"Oh yeah, this is definitely an ice zone," Sonic shivered.
Snow was everywhere, as one would expect, along with penguins being chased by mecha polar bears, ice cubes sliding back and forth across lakes frozen over, boost pads and springs and finally, hundreds of shadow creatures that were all marching through the snow towards the top of a mountain.
"Who wants to bet that the emerald we're looking for is at the top of that mountain?" Sally asked.
"We need to get there quick. They've already got a head start on us," Sonic said. He floored it, but quickly found that he had no traction on the ice. Rainbow smirked at him as she fired up her wings.
"Have fun running nowhere. Don't worry, I'll fly over there and retrieve that emerald before Sonic's moved an inch," Rainbow Dash said. She flew up into the air and was immediately frozen solid by a massive gust of icy wind. Twilight's horn flashed and Rainbow was thawed out a moment later, shivering with cold. "Alright, flying is out, so how about this? Twilight and Sally go to get the emerald while Sonic and I stay down here, make a fire and toast marshmallows?"
Twilight threw up a barrier of magic around each of the ponies, before lifting them with her magic. She placed Sally on her back, while having Sonic and Rainbow stay behind her. "My magic can cut through this storm, but Sonic's right in saying that we're going to have to move fast. So you two are going to push while Sally steers," Twilight instructed.
"Now we're talking," Sonic said.
"What will you be doing, Twilight?" Sally asked.
"Trying not to freak out," Twilight replied. They pushed her forward a bit before Twilight realized that they were atop a very large hill that sloped downward. "You know, now that I'm think it over..."
"No time for regrets! As a friend of mine once said, LET'S A GO!" Sonic whooped. He and Rainbow pushed Twilight forward, who screamed at the top of her lungs as the four of them shot down the icy hill. Sonic and Rainbow pushed ahead with wicked smiles on their faces, while Sally did her best to inform Twilight of what was coming and keep the poor mare calm.
"Alright, jump! Jump! Turn! Slid left! Oh, here comes a loop...don't worry, just let the two push and Twilight? Twilight, quit screaming. Oh magic blast! Okay, I think we're good for now."
"Man, is this what you're entire world is like?" Rainbow asked Sonic. "This is amazing! Once we get everything fixed, I might have to come visit."
"Oh, if you think this is cool, you should see what Eggman cooks up for me," Sonic replied. "Death traps, spike falls, bottomless pits and plenty of things shooting at me. It's like a carnival."
"Wow, you've got such a cool villain. All Sombra does is mess with our heads, attack our families and then blow up," Rainbow sighed.
"Are you two really talking about which of our foes, who have tried to kill us and everyone we love numerous times, is BETTER?!" Sally yelled back at them. "Can the two of you stop competing for one freakin moment and-"
"Cliff!"
All sets of eyes snapped forward just in time for the four to go plummeting over the edge, down towards where the hundreds of shadow monsters were walking. The four screamed in unison before Twilight opened her wings and flapped as hard as she could, dragging the four upwards through the wind. Rainbow brought out her own wings and rapid fired, driving the group forward through the wind with a rainbow trail following them. Just when the wind was about to have them beat, the four reached the mountain top and crashed into a snow bank.
"Welp, that's the last time I fly air Equestria," Sonic said. He hopped out of the snow and started dusting himself off. "Noisy passengers, constant crashes and not once did I get my peanuts. And yet not the worst flight that I've ever been on."
"Everyone okay?" Sally asked.
"I think I'm fine," Twilight said as she pulled herself out of the snow. She flapped her wings a few time, sighing in relief when she found nothing broken. "How about you Rainbow?"
"Don't worry, landed on my head," Rainbow said. She shook the snow out of her mane and looked around. "Found it."
Sitting in the middle of a frozen lake upon a pillar of ice was an emerald of a deep green. "Oh wow, an emerald that actually looks like an emerald," Twilight muttered. She tried to grab it with her magic yet found the gem repelled her spell. "Huh, never had that happen before. Well no matter, let's go over and..."
"Sorry Twi, looks like we've got a problem," Sonic cut her off. Twilight looked up and found a vortex open overhead, dumping a number of foes in front of them. Well, foes was the wrong word.
One combatant was another hedgehog, but he was silver in color and floated off of the ground instead of landing. A purple cat joined him, with fire coming off of her hands. The other two were all too familiar to Twilight. One was a massive, red and metal stallion with a metal apple on his flank. The other...
"Spike," Twilight whispered. The baby dragon was metal like Big Mac, but was also inside of a power suit that made him tower over everyone there. The suit was made to look like a larger dragon, except without a head and twin cannons there instead.
"Essentially Twilight's little brother," Rainbow explained for the other two, just in case they had forgotton. "The other is Big Mac. One of the strongest ponies in Equestria. Applejack's brother."
"Well that makes this complicated," Sonic replied. "Silver and Blaze are the two from our world. Silver has telekinesis and Blaze is, well, firepower. Careful, they're both pretty strong."
"Well get Spike and Big Mac back, I promise," Rainbow promised Twilight.
"Thanks Rainbow," Twilight said. "Sally, Sonic, I want you to handle-"
Before any of them could finish, they were all lifted into the air by Silver. The hedgehog crushed his grip and the group screamed in pain as they were started to be crushed. Twilight then flashed her horn and broke free from Silver's TK powers, freeing her friends as well.
"New plan. Sonic, Sally, deal with Big Mac and Blaze. This one's mine," Twilight snarled. She then slammed a hoof into the ground, using her magic to change all of the ice into pavement. She then fired a burst of magic into the air, creating a mini sun that heated up the area rapidly. "There. Now Sonic can run and Rainbow can fly. Let's make this quick. I have to save my brother."
