In the skies of Equestria, a group of birds where emigrating peacefully, until somepony passed really quick and made one of the birds twirl around until he stopped, accidentally flying headfirst now.

The pony who passed trough the birds was a pegasus mare. She extended her white wings with purple feathers, while the wind blew over her tail and her mane. This pegasus was no other than Princess Zephyrina Storm, or simply Zipp for her friends, who was also wearing a bag and a radio on it, as she flew on the skies.

She hided behind some clouds when she saw some pegasi coming towards her, but they didn't noticed the pegasus mare since they were focused on their phones and talked to each other. Once they flied away, Zipp poked her head out of the clouds, now having some on her mane, but she shook it to make the clouds fade away, and continued her journey.

She arrived to Zephyr Heights, and flied up hight to a window of the Castle. She started to strike her body against the window, but it didn't opened. Zipp decided to lay on it, but once she touched the window slightly with her hoof, it opened completely, and Zipp fell into the ground of the Castle.

"So did you get it yet, Zipp?!" a voice asked with worry trough the radio on her bag, the voice of her sister Pipp.

"On it!" Zipp assured with a smile, as she stood up. "Maximum sneaky engaged!" she stated with confidence.

But then she noticed Zoom and Thunder, the only royal guards the animators choose to animate because they're lazy, walking with frowns towards her direction. She flied high to not be spotted, as the two guards closed the window and looked at each other in confusion, as they left and Zipp sighed with relief.

She flied over a hallway, and then landed on the ground as she started to act sneaky while made some flips, looking for a room in specific. She then noticed a portrait of she and her sister when they were fillies with their mom hugging them. "Hey mom" Zipp joked while looked at the portrait, and then looked at the door of the room she was looking for.

She walked over the scanner at the side of the door, and put her hoof on it, as the door opened and she went in. She was at Pipp's old room at the Castle, looking for a her lucky microphone because she didn't take it with her when they left to Maretime Bay for some reason. Zipp finally spotted the microphone and took it, then she put it on her bag.

"Mission accomplished!" Zipp announced on the radio, as she started to run on the same hallway, ready to leave back to Maretime Bay.

Zipp giggled and smirked, as she approached the exit. "No problems with that!" she stated, as she went out of the window and flied freely around Equestria, making her way to Maretime Bay.

Hey!
You gotta let it glow
Hey!
You gotta let it shine

Oh, let's make our mark together
Just riding on forever
Just keeps on getting better, better, better
Hey!

Everypony, everywhere
You can feel it in the air
Find your spark and just glow and shine
Make a mark that you can share
Hoof to heart, you know we care
Oh ponies, come on, let's all unite

After flying all over Equestria, Zipp arrived to her destiny, as she watched all the ponies going on their day by day. But she suddenly heard two fillies screaming, and when she turned to see them, two pegasi fillies crashed into each other and started to fall to the ground. She immediately took action and flied over to them, catching the fillies in the air.

"Heads up, everypony!" she announced, as she landed on the street and putted the fillies in the ground.

"I'm so sorry..." one of the fillies apologized, then looked over at Zipp. "Thank you, Princess Zipp" she thanked.

"Zipp, just call me Zipp!" she pegasus pled with her ears down and an awkward smile. "And don't worry about it" she assured, now with a normal smile. "The Magic from the Unity Crystals in the Brighthouse is new to all of us" she explained, as she looked at the Crystal Brighthouse, which had in the top of the building the Crystals spreading a rainbow light for all Equestria to appreciate it. "It takes practice!" she added, without knowing that the Crystals moved on a strange way back in the Brighthouse, as if they were failing.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Mane 5 and Sonic were waiting on the street for Zipp to arrive, as Pipp pointed the camera of her phone to look at Sunny.

"Should I start now, or...?" Sunny asked, a little nervous since she was about to talk to ALL of Equestria.

"Ugh... Where is she?" Pipp asked with desperation, as Izzy and Hitch looked at her worried, while Sonic was just with his arms crossed and stomping the ground with on feet with a frown, since he though Zipp should have been here by now. "I really wanted to use my..." Pipp tried to say, but somepony else finished for her.

"Lucky microphone?" Zipp finished for her sister as she landed with a smirk next to Izzy, who was smiling of happiness to seeing her friend. Hitch smiled a little as well, as Sonic stopped stomping and smirked a little.

"Talking about the Queen of Rome" Sonic whispered to Hitch, as he giggled a little.

"What took you so long?" Pipp asked with frustration as she rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me you were sneaking around the palace again..." she said, as Zipp winked at her with a smirk and walked over to Sunny. "You know you can just enter through the main doors! It's our house!" Pipp pointe out.

Zipp gave Sunny the microphone, then looked at her sister. "But if Mom knew I was there, I'd get stuck doing one of her random princess lessons" she pointed out as well.

"Makes sense to me" Sonic said with a neutral expression, as he looked at Sunny. "Okay then, Sunny. Just remember: pretend you're talking to us and not, like, all of Equestria, and you'll be fine" he assured as his putted his thumbs up. "Okay, good luck, you'll do great. Pipp, honey, work your magic please" he said to Pipp as he winked at her, making the pegasus blush a little and nervous, but she focused quickly as she pointed her camera at Sunny.

However, Sunny was feeling nervous and anxious since she didn't know how to react exactly. "You’re live…" Pipp announced, then pressed the record button, "... Now!" she shouted.

"Like, 'now' now?!" Sunny asked, still nervous, as Pipp nodded to her. "Uh... Hey, everypony! I'm Sunny Starscout, and I live here in Maretime Bay with my friends!" she started, as Pipp switched the camera to point only at her, Izzy, Zipp and Hitch, then switched the camera back to Sunny. "A lot has changed around here in the past few months. Maretime Bay used to be the place just us Earth ponies live, just like how unicorns always stayed in Bridlewood and Pegasi never left Zephyr Heights. But when we found the three Unity Crystals and brought them back together, it brought us back together! All pony kinds were reunited in friendship! Now anypony can live... anywhere! And... we have magic again!" she squealed excited.

The camera pointed to a unicorn levitating some bags with apples, but then a pegasus flew way to low and dropped the bags and the apples. Then, Izzy grabbed some apples with her magic, "To do, well, what unicorns and pegasi do!" she said, as she dropped the apples in the air and they fell down, with one landing on her horn. "Ta-daa!" she exclaimed with a smile.

"Oh, and don't forget our little friend from other dimension too" Zipp miraculously said, stepping into the camera. "It's thanks to him that the Magic came back as well" she pointed out, as Pipp moved the camera over to Sonic.

He was with his arms crossed and with his eyes closed, but he somehow felt the camera on him and smirked, while opened his eyes and putted his hands on his hip. "I just did what was best for all!" he stated, as he winked at the camera.

In both Bridlewood and Zephyr Heights, many mares where fangirling over Sonic since Pipp posted a lots of things and photos about him. Of course, Sonic didn't knew since he was not that attached to social media, but let me say that he wouldn't care if he ever found out. And when he winked at the camera with his smile, many of those mares also fainted.

Back in Maretime Bay, Pipp pointed her camera back at Sunny, although she was also fangirling over her crush on the inside, but she knew how to control her feelings. "Hey, Sunny-bunny, why don't you show off a little of your magic?" Sonic suggested to his friend.

Pipp joined to the idea as well. "Ooh, yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah! Turn into an Alicorn!" Pipp pled, while she pointed the camera at herself. "That's an earth pony, pegasus, and unicorn all in one!" she explained, then aimed the camera back at Sunny, who was feeling nervous.

