The Crystal Brighthouse threw glitter bombs in the air that exploded like fireworks.

You're right; it is New Year's Eve in Equestria.

Sunny arrived as she stood at the front door and smiled at Izzy. "Izzy, come on!" she called out. "Or you'll miss seeing the real firework display!" she pointed out, pointing her hoof outside the Brighthouse.

Outside, Pipp, Glory, Seashell, and Peach Fizz entered the Marestream while Hitch and Knuckles supervised everyone in getting inside the vehicle.

"Hey! These look pretty real to me!" Izzy said with a smile and sparkling eyes, but she twirled so often that she started to feel dizzy. "All that spinning made me one, Dizzy-Izzy..." she said jokingly before falling to the ground.

"Ladies, if you're done doing whatever is going on there, get on board, and let's get out of here before we're late," Knuckles said, lying on the Marestream and waiting for Sunny and Izzy.

After a while, Izzy stopped feeling dizzy and got inside the Marestream along Sunny.

Hitch and Knuckles were the last ones to enter, with the latter closing the Marestream door while the Pippsqueaks - Glory, Seashell, and Peach Fizz - sat down on the passenger seats in the main cabin.

"Next stop: Bridlewood for the Grand Unity Fireworks Display!" Zipp announced with a smile as she sat beside Tails, who would drive down the Marestream towards Bridlewood.

"I love that we are all together for this!" Sunny said with excitement, then gasped with sparkling eyes. "I love fireworks!"

Izzy squealed excitedly, also stomping her hooves on the ground. "And these are no ordinary fireworks!" she said with a smile. "Unicorn Fireworks are, like, totally magical!"

"Half of the stuff in this land has been magical ever since the Crystals made that rainbow explosion," Sonic said with a smirk. "At this point, I'll be questioning what isn't magical."

After that, Tails turned on the Marestream, and the flying vehicle's engine roared. Then, it flew through the sky and towards Bridlewood.

However, Izzy was so excited about the fireworks that she kept throwing her glitter bombs outside from the window, also making explosion sounds with her mouth.

"Izzy..." Knuckles scolded with a deadpan.

"Sorry..." Izzy apologized with a sheepish smile.

Later, the group made it to the forest in Bridlewood, with the Marestream parked away while the Mane 5, Team Sonic, Sparky, and the Pippsqueaks followed Izzy. After all, Bridlewood is her home.

"Okay, the viewing spot is just ahead," Izzy instructed. "Follow me. I know this forest like the back of my hoof," she said with a smile as she looked at her hoof. "And the front of it," she added, turning to face her friends and winking at them.

Sunny giggled as she and the others smiled and trotted after Izzy, running through the forest while hopping over roots.

Zipp moved a branch aside, but Hitch got smacked in the face by it since he was behind Zipp.

"Ow! Hey, watch it!" Hitch called out as he moved the branch aside and continued to trot ahead while looking around the forest. "All these roots everywhere! They should be tidied up before somepony––" he tried to add but got cut off when he didn’t see a root on the ground, which made him trip, and he could have fallen with Sparky if it wasn't because of Knuckles, who grabbed the sheriff from his belt with a bored expression.

"Gets hurt? Where are you going to say that?" Knuckles asked as he pulled Hitch slowly away from the cliff. "You two okay?" he asked.

"Mm-hmm," Sparky nodded with a smile.

"Yeah. Thanks, Knux. That was a close one," Hitch said with a sheepish smile.

"You know, knucklehead, I'm glad you have more respect for the forest now," Sonic said mockingly.

"What do you mean?" Knuckles asked.

"Don't you remember what happened the first you entered a forest with us?" Sonic asked as he dodged a tree branch.

"No?" Knuckles replied, confused.

"Okay, now you got me interested," Pipp said. "What happened?" she asked.

"Well..." Sonic said with a bored expression.

11/10 Years ago, Knuckles was breathing heavily with an angry expression, his body covered in mud, and he had some tree branches on his hair.

"I HATE TREES!!!" Knuckles shouted in rage as he launched to destroy even more trees since he had already destroyed a few around him.

