Sonic the Hedgehog looked ahead at the lush, green, winding hills ahead of him. His glove-covered hand lowered from a waving position and rested at his side. The hedgehog looked at his surroundings with both curiosity and confusion.
Sonic was the world's fastest hedgehog, capable of moving at speeds faster than sound. For years, he had driven back the evil Dr. Robotnik (better known as Dr. Eggman) and his mechanical robot army. During his most recent adventure, Sonic had been transported to another world after the concluding battle against Eggman.
The doctor had been using a mysterious jewel called the Phantom Ruby which granted extraordinary powers to whomever wielded its power. While Sonic was successful in defeating him, the Phantom Ruby created a wormhole, sending Sonic and itself into an alternate dimension. Teaming up with the Sonic and friends of that dimension, they defeated the Eggman of there and destroyed the Ruby for good. Sonic then made his final goodbyes before fading away from that dimension.
Now, he was relocated in a peaceful area rich with vegetation. While it was clearly not his home, it did have a similar appearance and probably would've slipped by were it not for Sonic's watchful eye.
Regardless, Sonic felt right at home and, to him, that was all that mattered for the time being.
While many things ran through his mind, the thing that stuck out the most for the blue hedgehog was to do some exploring. Quickly, he took off into a dash, throwing his arms back and spinning his feet into a red oval-like swirl. Sonic tore through the landscape, blowing many of the nearby leaves off of their branches. The breeze of the wind brushed past Sonic's quills as he accelerated. Colors blurred in his vision while he raced through the many rolling hills, the thrill of adventure still at the front of his mind. As he maintained a fast pace, Sonic caught the sight of a thin palm tree out of the corner of his vision.
Quickly deterring from his current path, Sonic utilized his current momentum to run a spiral up the trunk of the tree. As he reached the top, his hands quickly grabbed onto the tree as he pulled himself up and over the tree, flinging himself forward. While still in midair, Sonic instinctively curled himself into a spiky blue ball. He then blasted off in an arch towards the path from before. As Sonic landed, he uncurled after a single bounce and continued running along the path. This maneuver had seemingly launched Sonic much farther ahead down the path and at a quicker rate than he could have gotten by just by running normally.
As the end of the road he was running on came into view, Sonic took a small hop before landing and skidding his feet along the ground to stop himself right at the edge. Sonic then overlooked what was beyond the cliff and what he found was something that piqued his interest.
Not too far off was a colorful city accented by various colors of golds, purples, and whites. A bit past the entrance to the city stood colorful tents of which he could only assume were housing an assortment of food, games, and other items of interest. These tents also spanned into the main balcony while a faint rainbow arched over it.
From Sonic's proper deduction skills, he knew that the city had to have been celebrating some sort of special event. The thought of kicking back and relaxing after several days of nonstop action greatly appealed to him. Not to mention finally grabbing something to eat.
His only problem now was reaching the city. Looking down, at the cliff in front of him, Sonic searched for any sort of curved piece of land that could be used as a ramp. Luckily, the drop just so happened to end in an upward curve.
With his mind made up, Sonic jumped down and managed to quickly plant his feet on the steep cliff. When he was about a quarter down, Sonic curled back up into a ball and started to roll down the rest of the drop, gaining speed at a rapid pace. Using this newfound momentum, Sonic launched off of the bottom of the cliff and uncurled, throwing his arms behind his back as he soared through the air.
Before long, Sonic had reached his destination. He was now right above the city and ready to land. Sonic curled once more and began to spin rapidly as he dove towards the ground. Before he hit the ground, Sonic uncurled and threw his arms back behind him. Upon landing on the edge of the balcony, Sonic struck a heroic pose with his left arm behind his back and his right stretched to the ground.
Sonic raised from the pose and overlooked the sight in front of him, curiosity evident by his facial expression. This curiosity did not come from the festival itself. By all means, this place had well fit the description of 'festival'. However, it was the participants present here that caused Sonic to scratch his head.
Ponies. Everyone here were all ponies of various pastel colors of the rainbow. Some of them even possessed a horn on their head or a pair of wings attached to their sides. While this was not as ground breaking as inter-dimensional travel, it was interesting none the less.
