New world, same hero.

"That thing is so... so stubborn!" she muttered under her breath. "We’ll have to do something before someone gets hurt." She began to walk back toward the forest but stopped as she noticed the massive Timberwolf defeated and destroyed on the ground. "To think there’s something... someone... capable of facing that while we were fleeing from those... blue threats... Who are you?" she wondered aloud, gazing into the forest, unsure of where Sonic might be now.

Here we are again, enjoy, and I hope you'll forgive me if it takes a while, but well... STUDIES!"

While Sonic already had an emerald in his hands, Eggman was left with empty pockets, and much to the misfortune of the Equestrians, they still had no clue about their blue threat, nor why he was there or what he wanted. All they had was a description of his appearance and nothing more.

Moon - Egg of Death

Orbot was finishing supervising the repair status of his creator's fortress, but something about the repair progress puzzled him. He checked his tablet, receiving a damage notification: 'Cameras out of service.' "How are the cameras not working? We just fixed all the damage," he said. He performed a system check, but the same error remained.

He approached the control area and began scanning the systems and programs for any signs of a virus or a possible glitch in the main camera system code. Unfortunately, everything was in perfect condition. So what happened? he wondered as he left his workstation and headed towards the area where the cameras were malfunctioning. He floated along on his lower spherical half and continued his journey to complete his task.

Boarding Zone

Orbot arrived and looked at the cameras on the ceiling and the hallways, noticing that they were physically destroyed. "We have an intruder! But how? There are no signs of life on the ship besides Dr. Eggman," he said. He grabbed his tablet and reviewed the camera footage before they were disabled. Pausing at the right moment, he revealed a bipedal figure, agile and dressed in black, with a height considerably shorter than his creator's. He continued reviewing the damaged camera system files until he reached the last one, watching as the figure arrived at the boarding zone and stole a ship shaped like a blue bee (Buzz Bomber). But before entering, the figure threw an object at the camera, causing it to disconnect.

Orbot, seeing this move, flew up to the camera and grabbed the object, quickly recognizing it. "Oh no, the doctor’s not going to like this..." he said, examining what he recognized as a pink heart-shaped ninja shuriken.

Equestria - Crystal Mountains

From the night sky, a shooting star appeared in the view of those who looked up, but it quickly exploded into a red flame and began to descend rapidly due to the planet’s gravity. As it entered the atmosphere, it gained speed, transforming into a meteorite that fell directly towards snow-covered mountains.

The ship crashed into the snow, melting the surrounding area with the impact and its heat. The entrance door started to bend from the inside slowly until it was blasted off into the air, revealing a leg.

"Ugh... this wasn’t what I planned... I wanted to steal the Master Emerald! But NOOO! Eggman had to show up and ruin my plans! I was planning on stealing it from him, but then the blue one had to make his entrance... I can’t blame him, though, that’s what a hero does, besides, I didn’t know I’d be there," said the figure as they crawled out of the ship, adjusting the suit on their back to reveal a pair of black, featherless wings, more like a bat’s or a dragon’s.

They jumped and took flight, leaving the crater behind to look around, noticing what appeared to be a radiant city in the distance.

"Well, looks like luck is on my side. I just hope I don’t get a ticket for where I parked," they remarked, looking at the destroyed ship behind them. "Well, worse things have happened!" They soared into the sky, heading towards the city, noticing how it seemed to shimmer as if made of crystal or perhaps jewels. Their eyes lit up as they headed toward the train station to carry out their 'new arrival' act.

As they landed and looked up at the welcome sign, they read: "Welcome to the 'Crystal Empire?' Well, looks like fate is leading me to a place that suits my tastes."

As they walked from the train station along the long path to the Crystal Empire, a thought crossed their mind: "Is Sonic here too? I should make sure, in case my only way out is back to Eggman’s ship." They reached into their suit between their wings and pulled out a cell phone. "And great... no signal. I hope they have multi-universal coverage here." They put it away and continued on their way, arriving at the empire and admiring the beautiful night alongside the stunning crystal buildings. But what attracted them the most was a statue holding a heart in its hands.

"Well, well, what do we have here? A great hero? Or just a decorative statue?" They approached the plaque at the base of the statue, reading the inscription: "Made in honor of Spike, brave and glorious, hero and savior of the Heart and the Crystal Empire." They circled the statue, admiring every brilliant detail of the crystal it was made from. It was hard to believe something like this was within anyone’s reach.

