In the streets of Canterlot, there was one of three things: broken up badniks parts, the Council of Friendship, and 4 anthropomorphic creatures. While Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow needed to make sure the residents of this new world didn't see them as a threat before going after Eggman, the Mane 6 and Spike still wanted answers on who this Dr. Eggman and the other creatures were even though they were grateful that they helped with the robot attack.

Sonic: "This is a little awkward," Sonic said while staring at the ponies and dragon who were standing a short distance from them.

Knuckles: "That might be a small understatement."

Shadow: "Why are we still here? The doctor is still on the loose, and who knows where he's going to strike next?" Shadow said, a bit annoyed.

Sonic: "Easy there, Shadow. I wanna stop Egghead's plans as much as you do, but we need to make sure that we aren't seen as a threat by those who live here."

Shadow: "We did just save the capital of Equestria. They should be thankful that we helped get rid of the doctor's machines."

Sonic: "I agree that they should be thankful, but judging by the looks of most of these ponies, they seem to have not so great memories of other creatures coming to Equestria, so we should make sure that we don't leave a bad impression on them," he said while they all looked around to see nervousness on the faces of some of the ponies that came out from hiding.

Tails: "To add on to what Sonic said, if they did see us as some threat for whatever reason, it would making stopping Eggman more difficult because we'd have to worry about one group wanting us probably dead and the other wanting us probably captured."

Knuckles: "They do make very good points." Shadow was about to say something to try and counter what Sonic and Tails had said, but he quickly realized that they were right.

Shadow: "Fine, but let's at least try to make this go by quickly."

Knuckles: "Didn't something like this back at Forest Hill, with Shadow wanting to do something, but you and Tails talked him out of it?" He whispered to Sonic.

Sonic: "Oh yeah. I guess we're two for two on that." Sonic responded. The group then looked at the ponies and dragon, who were almost certainly talking about what just happened.

Rainbow Dash: "Alright, now that these tin cans have been trashed, it's time we get some answers out of these new guys."

Pinkie: "Ooh, maybe I can throw them a 'Welcome to Equestria' party!"

Rarity: "Pinkie, now's not the time for a party."

Rainbow Dash: "Yeah. We need to find out who these guys are and what they're doing in Canterlot."

Applejack: "And their intentions," Applejack added.

Pinkie: "Aww, I wanted to make our guests feel welcome," the Pinkie Pie said, a little sad.

Spike: "Don't worry Pinkie. We'll throw a party after this mess with this Eggman guy is taken care of. Okay?"

Pinkie: "Okey dokey, lokey."

Fluttershy: "Those new creatures don't seem like they're evil. They did just help us with those robots."

Rainbow Dash: "True, but they could still have some alterior motive."

Twilight: "Well before we ask them questions, we still have some cleaning up to do." Twilight then used her magic to gather up all of the broken up badnik parts and cast a spell that evaporated them all on the spot.

Sonic: "That was impressive," a voice claimed from behind the ponies and dragon, which startled them. When they turned around, it was revealed to be the blue hedgehog who first confronted Eggman on the balcony. "It was clear you ponies had some kind of magic when you were fighting the badniks, but what you just did to get rid of them was even cooler."

Twilight: "Thanks for the compliment," Twilight said while blushing. Said blush was short lived because Rainbow Dash quickly dashed towards the blue hedgehog, ready to ask questions.

Rainbow Dash: "Alright, enough with the compliments. We've got questions for you and your friends. First off, who are you? Second, what even are you?"

Sonic: "Well there Ms. Winged Pony, I'm a hedgehog. My yellow and red friends over here are are a fox and echidna respectively," the blue hedgehog answered while pointing at Tails and Knuckles who were standing right behind him. "This one is also a hedgehog, like me," he added while pointing at Shadow, who was also right behind Sonic."

Rainbow Dash: "A hedgehog? I haven't seen a hedgehog that looks like you before."

Sonic: "That's probably because we aren't from around here." Before Rainbow Dash could say more, Twilight stepped in to have a say.

