//------------------------------// // Embrace the Magic // Story: Sonic and Equestria Girls: Legend of Everfree // by SonicAKG //------------------------------// Embrace the magic The next day after that night, as promised, Sunset and the others kept Twilight's struggle with Midnight Sparkle under wraps. It was decided that the campers would take a break from building the dock in order for them have more focus on the camp activities. Applejack took to the canoes alongside Knuckles, wanting to catch some fish so she could actually get her own food. Tails was in the arts crafts room, working on sculpting different kinds of pottery. He even managed to help Bulk with his pots for his 'mom' while Rarity worked hard on her designs for the camp. They were looking to be 'fantastic' as she would say. Fluttershy and Silver embarked on a nature walk alongside a few other campers as Rainbow Dash went up against others in tether ball. Much to her delight, she had finally managed to 'whoop a few butts.' After a while, no one was really too eager to play with her. Manic headed for a quick dip in the water alongside Sunset. It was the one place where he had the edge over Sonic, who still refused to enter it despite Gloriosa's insistence on teaching him how to swim. Shadow wasn't one to take part in the activities, still much to Gloriosa's dismay. She had suggested at least ten different things he could try, but still he refused. He was also on the lookout in case anything strange happened due to his suspicion Twilight. Speaking of which, she tried to keep some distance from her friends in case anything happened and for the most part, was observing from a bit of a distance. However, Timber had gotten her into archery and with him, she couldn't really say no. She'd impressed with him her skills, which had gotten better since the Friendship Games. She even helped him with his form. For the most part, nothing really eventful happened during the day. Later, the night sky started to appear and Gloriosa announced that the students would be doing star gazing. The campers headed towards the center of the camp with Luna and Celestia overlooking. Despite her worries, Twilight was still somewhat excited. She loved the constellations. "What kind of constellations normally come out?" She asked Timber. "Ursa Minor? Pegasus? Andromeda? Draco?" "Ha, you know you're stuff. We tend to see Perseus, Orion, or Scorpio if we're lucky. Keep your fingers crossed." He told her. As he was heading to join the others, Sonic spotted Shadow in the back who was more or less taking his time. He decided now and then it would be a good time to talk, so he approached him. "Yo, Shadow." Sonic said, making Shadow turn to him. "We need to talk." "About what?" Shadow asked. He really didn't feel like talking to Sonic. Sonic took Shadow a bit farther from everyone else near the tents for some privacy. "We need to talk about the way you've been treating Twilight." Sonic began, making Shadow raise an eyebrow. "You need to give her a break. Stop blaming her for that whole Midnight Sparkle stuff." "Are you serious? I'm tired of repeating myself. She's dangerous with her uncontrollable power. You've seen everything that's been happening. We have to be cautious." Shadow told him firmly. "She's not a monster. We don't even know if it's her. Listen, you've got to stop acting this way around her. You're just making her feel worse. " Sonic defended. "Honestly, that doesn't concern me. I do what needs to be done, regardless of how people feel. Twilight needs to earn my trust." Shadow said harshly. "For the last time, she's our friend. That should be enough. Shadow, I'm serious. Knock off all this hostility." Sonic said, his tone become more serious. "I don't take orders from you." Shadow replied, his voice also growing a bit aggressive. The two of them started to glare at each other with tension growing between them. Before it could escalate, they heard Gloriosa calling over to them, causing them to turn to her. "Boys! We're just about to start! Come on, over!" She called. Sonic sighed. "We're going to deal with this properly, later." He said as Shadow just growled and the two of them walked over to Gloriosa to join the others in a circle. "Oh, this is so exciting. There are so many constellations out in the sky! Which are you the most excited to see?" Gloriosa asked with a smile. "None. Because I'm not doing this." Shadow said, making everyone else in the crowd murmur at what he just said.  