New world, same hero.

"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!"

Sonic: 💎
Location: ???

Dr. Eggman:
Location: Moon

Rouge:
Location: ???

Everything was dark, there was not a trace of life, only a laugh could be heard in the darkness. Then, yellow eyes appeared, and the same laugh grew louder. The face and shape of the one responsible for that evil laugh were revealed—a quadruped creature like a pony, where the head should have been, there was the torso of a minotaur, a muscular body, strong arms, and a great pair of horns on top of its head. This figure was illuminated by a wall of flames behind it and appeared to be fifty times larger than the pony bodies it stood over on the ground.

Suddenly, a different figure appeared before it, as tall as a pony, meaning it was a small creature compared to the great centaur before it. A silhouette emanating a blue aura, bipedal, its hair—or rather, its mane—waving as if the ends of it were trying to rise. There was silence, and then everything disappeared. Only a faint voice could be heard: "Limits?... LIMITS!?"

A blue lightning bolt struck from the sky, causing a powerful and surprising crash.

A sudden gasp, and the dreamer awoke, revealing herself to be a frightened white alicorn from the nightmare. It had all been a dream, but one that left her uncomfortable to remember.

Suddenly, the doors to her room burst open, revealing a younger alicorn with dark blue tones like the night. Her mane and tail resembled the night sky, and her sister entered, looking concerned for her.

"Sister! Are you okay?"

"I just had a terrible dream," Celestia expressed, frightened, as she got out of bed and rubbed her horn against her head.

"Why do you think I’m here? You know as well as I do that it wasn’t a dream, but a vision... a very strange vision," her younger sister approached to hug her, trying to calm her worries.

"Then there's no time. The stronger it gets, the more danger we're all in, and I'm not sure that we princesses are the ones meant to face this situation."

"What are you talking about, sister?"

"You saw my vision in your dream realm, you saw exactly what happened, right? We need to talk to Twilight and Cadance as soon as possible. Send for them, and by tomorrow, as soon as the sun rises, I... need to clear my thoughts..."

Death Egg - Moon

The base was fully operational, the robot units were finishing their work, and the base began to detach from the moon, now under control in space.

"Sir, the Death Egg is fully restored, the attack units are charged and ready. The main power source is functioning perfectly, and the test subjects that Metal Sonic managed to acquire are being studied and analyzed. We are ready to invade whenever you wish," Orbot informed his creator after passing through automatic doors that led to his personal rest area.

Dr. Eggman was reviewing and studying his plan for the next move he would make as soon as they were far enough from the moon. "Splendid news, Orbot. Any new information about the planet of those equines?"

"In fact, sir, it seems I have something that will interest you." He approached, showing a piece of paper. Eggman glanced at it with little interest, but the bold words immediately caught his attention: SEEKING BLUE THREAT

"Blue threat? Give me that!" He snatched it from Orbot's hands to read every part of the description and see the portrait of the creature. When he finished, a wicked smile formed on his face. "So your theory was correct, Sonic is down there and he's loose... and the best part is, he's the enemy of those equines! OH HO HO HO!!! This is magnificent! They see him as a threat and know nothing about him, other than this! Orbot, do you have the location of the rulers of those lands?"

"We've determined that the main structure of their rulers is located where the Chaos Control took place a few days ago, under the surveillance of the bandicoots we sent. It’s a castle with a level of security we can consider useless against our technological advancements."

"Excellent! Let me know when everything is ready to contact the rulers of those animals. I want to make a simple deal about their 'blue threat.'" With that said, he left with a big smile, heading to his laboratory to check on his "guests" from Equestria.

Meeting of the Four Princesses - Canterlot

A book opened, and the story within it was about to be told.

Celestia's voice echoed as she began the tale from the book: "Tirek and his brother Scorpan came from a distant land, intent on stealing Equestrian magic. But soon, Scorpan came to appreciate the customs of Equestria, and even befriended a young unicorn wizard."

Her sister Luna continued after Celestia: "Scorpan begged his brother to abandon his plans. When Tirek refused, Scorpan warned us of Tirek’s intentions. After that, Scorpan returned to his homeland, and Tirek was sent to Tartarus for his crimes. But it seems he found a way to escape."

"We believe that happened when Cerberus left his post at the entrance," said Luna.

The book then closed, revealing the four alicorn princesses sitting side by side around a round table, with the book resting in the center.

