Equestria - Crystal Brighthouse

Sunny couldn't sleep all night.

After she and Zipp explained to the rest of her friends about the situation with the Crystals that occurred three weeks ago, she felt a huge burden lifted from her shoulders. And yet, deep down she was still terrified at the thought of losing the Unity Crystals. Those Crystals were the reason why Equestria was united now, they were the reason why she had powers with which she could protect her friends and all of Equestria.

Without those powers, without those Crystals, who was she really? Just another helpless pony from the crowd. She couldn't go back to those days where she was nobody, and she wouldn't.

She found herself staring at the Unity Crystals, at the top of the Brighthouse. No matter how many times her friends told her that everything would be fine and work out in the end, a part of her couldn't believe it. She had a strange feeling, a feeling that something would eventually go wrong and affect all of Equestria. It's such an specific and odd feeling, but is there, and she can't do anything about it.

The fact that Misty shared her nightmare with them didn't helped, either. She was not mad with the unicorn mare for doing so, and she wouldn't blame her for anything, but a part of her kind of wished that Misty kept that to herself, 'cause it only made her fear of loosing her magic and the Unity Crystals even harder.

She really never thought that loosing her powers would worry her. A few months ago, she wouldn't had doubted on giving them up to Opaline if she came to a deal with her where her friends could remain free from her reign, and have her as her only minion around... Now? The simple thought of loosing her magic, what makes her special, terrified her whole being.

Maybe the fact that so many ponies months ago only seemed to like her because she's an Alicorn has something to do with it. Even if her friends told her they love her for being Sunny, a part of her thinks that it is better to be an Alicorn than just little old her... That, or Opaline's words are getting into he head more than ever.

Opaline... For some reason, Sunny couldn't help but feel kind of bad for her. Yeah, she was a tyrant that wanted to steal all the magic in the world as a whole, and considering she didn't felt any remorse on removing Misty's Cutie Mark, she was also a heartless monster... Then why does she feels like she could've done more? Why didn't she though on finding out further behind Opaline's actions? Maybe she could've redeemed her, or die in the attempt, but still... The shot would've been worth it.

Is too late to think about that now, though. Opaline is gone, but Allura is still out there. She cannot help Opaline nor understand her reasoning because she's dead, but she can definitely still help Allura out. She can reform her, or at the very least try. After all, this is Equestria, and everyone deserved a second chance, no matter who they are or what they've done.

"Um... am I interrupting something?" A voice called out suddenly.

Sunny felt a bit startled and looked at her left with wide eyes, but then sighed relieved and smiled when she saw that it was just Misty.

"Hey, Misty," Sunny said with a smile. "No, not really. I'm just here, reflecting about... so many things."

"I figured," Misty said with a smile, then she approached Sunny and sat at her side, looking up at the Unity Crystals as well. "You couldn't sleep last night, could you?"

Sunny only chuckled slightly and sighed again after hearing that. "No. Not in the slightest. After everything we talked and revealed yesterday, my mind couldn't simply just doze off. What about you?"

"I couldn't sleep, either. That damn nightmare came in again..." Misty replied with a frustrated sigh. "And I really love sleeping, but these last three weeks I cannot even do that without that nightmare playing on loop. I think I'm coming to a point where it plays out and I just roll my eyes 'cause I know what's gonna happen already."

"Like when Izzy accidentally spoiled the ending of that book you were reading?" Sunny asked with a playful smile.

"Ugh! Even worse! At least with the book I didn't know how it'll happen, just that it would," Misty replied with an eye roll. "With this nightmare, I know everything about it!"

Sunny laughed slightly after hearing Misty complain, and deep down she also thanked her arrival. It at least managed to put aside those thoughts and fears of loosing the Crystals for a moment.

"...I've been wondering if whoever might be after the Crystals is as bad as you say it is..." Sunny commented suddenly after a moment of silence. "A part of me thinks that, maybe if we can talk with whoever's after them like civilized ponies, maybe we could make them change their mind."