Twilight: "Thanks, Rainbow. I'll take it from here." Rainbow Dash then slowed her decent until she was on the ground, not happy that she didn't get all the answers she wanted. Twilight then addressed the ponies who that were hiding, still unsure about the new creatures. "It's okay everypony. Don't worry about our new 'guests.' We'll make sure that no harm comes to you." That calmed down the nervous ponies and they all went back doing what they had been doing before the robot invasion. She then turned her attention towards theirs new "guests." "We're thankful that you helped us with this unexpected invasion. But in addition to what Rainbow Dash asked, how did you four get here?" Before Sonic could respond, a lilac colored unicorn with a purple and teal mane and tail teleported in front of them.

Starlight Glimmer: "Twilight, you and the others have to come to Ponyville! It's an emergency!" She then turned to Sonic and his friends and asked the ruler of Equestria "Um, who are these guys?"

Twilight: "They're new around here," the alicorn responded a bit nervously. "But we'll worry about them in a bit. What's happening in Ponyville?"

Shadow: "And here I thought I was the only one who could use some form of teleportation. These ponies are more impressive than I thought," Shadow said to himself.

Starlight Glimmer: "There was some kind of ship, and machines coming out of it. They started attacking Ponyville while a voice from the ship said 'Find that emerald! No matter what it takes.'"

Twilight: "Machines and a ship?"

Rainbow Dash: "Didn't that just happen in Canterlot?"

Starlight Glimmer: "That happened here?"

Twilight: "That's not important right now. We need to go defend Ponyville." But before they could leave, Pinkie Pie noticed that Shadow had a weird look on his face.

Pinkie: "Um, Mr. Black Hedgehog, are you okay?" Everyone around then turned their heads to see the hedgehog thinking about something.

What was Shadow doing while Team Sonic went after Dr. Eggman?

While Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles were in the Tornado 3, Shadow took the white emerald that Zecora found in the Everfree Forest and looked for a chaos emerald that he sensed was near. After some time, he stumbled upon a town and a sign that read "Welcome to Ponyville."

Shadow: "Of course 'Ponyville' is the name of a town when there's a world filled with them, he said while rolling his eyes. He then looked at the chaos emerald and it had sensed that one of the seven gems was in this town. "Looks like one of the chaos emeralds landed here." Shadow then used Chaos Snap to teleport to the center of Ponyville to begin his search. While walking, he had the emerald out as a detector. He also quickly noticed all the stares and whispers from other ponies, but the black hedgehog ignored them. After a few minutes of searching, Shadow eventually found himself in front of an interesting building. It was mostly cynical with decorative pillars, pony sculptures, and a color scheme of pink, purple, orange, and light blue. "Interesting design." Shadow then looked inside the building and spotted a green upside down gem on the windowsill. He also noticed that one of the windows was broken, and he quickly figured out why. He then used Chaos Snap to warp into the store and grab the emerald. After leaving through the front door, he quickly saw the Egg Carrier 4X in the air and quickly hid behind the building.

In the Egg Carrier 4X:

While the ship was flying towards Canterlot, one of his minions had noticed something on the radar.

Orbot: "Sir, I think there's a chaos emerald below us."

Eggman: "We already have one, Orbot. Besides, we can always come back for it later."

Orbot: "If you say so, boss." The ship then continued on towards its destination without worrying about emerald.

Back with Shadow:

After seeing Eggman leaves, Shadow came out from behind the building with both emeralds in hand.

Shadow: "The doctor must be heading towards this 'Canterlot' that the zebra told us about. I've got to get there fast. He then put both chaos emeralds away and quickly sped towards Eggman's new ship.

Back in the present:

Shadow: "I think I've been to this 'Ponyville' before."

Mane 6 and Spike: "You have?" They all said in surprise.

Sonic: "Was this 'Ponyville' where you found the emerald?"

Shadow: "It is where I found it."

Tails: "That's why Eggman is there, he must be looking for the emerald that you found."

