the location of Sonic's two best friends.
"Hmm," Eggman pondered, "you three," he shouted to the members of the deadly six, "refill the generator to about 3/4 of the way full while I attach the cannon to my Egg Mobile," he commanded." The three nodded and began the walk over to the generator. Tails was in an angry state at this point, he clenched his fists so hard that his whole arms shook. He tried to hold himself back as best he could, but it was all for not as he soon found himself running from the back of the portal and straight towards Eggman, screaming all the while.
Eggman turned to the source of the sound, but only for the small fox to jump up and grab the cannon that was in Eggman's hands. He tried desperately to pull the weapon out if his grasp, but unfortunately for him Eggman was much stronger and was able to retain his grasp.
"You, urgh, want to hurt Sonic with this, well I WON'T LET YOU," Tails shouted as he desperately tried to pull the canon away from Eggman. The others saw that he was having trouble so they came out of their hiding places and over to aid Tails. They all tugged as hard as they could on Tails as he tried to pull it away from Eggman. Eggman though was much tougher than he looked and was able to maintain his grasp even with all of them supporting Tails in the pointless tug-o-war. Eggman finally got tired of it and was about to end.
"UrrrrRRRR, BUZZ! OFF! FOX BOY," Eggman commanded as he released one hand from the canon and knocked Tails off of the canon. They entire group fell backwards and towards the portal.
The portal was still left idle after the group arrived, and misfortune was with the group of heroes today. Rouge who had been in the back of the tug team and one of her booted feet fell into the portals grasp and began to pull her into it. She began to yell and in an attempt to try to save herself, she grabbed Shadow's ankle. The suction was still too powerful and Shadow began to be dragged into the portal as well. He tried to save himself and Rouge by grabbing Knuckles by his ankles to get away from the portal. They were still being dragged into the portal and into the unknown world of Equestria. Knuckles, in a pitiful and hopeful attempt to prevent the inevitable, grabbed onto Tails.
Tails fell to the ground face first, but he quickly forgot about the pain and tried to grip the floor as best he could to stop the group from being pulled in. The force of the pull from the portal was much to great and Tails felt his grasp on the linoleum floor of the lab begin to slip. Tails and the chain gang of heroes slid back a few inches, each one sending them more into the portal. Tails looked up one last time to see Doctor Eggman with his surprised expression before Tails finally lost his grip. They entire group of bad guys watched as they were pulled into the portal, each one of them screaming, and into the land of Equestria. After they were all sucked in and their screams subsided, the members of the deadly six looked to Eggman for an explanation. Eggman still tried to comprehend what had happened just now. They three waited for what he would do next, until they saw Eggman's expression change from surprised to total and complete depression.
"Oh great," Eggman began as covered his face with his hand, "now THEY are there."
o.0.o
"And another thing princesses-," Sonic continually spouted, scolding the princesses on the social scale and terms of how others were treated while off near the TARPIS, Rarity approached Twilight who was just watching Sonic tell the sister princesses what for. Rarity came up behind Twilight and "pssst"ed at her to get her attention. Twilight looked away from the on going rampage Sonic was on and turned to the seemingly cautious Rarity to see what she wanted.
"Twilight darling, could I have a word with you for a moment," she asked.
"Of course," Twilight answered as she walked around the corner of the TARPIS to the spot Rarity called her to, "What is it?"
"I don't think I heard Sonic mentioned it in order to not sound like a braggart, but I have to tell somepony about the most wonderful and heart-string tugging thing I have ever witnessed."
"What, what did he do," Twilight asked with a hint of concern in her voice.
"As you already know, Sonic witnessed a few poor fillies being tormented and treated like... rubbish, by the upper class in Canterlot."
"Yeah, he started with that before he started chewing out the princesses."
"BUT, what he didn't mention is that he gave every single morsel of food he bought with that spending money you gave him to those poor filly souls," Rarity revealed, eliciting a soft gasp from Twilight.
"W-Wow, that was really thoughtful and sweet of him, I wonder what made him do it?"
"He saw the poor things suffering, so I guess something deep within him told him to give the food away. Telling him that they needed it more than he did. An entire family can live off all that food he gave them for a few days. Hooh, it was just the sweetest, most wonderful thing I ever saw. He even pet and showed the little things some affection, as if saying that there is still hope left and that others still do care. I just hope he doesn't get in too serious of trouble from shouting at the princesses, they can be very unforgiving sometimes," Rarity concluded. Her and Twilight both went back out in front of the Guard Box to watch Sonic speak for what was right.
"You need to crack down and help others out of their financial ruts, or at least stop this alienating of who to torment because of their monetary status, PHEW," Sonic finished, breathing heavy from the amount of air it took from his lungs to speak. As for the princesses, they were speechless. Celestia's mouth just hung open and Luna stared wide eyed at Sonic, like a deer in headlights. Celestia eventually discovered her mouth was hanging open and quickly closed it, moving her jaw around to loosen any tight muscles.
"A-," Princess Celestia tried to start but was once again cut off by Sonic.
"So, just to sum up," he started, coaxing groans from all the ponies in the room, "there are living, BREATHING, ponies out there, some children, roaming the streets and digging through trashcans trying to find their next meal. And as if their lives weren't already tough enough, you allow the upper class to torment and ridicule them as if they were just some rag-doll to be thrown around. I request that you do something about this soon, I was told to believe this is a world of peace and friendship, not a world based on social status," Sonic concluded. The princesses just sat there in a long silence for a while before Celestia bowed her head to look at the floor in some kind of state of depression, closing her eyes before she spoke.
".... You're right," she said, drawing a wave of gasps from around the room. Celestia noticed their concerned draws of air and quickly raised up her head to explain, "I mean, you are right about this land being of peace and love and friendship and about some of the population being poor. I was not, however, aware of the upper class treating those poor, innocent hearted ponies like they do. I am a bit glad that you informed us of this pressing matter, I just wish you would have delivered it a bit more politely and formally," Celestia said, giving a semi-stern look. Sonic stood straight and rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish smile at the princess' revelation.
"Oh, he he, sorry. I just thought that you were aware and that you were allowing that kind of behavior amongst the others."
"*Sigh* No matter, you have informed us of a great problem that must have action put into affect at once. We planned to do something about the poor and famine, we just never found the time to, but now is the perfect time to act. Thank you for informing us Sonic the Hedgehog, just next time, think before you act, and don't be afraid to ask questions," she said in a soft voice and ending with a smile.
"Yes princess," he said, kneeling to the ground and bowing to them.
"SONIC," the Doctor yelled from the TARPIS doors. Sonic quickly shot up and turned towards the Doctor, noticing he now wore only a white collar with a green tie, but pushed the thought aside so he could answer back.
"YES?" He asked back.
"MAY I SEE YOUR CHAOS EMERALD PLEASE?"
"YOU GUYS DON'T HAVE TO SHOUT, YOU ARE BOTH LITERALLY ONLY 4.57 FEET AWAY FROM EACH OTHER," Dinky cut in from the shouting match. The Doctor looked at Dinky with a smile on his face, anticipating what he was going to do next.
"BUT SHOUTING IS FUN," the Doctor yelled right at Dinky. Dinky gave the Doctor a cold stare that could freeze you in place if on looked too long. The Doctor quickly got the message and turned his attention back towards Sonic, clearing his throat as he did.
"May I please see you chaos emerald," the Doctor said, looking to the side of him and smiling when he got a nod of approval from his daughter.
"Sure, here," Sonic said as he tossed the emerald to him. The Doctor caught the emerald with virtually no trouble. He sat down and reached into the side of the collar he wore and pulled out a small mechanical, device. It resembled something that of a horseshoe, molding perfectly to the Doctor's hoof as a bright blue light shined from the outer edges of it. He moved the emerald around in his other hoof, making sure the blue light touched every single part of the gem. Sonic got curious as to what the device was and decided to find out.
"Hey Doc, what is that thing you're shining on the emerald?"
"Huh? OH, you mean this," the Doctor said and held up the small device to assure it was what Sonic was referring too, then he went back to scanning the emerald, "Well, this is, ironically enough, my Sonic Horseshoe. I am able to do all sorts of different tasks with it. Right now I am scanning the emerald and collecting its molecular structure so when we land in an area with a chaos emerald I can use this to track it, sort of like an automatic compass the points you in the right direction all the time."
"Oh yeah, the horseshoe," Derpy cut in, "I remember when that thing saved us more than once, it is like an icon to the Doctor. He says it makes him... complete. I say he is just another kid with his toy, but if it makes him happy, then I am happy too. It is also a pretty powerful weapon, the Doctor doesn't go anywhere without it." Sonic thought over the words Derpy had told him until a sudden thought struck him.
"Hang on, if it is a great weapon like you say it is, then why didn't you use it on the timber-wolves?"
"Oh that is an easy one," Derpy said, "for some weird reason, the Doctor can't get it to work on wood. That is the only thing it will not work on, wood."
"Yep," the Doctor agreed, "wood is the number one enemy of a Sonic device, go figure," he said as he finished scanning the emerald and tossed it back to Sonic. "So, are we all ready," he asked everyone, a wave of "YES" washing over him.
"Princesses, I just wanted to thank you, ALL of you for your help in finding the emeralds. Your troops can continue searching if they want, but the Doctor and I will be taking the main lead for now on. Once again, thank you for your help and I will try to work on the way I say things. Now everyone, you might want to tie your stuff down before what is about to happen next happens," Sonic finished with a smug smile and closed the door. The TARPIS then started making its iconic noise as it slowly picked up the wind in the room and began to fade out of existence. As it disappeared more, the wind got weaker and weaker until finally stopping as the TARPIS disappeared completely. The princesses just stared at it in amusement until it completely vanished, then they both turned to look at each other.
"I don't think I'll ever get used to that," Celestia said to her younger sister.
"We think that we will not be able to get acquainted with that either, sister," Princess Luna responded.
o.0.o
Dragons. Dragons of ever different size, shape, color, parent or offspring, siblings, all stood in the giant lava pits having belching contests or seeing who had the stronger tail with tail wrestles. They would laugh, pick on each other, and have the idea of what a teenage dragon called fun while the parents just rested in their nests. That was, until they heard a strange noise come out of nowhere and the wind picked up fiercely. All of the teenage and adult dragons looked to the center of the pit and watched as a strange unknown box appeared out of thin air, the noise stopping and the wind settling as it fully appeared. They saw what they guessed was the door on it open and a brown stallion in a white collar and green neck tie step out. The Doctor froze in place and looked from dragon to dragon and gave a wide smile after looking at them all. Three of the punk dragons that few ponies in the group knew all too well approached, pounding their fists together and cracking their knuckles and necks.
"So," a red dragon teenager started, who the Doctor guessed was the gangs leader, "who are you?" The Doctor's smile only widened more at the question, causing the leader dragon to get a brief look of unsureness before switching back to his brave face. The Doctor waited to answer for dramatic effect, but eventually gave the answer they were looking for.
"I'm the Doctor."
o.0.o
"You, change," Queen Chrysalis commanded to one of her changeling army. He did as he was told and changed, but she got a look of disgust on her face after he did.
"No.... YOU, change," she commanded to another changeling in the line of changelings she arranged. This one did as he was told right away and changed, again not what she wanted.
"Still No.... YOU, change NOW," she commanded to another changeling in the line. He did as he was told, but instead of getting disgusted, she got a delighted smile on her face this time and walked over to examine the new form of the changeling.
"Excellent, you may be to the one we need if this plan is going to work," she semi-complimented to the soldier. She stopped walking around him and stopped right in front of him, the soldiers new form standing and saluting at the ready.
"You are exactly the one we need. You know the plan, now go and fulfill the mission," Chrysalis commanded.
"Yes, My Queen," the soldier obeyed and walked out of the "throne room" to complete his mission. Chrysalis dismissed the others that were in the line so she could have her thought to herself.
"Very good. Now, if everything goes according to plan, we may see victory for the changelings yet," she stated, and evily laughed after her proclamation of victory.
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Chapter 16: Truth or Lie? (The Next Emerald)
"Doctor who," the leader teenage dragon asked.
"Just the Doctor will do," he answered as everyone started to pile out of the TARPIS. The lead teenager peaked around the Doctor and caught a glimpse of three familiar looking ponies.
"HEY, I know you three," he said as he approached the spot that Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash currently stood at, "you were the ones that helped that shrimp Spike and made us look like idiots," he yelled to them, causing the three of them to shy away a bit, but it made Sonic snort. The lead dragon snapped his head to Sonic and glared daggers at him before walking over to stare him down.
"You think something's funny, wimp," he asked, causing his pack of teenage dragons to laugh, however, it made Sonic snap his entire gaze to him. They stared into each other's eyes, a physical form of hate could be seen passing between their gazes. Sonic smiled after a bit and gave a small chuckle to the dragon, which threw him off at the sudden turn of emotion.
"No, I don't think anything's funny. I just think that you and your gang do a good enough job at making yourselves look like idiots," Sonic retorted, causing the entire group of pony travelers to laugh. The group of dragons, however, did not find it as funny. They stopped in mid-laugh, their smiles slowly changing into those of hate and anger. The dragons moved to a stance of dominance and growled at them, causing the group to back away, all except for Sonic.
"Okay, PUNK," the lead teenager said, poking Sonic on the chest for emphasis on his seriousness, "just what exactly are you and your wimpy friends doing here?"
"Aaahh, a very good question," the Doctor answered as he pointed his Sonic Horseshoe in different directions, "We came here looking for a very special and very rare artifact called a Chaos Emerald and by the looks of these readings," the Doctor said, pointing the blue light that emanated from the Horseshoe at his face, "there is one in the immediate area, so we have come here to retrieve it," the Doctor finished, pride gleaming on his face.
"All of you?"
"Yes."
"In that tiny blue box?"
"Looks can be deceiving." The lead teenager mulled over the Doctor's responses and what he had said earlier.
"You mentioned something about a gem called a Chaos Emerald, sounds tempting. Must be pretty special for you shrimps to come all this way looking for it."
"Actually it is," Sonic answered, "it is my only way of getting back to my world, MY home!"
"Hmph, Well if it is here I'm afraid you're out of luck. We tend to hold on to any and all gems that find their way into our hordes."
"Hmmm," Sonic contemplated. These dragons seemed to be about as stubborn as a mule, but they also seemed not be the sharpest tool in the shed or the brightest bulb in the house. Sonic thought of an amazing idea, now he had to hope it would work.
"DOCTOR!"
"Yes? And you don't have to shout I'm right here," the Doctor answered, digging in his ear with his hoof to try and remove and object that was not there.
"Could you please lead us to the horde that has the Chaos Emerald in it?"
"Of course! Everypony, Allon-Sy!"
The Doctor pulled out his Sonic Horseshoe from the collar that held his tie and stuck it out in front of him. He activated it, however that worked, and pointed it in a few different directions before stopping in one specific direction. He began to walk, followed by the others, which proved quite a challenge for the Doctor. His balance was off very badly, but still somehow managed to lead the group. He led them around giant rock formations, scorching lava pits, and into the gem horde. The adult dragons were not as appreciative as the teenage dragons were and became very agitated when they entered the horde area of the clan. Thankfully, the teenagers motioned to them that it was okay by doing a "stay back" motion at them, immediately calming them down.
The Doctor led them around a few more gem hordes until finally arriving at one last horde piled up against the wall, his Sonic Horseshoe's buzzing now at a very loud point. The Doctor clicked it off and stored back inside the "pocket" of his collar.
"The Chaos Emerald is somewhere in this horde, so who feels like diving in and finding it?"
"OOH, OOH, I DO I DO," Pinkie answered enthusiastically and dove into the horde like Scrooge McDuck.
"So while she's searching for that, why don't you explain to us this deal," the lead teenager dragon commanded.
"Sure, Twilight," Sonic said, turning to the one in question, "could I borrow a bit for a minute?"
"Uuum," she stalled as she reached into her saddle bag with her magic and pulled out a bit, "sure, here." Sonic took the bit and showed it to the teenagers.
"This bit will be essential in the bargain. With two emeralds, I will be able to enchant the bit to do anything I command it to. What were going to do, is were going to play a little game-."
"Woah, hold it," the lead teenager interrupted, "we don't play any games with any baby ponies and their friends," he finished, crossing his arms to show his refusal.
"Oh alright, then I guess you forfeit already and we'll take possession of the emerald," Sonic said, turning around so the dragons couldn't see his smile of smugness, for he knew they could not refuse.
"Errr," the leader said nervously, "Guuh, FINE, we'll do it your way," he said in defeat.
"Excellent now I will continue explainin-"
"I FOOOOUND IT," Pinkie shouted over Sonic after popping out of the top from the gem horde. She then proceeded to throw the emerald to Sonic, him catching it without any trouble.
"Great, now can I explain the rules?"
"Oh, sure, go head," Pinkie said sheepishly, ending it with a *squee*ing grin.
"Okay, now as I was saying. I am able to use the two emeralds on the bit, like so," he said, placing the bit on the ground and holding the emeralds right above it, "I will use the power of these two emeralds to enchant the bit and make it perform a specific task. In this case, it will be a game of truth. We will take turns asking each other questions and flipping the bit. The one holding the bit will ask the other any question and after they do, you flip the bit and let it land on the ground. If it bounces and lands on heads, that means it is true and it is the next one's turn to ask the other a question."
"Alright, that doesn't seem too difficult," the teen responded.
"BUT, if the bit bounces and lands on tails, that means it is a lie. The first one to tell a lie, loses, and the winner gets the emerald." Sonic finished what he needed to do with the emeralds placed the small purple rock Pinkie just gave them on the ground, in between the teenagers and himself. He then picked up the bit and handed it to the red teenager.
"Challengers go first." The teenager simply nodded and took the bit from him. He thought for a short while on what he should ask. He tapped his chin as he thought but could not think of a single thing to ask, so he just went with a simple rule he wondered about the game.
"Can we ask ANY kind of question," he asked, awaiting the response.
"Yes," Sonic answered. After the question, the dragon tossed the bit up into the air and allowed it to fall and land in front of him. Everyone gathered around and watched as it bounced and twirled on the ground. After twirling for so long the bit finally started to lose it momentum and pitter patted to land on one side, heads. The group of ponies let out a breath of relief as Sonic hunched over and picked up the coin.
"Okay, my turn," he said. Sonic rolled the bit through the crevices of his fingers, eventually resetting the process by dragging it back over with his thumb, as he thought of a question to ask the teenager.
"Is the chaos emerald really that special to you, because you would not have even known about it if we never told you," Sonic asked. The teenager blankly stared at Sonic as thought about the question. What Sonic said was true, they never knew it was even here until the group showed up and explained about it. Dragons were just greedy as the leader teen came to know an embraced that fact; he was ready to answer the question.
"Yes, it is," the teenager responded. Sonic only gave a slight nod as he flicked the coin into the air and allowed it to land on the ground. It bounced a few times and then twirled for a short while until finally stopping on one side, heads again.
"Hmph," the teenager chuckled mockingly, bending over and picking up the bit.
"Okay, where are you from, shrimp?" Sonic did not like how the teenage dragon asked that question, but he had to answer either way.
"I am from another universe, from the great world of Mobius," Sonic answered. The dragon nodded slightly and flicked the coin up in the air. It went through the same routine gravity made it do and landed on a comforting side, heads.
"Ur," the teen dragon slightly uttered as he swung his arm to show his frustration. Now came Sonic's turn again, once more bending over and picking up the coin.
o.0.o
The contest went on for another ten minutes, one after the other Sonic and the teenage dragon would ask each other various things. Such as if they had a certain secret, what their favorite food was, who they liked, who they hated, and other questions that could or could not be considered suitable for young audiences to hear.
"Are hedgehogs usually dumb," the teenager asked. Sonic held his tongue at what he was about to retort at the dragon for he did not want to ruin the contest with a faulty response. He instead opted to swallow the anger to let it out later and answer the question now. Sonic's smile came back to him as realized what the answer to the question was.
"Actually, hedgehogs are very smart and clever in nature. They have a defense mechanism to defend themselves from other things trying to harm and/or eat them. Quills. These babies would poke you into the hospital, pal," Sonic said triumphantly, pointing to the quills on his back as he did. The teenager tossed the coin into the air after the response and let it do its thing. The coin spun around on the ground, but something was off. Sonic and the others noticed that it was falling on the wrong side, tails.
Sonic began to panic a little for he thought he was going to lose the contest. He was expecting it to end in the first three to five questions, they somehow made it last til ten minutes later. Sonic began to sadden at this point because if he lost now, he was never going home. Sonic already began to start accepting defeat at this point, but the coin mysteriously bounced and flipped over on the other side. Everyone was dazed at what the coin just did, Sonic especially. The teenage dragon snapped out of his daze and got mad.
"WHAT, COME ON!! That is not fair, it was landing on tails. I am calling shenanigans," the teen proclaimed, crossing his arms as he did.
"Calm down," Sonic began as he bent over to pick up the coin, "the coin says I am telling the truth, it was probably just doing that to toy with you." The teenager uncrossed his arms and watched Sonic as he picked up the bit.
"I bet you are controlling it," the teenager accused.
"Well you would lose that bet, buddy. The only thing I did was enchant it with the emeralds, I don't control what it does or how it does things. It is almost like it has a mind of its own," Sonic said ominously. He started to think about another question to ask the dragon, something that would get him riled up. The question flicked on in his head like a light bulb.
"Are dragons usually this greedy and selfish," Sonic asked triumphantly. His question worked like a charm as he noticed the already red colored teenager become a brighter shade of red on his face. The question made the teenager angrier than he thought possible, steam could physically be seen coming out of his ears. The teenager somehow calmed himself down enough to answer the question through gritted teeth.
"Yes, it is a normal dragon instinct to be greedy because it starts at a young age," he answered. Sonic just shrugged and flicked the coin up in the air and allowed it to do it normal routine landing and twirling. The teenager tapped his foot impatiently, waiting for the coin to land on heads so he could have his turn. However, when the bit stopped, an audible gasp came from everyone in the crowd, even the few stray dragons that came to over to see what the commotion was about throughout the game. The teenager slowly looked down and gawked at the bit with wide eyes, the bit had landed on tails. Everyone stared at the bit for a long while before Twilight *sighed* and stepped forward.
"Even I knew that was a lie," she started," I knew it was a lie before Sonic even flipped the coin up in the air. Spike's stage of greediness started and grew to very catastrophic levels, but he was able to see the errors of his ways and learned that being greedy was a horrible lifestyle. It is not an instinct, it is a choice, and you have made the wrong one."
The teenagers stared, slack-jawed at the speech Twilight just gave. The lead teenager was in disbelief of everything that had just happened. He closed his mouth, however, at the name she mentioned in her rant.
"Spike," he whispered.
"What was that," Sonic asked.
"GrrrrrRRRRRRR," the teenager growled, "SPIKE, that wimpy little baby. Even when he is not here he is being an annoying shrimp, well I am not having any of it," he said and picked up the emerald, "YOU AREN'T GETTING THIS EMERALD!!"
Everyone in the group shied away and took a step back from the teens that had began to walk towards them to stand beside the lead teenager. Some of the ponies, especially Fluttershy, could be seen shivering in fear. The dragons started to approach the group, but Sonic stepped forward aggressively and made the teens stop in their tracks. Sonic stuck out his arms so as to block the dragons from getting to the others behind him.
"Come on, you lost fair and square. Not stop throwing a temper tantrum and just hand over the emerald. Or I will take it by force," Sonic said threateningly. He somehow had a light sliver of hope that would have worked, but as expected it only made the teens even madder. The leader growled and tilted his head upwards and breathed out a stream of fire. After he was done spewing fire he looked to Sonic and pointed his claw at him.
"YOU SHUT UP! I am going to burn every part of you so that there is not even any ashes left," he said menacingly. Sonic brought his arms back down to his sides at the threat. He assumed that the teenager was bluffing in his threat, but his assumption was quickly tossed aside as the dragon began to take in a deep breath.
Sonic backed up a little, a look of fear on his face. Sonic turned around to the crowd of ponies that watched, eying each one of them. They all seemed to send him a look of "goodbye" or "farewell" because of his imminent doom. Sonic's look of fear quickly changed to a cocky smile at their looks, causing them to get looks of confusion instead. Sonic gave a slight wink to them before turning back to the dragons with the same look of fear.
The teenager finally stopped breathing in and blasted a giant ball of fire at Sonic. The group heard Sonic mumble something incoherent under his breath before the fireball got to him. The ball landed right at Sonic's location and burned for a few more seconds before dying down and completely going out. The others wished that the fire did not die out.
They looked in horror and with tear in their eyes at the spot at where the great Sonic had stood. It was just like the teenager had said, he burnt every part until nothing was left, not even ashes. Twilight walked up to the spot and fell to her stomach at it, continually staring at the slightly scorched spot on the ground. Tears fell from Twilight's eyes and landed on the spot where Sonic had stood, the others joining in as well soon after her.
Tear after tear hit the ground from the group. Twilight sniffled and looked up at the teenage dragon that had lit Sonic up. She was at a loss for words but could only manage to ask one simple question, "Why?"
The teenager just ignored her question and turned back to his group of friends high fiving and congratulating him. The dragon turned back to the group of ponies and just as expected, they were all still spouting water works and trying to console Twilight. What he was not expecting, however, was to feel something kick him in the back of the head and make him fall to the ground, face first. He could here gasps come from the crowd and slowly looked up to see Sonic pick up the emerald that he made him drop. The teenager got infuriated and began to growl. He quickly sat up and turned to his friends
"DON'T JUST STAND THERE, SCORCH HIS SORRY BUTT," the teenager commanded. The teens obeyed and breathed in as Sonic talked.
"Chaos," he said, tossing the emerald in the air. The teens breathed out.
"CONTROL," Sonic said as he caught the emerald and disappeared right before the fire hit him. After disappearing, everyone in the crowd, including the dragons, stared in awe. Sonic had just vanished into thin air. They tried looking around to see where he was, but could not find him before he jumped over their heads and slid to the front of the group. The lead teenager tried to shoot another fireball at Sonic, but he jumped in the air just in time to avoid it. The leader turned his upward quickly to Sonic. He took in a deep breath to shoot another fireball.
"SONIC," Sonic said when the teenager breathed. The lead teen shot out the fireball directly towards Sonic, expecting a direct hit.
"WIND," Sonic said, doing a backflip and kicking out a line of wind from himself. The wind cut through the fire and caused it to dissipate into the air, but the wind still kept going. The leader teen's eyes went wide as he saw the wind coming at him, unfortunately he did not have enough time to dodge it and he was hit square in the face. He was knocked backwards and into the group of teenage dragon's. He rubbed his face as he watched Sonic fall and land on his feet. Sonic stood up straight and faked to rush them just to make sure he was in control of the situation, which he was because after his fake assault the teens flinched to try and defend themselves.
The teens looked up when the attack did not come. Sonic just stood over them, staring down at them with a look of disappointment. Sonic and the teen dragon leader locked gazes for a long while before Sonic looked away and began to walk back toward the group.
"Who are you," the teen leader asked.
Sonic stopped at the question and slowly turned around to answer him, "I'm Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog, and don't you ever forget me!"
The teens nodded their heads rapidly at his command. He smiled when they complied with him, he turned back towards the group and walked passed them.
"Come on, let's go," Sonic said. Everyone nodded and followed behind him, taking one last look at the pathetic looks on the teens.
o.0.o
The group arrived back at the TARPIS and waited for the Doctor to unlock it. He made his way to the front of the group and pulled the key out of his tie collar and unlocked the door. Him and Sonic stood to the side to allow the others to get in before they did. When everyone was boarding Sonic noticed the Doctor put his key back in the same side he kept his Sonic Horseshoe. After everyone was on board, Sonic and the Doctor walked in behind them, closing the door.
"So what is with your collar," Sonic asked, "does it have like TARPIS technology built into it or something?"
"As in it is bigger on the inside...... Yes," he answered with a smile.
Sonic nodded at the response and walked up to the group. The Doctor walked out from behind Sonic to the join the group. Everyone paused in their conversations to look at Sonic holding the emerald in his hand. They were all unsure of what to do at this point except find the next emerald, all but Pinkie.
"SURPRISE HUG," Pinkie shouted as she jumped from the group and landed on Sonic, crushing him in a tight hug. Everyone joined with pinkie and joined in the giant hug that Pinkie started. After a short embrace they all backed off and allowed Sonic to stand up and brush himself off. They stared at him with wide smiles on their faces and sparkles in their eyes.
"That-That was AMAZING SONIC," Twilight praised.
"YEAH, YOU WERE LIKE PEW!! AND 'chaos control' AND-," Pinkie began to rant. Sonic turned his attention away from her to Twilight that approached him.
"Sonic, those moves and skills were amazing, and that bit enchantment, how did you do that with the emeralds," Twilight asked.
"Oh, Pffft, the bit enchantment was a fluke, a trick. How it went on for that long I have no idea, it was just a way to get the emerald because I did not see any other way of doing it. I told him that hedgehogs are clever," he responded.
"Wait, so ya'll lied," Applejack cut in.
"Well, er, yes, but I do realize it was wrong, even to that group of undesirables. I do not agree with what I did, but it seemed like a last resort in a desperate situation. It is like some wise person once told me, 'it is better to tell a small lie than to deliver a painful truth'. I do not agree with lying and I only did it because of the situation. I just hope you can forgive me," Sonic said sadly, dropping his head.
"Aww, it's alrigh' sugarcube. You did save us after all, just try not to make it a habit," Applejack said with a wink. Sonic just nodded at the notion and turned to the Doctor.
"O-kay, where to next Doc?"
"The stars," he responded, moving his arm across the air to symbolize space. The Doctor looked around at the different faces of the ponies in the TARPIS. He put his arm down and cleared his throat.
"Hm Hm, I mean, THAT way," he said, pointing in a specified direction.
"Alright, but let's stop in Ponyville first to rest, we've had a rough day," Twilight said.
The Doctor nodded at the request and looked to Derpy and Dinky.
"You know what to do," the Doctor said to his wife and child, them nodding in return and moving to their places at the TARPIS control.
"Alrighty then, A-LLON-SY!!", the Doctor said, throwing a switch when he did and activating the TARPIS. Everyone stepped back at the shakiness the TARPIS produced and grabbed onto something to stabilize themselves as they traveled.
o.0.o
The TARPIS landed back in Ponyville as planned. The Doctor threw the switch that powers the Time Vortex off and followed his wife and daughter to the door. Sonic and the others were already outside, along with a crowd of ponies surrounding a specific area of the market street.
Sonic's ears perked up as he had heard something familiar come from the center of the ring, but was not really sure until he got a look. Sonic made his way over to the crowd and excused and pardoned himself as he shuffled passed the individual, multicolored ponies. Sonic's anticipation was reaching its peak as he made his way through the thick crowd, followed by his group of travelers.
Sonic finally made it to the center of the ring and jumped in surprise at what he saw.
"SONIC!!" Yelled the familiar face of a friend.
"........ Tails......""
Chapter 17: Hello Old Friend
“Wh-, how did you get here Tails!” Sonic asked frantically.
“Me, Knuckles, Shadow, and Rouge went to Eggman’s poorly hidden base looking to find what happened to you. Needless to say, we found out how you got here, and me going into a small rage on Eggman may or may not be why we ended up here,” Tails finished, with a sheepish smile.
“Why did you attack Eggman?” Sonic asked.
“He came back to his lab to get a weapon to use against you; I think he called it a Proton Plasma Canon. He said it shoots a ball of pure energy that damages the atomic structure of its target, you know, if he can hit you with it. He also said it wasn’t deadly, but if it hits a moving object at full charge it could cause extreme pain and/or permanent paralysis, and that wouldn’t be good for anybody,” Tails explained carefully, making sure not to skip over any details.
Sonic thought hard about the things Tails just explained to him, wondering how this could be used against him and how he could use this to his advantage. Right now though, it seemed like it was only the latter of the two. Sonic smirked and threw a thumbs up at Tails.
“Aw, don’t worry about it little buddy, we’ve already collected two out of seven chaos emeralds. At this rate, Eggman won’t know what hits him,” Sonic said in a cocky fashion.
“OH, speaking of emeralds,” Tails began as reached into his ‘pocket’, “check out what I got,” he said as he held out a small, shining, blue rock. Everyone gathered around and looked down at the emerald, admiring the beautiful glow it gave off. Sonic didn’t realize he was staring at for so long and shook his head to clear his thoughts.
“Tails…. Where did you get this?” He asked.
“Well it began when I landed in that ‘Everfree Forest’ as I have been told is the name of it.”
o.0.o
Tails screamed as fell towards the ground, deep in the Everfree forest. He was so panicked and scared of his new surroundings that he had momentarily forgotten that he could fly. Luckily, he remembered just in time and began to twirl his twin tails around and instead of crashing, he landed on the ground with soft *thump*.
When he was safely on the ground, Tails began to search and look around at his new surroundings, trying to get a slight idea of where civilization was. Due to the thick brush and overgrowth of the forest, he was unfortunately unable to see a town, or any sign of life for that matter, other than the trees. He finally gave up on trying to see a way out and opted to start walking and hope to happen upon a path of some kind that would lead him to salvation.
He immediately regretted his decision to begin walking for every time he took a step he could hear something to his side and see something move out of the corner of his eye. Tails could barely walk, let alone stand, because his knees shook too much from his fright.