Currently, the large crowd of ponies were occupied by an abnormally large multi-layered cake splattered on the ground. Sonic noticed a particular lavender pony with both a horn and wings. She also seemed to covered in the most cake, presumably having it dropped on her by accident. This pony wore a small crown on top of her head. Sonic soon deduced that she had to have been a princess or queen of some sort. He soon crossed out the second option. Sonic knew that most queens never did too much outside of their throne rooms.
While the first pony was harder to get a read on, Sonic had a feeling that the pony in front of her was a pop star. The jacket, duel-colored hair, and the bodyguard and agent beside her were a dead giveaway.
Sonic didn't want to interrupt the scene in front of him just yet. He wanted to see how this all would play out. Besides, comedy like this practically wrote itself!
Unbeknownst to Sonic, this pony was the alicorn Princess of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle. She and her friends, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie, had saved the magical world of Equestria more times than anypony could ever count. Now, they had set up a Festival of Friendship to celebrate Equestria's strong bonds of friendship.
Currently, she was now speaking with Songbird Serenade after having a cake dropped on her by Pinkie Pie.
"Ms. Songbird Serenade? Um, I was just going to check on you." She gave a nervous chuckle. "I'm Princess Twilight, and sorry about the mess. I'm usually not so..." At this moment Twilight's hoof wiped off some of the cake from before off of herself, accidentally hitting Songbird Serenade and her jacket. Twilight gave another nervous smile as onlookers muttered among themselves.
Songbird Serenade let out a light chuckle of her own."Caked in cake?"
Almost immediately, Songbird's agent and bodyguard began to speak to each other through their headsets, ignoring their closeness in proximity.
"You have visual on buttercream?" one of the bodyguards asked.
The second raised his hoof to the headset mic and nodded. "Visual confirmed. Go for cleanup." He then proceeded to reach forward and wipe the piece of cake off of Songbird's jacket.
By now, Sonic had seen more of enough to know this festival would be more than worth staying for. Now all he had to do was put his best foot forward and not make a bad impression towards the ponies. Closing his eyes, Sonic took his first step forward.
As soon as his foot stomped the ground, a boom of thunder echoed through everyone's ears. Sonic's eyes sprung open in surprise. Surely that couldn't have come from him, had it?
Everyone throughout the entire festival quickly drew their attention towards the sky above to find a sight that was less than ideal. Dark storm clouds rolled in over the city like a sinister wave of fog, a frequent thunder sounding every few seconds.
As the black clouds continued to advance, Twilight gasped, stepping forward beside her friends while the last of the cake on her body slipped off of her. "Storm clouds? I ordered perfect weather!" She then turned to a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane and gave a disproving glare. "Rainbow Dash?" Twilight growled.
Rainbow Dash replied to Twilight with a worried look before turning her gaze back up at the sky."Uh... I... don't think those are storm clouds."
The dark clouds had now covered all of the sky over the city of Canterlot. Then, out of the clouds emerged a large, dark, ominous, orchid-tinted airship with two light blue lighting-like symbols on the sides of the ship. As the airship descended from the sky, a pink earth mare with a poofy pink mane by the name of Pinkie Pie continued to smile.
"Ooh! I bet those are the clowns I ordered!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, bouncing up and down in excitement. For all it was worth, everypony had hoped that were the case. However, when the ominous airship knocked over the marble pillars as it lowered to the balcony, every hope of this ship being friendly vanished.
Pinkie Pie had also caught on to this revelation.
"...Or definitely not the clowns I ordered." she soon added.
Sonic had seen more than enough to get an idea of what was to come. Quickly, he took off towards the top of the castle roof. This would give him a vantage point for him to get a better look at the situation and set himself up for a dramatic entrance. Sonic hastily ran up the wall of the castle, using his speed to help scale it. In little to no time, he was on top of the roof. Sonic then crossed his arms, thinking through his plan in his mind.
It was simple really. Wait for the villain to reveal themself. Jump down. Defeat the big baddy. Finally, receive praise, celebrate, and continue the festival. All that was left in his plan was to wait.
By now, the airship was at the festival grounds and a smooth metal surface extended from the side of the ship, landing on a small pink balloon dog and deflating it.
"Brian, no!" a random pony in the crowd cried out.
