It's been hours since Sonic talked about all of the adventures he and the mane six had gone through at that point. Currently, he was close to finishing the story.
"...after distracting Chrysalis' bridesmaids, the three of us quickly made our way to the ceremony." Sonic explained, "After that, well, I'm certain you all know what happened after that."
"Woah, you guys certainly have been through a lot since you left Canterlot." Shining Armor commented.
"True as that might be, it was nothing a little teamwork and friendship couldn't solve." Sonic said, making the mane six nod their heads
"True. I'll say. Yup. You can say that again. You bet! Of course." the mane six said, voicing their agreements.
Just then, Sonic let out a long, loud yawn.
"Woah, I haven't yawned like that in a long time." Sonic said before asking, "What time is it anyway?"
Looking towards a nearby clock, Princess Celestia's eyes widened a little before she said, "It's only a few minutes away before I raise the sun!"
"Wait, really?!" Sonic asked, voicing everyone's surprise.
"I figured you'd have a lot to tell us, but I didn't think it would be that much!" Shining Armor said in shock.
"Well, it just goes to show how much can happen in a year." Sonic said before letting out another yawn.
"I think it would be best if all make our way to our rooms." Princess Celestia suggested, "While there is little time until I raise the sun, it would be best if we all rested, considering all the events that took place within the last few days."
"No argument there, auntie." Cadence said, "After being trapped in those crystal caverns for the last couple of days, a nice soft bed is something I desperately need."
"Heh, I think you need some proper sleep over anything, right Aunt Luna?" Sonic asked jokingly.
However, instead of giving a response, Princess Luna remained silent.
"Aunt Luna?" Sonic asked, as he and everyone else turned towards the princess.
Upon looking at her, everyone saw that Princess Luna had seemingly stopped in her tracks and appeared to be concentrated about something.
Before anyone could question further, Princess Luna's eyes widened before she quickly turned towards Sonic and tackled him.
Not a second later, a large beam of magic shot through a window before striking where Sonic was standing, catching everyone off guard.
"What the heck was that?!" Sonic asked in shock.
Just then everyone hear an eerie laugh come from outside, one that Sonic, the princesses sans Cadence, and the mane six recognized.
"That laugh," Sonic said, "but it can't be."
Just then, a purple mist came through the the broken window before it began to take the shape of a alicorn.
Once the mist was done forming, it slowly became solid until it revealed the identity of the alicorn, surprising everyone by doing so.
"Nightmare Moon!?!" Sonic and the mane six exclaimed in shock.
"But how is that possible!?" Twilight exclaimed, "We used the elements of harmony to destroy you while freeing Princess Luna!"
"Foolish ponies!" Nightmare Moon exclaimed, "You didn't destroy me! You simply separated me and Luna."
"If that's true, how come we haven't seen you ever since we defeated you the first time?" Sonic asked as he glared at Nightmare Moon.
"When me and Luna were separated by that beam harmonic magic, my magic was scattered throughout Equestria." Nightmare Moon explained, "As I slowly put myself back together, the one thing that lingered in my mind was taking my revenge on you and your puny friends. And now that I'm complete, I can finally destroy you all and conquer Equestria!"
"Not unless we have anything to say about it!" Shining Armor exclaimed as he stepped forward.
However, Sonic stepped in front of him before saying, "No, it's me and the girls that she wants. And out of the seven of us, I'll be the one to face her!"
"Come on Sonic, you don't really expect us to just stand back and watch, do you?" Shining Armor asked.
"Especially when all of us together will be more than a match for her." Princess Luna added.
"While I know that's true I don't want to risk it." Sonic replied before explaining, "Almost everyone used up most of their strength against the changelings, and I don't want to risk the possibility of Nightmare Moon repossessing Aunt Luna. Besides, I've become a lot stronger than I was when I first fought Nightmare Moon, so she shouldn't be too difficult to take her down now."
Although they didn't want to admit it, everyone knew Sonic had a point.
"...Fine, just be careful." Princess Celestia hesitantly said before she and the rest of the group backed away.
"Don't worry, I will." Sonic said before turning towards Nightmare Moon, "Alright Nightmare Moon, it's just me and you now. Be ready to have your flank kicked!"
"Your over confidence will be your downfall." Nightmare Moon said back before a smirk formed on her face, "I'll be sure to savor your pain and misery before I destroy you and your pathetic friends."
As soon as those words exited her mouth, Nightmare Moon fired a bolt of magic at Sonic, who simply stepped to the side in order to dodge it. He then responded by charging towards her.
Not wanting to allow Sonic a chance to reach her, Nightmare Moon began to rapidly fire more bolts of magic at him, all of which where easily dodged with jumps, ducks, slides, and side steps, all the while stopping Sonic from getting too close.
