It's been three days since Sonic and Pipp became a couple.

Ever since the two love birds couldn't be apart, they were so lost in each other to the point they even considered sleeping together... An idea that they immediately scrapped because of reasons... including Zipp's glares and the fact that their relationship was still pretty new.

This last fact had Pipp flying all over Mane Melody from one side to the other, again panicked, which caught Jazz and Rocky's attention, even though they had bored expressions.

"Okay, what is it this time?" Jazz asked, but her bored expression remained.

"She said something about preparing a big thing for an announcement..." Sonic replied instead of Pipp.

The blue hedgehog was sitting over one of the salon's chairs, adjusting some strings on an electric guitar. He's been around the salon too much lately, but Jazz and Rocky didn't mind. After all, they were among the few ponies who knew about Sonic and Pipp being together as a couple.

"Oh, so this is an 'I need to get everything done ASAP' kind of panic attack?" Rocky asked, returning his gaze to the flying pegasus, now with an amused expression.

"Yup!" Sonic replied.

"But what can it be... WHAT CAN IT BE?!" Pipp screamed dramatically while slowly descending and landing on Sonic's head.

Sonic looked up at her, a bit annoyed, before rolling his eyes with a smile and putting his guitar aside. He then picked up his girlfriend in bridal style. "Pipp, honey, I understand this is important to you, but we cannot help if we do not understand your plan. You get me?" he pointed out to her with a smirk.

Pipp's concerned expression shifted to a surprised one as she covered her mouth with her hooves, and her eyes widened. "Oh, my. Glitter... You're right! I forgot to give the context again!" she realized, groaning annoyedly and burrowing her face into Sonic's chest.

Sonic snorted, but he still nuzzled his head over hers. "There, there... It's not a big deal, Little Pipp," he said with a smile before kissing her forehead. "Everyone forgets things occasionally, you know?" he pointed out.

"That still doesn't help the fact that I still panic without explaining why I panic!" Pipp pointed out dramatically, once again groaning.

Still, she shook her head and stood up from his boyfriend's arms; she took a few deep breaths and looked back at Sonic, Jazz, and Rocky with a smile.

"Well. Now that Blue Star and I are finally together, I've been thinking about how to tell it to all of Equestria the news... But I got nothing so far!" Pipp explained with concern.

"... Ooooh!" Sonic, Jazz, and Rocky all said it together, and now they understand the situation.

"Then why didn't you say it earlier?" Jazz asked with a smile.

"You should have started from there when you entered the salon!" Rocky pointed out with a smirk.

"Wait, you wanna make a big deal out of our thing?" Sonic asked, confused. "Not that I mind, you could publish it on a boring blog or something, and I wouldn't complain. Yet, why do you want to make something big?" he questioned.

However, Jazz, Rocky, and Pipp gasped in horror at that question, which caused Sonic to look at them with an even more confused expression.

"... Okay, be frank: What did I say wrong?" Sonic asked with a bored expression, also crossing his arms.

"Nothing, nothing!" Pipp said with a nervous chuckle. "Um, I think I should've explained myself even better... Look, sweaty. We, royal pegasi, have a tradition that's been passed down the line in our family ever since Zephyr Heights was founded many moons ago," she explained. "We gotta make our relationships a big deal, no matter how recent or ancient it is," she added.

"So... That means... That we're gonna have to reveal that we're together... On a stage?" Sonic asked, confused.

"It's just one of the many ways we can reveal it!" Rocky said with a smile. "Many royals have revealed their status with a dance, an improved video-slash-movie-slash-play, or even during a very important meeting or announcement just to make more hype!" he explained.

"And these things can be presented anytime, as long as the royal in question makes their relationship status public," Jazz finished.

"Okay... Okay... So, you're saying that we need to plan something big and attractive to reveal we're together," Sonic summarized, rubbing his chin and raising an eyebrow.

"Yup!" Pipp replied with her innocent and cheery smile.

"Well, you have weird traditions, but Izzy's yarn balls tradition already won that spot..." Sonic replied, a bit confused, before smirking at his girlfriend. "So, what are you gonna do, honey?" he asked her.

At this, Pipp squealed and launched herself to hug Sonic tightly while the hedgehog chuckled and hugged her back.

"I'm telling you, Blue Star! This is gonna be the biggest revelation in history!" Pipp stated confidently.

"Even better than your 23rd birthday?" Sonic asked her in a flirting tone while wrapping his arms around Pipp's back.

"Oh, you bet~" Pipp replied seductively before locking lips with the blue hedgehog.

"Aww!" Jazz and Ricky said with smiles at the scene. They were excited to help make this announcement what Pipp expected it to be.

There was a firewall in Opaline's Castle right before her.

"Sparks of fire! Explosions of annihilation!" Opaline declared, traversing the fire and starting to laugh like a maniac.

However, she couldn't go so far on that last aspect because she started coughing uncontrollably and rubbing her neck with a hoof. Misty, also in the Throne Room, cringed at her action while Eggman facepalmed and rubbed his face in annoyance.

"We're finally steps away from our plan of total pony takedown!" Opaline stated with a huge grin.

"But, we just need one more thing..." Eggman stated, too, as he approached Misty with a frown, which already made Misty nervous since Eggman never frowned at her before. "Can you explain to me, Misty... what is this?" he asked calmly.

After doing so, he rolled out a paper with a big picture of Misty with the Mane 5, Sparky, and Team Sonic in the Crystal Brighthouse's living room. Sunny, Zipp and Pipp's Cutie Marks were also shining bright.

This picture made Misty panic since she got it from Tails a while ago. He gave a copy to her not so long after taking it, and she didn't have the heart to burn said picture or rip it apart, so neither Opaline nor Eggman would found about it. Instead, she hid it under her bed... But Eggman still found the picture, which was no good.

"W-Where'd you get..." Misty tried to ask before gulping and looking around nervously. "I, uh... I can explain!" she assured.

"It's good Ivo found your photo because it brought my attention to something big: Their Cutie Marks," Opaline stated, pointing at Sunny, Zipp, and Pipp's glowing Cutie Marks in the picture. "That is the evolved magic that's powering their silly Prisbeam. That's our ticket into taking over!" she stated confidently.

"If we can steal their Cutie Marks, then we're not just powerful..." Eggman started, slapping the picture in Misty's face. Then he turned away and looked at the ceiling with a sinister smile. "We're all powerful!" he stated confidently.

Then Eggman and Opaline started laughing maniacally while Misty removed the picture from her face and looked at it with concern. Her conflicted thoughts were getting worse again.

However, she had to stop staring at the picture because Opaline started coughing uncontrollably. This made Eggman stop laughing and look at her with boredom. At the same time, Misty cringed again and put the picture away.

"You should take a pill with water or get a chamomile tea, at least..." Eggman said with a frown. "If you're gonna be a Queen, at least have a healthy throat, you know?" he pointed out.

"Right..." Opaline said with an eye roll before looking back at Misty. "Anyway, I think I'm getting ahead of myself. First, I need to find a way to boost my power. Then, I'll cast a transformation spell to capture those Cutie Marks! Then..." she tried to say but then started coughing again. I'll follow Ivo's advice for once and book a throat detox," she confessed.

"Hallelujah! She's finally listening to me!" Eggman cheered with a grin while Opaline rolled her eyes.

"And after that, as they say, Misty, 'the rest is history'!" Opaline stated with a smirk, turning around and preparing to leave the room.

"But do we have to steal their Cutie Marks? They're nice ponies..." Misty said with a sheepish smile.

At this, Eggman's eyes opened wide, and one even twitched a bit, while his mustache got a bit messed up after hearing Misty saying that...

His worst fears were getting real, and he hated it.

As for Opaline, she frowned with wide eyes while her horn lightened up with fire. "Nice ponies?!" she yelled in rage before looking at Misty again angrily. "Don't tell me you were having fun with those ponies?" she said while glaring daggers at the unicorn mare.

"No! Not at all! I'm just still as bad as I've always been!" Misty assured while trying to put on a sinister face...

Yeah, you're failing here, honey, 'cause you only look adorable.

"When we were together, they complimented me on my mane, but I did not compliment them back! Ha!" Misty added proudly.

Eggman turned around and facepalmed, clearly seeing that Misty was starting to feel compassion and appreciation towards his enemies... And if things kept going as they were right now, he'll lose what he has the closest as a daughter, even if he'll never accept that statement out loud.

"Well, that's good," Opaline said. "Because now that we have the dragon fire, there's no going back. "

Today must be Misty's bad luck day because she didn't have Dragon Fire or Sparky with her.

She tried to catch him a few days ago, but the place was empty when she arrived at the Brighthouse to 'spend time' with the others. She then hid her real intentions.

There was nopony home, so she went to the town to ask about them. She heard from Dahlia that they were all in Zephyr Heights for something important.

Long story short, the previous episode ruined Misty's mission, and now she is without dragon fire for Opaline.

"Oh, ah..." Misty spoke nervously. "Well, that's the other thing I wanted to tell you, um... I kind of, um, maybe didn't get it again..." she confessed with a saddened expression.

At this, Eggman groaned out loud and facepalmed again. "Misty, sometimes I swear that you're getting yourself into suicide missions instead of simple tasks..." he said with concern and a frown.

Opaline, however, frowned, yeah... But she did not yell at Misty. She seemed disappointed, but not that much, and both Eggman and Misty noticed that.

"Wow, Opaline. You're taking this surprisingly well..." Misty pointed out with a smile.

"Kid, you just signed your death sentence..." Eggman said with a bored expression.

"TAKING IT WELL?!" Opaline screamed in rage. "I WAS BUILDING UP MY BREATH TO TELL AT YOU! You..." she tried to keep going but then started to cough again, grabbing her neck with a hoof. "See what you've done to me, Misty? Ugh! This is a failure worthy of my worst punishment yet!" she angrily stated.

Misty gulped nervously after hearing this, looking up at Opaline in fear.

"And not only do I not have the dragon fire, but I wasted all my magic showing off my cool plan?! Ugh!" Opaline groaned with anger.

"You could always, you know... Wait for your fucking powers to replenish or something?" Eggman pointed out with a bored expression, also crossing his arms.

"Yeah, I could do that..." Opaline admitted before turning to see Misty with rage once more. "Need a little 'refresher' on why this is so important, huh?" she said with a frown.

Then, the Alicorn turned to face her boiler, with both Eggman and Misty joining her at her sides. Then, Opaline used her magic to make the boiler work and show a flashback of her childhood...

"Growing up in Skyros, they were the 'golden ponies.' The favorites," Opaline narrated, while her boiler showed an image of Princesses Celestia and Luna when they were fillies, clapping their hooves together with smiles. "Everypony loved them, but I saw right through their act..." Opaline added with anger.