"Uhhh... You know it doesn't really work like that, guys" Sunny pointed out, since she didn't knew how to control her alicorn powers yet. "I can't just, uh... Anyway! The point is, magic powers or not, I think everypony can agree that our lives are way more magical now that we're together again!" she stated with a smile, as Pipp popped out from the side.

"You know iiiiit!" she sang, then looked at the earth pony mare. "Okay, Sunny! Do the thing!" she said, as the style on the phone changed to promotions.

"Do you like super fun times? Are you interested in learning more about earth pony traditions and tasting local treats? Do you want to see ponies sing in a big concert?" Sunny asked with an announcer voice.

"Yes! You bet! And yeeees!" Izzy jumped in, as she started to dance a little, while the camera switched back to Sunny.

"Then you should come to our annual Maretime Bay Day Festival! For a day of fun in the sunshine! It's going to be a blast! And I'm not just talking about the fireworks show. All pony kinds are welcome!" Sunny kept announcing with a smile.

Hitch then came over and grabbed the phone. "Oh! Oh! I love Maretime Bay Day! You gotta come check it out! The live Maretime music! The sand castle contest! The caramel ponycorn! Ah! It's the best!" he shouted excited.

What none of they knew, was that Hitch animal crew where listening to the sheriff, and when ponycorn emoticons appeared on the phone's screen, one of the birds licked his lips and flew over the sheriff

"Um... I'm gonna need a little context..." Sonic said with a confused look, since he didn't knew what Maretime Bay Day is. "What's..." Sonic tried to ask, but in that moment, the bird took Pipp's phone and flew away.

"Hitch, my phone!" Pipp yelled in panic, as they all sins Sonic started to follow the bird.

"I'm gonna ask later, this is a chase I don't wanna miss" he exclaimed with a smirk, as he stretched a little and prepared to ran off. "Here.. we... GO!" he yelled, as he boosted to keep it up with his friends to chase the bird.

They started to follow the bird all around Maretime Bay, as they dodged the ponies they passed by. Zipp almost caught the bird at one point, but the animal passed trough a Train Cart, and Zipp almost crashed with the pony driving the cart, but she just crashed with their hat, so she throw it away and kept chasing the bird.

Since they were now leaving the main town, Sonic took advantage of nopony on sigh and ran faster. Once he was close to the bird, he jumped high, and once he was on the same height as the bird, he used his 'boost' ability on air, but the bird dodged him easily, and that surprised him. "Oh, c'mon!" he yelled with frustration, as he turned into a ball and softened his landing, with Izzy passing by him. He stood up back and ran again after the unicorn.

The bird slowly lost its grip on the phone and dropped it, causing Izzy to activate her magic. She managed to catch the phone, but it wasn’t fully working. She accidentally tripped and slid forward into the garden that sat at the front of the house.

"Got it!" Izzy exclaimed, as the group caught up with her and laughed, since her face was covered with leaves.

"Izzy, made us all favor and never change the way you are" Sonic pled with a smile.

Izzy smiled back and blew the leaves away, as she was still holding the phone. "Oh, hey, look! It's still on" she called out to the phone still streaming, as levitated back to Pipp's hoof.

"Oh, yeah, oh, yeah. I mean, a little ground glitter never hurt anypony" Izzy replied while took off the remaining leaves in her mane and giggled.

"Well, I for one do not agree!" another voice said, and the group turned towards the door of the house they were near by. The voice turned out to be Posey Bloom, who looked at the 6 friends with anger.

"Is this about your flowers, Posey?" Sunny asked, as she and the rest got away from them. "It was an accident, but we'll fix them right away" she assured, as Izzy nodded. Sonic whoever, was looking at her with a bored expression and his hands on his hip.

"No. What I meant was that I wish magic had never come back. And I'm not the only pony around here who thinks so" Posey clarified with a frown.

"Uh, what do you mean?" Sunny asked, as she and the others sins Sonic looked at her confused.

Posey rolled her eyes. "You Pegasi are always flying too fast! O-Or too low! Or too high up!"

"What's wrong with flying high up?" Pipp asked, as she and Zipp looked at her confused.

Then, Posey got into her face. "Ugh! I just don't like it, okay?!" she yelled, then moved to Izzy. "And every time I'm at the market, there's some smug unicorn using their magic to shop!" she complained, as she remembered something that happened to her. "I almost got hit in the head by a bag of floating apples yesterday!"

Well, excuse me, princess of flowers, but the world doesn't revolve around you Sonic though, still with his boring expression.

"Magic is not very safe. At least not for the rest of us ponies who don't have it" Posey stated, then ran up in front of Hitch. "Right, Sheriff Hitch?" she asked him.

"Uh... I don't know if I would say that..." Hitch replied, as he scratched the back of his head with a hoof.

Posey growled angrily, since she didn't get the answer she expected. "Everypony's just... still learning how to use it. That's all, magic takes practice!" Sunny tried to explain.

Posey who had faced away from them, grew a snarl. "But that’s not the worst part... What about him?!" she asked, as she pointed to Sonic.

The hedgehog was looking at his left hand like if there was a clock in there, while stomped his left foot, and once Posey pointed at him, he stopped stomping. "A minute and thirty seconds. I thought you would complain on me way earlier" he simply said, still with a boring expression.

"You just keep running around our town and doing some weird tricks that can put somepony in danger!" she yelled at him.

Sonic, whoever kept his boring expression still as he answered her. "Oh, who would have guess..." he said with no emotion while rolled his eyes. "She hates me because I'm being me..." he finished.

Sonic's completely relaxed attitude made Posey explote. "Ugh! This is what I mean!" she yelled at him, then started to list some of the things she and many others though about Sonic. "You're reckless, too optimistic, too relaxed, you always get in the middle of the things and you're just a giant blue rat!" she yelled out loud.

The others gasped at everything Posey yelled, but Sonic's reaction was different. While Posey listed all of those things, Sonic kept his bored expression and crossed his arms, while numbered the 5 things with his right hand, as if he already knew everything she was gonna call him. Well, to be fair, he did knew it. "You know what, I'm gonna send Eggman's number to your Email. I know you two would get along if you ever met each other" he simply replied, still with the bored expression, but smiled. "Ponyfied Karen" he finished, which made Posey to growl, then she turned around and walked back to her house.

"Well then, go do your magic somewhere else other than my garden!" Posey yelled, as she slammed the door behind her.

The group stared at the door in shock for a few seconds, except for Sonic who was just unamused. "Charming" he let out, as he stretched his arms and put them on his back. "Anyway, if we're done loosing our time with this mare, I'd suggest we should go back to the Brighthouse" he added, as he started to walk away while whistling.

"Okay, wow! She was really nice, right guys?" Izzy asked, which made Zipp and Pipp felt uncomfortable, and they decided to follow Sonic back to the Brighthouse as well, with Hitch following afterwards.

Izzy quickly fixed up the flowers while hummed to herself. "Oh! Come on, Sunny! Let's go home!" Izzy called, as she fixed the mailbox and ran away to catch up with the rest.

Sunny watched her unicorn friend darting down the path, then she looked through one of the windows of Posey’s house and saw her staring at her, then Posey closed the curtains angrily. "Don't worry, Posey. I'm gonna find a way to show you and everypony else just how awesome magic can be" she assured, as she walked back to catch up with her friends.

The rest of the group where following Sonic, who was walking relaxed while hummed to himself. Pipp, however, didn't get why Sonic was so relaxed after all the things Posey said about him, so she decided to make the big question.

"Sonic, how can you be so... you after Posey said those things?" she asked in a worried tone.

"Is it because she call me a blue rat?" Sonic asked, as she nodded her head saying yes. "Meh, It's not the first time someone calls me like that. And I know for sure it won't the last one..." he replied in a very calm tone, like if he didn't care at all.