Moments later, the clanging steps against metal drew everyone's attention to the figure emerging from the ship. This creature struggled to carry a metal crate about the size of itself. As it reached the ground, they dropped the box, revealing themself as a small grayish cobalt blue hedgehog with a light grey spiked mane clad in armor bearing the same marking as the ship. This was Grubber.
The box he set down then transformed into a horn-shaped speaker. Grubber stepped forward, and began to speak, a distinct lisp evident in his voice.
"Ponieth of Equethtria, we come on behalf of the fearsome, the powerful, the almighty...Thtorm King! On cue, a banner of a light grey bipedal creature sporting the same type of armor as Grubber rolled down from the ship. He had sharp, black, pointed horns and brilliant opal eyes.
While ponies murmured and gasped among themselves, Sonic looked on, raising an eyebrow at the sight. Admittedly, he didn't look too scary or threatening. If anything, Dr. Eggman had created much more menacing robots that would fit the role of this "Storm King" much better. Sonic soon directed his attention back to Grubber as did the ponies as he continued.
"And now, to deliver the evil, evil methage, put your hooveth together for Commander Tempeeeetht!"
Once more on cue, stepping out of the mist within the ship emerged a dark orchid unicorn mare with a moderate rose mohawk-like mane. She too wore the armor with the symbol adorning her flank. Noticeably, her horn was nothing more than a jagged stump. Blue sparks emitted from the broken appendage. Her opal eyes peered down at the crowd.
Sonic was now thoroughly impressed. Though just a commander? Tempest certainly looked like she was in more of a position to be leading the bad guys. Even her name sounded more threatening than the simple "Storm King."
"Is that a... unicorn?" Twilight gasped.
"I think so, but what happened to her horn?" Twilight's faithful assistant, Spike the Dragon, replied uneasily.
Suddenly, the three other alicorn princesses of Equestria dropped down in front of the crowd. Celestia, Princess of the Sun, Luna, Princess of the Night, and Cadance, Princess of Love. The trio looked up at the intruding unicorn as Celestia spoke.
"'Tempest' is it? How may we help you?"
Tempest Shadow gave a slight smile, keeping her cool in the process. "Oh, I'm so glad you asked." She started. "How about we start with your complete and total surrender?"
Twilight quickly stepped beside Cadance and the other princesses.. "Hi there. Princess of Friendship. Not exactly sure what's going on, but I know we can talk things out." The alicorn flashed an abnormally large nervous smile.
Sonic cracked a light smile of his own. He wasn't aware that being a good friend could garner someone the title of royalty. Perhaps with enough work, he could become a "King of Friendship." Sonic quickly ceased the thought. If he was the king, how would he be able to travel the world in peace? His attention soon turned back to the situation in hand. Somehow, he knew that this ordeal wasn't going to be solved by a simple talk.
"Oh, goody. All four Princesses." Tempest started, trotting forward towards the crowd below. "Here's the deal, ladies. I need your magic. Give it up nicely, please, or we make it difficult for everyone!"
Luna scowled at the remark. "And why should we cower before you? There's one of you and hundreds of us."
'Uh oh...' Sonic had heard this line enough times to know where this was likely to lead.
Tempest grinned, chuckling lightly. "I was hoping you'd choose difficult."
Almost instantaneously an entire fleet of ships made themselves known, flying out of the clouds and dropping down dozens of tall, bulky, grey and white soldiers with black mask-like faces. Many were armed with dark spears and shields bolstering the Storm King's logo.
Immediately, everypony in the crowd burst into unconstrained panic, frantically fleeing in random directions in an attempt to escape the soldiers now looming over them.
Sonic couldn't stand waiting any longer and knew that this was the time to act. He jumped off of the roof and landed in front of the princesses, striking his battle stance. The ponies' eyes widened at the sight of this newcomer. They had never seen something even remotely similar to what this "thing" was. Sonic looked back at the princesses and gave a toothy smile while raising his right hand into a "thumbs up" gesture before turning back to Tempest, taking on a more serious expression.
Tempest, on the other hoof, scoffed. She was amused at this stranger's show of heroism, regardless of how many times she had seen it before.
