Blue particles began to accumulate.

At the entrance to the shrine that was practically next to the Temple of Time, blue lights accumulated until they formed a figure, that of Sonic, who began to look around confused. He still didn't understand how Sunny had such a strange function on her phone, but he would be lying if he said it wasn't going to be useful.

Speaking of her, Sonic took out her phone and examined the map again. That yellow dot that indicated Sunny's position was still shining, so he knew where to go.

He was lucky that there was a platform suspended in the air and attached to the temple, so he decided to use Ascend right below said platform, ascending it and appearing on the other side with ease.

He walked towards the door of the Temple of Time, his heart racing a thousand miles an hour. Rauru said that he already had enough strength to open the door, but what if he was wrong? What would he do then? He was desperate to find Sunny and return to Equestria. They had a lot of business to take care of, and he didn't want to imagine the panic that was spreading throughout the kingdom with their absence.

Once he was in front of the closed door, the Zonai symbol with the hand appeared. He took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves. He would have to trust Rauru once more and hope that he hadn't deceived him.

He placed his right hand on the symbol, and unlike the first time he came to the door, this time the symbol dissipated into green particles that floated in the air.

Immediately after, the door began to open.

Clouds of dust were expelled as the doors slid aside to make way for Sonic, who began to cough violently and covered himself with one arm. Some dust fell from the ceiling, but when everything calmed down and dissipated, Sonic opened his eyes.

The door opened completely, giving him access to the inside. Excited, he ran inside the temple, looking around frantically.

And he didn't find Sunny anywhere.

He felt his heart sink, but Sonic tried to hold on to hope. That Steward Construct couldn't lie to him. She couldn't lie to him. She had to be there, in that temple. There had to be a reason she hadn't come to see him before, knowing he was still on the Great Sky Island.

He would find her, no matter what.

With a cool head, he analyzed the place inside. It seemed to have only one room, quite large. The exterior appearance made it seem more spacious, but apparently he was wrong. The walls and floor of the temple were made of pale stone, like almost everything on that island. Of course, the flower bud-shaped lamps were lit.

Sonic climbed a short flight of stairs, and stopped in front of a pedestal that was shaped like an inverted tear. It looked a lot like the one that fell on Sunny's hooves under the castle. That said, the tear in front of him was much larger, almost as big as him.

The stone had an eye-shaped symbol engraved in the middle, emitting golden flashes, identical to the one that carried Sunny when she fell and he couldn't catch her.

Behind the pedestal and the stone, two huge round structures with platforms were spinning in opposite directions, and in the middle of the structures, there was a pedestal. Beyond it, Sonic could see another platform spinning, but he decided to ignore that for now.

He slowly approached the stone on the pedestal, and felt incredibly tempted to touch that stone. Why? He didn't know either, but he really wanted to. No one could stop him, right?

Suddenly he felt his right hand instinctively move towards the stone, which he touched. Then, the stone began to shine even more brightly with that golden glow. It was so intense that he covered his face with his new arm just to not go blind.

Suddenly, he felt much lighter, so he opened his eyes. As he did so, he realized that he was no longer in the Temple of Time, but in some sort of astral plane, surrounded by green mist that formed floating symbols around him. He wanted to believe that they were Zonai symbols.

At his feet lay white sand on all sides, and above him, a long grayish sky with sunlight filtering through the clouds.

And right in front of him was Sunny, floating.

The Earth Pony looked safe and sound, without a single scratch, but she was wearing a sleeveless white dress. Inside she wore a green tunic with a long band that reached from her bust to almost the bottom of her skirt. It was decorated with symbols that, again, he wanted to believe were from the Zonai. She also wore a tiara adorning her forehead, and her mane was short, so short that it barely reached her neck. The rainbow strike was still there, however.

Her eyes were closed, her hooves together in front of her, and a serene expression flooded her face. Sonic didn't remember ever seeing her like that.

