Morning had arrived in Equestria. For Twilight and her friends, the previous day was an eventful one. Since the purple alicorn took over as ruler, they haven't had many compared to when Twilight was only the Princess of Friendship. Now, with the arrival of Team Sonic, Shadow, Eggman, and his crew, things are looking as eventful as they used to be. Twilight Sparkle had woken up, wondering about what the mad scientist would do next, but she knew that she needed to eat first before planning anything to stop him.

Twilight: "Sonic and Shadow must be eating at the dining table," Twilight first thought after waking up from her sleep. She then made her way to said dining table and did see two of the guests that spent the night.

Royal Guard A: "Did you sleep well, Princess?" One of the royal guards asked.

Twilight: "I slept great. You and the other guard can go have breakfast."

Royal Guard B: "If you say so, Princess," another guard said before both of them went to the kitchen to get food.

Twilight: "Good Morning, everyone!" Twilight greeted.

Tails and Spike: "Good Morning, Twilight," Tails and Spike greeted back."

Shadow: "Morning," Shadow said in a neutral tone. As Twilight looked around the table, she noticed that there was someone missing.

Twilight: "Has anyone seen Sonic? He wasn't in my room when I woke up this earlier."

Tails: "Oh that. I saw a note next to me when I woke up." Tails then handed Sonic's note to Twilight and she read it out loud.

Dear Tails, Spike, Shadow, and Twilight,

I decided to go out for a run and explore Equestria for myself. I know there's more to this world than just Canterlot, Ponyville, and the Crystal Empire. Nothing personal, this is just how I roll sometimes.

One of your newest friends, Sonic.

Shadow: "Tails showed me the letter this morning after we got breakfast. Not surprised that Sonic decided to go off on his own."

Spike: "He's done this before?"

Tails: "Going off to do his own thing? Yeah, he's done that before."

Twilight: "When do you think he'll be back?"

Tails: "Not sure. He might be the fastest thing alive, but he likes to slow down and explore sometimes."

Twilight: "I hope he's really careful out there. Some of the ponies and other creatures might not be as welcoming as we were."

Tails: "Sonic likes to go where the wind takes him. The wind could take him out of harm's way," Tails said in a calming voice to ease Twilight's worries. It thankfully did work and made her less worried about Sonic's whereabouts.

In Manehattan:

Sonic had been up since 9 AM. He arrived at a big city close to 9:30 AM because he had breakfast at Canterlot Castle and spent a good 10-15 minutes exploring more of Canterlot before leaving to explore new parts of the world he was currently in. Right now, he was in a metropolitan city northeast of Ponyville.

Sonic: "Welcome to Manehattan," Sonic read off of a sign. "Manehattan sounds like another pony pun, but I'm not here to think about that, I'm here to explore this place." After quickly making his way across the bridge, he found himself in the city of Manehattan. Many of the ponies who spotted him had looks of confusion on their faces.

Young Unicorn Colt: "Daddy, who's that?" A young blue pony asked his dad, who was a darker shade of blue.

Adult Unicorn Stallion: "I don't know, but don't interact with him/it until we know it's safe," the stallion told his son before walking off to continue their task (by the way, imagine that some of these ponies were background characters that were seen throughout the actual show with a few new ones). Sonic noticed those two unicorns and other ponies walk by and give him looks, but they didn't phase him at all.

Sonic: "I've got a feeling that I'm going to get looks from everyone wherever I go today. Oh well, that won't stop me from seeing the sights of this Manehattan place." The blue hedgehog then looked around to see where he could start his personal tour and quickly found something: a green statue of an earth pony on an island. "I feel like that exists elsewhere," Sonic said to himself.

Adult Earth Pony: "Excuse me, sir. What exactly are you?" One particular pony asked.

Sonic: "I'm a hedgehog. Name's Sonic."

Adult Earth Pony: "Well nice to meet you Sonic. I see that you're taking a look at the Mare Statue."

Sonic: "I was taking a look at it."

Adult Earth Pony: "Well, if you want to see it up close and personal, a tour of that state will begin shortly. The only thing required is that you show respect to everypony else who's touring."