He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the bushes off to his side rustle. He slowly turned to look at them and they moved to again, almost causing his heart to stop mid-beat. Tails finally gained control of his motor abilities a little while later and slowly approached the bushes. Making sure to tiptoe so as to get the utmost stealth out of his movements, he reached the bushes and slowly parted them to pick into them.
Tails let out a sigh of relief when he saw a hunched over figure of what seemed like someone picking flowers. Tails whistled to get its attention before trying to talk to it.
“Um, excuse me? Could you tell me where… I…. am…….,” Tails trailed off as the silhouette turned around to look at him. What he saw was not that of a big kid or small adult picking flowers. No, it was a manticore that licked its lips hungrily at Tails.
Tails noticed that he must have alerted it to another meal for it to have and started running. It did not take long for the manticore to begin chasing after him as he looked for some way of saving himself. Flying was useless because after all these years of running alongside Sonic he had built up quite a few muscles in his legs and was actually a faster runner, plus the manticore seemed it was pretty agile and would most likely be able to jump up and take him down in a matter of seconds, so he kept on running. It might have been smarter to fly, however, since there was not as a big a chance of tripping over anything.
Tails had tripped over a root sticking out of the ground and fell face first. He turned his face away from the ground though to avoid any breaks or cuts. Tails slowly raised himself up, but gasped when he heard the manticore roar behind him. He flipped over on his back to see the face of the thing that would end his life. The manticore stopped roaring and began to slowly approach Tails, for it knew he had nowhere else to go.
Tails began to back up away from the manticore, but he soon found himself unable to travel any further due to an inconvenient tree in the way. The manticore got up closer to Tails and almost came face to face with him. Tails turned away so he did not know when his inevitable demise would come from the horrid foreign beast. However, when Tails could feel its awful breath on his face, the manticore gave a shriek of what sounded like pain. Tails slowly opened one eye to see what had happened, but quickly opened both as he saw the beast had a dart in its side and the figure of some shadowy figure stood at the top of a little hill.
The beast looked up to see its attacker, but quickly forgot about them and turned back to Tails with a hungry look on its face. The beast backed up and got into a pouncing position in front of Tails. The manticore leapt towards Tails, causing him to look away and wait for the beast to strike. When he did not feel and clawing or biting, however, he slowly opened his eyes again to see the manticore passed out, sleeping right in front of him. Tails looked up to the shadowy figure who removed their hood from the cloak they were wearing to reveal a zebra.
“Hurry, there are a lot of stakes. Come with me, before the beast wakes,” the Zebra said to Tails.
Tails took no time to question how a talking zebra existed and just took her advice. Quickly getting up and running in her direction, he followed her to the destination she led them to.
o.0.o
Tails sat patiently in Zecora’s hut, twiddling his thumbs, as he watched her sift through the different cabinets and drawers in her house. As he waited, Tails looked at the different items spread around her home. An array of colorful masks with different facial expressions which Tails assumed were used in ancient rituals, different colors and sizes of rosaries strung across the ceiling, a plethora of different herbs and spices, and other ritualistic items.
Tails looked to Zecora when he noticed she was finished looking for the thing she searched for. She put the object in the pocket on her cloack so Tails was unable to see what it was. She walked over to him and spoke with her defining way of speech.
“I assume you have come here looking or your friend, his actions will be a means to an end,” she said ominously.
“A means to an end, what do you mean by that?” He asked.
“All in good time, now go, him you must find.”
“Where would I find him at Zecora?”
“Come with me outside.” Tails followed suit behind Zecora out the door of her hut. She led them a bit away from her hut, but not far enough to where it left their sight. They walked up to a barely visible and noticeable path in the ground and stopped.
“Down this path you must go, and this to him you must show,” she said as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a shiny blue rock. Zecora gently placed it in his hand so he could admire it better. Tails just stared, astonished at how brightly it shined than the others, almost like it had been polished. Tails tore his attention away from the emerald to slowly look towards Zecora with a confused look.
“Stop your gawking and make haste, for you have no time to waste. When you make it out of the forest, it will be another walk to Ponyville, tourist,” she said sternly. Tails shook his head at the sudden realization to clear his head and remove his confusion.
“Uh, Uh, Right! Thank you so much Zecora, Sonic will definitely be happy to hear the good news,” Tails said happily.
“That is good, now hurry along, you should,” she urged.
Tails nodded his head and started to run down the trail, waving back at Zecora as he made his way towards the town. He then turned around and ran at full speed, wanting to get to town as fast as possible to help his friend.
o.0.o
Sonic stood there, thinking over the amazing back story that Tails had told him. It sounded like he has had a rough warm welcome, but one thing just stuck out of his mind like a sore thumb.
“A means to an end, what does that mean?” Sonic asked.
“Dunno,” Tails responded, “that is just what Zecora told me.”
“Hmm,” was the only thing Sonic could say to that, “…. Oh well, don’t worry about it buddy. We have more important things to do. It sounds like the whole gang is here. We’ll have to keep an eye out for them while we are traveling and looking for the emeralds.”
“Agreed,” Tails responded.
“WAIT!” Tails jumped at the sudden outburst, “Do the others have their handhelds?” He asked.
“I believe so,” Tails answered, “why?”
“Just trust me on this,” Sonic answered back. Sonic got out his handheld from his ‘pocket’ and turned it on. He selected all the friends he needed to hear from on his screen, Knuckles, Shadow, Amy, and Rouge, and hit the call button. Everyone gathered around and watched as he try to connect with his other friends. His handheld rang for a good thirty seconds before they all answered their handhelds.
“SONIC!” Sonic jumped at the surprise shout, “how have you been?” Knuckles asked.
“I’m good Knux, wher-.”
“Well that’s nice; I have no idea where I am, just looks like some big city,” Knuckles interrupted.
“That sounds like either Manehattan or San Franciscolt,” Twilight said, looking from the handheld to Sonic, then back to the handheld.
Ooooooh Soniiiiic,” said the voice a familiar pink hedgehog. Sonic face palmed.
"Uuuuuuh,” Sonic groaned, “hi Amy.”
“Sonic the Hedgehog, why have you not answered any of my calls?” She asked angrily. Sonic gave her a confused look.
“What are you talking about, you never called me.”
“Oh yes I did, seven times to be exact.”
“Something must have been blocking the signal,” Tails added.
“Oh well,” Amy continued, “it isn’t blocking it now. So how have you been?”
“I thought I already answered this question,” Sonic retorted.
“You know we are still here, right?” Rouge asked.
“Yeah, we would like to know what to do,” Shadow added.
“Ooh! That sounds like a mister grumpy pants, it is like you can almost hear him not smiling,” Pinkie said.
“N-Not now Pinkie,” Sonic said, trying to diffuse the awkward bomb that had just been armed.
“Okay,” Pinkie said, sitting down on the ground with her for hooves crossed and with a pouty face.
“Alright everyone, listen,” Sonic commanded, “We don’t have a lot of time right now. So I am going to send out a homing signal to you that will allow you to track your way here. Search for the other emeralds in the places you’re already in while you make your way here and once you do get here, STAY here, we will all meet up soon.”
“If I may ask sweetie,” Rouge cut in, “but where exactly is ‘here’?”
“A small town called Ponyville,” Sonic answered.
“Humph, this whole entire WORLD should be called Ponyville if you ask me,” Knuckles joked.
“Well, no one is asking you,” Sonic retorted victoriously.
“I will get you Sonic,” Knuckles threatened.
“Calm down and make your way here, I am sending the signal out now,” Sonic said, pressing a button on his handheld to give the location of Ponyville to them.
“Just follow that signal and we will meet up soon enough everyone,”
“It still isn’t soon enough,” Amy whined.
Sonic just brushed that last comment off and said “Goodbye”, then he hung up.
Sonic breathed out a sigh of relief and turned to his group of travelers, now including Tails, putting away his handheld as he did. He eyed each and every one of them before talking.
“Alright everyone, you know the plan. Let’s get in the TARPIS and keep searching!” Sonic said enthusiastically. The entire group cheered, all except for Tails who was not quite sure what a “TARPIS” was. Either way, he followed the group of ponies to the small blue box that he assumed was the TARPIS, before Sonic suddenly remembered something important.
“Oh! Everyone,” he said, getting the attention, “before I forget, let me introduce to you my best pal, Tails. He’s the greatest technician and computer wiz that I know. Tails, this is Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and their sisters Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo. Well, except for Scootaloo, Rainbow is more of a caretaker.”
“She is a sister to me,” Scootaloo butted in. Sonic looked at for a quick second before continuing with the introductions.
“This is Fluttershy, Twilight, and Pinkie Pie,” he said, pointing to the respectful ponies.
“And these three are the pilots of the TARPIS and really good friends, The Doctor, Derpy hooves, and Dinky hooves.” All three waved as Tails who just waved back with a meager smile. Sonic put his hands on his hips and smiled, nodding now that the introductions were out of the way.
“Alright Doctor, if you please.” Sonic said, stepping out of the way of the door to the TARPIS. The Doctor pulled out the key and walked up to it.
“Wait,” Tails began, “We are all going to fit in there?” He asked nervously.
“Tails buddy,” Sonic said, putting his arm around Tails, “I want you to forget what you know about our modern technology, because what you are about to see will almost probably blow your mind on he much we have to learn,” he said with an eager smile.
The Doctor unlocked the door and allowed Sonic and Tails to step in first. Tails gasped and walked around, looking at everything with a look of horror and amazement.
“Its-Its-,” Tails stuttered.
“Bigger on the inside,” the Doctor finished for him, “yeah, that is weird; I never noticed it before. I’m kidding, there are actually a lot more rooms, this is just the main control center.” The Doctor said braggingly.
The Doctor looked at his family and nodded to them, signaling to get everything ready for them to travel. Everyone walked over and settled in a comfortable and stable place for when the TARPIS started up. Sonic walked up to Tails and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Tails snapped out of his daze and looked at Sonic, who adorned a friendly smile.
“You are taking this better than I thought you would,” Sonic said.
“Actually I am screaming on the inside, but not out of terror,” Tails responded.
“Then what?” Sonic asked.
“At how amazing this place is. This surpasses my technology by a long shot, it even passes up Eggman’s technology. Which could be good in our favor, because if he knew we have a friend with greater technology, he may give up for good,” Tails said with a semi-psychopathic smile.
“Tails,” Sonic said, getting his attention, “we are not here to take advantage of the Doctor’s technology. It is already good enough that he decided to help us find the emeralds after saving our lives. Don’t let potential power go to your head,” Sonic said. Tails nodded at his request.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for it to come out like that. Besides, we always beat Eggman at his own game, we don’t need this stuff,” Tails said confidently.
“Now THAT’S what I’m talking about!” Sonic said, giving Tails a high five. “Welcome back Tails,” Sonic said, giving him a warm smile. Tails smiled back and nodded.
“Alright everypony, hold on to something,” the Doctor commanded. Everyone listened and grabbed a stable part of the TARPIS before turning back to his co-pilots.
“Okay everypony, AL-LON-SYY!” The Doctor shouted, throwing the power switch as he did. Tails looked on in amazement as he watched the amazing machine spark to life and make a noise that he would never forget.
o.0.o
The changeling spy watched, hidden in the alley way in disgust at Sonic and his group. She waited patiently for them to quit talking and to leave town in search of another emerald. The spy felt a slight ringing in her head as her queen tried to contact her. She heard her queen trying to make contact, her voice fading in slowly until she was able to be heard clearly.
“-Ell….. o? he….. llo? Hel… lo, hello?” Queen Chrysalis asked, trying to establish a mental connection.
“Yes my queen, I can hear you. With your word, I will begin my mission,” the spy said.
“Very good, spy. You remember what you are to do, correct?” Chrysalis asked.
“Yes my queen, I am to use the power we harnessed from the emerald to change into the special shape we practiced in order to sustain it. Then I am to begin my work.”
“Excellent, now just wait for the others to leave before starting your mission, then you are free to change and move, just to be sure NOT to get caught.”
“Not to be disrespectful my queen, but what kind of spy do you take me for if you worry I will get caught? Do not fret my queen, I will be as quiet as a mouse,” the spy said cockily.
“I admire your attitude, spy, don’t make a habit of talking to me like that though.”
“My apologies, queen Chrysalis.”
“That is all spy, continue with your mission once the area has cleared.”
“Yes my queen, I will inform you later of the successful mission.”
“Very good spy, proceed.”
And with that, Queen Chrysalis broke the mental link, leaving the spy alone to her work. The spy watched from the alley way for another 10 minutes, waiting for the group to leave. She finally saw them head towards the mysterious blue box they had arrived in and about to open it, until Sonic stopped to introduce everyone to each other. The spy’s impatience peaked when he did that, quietly whispering under her breath, “just leave already” a few times, hoping it would have some effect to the situation.
The brown stallion finally unlocked the box after Sonic finished the introductions and allowed everyone to walk in before him. After another minute or two the light on top of the box flashed, the box made a weird noise, and it began to fade out of existence. When it finally disappeared completely and the ponies in the square dispersed, the spy took this opportunity to start her mission. She gave an evil grin and changed her shape, her whole body engulfing in green flames. After she changed, she looked to herself to make sure everything was correct down to the last detail. She gave another evil smile and walked out of the alley way, finally beginning her mission.
“Watch out Ponyville, a new hero has arrived,” she whispered to herself in her new form.
"HAHAHAHA!!"
The entire group of travelers, all except for the Hooves family as they worked on the TARPIS, sat around at an outside cafe. They were all taking a small break from searching for the emeralds in San Franciscolt, sitting and laughing at the jokes they all told to each other. Sonic put on cocky smile and shifted forward from his reclining position and leaned forward to tell his joke to the group.
"Okay, Okay, I've got one," Sonic started, clearing his throat afterwards, "So, a horse walks into a-," Sonic paused and opened his eyes he didn't remember closing and looked at the three small fillies anticipating where his joke was going. He very well knew that he couldn't say "bar" for they would most likely be asking what that was and no one was going to want to explain, he was going to have to re-word it. It was only a few moments later until Applejack cut in to find out why he had froze.
"Uh, you Ah'right sugarcube? Ya froze up in the middle of your joke," Applejack said in concern. Sonic shot his gaze to her after she had spoken to him and stared at her. He shook his head a couple of seconds later to clear his thoughts.
"Uh, Yeah, yeah, I'm alright, I just got distracted, HM HM, let me start again," he commanded rather than asked," So, a horse walks into an ice cream shop," the crusaders seemed intrigued at this, "and walks up to the counter. The vendor notices that the horse is sad, so he leans over and asks 'why the long face'." Sonic finished, with a wide grin.
He was met by complete silence, all except for his fox friend that was quietly chuckling in his seat, running schematics on the TARPIS, with permission by the Doctor. The reaction Sonic got from his joke was the complete opposite from what he expected, rather than a boisterous roar of laughs from his friends, he received complete silence and a few hateful gazes from them. Pinkie processed the joke a few times in her head until making an "AH HA" movement with her hoof and leaned up quickly in her seat.
"OH, I GET IT...... Hey," she said, placing her hooves on her hips in an angry manner and cast an angry gaze over at Sonic. All Sonic could do from the hateful gazes was to sink down in his seat with a sheepish grin.
"To soon?" He asked in a hopeful tone, shrinking down in his chair more when he did not get a response.
"HEY, SONIC, IS THAT YOU?" Shouted a voice from a distance. Sonic heaved up from his low position in his chair and perked up his ear to listen, the origin of the voice coming from an all too familiar loudmouth of a friend.
Sonic looked in the direction of where the voice was coming from and smiled when his suspicions were proven correct, "Knuckles!"
The red echidna ran up to where the group sat in the outside cafe. Sonic quickly stood up from his seat, prepping to welcome the echidna.
"What an appropriate and convenient time for you to show up Knuckles," Sonic said in a thankful tone, "Where have you been?"
"I was just following the signal you gave out to my handheld, until I see you all sitting here about 10 minutes later. What was the point in making me walk if you were just going to come get me in the first place?" Knuckles asked sternly.
"We had no idea you were here, it is just coincidence that we landed in the city you were in," Sonic responded.
"Landed? You mean in the Tornado," Knuckles asked.
"No," Sonic responded in a flat tone.
"Then what?"
"Look a couple of inches to your right," Sonic answered.
Knuckles slowly turned his head to the right to see what Sonic was talking about. All he saw, however, was the Trio of travelers who were working on a giant blue box. Knuckles cocked his head to the side in confusion and looked back to Sonic for an answer, which Sonic was happy to oblige.
"Looks can be deceiving," he said.
Knuckles just looked back to the box and gazed at it, wondering how it got them all here. He decided not to worry about it too much and instead ask when they were leaving.
"So, can we leave yet," Knuckles asked.
"Can't," Sonic responded.
"Why not," Knuckles asked in return.
"Because the Doctor said the TARPIS needs some repairs," Sonic answered.
"Oh, okay, that makes sense, I just have two questions though."
"And they would be?"
"Who is 'the Doctor' and what is a TARPIS," he asked.
"I'm the Doctor," the Doctor answered, drawing Knuckles' attention to him, "and this beautiful machine here is the TARPIS," he finished, giving the TARPIS a few good taps on the side for good measure. Knuckles glared from the Doctor to the TARPIS and back to the Doctor, never keeping his sight on one thing for too long. Knuckles not knowing who the Doctor was reminded Sonic of something important he completely skipped over.
"Oh, that's right! Knuckles," Sonic said, drawing his attention, "Let me introduce you to everybody."
o.0.o
"HAHAHAHA!!"
Everyone laughed again and again, this time with the added company of Knuckles once he got to know everybody. He had ordered a drink, the cost courtesy of Twilight, and greedily sipped it from time to time making sure not to drink when someone was telling a joke. Knuckles downed the rest of the drink and sat it back on the table, smacking his lips together to get every drop possible.
"Mmm, hey that was pretty good. What was that again?" He asked.
"It was a Cocoa Whip-cream surprise," Twilight answered.
"Well, I tasted the cocoa and whip cream, but what was the surprise?"
"If we somepony told you it wouldn't be a surprise, silly willy," Pinkie answered from out of nowhere, rubbing his head with her hoof and disappearing back to her seat. Knuckles leaned in closer to Sonic after she did to whisper.
"She must be a special case," Knuckles whispered.
"What do you mean," Sonic whispered back.
"I mean, the gears in her head are turning, just not in a syncopated pattern."
"Don't worry about it, she grows on ya after a while."
"Boy, She would have a blast with Shadow."
"I like whispering too," Pinkie said, popping in between Knuckles and Sonic and promptly ending the discussion they were having. Knuckles and Sonic leaned away from each other and decided to have public discussion instead.
"So Knuckles, did you by chance happen to find a chaos emerald on the way here," Sonic said aloud, accidentally drawing the attention of everyone else.
"Nope," Knuckles responded, leaning his chair back so it was only on two legs, "But now that you mention it," he said, making his sentence a cliffhanger. Everyone leaned closer when it seemed like Knuckles was going to continue.
"I did see a poster a back that way with a picture of a singing pony and the grand prize listed for first place was 'a shiny, new type of gemstone never before seen'. If you ask me, that sounds like the description of a chaos emerald," Knuckles said, folding his arms behind his head and closing his eyes.
Everyone thought about the important news that had just been revealed to them, contemplating if what Knuckles had described was what it sounded like. They all pondered how they would be able to get it and what they needed to do.
"Knuckles, did the poster say what color it was," Tails asked.
"I think it said light blue, or something like that," He responded, opening one eye when he did and immediately shutting it afterwards.
"That sounds like a definite chaos emerald to me," Tails said.
"Doctor, would you check the scanners to see if there is a chaos emerald within about, say, 25 miles," Sonic asked.
"Of course, let me step inside for a second and see," the Doctor said, unlocking the TARPIS and walking inside, closing the door behind him.
"Didn't you also say that there was a singing pony on the poster," Tails asked.
"Yep," Knuckles responded.
"OH! That's right!" Rarity blurted, "They are having their annual singing competition here in San Franciscolt. Fillies and colts aged 9-12 will be able to enter and try to win a one of a kind prize. Oh it is an exciting time indeed," Rarity day dreamed. The Doctor finally stepped out of the TARPIS and locked the door behind him, turning to the group when he confirmed it was locked.
"Scans confirm a possible trace of an emerald in that direction," he said, pointing his hoof in the direction in which Knuckles said he saw the poster.
"Welp, that settles it," Applejack spoke up, "one of ya'll are gonna have to enter that contest and try to win the emerald," she said, looking to the four fillies that were in the group, Applebloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Dinky.
"That is bit of a bold thing to say Applejack," Twilight said.
"But it's true," Sonic cut in, "you don't very well expect us to go in there and steal it do you?"
Sonic didn't expect and answer from them, which he smile at. He stood up and walked over to the four young fillies and knelt down to them.
"So, one of you is going to play another major role in helping me get back home. I'm glad I decided to bring you with me," Sonic said, getting the Cutie Mark Crusaders to smile and blush a little. They all looked in different directions, not wanting to be the volunteer that goes up on a stage. Applebloom and Scootaloo quickly get the same idea and look to the unicorn that is between them, still pondering who would go.
"What about Sweetie Belle," Applebloom suggested first.
"WHAT!?!" Sweetie Belle squeaked.
"Yeah, come on Sweetie Belle, you are the best singer out of all of us," Scootaloo encouraged.
"But, no, I can't, I-" Sweetie stuttered.
"Sweetie Belle," Rarity chimed in, "I must agree that you are a very good singer, but if you do not feel comfortable going up there and singing, then you don't have to."
"Oh great, now I'm at a crossroads," Sweetie said, "If I do go on stage, I might mess up and make myself look like an idiot. But if I don't, I'd be letting everypony down. What do I do?"
"Hey now," Sonic comforted, putting his finger under Sweetie's chin to raise her gaze up to his, "You won't be letting anyone down by not going up there. It would just be a foolish thing to do because the fact is already established that you are a great singer. Plus, you are a Cutie Mark Crusader, and if I have learned anything, it is that Cutie Mark Crusaders aren't two things."
"Strong and brave," Scootaloo guessed.
"Smart and fast," Applebloom guessed.
Sonic only shook his head.
"No, I have learned that a Cutie Mark Crusader is not a quitter, and that a Cutie Mark Crusader is not a loser," the CMC's perked up at this remark, "You are going to win because you are a winner. You won't lose because we know you won't. And if you think the task looks too difficult, do what I do, laugh at it. Show the challenge that is nothing you can't handle, don't even let it think for a second that you think it's hard, don't even pay it a second thought. This is will be like a walk in the park," Sonic finished, his speech seeming to have a very positive affect.
Sweetie Belle was now full of courage and a new burning passion that she had never felt before. She knew it was up to her to win the emerald for her friends, especially Sonic. She was even assured that nopony would think differently of her if she lost. She rose her head to look at everypony and put on a cocky grin.
"Okay, let's do it."
Everyone cheered at her willingness to sing for the emerald. Their small cheer had disturbed the ponies around them, however, so they quieted back down to an acceptable state. They were unsure of what to do next, so they decided to find out when it was.
"Knuckles, do you remember catching a glimpse of when the competition was?" Sonic asked.
"What's today?" He asked back.
"Thursday," Twilight responded.
"Tomorrow," he answered.
"A'righ, that gives us a whole day of rehearsin'," Applejack said.
Everyone got into separate groups and began chatting about what different routines and songs she could sing. The crusaders, however, knew what she was going to be singing.
"You know what you're gonna be singin' Sweetie Belle," Applebloom asked.
"Yep," she answered, looking between Applebloom and Scootaloo before answering, "the Cutie Mark Crusaders theme."
Chapter 19: Enemies Unheard
"Hold still Sweetie Belle, we need to take your measurements if we are going to make you a custom dress to wear at the competition!"
The group had dispersed, making the necessary preparations for when Sweetie Belle sang at the competition. Twilight, Sonic, and Tails went with Knuckles to sign her up at the entry station right in front of the theatre the competition would take place. The Hooves family stayed back with the TARPIS to finish repairs and clean it. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie didn't have anything else to do, so they went to do some shopping. Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash went with the Crusaders to find a local tailor since they could not travel in the TARPIS at the moment. Sweetie Belle kept fidgeting in her spot on a small podium where Rarity and Taylor took her measurements.
"I have been standing here for over half an HOUR!! You have measured every inch of me, the only thing you haven't measured is the circumference of my hooves," Sweetie complained.
"Oh, thanks for reminding me," Taylor spoke up, moving her measuring tape underneath Sweetie's hooves and measuring them, one at a time.
"Grr," Sweetie growled, " huuh, Rarity, don't you already have my measurements?"
"I have your previous measurements, but you are always growing and forever changing. We need to be right on the dot when it comes to measurements, especially in a situation of this magnitude," Rarity responded.
"I just don't think it is necessary, couldn't we have just tried on some dresses instead?"
"Yes we could have, but we want you to stand out. While it is a singing competition, they won't just be judging you on your singing. There are multiple factors that go into choosing a winner in a competition like this, trust me, I would know."
"If you say so," Sweetie deadpanned.
The rest of the measuring session was in silence until Sweetie was finally told she could step down from the podium. Sweetie stretched her aching muscles, shaking the soreness out of them and then joining the other Crusaders who were sitting around waiting for their friend to stop getting fitted. The other crusaders perked up when they saw their friend walking toward them; smiling, they got up and ran over to her.
"So, how are you feeling," Scootaloo asked, "nervous?"
"A little, but singing in front of a crowd is not what I'm worried about, we have performed before," Sweetie answered nervously.
"Then what are ya' afraid of," AppleBloom asked.
"What if I mess up? What if I don't hit the correct notes? What if I blow the entire thing, I can't imagine how everyone would feel, especially Sonic," Sweetie said shakily.
"UUUGGHH," Scootaloo groaned, "we literally discussed this an hour ago, remember what Sonic said? It won't matter, we'll never think of you any different."
"I know, but I can't help but feel he was just saying that so he didn't hurt my feelings or to make me worry. What if I don't win? That means somepony else would take home the emerald. and if that happens, Sonic will never be able to get back to his home."
"You win some, you lose some Sweetie Belle. We'll figure something out if there was even the slightest chance you'd lose. In this case though, you are gonna win, it won't even be like there was any competition," Scootaloo reassured. Sweetie Belle's mood lightened a little at the positive reinforcement from her friends, once again finding the confidence to do the impossible. Sweetie Belle lost her smile, however, when she thought of a small problem with her performance.
"Hold on guys, I just thought of something," she said.
"What is it," Applebloom asked.
"You know how I am going to be singing the cutie mark crusaders theme song?"
"Yeah," Scootaloo and Applebloom answered in unison.
"Well I just realized that our song is for all three of us to sing," Sweetie explained, only getting blank stares from her friends in return. Sweetie groaned, seeing as how she was going to have to explain.
"Which means, one filly can't be singing a multi-pony song."
"Yeah yeah, we get that," Scootaloo said, "but, why can't you. There is no rule against it, is there?"
"Well, I just think that if I sing 'We are the cutie mark crusaders' and I am the only one up there, I am going to look a little ridiculous," Sweetie said. Applebloom and Scootaloo looked from one spot of the Tailor's shop to another, rubbing their hooves under their chins trying to think of what to do. Sweetie just sighed and looked to her friends, getting their attention.
"The way I see it girls, I am either going to have to edit the lyrics a bit, or sing a new song all together," Sweetie said in a sad tone.
"Don't worry Sweetie," Scootaloo perked up, "we'll help you edit the lyrics. We'll make it the best song to be sung by a single pony!"
"Yeah!" Applebloom enthusiastically agreed. The crusaders all high hoofed at the proposal just as Rarity was walking over. She came up to Sweetie Belle who was play wrestling with her friends; clearing her throat, she got their attention. The crusaders immediately stopped playing and stood at attention.
"Alright Sweetie, your dress should be ready in about thirty minutes to an hour. Since I have Taylor's assistance it won't take as long, just try to occupy yourselves while you wait," Rarity said graciously. The crusaders all nodded their heads at Rarity in confirmation, who then turned and walked behind a curtain to the back of the store to finish Sweetie's dress.
"Well we had better get started on those lyrics, we've got an emerald to win," Scootaloo enthused. The other crusaders nodded their agreement and got to work. Sweetie got some pencils and paper out of her saddlebags and gave some of them to Applebloom and Scootaloo. All three of them laid on their stomachs writing, laughing at jokes, and coming up with new and unique rhymes for the song; and at this rate, Sweetie Belle felt absolute confidence in herself since she had the ones closest to her helping to write the sweetest and most epic song any pony would hear.
o.0.o
.One after another, the crusaders yawned and dozed off as they tried to finish up the song for Sweetie. All they needed were a couple of more lines and they would be finished, assuming that sleep did not overtake them. The crusaders had to guess that it was around eight or nine o'clock, or very late. Either way, it was past their bedtime. Scootaloo was barely able to shake herself awake to finish scratching down the last few lines. She dropped her pencil and smiled down at their work. They had spent the last hour or so editing and adding new lines to the crusader's them song, and now that they were done, it was time for a very well deserved break. Rarity approached the sleepy fillies and smiled at how adorable it was that they tried to stay awake.
"Little ones," she said, grabbing what attention she could of them, "I think it is about time for bed, wouldn't you agree?" The fillies all slightly nodded their heads, their energy totally depleted. They shakily stood up and walked over to Rarity, Sweetie Belle stowed away the lyrics and pencils in her saddlebags then picked it up. She walked over to Rarity who was with Applejack and Rainbow Dash, along with the other crusaders. They stood at the entrance to the shop, waiting on Sweetie, who slowly wobbled over to them.
"I am ready for sleep now," Sweetie started, "I was hoping I could rehearse the song a bit before the competition, but I am too tired to barely even talk," Sweetie paused and glanced around the room, looking for something important, "where's the dress at? Is it not finished?"
"The sewing and entire construction of the dress is complete, Taylor was going to stay a bit longer and touch it up a bit and add a few more little details. You won't be able to see it until tomorrow, but I will be by tomorrow early in the morning to pick it up so you can see how it feels and if it is gorgeous enough. If everything is alright, you can do some practicing in it too before the big competition. Since we signed up at the last minute, you will be one of the last to perform."
"Save the best for last as they always say," Scootaloo added.
"Exactly," Rarity answered, "Twilight has informed me that the competition starts at seven tomorrow and will end around ten. If we get up early enough, we will have plenty of time to practice and make adjustments to the dress or song if needed." Sweetie Belle nodded at the information Rarity had told her and let out a big yawn afterwards.
"Are we gonna be sleeping in the TARPIS again? While it is very spacious, I cannot stand those lumpy beads," Sweetie complained.
"No Sweetie, the Doctor said he still needs to do some repairs on the TARPIS and clean the outside of it, so we will all be staying at Hotel Chic` for tonight. We all need our beauty sleep, especially you. You need a lot of rest for tomorrow if you are to impress those judges, remember to not get so nervous Sweetie. We are all cheering you on, so just go out there and have fun." Sweetie nodded at her pep talk and let out a giant yawn, her ability to talk completely gone. Applejack chuckled at Sweetie's yawning and then yawned herself.
"You said it sugarcube, Ah' think we could all use a little shut eye," Applejack said in a tired voice. They all nodded in agreement and walked out of the store, Rarity leading the way to the Hotel.
"The hotel is just a few blocks up the road. Everyone should be there already, getting into bed for the big day tomorrow," Rarity explained.
"Luckies," Scootaloo envied. Both the other crusader chuckled at her response as they made the short-ish trek to the hotel.
o.0.o
Sweetie Belle tossed and turned in her new comfortable hotel bed. The wonderful sounding idea of sleep unfortunately eluded her, leaving her mind to race, thinking about tomorrow. She turned back to face the ceiling with a loud groan for the third time. She couldn't comprehend how she was on the verge of passing out when walking to not being able to immediately drift away on the soft mattress. Sweetie sat up and looked at her friends that slept along side her. They had pushed the beds together so they didn't have to decide who would have to sleep in which beds, and also so they couldn't be separated from each other.
Sweetie smiled at them, laying back down with a warm feeling in her heart. Knowing that her friends and family were there to support her no matter what. With that in her mind, it gave her the motivation to fall asleep so she could be rested in order to win tomorrow. She yawned and snuggled the back of her head deep down into the pillow, closing her eyes and smiling as sleep finally washed over her. She was about to fall asleep until she heard a faint voice of in the distance.
"Eeeex.....teeer.....miii.....nnate," said a distant, crackling voice.
Sweetie Belle's eyes shot open and she shot up when she heard the voice. She looked around the room of the hotel she was in, but saw no one but her best friends. She yawned and slowly kicked off her covers and got out of bed. She wobbled over to the window and looked out at the starry night sky, at the full moon. She always though of Luna when she saw the moon, and just knowing that Luna was watching over them made her feel safe every night.
Sweetie just shook her head and yawned again. She hobbled back over to the crusader's bed and climbed up in it, pulling the blankets back over her as she did. She settled back into her pillow and shut her eyes; she was feeling nervous, but she smiled. And she was gonna use that as motivation for the competition tomorrow.
Chapter 20: Sing a Happy Song
"Sweetie, Sweetie wake up," Rarity's soft voice rang.
Sweetie frowned and shifted, unhappy at the prospect of being woken up so early. Hearing her sister's voice, however, did perk up her spirits a bit as she slowly faded back to reality. She carefully opened her eyes as she adjusted to the bright light from the sun coming in through the windows. Sweetie looked to her left and saw Rarity standing over her, watching her baby sister spark back to reality. Sweetie smiled and sat up, yawning in the process as she stretched out her muscles. She soon ceased her normal waking up routine and looked around the room, noticing two empty spots where her friends should have been. Sweetie looked over to Rarity and waited for answer to their whereabouts.
