"Oh no you don't!!"
Tails leapt out of the basket, setting his tails whirring. He shot after Eggman.
"Follow him!" yelled Applejack.
"I...can't..." groaned Twilight. Beads of sweat trickled down her forehead as she struggled to keep the balloon aloft.
"Then Fluttersha, after him!" cried Applejack.
"Oh dear..." Fluttershy gulped, and taking a deep breath, followed Tails toward the factory.
Eggman leaned back and almost leisurely shot another gun over his shoulder. Tails, from years of fighting this particular villain, dodged easily. The bronze bullet sailed safely past him.
But Fluttershy wasn't so lucky.
The poor pegasus screamed as the bullet split, rapidly becoming a bronze net. It wrapped itself around Fluttershy, entangling her wings.
Unable to fly, she began to fall towards the poison-swamped street.
"HELP!!!!" screamed Fluttershy.
Tails turned in mid air. Making a split second decision, he flew away from Eggman and darted towards the falling figure. Fluttershy landed in his arms, less than a meter away from a pool of toxic color.
She opened a watery aquamarine eye. "Thank you..."
Tails put Fluttershy back into the hot air balloon's basket, where Applejack and Pinkie Pie instantly began tearing through the bonds.
He turned and flew back towards Eggman, trying to make up for lost time. But the man was already inside the factory.
Gritting his teeth, Tails flew until he was hovering next to the wall.
Stray rainbows flowed everywhere. Tails marvelled that they actually were real rainbows that would have arched across the sky, created by pegasi, if not for the chaos emerald.
He looked around. Actually, most of the factory was outdoors, and where the normal rainbows flowed were the chaos-induced ones. The machine was indoors, but the poisonous rainbows blocked almost everything off.
Through the waterfall of glowing colors, a hooting laugh could be heard. Tails looked for an opening in the tidal wave of rainbows.
"Why did it have to land here?" he grumbled to himself.
Finding an opening, he squeezed through and looked around. He winced as a few tiny flecks of color landed on him. He brushed them off hurriedly, finding a dot of bald pink skin in each area, like an injection.
In the corner stood the vast rainbow machine, probably once glimmering iron. Now it was sagging and groaning, spitting out rainbows that flowed across the ground.
Eggman was detaching a little robot with extendable claws from his aircraft. When it stupidly tried to reach inside the machine, a rainbow washed over its claws. The robot fizzed, then began playing some oldies tune over its speakers and began performing backflips. Eggman cursed.
Tails flew at the back of Eggman's machine, landing a kick on the metal. Eggman cried out as his machine wobbled, then turned and looked at Tails. His brows furrowed.
"Oh, it's you. No problem." He pressed a button on his dashboard, and suddenly Tails was hurtling backwards. He slammed into the wall, groaning and clutching his chest. A punching glove had flown out with lightning speed, hitting Tails in the gut. He almost fell into the pool of rainbows below him, but his twin tails kicked in on instinct.
When his eyesight cleared, he could see Eggman using sheets of metal to stop the flow of rainbows. They bent and groaned, but miraculously held. Eggman ejected a metal claw inside.
"No," gasped Tails, still short for breath.
The claw retreated with a gorgeous glowing green gem, and Eggman cackled with triumph.
One of the Chaos Emeralds had been found.
Tails fumbled around, inwardly shouting with delight when he found his laser gun. He snapped it onto his wrist and aimed at the aircraft. He fired. The laser sawed through an engine, and the machine groaned and swung forward.
"What?" spluttered Eggman. "No!"
Tails saw his chance. He lunged forward, tails whirring furiously, and just managed to grasp the emerald. He pulled with all his might, and suddenly he was clasping the gem to his chest.
"Come back here with my emerald!" roared Eggman. He tried to start his vehicle, but it sputtered in protest.
Tails couldn't help but turn back and laugh at the man. He stopped laughing when he had to dodge a few missiles. He decided it was time to go.
Tails burst out of the factory wall, still clasping the emerald to his chest. He gasped when he saw the balloon. Fluttershy was free, but the balloon was sinking, ever so slowly, as Twilight's magic crept towards its limit.