Sonic: "I think I can do that." Sonic then got on a boat with a bunch of other ponies and the driver took them the island with the Mare Statue.

Tour Guide Pony: "Welcome to the Mare Statue, creatures of all shapes and sizes."

Sonic: "This pony's a tour guide? He's got a cool job in this city," Sonic said to himself while the other ponies were oohing and aahing. After Sonic thought to himself a bit more, the tour guide pony removed the red gate that was blocking the statues entrance.

Tour Guide Pony: "Let the tour of the Mare Statue begin!" The tour guide pony announced.

Sonic: "Sweet," Sonic responded before running into the statue. Everypony was stunned with how fast Sonic had moved, everypony but the children at least.

Random Filly: "That guy is really fast."

Random Colt: "He's as fast as Rainbow Dash."

Both of Them: "He might be even faster than she is," both said simultaneously after a gasp.

Tour Guide Pony: "Well someone's excited. Alright everypony. Follow me and I'll show you the beauties of this statue." After 10 minutes had passed, the group had reached the crown of the statue. When they all arrived, they saw the blue hedgehog that sped off earlier.

Sonic: "Hi there every. . . pony," Sonic said while waving to the tour group.

Tour Guide Pony: "Hello there, Sonic." The ponies were really confused on how he knew this creature's name until the tour guide said to them "In case you're wondering how I know his name, I saw him looking at the statue earlier."

Random Female Earth Pony: "Excuse me, Mr. Sonic sir, how long have you been up here?" One pony asked.

Sonic: "First off, just call me Sonic. Second, I've been here for about two minutes."

Tour Guide Pony: "Anyways, we're currently in the crown jewel of this statue: the crown. Pun fully intended." All the ponies on the tour laughed at what he said.

Random Filly: "Excuse me, tour guide pony," the filly who first commented on Sonic's speed said.

Tour Guide Pony: "Yes, young one?"

Random Filly: "What's that blue guy doing?" She asked while pointing outside the crown. All the ponies then gasped as the blue hedgehog was standing on the statue.

Tour Guide Pony: "Excuse me, Sonic. What exactly are you doing?"

Sonic: "I'm about to jump from this statue back to where the streets of Manehattan are."

Tour Guide Pony: "What?! Are you mad?" The tour guide said with worry.

Sonic: "Nope. I just like taking risks sometimes," the blue hedgehog said in confidence. He then charged up a spin dash for five seconds before speeding off of the statue and jumping off the edge like it was a ramp. The ponies inside the Mare Statue and on the Manehattan streets were shocked at what the hedgehog tried to do. They were even more shocked when he landed in front of where the boat that took him to the statue was originally. After landing, he turned around and shouted at the tour guide "Thanks for letting me see that statue! It's a nice landmark!" Sonic then sped back into the city to continue exploring.

Tour Guide Pony: "That hedgehog is fearless," the tour guide said after seeing what Sonic just did.

(End song)

Back in Canterlot, Twilight and Spike showed Tails and Shadow some of the stuff they've to do since becoming ruler and royal advisor of Equestria respectively. It was mostly boring stuff like meetings and openings. Wasn't the first time that somepony/some dragon had to walk a mile in Celestia's hooves.

Tails: "You and Spike have to go to meetings and openings?" Tails asked Twilight and Spike.

Spike: "Sometimes back to back," Spike responded.

Shadow: "I've experienced this with G.U.N. to an extent. Sometimes we have meetings followed by training sessions back to back," Shadow said to Tails.

Tails: "Seriously?"

Shadow: "Of course. Why would I kid about anything?"

Tails: "You have a point."

Twilight: "To take a break from the boring stuff we currently do, how about we show you something we used to do in Ponyville?"

Tails: "Besides just being the princess of friendship?"

Twilight: "Besides just being the princess of friendship." Twilight then teleported herself, Spike, Tails, and Shadow back to Ponyville. More specifically, in front of a building next to her old friendship castle.

Tails: "What exactly are we looking at?" Tails asked.

Spike: "This is the School of Friendship. It was created a few years ago to help teach friendship to all creatures."