Gloriosa's smile faded. "What?" She asked as if she didn't hear right. "You heard me. I'm not interested in looking at a few lights in the sky." Shadow said. "I'm heading out for a walk." The students exchanged looks as Gloriosa had a small look of panic on her face. She then rushed in front of Shadow. "Wait, you can't go. This is one of the highlights at the camp. This is supposed to be your best time at camp ever!" Gloriosa said in a desperate tone. "Get. Out. Of. My. Way." Shadow said firmly as he moved past Gloriosa. She then grabbed his arm. "There has to be something you like here! Anything! Just tell me! Please!" Gloriosa said in an almost a pleading tone.  Shadow removed his arm from her hand. "You want to know what I would like? For you to leave me alone." He answered as he continued head onward to the forest as Gloriosa looked extremely displeased by this. Now everyone looked on as Shadow left with Sonic having a frown. "You can't go alone at night! It's dangerous!" Celestia called out to him. "Hmph. I'm the Ultimate Life Form. I'll be fine." Shadow said, leaving Timber confused at his words. He then turned to Twilight. "Is this guy for real?" He asked. “Shadow, get back here!” Luna ordered but Shadow just ignored her and continued to walk into the forest until he was out of sight. Gloriosa was still looking quite upset but she managed to force herself to remain chipper as she stood up. "Oh, well. I'm sure once he realizes how much fun we're having he'll be back. Anyway, you can start off without me. I just need....to take care of a few things." Gloriosa said with a huge smile before she trotted off, leaving everyone else to the sightseeing. Deep in the forest, Shadow walked through. It was quite dark and he couldn't see. As a result, he wasn't sure how far he had traveled or where he was headed, but he knew he had quite a bit of distance from the main camp center. "Maybe I should've brought a flashlight or something. So many trees. At least I can finally have some time to myself. Sonic's too soft." He muttered to himself as he traversed his path. Suddenly, he heard some branches rustling and he stopped. "Sonic, if this you, get ready for the beating of your life." He threatened out loud. Shadow turned around, expecting to see Sonic, but there was nothing. "Just come out already." He called out. Still nothing. He waited for a while before he turned to continue his walk. "Guess it was nothing." He said. As he took a step, Shadow heard a creaking sound, as if many branches were moving. He quickly turned around and much to his surprise, he saw that the branches of the trees were beginning to move and extend. "Are the trees...coming alive?" Shadow asked before two branches reached out to grab him. Using his superior speed, Shadow managed to evade them as he ducked. After that, more branches extend out, but Shadow was able to dodge every single one of them as he jumped back. "What is this?!" He yelled before he heard branches coming out to grab him from the back. He turned around to punch two of them away, but some newly emerged vines reached out to his feet and grabbed him. Shadow was now hanging upside as more of the branches turned to grab him and he was turned right side up again. Their grip tightened and he grunted. "Whatever this is.....you think a few trees...can take me down!?" Shadow managed to break free from the branches using his incredible strength, reducing them to pieces as he landed on his feet. After this, he noticed that an increasing number of vines and branches started to reach out towards him. Shadow pressed forward, either dodging them or forcing his way past them with brute force. As he continued on, a few branches from upwards tried to grab him, but he leaped over them at great heights and slid against the ground. Shadow was now near the campgrounds once more. He was expecting the trees there to move, but it was nothing. Now, it seemed as if everything had turned back to normal. Shadow lowered down his guard. He squinted before he turned around to see the other campers, Twilight included, from a distance as they continued with the star gazing. Shadow could see that Twilight hadn't moved at all. "Strange. It looks like she's been here the entire time, nowhere near where I was in the forest out there. And all those branches and vines, judging from the way they moved, it seemed as if they were being controlled, not just some random movement. This doesn't add up." He said to himself before he walked off to where the others were. His presence was noticed by everyone else as they all turned to him. "Shadow? What, did you finally change your mind?" Sonic asked. "No. Something strange just happened. As I was on my walk, the trees suddenly came to life and tried to attack me." He casually explained, gathering everyone's attention. "What?! That's crazy! Are you sure you didn't eat too many marshmallows?" Pinkie asked. "Believe me. I know what I saw." Shadow said. Twilight put her hand to her mouth. Could she have done that as well? But she