Tails threw a glance over his shoulder, expecting to see Eggman coming at him. But there was no-one there. 'Eggman must have teleported away, he's smart enough to know not to fight when his machine is in that condition...' he thought.
"...Tails..." Twilight moaned. ".. Push.. the balloon... away from... clouds..."
Tails understood. Stopping only to toss the gem into the basket, where Rarity scooped it up, he pressed both hands to the balloon and shoved. The huge thing moved with surprising ease, and soon they were dangling over the ground below.
"Let go." said Tails.
"...But..." protested Twilight weakly.
"Let GO!"
Twilight let go of her hold on the balloon. She collapsed to the bottom of the basket in relief, but the hot air balloon began to sink rapidly. Rarity began shrieking again.
"Tails!! Do something!"
Tails flew to the top of the balloon and grabbed hold of the canvas, and began pulling upwards with all his might. Rarity raised her horn and put another spell on the balloon, not as strong as Twilight's but nearly as effective.
Slowly, slowly, the decent of the balloon slowed down. When it reached the ground, it landed with a thump, and all the ponies tumbled out of it.
Pinkie began kissing the ground. "Oh, I'm so happy to be back here on the earth! Hello grass! Hello trees!"
Applejack rolled her eyes. She trotted over to Tails and looked at him expectantly. "Well, did'ja get it?"
Tails unclasped his hands and showed the orange earth pony the sparkling green emerald. Applejack's face split into a grin, and she punched the air. "Yee-hah! Take THAT Discord!"
One down, six more to go.
Angel Island crashed into the ocean, staying on the surface for a moment, like an island that had forever been there and always would be. Then it sank below the waves, disappearing into the depths of the sea.
And far, far above, in the blue and yellow Tornado, staring down at their vanishing former prison, were Rainbow Dash, Sonic and Knuckles.
"I've...I've failed..." muttered Knuckles at last. "I couldn't protect the home of my ancestors, my home..."
Sonic tried to cheer him up. "No, Knuckles, Angel Island is enchanted. There's no way it's gone forever."
Dash still said nothing. She was feeling so much for something she'd just seen, belonging to someone she barely knew.
Knuckles looked down at the sprinkle of bubbles left on the surface, all that was left of the island. When he spoke, his friends were unsure whether he was talking to them or speaking to himself.
"We will bring it back. We have to."
Moments before...
Sonic closed his eyes and concentrated, trying to block out the feeling of falling and blind panic. 'Think think think think think....'
Rainbow Dash and Knuckles were still fruitlessly banging on the dome, ignoring the electric currents flitting through their arms.
"What do we do??" repeated Rainbow Dash.
And suddenly, miraculously, Sonic had a brainwave.
"Knuckles! DIG FOR YOUR LIFE!!!!"
Knuckles looked at him. "WHAT??"
"You heard me! Dig out of the dome! We'll just follow you out through the tunnel!"
Realization dawned on his face, quickly replaced with worry. "But the island! I can't leave the island!"
Sonic hated to say it, but he yelled, "You must!"
Knuckles' purple eyes were like those of a wild animal, filled with fear and desperation. For a moment, his eyes met Sonic's green ones. Then he threw himself at the ground and started to dig.
In a matter of seconds, he burst out of the ground outside the dome. He gestured at them, and Sonic leapt into the tunnel. It was dark and earthy, and he could feel the power of the island fading.
Then he was out of the ground, quickly followed by Rainbow Dash. He ran towards the edge of the island and peered over the edge. The ocean was looming up fast.
"To the Tornado!" Sonic turned and ran, grabbing a stunned Knuckles by the scruff of the neck as he went.
The Tornado was being buffeted by updrafts and small twigs and leaves. Without pausing, Sonic leapt off the ground and into the cockpit, dropping Knuckles in the backseat. Rainbow Dash flew past them, into the sky. Sonic started the engine and barreled into take-off.
They soared towards the heavens, away from Angel Island as it sank below the waves.