"Well, this is stupid," Sonic says with annoyance and crossed arms, tapping his foot impatiently since the elevator they were riding on was ridiculously slow by his standards.
"I think that's creative," Izzy commented, looking at a tennis ball on her horn. According to the blue pegasi mare, Zoom, it prevented Izzy from using magic. Somehow.
"I wasn't talking about... meh, forget it." The hedgehog shrugs and goes back to being bored.
Sunny, on the other hand, was rapid firing questions at one of the guards, Thunder, who was a little nervous about the questions, especially the one about flying. But she was interrupted when Zoom spoke up.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey, don't answer anything. They could be spies," She hissed, elbowing her fellow guard.
"If we were spies, we'd be the worst spies the world has ever seen," Sonic said with no emotion, then looked at Sunny and Izzy. "No offense, girls."
He then joined Sunny and Izzy gazing out the elevator window, admiring the city of Zephyr Heights, when one of the jumbo trons began broadcasting a news channel.
"Good morning, Zephyr Heights! It's another beautiful day in the big city. Looks like warm breezes and clear skies, just in time for tonight's royal celebration!" Said a pink pegasus with golden hair. Next to her was an orange pegasus with gray hair wearing glasses.
"Royal celebration? Ha! Talk about good timing!" Izzy exclaimed, and Sonic nodded in agreement.
"Tonight's royal bash for Queen Haven will be stunning, but the real jewel in the crown will be Princess Pipp's performance."
Sonic couldn't help but chuckle. "Is her name actually Pipp? With a name like that, I swear to Chaos that I'm going to be very disappointed if she doesn't have a song called Drip, Drip, Drip, or something like that," He joked, making Sunny and Izzy laugh. Even the guards let a giggle escape.
"This is just in, an exclusive video from Pipp. For all of you loyal fans out there in ZH!" Announced the pegasi. Then, the image switched to a video.
"What is up, everypony? Big shout-out to all my fans, the Pipsqueaks!" Pipp said from her room.
"Man, I'm gonna bet that she could write a book about how to use Twitter and still be relevant," Sonic quipped, once again getting a laugh from his friends.
"So tonight's the night; I can't wait to debut my new song later. It has a very special place in my heart, but not as much as you guys! Ok, guys, I love you lots. Got to go. Pipp, Pipp, hooray!"
The guards and Izzy yelled what Pipp said. Sonic said it as well, for his amusement. Finally, the elevator reached the top, and Sonic sighed in relief. "Thank Chaos! That felt like an eternity..."
"Move it," Zoom ordered.
"You betcha," Izzy replied, and they moved forward.
Sunny, on the other hand, couldn't help but notice none of the pegasi they'd seen so far were flying and began to question if the pegasi lost their magic, too.
"Hey guys, isn't it weird that no pony is flying?" Sunny asked.
"You can say that again, Sunny," Sonic replied, having also noticed this. "You'd think that, for a city where only pegasi live, you could find anyone flying around."
But their conversation was short-lived, as it was interrupted by their unicorn friend.
"They have a castle!" Izzy exclaimed with joy.
Sunny and Sonic looked up to see a vast, golden castle before them. They entered through the doors to the throne room to see more guards marching around while being escorted by Zoom and Thunder.
"Wow," Izzy awed.
"You know, for people that declare themselves royalty, I'm pretty impressed," Sonic praised.
"Now, before our queen!" Thunder announced. Trumpets started playing, making the trio look forward in curiosity, but everything went silent as the guards kneeled. The trio looked toward the front to see a little fluffy, white dog with wings walk out.
This confused Sunny and Sonic, while Izzy said, "Your majesty!" to the dog and kneeled. Sonic held back a snort, confusing Sunny even more. Then, lights came on as the dog stood up and started barking toward the ceiling, and they looked up to see three pegasi flying downwards. On the left, they recognized the one who talked earlier on the jumbo tron as Princess Pipp, who was paying more attention to scrolling on her phone than the trio. From what they could tell, the middle pegasus wearing sunglasses was the mother and most likely the queen, and on her right was the same pegasus they met when they first arrived on the mountain.
"Hi new friend!" Izzy waved to her. The Pegasus looked at them in surprise, then gazed worriedly at her mom and shook her head. The group zipped their mouths, nodding before refocusing on the middle mare.
"Guards, state your business, and please make it quick. We're on a very tight schedule today," She says.
"Half of that schedule probably has something related to the dog," Sonic quipped.