As the two sisters nuzzled their cheeks together, they felt surprised when they sensed another presence, so they separated and looked behind them to find Opaline when she was a filly, waving her hoof at them with a nervous smile.

"They thought they were so great 'cause they had the whole 'sun and moon' thing going... Please!" Opaline kept narrating with anger

As she said this, the image showed Celestia and Luna looking away from Opaline with an air of superiority, which left the younger Opaline shocked and heartbroken.

"I had something much better. I was an Alicorn of fire, of power, of strength!" Opaline narrated with pride, while her younger self frowned as Celestia and Luna walked away before opening her wings and lighting her horn to create a fire circle in the air. "And because of that, I had to prove I was not to be underestimated. They'd learn I was not only the wrong pony to push around, but I would be so much more!" she confidently stated.

Finally, the boiler showed Celestia and Luna laughing as they walked away while Opaline was sad. However, her expression shifted to anger, and her horn lightened up with fire again, creating a massive firewall.

Once said wall dissipated, the present Opaline appeared with a frown. "I would live up to my elemental duty!" she stated with anger and open wings.

"Huh..." Eggman said suddenly, calling Opaline and Misty's attention. "You're doing this to prove yourself to those who doubted you. We have more in common than I ever imagined," he confessed.

"What do you mean by that?" Opaline asked, confused.

"Is this related to why you do what you do, too?" Misty asked as well.

"Indeed..." Eggman replied with a nod.

After that, he cringed for a second before ripping a string of hair from his mustache, which made him groan a bit in pain, while Misty and Opaline cringed at what he did.

Then, Eggman frowned again before letting go of the hair string as it slowly descended until it fell in the boiler, switching the image once more, but this time, to show Eggman's flashback.

"Ever since I was a kid, I was immensely attracted to inventions and robotics..." Eggman narrated, while several images of Eggman were shown as he grew from a 5-year-old to a 10-year-old. "My mind was a lot more developed than anyone around me. My grades? Impeccable. My score? Perfect! My mind? I graduated from High School at 8!" he stated with pride.

However, even though the younger Eggman seemed happy, he suddenly frowned as new figures appeared in his memory: a bunch of people behind the doctor and a blonde girl in a long blue dress.

"Yet, despite my blesses, my family had eyes for someone else... My cousin, Maria Robotnik..." Eggman spitted with rage.

The memory showed Maria talking happily with the rest of the family while the younger Eggman couldn't care less as he worked on what seemed to be his prototype of a Moto Bug.

"When Maria died, the entire family mourned her loss... Everyone but me, that is," Eggman kept telling. "They all felt so lost for her death when I was. Right. THERE!" he shouted with anger. "Worse of all, even before she died, nobody ever paid attention to my inventions... They all said I was a fool... An outcast... A mistake..." he added while grinding his teeth.

The memory showed Eggman growing even more until he reached his mid-30s when he finally became a scientist and had the chance to create his machines on a much bigger scale.

"But I was going to show them... I would show them I'm not a man they should've ever messed with!" Eggman stated with rage. "Once I had grown enough, I could finally prove myself... Show them all what Ivo Robotnik is made of!" he finished narrating, now frowning on his present. "And when we finally get those Crystals from those stupid ponies... Nobody, and nopony, will underestimate us ever again!" he declared with a sinister grin.

"It seems like our paths were destined to encounter, Ivo... So we could both show everyone who we truly are!" Opaline stated with glee, while Eggman nodded in agreement.

"And you two will!" Misty declared with a smile. "I'm sorry I failed you, Opaline... I promise I won't ever do that again!" she assured.

Opaline and Eggman looked at each other before nodding and looking back at Misty with sinister grins.

"Oh, we know..." Opaline started. "Because you won't have a chance to," she said as she and Eggman stood before Misty, who got scared at them.

"I do not want to say this, Misty... But I think Opaline should use her last bit of magic to make sure you really think about your failure... And also as a reminder of your position," Eggman stated with a frown.

"W-What?" Misty asked, staring scared at both Opaline and Eggman.

"From this moment on..." Opaline started while lightening her horn with fire.

"Consider yourself..." Eggman kept raising his right hand and putting together his middle finger and thumb.

"GROUNDED!," both villains said with frowns while Opaline's magic did its work.

Then, Misty's hooves were surrounded by a purple aura, and the unicorn mare suddenly got dragged from the Throne Room and through a hallway, as Misty screamed in fear.

Then, at the end of the hallway, her room was located. There, she finally stopped being dragged, and Misty sighed in relief, even though she was panting because of the adrenaline of the moment.

Meanwhile, Opaline sighed, relieved that Misty wouldn't be a problem, at least not now.

"Ugh. How lovely. I've been dying to get out of the lair!" Opaline said with a huge smirk as she started to walk towards the exit.

"About time!" Eggman cheered. "I can finally be the one that stays in the Castle for once!" he added with a chuckle, walking towards his lab.

In Maretime Bay, The Mane 5 and Team Sonic were having the big opening for Canterlove Studios.

They're doing this big opening now because they needed to adjust some final details, and Sonic helped this time.

Now that everything is said and done, the big opening is here, with Hitch at the podium again, holding the big scissors and making another speech. This is going to be good.

"Thanks, everypony!" Hitch greeted with a smile while Knuckles stood at his side with his arms crossed since, well, he's the deputy and all of that. "Big day in Maretime Bay. A day we'll remember forever. A day where we all come together, a day where we all say––" he tried to add.

"The same thing we said the last time we had a grand opening..." Zipp pointed out with a mocking smirk.

"Thank Chaos, there are no critters around this time," Sonic commented, and both Pipp and Tails giggled at that statement.

"Sheriff, wrap this up before some magical or critter incident happens out of nowhere, for Chaos' sake..." Knuckles told Hitch with a frown.

"Or rather, cut it up!" Tails said with a laugh.

At this, Hitch turned back to the crowd and started to talk at a fast paste. "And for the first time in this building's history, this will be a place for everypony! Welcome to Canterlove Studios!" he said with a smile before sighing. "Okay, I'm done... Woo!" he said before turning to see the red ribbon at the building's entrance.

Then, Hitch cut the ribbon with the big scissors, declaring Canterlove Studios officially open.

The ponies that assisted cheered, but unlike with the Community Garden, they turned around this time and then ran away.

"Wait, where are they going?" Hitch questioned, confused, while Knuckles facepalmed and frustratedly shook his head. "I just said this is for everypony!" he pointed out.

"Maybe inspiration doesn't come that quickly?" Pipp suggested.

"Maybe something was confusing about your messaging?" Zipp suggested, too, with a mocking smirk.

"Maybe you should have made a different speech instead of reusing the Community Garden one?" Knuckles said with a bored expression.

"Maybe they came by just to be polite?" Sonic commented with a neutral expression.

"Oh, oh! Maybe they realized they left their ovens on at home!" Izzy said happily as she hopped up and down.

"All of them?" Tails questioned with a bored expression and a raised eyebrow.

"You're right, too far-fetched. It was probably their microwave ovens!" Izzy said, still with a smile.

"Izzy, you're too pure for this world... Let's keep it that way," Knuckles told his girlfriend with a smirk.

"Or maybe they just need an example of how to use the studio first," Sunny said with a smile. Oh, we should get a show-up and running to show the possibilities!" she excitedly suggested.

At this, Pipp also squealed excitedly, clapping her hooves together. "That's a great idea, Sunny! I see my two stars now!" she added, looking over at two of her friends.

Since Izzy approached her, Zipp thought that her sister meant her and Izzy, which made her panic. However, she felt relieved when Pipp looked at Sunny and Hitch instead.

"You and Hitch will be the co-hosts of a smoothie-making cooking show!" Pipp stated excitedly.

At this, Tails' eyes widened, and he slowly looked at Sunny and Hitch before placing his fingers together to make the shape of a frame and staring at the two earth ponies. His mind started to work up a thousand ideas on how to make this work, and his excitement for this show was rising to the point he seemed to be more excited with this idea than Pipp.

"What? Uh, no thanks, Pipp," Sunny replied nervously. "I-I didn't mean me," she added.

"Hmm. We need a show title first..." Pipp realized.

"Thank you," Sunny said, normally smiling again. "I was hoping we could brainstorm it up––" she tried to add.

"I'VE GOT SOMETHING!" Tails exclaimed excitedly as he stood over the podium and startled the rest of Sonic. "How about we call this show... 'Sunny Side Up'! Featuring Hitch!" he said the last part by flying upside down and pointing his left finger at the earth pony stallion. "Just two lifelong besties that clearly like each other sharing their recipes for yummy food!" he shouted excitedly.

"And friendship!" Hitch said with a frown, while Sunny blushed because of what Tails said about clearly liking each other.

"Yeah, yeah, sure, whatever you said, Hitch," Tails said with a mocking smirk, patting the stallion's head. "What do you say, Pipp?" he asked her with a smile.

At this, Pipp squealed excitedly again. "I love this concept, Tails!" she said with a smile.

"I'm not an 'in the spotlight' pony..." Hitch tried to point out.

"Oh, oh, oh! We could bring over a bunch of random challenges for them to complete!" Tails started to yell suddenly. "Oh, and maybe even bring over ingredients no sane being will ever put on a smoothie!" he said, flying around happily before landing at Sonic's side. "Oh, I have so many ideas... I need to write them all!" he stated, shaking Sonic violently.

And then, he boosted inside the building at top speed, leaving his friends behind, as they all stared at the entrance of Canterlove Studios with wide eyes.

"I think someone's excited!" Zipp said with a chuckle. "He seemed more happy with this idea than you, sis!" she pointed out to her with a smile.

"I know! He just zoomed into the building with no warning or hesitation! I like how dedicated he seems to be!" Pipp said with a smile.

"He did go too fast inside, though..." Sunny pointed out with a nervous smile.

"Well, he learned from the best!" Sonic said with a proud smile, fixing his quills after Tails gave him the shake.

"So... we're doing this, huh?" Hitch told Sunny with a smile.

"Yeah... I guess we are..." Sunny replied, still feeling nervous.

"Well, as much as I would like to see how this develops, I'm afraid Little Pipp and I must go," Sonic said. "We need to prepare for that big thing, remember?" he pointed out to her.

"Wait, what?!" Pipp said with wide eyes. "But I... But I thought that..." she tried to say, looking back and forth between Canterlove Studios' entrance and her boyfriend.

"Wait, you're preparing the Big Relationship Announcement?" Zipp asked while Pipp gulped and nodded sheepishly. "Then why are you two here?! Go on and prepare that thing! We'll handle the show, and seeing how excited Tails seemed to be, I think everything will be fine!" She smiled.

