Dr. Eggman, Orbot, and Cubot had all landed on a dock. The question was whether or not it was in the world that Eggman had wanted to go to with his machine that recently malfunctioned.

"Ow, my head," the doctor said in pain. "Orbot, Cubot. Where are you?"

"Over here, boss," Cubot said from a distance with Orbot next to him.

"Wait, how did you two land here unscathed?" Eggman asked.

"Well, while we were falling through the portal, Orbot remembered that we could just transform into regular 3D objects," Cubot said.

"So I asked if he could shield me from the impact, and he didn't mind at all," Orbot followed up.

"Does that mean you Orbot hid inside Cubot while we were in that portal?" Eggman asked with a bit of disgust.

"Pretty much," Cubot answered. "Though that does sound kind of gross out of context."

"Alright enough about that. Where exactly did that portal take us?" the doctor asked.

"Assuming the machine didn't totally get messed up when the emeralds went out of control, we should be the place that you intended to go to in the first place," Orbot said.

"Speaking of which, you never did say exactly where you intend to go. The closest we go to a name was the files saying 'Equestria to Egg-questria,'" Cubot then said.

Before Eggman could give an answer, Metal Sonic came towards them boosting and pointing towards the opposite side of where they had landed. The group ran towards where Metal Sonic had pointed and found Robo Sonic, Mecha Sonic, and a bunch of broken up robot parts.

"Well, it seems like my egg pawns are weaker than you guys (referring to Orbot, Cubot, and the robotic Sonics)," Eggman said while looking at the pile of scattered machinery. Orbot looked at the pile and saw one of the egg pawn heads had "X" on it.

"X! No!!" The red and black robot screamed in horror.

"Oh calm down, Orbot," Eggman told to him.

"How can I calm down at a time like this?" Orbot asked with despair in his voice.

"Allow me to show you," the doctor replied. He then pressed a button on his coat that activated a magnetic field. This caused all of the egg pawns that were destroyed to be rebuilt.

After seeing X rebuilt, Orbot excitedly said "It's a miracle!" He then hugged the orange robot.

"So where exactly are we?" Cubot asked Eggman.

"Metal Sonic, please scan the area," the scientist ordered. Metal Sonic proceed to scan the area until he could figure out where they were. After a few seconds of analyzing the area around them, the robot revealed a folder in blue light from his chest. Eggman touched the folder and it showed pictures that he had been viewing over the past few months. That was when Eggman finally realized where they were.

"Orbot and Cubot, we've arrived at the place where my latest plan centers around. This is Equestria, and it will eventually become Egg-questria," the scientist had told the two minions.

"So this is Equestria?" Cubot asked.

"That is correct," Eggman replied.

"So what part of Equestria are we in?" Cubot asked.

"Based on the photos, it seems we have landed at Silver Shoals," Eggman answered.

"What's Silver Shoals?" Orbot asked.

"Also, why did you think Egg-questria was the best name for taking over?" Cubot asked.

"I wasn't thinking about names at the time okay?" Eggman responded with anger, which caused Cubot to run and hide behind Mecha Sonic. "Anyways, Silver Shoals is a coastal town that's can be like a retirement home. My research showed that Princess Celestia and Luna, the former rulers of Equestria, moved here after retiring. This place seems to have been built stilts along the hilly coastside. There also seems to be a beach, which we all happen to be standing on at this very moment."

"This is probably one of the few times that I don't mind a history lesson," Cubot said after Eggman had finished.

"So now that we've arrived in Equestria, what's the next phase of your plan?" Orbot asked.

"I'll answer that in a bit. But first, does anyone have my suitcase?" Eggman responded. Robo Sonic then showed the evil scientist the suitcase and gave it to him. Metal Sonic then gave Eggman the remote that was hit with Shadow's chaos spear back in Forest Hill.

"That remote actually works again?" Cubot asked. Metal Sonic then nodded his head in response.

"Very good work, Metal," Eggman said, giving praise to the robot. Metal Sonic simply gave a thumbs up in response.

"So what's the remote for this time?" Cubot asked.