"And what does the other part of you says?"

"That it would be useless because the last pony that tried to steal the Unity Crystals and our magic was irredeemable."

"Well, Opaline was alone her whole life. When she went to stole my Cutie Mark, even thought it hurt me she did so, a part of me felt bad for her, because she would be alone her whole life. And she died the same way she always lived... Alone. Maybe if she met you or any of our friends at some point, then maybe all her dilemma on taking over Equestria and beyond would've been over."

"Maybe, but we can only imagine now. Opaline's gone..." Sunny pointed out, strangely, with sadness. "I still wished we could've done something for her, though..."

"Well, maybe we can't for Opaline... But like you said, maybe things will be different with Allura," Misty said with a little smile. "And who knows? Maybe you're right, and maybe we can help whoever could be after the Unity Crystals as well. If me, a unicorn that spied on your for months, could redeem herself and regain your trust, then who says some actual evil force can't redeem itself?"

"Exactly!" Sunny said with a smile, then gave Misty a side hug. "You get it, Misty! We can definitely make this work out!" She declared, then she walked outside to the balcony and stared at Maretime Bay ahead. "Everypony who's everypony counts on us, on me, to keep them and their magic safe. As the guardians of the Unity Crystals, and the new protectors in Equestria, is our duty to make sure that no one comes off to disturb our peace!"

As Sunny go on her "inspirational mode", Misty only smiled at her friend, but then, she felt something weird on her flank. When she turned to see her Cutie Mark, she gasped as she noticed that it was glowing and expanding on different directions. She then turned to see Sunny and noticed that her Cutie Mark was reacting as well. Her Alicorn form also activated, and she would've believed it was just because Sunny was being herself right now, but since her horn and wings were glitching, then that's clearly not the case.

She then turned and gasped when she noticed in person that te Unity Crystals were vibrating again, and it was surrounded by a colorful aura that changed colors: Red, blue, yellow, green, purple, light blue, white, and then a brighter green before switching back to red and follow the same pattern.

"Sunny!" Misty called out, which made the mentioned mare turn to her. "Look!"

As Misty pointed her hoof at the vibrating glowing Crystals, Sunny gasped with wide eyes. She then finally noticed that her Alicorn form was glitching, as well as her Cutie Mark glowing and expanding.

Panicked, Sunny took out her phone from her saddlebag and marked Zipp's number. When she finally picked up, she shouted: "Zipp! The Crystals are glowing again! Bring everypony right here, right now!"

Around 10 minutes later, the Mane 6 and Sparky were reunited at the top of the Brighthouse once again.

Zipp began to record the Crystals again, but this time with the extra brighter green glow. She also recorded everypony's Cutie Marks glowing, herself's included, as well as Sunny's Alicorn form glitching. She wanted to see if she could find any kind of link between them.

"Hmm... It seems that whenever the Crystals glow in certain color, not only our Cutie Marks glow in the same color and follow the same pattern, but Sunny's horn and wings glitch for a moment." Zipp explained.

"And what does that mean?" Hitch asked.

"It means that whatever happens to the Crystals could also affect us, and not only that, but our magic as well!" Zipp replied with concern. "Right now, only Sunny's Alicorn form is suffering from the Crystals' strange behavior, but soon it could also affect Pegasi wings, Unicorns horn, and Earth Ponies hooves!"

"And how do we stop something we don't even know how it started?" Pipp asked worried. "Our magic might be in danger, and it seems like we can't do anything about it!"

"That's not true, sis," Zipp denied with her head. "It is true that we have no idea what's going on with the Crystals yet, but maybe there's something that our Cutie Mark magic can do!"

"Um, Zipp? Didn't you just said that our magic's the affected one here?" Sunny pointed out. "How's our magic gonna do something if that's what's getting affected in the first place?"

"Our Cutie Mark magic has demonstrated to be powerful enough even when we don't have our Cutie Marks!" Zipp pointed out. "It worked when we were against Opaline. Why wouldn't it work now?"