This continued for a moment before Nightmare Moon smirked before turning towards the group and firing a beam of magic at them.
With the action being so sudden, the group couldn't help but gasp as they watched the beam quickly make it's way towards them.
Luckily, Sonic was quick to act as be teleported in front of the group and created a barrier, effectively blocking the beam.
After powering down the barrier, Sonic glared at Nightmare Moon as he exclaimed, "That was a terrible trick Nightmare Moon! This fight is between you and me! There's no need to have them involved."
"What can I say, I saw an opportunity and decided to act on it." Nightmare Moon said with a smirk.
"Then I'll make sure you don't have another one!" Sonic said before creating another barrier that completely blocked the two fighters from the group.
"I see you've learned a new trick since our last encounter." Nightmare Moon said.
"Yeah, and I'll be sure bash you in the face with it for trying to hurt my friends and family!" Sonic exclaimed before once again charging towards Nightmare Moon.
Deciding to try to keep Sonic at Bay again, Nightmare Moon began to rapidly fire more bolts of magic at him, but the hedgehog responded by creating a large shield shaped barrier around his wrist and held it in front of himself, blocking every bolt.
One he was close enough, Sonic leaped towards Nightmare Moon and, true to his word, bashed her in the face with the barrier, knocking her back several feet before powering it down.
Growling at Sonic for hitting her, Nightmare Moon's horn glowed as created several runes around the room, all of which began to fire bolts of lightning at the hedgehog.
Finding the bolts of lightning to be harder to dodge, Sonic began to fire chaos spears at the runes, destroying them in the process.
Seeing how charging it was taking him anywhere fast, Sonic decided to change his strategy by teleporting around and firing chaos spears at Nightmare Moon.
While she did her best to dodge, most of the spears would end up hitting their mark, both hurting and frustrating her in the process.
Having had enough, Nightmare Moon began to watch Sonic as he continued to teleport around the room. After doing this for a moment she fired a beam of magic that hit the hedgehog square in the chest and he reappeared, knocking him back before he did a backflip and landed on his feet, skidding a few feet after doing so.
'That certainly stung.' Sonic thought to himself as he stood up strait, 'At the pace we're going it, we'll just continue fighting at a stalemate. Luckily, that won't last for long.'
Deciding to not waste a second, Sonic closed his eyes and concentrated. This was soon followed with the chaos emeralds appearing around him and making him levitate off the ground.
'Just what I've been waiting for!' Nightmare Moon thought to herself before firing a beam at Sonic.
Rather than knocking him away upon contact, the beam remained continuous and formed sparks of dark magic around Sonic's body, making him scream in pain by doing so.
"SONIC!!!" the group exclaimed as they pressed themselves against the barrier in a vein attempt to help the hedgehog.
"Perfect." Nightmare Moon said with a smirk before flaring her horn, intensifying the beam by doing so.
This continued for a moment before wisps of energy began leaving both Sonic and the chaos emeralds and began to make it's way towards Nightmare Moon, which was absorbed into her horn.
"Yes, I can feel myself becoming stronger already!" Nightmare Moon said eagerly as the beam continued to intensify, making Sonic scream even louder as more energy was syphoned out of him.
Contemplating as to how she could help Sonic, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna both noticed that the barrier Sonic created to protect them began to flicker, a sign that his power was quickly diminishing.
With an idea as to what to do, the two princesses nodded to each other before they began to charge their horns for a moment before firing a beam, shattering the barrier and striking Nightmare Moon, knocking the dark pony away all the while freeing Sonic from her grasp.
Now free, Sonic quickly made the the chaos emeralds disappear as he fell to his knees. Seeing this, the group ran to his aid with the intention to get in between him and Nightmare Moon, but before they could reach him, the sparks of dark magic suddenly flared, preventing them from getting close.
Grunting in pain as the sparks continued to course through his body, Sonic attempted to get back on his feet but ended up fall to all fours. It was then something no one could of predicted happened; he began changing.
It had began with his fur simply changing from it's normal blue to navy blue, but it quickly went out of control as he began to rapidly grow in size, becoming more muscular the more his size grew. His hands eventually reached a point where they ripped through the gloves he was wearing due to their now massive size, revealing large clawed hands that were white in color. His muzzle also became slightly longer along with turning white in color as well as revealing newly developed sharp teeth as he grit his teeth in pain. Even his shoes changed as they became larger to fit his normal size. They also gained a metal strap with three spikes on it, along with the outsole becoming spiked as well.
Once the transformation was complete, the sparks subsided, allowing Sonic to relax his new body along with allowing the group to finally reach him.
"Sonic, are you okay!?" Twilight asked with much distress in her voice.