Not so far, Sonic, Tails, and Amy stood confused about Knuckles' attitude against the forest.

"Amy..." Sonic called out. "We left you with Knuckles for 5 minutes. HOW, in the name of Chaos, did THIS happen?!" he cried out.

"Honestly? I've been trying to figure that out myself..." Amy replied, just as confused as Sonic and Tails.

"And to this day, we still have no idea why Knuckles lost control over the trees," Sonic finished explaining with a bored expression.

"... Huh..." Knuckles said. "I kinda remember being mad for something, but not the reason, tho..." he confessed, dodging another tree branch.

"You destroyed an entire forest and don't even remember why?" Sunny asked, a bit mad.

"It happened about ten years ago, woman," Knuckles said with a frown. "Don't blame me for not wanting to remember some embarrassing things in my life," he pointed out.

"Be glad Amy isn't here. Otherwise, she'll be mocking you up with that 'till she gets tired of it!" Sonic said with a playful smirk.

"Don't mention it..." Knuckles complained.

"I'm sorry, but who's Amy?" Pipp asked, suddenly feeling a bit jealous.

"The best way to put it? It's an old friend who used to be obsessed with me," Sonic replied with a bored expression.

Pipp stopped and stared at Sonic, confused about why he said it as if it was nothing, but she decided not to question him and kept walking.

Behind them, the Pippsqueaks and Tails were following, and while Peach Fizz was giggling happily as she trotted ahead of her friends, Seashell and Glory carefully followed behind.

Then, Glory tripped and flipped over the branches. "Aah!" she cried out, landing flat on the ground. She slowly stood up, but one of her hind hooves got stuck on a loose root on the ground. She grunted in the effort as she tried to free her hoof. "Oh, no! I'm stuck!" she cried as Seashell came to her side, and they both tried to free her friend.

Tails noticed that, and so he decided to also help the filly get out of her stuck state. But the pull was too hard, and the three of them started rolling across the forest. They screamed in fright and hit a branch that got them up into the air. Then, they went through a broken tree and slid down. Once they made it to the other end, they landed on a pile of mud and got some on them.

"Why does this stuff keep happening?" Tails asked himself, his bored expression turning into a worried one when he looked at his surroundings.

"Whoa. Where are we?" Seashell asked as she stood up alongside Glory and Tails.

"It must be another part of the forest," Tails answered. "But I cannot tell which one exactly..." he confessed, then gulped nervously.

"Peach Fizz? Ponies? Hello?" Glory called out, as she and Seashell got scared and tears formed in their eyes. "Oh, no. I think we might be…" she said, and then the two fillies teared up as they hugged and cried out, their tears flowing like waterfalls.

"Lost!" Glory and Seashell cried out while Tails approached them and comforted them to calm them down.

"Hey, girls, it's okay," Tails said with a soft smile. "We might be lost, but I know we'll get out of here," he assured them. "Hopefully," he muttered to himself with worry.

In the meantime, the Mane 5, Sonic, Knuckles, and Peach Fizz arrived at their destiny, with Izzy coming out of a bush as she raised her hoof with a smile.

"Ta-daaaa!" Izzy cheered.

Peach Fizz came out next to her and raised her hoof as well. "Yay! Ah!" she said with a smile.

In front of them, everypony from Bridlewood, Zephyr Heights, and Maretime Bay was together. Even Alphabittle and Queen Haven also came as they chatted while waiting for the right time to set off the fireworks.

Then Sunny, Zipp, Pipp, and Hitch came out of the bushes, looking tired from trotting through the forest, while Sonic and Knuckles came out like it was nothing, making Sunny groan tiredly.

"I seriously can't remember why I hated the forest back then," Knuckles said with a confused look. "It wasn't that bad!" he added with concern while Sonic rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"How's my hair?" Pipp asked the others, as her mane was a little frizzy from all the trotting through the forest. "Does it look like I've been dragged backward through a hedge?" she asked.

"Just a little something right... there?" Hitch unsurely replied to Pipp while tapping something on her mane.

Pipp turned her head, shocked that a bird's nest somehow got in her mane. A bird squawked and flew out of the nest while Pipp opened her mouth in shock.

