Daisy Field

When Tails reached Zipp and Pipp while carrying Misty, the sisters were surprised to see them both arrive.

However, they all had to land into the ground when Pipp got exhausted of flapping her wings, plus Misty was about to throw up since she wasn't used to travel at the same speed than Tails.

"Sorry about that, Misty," Tails apologized with a sheepish smile while scratching his neck. "I'm not used to carry anyone along, and got too excited when I took flight."

Misty had a slight panic attack combined with the urge of throwing up, but she eventually managed to calm down, then she looked at Tails and smiled slightly. "It's okay, Tails. If anything, I'm sorry for making you landing."

"Eh, it's fine, Misty. I need to stretch my legs, anyways. Can't always be flying even if I tried!" Tails replied with a smile.

That, however, seemed to earn a mix of a chuckle and a mocking laugh from Zipp, who was behind "resting" in the air while Pipp checked her phone, sitting on the ground.

"Sounds like you're stamina runs out after flying for what? 10 seconds?" Zipp mocked up with a laugh.

"No? And even if it did, no one has that much stamina to make the same action for so long..." Tails pointed out. "Except maybe Link, depending on the incarnation."

"Uh, who?" Pipp asked confused.

"No one important." Tails replied.

"Uh-huh... And why are you two here again?" Zipp asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm taking her so she can make sure her dad is fine, and I'm here to crush badniks down and whatever Eggman might throw ahead," Tails explained. "I can't really do a Homing Attack like Sonic, but I'll figure out something! I always do!"

"I have no idea of what is a Homing Attack..." Pipp said confused.

"The thingy Sonic did when he jumped and threw himself against Eggman? That's a Homing Attack," Tails explained again. "By the way, if no one told you this earlier, then I'm gonna be the one: I'm really impressed on how you two took down those badniks! Using your flying skills to attract them and then make them crash at each other? I don't know why I never thought on that before!"

Hearing Tails congratulate them both made the sisters' eyes widen, but they still smiled back at him after he did so.

"Well, thanks!" Pipp spoke first. "I mean, I'm not really the fighter type of mare, I just followed Zipp's strategy..."

"Don't be so humble!" Tails said while moving his hand. "The strategy might've been from your sister, but the stunts and the moves where all you!"

Pipp blushed embarrassed at the compliments, but still smiled back at the young fox.

"Well, I gotta say it: You were actually pretty cool against those things, too!" Zipp spoke.

"I agree on that!" Misty added, joining into the conversation. "All those gadgets and strange abilities you pulled out where really cool!"

"Oh, that? Is nothing!" Tails said with a slight embarrassed blush. "I just did what I had to do to keep everyone safe, and destroy those badniks. But most of the credit goes to my friends. They crushed more of those things than me."

"Look who's being humble now!" Pipp said with a smirk, as she got into Tails' side as well and slightly pushed him on his shoulder. "You also got down a bunch of those things, probably even more than us!"

"And if you wanna talk about numbers, you and your friends destroyed more badniks than us and ours!" Zipp pointed out, finally landing in front of Tails with a smile.

"Well, with those statistics in mind, I can see your point," Tails smiled, then he turned to Misty. "And if you think I have nothing to say about you, you're wrong. Crushing badniks 'till they're nothing with your eyes closed and with your own magic? I don't know if I should be impressed about you, or deeply scared."

"Um... Thank you?" Misty replied awkwardly. "It was kind of an accident, but thanks for the compliment, anyways."

"Well, I don't believe accidents exist, I'd rather see them as experiences to learn." Tails said with a smile. "Speaking of experience, and I don't want any of you to jump at me for what I'm gonna say, but how about warming up your magicless skills a little bit?"

That comment, instead of offend the three mares, made them look at each other confused. "Magicless skills?" Pipp asked.

"Yeah! You know, the things you can do that do not involve magic?" Tails pointed out. "You cannot rely on it forever, just as much as I can't rely on my gadgets nonstop, either."