"Are you sure?" Hitch asked, also worried about Sonic. "Those were very harsh things..."

Sonic stopped, and turned around to face the rest, although Pipp was still by his side. "Look, I've been called worst in the past. And I don't really care because all of those people get karma, and Posey won't be the exception" Sonic explained with a neutral expression. "Besides, it's not worth the shot to try and resonate with somepony that thinks the world has to work the way she wants, so the best is to let her be and wait for karma to attack her" he finished.

Sunny arrived at the moment Sonic mentioned that discussing with Posey wasn't worth it, and she frowned a little. "Well, I think we can try and show her all the good things of magic" she stated with confidence.

"I'm not saying you can't try, I'm saying it's not worth it because it's not going anywhere. And if there's really more ponies who thinks like her, don't get surprised if they give us a treat similar to Posey's" Sonic warned with a little frown, since he knew a kiss and a hug won't made them change their opinion just like that.

"I think it is worth it, and who knows maybe they end up enjoying magic!" Sunny said with a smile.

Sonic sighed and putted a bored face. "Okey then. You can try, but when it doesn't work, don't look at me with the sad puppy eyes" he warned once again. Then his expression changed to a surprised one as he remembered something. "Oh yeah, I got something I wanted to ask before the bird took Pipp's phone: What the heck is Maretime Bay Day?" he asked with a confused look.

The rest gasped and looked at him surprised. "You don't know what's Maretime Bay Day?!" Hitch asked, being the most shocked of them.

"Well, I may have been living with you for 6 months, but Sunny said it a few weeks ago: we're all still learning about everypony's holidays. And I just recently learned about T.U.E.S. Day, so pardon me for being a bit ignorant" Sonic replied with a little sarcasm and his arms crossed.

"Well, it's a day were we celebrate the earth ponies. But now, that magic's back, everypony else is welcome!" Sunny explained with a smile.

"A day to celebrate earth ponies, and now everypony else as well... Sounds fun!" Sonic said as he smirked. "Count me in!" he stated, willing to help and participate on the holiday.

The rest cheered up to him, happy that he was going to be part of the celebration. However, Pipp reminded something. "But what about your home? You're still not near to find a way back, right?" she asked with worry.

Hitch panicked a little as he looked at Sonic, knowing that he actually did have a way back, but it wasn't working, and there were other things like the 'Opaline's Castle' location they haven't found yet, and the other two Chaos Emeralds that neither Opaline nor them had yet. Sonic looked at Hitch as well, but he was really calmed, then he looked back at Pipp.

"No... I haven't found a way back yet..." he lied, but nobody seemed to notice that. "But knowing Tails, he's probably trying to find a way to look after me. If he isn't fighting Eggman, of course" he explained with a little smile. "And Knuckles will always be a knucklehead, but I now he's looking after him while I'm out. So even if I don't find a way back, they probably will" he finished, now with a big and confident smile.

"Well, I'm glad you're joining us for the celebration!" Sunny exclaimed, as she got close to him. "Now come on, everypony, we have a celebration to prepare!" she shouted with excitement, as the others sins Sonic and Hitch cheered and ran back to the Brighthouse.

Sonic and Hitch, however, stayed back to have a little talk about the Chaos Emeralds thing. "I hate to lie to them, but there's lots of things we haven't figured out yet..." Sonic spoke first, with a worried expression.

"Yeah, keeping this to us has been hard, and lately they had been close to discover us..." Hitch added, remembering that they almost got caught a few times. "Maybe it's time we tell them... we can't keep this as a secret forever..." he suggested, since he also hated ti lie to their friends, specially to Sunny.

"... You know, I think you're right, sheriff. We have to tell them... but not now" Sonic stated, looking at the mares in the distance. "They are really excited with this Maretime Bay Day thing, and I don't want to take that away from them with a lot of information. Let's wait until the festival ends so we can tell them, ok?" he pled to sheriff.

"Ok, but if you feel like you have to say it at some point, just do it" Hitch assured with a smile. "Now let's go, they're gonna need our help!" he stated as he ran after the rest.

Sonic stood on the same place for a while. "I have a strange feeling... like something's wrong, but right at the same time... Guess time would tell me what's going on" he said to himself, and then ran after his friends back to the Brighthouse.

The Mane 5 and Sonic walked slowly towards the Crystal Brighthouse. The main door opened and they all got inside, as Zipp flied around and Sonic ran towards a couch. Izzy started to jump excited as she looked at Pipp.

"Pipp! Pipp! Pipp! I want to show you something!" Izzy said, as Pipp walked alongside her to the bedroom with Pipp humming.

Once they were both on the bedroom, they stopped at Izzy's bed. "So, what did you want to show me?" Pipp asked with a smile.

"Well, I don't know if you noticed, but I consider myself a bit of an artist" Izzy replied with a smile.

"Of course I noticed!" Pipp exclaimed, as she sat down on Izzy's bed. "All of this beautiful stuff was made by you!" she pointed out. "You're so creative Izzy" she complimented with a smile. "And you're amaze at making new thing out of old things" she added, the gasped excited. "What do you call it again?" she asked as she hugged one of Izzy's pillows.

"So, the other day, when I was searching for my box of googly eyes in the basement, I found this!" Izzy explained, then started to look out for something on a box as she throw some stuff, and finally took out Sunny's lamp, but now it was looking in a really deplorable state.

Pipp gasped with a smile, and got down of Izzy's bed. "Is that Sunny's old lantern?" she asked.

"Well, her dad made it for her when she was a filly!" Izzy explained. "So, I thought..." she started, then looked at Pipp as she gasped in surprise.

"That you'd fix it up for her as a Maretime Bay Day present?!" Pipp finished, as she jumped a little in excitement.

"Yup!" Izzy replied with a smile, but then shushed her. "It has to be a surprise!" she whispered, but the she yelled the last word excited. "Sorry!" she immediately apologized.

Pipp squealed excited. "I love surprises! Your secret is safe with me" she assured as she flapped her wings.

"Hoof to heart!" both Izzy and Pipp whispered, as they touched their hooves and put them on their chests.

Meanwhile, in the first floor of the Brighthouse, Sunny and Hitch gathered some materials to make some pizza for them to eat. Zipp was sitting on the table with a long face, and Sonic... he wasn't even there.

Sonic decided to walk a little around the town. Yes, you read right, he was walking, not running, since he though it was better for him to go slow and make his thoughts a bit more clear.

"I know I shouldn't be lying to them, but man, what am I supposed to do? Look at them and tell them 'Hey, I lied. I do have a way to go back home that doesn't work!' and hope they understand?" he told himself, while looked down to the floor. "Geez, I never though this would be so difficult to elaborate... Maybe I should be totally honest with them, but I don't think that's gonna work out very well..." he pet saying.

Suddenly, he felt someone was looking at him, so he turned to the side to see the buildings and the ponies passing by, but he didn't saw anyone looking at him. Still doubtful, Sonic kept walking, but the sensation of somebody looking at him was still there.

And suddenly, some kind sixth sense shouted "Look out!" on his head, and he moved to the right left.

What happened next was on slow motion: a robotic version of Sonic passed right on front of him, while Sonic was still in the dodging process. Sonic looked with horror at the metallic version of him, as the robots red eyes looked straight at him with anger. Once everything went back to its normal speed, Sonic stopped hardly, as he looked better at his robotic self. The robot, on the other hand, stopped flying and kept his distance while looked at Sonic, ready to fight.

"M-Metal Sonic?!" Sonic yelled in fear. For the very first time in 6 months, he was genuinely scared, because of Metal Sonic was there, then Eggman was in Equestria as well. And if Eggman was around there, all the peace he felt in the last 6 months would fade away, and the days were he chased the doctor to destroy his plans.

