Not too far away, Cream's house stood silently in the night, everyone inside asleep.
Everyone except...
Amy sniffed, and opened her eyes. She yawned and looked out the window. Still night. She rolled over in her warm, comfy bed and shut her eyes, but could not get back to sleep.
She decided that there would be no harm in getting up for a while and stretching or something, so she rose from her bed and slipped her feet into pink fuzzy slippers.
She walked to the window and gazed out at the night sky. It really was a beautiful sight. She only wished that one day she could lie out in the meadow and share it with Sonic... the thought made her blush an even deeper pink than usual.
She turned and walked over to the dressing table, painted lilac. Almost everything in the room was a shade of pink or purple. She picked up the water jug and cup she stored there for times like these. She poured herself a cup of cool water and drank.
BOOOOOM!!!!
BOOOOOM!!!!
Amy almost dropped her cup in suprise. A millisecond later, a wave of air washed over her.
She ran back to the window. What she saw shocked her so muc she actually did drop her empty cup on the plush rose carpet.
The sky was ablaze with colors. Twin rings of multicolor were pooling out like ripples, and a rainbow was stretching across the sky. In the light of the explosions, Amy could see something etching the colorful trail.
It was Rainbow Dash... and Sonic.
Suprise quickly turned to rage. What on earth was Sonic doing, sitting on Rainbow Dash's back and flying with her? His arms were fastened on her neck, and now he was leaning forward....
Amy fumed. Inside her head she was shrieking with anger. How DARE Sonic cheat her like this?!
She stalked sharply to her bed, unable to see any more. She plunked down so hard that a spring erupted out under the matress.
She and Sonic were going to have words.
And then the room went dark. She suddenly felt icy cold. There was something behind her, a chilling presence that told her she was no alone.
She slowly turned, scared out of her wits.
"Hello there, Amy Rose."
And then everything went black.
Hours later...
In the calm misty morning, as Celestia raised the sun once again to shine upon the beautiful land of Equestria, the rolling emerald meadows and endless world of apple trees marked Sweet Apple Acres, glistening like magic in the early sunlight.
The pigs were alsleep in their hutches. Not a sound came from the farmhouse. All was still, all was quiet.
And then...
"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS CHARIOT DRIVERS, YAY!!!!!"
A large wagon barreled out from the western orchards, careering drunkenly and shedding hay. In the front of the wagon, hanging on for dear life, were three little fillies.
"TURN RIGH' !!!" screamed Applebloom, holding the front of the wagon with one hoof to keep from falling while grasping her large pink bow with the other hoof to keep it from blowing away.
Scootaloo veered left. They crashed into a grove of apple trees and sent a group of nesting birds into the air. They bumped off and continued racing forwards, completely out of control.
"AH SAID RIGH'!!!!" squealed Applebloom.
"I THOUGHT THAT WAS RIGHT!!!!!" shrieked Scootaloo.
"Ooh... I feel sick..." moaned Sweetie Belle, her face turning a delicate shade of green.
Applebloom and Scootaloo kept arguing as the 'chariot' swerved crazily and bumped over little dunes before finally dumping the Cutie Mark Crusaders in a hay-covered heap outside the farm house, right in front of a startled Applejack. The wagon wobbled on a little further before falling on its side, wheels still turning.
"WHA' IN THE H - oh, it's you three." Applejack brushed strands of hay from her hat and mane and looked down at the fillies dissaprovingly. "Somethin' tells me tha' chariot drivin' isn't your special talents.
The fillies looked down at the grass, faces falling. Applejack suddenly felt bad for them, and suggested something that might cheer them up.
"Hey, don't look so down ya'll. Here's an idea! A'm goin' to the library for some important buisness with Twiligh', an' A'm sure she'd love your help on clearin' up the library fo' her!"
Immediatley, all three faces brightened. They scrambled to their hooves and followed Applejack in the direction of Golden Oaks, chattering excitedly.