"His time in Tartarus left him very weak. He barely gathered enough strength to use his dark powers, but with every moment that passes, he grows stronger, and more ponies lose their magic because of his actions," Celestia continued.

"And I know the right princess to stop him," said the fourth alicorn princess with firm confidence. She had a light pink coat, long flowing pastel-colored mane with shades of pink and purple, and her name was Cadance, the Princess of Love.

Twilight was about to speak, but was interrupted by someone she least expected. "Not you, Twilight. I know you'd be willing, but it won’t be you. I know enough about your dedication and commitment to something like this, and I’m sure you’d volunteer for it, but right now, you’re dealing with the Blue Threat. I suggest you focus on one task at a time until we know more about its nature."

"Blue Threat? The one who invaded the Galloping Gala that night?" Cadance asked innocently, unaware of the matter.

Twilight nodded and sighed, resting her face on the table. "Yes... it’s someone... it’s something very strange and crazy... I really don’t understand it..."

Cadance looked at her, confused. It was a threat, but it sounded like Twilight was describing a person she didn’t even know. "Did... something happen with the Blue Threat, Twilight?"

Twilight slammed her hooves on the table and raised her face, now with an expression of annoyance. "Did something happen? Everything happened! It can defeat the wildest and largest Timberwolves with ease! It can talk and understand our language but refuses to cooperate! It’s ridiculously fast for a land creature! It’s so arrogant, and we know nothing more than this about it!!!" she exclaimed, frustrated with everything she had gone through regarding this threat. With her magic, she summoned one of the notices she had created with Spike, placing it in front of Cadance.

Cadance used her magic to take the notice, reading it in detail and admiring the portrait of the creature. "Coincidentally, I received a report from a Crystal Guard. Hours before dawn, he encountered a mysterious being. According to his report, it had dragon-like wings, walked on its hind legs, its fur or scales were black and white, and it had large ears. It seemed to be exploring the Crystal Empire."

"And what happened with this creature? Were they able to capture it?" Luna dared to ask, hoping for some good news to calm the atmosphere, but her only response was Cadance's shake of the head. Now, the problems were growing.

"Regarding this... blue threat, I can say that recently I was able to enter its dream realm."

Her words caught the attention of the other princesses, who stared at the Princess of the Night in silence, waiting to hear more.

Twilight was the first to speak. "Please, Luna, tell me you were able to talk to him and convince him to surrender. I know it’s my responsibility to stop him, but if you couldn’t do it, can we learn anything about him?"

Luna smiled cheerfully and responded, "No, I couldn’t convince him, and even less so talk to him about this situation in which he is linked to you, but I couldn’t help but get distracted a little by the beautiful landscapes his dream showed me. It’s something I’ve never seen before. A floating island, cities more advanced than the ones we have now, even carriages without stallions pulling them."

"What was that, Luna? After so much time doing your duties, did you decide to enjoy new experiences in the dreams of our unknown enemy?" Celestia asked with a smile, trying to joke about her actions.

"Actually, his dreams are giving me a new perspective on how we are seeing him. He discovered me watching him very easily, didn’t hesitate to greet me, and I didn’t feel any malice in him. But before I could say anything, he interrupted me and said I wouldn’t be able to convince him to surrender. But according to his words, he hopes that in the future, our next encounter will not be one involving violence."

"In our most recent encounter, he said, 'Actions speak louder than words.' Maybe I was judging him wrong?" The youngest of the princesses asked, starting to worry that she had acted wrongly towards the one she had seen as a threat, and beginning to doubt what was right.

"You can’t blame yourself for that, Twilight. It’s normal to judge before knowing. You’ve experienced it yourself when you met Zecora. Maybe we’re just judging him based on the time and place he arrived, instead of letting him show us who he really is," Candace said, walking over to her sister-in-law to give her a hug, calming her own guilt.

As the calm slowly returned to the Princess of Friendship, Celestia smiled faintly and looked at her sister. "Luna, I will assign Discord the task of stopping Tirek."

Upon hearing her idea, Luna gasped, her jaw nearly unhinging before she could close it.

Candace and Twilight heard them and looked at them in surprise. "Discord!?" They asked in unison, astonished.

Celestia simply nodded without showing a smile, knowing that her decision did not fully please her. "Yes, as I said, I will give this task to Discord. He can sense disturbances in magic. Also, since Tirek will only be starting to steal magic from the ponies, we have a big advantage."

