It was early the next morning at the arcade. Police swarmed around the building, keeping any curious spectators out of the building, except for the two glaziers who just replaced a broken front window from the night before. The rest of the local authorities were inside the building, questioning all the patrons who were in the arcade from the previous night, including three certain members of the Washouts. Lightning Dust, Rolling Thunder, and Short Fuse, who was now wearing a neck brace, were sitting in the middle of the sports bar with tired and annoyed expressions.
Ever since the incident last night, they were held up by local authorities, asking for their side of the story while questioning them multiple times. Of course, they were irritated that they were held up for so long and answering the same repeated questions, but they have no choice but to go along with them. Before they were questioned, Lightning Dust also instructed her crew to keep their confrontation with that group to themselves. The last thing they needed was to get involved in this mess more than they were already.
Rolling Thunder let out an annoyed huff. "Man, this stinks! I wish they would just hurry up and let us go already! I've got other things I'd rather be doing!"
Lightning Dust rolled her eyes. "Well believe me Rolling Thunder, I do not want to be here as much as you are, but we don’t have much of a choice! Let's just keep playing along with these cops a bit longer and then we'll be out in no time." Lightning then leaned over to Rolling Thunder and whispered, "And remember to keep ourselves on the down-low."
Short Fuse let out a loud growl, despite the pain he was feeling from his neck. "Well, I certainly don't want to be here any longer! I'm still ticked off at that mutt for stealing my tickets and took that plushie before me!” He then clenched both of his fists in anger. “It was the only thing they have in this place and I spent weeks getting it… only for that fleabag to take it away from me! She's mine, I tell ya! Mine!"
Finally had enough with Short Fuse’s woes, Lightning Dust glared at him. "Short Fuse, I swear to Faust, if you mentioned that stupid plushie one more time, I'll take whatever plushies they have in this place, and shove them right up your–"
"Miss Lightning Dust?"
Lightning Dust ceased her ranting rage from someone calling her name. She was irritated at first, thinking it was a cop asking her those same questions again. But as soon as she and her two members looked up, they were taken aback when they saw two strange guys in black outfits standing in front of them. One had a beard and short hair with a stoic expression, while the other had a very long mustache, with a goofy, yet serious expression.
Despite his odd appearance, there was something about that mustached man that made Lightning feel uneasy. She couldn't help but feel a bit creeped out from the way he was eyeing her like he was trying to analyze her. There were also a few dozen people in their black suits behind them, which led Lightning to believe that these guys shouldn't be taken so lightly. Lightning glanced at her two members, only to see them shivering with nervous expressions. Annoyed at her gang’s pathetic display, Lightning Dust decided to be the one to take the reins.
Even if she was also nervous about these mysterious strangers.
"Who… who the heck are you?" Lightning asked, while still trying to keep her guard up.
"Dr. Robotnik," the mustached man stated before introducing his partner. "And this confused gentleman beside me is Agent Stone."
Agent Stone glanced at his boss with a confused expression, but Robotnik ignored him.
Lightning frowned. "Are you some kind of cop?"
"Let's just say that we're… investigators," Robotnik said vaguely with a smirk. "We'll just cut to the chase… Agent Stone?"
With his boss' unspoken order, Stone takes over for him. "We heard what had happened here last night and we would like to ask you a few questions."
Realizing where this conversation was heading, Lightning rolled her eyes while trying to hold back an annoyed sigh. "Well, if you must know, we already told the cops everything that happened." She then gestured to the whole arcade around them. "This whole place became disarray… all because of that geek squad who didn't belong in our turf!"
"About that," Stone stated as he took out a large photo before presenting it to Lightning. "Were the 'geek squad' you mentioned… happened to be any of these girls?"
Lightning took a good look at the photograph and her eyes widened in recognition and anger. The photograph itself contained what it appeared to be in front of a stoop from a school. But what got her attention was those familiar seven girls and their dog, especially that certain rainbowed-haired girl at the center.
"Yeah, it's that Rainbow Crash… and the rest of her little geek squad!" Lightning growled, clenching her teeth.
"So you've seen her and these girls?" Stone pressed.
Lightning nodded. "Yeah. I saw them last night, and I even spoke to them! They even brought their little siblings with them, including that little brat who told me off last night."
Stone cocked an eyebrow. "This 'brat' you mentioned… was there anything particular about that kid?"
Lightning Dust furrowed her brows, deep in thought. "Well… now that you mentioned it, that kid moves pretty fast and has this long blue spiky hair like he was cosplaying as some anime character."
Stone stored his photo in his jacket. "Do you know where they’re heading?"
Lightning narrowed her eyes at the agent. As much as she would like to send these guys to where Rainbow Dash was heading as payback, something tells her that this was too big to get involved. The last thing she and her gang needed was to get themselves roped up to whatever mess the geek squad caused. Plus, she was already losing her patience on answering redundant questions and hated to get bossed around, even if they had high authority.
"Maybe I do… maybe I don't!" Lightning grunted. "Like I'd ever answer to you!"
Before Stone could retort, he felt Robotnik’s hand gripping his shoulder and pulled aside.
"Stand down agent Stone,” Robotnik said in his casual tone before his expression became serious. “This prepubescent girl obviously doesn't understand the urgency of the matter."
Lightning Dust's nostrils flared up. "What did you say!?"
Paying Lightning no mind, Robotnik continued while speaking in a much more condescending tone. "I mean, this child would rather pretend to be a hotshot leader of this worthless gang than to deal with the reality and admit to herself what a loser she truly is."
Despite her two cronies' attempts to calm her down, Lightning stood up from her seat, knocking her chair back in the process.
"You wanna fight, old man?" Lightning shouted angrily. "I'm gonna kick your butt right out of this place!"
Unnerved by Lightning’s outburst, Robotnik stepped a bit closer towards the teen. "If you don't back down and tell me the girls' whereabouts… it will be me who will kick your butt out of this place!"
Lightning Dust went right up to Robotnik’s face and sneered. "Oh really?"
Robotnik simply smirked.
Before anyone could blink, Lightning took a quick swing to punch Robotnik in the face, but the doctor easily dodged her and grabbed her right arm. Before Lightning could recover, Robotnik quickly jabbed a few pressure points on Lightning’s back with his left hand, making Lightning's whole upper body paralyzed. Next, Robotnik grabbed the back of Lightning’s jacket and spun her around a few times until he tossed her across the room and crashed through the same window again, and landed outside on the sidewalk with a groan.
Everyone, except for Stone, stared at the display in shock and awe, stunned that some lanky man took down an athletic person quite easily. Many were too nervous to utter a single word to them, but the two members of the Washouts were now terrified after seeing their boss was taken out by some crazy person. Short Fuse whimpered as he gently grasped around his neck. The two Washouts nearly shrieked in fright as Robotnik slowly turned towards them with a crazed smile.
"Now then,” he spoke menacingly. "Unless you want the same fate as your leader… tell me where those girls headed."
The two Washouts members gulped.
Shortly after they got their information, Robotnik and Stone walked out of the arcade, heading towards their track.
"Now that's what I call a ‘good cop, bad cop’!" said Robotnik, as he hovered his palm out towards Stone for a high-five.
With a smile, Stone attempted to give a high-five to his boss, only for Robotnik to punch Stone right in the gut.
"Left yourself open," Robotnik stated, leaving a hunched-over Stone behind and entering the truck.
With a loud gasp for air, Stone stood back up and followed after his boss into their truck. As Stone entered his boss’ portable lab, Robotnik was already at his supercomputer, tapping a few buttons.
“Judging by the quickest route to Manehatten,” he stated, keeping his eyes on the screen with a map of the country, which was in blue in front of him. “The approximate speed of their vehicle, local weather conditions... they should be... right about... here.”
With a final push of a button, Robotnik’s visual blue screen zoomed closer to one of the states and then displayed a map of a road with the girl’s moving bus, which was in red.
“That's brilliant, sir!” said Stone, impressed with his boss’ performance.
Dr. Robotnik glanced at his lackey. “Thanks!” He said before turning away and whispered, “For nothing!”
Not catching his boss' remark, Agent Stone cleared his throat. "Also Doctor, we received word that Agent Shadow was spotted heading towards the same direction as to where those girls are heading."
"Really?" Robotnik hummed, while still watching his computer screen. "Well no matter, we'll deal with her later. Besides, by the time she reaches them, it'll be too late!"
Robotnik then stroked his mustache while in deep thought. Though even after we reach them, there’s still an issue with catching these kids because of their powers, especially that Shimmer girl. He then grinned evilly. And I know just who will be fit for the job!