Knuckles: "We already established that they all scattered when we arrived in Equestria. The place where Shadow found the green emerald could have another one."

Sonic: "That or there was only one and Eggman missed out on it," Sonic said a bit jokingly.

Tails: "Even so, we can't take that chance."

Sonic: "Agreed."

Spike: "Excuse me, but what's so special about these emeralds that you're talking about?" Spike asked.

Sonic: "We'll explain later. Right now, we need to get to this Ponyville place. You think your unicorn friend could teleport all twelve of us there?"

Starlight Glimmer: "I hope you don't mind my asking, but why do you care so much about Ponyville? You just heard about it."

Sonic: "We may not know much about this world we're in, but we do know that Eggman is capable of dangerous things."

Starlight Glimmer: "Eggman? That's a weird name."

Sonic: "That's also not important at this moment," Sonic stated while speaking in a more serious tone. "What he did to Canterlot is nothing compared to what he can do if he has his way," he continued while Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow nodded in agreement. Twilight thought about it for a moment. She knew very little about these creatures, meaning they could be secretly plotting to take over Equestria like many does from outside of it have tried to. However, the ponies and Spike were dealing with someone they knew nothing about, and these new creatures do and clearly want to help. She then stepped up and spoke to Sonic, his friends, and friendly rival.

Twilight: "Alright, you can come to Ponyville with us and help deal with this 'Dr. Eggman' guy. However, we've got questions that need answering afterwards.

Sonic: "Fine with me," Sonic nodded while Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow did the same. Starlight then used her magic to teleport all of them to the entrance to Ponyville. In front of the town, all of them could see robots and hear the sounds of some explosions and ponies screaming. Above them, they saw Eggman's newest flying fortress.

Eggman: "Look for the chaos emerald, any chaos emerald for that matter!" the mad scientist said from above them.

Knuckles: "Looks like you were right Tails. Eggman is looking for another one."

Sonic: "Well we're not going to let him destroy this town just for one emerald," Sonic said before turning to the ponies and dragon and asking "Y'all up for round two against these robots?"

Rainbow Dash: "You bet we are!"

Sonic: "I like her style," Sonic said to Twilight before dashing towards Ponyville with everyone else soon following behind.

Most of the badniks in Ponyville were different from the ones seen in Canterlot. Right now, everyone in Ponyville could see bat-based robots, monkey robots, slow turtle robots, and some of the ones seen in Canterlot. Majority of the ponies were terrified. The few who weren't either helped get ponies to safety or prepared to do some fighting. But before any pony could do that, a blue ball started destroying some of those robots. That ball revealed itself first in front of two female ponies. One had a pink coat and a purple and white tail and mane; the other had a grey coat and a lighter grey tail and mane.

Sonic: "You two girls okay?" Sonic asked while having one knee down, addressing the two in a calm manner.

Diamond Tiara: "We're okay, but who are you?" The pink pony asked.

Sonic: "Name's Sonic. What are your names?"

Diamond Tiara: "I'm Diamond Tiara. This here is my friend, Silver Spoon."

Sliver Spoon: "Hello there," the grey pony said nervously.

Sonic: "Well, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, you two should get somewhere safe until this robotic rampage is taken care of."

Diamond Tiara: "Will do." Both ponies then fled to a safer place. Half of Eggman's minions were actively going after the ponies while half were looking for another chaos emerald. The mayor of Ponyville, named Mayor Mare, was trying to get the ponies of the town to calm down (unintentional rhyme), but that was easier said than done.

Mayor Mare: "Calm down everypony. We just need to get somewhere safe," she said to the ponies that were running and/or screaming. No matter how much she tried, no one seemed to listen to her. She seemed to be so focused on helping other ponies that she didn't notice an aerial robot launch a missile at her until it was close to impact. Luckily for the mayor, another projectile hit the missile, preventing it from hitting the pony. A fox came up to her to make sure she was okay.

Tails: "You okay, miss?"

Mayor Mare: "I'm fine. Was that you just launched that projectile at me?"