Distracted by the beauty of the grand Crystal Empire, their gaze shifted to the center of the empire, where a very tall building stood like a tower supported by four bases. "If this is an empire, there must be a king, and if there’s a king, he must have very beautiful and valuable jewels." Before taking another step, they stopped upon hearing footsteps behind them, seeing something even harder to comprehend than the statue, a pony with purple fur, a horn on its head, and wearing blue armor all over its body, but what amazed them most was that its body seemed to be made of crystal.

"Halt, identify yourself!" the guard shouted as he approached the mysterious creature, drawing a sword with his magic while watching her closely.

"Oh, great, am I in trouble now, officer?" She raised her hands and acted innocently, playing dumb to toy with his thoughts.

"Actually, no, but there have been recent cases of missing ponies, and we’re not willing to take any chances by letting strangers in without verifying their innocence. Now, you’re coming with me and will be taken to the prison until tomorrow when the princess and prince can see you." He tried to get closer smoothly, showing a set of shackles, but she fell to her knees, groaning and clutching her leg.

"Aah... my... my leg, I think it’s still a little broken..." The guard paused, seeing her discomfort, but continued with his work, using his magic to lift her up and restrain her. "So, you think you’re too clever to help a lady in distress, huh?" As he approached to cuff her, the clever thief dropped some marbles from her hands, which caused a small explosion, instantly creating a smoke screen that distracted him, allowing her to break free and escape by flying away.

"Sorry, darling, but you’re not my type. Besides, I don’t play those games in public." She turned and flew off, soaring above the height of the buildings, leaving the empire behind.

The guard quickly used his magic to bring a call horn to his face, blowing into it with force, signaling to his fellow guards.

"Am I in a world of ponies? Well, maybe it’s not so bad if they have jewels and can talk. If there's royalty, I could take this as an opportunity to bring home a couple of souvenirs from this interesting place."

The mysterious and agile spy flew on until she reached a forest. As uncomfortable as it might have seemed, she chose it as her resting place for the night. With nothing much to do but wait for the morning, she slept face down on a tree like a bat while the night passed slowly for her.

Golden Oak Library - Twilight and Her Friends - Night

"Alright, girls... thanks for coming even at this hour of the night, but this is a serious matter to discuss," explained the alicorn as her friends looked at her, concerned by her tone.

Relax, sugarcube! What’s got you so... worked up?" Applejack asked cautiously, hoping not to offend her friend.

Spike arrived with hay and daisy sandwiches for the ponies, and a gem sandwich for himself. "Here you go, bon appétit!" He served the tray and took his portion to start eating.

"Thanks, Spike. Well, this might sound crazy, but I was there! It... that thing was there!"

Everyone looked at her confused, trying to understand what she was referring to by the tone in her voice. Her pink friend suddenly shook her helmet wildly.

"Yes, Pinkie?"

"Did you find Discord!? I still haven't found him since we started playing hide and seek!"

Twilight simply shook her head and took a bite of her sandwich. After swallowing, she sighed and looked at them all. "The blue threat was there! It was alive and it faced the Timberwolf!"

Rainbow Dash accidentally spat out what she was chewing towards Rarity, but Spike acted quickly, using the tray as a shield. Pinkie Pie took a sip of her water and then spat it out, soaking Applejack, who reluctantly tolerated the spit from her friend. Fluttershy trembled in fear under the table.

After everyone had calmed down, Rarity patted Spike on the cheek for saving her from her friend's disgusting action. Applejack dried off with a towel, shaking her hat to dry it. Rainbow was still staring at her princess friend in disbelief.

"THAT THING IS STILL ALIVE!?" she shouted, rising into the air above the table.

"Rainbow, calm down and sit down! I haven’t finished telling you what happened," Twilight said, and Rainbow obeyed, returning to her seat.

"Well... continuing with what I said, it was still alive, and it faced the monstrous Timberwolf the Crusaders were talking about." Again, Pinkie spat out water, but this time Applejack turned her head, making Pinkie spit in a different direction, soaking Spike and leaving him dripping wet.

"Oops... sorry, partner" Applejack apologized, embarrassed by her move.

Once again, Twilight had to intervene to continue. "No interruptions, please... Yes, it was facing it alone. The worst part is that not only is it fast and likes to play with us, escaping and avoiding us, this time it showed its true power. It was covered in some strange magic or blue aura, like lightning, and the damage it caused was so critical that it was mocking the Timberwolf, saying 'Too easy.'"