"Missed me, Hedgehog?" a voice talked trough Metal Sonic, but it wasn't the voice of the robot since he didn't had one. The voice was from Dr. Eggman, and Sonic knew this well, because he frowned and closed his hands on fists.

All the ponies around them where seeing the scene confused and scared, as they could feel the tension in the air between the hedgehog and the robot. Sonic started to run on his place really fast, as his feet turned into the shape of an 8, while Metal Sonic decided to charge up his rockets. After a few seconds, they both blasted between each other, crashing on their heads while speeded up.

"How did you got here, egghead?! How much time have you been around here?!" Sonic asked with anger, as he tried to push Metal Sonic only with his head.

"Oh, you wished I tell you, Sonic. But I'm afraid those details aren't of importance" Eggman answered trough Metal Sonic.

This just made Sonic growl, and he awakened his electrical powers, then punched Metal into his chest and send him fly away from Maretime Bay. Sonic immediately ran towards his direction, ready to destroy Metal Sonic for the good of the ponies.

Sonic vs Metal Sonic (Background Music)

Metal Sonic landed on his feet in a green field, far away of Maretime Bay. Metal shook his head, as he looked to Sonic, who was running towards his direction, and stood up to fight.

Sonic tried to punch him, but Metal dodged and hit him with his foot on the back. Sonic yelled in pain, but landed on his feet and ran against Metal again. Instead of trying the same thing, he fooled Metal by making him think he would repeat the same attack, and instead kicked him once he moved aside.

"Six months without a good fight, yet I still got it!" Sonic cheered, but he quickly focused back on the battle.

Metal tried to quick Sonic, but the hedgehog grabbed his leg and threw the robot to a tree. Sonic instantly charged his homing attack against Metal, but he made the attack stronger with his electrical powers, and boosted against the robot. Once Metal stood up, he was punched by Sonic's homing attack, and got trough the forest, as his systems started to fail a little.

"What... is this power?" Eggman asked trough the robot. "He never have used something like that before... I've saw him using electrical shields, but electrical powers of his own? That's something I never though it could be real..." the doctor said in awe, but Metal Sonic was not in the mood to heard the doctors theories, because he blasted against Sonic again.

The robot was very persistent, and if Metal Sonic was know for something, is that his objective to destroy Sonic and become 'the one and true Sonic the Hedgehog' made him kept fighting, even when he knew he lost the battle. And Sonic always took advantage of that, although this time he needed to get some information first.

Metal crashed his hands with Sonic's, and they started to push to see who could get the advantage first.

"Alright, Eggman. Spell the beans: how did you get here? How did you find me?!" Sonic demanded.

"Well, if you're so interested to know, then I'll just say I had an alley. And it's thanks to her that I'm here in Equestria" the doctor explained trough the robot.

"So you really are obsessed with that stupid Eggman Empire thing, huh?" Sonic yelled with anger. "You truly are an evil genius for trying to bring the same pain in the ass you are for me to these ponies!" he shouted.

"Why, thank you, hedgehog. You're gonna make me blush!" the doctor mocked, "But I also have been looking at you. I've discovered you made some new friends, hehehe" he listed, which made Sonic growl with anger. "Let me see: Sunny Starscout, too dreamer to be fair; Hitch Trailblazer, too right to my taste; Izzy Moonbow, too happy to be truth; Zipp Storm, too much like you. And finally, Pipp Petals, too fancy for being your friend" he finished.

For some reason, the fact that he made fun of his friends, but specially Pipp, made him even more angrier, as he charged his electrical powers against Metal Sonic, which system started to fail. Sonic then punched him into the chest, and Metal crashed against a tree again. But the attack didn't stopped there: Sonic landed another punch that sent him flying into a nearby mountain. Metal didn't have time to react, because Sonic came at full speed and began to sweep the mountain with his body, while he kept running up.

Once at the top, Sonic launched Metal Sonic into the sky, and then he jumped until he was the same height as Metal. He charged his spindash with his electric power and delivered a very powerful SpinDash against the metallic body, starting to fall back to the ground. Just before crashing, Sonic stopped and walked away from Metal, as he listened as the robot's body crashed to the ground, leaving it badly damaged and decayed.

Sonic came close to the whole where Metal's body was laying. "You won't get a single hair on my friends, Robotnik. Or else, you would meet me genuinely angry" he warned to Eggman, not willing to let the doctor hurt his friends.

However, the doctor started to laugh like a maniac, and the robot came out flying, still damaged, since he lost his entire right arm. "I'm afraid out little encounter has to finish here, Hedgehog" Eggman talked trough Metal Sonic. "But don't worry, you'll have news on me soon enough, hahahahaha!" he finished, as the robot boosted away with his rockets.

"Don't you dare to touch them, egghead!" Sonic warned once again. "OR ELSE I'M KILLING YOU, YOU HEAR ME?!" he shouted, really mad at the doctor.

He looked back at the whole, and noticed Metal's arm and grabbed. He look closely to a zone that was usually covered, and it had the face of Eggman with a sinister smile. Sonic growled at this, and looked back at the direction where Metal Sonic flied away.

"It seems like we're going to the old habits, huh?" he said with a deep serous voice. "At least it's good to know that he isn't causing trouble back home, but appearing like this, out of nowhere... What are you up to now, Eggman?" he asked to himself, as he boosted back to Maretime Bay.

Back in the Brighthouse, the Mane 5 were baking some pizza for lunch, except for Zipp, who was still with the long face on the table. Sonic, who arrived recently, was laying on the wall with his arms crossed and a frown. He was thinking on the fight he had with Metal Sonic and what could Eggman be planning. He decided to not tell anything about the return of Eggman, since he still though that they should be focusing on Maretime Bay Day, and not on his problems. But even thinking, he could still heard the rest.

"Zipp!" Pipp called to her sister, but she didn't replied. "Zipp!" she called again, but Zipp still didn't heard her. "Zipp!" she shouted, jumping straight to her side.

"I have been asking you if you want extra cheese on your pizza for like 10 minutes!" Pipp explained while rolled her eyes. "What's up with you" she asked with worry.

"Oh, sorry" Zipp apologized. "Just... thinking about something weird that happened earlier" she explained.

Even if Sonic was more focused on his thoughts, he could felt Zipp was lying. Zipp, of all the ponies, which made him frown even more.

"Same here!" Sunny exclaimed. "How could she not love magic?" she asked in disbelief.

"Earth ponies have never had magic before" Hitch spoke, while he was flattening a pizza dough. "Maybe Posey's jealous" he suggested.

"Jealous?" Pipp asked with confusion, as Sunny and Zipp looked confused as well.

"I know I am" Hitch confessed a little embarrassed. "Magic seems a little scary, but it would be pretty cool to be able to levitate things" he explained with an embarrassed smile.

"Like this?!" Izzy asked, as she levitated one of the pizzas with her magic and made it twirl in the air. But she got distracted, and stopped using her magic, so the pizza fell into her horn and face. The others laughed at this, even Sonic giggled a little, and Izzy licked a little of sauce that felt into her nose. "Worth it!" she said.

"Ah, you're right, Hitch" Pipp said with a smile, as she walked to him. "That is so much better than flying" she stated.

Zipp stood up from her sit and walked towards Sunny. "So, have you figured out the whole magical wings and horn appearing at random times thing yet?" she asked her, since her alicorn powers have been appearing out of nowhere.