Sweetie Belle sneezed as a cloud of dust flew off a musty old book right into her face. "Ahh...ah-CHOO!!! Scootaloo!!!"
"Sorry..." grunted Scootaloo. She was carrying a huge pile of books on her back, but was struggling to maintain balance. She tripped over Applebloom, and they both went down under an avalanche of Equestrian history.
Applebloom popped up, her bow slightly askew. After groaning and rubbing her head, she helped Scootaloo out of the pile of books. "Ah don't think this is our special talent... "
They were upstairs, moving books in Twilight's bedroom, but all they had done was make things worse. They sat glumly on the wooden floor in silence.
Voices drifted up from downstairs. Twilight was asking a question.
"I think we should look around the area in the middle of town, where the Carosel Boutique is. Rarity, did you see anything?"
"Oh... well, I... um, I thought I saw something whizz past when I, um went up to check on Sweetie Belle...." Distinctly Rarity's voice, but it seemed to have a hint of unease.
"Are you alrigh', Sugarcube?" Obviously Applejack.
"I'm fine, Applejack, I just..."
The voice of the twin tailed fox, Tails, echoed up the stairs. "Well, I think we want to tackle the Everfree forest last. The timberwolves sound like nasty peice of work. The only other place is the mansion. Does anypony know who lives there?"
"Oh, that's the Rich mansion. Oh, that's funny! The RICH manshion!" Pinkie Pie was giggling at her own joke.
"You mean Diamond Tiara's father? Filthy Rich?" asked Fluttershy.
"The stallion who buys the famous Sweet Apple Acres Zap Apple jam?" said Twilight.
"That's the one!" said Pinkie Pie.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders exchanged looks. They had all heard about the big mission that the older mares were doing, and that it was connected to the strange lights from the day before, but they didn't know any details. Diamond Tiara's house was a target? What was going on?
"Well, we could go an' ask Mr. Filthy if he's seen anythin'. But Rarity, A'm sure that you must have seen -"
"I SAW NOTHING!!" Rarity's voice was high and strained and angry. Everypony else's voices stopped abruptly, and there was a stunned silence.
"Rarity - " Twilight ventured.
A chair scraped the floor, and there was the sound of hurried hoofsteps. The door slammed.
"What's wrong with her?" said Tails.
"I'm... I'm not sure..." Twilight sounded uncertain. "I've never seen her like this..."
"Well, something sounds suspicious about what Rarity said... I think we should go and check out the middle of town." Tails spoke confidently, and everypony agreed with him.
As the meeting downstairs adjorned, Applebloom looked at her friends. "Are y'all thinkin' wha' A'm thinkin'?"
"An important mission..." Sweetie Belle pondered.
"Diamond Tiara's big fancy house..." Scootaloo continued.
"If that meanie saw whatever it is, she'd definitely keep it. Ma big sis' made it sound very valuable, and y'all know how much she likes stuff like that." Applebloom pursed her lips and adopted a Sherlock Hooves expression. "And do y'all think that she'd let it up?"
Scootaloo snorted. "That's about as likely as Fluttershy agreeing to throw Angel off a cliff."
"So, we don't know what this mysterious thing is, but we know it's pretty valuble and Diamond Tiara may have it. There's no way she'd give it up. And we don't have any idea what to do next for our Cutie Marks Crusade."
"This is our chance to get back at her!" said Scootaloo.
"Are y'all in?" grinned Applebloom.
"CUTIE MARK CRUSDADERS PRICELESS BUT (uh) UNKNOWN THINGY RETRIVERS, YAY!!!!!"
"Knuckles, you can't! You IDIOT, you can't!!!"
Back at Tails' workshop, which had become a sort of headquarters, Knuckles wanted to find the Master Emerald all by himself, like a true guardian should, blah blah blah. It was ridiculous, suicidal and out of the question, and Sonic was arguing with him. Rainbow Dash stood quietly off to the side, not sure whose side to take.