"Wow. I see why she's the hero of your world," Sonic said to Rainbow.
"Eh, I have to give the spotlight to my friends every now and then," Rainbow replied. "Now let's knock some heads!"
The group split apart, each member going after their target. Silver ascended into the air and held out his hands to stop the fighters, but his silver energy collided with a violet one. "Sorry Silver, but I will be your opponent," Twilight snarled at Silver. The hedgehog said nothing in reply, but turned to face her.
His first move was to lift two giant chunks of stone and ice out of the ground and hurl them at Twilight, who teleported out of the way. She fired back with beams of magic, which forced Silver to construct a TK barrier to protect himself. But as the spells hit, they transformed into vines that wrapped themselves around the hedgehog and pinned his arms to his side.
"And just like that, you're done," Twilight muttered. She unleashed a huge blast of magic at Silver, but a burst of fire struck Silver first, burning away the vines and allowing him to use his powers to push Twilight's attack away. Twilight glanced to her side to see that Blaze had been the source of the fire. "Who's fighting Blaze, because they're sure not making my job any easier!"
"Sorry!" Sally replied. She summoned a sword and shield and raced towards Blaze, swinging at the cat with the flat of her blade. Blaze unleashed flames at Sally, who lifted her shield to defend herself. The flames burned hot, but Sally had modified her shield to take far worse. She pierced through the flames and took a swing at Blaze...only to be knocked out of the air by a TK blast.
"What the?" she asked before looking up. Silver had used his powers to defend Blaze, leaving him open for Twilight to blast. "Aw isn't that cute, they're protecting each other."
"Guess while Sombra can control their minds, there's still a bit of them in there deep down," Sonic said as he continued to run circles around poor Big Mac. "How ya doing, Rainbow?"
"Be better if Spike wasn't so good at controlling a giant robot!" Rainbow called back. She dipped, dodged, dived and ducked around Spikes attacks, all of which were made as if a master was performing them. "Twilight, why the heck is Spike so good at this?!"
"Have you seen what he reads and watches in movies? He's been training to pilot one of those things all his life!" Twilight replied. The momentary distraction gave Silver hope and he unleashed all of his TK power towards Twilight. He tore up trees, boulders, half of the freaking mountain and hurled it all at Twilight. Yet to what little horror he could still feel, he watched as all of it came to a stop around Twilight, before it was all blasted apart into purple light. Then Twilight cast a glance towards Silver.
"Still at it? Allow me to make this clear for you. You have impressive Telekinesis, I'll give you that. But you move boulders and trees. I move stars," Twilight snarled. "And right now, I am going through every spell in my book to try to free you, that cat girl, Applejack's brother and the most important dragon in my life. So give it up already."
Silver's response was to lift even more of the mountain and hurl it at her, to the same effect. Except this time, Twilight got angry. Her mane then erupted into fire and her body turned white as her full alicorn fury was unleashed.
"Haven't you figured it out yet?!" Twilight roared. "IT'S NO USE!"
Twilight unleashed all of her magic upon Silver, blasting through his TK shield and consuming him in her magic. All of the power she was unleashing wasn't to destroy him, but what was in his mind. Her magic obliterated Sombra's control over him and banished all traces of darkness within him. The hedgehog then fell to the ground, caught just in time by Sonic.
"Hey easy there Twi, this guy's still my friend," Sonic called up to her. Twilight didn't reply. She teleported down in front of Spike, interrupting his battle with Rainbow Dash.
"Spike, I know you're in there. I know you can hear me. Come back to me, please," Twilight said.
Spike's response was to shot a blast of energy at Twilight, who blocked the attack with ease. Spike and Big Mac started to back off, while Blaze started to advance on Sonic who was still carrying Silver. Then Spike grabbed the cat's arm and dragged her back, a vortex opening behind them as they did so.
"No! I'm not losing you again!" Twilight called as she tried to grab Spike with her magic. But her attempt was foiled as dark tendrils erupted from the vortex, blocking her spells and allowing Spike and Big Mac to retreat before the tendrils dragged Blaze in as well.
"Not today Twilight. I will allow you to keep the emerald, but Spike is too good a prize to let you have yet," the mocking voice of Sombra said. "Because I know that losing the emerald is nothing compared to failing your little brother once more. Don't worry though. I promise we'll take good care of him."
Twilight roared as she tried to follow through the vortex, only for it to close on top of her. She used her magic to try to follow it, but to no avail. With nothing else she could do, her body burned for a long moment...before she sighed and returned to normal.
"I failed," she whispered.
"Yes and no," Sonic replied. Twilight shot him a look only for him to slightly lift Silver and then glance over at Sally, who was holding the emerald emerald. "You couldn't get Spike, Big Mac or Blaze back. But you saved Silver and got us another emerald. Today was a small step to saving all of our friends and saving the world. It wasn't a total victory. Fights with Eggman never are. But we made progress."
"I suppose you're right," Twilight replied. She then looked down at Silver, who still had yet to move. " Let's get him back to the castle. He'll need medical attention."
Sonic nodded as Twilight's horn glowed, creating a portal of her own back home. Rainbow and Sonic entered into it, but Twilight caught Sally giving her a look. "What?"
"Nothing, it's just...you're scary when you're angry," Sally admitted with a sheepish grin. "I'd hate to get on your bad side." Twilight stared at her for a moment before smiling.
"Don't worry. My bad side is reserved specifically for Sombra."