Twilight: "Of course, my friends helped us run the school before we moved back to Canterlot."

Tails: "Didn't you say that Starlight runs the school now?"

Twilight: "I did in fact say that, and she is the headmare now. Follow us and we'll give you a tour of the school."

Spike: "Fair warning: you will see creatures won't just be ponies. It might weird you out a bit."

Shadow: "We've met different alien races before. I don't think whatever creatures are taught here will be that much weirder than what the two of us, that Knucklehead, and Sonic have seen."

Twilight: "Knucklehead?"

Tails: "He's talking about Knuckles."

Spike: "Noted." The four then entered the school for another tour.

Back in Manehattan, Sonic was currently on the roofs of some of the buildings to get a better view of the city, and he was enjoying himself.

Sonic: "Ah, yeah! This is happenin'!" He said. While thinking of what to do next, he heard the sound of someone screaming.

Random Pony: "Stop! Thief!" Sirens followed that scream as 6 police cars were seen chasing after a lavender colored unicorn with a purple mane and tail, a mask, and a bag. After the cars had passed, Sonic jumped down from the building he was on and turned to the pony who screamed 'thief.'

Sonic: "Excuse me, Miss. What happened?" he asked her.

Random Pony: "A unicorn came in and stole some jewelry I had in my store," she answered. Sonic then sped towards where the cops and the thief were heading.

(End song)

At some point, the unicorn had reached a dead end street. He intended on turning back and looking for another route, but was instead met by police officer ponies.

Police Officer Pony A: "You are completely surrounded. Surrender yourself," one officer commanded.

Unicorn Thief: "If I go down, I'm going down swinging!" The thief told them as he pulled a silver bat out of his bag. It was just big enough to fit inside of it. The police ponies then started pulling something out from their cars: smoke bombs to potentially block the thief's vision for long enough to catch it.

Police Officer Pony A: "Lock on everypony. Ready? Fire!" He then commanded. As they all launched their smoke bombs, the thief used his bat to swing them away. They'd either hit another officer and blind them temporarily, or they'd land close to an officer.

Unicorn Thief: "Ha ha ha. It's no use. Give up!" He probably said after avoiding getting hit by every smoke bombs thrown at him. When the officers checked for more of them, there was only one left, and it was in the car of the officer who told the thief to surrender. When it seemed like no one would be able to catch him, someone showed up to provide assistance.

Sonic: "Ah, yeah! This could be fun!" Sonic yelled after jumping on top of one of the police cars. "Now that I think about it, this feels like de ja vu," he then said to himself.

Unicorn Thief: "What exactly are you?"

Sonic: "The hedgehog who's going to help these officers bring you in!"

Unicorn Thief: "In your dreams, blue guy!" The unicorn then put down his bat and blasted a laser at the hedgehog. When he didn't see the hedgehog, he asked "Where did that blue guy go?"

Sonic: "Look behind you," Sonic answered. The thief then looked behind him and saw Sonic with the bag he was carrying. He and the officers were surprised that he was able to not only dodge his attack but also snatch the bag.

Unicorn Thief: "Give me that bag. It's mine!" The unicorn demanded.

Sonic: "This bag may or may not be yours, but what's in here definitely isn't." Sonic then quickly ran towards the unicorn and swiped the bat from the ground.

Unicorn Thief: "Hey, give that back!" The thief said angrily before charging at the hedgehog, only for him to speedily get behind him again. Meanwhile, the officers nearby saw this as a chance to grab the thief. After discussing a plan, the officer with the last smoke bombs threw it at the unicorn, stunning him.

Police Officer Pony A: "Now!" The officer commanded. Two ponies then jumped the thief and cuffed him.

Police Officer Pony B: "Hopefully you enjoyed your freedom," one of the officers said.

Police Officer Pony C: "Because now you're not going to be free for quite some time," the other officer finished. The unicorn thief was then dragged into one of the police cars and the officers who tackled and cuffed the thief drove to the police station.

Police Officer Pony A: "Thank you, kind sir," an officer said to Sonic.

Sonic: "No problem, officers. We should probably return this jewelry though," Sonic responded.

Police Officer Pony A: "Would you be okay with riding with us back to the store?"