Tempest Shadow has been driving on Grubber’s bike for several hours on Radical Highway. She was somewhat surprised that her partner's motorbike was decently fast. But thanks to his bike and her tracking device that she secretly placed on one of the girls, Tempest was getting closer to them. At long as she continues to ride at least ten miles above the speed limit, she'll catch up to them within a half-hour.
Tempest then thought back to her memory with her brief run-in with Grubber. Deep down, she admitted that she was being a bit harsh on him throughout the mission, including that night when he was trying to invite her out to cake. Heck, she was never nice to him the moment she first met him. Truth was, even before she became a G.U.N. agent, she was never a people person and not too great at being social in general. But with how life was going to her and always buried in work, she rarely had time to socialize anyway. Maybe she'll make up with Grubber someday, but right now, her main focus is to find those girls before Robotnik as soon as possible.
As Tempest was watching the road ahead of her, she suddenly noticed a huge shadow creeping up over her. At first, she thought it was simply a rain cloud, but then she quickly realized that the shadow was hovering only her specifically and was following her. Her suspicion was raised further when she saw a bright light reflecting from the side mirror of her bike. As soon as she glanced at the mirror, her eyes widened.
From the reflection of her mirror, a large, round-shaped robot was hovering in the air with its rocket boosters from its feet and back. While most of its body was obscured by a shadow, Tempest can easily make out two glowing red eyes just peering right at her. The most alarming thing about this mysterious robot was its large plasma pistol in its right hand.
And it was pointing it directly at her.
Tempest immediately steered her bike to switch to a different lane, dodging the laser from the robot's pistol at the nick of time. However, the robot was in pursuit behind Tempest as it continued to shoot its laser rapidly towards her. Tempest kept on dodging and ducking away from the lasers while trying to shake off from this rampaging robot. As soon as she dodged another laser, Tempest floored on the gas pedal and zoomed straight ahead away from her pursuer.
The robot watched as its target was gaining away and was heading towards the turning point. Its eyes then zoomed closer to the turning point and it noticed that there was a cliff by the turning point which was blocked by the barriers. It then turned its sight at an old tree on the opposite side of the road which was leaning towards the turning point. Seeing the opportunity to take out its target, the robot aimed its pistol at the tree and fired its weapon.
The laser flew out of the robot's pistol and hit the tree, breaking it into two. The large portion of the tree then slowly tipping over towards the road, including Tempest who was unaware of the danger. As Tempest was about to make her turn, it was then she noticed another shadow was hovering over her, causing her to look up.
Nearly caught off guard by a falling tree, Tempest quickly dodged away from the tree. As she did so, however, she realized too late that she was approaching the turning point fast and couldn't slow down in time. As a result, Tempest crashed against the road barrier, and then she and her bike flew over the cliff. A few seconds later, there was a loud crash, followed by a brief explosion from a crashed bike.
The robot hovered right over the cliff and surveyed the area, checking to see if its target survived. There was nothing but a rocky bedrock near the shorelines at the bottom of the cliff. At the very center of the bedrock were the remains of the motorbike, which was covered in flames and thick black smoke. It was hard for the robot to make out through the smoke to see if there was a body among the wreckage of the bike. And even if its target wasn't wiped out from the explosion, no one could survive after landing on some sharp, jagged rocks, let alone from a great fall.
Suddenly, the robot heard a voice coming from its inner intercom, which turned out to be the voice of its boss.
"Excellent work my most trusted minion!" Dr. Robotnik praised with sick glee. "It would seem that Miss Shadow just 'fell' into an early retirement."
He then chuckled darkly as if it was a funny joke. "Now… go on ahead to a designated area and stand by. In case my plan to catch them fails–not that it would ever happen… you know what to do."
With a nod, the robot faced the direction of its next target and flew ahead, leaving the wreckage behind. But if the robot had paid close enough attention and stuck around longer, it would have noticed Tempest, who was hanging and hidden by the side of the cliff.
Tempest sighed in relief as soon as the robot left the area. If it weren’t for her quick reflexes and her robotic arm, she would have been done for. Her eyes then narrowed; someone sent that robot to take her out by any means. Now it was heading towards the same direction where the kids were heading. There was only one man who was coward enough to have his machine do all the dirty work. Now more than ever, she needed to get herself out of the cliff and get to those kids before it was too late.
As she was in the process of climbing out, she pokes her head out just as this huge black tank sped past her and broke through the thick tree that was blocking the road. Tempest’s eyes widened in shock. She recognized that tank, which confirmed her suspicions. She can't waste any more time.
Tempest immediately spotted a blue sports car heading in her direction. Not wanting to waste any more time, Tempest stood in the middle of the road, spreading her arms out. Thankfully, the car came to an immediate stop, and then a man with light pink hair wearing a blue suit, red tie, and glasses stepped out.
"Hey! What's the big idea!” He yelled angrily. “You’re making me late for my–"
"Scuse me, Sir!” Tempest interrupted as she showed him her G.U.N. badge. “I’m gonna have to borrow your car!"
Before the man could say a word, Tempest immediately jumped into his car and then drove off, leaving the man behind.
“Hey! What about me!? ...I’m gonna be late for my spa treatment!”
The gang had been on the road in their tour bus since early this morning. They all ended up leaving their motel as soon as they woke up in hopes that any potential pursuers won’t catch up on them. Even after having their few hours of sleep, they all still felt uneasily with the situation due to the events from last night. It also didn’t help that Sunset reported to her friends what she saw on the news before going to bed.
No one was happy… to say the least.
“I’m ru-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiined!” Rarity sobbed ever since they got onto their bus. “With me being marked as a criminal, no one in the fashion industry would ever hire me! Of all the worst things that could happen, this is the. Worst. Possible. Thing!”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes with a huff. “Your fashion career was the least of our worries, Rares!”
“I’m with Dash, Sugarcube!” Applejack agreed. “Now that we’re on the most wanted list, everyone is after us!”
Fluttershy had a worried frown. “Even if we make it to Manehatten, how are we going to get to Dean Cadance without being detected?”
“Not to worry, Flutter Butter!” Pinkie chirped. “We’ll just come up with a disguise and we’ll blend in without anyone notices. And luckily for me, I brought my mustache!”
Case in point, Pinkie took out a fake mustache from… somewhere, and placed it over her lips, causing everyone to look at her strangely.
“...Ah’m not even gonna ask,” Applejack commented.
Twilight cleared her throat. “I can’t believe I’m saying this… but Pinkie’s right. Before we even get there, we need to disguise ourselves and stay as low as possible before seeing Cadance. Rarity, you think you’re up to the task?”
Rarity’s eyes brightened, her sadness completely forgotten. “I thought you would never ask darling! I have so many different outfits I came up with for us!”
Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Sonic, and Sweetie Belle all groaned in dismay.
“There she goes again,” Sweetie muttered.
“Yeah, now she’ll make us wear whatever versions of outfits she'll come up with!" Rainbow complained.
“Well, at least she’s not sad anymore,” said Applejack.
“I'm just surprised how quickly she bounced back,” Sonic muttered before he shook his head and smiled. "So… what kind of bucket list do you girls have?"
Sunset blinked. "Us?"
Sonic nodded. "Yeah. Everyone has a bucket list! Pinkie Pie even said she has one."
"He's right!" Pinkie said in a sing-song tone.
Sunset rolled her eyes from Pinkie’s antics but smiled. "Well, even so, you're the one who's leaving earth, and neither of us planned on kicking the bucket anytime soon."
Sonic chuckled. "Don't be so sure. Your best friend is a magnet to danger!”
Sunset nearly cringed at that, which her friends noticed. Feeling like she was put on the spot, Sunset tried to play it cool.
“Oh, we’re… besties?” Sunset inquired.
Sonic hummed at that.
Sunset cleared her throat. “Well, that’s… a bit presumptuous.”
Sonic seemed to take aback from it, offended by Sunset’s words. Sunset noticed his expression and quickly tried to correct her wording.
“I-I mean, uh… I-I like you, of course, but… y’know, we’re not… best friends.”
Sonic furrowed his brows. “But what about our letters? Isn’t that what best friends do?”
Sunset suddenly felt nervous again for being put on the spot again. Thankfully, Twilight chimed in.
“Well, anyone can write a letter to each other regardless of what kind of friend you are,” Twilight answered for her friend.
"...she tucked me in last night," Sonic pointed out.
Sunset coughed as her cheeks were as red as a tomato. Some of her friends raised eyebrows at Sunset’s behavior, while others like Rainbow and Pinkie snickered in amusement.
Twilight also cleared her throat. “Well… in Sunset’s defense, she doesn’t know who exactly you are until we meet in person. So in a sense, we’re still… acquainting with each other.”
Sunset silently thanked her friend for stepping in as Sonic hummed in understanding.
“Hmm… I guess you have a point.” Sonic then smiled. "Okay, how about, best animal friend?"