wasn't anywhere near the forest...... "Are you okay?" She asked. "I'm fine." Shadow quickly dismissed. But this time, he didn't give Twilight his usual hostile glare. Timbers eyes darted back and forth and he looked a little nervous, which Shadow took note, making him somewhat suspicious. "That seems rather out of the ordinary, even for everything else that's been happening here." Sunset said. " So much for a magic free day." "Heh, guess even nature doesn't like you, faker." Sonic quipped, as Shadow just folded his arms. Just then, Gloriosa emerged from the bushes. She seemed as if she was a bit worn out as she wiped her brow, which Shadow noticed. "Oh, there you are, Shadow. Have you decided to join us?" She said as she forced a smile. "No. I was just explaining how the forest branches suddenly came alive and tried to grab me." Shadow said, making Gloriosa become alert as she formed a nervous look like her brother. "Oh-oh no. That sounds terrible. You....You should remain here to keep safe from all those branches and vines." Gloriosa said. Shadow sensed some hesitation in her voice, making him more suspicious. "Oddly specific. I didn't mention vines." Shadow said, making Gloriosa freeze up a bit as her face became even more nervous. "Oh, well. I mean... I just figured... seeing as they're part of the forest... and all." Gloriosa quickly added. "Actually, I think I'll just call it a night. See you all tomorrow." Shadow said as he headed back to his tent. As he did, he began to ponder over what happened. She emerged just so conveniently after I came back. The looks on both her and her brothers face after I mentioned the incident suggest that they're hiding something. Maybe I've been suspecting the wrong person. This requires some investigation. The next day, the Canterlot Wondercolts got to working on the dock once more with Sonic and Rainbow Dash carrying extra pieces wood while Tails was measuring the dimensions needed while Fluttershy, Manic, Silver and Knuckles were using the rope to hold up the larger wooden planks on the side. Manic was hammering alongside Applejack and Silver, leaving Rarity, who was too busy sewing her dress to lend a hand. Things were going.... slowly, even slower than before. "This is taking forever. The cat's out of the bag anyway, can't we just use our powers to fix this up?" Manic suggested. "Or make things worse. What if I end losing all the wood if I take off?" Rainbow Dash pointed out. "Or Applejack breaks the dock." She had a point. "After yesterday, ah was hopin' we could forget about these powers, but it's been pretty hard not to think about 'em in a situation like this." Applejack said with a sigh. "Anyone need nails?" Pinkie said as she tossed the box up in the air, much to everyone's horror as they reached the bottom.  They were all expecting an explosion but nothing happened, causing them to calm down. "Nothing happened." Tails said as picked up the box of nails. It was normal as he studied it. "What a relief." Rarity said as she wiped her brow. As she did, she released another giant diamond which knocked Silver over into the dock, making a splash. Rarity gasped at what she did as her hands covered her mouth. "Oh goodness, I'm so sorry, Silver!" "It's not your fault. You can't control these powers." He replied as he picked himself out of the water. "None of us can. What can we do? We can't keep going on like this. At this rate, the dock will never be finished." Fluttershy brought up. "Which is why we need to deal with it now." Everyone heard Sunset say as they turned to see her approaching. "I've got powers too. When I touch people, I know what's inside their mind. Like feelings and memories." "That's it? I feel like you got the short end of the stick." Manic said before Sonic elbowed him, "Do me!"Pinkie said as she put Sunset's hand to her head, causing her to see inside. It was... unique. Sunset was just left with a bewildered expression as she stood frozen for a bit. "I can't imagine what's it like in there." Knuckles whispered to Applejack. 'Anyway, I think instead of hiding the magic, I think we should all embrace it." Sunset continued. "How are we supposed to do that if we can't control our powers?" Rainbow Dash questioned. Sonic put his hand to his chin before his face lit up. He had an idea. "Hey, why don't me and the guys just teach you how?" Sonic said, causing all eyes to be on him. "I mean, the powers you have kind of are similar to ours. Besides, we've had tons of experience with them. We can show you the ropes." Sonic finished. "Sonic, that's a brilliant idea. Everyone?" Sunset said as she turned to others. They all turned to each other and seemed on board with the idea as they nodded. "Great, then let's get started!" Sonic said as he