"Watch and you'll see," Eggman simply responded. He then pressed the green button on the remote and something came out of the slot in the suitcase that was for the remote. He then placed the figure into the water and pressed the red button. Within seconds, the mini figure grew into the Egg Carrier 4X. The original Egg Carrier was a flying fortress that the evil genius first used when he awoke Chaos, an ancient water god, from his slumber. After it crashed into the ocean, he used a second one that was made for backup before it was quickly destroyed by Perfect Chaos. Eggman used a different version of the Egg Carrier when he tried to unlock the secrets of the Flames of Disaster but that was destroyed as well though he doesn't remember anything about it aside from the fact that it existed at all.

"Behold, the Egg Carrier 4X!" Eggman exclaimed.

"Whoa! Wasn't that one of your old flying fortresses?" Cubot asked while surprised.

"It looks like it, but there have been plenty of changes made to it on the inside and outside," Eggman answered.

"Have you tested it out yet, Doctor?" Orbot asked.

"Only once, but it was for only a minute,' the scientist responded. Just then, Mecha Sonic showed Eggman a cyan colored gem. It was one of the 7 chaos emeralds.

"You found a chaos emerald already?! How?" Eggman asked while shocked. The emeralds haven't been on his mind since they arrived in Equestria via the machine malfunction. Mecha Sonic then showed the memories of how he ended up finding it.

A few minutes ago:

Robo, Mecha, and Metal Sonic had landed at Silver Shoals. None of the robots knew where/when they were or what had happened to Eggman, Orbot, and Cubot. They had also noticed that all of the egg pawns had been destroyed, even the ones that weren't already reduced to scrap metal from the confrontation in Forest Hill. Robo and Metal Sonic were communicating through robot talk (don't ask how) when Mecha Sonic noticed something glowing under one of egg pawns. When he moved some of the broken parts, the chaos emerald was lying underneath. After Mecha showed the other two copies, Robo Sonic looked around and found Eggman, Orbot, and Cubot on a dock. Metal Sonic then dashed towards it to bring them over.

Back to the present:

"It seems that luck is on our side right now," Eggman said seeing what had happened. "Let's see how my flying fortress will operate with a chaos emerald." The scientist then opened a hatch and everyone hopped inside. The hatch then closed so that water didn't get inside and mess anything up.

After some walking, Eggman and his minions had made there way to the engine room. The chaos emerald was then inserted and powered up the flying fortress. The inside changed from green to cyan, matching the chaos emerald's color.

"Ooh, pretty," Cubot said, admiring the color change.

"So what's phase 2 of your plan called?" Orbot asked.

"Phase 2 of my plan is called E.G.G.M.A.N's Presence," the scientist answered. "Orbot, Cubot, Robo Sonic, Mecha Sonic, and Metal Sonic, come with me to the bridge. Everyone else, make sure this ship is well maintained." When Eggman and his main minions arrived at the bridge, he had pressed a button lifting the ship out of the water and into the air.

"We're in the air now," Cubot remarked.

"Metal Sonic, set a course for Canterlot. It's time for us to pay a visit to the current ruler of Equestria," Eggman instructed. The robotic copy of his greatest rival then set a course for the capital of Equestria and the ship started heading towards it. The ship also got a bit of a speed boost thanks to the chaos emerald.

With the anthropomorphic creatures:

The portal had transported Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow into a forest. Sonic and Shadow managed to land in a tree without being harmed. However, Tails and Knuckles weren't as lucky.

"You okay Shadow?" Sonic asked a bit shaken up from the portal.

"I'm fine. I've had worse experiences," Shadow responded. "What about you?"

"Not the first time I've been literally dropped from my own world/dimension," the blue hedgehog responded back. "Wait, where are Tails and Knuckles?"

"Over here," Knuckles yelled. Sonic and Shadow then jumped out of the tree they were in and found the fox and echidna a few feet from it.

"Are you two okay?" Sonic asked after walking over to his friends.

"We're alright Sonic," Tails had answered, still wincing in pain a little from the fall.