"Sorry bub, that title belongs to me!" Spike said, puffing up his chest with pride. "I've been friends with these girls since the beginning, thank you very much."
"Okay, let's just drop this increasingly humiliating topic of conversation,” said Sonic before smirking. “Bucket lists, give them to me!"
Twilight smiled. "Very well, the only thing on my bucket list is to study everything I can and become a full-fledged scientist. Specifically, the unexplained and mysterious phenomenon in this world!"
Everyone on the bus stared at her with blank expressions.
"...basically, like the wild magic from Equestria," Twilight simplified.
There were collective "Ahs" from everyone around the bus with looks of understanding.
"Well, it makes sense that you wanted to be a scientist, Brainiac,” Sonic said with a smile. ”You're the smartest person I know."
Twilight blushed. "W-well I doubt that,” she said modestly before clearing her throat. “Of course, I need to get accepted into a university of my choice first."
"With your record, there’s no doubt that you’ll be accepted, Darling," Rarity grinned. "I, for one, am planning to start a career for my own fashion line, but I need to apply to a business college which is far from Canterlot City."
“Well, I got tons of things I wanted to do on my bucket list!” Pinkie giggled. “But the number one thing I wanted to accomplish is opening up my very own bakery!”
“Nice! If you ever open up one, I’ll be the first in line to try out your sweets!” Sonic complimented.
Pinkie winked. “Then that’ll be our Pinkie Promise.”
Sonic then turned to Fluttershy. “What about you, Animal Girl?”
Fluttershy shyly played with her hair. “Well, um… like I said, I wanted to be a fully licensed Veterinarian and to help all animals.” She then smiled. “And I… would love to open up my own Animal Sanctuary for injured or abandoned animals. Feathered, furry, scaly, or slimy, every critter is welcomed. My sanctuary can be the one place in the Canterlot City they call home, till they are ready to take on the world.”
Sonic smiled warmly. “That sounds wonderful. I would love to visit that sometime!”
“We all would love to visit that!” Twilight added, earning many nods from others with heartwarming smiles.
Rainbow Dash quickly wiped a tear from her eyes. "Okay, sappiness aside, I would like to become a soccer star and become the best of the best!"
Sonic smiled at Rainbow Dash with a knowing look. He remembered the conversation they had from last night and knew that Rainbow only revealed part of her dream to everyone. Despite this, he will honor Rainbow’s request to keep that a secret.
"Welp, no surprise there!" Applejack remarked playfully, causing Rainbow Dash to stick her tongue out at her in response. “As fer me, I’m not plannin’ on going to some fancy-schmancy college, Ah’m just going to take over the Apple Family business and run mah apple farm.
“And Ah’ll help too!” Apple Bloom added. “And to help others find their true talents!”
“Me too!” Sweetie chirped. “And to become a singer.”
“I also want to help others and to become a professional scooter!” said Scootaloo.
“Far out!” said Sonic, giving Scootaloo a high five. He then turned to Sunset. "So what about you, Equestrian Girl?"
Sunset blinked. "Me?"
Sonic nodded. "Yeah Equestrian Girl, everyone said their bucket list–”
“Well technically, we all said one thing from our list,” Sunset pointed out.
“Still, we’re curious to hear yours,” Sonic insisted.
Sunset rubbed the back of her neck. “Oh well, um… I… don’t have a list per se...”
Rainbow Dash scoffed. “Oh, c’mon Sunset! You usually have plans for everything, even before we became friends. You must have something you want to do with your life!”
“What Rainbow Dash was trying to say was that it’s okay if you don’t have any huge plans,” Rarity cut in, glaring at the prism-haired girl in question. “Anything you want to do in mind is fine, whatever small it may be.”
Sunset glanced away, feeling a bit hesitant to answer. "Well… maybe just one thing."
"Ha! I knew it!” Rainbow said smugly. “So just tell us already!
“Yeah! Tell us, tell us, tell us!" Pinkie chanted excitedly.
Sunset still felt very hesitant to answer.
Aside from Princess Twilight and her other best friend, she never spoke to any of her friends about her potential plan for her future after graduation and wasn't sure how her friends would react. Quite frankly, she was still thinking about it herself. But with her friends, including Sonic, giving her encouraging smiles, Sunset realized she should no longer keep them in the dark.
Sunset only hopes that they'll take the news well.
With a sigh, Sunset finally began to speak. "Okay so… even after living in this world for some time… I wanted to find some sort of purpose in life, y'know?"
Everyone nodded in understanding. So far so good.
"So, I want a chance to prove myself that I can be useful under real pressure. So, after I graduate I…"
Sunset paused as her nerves were starting to get to her. As her friends were patiently waiting for her to finish, she knew that there was no turning back now. No turning back now. She softly breathed through her nose to calm herself.
"So I'm thinking… about going back to Equestria… and working with Princess Twilight. And, I don't know… see if I have what it takes."
Sunset had finally done it. She finally told her friends her upcoming plans after graduation. While she was still a bit nervous about how they would respond, but weirdly, she also felt good to finally let it out and be open to her friends. However, that feeling was short-lived as Sunset saw most of her friends, especially Sonic's reaction, which was an open-mouth shock.
Sunset blinked in confusion. "W-what? Why is everyone looking at me like that?"
Before anyone could respond, it was Sonic who spoke up, pretty much summed up what everyone was thinking.
"You're leaving Canterlot City?"
Sunset inwardly sighed with dread. Of course. I knew that's how they would react.
"B-but but why?" Sonic pressed, not happy with the news. "Why would you want to leave Canterlot City, let alone this world?"
"Now hold on, Sugarhog," Applejack interjected. "Ah'm sure wat Sunset meant to say was she is going back to her world just to work for the Princess."
"Yeah," Pinkie added with a chirp. "It's not like she is going away forever, right Sunny?"
Pinkie turned to her friend in question, expecting to agree with her assumption. She then frowned however when she noticed Sunset was refusing to meet her eyes with a somber expression.
"S-sunny?" Pinkie asked again, now feeling a bit nervous.
Still refusing to look Pinkie or any of her friends in the eye, Sunset let out a heavy sigh. "Actually… I'm thinking about going back to my homeworld and staying there… permanently."
Most of her friends stared at Sunset in shocked silence. Neither of them expected Sunset to decide to go back to Equestria and live there for good, despite how happy she was in the last few years with them. The fact that Sunset was not meeting any of their eyes, they all felt that something was wrong.
"You… are coming back to visit, right?" Fluttershy asked with a frown.
"...I don't think it's possible," Sunset said quietly.
Everyone was taken aback by Sunset’s statement.
"W-what do you mean?" Fluttershy inquired nervously.
Sunset refused to answer, worrying the gang even further.
"Sunset… was there something you're not telling us?" Rarity pressed.
Sunset simply glanced back with a nervous expression.
Meanwhile from within Robotnik’s mobile lab, Dr. Robotnik casually made his way towards the heart of his lab with a wicked grin. They have finally caught up with those pesky kids and that creature and their capture were almost within his grasp. They have to keep his lab several yards behind to keep themselves hidden as a necessary precaution for the element of surprise. With Agent Shadow already being dealt with, no one will stand in his way.
As soon as he reached the center of the room, Robotnik raised his arms and activated the room into a red hue and several holographic images of his machines and tech in the process. The camera in front of him turned on next, showing live footage of the back of the Rainboom’s bus on the road.
“There you all are!” he whispered.
Rubbing his hands with glee, Robotnik surveyed all of his holograms, planning out which would be the right one for the job.
“Now, which of my machines do I use?” he mused as he hovered each image with his pointer finger. “Eeny, meeny, miny…”
When Robotnik hovered at one particular hologram, he let out an evil smirk as he made his decision.
“Mayhem!”
With his machine selected, Robotnik turned back towards the camera and his keyboard and then pushed some more buttons to execute his plan. He then stood back and watched the camera feeds, eagerly awaiting as his plan unfolds.
As her friends were quietly staring at her and expecting an answer, Sunset felt very conflicted. She did not want to have this conversation with her friends, especially while they’re still on the run. When her eyes set on Twilight, however, Twilight nodded with a gentle expression, encouraging her to speak. Sunset remembered the conversation she had with Twilight back at the camp when she spilled her woes to her. Her friend encouraged her to just tell them how she feels and they’ll understand, but telling the rest of her friends was a lot more difficult than just Twilight. Not to mention, this was linked to Sonic as well.
She probably should've kept her mouth shut about leaving for Equestria.
Sunset sighed heavily. "Since we're all going separate ways once school is over, we won't be around CHS and Canterlot City much anymore. When that happens… there will be no one around to keep Equestrian Magic in check or to step in when things get haywire. So, therefore… to prevent any Equestrian Magic from coming through… I'm thinking of having Princess Twilight to close the portal… for good."