"But we'll be too busy even to watch a stream on how the show is going!" Pipp complained.

"Hey, I promise to send you constant updates on how things are going so you don't miss any details!" Zipp said with a smile.

"Hoof to heart?" Pipp asked, extending her hoof.

"Hoof to heart," Zipp assured her, touching her hoof with Pipp. Then, both sisters placed the hoof over their chests.

"Okay... Then I'll leave that to you," Pipp said, smiling normally. "Come on, Blue Star! We have a job to do!" she said as she flew around Sonic before landing on his arms in bridal style.

"Go meirei-dōri, okusama~" Sonic replied with a smirk, saying 'At your command, ma'am~' in Japanese, before boosting towards Mane Melody with her girlfriend in his arms.

As they did that, Knuckles looked at Zipp confusedly. "Hang on... What is a Big Relationship Announcement?" he asked her.

At this, Zipp groaned and face-hoofed herself.

An hour later, inside Canterlove Studios, the rest were preparing everything for the show.

As Zipp pushed some cameras towards the stage, Izzy and Knuckles helped Sunny and Hitch prepare for the show while Tails walked around them with a clipboard.

"So, how are my stars feeling today? Nervous?" Tails asked with a smirk.

"Extremely!" Hitch replied anxiously while Knuckles finished perfuming him and walked away.

"Not really," Sunny replied, smiling as Izzy finished and walked away with her boyfriend.

"There's no reason to be!" Tails said with a smile. "As the S.B.S.A. co-founder with Izzy––" he started to say.

"StarBlazer Shipping Association" Knuckles came by and translated the acronym before walking away again.

"My job is to ensure you two are prepared for the show!" Tails continued with a smile as he started to walk to the stage. Sunny and Hitch got up from their seats and followed behind. "I'll teach you everything you need to know: How to smile, how to stand, how to sit and 'smize' when you can't stand or smile..." he explained while reading everything he wrote on his clipboard.

"Two questions: One, what does StarBlazer mean? Two, what is 'smize'?" Hitch asked, confused.

"I refuse to answer the first one, even though I would love to see you two flustered with the answer..." Tails replied with a mischievous grin while Hitch and Sunny looked at each other, confused. "As for your second question, 'smize' is smiling with your eyes!" he explained while his eyes opened wide and sparkled. "Come on, try it!" he said with a smile.

Hitch tried to do something similar, but all he did was make some weird noises and then show his teeth, which made Tails flinch and cringe.

"Oh... Or maybe, just try to work on standing still so you don't look that nervous..." Tails said with a nervous smile and chuckle.

Sunny giggled after hearing that. "Me? Nervous? I'm a smoothie-maker master! This is easy-peasy lemon-squeezy!" she stated confidently with a smile, standing behind the counter where she and Hitch would be doing the show.

However, Hitch placed his hoof over a bowl of lemons and accidentally pushed it. This caused one of the lemons to fly into the air and land on Tails' head, as the fox looked bored.

"Sorry, Tails!" Hitch apologized. "Maybe that's a sign Sunny should just host the show by herself?" he suggested, while his ears lowered and he tapped the counter nervously. "I mean, remember how bad it was when I ran the smoothie cart?" he pointed out with concern.

"Hitch, I'm going to be frank with you..." Tails started lying on the counter. "Saying that it went bad is the best compliment you have ever given that disastrous day..." he said with a bored expression, removing the lemon from his head.

"I know! And that was without anypony watching on TV!" Hitch pointed out with worry.

"Oh, shh. You'll be great, Hitch!" Sunny assured him with a smile. "Just pretend you're giving a Sheriff's speech and follow my lead," she instructed him.

However, that only made Hitch look on with a panicked expression and a twitchy eye as he watched the rest of his friends get everything ready.

Zipp had the camera, Knuckles had the lights, Tails controlled everything else from a laptop, and Izzy was eating donuts since she was going to watch and nothing else.

Hitch chuckled awkwardly and rested a hoof over the counter. Still, he slipped and crashed with the bowl of lemons, as both he and the lemons fell to the ground with clattering sounds. Sunny looked at him with concern before looking on with a nervous and confused expression.

"This is gonna be a loooong day..." Knuckles muttered with a bored expression.

Team Dark and Amy continued their journey in the mountains.

However, they still seemed shocked by their recent discovery that the Emeralds were from Equestria's universe, not theirs.

As Rouge said, the idea was not that unbelievable, considering all the things they'd seen over the years, but that didn't change the fact that it was quite a shocking revelation.

This time, Shadow led the group, with Rouge following by flight. Amy sat on Omega's shoulder and read a few more passages from the book they had borrowed from that hidden library.

"Huh, this is an interesting one..." Amy said as she read the book. "According to this passage, the tribe of the Owls had a seer who got a vision about an alien civilization running away from a very powerful enemy, and that said the enemy would be defeated by a powerful being surrounded with the golden power of 7 powerful jewels..." she informed.

"A powerful being with seven jewels? That's... oddly specific..." Shadow pointed out.

"And kind of poetic!" Rouge added. "I still have no idea how true this book's info is, but we can say for sure that whoever wrote it has a massive imagination!" she stated with a grin.

"But it still does not explain why the Chaos Emeralds are mentioned..." Amy pointed out. "I mean, anthropomorphic Owls and Hedgehogs? That's not weird, but seven gems that these weirdos called 'Chaos Emeralds'? It cannot be a coincidence at this point..." she said with concern.

"Let's suppose for a second that the Chaos Emeralds are from this Equestria place..." Shadow spoke. "If they truly belong here, how did they end up on our world?" he questioned.

Amy seemed to understand what he meant with that question, so she quickly flipped several pages of the book on her hands... But then she frowned and groaned. "Darn it!" she said.

"What?" Rouge asked.

"Ugh, we should have looked at this back in the cave... There are several pages ripped apart!" Amy said with concern.

"Huh?!/The what now?!" Rouge and Shadow said with surprise and anger in the latter's case.

So, Shadow approached Amy and helped her get down from Omega before carefully taking the book from her and flipping several pages, only to discover that she was right: Several pages were ripped from the book.

The last entry about the Chaos Emeralds mentioned that the ancient civilization used them to create four giant beasts as a defense mechanism, but that was it. The next page, which was not ripped, was about Princesses Celestia and Luna and their coronation as rulers of Equestria, which meant that the ripped pages removed a big part of the story.

At this, Shadow frowned before returning the book to Amy. "Whatever, or whoever, ripped those pages knew that someone was going to arrive at the library and tried to hide something away..." he theorized.

"But who would do that, what would they want to hide?" Amy asked, confused.

"And most importantly, why?" Rouge asked, too. "Unless there was something big and dangerous in those pages that nobody should ever read, I can't think of any reason..." she pointed out.

"Mmm... perhaps our answer can be in the previous pages," Shadow suggested. "Or it can confuse us more than we already are," he pointed out.

"I'll keep checking the pages to see if there's anything," Amy replied with a determined look.

Shadow and Rouge nodded and resumed their walk/flight while Omega ducked down and Amy sat on his shoulder again. The robot stood up and followed his teammates while the pink hedgehog started to read other pages in the book.

In Mane Melody, Pipp, and Sonic were over the stage, with the former laying on her belly in the ground as she looked for something on her phone, while the latter sat at the edge and played background music with his guitar.

"Okay... So, according to historical records of my family, the most popular way princes and princesses have shared their relationships is by royal decrees..." Pipp said with a cringed expression. "Ugh! Why did my family have to be so boring in the past?!" she complained.

"Well, on the bright side, that only means we can make the difference!" Sonic said with a smile.

"That's true..." Pipp said with a smile before getting a concerned look again. "But the same question I was making this morning remains... What do we do to make the big announcement?" she questioned. "It has to be special, memorable, and in a really visible place so everypony in Equestria can see it!" she stated.

"Well, then, why not do a livestream? Not only is it common for you to make them, but you also get everypony's attention when you do so," Sonic suggested with a smirk.

"Well, that idea has a problem, Blue Star..." Pipp said with a sheepish smile. "While in theory it is good, in execution, it is terrible because, just like you said, I do streams all the time! It wouldn't feel special at all!" she pointed out. "We need this to be crowded and to respect the family's tradition! UGH, BUT HOW?!" she groaned before resting entirely on the floor.

"Aww, come here, you chubby cutie~" Sonic said to his girlfriend with a smile as he put his guitar aside and opened his arms.

At this, Pipp wrapped her hooves around Sonic and buried her face in his chest, smiling softly as she felt his arms wrapping around her and caressing her back.

Pipp sighed happily before looking up and giving Sonic a small peek on his lips. "You are a huggable dork under that 'cool guy' attitude, you know?" she told him with a loving gaze and a mocking smirk.

"Oh! Getting cheesy so soon, Ms. Petals?" Sonic asked with a smirk. "Perhaps I should give that cute little face of yours a bunch of kisses as a punishment if you keep this attitude up~" he warned seductively.

Pipp blushed like mad after hearing that, but she still smirked again at him. "Mmm, I see... But what if I don't mind it, huh? What if I want you to punish me, hedgehog?" she asked him with an intoxicating tone that made Sonic blush as well.

Still, he chuckled and kissed her nose lovely. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves here, Little Pipp. First things first: If not a stream nor decree, what does Pipp Petals want to tell the world that she has a handsome hedgehog as her boyfriend?" he asked her with a smirk.

Pipp rolled her eyes at this statement but still smiled back at him. "Well... Let's think... What can call enough attention? What can be so memorable that nopony would stop talking about it, even if weeks pass?" she questioned while rubbing her chin.

Sonic did the same for a second, but as soon as he glanced over the stage, they were over, as was the microphone. Then, he glanced back at his girlfriend, who was still thinking.

"Well... If your ancestors used decrees, why not use something as big and crowdy but more exciting?" Sonic implied with a smile.

After he said that, Pipp looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" she asked, confused.

"Alright... Picture this..." Sonic started as he gently let go of Pipp's grip before boosting to the salon's entrance and then framing with his fingers at Pipp and the stage. "You, a very big stage in Zephyr Heights, a bunch of your songs, a massive crowd of ponies, as well as cameras for those who cannot be there live, and me as a secret and special guest!" he explained with a smile, before boosting in front of her once again. "Call it a 'Big Concert for the sake of making one', when in reality, it'll be just a facade to what we really wanna share!" he finished.

"... So... You suggest we should make our declaration by a concert, but to keep the surprise, promote it as a normal concert, and then have you as a final and unexpected number to reveal we are a couple by kissing at the end of a song and so everypony can see it?!" Pipp asked with wide eyes.