Sonic: "I'm cool with that. However, I have to ask: are you cool with me riding on top of the car?"

Police Officer Pony A: "If you're okay with that, then so are we." The rest of the officers drove back to the store where the thief took the jewelry from with Sonic on top of one of the cars.

Sonic: "I believe this belongs to you," Sonic said to the store owner.

Store Owner: "Thank you so much, whatever/whoever you are."

Sonic: "Don't sweat it. Well it's been fun, but I've gotta run." The blue blue then ran off and left Manehattan to find somewhere else to explore.

Earlier that morning at Sweet Apple Acres:
Knuckles had spent the night with the Apples, sleeping in the same room as Big Mac.

Knuckles: "Well that was a decent sleep," Knuckles said as he woke up. After he woke up, Big Mac yawned and also woke up, but he quickly went back to sleep after falling on the floor. "You okay there, dude?" Knuckles asked.

Big Mac: "Yeeup," the red pony answered after yawning again. The echidna could tell that Big Mac was tired.

Knuckles: "What were you doing last night that has you so tired this morning? Did you stay up late last night doing extra farm work?"

Big Mac: "Yeeup."

Knuckles: "Is that actually what happened?"

Big Mac: "Yeeup."

Knuckles: "Is that all you say?"

Big Mac: "Nope." Knuckles grumbled at that response. "Look, I'm not one to do a whole lot of talking," Big Mac told Knuckles.

Knuckles: "Oh yeah, Applejack said that when she first introduced you and your wife."

Big Mac: "Yeah, it's one of the things she loves about me," Big Mac said while blushing.

Knuckles: "So what's it like being a husband? I hope that's not a sensitive topic."

Big Mac: "It's great. However, I will admit that I wasn't expecting so much more responsibility quickly after we got married." The two were able to share a laugh after that response.

Applejack: "Breakfast is ready y'all!" Applejack shouted. The two then went downstairs to eat.

Knuckles: "Morning, ponies."

Apple Bloom: "Morning Big Mac. Morning Knuckles," Apple Bloom happily greeted.

Sugar Belle: "Good Morning everypony. Well, every creature I should say," Sugar Belle said as she walked in.

Applejack: "Alright y'all, today we've got buttermilk pancakes today!"

Apple Bloom: "Awesome!"

Knuckles: "I'm into pancakes."

Granny Smith: "Hold on, there. You better not start breakfast without me," Granny Smith said as she entered the kitchen.

Applejack: "Don't worry. We weren't going to have breakfast without you," Applejack responded to her grandmare. While everyone was getting their pancakes, Knuckles spotted a particular drink near the sink.

Knuckles: "Um, what is this pear stuff?"

Apple Bloom: "That right there is pear juice."

Knuckles: "Forgive me if I sound stereotypical or rude or something like that, but it seems out of place for pear juice to be here with a bunch of apple themed foods." Thankfully, none of the Apples took offense to what he said.

Granny Smith: "No offense taken. You aren't the first to make some type of comment on that."

Knuckles: "I'm not?"

Sugar Belle: "Nope. I asked Applejack about that too when I first moved here."

Applejack: "I told her that at the time, we had recently opened our hearts to let other fruits into our lives."

Sugar Belle: "Then I tried some for myself, and it's pretty good."

Knuckles: "Applejack, the answer you gave her sounds like there's more to these 'pears' than what you told her. However, I'm not going to force anything out of you since that seems like a personal matter." There proceeded to be silence from the family for a moment until Applejack spoke up.

Applejack: "It's okay Knuckles. Actually, since you're hear, we might as well tell you about our history with pears."

Knuckles: "Are you sure, AJ? If it's difficult for you, then I understand."

Applejack: "It's okay, Knuckles. I don't mind." All the Apples (minus Sugar Belle, the honorary Apple) then told Knuckles the tale of what happened during the events of "The Perfect Pear." From meeting Grand Pear for the first time, to learning that there mother was a pear, to their grandfather leaving.

Knuckles: "Wow, that's deep."

Applejack: "Yeah, I know."

Knuckles: "Ones that were family weren't around due to pride?"