Many were distraught with this news. Not only that their friend is considering leaving their world for good, but also going to permanently seal herself off from them.
"B-but but, you can't!" Pinkie protested. "We won't be able to see each other anymore!"
Sunset turned away again. “Well, we won’t be able to see each other much anyway!”
Everyone stared at her in confusion.
“What do you mean Sunset?” Fluttershy asked.
“Yeah, what makes you think that we won’t see each other anymore?” Rarity pressed.
Sunset huffed before facing her friends again. “Oh c’mon guys, we all know that we are all going to be busy with our lives, so it will be impossible to get together like we used to.”
"That's ridiculous Sunset!” Rainbow exclaimed. “I mean yeah, we will be busy and that’s the way in life. But just because we won’t see each other much, doesn’t mean we won’t be together again at all!”
“Fer once, Rainbow Dash is right!” said Applejack, ignoring Rainbow’s indignant look. “And besides, we’re more than friends, we’re family! No matter how far apart we are, families always find each other."
“...are we?” Sunset whispered.
Applejack blinked and leaned towards her friend for better hearing. “What was that Sunset?”
“I said, are we?” Sunset repeated.
Everyone was surprised by Sunset’s question.
“Whatever do you mean darling?” Rarity asked with a confused expression. “Of course we are family!”
"Yeah, but to an extent, right?” Sunset responded with a scoff. “I mean, it’s not like we're a real family or if I’m ever a part of it!”
“What are you talking about Sunset!” Rainbow Dash demanded, frustrated with Sunset’s stubbornness. “Since when we weren’t part of a family!”
“What about the time that you all–”
Sunset stopped herself from shouting when she realized she almost said too much. She then shook her head.
“No, that doesn’t matter! The point is… my mind is made up.”
Before anyone could argue, it was Sonic who once again cut into the conversation.
“You’re not making any sense!” Sonic shouted. “You come from a great town, great people, and by my count, zero bad guys trying to kill you!”
Pinkie appeared to be in deep thought. “Well… technically, we survived the fall from the trap door and nearly enslaved by three sirens, almost getting crushed by Gloriosa’s vines, nearly destroyed while trapped in the mirror by Juniper– oh, and we're nearly sent to 'squish city' by Vignette’s phone–”
“Not now, Pinkie!” Sonic interrupted, not using her nickname for once as he glared at Sunset. "I don't understand? Why!? Why are you willing to throw all the good things in your life away? Besides… what could be more important than protecting the people you care about?”
Sunset simply stared at Sonic.
Unbeknownst to the Rainbooms, Robotnik’s tank slowly approached their bus from behind. Its bright red eye locked on to the target, specifically the console from the inside of the bus. Once the tank was close enough, it opened up the compartment from the top of the tank, revealing a large, sharp, pointy harpoon. The harpoon slowly pointed towards its target, getting ready to fire.
"Listen Sonic… it's complicated, alright? I don't think you or nearly anyone here understands what I'm feeling right now!"
"How is this complicated!?" Sonic argued. "You're the one who was willing to abandon your friends and don't believe that they're family to you?"
“Now that's not fair, Sonic!" Sunset exclaimed. "I'm not even trying to abandon them. Don't put words in my mouth!"
"Then what do you call it, huh?" Sonic retorted. "Ditched? Cast off? Or simply, running away!"
"Oh, that's rich coming from you!" Sunset snapped.
While the two exchanged heated words between each other, the girls and Spike were sitting in the background watching, feeling uncomfortable during the affair.
"Girls… I have a bad feeling about this," Sweetie Belle whispered to her friends.
Apple Bloom nodded in agreement. "Yeah, me too. Dis is worse than the time we argued who Daring Do end up with before watchin' Daring Do and the Black Knight movie."
"Ugh! Don't remind me," Scootaloo muttered as she shuddered both from her not pleasant memory and the current events in front of her right now.
Twilight, who watched silently up to this point, decided to speak up.
"Please, stop fighting you two! Perhaps if we all calm down we can–"
"What's that supposed to mean!?" Sonic shouted, angered by Sunset’s remark.
"For someone who's preaching at me for running away from my problems, you certainly are good at running away from your problems!"
"I didn't have a choice!" Sonic screamed. "You made many choices in your life which include your mistakes! And now you are choosing to run away from this!"
Sonic’s eyes narrowed. "If you asked me, I think you’re running away because you're scared of something! Was that it? What are you scared of, Sunset?"
"I'm not scared of anything!" Sunset denied angrily.
"You're lying and we both know it!" Sonic shot back.
"You don't know anything!" Sunset shouted. "I'm not abandoning my friends like how you were abandoned by Longclaw!”
Just as Sunset said those words, she immediately covered her mouth, horrified for letting those words out.
There was dead silence throughout the whole bus. The Rainbooms, Spike, and the CMCs who witnessed the events watched with a stunned expression, feeling confused and concerned with the last thing Sunset had said. Rainbow Dash in particular nearly gasped in shock and dread that Sunset unintentionally mentioned Sonic's surrogate owl mom and guardian. As for Sonic himself, he had the most shocked expression on his face with his eyes as wide as dinner plates. No one on the bus spoke for what felt like an eternity until Sonic finally spoke.
“How… how did you know her name?” Sonic uttered almost in a whisper.
Sunset felt sweat dripping down the back of her neck as Sonic gave her his hard look. She inwardly scolded herself for letting her anger get the better of her and end up stuck in an uncomfortable position. Feeling unnerved by Sonic's stare, Sunset looked away from him.
“Uh… I think you mentioned her at one point,” she fibbed, hoping Sonic would take the bait.
Unfortunately, Sonic doesn't buy her fib as he narrowed his eyes into slits.
“I did… but I never once mentioned her name,” he said in an eerie calm voice, which sent chills down everyone's spines. “I’ll ask you again… how did you know her name?”
Sunset nearly gulped as she faced the hedgehog again. There was no way she could fool him or get out of this mess she was in. She even glanced towards Rainbow’s direction who had a knowing look on her face. With him demanding answers and her friends watching, Sunset realized that she has no choice but, to tell the truth… even if it hurts him.
Sunset sighed as she rubbed her arm. “Well… do you remember what happened at the cliff after your race with Rainbow Dash?”
Sonic nodded, his expression remained serious. “Yeah?”
Sunset felt her stomach was filled with dread due to her nerves, but she forced herself to push on.
“When I… grabbed your arm, I… accidentally… saw your memories… of you and her.”
Everyone, except for Rainbow Dash and Sonic, gasped loudly in shock from the revelation. Sonic's pupils from his eyes shrank the moment Sunset dropped this bombshell on him.
“You saw my memories!?” he exploded.
“I-It was an accident!” Sunset stammered nervously. "I-I didn't mean for this to–"
"How much of my memories did you see?" Sonic demanded.
Sunset suddenly felt frightened by Sonic’s anger.
"A-almost all of your memories," she answered. "From the day you were born to living on Earth."
“And you kept all of that from me this whole time and didn’t tell me!”
"I… yes, I did," Sunset confessed, feeling ashamed. "I was planning to tell you."
“And why didn’t you?" Sonic pressed. "When exactly are you going to tell me?"
"I was waiting for the right time!"
"Right time!? For what!? When I leave Earth, or are you never going to tell me at all?"
"I was trying to focus on getting us to Manehatten safely!"
"More important than telling your friend?" Sonic’s eyes narrowed. "Now that I think of it, even after we met, you never once referred to me as your friend."
"We just met!" Sunset countered. "You don't expect us to become friends right off the bat!"
"What about our letters!?" Sonic argued. "We talked to each other all the time, talking about our lives, other people, our daily activities. You even referred to me as your best friend! Was that a lie too!?"
Sunset felt a sharp pain in her chest from his words. "N-no! That wasn't a lie! But what is to say that you haven't lied to me! I don't recall you ever mentioned that you're a blue, furry hedgehog in any of our letters!"
"Would you believe me if I did?" Sonic challenged. "And even if I did, would you hunt me down like a wild animal like all the others?" His eyes suddenly changed from anger to hurt. "Do you not trust me, even after we've been through?"
"I do!" Sunset answered.
Sonic stared back at Sunset, clearly not believing her words.
"Really!" she insisted, her anger subsided a little. "Though admittedly… not at first. I was doubting if our friendship was even real! And I didn't know if you were sincere or were you trying to go after my friends. But after I saw your memories–"
She winced as Sonic glared at her again for mentioning that debacle, but Sunset pushed through.
"I realized I was wrong about you, and I truly wanted to help you, especially after seeing how alone you are for living in this world for so many years. I wanted to get to your rings so you can find another world so that no one will hunt you down again!"