raised his fist in the air. Silver was with Rarity as the two of them walked towards the edge of the lake in front of the cafeteria. As they did, Rarity was looking at her nails and noticed a little bit of paint was coming off of one and looked down to focus on it. "Oh, did I chip this one?" She asked out loud before she heard a loud thud which stopped her in her tracks. She looked up and saw she had formed another diamond... which had collided with Silver's face as he stood there. Rarity gasped again as the diamond vanished while Silver rubbed his nose and squinted. "Silver! I'm so sorry!" Rarity said as she checked to make sure he wasn't too hurt. "Okay. Let's deal with this now." Silver stated as he backed up a bit from Rarity to have more room in order to teach her. He then put his hand to his chin. "What would my master do?" He said out loud he thought to himself how to get started. He was silent before an idea came to him as he smiled. "Rarity. The one thing I noticed that both our powers have in common as they are focused on our mind." He started. "Observe." Silver's hand glowed green as he turned to a piece of wood nearby. It did the same and levitated itself between him and Rarity. "Our mind determines how we use our powers. By focusing on it, we can control and decide what we want them to do. For instance, you can see I’m only lifting up just one object with my powers. That's because I focused my abilities on doing that. With focus, I can change that." Silver continued as he dropped the piece of wood and turned his attention to many other planks. He lifted them up and brought them in front of Rarity's feet to demonstrate. "It's the same for you. Give it a try." He urged "Alright then." Rarity said as she closed her eyes with her hands out to try and focus. Silver backed up, not wanting to get hit again. "Think of how many diamonds you want to appear. Think of its size and shape. When you want it to appear and how far as well." Silver coached as Rarity concentrated further. Suddenly, she felt something appear and heard a noise. She opened her eyes to see a body-sized diamond a few inches front of her. Just as she had imagined with all the right dimensions. "It worked." She said happily as Silver looked on proudly. In the corner of her eye, Rarity noticed that Derpy was about to fall out of her canoe as she lost her balance. She acted quickly and tossed the diamond in her direction, catching Derpy safely before she fell in the water. "All right! Way to go, Rarity!" Silver praised as Rarity turned to him with an even bigger smile. "I actually did it! Silver, thank you, thank you!" Rarity squealed as she ran up to him and gave him a big hug, making him blush slightly as he rubbed the back of his head nervously. Knuckles took Applejack with him aside on the dock where the other students were still working on it. Applejack and Knuckles both sat down in front of each other. "So, whaddya got planned fer me, Knux? Applejack asked. "I have to admit, I've never really had to think or worry about how my strength works." Knuckles said. "Through my whole life, I was just a natural with it." After he just said that, a thought came to Knuckles as his eyes widened. He had hit a realization. "I think I can explain to you how your powers work. You just have to treat your strength just like any normal person does with their own." Knuckles said. "What do you mean?" Applejack questioned. "You got anything in your pocket I can hold?" Applejack took out a red apple from her pocket and placed it in Knuckles palm. He then held it up for her to see. "Now, knowing how strong I am, I can crush this pretty easily, right?" Knuckles said as AJ nodded. "But I choose not to. That's the thing. No matter how strong you are, you just have to be conscious of how much strength you're using." Knuckles said as he applied a bit of pressure to the apple, but not enough to make it break. "It's all about restraint. That's how I've been doing it all this time. You can decide how much force you apply to something." He then handed her back the apple. "Now. Try to put pressure on the apple without crushing it." Knuckles instructed. "Use both of your hands. Remember, it's all about awareness. " Applejack cupped the apple with both of her hands and did as she was told. She decided how much strength to use for it and with the little pressure she added slowly, she managed not to break it. She formed a smile as she displayed it to Knuckles. "Good going. Let's try something a little bigger." Knuckles said as he turned to a large wooden piece of the dock lying on the ground. "Lift that up and place it on the ground, but be mindful of your strength." Applejack rose up and headed towards the large piece that Knuckles was pointing towards. Using