"Hmm, she's got a really good point!" Izzy agreed with Zipp while smiling. "Who says that our magic won't work this time around? If it did once, it definitely has to do it again!"

"I don't know... It sounds too simple and easy," Misty pointed out. "Is there any guarantee that it'll even do what we want it to do? What if it just gets worse?!"

"It won't happen, Misty," Zipp assured with a determinate look. "Like Sunny said: So long as we're together, there's nothing we can't do!"

Yet as she said this, Hitch turned to see the Unity Crystals, and his eyes widened. "Yeah, uh, tell that to the Unity Crystals..."

As he pointed at them, the five mares turned to them and gasped with wide eyes when they noticed that the Crystals were now vibrating and glowing in just one color: White. Said glow kept getting brighter and brighter, until nopony could do anything but cover themselves from the intense light.

"What is going on?!" Pipp asked in panic, also hiding behind her sister.

"No clue, but..." Zipp started, as she managed to look at the corner of her eye that her Cutie Mark was glowing in the same intense white light. "It seems like our Cutie Marks are feeling the same that us!"

Everypony ducked down and covered their eyes with their hooves, and Hitch kept Sparky protect by hugging him in a way that his eyes wouldn't get affected by the glow. Soon enough, the ground rumbled, startling the Mane 6 a lot as they tried to stand on their hooves, but keeping their eyes closed to not get blurred by the light of the Crystals.

"Another rumble?!" Zipp questioned. "This is making less and less sense––"

Yet Zipp's words were cut short when she heard a painful groan. She turned and opened her eye slightly, only for both of them to shot open when she saw Sunny struggling and suffering, tears running down her cheeks and all, because her Alicorn form was glitching nonstop, like if it were torturing her.

Zipp wanted to help her, but then she noticed that the glow became a bit less intense. She thought at first that it was because it finally was stoping, but that's not the case: What actually happened is that the Crystals were turning around to face the ocean instead of Maretime Bay.

Everypony else noticed this as well, even Sunny herself, despite still feeling in pain because of her glitching Alicorn form. When Hitch finally noticed what was happening to his best friend, his eyes widened in panic.

"Sunny!" He screamed, immediately rushing to her side as he let her lay on him for support, since she barely could stand on her hooves.

The others noticed Sunny's stated as well and gasped with concern, but then, everything suddenly stopped. The glow from the Crystals, the one from their Cutie Marks, and Sunny's Alicorn form even stopped glitching. All pain she was suffering moments ago had dissipated.

"...I-Is it over?" Sunny herself asked first, then she looked around herself to check that she wasn't hurt. Hitch did the same, and she silently thanked him for worrying.

"Seems like it..." Zipp replied, then she checked over Pipp to make sure her sister was fine. Izzy made the same with Misty, and Hitch also checked that Sparky was not hurt nor stunned.

Yet the small moment of relaxation they had was interrupted when all the Crystals turned white and then shot a massive laser that destroyed the zone of the Crystal Room it was looking at, sending the laser right above the ocean. Of course, this startled the ponies and baby dragon, whom all ducked down again to protect themselves in case any broken glass reached any of them.

Meanwhile, the laser stopped in a certain place and started to expand and get bigger, as if it were a round explosion happening above of the ocean. No city was close from this explosion, so no one would get hurt, but the fact that the explosion was happening at all was concerning on its own.

"What the hey is happening?!" Pipp asked in panic, as everypony stared to the ocean and the massive explosion expanding over it.

And before anypony could answer, the Crystals stopped and returned to simply float in the air, once again facing Maretime Bay, like if nothing happened. However, the explosion above the ocean kept getting bigger, until it finally stopped... Just to reveal a giant floating island instead.

This island, for the most part, looked like a bunch of mountains put together with some green forests around, but a pair of waterfalls could be seen as well. In what seemed to be the front of the island, however, there were red, blue, yellow, green, purple, light blue, withe, and brighter green glows showing up.

