Sonic's hands were clenched on the wheel of the Tornado. Beneath the white fabric of his gloves, his knuckles were white.
He knew how to drive it of course, but he usually left it to Tails. Instead he would stand on the back of the plane, letting the wind whip his face. Sonic was beginning to regret letting Tails stay in Equestria, because he was realizing how much he missed his best buddy.
The Tornado was headed for Angel Island, where one of the Emeralds was located. The gems seemed to end up there a lot when they were scattered, because they were drawn by the master emerald. Knuckles was in the back seat, looking bored. He probably wanted to get to the floating island faster. Sonic wondered if the emerald had someone protecting it at that moment.
Sonic could see Rainbow Dash was soaring alongside the plane, looping and diving. He had to admit, she was fast. At one point she copied his favorite trick, crossing her hooves behind her head and flying backwards through the sky. Her mane was leaving a rainbow trail behind, a glistening band of color that would leave many inhabitants on the land below wondering why there was a straight rainbow stretching across the sky.
Angel Island came into full view, and Sonic was pretty sure he saw Rainbow's eyes widening. It did take his breath away, what with its tumbling waterfalls and lush green woods. Even from this distance, you could see a glimmering green light; the Master Emerald.
Knuckles sat forward. "Land over there." he said, pointing at a stretch of flattened grass.
"I knew that." Sonic pulled on the joystick and steered the plane jerkily downward. Rainbow Dash had to swerve out of the way to avoid getting hit by the Tornado.
"Hey, slow down!" She yelled.
After a slightly bumpy landing, Sonic and Knuckles leapt out of the plane. They both immediately began running in the direction of the Master Emerald. An occasional glimpse of a blue wing or a multicoloured tail above the treetops told them that Dash wasn't far behind.
The huge green jewel shimmered in the afternoon light, casting an emerald glow over everything. Sonic thought he heard Knuckles let out a sigh of satisfaction.
"Safe and sound" said the echidna, a smile of relief on his face. He walked up the stone steps and ran a hand over the surface of the gem. He frowned.
"Too safe and sound. I left traps and asked the Chaotix to protect the emerald, but it hasn't been touched since I left." He looked down at Sonic, who had been joined by Rainbow. "That's very odd. Discord said he wanted the emeralds, but if he neglected the Master Emerald then there seems like there's something wrong."
"Maybe Eggman didn't tell him about it." said Sonic, but he also had a sense of unease.
Rainbow Dash laughed. "You can tell if someone has touched it in the last few days? Will it tell you where those Chaos Emeralds thingys are?"
"Actually, yes." said Knuckles. He closed his eyes and listened intently.
Then they snapped open. Knuckles staggered backwards.
"TRAP!!!!!"
The ground erupted around Knuckles' feet, and he suddenly found himself wrapped in chains of ice. He roared, struggling with all his enhanced might, but he couldn't break the freezing bonds.
"Knuckles!" Sonic tried to dash forward, but within two steps he was glued to the spot. The grass had turned to a brown sticky substance, burying his shoes and sneaking up his legs... treacle?
"What the? - "
Rainbow Dash was trying to get off the ground, but she gasped with pain as her wings had turned to metal. She attempted to gallop towards her new friends, but she was imprisoned by the weight of her own feathers.
The air began to glow with a harsh light, and a perfect circle around the trio rose and covered them like a dome. A figure materialized next to the Master Emerald.
He was tall and thin, a living jumble of many different animals. Mismatched wings were spread out on either side of his body, and a smirk was plastered on his long horsey snout.
"Discord." snarled Dash, straining to move forward.
Discord threw back his horse head and guffawed. "This was far too easy! You should look at yourselves, all of you! So helpless..."
"Let us go so I can pound your face in, coward!" yelled Sonic.
Discord pouted. "Still haven't learnt any manners, eh?" He scooped up the Master Emerald with a lion paw, causing Knuckles to growl.
"Where is the chaos emerald?" he said through gritted teeth.
"Oh, there is no chaos emerald here. It was too easy to make a decoy radiating chaos waves with my magic." Discord looked down at the dome smugly, and snapped his fingers. A glowing ball of energy appeared, making Sonic's scanner go insane.
"You fowl little... when I get my hooves on you!" threatened Dash.
"Oh, you're just as bad as Sonic here. Just for that..." Discord snapped his rooster claw.