"I was unaware the princesses had a little blue savior. Let's see how long you last." she said, taunting the blue hero. Sonic's expression then turned into a confidant grin in response. Without thinking, he charged forward into a light sprint while Tempest remained stationary. As the gap closed, the unicorn finally took action. The remains of her horn started to emit sparks of a moderate opal hue. Sonic saw this and tried to stop himself, but it was too late. Tempest fired a strong electric-like blast of magic, knocking the blue blur into the sky and scattering golden rings on the ground before they disappeared.
Sonic landed face first in front of the princesses, a great amount of soot present on his face. He quickly shook it off and stood back up, determined not to make the mistake of underestimating her again. The princesses were baffled by this display of power from a single pony and that the newcomer did not seem faced whatsoever by an attack of that magnitude.
Seeing her opportunity, Tempest leapt up into the air while pulling out a green and black obsidian orb and kicked it forward towards Celestia. The princesses gasped as the orb rocketed towards its target.
Princess Cadance leapt in front of Celestia and created a barrier with her magic, shielding the other princesses and Sonic. However, this had only slowed the obsidian orb. The shield cracked open under the pressure as the attack raced through and nailed Cadance as she let out a cry of pain. The orb exploded, releasing a green mist that quickly started to encase her body in obsidian.
"Cadance!" Celestia gasped.
"I can't... stop it!" Cadance cried as the substance raced up her body. Within mere seconds, the princess was nothing more than a stone statue, a look of shock and horror forever plastered on her face.
The three remaining princesses looked on with worry. They needed to think of something and fast. It was then that Celestia thought of something. It was a long shot, but what other choice did she have?
With a panicked look on her face, Princess Celestia gave her orders to her sister. "Luna, quick! Go south beyond the Badlands!" she started as Luna nodded in confirmation.
While this was happening, Tempest charged forward with Sonic doing the same. The blue blur released a punch at the unicorn who dodged it, and retaliated with a roundhouse kick. This maneuver not only knocked Sonic far away into the distance, but sent forward another obsidian orb.
"Seek help from the Queen of the Hippo—" Before Celestia could finish, Tempest's projectile managed to reach her and the princess quickly met the same fate as Cadance.
Luna's eyes widdened as she gasped. The Princess of the Night took to the skies in hopes of reaching the queen her sister tasked her to find. That was before Tempest kicked another obsidian orb, effortlessly hitting her airborne target. Luna let out one last yelp as the obsidian covered her body like the others.
As the statue crashed through the top of a giant stage as Twilight caught it with her magic.
"Luna!" she cried, struggling to keep the Luna from breaking into hundreds of pieces. She couldn't believe it. Everything had fallen apart so quickly. Her fellow princesses now reduced to nothing more than motionless statues.
Tempest, amused at the situation, chuckled to herself. Only more to go before she could please the Storm King. She watched as the "Princess of Friendship" was caught in her tracks, overcome by emotion. Too simple. Tempest took a final leap, throwing up her final orb in the process. A stationary target was an easy target by her standards. Tempest struck the orb with her hoof, sending it hurtling towards the last princess while storm creatures closed in on her. What followed was an explosion of green smoke and rainbows, obstructing the view as it hit the sad little pony.
"Easy as pie." she mused to herself with a certain hint of smugness.
"Oh, I love pie." Grubber said, licking his lips at the mere thought of the delectable treat.
The smoke cleared as Tempest trotted towards the statue. Grubber leaned in to get a closer look as well.
"Oh, you totally got the latht Printheth!" he boasted. However, the pony in front of them was a cross-eyed pegasus with a cutie mark of bubbles. A light purple party hat slid down her head and onto her muzzle.
"That's not the Princess! Grubber, get her now!" Tempest's fragmented horn sparked with a magical rage. She had been duped! Grubber saw this and saw that she was not messing around anymore.
"Guyth, we gotta get the Princess!" Grubber, in a frantic panic, took off as fast as he could towards the courtyard with the other storm creatures.
Tempest growled. "I've worked far too hard to get here. I won't let this opportunity slip by." Her hoof came down on Twilight's plastic crown she was wearing which was now dropped on the ground.