And the worst part of all, was that despite having her there in front of him, Sonic didn't feel joy in the slightest, because he knew she was so close, and at the same time so far away. In short: She really wasn't there, no matter how much he wanted her to be.

He reached out his left hand, the one that felt completely, and touched Sunny's hoof. If his heart was already breaking, the contact with the pony shattered it into a thousand pieces.

Her skin was as soft as he remembered, but it was... cold. Like a body that had just died. Sunny's expression didn't change one bit when Sonic touched her, and even though he was really touching something solid, that illusion wasn't alive.

It wasn't Sunny, and that almost broke him completely.

Her skin seemed to radiate a golden glow. It wasn't transparent like Rauru, so it wasn't a spirit, but it was clear that it's not Sunny either. It's not his little sister.

Sonic stepped back, his gaze darkening and, for a moment, becoming so stoic that he almost seemed like another person, as if seeing this illusion of Sunny had killed him in life. He supposed that he had entered some kind of illusory reality when he touched the stone on that pedestal, and now he regretted having done so.

Suddenly, Sunny's right hoof separated from the other and extended towards Sonic, who looked surprised at the action, and at the same time confused and on the verge of breaking down in tears.

If this was a cruel joke from fate, from some god, from Rauru, or even from Sunny herself, then he didn't find it funny in the least. Why the hell did reuniting with his sister have to be so fucking complicated?

He sighed regretfully, and knew that he had nothing else to do. Besides, accepting Sunny's hoof could be his only way out of this place that had only killed his hopes.

He looked at his right hand for a moment and moved a little closer to that illusion. He looked at Sunny's extended hoof, then at his hand again, and then slowly moved it closer, taking the pony's hoof in his hand. Like the rest of the illusion, it was cold.

A golden light began to shine on Sunny's chest, and Sonic realized that she was wearing a necklace with the stone she had taken beneath Canterlot Castle. What was shining was the stone.

The glow moved from the stone to Sunny's skin, covering it completely, then it diminished and began to descend down her chest, then it moved to her right hoof, and from there it began to move towards Sonic's arm. At first it didn't seem so strange to him, but then the glow intensified and made his arm tingle, making Sonic gasp in surprise.

Soon, however, the tickling transformed into a kind of warm caress that reminded him of that feeling that the power of his arm gave him when he dived into water bodies from a great height. It was very pleasant.

He let go of Sunny's hoof, looking at her somewhat confused, then looked at his arm again, and saw it completely shining in a golden aura.

And suddenly, that golden aura began to accumulate on the back of his hand, right in the empty groove of the ornaments that his right arm had. When the arm was Rauru's, that was the place where the Zonai had the stone that fell to Sunny's hooves.

When the light accumulated completely, it formed a golden sphere very similar to those that formed in the shrines when he went to recover the abilities of his right arm. And just like those spheres, this one also went inside him, but specifically, into the back of his hand.

Then, the ornament that made up the back of it shone and changed color. Now it seemed to be made of a greenish stone, like the one they made the constructs with, and in the middle, a golden circle appeared with the same symbol that Sonic had found on the stone he touched and that transported him here.

Sonic looked confused at the back of his right hand, without having the slightest idea of what had just happened, but then he looked at the illusion of Sunny, which slowly faded away until it disappeared.

He knew it wasn't her, it wasn't the real Sunny, and yet, he couldn't help but feel a tightness in his chest. He didn't know when he would see her again, or if he would even see her again at all.

'Don't be an idiot,' He scolded himself. 'You'll see her again without a doubt. You just have to be patient, go back to Equestria and find her. Just wait a little longer.'

Suddenly, the fog in that place grew thicker, surrounding Sonic, and when he blinked a few times, he found himself back in the Temple of Time. The mechanisms behind the pedestal were still moving just as they had when he entered, and the stone that was on the pedestal had disappeared.