Yet this last detail didn't seemed to really matter for the Mane 6, who were all staring with wide eyes and jaws dropped at the sight of a floating island in the middle of the ocean. It was not only because such a thing was impressive, but also because this is precisely what Misty warned about: A floating island coming out of nowhere, just like in her nightmares.

"...Okay... Turns out you were right, Misty..." Sunny was the first one to speak, then she turned back to see the Unity Crystals, which were acting like they usually do once again. "Someone's after the Unity Crystals after all..."

Angel Island

As soon as the white light dissipated, Knuckles opened his eyes again, and realized that he was still being held by Eggman. Whatever had happened to the Master Emerald seemed to be over already, but he couldn't stay here and wait to be saved by a miracle. He didn't even know if that strange light had reached his friends, so he was alone as far as he knew.

However, that was never a problem. He has been alone for much of his life. Why would he burst into tears at a time like this?

Knuckles noticed that his legs were right in front of Eggman's crotch. This made him smile, and then he proceeded to kick that area of the doctor hard, making him groan in pain and let go of Knuckles to cover that area and fall to his knees. Knuckles took advantage of this to send Eggman flying towards his Egg Fleet with one blow, and then proceeded to move as fast as he could up the stairs of the Altar.

Upon reaching the top, he noticed that Sage was there in front of the Master Emerald, in turn that the Chaos Emeralds surrounded her. They descended until they touched the ground again, while Sage snapped her fingers to make the shield around her disappear.

Bad idea.

Knuckles decided to take advantage of this by launching himself at Sage with a warrior's cry, raising his fists in the air and everything. Hearing the scream, Sage barely managed to turn around and activate a shield with her powers that protected her from Knuckles, who growled furiously as he tried to push his fist against her.

As he struggled to gain the upper hand on Sage, he realized that the Master Emerald had not been moved from its spot, which left him baffled. If Eggman didn't come to take the Master Emerald, how is he gonna open a door to that other dimension?

He didn't have time to process that, however, as Sage took advantage of his distraction to throw off her shield and then send Knuckles flying away from his own island.

For his part, Sonic opened his eyes when he saw that the strange white light from before was gone, just in time to see Eggman being sent back to his Egg Fleet thanks to Knuckles' blow.

"Uh... What the hell just happened?" Sonic asked confused.

"I have no idea..." Tails said, looking around both sides of the plane. "It seems there was a power surge that covered the entire island."

"But why?" Amy asked. "Knuckles didn't let Eggman use the Emerald, did he?"

"I don't think Knuckles fell prey to Eggman's tricks again..." Sonic shook his head. "And if he did it, I don't think it was to turn him against us, but to..."

"Get him away from the Emerald! Sure! That's probably what Eggman wanted to do in the first place!" Tails realized with wide eyes. "We have to get down there before––"

But just as Tails wanted to explain himself, Amy saw something that made her eyes widen, and she gasped in panic. "TAILS, BE CAREFUL!!"

Both Sonic and Tails were going to turn to see what had happened, but they couldn't because Knuckles collided with the blade of the plane and in the process pushed it back, causing it to start spinning in the air out of control, in turn. It was moving away from Angel Island and began to approach a beach with which it was soon going to collide.

Knuckles fell unconscious from Sage's earlier blow, while the other three screamed in terror from the sudden crash with the echidna, until they stopped when they finally crashed onto the beach.

Maretime Bay - 5 Minutes earlier...

Chaos broke out in Maretime Bay as what appeared to be a white explosion at first became noticeable, which in the end turned out to be a huge island floating in the sky.

Seeing the panic caused, Hitch and Sunny—her activating her Alicorn form—rushed to make an emergency group meeting in the village to inform all the ponies of the situation and calm them down as much as they could. Seeing Hitch act like the Sheriff he is, as well as Sunny with her Alicorn form, the chaos stopped for an instant while all the ponies approached the two Earth Ponies.