"I see your point, Tails," Zipp spoke. "But, I mean, wouldn't that kind of thing be applied on Misty only? No offense, Tea, but you kinda need to rely less on your levitation power."

"I know..." Misty admitted with shame.

"No, I actually say that to you two as well," Tails admitted to the pegasi sisters.

"...I'm kinda lost here..." Pipp admitted. "What skills should we warm up, exactly?"

"That's what I wanna help you figure out!" Tails said, then he brought out two ropes and grinned. "But first, let's block your magic!"

Zipp laughed and snorted a bit after hearing that. "A rope? Really? No offense, little man. You're skills in battle are good and all, but how's a rope gonna block our magic?"

Zipp deadpanned as Tails tied her wings onto her back with one of the ropes, then proceed to move with Pipp and do the exact same thing.

"Me and my stupid mouth..." The older pegasus complained.

Tails then tied up the rope on Pipp's back with a knot, making Pipp squeak a bit. "Ow! Can't you be gentle?!"

"I could, but if I wanna make sure you both develop your magicless skills, I gotta block your magic source." Tails pointed out. "And no, I don't mean your butt-tattoos, I mean your wings! You couldn't fly without magic before, right? That means they're your real magic source! So it's gotta stay like that for a while!"

"I don't get how our wings being tied on our backs is supposed to help us improve..." Zipp said with a deadpan.

"That's precisely what you two have to work on!" Tails replied with a smile. "There was a long period of time where none of you had magic, right? That means you had to develop some kind of skills meanwhile!"

Now realizing what Tails meant, the sister's eyes widened, and they both exclaimed "Oh!", followed by sheepish smiles.

"Okay, so you want us to be able to fight without having to fly all the time?" Pipp asked.

Tails nodded at the question. "You have to be prepared for all possible scenarios. We might defeat Eggman and avoid he steals the Unity Crystals, true, but someone else can always arrive in the future and be after the exact same thing. Trust me, it's gonna happen, like it or not."

"Well, thanks, that makes us feel so safe..." Zipp rolled her eyes annoyed.

"And if that someone else does succeed on stealing the Crystals, and therefore, your magic, then you're gonna need to be prepared to fight back without it!" Tails explained. "Hence why I tied up your wings: If that day where you're left without magic comes again, then you're gonna be prepared to defend yourselves already!"

"I guess all of that makes sense, but how are we exactly gonna develop our skills? Rather, with what can we try to do that?" Pipp questioned confused.

"Glad that you asked!" Tails said with a smile, before he pulled out some small orbs from his tails.

The orbs were gray with yellow lines and a red button on top. Tails pressed the buttons on all 8 orbs and then launched them into the air. As the orbs fell, they quickly began to grow larger and transform, until they became badniks but silver and with yellow stripes, as well as green eyes.

The badniks where a Crabmeat, a Moto Bug, a smaller Caterkiller, a Spinner, a Buzzer, a Buzz Bomber, a Balkiry and an Egg Pawn respectively.

"These babies will be guinea pigs to exploit your non-magical abilities!" Tails declared with a smile. "They have all the functions of a normal badnik, with the difference that their attacks don't kill, but they can seriously hurt you if you're not careful. And they rebuild themselves when they're broken!"

"Whoa, what?!" Zipp exclaimed with an impressed smile. "That sounds cool, but is it really possible?"

Tails responded by pulling out a plasma gun with which he shot at the Crabmeat, destroying it. Several seconds later, however, the pieces of the destroyed robot began to slowly reassemble, until the Crabmeat was once again complete and looking intact, as if Tails had never even shot it. This left not only Zipp impressed, but also her sister and Misty.

"It took me like 20 failed tests to get that to even work, but I did it!" Tails said with a smile, proud of himself. "Now, which one of you's gonna show me what they can do without flying?"

"O, I think that's your cue, Zipp!" Pipp said with a smile, also slightly pushing Zipp ahead so she could get closer to Tails.

"Um, why me?" Zipp questioned.