"No..." Sunny confessed with her ears down. "And it's been getting worse..." she said, as she remembered how the other day she was attending to her smoothies stand as usual, but her wings and horn came out of nowhere, and as she tried to figure out how they appeared, she tripped with a smoothie that fell into the ground, and overturned the whole stand.

"Maybe Posey has a point" Zipp declared. "Magic is unpredictable" she stated with a little smile.

"Hate to be the party pooper, but I gotta agree with Zipp on that" Sonic finally spoke, as he stood next to Zipp. "Magic's dangerous if its user can't control it. And as much practice as you have, that does not avoid the fact that, at some point, that magic can to something unexpected" he added.

Sunny turned around a little down, then heard the timer of the pizza being ready and walked to get it out of the oven. "It may be unpredictable, but it's not dangerous!" she stated, as she took the pizza and threw it in the air.

She didn't even listened to me, did she? Sonic thought while he rolled his eyes.

Izzy used her magic to grab the pizza and then divided into 6 pieces, one for each of them. "We just need to show the earth ponies that magic is nothing to be afraid of" Sunny said, while Pipp bitted her pizza slice, and Sonic grabbed his slice but eat it completely. "It makes Equestria a-a better place" she added, as Hitch and Izzy bitted their slices."And... it's fun!" she finished, as she ate her slice as well.

"Wow! Are you ponies thinking what I'm thinking?!" Izzy asked excited, as Sunny and Hitch got close to her.

"Alright, everypony. On the count of three" Izzy said, as she counted down to three. "Floating parade! Right?" she yelled and asked with a smile while looked at her friends.

Sunny blinked a little, but then smiled. "Not exactly, but close!" she answered, then moved to the other side of the room to face all her friends. "We're going to use Maretime Bay Day as our chance to show off all the amazing things magic can do!" she explained with a big smile. Pipp and Zipp looked at each other in confusion, Izzy smiled, Hitch looked at Sunny confused and Sonic had a frown since he didn't thought this was a good idea. "Then everypony will remember just how special it is that we have friendship and magic in our lives again!" she finished. "Are you ponies in?" she asked with a smile.

Sonic was thinking if he should help his friends, or leave them and search for Eggman. He was worried about the doctor being out there, but he also wanted to stay and help his friends. His mind was a mess of emotions right now, but in the end he choose his friends over his enemy. "Meh, screw it. What do I have to loose? Count me on board, captain!" he said and joked, as he stood on military pose, looking at Sunny.

A lot. You have a lot to loose, Sonic a voice said on his mind, but he decide to ignore it.

Suddenly, Zipp's phone started to ring, and once she saw who was calling her, she growled and went upstairs to answer the call. The only ones who noticed her change of attitude were Sonic and Sunny, with Sonic following after her immediately.

Zipp went to the top of the Brighthouse, where the Unity Crystals were floating and projecting the rainbow light. She looked that the call was from her mother, Queen Haven, and answered the call.

"Zephyrina? Are you there?!" Haven asked, while she was trying to adjust the camera angle of herself. "He-Hello?! I can't see you..." she said, while still trying to adjust her angle.

"Oh!" Haven said, as she finally adjusted the right angle and chuckled. "There you are" she said.

On Zephyr Heights, Haven was sitting on her throne with Cloudpuff at her said barking, being guarded by Zoom and Thunder. "It's been ages since I've seen my fillies!" she said dramatically. "At least Pipp answers her phone when I call her. You never do!" she said, implying that Zipp didn't wanted to talk with her. "And you haven't visited Zephyr Heights at all!" she pointed out.

Zipp felt nervous since her mother didn't knew she did visited, but for a very short moment. And it was more of a heist than a visit. "Nope, you're right!" she lied, then walked outside to the balcony. "I definitely have not been to Zephyr Heights" she still lied.

"Well, it's not like you can't fly now, darling" Haven pointed out. Then Cloudpuff came in the middle of the phone call and licked the camera. "Oh! Cloudpuff wants to say hi!" the Queen said, and then she started to pamper him with her nose, until she realized she was still at the call. "You were saying?" she asked, looking back at the phone.

"Listen, Zipp, dear" Haven said. "I called because I'm going to need you to move back home, okay?" she stated, while Cloudpuff barked at her side.

"What?! No! No way!" Zipp denied with her head, not wanting to leave Maretime Bay.

"I know you've had fun with your new friends and all, but you're a princess, darling. You're going to be Queen one day!" Haven pointed out.

"I know..." Zipp said while rolled her eyes. "What about Pipp, though?" she asked with a little worry.

"Well... your sister has her little salon project, and while I do like the idea of you being there to keep an eye on her, let's face it, she livestreams everything, so that's not really necessary" Haven pointed out again with her ears low. "And also, I talked with Sonic, and he assured me that if something happens to Pipp and she can't pick her phone, he would look out for her" she added with a little smile. That caught Zipp off guard, but decided to not question it. "You're the one I need here, studying my every move and representing the royal family!" Haven said, decided to not let Zipp stay away anymore.

"But I'm not sure if I'm ready to leave just yet..." Zipp replied with a sad tone.

"Um..." Zipp tried to come up with an excuse. "There's a festival soon?" she simply said.

"Hmm" Haven said, while started to think about it. "I do suppose festival planning does count as a useful skill for your future on the throne" Haven said, finding the idea actually good. "As Queen, you'll be responsible for arranging state dinners, teas, parties..." she started to list.

Zipp then mimicked static and ended the call, not wanting to hear her mother anymore. She then walked a little further on the balcony, watching Maretime Bay in the distance.

"Just for the record...." Sonic said suddenly, arriving at Zipp's side along with Sunny. "Your mom again made me promise to keep and eye over Pipp, so don't look at me with a frown when I'm close to her" he explained with a neutral expression. "Got some mommy issues?" he asked with a smirk.

Zipp smirked back at the joke, but it faded away. "Is everything okay?" Sunny asked next, rising an eyebrow.

"Yeah" Zipp lied again, and now Sonic frowned. This was the second time she lied in the day, which was very weird because she never lied before. "It's just that... I love it here in Maretime Bay so much..." she explained, as they all looked at the town. "I don't want to leave yet..." she said.

"I know. I'm not ready to become a full-time, heir-to-the-throne princess yet" Zipp confessed, feeling that she wasn't going to be as good as her mother. "Not the way my mom expects me to be, anyway..." she said with a frown. "But... I'm not sure if I fit in here either..." she almost whispered with a sad look.

"Even if all I do is fly around and try out new moves?" she asked, as she flew over Sunny and Sonic.

"Yeah, and I'm gonna quote Izzy on this one: 'It makes your sparkle shine really bright!" Sonic quoted, as he tried to imitate Izzy.

Zipp smiled a little, but then she frowned again. "I don't know..." she replied. "Maybe my mom is right. Maybe I should just go back to Zephyr Heights and really try to be the kind of princess everypony is hoping for. I'm going to have to do it someday..." she finished.

Sunny looked sad at the idea of Zipp leaving. Sonic, however, felt like this was enough. "That's it! I'm not hearing this anymore!" he said with a frown. "Zipp, look at me" he requested, as the pegasus looked at the hedgehog. "Look, you cannot escape your destiny to be the Queen of Zephyr Heights, let's face it. But you do can change one thing: being a Queen like your mom or the rest want you to be? Screw them" he stated.

"You... are an athletic pony who loves speed and flying; you like to find solutions to any problem, rather is as big as the Brighthouse, or small as a tiny little piece of salt; and most importantly, you are loyal and honest, two of the most important things of a leader" Sonic exclaimed, then he stood up on the balcony. "Zipp, you are never going to be a Queen like your mother, you're gonna be even better! Training, or not training" he finished with a big confident smile.