"Come on, time to get up Sweetie. Everyone is already downstairs enjoying the hotel's continental breakfast, we let you sleep a bit longer so you were well rested for today. Now the unfortunate time has come for you to leave bed and come down for the most important meal of the day. After that you get to try on your dress and you can practice singing for the competition, in or out of the dress. Now come along, breakfast only lasts so long," Rarity finished, breathing in deeply from the mouthful.
Sweetie just stared at Rarity with sleepy eyes and yawned at her again, processing what her sister had just said as she was still trying to wake up. After all the words clicked in her mind, her eyes went wide and she smiled excitedly, with a bit of nervousness mixed in. With her heart now pumping adrenaline through her body she jumped out of bed and ran out the door, backing up a few moments later and waved her hoof at her sister, telling her to come on. Rarity sighed as she smiled and shook her head, following after the filly that was eager to get a meal and sing her song.
o.0.o
Sweetie and Rarity walked into the breakfast hall a few minutes later, getting the attention of the group as they did. The entire group looked to them and smiled, waving them over to the table(s) they were occupying and motioned for them to sit. Sweetie to a seat between Applebloom and Scootaloo and Rarity took a seat in between Applejack and Rainbow Dash.
"So there is the girl of the hour," Sonic said with a wink. Sweetie just playfully rolled her eyes and continued towards their table.
Sweetie's friends had taken the liberty of already getting her a plate ready full of her favorite breakfast items. Toast, eggs, orange juice, and two pancakes with syrup. Sweetie licked her lips hungrily, thanking them for getting her breakfast before chowing down.
All of them chuckled as they watched her greedily chomp on her food, eating as if she had not eaten in weeks. Sweetie slowed down her eating after she got down to only a few bites left of her food, taking this time to talk to the others as she nibbled on the rest of her food. She sat up and started to engage in conversation, using her hoof to hold her fork so she wouldn't have to concentrate on holding the fork and talk with the others.
"So how did you sleep last night Sweetie? Have any good dreams?" Twilight asked her.
"I slept pretty good Twilight, but I don't think I had any dreams. Or maybe I have and just forgot them," Sweetie answered back sadly.
"Aww, I hate it when that happens," Twilight gruffly responded.
"But, I do remember this one thing from last night," Sweetie said carefully.
"Oh, and what is that," Rarity asked.
"It was weird, but I heard this far away, crackling voice. It said something, a dangerous word, but I can't quite remember what it said because the syllables were split far apart from each other."
"That is weird, because the voice you described sounds like the one I heard last night too," Sonic responded.
"Really?" Sweetie asked.
"Yeah, I sometimes get some cases of Insomnia, so I just stay up and stare at the stars, that is when I heard the voice. I am not one hundred percent on this either, but I think I saw some shadow fly in front of the moon after I heard the voice," Sonic explained.
"I didn't see any shadows, but I definitely heard something."
"Can you remember what it said," DInky spoke up.
"That is what I am trying to remember," Sweetie insisted, "I am trying to remember the first syllable," she scrunched her face in concentration.
"I remember it," Sonic said, "I think it was..... Ex."
"As in, the letter X," Derpy asked.
"No, but that is the first syllable," Sweetie answered, "Now, what was the next one. Daww, come on brain remember," Sweetie ordered, tapping her head with her hoof in order to jog her memory, which surprisingly worked.
"OH! I remember! It was.... ter. Yes, definitely."
"I remember what comes after that, I believe it was min, M-I-N," Sonic explained.
"Ate," Sweetie finished.
"Yeah, I already ate," Sonic said.
"No, silly, the last syllable is ate. So now, let's see, if we put all those together...."
"Then the end product we get is..."
"Exterminate," Sonic and Sweetie said at the same time. The Doctor's ears perked up at the word they said and dropped his forkful of pancakes and looked at them.
"What did you say," he asked in a frightened tone.
"Doctor you don't thin-," Derpy began.
"Shh," the Doctor silenced as he got closer to Sweetie Belle until they were almost nose to nose, "what did you say," he asked more sternly. Sweetie could only gulp in fear at what the Doctor was doing.
"The voice, what did it say," he asked, getting even closer. He put his hooves on Sweetie's shoulders, "what did it say," he asked again.
"U-uuuhh," Sweetie responded.
"Doctor, I would appreciate it if-," Rarity began.
"NO! I am talking to her, not you," he said, shooting his gaze to Rarity when he did, soon returning them to meet Sweetie's eyes. "Tell me! What did it say!" He asked even more sternly this time, still unable to get a response from her. The Doctor then began to shake her in order to coax the answer out of her. After a few second of shaking, he asked once again.
"TELL ME! WHAT DID IT SAY!!" The Doctor commanded as he continually shook Sweetie.
With her mind trying to process what was happening and her heart racing at intense speeds, she forced herself to try and remember so this torment could end. After another second or two of shaking she finally remember the word.
"WHAT! DID! IT! SAY!" The Doctor asked one more time.
"EXTERMINATE!" Sweetie cried out in fear, the Doctor ceasing his shaking immediately. The Doctor and Sweetie stared into each other's eyes for a long moment, the Doctor's filled with hate and Sweetie's filled with utter terror. The Doctor breathed deeply as he continued staring, but soon snapped back to reality as he broke his gaze from Sweetie Belle and looked around the breakfast court. All eyes were on him, from the group to the other hotel patrons that had come down for breakfast had heard him screaming at Sweetie for no reason. He quickly found himself frowning as all the eyes that were on him were saying "what is wrong with you", all except for his loving family who knew exactly why he was acting the way he did.
He regained his composure soon enough and released his grip on Sweetie Belle, clearing his throat after he did and straightening his tie. He still looked at all the eyes that were trained on him, asking him what his problem was. He could no longer take it and decided to end it before things got too out of hoof.
"Please excuse me for a moment," he said, getting up and walking out of the breakfast court. Derpy looked to all her friends and excused herself as well, asking Dinky to stay put as she got up to go talk with the Doctor. Derpy followed after the Doctor and around the corner where he had went to pull himself together. The others talked among themselves while The Doctor and Derpy were gone, some of them consoling and making sure Sweetie was okay, who assured that she was. The Doctor and Derpy talked for a long while before they were seen returning to the scene of the crime. As soon as the Doctor walked in, all eyes were trained on him again, each one filled with a mixture of anger and a bit of terror.
"I apologize, everyone, for my misconduct. I know it was inexcusable and uncalled for. I just hope that all of you, especially you Sweetie Belle, can forgive me. It is just," The Doctor paused to look to all of them to see if he was met with understanding and forgiveness before continuing, "that was one word I was hoping I would never have to hear again," he concluded, without another word. The Doctor looked to them all once more before walking out of the room, followed by Derpy and Dinky who was coming up the rear. They all watched as the family walked out, not even looking back as they left to go do they needed to do. Sweetie, for some reason, felt a bit of remorse for the Doctor rather than fear. He did not know it, but she had already forgiven him.
o.0.o
Sweetie looked passed the curtain and into the giant crowd of ponies, making sure to remain hidden. They had arrived at the theatre where the singing competition was being held a few hours ago. Before they had arrived, Sweetie was able to try on her dress, and due to all the exact measurements taken, it fit her perfectly. It was a beautiful white dress with golden trimming and small gray spirals going down both sides for extra small detail. She decided to practice singing her song in the dress just to get a feel of how it would be in front of a crowd. Sweetie gave an audible gulp of nervousness and retreated to behind the stage again.
Sweetie was a bit worried, but felt she had a good fighting chance. There were eleven other contestants before her, a few of them squeaked, a couple others hit the wrong note, while the rest sang theirs perfectly. She now waited patiently for the last one to sing before she had to go out, and it sounded like he was getting to his big finish soon.
"Hey Sweetie!" Sweetie Belle jolted a bit at her name being called out, she slowly turned to see her fellow crusaders and Sonic approaching her. She smiled nervously and waved to them as they came over to see her.
"We just wanted ta' say," Applebloom began.
"Good luck out there, not like you'll need it though," Scootaloo concluded. Sonic approached her and she smiled as he crouched down to her level.
"Well, this is it, the final hour, your moment to shine," he said to her, rubbing her head softly so as to calm her down. She smiled at the gentle touch of his hand, but quickly lost it as the realization of where they were suddenly hit her again.
"But Sonic what if I go out there and mess something up? What if I don't win the emerald for you? What if-"Sweetie was silenced by the sound of Sonic shushing her. He dismissed her thoughts with a wave his hand and spoke calmly to her.
"Don't worry about that, we will find another way to get it. If you don't win, oh well, you would still have had fun, right? We could probably make some sort of deal or perhaps make a trade. Right now, I want you to focus on having a good time. You would have never agreed to this if you didn't think you couldn't do it, would you?" Sweetie shook her head. "Alright! Now go out there and sing the most happiest song you and your friends created," Sonic encouraged.
"And try to earn your cutie mark while your out there too," Scootaloo through in at the last second.
"And don't worry about everyone else, they are all in the crowd, and they will be cheering you on until the end," Sonic assured.
Sweetie smiled and teared up a bit at the wonderful encouragement coming from her friends. She snapped her attention away as she noticed the last pony that sung walking into the dressing rooms. She gulped again as she knew this meant she was the next and final performance of the night. Her thoughts became all too real as the intercom screeched on.
"Sweetie Bell, please report to the stage for your performance," A feminine voice said, "Sweetie Belle, please report to the stage for your performance." With that, the intercom turned off and Sweetie warmed up her voice with some practice vocals to test her pitch and speed. Sonic stood up and turned to walk out with the others before stopping and turning around to her as he remembered something important her needed to tell her.
"Good luck out there Sweetie, knock em' dead," Sonic said to her, giving her one final bout of encouragement. Sweetie smiled once more at his kind(ish) words and closed her eyes when they left. She took in a deep breath as she walked towards the stage and breathed out before going through the curtains, giving herself one more pep talk.
"Alright Sweetie, this it, the time has come to show San Franciscolt what your made of. No more cowering and worrying about nothing, it is time to go out there and make them proud. You've just got to win, not just for him though, but for yourself, your friends and your family as well," Sweetie hyped.
She finished her small speech of final encouragement and breathed in deeply and exhaled once more before going out on stage, her moment of victory was at hoof. She opened her eyes that she did not remember closing and plastered on a smile Sonic had told her to, facing the challenge like it wasn't even one. She narrowed her eyebrows, all the while keeping the smile, and went through the curtains.
Sweetie looked out at all the ponies in the crowd, her face of bravery quickly lost at all the eyes staring at her. She began to get nervous and sweat a bit, not sure if she was able to do this. She was about to forfeit until she saw their group again, every single one of them, even the newly arrived Knuckles, gave her looks that told her that she could do this. She noticed she had been staring and shook her head to clear her current thoughts and to get the song lyrics in her head. Once she was ready, she cleared her throat, signaling for the music to start. Right on cue, the intro of the song started, and then, she began to sing.
Working hard and never giving up
Getting out if I ever get stuck
My friends helping me along the waaaaayyyy....
I'll reach the stars somedaaayyyy...
I am a cutie mark crusader
Always fighting for what's right
I am a cute mark crusader
Helping and exploring day and night
Shining as bright as the sun
Glowing as bright as the moon
Remembering to have fun
And purer than a golden spoon
I am a cutie mark crusader
Always fighting for what's right
I am a cute mark crusader
Helping and exploring day and night
Assisting everypony, old and young
Holding precious moments dear
Never stopping unless we've won
Until my cutie mark is heeeeree
I am a cutie mark crusader
Always fighting for what's right
I am a cute mark crusader
Helping and exploring day and, niiiiiight
Sweetie Belle slowly faded out as her song came to an end. The lights on her performance clicked off and the crowd was hush, not making a single peep.
Chapter 21: Back Together
"He loves me. He loves me not. He loves me. He loves me not."
Amy and Rouge walked across the landscape of a giant open meadow, following the signal Sonic gave off. Rouge led the way as Amy would pick up flower after flower and test if Sonic loved her or not. Every time she always landed on not, to which she would bend over while walking and pick up another flower and try again.
After walking for some time, the landscape began to thin out to only blades of grass, leaving Amy to the last flower she had picked when they were in the meadow. She gingerly picked the petals off one by one since this was her last flower, she was going to have to savor it. She now only had 5 petals left and was having an anxiety attack on what the result would be.
"He loves me"
4
"He loves me not"
3
"He loves me"
2
"He loves me not"
1
Amy was speechless, this was the moment she had finally been waiting for. She slowly reached to pick of the last petal, but she did not take into account on how strong her grip was on the flower and an unusually strong gust of wind came by and blew it out of her hand. Amy's eyes shot open and desperately tried to catch the flower, but it was all for not as the flower maneuvered through her attempts to grab it and it was gone, carried away by the cruel forces of mother nature. Amy could do nothing as she pathetically watched as the flower drifted away from her, never truly knowing if Sonic loved her or not.
Amy let out a depressed sigh and trudged her way back to meet up with Rouge, who was standing and examining the map on her hand held, seeing which way to go next. Rouge twisted and turned her hand held, looking for the correct direction, until she finally spotted it and continued on her way, a depressed Amy following in her wake.
"Come on, the place that Sonic told us to go to is only a couple of more miles this way," Rouge explained, pointing her finger south east. Amy was not paying her much attention, she still looked behind herself hoping that by some sheer force of a tiny miracle that she would see the flower floating back, unfortunately it did not.
"Sure, okay," Amy forced out.
"Is that all it takes to get you down," Rouge asked, "Some silly little game that doesn't even actually determine anything. You have seriously got to stop letting your emotions get the best of you. Yeah, every time you did it the flower determined 'he didn't love you', but come one, that was just coincidence," Rouge finished, trying to talk sense into the distraught Amy. Amy only sighed again before responding to Rouge's question.
"You don't understand Rouge, Sonic will never tell me his true feelings, so I HAVE to resort to using those types of games. They help reinforce my confidence in him having those feeling for me. That last flower I had was going to be he loves me, but the wind blew it out of my hand and into the horizon before I could pluck the petal and make it official. Yeah, those games may be totally bogus, but they just help, ya know?" Amy finished her answer with another depressing sigh. Rouge turned her head enough so that she could look back at the upset Amy, who was staring at the ground but still keeping pace with her. She turned her attention back to leading them to their destination.
"I'm sure that one day he'll reveal his true feelings to you Amy, but right now we have got to concentrate on one thing at a time. That means getting to this place on my hand held and helping Sonic search for the chaos emeralds. If you help him find one, it will probably increase the chance of him telling you how he feels," Rouge encouraged. Amy looked up at this revelation and put on a face of determination.
"You're right Rouge, I can't be like that. No one like a Debby Downer and that is not me. Come on, let's help SONIC!!" Amy screamed in enthusiasm and ran ahead of Rouge.
Rouge watched the energetic pink hedgehog run a few feet ahead before yelling at her a good reason to get back there.
"AMY, COME BACK HERE, I AM THE ONE WITH THE MAP!!"
Amy slid to a halt, putting all the force on her heels in order to stop her momentum. She walked back to stand beside Rouge, an embarrassed blush adorning her pink cheeks.
"Oh yeah, sorry," she apologized, sheepishly.
o.0.o
Shadow stood at the entrance to the small town that Sonic had lead them to, cursing every moment he looked at the happy town full of colorful equines.
"That hedgehog is dead," Shadow grumbled under his voice as he reluctantly walked into town, wondering where everyone else was and why they had to be so slow. Shadow got a few odd glances from ponies passerby, but he figured they had seen a lot weirder before they got here. Shadow came to a halt as he heard someone incorrectly address him.
"Hey, Sonic," said somepony in a somewhat upset tone.
Shadow stopped and clenched his fists at being called the wrong name.
"Take one good look at me," he said as he slowly turned to meet the gaze of a few of the town ponies, two stallions and a mare, before speaking again, "do I look like that faker," Shadow sternly asked. The ponies gulped at hearing his deep voice talk in an angry tone, hoping that they had not just made a huge mistake.
"Well, yes," They answered truthfully, "but now that I get a better look at you, I can tell your not him," he said with a sheepish smile. Shadow slowly approached him, making him gulp again as Shadow got right up in his face.
"Well then, hopefully you won't make that mistake again next time," Shadow finished with a semi-evil smile.
The stallion and his posse furiously shook their heads, the leader saying, "Yes sir," and ran off, the two others following after him. Shadow just scoffed and crossed his arms as he watched them get smaller and smaller as they put as much distance between them and Shadow as possible. Shadow saw a small little ginger bread looking house and sighed, wondering if that was the best place to check. He slowly trudged towards it and went through the double doors, all eyes turning to him as he did.
They all seemed to stare at him angrily, but soon lost their looks as they saw the even angrier and more intimidating one on his. He looked around the room and spotted an empty table near the window. He walked over to, the ponies he passed shying away a bit, and sat down, waiting for his "friends" to finally arrive and take him anywhere but here.
o.0.o
Sweetie stood in front of the entire group, proudly holding the shining blue emerald above her head in her hoof. Her smile was unlike no other anyone has ever seen and the pride everyone had in her was practically beaming. She would never forget the thunderous applause that came after she finished her performance. The looks on her friends faces would always stay her memory for years to come. After going back stage and being announced the winner, Sweetie and Rarity were approached by a talent agent that handed them a card, saying that if Rarity wanted Sweetie to go further to just call him. Even though she did not get her cutie mark, she was glad she was able to help Sonic get one step closer to home.
After showing off the emerald to the group, she brought down her hoof and tossed the emerald to Sonic. "Catch," she said. Sonic's quick reflexes allowed him to easily catch the emerald that propelled towards him; he examined it a bit before nodding his thanks to Sweetie Belle and stowing it away in his "back pocket". Their job here was done, so they said their thanks and congratulated the other contestants and wished them luck next year. The group were now going to head back to the TARPIS, all except for Twilight who had to go and check them out of their hotel. They all nodded in agreement to the plan and went their separate ways, their next destination being Ponyville.
o.0.o
The doctor tapped his hoof impatiently at the main console while waiting for Twilight to finally arrive so they could leave. It was a good ten minutes after they had arrived back at the TARPIS for Twilight to come knocking on the door. The doctor pushed a button on the console and opened the door for Twilight, finally relieved the she had made it back. The doctor did one final head count to make sure everyone was there and nodded to his family, to which they nodded back and took their places at the console. Tails looked over to Knuckles with a sly grin which he noticed right away.
"You might want to hold on to something," Tails told him.
"What do you- waaHAHAAHAY," Knuckles shouted as he stumbled around a bit.
The doctor had pulled the starting lever and caused the central part of the console to start moving up and down while his family did their part in piloting the machine. Knuckles grabbed on to a safety bar and looked at his two other friends who were chuckling at his amazement and the look he had on his face. Sonic was able to strain his chuckling long enough so he was able to talk.
"Welcome aboard the TARPIS," he said to the bewildered Knuckles.
o.0.o
Shadow, Amy, and Rouge all sat around the circular table in Sugarcube Corner, looking out the window every couple of minutes for their friends and the others they were traveling with. Shadow sat with his arms crossed and eyes closed, a frown adorning his face every second. Rouge had her one leg over the other and her arms also crossed, a bored expression on her face. Amy had her head leaning against her left palm with her elbow on the table and drew lazy circles on the table with her right hand, waiting as patiently as she could. They were all on the verge of falling asleep, even though it was 6:46 with the sun still shining, until they heard a strange noise start to fill the room and the wind picked up.
Everyone in the bakery looked to the center of the room as they witnessed a tall blue box fade into existence, making the strangest noise that they would never forget. The noise finally stopped and the box was finally in full existence, that was when they all saw the door open and two ponies walked out, Derpy and Dinky Hooves, walked up to the counter and sat in the rotisserie chairs, smiling at Mrs. Cake. She gave nervous smile back to them.
"What can I get for you two," she asked with a nervous tone.
"The usual please," Dinky answered politely.
Mrs. Cake nodded and head into the back to fetch their requested items. Dinky spun her chair around trying to entertain herself while she waited, that is when she noticed a few creatures she did not recognize. They also had the same description Sonic had told them. Dinky tapped on her mother's side to get her attention and subtly pointed out the creatures to her.
"Aren't those the creatures Sonic told us about that were his friends," Dinky whispered. Derpy turned to get a good look at them and nodded.
"Yeah, they must be. Very good observation Muffin," Derpy praised. Dinky smiled at this and hopped down, walking to the TARPIS. The doors immediately opened for her as soon as she got up to them; she rubbed the TARPIS' side before walking inside.
"Hey, Sonic," DInky called out, "I think you may want to get a look at this," she said, walking back outside. The others filed out of the TARPIS, following Dinky. She waited until Sonic and his friends were beside her before pointing out his friends sitting at the table. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles smile in relief and walked over to them. Amy was the first to notice and jumped up with glee, running over to him.
"Hey guy-oOF," Sonic tried to say before he was tackled by the figure that was his supposed "girlfriend".
"OOH, Sonic! I missed you so much, no more going to alien worlds unless I say so!" She commanded. Sonic was able to wriggle his arms free and separate Amy from him before she cut off his air supply.
"Yeah, it is nice to see you too Amy," he said in a weak, breathless voice.
By this point, the others had gotten up and walked over to Sonic and the group as well. They all smiled at each other, except for Shadow, and were able to catch up with what was happening.
"I hope you guys didn't have too hard of a time finding this place," Sonic said.
"Not really, but we did have some trouble along the way," Amy responded.
"Like what?" Sonic asked.
Amy tensed up at this question and looked away with a blush, "I'd rather not talk about it."
"Alright, if that's what you want. So anyways, what-," was all Sonic could say before Pinkie cut in.
"OOO, is this the Mr. Grumpypants you were telling us about Sonic," Pinkie said, referring to Shadow, "You were right, he does look like he could use a little Pinkie charm," she said, examining Shadow closer and inspecting his entire form.
"Mr.... Grumpypants," Shadow asked a bit irritatedly.
"Hey, you have me beat. All I did was describe you, she came up with the name," Sonic said defensively. Shadow growled but did nothing more, causing Sonic to chuckle.
Sonic put his hands on his hips and looked at the group, glad that the gang was all back together. Sonic simply nodded, but felt a cold wind blow by him as he noticed the atmosphere of the bakery was a tiny bit off. Usually it would be full of chatter and ponies eating, but that was not the case. Sonic slowly turned around and to his surprise noticed all the customers had their eyes on him, each face filled with anger and disapproval. Sonic called back to his group to assess the situation.
"Uuh, guys, something's wrong here," he said, not taking his eyes of the other customers. They all turned to see what he was talking about and gasped as they saw all the hateful gazed trained on Sonic. The situation was unknown, why they were angry at Sonic was a mystery, but it would not be for long.
"TRAITOR," one of the customers shouted, rousing up the others to speak their mind.
"BARBARIAN," another shouted.
One after another and insult was thrown Sonic's way, they soon started getting up and advancing towards him, backing him up to the doors. The group was unsure of what to do, because none of them could really try to hurt them because they didn't know how to diffuse or handle the situation, all except for Shadow who what have no problem kicking some of their tails.
Sonic was backed and fell through the door, scrambling to get up as the customers filed out of the bakery. The townsponies looked to see what was the commotion and understood why it was happening once they saw who it was. The gathered around in a circle and cheered them on as one by one Sonic was insulted or threatened.
"HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO US!" one pony shouted.
"YOU'RE NO FRIEND OF OURS!" Another shouted.
Sonic only stood there as an angry mob was formed around him, trying to keep a defensive but none aggressive stance. Sonic looked all around him trying to find a means of escape, but there were none. He looked over to his traveling companions with a panicked and confused look on his face, trying to figure out what was wrong.
"Wh-What!?" Was all he could say.
o.0.o
The control center was alive with robotic looking ponies. Some were flying around with little jets on the bottom of their bodies and others simply rolled on the flat surface of their base. They were tallish, round robots with what looked like heads the shape of ponies, but instead of eyes they had a small metal bar extend inward from each socket where they eventually met and extended out to make one giant eye stalk. They had lights on their heads the shape of pony ears and lit up whenever one of them began to talk. Their round body had little orbs going around the entire circumference in even rows, except for one arm that extended from the front that looked like a plunger of sorts on their right side and the other looked like a metal corncob on their left side. They were all busy going about their jobs when one barged in from the elevator.
"I bring new from the research facility," it said in a crackly robotic voice, the ear lights lit up with each syllable of it words. All them stopped what they were doing and turned to the interrupting robot. Their leader rolled forward, he was a bit taller than the others and spoke with a deep voice.
"Explain, Explain!" He commanded.
"The rock we discovered on the Earth is no ordinary rock. It has been found to have an immense source of energy, which could mean great things if used correctly," he explained.
"And what does that mean for us?" The leader asked.
"It means that if we can find someway to harness its power, we will finally be able to....... Ex-ter-mi-nate the Doctor," he responded.
"Ex-ter-mi-nate," The leader repeated.
"Ex-ter-mi-nate," another one repeated.
One after another, all of them were constantly repeating "Exterminate" over and over again until being silence by their leader.
"SILENCE!" He commanded, the entire room going quiet.
"Find a way to harness its power, then report back to me when you do," the leader commanded.
"I obey," said the scientist robot, turning and entering the elevator. He then pressed the button that lead to the laboratory to begin work. The leader turned back to his lower level comrades and made his speech.
"With this new power, the Doctor will finally be destroyed. For the glory of the Paleks!" The leader announced.
"FOR THE GLORY OF THE PALEKS!" they all repeated.
"NOT SO FAST!!" One of Celestia's Royal Guards shouted.
"HuaaaAAAHH," was all Sonic could say when he was starting to look back, but soon found that he was no longer able to move his feet and that he was floating about 17 inches off the ground.
With one swift motion of the guard's head he sent Sonic flying towards a cart, the ponies in the immediate avoiding the flying hedgehog as he smashed into the cart, sending bit of wood and hay flying in every direction.
"SONIC!!" Amy shouted from the group, Knuckles and Rouge holding her back from trying to revenge shot the guard or trying to assist Sonic so she herself would not be harmed.
The guard was about to make another attack as he advanced forward, but Celestia stopped him with one word booming from her mouth.
"ENOUGH!!" She commanded.
The guard nodded and stopped his movements of advancing towards the cart to continue his assault on the supposed convict, Amy ever so thankful for the Princess' intervention.
Sonic sat up with a grunt from where he was thrown into the cart, holding his head with his left hand and shaking his head from left to right, trying to clear his vision of the stars. A lot of the ponies and even Celestia watched with jaws agape at how Sonic barely had any scratches on him after the harsh attack. It had never occurred to any of them up until now just how durable the frail looking hedgehog was.
Sonic tried looking around from where he sat, testing to see if his vision was still available and if the stars had cleared. Sonic was distraught, however, as there was still a spot in his vision where a green orb still semi-obstructed his vision.
After a good rubbing of his eyes and looking up again, he noticed that the orb moved on its own through the air and not with his eyes. Sonic did not know how, but the green chaos emerald had literally dropped in from out of nowhere. He knew that they had not acquired the green emerald on their journeys and was not about to allow this window of opportunity to shut right in his face.
Without a second thought, Sonic pointed up into the air in the general direction of the falling emerald and shouted, "EMERALD!"
Following his finger, the entirety of the crowd looked up and saw the little green orb quickly following the direction of gravity back towards the earth.
Shadow, not wasting a moment, made his move. He ran away from the circle and hurdled over a section of the crowd of ponies. He ran up the side of one of the many buildings surrounding the area and jumped away once he reached the apex.
He flew through straight towards the spot where he could intervene with the emerald's downwards movement. After grabbing it, he began to fall back towards the small part of the giant market area in Ponyville. He fell straight towards a street lamp, all the crowd gasping at his questionable motives as fell.
When Shadow got to the appointed spot of his descent where he met the street lamp, he grabbed the neck of the lamp where it extended out of the post to hang the bulb overhead. To slow his moment, he spun around the neck a few times with one hand, releasing his grip when he felt he had slowed down enough to make a landing.
Shadow let go of the lamp when was coming back around to where it looked like he would make another turn, but instead he slingshot away from the lamp to the ground, landing on the ground with a slight thud as he extended one leg out to slow his momentum as he slid to a halt.
Almost eyes were wide at the amazing skill the black hedgehog had just performed, all except his friends who cheered about his performance; Sonic just smiled at the talented hedgehog and gave him a thumbs up in confirmation of a job well done.
Shadow straightened himself out and brushed the dirt that had accumulated in his fur away and looked at Sonic. Shadow closed his eyes and did something that surprised even his friends, all except for Sonic.
Shadow smiled back at Sonic and opened his eyes, also giving Sonic a thumbs up. Sonic chuckled at the new found enthusiasm in his usually dull friend. All these good feelings and awesome moment would have to end soon however as one of Celestia's guards approached Sonic, Shadow, and the rest of the gang. Remembering the situation at hand, Sonic slowly stood up with his hands in the air, now having to accept the consequences of his actions.
The guard pulled out two pairs of shackles and proceeded to place the hoof-cuffs on Sonic's wrists and the others on his ankles, ensuring that Sonic would not be running again anytime soon. He then led Sonic back to his friends who were also being placed in custody. He could see out of the corner of his eye that, thankfully, Shadow was not making things any worse as well and complying with the guard. A nice, short, peaceful walk back to his friends seemed to be out of the question as well.
"That was a really stupid move hedgehog," the guard bluntly stated as they neared his friends.
"Well, I never made myself out to be a genius either. That would be Tails," Sonic said, pointing to his two-tailed friend as best he could.
All of Sonic's friends had upset looks on their faces. They were not used to the prospect of being arrested, especially when they were not involved with the crime. The guards were just afraid that they would be a threat and repeat Sonic's actions, which they knew was highly unlikely. Sonic noticed their depressed looks and decided to try and lighten the mood.
"So how many times does this make it that I was arrested for a crime I didn't commit, Tails?" Sonic asked him, everyone looking to Tails in anticipation of the response.
"This has got to be at least the third time, although us being arrested as well is a whole new feeling. We were outlaws sure, but we were never taken to actual prison. I guess there's a first time for everything," Tails replied in a depressing manner.
No one knew what to do at this point, all hope for trying to prove their innocence seemed lost. Celestia approached Sonic with a look of disappointment, shaking her head before talking to the hedgehog.
"Why?" she asked, "Why did you try to run? That just made everything this much worse," she said. Sonic, his friends, and all the ponies around could hear the sorrow in her voice.
Sonic looked up at her and decided that the truth was the only route to take now. 'No sense in making anything worse ' he thought.
"I was going to return eventually, I was just going to try and find evidence of my innocence or discover the true culprit and bring them to justice. If no one here will believe me, then I will make them believe me," he responded.
All the ponies in the crowd turned to each other and began mumbling incoherent conversations. The group was unsure, but they seemed to be discussing their second thoughts on if he was the one that did it. One conversation he COULD make out went roughly like:
"Maybe, just maybe"
"But the photos are unmistakable, it has to be"
"Think of all the good he did for us, there is no way"
"That could have probably just been a ploy to get on our good sides and then strike when our backs were turned"
"Possibly, but then, possibly not. I guess we will have to wait for an official decree, but I retract my statements about him. He is a hero through and through."
Sonic smiled at the thought of that pony thinking he was a hero. Sure he was a great help and was always there in a pinch, but he had never liked the thought of him being some sort of saint or god, he was just doing what he thought was right.
Sonic and his friends were about to be led toward the chariot that would take them to their holding cells where they could not cause anymore "harm", until the Doctor stepped forward. Everyone turned their attention towards him as he stepped right up to Princess Celestia with a look of pure business on his face, Celestia's guards readying themselves in case he tried anything stupid.
"Princess, if I could say, for the time I have had Sonic and the others travel with me I have never met such a being with the will to do the right thing or be afraid to help anypony. I also have to say that during our travels, we have only made short pit stops here in Ponyville to "recharge" as I like to say. We never stayed in town for more than hour each time, that means Sonic would never had have time to decide he was going to go insane and rampage the town. You might have pictures, but I have a TARPIS. You want proof, there's your proof," he stated matter of factually.
The ponies around stared wide eyed at how the Doctor talked to the Princess. This was almost too much for them to bear because the Princess was practically being insulted right and left and she was not even flinching. The all snapped to attention when Celestia cleared her throat.
"Doctor, I appreciate your concern, but I do not have time to watch your box's little disappearing act. I am, believe it or not, on a tight schedule today. I must, with a heavy heart, bring Sonic and his friends back to Canterlot and keep them detained. I beg you not to make any of this harder than it already is," Celestia said, sounding as if she was on the verge of tears, but somehow maintained her composure.
The Doctor opened his mouth as if he was going to say something else, but decided against it as he noticed the rough time the princess was going through about having to do this; he could already see the purple bags forming under her eyes and the red on her cuticles to warn of oncoming tears. The Doctor simply bowed to her and turned around, walking back up to his family. To which Derpy wrapped him in a nice warm hug and Dinky nuzzled against his right leg. The Doctor smiled and closed his eyes, wrapping a hoof around Derpy as well and hugging her back.
One of Celestia's guards stepped forward.
"I still say that we should take the rest of the ones that traveled with Sonic, in my opinion. They could possibly be accomplices," he announced with a gruff voice. Celestia raised any eyebrow to him.