He began to look around at everything. Sunny had to have been there, right? So why didn't she show up before him? Why did he find an illusion identical to her instead? It didn't make any damn sense. She would never do this without a good reason.

He needed answers, and he needed them now.

Suddenly, Rauru made an appearance, and for the first time since Sonic arrived on the Great Sky Island, he frowned at the spirit, who had a distressed expression on his face.

"Ah, Recall... The ability to reverse the movement of an object through time," Rauru said, looking at the symbol on the back of Sonic's right hand, then turned to the pedestal the stone was on, scratching his chin. "And Sunny has vanished as well..."

Sonic felt the strange urge to burst Rauru with questions, to make him talk and say everything he hadn't dared to ask until now. Why did he save his life? Why not Sunny's? How does he even know her? What if all this time he's been listening to the spirit of an ancient danger? Who was he really? So many questions, all unanswered...

"What you just saw... It's a mystery even for me," The spirit suddenly blurted out, confusing Sonic.

What didn't he understand? That apparently became the only question he could ask without hesitation.

"What's a mystery even for you?" Sonic questioned, his tone harsher than the other times he addressed Rauru.

The spirit turned to look at him, and from his expression and posture alone he could tell that Sonic was beginning to distrust him, perhaps for not having found Sunny, when that was supposedly why he even wanted to open the door in the first place.

"When I woke up on the island as a spirit, I heard Sunny's voice," Rauru said, and the anger Sonic felt was immediately replaced by surprise, his eyes widening. "She said that you would need my help, that I should guide you. I went to the Steward Constructs, and each and every one of them said the same thing. That they were ordered by Sunny to guide whoever woke up on these lands. I don't understand why she did all that without showing herself..."

Sonic analyzed Rauru for a while, looking for some sign that the spirit was lying to him, that it was just playing dumb to lead Sonic into a trap of some kind. However, he could see that the spirit was just as confused by Sunny's actions as he was. If so, he knew her well enough to sense that this wasn't a normal Sunny thing. She didn't just leave random clues scattered around. She wasn't like that.

Sonic tried to think of a reason for her to act this way, but nothing came to mind. He knew then that Rauru isn't his enemy, and that now they both seemed to be lost with what had just happened.

"Sunny isn't like that..." Sonic said after a moment of silence. "She can't be doing this... why would she do it?"

"I'm not sure," Rauru replied, rubbing his chin again, thoughtful. "Perhaps it was a sort of echo—one that reflects her sheer will."

"...Maybe..." The hedgehog replied, his mood already low at this point. "And what am I supposed to do now? Sunny isn't here, but I still have to get back to Equestria..."

Rauru looked at the spinning mechanisms on the wall, and Sonic did the same. He figured he'd have to keep going that way... but there was a problem: Both wheels were spinning in the opposite direction to the pedestal in the middle that could help him move forward.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me..." Sonic said with a bored expression, ignoring the look Rauru gave him.

At this point, he was running out of patience.

"You can use the new power Sunny gave you to make your way to the room on the upper floor," Rauru explained. "You have the power of Recall. You'll be able to return objects to their original place, or make them go back a few seconds in time."

Sonic's tired and impatient look was replaced by an active and curious one, while he checked the back of his right hand. Did Sunny make that illusion just to give him another power? He was grateful, no doubt, but... why didn't she come herself?

"That you've now been given this ability... No doubt, it will prove important once you return to Equestria, Sonic," Rauru said with a smile, then disappeared again.

Meanwhile, Sonic pondered the situation, staring at the golden symbol on his right hand. The power of Recall that Rauru mentioned might be the key to moving forward, but he couldn't stop thinking about Sunny. Why didn't she show up? Confusion and worry swirled through his mind, but he knew he couldn't afford to stand still. He had to keep going.

He took a deep breath and raised his hand, focusing on the mechanism in front of him. The symbol on the back of it began to glow brightly as Sonic tried to call upon the power of Recall for the first time. His arm emitted a slight vibration, and time seemed to slow down around him. The spinning wheels in front of him, moving in opposite directions, began to slow down.