"... Well, when you put it like that, it does sound like a really––" Sonic tried to say with an ashamed expression, also scratching his head and lowering his ears.

"AMAZING IDEA!" Pipp screamed in joy as she hugged Sonic tightly and started to kiss his cheek out of control.

Of course, Sonic flinched when she screamed suddenly, but as soon as she started to kiss him, he chuckled.

"Oh, my glitter! Blue Star, what you just suggested is perfect! Exactly what we need!" Pipp said happily. "I can picture it! Princess Pipp Petals' Concert of Unity, a show where I can sing my most iconic songs, and for the big finale, say the real reason why I made the concert, and then you and I can sing together and kiss at the very end! Eee! This is perfect!" she stated with a huge smile, once again kissing Sonic's lips.

Sonic smiled and kissed back before looking at her with a smirk. "Well, now that we settled what to do, I think we must move forward to our next concern," he declared.

"Wait, what?! What else should we worry about?!" Pipp asked in a panic.

"The song we're gonna sing?" Sonic replied with a raised eyebrow and a mocking smirk.

"... Oh... right..." Pipp realized while chuckling nervously.

In Opaline's Castle, Misty struggled to free herself from the purple aura around her hooves.

She's been like this for a few hours now and started worrying that she wouldn't be moving from here.

"'Worst punishment yet'..." Misty said with a frown. "This is nothing. I'll get out of this!" she stated confidently.

After saying this, she struggled a bit but still couldn't move. Looking up at a shelf, she saw her phone and gasped.

Realizing she could grab it to entertain herself while still being grounded, she grabbed a straw from the ground with her mouth and approached it to the phone on the shelf, but the straw fell from her mouth and landed on her face.

Misty shook it to move it away,, then moved closer to try to take her phone down with her horn. However, her horn only pushed the phone a bit farther, making Misty groan and look at the floor in disappointment. "Oh! If only I had my Cutie Mark, I could use Unicorn Powers... Right?" she questioned with concern.

So she went back to grunt and move, but as she did so, her horn actually started to glow, and it sent a very small spark of magic that landed on her right front hoof, freeing it from Opaline's magic and surprising Misty.

"Ha! Well, better than nothing," Misty said with a smile.

After that, she tried to extend her hoof towards her phone but couldn't reach it.

Opaline was panting, exhausted, as she walked towards an unknown location.

Since she used her last spark of magic to ground Misty, she couldn't fly, levitate, or transport herself with magic toward her destiny. Thus, she had to walk. She was so exhausted because she saw herself as obligated to walk.

"Oh, I must be getting close!" Opaline said as she looked at her surroundings. Then, she tried to fly but couldn't without feeling exhausted. "Ugh! All that sitting around and scheming in the castle has got me out of shape!" she said with concern before laughing. "I really should have Misty or Ivo set up a home gym. Hmm," she finished.

Then, she walked a bit forward until she climbed over a rock and saw her reflection over a lake.

"No dragon fire yet?" Opaline said with a frown before smiling mischievously. "No problem! For now, I'll find the one item that will harness its powers even better," she stated confidently. "Sure, this plan has a high chance of wiping out all of the pony magic in Equestria forever, but, as the fillies say today, NMP. Not my problem!" she sang with a laugh.

After that, she jumped from the rock and walked towards her destination.

Back in the castle, Misty sighed in defeat.

She tried to free herself from her current state with her free hoof but was already tired. Trying to catch her phone to fight boredom didn't work, and freeing herself wasn't unsuccessful.

Or it wouldn't have if it wasn't because of her magic, which worked again and freed the rest of her hooves.

At this, Misty cheered happily and smiled as she grabbed her phone. "Opaline thinks she's so powerful and magical..." she mocked up, making bored expressions. But she's no match for my hooves!" she stated confidently while doing neat tricks with her phone.

However, she jumped, startled, and screamed as she heard squeaking noises, hiding behind her bed and throwing the phone.

But then, she saw that pega-mouse Opaline made back when she wanted to steal Sunny's magic, passing and stopping in front of her room. The mouse looked at her, shrugged with more squeaks, and then ran away again, leaving Misty confused.

Yet, the unicorn shrugged and smiled as she remembered something. "And speaking of magic, let's see what those ponies are up to..." Misty stated, climbing down from her bed and grabbing her phone.

Then, she sat on the ground and turned on her phone before putting on a stream performed by Tails.

Her screen showed a banner with fruits and an image of Sunny smiling while wearing a chef hat, with cheerful music playing in the background.

In Canterlove Studios, everything was ready for the show to get started.

Well, everything except Hitch. While Sunny seemed super chill and ready to host the show, Hitch looked anxious and could barely focus.

"Alright, everybody! We're live in three, two, one..." Tails instructed, sitting over a chair at Zipp's side since she was holding the camera, also wearing a headphone on his left ear, while Izzy came by with a clapperboard and clapped it with her magic before moving away. "And... we're on!" Tails announced, pointing at Sunny and Hitch to get the show started.

Pop music played in the background while the camera pointed at the two earth ponies, with Sunny smiling cheerfully and Hitch gulping nervously.

"Welcome to Sunny Side Up!" Sunny greeted with a smile. "I'm Sunny, and this is Hitch, coming to you live from Canterlove Studios. And we're gonna tell you what's up with making delicious food from home!" she confidently stated. "Isn't that right, Hitch?" she asked him cheerfully.

However, as the camera moved to the earth pony stallion, he babbled in panic and looked around nervously.

"Uh yeah... you said it..." Sunny said with an awkward smile as she looked at Hitch at her side, confused.

"I stand to my position, please never make him our last line of defense during an actual attack..." Knuckles muttered with a frown.

"Today, we're going to be making Pearnana Delights!" Sunny smiled as she brought a pearnana to the audience. Then, she looked at Hitch at her side, who was still panicked. "Remember what we talked about, Hitch? Just follow me!" she muttered to him,, bringing out two plates: one with ice and one with kiwis.

Hitch still seemed unsure, but he was already in this, so it was better to go to the end.

"First, we're going to grab as many chopped Pearnanas as you believe will delight your morning!" Sunny started to explain with a smile. She brought a plate with chopped Pearnanas and twirled around, then opened her blender and put some Pearnanas inside.

Then, Hitch looked closer at Sunny's blender to see how many Pearnanas she put in there. "Wait, is that one hoof-full or two? The recipe says––" he tried to say.

However, Sunny cut him off as she instructed him. "Then, add enough ice to your heart's desire!" she muttered with a smile, placing some ice in the blender.

On the other hoof, Hitch struggled with this. As he approached the blender, he held two cups of ice in one hand and one cup in the other. "Wait, how much is that?" he asked Sunny with panic.

But Sunny kept doing her thing, not even noticing how much Hitch struggled. "Then swirl in a secret ingredient with your eyes closed, so it's a surprise, especially to you!" she said, closing her eyes. She grabbed a random bowl with cookies and tossed some inside without even knowing it.

And, of course, this made Hitch panic even more since he understood nothing about what Sunny was talking about. "What?!" he said, confused, now staring at his blender, not knowing what to do anymore.

"Now, chop up your favorite fruit!" Sunny said with a smile. She chopped some kiwis with one eye open and then closed it again to put the fruit in the blender, as she still wanted the secret ingredient to remain secret.

"Sunny, slow down!" Hitch begged with panic, grabbing strawberries and kiwis with his hooves.

Then, Sunny opened her blender and put an apple inside, still with her eyes closed. As Hitch tried to replicate this, he juggled several apples and screamed in panic before putting three of them in the blender and sighing in relief.

Next, Sunny put some chopped mushrooms inside the blender, still with her eyes closed, making Hitch panic as he belted some salt and pepper on his blender. "Sunny, stop closing your eyes while you're operating a blender!" he told her in a panic.

As he did so, he threw more random stuff into the blender until he tripped on an apple on the floor and accidentally headed towards her while holding a bawl of kiwis.

"Wah! Sunny, watch out!" Hitch tried to warn her in panic as Sunny opened her blended smoothie.

But once she heard Hitch's cry, she opened her eyes to panic at seeing her crush heading towards her.

So, Hitch's head crashed with Sunny's blender, which made some of the smoothie contents drop out and land on Sunny's face and chest, which made the earth pony mare cover her face with her hooves.

At this, Hitch gasped in panic, as did Zipp and Tails.

"Ah, shit..." Knuckles muttered with a cringed expression.

"Woah..." Izzy said with concern.

"Hitch!" Sunny cried out. "That pearnana juice went right into my eye!" she muttered in pain, covering her eye with one hoof.

"Aw, Sunny... I'm so sorry..." Hitch said with shame as he grabbed her face carefully while trying to wipe away the content that got into her eye.

This made Sunny blush slightly, but even if Hitch noticed, he didn't care. He had done this to his foalhood friend and crush, and he would fix it.

Well, he tried. As he was about to approach her even more, he tripped on something on the ground. This caused Sunny and Hitch to trip and fall to the ground, and Hitch lay on top of Sunny.

Tails cringed at this and gulped nervously. "Okay, you two! Get it together!" he instructed them with panic.

However, when he checked on the stream's progress, he was surprised that it had received an incredibly good reception after Hitch tripped.

Not only that but as Hitch tried to get up since he fell on top of Sunny's back, he fell again and landed over her, which made Sunny grunt in pain since Hitch was too heavy for her. This made the reception of the stream get even higher, as hearts and laughing faces.

This made Tails blink a few times before shrugging. "Never mind, I said nothing. Keep it up, you two! This is doing numbers!" he said with a huge smile and a chuckle.

"Hey!" Zipp called out to Knuckles at her side. "Would you mind recording what happens next and then sending it to my sister?" she muttered , extending her phone to him.

"And make fun out of those two?! With pleasure!" Knuckles replied with a smirk. He grabbed the phone and pointed it at Sunny and Hitch with a mocking smirk while hitting the 'record' button.

Meanwhile, Sunny and Hitch groaned in pain. Still, as soon as Sunny remembered that this was being recorded live, she stood up with wide eyes while lifting Hitch in the process, as he stood on his hind legs before losing his balance and then falling backward again.

"Uh, that's okay!" Sunny declared with a nervous smile, raising a hoof in the air. "Um, falling is a part of the recipe!" she added with a giggle, standing in front of the counter again.

But as Hitch was walking behind her with a disappointed expression, he tripped with some kiwis on the ground and fell again.

"Mind if I sent this to myself, too?" Knuckles muttered to Zipp with a smirk.

Hitch groaned in pain and then looked confused at the kiwis in front of him and the ones that fell on his face while he heard Sunny giggling at what happened to him.