"Are you implying that my former student, PRINCESS Twilight Sparkle, and the Elements of Harmony, saviors of this land multiple times, would be guilty of treason?"
"Well, when you put it that way..," the guard trailed off, rubbing the back of his head.
Celestia rolled her eyes with a slight smile at the apparent embarrassment the guard was producing. She looked back to the group consisting of Sonic and his friends, frowning when she remembered the matter at hoof. She took one careful step towards them, then paused to take in a deep breath before continuing. She walked up to them slowly, looking down at them as she towered way above their heads. They all looked up to meet her gaze, waiting for the words they dreaded to hear the most.
"I'm.." she choked up, "sorry we have to do this. If you have nothing else to say, then let us proceed to the chariots. Good bye everypony, be safe in the future," she said to Twilight and her friends.
The entire group looked to one another, their shackles clinking and jingling as they turned. It seemed like none of them had anything to say except for one thing.
Sonic turned to Twilight and the others.
"Thanks for helping us look for the chaos emeralds everyone, you have solid to me and my friends since day one and I can't thank you enough. Hopefully this will all get sorted out and we can continue looking for the last two emeralds.Thanks, again," Sonic praised.
After waiting for a moment, Sonic turned back to Princess Celestia and noticed a small tear forming on the edge of both her eyes. He decided not to point it out and nodded to her, signaling him and his friends were ready for departure. She nodded back at them and stepped to the side, pointing her hoof in the direction of the chariots. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, and Rouge walked in the direction she pointed in, looking almost like a chain gang.
All the ponies watched as they walked, some with sadness in their eyes and a lot with anger on their faces; very few containing neutral emotions. Twilight sniffled a bit and stepped forward so she could project her voice for Sonic and his friends to hear.
"Don't worry Sonic!! We will work on getting the evidence to prove your innocence. Just sit tight and we will come visit you and your friends when we can!" Twilight announced.
Sonic looked back over his shoulder and smiled at her, entrusting his future to her and the rest of the traveling ponies. Sonic was forced to look back ahead as fumbled over a loose piece of gravel. Sonic quickly looked back once more to give her a nod and then turned his attention to the front again, getting smaller and smaller as he walked into the distance with Celestia leading them and Royal Guards on all sides of them. Twilight watched with a frown, but then furrowed her brow and turned to her friends.
"Come on," she commanded, "We've got work to do." Twilight walked past her friends and the family of time travelers and went inside Sugar Cube Corner, everyone assuming she was heading to the TARPIS. They all looked to each other for a moment before following after her, looking to clear Sonic's name before things took a turn for the worse.
o.0.o
In a dark alley back behind Sugar Cube Corner, the spy is busy establishing a connection with her queen. She had only stuck around long enough to hear Sonic and his friends being taken into custody so as to avoid being discovered by Celestia or her guards. She could not wait to tell the queen the good news.
"My Queen, our plan worked all too well. Not only has Sonic been arrested, but Celestia is taking his entire group of friends as well. This has been an amazing accomplishment indeed," the spy boasted.
"Yes, very well done indeed, spy. I believe that is all that is required on your part. Make your way back to base and we will begin preparations for phase two. Our time to rise up again has come to fruition; hurry now, there is no time to waste," Queen Chrysalis commanded.
"Yes, my Queen. Although, none of this would have been possible if it weren't for this chao-,". The spy cut her speech off as she was reaching into her bags for the emerald, but found it to not be there. At this point, the spy began to get cold sweats and started looking around her closest surroundings, searching for the missing emerald. Queen Chrysalis began to get suspicious.
"What is the matter spy? Were you discovered, did something happen?" Queen Chrysalis questioned.
The spy shot upright and answered her in a panicked tone.
"Nope, nothing at all my queen. I will speak to you later. Goodbye!" The spy quickly cut off her mental link with Queen Chrysalis quickly, her chest rising and falling as she hyperventilated.
o.0.o
Queen Chrysalis felt a quick, but sharp pain cross her head from the abrupt mental cut off. She rubbed her head as she contemplated what exactly happened.
"Very peculiar," she wondered out loud, "I hope my most trusted spy did not just lie to me."
o.0.o
The spy slowly backed against the wall of a building, still hyperventilating as she wondered what would happen if she returned without the emerald. She contemplated searching for it before going back, but she also knew that if she took too long they would become suspicious and send others out looking for her.
She looked side to side, hoping that the emerald would somehow magically be there. Unfortunately for her, it wasn't. The realization of what her future dawned on her and shot her head straightforward, uttering three little words.
"I'm done for!"
Author's Note
I have to go to a Roller Rink Derby here soon and I am guessing I won't be home till very late, so, here is next chapter early. Enjoy :)
Chapter 24: Events Unfold
High above the planet orbited a massive spaceship, a spaceship full of over 3,000 Paleks. They all hustled about inside, following any and all order or commands given to them by the leader Palek. One Palek in particular was in a hurry up the elevator, not looking forward to delivering his unsatisfying news.
The elevator doors opened up with a small blast of what sounded like steam, drawing the attention of the leader Palek, Alpha, and his assistants. The scientist Palek rolled out of the elevator slowly, accepting of the consequences they might come after his news.
"Leader! Leader! I bring news from the laboratory!"
"Of course! What news do you bring of the power harnessing project?" Alpha asked.
".....I bring....unfortunate news, leader," he replied.
"What is the meaning of this! EXPLAIN!!! EXPLAIN!!!"
"The gem we found rejects all attempts to try and harness its energy; it is almost like the gem is alive in a way. We can not do anymore than we already have. This failure is most unsettling indeed."
"You infantile scientist!"
"Leader..."
"I was lead to believe you lead a team of specialists and this is all you bring me!? Negative RESLUTS!?
"Leader."
"We stand no chance against ridding the planet below of the filth that inhabits it now, at least not while the Doctor resides there."
"Leader!"
"WHAT!?"
"During our experiments, intel had informed us that the Doctor is helping a newly discovered intelligence on the planet search for more of these types of gems. If all else fails, which I doubt it will, we could use it as a bargaining chip. Give it some form of use."
"Hmm... Very well. For now, we shall bide our time. You, leave and give yourself some use," Alpha commanded.
"I obey," the scientist Palek responded.
He then rotated and returned to the elevator, heading back down to his lab and team of scientists to continue benefiting the Palek race.
o.0.o
"Alright, General," Queen Chrysalis began, "the plan sounds simple enough. You may leave to go inform the soldiers of the strategy."
The General gave a simple salute to his queen and walked off towards the war planning room. Queen Chrysalis adjusted her position of how she sat on her "throne" and found one that did not strain her neck as much. She sighed as she finally felt relaxation take over her, which had not happened in a long long time.
Of course, all good things must come to an end, as fate would have it when the doors to her throne room creaked open. Queen Chrysalis opened one eye. noticing one guard walk in with obviously something important to tell her if he was interrupting her only relaxed moment in months.
"What is it?" She asked in a stern and unamused tone.
"My Queen," the guard stated, bowing to her as protocol stated, "I am sorry to interrupt your battle plannings, but the spy has returned. By the looks of her, she may have something important to say."
The Queen brightened up a bit at hearing her most trusted spy has returned her.
"Well what are you waiting for? Send her in!" She said in a more jovial voice than usual.
The guard saluted once more before turning to leave the throne room. After a few seconds of hesitation, the spy walked into the throne room with her head hung low, knowing that nothing good could come from what she was about to tell the Queen.
The Queen noticed her depressed way of walking and decided to break the ice to see what was wrong for her spy was not sounding upset over their mental linking.
"What is the matter, spy? I noticed you seem a little upset over something."
"You are correct my Queen, I am upset. You may want to sit down for this."
Looking up from the suddenly interesting floor, the spy took note that the Queen was in fact already sitting down. The spy motioned a "never mind" gesture to Queen Chrysalis before continuing.
"What am I supposed to sit down for spy? What happened out there?" She asked more sternly, causing the spy to shrink away a bit.
"You know that chaos emerald we had?"
"Ye-, wait, what do you mean HAD ?" Chrysalis asked in semi-panicked tone.
"It's funny that you should ask that, because I kinda, sorta.... well I.... may have lurhurhm."
"What was that?"
"I may have accidentally lost the emerald."
"Speak up, I can't hear you."
"I sorta lo*COUGH *st the em*COUGH *er*COUGH *ald."
"Oh for badness sakes, will you stop beating around the bush and tell me what happened!"
"I LOST THE EMERALD!" The spy shouted.
There was a long silence between then and what happened next. The guards to the throne room had peaked inside and the guards beside Chrysalis started to get on edge a felt very uncomfortable standing next to their possibly infuriated Queen. A few more seconds of silence passed before the spy broke down and graveled over to Queen Chrysalis, her words being drowned out by tears, except for the occasional "SORRY!" and "PLEASE! FORGIVE ME!" that would make it past her incessant wallowing.
The Queen, after processing what the spy had said, looked down to the crying changeling in front of her and tensed up. She wasn't sure what she had done to get this reputation of being an evil queen tyrant to her subjects, but she was going to set the record straight.
"Alright, Alright! There is no need for that infernal action. Honestly, what have I done as your Queen to make myself out as a royal leader that executes one for just messing up my drink order. Sit up, stop your sniffling and listen to your Queen."
The spy looked up for a moment before she did as she was told. Sitting up straight so they were eye level, tried all she could to stop the snot from flowing out of her nostrils, and listened to what her Queen had to say.
"While this is a very, VERY, big deal, I am not the kind of ruler to harm her subjects. Those with the right mind could see that would only be counter-productive. Now, explain to me what happened."
After sniffling and wiping her nose with the sleeve of her arm once more, she explained to the Queen all she knew.
"I don't know what happened my Queen, I am certain that the emerald was with me when I watched the townsfolk turn against Sonic. It was only until I saw Celestia heading to the town I decided to remain low and sneak into the crowd. I did take off from the roof I was on in a hurry and my saddlebags weren't that secure at the time, so it must have fallen out somewhere in that zone. Only time will tell if Sonic and his friends did or didn't find it, I apologize again my Queen."
Queen Chrysalis sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose with her hooves, making the spy back away a bit. After rubbing her temples for a bit, Queen Chrysalis slowly opened her eyes and put her hooves back on the ground.
"Oh well, it is no matter. Sonic and his friends will be locked away and unable to do anything with the emeralds anyway. I expect you NOT to allow yourself to make this mistake again. If you can promise me that this was a one-time error, then you are free to go."
"I promise my Queen and agree that this error is unacceptable. I cannot and will not allow myself to make another mistake like this again, and I thank you for your mercy," she said with a bow.
"Good. Now go to the war room for a briefing of the plan with the other soldiers, we are gonna need all the fire power we can get."
The spy bowed and walked off in the direction the Queen had pointed to. After she was gone, the Queen breathed a sigh of relief, her personal guards looking to one another behind her back and giving confused expressions. As they were doing that, they began to notice Chrysalis' back moving back and forth and the sound of her chuckling emanating from her front. The guards leaned forward again to their original positions and watched as her chuckling slowly died down.
"This time we cannot and will not fail. I want one hundred and ten percent effort coming from every eligible soldier. Even without the emerald I believe we can finally claim victory. This time, we will rise up and take over all of Equestria, not even Celestia or Shining Armor and Cadence can save them. This time, we, have won," she ended with an evil smile and another fit of evil chuckling.
o.0.o
Sonic and his friends all sat around with their heads hung low in different parts of the bigger than anticipated cell. All except for Knuckles who had been, for whatever reason, been granted access to a harmonica. Neither him, nor any of his friends in the prison knew he could play, but he did. He mostly played the jail house blues to pass the time, which got agitating after a while but no one was willing to actually stand up and say something, no one except for one specific hedgehog.
"GrrrrRRRR!!!" Shadow growled as he jumped up and turned to Knuckles, "WOULD YOU STOP PLAYING THAT INFERNAL CONTRAPTION! We should concentrate on getting our names cleared, not waste our breath on some stupid instrument!"
"Well, for your information," Knuckles countered, "The 'harmonica' is a classical prison instrument used to express how one is feeling in the current situation! Besides, we have nothing better to do while we sit around doing nothing; the emeralds we had are now locked away in an air tight vault, Sonic was framed by who knows what and we were dragged down with him, and we can't do anything about clearing our names because they aren't interested in what we have to say! All we can do is wait for Twilight and the others to come to the rescue. Now just calm down and sit back on your chair, before I make you sit in it."
"Was that a threat?" Shadow asked menacingly.
"What? OH, no, no no no. No, I would never think of threatening you, Shadow," Knuckles assured, "heh heh, that, my friend, was a Promise!" Knuckles finished with a drip of venom in his voice.
"Okay, that's it. It's GO TIME!!"
"Guys, just sit back down. You aren't helping the situation at all by arguing over a harmonica," Tails interjected.
"Shut it, Tails!" Knuckles commanded.
"Woah, Knuckles, I don't think that's called for," Sonic joined in.
"Stay. Out of it. Sonic!" Knuckles said through clenched teeth.
"Don't talk to my Sonic like that!" Amy said.
"Seriously, Knucklehead, what is the matter with you!" Rouge added.
Knuckles glanced around at all the angry eyes that were laid upon him, getting infuriated at how this was his fault.
"Hey!! Why am I being made out as the bad guy, Shadow is the one who had to start the argument!" Knuckles accused, pointing at Shadow.
"So are you calling me a bad guy?" Shadow asked menacingly.
"Maybe I am," Knuckles responded with a raised eyebrow.
Knuckles and Shadow got up in each other's faces, growling and making incomprehensible verbal threats to one another. Everyone else in the cell gathered around them in a small circle and bickered to each other. All of them talking at once drowned out all of their conversations making it next to impossible to understand what they were saying. One the guards assigned to the prisoner ward had enough of it and walked over to their cell, knocking hard against the bars a few times with his spear, silencing them instantly and drawing their attention.
"Hey!" The guard yelled in a gruff voice, "If you all don't quiet down I will be forced to zap you otherwise. And believe me, I will not hesitate a moment to do it. Now separate from each other and step back to your original positions in the cell. NOW!!"
Everyone grumbled something incoherent under their breaths, but did not refuse what they were instructed. The guards shot his gaze of over to Knuckles making eye contact and squinting at him.
"You," He pointed out, "Give me the harmonica," he ordered.
Knuckles was hesitant for a moment, but finally accepted defeat and walked over to the guard and handed him the little silver instrument. The guard stowed it away and nodded, motioning for Knuckles to take a seat again.
Knuckles shuffled back over to his bunk and sat down in a grumpy manner, putting his elbows on his knees and resting his head in his hands. His face was a look of sadness and anger combined.
Shadow sat in his chair with his arms crossed and his eyes closed, chuckling with an actual smile. Knuckles shot him a look of mild disgust, knowing Shadow was taking the recent event as a victory.
Knuckles could only huff out, "Aw, shut it," before he went back to moping about the loss of his harmonica.
o.0.o
The TARPIS slowly faded into reality in the dark alley beside a well known flower shop, one of the more favorite places the Doctor likes to visit. After the TARPIS had full landed, the Doctor and company wasted no time in searching for what happened to make Sonic a public enemy. Stepping out of the TARPIS, the Doctor, followed by family and company, scanned the area with his Sonic Horseshoe to make sure it was clear, which it was. After he stowed it away in his neck tie's collar pocket, he quickly swiveled to eye the group with his most serious expression, which they took note of immediately.
"Remember everypony, this is a fixed point in time. So that means-," the Doctor started before he was interrupted.
"Ooh! Ooh! Can I explain what it means Doctor Daddy," Dinky asked eagerly.
The Doctor stared at her with semi agitated and confused look, but his expression quickly softened and gave her a warm smile.
"Sure. Go ahead Muffin," the Doctor replied, using Derpy's nickname for her who sort of looked at him with a scrunched muzzle.
Clearing her throat, Dinky turned to the group consisting of the Elements of Harmony and the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
"A fixed point in time means that it cannot be changed no matter what. Whatever happens here must always happen here or else bad things happen," Dinky finished with a happy smile.
"What kind of 'bad things'," Dash asked.
"Probably some spooky and deadly dangerous wibbly wobbly, timey wimey things. Daddy never told what would happen, so you'll have to ask him," Dinky answered.
"Never mind, not that important," Dash waved off nervously.
"Well that basically sums it up, thank you Dinky," the Doctor praised, getting a wide smile from Dinky and a physical aura gleam of happiness from her, "Now all we have to do is wait for that thing to happen. If only we knew where to loo-" the Doctor tried to finish his statement before he heard the all to familiar opening of a TARPIS door opening. The Doctor turned and ran to the edge of the corner of the alley way, still remaining hidden in the shadows and observed.
"Well would you look at that, there we are," the Doctor pointed out, the rest of the group now peaking around the edge of the corner.
They quickly understood what the Doctor meant as they saw themselves, their past selves boarding the past TARPIS on their way to what they could only guess was the previously visited San Franciscolt. The CMC's were especially mesmerized by the sight, watching their past selves play out what had already happened was the most amazing experience they had. It was not lived for long as everyone had boarded, including the past Sonic, and began the unmistakable taking off sound it usually made.
After it had taken off, a few of them breathed a sigh of relief because they half expected to be caught by another pony.
"Now we wait," the Doctor mumbled.
The wait lasted no longer than 5 minutes when Twilight noticed another dark alley way across from them had a shadowy figure moving about it. She squinted as hard as she could to make out what it could that was possible over there. Applejack noticed the strain on her friend's face muscles and decided to ask about it.
"What is it, sugarcube," she asked.
"I see the silhouette of some sort of figure over there in the shadows, but I can't place who it is. I think they have a dark coat aw well," Twilight responded.
The entire group looked over to the alley way she pointed out and watched on with interest as some figure sifted about in the sunless area of the alley. They had a slight green tint on their head, leading the group to believe it was a unicorn, with bright green eyes. After a bit, the glowing on its horn faded away and began to dig around in its saddlebags. Twilight squinted extra hard as she realized what the creature pulled out, a shining green gem with a magical light surrounding it.
Twilight's eyes widened and her pupil's shrank to an impossible size as the realization of what the creature had became clear.
"Chaos emerald!" She said in a whispering shout, "That thing had a chaos emerald," she pointed out.
They all looked to where she pointed and squinted into the darkness of the alley way across the street. Sure enough, the noticed the glowing green light being held in the hoof of the creature. What they didn't expect is what the creature did next.
The creature smiled, revealing two rows of spiky, fanged teeth. Closing its eyes, it concentrated on the power stored inside the emerald, the emerald glowing brighter and brighter with each passing second. Then, in a flash, the creature had shifted from being on four legs to standing on two legs. The creature removed the saddle bags and laid them of to the side, placing the emerald inside with them.
After the creature made sure the emerald was safe, it stepped out into the light of the semi-busy market place; breathing in a deep breath of air before continuing forward, mouthing something that the others couldn't hear.
"Changeling," Twilight said under her breath.
"What was that, Twi," Applejack asked. Twilight turned her head to Applejack impossibly fast, making her jump.
"Sonic has been framed by a Changeling!"
Chapter 25: The Deadly Infiltration
Princess Celestia and Princess Luna sat in the commons room with two guards off to the side, making sure their princess' would be safe. Celestia used her magic to float her cup up to her mouth for another sip, until she heard a mysterious noise. She opened her eyes and what she saw made her pupil's shrink to the size of marbles and widened her eyes exponentially.
A tall, blue box was fading into existence right in front of her. She knew that Twilight and her friends were on board, along with the family of three that piloted it. Celestia knew from experience that Twilight had something important to tell her, which could either be a good thing, or the lesser needed bad thing.
Celestia sighed and shook her head as she set her cup of tea back on its matching saucer. She looked to Luna who had the same expression on her face as she just had. Luna looked over to her sister and immediately calmed down once she saw the look Celestia gave her. They both knew it was important for Twilight to barge in unannounced with that weird box.
Celestia chuckled slightly which threw Luna off a tiny bit.
"What's the point of having doors if this is how they will come to greet us," Celestia asked.
Luna smiled at the humor in her sister's words, but frowned as she noticed the two guards began to approach the box.
"Stand down," Luna commanded, "this object is of no threat to us."
With the guards reassured, they went back to their posts by the entrance as the box fully faded in existence. Celestia and Luna got up from their chairs at the longer-than-necessary table and approached the box just in time for a distraught purple alicorn princess to burst out; panicking.
"PRINCESSES!" She exclaimed as she slid to a halt in front of them and bowed for her sudden intrusion. The two guards looked to each other in confusion.
"Princesses," she started, standing up from her bowing, "I have important information for you, information that includes the innocence of Sonic the Hedgehog!"
Princess Celestia brightened up at this revelation.
"REALLY?!?!" She pronounced more loudly than she would have liked. She noticed the frightened looks on the rest of the group stepping out of the TARPIS and quickly tried to grasp onto her composure, but still remained giddy inside.
She cleared her throat and continued.
"I mean, what proof do you have of this proclamation. Do you have any evidence?" She asked worriedly.
"In terms of physical evidence....no," Celestia frowned at this, "But what I do have is a memory spell. I can show you what I saw Princess, if you are up for it that is," Twilight threw in.
Princess Celestia's smile returned and nodded her head in acceptance, readying herself for Twilight to show her the memory.
Twilight walked up to Celestia and touched her horn to Celestia's. They both closed their eyes as Twilight activated the spell and their consciousness was thrown into the memory that Twilight concentrated on.
Outside, Luna, Twilight's friends, the CMC's, the two guards, and the Doctor and his family watched on in anticipation as they waited for Twilight to finish showing the memory.
Twilight showed Celestia all their was she needed to see; them leaving the market place after their little pit stop, the shifting figure in the alleyway and the bright green light that came from it, and Sonic stepping out after he had clearly boarded the TARPIS and left. The memory then went from them turning to get back on the TARPIS, the Doctor and his family piloting it to the right coordinates, and ending with Twilight's first person view getting to the TARPIS doors.
Twilight and Celestia were flung out of the memory and back to reality. Both of them were sweating profusely and panting heavily. They both looked to the group watching them; each one with a look of concern on their faces.
Twilight turned her gaze to Celestia, and if on cue, turned her head to meet Twilight's.
"So you see Princess, we have reason to believe that Sonic was framed by a changeling. They have been pretty quiet for a long time and probably think it is time for them to be heard. We think the best coarse of action is to prepare for an invasion, just as a precaution. So what do you say Princess?" Twilight asked.
Princess Celestia still stared blankly with her jaw slightly agape. She finally broke free of her trance after a short bit and looked up to everyone.
"Mother of Me..."
o.0.o
"Zazz you dolt, are you sure they're here?"
"I'm more positive than a plus sign, Zeena. I am telling you, they're here somewhere, I can smell 'em."
Zazz, Zeena, Zor, and General Hewdraw walked down the long and seemingly unending corridors of Canterlot Castle. They had snuck in and began their search for something important.
"I saw that group of freaks get busted and carted off to this castle. I saw one of the short ones in the golden armor confiscate every emerald they had on them. If I counted correctly-"
"Oh my goodness, you counted? Is your head alright?" Zeena asked smugly.
Zazz looked back at her with a look of disgust, "As I was saying," he said, turning to face the front, "Sonic and the others are down here rotting in a cell, meaning the emeralds can't be too far from them. If we add those to the one I found by tripping and scratching my leg up, that will leave only one left to find."
"That actually isn't the worst idea you have ever had and is probably the smartest thing you will ever say. Color me impressed," Zeena praised(ish).
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever.... let's try this door," Zazz said, pointing to an approaching door on the right.
They stopped right in front of the door, hesitating to open it in fear of getting caught. Zazz finally worked up the nerve and reached for the nob slowly. He grabbed it and twisted it slightly, pushing it open just enough to peak inside. What he saw made him start chuckling deeply.
"What is it?" Zeena asked.
"It is those delinquent chumps, they have the saddest looks on their faces and it is cracking me up!"
"Well stop laughing and tell me what else you see."
"Alright, Alright," Zazz waved off, "I see a guard not too far from the entrance, it looks like he is keeping more of an eye on Sonic and his friends. I see a few more empty cells, and a vault! That must be where they are holding the emeralds!"
"Great, now we know our target, which leaves the problem of getting to it," Zeena pondered.
Zazz looked around for a little bit before something of interest on the ceiling caught his eye, which made his grin grow even wider.
"I hope you guys don't have any back problems."
o.0.o
"Zazz, I don't know whether I should pound your face into oblivion, or kick your butt so hard you'll have to sit on your eyes," Zeena threatened.
Zazz had found an air duct above their heads and was leading their way to the emeralds. Following him were Zeena, G. Hewdraw, and Zor. The crawl space was extremely limited, leaving no room to turn around, straight was their only option.
"Isn't there a third option? Such as thanking me for finding a way to get the emeralds," Zazz asked, not really expecting anyone to agree with him.
They continued crawling for a few more feet, hearing slight creaks and sproings from the duct as they moved. Zeena looked around, unsure if the duct was stable enough.
"Zazz, is this thing going to support all of us? Because it is making a lot of noise, plus this dust is messing up my hair," Zeena complained.
"Dah, quit whinin', were almost there. Once we get those emeralds we'll be home freeEEEE-" Zazz said, realizing that all at once the air duct they were in was heading straight for the ground, right outside the vault where the chaos emeralds were; and where Sonic and the others could see them.
Everyone in the cell bolted upright and looked to the loud clattering of metal hitting the shiny linoleum floors. To their shock, they saw three of the deadly six and one unidentifiable character. Sonic wasn't worried about him though, he had his sights set on the leader of the wannabe spy thiefs.
"You!" Sonic said, referring to Zazz.
"Uh oh," was all he could mutter out.
"HALT," the guard in the room commanded, "What are you doing here? Identify yourselves!!"
"Oh yeah, sure thing," Zazz replied sarcastically, "But first, we wanna have a look at this safe. I caught wind of there being something that belongs to us in here."
"Belongs to YOU!!" Tails shouted, approaching the bars, "Those emeralds most certainly don't belong to you creeps, and your... friend," Tails said hesitantly, looking to General Hewdraw.
"Eh, don't worry about him," Zazz shrugged him off, "Now, if you'll excuse me."
"Stop right there!!" The guard commanded, pulling a spear on Zazz, "These are the belongings taken off of the prisoners when they were taken into custody. You are not allowed to touch or look through their property without permission."
Zazz eyed the spear for a moment before swiftly taking it from the guard's hoof and snapping it in two over his knee, throwing it to the ground.
"Is that so, bub, "Zazz said, poking the guard's chest harshly, "Well there is something you should know about me. I don't ask for permission, I do want I want, when I want. And right now, I want those EMERALDS!!"
"Forget this," Sonic cut in, "Knuckles, you know what to do."
"With pleasure," Knuckles said, cracking his, well, knuckles.
Knuckles stepped up to the bars and stretched his neck from side to side, crackling it in certain spots as well. He eyed the bars of the cage for a moment before rearing back and began rotating his right arm in an impossibly fast motion. After a few seconds of charging up his punch, he let his arm fly forward, knocking four of the bars clean off and flying to the other side of the room, smashing into it with enough force to stay stuck in the wall without any other support.
"Gotta act fast," Zazz mumbled to himself.
He turned to face the vault and focused his energy on the hinges holding up the door. He used his mystical Zeti capabilities to melt the hinges of the small door and the combination lock on the door. After a few seconds, bright glows of red and orange appeared from the area and in no time at all the hinges and the lock were melted away.
Without anything to hold up the door, it fell to the ground with a loud clattering of metal. Everyone recovered from the bright glow of Zazz's mysterious power to see that the door had fallen to the ground and Zazz was already in the vault, greedily snatching at any emerald he saw.
He counted five of them after he held them all in his arms, cradling them like a mother would a baby. Zazz gruntingly laughed and turned for the exit, motioning with his head for the rest of posse to follow. They wasted no time in arguing and went along with it.
"STO-OOOAAAAOOOHHH!!" The guard attempted to say as he jumped in the way to try and stop the thieves. What he did not expect however, was for the usually quiet General Hewdraw to produce a mysterious yellow aura from his hands, surrounding the guard in the same glow and lifting him in the air.
After being suspended in the air for a few seconds, he was flung into the nearest wall of the room, impacting hard. The group gasped at the violent force used against the guard, which could have possibly left serious or fatal injuries. Thankfully, that did not see any signs of blood.
"Nice!" Zazz yelled continuing towards the door with his group in tow. Sonic looked from the guard, to the escaping baddies.
Sonic closed his eyes and focused on the problem at hand. His eyes were closed for what seemed like eternity, but in reality it was only a few seconds.
Sonic's eyes shot open and he leapt into action. Sonic went to the safe first and started tossing out the handhelds to everyone.
"You guys go! I'll catch up!" Sonic commanded.
Everyone nodded at him as they acquired their handhelds and darted off in the direction of Zazz and the others. After giving Tails his handheld and watching him fly off, Sonic ran over to the guard and knelt down next to the unicorn guard. The guard looked up at Sonic with wide eyes, breathing heavily.
"You could've done that... at any time?" The guard asked.
Sonic nodded.
"Yeah, we normally don't do that, but this was an emergency."
Sonic looked up and down the guards body for any signs of bleeding or broken bones.
"Come on, we've gotta get you to a doctor," Sonic said, reaching to find a good way to pick up the guard without hurting him.
"You're gonna help me, after what I did to you?"
"This isn't the first time I've been arrested," Sonic reassured.
"No, I mean. Well, first of all, HHng, I'm sorry about throwing you into that hay stack, I was just doing my job."
"Heh heh, I thought you looked familiar. Talk about karma," Sonic joked.
"Heh heh heh, heeaAAAGGgghh," the guard strained as Sonic picked him up.
"Don't worry about it, I'm not one to hold a grudge. Plus, you helped us to find an emerald, so I guess I should thank you for that."
The guard looked to the blue hedgehog and smiled.
"You're a good person Sonic, I will never forget you," the guard strained to raise his hoof to his forehead, "I salute you, soldier."
Sonic smiled at the guard's enthusiasm and secured him in his arms before getting into a running stance.
"Hang On!!"
o.0.o
"Alright, Sonic and his friend's holding cell should be right up here," Celestia said.
Princess Celestia and the group of traveling ponies walked down the long corridor of prison cells. After Twilight had revealed the truth behind Sonic's framing, Celestia deemed Sonic be set free; not publicly yet, but she would soon. They were nearing a corner they would turn down when they heard some commotion and a loud slamming sound. Celestia and Twilight looked to each other and picked up their pace. When they were a few feet away from the corner, they saw a weird pink monster skid past it and ran in their direction. Celestia, Twilight, and the rest of the group froze in place.
"Out of my way Sunshine!" Zazz said, doing a half moon pivot out of Celestia's way just before colliding with her.
Zazz's cohorts follow closely behind them in the opposite direction, looking for any kind of escape route. The entire group was still looking back in their direction until they heard more footsteps running in their direction. The group turned to see what it was.
"Stop them!!" Tails shouted, pointing to Zazz and the others, "THIEVES!!"
Without a moment of hesitation, the Doctor was running after them, followed shortly by his family, Celestia's guards, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy. Princess Celestia, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash were about to take chase as well, until they noticed Sonic running in at them with a blob of gold, white, and blue.
"WAIT!!" Sonic shouted.
Sonic slid to a halt in front of Rainbow Dash and took a breath. Sonic looked up to Rainbow and the others, then down to the guard.
"Please, I need you to get this guy to a hospital ASAP. He was seriously injured by that guy in the armor that ran past here with Zazz. I would take him myself, but I've gotta keep those thieves in sight. They stole the chaos emeralds and plan to do who knows what with them, Eggman probably has a plan. But anyways, please, take good care of this soldier."
Sonic got closer to Rainbow and gently laid the soldier in her arms. He groaned slightly as he lied there, Rainbow Dash not taking her eyes off of him once.
Sonic nodded and took off after his friends in pursuit of the emerald snatchers. Rainbow looked back to the guard once Sonic was out of sight and saw that he was staring at her. He smiled when she noticed him and opened his mouth a few times, trying to hydrate his parched throat.
"That hedgehog is innocent," He said barely above a whisper, "He may very well be the reason I live to see another day. We have got to help him in any way that we can, because he is still willing to help us."
The guard shut his eyes and fell asleep in Rainbow's arms, thankfully, and everyone let out a sigh of relief once they saw he was still breathing. Rainbow looked to the remaining ponies and narrowed her eyes, a look of determination her friends recognized as. She flapped her wings to get off the ground and hovered in the air.
"You guys go help in Sonic, I've got to find this guy some medical attention," Rainbow stated.
"We understand. If you want to find a quick exit," Celestia started, walking over to a specific section of the wall and pulling a candlestick downwards, "Head this direction. It should take you right outside and a hospital should not be too far from there."
Rainbow smiled and nodded, bolting down the newly revealed secret doorway. She looked down to the pony in her arms and thought to the bravery and forgiving nature Sonic had. A warm feeling welled in her chest at this thought which seemed to increase her speed and dexterity, making the light at the end of the tunnel grow closer even faster by the second.
Chapter 26: Changeling Assault
The entire swarm of the changeling army flew through the sky, the noise of their wings the same as a billion angry bees. They were lead by the Queen, who was led by the General of the the changelings, only having one goal in mind; conquer.
The General did a one-eighty spin in the air to look back at his queen and the giant army he led.
"By my calculations, we should be in Ponyville in a few short miles my queen," the General shouted over the turbulence.