"Everypony, calm down!" Hitch called out first. "I want you all to pay us attention for a second!"

"We know you all wonder what's that giant, floating Island doing here, as well as where it came from." Sunny stated. "To be honest, we wonder the exact same time, but we ask you all to remain calm and be patient! We're gonna help out Detective Zipp solve this mystery, and when we have an answer, you all be the first ones to know it!"

"Uh, wouldn't you six technically be the first one to know it?" Somepony in the crowd asked.

"Uh..." Sunny had no idea on how to answer that.

"What Sunny means is that once we know for sure the origin of that island, as well as if it's dangerous or not, we'll tell you all right away!" Hitch declared. "Until then, we beg you all to wait for an answer and continue with your usual routine."

"As the protectors of Equestria, we'll do our job to keep you all safe! So sleep tight, you are in very good hooves!" Sunny stated with a determinate smile, while her wings glowed brightly.

The sight was enough to make anypony inspired and protected, so they all began to cheer for Sunny, who smiled warmly at everypony that trusted her.

Soon, Sunny and Hitch went to the beach, were the rest of their friends were looking up at the floating island ahead. Well, Zipp and Misty were doing it, with the former recording with her phone the island while the latter had a very anxious expression. As for Pipp, she's taking selfies with happy and also surprised faces, while Izzy's knotting up something, and Sparky was too busy making a sand castle with two storks and a crab that follow Hitch all the time.

One of the storks had a cup as a hat and was named Kennet; the stork without anything over them is called Steven, and the crab is named McSnips-A-Lot.

As Hitch and Sunny approached their friends, they also stared up to the floating island, that seemed to be so far from where they're standing, yet so close at the same time.

"You've got anything from that island, Zipp?" Sunny asked first.

"Beyond the fact that it floats in the sky and defies all known law physics? Nope," Zipp replied, lowering her phone to take down notes. "But I think I saw some lights glowing when we were on the Brighthouse. I can't see them anymore, though."

"I think I also noticed those lights..." Hitch spoke. "I may be imagining things with what I'll say now, but weren't those lights the same color than the changing color glow surrounding the Crystals?"

"Hmm... I think so..." Zipp nodded to Hitch's hypothesis. "If only I took a picture of the island when the glow was still there! Ugh!"

"Oh, you need a picture of that? Well, lucky you, sis!" Pipp said happily suddenly flying at her sister's side and laying on her shoulder while showing her phone. "I've got tones of them, with so many filters and all!"

Pipp scrolled pass her pictures she took of the island from the Brighthouse's balcony, and while she was kinda annoyed about her saying quiet about it, she choose not to fight over something so silly and limited to play the video of the Crystals vibrating and glowing in colors to compare it with one of Pipp's pictures. Thanks to this, she realized that the glows that came from the island matched colors with the glow that surrounded the Crystals earlier.

"Hitch, you're right! They're the same colors!" Zipp confessed. "Your detective skills are getting better~"

Hitch deadpanned and rolled his eyes annoyed. He was so used to Zipp's teasing at this point that he couldn't care less even if he tried.

"Well, we know that the colors match, but what does it mean?" Sunny questioned confused.

"It means that, somehow, whatever's in that floating island is what affected the Crystals!" Zipp explained. "Well, that's what I think at least. It's just a theory, but if true, it could at least answer why the Crystals reacted like that!"

"But it doesn't explains why our Cutie Marks glow as well, nor why it affected Sunny and her Alicorn magic," Pipp pointed out. "She was even slightly tortured back then!"

"Yeah! Are you sure you're not hurt, Sunny?" Hitch asked her with concern.

"I'm fine, ponies, really." Sunny assured with a little smile. "I don't know why I suddenly felt so much pain, but it didn't affected me physically, so I'll be fine. Right now, I'm more concerned about why this island suddenly came out of nowhere!"

"And I'm worried that the evil creature from my nightmares will show up..." Misty spoke suddenly, calling her friends' attention. "The island is here, and it looks exactly like in my nightmares..."