Zipp looked at Sonic with her jaw drop, since she never though that Sonic, of all people, would say some word like those. Sunny smiled at everything Sonic said, and then looked at Zipp. "At least stay until Maretime Bay Day. The you can decide" she pled to her pegasus friend.

"And, whatever you choose to do, we'll respect it" Sonic assured, still smiling.

Zipp though about it for a moment, then smiled a little. "Okey, yeah. I guess I can't miss that" she said, now feeling a little better.

"Now, come on! We have a festival to plan and it needs your magic, too!" Sunny stated, as she walked to the elevator. Sonic, however stayed back.

"By the way, Zipp. Lying to your mother to not get in trouble is understandable" Sonic said, and Zipp smirked a little. "But lying to your friends? I don't know if that's the same Zipp I know..." he know looked at her with a frown.

"That you were worried about Posey?" he simply said, raising his eyebrow a little.

"Oh... that... yeah... sorry. It's just, I have no proofs of it yet" Zipp replied with doubt.

"Well, then what's bothering you that you need more proofs of?" he asked with curiosity.

"I wish I could tell, but..." she tried to say, but then both she and Sonic heard screams, and they saw to pegasi falling with their phones. They both gasped and tried to help, but the pegasi flied away as if nothing happened at all. "Weird..." Zipp said. The Crystals moved like a glitch behind them, but they didn't notice it.

"I was going to say the same" Sonic replied. "Wait, that's not the first time I have seen pegasi falling, then flying again out of nowhere..." Sonic randomly said.

"What?!" Zipp exclaimed. "What do you mean that's not the first time?" she asked with interest.

"On my way here earlier, I saw some pegasi falling like that too. And not only them, I saw a unicorn trying to levitate something, but he's magic wasn't working" Sonic explained.

"Sonic, I think something's wrong with the magic, and now you're telling me that you saw some magical problems. But... I don't have enough proofs yet..." she said, as she tried to think.

"I will like to help, but... I have my own problems to deal with..." he said with a frown and his fist closed.

Sonic didn't want to tell her, but he knew that it was best for at least somepony to knew. "I'm telling you if you swear to keep it as a secret, the same way I'm not saying anything about the magic thing" he pled.

"I see what you did there" Sonic smiled, but then he focused back on what mattered. "Eggman... he's... he's here in Equestria, Zipp" he let go the bomb.

"What?!" Zipp exclaimed in surprise. "The Eggman that you been defeating for years?" she asked.

"That same egghead" Sonic replied with worry. "He attacked me earlier with by Metal Sonic. You know, the less handsome robotic copy of me" he explained and joked a little. "I want to look after him, but I want to help you guys as well..." he confessed.

"Yeah, I got you. I want to help them too, but I also want to discover if something's really wrong with magic..." she said, as she looked at the Crystals.

"Well, I say we should try to do both things. You know, so they don't suspect we're looking into something else" he whispered to her.

"I like the sound of that" Zipp replied. "Let's try it out!" she stated, as both she and Sonic got back to the main floor.

Tails and Knuckles builded up some improvised beds with the materials they had, as well as some food that conveniently crossed the portal as well. Tails was trying to find the perfect model to build up a plane that didn't explode in mid air while they tried to find Sonic. However, none of the blueprints was convincing him, so he scrapped down at least 3 models in the last few hours. Knuckles was laying on the floor and felt bored, since Tails was taking too long to complete the plane's blueprint.

"Okay... I think I'm finally getting the final model!" Tails exclaimed with joy, and with his hair a little messy.

"Tails... you'd been saying that for the last 3 hours..." Knuckles pointed out with a frown and his arms crossed.

"Oh, but this one's the definitive one, Knux" Tails assured with a smirk. "I already made all the calculations, and this model has no chance to explode or to be compromised at the air!" he assured again with confidence. "That is, of course, if no bird crashes with the propeller of the plane, or if Eggman doesn't attack... But he's not in this place, so that won't be a problem!" he stated with a smile.

"Great, can we build up this thing now?" Knuckles asked with a bored expression.

"Almost, I just need to finish some details..." Tails replied, and Knuckles growled in annoyance.

While Tails finished some details on his blueprints for the new plane, Knuckles decided to go and explore the tree house a little bit.

Knuckles had some good sense to find treasures, or at least gems and rocks that could be considered as such. And he could tell that the structure was made of some kind of diamond. Yeah, the place was rusty and pitiful, but he knew that with enough and careful cleaning, the place could shine bright once again.

He came trough what it seemed like a bedroom. But it was a huge bedroom, because it had 6 beds and many different mirrors and closets. Knuckles decide to look a bit further: under she dusty bedsheets, under the mattress', inside the closets, but he didn't found anything that he considered worth it.

He left and entered to some kind of studio. There was another closet, a desk and another mirror. "Geez, how many mirrors and closets are there in this place?" Knuckles asked himself. Once again, he didn't found anything worth it, except for some kind of open diary, but the words were pretty much unreadable, so he passed of trying.

He moved now to the top, and found himself in a balcony. From there, he could saw that there was natural light entering, which meant that there was a whole in the tree. Knuckles used his knuckles to climb up a little further, and he gasped when he saw that the whole bas really big, big enough to take the plane out of the tree without harming it, so that part of their plan was already solved.

However, Knuckles noticed something else, something shiny and purple that caught his attention. He decided to take a closer look by gliding towards it. He landed on some kind of little cave that was in the trunk of the tree. But what he found made him gasp even more: the purple Chaos Emerald was right in front of him. Knuckles stared at the gem in shock, and then took the Emerald, but once he touched, the Emerald stopped glowing.

"Huh, weird..." Knuckles said to himself. "That never happened before..." he pointed out, and then glided back with Tails in the ground.

"Wow, where did you come from?" Tails asked, as he though Knuckles entered trough the main door of the tree house.

"From the top of the tree house. There's a giant whole where the plane could get out perfectly" the equidna explained. "Say, Tails, I found... this" he said, as he took out the Chaos Emerald and showed to Tails.

"A Chaos Emerald?!" Tails asked, as he took it from Knuckles hand. "But how?! I thought we lost them with Sonic!" he exclaimed.

"I guess they ended up here too. And it seems like they have some power left, because this one was shining" Knuckles theorized.

"But it's not glowing anymore... I guess the more time they spend apart, the more power they loose" Tails though. "But let's worry about the Emeralds later. First thing first..." he said.

"Right, let's build up this plane of yours so we can find Sonic, and we'll worry about the Chaos Emeralds with him" Knuckles stated, as the younger nodded.

Tails began to explain the plan to build the plane, and what pieces they were going to need. But none of the two creatures noticed a bird standing at a tree's branch, looking straight at them with the camera of his eyes.

"Hmm... this could complicate things a bit..." Eggman said, as he watched both Tails and Knuckles on his computer screen, in the throne room of Opaline's Castle.

"A bit?!" Opaline yelled with anger. "Those two are just like Sonic! They can destroy our whole plans!" she pointed out, since she knew that Tails and Knuckles could take care of Eggman's schemes, even without Sonic.

"Maybe... but our main goal is to get rid of Sonic. With his friends here, not only the Equestrian ones, but also the Mobians, the Hedgehog has lots of things he can loose. This is actually perfect, Opaline. We have all that Sonic can loose if he does not cooperates" Eggman explained with an evil smile. "And that's not all, they have no idea of where they are, nor imagine that I'm here as well! This is spectacular!" the doctor yelled with excitement.

"You may have a point. But what do we do with them? We can't just let them build that device and wait till they get Sonic" the alicorn complained.