Rainbow crossed her forelegs in front of her chest as if saying she could do the same. "Sure, I can take down a few Timberwolves if I really want to."

"You don’t understand, Rainbow! It was alone, against what you could call an alpha or boss Timberwolf. I saw it with my own eyes, but if you don’t believe me, we still have witnesses who can speak honestly about what happened, maybe not to see exactly what I saw, but they were there when it faced it alone."

All her friends looked at her confused, except for Spike, who was well aware of what had happened at the time. "Girls, Twilight’s talking about the Crusaders. They were there with Zecora and said something about a 'Sonic' facing a Timberwolf. You saw them there too, right, Rainbow Dash?"

Rainbow’s eyes widened in surprise, realizing she had forgotten that detail about what happened when she landed to meet Zecora and the little fillies.

"So... let me see if I’m getting this straight. My sister and her friends ran into that alpha Timberwolf or whatever, and the blue threat was there facing it?"

Twilight nodded, but before she could speak, Fluttershy raised her helmet. "Yes, Fluttershy, what is it?"

"Um... didn’t you say something about a 'Sonic'? Who is he? If we can know, of course," asked her shy friend, emerging slightly from under the table.

"That’s something I’m still wondering... there was no other pony when I arrived, just them. I theorize that the arrival of the blue threat gave it the chance to escape through another part of the forest before I got there, or maybe..."

"Oh, maybe Sonic is the name of the blue threat?" Pinkie Pie asked, not giving much importance to the reasoning as she continued eating her sandwich.

Everyone stared at her, surprised by the idea. They didn’t have many clues about him and had no idea when or where they would encounter him again. Only one thought crossed Twilight's mind at that moment. "I’ve got it! Only they will know. Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, it’s already late and it’s night, but tomorrow when you get the chance, talk to the Crusaders about that name 'Sonic.' We need all the help we can get to learn more about him, so we can determine if he’s still the threat we think he is."

The trio looked at each other for a moment, thinking carefully. "I’m not asking you to interrogate them if that’s what you think. I just want you to ask if they know anything about him. Anything will help us understand who or what we’re facing."

"Alright, sugarcube, tomorrow I’ll talk to Applebloom about the forest and ask her about it."

"I’ll do the same with Sweetie Belle. If he’s a danger, we need to be careful, especially if we don’t know him well. We need their version of the story to understand him better."

"I’ll look for Scoots tomorrow for some questions while we do some tricks. She’ll probably want to talk a lot with me."

Twilight nodded upon hearing them and then looked at Spike. He understood the look and went to the study to return with some posters in his hands. "These are the notices so all the ponies stay alert when they see him. The portrait was made by Spike and approved by Princess Celestia. I helped with the description of his abilities, but I should update it tomorrow with the new details I saw today. Applejack, take two, one for you and your family, and the other for the Crusaders. The rest will get one, and the others we’ll start handing out first thing tomorrow."

With that, Spike handed out the notices to his friends in the order Twilight had said, giving one to the rest of her friends and two to Applejack. Everyone, upon receiving them, examined the portrait made by the young dragon, along with the description provided by Twilight.

WANTED! BLUE THREAT!

• NOTICE: All ponies are advised to stay alert in case of encountering this creature.

  • Description: It can be recognized by its non-Equestrian physiology. It moves bipedally, its body is entirely blue except for certain areas. It has emerald green eyes with a fixed stare and smile whenever there is eye contact. Its claws are white, and its hind legs are red. It is believed that its claws are three joined together, forming a triangular shape.
  • Abilities: Its abilities are entirely unknown, but the most notable feature is its incredible speed, which it can reach in confined spaces. It also displays great dexterity and agility in all its movements when faced. This last point is crucial.
  • AVOID PURSUING, FACING, OR CAPTURING IT. Its intentions are unknown, but we must not risk any pony.

"Wow, you really have talent, Spike! Did you beat the guards with this?" Rainbow Dash smiled, watching as he scratched the back of his head, embarrassed by the compliments about his victory over the guards in a criminal sketching task.

"Heh, for a second I thought they were gonna kill me for winning at something like this, since it was the closest to the descriptions."

"Well, girls, I hope this works and gives us more info about the blue threat..." Twilight took a deep breath and sighed, returning to her thoughts about the strange encounters. She went back to the first one, feeling déjà vu from the second encounter. While RD, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie were chatting, Rarity noticed her staring intently at the table, that lost look when someone’s thinking about something for what seems like hours, but in reality, it was only a few seconds. She was analyzing those encounters but was interrupted by a voice calling her.