Sonic felt the power flow through him, a strange sensation, but not an unpleasant one. As he concentrated, the wheel that was spinning in the opposite direction began to reverse its motion. He watched in amazement as the mechanism obeyed his will, returning to the position it should have to align with the pedestal.

His mind began to work like a complex mechanism of ideas that tried to find a logical explanation for that event. How was it possible? This did not seem to be a Zonai power, for some reason Rauru did not give it to him before. Could it be a power that Sunny had? But he had never seen her do anything even similar to this.

It was strange to want to find a logical answer to that when nothing that happened on that island made sense, not to mention that his life itself is a non-stop of illogical things, but Sonic still wanted to find some sense in it.

Deciding to leave that for now, he ran towards the mechanisms that were going backwards and jumped on one of the platforms attached to it, which allowed him to jump onto the pedestal in the middle of the two mechanisms.

Sonic was surprised to see that it worked, then he looked at his hand and snapped his fingers out of mere curiosity. The mechanisms then stopped moving backwards and began to move normally again. He knew then that he could do and undo the effect as he pleased, or at least that was what it seemed like. Would Recall have a time limit? He would find out later.

Another mechanism stood in front of him, the platforms attached to it moving in the opposite direction of their destination. Sonic concentrated again, pointing his right hand at the mechanism as the symbol on the back of his hand lit up.

Power coursed through his arm again with a tingle, and soon, the mechanism stopped dead, before beginning to move in the opposite direction.

Sonic stepped onto one of the platforms and waited to reach the other side. When he did, he snapped his fingers and then jumped into the next room, rolling on the ground a little, and just before the mechanism he was standing on began to move in its usual direction.

He stood up, brushing off his robe a little, and then examined his surroundings. The room he was in was empty, with the exception of an Alicorn-shaped statue in the middle of the room. Surrounding the statue, a flight of stairs led up to a platform and another closed door, which had a pair of hands engraved in front of it. It was also decorated with a pair of dragons chasing each other.

Sonic stopped in front of the dusty statue, an eternal smile engraved on it.

'Why did the Zonai have a statue of an Alicorn? They worshipped them as gods?' Sonic asked himself, tilting his head in confusion. 'From everything I've seen, they were practically gods themselves. Why worship another entity?'

He decided not to question it further and continued towards the stairs to the left of the statue, coming to a stop in front of the other closed door. He inspected the space engraved with a pair of hands, and then knew what he had to do.

He squared his shoulders, put his hands in their respective spaces, which lit up with a greenish hue, and planted his feet on the ground. He began to push the door, and as he did so, the dragon symbol began to slowly light up with the same green tone that characterized everything around the Zonai.

After a while of doing this, the dragon symbol lit up completely, and the doors began to open. They did so at a slow pace, with a groan that echoed throughout the temple, while the door released clouds of dust.

When they finally opened, the sun shone brightly, and the sky looked much clearer than before. Along it was a narrow walkway that led to a circular platform.

Sonic was about to continue walking, when suddenly his right arm lit up. He glanced at it out of the corner of his eye, then looked to his right, finding Rauru, who was looking at him with a smile.

"Ah, good. I see you have managed to open the door," The spirit said, who suddenly looked more somber before continuing. "I'm afraid to tell you this, Sonic, but your body is still under the influence of the gloom. You haven't fully recovered yet, but that's to be expected—you were almost beyond saving."

Sonic felt panic take over his body upon hearing that, and looked at his right arm in horror. Wasn't the light from the shrines supposed to have purified it already? Shouldn't the arm change have helped too? How was it still influenced by that damn gloom?

"But surely there is still hope," Rauru said suddenly, a determined look crossing his face. "By visiting the shrines and receiving their blessings, you have mitigated some of the corruption's effects. There are also more shrines of light scattered throughout Equestria. If you wish to rid yourself of the gloom completely, seek out the shrines, overcome their challenges, and the sacred light will purify you."