"You're kidding me, right?" Pipp deadpanned. "You spent practically your whole life learning to do stunts and flexing up your muscles everywhere just to feel like you were actually flying and not dragged up by cables! I'm convinced you can take down those things!"

"I see your point, sis, but it's been ages since the last time I did stunts without flying!" Zipp pointed out, a bit nervously even though she didn't wanted to admit it. "What if I lost that spark in me?"

"You'll never know until you don't try it!" Tails said, then he pulled out his Miles Electric and started to press several buttons that made the badniks react, and soon, they all turned to see Zipp and only Zipp. "There! My badniks are now programmed to attack you, but only when I give them the order."

He then flew and landed in-between Pipp and Misty. "I'll have them go and charge at you when you're ready!"

As he said this, Zipp took a deep breath and started to stretch her hind legs a bit. She would've stretched her wings, too, but she knows they're tied up on her back, so that idea is out.

"You can do it, sis!" Pipp cheered for her sister with a smile.

"You've got this, Zipp!" Misty cheered for her as well.

Zipp thanked her friend and sister with a smile, then looked back ahead at the badniks. "Alright, Tails. Hit me with what you have!"

Tails nodded, and then pressed a button on his Miles Electric that said "attack." Immediately afterwards, the badniks moved towards Zipp at full speed, and the pegasus princess began to carefully study the movement of each of the badniks, how they marched, and after having seen their attacks out of the corner of her eye when Eggman's attacked Maretime Bay, It was already well known what they could do.

So she decided to put into action the plan that her mind managed to formulate in about 15 or 20 seconds, and then she proceeded to head to the Crabmeat first. This pointed her pincers at it and charged up some sort of mini beam, then fired, but Zipp dodged the beam and dove under the Crabmeat, making it tip over, then used her hind legs to crush the robot.

She then went to the Moto Bug, which approached her quickly and tried to hit her with its small claws, but Zipp skillfully avoided being cut, although there was a movement that she barely managed to avoid and grazed part of her cheek, but only He cut off some of his fur, but his skin was left intact. This made Zipp growl and then turn around and kick the robot into the sky, causing it to crash into the Buzz Bomber, killing two birds with one stone.

Soon, Zipp jumped back as soon as she heard a loud shot from the Buzzer, which moved alongside the Balkiry through the sky, stalking her as if she were a prey they were looking to hunt. However, Zipp always saw herself as more of a predator type, so she began jumping over the remains of the other badniks and doing various stunts in order to avoid the lasers that the two flying badniks were launching. She did this since she was heading towards the Caterkiller, which was also heading towards her simultaneously.

Soon, Zipp jumped on the Caterkiller, then used her hind legs to lift the robot and move it from one leg to the other like a soccer ball. And like a ball, she kicked the Caterkiller into the air, where the robot split neatly in two, crashing into the Buzzer and the Balkiry respectively, also destroying them in the process.

Finally, only the Spinner and the Egg Pawn remained. However, Zipp didn't even have to try very hard, as he made a jump in the air that caused her to quickly fall onto the Egg Pawn, crushing it. As for the Spinner, well, all he had to do was rip off Egg Pawn's head with his mouth and then throw it like a frisbee at the robot, also breaking it in the process.

"Ha ha!" Zipp laughed with a confident smirk. "Who would've guessed? After all this time, I still got it!"

Zipp then closed her eyes and began to walk ahead, something that made Tails grin as he pressed a button on his Miles Electric, making the Egg Pawn she just destroyed rebuild again and raised, then pointed at her and shot. However, Zipp smirked and then made a backflip, landing right over the Egg Pawn to crush it down again.

"Nice try, little man, but that trick's so old I saw it coming from a mile away!" Zipp said, still smirking.

"Okay, yeah, you got me." Tails accepted her point while shrugging.

"O.M.P!" Pipp exclaimed, then she rushed to her sister's side and side-hugged her. "I knew you could still strike quite a punch, but that was..." She squealed. "I told you you'll got this!"