"Over here, y'all!" Applejack called out. Twilight had managed to slip away from the obsidian orb thanks to Rainbow Dash and her agility. Now she and her five friends was weaving in and out between various Storm Creatures, trying to avoid capture along with her friends. It was then that a wall of two guards blocked the bridge up ahead. The ponies stopped as their fists slammed down over them. Before they could reach their mark however, a blue ball tore through the area, knocking over the guards and opening up the path.
The ponies and drake watched in awe as the ball landed and revealed itself to be the same creature that had attempted to stop Tempest from before. Sonic gestured forward with his thumb and the others wasted no time in following that direction. Twilight had her suspicions however. Why had this thing even been helping them? What was it hoping to gain? Then again, he had proved himself an ally through his attempt to save the other princesses.
Twilight's train of thought was soon halted halfway across the bridge where more Storm Creatures dropped down from above, this time wielding spears and shields. Through an act of both quick thinking and desperation, Twilight fired a blast of magic in hopes of clearing a way through. The Storm Creature reacted quickly, bringing his shield up and deflecting the blast back into the bridge. This blow broke the ground below them, sending the six ponies, Spike, and Sonic plummeting into the rushing water below.
They all bobbed to the surface, trying to stay afloat as they gasped for air. Sonic was having the most trouble. He and water had not ever sustained a good relationship with each other. This was due to one simple fact. He couldn't swim.
Soon, they had all reached the drop of a steep waterfall. Everyone tried to stop themselves, but found the current was too strong. The ponies and drake screamed in unison as they plummeted over the edge. Sonic opened his mouth, but did not scream. He still still flailed his arms frantically as he fell. This was all too familiar to his encounter with the Hydrocity Zone.
Back up at the top of the bridge, Grubber and two Storm Creatures looked down at the waterfall below.
"Which one of you guyth ith goin' down there?" the pudgy hedgehog asked. The Storm Creatures replied with growls. Grubber then gave an exasperated sigh. "I would, but I jutht had a hearty meal, and I will think and I will side-cramp. I'm very big-boned. I sink quick." With that, the three walked away from the cliff as Grubber pondered the fate of the princess, her friends, and the mysterious blue creature. Tempest was not going to like what he had to say.
Down at the bottom of the waterfall, the Mane 6, Spike, and Sonic had managed to take shelter at a nearby cave under Canterlot. Everyone was wet and discouraged, but they seemed alright for the most part.
"Everypony okay?" Applejack asked, fishing her brown cowpony hat out of the water.
"We just got our cupcakes handed to us by the worst party crasher ever!" Pinkie Pie cried out.
Rainbow Dash flared her wings in anger. She hated having to hide out while innocent ponies were being hurt back up in Canterlot. "We gotta go back there and fight!"
"Well, you saw the size of those goons. You seriously wanna go back?" Spike asked.
"So now what? We can't hide here forever. And let's be honest, we can't go back. Look at what they did to the Princesses. We gotta keep them from Twilight." Applejack stated.
"I know where to start." Rainbow Dash replied, turning towards Sonic who was currently under the shade of a nearby tree. The five ponies and Spike walked over to him, various questions at the front of their minds. Rainbow tapped the shoulder of the hedgehog as his eyes lazily started to open.
"Well, that whole thing could have gone better." Sonic chuckled, getting back on his feet. The group stepped back in shock. They had not expected this creature to have the capability of speech.
Still slightly baffled at the situation, Rainbow Dash glared at him. "I don't see how you, whatever it is you are, can be so calm about this. We just lost Canterlot and all of the ponies there! Why were you even there anyways?"
Sonic put both his hands out in defense while keeping that lighthearted smile on his face. "Hey, easy there. I wasn't planing on coming here. I guess when the Phantom Ruby was destroyed, it sent me here as an aftereffect. I just saw the city having a celebration and decided to check it out. I like festivals and fun, sue me."
"Phantom Ruby?" Spike's mind pictured some sort of giant, transparent ruby for him to snack on.
The blue blur nodded. "Yeah, that's really complicated. It's not a threat anymore. I made sure of that. Heck, the whole adventure would make for a great story." Sonic thought back to that other dimension he was just in for the last three days and smiled.
Applejack knew that if this were to continue, it would lead into thirty minutes of questions. "I think that's enough prying into his personal life. We all saw him go and try to stop that Tempest pony. I think we can say he's on our side."