Tails: "That wasn't me. The missile aimed at you was launched by. . ." Tails answered before being interrupted by the sound of a robot crashing into the ground. ". . . That robot currently on the ground," he finished.

Sonic: "That robot won't be bothering you anymore," Sonic casually said to the earth pony.

Mayor Mare: "Thanks for saving me from whatever that thing was."

Sonic: "No problem. It's kind of what we do," Sonic said casually again before switching to a serious tone by saying to the mayor "Now something you need to do is get somewhere safe until these machines are destroyed."

Mayor Mare: "But I'm the mayor of this town, and these ponies are all in danger. I can't just leave them."

Sonic: "Don't worry, Mayor. We'll make sure that no one here gets hurt."

Tails: "Plus, you need to worry about yourself too. The residents of this town would have likely freaked out if you got hurt from that missile."

Mayor Mare: "I suppose you two make a good point, but are you sure that the two of you can do this on your own?"

Sonic: "We don't have to because we aren't on our own," he answered before pointing towards the six ponies and the dragon he had recently met.

Mayor Mare: "Alright, I trust that you two," she said before running towards Twilight and her friends.

Sonic: "C'mon buddy. We've got more of Eggman's toys to play with," Sonic said confidently before he and Tails went off to look for more badniks to smash.

Mayor Mare: "Princess Twilight!" The Mayor said after running to the Mane 6, Spike, and Starlight. "Where did all these robots come from?"

Twilight: "We'll explain everything after we take care of these machines, Mayor. We still don't 100% know what's going on ourselves."

Spike: "But don't worry, we'll help around here!"

Mayor Mare: "One other thing: do you know who those creatures are?" The mayor asked, while pointing at Sonic and Tails.

Applejack: "That's something we haven't figured out yet ourselves, but they're here to help," Applejack responded. She then turned to her left, pointed at Knuckles who was near the Ponyville Schoolhouse and added "That red fellow is also here to help." The mayor wasn't expecting there to be more of these strange new creatures (insert roll credits joke here).

Mayor Mare: "There are three of them?" Before anyone could respond, a projectile went over their heads and shot down a robot that looked almost identical to the one that launched a missile at the mayor. A black hedgehog also then skated by.

Pinkie Pie: "Four of them, actually."

Rainbow Dash: "Like Twilight said, we still haven't figured out everything regarding this situation."

Twilight: "But you need to get somewhere safe."

Mayor Mare: "Alright, Princess," the mayor said in response before heading to Town Hall. Other ponies saw the mayor and followed her inside also. Some of Eggman's minions then noticed and tried to get inside, only to be blocked by Twilight and company.

Rarity: "If you want to get in here, you'll have to get through all of us first." The robots were getting ready to do that until someone else spoke up.

Shadow: "Hey worthless piles of junk!" Shadow yelled at the robots, resulting in them turning around. "Come at me." The robots then charged towards the black hedgehog, ready to fight. However, Shadow wasn't going to give them many chances to attack. Before they could reach him, Shadow warped right behind the robots. The ponies behind him were surprised at what the black hedgehog just did.

Starlight Glimmer: "Did he just teleport?"

Twilight: "How could he do that without magic?"

Rainbow Dash: "Something about these guys feel different from most creatures." Shadow ignored the comments from behind him and began to attack. He launched a chaos spear at one robot, then he used a spin dash followed by several homing attacks on more of them. He then turned around to see one aerial robot get ready to launch something at him.

Shadow: "Go ahead and try," he said confidently. The ponies and dragon near him gasped at what he said, not sure what he was planning. The flapper then launched a missile at Shadow, but he teleported behind the machine before it could land. He then launched another chaos spear to take out the robot and skated off towards more of the badniks. The ponies and dragon were both surprised and impressed at the same time.

Rainbow Dash: "We need to finish these guys off quick so we can start asking questions."

Applejack: "I'm with Dash here."