"...was that the only reason?" Sonic asked quietly. "You wanted to help me because we're friends… or was it because you took pity on me and nothing more?”
There was tense silence throughout the bus. Sunset just stood there with her mouth partly hanging open, too stunned to speak. Everyone from within the bus has a mixture of emotions that includes shock, anger, disappointment, sadness, and worst of all, pity.
Sonic simply looked down, shadow blocking out his eyes. “I see… so not only you were going to ditch your friends and look into my memories without my knowledge… but I'm also nothing more than a charity case to you. I thought you were an awesome person and we have something in common… but I guess I was wrong.”
Sunset felt like she was being punched to the feels. She had hurt Sonic all because of her words and keeping that secret from him. What struck her the most was as he said the last few words to her, for a split second she saw a split image of herself days after that fateful night at the Fall Formal.
She then glanced at her friends and winced from their expressions. They too were upset due to her actions and the things she said to them earlier. It was then that she realized that she messed up big time as guilt was filling her heart. She let this happen because of all her doubts and fears. She wanted to fix all of this and owed her friends a proper explanation as she did with Twilight, but that all can wait.
There was someone else she had to apologize and properly explain to first.
Sunset sighed as she faced the blue hedgehog. "Listen, Sonic… I–"
Suddenly, something crashed through the back of the bus, destroyed the back door in the process, and then hit the main console of the bus, causing everyone to scream out in shock and fright.
"What the hay!?" Sunset screeched.
“Girls, look!” Spike shouted.
Everyone turned towards the back of the bus, and their eyes widened in horror when they saw a huge tank behind them. They also noticed that the thing that was shot into their main deck was attached to that thing thanks to that rope.
“W-what is that thing!?” Rarity shouted.
After studying the tank, Twilight’s eyes widened in horror as she already figured out who was behind all of this. “It’s ...Robotnik!”
"Yeah!" Robotnik cheered loudly in victory, pleased to see that he hit his target. "Now, reel those kids in!"
The gang suddenly felt the whole bus begin to shake and felt a bit of resistance. Alarmed, Applejack turned her focus back to the steering wheel, but couldn’t gain control.
“W-wat’s happening?” Applejack exclaimed, trying to gain control of the bus.
Twilight quickly noticed the pulley that was on top of the vehicle was rotating in the opposite direction, tightening the rope as it rotates.
“It’s trying to pull us back!” Twilight exclaimed. “AJ, step on it!”
“I’m tryin’!” Applejack shouted as she slammed her foot on the pedal.
While that was going on, Sonic berated Sunset, still felt hurt and angry for what she did.
"You know what? I was wrong about you!" Sonic scolded. "You're not the Equestrian Girl at all! You're more like… the Jerk Girl!"
"I thought I was the Jerk Girl!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
"No, we're cool now!" Sonic assured Rainbow before he glared back at Sunset. "That name however is now passed over to her!"
"Have you noticed that there's a harpoon stuck to our deck!" Sunset snapped at Sonic in frustration.
"Please stop arguing with you two!" Fluttershy pleaded.
"She's right! We have much more important things to worry about!" Rarity added.
Applejack, for her part, did her best to shake off that monster tank from behind them by swerving back and forth. Unfortunately, due to the harpoon attached to the deck, it was impossible to escape. She can’t just simply remove it because their magic still hasn't recovered since last night. And even if she did, it was too dangerous to touch it and risk getting electrocuted due to the sparks coming from the deck.
As Applejack was swerving, she accidentally slammed into one of the railings on the side of the road. This caused the whole bus to shake, nearly making everyone disorientated. However, this also caused Sonic to almost fly out of the side window of the bus, but he grabbed the side mirror at the last second and swung over to the front of the bus' windshield, startling everyone in the process.
"Sonic!" Sunset exclaimed, worried for the blue hedgehog’s wellbeing.
Sonic seemed unfazed for suddenly being outside of the bus as he continued to berate Sunset.
"I was forced from my home!" He yelled angrily, not noticing that his eyes were glowing blue and sparks coming out of his body. "Your home is perfect and you're leaving it! Why would you do that!?"
Everyone was shocked at the display as more sparks were flying out of Sonic.
"Sonic, your body!" Sunset exclaimed as she pointed at him.
Sonic looked down at himself and then began to panic when he noticed the sparks were coming out of him. "Oh no no no! Not again!"
While they learned that Sonic was the cause of the baseball incident, they never once considered how it all happened until now. They felt more alarmed as more sparks came out of his body.
"Sonic, stop!" Spike cried. "You're gonna blow us all up!"
"I can't!" Sonic shouted as he frantically tried to shake off the sparks. "I don't know how!"
While everyone was freaking out, Applejack quickly glanced back and forth between the hedgehog in front of her and their pursuer behind them. Almost instantly, the apple farmer came up with a plan.
"Alright, hang on y’all!" Applejack announced.
Rainbow Dash turned to her. "Why?"
"Cuz Ah'm gonna do this!"
Applejack then slammed on the gas, going full throttle. Applejack's quick thinking caused the harpoon to finally break away from the dock and pull back towards the tank. Unfortunately, this also caused a huge jerk motion on the bus and tossed Sonic into the air towards the tank. Caught off guard and to prevent himself from harm, Sonic curled into a ball and landed on the road. However, with the combination of his nonstop spinning and an extra boost from his power, Sonic sped across the road in his ball state until he collided against the tank with a loud 'boom'.
During the explosion, the front left wheel was destroyed and caused the whole tank to tip over towards its right side. It eventually landed roughly on the side and slid across the road in several feet until it came to a stop. While the gang was relieved that they stopped their pursuer, they were more worried about the hedgehog’s wellbeing. As Applejack quickly turned the bus around and sped towards the wreckage. As soon as the bus came to a stop, Sunset quickly brought her head out of the window.
"Sonic!" Sunset screamed with a worried expression.
The rest of the group poked their heads out the windows as well, staring out into the once monster tank in flames. At first, they were all worried, assuming that the blue hedgehog had perished from the explosion. Their worries were short-lived when they heard a loud groan which came from a small blue ball near the turned-over tank. The blue ball uncurled itself, revealing Sonic, and he laid on a road. He moaned again as he slowly stood back up while pressing his hand on his head.
"Uhhhhhhh… guess I had a bonus life," Sonic mumbled.
Sonic immediately snapped out of his dizziness when he noticed the wreckage of the tank. With a victorious grin, Sonic zoomed over to the wreckage and then performed a little dance that he once picked up from one of the students back at CHS.
"Oh ho ho yeah, baby! Sonic: one. Big Tank: zero!"
Everyone was relieved that Sonic came out in one piece as he continued to dance. Rainbow Dash however cringed at the sight of his dancing.
"Seriously!? That dance?" She moaned.
Sonic noticed everyone stared at him and he smiled at them. "I'm sorry, did we get that on camera?"
"Sure did!" Pinkie chirped as she took out her scrapbook from her hair. "I already placed a photo of you in our scrapbook!"
Pinkie then opened up her book, revealing many photos of their trip, including a photo of Sonic dancing near the destroyed robot just seconds ago. "I call it: 'Sonic's First Spin Dash'!"
Everyone, except for Sonic, gave Pinkie bewildered looks. After a moment of silence, it was Applejack who spoke up for the gang.
"H-how'd you find the time to do dat?" Applejack asked slowly.
Pinkie puts away her scrapbook back into her hair while giving Applejack her serious expression. "Applejack, when you're out on adventures like this, you make the time!"
Applejack simply stared at her in confusion.
Twilight shook her head before she turned back to Sonic. "How are you not dead?"
"I have no idea?" Sonic responded with a grin. "Do you all see me take that thing down?"
"We did and it was awesome!" Scootaloo whooped.
Apple Bloom nodded. "Yeah, you took dat thang down like it was nothing!"
"The way you smashed that tank like it came out from one of a Michael Neigh movies!" Sweetie Belle added.
"I know, right?" Sonic said excitedly as he continued to sway his body. "And did you all see me dancing?"
"Yes, we all saw you dancing!" Sunset responded a bit hastily. "Now c'mon back!
"Just a second!" said Sonic as he faced the fallen tank with a mocking grin. "Ha! Is that all you got?"
Robotnik smirked. "No, but thank you for asking."
He then swiped his digital blueprint of the original tank away from his screen, switching to a different blueprint of his mini-tank in its place.
Suddenly, the red light from the tank's "eye" faded and the inner wheels shrunk into the bigger wheels as the machine roared into life, making everyone nervous.
“Uh oh!” Sonic exclaimed.
Fearing where this will lead, Sunset shouted towards the hedgehog.
“Sonic! Get back on the bus, quick!”