That made Sonic sigh in relief, as he looked at his right arm again. The gloom was still under that implant, but at least Rauru confirmed his theory of finding more shrines in Equestria. He wouldn't hesitate to visit them for a second if he saw them.

His arm stopped lighting up, and Sonic looked at Rauru again, who now looked at him melancholy and with a sad smile.

"Though our time together has been brief, I am so happy that we finally met..."

Why did he say that as if it were the last time they would see each other? Sonic didn't want to think that he would never see the spirit again, but Rauru's tone made him think that would be the case.

A cool breeze suddenly entered the temple, and both Rauru and Sonic looked in the direction of that circular platform that was at the end of the narrow walkway.

"You are exactly as Sunny said," The Zonai said after a while with a smile, then looked at Sonic. "I've done everything I can for her."

The hedgehog looked at Rauru, and then gasped in surprise. The spirit was beginning to disappear, as its body was slowly fading into small blue particles that were blown away by the wind.

"Now it is up to you."

After saying that, Rauru's spirit looked in the direction of that platform in the distance once more, before disappearing completely, with his soul finally resting in peace.

Sonic couldn't say anything. It was so sudden and unexpected that he felt like a bucket of cold water had fallen on him.

That spirit was his only company during the last 3 days he was on the island. Maybe it was a bit cryptic and reserved, but it was helping him. He thought he would find Sunny in the Temple of Time just like him, and he was just as confused when she didn't show up.

As Rauru himself said, their time together was short, but he'd be lying if he said he wouldn't miss the spirit. At least he could finally be with his deceased wife.

With that thought in mind, Sonic resumed his path.

Sonic walked down a long, narrow stone path. It was too tight for his liking, and he managed to convince himself not to look down. It was one thing to see Equestria from the safety of an entire floating island, but it was quite another to see it from such a narrow corridor. One misstep could be deadly, and considering he didn't even have the strength to run, there was no guarantee he could perform a Homing Attack on anything or a Spin Dash to survive.

He suddenly stopped when he noticed that part of the path had collapsed, but it was just below the next section, so he carefully advanced to there and used Ascend, ascending the platform and continuing on his way.

Another part of the path collapsed, but it was also located just below the final stretch, so he used Ascend once more and got out to the other side without much trouble.

The wind blew in all directions, colder here than in the center of the island. Clouds covered the path like a thick fog, although luckily they didn't stay in one place for long. They ended up getting lost in the distance.

When he reached the end of the walkway, at the circular platform, he found a stone portal right in front of a small flight of stairs that he ascended without problems. Then, he saw in the middle of the platform a rectangular stone pedestal, and in the middle of it, a sphere of golden light shone brightly.

Sonic recognized that light. It was identical to the golden sphere that gave him the Recall power just now in the Temple of Time.

Suddenly, Sonic noticed another golden glow out of the corner of his eye. He looked at the back of his right hand, and noticed that it was glowing just as brightly as the sphere in front of him. He raised his hand to see the glow, and suddenly, the golden sphere began to vibrate, emitting a sound that resembled a distant whisper.

And suddenly, Excalibur's voice rang in his head.

Sonic didn't quite know how to react to that, but it happened. The sword's voice sounded much farther away than before, but it was there, deep in his mind.

Another golden glow caught his attention, and Sonic looked at Excalibur over his right shoulder. It was emitting a golden glow, identical to the one it was emitting beneath Canterlot Castle.

He pulled the sword out of its makeshift sheath with his right hand and examined it closely. How the hell was it still working if it was destroyed? As he held it, he couldn't feel its power coursing through his arm, but he could hear the voice. It was distant, almost a faraway whisper, but he could hear it nonetheless.

The blade vibrated a couple of times, then the golden sphere of light in front of him did the same, and the blade vibrated twice more. Sonic knew then that the sword wanted to get closer to the light.