"Thanks, sis. It felt kind of relieving to do that, you know?" Zipp replied with a smile.

"Glad you felt that way, Zipp." Tails said with a smile. "Alright, Pipp. Wanna go next?"

Pipp's eyes widened after hearing this, and she started to chuckle nervously while stepping a bit back. "Um, how about letting Misty take some training as well? I-I'm not really that skilled like you, sis..."

"Pipp..." Zipp deadpanned.

"No, seriously, I could never take those things down even if I wanted to!" Pipp argued.

"Yes, you can." Zipp assured, but she could see Pipp's insecurity in her eyes, so she smiled and nuzzled her cheek a bit. "You need some encouragement? Be still, don't move. It's easy to smile with you by my side..."

While Zipp began to sing, music began to be heard in the background, but it seemed the only one who felt disconcerted by this was Tails, who began to look around completely confused.

"Where does that music come from?" The young fox questioned.

"Don't blink." Zipp kept singing.

"Don't blink." Pipp joined in with a little smile.

"Big smile."

"Big smile."

"Just being with you, my heart opens wide." The two sisters sang together, as their background switched to a purple-only one and a light illuminated them both.

Of course, these events only confused Tails even more, since he couldn't stop looking everywhere as the scene suddenly changed, and as soon as the light shone on Zipp and Pipp, he lost his temper.

"HANG ON!!!" Tails shouted, and the whole ambience that Zipp and Pipp created when they were about to sing disappeared to return everything back to normal. Tails didn't seemed relieved about this, though. "W-What the hell was that?!"

Zipp and Pipp looked at each other confused. "What was what?" Zipp asked.

"T-The sudden music, the background change, the lights!" Tails replied, almost in panic. "None of you even saw that?!"

"Uh, yeah, we did," Pipp replied. "But that's totally normal! We, like, do that all the time."

"That somehow only makes me feel worse..." Tails said anxiously, then choose to shake those feelings. "Look, if you worry because you think that you're not strong enough to beat the badniks, then how about you visualize them as something that makes you mad so get the strength to deal with them?"

Pipp seemed more confused after Tails said that, but apparently, both Zipp and Misty did got his point and smiled. "Yeah! That could do the trick!"

"What are you guys talking about?" Pipp questioned.

But before Tails could explain himself, they all heard screams coming from afar, so they all turned to see Zephyr Heights, which was now covered in the skies by the silhouette of the two Egg Fleet's ships.

"I'll explain you when we get to ZH!" Tails declared, picking up Misty bridal style, then removing Zipp and Pipp's tied wings so they could fly again. "Come on!"

Tails flew at top speed towards the pegasi city, and after both Zipp and Pipp stretched their wings after having them tied for quite a long time, they fly right behind Tails.

Zephyr Heights

In any other situation, seeing a city inhabited by ponies as modern as Zephyr Heights is would have impressed Tails, especially considering how many brands he recognized in the form of parodies of brands from his own dimension.

However, the fact that the entire city was in chaos with so many pegasi fleeing for their lives while the badniks caused destruction comparable to that of Maretime Bay.

"Looks like we arrived just in time!" Tails declared, as he put Misty down on the ground while the sisters landed behind him. "Alright, Pipp! Time to teach you how to crush badniks down!"

"The what now?" Pipp questioned with wide eyes.

Tails then pushed her to face the badniks, and 8 of them noticed her, so they turned and prepared to charge at her.

"Imagine this: Those aren't badniks, nor killer robots of some kind," Tails whispered. "Those... are your haters!"

Pipp gasped after hearing this, and that made her eyes widen and her pupils shrink. The whole background went black, and only she and the badniks remained... But two of them turned into two ponies that booed at her.

"Those are dislikes..." Zipp added as she whispered in her ear, and so, other two badniks switched to represent a couple of dislikes.

"Those are bad reviews for everything you release..." Misty whispered next, and soon, two other badniks turned into cellphones with bad review for her songs and beauty products.

"Those are your rivals that want to steal your spotlight..." Tails finished, and the last two badniks changed to represent the Filly Three and Carotang.