"Before the celebration, Cloudpuff needs his pedicure, Pipp needs to rehearse, and I need to practice my laugh. AhHa Ha Ha Ha!" She paused, holding a hoof to her chin in thought before shaking her head. "Hm, still not right..."
"Called it," Sonic says with a smirk.
"Your Highness, we found these intruders in our territory," Zoom explained. Queen Haven took her sunglasses off, then gasped at what she saw.
"An earth pony, a Unicorn, and a blue porcupine in Zephyr Heights?!" she exclaimed.
Sonic rolls his eyes. 'Why do I feel like the white pegasus over there is the only pony in this world that knows I'm a hedgehog?'
"We have them under control, Your Highness," Zoom stated.
"And we deployed the shield!" Thunder said, excitedly pointing to Izzy's horn, with Izzy pointing as well.
"Is this an attack on the night of our royal celebration? Why are you here? Who sent you?" She asked, demanding answers.
"Okay, your majesty..." Sonic called, and the Queen looked at him with surprise. "First of all, chill out; we're not here to attack anyone. Second, we're just passing by, doing a little sightseeing, taking selfies, etc. And last, but most importantly, I'm giving that laugh of yours a seven out of ten; it was pretty solid."
Deep down, Queen Haven wanted to smile at the compliment. She could tell that Sonic wasn't saying that because of respect or out of fear; he said it with honesty, something strange for her, sure, but very welcome. However, she resisted the impulse to smile and kept thinking about what to do with the 'visitors'.
"Nopony must know that they're here," She ordered, but the sound of a phone broke the tension, and she groaned, immediately knowing whose cell phone it was.
"Check it out, Pippsqueaks," Pipp announced, holding her phone to live stream the trio. "Live from the castle. It's a real unicorn, earth pony, and Blue Porcupine."
"Hedgehog," Sonic corrected.
"This is so not a filter," Pipp continued, but Queen Haven took her phone away.
"Pipp!" She exclaimed angrily, but calmed down and looked to the camera, "There's nothing to fear! Those nasty little ponies and porcupine have been captured. Your queen will protect you." At this point, Sonic was tired of trying to make it clear that he was a hedgehog, and he decided to let the others call him whatever they wanted.
"Shut it off!" the queen ordered.
Sunny decided to speak to the queen finally. "Excuse me, majesty. We only like to ask you a few questions about magic..." But the moment she said that the queen snapped and pointed toward the group's direction.
"Guards! Please escort these ponies and porcupine to the dungeon until I can question them properly. And confiscate the book," the queen ordered. Sonic released a tired sigh and made a blank expression so no one could read his emotions.
"What? No, no!" Sunny protested, but the guard took her journal anyway. "B-But, Your Majesty, I just wanted to ask you a few questions, please!"
But Queen Haven ignored her pleas, and the guards escorted them to the dungeons.
"I feel like you guys don't get paid enough for doing your job so well," The hedgehog whispers to Zoom and Thunder, and they glare at him. "Just saying..."
"Did the Queen just say dungeons?" Izzy asked.
"Yup," Sonic answered. "Our first impression wasn't good enough for the pegasi."
"What else could go wrong today?" Sunny asked herself.
"Let me teach you a life lesson, Sunny," Sonic says with a bored expression as he crosses his arms. "If you ask such a question, everything will go wrong."
A few hours later, the group was trapped in the castle's dungeons... although it didn’t feel like a dungeon. There was a massage seat, a fountain in the middle of the room, a chandelier hanging from the ceiling, and a massive bed with pink covers.
However, Sunny wasn't focused on the place; she was wondering why the only pegasi they'd seen flying so far were the royals.
"Something isn't right. We haven't seen a single pony flying except the royal family..."
"I have the feeling they can't fly either. In fact, I can say the white pegasi we met on the mountain wasn't too comfortable with how her mom treated us," Sonic spoke, making Sunny arch her eyebrow. "Just think about it: If she can fly, then why didn't she fly away from us on the mountain? Only somebody who tries to hide something jumps off the cliff like she did. That, or I'm just a little mad at 'Pipp' and the Queen for calling me porcupine..."
"Yeah, I'm going with the second one," Sunny sighed, then realized Izzy wasn't even paying attention. "Izzy, are you listening?"
Sonic turned his head towards Izzy and was amused to find her sitting in the vibrating massage seat and wearing cucumber slices over her eyes.
"This isn't dungeony at all," Izzy says to no one in particular. Sunny smiled and realized Izzy was right. 'How could this be a dungeon? With how furnished it is, I'd call this more of a hotel room. That's locked from the outside. With us inside.'