Pinkie Pie: "I found that to be impressive." The pink pony's comment resulted in some stares from her friends. "What? You didn't think that was cool? Her friends were actually impressed, but they weren't focused on that at the moment. The friends then went to fight more of Eggman's badniks. Unbeknownst to the Mane 6, Spike, Starlight, and the anthropomorphic creatures, there were seven bat like, orb shaped robots were approaching a castle. Said robots were intent on searching it for a chaos emerald. But before they could enter, a blue female unicorn with a light blue mane and tail came out of the castle. She went by the name Trixie Lulamoon.

Trixie: "GOOD MORNING PONYVILLE!" The unicorn shouted before her sight was on the robots above and in front of her. "Umm, what are you?" she asked but received no answer. This started to get her upset. "You think you can ignore the Great and Powerful Trixie?" This time, she'd get a response, but not a good one. The badniks had started to charge an electric field around them, which started to frighten the unicorn. "Um, what's going on?" One of the bots then fired an electric orb at her that almost hit Trixie. She then started to run away, screaming with the bots chasing her. Her screams were fortunately loud enough for her friends to hear.

Starlight Glimmer: "Trixie?" The unicorn asked.

Trixie: "SOMEPONY HELP ME!" The frightened unicorn shouted.

Starlight Glimmer: "Trixie's being chased by robots!" Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles immediately recognized the robots chasing the blue unicorn.

Knuckles: "Are those Electro Spinners?"

Tails: "Sure looks like it, but I'm pretty sure he calls them Thunder Spinners now."

Pinkie Pie: "What are Electro/Thunder Spinners?"

Tails: "Bat shaped badniks that can deliver lots of electricity to you."

Shadow: "So the doctor's used these before?"

Tails: "Yep. Though it's been a while since we've seen him use them."

Trixie: "Get away from me! Trixie does not want to be fried today or any day!"

Sonic: "Princess, you and your friends go help that unicorn. The rest of us will finish off Eggman's minions."

Twilight: "Okay. C'mon girls, let's go help Trixie."

Rainbow Dash: "We're really taking orders from creatures we don't know?"

Spike: "They do seem to have experience with these robots."

Rainbow Dash: "You make a good point." The Mane 6, Spike, and Starlight then went over to help the pony. Meanwhile, Mecha Sonic managed to scan the castle for a possible chaos emerald, but he finds none. However, he does decide to take some of the crystals from the castle before sneaking off back to the Egg Carrier 4X undetected.

Trixie: "Step back, you robotic beasts! Trixie will fight to defend herself if she has to," Trixie said with a bit of uncertainty in her voice. Just then, one of the robots was destroyed by an unsuspecting laser.

Starlight Glimmer: "Get away from my friend!"

Boss 2/Mini boss 1: Thunder Spinner Squad

The Thunder Spinners turned around when they heard the voice and saw Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Spike, and Starlight standing in front of them, ready to fight. Two of the badniks fired a charged electric orb at the ponies, but they both barely miss. Twilight and Starlight teleport behind the spinners and shot a laser at two of them, sending them to the ground inactive. While Twilight continued to help the rest of her friends battle the group of bat like badniks, Starlight checked on her best friend.

Starlight Glimmer: "Are you okay Trixie?"

Trixie: "Trixie is is fine thanks to you and your friends."

Starlight Glimmer: "Glad to hear. Now let's finish off these machines!"

Trixie: "The Great and Powerful Trixie is ready to fight now that you, Twilight, and the rest of her friends are here," Trixie said more confidently. The ponies and Spike battled the electric powered badniks. One by one, the robots eventually fell. With a few close calls, the group eventually got it done.

(End music)

Rarity: "Is that the last of those electric machines?" Rarity asked, a little exhausted from doing more fighting than she's used to.

Applejack: "Looks like it to me."

Spike: "We should also make sure that the rest of those evil machines in Ponyville are taken care of."

Sonic: "No need," Sonic said which got the attention of the dragon and his friends. "The four of us (referring to himself, his friends, and Shadow) wrapped up the rest of Eggman's minions a few minutes ago."