"Excellent, General. Our time has come, no longer will we have to cower in the shadows of this world, and never again shall we starve. ONWARD MY CHANGELINGS!!!"
The entire army of changelings cheered at the motivation given to them by their queen's words.
o.0.o
Zazz and his gang ran as fast as they could down the amazingly huge corridors of Celestia's castle. They would try to escape the group that chased them by making unexpected turns at every possible moment while still looking for an exit, but the Doctor kept on their trail and, in turn, so did the rest.
Zazz eventually led them to what looked like a dead end, but as they got closer to it they realized it was a set of two huge doors. Without thinking, Zazz busted through them; to their thanks, it was not locked.
Zazz quickly looked from side to side, looking for some type of escape route until his eyes landed on the perfect thing; a stained glass panel most likely leading to the outside. Zazz heard the approaching mixture of hoof and foot steps, so he signaled to the others the window. He barely got a shrug from any of them, but he was already at the window to notice it.
He punched through the window, the pursuing group most likely hearing the crash, and started waving the others out. They all jumped out of the window without hesitation, except or General Hewdraw whom stopped to look at Zazz for a quick moment before jumping out after Zeena and Zor.
Zazz knocked away the left over glass that stuck to the bottom of the window sill and paused there, looking out over the edge with one hand on the side of the sill as the chasing group came into the all too familiar room. They saw Zazz standing in the window sill and made a move to advance on him, but froze in place as they watched him turn around to look at them.
Zazz had a wicked smile on his face and cradled all the emeralds in his right arm. They all got uncomfortable looks as they couldn't help but stare at his smile. Then, out of nowhere, he did something that would be the last thing they would expect from him.
He put two of his fingers, his thumb and pointer finger, to the corners of his mouth and whistled so loudly that it made the two surrounding windows shatter as well. After everyone was done cringing at the pain of the attack of high octaves on their ears, they looked back to Zazz who was waving at them. He then slowly fell backwards out the window and out into the open.
The group ran over to see where he had fallen since the room they were in was very high in the air, but as they got to the window to look out, they saw a giant floating yellow orb come from the bottom out of no where, Zazz riding on top of it, along with the Zeena, Zor, and General Hewdraw with a new wing expansion, floating beside him.
The yellow orb slowly rotated around, Zazz turning with it, and gave the group, the ones that were ponies that is, a look of horror. The orb had evil looking blue eyes, small protrusions on random parts of its body, and sharp menacing teeth. The orb furrowed its brows at the group, almost as if it were alive, and gave a wicked grin that could compete with Zazz's.
Zazz chuckled maniacally once more before he tapped his foot on the orb and it opened its mouth, Zazz proceeding to toss all six of the hard earned emeralds into its mouth; it closing it's mouth with a terrifying chomp. The group reared back at the terrifying noise.
Zazz tapped his foot on the orb again, this time it turned around slowly to face the opposite direction. Zazz looked to his comrades on both his sides and told them "Let's go."
They nodded and flew off in the intended direction, Zazz lagging behind to look back at the group once more, him still wearing his smile with his tongue lolling out.
"Sorry, hedgehog. Looks like you weren't fast enough this time," Zazz said, laughing insanely at the insult.
This struck a nerve in Sonic, but before he could do anything, Zazz had already turned back around and flew off, chasing the others. The group stood there in disbelief for a moment before accepting what had happened. They slowly turned away from the window and walked back to the doors, their heads hung low in defeat; not knowing what to do next. Until a letter appeared in front of Celestia in a puff of green smoke and gracefully fell to the floor with soft *ploomp*.
Princess Celestia curiously picked it up with her aura of magic and took of the little red ribbon keeping it from unraveling. She unrolled and did a quick read through. When she was reading it, she unknowingly, slowly opened her mouth in a shocked expression. After finishing the letter, she gasped and dropped the letter to the ground.
"What does it say Princess?" Twilight asked, picking up the letter.
She cleared her throat and read the letter aloud.
Dear Princess Celestia,
This is Spike. We are under attack by changelings down here in Ponyville and request immediate asis- assit- no, um....
ASSISTANCE! That's it! We need help, badly! Where are you Twilight? I'm more frightened than I have ever been.
If only Sonic were here, I bet he could do something... Anyways, please hurry and send help!! Uh oh, I think some just came in downstairs.
I am hiding under Twilight's bed with Owlouiscious as I am writing this, I just hope I left a window open...
Sincerely,
Petrified Purple Dragon
Now it was Twilight's turn to be slack-jawed. She felt a twinge of guilt in her heart at the thought of poor Spike and Owlouiscious being stuck down there to hide in the library, scared stiff.
Sonic noticed her uneasiness and began to formulate a plan to save everyone down in Ponyville. The basics were to just rush in and kick every changeling flank they see. Sonic furrowed his brow and looked to the conversing group on what their plan of action was.
Sonic put his fingers to the corners of his lips, much like Zazz did, and whistled.
Everyone immediately stopped talking and looked to him.
"Alright everyone,I heard all I need to hear!" Sonic announced.
"What do you plan to do?" Twilight asked.
Sonic looked at her suspiciously, as if she actually didn't know what he was doing. After an intense moment of glaring he looked her dead in the eye.
"I am going to do what the rest of you would do," He said, looking up to the rest of his friends, "Come on guys, we've got to go save the town from changelings," he said quickly turning around and running at a speed where the others could stay with him.
They all chased after him, especially Tails who flew over the crowd to try and get up to where Sonic was. When he reached Sonic, he lowered his altitude to level with Sonic.
"Sonic!" Tails shouted.
"Yeah?" Sonic asked back, still running.
"What exactly is a, changeling?"
"I'll explain on the way there," He answered.
"On the way to where?" Tails asked.
Sonic smirked, "You'll see."
o.0.o
"And they are all commanded by their queen, Chrysalis was her name I think..." Sonic explained.
Everyone was well out of Canterlot Castle and running through the city of Canterlot. Princess Celestia had to stay behind to arrange the Royal Guards for a counter attack on the changelings. While the rest of the group, however, was running through the semi-busy streets of the city, drawing the eyes of a few disturbed nobles.
"Okay," Tails replied, "But you still haven't told me where were going."
"The train takes too long, were going to use the express air ways!"
"They have planes here?"
"What's a plane?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"I'll take that as a no," Tails deadpanned.
"Here!" Sonic said, starting to skid to a halt.
Tails took notice of this and began to slow his flying as well, the rest following in their wake and beginning to reduce their speed.
Sonic slid to a stop right at the edge of Canterlot, carefully stepping forward to take a peek over the edge and whistling at the immense altitude they were at. Sonic turned back around to the group, who were busy catching their breath after all their intense running.
"You see that, right down there," Sonic asked, pointing to a little civilization a few miles away with smoke plumes rising up.
"Yeah," Tails answered.
"That is where were headed," Sonic said.
"Okay, so you took us to the edge of this city just to show us where were going when this time could have been spent getting some type of transportation down there?"
Sonic chuckled at his friends sarcastic-ish tone of voice and turned his head to look back over the edge again.
"Just like old times," Sonic said, slowly looking back up at Tails, who wore a look of confusion. He had no idea what Sonic was talking about, until he saw his best friend begin fall backwards over the edge.
Everyone gasped as Tails lurched forward to make feeble grasps at his friend. Tails was able to grab Sonic's hand and laughed victoriously when he did, but his eyes widened as Sonic continued to fall backwards. Then, all at once, they were gone. They had gone completely over the edge and no knew what to do or say.
Knuckles, Shadow, and Rouge stood there with smug expressions and crossed arms. They knew what was actually happening, Amy still stood with a nervous feeling in her gut at why it was taking so long.
Twilight was about to fly over the edge to try and rescue them, but stopped when she heard the familiar swooshing of Tails' tails when he was flying, everyone took notice of the sound as well.
What they saw next would be something they would never forget in their lives. Tails slowly rose above the edge of the cliff, seeming to slightly struggle to lift something. What he was holding was a familiar blue hedgehog with the cockiest grin he had ever put on when he arrived in Equestria. The ponies that were unaware of the ruse breathed out a sigh of relief at the amazing teamwork of the two friends. Sonic chuckled softly at his friends.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Sonic asked his friends, Tails turning as if on cue and flying towards the place in need of rescuing.
Knuckles looked to Rouge and shrugged. He backed up and took a running start, leaping off the edge and using the echidna's special capability of gliding, even impressing the animal expert Fluttershy.
Rouge kicked off and flew over to Shadow and hovered above him, holding out her hand and waiting for him to grab on. Shadow looked up to her and motioned "No thanks" to her. Rouge only raised an eyebrow, not caring to dwell on his reasoning. She sighed and shrugged at the same time, opting to grabbing Amy only and flying out after their recently departed friends.
Everyone looked to Shadow with curious looks. He noticed their glares and waved them off. He looked at his friends flying off into the distance one last time before running off to somewhere else, the small rockets in his boots activating and carrying him even faster to his unknown destination. Soon only becoming a speck to the group of ponies.
The Doctor stopped staring after realizing a crucial fact, face hoofing after thinking of it. Derpy and Dinky noticed his distress and looked at him, wanting to know what was wrong.
"I think Sonic forgot about using the TARPIS to travel," he said.
"No, I don't think he forgot," Derpy replied, "I think this is something that they usually do where they are from," She replied happily.
The Doctor opened his mouth to reply, still trying to think of something to say, until he saw a familiar shade of cyan blue and a rainbow mane flying towards them. Rainbow Dash landed next to Twilight and Applejack, sitting on her haunches to catch her breath.
"How is that guard Rainbow," Twilight asked, "Is he going to be okay?"
"Yeah," Rainbow replied, "I told them what happened and Doctor Blue Mane said that it was Sonic acting quickly on his feet that most likely saved the guards life since we were able to get him to the hospital on time. That guard was non stop saying "that hedgehog is a hero, he deserves to wear this gold armor, not me". I've got to say, I think Sonic has made a real difference ever since he arrived, whether it be good or bad, he has made some change, and I have a feeling he is going to make even more."
Everyone nodded at the wonderful news and opinion about Sonic. They looked out into the distance at the small town under attack, knowing that whole group of heroes were on their way there to save each and everyone.
Chapter 27: A Deadly Defeat
Author's Note
Extra special long chapter for you guys. Gonna be honest, I really enjoyed writing this chapter, and I mean A LOT!! The final scene, at least I think, is really enjoyable and is as epic as I can make it into words. The theme for the certain scene that you will read is supposed to be based off that one boss fight in the app Sonic Dash. (If you havent played it, go and do it. Sonic Dash is one of the best free games on the app store and is really fun.) If you read it and don't understand what scene I am talking about, go and look up Sonic Dash boss fights scenes on youtube. Anyways, thanks as always for reading and supporting this story, It will be wrapping up soon, then I will move onto something that I will hopefully have more motivation to write. Once again, thank you and Stay Beautiful. :)
Chapter 27: A Deadly Defeat
Queen Chrysalis flew above Ponyvile, smiling maliciously at the destruction her changeling army was causing. She began to laugh evily, as loud as she could so the entire town could hear her triumph. The force of her laugh her throw her head back, imagining what kind of misery the townsfolk must be in. After she finished laughing, she looked back down at the town again, still smiling.
"Yes, my changelings, YES!! Destroy all, keep the citizens alive though. We must feast on something while we take over the land," she commanded.
"Not if we have anything to do about it!!" Yelled a distant to the queen.
Queen Chrysalis stopped mid-flight and landed in the middle of the small market area.
"Who said that, SHOW YOURSELVES!!"
"I'm right here!" Shouted the voice again.
Queen Chrysalis looked up just in time to see the bottom of a shoe heading straight her way. She was barely able to dodge it in time by jumping backwards, but the shockwave of the foreign entity landing knocked her on her side, sending her sliding to a halt.
Queen Chrysalis stood up and brushed herself off, some changelings rushing to her aide, and looked up to only gasp in surprise at what she saw.
Crouching there, not a foot away from where she just was, slowly stood Sonic, along with whom she could only guess were his friends, a fox, a bat, another pink hedgehog, an echidna, and another black hedgehog that approached from behind them.
Queen Chrysalis' mouth was still agape as Sonic and his friends closed in on her. She tried to shuffle away, but the entire group kept on her futile attempts at what was her escape plan. Chrysalis felt something she hadn't since that defeat in Canterlot.
Fear.
Fear was the one thing a changeling absolutely hated to feel because it was a drain on their power, which is why they always try to implement fear into their foes so as to weaken their mental state of mind and absorb any kind of love the ponies had in their hearts.
Their greatest trait is their greatest weakness.
Amy had pulled her Piko Piko hammer out of seemingly no where, Knuckles began cracking his knuckles, Tails was busy assembling his Bolt Blaster which was only to be used in emergency situations, and the rest just stood there towering over the Queen.
Queen Chrysalis felt weak from the fear already, but she did not let that stop her from standing her ground. Looking around, she sensed how many changelings were in the area that were in out in the open and how many were hidden. Chrysalis smiled on the inside and slowly got up from the ground, fear still filling her up but remained steady.
"H-How did you, I mean, what?? You were supposed to be in prison!" Queen Chrysalis stammered.
"Yeah we were, but we were let out early for good behavior," Knuckles snyly responded, punching his right fist into his left palm.
Some of the townsponies were looking out their windows at this point, trying to get a good look and listen to the ongoing dispute, some of their faces beaming brighter when they saw Sonic.
"I am gone for one day and this happens? I suppose it is about time this mess got cleaned up," Sonic told the others, "Oh, and it is too bad that your little smoke and mirrors act didn't work out, but that was a pretty convincing copy," he said with a smirk.
Queen Chrysalis' eyes went wide at the knowledge of Sonic knowing he was framed.
"We will not fail you blue rat!" Chrysalis yelled, "We have come too far and have worked too hard to lose now. The time has come for the Changelings to rise and make a new generation, a better one." The wind around them began to pick up, "And this time, no pony will stop u-" Queen Chrysalis was interrupted as a familiar sound to the group was heard.
Everyone looked off to the side to see the TARPIS fading in and out of reality. Sonic and the others smiled and felt relieved at their pony friends finally showing up, Queen Chrysalis and the changelings that were in the area stood with their mouths agape at the unknown phenomenon happening in front of them.
The TARPIS finished making its trademark sound and finally landed with its usual loud *THUD * noise. The double doors of the box opened, revealing the silhouette of the Doctor with the other traveling ponies behind him.
He stepped out of the TARPIS with the others in tow, now wearing the blue jacket they first met him in before, and flashing a smile to the group of foreign visitors.
"Not to worry everypony, not to worry, the Doctor is in. Sorry I'm late, traffic was killer," the Doctor joked, reaching into the inside pocket of his jacket and tossing a large number of blue and red 3-D glassed at Sonic, his friends, and the ponies behind them.
"Everypony take a pair or two of these, you may need them when fighting."
"Why's that Doc," Sonic asked, looking at the glasses in his hand in confusion.
"As you know, changelings have the ability to morph their physical appearance and make it difficult to distinguish them from real ponies. Theses glasses are thermal detectors. Real ponies have a different heat signature on their body than changelings, which means if you see a pony with red and orange all over their body, do not attack them," the Doctor explained.
Everyone nodded at his explanation and put on a pair of glasses, instantly seeing the difference of thermal recognition. Real ponies had as the Doctor said, red and orange all over their body while changelings had a green and blue appearance instead. They all smiled at the fact of being able to tell which pony was real and which was a changeling.
Everyone looked behind them when they heard a strange noise of pegasi flying towards them. What they saw confirmed their suspicions, the Royal Guard of Canterlot were flying towards them with one chariot to every two pegasus. They all smiled, except for the changelings, upon seeing the Celestia had given the order more quickly than expected.
Sonic stepped forward, drawing everyone's attention, and gave a quick, cocky laugh.
"All right everyone," Sonic said, looking around at the group, "LET'S DO THIS!!"
o.0.o
"No..." Was all Queen Chrysalis could mutter out as she looked around at all of her changelings, some panting and some closed to fainting.
Sonic and his friends, the Elements of Harmony, the Doctor and his family, and the entire Royal Guard all stood proud and tall, knowing that they had one this fight. The changelings were in no condition to continue fighting and everyone of the defenders of Ponyville had enough energy to take on another army of changelings.
Queen Chrysalis crawled away and staggered to stand on all four of her hooves. She used what energy she had left to cast a very minor stamina spell on her changelings, enough to make them able tp get off the ground.
"This isn't over, we shall return even stronger and in greater number. Our day to rule will arrive one day in the future and next time, we won't be so easy to defeat," she spat.
"Good, because you were a little too easy for my liking," Shadow retorted. Everyone looked back, impressed in the boldness of the words from the usually quiet hedgehog.
Queen Chrysalis could only growl at the hedgehog, not having the strength to harm Shadow in any way. Instead, she looked around at the changelings that were slowly, but surely recovering. She cleared her throat and did her technique to raise her voice.
"Changelings, fall back. We will recover and will one day return to reclaim our pride. MOVE!!" She commanded, flapping her own wings and taking off.
Everyone watched as all the changelings spread all around the town took off, following after their queen. Once a good number of them accumulated, it looked as if a giant dark cloud was fleeing Ponyville.
Once they were gone, Sonic turned around to look at the group that helped him defeat a possible threat to all life in the land. Tails ran up to Sonic and, him sensing what Tails was doing, held out his hand for a high five, which Tails happily smacked with his own. Sonic looked around for the general of the Royal Guard that had helped with the attack and approached him.
Saluting him, "Thanks for your help general. Assure all your men know they did a great job and we couldn't have done it without them. Thank Princess Celestia for me when you get back to Canterlot, will ya?"
The general smiled at him and saluted back, "Will do Sonic. We apologize that we mistook you for a criminal and look forward to assisting in any way possible, starting with the thieves that stole the chaos emeralds," the guard turned to leave until an important thought came back to him, "Oh, and thank you for helping Sergeant StormChaser in his time of need," the general praised.
"Who?" Sonic asked.
The general looked at him with a dumbfounded expression, "The one who threw you into the hay cart and kept watch over you when you were in the dungeon," The guard explained.
"Oh, think nothing of it. He was just doing his job, also, I want an update on his condition soon. Send the letter to the Golden Oaks Library here in Ponyville."
"Of course, thank you once more," the general turned to his platoon, "ALRIGHT MEN!! LET'S MOVE OUT!!"
And with that, the entire squad was packed and left town in ten minutes. They were out of sight before any of them knew it.
The ponies started coming out of their hiding places and homes after they had left and surrounded Sonic and the entire gang of heroes. Three familiar adorable fillies ran through the crowd and up to Sonic, jumping up and down in front of him.
"That was awesome Sonic!!" Scootaloo praised.
"Yeah, ah saw ya take out five of dem changelings in one go, it was "way past cool"!" Applebloom said.
"You did an amazing job Sonic," Sweetie squeaked.
A good number of ponies were now around the group, but one pony in particular approached Sonic, thinking for a second he saw her chest glow for a second, but shook it off and looked down at the interesting little filly with a gray coat and electric blue hair with light blue highlights.
She looked up at Sonic with wide eyes, who looked back down at her.
"After all the things we did to you and all those awful things we called you, you still came back, why?" The mysterious filly pondered.
"Because," Sonic started, kneeling to be a the filly's level, "this is not the first time I have been framed and arrested. I was just going to let this one run its course. The changeling invasion was just out of the blue, it was a last minute thing we heard about and we knew we had to come back her and help you all. You've done nothing wrong, and neither has anyone else. If you are trying to apologize, then you are already forgiven, as is everyone else. It is nice to know you were concerned though," Sonic responded with a smile.
Her eyes widened and shrank back down to their normal size, a blush on her cheeks appearing when they did. She smiled and motioned for Sonic to lean in closer, so he obliged until his hear was right next to her mouth.
"Just for the record," she whispered, "neither my parent and I thought you were guilty," she said, kissing him on the cheek after she did.
The blush that adorned Sonic's face spread like wild fire. He looked down at the filly in shock, who only giggled at him and ran back into the crowd. Sonic couldn't make heads or tails of what happened, but he didn't have enough time to when everything started going down the drain again.
There was a bright light and a huge explosion following afterwards on a nearby fruit stand. Sonic and the others quickly turned towards the source of the commotion and what they heard would solve their mystery faster than Sonic could run. There was a high-pitched cackling and a silhouette of a stick on a circle flying around the debris smoke. Sonic knew all to well who it was, but his suspicions were confirmed even further when the figure flew through the smoke and hovered in front of the gang, along with Zor and General Hewdraw.
"Zazz.." Sonic said with a low rumble in his voice.
"That's right hedgehog, did ya miss me?" Zazz asked sarcastically.
"Well with a face like that, who could," Applejack responded from out of nowhere.
Everyone turned to look at Applejack, looks of surprise adorning each one. Applejack looked around at each pair of eyes and smiled.
"Just speakin' the truth," She said. Everyone chuckled at the amazing sense of humor the farm pony had; Zazz only glared daggers at her, but still smiled for some unknown reason.
"Laugh it up you dumb hick, that will disappear soon enough," Zazz said with a maniacal laugh, looking past the group.
They all slowly looked at him, Applejack the most confused out of all of them.
"What do ya mea-"
"AAAHHHH!!! HEELP!!"
"What in tarnation!?" Applejack yelled, everyone looking back at the source for the please of assistance. The entire group gasped at what they saw.
There stood a smug looking Zeena holding a cage containing three familiar little frightened fillies, shivering fast enough to wiggle right out of their skin.
"HEY!!" Sonic yelled, beginning to run in the direction towards Zeena. However, her reflexes were too quick for Sonic to reach her in time and she ended up somersaulting over Sonic and back to the group of baddies. She handed the cage off to Zazz, who gladly accepted it and looked in between the bars at the scared fillies that were backed as far away from him as possible. Chuckling darkly, he lowered the cage and looked at the group, but mainly Sonic.
"You let 'em go right now ya' varmit," Applejack started.
"Or else, my dear," Rarity continued.
"There will be heck to pay!" Rainbow Dash finished.
Zazz looked around at everyone that was in the area, still keeping that creepy smile on his face. He looked at the three older sisters of the captured fillies.
"Okay, I'll release them," Zazz (almost) complied, looking over at Sonic, "But you'll have to catch me first," He stated very darkly.
Before anyone knew it, he had turned around and began flying away. The entire group was caught off guard by this action, all except for one who stayed light on their feet just in case. In an instant, Sonic was chasing after the deranged pink Zeti, only focusing on the three fillies in the cage Zazz held in his right hand. All three of them were turned around looking back at Sonic, pleading and begging with their eyes for him to get them out; he heard their cries loud and clear.
(Cue Music )
Ponies immediately got out of the way for the impending chase. Zazz flew behind Sonic to begin with to try and throw him off. He then stomped on the yellow orb to make it shoot a star at him. Sonic was able to avoid it by quickly doing a side step to the left. Zazz got angry and began to shoot stars more rapidly down in Sonic's direction, but every single time Sonic side stepped and the stars just flew right past him.
Sonic noticed a few ponies flying by from a far distance to spectate the chase that was unfolding in the small town. Zazz chuckled deeply and flew to the front of Sonic this time. He stomped and hit the orb with his fists, producing multiple stars that would slam down in Sonic's path, forcing him to do a combination of side steps or jumps in order to avoid them, in case they took up all the running room he had on the narrow street.
Once Zazz had failed at trying to impede Sonic's progress, he flew high and away from Sonic, way above the small houses where Sonic could not reach him as his orb recharged some energy. Acting quickly, Sonic saw this as a chance to deal some damage and noticed a fruit cart that was irresponsibly left out. Sonic smiled and jumped on top of the small awning that covered, bouncing high into the air but still out of reach from Zazz.
Zazz noticed Sonic following after him in the sky and saw this as a chance to damage Sonic since he could not maneuver easily in the air. Zazz quickly turned around with his orb and fired all the stars he could at Sonic, which was three for the time being.
Sonic gulped at the stars hurdling towards him and thought of an idea as fast as he could. He targeted in on the stars that were flying at a much slower rate than he thought and took aim. He charged up a really fast spin in the air, the three fillies gasping at the never before seen move and heard a word that seemed to be announced out of nowhere.
"LASER!!"
And in an instant, Sonic shot out after the stars, leaving behind a translucent trail of cyan. He bounced from one star to another in a bit of a triangle pattern and ended the move when he was above Zazz. Sonic took one good look at Zazz and grinned, shooting out towards the orb and hitting square in its face.
The orb fell to the ground and did a bit of bouncing, Zazz struggled to stay balanced as the orb worked to regain its flying capabilities. After the orb had was when Sonic landed on the ground and continued chasing after them. The orb looked at Sonic and gave him a bit of a growling look before Zazz went into another round of trying to shoot Sonic with a star from behind him, fail, and then try the front by slamming stars down in his path.
At this point, Sonic and Zazz had made a full 180 degrees turn and were heading back the way they came. However, Sonic had nothing to jump up into the air this time while Zazz's orb recharged energy due to the fruit cart rolling out of the streets the first time Sonic jumped on it.
Sonic had found himself at a loss on how to reach Zazz so high in the air. While Sonic pondered the situation, he didn't notice the cyan blue pegasus with a rainbow mane flying beside him. She tapped his shoulder, getting his attention, and pointed up with her hoof. Sonic looked up and saw and amazing sight, a whole team of ponies leading in a triangle patter wearing skin tight blue suits were flying along with Sonic.
Sonic looked back at Dash, who just smiled at him and held out her hoof. Sonic hesitated for a moment before reaching out and grabbing it with his hand. With a grunt, Rainbow Dash slung Sonic into the with all her might and gave him a look that said, "you do the rest."
Sonic got the picture pretty quickly and focused on the entire row of ponies that lead just close enough to Zazz, who was unaware of the assistance Sonic was being provided since he was looking in the opposite direction. Sonic grinned once more and got the image of all the ponies flying in his head. Then, in an instant, shot out after the first wonder bolt he was closest to. Before he reached the wonder bolt, Sonic broke out of his homing attack and instead caught their back. He did a one handed, hand stand on the wonder bolt's back and focused on the next wonder bolt.
After preparing himself for a few seconds, Sonic threw himself off, performing a somersault, and shot out after the next wonder bolt in the line. Sonic did this every time right up until he got to Zazz. At the last wonder bolt, Sonic stood on their backs and jumped as hard as he could off of the wonder bolt, without hurting them, into the air above Zazz.
Zazz caught wind of something going on behind him and looked back to see what it was. Zazz saw a bunch of pegasi beginning to disperse after he noticed Sonic had jumped into the air behind him. Zazz stomped his foot on the orb in agitation and turned around, saying, "You've got to be kidding me," just as Sonic was slowly falling to be right in front of Zazz.
Sonic shot out after Zazz and hit the orb on its left side, causing it to spin and fall to the ground sharply. Sonic focused and shot out after Zazz again, hitting the orb on the right this time; causing it to spin and bounce of the ground roughly. Sonic took one final aim as he noticed the orb was in a bad state and looked that it could explode at any second, then shot out at Zazz.
Sonic jumped straight off of Zazz's face, grabbing the caged fillies in the progress, and knocked Zazz flat on his back. The force of Zazz falling on the orb knocked it down to the ground and caused a huge explosion that left a small crater in the road, thankfully not damaging any buildings or ponies.
The explosion happened right in front of the group of travelers who gasped at the violent explosion that seemed to engulf both Zazz and Sonic. Their hope began to diminish until they saw a figure fly from the smoke and come to a skidding halt in front of them. Sonic stood before them covered in soot and panting with a cage of fillies that were unharmed.
The entire group was speechless. (End Music)
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. Chapter 29: NightMare Night
"Trick or Treat!"
The group of school fillies all went door to door, tricking and treating for free candy from all the adult ponies. Even some of the adults were going to door to door with the children to get free candy, but that group mostly consisted of Pinkie Pie because "free candy is the best kind of candy" as she says.
The main six, along with the cutie mark crusaders, were dressed up for the festivities of Nightmare Night. Twilight was dressed as Nightmare Moon, Rarity was dressed like a princess, Pinkie Pie wore a shark costume, Fluttershy was dressed as a ladybug, Applejack was dressed as an apple tree, and Rainbow Dash was dressed as Daring Do. Spike dressed as a dragon again this year because he did not have enough time to put together a different costume.
The family of travelers were also participating as well, at least, Derpy and Dinky were. The Doctor wore his usual white collar and blue neck tie while Derpy was dressed as a giant oven. Her costume even had a working door on her chest that could flop open and have Dinky pop out, who was dressed as an adorable little muffin.
Sonic and the rest decided not to dress up after having been told on numerous occasions that their appearance was "scary enough". Of course they knew they were joking, but they still didn't take too kindly to it, especially Shadow. However he was able to restrain himself without having anyone to hold him back surprised Sonic's group; second-guessing how much self control Shadow really had.
The children had finished up at the last house and began walking to Town Square for the real Nightmare Night festivities. Sonic and the gang were informed that they would be playing a lot fun games such as apple bobbing - apples generously donated by Sweet Apple Acres, Spider toss, pin the tail on the pony, and much more.
Upon arrival, they noticed that the area was much more decorated than any other part of the Town. Sonic figured it would be though, since it is the place in town that is used to hold celebrations or traditional ceremonies. But that soon became the last thing on his mind when he saw Princess Luna there in town square with her head in a bucket of water; he assumed she was bobbing for apples. His assumption was soon proven correct when she brought her head up with a shiny, red delicious apple in her mouth.
She smiled as best she could when she saw the approaching group and walked over to them.
"Grveengs rvrypny, r vu nvoyng ve fshtifal," Luna attempted to say.
A few eyebrows in the group went up and few others chuckled at the accidental ignorance of the Princess. Dinky was the first to stop laughing long enough to point out the princess' immaturity.
"Princess, it's rude to talk with your mouth full; *adorable giggles *," Dinky said, pointing at the apple in Luna's mouth.
Luna looked down at the apple with a small gleam of frustration in her eyes and spat it out off to the side. She then cleared her throat and looked back at the group.
"Pardon u-, me, I said, Greetings everypony, are you enjoying the festival?" Luna re-asked.
"Oh yes, very much princess, thank you," Twilight answered, pausing to look up at the sky, "It sure is a beautiful night for the festivities, and that moon is absolutely amazing!"
"Why thank you, I made it myself," Luna jokingly gloated.
Sonic's eyes went wide as 'fear' took over his body and he began shaking and shivering. He stepped forward to get everyone's attention on him.
"I-It's not a FULL moon tonight, is it?" He asked.
"Well of course it is a full moon," Luna answered, "What kind of NightMare Night would it be if it was a half-crescent moon?"
"No..." Sonic whispered to himself, but also making sure the others heard.
Sonic looked up at the sky just as the clouds were clearing to see the full moon. Everyone wondered what was wrong with Sonic, they asked themselves why he was so nervous. Unfortunately for them, their questions were going to be answered all too quickly.
"Urgh!!" Sonic cried out, bending over and wrapping his arms around himself in pain, "Not now," he said.
"Sonic!" Twilight panicked, "What's wrong?! What's going on!?!"
"I- Urg! Really didn't want you all to- Mmph! Find out this way," Sonic managed to say.
Everyone in the group stepped back from Sonic as his entire body began to shake. Some of the towns ponies passing by noticed the commotion and stopped to see what was going, not knowing they would wish they hadn't seen it.
Sonic was down on all fours now; his whole body shaking violently. Everyone's faces had a look of shock and horror on as they watched Sonic wretch in pain. It seemed like a bad stomach cramp to them, until they saw what happened next.
Sonic's entire body turned a darker blue and his quills' tips turned white as his entire body got extremely hairy. His gloves ripped open to reveal claws underneath. They noticed that his shoes grew spikes on the bottoms of them and seemed to resemble cleats. The last thing that happened was the most noticeable of all. His teeth sharpened to a razor sharp point. Sonic had covered his face face with his hands before he slowly stood up, everyone noticing right away that he had grown nearly 4 inches taller.
After he fully transformed and stood up, Sonic uncovered his face and let out a loud, dark growl. The entire group stepped back once more when Sonic shot his gaze to them, a crazed look of nervousness and a hint of anger adorned his face. His friends had accumulated off to one side of him while his pony friends gathered in one big group in front of him; completely terrified.
The group of ponies took a step back, hoping to get to a point of safety. Sonic put one step forward towards them.
"HAAH!!" Sonic growled at them.
Most of the group screamed again and looked away. Derpy was the most scared out of the entire group from the violent shivering she was doing. Dinky nuzzled her leg and the Doctor wrapped his foreleg around her while taking a defensive stance in an attempt to calm her down.
The group started backing up again to get away, but Sonic was too quick for them. Sonic looked up and noticed a wire with small flags on it that were the colors of the holiday. Sonic smiled deviously reared his arm back. The group was unsure of what exactly Sonic was doing, until he answered their unasked question. Sonic shot his arm out, causing it to stretch to impossible lengths and grabbing the wire.
Everyone gasped as they saw Sonic fly off the ground and swing around to the back, turning and letting go of the wire. He came to a sliding halt in behind the group. Sonic chuckled darkly and began to approach the group at a faster pace, the Doctor and his family at the front now, doing their best to try and calm Derpy down.
Sonic got right up to the group and looked down at all of them; the entire group now shivering. Sonic lifted both his arms above his head while still looking at the group. The CMC's were all hiding behind each other and the rest of them looked away as they awaited the inevitable.
"RAAHH!!" Sonic growled at them once more, causing the entire group to scream.