However, as soon as Hitch looked at the kiwis again, he looked back at Sunny and grinned mischievously, gathering all the kiwis he could with his hooves.

When Sunny realized what he would do, her eyes widened, and she stopped giggling. "You wouldn't dare," she told him with a frown.

Oh, guess what? He dared!

Hitch began to launch kiwis at Sunny, and she screamed and ran away but eventually started to laugh. She also joined the food fight by throwing some fruits at him.

Then, Hitch found a spray frosting, shook it, and smirked over his shoulder at Sunny.

In Maretime Bay, everypony watched this and laughed at the scene between the two earth ponies.

Back in the studio, the food fight continued between Sunny and Hitch.

However, just when Sunny was about to hit Hitch with more food, she slipped, spreading the contents of her smoothie on the ground. In panic, she slid towards a wall, where she crashed into it before falling on her back.

At this, Tails and Izzy laughed while Knuckles laughed loudly in the background.

In the castle, Misty watched the stream in her room.

After watching Sunny crash into the wall, she busted out laughing. But then, she realized something that made her gasp.

"If they're there, then that means they aren't paying attention to Sparky, and I can grab the dragon fire after all! And then neither Opaline nor Eggman won't doubt my loyalty!" Misty stated with a smile.

Then, she grabbed a pen from a corner of her room and drew the fake butterfly Cutie Mark on her flank.

"Just in case I'm spotted!" Misty smiled and giggled. "Ooh, this is going to be great!" she said.

After that, she tried to leave her room, but suddenly, a blue barrier formed at the entrance, and Misty was sent back. She slid to the ground and stopped when her back hit her bed.

She looked at the barrier that just appeared confused, but Eggman came into vision, and she panicked since she was not trapped on her hooves anymore, and Eggman knew about it.

"In case you forgot, young lady, You are grounded, which means that you cannot leave!" Eggman reminded her with a frown.

The barrier appeared because Eggman himself installed it at Opaline's request. So, if Misty did get out of the grip on her hooves, she would still not leave her room.

"Seriously? Now you too?!" Misty groaned with annoyance.

"I'm not happy with this either, Misty, but you got plenty of opportunities, and failed," Eggman pointed out. "If punishing you is the only way you'll learn to take your tasks seriously, then so be it!" he stated before walking away. "Don't worry, though. I won't tell her you got free from her magical gap," he assured her.

Misty sighed and lay on her bed. "I should've expected that it couldn't be that easy," she complained sadly.

Opaline kept walking for a good while, not panting anymore.

Eventually, she reached a mountain with many crystals coming from the ground. Between the two tallest crystals, there seemed to be some horn with holes.

When she saw this, Opaline gasped with a smile. Dragonstone! Just as I remembered," she said with an evil grin. And the magic's return has begun to activate it, just as I hoped," she added excitedly.

Just like Opaline said, the Dragonstone seemed to be glowing bright and floating, all because of the magic's return.

"Once I add dragon fire to it, it will be unstoppable, and so will I!" Opaline stated, laughing maniacally at this.

Sonic and Pipp decided to go to the Brighthouse to plan everything for their concert.

They had to move because many clients were arriving at Mane Melody. Since they still needed their things to be private and a surprise for the concert, they had to leave immediately.

Thankfully, Jazz and Rocky promised to cover Pipp as she and Sonic prepared so she could focus entirely on the concert.

The couple was in the bedroom. Pipp sat on her desk while Sonic sat at the edge of her bed with his legs crossed.

"Alright. Now that we have decided to go to a concert, we all need to find a song we can sing together!" Pipp said with a smile.

"Well, if the song is everything we're missing, how about we sing the same song we had for our confession?" Sonic suggested. "What was it called again... 'Rewrite the Stars', right?" he asked with a smile.

"Well, the song is good, yes, but... I was hoping we could use something more original. Maybe a song nopony in Equestria has ever heard!" Pipp replied.

"Huh... So, it's a song that nopony has ever heard, and we haven't sung together before, either..." Sonic muttered as he rubbed his chin. "Well, I have two options in mind right now: We can either make a completely new song from scratch on such short notice or..." he started before bringing out his phone with a smirk. "We could use a song from my world! Nobody has ever heard them. And don't worry, I'm not suggesting any song used in my games. None of them would fit the atmosphere we wanna give, anyways," he assured with a smirk and a wink.

"Blue Star, when I think I can't love you even more, you prove me wrong!" Pipp said with a huge smile as she flew to her bed and kissed Sonic's cheek.

"Oh, I could say the same about you, Ms. Petals~" Sonic replied with a flirty tone, and Pipp blushed a bit and looked away.

Then, Sonic turned on his phone and looked through his playlist, ready to show Pipp some songs from his world that they could use for their duet at the concert.

Back in Canterlove Studios, the food fight was finally over.

Food was spread throughout the studio on Sunny and Hitch's bodies and in the kitchen.

Izzy was sweeping the food from the floor, and she hummed happily when she saw Sparky eating food from the floor. "Oh! Found some food floor? Yum!" she said happily while Sparky wagged his tail and nodded at her question.

Then, Izzy and Sparky were about to eat food from the floor until Knuckles' voice spoke. "Sparky, Izzy! Don't eat food off the floor!" he scolded them both.

"Aww..." Izzy said sadly as both she and Sparky whimpered in sadness.

Noticing this, Knuckles rolled his eyes and approached them both. He grabbed Sparky and put him over his head, softly patting Izzy's back. "There, there, hon. It's not the end of the world," he told her with a little smile.

"I'm still sad, though," Izzy said, looking up at Knuckles with sad puppy eyes.

Knuckles resisted the urge to give her what she wanted, even if he wanted to. "Say: What if I take you out to a nice place with food prepared by your favorite echidna, huh? To make up for this," he told her with a smirk.

At this, Izzy's attitude immediately shifted to her cheerful one again. She hugged Knuckles tightly and kissed his cheek. "Deal!" she said happily.

Meanwhile, Tails checked how the stream was going. Now that the food fight was over, there were no more reactions, which made him gasp dramatically. "We're losing them. It's time to mix this up!" he said confidently.

After that, he backed away from the studio, returning a few seconds later with two bags containing food.

"Okay, you two. It's time to spice this up!" Tails said with a smirk. "Do a recipe with these bags of mystery ingredients!" He whispered the last two words, but his eyes widened as he had another idea. "Oh, oh! And the winner becomes cooking royalty!" he said, launching a golden scepter and a purple crown at Sunny and Hitch.

Sunny grabbed the scepter and looked at it, confused. The crown crashed on Hitch's face, and he saw the crown and Tails with a frown.

Then, the young fox got in the middle of them and smiled even more with another idea. "And maybe, Sunny instructs Hitch blindly as he cooks! Ooh, I like it!" he said with a huge grin.

Then, he slapped a blue sleeping mask on Hitch's face, which confused the stallion, as he started to walk around completely blinded.

"What?" Sunny said in a panic. "I don't think this is a good idea," she said with concern, especially for her crush.

Hitch, however, waved a hoof in front of him, but of course, he could not see anything because of the sleeping mask, which weirdly made him smile. "Well, I'm starting to get the hang of this whole hosting thing, and I think it's a great idea," he stated happily before turning and trying to walk back with Sunny. "But if you wanna sit this one out, Sunny, I'm happy to host solo," he assured with a smile, passing right in front of the earth pony mare.

Of course, Sunny still saw this as a terrible idea, but she also found a mistake in Hitch's suggestion. "But the show is called 'Sunny Side Up'!" she pointed out.

"And pretty soon, it'll be called, 'THIS SHIT IS FUCKING OVER'!" Tails shouted in panic with a twitchy eye while shaking Sunny violently. "Guys, we need to recapture the magic and do it fast!" he pointed out with concern.

Then, they heard Hitch falling from the stage and landing on the floor since he was still fully blinded. "Ow," Hitch complained.

"Ugh!" Tails groaned and facepalmed.

Back at Opaline's Castle, Misty sighed, disappointed.

Since she couldn't leave her room because she was grounded, she picked up her phone again and continued watching the stream.

"Welcome back to 'Sunny Side Up,' where my co-chef Hitch will be baking Cinnamon-Raisin Fruity Cutie Cookies!" Sunny presented with a panicked expression, while Hitch behind her still felt lost because of the sleeping mask on his face.

"He'll be cooking blindly while I... instruct him?" Sunny asked, confused.

As she did so, Tails raised his thumbs from the computer with a nervous smile while Hitch tapped his hooves on the counter and tried to grab anything at this point.

"You know what? I can't," Sunny said with concern.

At this, everyone else looked at each other before looking back at Sunny with worry for her.

"Sunny?" Hitch called out in shock as he removed the sleeping mask from his face. "What are you doing?" he asked her.

"I'll tell you what we're not doing: a cooking show!" Sunny said with concern. "Look at this place. Look at us! How did we become such a mess?" she complained with sadness. "Ever since we just started trying to follow likes, I lost track of what's most important. You wanna know what I love about being a chef? What I thought this show would be about?" she asked with a smile.

"It's a way to let loose and break free of expectations!" Sunny said in a cheerful tone.

Misty heard this from her room with a saddened expression since Sunny described how Misty felt.

"Cooking is great to get you out of a rut!" Sunny kept telling from the studio. "Like if you've lost your way or stuck. Especially if you're stuck because somepony's keeping you there against your will and pushing you to do something you don't think is right!" she added with a frown.

At this statement, Misty panicked and looked around her room before looking at the phone with concern.

Back in the studio, Tails chuckles awkwardly at this statement, too.

"Sunny, that not only was utterly specific, but you also seem to be foreshadowing something..." Knuckles said with a bored expression. "I can feel it!" he muttered, looking around suspiciously.

"Yeah, okay. Maybe that was a little over-dramatic," Sunny confessed with a smile, while Hitch nodded at her side, also smiling. "But, if you're going through something like that, well, cooking is a great way for you to reclaim your power," she assured with a smile.

"Guaranteed!" Knuckles said with a smile as he popped from behind the counter. "Cooking is an art that must be respected like any other art. It calms your made, breaks your chains, and sets you free! It makes you feel like yourself!" he stated confidently.

"Exactly!" Sunny said with a smile, and as Knuckles ducked to get off the camera's vision, Sunny grabbed some leaves on the counter. "Quit doing things you don't want to do just to make everypony else happy, and simply be yourself!" she declared, putting some smoothie contents inside of a purple cup and putting the leaves she grabbed, then closing the smoothie entirely.

Misty kept watching this, now feeling sad because of everything Sunny had said.

"So, to everypony watching, it's time to start believing in yourself," Sunny said with a cheerful tone.

Misty smiled warmly after hearing this, now understanding what to do and who to choose.

