Sonic Forces: Equestria Divided

"Man. There really aren't many good places around here to lay low for a while." Sonic sighed. Ever since they left Earthbound territory, Sonic and Apple Bloom had ran past miles upon miles of desolate land ravaged from the war. By now, they were far out of the desert and were instead in an area that somewhat resembled peaceful plains and winding hills filled with lush green trees. Well, as peaceful as you can get in a war zone.

Sonic had set her down not long after getting out of the city and into where they were now. He had slowed down to allow the pony to keep up at a brisk pace.

As Sonic continued forward, he stayed completely oblivious to the uneasy look Apple Bloom held on her face.

"You wanna take a break, Sonic?" Apple Bloom suddenly asked.

"Um... Sure." Sonic took a small hop before skidding his feet to a stop. He then took the time to look around the area. There wasn't much to work with besides a few trees and some scattered bushes.

"Hey, you see anything to eat 'round here, Apple Bloom? Apple Bloom?" Sonic looked around for the young pony and soon found her wandering off on her own. Sonic caught up with her within a few seconds and turned to her. "Where are you heading off to?"

Apple Bloom made no response and soon stopped when they had reached a large body of water. Sonic took a pause and watched as she stared down at a lone flower floating in the water.

"This a special place for you?" Sonic questioned.

Apple Bloom remained staring at the body of water. She took a deep breath before speaking. "This was my old home before the war broke out. This place used to be known as Ponyville before groups of pegasi flooded the area. It caused hundreds of deaths and only further divided the world."

Sonic stayed silent and then took a glance at the water as well and soon noticed a lone faded light grayish-brown blindfold with thin brown lines decorating the piece of fabric. A smile slowly crept over his face as he scooped it out of the water.

"What's in the past can't be changed. What we gotta do is look towards the future."

"I'm not sure how we're gonna do that. It's two of us against the world and that's not much of a good future." Apple Bloom sighed.

Sonic then started to wring out the piece of cloth and positioned it above his head. "Hope. That's what we'll use. As long as there's hope, that's all I'm gonna need to keep fighting. That's all we'll need to keep on going. You'll be surprised what a small group of friends can achieve."

Apple Bloom finally flashed a smile after hearing this. "You really know how to keep a pony's spirit up."

"No problem." Sonic replied, turning his head back to the piece of cloth. "What do you think this thing's doing out here?"

Apple Bloom took a look at the cloth herself and spoke. "It probably belonged to a pony that lived here before the flood."

"This thing's definitely seen better days. Of course, it's just a normal piece of cloth, not really much else to it. Would be kinda cool if there was, though." Sonic continued.

Without warning, the cloth started to dawn a golden glow. "Okay. Not normal!" Sonic said as the cloth floated out of his hands.

"Whoa!" Apple Bloom gasped. The cloth's golden glow radiated around the entire area as similarly colored sparkles filled in the air. Slowly, yet surely, the golden aura started to turn into a heavenly white glow. After a few seconds, the cloth vanished into thin air as a patch of small white sparkles took its place, soon disappearing as well.

The two stood there, completely stunned by what they had just witnessed. "Okay, that was kinda neat." Sonic chuckled lightly.

Apple Bloom, on the other hand, had many more questions to be answered. How did this ordinary piece of fabric just start glowing and disappear at the drop of a hat? This defied all scientific studies done on magical objects and artifacts. There was never any mention of an enchanted piece of fabric in any history book or archive. Regardless, she too calmed down and took a step forward. With this action, she heard the faint clanking of mechanical parts and whirling gears. She froze in place once more, not daring to make another move. At least, not yet. "Sonic, did you hear that?"

The hedgehog gave an affirming nod. "Sounds like trouble. We better go check it out!" Sonic then opted for Apple Bloom to grab onto his hand, but she took a pass on the gesture. If it was going to be anything like her first experience, then this wouldn't be the only time she would decline that offer.

It was mere minutes later when they had neared the source of the sound. Sonic started to pull farther ahead as he caught sight of what was in the distance. The structures in this area seemed ancient and full of mystery with six pillars of rock protruding from the ground and a stone circle in the middle.

More importantly, there was a light scarlet mare adorned in a white headdress and slightly transparent dress. Partially hidden under her clothes was a dark arctic blue mane with moderate turquoise stripes in it. Finally, a pair of wings were folded neatly against her sides outside of her dress and the cloth from before rested beside her. However, she was not moving and instead seemed to be unconscious for some reason.