"We would do nothing... yet" Eggman said. "Yeah, they can be a pain in the ass too, but without Sonic, Tails is just a scared kid that cannot fight back without his 'big bro' to protect him!" he mocked, as he putted a video where Chaos 1 appeared behind Tails while he was trying to fix Omega, and Tails lay down asking Sonic for help.

Opaline laughed at this, and the doctor couldn't help but laugh as well. "Oh, that was hilarious!" she said.

"Now, Knuckles, he can be a little struggle. But with Metal Sonic's update, he won't be a problem anymore" Eggman stated, as he turned to a corner where some machines where upgrading Metal Sonic. "Isn't it right... Neo?" he asked with an evil grin.

Metal Sonic now looked taller and bigger, with some white stripes around his legs, arms and quills. He was also wearing some kind of cape now. And most importantly, he could actually talk this time. "Why of course, doctor" Neo Metal Sonic replied. "My upgrades would make those so called 'heroes' regret the day they messed up with you... and me" he declared, impatient for going back and kick Sonic'c butt, specially after almost getting killed by his new powers.

"Hmm..." Eggman said, while started to think on something. Those powers... they're nothing I've ever seen before... the doctor thought to himself. I have saw him using many types of shields, and become almost immortal thanks to the power of the Chaos Emeralds. But besides his sonic speed and boost abilities, I never though he would have something like electrical energy going trough his body... He then looked at Opaline. "Dear, you don't happen to now if there's something more magical than those Crystals?" he asked with curiosity.

"There used to be, many moons ago. But now, much of those things don't work anymore, not even with the magic of those ponies back" she explained. "Why? Do you have something in mind?" she asked.

"No..." Eggman replied. "I just thought that maybe Sonic's new powers were awakened by something else... but maybe he always had them, just never really use them. Whatever the case is, I don't care, I'm gonna destroy his blues ass once and for all, one way or another. Now, let's focus on make a blue hedgehog very unhappy, hehehe..." he stated.

Opaline wasn't really convinced, but decided to let the subject die there. Spending two months with the doctor made her realize that he was brilliant, but sometimes he looked in the wrong direction, although it didn't matter now since things were working out really well. Also, they were partners in crime, and Eggman won't betray her at the last minute... right?

Back at the Brighthouse, Sunny, Izzy and Pipp were looking for some decorations for Maretime Bay Day.

"Ribbon Wreaths are the traditional decoration of Maretime Bay Day" Sunny explained, as she hold one of the Ribbon Wreaths and show it to Izzy and Pipp. "We hang them on our front doors, on Mane Street, everywhere!" she stated, then we see that many of those Ribbons are all around the Brighthouse.

"Cuuuute!" Pipp sang and grabbed a Ribbon, but then coughed because of the dust. "A little dusty, but cute" she still tough.

Izzy then gasped as she remembered something. "I once made a wreath out of old teaspoons!" she said as she levitated a teaspoon.

"Loving that idea, Izzy" Pipp replied with a smile, and then gasped when she had an idea. "Maybe we can add some unicorn and pegasus flair to these ones, too" she suggested.

Izzy gasped excited, and then ran to the kitchen, threw some things, and then returned levitating some teaspoons, while also had some on her mane and mouth. "Now... where did I leave my suitcase full of glitter?" she asked, as she walked away to look for her suitcase.

"Uh, anypony seen Zipp and Sonic?" Sunny asked a little confused. Pipp was holding a Ribbon again, but once she heard Sonic's name, she worried.

"Don't tell me you were planning a tea party and didn't invite us" Sonic joked with a smirk.

"Oh, we're unicycling these old decorations!" Izzy exclaimed with a smile. "Do you want to try?" she asked them.

"Sure! Sounds fun!" Sonic said, as he walked towards Izzy. He really wanted to go after Eggman, but he though that helping his friends was more important than deal with the guy he's been dealing with for years, so for now he won't focus on the egghead, unless he attacks again.

Zipp, however, wasn't too attracted to Izzy's idea. "Uhh... Decorating things isn't really my strong point" she said, then turned around and walked towards the exit.

"We could do something else!" Sunny said, as she stepped in front of the pegasus. "What about baking Bay Day treats?" she suggested with a smile.

"I'm not very good at baking either" Zipp complained, them moved aside and kept walking to the main door.

"Or write a song for the big concert!" Sunny suggested again, trying to convince Zipp to try and do something.

Then Pipp arrived flying and landed at Zipp's side. "Ooh! Zipp, you used to love writing song lyrics with me!" Pipp squealed.

"Oh, wait! I'm sure we can find something that you'd like to do!" Sunny insisted.

But Zipp wasn't going to listen. "Uh, maybe later! Bye!" she said, and then got out of the Brighthouse.

Sunny looked a little down, since she though Zipp was growing apart from them. Behind her, Izzy was levitating many more teaspoons with a smile, and Sonic was also holding some teaspoons with his hands.

"Uh... Izzy? Are you sure you need all these teaspoons?" he asked, a little confused on why they needed THAT much teaspoons.

"Yup!" Izzy replied, then walked back to her crafting spot, with Sonic following behind.

At Maretime Bay, Hitch was walking towards the police station to work on his sheriff duty.

"Good morning station!" Hitch greeted to the building, as he entered the main door. "Sheriff Hitch here, reporting for duty" he stated with a smile, and then sat down on Sprout's old desk. He saw his animal crew standing in front of him with military poses. "At ease, deputies! Sos what do you say?" he asked with his hooves on his hip. "Which Sheriff-y things should we do today in Maretime Bay?" he asked again whit a singing voice, then twirled around on his chair.

"Uff. Are you trying to rhyme?" Zipp asked with cringe, entering to the station.

"Oh, hey, Zipp" Hitch greeted to his pegasus friend. "Yeah! What did you think?" he asked her for a second opinion.

"Cool, cool. Just trying something out. Didn't work. Good feedback! " Hitch said with a smile, then cleared his throat to take his sheriff position. "So, what can I do for you?" he asked, now on a more serious tone.

"I came by because, well..." Zipp tried to find the right words. "Have you seen anything strange lately?" she asked him with worry.

"Strange?" Hitch repeated, as he grabbed a pen and McSnips came in front of him with his notebook. "What do you mean?' he asked, then started to write down.

"Well, I was in the balcony earlier with Sonic when..." Zipp was about to explain, but then thought about what Sonic said of not saying a word about what they talked there. "You know what? It was probably nothing. Forget it" she said, then chuckled nervously.

"Wait! I know what this is about..." Hitch though as he stopped Zipp, who looked at him with surprise.

But what he said wasn't exactly something Zipp expected. "You're... bored!" he said with a little smile, while Zipp putted a bored expression. "But you don't have to be shy. We're pals! We can totally hang out!" he pointed out, still thinking that Zipp was just looking for something to do. "I know, let's order fries from three different dinners and then decide which ones are the best!" he suggested, as he got close to a cabinet and opened for nothing, because he close it immediately and gasped. "Or maybe a puzzle!" he suggested next, and Zipp actually smiled at that idea, but then the phone ringed, and Hitch smiled.

"A call?!" he said, as he answered the phone. "Sheriff station" he said on a deep voice again, then wrote something down on his notebook, once again hold by McSnips. "I see... Really? How strange! At the beach? Well, I'll be right there!" he assured, then finished the call and kept writing. "It appear we have a code 8-18 at the beach. Want to come on a trot-along with me, Zipp?" he asked, but the main door closed, meaning that Zipp's answer was clearly a no. "And... I'm talking to nopony..." he said with a little sad tone and his ears down.

At the end, Hitch ended up on the beach to see what was the problem. At first it all looked normal, but then he heard a discussion between an earth pony filly and a unicorn filly. Apparently, the unicorn was holding an umbrella, but her magic failed and it fell into a sand castle made by three earth pony fillies. Of course, none of them believed that it was an accident and not something done in purpose. Hitch tried to calm thing down, but it just get more and more complicated as the fillies kept discussing.