No one said anything. There was a moment of silence, but Twilight's sigh broke it. "I understand, Princess. Then let Discord handle Tirek. I’ll keep searching for how to stop the blue threat." She explained, discouraged, and left the meeting without saying anything more. All the princesses present knew that she wanted to prove why she deserved her title as a princess, but what worried them more was when she would do it.

"Can we do anything to help her, aunt?" Candace asked, saddened by her sister-in-law's behavior. Celestia simply shook her head.

Then, a few knocks on the glass window caught the attention of the princesses. The shadow of a large bird was visible on the other side of the glass, something unexpected for them. To clear their doubts, Luna approached and used her magic to open the window. Suddenly, the bird entered and perched on the table the princesses were gathered around.

A bird as large as a pony entered the room. It looked strange to them, with all its wings and body made of metal. It seemed like armor, but something like this had never been seen before. It opened its beak, and a voice sounded from within.

"Good morning, Rulers of the Ponies," the voice echoed through the bird. The princesses were alarmed. An animal speaking was something they never expected to see, and the way it communicated and looked was even more suspicious.

"In the name of Tartarus! What is this creature?" Luna shouted, expressing her surprise at the visit of the strange, metallic being.

"Oh, don’t worry! I come in peace to offer my services for your problems," the voice said through the bird. The bird remained still, and only the voice came from inside its beak.

"How can we be sure you're here to help us?" Candace asked defensively as her horn began to emanate magic.

The robot turned toward the one who had asked the question. "Don’t worry, my intentions are completely honest. Since now, you are dealing with MY problem, your so-called Blue Threat…"

The princesses all looked at each other, confused. He knew about their fast, new enemy, but he said it was HIS problem, which meant he had experience with the creature. They all exchanged glances, but before anyone could respond, the voice spoke again.

"Let me introduce myself, ladies, I am Doctor Eggman, and the blue threat is my chaos in the place I once called home."

Celestia took a step forward, standing firm and unafraid before the new creature. "Explain to us, Mr. Eggman, how you and the blue threat are related?"

"As I said, Your Highness, he is my enemy, my problem, and a true threat in a certain sense... in my world! Both of us come from a distant planet, beyond the stars and constellations you know, a place I could call home, but I wanted to build MY home, full of attractions, safety, and without the need for any fragile being to be hurt. Just like you are seeing my mechanical creation through which I communicate, I have great scientific knowledge and technology that your world will not reach for several centuries."

Luna, doubtful of his words, approached, putting her hooves on the table. "How do you know about us and our technology!? Have you been spying on us!?"

"Please, miss, there’s no need to jump to conclusions without proof... but in fact, yes, I did! But for a necessary purpose. You see, before the blue threat arrived here, I was planning to leave the planet he quickly conquered, with his powerful and mysterious dark spells." The bird opened its wing, and a hologram appeared beneath it, showing the blue threat, but with dark fur, empty eyes, and one leg crushing the head of an EggRobo.

"What you are seeing is his real appearance in all its dark being! A creature that disguises itself with a boastful and fun attitude, trying to warm the hearts of the innocent who start to care about him! Then, when everything is in his favor... he shows his twisted and dark appearance, seeking violence and fun! I had to base my creation of the perfect ally and soldier on him, using his skills and physical capabilities to design a mechanical being to face him... but I still only received defeats..."

The hologram showed Metal Sonic with its head torn off and held by Dark Sonic, while its body was pierced by a dark energy blade coming from his hand, holding it in the air.

"As you can see, I made sure that only my machines were damaged to ensure the well-being of the poor and delicate innocents. When I wanted to escape to avoid him taking me and my most valuable resources to find a way to stop him... he arrived and stopped my entire plan! By accident, both of us ended up in your world, Your Highnesses! Right now, my base is under recovery, and my army of machines only defends me..."

Everyone seemed affected by his story and the evidence before them of how the blue threat was more dangerous than they had believed. Luna was confused. The dreams she had seen didn’t reflect anything regarding this story. Dreams were supposed to be the world where thoughts, desires, fears, emotions, and memories were reflected. If that was true, why didn’t she see any violence in the moments she explored that world? Everything was so peaceful and beautiful; he seemed happy, and his words were kind with little jokes, more reflecting a being of light than one of darkness. Was that the mask or his true face? The more she thought about it, the less she knew which side to vote for.