"Stand still, Little Pipp," Sonic said as he approached her and took the nest off her mane, being very careful since he didn't want to hurt Pipp. "There!" he said with a smile, taking the net off Pipp's mane.

Pipp sighed in relief and smiled at Sonic. "Thanks, Blue Star," she said, nuzzling Sonic's shoulder while the hedgehog caressed her mane with a smile.

"Look!" Sunny called out with a smile while pointing to the crowd. "Every ponykind is here!" she said with a smile.

As Sonic put the nest away, Hitch and Knuckles were doing a headcount on the group... but then they got worried when they didn't count everyone. "We've done a headcount, and, uh... not everypony is here," he said to Sunny grimly while Sparky gasped in shock.

"Glory and Seashell," Pipp said as she saw that Peach Fizz was there, and then she gasped in worry. "Oh, no! The Pippsqueaks!" she called out in worry.

"They're missing?!" Sunny cried out in shock.

"Missing?!" Alphabittle cried out in shock, hearing what Sunny called out as the crowd gasped.

"Oh, no! Poor Pippsqueaks!" Rufus cried out in panic.

"These woods will eat them alive!" Thunder called out, which made the crowd panic more.

"Okay, everypony, just stay calm!" Sunny called out, but Sonic then placed a finger on her mouth as he noticed something.

"Hang on, Sunny," Sonic said with a worried frown. "There's someone else missing here..." he said, making the crowd gasp again.

"He's right..." Zipp said as well. "Wait! Where's Tails?!" she asked in panic.

She has no idea of how big that mistake was.

"Oh no..." Knuckles muttered with panic.

"Tails?" Sonic asked, a bit panicked. "Tails?" he started to call out, but he got no answer. "Tails?!" he asked again, but this time, he started to breathe heavily as some awful flashbacks came to his mind. "TAILS!!" he shouted, desperate now.

Not waiting for anyone to speak, Sonic boosted through the forest at top speed, panicking that Tails was missing.

He returned, grabbed Knuckles, and started to shake him violently.

"We. Have. To find him. NOW!" Sonic shouted, for the very first time in years, having a panic attack.

Knuckles had no option but to slap him to make him calm down. "Control yourself, Hedgehog!" he shouted.

The Mane 5 and the crowd were shocked to learn that Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog, the most relaxed guy everyone has ever met, was having a breakdown and panicking.

Sonic started to breathe heavily again, and Knuckles took out a paper bag and gave it to him, while Sonic abruptly took the bag and started to breathe heavily on it.

As Sonic slowly sat on the ground while trying to calm down, Knuckles gestured for Sunny to keep going.

"Right!" Sunny replied with a determined expression. "We need to work together to find Glory, Seashell, and Tails," she instructed. "Izzy knows Bridlewood like the back of her hoof! Right, Izzy?" she asked with a smile.

Izzy smiled and nodded. "Oh, yeah! Totally! No problem!" she assured, turning around before speaking again. "Well, there's maybe one problem. Bridlewood is gigantic! Where would we even start?!" she cried out in panic as she began to sweat nervously.

This made everypony else gasp more, and it caused Sonic to panic even more as well.

"This is terrible! We'll never find them!/They're doomed!" two earth ponies called out as they chatted in worry.

Hitch stomped his hooves on the ground to get the ponies' attention, but not loud enough. Knuckles saw this, and while he wanted to keep Sonic company, he was still the sheriff's deputy, so he got to Hitch's side. Then he charged up his hands with his electrical powers before doing a powerful clap that made the ground rumble, startling the ponies, including Sunny and Hitch, to quiet down and look at Knuckles in shock as he gave a determined expression at them.

"Ponies, focus!" Hitch called out to the crowd. "We need a plan if we're gonna find those ponies and that fox quickly!" he added.

"I say we use earth pony magic and part the trees of the forest!" Rufus declared while lifting a hoof that was glowing green.

"Neighway!" Thunder argued, flying in the air with Flare and Windy. "We need to fly above the forest! We'll find them quicker if we search from the air!" he pointed out.