"And every dish, dessert, or Pearnana Delight you make, whether you followed the recipe or improvised your own, has the power to be delicious and unique. Just like you!" Sunny assured the watchers with a smile and a wink.

Yet, she made the terrible mistake of sipping from the smoothie, and Hitch noticed that. "Sunny, wait! No!" he tried to warn her.

But Sunny herself realized her mistake. Her eyes widened, and she spit the smoothie contents from her mouth. It all fell on Hitch's face, and she coughed in disgust. Hitch cringed at what had happened.

"Oh my..." Sunny said with regret.

"Draaamaaa!" Tails muttered with wide eyes, while Izzy at his side only shook a hoof with concern.

"Except when it's a cup full of sour ingredients your co-host threw at you earlier..." Sunny said sheepishly as she pointed at Hitch, who smiled awkwardly and waved his hoof.

Still, Hitch extended a towel to her while Sunny smiled warmly at him and grabbed the towel.

Back in her room, Misty smiled as she stared at her phone.

Everything Sunny said went straight into her head, and she was starting to wake up and realize her situation.

"She... she's right..." Misty realized as she put her phone aside. "I've been failing my missions for Opaline lately because I... I don't want to succeed..." she finally confessed. "I... I don't want to take away the ponies' power. I focused so much on trying to please her and follow her every order that I never once asked myself what I wanted. I never once thought of believing in myself," she added with concern.

Even though she gets compliments from Eggman more often than from Opaline, he's been acting distant lately. Ever since she broke the amulet, Eggman seems harsher toward her. Even though he told her a week ago that he'd never hurt her, even if she chooses her new friends over him and Opaline, he's only been disappointing her.

And now, Misty prefers her friends over two villains who are too focused on getting power and becoming stronger even to consider her feelings.

"I've got to find a way out of this!" Misty stated confidently as she looked around her room.

Opaline started climbing the mountain, which led to the Dragonstone at the top.

However, as she did so, she found a rock in the middle of the path that made her outrageous. Grinning, she launched a fire laser from her horn at the rock, which split it in two.

Then, as Opaline kept walking, she almost tripped on a rock, which she pushed with a frown. "Ugh, this hike is atrocious!" she complained before almost sliding off the mountain. However, she recovered her balance quickly and kept moving. "Why does every magical thing have to be precariously perched on a hill with stuff in the way?" she complained again.

After that, she launched another blast of fire against some more rocks, which made her feel weak as she panted.

Still, Opaline recovered her senses and noticed that her hooves were dirty. "Here's an idea! Bury your magic things within hoof's reach!" she groaned angrily.

Back in the castle, Misty walked in circles with a concerned expression.

"Opaline has been lying to me from the moment we met!" Misty finally realized. Thank God! I was tired of writing stuff about that bitch being rude with Misty. "I knew something was off when I discovered earth ponies didn't have laser eyes!" she pointed out.

Then, she took a chest from the shelf in her room, opened it, and turned it around to leave it empty. Then, she looked at her stuff: a fake horn from Izzy's Unicorn Sleepover, sunglasses, a small golden hat, a cactus, and a purple feather.

Misty then took the picture Tails gave her and looked at it with concern. "All they've ever treated me with is kindness—the kindness I deserve," she said.

But so does Eggman, a voice that spoke deep inside Misty's mind.

"No... he used to... but not anymore..." Misty said with sadness and disappointment.

Then, she grabbed a bag and packed all her things, including the pencil, since she still had no Cutie Mark.

However, as she turned to see Taffytail near her bed, she grabbed the doll and lowered her ears with doubt. "But is this the right move, Madame Taffytail? This is the only life I've ever known..." she pointed out with concern. When she looked back at the doll, it seemed to have made a node gesture. "But maybe that's even more reason to go outside and experience more of it," she stated with a confident smile.

Once again, Eggman seemed to have heard everything, just a few meters away from her room.

It was hard to tell how he was feeling, but... Happy was not one of those emotions.

In the past few months, he has grown to care for Misty like he never did for anyone else, but now... Now Misty wanted to leave with his enemies...

Does this count as treason? Does this count as her turning her back on him and Opaline? Was she... a traitor now, joining Perfect Chaos, the Deadly Six, Neo Metal Sonic, and the ongoing list of traitors he had?

He didn't know, and he didn't want to know. He walked away from her room and back to the Throne Room, but as he did so, he had to wipe something falling from his cheek with a hand.

Tears? This was new for him... Why was he crying?

Back in the studio, Zipp smiled as she turned off the camera.

"And that's a cut to commercial!" Tails announced as Izzy came by with the clapperboard and clapped it again with her magic while Zipp laughed a bit.

"And maybe when we're back, can we have you guys make some food?" Zipp told the earth ponies with a smile.

"Please! You guys haven't made anything so far!" Knuckles pointed with a concerned expression.

Hitch smiled and nodded at this, but Sunny didn't seem happy or cheerful anymore.

Even though they had already cleaned the food off their bodies, the studio was still a mess, but Sunny was not concerned.

"Hitch, I think we need to talk," Sunny told him sadly as she walked off the kitchen stage. "All I wanted was to be a great chef and an inspiration. But everything just got out of control," she pointed out with concern while Hitch followed behind. "When I made that big speech about needing to be myself, I realized you must be yourself, too. You were so nervous and, instead of encouraging you to do things your way, I let us both get caught in all this chaos..." she explained while Hitch looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "I'm sorry... can you forgive me?" she asked him.

"Sunny, I'm shocked..." Hitch replied with surprise.

"Listen, I already said sorry, Hitch. You don't have to rub it in," Sunny said with a frown.

"No, no. 'Forgive you'? Sunny, this has been an awesome day!" Hitch declared with a smile, which left Sunny a bit confused. "Sure, I didn't learn how to cook from the master, and I'm pretty sure nopony at home did, either," he added, slightly pushing Sunny as she giggled. "But I had a great time! It reminded me of how we used to play as kids in Grandma Figgy's kitchen. Remember our food fights were epic?" he reminded her with a smile.

At this, Sunny smirked at him before laughing. "How could I forget?" she said as she and Hitch laughed.

"And besides, you are a great chef and an inspiration!" Hitch assured her as he walked towards Tails' computer and turned it so they could see a video that Hitch played.

It showed Hitch launching lemons at Sunny during their food fight, as Sunny escaped from him while laughing.

"You certainly inspired me to overcome my stage fright!" Hitch assured her. The food fight helped with that, too," he added, shaking a spot of smoothie content from his hoof. "Maybe if we met in the middle, we'd create a show we both wanted to make," he suggested with a smile.

"One that celebrates both of our strengths!" Sunny stated with a smile as Hitch nodded in agreement.

Back in the Brighthouse, Pipp fixed her mane in front of her mirror while Sonic adjusted his gloves.

After that, he quickly cleaned Pipp's bed and fixed it back to normal. Then, he looked over at Pipp, fixing her mane, and smirked as he sneaked behind her and hugged her from her back.

"You know? You always look cute to me, no matter what we do or how we do it, " Sonic said with a smirk, nuzzling her cheek.

Pipp smiled and kissed his cheek, down the comb she used to fix her mane. "And you have quite a dominant side I never thought I'd see, handsome," she replied mischievously.

"Yeah, maybe I got a bit carried away," Sonic confessed with an eye roll and a smile. "Anyway, after that 'break,' I think we should focus back on our remaining problem," he said, breaking the hug and facing his girlfriend with a concerned expression.

"I know..." Pipp said, now frowning with worry. "But we have looked at your playlist for hours! Some songs might sound good for a duet and a closure, I admit it, but..." she tried to add.

"But they don't have the message we wanna share... Yeah, I know..." Sonic finished for her, taking out his phone again. "Well, I just got three more options: 'Gone Gone Gone,' 'True Colors,' and 'Heart Attack'..." he suggested. "But the first of those options is more a 'I can't forget you despite you died/broke with me', and the second one only works when you wanna cheer somebody..." he pointed out with concern, then groaned.

"And what about the third option?" Pipp asked.

"Well... It has many meanings, you know? For some, it's a song about being scared to open your heart to someone after being heartbroken several times in the past..." Sonic explained, and he could relate to that... But he wasn't ready to talk about it yet. "For others, however, it's a song about falling in love for the best time and getting all the scares that imply: Would they love me back? Am I good enough for them? What if I'm not ready for a relationship? Should I even flirt with them? You know... Things you normally think when you're afraid about being in love..." he pointed out.

But when he saw Pipp again, she had sparkling eyes and covered her mouth with her hooves.

"... Uh... Little Pipp? You okay?" Sonic asked, a bit concerned.

"Sonic... I think this song might be what we were looking for!" Pipp said as she squeezed Sonic's cheeks with her hooves.

"Uh... You mean 'Heart Attack'?" Sonic asked, confused. "I mean, it's a good song, but... Wouldn't it work better if we sang that before we even became a thing?" he pointed out.

"Sonic, you said that this song also means that someone fell in love for the first time, and it's scary!" Pipp pointed out. "I was afraid that you wouldn't like me back, remember? And yes, also the fact that you said you wanted to go home, but mostly what scared me was... Not being good enough for you... And I'm really glad you proved me wrong," she told him with a smile and a loving gaze.

Sonic blushed, but he still smiled at her and caressed her cheek. "Well... I'd be lying if I said I wasn't afraid, too... And I'm also glad you proved me wrong, too," he assured her.

Then, they both locked their lips again before separating and staring at each other with loving gazes.

"So... What do you say, Blue Star? Should we sing it?" Pipp asked him with a smile.

"Well, since we ran out of options..." Sonic said jokingly before looking back at Pipp with a smirk. "Nah, just kidding. Let's do it!" he declared with confidence.

It took her a while, but she finally made it.

Opaline reached the top of the mountain, and therefore, she reached the Dragonstone.

She smirked mischievously as she had the stone before her, and she extended her hoof, but...

"But Opaline, are you sure?" Opaline asked herself. "Do you want to seize the most powerful crystal in all of Equestria for your won selfishness?" she said with sad puppy eyes.

Yeah, this was all an act because she started laughing after saying this.

"Oh, that was a good one..." Opaline said with a smile. "Why am I so funny when nopony's around?" she asked smugly.

However, as she extended her hoof to grab the stone, it stopped floating and fell several meters to the ground. It then got stuck between some rocks, which made Opaline scream in rage.

"Magic, seize it!" Opaline said as she tried to light up her horn, but it didn't work. She groaned, frustrated, but then she gasped when she realized the sun was setting on the horizon, so she frowned and looked back at the Dragonstone. "I'll be back," she stated.

After that, she turned around and headed back towards her castle.