Unfortunately, she was not the only one there. Surrounding her was a group of metallic grey metal robots with black joints taking the place of their arms and legs. A black visor was attached to its circle body with a glowing red light inside the rim. Their most prominent feature were that their hands were instead arm cannons which were currently pointed at the pony. As they closed in on her, a form of yellow energy started to emerge from their weapons.

Without anytime to waste, Sonic initiated his boost and launched forward at blinding speeds. As he closed in on the three, he took a big leap into the air and curled up into a spiky ball with a glowing blue aura. Sonic then rocketed down towards the robots and struck one of then. The machine exploded as he darted towards the other two, destroying both in a similar fashion. He then landed back on the ground, his aura dissipating almost instantly as Apple Bloom finally caught up.

She was completely stunned and amazed by the feat Sonic had preformed. Apple Bloom knew that Sonic could utilize his speed in various ways, but she never thought that it could be turned into a bouncing ball attack.

After a moment or two, the pony slowly started to open her eyes, revealing her grayish blue-violet irises. She gave a slight groan and looked up to find Sonic standing above her. She stood there in confusion and slight fear as a small whimper escaped her mouth.

"Easy there! Everything's cool." Sonic greeted, extending his hand for the pony to grab. She took a second before grabbing it as Sonic pulled her up onto her hooves.

She looked around at her surroundings before speaking."Who are you? What has happened?" the confused pegasus asked. She spoke with a middle eastern accent and in a surprisingly calm tone.

"I'm Sonic and this is Apple Bloom." The young farm pony gave a polite wave to her. "I don't really know what happened. All I did was pick up a piece of cloth and give a small speech about holding onto hope. Then it started glowing and vanished. After that, we heard a loud noise that brought us here and there you were." Sonic explained.

The mare's eyes widened slightly as she cracked a light smile. "Did you say hope?"

"Yeah." Sonic replied. "It's gotten me out of a lot of sticky situations in the past and still does today."

"That is very good to hear. I am Somnambula and I embody the Element of Hope." The mare continued smiling and picked up the cloth from the ground. "This blindfold is from my greatest feat where I rescued Prince Hisan from an evil spinx. This blindfold was put on me before I walked across a narrow bridge to the prince. I held onto hope that I could complete the challenge and I prevailed in the end."

"Not bad." Sonic said, growing a small smirk on his face. "While holding onto hope, I've put a planet back together, corrected the flow of time, saved the Arabian Nights and saved a bunch of aliens from an interstellar amusement park, just to name a few of my accomplishments."

Somnambula let out a small giggle. "It does me good to know that my element lives on in everyone. But a quick question. How long have I been gone?"

"It's 2017." Sonic replied.

Somnambula flinched at his answer before composing herself. "Then it has been a thousand years since I have been trapped in Limbo along with my fellow Pillars of Equestria."

"A thousand years? Man, that's gotta be rough." Sonic commented.

"Wait. Pillars of Equestria?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Yes. I was not the only one trapped in Limbo. There is Rockhoof, Mistmane, Flash Magnus, Mage Meadowbook, and Star Swirl the Bearded." Somnambula replied. Apple Bloom suddenly grew an over-the-top toothy grin.

"ROCKHOOF IS REAL?!" she exclaimed with excitement.

Somnambula nodded. "Yes. He is as real as you and me."

"I can't believe it! Rockhoof is my favorite legend. I never ever considered that he was real!" Apple Bloom continued to keep a wide grin as Somnambula continued.

"We sacrificed ourselves for the protection of Equestria. I assume that the realm has remained at peace during my absence?"

Both Sonic and Apple Bloom faltered at the question. "Well... The world might be in a state of war with each other for the past fifteen years." the bow-wearing mare replied nervously.

"I see. And what side are you on?" Somnambula asked once more, keeping her calm tone in the process.

"We're not affiliated with anyone. Apple Bloom and I are working to stop the war, but judging by what I saved you from earlier, I think we've got bigger problems." Sonic explained.

Somnambula took another look at the ground to find the scattered remains of the robots Sonic had smashed. "What is this?" She asked, picking up a piece of scrap.

"One of Eggman's goons. Or, at least, what's left of it after I smashed it." Sonic said.

"Eggman? Is that the mad doctor you told me about before?" Apple Bloom questioned.

Sonic nodded. "Yeah. If anything, this just made everything a lot more complicated."

"I believe we must attend to our current problem." Somnambula interrupted, drawing the other two's attention towards a figure who's identity was obscured by a shadow.

"Hey! We can see you, so you can come out now." Sonic called out. The three held the guard up as the creature started out of the darkness and into the light.