"Hah!" Alphabittle called out. "You pegasus think everything could be solved by flapping up in the sky!" he commented rudely.

The ponies started to argue about their plans to find Glory, Seashell, and Tails, while Sunny got worried about this.

"So we're repeating that animated special plot, but instead of jealously, we have two lost children and Tails," Knuckles said with a bored expression, but mentioning that Tails was lost again made Sonic panic even more as he curled on a ball in the floor and breath even more heavily on the paper bag. "Oh, right... I forgot you are still panicking," Knuckles said sheepishly.

"But we do need to find him!" Zipp pointed out with an anxious look as she started to fly around and shouted Tails' name as well.

"Okay..." Pipp said, approaching the rest. "I kind of get why Sonic's worried about Tails, but why is Zipp's acting like that?" she asked, confused.

"You don't know yet?" Hitch asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't know what?" Pipp asked.

"That Zipp likes Tails and vice versa?" Sunny said as if it was obvious.

Pipp gasped dramatically in shock with sparkling eyes. "My sister is in love, and none of you have told me about it?!" she said with a wide smile.

"Yeah, yeah. Congratulations to her later. We still need to find two kids and Tails," Knuckles said.

"Right, right..." Pipp said as she calmed down despite the exciting news of her sister being in love.

"But why look for someone who's already gone?" Sonic asked with a nervous smile as he lay on the ground and looked at the sky with a twitchy eye. "Tails is smart and all, but so was Longclaw. It's probably too late already, hahaha," he added anxiously while his friends, especially Pipp, worriedly looked at him.

"This is what I wanted to avoid... but it's too late now", Knuckles said, closing his hands in fists.

"But why is he so worried?" Pipp asked. "I get they consider each other brothers, but still," she said with worry.

"Longclaw also 'disappeared' before Sonic only found her scarf," was everything Knuckles could say, causing everyone else to gasp, even Zipp, who finally stopped panicking momentarily. "Ever since he's afraid any of us can also disappear... and never come back," he explained.

"Of course, Tails should be okay. He has to be... right?" Sonic asked, chuckling in pain before turning that chuckle into a painful laugh that ended up with him tearing up...

And for the very first time, his shelf was broken. No more joking or chilling out... Sonic was actually crying in public.

He tried to wipe out the tears by placing his arm on his eyes, but his friends were already seeing him with sadness, and Pipp even approached him by extending her hoof.

However, Sonic didn't hesitate and hid his face on Pipp's chest as he let his pain out as quietly as possible while Pipp wrapped her hoof around Sonic and nuzzled her head over his.

"We have to find Tails ASAP!" Knuckles stated with a determined look, but his eyes widened as soon as he turned to see every pony else. "What in the Mystic Ruins?!" he cried out in shock.

The others, Pipp and Sonic, turned as well and gasped in shock. What did they see? Well...

Rufus was using his earth pony magic to move a tree aside, making Izzy and Peach Fizz gasp in surprise and away. The other earth ponies followed Rufus' example and used their magic to move many trees to clear a path.

At the same time, Thunder and the other pegasi flew into the air and searched over the trees to see if they could find Glory, Seashell, and Tails.

At the same dam time, Alphabittle and other unicorns used their magic to lift an entire tree, which showed a raccoonicorn, as many other trees started to lift, with the raccoonicorn yelping in fright as he was on a broken log and lifted into the air.

"Aah!" Thunder and a few other pegasi yelled as they hit a few trees and fell from the sky.

Posey and an Earth Pony stallion were using their magic to move the trees, but the stallion saw the trees falling from the sky, so he screamed and ran way before the tree could hit him.

Posey looked at the trees falling from the sky in surprise and shock, and she trotted out screaming as well.

An earth pony stallion next to Peach Fizz moved a tree but gasped when he saw the raccoonicorn heading right for him as it landed on his face and fell backward.

Hitch ran among the crowd to figure out how to calm everyone out, but then he got smacked to the face again by a tree branch that was set free from an earth pony's magic. "Ow! What is it with these branches?!" he asked himself in disbelief.

"They hate you, apparently," Knuckles commented with his arms crossed.