one hand, Applejack managed to grab the piece with relative ease, much to the shock of the other campers working on the dock. With the apple she was now snacking on in one hand and the piece in the other, she walked over to set it down, but not with enough force to shake the ground. Knuckles looked on and gave her the thumbs up, which she gladly returned. Tails and Pinkie were on the rest of the dock with the other students still working. Pinkie was staring off into space, daydreaming as Tails was trying to make sense of how her powers work. "Pinkie, I remember earlier, when you touched that box of nails, they didn't explode. Do you have any idea why?" He asked her. "Beats me." She cheerfully said. "Hmmm. Did you try to make it explode?" "Nope." Hearing that, Tails picked up a piece of wood. He then tossed it to her, which she then caught. Nothing happened as the wood remained normal and did not start to glow as she just set it down. Tails then took the box of nails from before and walked up to her and placed it in her hands. "Here. Try to make this blow-up." Tails said. Pinkie clutched the box really hard but nothing happened. It stayed the same. She tried again but still nothing, which made Tails curious. "Nada." She said as she handed the box back to Tails. "Wait here." Tails told her as he ran from the pier into the cafeteria. When he came out, he was holding a can of sprinkles, much to Pinkies delight. "Sprinkles! Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme!" Pinkie said as she reached for them eagerly as Tails held her back. "Hang on. I'll give you some." Tails said as he placed a tiny bit in his hands and then dropped them into Pinkies. As soon as he did, a few sparks emerged from her hands. "Just as I thought. It appears you can only make sugary things explode. That's really fitting for you. As well, the size of your explosion depends on how much you touch." Tails explained. As he reached for the can, he noticed it was gone, much to his confusion. He then looked up to see Pinkie holding it. "When did you? How did you?' Tails said in a exasperated tone as he quickly looked back and forth between his hand and Pinkie's Pinkie stood in front of a few wooden planks.Using the canister, she dumped a few sprinkles in her hand and then quickly dropped them on the planks, making holes which would be perfect for hammering. Tails noticed this and looked relieved. "Well, at least you're using it in a productive manner." He commented. Fluttershy was sitting on a wooden log on the outskirts of camp in front of the sign with Manic in front of her. He was just standing there, trying to figure out exactly what he was meant to do to help her. "So... what problems are you having?" Manic asked. "Well... I wouldn't say it's a problem." Fluttershy answered. Manic looked stumped. All she could just do was talk to animals, there really wasn't much he could work with. He literally couldn't teach her anything. He placed his hands on his hips. "Well... I guess you have everything under control here..." Manic said. A small red bird then landed on Fluttershy's shoulder. It chirped as Fluttershy listened in on it and then she smiled. It lifted up a wreath full of flowers and placed it on the camp entrance, much to Fluttershy's delight as the bird flew next to her as Manic just looked on. "Oh, thank you, very much." She said. "As I said. You've got everything under control her." Manic said. Suddenly, he felt his nose itch as he twitched and released a loud sneeze. As he did, he sneezed on the little bird, blowing it away and drenching it as it landed on the floor with a little force. "Oh, my!" Fluttershy said as she checked on the bird with Manic. "Oh man. I'm so sorry. Is it okay? Manic said with concern. The bird flew up and shook itself to become dry. It then gave Manic an intense glare as it chirped angrily at him. As it did, Fluttershy’s eyes widened and she put her hand to her mouth and the bird flew away as the two watched it take off. "What did it say? Manic questioned. "You really don't want to know." Fluttershy simply said. Sonic and Rainbow Dash stood in the center of the camp as Rainbow Dash noticed the other teachings that were going on. She then turned to Sonic. Okay, Sonic, what's the plan? How are you going to teach me?" She said quizzically. "It's simple. You're going to catch me." He stated. "What?" She said in a confused manner. "You're going to catch me." Sonic repeated. "How am I supposed to do that?" She said in an exasperated tone. "Yeah, you are right. I'm too fast for you anyway, super speed or not. You're too slow." Sonic teased, making her give him a glare. "I'm not slow!" She insisted. "Prove it." Sonic challenged as he dashed away as a blue streak, making the wind and