Hesitantly, Sonic complied, bringing Excalibur closer to the sphere of light, leaving it right in the middle. He let go of the sword, which floated next to the sphere, and an instant later, the sphere of light glowed brightly, forcing Sonic to cover his face.

Excalibur traveled through time.

While everything around her moved backwards in a fast and frantic manner, the legendary weapon remained in place, letting that light guide her through time.

Soon, time stopped going backwards, and the sword continued to float in the air for a moment until the effect of the recoil wore off. It slowly descended and landed on a pair of hooves... Sunny's hooves, who was dressed just like that illusion Sonic saw in the Temple of Time.

She was sitting in front of the same stone pedestal where Sonic left the sword, but everything around indicated that the platform was not floating in the air, but on solid ground.

Sunny looked at the sword, confused, not knowing how she had managed to get to her, but then Excalibur itself glowed, communicating with Sunny and assuring her that Sonic was fine, that he was desperately looking for her.

The mare held the sword in front of her, the handle resting on her forehead, and then she had an idea, one that made her eyes tremble a little...

Excalibur had disappeared.

Sonic gasped in confusion, reaching out his hand to where the sword had been a moment ago. Where the hell had it gone? How would he find it now? That sword could have been the salvation of Equestria, and now it had vanished without a trace.

He looked at the back of his right hand, which had also stopped glowing. Maybe the sword had gone back somewhere, or to another time, but where, exactly?

He couldn't think clearly because the ground suddenly shook beneath his feet, and then, a roar echoed throughout the sky. From the sea of clouds that stretched out to the horizon, an orange dragon emerged, the same one Sonic saw when he dived to the Great Sky Island.

That dragon had magenta fur, green scales, two horns sticking out from beside its ears, and it seemed to be long and large, much larger than the Biolizard, the only other serpentine-bodied creature he could remember at the moment.

The dragon roared again, and as Sonic approached the edge of the platform to get a closer look at the orange dragon, he noticed that the sea of clouds beneath his feet was beginning to dissipate.

As the clouds parted completely, Sonic saw Lookout Landing. He couldn't see clearly beyond it, not even Canterlot Castle, but he could swear that something was sticking out of it. It seemed to be gloom, in an alarmingly large amount. He hoped he was wrong.

"Sonic..."

A voice suddenly spoke, one he recognized instantly. He began looking around, searching for the source, but found only clear skies and more islands in the distance.

"Sunny?" He asked out loud, and prayed to whatever god was listening that she would answer.

"Sonic... You must find me..."

Sonic looked around, still searching for the source of the voice, but she didn't answer anymore. What was going on? Why was Sunny so cryptic when she spoke? Why wasn't she looking for him? Where the hell was she even?

So many questions, all unanswered...

Sonic knew he had to find her, anyway. Rauru told him that now it was all up to him before he moved on to a better life at last, and he needed to find her as soon as possible.

"I will, Sunny," He told himself with determination. "I will move every last stone in Equestria if I have to, but I will find you."

With his decision made, Sonic looked over the edge of the platform he was standing on. That edge had a fountain of sorts, with water pouring down. He looked closely, squinting, and noticed a lake on the surface.

He still had Rauru's power with him, so he knew he could jump up there and not die. The idea was no less terrifying, however, because he was even higher than when he woke up in that place and jumped into the island's lake.

However, he had to do it. He had to go back to Equestria, look for Sunny, help in any way he could to find her and solve whatever was going on down there.

So, taking a deep breath, Sonic backed away before running off.

And soon, he was falling back to Equestria.

End of Part I

Author's Note

And thus, the first part of the story is complete!

Thank you so much to those that had been reading so far! I hope you guys are enjoying the story! I'll tell you that I'll publish an interlude tomorrow before putting the story on hiatus, as I'm still figuring out how Parts II and III will play out.

Thank you so much for stopping by. See ya!