Sunny watched the unfold speechless, while Zipp came next to her with a raised eyebrow. "Not quite the display of unity we hoped for, huh?" she asked while the ponies were screaming in panic.

"I don't want to pull an Izzy here, but if this is your concept of unity, I don't wanna be part of it," Knuckles commented again as he carefully returned a tree to its place.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!" Izzy asked, a bit mad, as she walked towards Knuckles with a frown.

"Izz, honey, please don't make me answer to you," Knuckles said with a bored expression.

Sunny ignored them and looked determined. "I've got an idea!" Sunny called out.

Then, she focused her magic and began to glow and levitate in the air while Zipp smiled and backed up a bit to give her some space.

Alphabittle, Rufus, and Thunder glared at each other, but then they saw Sunny glowing. "Huh?" Alphabittle said in confusion and surprise while Rufus and Thunder gasped.

Sunny focused her magic as she summoned her Alicorn form. Her horn and wings appeared as she smiled and flew around before striking a pose as she shone bright.

Everypony looked surprised as a tree landed on the ground with a thud, but the ponies ignored it as they paid close attention to Sunny.

"Everypony, listen up! Right now, two little ponies and a young yellow fox are lost; all that matters is that we find them!" Sunny explained.

"Sunny's right. We have to work together," Alphabittle told the crowd, while Jazz nodded in agreement and Rocky looked at the crowd.

The ponies looked at each other and gave determined looks as they nodded to each other.

The rest of the Mane 5 smiled, too, with Sonic seeing a bit better but still nervous about Tails, while Knuckles patted his back and smiled at him, which made Sonic smile a bit as well.

Sunny began to sparkle and flew high into the air, boosting at high speed to begin her search for Seashell, Glory, and Tails.

Somewhere in the forest, Seashell, Glory, and Tails were still covered in mud, with the fillies still tearing up since they were really scared, even with Tails being with them.

"Don't worry, girls," Tails told them, still with an assuring smile. "We'll get out of here," he assured again, then looked at his watch and pressed a button. "Sonic, Knuckles. Can you guys hear me?" he asked, but instead of an answer, he got static since there was a terrible signal in the forest. "Dang it..." he muttered with frustration.

Suddenly, Seashell tripped and grunted, falling to the floor. Glory picked up her friend, while Seashell gave a whimper. Then, Tails came up to them and kneeled at their height.

"Do not part away from me, girls," Tails told them. "I know you're scared, and I honestly am as well. My Tails are so muddier that I cannot fly out of here, and my communicator has no signal, but I know we'll be fine as long as we stick together, okay?" he added with a smile, and the two fillies nodded at him with little smiles.

Then, they looked up and saw a glow passing by, a.k.a. Sunny, flying overhead of them with a determined expression.

Glory and Seashell smiled tearfully at the Alicorn, waving their hooves at her. "Sunny! Over here! Help us!" Glory cried out happily.

"Sunny!" Tails shouted as well. "We're down here!" he added, still screaming.

Sunny heard their voices, so she looked down and saw Glory, Seashell, and Tails with a smile.

"Found them! They're safe!" Sunny called out happily. "Ponies, create a path between me and the clearing!" she instructed the ponies below her.

The ponies gave a determined expression as they got into position, following Sunny and warming up their magic.

Where the two fillies and Tails were, Thunder landed in front of them. "Ah!" they said happily.

"Follow the Cutie Mark trail!" Thunder declared as he focused magic into his Cutie Mark. That glow shot up into the sky, with other ponies' Cutie Marks shooting light, making a path for Seashell, Glory, and Tails to follow.

Are we ever going to explain how they learned to do that? Probably not.

Seashell and Glory giggled happily as they followed the Cutie Mark trail with Thunder behind them, while Tails sighed in relief and followed the two Pippsqueaks. The three of them slide down some roots that were grown by Posey, who was smiling, while they kept following the trail as they passed by Rocky and Jazz.

Sunny watched overhead as more Cutie Marks glowed into the sky.