Apple Bloom: "Yep. It hurt at first, but we were all able to make peace with Grand Pear; I like to call him 'Grand Peare Pear' sometimes."

Knuckles: "Well I guess that's something else we can relate to."

Sugar Belle: "What do you mean by that?"

Knuckles: "We'll both standing up against evil and not simply let them do what they want."

Applejack: "I can agree on that, but you said 'something else' as in you experienced something similar."

Knuckles: "It's nothing major," Knuckles responded as he finished the rest of his pancakes. "If you need me, I'll be outside." The echidna then walked outside to exercise. The ponies decided not to force anything out of him for now and instead just went outside. When they got outside, they spotted the echidna doing sit-ups on one of the tree branches.

Apple Bloom: "Excuse me Knuckles, but what are you doing?"

Knuckles: "I'm doing sit-ups. Wasn't it obvious?" The ponies shook their heads, making it clear that it wasn't obvious. "Okay, maybe not so obvious," Knuckles said as he jumped back onto the ground.

Sugar Belle: "Do you always do stuff like that?"

Knuckles: "If you mean exercises, then not always. I do it most of the time to stay in shape. Now unrelated question: how do you get the apples down from these trees?"

Applejack: "A little something we like to call apple bucking."

Knuckles: "Apple bucking? What's that?"

Applejack: "I'm glad you asked. Apple Bloom and Big Mac, can you get some baskets please?"

Apple Bloom: "Sure thing, big sister."

Big Mac: "Yeeup." After the two Apple siblings got the baskets and placed them under the tree, The earth pony of honesty then walked up to it and used her legs to kick the tree, causing apples to fall and land in the baskets.

Knuckles: "Not bad. You ponies have more of those baskets?"

Sugar Belle: "They should be in the barn." Sugar Belle and Big Mac then got more baskets from the barn and placed under the rest of the trees with fully grown apples.

Knuckles: "Watch this." The echidna then charged up a punch and swing at the tree. All the apples in it landed in the nearby baskets.

Applejack: "Not bad. You might be as good as me with punches like that."

Knuckles: "Is that a challenge?"

Applejack: "Depends on the challenge."

Knuckles: "Let's see who can get more apples down from these trees."

Applejack: "Only the apples that grew fully."

Knuckles: "Fine with me."

Applejack: "Then challenge accepted!"

Granny Smith: "This should be interesting."

Big Mac: "Yeeup." After two minutes had passed, all of the grown apples had landed in all the available baskets. The two were quite tired, but still had energy left in them.

Knuckles: "So who won?" Knuckles asked. Sugar Belle and Apple Bloom then inspected all the baskets to determine a winner, but they couldn't.

Apple Bloom: "It looks like the two of you tied."

Knuckles and Applejack: " WE TIED?" Both the earth pony and echidna said in surprise.

Sugar Belle: "Yeah. All of them look to have the same amount."

Granny Smith: "So how do we settle this?" Knuckles and Applejack thought about for a moment before looking at each other and deciding.

Applejack: "I'm willing to accept a tie if you are."

Knuckles: "I'll accept a tie."

Apple Bloom: "Good. Less work for us honestly."

Big Mac: "Yeeup."

Knuckles: "There's someone special about you, Applejack."

Applejack: "Special? What do you mean?"

Knuckles: "With Sonic and Shadow (mostly Sonic), I likely wouldn't have accepted a draw immediately. But something about you makes me more willing to accept a tie."

Applejack: "Well I appreciate it, Knuckles. You're a suitable and respectable opponent," Applejack said in response.

Knuckles: "Well so are you," Knuckles said back while giving the farm pony a fist bump.

Apple Bloom: "Sonic and Shadow? You mean that blue hedgehog and the black one we met yesterday?"

Knuckles: "That's them."

Sugar Belle: "Is there something about them that makes it tough to accept a draw if they offer it?"

Knuckles: "Well first off, Shadow has never offered to call things a draw, mostly because he wins most of our matches. Second, with Sonic, he's willing to accept a draw, but it's just super difficult for me to do so."

Applejack: "Why's that, sugarcube?"