"He came to ask for our help to stop him, right, doctor?" The elder ruler asked. This brought her sister out of her thoughts. Luna herself didn’t know which side to stand on now; she could only hope that during the night, she could gather more information from him or, as Twilight said, 'actions speak louder than words.'

"Oh! No, no, obviously, I won’t ask you or any of your subjects to help me with my problem, but I just want your permission to let some of my creations locate in your world the objects that our shared threat stole from me."

"He stole from you? What exactly did he steal?" Her question was answered when the hologram changed to show the 7 Chaos Emeralds. To the princesses, they were strange gems and even somewhat common to the dragons in their world.

"What you have before you right now is a hologram of the 7 Power Emeralds. They are ancient jewels of great power, capable of achieving even the impossible. I managed to gather them to travel from the other side of the universe or perhaps from another dimension at the speed of light. I didn’t notice it; I was facing that monster when the journey happened. He stole them from me but couldn’t take all the power at that moment! So he disappeared, and at the same time, I arrived here a few days ago. Right now, he must be looking for them to become unstoppable, and once he does, nothing and no one will be able to stop him."

The hologram showed how the blue threat absorbed the Chaos Emeralds into his body, his aura increased, and then a planet exploded in a burst of dark energy. He remained floating in space and proceeded to fly to his next target. The hologram ended, and the bird folded its wing.

"I hope you understand the situation we are in, both you and I."

The royal trio looked at each other, seeking approval from the others. Candace nodded, Luna seemed to do so with little enthusiasm, and Celestia gave the final approval. "Very well, doctor. We can trust that you’ll help us stop him, but we’ll need our next meeting to be more personal, rather than just sending a messenger in your place."

"Don’t worry, Your Highness. This is just because I can’t get close to you yet; I am hundreds... no! Thousands of kilometers away from you, but I assure you something, when our shared enemy shows up and is weakening, I will handle him personally, and we will both be at peace."

"You know how and when he will appear?" Candace seemed curious to know about his experiences with the monster. Would a way to attract him or challenge him work?

"He has his 'heroic guy' act. He will appear where there is a great threat, and surely he will come to eliminate it. When he does, he will feed off the adoration of those he saved, and then he will end up destroying them just for trusting him."

The minds of the three didn’t take long to think of a situation that could attract him. They found it a risky plan.

"It was a pleasure meeting you, but I must go. We will stay in contact, but if we catch him first, the rest won’t be necessary."

With that last statement, the bird closed its beak, and the communication was cut off. It took flight and exited through the window. There was silence in the room. No one said anything because the problem from both sides had escalated. Tirek and the blue threat—what would be the worst side to fight against? One would steal magic and destroy everything; the other would seek to be well-liked, only to stab them in the back. Neither was a good option.

Luna stood up and left the room in silence. She didn’t seem to want to discuss the matter anymore. Who would? All of this had turned stressful in an instant. The only worry was the idea of what their shared enemy might be doing right now with this so-called 'doctor.'

DeathEgg - Moon

The communication had ended, and Orbot moved the microphone aside while leaving the table aside, showing what seemed to be intelligent responses to the princesses' questions. "All set, sir. The princesses will be taking your offer into account about handling Sonic for you and also allowing you to search for the 'Power Emeralds.'"

Cubot approached, carrying a cup of coffee and placing it on the console. "Although that last part, he’s already doing it without asking for their permission."

Eggman simply crushed him with his hand, forcing him to return to his cubic form.

"Well, now tell me, how are the tests going on our tenants?" He asked, taking the cup of coffee.

"We’ve managed to remove and test their magic in various EggRobos, but unfortunately, they don’t show compatibility to the point of controlling it. But the good news is that their magic works to power our weapons and also as an energy source."

Eggman smiled broadly as he looked at the analysis. "Excellent! But what a waste that we can’t use it in my creations... but if we can extract it, it means we can manipulate it. Orbot, I want you to take all the magic out of their insignificant lives. Breathing is an optional result. We’ll try to use that magic in something similar to the Chaos Emeralds."

Orbot simply saluted and headed to the laboratory to start the tests. Eggman took his coffee as he gazed at the planet below him and the moon he had been on. A new part of his plan was beginning to take shape.