And then, a rock that was blocking the path was levitated away; then the trees were moved aside as well. Zipp and the other Pegasi flew over them to make sure the other Ponies on the other side knew where they were so they could clear the path. Finally, Alphabittle moved a bush out of their way with his magic, making space for the two fillies and Tails to keep trotting off.

After all of this, Seashell and Glory ran straight to Peach Fizz and Pipp, with the latter tearing up happily that her friends were okay; the four got into a group, and the Pippsqueaks started to cry happily.

"Pippsqueaks! Oh, I'm so happy you're okay!" Pipp said in relief, hugging them with little tears in her eyes while the rest of her friends smiled at this.

As for Tails, Sonic immediately wrapped him in a massive bear hug, and he wasn't planning on letting him go.

"Whoa, there! Someone missed me, apparently," Tails said with a chuckle, but when Sonic kneeled, still hugging him, he got worried. "S-Sonic?" he asked, a bit scared.

"... D-Don't you dare... to give me a scare like that... ever again, young man" Sonic said with a broken voice, as he hugged Tails a bit tighter. "I-I thought I lost you too, Tails..." he confessed, sobbing a bit.

Tails understood why Sonic was acting like this, and his ears lowered. So, he returned the hug with a little smile.

Knuckles was behind them the whole time, trying not to sob at the scene, but Sonic dragged him to join the hug.

Sunny smiled at this, glad the Pippsqueaks and Tails were okay. And just then, the fireworks popped up from the sky behind the Alicorn, as the ponies looked in awe at the fireworks.

"What a sight!" Thunder said in amazement.

Izzy got in front of the crowd with a smile. "Yeah! And the fireworks are pretty awesome, too!" she cheered, thinking Thunder was talking about the Pippsqueaks reunion and Team Sonic's hug.

Sunny landed on the ground and sighed happily. "We really can do anything when we work together," she said with a smile to the crowd. Then she looked at the fireworks and gave an excited smile. "Ooh, look! They're starting!" she cried out happily with sparkling eyes, also pointing a hoof at the fireworks.

The fireworks go off individually as they show each ponykind: an Earth Pony, a Pegasus, and a Unicorn.

The crowd, the Mane 5, and Team Sonic looked in awe at the fireworks, with Izzy smiling with sparkling eyes, Pipp taking a picture of the fireworks with her phone and a smile, Team Sonic side hugging each other, and the Pippsqueaks looking in awe.

Sunny looked at the fireworks with a bright smile and sparkling eyes, happy to finally see the fireworks.

At the top of a hill, not so far from Opaline's Castle, Dr. Eggman was looking at the fireworks since they could be seen from all across Equestria.

He had his arms on his back, and he was frowning at the fireworks. He was not happy that another year was ending, and his losing streak just kept growing bigger and bigger.

"Another year that ends, another year begins," Eggman said with annoyance. "Will this be another year of failures? Or will I finally defeat that stupid Hedgehog? Only time will tell," he added with a frown. "However, I will not be waiting on my lab this time!" he stated with an evil grin.

After that, he turned around and slowly walked back to Opaline's castle, pressing a button on his suit.

"Sage," Eggman called out.

"Yes, doctor?" Sage asked through the computer installed on his suit.

"Save next Friday's date on my calendar: Starting next week, we'll tease that disgusting hedgehog and his friends until Season 2 drops!" Eggman instructed, with his grin growing bigger now.

"As you command, doctor" Sage replied.

After that, Eggman kept walking back to the castle, not laughing maniacally this time because he was waiting for the right moment to strike and be the one who laughed last.

THE END...?

Author's Note

For the next episodes, I'm gonna explore a bit of Team Sonic's relationships between some Sonic characters, as well as keep placing a few more flashbacks like the one on this episode.

Of course, it doesn't mean there's gonna be a flashback on every single episode, just in a few ones and if the episode requieres it.

And yes, I enjoy making Sonic suffer because of Longclaw's death, how can you tell?

Also, Happy New Year, everyone!

Thanks you so much for reading up until now. I know I remark this a lot, but I seriously need to thank you all for still liking this story despite its flaws.

I really hope 2023 will be even greater than this year! See you later!

P.S: Thanks to JD1 for editing this chapter!