"Misty, we don't know––" Zipp tried to point out.

"Yes, you don't know how it looks, but I do!" Misty raised her voice suddenly, surprising her friends. She only did that when she wanted to say something important and nopony let her speak, but this is the first time she snaps right from the start. "I've been having the same nightmare playing on my mind every night. I know how the island looks, and it looks like this!" She pointed at the floating island ahead. "You know what that means, right?! Nightmares come true! Just as true as dreams do..."

Nopony said anything for a while after Misty said all of that, and they even looked at each other for a moment.

"...It also means that they will come for us... For the Crystals..." Misty added eventually.

"You mean the evil creature?" Pipp asked concerned, gaining a nod from Misty.

"Well, even if they come over here, we'll be ready!" Sunny stated with a determinate look, and everypony else but Misty turned to her with smiles. "Remember: As long as we stick together, nothing's gonna stop us!"

"And if using our magic is not enough, I made these!" Izzy aid happily, as she levitated a couple of purple shirts with blue text in the middle, all saying "Welcome to Equestria, outsider!".

"Uh... I'm not really against you making them, Iz, but... Why four of them?" Zipp asked confused.

"You never know how many friends we could make from that mysterious floating island, so I'm just making sure!" Izzy replied cheerfully, earning an eye roll from Zipp and Pipp, but smiles and head shakes from Sunny and Hitch.

Misty, however, remained terrified the whole time. She trusted her friends with her life, more than she could ever had trusted Opaline, but for some reason she couldn't trust her friends right now... She felt like if whatever was coming was something none of them could ever deal with. They could barely stand on their own against threats like Opaline, so why standing together against a new one could be different?

Soon enough, however, the group noticed a red point that suddenly fly away from the island. Said red point was getting closer and closer. It started to look like a strange vehicle... A plane, to be precise. None of them could really tell from here, but they couldn't wonder anymore because they heard screams coming from said object, and then, it suddenly crashed in the beach. A bit far from them, but it crashed regardless.

"What the hey?!" Pipp exclaimed confused.

"Is that... a plane?" Zipp asked.

"It seems like it..." Hitch commented.

"Huh... I thought there were no other flying vehicles in Equestria anymore, besides our Marestream," Izzy pointed out.

"I thought that as well!" Sunny said, then she approached Misty. "Does this plane appeared on your nightmares as well?"

"...No... It didn't..." Misty replied nervously. "I don't know if that's goo or not, though..."

Sunny choose not to stay there and keep wondering stuff, so she approached to the vehicle, and soon, her friends were following up, although Misty stood behind hesitantly, before she went to pick Sparky up and follow the rest as well.

When they arrived with the crashed vehicle, they saw that a large part of the front area was buried in sand. The back seat was empty, however, and both a wheel and the tail of the plane appeared intact. On the side you could see "Sonic" written, and on the tail a drawing of a circle with a star in the middle, and wings extending outwards.

"Sonic..." Zipp read, also taking a picture of the plane's tail. "You guys think that could be a name, either for the plane or its owner?"

Her friends shrugged at the question, but then they got startled when they head rumbling sounds coming from the sand. They all stepped back, and Sunny activated her Alicorn form just in case... Just for a pair of ears and three stripes of hair to come out of the sand, confusing the ponies. Then, a full on creature came out of the sand, which seemed to be some kind of yellow anthropomorphic fox. They could fly, for some reason, because something behind them spin and elevated them from the ground.

The fox then started to pull up with effort, and soon enough, other three creatures were dragged out of the sand, the three of them lay on the ground, while the fox landed and panted heavily.

As they stared at them with wide and shocked eyes, the Mane 6 could only wonder one thing: Who the hey are these guys?

Author's Note

Well, another chapter's done! Cool!

Next time, our group of heroes finally meet each other! Who's ready for more chaos to unleash?

Constructive criticism is appreciated. Thanks for reading, and see you next chapter!