Sonic stretched his arms and lay against the wall while smirking at Sunny. "You know we'll get out of here in a few minutes, right?" She just looked at him, confused.
"I don't think so, Sonic..." Sunny replied with a shake of her head. "We have no way out of this room, and even if we manage to escape the dungeons, the whole place is highly secured, from what I can tell. So, I think we won't leave here anytime soon."
Sonic giggled, then began counting backward on his fingers. "3, 2, 1. Voila!" Sonic said before snapping his fingers.
"Hey! I'm sorry you three got locked up here, but I have to talk to you." The trio turned to the source to find the white pegasus from before on the other side of the bars. Sunny looked at Sonic, amused, while he winked at her.
"Princess?" Sunny asked.
"Your majesticness. Y-your grateful highness!" Izzy stuttered, but Sonic stopped her.
"I think you're just making her feel uncomfortable, Izzy," The hedgehog pointed out, while the pegasus nodded. "So, what should we call you?"
"Zipp. Just call me Zipp," She replied with a smile.
"Ok, Zipp, I'm Sunny, and these are my friends," Sunny stated.
"I'm Izzy, Izzy Moonbow," She said in a low voice.
"And I'm Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog!" Sonic said with his customary smirk.
"Sunny, Izzy, and Sonic. I need to ask you something important. About magic," She whispered the last bit.
"Straight to the point. I like this girl already, and we just found out her name a few seconds ago," Sonic said, making the three mares laugh.
"That's why we're here, actually," Sunny confessed. "Maybe you can tell us how your magic works? Izzy has no idea how the unicorns lost theirs. So we thought maybe––" But she was cut off by Zipp.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. Lost theirs? As in no magic?" She asked with curiosity, to which the trio shook their heads. "Well, that changes things..." she whispered, rubbing her chin with a hoof before shaking her head and looking at the group again. "Listen, I might have some information that could help, but you need to tell me about this." She pulled Sunny's journey from under her wing and held it out for her to grab.
"My journal!" Sunny exclaimed, and she happily pulled it through the bars and hugged it. "Thank you, Zipp! I thought I'd never see it again."
"Yeah, I can be pretty sneaky when I want to be," Zipp confidently replied.
"Just like stealing someone's snack from the fridge!" Sonic quipped, garnering more laughs from the mares.
"So where did it come from?" Zipp asked, refocusing on the task at hand.
"It was my father's. Why?"
"That star…" Zipp tried to explain further, but a fanfare came down the hall as two guards holding their phones out with trumpet symbols on the screens walked over.
"That's a bit unnecessary, but who am I to complain?" Sonic said out loud.
The guards rolled down a red carpet that reached the cell, and Princess Pipp made her way down toward the main group, stopping when she saw Zipp.
"Zipp, what are you doing here? Mom said to stay away," She said with a sneer, causing Zipp to smirk.
"Right. Then why are you here?" Zipp asked with slight sarcasm.
"For the content," Pipp scoffed, pulling her phone out and preparing to take a selfie with the inmates. Izzy immediately smiled as she put a hoof around Sunny. Sonic stood next to Izzy and made a peace sign, winking and sticking out his tongue before Pipp took the picture.
"Well, now that you've got my good angle, let me ask you two questions," Sonic said, to which Pipp just nodded without paying much attention. "The first: do you have a song called Drip, Drip, Drip or something like that? I'm serious when I say you should have a song like that."
Miraculously, Pipp looked up from her phone and giggled at Sonic's question. "No, there's no such thing.”
"Well, my disappointment is immeasurable, and my day is ruined," Sonic said blankly. "Moving on to my other question... Why are you, your mom, and your sister the only ones we've seen flying?"
That second question caught Pipp off guard, and she acted nervously, then turned towards the group.
"Everypony knows that only royals can fly, of course," Pipp said nervously... something only Sonic noticed.
"What?!" Sunny and Izzy exclaimed.
'I knew it,' Sonic thought. 'I could feel it a mile away, but her terrible lying skills confirmed what I suspected.'
"I know, it's unfair, but that's how it is. If there were some way we could teach the citizens to fly, you know we would do it in a wing-beat. Right, Zipp?" Pipp looked at her sister, waiting for an answer.
"Yeah. In a wing-beat." Zipp replied with sarcasm and a deadpan expression. While Sunny and Izzy looked at each other, Sonic slightly scowled at Pipp.
'You have no idea what it's like for life not to be fair, princess, he thought. But eventually, life will show you that, and I'm not the one who's gonna teach you some life-changing lessons.