The air around Knuckles became colder. To Sonic's horror, Knuckles slumped to his knees, head bowed. His lips were blue. White marks were appearing on his body where the ice was digging into his flesh.
"LET HIM GO!!!" he roared at Discord, trying to wrench off the treacle entwined around his legs.
Discord tilted his head, as if pondering the statement. "Mmmm... I don't think so. You see, when I take this lovely emerald off the island, it will plummet into the ocean, if what my friend Eggman says is true. So if I am correct, Angel Island will be destroyed... with you on it. Ta ta, heroes!"
The bonds holding Sonic, Knuckles and Dash disappeared. Immediately, Sonic ran to Knuckles while Dash threw herself at the dome surrounding them. She cried out and fell, crackling with electricity.
With a final snap of his fingers, the villain disappeared with the Master Emerald.
The feeling in the air changed. As he helped Knuckles up, Sonic could feel the disappearance of the Master Emerald ripple out across all of the Island. Any blowing wind halted. Any animal noises stopped.
Angel Island began to fall.
In desperation, Sonic launched himself at the speed of sound at the top of the dome. Volts of electricity danced over his skin, and he fell back with a growl of frustration.
"What the hay do we do?!" screamed Rainbow Dash, ignoring any pain as she slammed her hooves into the translucent walls.
Even Knuckles started to help, pounding his fists against the dome, but nothing happened. Bits of earth and stone began to rise as momentum gathered and the Island sailed towards the ocean below.
Over the town of Ponyville, a single violet hot air balloon rose into the sky, contrasted against the blue sky.
"Prodigious structure, but by adjusting this double cordage and rigidifying that canvas surface you could enhance the departure acceleration by tenfold!" remarked Tails.
"Oh ma Celestia, make him stop!" groaned Applejack.
"WOOOOO!" cried Pinkie Pie as they rose higher above Ponyville. "This is fun!!"
"Alright," said Twilight, "The cloud-walking spell I cast on all of you will work for two days, but it won't save you if you walk off the edge of a cloud. So be careful!"
The balloon's basket bumped against cloud, and the expedition rose into Cloudsdale.
It was usually a grand sight. Pegasi would flutter around, talking and laughing. The sun would sparkle, no matter what the weather was. Rainbows would tumble in waterfalls down off the edges of clouds.
Usually.
Spilling across cloudy roads and streets were dozens of uncontrolled glowing rainbows, anything they touched fizzling out or changing form. Everywhere was roped off. Few pegasi were in sight.
Tails gasped. "I'm certain this accident is all because of a chaos emerald!"
Twilight looked at him, eyes bugging out of her head. "THE CHAOS EMERALDS CAN DO THIS?????"
"Well if Discord gets them... then we're screwed!" said Pinkie Pie.
"Oh, what do we do?" moaned Twilight.
"We have to get to the Rainbow Factory! Maybe we'll find something there!" said Rarity.
"How?" asked Applejack. Everyone looked silently at the deadly rainbows swamping everything.
"Can we just take the ballon there?" said Rarity.
"Probably, just as long as we stay well away." said Twilight. She pulled on a rope with her magic, steering them towards the factory.
As soon as they saw the building they knew there was no hope.
Busting out of the roof, walls, windows and door were flowing rainbows, all glowing with a toxic green light. It was a miracle the building was still standing, as most of it was crumbling from effects of the chaos.
"Oh no..." said Tails.
Twilight concentrated. Her horn glowed, then fizzled out. She sighed. "I can't teleport it out..."
"Well then, wha' do we do now?" asked Applejack.
"Panic and run." said a sneering voice.
Everyone whirled around. Behind them was a small aircraft. Seated in it was a plump bald man, wearing a red and white tailcoat over black trousers and boots. Strapped to the dome of his head were goggles, and stained-blue glasses shimmered on a large red nose.
"What the - Eggman!" stuttered Tails.
"Yes, I am Doctor Eggman." he bowed with mock politeness to the ponies. "And I'm here for that Emerald."
"Well you're not getting it!" said Twilight bravely, lowering her glowing horn.
"Charming." Eggman chuckled. He raised a small dart gun, and before Twilight could react he shot at the canvas balloon.
The dart tore through the surface of the canvas. The basket lurched sickeningly, and the balloon began to sink. Rarity shrieked.
"Hold on!" Twilight focused her magic on the balolon, encasing it in purple light. It was just enough to hold it aloft, but she could do nothing as Eggman soared past in his aircraft, cackling madly, towards the Rainbow Factory.