Speaking of her castle, Misty was still in her room, talking with Taffytail.

"And another thing! Other unicorns aren't trying to trick me, though there was that one time where Izzy blindfolded me and forced me to hit a weird thing called a 'pine-a-tah'..." Misty said, then she looked at the ground and her hooves before sitting down with a conflicted look. "Oh, I'm so confused!" she groaned.

Then, she sat on her bed and took a deep breath before continuing.

"Okay, think. As Eggman says, let's focus on the facts..." Misty stated as she calmed down. "Opaline lied to me, and I still don't have a Cutie Mark. Maybe I never will..." she realized. "On the other hand, Eggman has treated me with as much respect as he can share ever since we met. Sure, he's been a bit less friendly lately, but he's still friendly... Yet, maybe it's all an act to keep me here and not leave with my new friends..." she muttered with concern.

She never thought about it until now, but it made sense: Eggman was as bad as Opaline, if not worse than her, so his acting so friendly with her might be just a strategy, another simple scheme to keep her around them to spy on her friends.

Of course, this was half-true since Eggman did care for her, but as of how he's been lately, she's convinced that he doesn't care for her...

"Okay, then it's settled! I'm finally leaving Opaline and Eggman for good," Misty said with a confident smile that faded as she looked at the entrance to her room. "Now I just have to figure out how..." she realized.

Team Dark and Amy spent almost the whole day climbing the mountain.

Amy kept reading the book's entire story up to the ripped pages. She read it over and over again at least 6 times, but when nighttime arrived, and they all had to look for a place to spend the night, she sighed, frustrated, because there was no answer on how the Emeralds went from Equestria to Mobius.

Since they didn't find a cave, they had to sleep outdoors this time. The advantage was that there was no snowstorm, but that didn't make the conditions to sleep any warmer.

Also, since they had a tree nearby, Rouge decided to sleep upside down, with her wings working as a huge blanket that wrapped her around.

Once again, Omega turned into resting mode and shut down while Amy fell asleep on Shadow's shoulder, who was reading the book instead of her.

He was intrigued and concerned about the possibility of the Emeralds coming from this world. They were magical and miraculous gems, true, but every other object back home was, too. The Master Emerald, for example...

Did that mean the Master Emerald was also from another world? That much of the stuff they always thought and believed was wrong?

Supposing it was, how did they travel to another world, then? And why did nobody know about this up until now? This had no sense at all to him...

"... But the Ancients couldn't allow another tragedy to happen after what happened with their planet..." Shadow read quietly so he wouldn't wake up Amy at his side. "So, with no hesitation, they started to plan up what to do along Owls and Hedgehogs," he read with a frown.

He then rubbed his eyes and shook his head, wanting to stay awake as long as possible so he could keep reading.

"They prepared battle canyons, Soldiers, Azuras, Ninjas, and every other warrior they built to protect the islands..." Shadow kept reading. "However, their most significant invention has to be their last line of defense in case everything else fails: Four giant, mechanized robots called Titans, all powered up by the Chaos Emeralds. Hopefully, they'll defeat him––" he read.

However, that's where the book ended because whatever was next seemed part of the ripped-apart pages, and Shadow's frown grew.

But then he had a weird idea, so he tapped his finger on the spot where the ripped pages used to be and closed his eyes.

"Chaos Control," Shadow muttered, and some slight orange sparkles came out of his hands as he tried to activate his ability with his power.

But after two minutes, he had to stop, because it was draining too much energy from him... And yet, his eyes widened when he saw that the trick worked because a small fraction of the ripped pages was back.

Of course, he couldn't be so stupid as to do the trick again and waste more energy, but Shadow grinned, knowing Chaos Control could bring those pages back.

"Perhaps the Chaos Emerald might be the key to restoring these pages..." Shadow muttered confidently.

Back in Canterlove Studios, everyone was ready to get the show back.

"Three, two, one..." Zipp counted down. Once she reached one, Izzy used the clapperboard and clapped. "And we're back!" she announced with a smile.

"Welcome back to 'Sunny Side Up'! I'm Sunny!" Sunny greeted with a smile.

"And I'm Hitch!" Hitch added with a smile and a salute.

"And we're finally gonna tell you what's up with today's Pearnana Delights recipe," Sunny stated happily, as Hitch brought out the ingredients while Sunny herself grabbed a plate with Pearnanas. "Now, before, I mentioned grabbing as many chomped Pearnanas as you believe will delight your morning, but to be more specific, that's about a cup and a half," she said with a sheepish smile.

"And before, I started slinging fruit when I got frustrated," Hitch confessed sheepishly, putting chopped Pearnanas and strawberries in his blender. "When really, I should've been more patient and clear with my follow-up questions," he stated as he and Sunny shared a side hug.

However, this change of direction didn't seem to increase views. Rarely did anyone react to the stream, which made Tails flinch and bite his lower lip nervously.

"Guys, this is wholesome as fuck, but our viewership is plummeting!" Tails said with panic and wide eyes. "I love it when you two get along just fine, but the viewers do not agree! What should we do?!" he asked.

"First, stop swearing," Knuckles begged as he approached his side. Not only does it not suit you at all, but we can barely take you seriously when you do so," he said with a bored expression.

"Yeah, it's like giving a whole arsenal of guns to a bunch of puppies," Izzy compared with a concerned expression, and Tails deadpanned at her.

"Also, I don't think we should do anything at all, Tails," Zipp added with a smirk before looking back at Sunny and Hitch with a smile. "This is the real 'Sunny Side Up'!" she pointed out as the two earth ponies put salt on their blenders. "Sure, the numbers aren't as high as when they were hurling whipped cream at each other..." she said with a smirk.

At this point, Izzy came by with spray frosting and ate some cream from it. "But it's sweeter! Simpler!" she pointed out, talking about the show, not the cream. I just wanted to clarify that.

"The way it should've been from the very beginning..." Tails realized with an ashamed expression. He facepalmed and lowered his ears in sadness.

Meanwhile, Sunny and Hitch finished their smoothies, sipping them with smiles.

"Mm! This is delicious!" Hitch said with a happy smile.

"Thanks so much for tuning in, everypony!" Sunny said with a smile. "But before we go, we want to say something," she added.

"This would be our first and last 'Sunny Side Up' broadcast," Hitch announced. "Thank you all for tuning in today. The ups, the downs..." he pointed out with a smile.

"The Pearnanas that we'll be cleaning up for weeks!" Sunny added as well with a smile.

Just then, a pearnana fell from the ceiling and landed behind them, which made the two earth ponies look at each other before laughing about it.

"But we hope it inspired everypony to come down to Canterlove Studios and join in on the fun!" Hitch added as he and Sunny made a toast with their smoothies.

"And cut!" Zipp announced with a smile.

Then, Knuckles, Izzy, and Zipp stood right in front of the two earth ponies with smiles, while Tails stood behind the rest with conflicted thoughts.

"That was brilliant!" Izzy said cheerfully.

"That was very educational!" Zipp added with a smile.

"You two did something very mature today! I like it!" Knuckles said with a smirk and a wink.

"Yeah... It was... It was the right call to make..." Tails spoke from behind, flying above the rest. He then landed at Sunny and Hitch's side with an ashamed expression, sighing, and looked at the earth ponies. "Guys, I'm sorry if I pushed you two too much earlier..." he apologized to them.

"Het, Tails, it's okay––" Sunny tried to say.

"No, it's not!" Tails snapped before realizing he had said that too loud. "Um, sorry... What I mean is that I was too focused on the idea of getting this entire show together because you two were the stars! I honestly forgot that the entire point of this show was to inspire others to come, but I got so invested in who was doing it, and... And I'm sorry... I shouldn't have pushed you two that much when you didn't enjoy it..." he pointed out with concern.

"Hey, we all make mistakes!" Hitch smiled and pointed out to him. "Yeah, maybe you went too far with the idea of me baking cookies blinded, but the important thing is that you realized your mistake!"

"I know... It's just... There's this weird sparkle around you two whenever you're together!" Tails pointed out. "When you two are in the same room or place, things either go wrong or right, or even both! You two grow as people, learn lessons, and laugh about it... together..." he explained. "It's some weird pattern that convinced me this show would blow! But instead, it turned out a lot more chaotic... I let myself get this entire S.B.S.A. thing in my head, and... I'm sorry..." he apologized once again with shame.

"Tails, I still don't know what StarBlazer is, honestly? I think it's better like that..." Sunny said with a little smile before dragging him into a hug. "But we're not mad at you! Sure, you might have got a little carried away..." she said with an eye roll.

However, as she did so, Knuckles took Tails' clipboard and sipped from his smoothie. His eyes suddenly widened. "You were planning to launch merch if this kept going?!" he asked Tails, confused.

"What? Let me see that!" Zipp said as she snatched the clipboard from Knuckles and read what it said, with her eyes also widening. "... I think he got more carried away than just a little..." she commented anxiously.

Tails chuckled awkwardly at this, bringing his tails to cover his face from the embarrassment.

"My point is that if you apologize, it's because you know you did something wrong." Sunny kept talking with a smile. "And honestly? The fact that you had the will to accept that you did something wrong says miles about yourself! And I think that's better than fine!" she stated with a smile as she hugged him again.

Tails smiled and hugged her back, and soon enough, Hitch joined as well, although he got dragged by Tails' tails into it.

But then, as Izzy checked her phone, she gasped at something, so she levitated it and approached it to her friends. "Whoa, whoa, hold everything! Everypony in Maretime Bat just signed up!"

She approached the phone into Sunny, Hitch, and Tails' faces as they all stared confused at it.

"Huh..." Knuckles said as he looked at the same information on his phone. "Would you please look at that? It seems like the studio is fully blocked for the next six months!" he pointed out.

"Huh, probably for the best," Zipp said with a smirk as Sunny, Hitch, and Tails looked at her. "You two wouldn't be able to top that episode, anyway," she pointed out, and Sunny and Hitch smiled at that.

"Especially considering their manager kind of didn't give them the script I didn't write before the show, hehehe..." Tails said with a sheepish smile while tapping his index fingers together.

At this, Hitch's eyes widened, and he frowned as he looked at Tails. "THERE WAS AN SCRIPT?!" he shouted in rage, and Tails covered his ears while ducking down.

Sunny had some 'big sister' instinct when he did that, so she looked at Hitch with a frown and moved Tails apart. "Yeah, Zipp's right... It's for the best that this is over..." she said with a bored expression.

Back in Opaline's Castle, Misty walked back and forth to her room.

"From this moment on, I make my own choices!" Misty said decisively. From this moment on, I make my friends! From this moment on, I—–" she tried to add.