Anger filled Pipp's entire being all of a sudden, and so, she let out a warrior cry before launching herself against the badniks. Thing to notice: She didn't spread her wings, but rather kept them closed the entire time.

Pipp stomped on a couple of Crabmeats in fury, then jumped into the air and dragged a Buzz Bomber towards her by grabbing its stinger with her mouth, then slammed it into the street pavement, and launched the stinger at an approaching Moto Bug. to her from behind.

"Nopony messes with my achievements and lives to tell about it! NOPONY!" "She said the young pegasus in a fit of fury, before launching herself against more badniks.

Watch this was a massive surprise for Zipp. "...I've never seen her that mad before... Should I be worried?"

"So long as her anger is released over the badniks, eh. We'll be fine," Tails assured her with a smile.

"Well, if that's the case, then I better start catching up with her!" Zipp declared, as she also kept her wings closed and started to make stunts around the city while destroying some badniks.

"Now you girls get it!" Tails said with a smile, and he was gonna turn to Misty, but he found himself surprised when he didn't saw her at his side anymore.

He looked around in search for her, until he spotted her hiding on an alley. He quickly rushed with her and felt bad when he saw her covering her ears with her hooves, closing her eyes and taking constant deep breaths.

"Misty?" Tails called out, kneeling at her side. "What are you doing here?"

"I-I'm sorry, Tails, but if you wanna inspire me to go out there and fight, then give up! I'm too afraid to even try!" Misty said concerned. "That Eggman guy's grin is haunting me in my nightmares, and those robots might be small, but I can't look at them!"

"Hey, remember what I said earlier? There's nothing wrong with being afraid," Tails reminded her with a smile. "But if I were you, I'll go out there and face those things. You know why?"

Misty looked at him and shook her head. "Not a clue..."

"Because there's peop–– ponies counting on you." Tails declared. "They count that you can bring help and protect them, specially your Dad."

Misty's eyes widened after hearing this, and her ears perked up as well.

"I don't know your Dad, true, but I'm sure he knows you're strong and brave enough to face whatever challenges life throws at you!"

"But I can barely looks into Eggman's eyes! How can I face his machines?!"

"Bravery isn't the lack of fear, Misty, but the ability and will to face it straight up." Tails explained. "If I gotta be honest: I am terrified. I'm on a new dimension with its own rules where magic's everywhere! I'm barely orienting myself if it wasn't for your friends... But I also know that if we don't stop Eggman, millions could die. I face off my fears because it's gonna help so many lives... And I know you can do the same!"

With that being said, Tails took out a device and pressed a button on it, which turned it into his driller, which he turned on just to make sure that it still works properly.

"I'm going out there to open our way towards the castle, where Zipp's sure Eggman's waiting for us." Tails declared. "If you wanna stay, you'll be safe. But if you go out there and face those robots, then you'll be what I like to call a heroine!"

And so, Tails left the alley and began destroying badniks mercilessly with his inventions to make his way to the throne room... Being followed by Misty. The short but emotional words that the young fox shared with her seemed to be enough to fill her with a courage that she had never felt before, not even when he went to face Opaline on his own.

Watch her jump on badniks like they were disgusting little cockroaches, grab pieces of broken glass with her hooves and then throw them at the flying badniks, and directly use her sharp horn to do significant damage or outright render the machines useless.

Tails couldn't help but feel proud about her, and so, he proceed to keep smashing down badniks as well to keep open the way towards Zephyr Heights' castle.

Zephyr Heights - Castle

The doors leading to the throne room were frozen. In fact, the entire throne room itself was frozen, as if it had gone from a throne room to a freezer.

Soon, however, the doors finally opened to give way to Zipp, Pipp, Misty and Tails, although the latter almost started skidding as soon as she realized that the ground was frozen. This detail, added to the fact that the entire room was like entering the North Pole after spending almost the entire day in the hot hours of the day, disconcerted the 4 friends.