Rarity then stepped forward, taking a good look at Sonic's appearance. "Even so, his wardrobe, or lack there of, needs much improvement. Although I would recommend him keeping those golden buckles. They really help accentuate his shoes."
"Who are you?" the timid Fluttershy asked.
"Right, I haven't told you yet, have I?" the blue blur mused. "My name's Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog!"
Pinkie Pie suddenly gave a toothy smile, now knowing the creature's name. "You're named Sonic? What a coincidence! Our friend here, Rainbow Dash, can preform a Sonic Rainboom! Have you heard about it? It's when a sonic boom and a rainbow happen at the same time! Anyway's I'm Pinkie Pie and once this is all over, we have to throw you a party!"
For Sonic, the thought of a phenomenon named after himself had him intrigued to say the least. It wasn't long before Pinkie Pie continued. "This is Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Spike, and the one, way over there at the water's edge is Twilight." She then leaned into Sonic's ear and whispered, "She's the Princess of Friendship."
"I had no idea." Sonic replied, heavy sarcasm evident in his voice, but it was all in good fun.
Unlike the others who were striking up conversation with each other, Twilight continued staring at the surface of the water, trying to assess the situation as best as possible. She was looking much deeper into the situation. What was she supposed to do now? She was the last princess and nothing she could do could change that currently.
It was then that the events of the attack replayed through her head. She remembered Celestia telling Luna to find someone.
"The Queen." she murmured nervously. Everyone turned to look at the Princess of Friendship. Sonic's mind had picked up something about a Queen during his fight with Tempest.
Pinkie Pie suddenly perked up at those two words. "Yeah, the Queen!" Her smile quickly fell at a sudden realization. "Uh, what queen?" She and the others did not hear what Celestia had said.
Twilight trotted forward, looking up as more of the Storm King's ships flew into Canterlot. "Celestia told Luna to find the Queen of the... 'Hippos'. Luna can't, so I have to." She turned back to her friends, putting on a determined look.
"Uh, hippos? Seriously?" Rainbow Dash deadpanned. This idea was becoming absurd to her.
"I've heard they're surprisingly graceful for their size. Huh, but they're always hungry." Pinkie chimed.
"They're somewhere south, past the Badlands."
"That means we'll have to... leave Equestria. Oh!" Fluttershy shuddered at the very though. Equestria was all any of them ever knew. Nopony knew what lied beyond the world they knew.
"I'm not even packed!" Rarity added.
"I understand you're scared, and nopony else has to go. But I have to find this queen. She might be our only hope." With her message sent, Twilight started to trot through the trail she set out for herself. Before she could get too far, Rainbow Dash stopped her.
"Well, you're not getting all the glory. We're in this together." Rainbow Dash boasted, flashing a confident smile.
"We got your back." Applejack added.
"Indeedy!" Pinkie chimed.
Rarity stepped up beside them. "I am ready to save Equestria!"
"Yay." Fluttershy weakly cheered.
Spike then ran up in front of the others. "We're all behind you, Twilight." Admittedly, Twilight was glad her friends were tagging along. At the very least, this road wouldn't be a lonely one. Twilight then turned to Sonic. "What about you, um- Sonic, was it?"
"Are you kidding?! This is the stuff that I live for!" the blue blur exclaimed, pointing a thumb to his chest.
"Let's go find this hippo!" With that, Pinkie Pie bounced off, quite literally, off towards the north. Everyone looked on in confusion.
"Uh, south?" Spike corrected, pointing a finger in the direction. Pinkie Pie wasted no time in changing her course.
"Hehe! Whee!" the party pony giggled as the others followed close behind. With their spirits lifted and new hope in their hearts, the group of heroes set off on the long trail ahead. "Whee! Boingy-boingy-boingy-boingy-boingy! Anypony up for a game of 'I Spy'?" she continued.
Everyone groaned at the suggestion. Way to kill the mood, Pinkie Pie.
"No, really! Come on!" Pinkie insisted. "I spy with my little eye something that is orange. No takers? It's you, Applejack!" She laughed to her hearts content as they marched on.
Sonic, who raced to the front of the group, smiled confidently as he let out a hearty chuckle, looking back towards his new companions.
"A grand adventure through uncharted territory? Sounds like a great excuse to go off and see the world!"