His expression went unnoticed by everyone except Zipp, and she wondered why he was doing it. Pipp's phone buzzed, and she grabbed it from her wing. "Oh, dress rehearsals. Gotta go. And so should you," She said, whispering the last part to Zipp.
"Me-me-me!" She said in a singsong voice before trotting back down the hall. The guards rolled the carpet up as she kept practicing. "Red feather, Yellow feather, Red feather, Yellow feather…" Once she and the guards disappeared around the corner, Zipp looked back at the group.
"I have to show you something," She explained, putting her hoof on a scanner and opening the cell. "You coming or what?"
Sunny quickly followed Zipp out, but Sonic stopped Izzy and pointed at the fruit bowl with a grin, and she giggled before swapping the tennis ball out with an orange. They catch up with Sunny and Zipp, and the princess leads them somewhere in the castle.
A metal grate slid open, revealing the group of ponies and hedgehog looking down at the room below. Zipp jumped to the basket below them before looking up at the others.
“Watch your step!" She warned. Sunny and Izzy jumped down while Sonic curled into a ball before hitting the basket and rolling to a stop, making his fall much softer.
"Nice trick you got there, Sonic," Zipp complimented.
"Thanks," Sonic smiled, but he was still upset because of Pipp, and Zipp could see it. However, she decided to focus on what mattered and not question his attitude.
Zipp pushed down a lever, which activated the pulley system and lowered them into the room. Sunny and Izzy looked around in awe at the place, and Sonic whistled in amazement.
"Where are we?" Sunny asked, barely able to look at one thing for more than a second.
"It's amazing, right?” Zipp asked, hopping out of the basket as it reached the floor. "I'm pretty sure it was some sort of station for when earth ponies and unicorns used to visit Zephyr Heights."
Sunny walked towards a portrait of Maretime Bay and put her hoof on it, removing the dust covering the lighthouse. "It's like everypony just forgot..." Zipp guessed. Sunny looked up to see a picture hanging from the ceiling depicting a forest with one pony of each kind together, and text above them saying 'Visit Bridlewood'.
"This is proof," Sunny smiled. "All pony kinds used to be friends! My dad was right!"
For the first time since he arrived in Equestria, Sonic took a moment to consider how peaceful this world was compared to his home. Ever since he was a kid, Sonic had to deal with every macabre plan Eggman came up with, and since then, there hasn't been a single moment in his life when he's felt this kind of peace.
Whenever he thought he could breathe easy, Eggman would attack again, and what little peace he had crumbled away. Now, he was far away from his home, and though he didn't doubt for a second his friends would continue fighting without him, he feared Eggman would take over the world. He thought back to where he was and felt sad, knowing that, eventually, he would have to leave this world, and quiet moments like this would never happen again.
All this made him more irritated by Pipp's attitude. A princess who happily lived a lie, no matter how much damage she was doing to others. He inadvertently grunted, drawing Sunny and Izzy's attention, and they noticed the sad look on his face and his irritated frown. They exchanged worried glances for the hedgehog since he'd been making jokes nonstop and being very optimistic the whole trip, but this sudden change was strange for them.
Sonic shook his head, his expression neutralizing, but his eyes still held a note of sadness. Before the mares could ask what happened to him, they noticed Zipp staring at a poster of pegasi in blue suits with yellow stripes and special goggles for flying.
"Must be really weird..." Sunny said, trotting next to the pegasus. "Being the only pegasi that can fly."
Zipp sighed. She hated to tell them the truth about herself and her family, but she let it go.
"The truth is, we can't fly either. We've been faking it," Zipp admitted, relieved to have let the truth out to somepony else. Sunny and Izzy were shocked, but Sonic already knew after asking Pipp back in the dungeons. It was pretty apparent to him, but of course, he knew not everybody thought like him, so he waited for someone to confirm.
"Faking it? B-But how?" Sunny asked, her shock evident in her voice.
"You'd be surprised what some wires and good lighting will do," Zipp sighed.
"That's why I hate special effects; they ruin the fun for the others," Sonic commented.
"But I'm just so tired of living that ridiculous lie! That's why I come down here, to get away from all of that," Zipp explained, getting the guilt off her chest before continuing. "And… well, to do this..."
Zipp ran and jumped onto a lever, activating a massive fan she jumped onto. She spread her wings open, catching the flowing gust and lifting into the air. She flipped backward, then came to a hover again. Sunny, Izzy, and Sonic watched happily, seeing Zipp having fun with her flight.
"Now that's what I call fun!" Sonic exclaimed with excitement. "Mind if I join you?"