Everyone continued shake and shiver as they accepted their doom, but instead of feeling fists being repeatedly punched against their skin, they instead heard a gruff laughing. They all looked up to see Sonic laughing.
"HA HA HA HA HA, Hoo Hoo!! Oh man, you should've seen the looks on your faces," Sonic said, pointing at the group and gripping his stomach. The group, however, did not find it that funny.
"Are you CRAZY Sonic!!" DInky rhetorically asked, "My mommy nearly had a heart attack," She scolded, pointing to Derpy who was hyperventilating and gripping her chest.
"Aw come on, that is a bit of an overreaction isn't it," Sonic asked, "Besides, what is Hallowe- er, Nightmare Night without a good scare?"
"I don't care," She snapped back, "I am not sure if you have noticed, but my mommy is a bit more sensitive than others and she can only take so much. Now i think you-"
"Dinky!" Derpy snapped, getting her daughters attention, "It is okay, I have gotten a bit tougher over the years. I promise I'm okay muffin," She assured, smiling at her daughter then looking at Sonic, "That was a very good joke Sonic. I think it is safe to say you got most of us... Especially you, Doctor," Derpy hassled, nudging him, "You got so scared that you had to cuddle up next to me for protection."
The Doctor was flabbergasted, "Wh- I- He, that is so NOT true, I did it to pro-hhmMMM!!" The Doctor tried to say, being cut off by Derpy connecting her lips with his. She slowly pulled away and gave him a small wink, mouthing "I know" to him.
Derpy and the Doctor continued to look into each other's eyes while everyone else turned their attention back to Sonic. The cutie mark crusaders gathered around Sonic, hopping up and down to get a good look at his new form.
"Wow Sonic," Scootaloo admired, "That was SO COOL! How'd ya do it?"
Sonic laughed and rubbed her head, then put his hands on his hips.
"Well it has been a long night, how about we go back to the library and I'll explain."
o.0.o
"I see, so this bracelet is the reason why you changed into... whatever this is," Twilight said.
"Pretty much," Sonic replied, "A good friend gave this to me back in our world and have kept it safe for a long time. Unfortunately, the power only works at night because the sun cancels out the dark gaia properties. Also, This," Sonic motioned to himself, "Is what I like to call a Werehog."
"Sonic the Werehog," Dinky said, "Has a nice ring to it."
"Hey DInky!" Scootaloo shouted, "Come and trade candy with us!"
Dinky looked up to Derpy for approval, who smiled back at her.
"It's alright muffin, go ahead," Derpy whispered to her.
Dinky smiled widely at her mother, so much that she was forced to close her eyes. Dinky then jumped off the ground and gave Derpy a quick peck on her cheek before landing, grabbing her bag of candy, and running over to the area of the library that the cutie mark crusaders reserved for candy trading. Derpy continued to smile as she watched her daughter gallop off to the three other fillies. The Doctor pulled out a stopwatch from the other side of his tie's collar and checked the time; his eyes widened when he saw how late it was.
"Sorry to rush off in such hurry everypony," he said as he stood up, "But I must be going. The TARPIS tends to get a little lonely when I'm gone for long periods of time," The Doctor turned to Derpy, "Goodbye for now, love," He said before wrapping Derpy up in tight hug and giving her a soft, sensual kiss. Derpy let her eyes fall shut as she let the Doctor hold her in his embrace.
He slowly pulled back and gently set Derpy back on the ground, her eyes still closed and with a small smile. She opened her eyes when she heard DInky running back over to say goodbye to the Doctor. She saw him wrap her up in one arm and used his other hoof to give her a small noogie, then kiss the spot where he just rubbed. She hugged him goodbye as well, wrapping her small arms around his neck. The Doctor set her back down before turning towards the door.
"I'll be back in a few Time Turner years," He said. This seemed to puzzle everyone.
"What are Time Turner years," Twilight asked.
"Time Turner years is the unit of Time measurement that my race uses, it basically means I could be gone for years, but I could be back here tomorrow, in an hour, maybe even yesterday. It's all wibbly wobbly like that, Dinky understands it," He said pointing to his daughter. Everyone turned to Dinky with expectant looks.
"It's true," She said gleefully. Everyone then looked back at the Doctor
"Well everyone, Allon-sy!" He said and saluted to them, then he walked out the door into the night.
Everyone turned back to Dinky and Derpy and Dinky looked up at her mother.
"I'm gonna go back to trading candy again, okay?" Dinky asked.
"Sure thing muffin, just make sure you get a fair trade. Candy is precious thing," Derpy amused.
"I will," Dinky replied, jumping up again to hug her mother. She let go and ran back over to the CMC's, Derpy watching her every step.
"Wow," Amy said, "You're daughter really loves you a lot, doesn't she?"
Derpy smiled and shrugged, "What can I say? She's just so sweet and loving. I love her so much and she loves me back; she just makes me so happy," Derpy looked to Dinky, who was trading a lollipop for a chocolate bar with Scootaloo, and then back to the group. She leaned in close and the group gathered closer, "You know, Dinky didn't always used to look like that," Derpy pointed out.
The group looked at Dinky and back to Derpy, wondering what she meant by her words.
"What do you mean by 'she didn't always used to look like that'," Twilight asked.
"Well, the Doctor and I weren't sure at the beginning if you all were trustworthy or not, but as time has gone on I feel that we can trust you. You wanna know why Dinky is a unicorn, well then I'll tell you. BUT, you must promise not to tell another living soul unless that soul is trustworthy, and you can ask Dinky. I take promises VERY seriously. OH! But how could I be so silly?"
Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to make a remark, but was cut short when Applejack roughly elbowed her in the ribs.
"Dinky," Derpy said, getting her daughter's attention, "Will you come here for a second?"
"Coming," she replied, galloping over to her mother's side, who proceeded to set her on her un-costumed lap. "Where's your oven costume?"
"I took it off because it got a bit stuffy in there. Don't worry, I'll put it back on before we leave, but anyways. Dinky," she said, putting on a serious face and tone, "Do you mind if I tell our friends about the *gulp * accident?"
"What accident? I don't kn-, oh," she said, ears drooping down. "I- um-," she stuttered as she chewed on her hoof, but soon admitted defeat, "S-Sure, go ahead. They deserve to know," she said with a small smile.
Derpy brightened up at this but still continued to frown.
"Okay muffin, I didn't want to tell them without your consent because I understand that this is pretty personal to you," she said sadly.
Dinky hugged her mother again in an attempt to keep her from tearing up.
"Just one condition," she said, breaking out of the hug, "Tell the story with a smile, I hate to see you frown," Dinky leaned in again and kissed her cheek, "Alright?"
Derpy sniffled and nodded her head, then turned to face the crowd that was now joined by the CMC's.
"Some of you may or may not have already heard the story of what happened, but it all happened a few years back, just after Dinky's third birthday. The Doctor, Dinky, and I were all having a nice family outing and it was a good day. Unfortunately, things literally went down hill very quickly.
0.0.0
"It was a nice day in ponyville. Everypony was up and about, there wasn't a cloud in the sky; it pretty much seemed like the perfect day. Dinky was more of a light yellowish color, like her mane, with red hair and pinkish highlights, she was also a pegasus, just like me. We were walking down the market area when Dinky caught something out of the corner of her eye."
"Hey," Dinky exclaimed, "That pony dropped her purse!"
"The Doctor and I looked to the middle of the street and sure enough, there was a small pouch lying on the ground and a light blue earth pony mare with a green mane was walking to the other side. Dinky ran out into the street and picked it up."
"Excuse me, Miss!" past Dinky called out, getting the mare's attention, "I believe you dropped this!"
"The mare checked her saddlebags and saw that wasn't there. She then smiled at Dinky and turned around to approach her."
"Why thank you young lady, you just saved me from having to make a second shopping trip," the mare praised and began walking towards Dinky.
"She is going to be a great pony in the future," I whispered to the Doctor.
"I know," He replied.
"Doctor, did you-,"
"Spoilers," the Doctor said in a sing-song voice.
"It was no prob-," Dinky began to say.
"LOOK OUT!!"
"Somepony had shouted a warning, but we were unsure of what it was until it was too late. Up the hill we saw a fruit cart barreling down the street at an incredible speed, heading straight for Dinky. I tried telling her to move, but she was frozen in fear. And before we knew it, there was a loud crash and everything went all white. I closed my eyes because I could not stand to see my worst fear coming true. I opened them after a few seconds and saw Dinky lying in the road a couple of feet from a broken cart."
"NO, DINKY!!" "I had screamed and ran over to her. I picked her up as gently as I could and held her in my arms, thankfully she was still breathing. My next thought was to get her some medical attention, that is when the Doctor came up behind me."
"Mo- Mommy," Dinky shakily said.
*sniffle * "Y-Yes muffin?"
"I... feel...... warm," Dinky noticed something strange below her, "What's that light?" She asked weakly.
"Huh?" "I had said, not understanding what she was talking about until I looked below her head, then I knew the reason for her saying that. Her arms and legs were glowing a bright light blue."
"Impossible...," The Doctor whispered. "I looked back at the Doctor when he said that."
"Wha?" "I asked before the glowing got slightly brighter, that is when the Doctor grabbed my shoulders."
"Derpy, I know that you think our daughter is in danger and I swear that she WILL be fine, but right now you have to back off of her," "The Doctor had said and began to try to pull me away."
"What!?! Why!?!" Derpy asked frantically.
"Because!" The Doctor began, eyes widening as he saw Dinky begin to glow brighter, "SHE'S REINCARNATING!!" The Doctor exclaimed, pulling Derpy away just in time as DInky exploded with blue light. Derpy's jaw was agape as she watched her daughter emit a bright blue light in all directions.
"When the light was shining, I noticed that her wings shrunk away and her horn began to grow. I was just absolutely astonished, but I always knew that Dinky was special in some way other than just being my sweet little, loving muffin. Once the light disappeared, the Doctor and I approached the Dinky you see today, and she was just as beautiful; her personality never changed."
"Uuuuh," Dinky groaned, looking up at Derpy, "Mommy? Why are you looking at me like that mommy?"
o.o.o
Derpy looked upon the group she had just told, she noticed that almost every eye in the room was not dry. All the girls had waterworks going, Tails watery eyes, and the rest just frowned. Derpy took in a deep breath and looked down at her daughter, who gave her a 'good job' nod and reared her head up to give Derpy another peck on the cheek, causing her to smile and touch the spot she was kissed. Dinky then began to nuzzle in Derpy's chest and use her as a pillow, listening to the soft thudding she had come to love ever since she was a foal.
Derpy kissed Dinky's forehead and began to pet her mane. They enjoyed each other's embrace for the time being, unfortunately it could not be enjoyed for long before they heard huge crash outside; jolting everyone out of the dazes and getting them alert.
Everyone ran outside to see what the commotion was, but all they saw were flames and debris lying around on the ground.
"What the heck is going on," Sonic asked in his gruff voice. He saw something flying down at them at a break-neck speed in a huge ball of fire, making a loud noise, almost like a screaming. Before it crashed into the ground, the Doctor ran up to the group from seemingly out of nowhere and Sonic thought he could hear it saying something through the screaming.
"EXTERMINATE!!!"
Chapter 30: The Beginning of the End
Earlier that night...
"Leader! Leader! Emergency! EMERGENCY!!" The lead scientist Palek exclaimed as he rolled out of the elevator.
"What is the meaning of all the sirens!?! Explain! EXPLAIN!" Alpha commanded.
"It is that gem we found! It somehow activated our self-destruct sequence and dead-locked it! We must evacuate immediately!!"
"You imbecile, you have doomed us! You are lucky I will allow you're escape," Alpha threatened.
"Leader! We have another problem," One of the Paleks from the escape pod level exclaimed.
"What is it now!?" Alpha shouted in crackly, robotic voice.
"The escape pods have been dead-bolted, we can not evacuate the ship!"
The leader Alpha looked from the Palek on the escape pod level to the scientist Palek, and then around at all of the other Paleks watching the commute. Alpha's eye-stalk lowered slightly and his whole body turned around and toward the main console aboard the ship. He then connected the part of his armor that looked like that of a toilet plunger to a special made port that was compatible for the item. After a few moments, the intercom activated.
"My fellow Paleks, as you know, we are the super-soldiers of the galaxy. Bread to feel no emotions whatsoever and fight until we fall. This may or may not be our final moments, but if I were not to survive like most of you won't, I wanted to say it was an honor to lead this pack of Paleks. This may be goodbye, but we are going out in a blaze of glory. If you were to survive the explosion, aim for the worthless inhabitants of the world below. Most of the debris will also be pulled towards the planet because it is the closest source of gravity. Ready yourselves my brothers, for our time is almost out," Alpha looked to the counter of the self-destruct countdown, 15 seconds remained. "Ex-ter-mi-nate," Alpha said in syllables.
The scientist Palek rolled forward, "Exterminate."
"Exterminate!" A random Palek exclaimed.
"Exterminate!!" Another random Palek shouted.
Soon the whole crew of Paleks were shouting one simple word as they awaited their most likely demise, Exterminate.
KABOOM!!!
o.0.o
Sonic and the others had decided to wait until morning to investigate the odd fires that fell from the sky for they had burned all night and some of them emitted a loud noise, almost as if they were screaming in pain. The Doctor, followed by everyone else, carefully approached one of the pits that the fiery debris had created. The Doctor looked over the edge and gasped at what he saw.
"Aaaah.... uuuuhhh," The Palek moaned in pain.
"It can't be," The Doctor whispered to himself.
The Palek's eye-stalk slowly blinked to life and looked up at the group above, noting one of the characters in particular. The Doctor's eyes widened and he took a step back as a half measure.
"Doc-toor," The Palek weakly said, "The Doctor!" The Palek moved its laser arm to aim at the Doctor, "Exterminate, Exterminate!"
"Everypony! Duck and cover!" The Doctor ordered, grabbing Derpy and Dinky and pulling them to the ground. Everyone followed his order and threw themselves to the ground, lying in wait. After a few moments, the Doctor cracked open one eye after nothing happened and slowly got up from the ground then peaked over the pit edge. Everyone followed after him with their curiosity piqued and looked at the Palek in the ground, who was dumbstruck at his laser canon malfunctioning. The Doctor smiled at this and began to laugh.
"Oh yes, Brilliant! You're absolutely powerless Palek. So tell me, what caused you to fall to Earth in a burst of flames," the Doctor asked.
"I do not answer to you, Doctor. You can not get me to talk," The Palek spat back.
The Doctor did not appreciate his attitude and growled slightly under his breath. He reached into his tie collar and pulled out his Sonic Horseshoe and pointed it at the Palek.
"I am not playing games you worthless Palek, either tell me what I want to know or I will get it out of you by force," he threatened.
"You do not frighten me Doctor, you and your family will be Exterminated!"
"Wrong answer...," the Doctor growled.
In an instant, he activated his Sonic Horseshoe and the Palek began to scream in agony. This went on for a few long moments before the Palek was able to scream out, "This is all that worthless gem's fault! I never should have discovered it!"
After hearing this, the Doctor deactivated his Sonic Horseshoe and lowered his hoof.
"What do you mean Palek? What gem are you talking about?" The Doctor asked.
"We- agh! Found a gem with a powerful energy stored within it while scouting. Something went wrong and our self-destruct sequence was activated, supposedly by that gem." The Palek responded.
"Doctor, you don't think that could be the-," Derpy began to ask before she was interrupted.
"Sonic! SONIC!" One of the townsponies shouted from a distance, "You might want to come see this."
Sonic looked from the pony to the Doctor and waited for a suggestion.
"Go on, I'll catch up," the Doctor commanded, "First I've got to swat a noisy fly," he said, looking to the Palek.
Sonic gave him an unsure look at first, but soon caved in and nodded; motioning for the rest to follow him. Soon the Doctor was left alone with the Palek. The Doctor made sure they were all gone before turning back to the Palek and slowly pointing his Sonic Horseshoe at it.
"Any last words, Palek," The Doctor spat.
The Palek gave him a blank stare for a few moments, not making a sound or noise. The Palek's head portion moved very slightly a couple seconds afterwards and locked eyes with him, putting on a serious tone.
"You would have made a good Palek," he said.
The Doctor was taken aback by this comment, but tried shaking it off long enough to finish the job. The Doctor re-aimed his Sonic Horseshoe, took a stable stance, and activated the most powerful setting on his Horseshoe.
o.0.o
"Check it out," A blue, silver maned pegasus stallion pony said, pointing at a small hole in the ground that was about a foot across.
With Sonic at the lead, the entire group slowly approached the hole and took a peek inside. They gasped as they looked upon the glorious prize the hole contained. Inside, shining as brightly as the sun itself, was the seventh and final chaos emerald. Sonic reached in slowly and picked it up, holding it to the sun, making shine even brighter. Sonic felt the excitement and energy of their long search over and felt he was about to explode.
"yyyyyyYYYYYEEESSS!!" Sonic shouted out, jumping high into the air, "We did it! After all this time we finally found the last chaos emerald!"
"And it's all mine!" said a voice out of nowhere.
Everyone looked around to try and find where the voice originated from, but before any of them knew, something whisked by and snatched the emerald out of Sonic's hand. Reacting as quickly as he could, Sonic looked around the immediate area to try and find where it had gone, only for his search to be put to an end as he saw what had taken it. Looking up a bit into the air, he saw Eggman in his Egg Carrier with the chaos emerald being handed to him by a metallic claw attached to his machine.
Sonic stepped forward a bit and stared at Eggman with a mighty rage in his eyes.
"EGGMAN!!" Sonic shouted.
"You know, I must thank you for going through all this trouble to find the emerald for me. I suppose it is only fair if I," He paused, pressing a button on his console, "Return the favor!" A small, gun looking device attached to the front of his carrier began to charge up a beam, aiming directly for Sonic.
"Sonic, watch out!" Tails warned, "That is the Proton Cannon I told you about! Don't let him hit you with it!"
Sonic turned back to Eggman just in time for the cannon to fire a blast of energy. Using his quick reflexes, Sonic jumped out of the way just in time and caught on to the side of a building. After making sure he was lined up, Sonic shot off from the building and grazed by Eggman, sending him into a spin.
Sonic then caught on to another building on the other side of the street and took aim at Eggman again. He jumped towards Eggman and everything around him slowed down. While Sonic was lining up his shot, Eggman had begun to charge another blast and shot it off as Sonic jumped towards him. Sonic was barely able to dodge it by getting right over the blast and straightening out his body as much as possible. After he was sure that he had cleared the beam, Sonic focused on the fast approaching Egg Carrier and shot Eggman a "now I've got you" smile.
Sonic swung his right foot forward and connected with the bottom of Eggman's Carrier, punting him away and up into the air. After shaking it off, Eggman noticed that this made critical damage to his machine, realizing that the best course of action would be to return to base and make repairs, as well as strategize his next move.
"Grrr, FINE! I have some things to take care of anyway. I will be back though Sonic, Farewell!" Eggman then turned away and began to fly away in the other direction.
"Hey! That's not cool!" Rainbow Dash said, taking off after Eggman.
"Rainbow, No!" Her friends said.
"Hm?" Eggman questioned, looking over his shoulder to see the cyan, rainbow maned pegasus flying at him. Eggman was in no mood to deal with her. Turning quickly but still flying away, Eggman took aim and began charging up.
"Buzz off you pest!" He shouted, firing off his cannon at her.
"Guh!" She exclaimed, thanking her training and fast reflexes that she got out of the way just in time. Unfortunately she was unable to move quickly enough to avoid the entire blast and the upper part of her left wing was clipped by the energy. This alone was able to send her into a fast nose dive to the ground.
Sonic took off after her to try and reach the point of where she might impact the ground. He began to feel a touch of dread for the approached the ground faster than he anticipated. She was coming past the point to where she was passing by the roofs of the surrounding buildings.
"No!" Sonic yelled as he realized he would not reach her in time. All of a sudden, in a bright flash of yellow light, something passed by and grabbed Rainbow Dash's body then disappeared in the same flash of light. Sonic came to a sliding halt and scratched his head as he tried to piece together what had happened. Everyone in the group came running up behind him, out of breath, just in time for the same flash of light to appear and some entity to hit the ground and skid to a stop.
Sonic and the others looked on in shock and surprise at just what rescued Rainbow. Standing there, cradling Rainbow, was Shadow. He slowly knelt down and lied her gently on the ground. Sonic and the others walked up, all with the same question on their minds.
"Shadow, how-," Sonic began to ask.
"That doesn't matter," He replied in his dark voice, "She needs a hospital if you haven't noticed."
Sonic looked to her wing for a second then back to Shadow, nodding in understanding. Sonic came over and picked her up, everyone following after as they rushed to get her wing patched before a possible infection set in or worse.
o.0.o
The laboratory of Dr. Eggman was quiet. The Deadly Six sat around in silent boredom as they awaited the return of their strategic leader. Zor, Zeena, and Zomom sat in a circle, although it was more of a triangle. Master Zik and General Hewdraw were meditating on another side of the lab, Zazz was messing with some scientific doo-dad even though he was told countless times not to touch anything, and finally Zavok stood near the entrance with his arms crossed, waiting for anything to happen to break the silence.
All of a sudden, the portal sparked to life, causing most of them to open their eyes in surprise, while Zazz nearly jumped ten feet in the air. They all slowly approached the portal and waited, until they saw the front of Eggman's Egg Carrier poke through. Once he was all the way inside, the first thing they noticed was the wicked smile on his face. He then raised his hand up to show the spoils of his return, the seventh and final chaos emerald was now in their possession.
After showing off the emerald, he wasted no time in preparing for what was going to happen next. Eggman went over to a segment of his laboratory wall tapped on it, revealing a hand-scan identification module. After scanning his hand (with his glove still on, oddly enough) the module slid out of the way to reveal a key-pin combination lock. He then entered the four digit key, finally unlocking the real prize of all his hard work and patience. The wall shot out some steam and began to slowly raise up into the ceiling, making the others anticipate what lied on the other side.
"I have waited for long enough and have worked hard for this moment. And every agonizing second was worth it," he said. The wall had finally lifted up, everyone "oooing" and "aaawing" at the magnificent object. Eggman then began to cackle his trademark laugh.
"Heh heh heh, Ha Ha HA! GYAAAA HA HA HA!"
Chapter 31: The Final Showdown
"Well Ms. Dash, I have some good news," Dr. Stables said as he walked into Rainbow Dash's hospital room, "The blast from that crazy alien's weapon only grazed the tip of your wing and didn't do any real damage to the base or your body. Unfortunately, you will not be flying for a little while since those end feathers were singed from the blast and will take a while to grow back, but other than that we can just wrap you right up and you can be out of here by this afternoon, unless you feel you may need to stay here for further evaluation."
Rainbow Dash looked from her friends that were in the room with her to Doctor Stables with widened eyes, "Nope, I think I'll be alright," she said nervously, scratching the back of her head, "Just go ahead and patch me up and I'll be out of your hair," she said, motioning to her wing.
Doctor Stables put the clipboard he was holding under his arm and smiled at her. "Alright, we'll wrap up your wing to prevent any further damage and we'll prescribe you a pain medicine, if you think you need it?"
"Nah, it feels fine, a little warm, but no pain whatsoever," She replied.
"Okay then, I'll call in the nurses and have your wing wrapped in a jiffy, you should be ready to go in about half an hour or so. Just remember, absolutely NO attempting to fly, because you will not get very far off the ground and could cause more damage to you wing. I know that is hard for you to hear, but do you understand?"
"Yeah yeah," She said, waving her hoof dismissively, "No trying to fly or else it will be counterproductive, I've got it Doc."
"So it seems," He said, turning to the rest of the group, "I'm afraid I must ask your friends to vacate the room while we patch your wing. I know it is unnecessary, but it is hospital policy."
"That's alright, we understand," Twilight spoke up, looking to Rainbow Dash, "We'll see you in a few, okay?"
Rainbow smirked at this, "Sure thing."
o.0.o
"These bandages are totally cramping my style, and they really bother my wings. This is gonna call for a huge preening session once they are off," Rainbow complained, walking out of the hospital with everyone else behind her. Twilight ran up beside her as they walked down the road.
"Well, that isn't going to be for two weeks. So you might as well get used to walking everywhere until then," Twilight said sternly, trying to get Rainbow to stop complaining.
"In that case, I hope you don't mind if I crash at your place for the time being," she shot back. Twilight was taken aback at this statement.
"Why would you stay at the library, don't you have a house?"
"Yeah, a CLOUD house! You know? One that FLOATS! Plus I have Tank to feed." Derpy ran up to the left side of Rainbow Dash, followed by Dinky, to join the conversation.
"Well Rainbow, the upside of being a mailmare is that I have accumulated a good set of muscles over the years from lifting heavy packages and carry that mailbag around everywhere. I'd be more than happen to fly you up to your house and down in the morning," She said with a smile.
Rainbow had flashbacks to the reputation the mailmare had for dropping packages and quickly responded, "NO!" Startling Derpy and the others, "Uh, I-I mean, thanks. I appreciate the offer, but I can't burden you with that task, so I must humbly decline your offer," She said in the most polite manner as possible.
"Oh, um, that's okay, I understand," She said with a fake smile, seeing Rainbow breathe a sigh of relief. Derpy knew Rainbow was lying, but she really couldn't blame her. She knew that she was a klutz from time to time, but she still hurt inside. Until she felt the gentle nuzzling of her daughter on her foreleg, unable to keep herself from putting on a real smile at this.
"It'll be fine, I can probably find a hotel somewhere. But I might not be able to afford it because of all the time I will have to take off work. That plan didn't really work out, hmm..." Rainbow pondered.
"It is okay Rainbow," Twilight deadpanned, "You can stay with me if you'd like."
"Thanks Twi," Rainbow said, barely above that of a whisper.
"And I could go up and feed Tank for you if you'd like," Fluttershy offered.
"Well, if there is one pony I could trust to take care of Tank, it would be you Fluttershy. Seriously, thanks."
"It's no trouble at all," Fluttershy assured.
Rainbow thought back to recent events and felt a fire burn in her chest. "I just want to get my hooves on that Eggman and teach him a thing or two about messing with Rainbow Dash," she said, punching her right hoof into her left one.
"Speaking of Eggman," Sonic said, running up to her and walking in front of Derpy, "I'm not sure what he has planned, but I know one thing is for certain. He isn't finished with this place yet, his original intent was to conquer another world because I always stopped him from taking over ours, but he made one fatal mistake in his oh-so perfect plan."
"And what's that," Twilight asked with genuine curiosity.
Sonic smirked at the question, "He sent me here," He replied with a drip of venom in his voice. Sonic looked upon their faces as he said that, seeing a mixture of different expressions and emotions in each one. Sonic quickly waved it off and ran ahead to be in front of all of them, walking backwards so he was able to talk to the group.
"Come on, we need to start thinking about a defense strategy. There is no telling when he'll-"
BOOM
Before Sonic could finish his sentence, there was a loud explosion in town and the sound of screaming in response. Sonic stopped dead in his tracks and turned towards the town. Without a moment of hesitation, Sonic was running into town to see what the commotion was. He took a quick glance over his shoulder and saw that the group was not following him.
"HURRY!" He yelled back at them in order to coerce them into start running as well.
They all took one quick look from one another and began running after Sonic, hoping that the explosion was not what they think it was.
o.0.o
Sonic came running through town, catching the eye of a few ponies that were running in the opposite direction, and followed the smoke trail that was produced by a random burning building. Sonic slid to a halt in front of the building as his team came up from behind, most out of breath from the long run. Sonic looked around the scene and noticed ambulance ponies tending to wounded victims and fire fighter ponies trying to battle the flames. Sonic walked up to the chief fire fighter to try and get to the bottom of this.
"Hey Chief," Sonic said, getting his attention, "What happened?"
"From what we have been told from a few eye witnesses, the building just burst into flames. No idea of the origin behind it," The fire chief shrugged.
"Well I have a pretty good idea who's behind it-"
"So we meet again Sonic!" said a distant voice.
Sonic and the others looked up to see who they all guessed the voice belong to. Above was Eggman in his little floating machine slowly descending upon them with the Deadly Six behind him, as well as General Hewdraw.
"HAAAAHUHEHAA!!" Zazz laughed, "Y'all are done for now. Know why? Because I'm gonna make sure of it. You and your entire town are toast, as well aw the rest of the world. Eeeeeehu hu hu," He chuckled darkly.
"Grrr," Sonic quietly growled, taking a step forward, "EGGMAN! I am going to avenge those who got hurt from you blowing up that building!"
"What are you talking about you pugilistic hedgehog?" Eggman asked angrily, "I haven't even used my newest creation yet," He said, motioning to the sky just in time for a giant robot to land on the ground right behind him. The quake it created caused everyone to momentarily lost their balance before regaining it and being able to take a good look at the machine. Like most of his creations, it had two legs for it to walk on. Going up to the chest, Sonic and the others noticed right away that the chaos emerald were imbedded into it, going around in a circle. It had a drill for a right arm and a normal hand for its left. The machine was primarily colored red with a few spots of gold, black, and metal depending on which part of the body it was. Finally at the top was a little canopy for Eggman to attach his Egg Mobile and take manual control of the robot. Sonic and the gang looked back to Eggman who floated closer to them.
"With this beauty, I will destroy dozens of buildings, but I just got here, so unfortunately I was not responsible for that construction's destruction," he said with a wicked smile.
Sonic softened at this statement and put on a confused tone. "Well if you didn't destroy it, who did?"
"I'm afraid I must take claim for that," said an unknown deep voice.
Everyone, including Eggman, looked around for the source of the voice. The entire group turned their heads as a mysterious figure emerged from the shadows. In the light, they were able to make out better details of the mystery pony. He was a white stallion with a light blond tail. He had a beaker with some type of chemical in it and a ruler as a cutie mark. For his accessories, he bore a flat, black hat on his head, bulky, square lensed glasses, and a goatee. He slowly walked over to the group and spoke in the recognizable deep voice.
"That explosion was a bit of a, what is it? Full measure, if you will. But I was not expecting the radius to reach so far past the building. That is why I plan to cover the medical bills of all those who got injured. I hope that cleared some air, I will be on my way not," the mystery pony said, turning to head back down towards the alley. Until he stopped, remembering something important.
"Oh, and Sonic?" He asked over his shoulder.
"Yeah?" Sonic asked back with piqued interest.
"Just remember, even the most impenetrable machines have a weak spot. It is only a matter of finding it," he said, passing his advice onto Sonic, then continued towards the alley.
"Wait!?" Sonic shouted.
"Yes?" The mystery pony asked.
"Who are you?" Sonic asked.
He chuckled at the question and slowly turned around to face him, "Who am I?" He rhetorically asked, looking to all the ponies plus Eggman and the Deadly Six, then back to Sonic, tilting his head forward slightly.
"I'm Neighsenberg," He chuckled darkly .
All the ponies gasped as they heard that name, remembering how he was a big syndicate crime boss and was the number one producer for the most addicting drug in Equestria.
"Neighsenberg?" Twilight asked herself quietly, drawing everyone's attention to her, "Your tha-" She continued to say, but stopped short when she realized he was already gone.
"Well, now that the introductions are out of the way," Eggman said as he flew over to his mech and attached his Egg Carrier to it, "I believe we should get this show on the road."
Its drill arm spun and the entire thing sparked to life to a higher standard than usual once Eggman's floater was connected to it. It slowly walked towards the group, causing a mini earthquake with every step, until it stopped at about 5 feet away from the group. The Deadly Six, plus General Hewdraw, all stood to its side, looking as sinister as they could.
"Meet my newest and ultimate creation Sonic," Eggman began, "This fine piece of Eggman weaponry is my most glorious construction with up to date materials plus the power of the chaos emeralds, it cannot be scratched. I originally intended to swap the chaos emeralds over to this beauty right after I had opened the portal, but of course you had to go and screw it up!" He said with a fiery rage in his voice as he stood and looked at the group below him. Sitting down, he continued his speal, "That is of no matter now, of course, since you went through all the trouble of finding the emeralds for me. For that, I must thank you. Too bad you must all be destroyed now so I can make room for my new Eggman Empire, and this small town will be the capital of my new world; a better world," he said with his signature evil smile as he tweaked his moustache, "And my lovely friends here," he said, motioning to the Deadly Six and General Hewdraw, "are going to help pave the way."
As if on cue, they began to advance forward. Zazz seeming the most excited about this as he pounded his fist into his palm and cracked his knuckles.
The group took a step back, preparing to protect the citizens and their pony friends from any sneak attacks they may have had planned. Sonic eased up when that didn't happen and took a step forward, pointing at Eggman.
"You know that won't happen Baldy McNoseHair, you of all people should know how this will end. With you begging for mercy," Sonic said menacingly.
Eggman merely laughed at this notion. "Then go ahead Sonic, try and stop us! Egg Walker, GO!"
Sonic looked over his shoulder at this friends to relay his improvised plan. "Alright, you guys take care of the Deadly Six," he began, looking back towards Eggman, "and I'll take care of Baldy McNoseHair."
After those words were said, Sonic charged up a Spin Dash and the Deadly Six were on the attack. Sonic and his friends jumped into action, as well as Twilight and the others, and began fighting off the weird monsters; finding that they were easily able to take down and send them flying back towards Eggman's robot..
Sonic shot off towards Eggman's machine after a few moments of charging up his attack. He rolled on the ground right until he got up on the robot and bounced off the ground, aiming for its chest. Unfortunately, the emeralds gave Eggman's robot a huge agility increase and was able to block the attack by crossing its arms over its chest. Sonic fought hard to break through the defensive maneuver, but it proved to much and with one swift motion, the robot opened its arms and sent Sonic flying back.