"This is gonna be a dumb question, but your parents didn't ordered a frozen room now, did they?" Tails asked.

"Of course not!" Zipp said with a frown, then she let out her breath and realized it was so cold even that was freezing.

"How did this happened?!" Pipp asked concerned.

"Is this Eggman's doing?" Misty questioned a bit worried.

"No... Eggman tends to do stupid stuff, but never this stupid!" Tails replied with a slight frown. "Something's not right..."

Suddenly, Pipp let out a big gasp when she saw her Mom, standing on the ground, but with her eyes closed and her body freeze'd. At her side, Alphabittle was in the exact same state. Tails looked around after noticing those two and saw that there were some pegasi dressed with armors freeze'd as well.

"Mom!" Both Zipp and Pipp exclaimed in panic, flying towards their mother.

"Dad!" Misty shouted as well, and she skated the best she could towards her frozen father.

Seeing the despair on how the mares called to their parents but got no response, Tails approached and scanned them both with his Miles Electric. After analyzing the data he got, he smiled.

"Well, good news!" Tails stated. "Your parents are alive, and everything on them seems to be okay!" He added, earning relieved sighs from the three mares. "They're just in some kind of deep sleep... Besides freeze'd, that is."

"Well, it's good to know they're fine, but how did they got like this?" Misty asked, both confused and concerned.

Suddenly, a figure flew past them, making them look at the ceiling in confusion. The figure passed again, and then again, and as it passed a fourth time, Tails took out not only his plasma gun, but also a kind of bomb that all he had to do to activate it was to press the big red button at the top.

The girls didn't know if it was really a bomb or just looked like one, but none of them cared much. Pipp and Zipp were determined to protect her mother, while Misty stood in front of her father with a frown. It was rare to see Misty angry, but when she did, it was something to fear.

And then, the flying figure finally landed in front of Tails with a loud stomp, making the room tremble. This also made the four friends almost loose control of where they step, but they all managed to elevate themselves from the ground: The sisters and Tails by flying, and Misty by levitating herself.

The figure that landed turned out to be none other than Allura, who grinned at the sight of the four adversaries that had arrived.

"Allura?!" Zipp exclaimed with wide eyes in a mix of confusion, surprise and anger.

"You know her?" Tails asked, first looking at Zipp and then at Allura.

"More than that, we defeated her before!" Pipp added with anger. "She had control over a town from another dimension called Starlight Ridge, and after we kicked her out of there, she somehow followed us to Equestria!"

"And this is the first time she chooses to publicly show up..." Misty pointed out with a slight and concerned frown, then she looked at Allura in anger. "What are you doing here?!"

"Not your business, ponies," Allura replied, although she kept grinning. "I'm just glad to see that the doctor's plan worked out as well as he said it would."

"The doctor's plan?" Tails said confused, then his eyes widened. "Hang on, you're helping Eggman?!"

"I'd rather say I'm using my services on his favor," Allura replied. "And now that I have the two princesses where I want them, it's time to keep going with the plan!"

After saying this, Allura just took one step further, and just like that, more ice spread to the group's direction at such a fast paste that none of them could avoid what came: Their bodies slowly started to get frozen as well, and they couldn't even scream for help.

Zipp and Pipp hold into each other's hooves, for starters, before getting completely freeze'd, and Misty choose to get frozen while giving a hug to her dad. Tails, however, pressed the button on the "bomb" he was holding right before getting frozen as well, and soon, a small screen appeared on the object that shoed a time of 10 minutes that started to count down.

Meanwhile, Allura laughed after seeing her plan - or rather, Eggman's plan - worked, then she turned around and looked at Twitch, who remained silent on her back the whole time.

"Let's go now to Bridlewood. The next ships should be there already!" Allura stated, with Twitch nodding in agreement.

Author's Note

I know many of you might be expecting Allura to act more, and don't worry: She'll get her time to shine, just not yet.

Also, we're officially half-way through the story!

Constructive criticism is appreciated. Thanks for reading! See ya next time!