Sonic jumped over the fan, holding his arms and legs out to produce enough air resistance. He joins Zipp in the air, and though she was surprised to find the hedgehog up here, she laughed as he spun around. Sonic chuckles, doing a stationary barrel roll as the princess loops around him.
"Their sparkles are so bright right now!" Izzy commented. As Zipp glided back to the ground, Sonic curled into a ball and jumped out of the air stream. He hit the ground rolling, and stopped by Zipp as she led the group to a stained glass window, the center missing.
"But that's not why I brought you down here. This is what I wanted to show you," she pointed above the missing window to see a large purple star with five miniature stars surrounding it in the stained glass, making the trio stare in awe again.
"Oh, my stars!" Sunny said, pulling her journal out to see the same Star on the cover.
"This was made a long, long time ago when we still had magic," Zipp explained.
"It's beautiful!" Izzy commented.
Sunny looked around the stained glass before seeing a Pegasus with a crystal above it shaped like wings. "What is that?"
"That's the Pegasus crystal. It's part of my mom's crown," Zipp explained. Sonic looked at the opposite side, noticing a unicorn in a similar position as the pegasus, but there was nothing but broken glass above it.
"Say... where's the unicorn crystal?" Sonic asked himself and Zipp, but since he got no response, he decided to look around for the missing piece. Eventually, he notices sunlight reflecting off something under some material. He made his way over and pulled the fabric off to reveal what looked to be another crystal, but this time shaped like a unicorn's horn. He grabbed it and walked back toward the others, who watched with curiosity and wonder. He set the glass piece on the ground and slid it toward the reflection of the Pegasus crystal. "Well, would you look at that..."
"They fit?" Izzy questioned with surprise.
"I bet a table full of chilidogs that these two crystals belong together," Sonic explained with optimism.
"So what are you saying?" Zipp asked, a bit confused. Sonic looked at her with a bored face, expecting she might be kidding. But since the confused look stayed, he rolled his eyes and explained.
"What I'm saying is maybe you guys lost your magic because these crystals were separated," Sonic answered, then shrugged. "Then again, I'm just guessing here."
"So if we put them back together…" Izzy started.
"Magic might return…" Zipp continued.
"And all three pony kinds will get along again!" Sunny concluded.
"Now you get the idea!" Sonic says, snapping his fingers. Izzy and Zipp cheered until Zipp realized something.
"But what about the unicorn crystal?" She asked worriedly, but Izzy put her worries to rest.
"Well, if you're looking for crystals, we've got, like, a gazillion of them back in Bridlewood," Izzy explained, and Zipp calmed down.
"Guess we know the next stop of our little adventure," Sonic stated, then faced Zipp. "After we get the pegasus crystal from your mom, of course."
"Ooh, that'll be tricky. She never takes her crown off," Zipp explained, and Sonic started to think of all the things she does with her crown on her head the entire time, making him a bit uncomfortable.
"For a woman like your mom who doesn't respect us three and allows this stuff to happen, she does a pretty good job keeping her crown safe," Sonic complimented. "Maybe she could teach Knuckles how to guard the Master Emerald without any problem..."
"So, what do we do?" Sunny asked.
"I got it!" Zipp exclaims, and she explains her idea. "Pipp's performing at tonight's royal celebration. All eyes will be on her, especially my mom's. She'll be distracted, so we just need to swap the real crown with a fake."
"Ooh, I can make a decoy!" Izzy offered. "But I will need a box of macaroni, a tube of glue, fourteen gooey bunnies, and three jellybeans—oh, and glitter. Lots of glitter."
Zipp was about to explain something else, but she felt a massive gust of wind go by them, along with Sunny and Izzy. They looked around to find Sonic was gone, but before they could wonder where he went, another gust blew by them. They saw Sonic smirking, lying against a wall with a few bags with the needed supplies. Sunny and Zipp were shocked, but mostly Zipp, as they had no clue how the hedgehog did that so quickly.
"Oh yeah, he does that sometimes," Izzy said calmly and walked towards him, confusing Sunny and Zipp even more. They look at each other and then walk toward Sonic and Izzy.
"How did you do that!?" Zipp asked.
"When life gives you excitement, fun, and adventure, you learn a trick or two that sticks with you," Sonic stated. "That, and I'm the fastest thing alive, so as Izzy said, it's kinda a thing I do now and then."
"We'll, that's good and very useful, but now we need to talk about what we're gonna do," Zipp told them. They huddled up, and Zipp started to explain her master plan.