"You okay buddy?" Knuckles asked the fox.

"I'll be alright," Tails responded.

"Now that we're all here and accounted for, does anyone know were we are?" Shadow asked. Tails then pulled his Miles Electric out of his bag to try to get a reading of some kind. It was damaged from him crashing into the ground, but not enough to the point of it being unable to work. The fox then looked around to try and get some information about their location. The young fox was surprised with the trees he saw. More specifically, how they looked. Even he was surprised with some of the info he got about these specific trees. They could grow on their own, with little to no sunlight. Tails eventually got a reading on a location, and it confirmed his suspicions.

"Guys, I think we're in a different dimension," the fox told Sonic, Knuckles, and Shadow.

"So where are we then?" Knuckles asked.

"Not sure if this is the name of the dimension we're in, but this forest that we landed in is called the Everfree Forest." Tails had answered as he showed his friends and Shadow his Miles Electric.

"That's somewhat helps us, but I'd still like to know what type of dimension we've been sent to," Shadow said.

"Maybe I can fly above those trees for a better reading," the fox suggested. However, that would end up not happening because the anthropomorphic creatures heard a strange growl in nearby.

"What was that?" Knuckles asked a bit nervously.

"I don't know Knuckles, but we'd best be careful. We don't know if anything in this Everfree Forest is friendly or not," Sonic told him. The group looked behind them but didn't see any creatures. Right after looking, they heard the growl get louder. When they turned back around, they saw 4 wolf-like creatures walking towards them. However, these wolves were made entirely of twigs, logs, and leaves instead of fur.

"Hold up. Are those. . .?" Sonic asked before Tails answered his question after getting a reading with his Miles Electric.

"They're Timberwolves!" Tails yelled. The wolves then proceeded to go after the anthropomorphic creatures. Out of instinct, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow spilt up to try to take them down individually.

One of the timberwolves was looking directly at Shadow, and the Ultimate Life Form wasn't going to back down on this challenge.

"Come at me!" He yelled. The timberwolf charged at Shadow, but Shadow was ready to take the creature down. He dodged the attack from the timberwolf, then he used a spin dash to take out one of its legs. The timberwolf tried to react, but Shadow was too fast. The black hedgehog then took out a second leg, then a third, and the beast fell and crumbled.

Tails stayed airborne so that the timberwolf's attacks couldn't reach him. He pulled out his arm cannon and fired it at the creature. While it did help, Tails quickly realized that this would take too long. Having seen Shadow take out one of the timberwolves, the fox decided to try a similar technique. He quickly swapped his arm cannon for his Rhythm Badge and managed to avoid getting bitten by the timberwolf. Tails then used his tails to perform the Rapid Tails Attack. The fox quickly destroyed the legs of the timberwolf, causing it to collapse to the ground.

"Not bad," Shadow said to Tails.

"Thanks," the fox said sheepishly, not expecting Shadow to give him a compliment.

Knuckles was dodging multiple bites from the timberwolf in front of him, and he was enjoying it. After several failed attempts, the timberwolf roared and charged towards the echidna. Knuckles then jumped over the timberwolf with little trouble.

"Time to shovel my fists where the sun can't shine," Knuckles said before yelling "Shovel Claw!" He then dug quickly before the timberwolf could attack again.

The beast then looked around and growled confused. Unbeknownst to it, Knuckles already had a plan of attack. After a few seconds of digging, the echidna then leaped from underground and drilled through the timberwolf, instantly destroying it.

"It stood no chance," Knuckles proudly said.

Meanwhile, Sonic was casually dodging the timberwolf's attacks without much care. It might've looked like he wasn't taking situation seriously, but he was. It was just Sonic being himself. Sonic then started running fast, so fast that he actually created a tornado that lifted the timberwolf into the air. When the tornado had gone away, Sonic had jumped onto a tree branch to see what would happen next. The beast crashed into the ground, but it wasn't down for the count.

"Okay then. Time to start trying for real," Sonic said with a smirk on his face. He then started to charge a spin dash and soon after the timberwolf roared, Sonic dashed into it's mouth and came out it's "other end." The timberwolf turned around and roared, but almost immediately afterwards, it fell and crumbled too.