“You girls, go! I’ll catch up!” Sonic shouted after them, eyeing the tank warily.
Without the need to be told twice, the girls ducked their heads back into the bus as Applejack immediately took off away from the tank. Once he was sure that the girls were at a safe distance, Sonic rushed towards the bus and then jumped back inside through the doorless back entrance.
At the same time, the "tank" finished its transformation and a much smaller tank with wheels suddenly popped out from the bottom of the bigger tank and chased after the bus. This caught the attention of both Sonic and Fluttershy at the back of the bus, which made the two of them nervous from the site.
"I think that tank just had a baby!" Sonic commented.
"Yeah… but not the cute kind!" Fluttershy shrieked in fear.
As the mini-tank was catching up to their bus, it opened up its compartment from the top, revealing some kind of launcher with a disk. Then it tried to lock on towards the back of their bus, preparing to fire its weapon. While this was happening, it was Rarity who noticed its behavior.
“What’s it doing?” she questioned with a cautious expression.
Twilight turned around towards their pursuers. When she noticed the launcher from the top of a mini-tank, Twilight’s eyes widened in realization.
“Applejack, look out!”
Applejack glanced behind her just in time to see the tank launch a large red disc and then slid across the road towards them. Acting fast, Applejack quickly turns her steering wheel and the whole bus dodges the disc at a split second. The disc however kept on going and was heading towards a purple and green van ahead of them.
From within the van, it was occupied by three teenaged girls. One girl had huge puffy orange-haired with a serious expression, the second girl had long, violent pigtails with green streaks and a permanent scowl on her face, and the last girl had a long light blue ponytail with two dark blue streaks and a goofy look. The first girl was in charge of taking the wheel at the front of the van, while the other two girls were chilling at the back of the van on their cots. Unfortunately, the two girls at the back were busy arguing while tugging a single tablet towards each other in an unfriendly game of tug-of-war, driving the puffy orange-haired girl crazy.
"C'mon Sonata, hand it over!" The pig-tailed girl demanded with a glare as she tried to yank the tablet away from the other girl.
"Nuh-uh!" The pony-tailed girl denied stubbornly, pulling the tablet back with a glare of her own. "I haven't even watched an episode of the Taco Chronicles yet!"
"You've been watching that show all day yesterday!" The pig-tail girl argued. "So it's my turn to use it!"
The pony-tailed girl narrowed her eyes. "No, it’s my turn!"
"No, me!
"Me!"
"Me!
"Me!"
Having enough of their bickering, the puffy orange-haired girl let out an angry growl and glanced back at the two girls behind her.
"Both of you shut your pie holes or I'll take that thing and smack you both with it!" she threatened, causing the other two to clammed up in fear.
Unbeknownst to them, the red disc, which was launched by a tank, was now under their van and then attach to the bottom of their vehicle. As soon as the disc is attached to the bottom of their van, it then released a huge electric shock, frying the van’s systems in the process. The van suddenly stopped functioning and then starts to spin around the road out of control. The three teenage girls screamed as the van continued to spin, despite the puffy orange-haired girl’s attempt to keep it in control. Finally, the van stopped spinning as it comes to a complete stop in the middle of the road.
The puffy orange-haired girl felt herself shaking and tried to catch her breath, recovering from her adrenaline, while the two other girls were sprawled on their cots, feeling dizzy after being spun around in their vehicle many times. As they were recovering, the puffy orange-haired girl noticed a familiar bus sped past them, followed by some kind of mini-tank.
"What… the…" she muttered.
The puffy orange-haired girl narrowed her eyes as she watched them drive away. There was something vaguely familiar about that bus to the puffy orange-haired girl, but she couldn’t put a finger on it due to her mind still recovering from the ordeal. She was interrupted from her thoughts as the pony-tailed girl slowly lifted the tablet in the air while still laying on the cot.
"Yay… I won… woo-hoooo," the pony-tailed girl cheered weakly before she fainted.
The pig-tailed girl let out a weak moan. "Ugh… you're the worst, Sonata!"
The puffy orange-haired girl simply laid her head on her steering wheel and sighed.
The gang winced as they watched someone's van getting hit by that disc that was meant for them and then spun out of control. They were slightly relieved that the van stopped at a safe spot and appeared to be unharmed, however they are still in danger as they were chased by that mini-tank.
“Well, that's not good!” Scootaloo uttered.
"Ya think!?" Spike retorted.
“Oh, I hope that driver is okay!” said Fluttershy with a worried expression.
“They’ll be fine!” Rainbow Dash assured quickly. “We just need to worry about ourselves!”
Twilight tried to activate her magic with her geode, but unfortunately, her magic was still drained. “Ugh! If only we recovered our magic after last night!”
The Equestria Girls cast a glare towards Rainbow’s direction, who threw her hands up in annoyance.
"Ugh! How many times do I have to say 'my bad'!?"
Seeing that everyone was in distress, Sonic decided to do something about that mini-tank and protect them as much as he could. He quickly ran over towards the back of the bus.
“Hey, where are you going Sonic?” Sunset asked.
“Just stay here and keep driving the bus!" Sonic instructed while keeping his back towards her. "I’ll handle this, and if I don’t make it… just ditch me. You seem good at that!”
Sunset felt stung from Sonic's cold words, no doubt that he was still upset at her. Before she could utter a word, Sonic jumped out of the bus.
Just as Sonic jumped on the road, the mini-tank launched some more discs towards their bus. Not wasting any time, Sonic ran up towards one of those discs and hopped on one with his left foot and the second with his right foot.
With his speed and momentum, he was able to change the direction of those discs that were underneath his feet towards the mini-tank. As he continued to slide across the road, Sonic picked up some more discs along the way and tossed them to each disc to destroy one another to prevent them from reaching the bus. He eventually reached the mini-tank and he jumped off of the discs he was on, destroying them in the process, and then climbed to the top of the tank where the little red circle was.
Robotnik felt a bit frustrated as none of his shots from his machine hit the bus or that blue thing yet. He was also a bit bewildered as he watched the same blue thing riding on his ammo and heading towards him. He was confused for a moment when that blue thing disappeared, only to be taken back when his face suddenly appeared in front of him with a cocky smirk.
"Hey everyone, and welcome back to my live stream! Today, we’re destroy robots! Step one…"
While making his own sound effect, Sonic slapped the disc over the mini-tank's eye and ran away before the whole vehicle erupted into a field of electricity. The mini-tank was then moving out of control until it drove abruptly off of the road and then flipped over on its back from the ditch and exploded into flames. The CMCs cheered as soon as Sonic returned to the bus.
"Alright! You did it Sonic!" Said Scootaloo.
Their celebration was short-lived when an even smaller robot with one of the tank’s wheels suddenly emerged from the flames and then chased after them again.
"You did not do it," Scootaloo said meekly.
"Who the heck is this guy!? Apple Bloom exclaimed.
Robotnik grinned as he witnessed his robot chase after them in its newly transformed state, which was one of his many backup ideas in case of situations like this.
"Ever wonder where your tax dollars are going?" he mused.
Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes at the persistent robot, who was quickly gaining up up them.
“Okay, now it’s our turn!” Rainbow said determinedly, before turning to Applejack. “AJ, I need your help!”
AJ briefly glanced at Rainbow Dash with a bewildered expression. “Me!? But Ah’m driving!”
“Then let someone else take the wheel!” Rainbow shot back.
“But neither of us don’t have licenses yet!” Rarity cried.
“Not to mention, we left ours behind back at Twilight house,” Sunset added, which Fluttershy nodded in confirmation.
“Ooh ooh, can we drive?” Scootaloo asked eagerly.
“Absolutely not!” Applejack exclaimed with a glare. “Yer way too young!”
Scootaloo crossed her arms with a pout.
“What about me!?” Sonic offered.
Applejack blinked at the blue hedgehog then glanced at her friends.
“Ah don’t know. Is he even legal to drive?” Applejack asked with an unsure expression.
“Was there a law that a hedgehog can’t drive?” Pinkie offered.
“...good point.”
Applejack quickly pressed some buttons before she stood up from her seat, letting the blue hedgehog take over. “Here, just keep us goin’ straight! Ah put on cruise control!”
“Awesome!” Sonic said excitedly as he took the wheel. “I feel like that guy from his car race movies!” Sonic then speaks in a different voice, trying to make an impression of a character from the movie. "It's all about family, Cowgirl!"
Scootaloo huffed. “So it’s okay for a hedgehog who is practically a kid to drive and not actual kids to drive. Makes perfect sense!”
The older teens ignored Scootaloo’s remark as both Rainbow Dash and Applejack made their way to the back of the bus. Rainbow Dash quickly dove into one of their cases and took out Applejack’s bass as a weapon, which the latter quickly objected to.