He slid on the ground for a few feet before trying to stop by grappling the ground with whatever he could grab a hold of. He eventually stopped and stood up, finally take a look around at his surroundings. His friends from his world and this world were hard at work fighting the Deadly Six. Thankfully, there was strength in numbers and the Deadly Six were getting weaker and weaker by the second. The only real problem, however, was General Hewdraw. His mystical powers prevented any ponies from getting close or attacking. It almost seemed impossible for him to go down, until a shadowy figure stepped out from the alley once more.
Most of them took notice of who it was and were able to quickly identify him. Neighsenberg had returned and he held something in his hoof. He walked to the middle of the street where him and General Hewdraw had a stand off. They eyes each other for a short while before anything interesting happened. In an instant, General Hewdraw shot off a blast of lightning from his hands. To everyone's amazement, Neighsenberg had quick reflexes and jumped to the side to avoid it, all the while throwing the object he had in his hoof at General Hewdraw.
It landed on the ground right at General Hewdraw's feet and instantly exploded into a cloud of grayish vapor. At first it seemed to do nothing, but after a few moments, hacking and coughing could be heard inside the cloud. As it began to clear, there was a choking General Hewdraw on his knees with his hands around his neck and eyes shut tightly as he struggled to breath. After another minute of coughing, he finally fell to the ground unconscious.
Everyone looked to Neighsenberg with wide eyes and opened mouths, who simply chuckled at their reactions and adjusted his hat.
"Don't cross Neighsenberg," was all he said before walking back into the alley way, leaving the group with a horrifying memory of himself with them.
Sonic had stared at the scene more than he had intended too and didn't notice the giant metallic hand swinging his way. Being knocked back with the force of a hundred tornadoes did a number on Sonic as he collided with a building on the street, falling to the ground. He was barely able to kneel to stay up in his condition and felt weaker every second. He would have fallen over if it weren't for his supportive team.
"SONIC!" They all shouted as they witnessed him flying through the air, colliding with building on the street and falling harshly to the ground. Everyone rushed to his aid when he struggled to stand up and assisted him in any way possible. He held his left shoulder in pain as he stared at Eggman with one eye closed, who approached the group, laughing evily.
"What's the matter Sonic? Are you not having fun?" He asked mockingly.
Sonic growled and limped towards him, the others trying to hold him back, but he shrugged them off.
"EGGMAN!!" He yelled, "You won't win! You- urk! You can't win..."
"Oh but my dear Sonic, I already have," he said with a wide grin, "Just admit it Sonic and be done with all this. You may have been able to defeat the Deadly Six and General Hewdraw, but their assistance in this new era wasn't necessary to begin with. All I needed were the emeralds, and now that I have them, I am unstoppable. Face it Sonic, you have no power!" He stated.
"And that's where you're wrong," Twilight said.
"Huh? What are you talking about you colorful abomination," Eggman asked.
Twilight just shook off the insult. "Explain it to him girls," she said, nodding towards Eggman.
Applejack stepped forward. "When Sonic competed for tha' there emerald," she said, nodding towards the purple one, "he was forced to lie about a power that they really didn' have. He explained to me that he tries to avoid lyin' as best he can and he only did it to protect us. He knows the difference between lying for self gain and lyin' to protect and make others happy. He's the most truthful varmit I've met from another world, makin' him represent the element of Honesty."
After those words left her lips, there was a bright flash of light and when it was gone, the others noticed a strange necklace going around Sonic's entire body in a circular motion. Fluttershy was up next.
"After he defeated that sandworm and got the first emerald, I was so distraught that the poor thing was, was..." she said, looking way when she was on the brink of tears, "But Sonic reassured me that it would be fine and that he would never harm any animals unless they wanted to harm his friends. He even told stories about how he rescued the poor creatures that you captured," she said angrily to Eggman, "He is the nicest and most sweetest thing that is not of this world, making him represent the element of Kindness."
In that same flash of light, another necklace appeared seemingly out of nowhere and began to float around Sonic's entire body in the same circular motion as the first. Rarity stepped forward next.
"Sonic," she said, getting his attention, "At first, I really didn't trust you, but how could I!? You were a being not of this world and you seemed like you could harm any of us at any given moment. But after that one day when we were walking back to the castle in Canterlot, I swear, I thought my heart was going to pop out of my chest and give you a hug for what you did for those poor fillies. You gave up your entire stock of food for those fillies and their families so they could live to see another day, and you saved them from the ridicule from those awful ponies who looked down on them. You have up what you had so another could benefit and be happy, which I think makes you represent the element of Generosity."
Once again, that same flash of light occurred and another necklace appeared, following in the same pattern as the first two around Sonic body. Pinkie bounced up to Sonic next.
"Over the time I have known Sonic, I have learned that he loves to laugh and smile. He loves to hear jokes from others and he adores telling them just so he can see his friends happy," she said with a smile.
"Yeah, except for that one joke..." Sonic cut in.
"Which one?" Pinkie asked.
"You know, the one about the horse walking into the shop and the long face-"
"Oh, yeah, we weren't really impressed by that," she said, looking down at the ground, but soon sprang back to her usual cheery self, "But anyways, Sonic stays brave by doing what I do, just laughing when you feel scared or when faced with danger. I saw how you reassured Sweetie Belle at that performance in San Franciscolt and told her to not worry and just smile. You love to see others smile and especially love to hear their happiness, which makes you represent the element of Laughter!"
In another flash of light, a fourth necklace appeared and began to float around Sonic, who oddly began to feel lighter and warm inside.
"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash cut in, "Sonic is pretty chill guy. He always sees something through to the end and never EVER give up on his friends. Even after he was made public enemy number one and was basically hated by the whole town, he still came back and aided everyone when the changelings and those freaks over their attacked," she said, pointing to the wounded Deadly Six, "If that isn't being loyal, then I don't know what is; making Sonic represent the element of Loyalty."
Another flash of light and a fifth necklace appeared and began following the others around Sonic. This time he was definitely floating off the ground and could feel a new found source of power flowing through him. He had panicked and struggled for a bit before calming down as Twilight stepped forward.
"And Sonic," she said, looking at the ground, "You know so many other skills and tricks that I can't even begin to understand. You always stand by your friends and are quick to help them in a pinch. Although you weren't aware at first, but now I think you see how magical friendship can be. I am glad to have known you Sonic the Hedgehog, and I think you are worthy of representing the element of Magic!"
In those last few words spoken, Sonic was surrounded by a magical yellow aura. Sonic felt something smack against his left wrist and when he looked down, he saw it was the necklace in the shape of a balloon. And one by one, the necklaces automatically attached themselves to a part of his body. One on his other wrist, one to each of his legs, one attached itself to his back and the last one in the shape of a six pointed star went around his neck. When they had attached themselves, a bright silver armor was produced from the necklaces and covered his entire body, all meeting at the center of his chest. Sonic's arms extended on their own towards the sky where a bright bolt of energy shot out and into the heavens, almost symbolizing a beacon of hope for those who saw it.
Sonic had his eyes closed through nearly the entire transformation and near the end he finally opened them, the white of his eyes changing so that a portion of each of his eyes was a color of the Elements of Harmony. After the transformation, Sonic was gently set back on the ground, all wounds healed and a new power surging through his veins. He reached up to his helmet and pulled down his face guard.
"Heh! Let's do it!" He said as he threw a few punches and did a spinning kick to test out his new found strength.
And just like that, Sonic shot off the ground after Eggman, leaving a white trail of light in his wake. Eggman tried to swat Sonic down like he was a fly, but with his increased agility Sonic was able to dodge it and get a hit on his left side. While Eggman was recovering from the damage done to his machine, Sonic took this opportunity to deal some additional damage to the main controls.
Sonic jumped to the top of the machine where the cockpit was and punched both sides of his Egg Mobile, causing a great amount of damage to it and loosened the controls, but Eggman was still able to keep it airborne and shake Sonic off. Eggman then raised his drill arm to try and bring it down on top of Sonic, but Sonic was able to dodge it just in time by doing a tuck-and-roll towards his machine and running underneath it. When he was behind it, Sonic noticed a piece of white metal sheeting that stuck out greatly in contrast to the all red machine.
Smiling underneath his mask, Sonic shot after it and hit it square in the center, causing Eggman's machine to rumble and go off balance in response. Sonic then returned to the front where his friends were.
"What did you do to my machine you waste of Mobian flesh?" Eggman asked threateningly.
"Just like Neighsenberg said," Sonic responded, looking back at his friends, "Even the most impenetrable machine have a weak spot," he said with a smile.
"Oh well, it is only a matter of time before I get the controls working again," Eggman stopped to reflect on this, "Why did I say that out loud?"
"Sonic," Twilight loudly whispered to him, "Use this opportunity to deal some massive damage."
"On it!" He said, looking back towards Eggman and lowering his face mash again.
He then blasted away from them, leaving a small crater where he stood, and bounced from spot to spot on Eggman's machine. Hitting both arms, the canopy, and its right leg before Eggman regained control of the Egg Walker.
Sonic continued to do this routine for several more times, dodging any punches thrown at him and waiting for his opening to attack the white weak spot on its back. After a few minutes, smoke started to seep from various parts on his Egg Walker.
Sonic started to feel tired at this point for he had never fought one of Eggman's creations that took this long to go down. Taking a minute to catch his breath, Sonic saw something in the distance flying towards them at a very quick speed. When it got closer, Sonic noticed that it was actually to ponies flying towards them; the princesses of Equestria to be exact.
"It is just as you said, Sister," Luna shouted, "Princess Twilight and her friends are being attacked!"
"I told you Luna, my crystal ball is never wrong. We must assist in any way possible," Celestia shouted back.
Eggman overheard their conversation and turned towards the source of the commotion. He let out a low, rumbling growl before it evolved into an all out yell.
"I've had it with these ridiculous, multi-hued ponies. I will not stand for anymore of them!"
After he said that, his robot shifted into an odd position where its legs were spread apart and its arms were out to the sides. The center piece that the emeralds surrounded then began charging up a a bright beam of light. Knowing Eggman, Sonic imagined that light was going to shoot out and blast the princesses out of the sky. He was unfortunately all too right as the arms crossed in front of the chest piece and thrusted forward, shooting off the energy.
"PRINCESSES!" Sonic shouted before moving faster than he ever had previously with the elements. He went around the energy and appeared in front of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna just in time for the beam to reach him. Sonic crossed his arms over himself in a defensive maneuver and successfully blocked the beam from hitting the princesses. Celestia took this time to notice the new armor Sonic was wearing, and to notice the all too familiar element of harmony that was jutted between his back spines.
"Sonic!?" Celestia asked in shock, "Are.. those the Elements of Harmony?"
"Yeah," he answered with a grunt, "Apparently I performed some amazing acts during my time here and was deemed worthy enough to wield them," he said between grunts.
Eggman watched as Sonic was successfully blocking his energy beam and got angrier and angrier by the second. When it was nearly done firing Eggman got an amazing idea in his head.
"That's IT! I'm done messing around," he shouted, the cockpit of his robot swiveling around to face the group of onlookers, "Egg Walker, Transform!"
After Eggman said that command, the arm drill of his robot receded back into the machine, being replaced by a normal arm. Just then, four compartments, two on each side of the robot, opened up and another set of normal arms came out of them. Eggman's robot stopped shooting the beam and turned to completely face the group consisting of Twilight and the others. Eggman got a wide grin on his face and chuckled darkly. They took a step back, afraid of his wicked look.
"Now, now my little ponies," he said in voice that a parent would when scolding a child, "Come," he began, his mechanical arms rearing back, "HERE!" The arms of his robot shot out and grabbed the mane six, on in each hand. As a natural reflex, they all began screaming for help.
Sonic rested as the beam had finally stopped being fired at him and the princesses, only to get alarmed at the sight below him on the ground. Eggman slowly turned around and stared at Sonic with that same wicked smile, all the while the ponies shouted for help.
"Here's a bit of a predicament," Eggman announced, "I want to try an experiment from a question I have always asked myself, just how fast is Sonic the Hedgehog? Listen closely Sonic, because this is what's going to happen. At what limit does your speed end? Can you save your friends before they are crushed by the might of my Egg Walker? Their fate is in your hands!"
After his announcement, the hands of the robot began to squeeze ever so slowly around each of the mane six, eliciting a yelp of pain from all of them. Twilight was able to stop wincing from the torture long enough to look up at Sonic with giant pleading eyes.
"Please, Sonic! Help us!" She shouted.
"Don't worry guys, I'm coming!" He shouted back.
With that, Sonic shot after Twilight and the others and left a stunned Celestia and Luna behind.
Sonic approached Twilight first, who was held in the top right of the robots hands, and noticed something that stuck out from the rest of the mechanical hand. That same white piece of metal that was on the robot's back. Using his common sense, Sonic aimed at the white piece and hit it dead on the mark. The hand opened immediately and Twilight was dropped from Eggman's grasp, being caught by Tails and was quickly brought to safety.
Sonic did a swing around and aimed for the top left hand, which was holding Applejack. Aiming for the white part of the hand, Sonic hit it and successfully freed Applejack, who was caught by Knuckles and brought over to Twilight.
Sonic repeated the process on the middle right arm of the robot, freeing Rarity from the robot and was caught by Rouge, who brought her over to the rest.
Sonic swung back around once more and aimed for the middle left arm of the robot, damaging the hand and freeing Fluttershy, who was caught and guided back to the others by Amy.
With only two left, Sonic felt confident that he was going to free his friends in time, but Eggman was able to regain control of the robot again and smacked Sonic away with one of his still operating hands. Sonic grinded his teeth when the hands closed even tighter around the last two ponies. Thinking quickly, Sonic remembered just how he could stun the robot long enough to free his friends.
Flying as fast as he could, Sonic dodged the punched thrown at him by Eggman and flew underneath the robot's legs to its back. Eggman swiveled the cockpit around and pressed a button on his console, causing two energy guns to pop out of hidden compartments, one on each shoulder.
Eggman began firing as rapidly as possible at Sonic when he flew towards the white metal on the robots back. Eggman's grin drooped to a frown when he saw that Sonic's agility was too quick for the guns and was able to hit the metal. Eggman's cockpit spun around uncontrollably before it stopped, noticing that he was facing forward and his robot was out of commission for the time being.
Not wasting a single second, Sonic was flying at high speeds towards the right bottom hand of the robot. Sonic's aim was perfect, as usual, and freed Pinkie Pie from Eggman's clutches, who was caught by Shadow and brought to the safety of her friends. They gave her and Shadow a hug, who oddly enough returned the favor.
It was down to the last one and Sonic wasted no time in saving his friend. Doing one last swing around, he aimed for the white piece on the robot's wrist and in a flash, he connected with it and flung Rainbow Dash high into the air.
Rainbow extended her wing to fly, but quickly remembered that there was absolutely no flying while the bandages were on her wing. She closed her eyes as she began plummeting towards the ground, hoping that her demise would be quick and painless. She heard a kind of "thud"ing noise and winced. After a few seconds, she noticed that she was not falling anymore and opened her eyes slowly. She gasped when she realized what was going on. Holding her in the safety of his hands was Sonic, clad in his shiny silver armor that was graciously donned on him by the elements.
Rainbow Dash smiled and wrapped her hooves around his neck as he carried her to the safety of her waiting friends. Sonic set her down softly with Twilight and the others who quickly excepted her into a hug, causing Sonic to smile at this. They were interrupted, however, when there was a loud explosion behind them.
Sonic quickly turned back and saw that Eggman's machine was beginning to malfunction, most likely beyond the point of repair even with the emeralds. The machine walked forward slowly and stopped at the unconscious bodies of the Deadly Six and General Hewdraw. The arms on Eggman's machine were flailing and sparking every few seconds, and struggle as he did, Eggman was unable to regain control. Eggman looked to Sonic with a scowl
"Time to finish this," Sonic whispered and jumped into the air, floating there about ten feet away from Eggman's Egg Walker, having a stare down. The others on the ground watched on with anticipation, joined by the previously saved Celestia and Luna.
In a flash of light, the elements broke away from Sonic and began to fly around Sonic in odd and uncoordinated patterns. Sonic and Eggman stared at each other, hate for one another filled each eye. Eggman's machine sputtered and sparked once more, causing Eggman to growl when another tiny explosion came from his machine.
"You, you, Y-Youuu! You horrid little Hedgehog," Eggman said as his machine continued to malfunction. Sonic only smirked at his anger.
"WITH THE POWER OF AMAZING FRIENDSHIP!" Sonic announced.
"GENEROSITY!"
"HONESTY!"
"LAUGHTER!"
"KINDNESS!"
"LOYALTY!"
"MAGIC!"
When each element was announced, they would join in spinning in a circle in front of Sonic, who gradually floated closer and closer to Eggman as he called them out. After the circle was complete, a circular rainbow pattern appeared in the center of them.
"FINAL FRIENDSHIP BLASTER!" Sonic announced, curling into a ball.
"HYAAAAH!" He cried as he flew through the center and came out the other side colored like a rainbow.
In one swift motion, Sonic connected with the center of Eggman's machine, right in the middle of all the chaos emeralds. Eggman's machine flew backwards and time seemed to slow down. The emeralds all reacted at once and there was a giant explosion of light.
Sonic had landed back with the others and was forced to shield his eyes from the bright light that appeared from his attack. When they were finally able to open them, what they saw made them happy and sad at the same time. A giant swirling vortex had appeared right where Eggman's Mech was and upon further examination, they noticed that General Hewdraw and the Deadly Six were not longer there either, mostly pulled into the portal by the suction it created.
o.0.o
Meanwhile, back on Mobius...
A giant portal opened in a random field somewhere on Mobius, scattering the creatures in the area. Screaming could be heard from it, then out popped Eggman who went flying into the stratosphere.
"WHYYYY MEEEEEEEE!?!" He asked as he flew off into space.
The Deadly Six and General Hewdraw were deposited back on their homeworld, the Lost Hex, by a second portal that had opened there and closed as soon as it had appeared. They lied there in the grass area, still unconscious from the beating they received.
o.0.o
Sonic slowly walked over to the portal, but was sure to stay out of the suction range, and jumped into the air, cheering.
"HA HA! YESS! ALRIGHT! We finally get to go home!" He shouted, Tails running over and high fiving him while Amy tackled him to the ground.
"Oh Sonic! You were MAGNIFICENT! You sure showed that mean ol' Egghead!" She praised.
"Hah, Egghead," Rainbow said, poking Twilight, "Just like you Twi," she teased.
"Don't start," she said, looking at Rainbow Dash with a deadpanned expression.
"Sorry," she responded, scratching the back of her head.
The group of ponies walked over to Sonic and his friends once they were calming down from their victory. The group of home bounders looked at the approaching ponies. They stared at each other awkwardly for a few seconds before Twilight stepped forward and cleared her throat.
"So, um... I guess this is goodbye," she said sadly.
"Yeah, I suppose it is," he responded, looking back at the vortex.
"I've gotta say," Twilight continued, "I'm really gonna miss you, ALL of you. It was such a wonderful experience to meet other worldy creatures and most unlikely somehow convince them to become our friends. It was so much fun going on those adventures with you and searching for the chaos emeralds. I'm sad that you all must go now, but can still be happy in knowing you are all going back home, back to where you belong."
"Yeah, this was definitely one of our more crazier adventures," Sonic said with a chuckle, kneeling down to be eye level with Twilight and the others, "I can't thank you all enough for what you have done when it came to finding the emeralds to helping us get back home. I can unsure you that none of us will ever forget our time here and we will NEVER forget any of you. I especially got to thank the Doctor and his family for letting us use the TARPIS to travel to distant lands and for saving us from certain doom."
"No thanks is necessary," the Doctor said, stepping forward with his family, "It was our pleasure to be of assistance. Knowing that you will be able to safely get back home now is more than reward enough," he said humbly.
Dinky came bouncing forward and hugged Sonic around his neck. "I'm really gonna miss you guys..." she said sadly.
"US TOO!" Shouted three familiar voices, scaring everyone as the cutie mark crusaders came running forward.
"Sonic, were gonna miss you," Sweetie Belle said.
"And your friends," Applebloom continued.
"And your awesomeness," Scootaloo mused, getting an uncomfortable glare from her friends, causing her to smile sheepishly.
"Yeah, I'm definitely going to miss you trouble makers," Sonic said to them.
He patted them on the head and stood up, noticing the TARPIS in the back was losing its color.
"Hey Doc, the TARPIS is getting paler," he pointed out.
Everyone looked back at it and the Doctor chuckled.
"Oh yes, about that. You see, I have had the TARPIS for a very long time now and we are sort of, well, connected."
Everyone "huh"ned at this statement, except for Derpy and DInky.
"You see, the TARPIS' color changes to whatever my favorite color is at the moment. I was really intrigued by you and, your color and all. You get it now, don't you?"
Sonic merely nodded.
"And now that you're leaving, its changing back to its original color. Gray with purple trimmings," he said with a smile and looked at his family.
Sonic continued to nod for a few more seconds before stopping himself and waving. Pinkie approached the group and began telling them goodbye one bye one.
"Goodbye Tails."
"Goodbye Amy."
"Goodbye Rouge."
"Goodbye Knuckles."
When she finally got up to Shadow, she crushed him in a death grip, bear hug.
"And I think I'll miss you most of all, Mr. Grumpypants," she said on the verge of tears.
Shadow only sighed at the nickname and waited for her to put him down, where he proceeded to brush himself off when she walked back over to her friends, but smiling oddly enough.
Celestia and Luna approached the group, looking down on Sonic and the others.
"I cannot express my gratitude enough towards you and your friends. Your performance in this world was absolutely astounding and we cannot thank you enough for saving our world from probably the biggest threat we ever encountered, and also from the changeling attack. We would also like to apologize again for mistaking a changeling for you and arresting you and your friends under false pretenses."
Sonic waved off the apology and smiled at her. "Hey, its all in the past. Water under the bridge, Princess."
"My sister and I admire your ability to not hold a grudge. That is quite a rare trait," Celestia bowed to Sonic for a few moments then stood back up, "We wish you good luck and a safe journey back home," she said with a bright smile.
"Thank you Princess, your kind words will be cherished," Sonic replied.
Taking one last good look at all the ponies that came to see him off, Sonic chuckled and smiled at the crowd, waving goodbye.
Then, one by one, everyone began to jump through the portal as Sonic waved goodbye for them. After everyone except Tails, who stayed to wait for Sonic, was through the portal, Sonic slowed and stopped his waving, never losing his smile. Sonic continued to stare at the crowd for a few more seconds before being interrupted by Tails.
"We better hurry Sonic, I think the portal is going to close soon," he warned.
"Gotcha buddy, I'll be through in a minute," Sonic replied, giving a two finger salute.
"Okay..." he said unsure, then went through the portal.
Sonic turned around to jump into the portal before being stopped by Twilight.
"Never forget us Sonic, because we will never forget you," Twilight said.
Sonic smirked at this request. "Impossible!"
Once Sonic turned back towards the portal, he was met with various different goodbyes from everyone all at once, but was still able to distinguish between them all.
"Live a fabulous life, darling!" Rarity shouted.
"I'LL THROW YOU A GOODBYE/REMEMBRANCE PARTY!" Pinkie said.
"Stay awesome!" Rainbow Dash said.
"Ya'll come back now, ya hear?" Applejack said.
"Take good care of your animals!" Fluttershy said.
Sonic looked back at them once last time as he was crouching and gave them a thumbs while he winked at them. He then turned around and jumped through the portal.
Twilight was silently crying with her head down, but slowly raised it to say her last, late goodbye.
"Sayonara, Sonic the Hedgehog. The world of Equestria will never forget you," she said just as the portal closed.
With the portal now closed, the greatest hero, and his friends, that Equestria ever knew were gone, traveling back to their home world through a tear in the space time continuum that would never be reopened.
Epilogue: Our Next Adventure Awaits
Sonic lied atop the small base that him and his friends operated, looking up at the clear blue sky. Lounging the day away and not having a care in the world, or at least it seemed. He took in a deep breath and released it a second later, soaking up the beauty of the world he lived in. Sonic's train of thought was interrupted, however, when the hatch that led inside the base slammed open and out popped Tails, waving to Sonic, who waved back, and walked over to him.
"You're still thinking about them, aren't you?" Tails asked.
"Yeah, how'd you know?" Sonic asked back.
"This is the longest I have ever seen you stay in one place, and you tend to lay around when you have a lot on your mind."
"Wow," Sonic said, astonished, "That is REALLY observative."
"Well, people tend to learn stuff about others, especially when you have been best friends with them for as long as we have," Tails said, sitting down next to Sonic, "So what are you thinking about, exactly?"
Sonic shrugged. "I just miss them is all. I am glad we were able to stop Eggman from taking over their world, but..." He said with a sigh, "I wish there was a way where we could still talk to them. You know, check in on them every once in a while when we take a break from foiling Eggman's plans."
"Well..." Tails began.
"Well?" Sonic asked, intrigued, "Well what?"
"If we were able to find all the chaos emeralds, or an equally powerful source of energy, I could probably manufacture two special handhelds that could work between dimensions," he said proudly.
"Really!?!" Sonic said, hopping up and grabbing Tails by the shoulders, "That would be fantastic! Come on buddy, let's start looking for those emeralds!" He said, running to the edge of the roof.
"Sonic! Wait!" Tails yelled, just before Sonic could jump off the roof. Sonic stopped and turned to hear what he had to say.
Tails reached into his "back pocket" and tossed the object to Sonic. He caught it with his fast reflexes and looked upon the item. Sonic's smile shined as brightly as the object he held in his hands. Sonic soon lost his smile though and looked up to Tails with a confused expression.
Tails just smirked. "One down, six to go." He said happily, walking over to Sonic. He stopped right beside Sonic and looked up at him.
"Well?" Tails asked, "What are we waiting for? Let's GO!" He exclaimed, jumping off the roof and flying away.
Sonic chuckled at his friend's enthusiasm. "Right behind ya, buddy! Let's DO IT!" He said, jumping off the roof as well, running after his friend as well as examining the scenery as they embarked on their next adventure.
o.0.o
"Grrrr, I am gonna get that hedgehog back if it's the last thing I ever DO!" Eggman yelled, slamming on his Egg Mobile console.
Orbot looked up from the repair works he was doing and sighed. "Just give it up for right now boss, why not take a few weeks vacation to get yourself straightened out. Go somewhere peaceful and relax; a healthy body makes a healthy mind, and a healthy mind thinks of amazing ideas."
"Oh, shut up and get back to work!" Eggman scowled, leaning back in his seat. "That's actually not a bad suggestion ," Eggman thought, "Being an evil mastermind is quite tiring ," he sighed, "But genius never rests... most of the time. "
Eggman sat back and relaxed, smiling and kicking his feet up as his two henchbots continued repairs on his Egg Mobile in the middle of the desert.
o.0.o
The library was quiet as Twilight wrote in a book with her quill in absolute silence. While she wrote, she thought she heard the sound of some sort of craft fly by her home. She quickly deemed it as nothing to worry about and went back to writing. After she wrote down a few more words, Twilight was nearly scared out of her skin as a blue blur broke through her window and came to a rolling crash into her shelf, sending a flurry of paper and books all over the floor.
"Rainbow!" Twilight yelled, "I just finished re-shelving those. Do you have any idea how long that took!?!"
Rainbow stood up and smiled sheepishly. "HeHe, sorry Twilight," She said, eyes opening wide when she noticed she had an opportunity to mess with Twilight, "And I'm fine, by the way," She said, walking over to Twilight.
Twilight, realizing her mistake, blushed furiously. "Oh my, I'm sorry Rainbow. That was very inconsiderate of me," she said apologetically.
Rainbow waved it off. "It's fine Twilight, I'm just glad to be flying again," She said, spreading her wings to demonstrate her point.
"Oh yeah," Twilight said, "Today was when you could finally take your bandages off!"
"Yep! And check em' out, they never looked awesomer!" She said excitedly, walking over to Twilight to see what she was doing.
"Whactcha writin' there Twi?" She asked.
"Oh, this?" Twilight asked, "I was just writing about the time when Sonic and his friends were here, so future generations could read about the greatest heros Equestria ever had. I am including everypony's involvement, which means that YOU will be in a book. Isn't that great!?!"
Rainbow Dash stared blankly at her for a few seconds as she absorbed the information. "Yeah, that sounds really cool, I'll definitely be sure to buy a copy when it is released."
"Buy? No no no, Rainbow. What I plan to do is write the story and then produce copies to be sent to libraries all over the world, but I could set aside a personal copy for you if you'd like."
"Ehh, sure, go ahead. I'll be waiting for it," Rainbow said, remembering why she was here in the first place, "Oh yeah! I came over to tell you that they are going to erect a golden statue of Sonic and the others in town square in remembrance of their time here and for the brave acts they did. Princess Celestia is going to be there and she wants all of us to be there too to help unveil it, which includes Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo. Is that awesome or what!?" The said giddily.
"Yeah, that is really something," Twilight responded, "When it is?"
"Soon! So COME ON! Flap those wings Twi, we have a statue to unveil," Rainbow said, tugging on Twilight's wing to coax her out the door.
"Alright Rainbow, alright. You go on ahead, I just need to finish up these last few lines. I'll be right behind you," She assured.
"Okay, but hurry," she said, flying out the door.
Twilight sighed when it was once again peaceful and quiet. She dipped her quill in ink and continued writing.
Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Amy, and Rouge are probably the most amazing creatures I have come across and even more amazing friends that we have ever made. I am sad that they are gone now, but I have a feeling that wasn't the last time we'll see them. I think we will speak to each other again one day, but this time, we won't be going on deadly dangerous adventures. Instead, I think we could all settle for a nice picnic or maybe a simple cup of tea. I write this story that in hopes it can inspire others to try and one day be like Sonic and the others. Not just heros, but best friends who always look out for each other. I am glad that Sonic was able to explore this new world and that we were able to teach him so much, as well as him teach us. I believe we all still have much to learn.
Twilight dropped sighed and dropped her quill in the ink pot, looking at the perfection that was her very first piece of literature that would be read by others. Twilight cast a spell that instantly dried the ink and rested for a bit. She read the last lines over and over again, unsure if that is what she should say or not. She soon decided that it got the message across clear enough and began to close the book.
"Come on Twilight, we're gonna be late!" Rainbow Dash yelled from outside.
"Coming!" She yelled back and slammed the book closed.
She met up with her friends outside and they began walking to the square.
"Hey! Wait for me!" Spike shouted, running down the stairs after them.
As he was running, Spike glanced at the book's cover and raised an eyebrow at the title.
"A little uncreative if you ask me," he mumbled under his breath as he ran to the door.
Looking back at the book, contained inside was the tale of Sonic's adventures in this unfamiliar land, which Twilight appropriately named Sonic New World
Prologue: Portal Problems
Our story begins in the world of Mobius. It’s a beautiful day in Mobius, the birds were singing to the rising sun, the happy screams of children playing in the park, and the loudness of the hustle and bustle in the streets. While all was fine in the bright part of Mobius, there was one place where dark clouds ever loomed over. The laboratory of Doctor Eggman, home and workshop to one of the most evil geniuses in the world. Dr. Eggman is said to have an IQ of 300 and uses it to do nothing but build mechs and try to conquer the world and build his Eggmanland using these mystical gems known as “Chaos Emeralds”.
Chaos Emeralds are very powerful artifacts that can transmit thought and passion into power. By collecting all 7, one could create chaos control which could do a number things. It could open a wormhole to another world. They could teleport you to far locations. They can also cause great destruction in a wide radius if it is not contained. You see why Eggman would want these now, right? Of course when there is evil, there is a hero to stop their plans. That hero and main character of this story is Sonic the Hedgehog.
Sonic’s origins are unknown to most people, but they don’t care because he is the idol of everyone on Mobius for he is their greatest hero. Sonic is one of the few that can use chaos control using only one chaos emerald. Though it is not as powerful when he has all 7, it still is useful. He picked up this skill from Shadow the Hedgehog, his former-enemy turned good. Using a fake emerald’s power, Sonic escaped near death by using chaos control to teleport safely back onto the Space Colony ARK. This even impressed Shadow, but they still fought one another.
After use of the emerald’s power, Sonic gained a special ability that would stick with him for the rest of his life. He is able to use Sonic Wind, an attack that can stun or even destroy one of Eggman’s mechs. This skill has come quite in handy in very tight situations and is limited to how strong Sonic is at the moment. The emeralds are very powerful together, but after they are used they spread out all over the world and must be recollected if one wishes to use chaos control again. All coming back to Eggman.
Eggman has finally done it over the course of 7 months, sending mechs all over the world he has finally collected all of the emeralds again. He was ready to use them for his greatest plan yet, if he couldn’t conquer and construct Eggmanland in this world, what about another? He was sure Sonic could do nothing about it this time, there was no stopping him now. In his underground lab, 6 emeralds were set in special holders on a dashboard that connected to a giant circular portal, his plans were about to come to fruition. One last emerald was on its way to be delivered to him by his most trusted assistants, Orbot and Cubot. More actually Orbot was the one he trusted and Cubot was just along for the ride. Even Eggman was unsure how, but Orbot and Cubot were best friends, for whatever reason was unclear to Eggman for he was sure he didn’t install that kind of AI in his robots. Then again, Orbot and Cubot were specially made by his hands and wanted the up-most help from them so perhaps he didn't notice.