However, as she heard Opaline coughing, she panicked and stood very still in her place.

"Make sure Opaline doesn't find out. I just said all that!" Misty declared with panic.

So, Misty hid Taffytail under her pillow and put her bag with her things behind her chest on the shelf before standing up and then getting back to where she was originally when she had her hooves tied with Opaline's magic.

Speaking of Opaline, both she and Eggman were walking toward Misty's room. Opaline cleared her throat and tried to make her evil laugh, but then she coughed again, which made Eggman cringe.

"Come on!" Opaline complained with a frown. "My cackle used to be my greatest quality!" she said with concern.

"Is that even a thing? I doubt it..." Eggman said with a bored expression, and Eggman glared daggers at him.

"Ivo, that's a lie!" Opaline said with an eye roll as they both stopped before Misty's room. "Every quality is my greatest quality!" she stated with a confident smirk.

"Uh-huh. You should get off that egotistical cloud of yours..." Eggman deadpanned at her.

"Says the guy who built a whole-ass station with his face..." Opaline countered.

Eggman just shook his head and brought out a remote, then pressed a button that made the barrier on Misty's room disappear as both villains entered her room.

"Misty," Opaline kind of greeted her as she walked by her. Something's different..." she stated, and Misty panicked as she looked up at Eggman since he knew she had escaped Opaline's grip. Yet, all Eggman did was show a hand and count from three to one, then point at Opaline as she stopped before a window and looked at her reflection. "I've somehow become more enchanting in the last 12 hours!" she said with pride.

"Phew..." Misty sighed, relieved.

"And she still thinks I'm the egotistical one here," Eggman muttered with annoyance.

"I hope you've thought hard about your failure while I was gone," Opaline warned Misty with a slight frown.

"I have, and I will... I mean! I won't fail you again!" Misty replied nervously.

"Okay, okay. It's easy," Opaline said to Misty with a cringed expression. "You don't have to spit on me while you grovel," she said, as Misty looked at the floor with sadness.

But then, Opaline lifted Misty's face with a hoof and made her look at her.

"Misty, dear. I hope you know that I'm so hard on you because I believe in you," Opaline assured her with what I suppose is a sweet smile as she also caressed Misty's mane. "I see so much of the young pony I once was: Strong. Determined. Destined for greatness. But that doesn't come easy!" she pointed out.

However, as she said all of this and looked at the ceiling, Misty looked back at Eggman with a confused expression. Eggman deadpanned at Opaline's hypocrisy. Looking at Misty, he just shrugged, unsure what to say about what Opaline was doing.

"You understand, right?" Opaline asked the unicorn while grabbing her cheek with a hoof.

Misty looked at the ground with doubt but then looked back at Opaline. "I do."

"Good," Opaline said with a grin.

After that, she used her magic to 'free' Misty, as the purple auras around her hooves appeared again but then disappeared immediately.

"Woo! Oh, thank you, Opaline!" Misty said with an awkward smile as she stretched her hooves and pretended that she was just free from the spell. "I am now free!" she added while Opaline left the room. "Oh, it is great to be free!" she finished, getting out of her room, with Eggman following behind.

However, he stopped Misty, and even if the unicorn felt startled when Eggman cleaned off her fake Cutie Mark, she sighed in relief and smiled at him thankfully.

Then, they all entered the Throne Room, and Opaline showed them an image of the Dragonstone from her boiler.

"And I've been busy as well. Very busy," Opaline stated, pointing at the image of the Dragonstone in front of them. "I've located it."

"It's beautiful!" Misty said with a smile.

"It's immaculate! But also, terribly stuck," Opaline said, at first with a grin, but then with a bored expression. "Get plenty of rest tonight, Misty, because in the morning, we galop."

At this, Misty just nodded before leaving the Throne Room entirely, leaving both Eggman and Opaline alone.

"So... Did you check on her constantly?" Opaline asked Eggman as she made the image of the Dragonstone disappear.

Eggman said nothing; he simply nodded at her. After a while, he said, "I think you might want to keep her inside, Opaline."

"What?!" Opaline shouted. "Why would I do that?!"

"Because if she goes out there and interacts just one more time with those fools... Perhaps we'll lose her..." Eggman replied with a frown.

Two days later, everything was ready for the concert.

Now that Sonic and Pipp had defined which song to sing, everything else was easier: performing on the stage with their friends in Zephyr Heights, promoting the concert like maniacs, and rehearsing their duet song until none of them could tolerate it anymore.

Pipp was extremely nervous when the big day arrived, while Sonic seemed pretty chill about it.

Pipp wasn't nervous because of the concert: It wasn't her first, and it definitely wouldn't be her last. But the fact that the final number is not only a song nopony in Equestria never heard before, but also a duet to present Sonic as her official boyfriend.

The fact that the crowd of ponies was so large and insane, to the point it almost seemed like a bunch of blurry faces that popped up out of nowhere, didn't help to calm her nerves.

Still, she reminded herself to keep her composure, and so she started the show.

She sang many of her most iconic songs, including 'Glowin Up', 'All You Need is Your Beat', 'Let's Make Our Mark Together', 'Every New Day', and many others.

But once the crowd cheered loudly during her last song, Pipp landed on the stage. Since she was flying, her heart started to beat insanely fast because of how nervous she was.

"Um... Thank you, everypony!" Pipp said with a nervous smile. "I, um... I'm so glad to see so many ponies tonight. Now, as much as I would love for this to go forever, time is wrapping up, and... The next number will be the last one," she announced.

As expected, the crowd shared a collective "Aww..." of disappointment, and Pipp giggled as she looked down at them.

"Oh, I know. I don't want this to end either, but everything good must come to an end," Pipp pointed out. "But... Also... I... Um..." she tried to add, but her nerves were getting her.

However, as she looked at one side of the stage, where Sonic was standing while wearing a black jacket and a guitar, he smiled at her and nodded confirming that she must get this going.

Pipp smiled back at him and nodded back before looking at the crowd with a smile, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves a bit. "You know? I stated that this concert was made so we all, ponykind, could spend time together... But there's another reason behind this concert, one very special that must be shared tonight..."

Multiple whispers among the crowd could be heard at this, all trying to guess what this could be about.

However, when the lights suddenly turned off, everypony gasped, and the whispers became louder until the screens on the stage started to show a countdown from 10 to 1.

Sonic:
So I'm putting my defenses up
'Cause I don't wanna fall in love
If I ever did that, I think I'd have a heart attack

The crowd felt confused when a male voice started to sing, but as soon as they saw Pipp flying down with a reflector over her, they started to cheer loudly.

Pipp:
Never put my love out on the line
Never said yes to the right guy
Never had trouble getting what I want
But when it comes to you, I'm never good enough

Sonic:
When I don't care, I can play 'em like a Ken doll
Won't wash my hair, then make 'em bounce like a basketball

Once Sonic started to sing along to Pipp as he slowly descended from the ceiling on a platform while playing the guitar, the crowd felt amazed by his sudden arrival, but they still cheered loudly at him.

Sonic and Pipp:
But you make me wanna act like a girl

Pipp:
Paint my nails and wear high heels
Yes, you make me so nervous...

Sonic and Pipp:
That I just can't hold your hand

Sonic:
You make me glow
But I cover up, won't let it show
So I'm putting my defenses up
'Cause I don't wanna fall in love
If I ever did that, I think I'd have a heart attack
I think I'd have a heart attack
I think I'd have a heart attack

Never break a sweat for the other guys
When you come around, I get paralyzed
And every time I try to be myself
It comes out wrong like a cry for help

Pipp:
It's just not fair, pain's more trouble than love is worth
I gasp for air, it feels so good, but you know it hurts

Sonic and Pipp:
But you make me wanna act like a girl

Sonic:
Paint my nails and wear perfume for you
Make me so nervous...

Sonic and Pipp:
That I just can't hold your hand

Pipp:
You make me glow
But I cover up, won't let it show
So I'm putting my defenses up
'Cause I don't wanna fall in love
If I ever did that, I think I'd have a heart attack
I think I'd have a heart attack
I think I'd have a heart attack

The feelings got lost in my lungs
They're burning, I'd rather be numb (rather be numb)
And there's no one else to blame (no one else to blame)

Sonic:
So scared, I take off, and I run
I'm flying too close to the sun

Sonic and Pipp:
And I burst into fla-fla-flames

At this part of the song, they looked at each other in the eyes happily and lovingly while singing at the top of their lungs for all Equestria to hear them.

Sonic:
You make me glow

Sonic and Pipp:
But I cover up, won't let it show

Pipp:
So I'm putting my defenses up
'Cause I don't wanna fall in love
If I ever did that...

Sonic and Pipp:
I think I'd have a heart attack
I think I'd have a heart attack (heart attack)
I think I'd have a heart attack-tack
I think I'd have a heart attack (oh, I think I'd have a heart attack)
I think I'd have a heart attack

Once they finished singing, they both panted heavily. Sonic put his guitar on his back, catching Pipp in bridal style. The entire audience cheered happily, and the couple smiled at each other.

And, of course, they knew what had to be done here, so they nodded and locked their lips right there in front of all the crows of ponies.

Said action made everypony watching gasp in shock and amusement at what they just did since nopony was expecting them to do that.

Once they separated, Pipp landed on the ground, but Sonic still held one of her hooves with a hand as he smiled lovingly at her. "Everypony, you all know him, but I wanna introduce you all to Sonic the Hedgehog, one of the bravest and most kind souls I've ever met and, well, he's now my boyfriend!" she announced with a huge smile.

At first, the crowd was silent, but then, one by one, they started to cheer louder than ever at the recent reveal.

"Finally!" "You two are so cute together!" "I used to pray for times like this!" and " It took you long enough!" were just a few of the crowd's replies. Of course, this filled the couple with joy because it meant they approved of their union.

Of course, they'll still have challenges to overcome now that they're together, but now that all Equestria knows, they don't care. Because, as long as they're together, what should they fear about the world?

Author's Note

Ah, yes. My favorite time of the Season: Making Misty question if Eggman really cares for her.

Also, sharing Eggman's backstory based on what was presented on Frontiers seemed the right call, specially with Opaline sharing her backstory.

Now, why did I just made up the whole concert thing for Pipp to announce Sonic's her boyfriend? Because it's in character, or you cannot tell me that she wouldn't make a big deal out of this, even if the entire tradition thing was a lie.

Well, that, and it actually helps me for a plot I have in mind when the other princess decides to confess for the brain in the group, but I'm getting too ahead of myself here!

I just hope you guys liked this chapter in general, and I hope you're as hooked with the whole 'Chaos Emeralds being from Equestria' thing just as much as Shadow seems to be!

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