"That was certainly a welcome committee," Shadow said sarcastically.

"Pretty sure that was the result of where in this 'Equestria' we landed," Knuckles responded.

"Maybe someone else can give us more info where we've landed," Tails said to everyone around. Right after he said that, the group heard a female voice.

"Back! Stay back you beasts! I will not be a part of any of your feasts," the voice said. The group then turned to see three more timberwolves walking towards a zebra. Out of instinct, Sonic quickly ran towards the zebra to save it.

"So I guess we'll handle those timberwolves?" Tails asked. Right after he asked that question, Sonic had already come back with the Zebra.

"I'm back!" Sonic exclaimed. Then while putting her down, he told her "Stay here, the four of us will handle those guys."

"Let's finish this battle," Knuckles said excitedly. The anthropomorphic creatures then charged towards the beasts to protect the zebra.

"These creatures like to fight, and they do so with all their might," the zebra said while watching the timberwolves get reduced to broken twigs and leaves.

"Those things shouldn't be bothering you for a while," Sonic told the zebra with confidence.

"Thanks to you four, those beasts are through, but it seems that you're not from around here, are you?" the zebra responded.

"Yep. We aren't from this dimension," Sonic told her.

"Not from this dimension you say? Come to my home so you can explain. I will show you the way," she told the group.

"She really likes to talk in rhymes," Knuckles pointed out.

"I don't know if we should just trust her," Shadow said.

"She seems nice. Plus, it sounded like she was genuinely grateful for saving her from those timberwolves," Tails said to Shadow.

"Also, we can probably take her down if she is in fact an enemy," Sonic whispered to Shadow.

"Alright then, lets follow this zebra and see if she can help us," Shadow then replied. The four then picked up any dropped belongings and followed the zebra to her home inside of a hut.

"This place isn't half bad," Sonic said about the zebra's place.

"You're not planning on attacking us, are you?" Shadow asked.

"As long as you're on my good side, there's no need to fear," she assured the black hedgehog. "Now I must ask, who are you and how did you get here?"

The anthropomorphic creatures then introduced themselves. "I'm Sonic the Hedgehog." "Miles Prower, but everyone calls me Tails." "Call me Knuckles the Echidna." "I am Shadow, Shadow the Hedgehog."

"Strange but friendly creatures I see. Zecora is what you can call me," she responded.

"Alright Zecora. So how we got here is a bit complicated and might be hard to believe," Sonic warned Zecora.

"I'm sure that you will mean well. Now about this tale, please do tell," she replied. Sonic and Tails proceeded to summarize what led to them landing in the Everfree Forest, with Knuckles and Shadow interjecting occasionally.

"And that's the gist of it," Sonic said as he wrapped up the story.

"I have to believe that this story is true, especially since you haven't given me a reason to doubt any of you," she calmly said though a bit shocked after hearing what the anthropomorphic creatures went through.

"So now that we've told you about where we came from, do you mind telling us where we are?" Knuckles asked. "To be clear, we mean what's the name of this world that we landed in?"

"Equestria is the name of this world, a place filled with pony kind. However, there are many other creatures that you will find," Zecora told them.

"Believe it or not, this isn't the first time we've been taken to a place that's not in our own world by force," Sonic told her.

"He's not wrong," Tails backed him up. "Now we need help dealing with our enemy and getting back home."

"Hmm, I see," Zecora said to herself. After some thinking, she told the anthropomorphic creatures "If this is something you need help with, then Canterlot is the place where you should start. It's home to two creatures who both have a big heart."

"Canterlot?" Sonic asked before laughing. The name reminded him of Camelot, a place he was also dropped in. "I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm mocking the name, but it reminds me of another place I visited awhile ago."

"No offense taken, Sonic," Zecora responded.

"Wow. she didn't rhyme for once," Tails whispered to Knuckles a bit surprised.