"Twilight? Are you okay, dear?" asked her unicorn friend with a tone of concern.

"Sorry... I’ve been distracted since I saw him again, but this time at least there was some logical exchange of words between him and me."

At that, all her friends stopped talking and turned to listen. Spike sat next to her, eagerly awaiting the story, as did the others.

"Did he insult you or something?" Rainbow quickly guessed, trying to figure out what might have been said.

"No, but he was more... let’s say, direct in every way... some things he mentioned confused me, and I didn't know how to process them at the time. He said so many things that didn't make sense, but others did. I wanted to convince him to come peacefully, but he... just..." Annoyed and tired from explaining her confused thoughts, she used a spell, and a beam from her horn shot onto the table, creating an illusion of Sonic based on her memories.

"It's a spell my brother uses to identify criminals, just remembered it. With all the stress from this situation, it's hard to speak and think at the same time..."

The illusion recreated all the movements from the moment of their exchange of words. It said:
"First... I need to take care of something before 'giving up.' But if you still don't trust me enough to send someone to look for me, go ahead! I don't care. You can think whatever you want about me, Princess. After all, 'actions speak louder than words.' It's a saying from home."
Then the illusion vanished.

"And that’s what he said... it’s so... frustrating!! I want to fix everything like the Princess of Friendship I am, but I can’t if he doesn’t want to be friendly... and worst of all, I don’t understand what he meant the first time when he jumped off the balcony."

"And... what exactly did he say?" Spike asked, drawing her attention.

Twilight looked down at the table, remembering the scene. He had jumped from the balcony onto the cliff during that night at the Grand Galloping Gala. He knew someone would come check if he was really falling. She arrived, watched him, he smiled, winked, and mouthed, "Catch me if you can."

"He’s challenging us! It’s obvious! He thinks he's the fastest thing alive or something, he’s just showing off," Applejack looked at her sideways with a glance that said, ‘You’re not the best person to talk about this.’

"Umm... anything else we should know about what happened?" Fluttershy asked shyly as she finished her meal.

"Yes... after the Timberwolf was defeated, it dropped a green gem... it seemed like he was looking for it, maybe it’s connected to what he said about 'needing to take care of something before giving up.' I don’t know how that gem relates to him because he still hasn’t handed it over."

"What kind of gem was it? I mean, if it’s so valuable to him, we might get an idea of where to find him if he's looking for gems."

"It was strange... when the Timberwolf fell, the gem appeared in a green flash and floated towards him. He just grabbed it, we talked, and he left... everything gets more confusing the more I think about it."

"Don’t worry, Twi, we’re here to help. Plus, it’s not like he can travel all of Equestria in seconds, no matter how fast he is without wings. There are mountains to go around, forests to avoid, and with the warnings you made, everypony will be on alert if he shows up," Rainbow Dash said, surprising everyone with her deduction that it wouldn’t be a huge problem everywhere in Ponyville.

They were about to speak, but a yawn interrupted them. All turned to see the young dragon yawning and struggling to keep his eyes open.

"It’s really late now. We need to sleep first. Stay alert, remember to talk to the girls. We’ll distribute the warnings around Ponyville, and the Princess will take care of sending warnings to the other Equestrian cities."

With that, they all said their goodbyes and went home, awaiting the new day.

??? - ???

That same night, in a dark, desolate alley, a unicorn pony was unloading fruit crates from his cart. He seemed to be coming back from a business trip late at night, unaware of a figure under a dirty, tattered cloak approaching him. It appeared small and weak until its presence caught the pony’s attention. He saw it come from the darkness and fell to the ground, looking weak and exhausted.

"Hey, you okay, friend? Need something?" The unicorn approached him, concerned, offering a piece of fruit.

"No... I’m not okay, I need... magic... give me magic..." The unicorn moved closer, trying to hear him.

"What do you need? I didn’t quite understand you," as he got closer, a red claw reached out and grabbed his neck weakly. Before he could react, he started feeling drained, as the mysterious figure under the cloak began to grow, and the unicorn fell to the ground, losing control of his magic. He couldn’t even keep the fruit he was holding.

Within the darkness of the cloak, yellow eyes and a grin revealing sharp teeth could be seen, a sinister sight.

"W...who... are you? What... did you do to my... magic...?" the unicorn asked weakly, unable to stand.

"I only took what belongs to me, and you, along with the rest of your kind, can call me Lord Tirek!"