“Oh, no you don’t!” Applejack protested as she yanked her bass away from Rainbow. “Ya ain’t usin’ mah bass as a weapon!”
“But your bass is perfect against them!” Rainbow Dash insisted.
“How about usin’ yer own guitar!”
“But yours is much harder than my guitar!”
“If I could make a suggestion,” Pinkie interrupted as she took out a few random items from her hair. One was a baseball bat and the other was a hammer. “Use these!”
As much as they wanted to know how Pinkie managed to store those items in her hair so easily, they decided to put that question aside as they each took Pinkie’s items, Rainbow Dash took the bat, while Applejack took her hammer. While that was happening, the robot shoots out spikes from both sides of the tank’s wheel and then tries to go towards one of the bus’ wheels to puncture it.
Apple Bloom immediately noticed what the robot was trying to do. “Hey! It’s tryin’ to puncture our tires!”
“On it!” Pinkie Pie hollered as she pulled down one of the bus’ windows and took out one of many cupcakes from her hair. “I may have no magic, but I still have plenty of cupcakes to dish out!”
Pinkie immediately fired multiple cupcakes towards the robot like a turret, causing the robot to pull back away. This allowed both Rainbow Dash and Applejack to swing their weapons at it, but they kept missing it due to lack of reach.
“Hey, quick suggestion girls,” Sonic spoke up as he continued to drive the bus. “Roll up into a ball and smash it with your body!”
“I don’t think either of us can do that Sugarhog,” Applejack responded.
Suddenly, the bus swerved back and forth abruptly, nearly causing both Rainbow and Applejack to fly out of the bus. Luckily, Rarity and Fluttershy were there to grab on to them just in time before they had fallen out.
“Whoa! Where’d you learn to drive!?” Rainbow Dash shouted.
“Here, in this bus!” Sonic responded as he was currently reading a driver’s manual of the bus. “It’s happening as we speak!”
“Sonic! Don’t read and drive!” Twilight shrieked anxiously as she yanked the book from him.
“Hey, I’m still reading that!” Sonic retorted.
“Forget that,” Sunset cuts in. “All you need to know is keep your hands on the wheel, foot on the pedal and keep your eyes on the road!”
“Okay okay, yeesh!” said Sonic as she focused on the road as instructed.
While that was going on, the robot had a difficult time getting closer to one side of the back wheel of the bus due to many barrages of cupcakes from the pink curly-haired girl. So it decided to change tactics by heading towards the other side of the bus so it could puncture a different tire. Unfortunately for the robot, a random apple suddenly came out of nowhere and hit the robot on its head. It was then followed up by a water bottle, a wretch, a tennis ball, a parakeet plushie, and many other various items which end up hitting the robot every time.
“Keep throwing!” Apple Bloom cried as she and her two friends kept throwing whatever items they could get their hands on so they could throw at their robot pursuer.
“No, not my make-up!” Rarity screeched, aghast as she watched her sister throw out many of her make-ups towards the robot.
“Rarity, our lives are more important than your stupid make-ups,” Sweetie Belle chastised as she was throwing the make-ups at the robot. “Besides, you have like, fifty cases of them!”
“But those are special edition!” Rarity whined.
Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes at her sister’s comment.
The CMCs interference did the trick as the robot pulled back away from the flying projectiles towards the back of the bus. This gave another opportunity for Rainbow Dash and Applejack to swing their weapons at the robot again, but once again they were unable to land a hit.
“It’s no good!” Applejack grunted in frustration. “We can’t hit it at this rate!”
“Hey Sonic, we can’t reach it!” Rainbow called towards the front of the bus “Bring it in closer!”
“What?” Sonic shouted, couldn’t make out what Rainbow was saying.
“Bring it in closer!” Rainbow screamed. “You need to hit the brakes!”
“Oh,” Sonic shouted in understanding. “Like this?”
Sonic then proceeds to press one of the petals underneath his feet. Unfortunately, instead of slowing down, he ends up accelerating the bus, nearly causing everyone to fall off balance. This almost caused Rainbow and Applejack to fly out of the bus, but once again, they were grabbed by not only Rarity and Fluttershy, but also Sunset, Twilight, and Spike too.
“No, the other brakes!” Rainbow berated at the hedgehog.
This caused the hedgehog to quickly slam the other petal, causing everyone to nearly fall balance towards the opposite direction. This sudden action caused the robot to slam against the back of the bus, making it disoriented due to the force. Seeing her chance and not wanting to waste any time, Rainbow quickly swung her arm with her bat back and whacked the robot right up at the red dot of its head as hard as she could. This caused the robot to slow down and stagger away from the bus until it eventually fell on its side and smashed on the road into pieces.
“Haha, yes! In your face, WALL-E!” Rainbow whooped before pulling back into the bus.
“Alright, Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo cheered!
“Nicely done, Dash!” Sonic praised.
Rainbow Dash simply gave him a thumbs up with a grin.
From within his mobile lab, Robotnik was seething in rage as the blueprint of his machine was now covered in a warning yellow light. After witnessing another part of his robot being destroyed yet again, Robotnik threw his hands up with an angry roar.
"Ugh! Give me a big. Fat. Break!"
From the wreckage of the robot, the red light suddenly turned on from its eye. The eye then poked out of the robot's body, revealing a tiny round robot with a tiny rotor. It then flew over towards the bus at high speed until it hovered right next to the side of the bus. Everyone was taken aback by this robot's sudden appearance. Pinkie however gushed at the sight of it.
"Aw. This one is cute! Can we keep him?" Pinkie gushed.
The tiny robot's eye suddenly glowed orange and it shot a long laser on their bus, catching everyone off guard. They watched as the robot then hovered around their bus while still shooting its laser. To their horror, they noticed that the laser burned through the bus, cutting along the top portion of their bus in the process.
"Oh c'mon! It took us forever to fix up our bus!" Rainbow Dash complained.
"Ooooh, how could something so adorable be so terrible!" Fluttershy exclaimed.
"You've got car insurance for this bus, right?" Sonic asked nervously.
"We don't know, but it certainly wasn't Progressive," Pinkie answered.
The robot continued to make its way around the bus with its laser until it came to a full circle. As soon as the laser reached its starting point, the whole top half of the bus flew off, startling everyone. As soon as the roof of the bus was dealt with, the tiny robot then hovered towards one of the girls. Finally having enough of that thing, Sonic grabbed the tiny robot and tore the thing in half.
"Buzz off!" Sonic growled.
However, in doing so, the "eye" part of the droid ended up sticking into his hand, and then it started beeping loudly, making everyone on the bus feel nervous.
"Uh… that doesn't sound good," Sonic muttered uneasily.
As part of a tiny robot, now on Sonic’s hand continued to beep loudly, Twilight’s eyes widened in horror in realization. "Oh no! Sonic, get rid of it! Quick!"
"I'm trying!" Sonic exclaimed as he was waving his hand around like a madman.
"Throw it out the–throw it anywhere!" Rainbow Dash shouted with a panic expression.
"I can't get it off!" Sonic retorted, still shaking his hand around in hopes to get rid of the bomb.
"Alright, ah'm pullin' over!" Applejack announced.
Applejack quickly drove off of the road and into the big grassy field near a rocky edge. As Applejack slowly brings the now half bus to a stop, Sonic rushed out of the bus with his super-speed and tried to get rid of the bomb off of his hand by any means, and moved around a lot as he did so. He tried waving it off as he was standing, wiped it off on the ground, waved it off as he lay on the ground, wiping the bomb off with another hand or arm, pulling it off with his other hand, and he even tried to pull it off with his teeth. No matter what method Sonic used, the bomb refused to budge, not even when he used his super-speed. Sonic eventually managed to get the bomb off of his right hand, but unbeknownst to him, the beeping bomb was moved and stuck right on his forehead.
“Did I get it?” he asked as he glanced at himself.
"It's on your forehead!" Sweetie Belle shouted as she pointed at the bomb.
In a panic, Sonic tries to shake his head but the bomb won't fall off.
Thinking quickly, Sunset took off her jacket and ran up towards Sonic.
“Hold still!” Sunset instructed as she gently hovered her jacket over Sonic and grabbed the bomb. As soon as she felt the bomb on her jacket, she quickly wrapped it into a ball, and then she tossed her jacket at a far distance.
Rainbow Dash grinned. "Alright, it's going, it's going…"
Sunset turned back towards the others with a victorious smile. Unfortunately, she did not realize that the beeping bomb was now stuck on her right palm.
"Aaaaaand it's still there!" Rainbow finished nervously.
Sunset glanced at her right palm in horror. “Oh, crud!”
She tried shaking her hand around, but the bomb remained stuck.