"Well, rhyming is hard to pull off consistently. Even if you can be consistent, you won't always rhyme," Knuckles whispered back. The echidna then caught a white glow off the corner of his eye. Tails, Shadow, and Sonic eventually noticed the glow too. It looked familiar, but they weren't totally sure what was glowing.

"Excuse me Zecora, what's that white thing that's glowing over there?" Tails asked while pointing towards a shelf in the hut. Zecora then looked in the direction that Tails was pointing. She walked over to the object on a dresser and showed them.

"What this object is, I do not know. However, I was intrigued by its mysterious glow," she said while showing them the object. The 4 creatures had their jaws dropped when they realized what she was holding.

"THAT'S A CHAOS EMERALD!" Knuckles shouted.

"Chaos Emerald? That sounds bad. What can you tell me about this thing you've seen to have had?" Zecora asked

"That's a powerful gem. It's only bad if whoever's using it has evil intentions like the mad scientist who we were fighting," Sonic told the zebra.

"How did that gem end up in your hut?" Shadow asked.

"Earlier today, I saw a glow by the tree, so I walked up to see what it might be," she answered.

"The chaos emeralds must have scattered when they got here," Tails quickly deducted.

"I'm willing to bet that Eggman's here too," Knuckles said, ready to fight him again. The echidna would be proven right. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, and Zecora soon heard a loud roar and went outside to see what or who it was (Knuckles took the emerald before going outside). They all saw a ship, and it had a logo that most of the creatures had recognized.

"Eggman," Knuckles said angrily.

"Looks like you were, Knux," Sonic commented.

"Where exactly is he heading?" Shadow asked. Zecora quickly realized where Dr. Eggman was heading: Canterlot.

"That villain is heading for Canterlot, and he's doing so without a second thought," the zebra said with worry.

"By any chance is this Canterlot the home of the ruler of this Equestria land?" Sonic asked. The zebra then nodded her head quickly in worry.

"Figures. Eggman threatening the leader or leaders of a continent or world so he can get the info he needs for his own desires," Sonic said seriously.

"We've got to go after him," Tails said before pulling something out from his bookbag. His friends were surprised with what he pulled out of it.

"You brought the Tornado 3?" Knuckles asked.

"Yep," the fox said. He then pulled out his Miles Electric and pressed a button that grew the plane to its normal size.

"The Tornado 3? Is that what that thing may be?" Zecora asked.

"Yup, Sonic said before hopping into the plane. Before Knuckles could get in the plane, Shadow felt something.

"Ahh," the black hedgehog screamed.

"Shadow, what's wrong?" Sonic asked.

"I sense another chaos emerald. I'm not exactly sure where it is, but I know there's another one close by," Shadow answered. He then decided to take the chaos emerald and go find the other one he was sensing.

"Hey! We're on the same side here," Knuckles said, upset that the emerald was snatched from him.

"You three head to Canterlot. I'm going to look for another emerald and meet you there later," the black hedgehog told them before skating off.

"Don't worry Knuckles. Shadow can take care of himself," Sonic said to the echidna. He then turned to Zecora and told her "And in case you're wondering, this is normal for Shadow." Knuckles then hopped in the plane and Team Sonic headed towards Canterlot.

"Be careful you three. If you fail, I worry what the fate of Equestria and your world will be," Zecora said after the plane left.

To be continued. . .

Author's Note

That's chapter 2! I decided that making "New Horizons" a two part chapter fits with my story better than if it wasn't.

A few notes about this chapter:

1. Yes, I did include an "Ah, ah! He said it, he said it!" moment here.
   
2. I'm going to change how the dialogue is written for the rest of the story. You'll notice it starting with Chapter 3.
   
3. In case you were wondering how Shadow was able to sense one of the chaos emeralds, the reasons for that are he has chaos based powers and this emerald he finds is one he tends to have more often times than not.
   
4. The name of this chapter, New Horizons, is a reference to lyrics in the songs "I'm Here and I'm Here (Revisited)."

(1:33, 2:50, and 3:57 for both songs)

Next time, we'll finally be introduced to the Mane 6 and Spike. It'll also feature the first boss battle that I plan to have in this story.