Spike: "So then what were you doing in the meantime?"

Knuckles: "Standing back and watching you ponies and that dragon handle some of Eggman's stronger minions on your own."

Shadow: "I have to admit, that was impressive."

Eggman: "Don't think that you've won, Sonic! My plan is just getting started!" Eggman shouted from in his flying fortress.

Sonic: "We'll be ready for you, Eggman!" Sonic shouted back before the Egg Carrier 4X blasted away quickly. Ponies them came from hiding and started cheering the heroes who helped save the town. Not only the ponies and Spike, but the new anthropomorphic creatures as well.

Pinkie Pie: "Don't you just love it when we're cheered for doing our job?" Pinkie Pie asked while hugging Fluttershy.

Fluttershy: "It is rather nice," the pegasus responded.

Mayor Mare: "Thanks again for helping our town, Princess Twilight."

Twilight: "Oh, it was nothing."

Mayor Mare: "And thank you for helping out as well," she said to Sonic.

Sonic: "No problem, Mayor. It's what we do."

Twilight: "Alright everypony. As nice as it is to be back here, me and my friends have important things to discuss with our 'guests,' so we'll need some privacy," Twilight said to the ponies of the town. She then cast the same spell she cast in Canterlot to dispose of the broken robot parts. She then turned to Sonic and said "Now let's have a discussion on my old castle."

Sonic: "You mean that purple and blue one that the robots almost attacked?"

Twilight: "That's the one."

Sonic: "Cool." The blue hedgehog responded. "Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, let's have a discussion with these ponies and dragon. I think explanations and introductions are definitely owed from both parties." During the walk to the castle, they noticed the remains of the Thunder Spinners that were destroyed.

Twilight: "Almost forgot about these." The princess was about to cast the spell again before being stopped by Sonic.

Sonic: "Hold up there, princess. Tails, you think this stuff could be useful?"

Tails: "I only need two of them," the fox happily responded. He then picked out two from the seven that were fought.

Sonic: "Hold up, do you have your toolkit or did you leave it back in Canterlot?"

Tails: "The toolkit's in my backpack, which I've been carrying this entire time," he answered while showing his best friend his yellow bag.

Sonic: "Don't know how I missed that. Alright, princess. You can get rid of these five." Twilight then cast the same spell a third time and got rid of 5 of the 7 busted up thunder spinners.

Rainbow Dash: "Why would you need busted up robot parts?"

Tails: "I'll show you later if I get the chance." But before they walked inside the castle, Twilight realized she needed someone to watch over Canterlot.

Twilight: "Wait!" She yelled, startling everyone. "Spike can you write a letter to Celestia and Luna telling them that I need them to look after Canterlot while we're in Ponyville for important business?"

Spike: "Sure thing, Twilight." It didn't take that long for Spike to write and send the letter using his dragon fire, which definitely confused Sonic and the others.

Sonic: "That's definitely something you'll have to explain." Everyone then finally walked inside the castle so that everything could be cleared up on who each other was and any other questions that needed to be answered.

Author's Note

Chapter 4 is complete! It actually took less time to finish than I thought it would. A few things I want to address.

• There will be more mini boss fights in this story.
  
• I noticed that every chapter so far has had a flashback of some kind. That wasn't the intention when I started this story.
  
• It'll be a few chapters before we find out what the next phase of Dr. Eggman's is.

Also, not related to the story, but as of the time of this chapter's upload, I haven't seen the Sonic 3 Movie yet. So do me and everyone else who hasn't seen the movie yet a favor and DO NOT SPOIL ANYTHING ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS IN IT!
THAT RUINS THE FIRST TIME EXPERIENCE FOR THOSE WHO ARE YET SEE THE MOVIE FOR THEMSELVES!

I will post a blog with my thoughts on the movie after I've seen it. Thanks, have a happy holidays and a happier new year! 😁

Also also, it says that this chapter was published on 12/27/2024 but it's actually the day after Christmas 2024 when this chapter is being published.