"Since when have YOU told everyone what to do??" Knuckles tried to push past Sonic, but Sonic grabbed his arm and held him back.
"Knuckles, Discord will over power you and destroy you, and I'm not letting that happen. We will get the Master Emerald back, and we'll somehow put Angel Island back in the sky. But you can't do it now, we have to work together if we want to win."
Knuckles raised a fist to puch Sonic. Then he let it drop with a sigh. "I hate you."
"Likewise, I'm sure." Sonic looked at Rainbow. "How do we know what's a Chaos Emerald and what's not?"
Rainbow frowned. "I'm not sure. I guess we just follow the signals, and if it's fake we beat stuff up, and if it's not we get an Emerald. It's our best hope."
Another signal had appeared in place of the fake one, and the sensors determined that it had been concealed before, which meant it had orgininally been there. It could be more chaos magic, but Sonic or Rainbow Dash couldn't tell.
Sonic groaned and looked at his scanner with distaste. "Tails would be able to fix this thing so that we could track the real emeralds and not fake ones planted by Discord. I miss him and his brainy ways..."
"When do we go?" asked Rainbow. "I'm gonna find Discord, and then punch him in the face."
"As soon as possible. We'll go here," Sonic jabbed a point on the scanner, "The one closest to the workshop, and then work our way outwards. If we get one, we get the advantage of Chaos Control."
"What the hay is Chaos Control?" asked Rainbow.
"Ummm.." Sonic quickly explained the concept of Chaos Control to the pegasus. "So we'll be able to teleport from one place to another in a heartbeat."
"That's so awesome!"
"Not always."
Knuckles sighed. "I guess I'm coming with you then."
"Of course you are! We need you, Knuckles. Who else is gonna puch Discord's lights out?" said Sonic.
"I thought I already said that would be me!!" cried Rainbow hotly.
"But we still only have three people." said Knuckles. "I know Sonic usually doesn't work with more than two or three people, but this is different. We need as much power as we can muster."
"Sounds like you'll need us, then." said a voice from the door.
How they got through the defences was unknown, but they were still a welcome sight. One black, standing, expressionless, his arms folded and his chin raised defiantly, but a warm fire seemed to glow in his red eyes. The other was white, smiling, his hands on his hips like a crack team leader with his yellow eyes full of life.
"Glad to see us?" asked Shadow.
"I thought so!" said Sliver.
"Pull harder!!" whispered Applebloom, who was hovering in mid-air, suspended by a rope.
Scootaloo's wings fluttered with effort. "You're... so... heavy!"
Sweetie Belle strained until her horn sparked. "Hurry... up!"
The Cutie Mark Crusaders were all wearing skin-tight ninja outfits for the operation on The Rich Mansion. Applebloom lowered herself until she was level with Diamond Tiara's window. She flattened her body against the wall and cautiously peered inside the bedroom.
What she saw almost made her scream.
Diamond Tiara was surrounded in a cyclone of jewelery. Rubies, Golden rings, Necklaces, all kinds of gems were swirling around her like a tornado, driven by red magic. In the center stood Diamond, who had... who had...
'Oh Celestia, she has a horn!!'
The bully's normally icy blue eyes were a horrid shade of blood red. She was smiling, a sickening smirk of a villain.
"Pull me up, pull me UP!!" hissed Applebloom desperately. The other two fillies pulled with all their strength. Applebloom collasped on the roof of the mansion.
"Ah... she.... had a horn.... she was..." stammered the little filly.
"She what? She WHAT??" demanded Scootaloo.
"She had a horn! A real unicorn horn with a great honking storm of magic swirlin' around her! And her eyes were all red, like... like blood!"
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle met gazes and silently agreed.
"We can't handle this on our own." said Scootaloo.
"That's the last thing Ah ever expected ya to say." said Applebloom.
The fillies slid bumpily off the mansion using rope and the pipes, which was quite a feat. They raced away, off to tell their sisters the horror that Applebloom had seen.