“I’ll save ya Sunny!” Pinkie exclaimed as she quickly grabbed the bomb while wearing her oven mitts… from somewhere. “Ha! Got it!”
Pinkie then quickly took off her mitts and threw them away from her. Unfortunately in her haste, Pinkie tossed her mitts in the wrong direction and accidentally hit Fluttershy at the back of her head, and the bomb was now caught in Fluttershy’s hair in the process.
“...oopsie,” Pinkie uttered.
Fluttershy screamed in fear and tried to shake her head and wiped her hair in a wild manner.
“Get it off! Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!” Fluttershy screeched.
“I gotcha Flutters!” Rainbow exclaimed!
Rainbow quickly took off one of her rainbowed armbands and then she quickly yanked the bomb off of Fluttershy’s hair. Once she grasped the bomb, Rainbow then quickly tossed her armband away from her. However, because she didn’t pay attention to her surroundings, she accidentally hit Rarity and the device was on her hair instead.
“Ahhh! Rainbow Dash, what are you doing!?” she screamed as she shook her head around like a madwoman.
“Whoops! Sorry, Rarity!” Rainbow said sheepishly.
“Hang on Rarity!” Twilight cried as she quickly took out one of her lab gloves from her pocket and then put it over her right hand.
Twilight then tried to pull the bomb off of Rarity’s hair, but it was stuck. As Twilight pulled the bomb a bit harder, Rarity grunted in pain as a result.
“Ow ow ow! Careful darling!” Rarity cried. “I just had my hair permed a few days back!”
Twilight kept on tugging the bomb until she finally pulled it free from Rarity’s hair. However, because she pulled it too hard, the bomb flew from Twilight’s hand, and then it landed on Applejack’s chest. Rather than feeling panicky about the situation, Applejack just stood there with a deadpan expression.
"Okay, this is gettin’ ridiculous!" Applejack commented as she tried to yank the bomb off of her to no avail.
As Applejack kept trying to tug the bomb off of her, Twilight noticed that the bomb was beeping a bit more rapidly, horrifying the young genius even further.
"It's gonna blow!" Twilight shouted.
Now fearing for her life, Applejack tried to tug the bomb with a little more force, but it still wouldn't budge. She wished she had her strength magic right now to help her out of this jam.
“Sis!” Apple Bloom cried with fear in her voice.
Apple Bloom was about to run towards her sister but was stopped by Sonic.
"Hang on! I have an idea!" said Sonic.
Sonic quickly ran into the bus to dig through one of the cases from the back, looking for an item. Once he found a screwdriver, Sonic ran back outside and towards Applejack. With his speed, Sonic yanked the bomb off from Applejack, effectively getting it stuck on him again. He ran towards a nearby rock then attempted to pry the bomb off of his hand with a screwdriver he found from the bus.
“Get off of me!” he exclaimed as he continued to jiggle the screwdriver under the bomb.
Finally, he managed to pry the bomb off of his hand, which was stuck on the end of the screwdriver. Sonic then carefully placed a screwdriver on a rock without touching the bomb again. Once the screwdriver was secured on a rock, Sonic turned back towards the others with a huge grin.
"Ha! Nailed it!" Sonic cheered.
Unbeknownst to Sonic, the beeping noises from the bomb became much more rapid. When Twilight noticed its behavior, she let out a loud gasp.
"Sonic, look–"
Before she had the chance to warn Sonic, the bomb exploded, knocking Sonic and the rest of the gang down to the ground due to the blast.
Once the explosion subsides, the gang slowly gets themselves back up, groaning from their minor injuries. As Sunset was halfway up, she gasped when she noticed Sonic was lying face down on the dirt, partially covered in scorch from the explosion.
"Sonic!" Sunset shouted as she ran towards the fallen hedgehog.
The gang also noticed the fallen hedgehog and quickly ran alongside Sunset with worried expressions. As soon as Sunset reached him, she turned Sonic onto his back, examining him with worry and fear.
"Oh no no no no no! Sonic!" Sunset yelled as she lightly shook him. "Sonic, wake up!"
Her friends eventually caught up to her, but she didn’t pay them any mind as she tries to wake Sonic up, but to no avail.
"Sonic!" CMCs exclaimed as they approached them with tears in their eyes.
"Is… is he…" Sweetie whimpered, couldn’t bring herself to finish her sentence.
Everyone watched in horror as Sunset desperately tried to find any signs of life from the blue hedgehog. Not wanting to give up on him, Sunset pressed her ear over Sonic’s chest and listened quietly. To her relief, she can still hear his heart beating, but only a bit faint.
"He's alive," Sunset announced, much to everyone’s relief.
"Oh, thank goodness," Rarity sighed as she placed her hand over her chest.
“I-I knew he’ll be okay,” said Spike, desperately wiping his eyes so no one would notice. “That guy is one tough hog!”
Twilight frowned in worry. "He's badly hurt. He needs medical attention, now!"
Pinkie turned to Fluttershy with a worried frown. "Can you do something, Flutters?"
“Yeah, Fluttershy, can you help him?” Apple Bloom asked desperately, as she and the other CMC gave her worried looks.
"I… I can try," Fluttershy stammered. "But I need our medical kit!"
"On it!" Rainbow exclaimed before glancing at Sonic. "Just hang in there buddy!"
Just as Rainbow Dash was about to head towards their damaged bus, she was suddenly blocked by a mysterious tall figure, catching her and the others off guard.
The figure was a giant-sized egg-shaped robot. Its main body was white and had two black triangles on its chest and black bottom. It has long black metal arms and legs with two bulky white feet and white metal hands. What intimated everyone the most were two glowing red eyes that were on its round gray metalhead. It was also holding a large plasma pistol, which was black and had several small red lights that were inside of the pistol's muzzle.
"W-wat the hay is dat!?" Applejack exclaimed.
"S-some kind of a… egg robot?" said Twilight with a voice of fear and uncertainty.
Pinkie shrugged. "Eh. It looks more like an Eggrobo to me!"
The Eggrobo then raised its huge plasma pistol towards the gang as the pistol began to glow into a bright red light.
"Incoming!" Applejack hollered.
Everyone scattered and dodged in different directions just as the giant Eggrobo fired its weapon into a bright red laser. The Eggrobo gazed intensely at the teens and dog who were lying on the ground for a moment before it slowly turned its sight on its real target.
Sunset froze in fear as it felt the robot's gaze at her then glanced downwards. Sunset followed its glaze and her eyes widened in realization that this thing was looking at Sonic. She felt her heartbeat thundering against her chest as the robot slowly marched its way over to them. Despite her fear, Sunset pulled Sonic into her chest while her eyes still set on the robot.
"S-stay away from him!" Sunset shouted with much courage she had left.
The robot slowly raised its pistol and aimed at the pair.
Sunset hugged Sonic further into her embrace and shut her eyes, expecting the end.
"Sunset, look out!"
Before she had time to react, Sunset suddenly felt being shoved to the side along with Sonic. Time seemed to have slowed down as Sunset opened her eyes to see her savior. To her shock, the one who had shoved her to safety was none other than Twilight. She watched in horror as the robot behind Twilight fired its weapon at her. But instead of a laser, it was a long, thick net and it wrapped all around Twilight. Once she was completely trapped, the Eggrobo pulled Twilight towards it.
"Twilight, no!" Sunset yelled, fearing for her friend.
As soon as Twilight was close to it, the Eggrobo then flew up in the air along with her with its rocket thrusters from its back and feet. Spike, who was on the ground, gasped as he watched his friend carried out by an evil robot.
"Twilight!" Spike cried.
Spike tried to get up to chase after the robot, but his leg gave out due to his injury.
As the others began to recover, Sunset immediately chased after the robot. She tried desperately to tap into her magic by grasping tightly around her geode, but her magic was still depleted. Unfortunately, the robot was way too fast as it was already several miles away from her. Sunset gave up on running as she and her friends watched helplessly as the Eggrobo continued to fly away with Twilight until it disappeared over the horizon.
"N-no!" Sunset uttered as she fell to her knees in the middle of the road.
The whole world suddenly went dark all around her as Sunset fully processed that her best friend was taken. That robot was going to kidnap Sonic and possibly her too. But Twilight was able to save her at the last moment but was taken in her place as a result.
All because she was too scared to move.
Sunset felt her whole body was shaking in guilt and her eyes began to water. This was the very thing she has feared the most. All of her friends are in danger because of her actions. And now one of her best friends is kidnapped all because of her and she was too powerless to stop it.
"Twilight… Twilight…" she whispered.
With tears falling down her cheeks, Sunset screamed out into the sky in anguish.
"Twiliiiiiiiiiiigggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhtttttttttt!"
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-END OF ACT II-