Rainbows hair blow so much that it covered her face. Suddenly he came back having a confident smirk on his face. "Slow poke." He then sped off once again. Rainbow removed her hair and she fumed a bit before she turned into a rainbow-colored streak as she chased Sonic. The two streaks pursued each other as they ran across Camp Everfree in a straight line. Rainbow was fast, but Sonic was still able to avoid her. He then decided to kick it up a notch as he approached the forest. Instead of moving past it, Sonic turned in order to go inside its entrance. Rainbow Dash noticed this and she began determined as she did the same thing and followed him. It was tough and she almost lost her balance, but she managed to perform the turn. In the forest, Rainbow Dash was gaining, but Sonic wasn't going to give up so easily. He did many turns, forcing her to do the same. Each time she did, Rainbow found it easier to do so. Inside the forest, Rainbow Dash noticed that it was becoming more crowded with trees and branches and Sonic had slowed down a bit due to that. In order to avoid them, Rainbow found herself slowing down as well. She was very close to Sonic and reached her arm out to grab him, but as they approached the forest's exit, Sonic bolted and sped ahead. Rainbow Dash put her hand in her fist as she did the same. Sonic led her to the docks where Rainbow Dash was almost catching up to him. At the front of it, Sonic suddenly stopped and turned around to see Rainbow Dash charging at full speed. Rainbow's eyes widened and in order to avoid crashing into him, she forced herself to stop. She almost fell but Sonic grabbed her arm and she kept her balance. "What was that? Why'd you just stop?" She asked. "Because we’re done." Sonic answered. "Huh?" "When I went in the forest, it was teaching you about turning and momentum. Inside it, it was pretty packed with all those trees, right? That was to teach you about slowing down. And I just stopped in front of here to teach you how to stop." Sonic explained. "You're a fast learner." "You did all that to teach me? I gotta say, you're a pretty cool teacher." She said as she slugged his arm before she suddenly grew excited. "But I actually almost caught you!" "Not really. I was holding back." Sonic said, dashing her hopes and killing her excitement. "But.... you might get there." "Hey, Rainbow, a little help?" Rainbow Dash and Sonic heard as they turned to see Pinkie holding her wooden planks up with Tails behind her. "On it!" Rainbow said as she took a hammer and zipped around the planks. As she did, Pinkie held out a red paintbrush. In no time, there was a red chair with two yellow curls on the front. Sonic and Tails looked quite impressed as they walked over to the girls and the four of them high fives. Sunset looked on at the girls learning how to control their powers and was pleased with what she saw. As she headed to inspect the dock along with the others following shortly, they all saw it was now complete and admired their hard work as they stood near the edge. It looked good as new and even better than the last one. "This looks amazing. Everyone, we should really be proud of ourselves!" Sunset congratulated. "It was awesome! And we had some pretty good teachers." Rainbow Dash said as Sonic rubbed his nose. "And now...we can start the most important thing... THE FASHION SHOW!!!" Rarity said with excitement as everyone else sighed. That was still on her mind? "Get started without me. I need to find Twilight." Sunset said as she took off, leaving everyone else behind. As she did, she passed by the main cabin and heard arguing. It sounded like Timber and Gloriosa. Sunset listened in.... Back in the forest, Shadow was looking through, trying to retrace his steps from when the trees went out of control due to last night. "It's hard to remember where I was since everything was so dark. I might be here for a while." He muttered under his breath. He then saw something familiar on the ground among the leaves which caught his eye. Shadow then crouched down and he picked it up in his palm, which he then closed as he squinted. Back at the camp, as Rarity headed out to get her outfits for the fashion show contestants, Tails heard a ding on his phone. He took out and saw it was a message from Sunset. It read: Come meet me at the Rock Quarry. I already told Twilight to do the same. Bring Sonic and Knuckles with you. It's time we exposed the whole story of 'Gaea Everfree.  Tails then texted back: Got it. Coming soon. Tails put his phone back in his pocket and turned to Sonic and Knuckles behind him. "Guys. Follow me. We're heading to the Rock Quarry." Tails told them. The two of them looked confused. "What for?" Knuckles asked. "We're going to solve the mystery of Gaea Everfree."