The elevator that lead underground to Eggman’s lair dinged. He turned and smiled to see Orbot and Cubot come floating out of it, Orbot holding a shiny, clear, emerald looking object. Eggman walked over to his robots to meet them halfway to the dashboard.
“Here you go, boss”, Orbot began, with a smile, “just like you wanted”. He held out his small, red, robotic hands to reveal the last emerald, shining brightly. Eggman smiled even more at this.
“Excellent you two, if I were paying you I would give you a raise, or maybe not”, Eggman laughed and took the emerald, holding it up to the light so it would shine even brighter.
The chaos emerald looked small compared to Eggman’s gargantuan hands. He felt excitement building up in his gut for he was ready to place the emerald in the last hole on the dashboard in the middle where it would be surrounded by the other 6. Eggman slowly and carefully lowered it into the hole and laughed when his machine sparked to life.
“Yes… Yes… YES, IT’S WORKING, EUREKA”, Eggman shouted for he knew today was the day that his life-long plans would finally come to be. Orbot began clapping, shortly followed by Cubot who was clapping just because he was, Cubot was still clueless as to what was going on.
“Congratulations boss, what world do you plan to conquer”, Orbot asked with peaked interest.
“I’m not sure, let’s take a look,” Eggman said as he brought a holographic screen that showed layouts of a variety of different worlds to choose from.
“Hmmm,” Eggman pondered, “we could go for the Snogroz, no, no they eat the wrong kind of meat”. Eggman scrolled some more, “how about Atraps,” he basically asked himself.
“I don’t feel too keen on that one boss, it says in the description of them that they eat metal,” Orbot said with concern in his robotic voice.
“Alright,” Eggman said scrolling some more, “hmmm, Aaaaaa, we’ll conquer Airtseuqe, they won’t stand a chance, they’ll put up a fight but they won’t stand a chance, GAAHAHAHAHA,” Eggman began to laugh.
“You’re the one who won’t stand a chance doctor, not until I’m done with you,” said someone out nowhere.
“Oh very funny Cubot,” Eggman began, “but now is not the time for jokes, now is the time to start planning our strategy, you do a good Sonic voice though, I’ll give you that”.
“U-u-um, boss, “Orbot said with a shaky voice as he tugged on Eggman’s right leg pant, “you might want to see this”.
“Oh what is it, can’t you see I am strategizi-…,”Eggman’s voice trailed off as he turned to see what stood before him.
There he was, standing with his arms crossed and cocky smirk on his face, was the man, er, hedgehog himself, Sonic. He was leaning back a little bit, putting all his support on his right leg. Eggman knew he was in trouble, but he was going to play it off like nothing ever happened.
“Sonic ol’ buddy ol’ pal,“ Eggman said with the biggest lying voice he could muster, ”It’s been ages, what are you doing down her-,"Eggman was cut off by Sonic rushing to stand in front of him, separating Eggman from the dashboard.
“Gee Doc, what do you plan to do with these emeralds,“ Sonic sarcastically asked as he jumped up on the dashboard, “I hope nothing evil," Sonic’s smirky smile grew even wider.
Sonic standing there gave Eggman an idea, if he could create a powerful enough suction with the portal he could send Sonic to the Snogroz world where he would be eaten and out of the way forever. Then nothing would stand in his way. Eggman smiled as he put his small plan into action.
“Oh no, nothing of the sorts, far from it actually,” Eggman lied, “I was just going to… send you on a little vacation, PERMANENTLY.” Sonic gasped as Eggman threw a fast punch, quickly dodging it as Eggman came back around to try and smack him down. Sonic moved out of the way just in time for Eggman to smack the dashboard, causing it to spark and the screen to crackle. This distracted Sonic and Eggman pushed him, knocking him over the other side of the dashboard and landing in front of the portal. Sonic got up and tried to run back to Eggman, but it was too late. Eggman pressed the button to open the portal and Sonic began to be pulled into it.
Sonic ran as hard and as fast as he could. He managed to get to the dashboard and hang on to it. The suction of the portal got increasingly stronger as Sonic held on for dear life to the panel where the chaos emeralds were. He tried to reach up and grab Eggman, who was harnessed to the ground with special magnets built into his boots, but the panel of the chaos emeralds began to tear off. Sonic gulped as the last few bolts that stopped him from being sent to another world sprang loose and he flew back into the portal, along with the chaos emeralds.
“NO,” Eggman shouted as he tried to grab the emeralds, but he was not quick enough as they flew into the portal along with his arch-enemy. The portal closed and Eggman’s dreams were crushed.
“No, no, no nO NO NO NO,” Eggman repeatedly said as his magnet boots deactivated and began to stomp around and smack the dashboard like a little kid throwing a tantrum. “This is not possible, I hate that Sonic, he always ruins everything”.
“Um, boss,” Orbot said trying to get the attention of the steamed doctor.
“I mean, really, he can’t let me do anything, he always has to be a hero.”
“Boss”.
“Why does Sonic always have to be such a-,”
“BOSS,” Orbot shouted surprising both himself and Eggman. Eggman looked at him to await his explanation. Orbot cleared his non-existent throat and said, “forgive me, but, look at the screen”.
Eggman looked at the holographic screen in awe, “strange,” he began, “my screen was translating the world names backwards, no wonder I had never heard of the others but I knew the descriptions were familiar,” Eggman said still in disbelief. “But, what in the world is-…”.
Sonic lay on his back unconscious. He was slowly coming to and he heard voices, they sounded like children. He could feel what he was laying on, grass, probably in some open meadow somewhere, but where? Sonic could make out a few sentences of what the children were saying. “Is he alright,” one of them asked in a southern-like drawl. “What is it,” another asked with a bit of a high pitch to her voice. “Whatever it is,” another began in a scratchy voice, “I want one”. Sonic’s eyes slowly fluttered open to see three small horses standing around him. One of them had a yellowish coat with red hair and a red bow tie to keep it up. The others were a small unicorn with a white coat and curly pink and light purple hair and an orange coated pegasus with purple hair. All three stared at Sonic as he awoke, he stared back at them shifting his gaze to a different one every few seconds. All three of them smiled and yelled at once, “WELCOME TO EQUESTRIA”.
Author's Note
I hope you guys enjoyed the prologue of Sonic New World. What I have in mind is that I will switch between worlds every chapter so next chapter will be of Sonic in equestria then back to Mobius to tell how things are going there. Also, the deadly six are going to be in this as well, because it takes place right after sonic lost world and Eggman is all buddy buddy with them for whatever reason. What I did there, did you see it? I am looking forward to this and I hope you are too, don't make it a TLC. :) As always, please point any mistakes I may have made, still using MS word as my proof reader. I hope to try and at least write 1,000 words each chapter and maybe longer if you are good. ;)
Chapter 11: Dusty Dunes - Act 1 and 2
"Ladies and Gentlecolts, we will be arriving at Saddle Arabia Station in 5 minutes. Please remain seated until the train comes to a complete stop, thank you and have a nice day," is what the intercom on the train said with a very calm, female robotic voice. Sonic jolted upright at hearing what the intercom had just announced and nearly hit his head on the train's ceiling when jumping for joy.
"YES, whew, it is about time too. I was starting to feel caged, and I think the food has been digested. It is going to take a whole 3 minutes to work this off. I honestly thought it was going to be my last meal since I was trapped on this train and decided to splurge a little bit. Guess I was wrong, huh?" Sonic looked over at the others who were staring at Sonic, the sleep long been rubbed out of their eyes and were on full alert; Scootaloo approached Sonic.
"Yeah you were wrong, and look," Scootaloo pointed to Sonic's stomach, "you've gotten a little pudgy." Scootaloo then proceeded to poke and jab Sonic's stomach, eliciting annoyed grunts from him and fits of giggles from the other Crusaders; Applebloom then approached Sonic.
"Yah, it's like a' jello-teen or whatevr' it's called," Applebloom said as she joined in on assaulting Sonic's stomach with jabs; Sweetie Belle now approached Sonic's stomach.
"Jellotine, and ye*squeak*ah, it kind of is like that stuff," she said as she also joined the poking crew. A cream mare with blond hair giggled as she read her newspaper, making the others look over at her. She noticed their stares and lowered her newspaper to respond to them.
"Oh, don't mind me. It's just, I absolutely love kids, as you can see by my cutie mark," she said as she pointed to the hearts and milk bottle cutie mark printed on her thigh, "whenever children are having a bit of fun I can't help but have a laugh or two myself." Everyone gazed at the mysterious mare, the Cutie Mark Crusaders still absent mindedly poking Sonic's stomach. Sonic began to notice the pain building in his abdomen and knew only one way to make it stop; Sonic looked down to the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
"You can stop poking me now," this got the attention of the Crusaders and they very slowly removed their hooves from his stomach and backed away sheepishly. "I hope you've had your fun because once this train stops, it's gone." The intercom *bing-bonged* to life and spoke with that same robotic female voice.
"Now arriving at Saddle Arabia Station. Please take all your belongings with you as you exit the train, thank you and enjoy your time in Saddle Arabia."
"Heh, speaking of the convenience fairy," Sonic said with smirking grin.
__________________________________________Act 1__________________________________________
"I really like that mysterious lady on the train, she was nice.," exclaimed Scootaloo, followed by the other Crusaders.
"I know," Sweetie Belle squeaked, "she was really nice, plus she gave us some candy. I hope we get to see her again," Sweetie Belle said as she put a lolli-pop in her mouth.
"Well I hope you remembered to thank her," Rarity asked her sister in a worried voice.
"Don't worry sis, we did, and she was very grateful," Sweetie Belle said as she stuck her tongue out at Rarity. Rarity just gave a grunt of annoyance and continued walking. Sonic jogged to the front of the group to look at Saddle Arabia.
"Phew," he whistled, "just looks like a big market place, and not a lot of wildlife here either, but still beautiful."
"Of course it just looks like a market Sonic," Twilight responded, "this is the Commoner's Quarters. We're going to be staying at the Golden Dragon Inn, which is in the Aristocratic Quarters. Just follow me and we'll be there in no ti-," Twilight was cut off Sonic talked over her.
"Sorry Twilight, but I'll run on ahead and find it on my own, lose these pounds I gained in the process. I'll meet you all there, you know, IF I find it."
"But Sonic, if you just stay with us you'll be able to find the," but it was all in vain as Sonic took of down the busy market streets, running along side the buildings and jumping from fruit cart awning to fruit cart awning in order to avoid the hustle and bustle of the market area. "I swear, running off without warning like that is going to get him in deep deep trouble one of these days." Twilight sighed as she looked down the market streets, nothing but confused ponies wondering what just went past them in sight. "But that's what makes Sonic, himself."
o.0.o
The group arrived at the Golden Dragon in no time at all. Everypony saw a familiar blue hedgehog tapping his foot impatiently like he always did whenever he had to wait. His arms were crossed and he looked to the sky and ground hoping that the group would come from either one of those directions, knowing little that they were approaching him now. Sonic noticed them out of the corner of his eye, his face brightening upon seeing them. He waved at them, Rainbow waving back confirming that the others see him.
Sonic ran up to them in the blink of an eye and stopped right in front of Twilight, sending a cloud of dust and sand at the group. They all started coughing and gazed angrily at him when their fits stopped, Sonic only gave an apologetic smile which, amazingly enough, they accepted.
"So," Sonic said.
"So... what?" Twilight asked.
"Didya miss me?" He asked with confidence.
"OOH, OOH, I DID, I DID," Pinkie exclaimed from the back, jumping up in the air with each word to assure Sonic saw her. Everyone stared at Pinkie as she just looked at them with her bright and happy smile plastered on. Twilight turned from looking at Twilight to look at Sonic, trying to cope with the random ball of pink that is Pinkie Pie.
"Well I knew we would see you again so, no, not really," Twilight said with a winning smile.
"Fair enough," Sonic said shrugging. Twilight's smile of victory dropped at this.
"How did you even find this place Sonic?"
"Well, it is in the aristocratic quarters, which isn't very big. Trust me, I've been over every inch of it already. Plus I have a keen sense of where certain places are. And the giant statues of golden dragons outside the main gates are a dead give away."
"Oh," Twilight blushed, "yeah."
"Well," Applejack spoke up from the group, "let's hurry up and get inside. Ah'm plum tuckered." Everyone confirmed with Applejack's decision by saying in unison "Agreed".
After checking into the hotel and getting their room key cards, they decided to call it a night. The plan for the room sharing, since there was only 3, was that the Cutie Mark Crusaders and their respective legal guardians would all share a room. The CMC's insisted, though, that they get a room to themselves. This forced Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack to share another separate room with each other. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy now had to bunk with Sonic and Twilight. The rooms were all basically the same, a spacious house area with a small kitchen and living room combo, a window sill type of look-out balcony, and two beds.
Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were obviously going to share one of them, leaving Twilight and Sonic to share one. This, however, created a problem. Sonic found it too awkward to share the bed with Twilight for some unknown reason that he would not explain, and yet he didn't expect her to sleep on the floor. While Sonic was from another world, he knew basic customs on how to treat royalty. Sonic was unsure of what to do, until he noticed the window sill. Sonic explained to Twilight that the window sill was plenty enough for him to sleep in, he rarely used blankets anyway and usually like to sleep in cramped places. Finally resolving one problem, for the time being. There was still the matter of finding the chaos emeralds, but that could wait until the morning. For now, rest was going to consume our heroes.
__________________________________________Act 2__________________________________________
Sonic awoke the next morning, or in this case afternoon, with a long yawn and back cracking stretch. Twilight could hear the vertebrae in his spine crackling, giving her an uncomfortable feeling of Sonic's well being.
"Good afternoon Sonic, sleep well?" Twilight asked, completely oblivious to the maid pony cleaning the room.
"Yeah, I did," Sonic said in the middle of a yawn, "wait, did you say it was afternoon?"
"Yes I did, 1:37 to be precise." Sonic was astonished at the news, he had never slept so long in his life before. Sonic looked around the room, but only saw Twilight and the maid pony, Pinkie and Fluttershy nowhere to be seen.
"Where are the others at?"
"Well, let me see. The fillies are in the game room using the unlimited credits are their room keys. Rarity somehow convinced Applejack to go to the spa with her. Pinkie went down to the party room, but left with Fluttershy a little while after to go see some new animals, and Rainbow Dash is probably still asleep in her room." Sonic gave Twilight a "say what?" look. "Rainbow dash likes to sleep a lot." Sonic tipped his head up in understanding.
"Twilight, it is nice that everyone is having a good time and all, but we need to find the chaos emeralds before someone else does, then were all in trouble." The maid pony perked her ears up at this revelation unfolding before her and decided to but in.
"I'm sorry to intrude, but did you say 'chaos emeralds'?" Sonic nodded his head in confirmation. "You must be Sonic the Hedgehog, ooohh I've heard so much about you. The great hero who single-hoofedely took out an entire pack of timberwolves. Ooh, you are every mare's dream, a handsome young thing like you to sweep them off their feet." The maid pony got lost in her own thoughts, leaving Sonic and Twilight to stand and soak up the awkward. Sonic finally got tired of it and cleared his throat on purpose to pull the maid pony out of her trans. She shook her head and looked to attention, a faint blush adorning her silverish gray cheeks.
"Sorry, I got lost in my own thoughts. Anyways, I have heard great things about you and one of those things is that you are looking for the special gems called the chaos emeralds. Said to have a power beyond imagination and extremely dangerous. I have heard some rumors that if you touch one, the power that courses through you will be too much to bare and you will vaporize into thin air on the spot, not a single molecule to remain. That isn't true, is it?"
"Pbbbfftt, no, of course not. I mean, I'm still standing aren't I?"
"Other ponies say that because since you are from the same world only you are able to control their power."
"Oh please, I bet that if I had a chaos emerald right now and I let you hold it, you wouldn't vaporize. It is practically just a shiny paper weight unless you are able to create chaos control."
"Hmm, very interesting, but getting back to my main point, I think I may have some information that will be useful to ya."
"What is it?" Twilight cut in.
"My cousin told me that she saw a shiny ball of light fall from the sky and land somewhere far out in the Dusty Desert."
"That is useful information," "Twilight said, "can you show us where it landed."
"Well. I can't show you exactly where it landed, but I can point you in the right direction. Come over to the window sill." They all walked over to the window sill with the maid pony where she pointed to a direction in which the chaos emerald may have landed in. "She said it was somewhere in that direction, said it was the most beautiful thing she's ever seen."
"Wow, thanks for your help miss..." Twilight paused, allowing the maid pony to say her name.
"Gray Rings, but you can just call me Gray, or G, or peasant. Whichever suits your fancy Princess Twilight."
"I'll call you Gray, thanks again for the information by the way," Twilight thanked.
"Yeah, seriously, thanks. You don't know how much this will help us," Sonic thanked as well.
"Hey, don't mention it, anything to help a great hero such as yourself. I hope you get back home safely. Oh, and be sure to stay plenty hydrated when you go out there, it's called the Dusty Desert for a reason," Gray responded.
"Thanks," Sonic replied as Gray gathered her cleaning supplies and vacated the room, leaving Sonic and Twilight alone. They both looked at each other waiting for the other to say what was on their minds.
"So," Sonic began, "I guess we know where were going pretty soon."
"Yep, I suppose we do."
o.0.o
Gray hurried around the corner of the massive hallways in the Golden Dragon until finally arriving at a supply closet. She quickly opened it and stepped inside.
"Finally... I hope nopony noticed me," she said as she locked the door behind her. She closed her eyes in concentration and she focused her magic.
"Establishing contact with the hive, come in Queen."
"This is the Queen, go ahead spy."
"I have just given Sonic directions to either a trap or a crispy death. He would sizzle and pop like summer barbecue shishkabobs."
"Excellent, spy, excellent. There will be rewards for this act of bravery. With Sonic out of the way, there will be nothing that will stand in the way of us getting those chaos emeralds, harnessing their power, and taking over all of Equestria."
"Affirmative my Queen, I will stay a bit longer to make sure Sonic goes for it. I will report back any new information discovered."
"Very good spy, I will leave you to your work."
"Yes my Queen, thank you. Over and out."
The connection to the hive slowly dissipated as Gray began to laugh lowly and evily, gradually evolving into a mildly upset chuckle. She was going to make sure that everything went according to plan.
Author's Note
Hello everyone, I hope you enjoyed this new chapter as much as I did writing it. I think I finally got my motivation back because I am excited for what is to come next. What is that you might ask? Well you will have to find out next week on Sonic New World. Don't forget to like, comment, fav, and/or follow if you want to. And, as always, Stay Beautiful. :) Also, don't worry JoeCrafts, it will happen in time. Have patience young grasshopper. *claps hands together and bows*
Chapter 22: Picture Framed
The spy watched from the roof top, a huge smile adorning her face as she watched all the ponies turn against Sonic. He was stumbling around as the ponies closed in on him and him watching them do it, still unclear as to why they were upset. The spy turned away from the commotion and concentrated hard on establishing a mental connection with the Queen.
"My Queen, come in, do you read me?" The spy asked.
"I read you, spy," Queen Chrysalis responded, "continue."
"The plan worked like a charm, temporarily harnessing that emerald's power to look like Sonic and wreak havoc was a complete success. The whole town is angry with him and are ganging up on him as we speak. Word will most likely spread quickly across the land; We have successfully made Sonic the Hedgehog public enemy number one. I will inform you of any further happenings."
"Very good spy, I will leave you to your work."
"Just one question before we cut off," the spy quickly threw in.
"And what would that be?" Queen Chrysalis asked.
"Why exactly did I need the emerald to shape shift into Sonic?"
"As you know, you can shape shift to look like other ponies," Chrysalis began.
"Correct," the spy responded.
"Well, we needed the emerald's power because Sonic is a biped, which means he walks on TWO legs. I was afraid that you would not be able to sustain that shape and would most likely end up damaging your body's structure. That is why we learned to harness its power, so you would be able to maintain his shape long enough without hurting yourself. Is that understandable?"
"Crystal clear, my Queen."
"Excellent, now, continue with your work."
"Yes my Queen."
And with that, the spy and Queen Chrysalis disconnected from their mental link and the spy went back to investigating the scene. As she was about to turn back though, she saw a large white figure flying towards the crowd at an amazing speed. Upon further examination, she discovered that it was Princess Celestia, the most powerful ruler in the land. The spy suddenly was washed over with nervousness and anxiety. She knew that if the Celestia were to see her, it could mean bad things for all the changelings. The spy decided that it was best to vacate the immediate area so she could try to sneak into the crowd from behind where she would not be noticed by them and before Celestia got too close to see her.
The spy turned to take off in a direction on the rooftops that would hide her from the crowd and not make her seem suspicious to Princess Celestia if she noticed her. Little did the spy know that, with the force of her taking off and the loose securing of her saddlebags, the green emerald that was so precious to the changelings fell out. The emerald tumbled down the roof, slid down a gutter and grinded on the edge of the straw roof and landed in a cart full of hay. The spy, however, was already a quarter of a mile away from the town to notice the artifact was missing. Queen Chrysalis was not going to be happy to hear that news, and neither was the spy once she discovers it is missing.
o.0.o
Sonic twisted and turned in the center of the ring of angry Ponyvillers, looking at each upset face of the multi-colored equines. His face was one of sheer panic, still unclear as to why they were all mad at him. Filling that this was going to get worse before it got better, Sonic decided to try and take charge of the situation and try to find out why they were all sore with him. He stopped doing his panicking motions, stood up tall, and gave them a stare of confidence and of slight agitation; causing them to actually back away and momentarily lose their gall.
"Alright," Sonic started, shouting, "Why are you all acting like this? What ever happened to your magical friendshi-".
"SHUT UP!!" A very masculine voice shouted from the crowd, throwing an apple in Sonic's direction after he did. Thankfully, due to Sonic's quick reflexes, he was able to dodge the airborne fruit, it shattering on the ground with a pitiful "squishing" sound.
Sonic looked in the direction the fruit was thrown and deadpanned, "Way to be civil," he said in a sarcastic and unenthusiastic voice.
"YEAH!! SHUT IT, HEDGEHOG!!" Another voice commanded, this one female.
The entire crowd agreed with the two ponies and even took up the first one's idea, as in, they all started to toss an array of different objects at Sonic. Varying from tough objects such as empty bottles and fresh fruit to soft and spoiling fruit. Sonic did his best to try and dodge all that was thrown, but with the size of the crowd and all the possible different angles they came from, some did manage to contact Sonic. Thankfully though, most of them were softer fruit, while the rest were harder fresh fruit.
Sonic's friends, most of them anyway, looked on in horror at the display of violence towards the innocent hedgehog. He was the talk of the town just a few days ago, but now he was the first target all the ponies had on their hit list. Amy could no longer take any more of the torment and tried to run out and help him in any way possible, but before she could a loud, booming voice sounded over the entire crowd, instantly silencing the booing crowd and ceasing their uncivil show of conduct.
"ENOUGH!!" Shouted the Royal Canterlot Voice from the most powerful princess of the land, Celestia. Princess Celestia flew down with amazing, but graceful speed. She landed on the ground inside the ring of ponies, right in front of Sonic, with a semi-loud thud, spreading a small cloud of dust away from the spot she landed in. She slowly approached Sonic and looked down at him, the look on her face the angriest he had ever seen, her eyes told Sonic that there was deep trouble and that somehow, it was his fault.
"Sonic the Hedgehog, what is the meaning of this?" She asked in a stern tone of voice. Sonic shrugged at her and then crossed his arms, trying not to seem to startled by all that was happening.
"I'm not sure princess, I was wondering the same thing to myself. I tried asking nicely what it was, but all I got in response was being bombarded by a variety of different items," he replied, looking to his immediate head turning ares, giving all the ponies he could an angry glance. Celestia just growled slightly at this response.
"That is not what I meant. What I meant was, what is with these acts of treason and terror. We thought you and your friends could be trusted," she said, trying to make him understand. Sonic sighed at this and shook his head, looking at her and chuckling with a cocky grin.
"Alright, I'll humor you, what exactly do you mean 'treason' and 'acts of terror?"
"First off, wipe that smile off your face," she commanded, Sonic immediately dropping his smile and what courage he had reserved to try and speak with her, "I assure you that this is no laughing matter. This is a very serious situation," Celestia suddenly lost her edge and her head drooped a few inches, "I personally do not think you did it, but the evidence presented is irrefutable and I can't just ignore this, or else the citizens would become upset and create even more problems. I'm sorry," she apologized.
"Hold on, wait one second! What are you talking about? What evidence? What do you mean?" Sonic asked frantically.
"Are you saying you unaware of any of this?" Celestia asked.
"YES!!" Sonic answered.
"Pictures of your acts of treason and terror are all over the Ponyville newspaper, I believe you even posed for one of them," Celestia pondered, putting a hoof under her chin and rubbing for emphasis. Sonic, however, couldn't believe what he was hearing. He knows he has been framed in someway, but couldn't quite place who did it. That is when Sonic noticed that another pony approached from the crowd, carrying a newspaper in her mouth. When the pony got up to Celestia she put it down in front of her.
"Here you go princess," she started, shooting an angry glance at Sonic, who backed away slightly, "A copy of the paper with the committed crimes," she finished, walking back to the crowd, but still tried to hold an angry stare with Sonic. Princess Celestia picked up the newspaper in her magical grip and held it up to Sonic.
"Is this not you," she asked. Sonic grabbed the paper in both hands and looked at it. Sure enough, there he was on the front page. There were three pictures of him, one was of him tipping over a fruit cart, another was of him smashing a stand in the market area of town, and the last was of him in front of that same stand, except he was posing. He was holding up two fingers to the camera pony with his arms in a crossed fashion with a smile of victory adorned on his face while the stand burned in the near background. Sonic's eyes widened at the horrors of these preposterous crimes. Sonic dropped the paper on the ground with his mouth gaping open, slowly he turned his head upwards to look at Princess Celestia with pleading eyes. Celestia looked down on him in pity.
"Come on Princess, you know it isn't me in these photos. It must be some sort of transformation spell, you have magic here right? Please, you've gotta believe me," Sonic pleaded, only getting a deep and sorrowful sigh out of Celestia.
"I don''t want to believe it Sonic, but I have to do this in the meantime or else there will be trouble in the future," she responded, giving Sonic a confused look.
"What do you mean?" He asked carefully. Celestia turned her head to him quickly and put a serious look on her face.
"Sonic the Hedgehog," she announced for all the crowd to hear, who listened intently, "for you crimes against the citizens of Ponyville I hear by place you under arrest until further evidence proving your innocence arises," Celestia announced, afterwards two ponies of the Royal Guard flew from seemingly out of nowhere and landed beside Celestia. They then slowly and carefully approached Sonic, each of them with a pair of shackles. Some others, however, did not agree with the sentence.
"NO!!" Amy shouted, shoving her way through the crowd and running between Sonic and the guards, barricading Sonic from them, "You can't take Sonic!!"
"Yeah!!" Tails shouted as well, joining Amy, "This has happened in the past before, there is always someone out to get Sonic and make him look bad. I believe the second time Sonic was framed was when people thought Shadow was Sonic. We were able to solve that issue though!" Tails assured them. The rest of Sonic's friends, except for Shadow, who opted to walk, rushed over to his aid, blocking anyone from getting to him.
"I've known Sonic for a good while now," Knuckles began, "at first, we didn't get along. I downright hated the guy, but that is only because someone gave me false information about him. I eventually learned the truth and am now glad to call Sonic my friend and/or rival," Knuckles finished, looking to Sonic who gave him a nod in thanks. Knuckles nodded back and returned to his defense stance. Tails glanced around nervously, trying to think of a solution out of this mess. His eyes eventually landed on Twilight, remembering her mentioning at one point that she was a princess.
"Twilight!!" Tails exclaimed, getting her attention, "You're a princess, right? Can't you give Sonic some sort of Royal Pardon or something like that? Please, you've gotta help him," he pleaded with big, soft eyes. Twilight shook her head vigorously and looked around nervously, all of the ponies' eyes on her.
"I-I don't know," she stammered out, "I may be a princess but I am not sure if I have that kind of jurisdiction. Even so, I may or may not need approval from other royalty to execute the pardon."
"You do have that kind of jurisdiction, Twilight," Celestia answered, "And you would not need other's approval. Unfortunately, this is not a case in which you can do that. If the crime were smaller and there was little to no evidence to confirm they did it then yes, you could pardon them. However, we cannot do that this time," Celestia said in a sad tone, Sonic's friends faces drooping a little, even Shadow's. Tails wasn't about to give up that easy though.
"Come on Princess, you know Sonic. He's a HERO! You can't arrest him, what if there is trouble again? Sonic is a good guy, those pictures must be fake, or somebody playing dress up," Tails took this moment to breathe in deeply and then heftily release, looking into Princess Celestia's eyes before continuing, "Sonic has been framed way too many times for crimes he didn't commit. This is another one of those situations where he is framed and the hated by all, something big is bound to happen, and then everyone depends on him to come rescue them. And you know what? He always does. So let's just avoid all that hassle, please? I am sorry to say this princess, but you are not taking Sonic."
Celestia stared at Tails with her mouth slightly open as if she was going to say something. All of the ponies in the area had wide eyes, shrunken pupils, and mouths wide enough to fit three apples between them, top to bottom. They all slowly looked to Celestia to see how she would respond, someone else giving CELESTIA a command was unheard of. Princess Celestia eventually regained her composure and shut her mouth, clearing her throat when she did.
"There is much passion in your words and I can sense deep bond in your friendship. However, that doesn't mean we can just brush this off and go on with our lives, as much as I wish we could. Someone has to be responsible and accept the consequences of this. Sonic is the lead suspect so he must be arrested. Please don't make this any harder than it already is, I'm begging you," Celestia said, struggling with that last sentence. Everyone wondered what was wrong until they saw one tiny tear make its way out of her right eye and streaking down her cheek like a lightning bolt. Tails slowly turned to Sonic, the other following suit after him, and looked at him with what Sonic could read as failure in his eyes.
".... I'm sorry," Tails said, barely above a whisper. Sonic chuckled at this, drawing a confused look from Tails. He looked up just in time to see Sonic waving it off.
"Don't worry about it, not like it's the first time I've been falsely accused. I'll be out of there soon enough, so in that time I am going trust you guys with the emeralds," Sonic said in more jovial voice. Tails perked up at hearing the enthusiasm in Sonic's voice.
"Okay, you can count on us. Plus, you are surely allowed visits here right? We'll come and visit you everyday until we get the evidence we need to prove your innocence, don't worry. In the mean time, you won't have to worry about anything. Just sit back and let us solve this," Tails responded happily, getting Sonic to smile and give him a thumbs up, who gladly returned it. Celestia gave an audible nervous sigh in the background, which made everyone turn to her. She noticed their gazes soon enough and caused her to smile nervously, causing little beads of sweat to drip down her face.
"Okay, now you're really going to be mad," she said awkwardly, "I was informed that we must detain your friends as well and confiscate the emeralds."
"WHAT!?!??" Sonic exploded, "WHY!?! They have done nothing wrong and the emeralds won't be safe unless they are with us! Why do you have to arrest them and take the emeralds anyways?" He asked.
"There is a possibility of your friends doing the same acts you have done in the photos and from what we have been told those emeralds are very dangerous. They want to make sure these terrors don't happen again and so they can't be made worse. I am truly, very sorry Sonic. To you, and all your friends."
Sonic knew she meant it, the look on her face said it all. Sonic sighed and was about to accept his fate, until Shadow stepped forward with a look of extreme agitation.
"If you choose to turn your backs on us," Shadow paused and looked up from the ground to his friends for a moment before turning to meet Celestia's gaze, "then we will fight like we always have," he finished.
Celestia was awed by the potential threat and took a few steps back; the ponies in the area gasping at the grim words that had come from the black hedgehog's mouth. Sonic decided to stop their panic by stepping forward and grabbing a-hold of Shadow's shoulder.
Shadow looked at the gloved hand on his left shoulder for a few seconds before his eyes traveled up the arm and to its owner, Sonic, who shook his head slightly from side to side; subtly telling him not to do this for it would only make things even worse. Shadow just growled slightly and cracked his right hand's knuckles by squeezing it tightly into a hard fist. Shadow released his tension and stepped back into the middle of the group, crossing his arms and looking off into any other direction but Celestia's.
Sonic stepped forward, away from the protective barrier his friends were producing. He came to stand in front of Celestia, casting his gaze over to the group of traveling ponies he has come to know as his friends. Celestia's guards prepared to step forward to keep Sonic from getting any closer to her, but she stuck out her hoof, which signaled for them to halt and to stand down. They were hesitant to follow through with the order she gave with the gesture, but they eventually complied and stepped back to her sides. Sonic looked from his pony friends: Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, the Doctor, Derpy, and Dinky all had frowns, especially the usually hyper and bouncy Pinkie Pie, who's mane was starting lose some of its puffiness.
Sonic looked to Celestia, who stared back at him, trying to predict his next move. A few long seconds passed before anything interesting happened. Sonic was the first to speak, choosing his words very carefully.
"Okay Princess, I'll go with you," he paused as he heard his friends give an audible gasp, Princess Celestia giving her own look of depression. Sonic looked to her again, making sure to make eye contact. Then, he gave a wide cocky grin.
"If you can catch me first," he said a bit maniacally.
After Sonic spoke the words, everyone shouted "WHAT!?!?", but it was too late as Sonic turned around to make a break for it, trying to hold off the inevitable.