Knuckles: "Probably his habit of taunting his opponents."

Applejack: "I assume he mostly does it with that Eggman guy."

Knuckles: "Pretty much."

Applejack: "Well the way I see it, that's just Sonic having fun."

Knuckles: "It is, and I kinda respect it to a degree. But that's enough about me and Sonic for now. Thanks for the competition, AJ."

Applejack: "No problem, Knuckles."

Knuckles: "By the way, why'd you call me sugarcube?"

Applejack: "It's just a name I like to give to close ones."

Knuckles: "I'll try to remember that." Not long after that conversation, Rainbow Dash flew into Apple Acres.

Rainbow Dash: "Hey Applejack. Hey Knuckles."

Applejack: "What brings you hear?"

Rainbow Dash: "Twilight needs us at the School of Friendship now!"

Knuckles: "School of Friendship?"

Applejack: "Twilight built it a few years ago to teach friendship to every creature across Equestria. We're even teachers there."

Apple Bloom: "Oh no! Me and the other crusaders are supposed to be tutoring somepony today!" Apple said in sudden realization before sprinting towards the school.

Knuckles: "Your sister and her friends are teachers at the school too?"

Rainbow Dash: "Actually, they're just friendship tutors. Now come on. Fluttershy, Rarity, Twilight, and Pinkie Pie are already there." The pegasus and earth pony then headed towards the school with Knuckles following them.

On the Egg Carrier 4X:
Eggman: "Orbot and Cubot, front and center!" Eggman demanded two of his robot minions.

Orbot: "Right here sir," Orbot answered.

Cubot: "What do you need from us, boss?"

Eggman: "Is every room on the ship's interior clean?"

Orbot: "Every room has been cleaned."

Cubot: "Good thing those egg pawns now have a cleaning setting installed."

Eggman: "Good. Are all the engines working properly?"

Orbot: "Engines are 100% functional."

Cubot: "Only after Metal Sonic came in while I was struggling with what to actually do," Cubot responded nervously.

Eggman: "At least the job was finished. Now what about the emerald that Mecha Sonic found at Silver Shoals and the crystal he took from Twilight's old castle?"

Orbot: "I have the emerald with me and the crystal is stored in the room you told us to put it in."

Cubot: "What's so important about that crystal, anyways?"

Eggman: "You'll find out eventually, Cubot. Now follow me to the bridge." The three of them reached the bridge and spotted Metal Sonic, Mecha Sonic, and egg pawns at the controls.

Orbot: "So boss, what's the next phase of your master plan?"

Eggman: "Phase 3 is called Sky High Trouble."

Cubot: "Does that mean we're going somewhere in the clouds?"

Eggman: "Precisely. Metal Sonic: Take this flying fortress up to the clouds. Mecha Sonic, Orbot, and Cubot: Gather the troops in the southeast room and bring them to the hangar."

Orbot and Cubot: "Yes sir," Orbot and Cubot said as they saluted and then left the engine room. Mecha Sonic also saluted before leaving the engine room as well.

Eggman: "Next stop: Cloudsdale," the mad scientist said while an evil grin was on his face.

Author's Note

Chapter 7 has been finished!

This one took me longer because the 2025 NFL Playoffs started the same day I started working on this chapter, but I didn't start actually writing it until later that night. Not only that, but I spent most of 1/12/25 watching the NFL Playoffs instead of doing some work on this (my bad 😅).

A few references I threw in:

Sonic on the roofs of some of the buildings, the police cars driving down the streets, Sonic and the police saying what they said were taken directly from the opening cutscene(s) of Sonic's story in Sonic Adventure.

(SFM version of that/those cutscene(s) btw)

Also, there being a thief that's a lavender colored pong with purple hair that stole jewelry from a store came from one of the MLP EG: Better Together shorts: "Super Squad Goals."

As you may or may not know, Manehattan is a pun on Manhattan, one of the boroughs of NYC, and the Mare Statue is the pony version of the Statue of Liberty, hence Sonic's comments on both the name of the city and the statue existing elsewhere.

That's it for now. Stay tuned for the next chapter as this battle takes our heroes to the skies!