"Uh, I feel like someone stretched my body to the absolute limit while simultaneously electrocuting me." Sonic replied, his voice being much deeper that how it normally would be, which shocked everyone.
"What did you do to him?!" Princess Celestia demanded as she and the rest of the group turned their attention towards Nightmare Moon.
"What else, I took some of his energy for myself!" Nightmare Moon replied with a smirk, shocking the group.
"Why would someone as powerful as you want to take someone else's energy?" Shining Armor asked, despite knowing about the energy Sonic has access to.
"Don't try to act dumb, I know for a fact that you know about those gems of his." Nightmare Moon barked, "But to answer your question, it was something I came up with about a month after ma and Luna were separated. By that time, I began to change from a single speck of magic into the form you see before yourselves. Despite that fact, the only thing on my mind was getting my revenge on all who wronged me, especially on that hedgehog! But I knew that I wouldn't be in condition to put my revenge for quite some time. I also knew that even if I regained all my strength, I would be no match for the hedgehog. However, after I thinking about how was bested for a time, I realized something. While the hedgehog was a nuisance as is, he becomes a true threat thanks to those gems he summons momentarily. After figuring that out, I came up with the brilliant plan to take the power of those gems for myself once the time was right! And after that, well, I'm certain you all can figure it out on your own."
"What about Sonic's transformation?" Spike asked.
"To be honest, I'm just as surprised you all are about it." Nightmare Moon admitted, "But I will say that it's good look for him, festive."
Deciding to go back to the main topic, Twilight asked, "So what do you plan to do now? Attempt to make another eternal night?"
"In due time, yes." Nightmare Moon replied, "However, that plan will have to wait until I destroy all of you and have all of Equestria!"
"There's no way, we're letting you do that Nightmare Moon!" Sonic exclaimed as he slowly got to his feet.
"As much as I'd like to how you plan to stop me, I've got places to be." Nightmare Moon said as she began making her way towards the hole she created, "So long, "friends!""
With that said, Nightmare Moon spreaded her wings and took off. Before the group could say or do anything, they heard a yelp before seeing Sonic fly out the hole while being surrounded by a cyan aura.
"Sonic!" the group exclaimed as he was being taken by Nightmare Moon.
"Let me go!" Sonic demanded as Nightmare Moon levitated him close to herself.
"Don't be foolish!" Nightmare Moon exclaimed, "I know for a fact those gems have much more power in them! Until I decide to put my plans into motion, I'll drain as much energy form you as I can!"
Growling at her response, Sonic began to fight against Nightmare Moon's magic before delivering a powerful punch to her face, sending her flying over the horizon as she could do nothing but scream from the sudden attack.
"Serves you right!" Sonic smgly said with a smirk.
Just then, Sonic remembered that he was still in the air and noticed that aura around him was now gone. Knowing that he wouldn't stay in the air for long, a frown formed on his face.
"Awww crud." Sonic mumbled before gravity took over, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"
After free-falling for a while (helplessly flailing the entire time), Sonic crashed face first to the ground. After remaining motionlessly for a moment, he put his hands against the earth and began to push against it before freeing his face, staggering for a bit.
"I probably should of seen that coming." Sonic said to himself before shaking off some dirt that stuck to his fur.
"Sonic!" the group called out as they can up to him.
"Sonic are you alright?!" Princess Celestia asked in a concerned tone.
"Yes mom, I'm fine." Sonic answered.
"Are you sure?" Princess Celestia asked in a uncertain tone, "That was quite the fall you had."
"Mom, if I wasn't fine, I probably would be having trouble standing up right now." Sonic said with a deadpan expression on his face.
"Oh, right." Princess Celestia with an embarrassed blush.
"Wow Sonic you're a lot taller now!" Pinkie exclaimed.
Taking a better look, everyone saw that Pinkie was right as Sonic was now about the same height as Princess Celestia.
"Huh, so I am." Sonic said when he noticed this, bit he then said, "But right now we should remain focused on Nightmare Moon's return."
"Yeah, I'm certain only bad things will happen with her on the loose." Shining Armor said.
"But what about your honeymoon?" Twilight asked.
"That's going to have to wait until later Twilight." Cadence replied, "Right now, we need to do everything we can to stop Nightmare Moon."
"Let's worry about gathering our forces." Princess Celestia said, "With her increase in power, it'll sure take more than just us to defeat her."
With that said, Princess Luna began to lower the moon while Princess Celestia raised the sun.
As soon as the sun came other the horizon, purple mist appeares around Sonic before he suddenly returned to his normal self.
"Wow! How did you do that Sonic?" Pinkie asked.
"No clue." Sonic responded, "But let's focus on putting mom's plan into action."
Nodding at that, everyone began to make their way back to the castle, now wary about Nightmare Moon's return.