Zipp was spying the whole thing from a little distance, since she was investigating the magic problem. Why did she decide to go anyway when she rejected Hitch's invitation? I don't know, blame the lazy writers of this episode, not me. Suddenly, Zipp's phone started to ring, and she saw that her mother was calling again, but she wasn't in the mood to hear her mom, so she ended the call and then turned on some kind of tape recorder on her phone. "Thursday. Noon. Beach. Second magical mishap: levitation glitch" she recorded. "Unicorn drop umbrella. Lots of upset ponies. Very strange. Must investigate further..." she finished recording, and then stepped backwards.

Zipp tried to fly away, but her wings glitched and she landed with a worried face. "Oh no... Please no!" she begged, since she didn't wanted to go back to the days were she couldn't fly. She tried again, but landed in the ground once again. She looked worried at her wings, and then looked at the light of the Brighthouse, that was also glitching. She gasped in surprise and worry, then tried to fly again, and this time it worked. She cheered, but then focused again and flied to the Brighthouse.

She landed in the front door, just in the moment Sunny open it. "Zipp! There you are!" she said with happiness, as Izzy and Pipp came too.

"Oh, hey!" Izzy greeted. "Coming to town with us to gather more supplies for the new-and-improved Maretime Bay Day?" she asked with a smile.

Zipp smiled nervously and her ears went down. "Because... I'm working on my own surprise thing for Bat Day! Yeah!" she lied and walked backwards. Pipp didn't believe her at all, and Sunny didn't buy it either, but Izzy was smiling so she pretty much believed on it. "Haven fun!" Zipp said, and then ran up to the elevator.

Sonic was on the bedroom, with the map of Equestria he's been using to track down the possible location of the two Emeralds that neither 'Opaline' nor him had found yet, as well as trying to locate the Castle, which have been difficult for some reason. Now, he was using the map to try and find a possible location for Eggman to be hiding.

"C'mon, Sonic, think!" he said ho himself, as he looked over the map to find a possible spot. "Zephyr Heights would be the most obvious option since it's the most advanced on technology, but he wouldn't be that idiot. He's an egghead, but I know he's not that stupid either. Maybe Bridlewood? He would totally hide on some place that has little to no technology to make me look on that place last... then again, Eggman isn't that predictable with the hideouts..." he said.

He then growled and closed the map with frustration. He hid the map on his quills as usual, and then lay down on his bed. "I don't get it... why everytime I finally have some peace, Eggman has to appear with some stupid scheme? I wish I could just ignore it and keep going with my life, but... As long as he tries to hurt innocents just so he can rule the world, I'm afraid I have to keep fighting..." he said to himself. Then, he stood up and took a chest from under his mattress. The chest was brown and small, with a carved pattern of an emerald on the front. Sonic opened the chest to reveal the three Chaos Emeralds he found, with four empty spaces for the rest of the Emeralds.

He put the chest on his bed, and looked at the 3 Emeralds. "I don't know where's the rest, but I know that I'm gonna find them. I know Eggman's out there, so I think the best I can do now is look for the two Emeralds left, get back the two Emeralds this Opaline has, and then catch Eggman and his partner!" he stated with confidence, then closed the chest and hided under the mattress again. "Now, how would I do it? I have no idea..." he say, but still smiling for some reason. Suddenly, he saw the rainbow light that go trough the elevator glitching, and he worried a little. "Guess the Crystals are failing after all" he said, and then ran to the elevator.

Without surprise, Sonic found Zipp running to the place too. Zipp looked at the Hedgehog waiting for her. "Did you saw it too?" she asked him.

"You mean the rainbow glitching? Yeah, I did saw it. Want to check out if the Crystals are failing?" Sonic asked with a smirk.

"Something seems wrong to you? Because I see them pretty much the same..." Sonic pointed out, since the Crystals didn't seem to have anything wrong.

"No. But that doesn't mean that nothing bad's gonna happen" Zipp answered, then took out her phone and started to record another audio entry. "Thursday. 12:15. Crystals, normal. Prisbeam energy, intact" she recorded, then put her phone back on her wing. Sonic looked at her with a confused look.

"No. I'm recording everything I'm seeing of the Crystals. At least it could count like evidence, right?" she explained, while sonic just nodded to her question.

"Wish we could say this to our friends... But the less they know about the bad news, the better, right" Sonic tried to sound optimistic.

"Right..." Zipp replied, then approached to the balcony and sighed with frustration, while Sonic also sighed, and looked back at the Crystals.

Meanwhile, Hitch was still trying to solve the problem with the fillies. But things were still not going anywhere, and the straw that broke the camel's back was when a pegasus filly asked if magic was not allowed on the beach. Hitch didn't knew what to answer exactly, since he knew that whatever he said, somepony was going to keep complaining. So he just said that he had something else to do, but that he would be back soon to solve the problem. Totally out of character, I know, but then again, blame the lazy writers of the special, not me.

Hitch walked away of the ponies, when he suddenly found something on the sand. He approached to get a better look, and it turned out to be a pink colored egg. "Huh..." Hitch said, "You don't belong here, do you?" he pointed out, as he looked at the egg with curiosity. "I've never seen an egg like this. Have you?" he asked to his animal crew, but they nodded their heads in negation. "What in Equestria are you?" he asked, but suddenly then the tide came in and carried the egg away. The egg could have crashed into a rock, if Hitch hadn't caught him at the last second. "I'll take care of you, little one" Hitch assured, as he panted the egg. He then looked back at the fight on the beach, and started to walk back to the town.

Once he was on the station, Hitch putted the egg on a red blanket and a lamp at the side, inside of some kind of closet he had there. "That's better" Hitch said while turned on the lamp to give the egg some warm. "All roasty and toasty. I'll just keep you safe here until we can find who you belong to, okay?" he assured to the egg.

Suddenly, the door of the station opened and Posey entered the station. "Sheriff Hitch?" she asked, as she looked around her. Hitch quickly closed the closet with the egg and his crew inside, and then ran to the side of the desk while hold and panted a plant. "Who where you just talking to?" Posey asked, confused since she didn't saw anypony else in the station.

"Nopony! Nopony at all! " Hitch lied with a nervous smile. "How can I help you, Posey?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

"I was just trotting down Mane Street when I noticed that my hooves were stuck to the sidewalk!" she explained with a frown. "I tried and tried to move, but I couldn't for like a really long time! I think somepony's pranking me. Probably one of those unicorns" she said, while looked at the outside with anger. "I'd like to file a complaint!" she stated.

"Okay!" Hitch assured, still with an awkward and nervous smile. "The complaint box is over there on the wall" he pointed to the complaint box, that was not only full, but it also was throwing some complaints on a trash can.

Posey saw the complaint box with annoyance, then looked back at Hitch. "Well, I'd prefer if you took it down yourself" she pled with a bored expression.

"I would, but I'm late for an important meeting at the Brighthouse. Duty calls!" Hitch replied, then he putted the plant back on his desk, and opened a little the closet to talk to his crew. "Keep an eye on that egg for me, would you, Deputy?" he asked to the bird with a can as a hat, and the bird replied with a military pose.

Hitch then closed the closet, passed at Posey's side with a nervous laugh, and then got out of the station, leaving Posey confused and a bit angry for not wanting to help her at all.

A few days later, Sunny, Izzy and Pipp were at the kitchen of the Brighthouse, baking some treats for the festival.

"Maretime Bay Day is going to be great with these treats!" Sunny stated with a smile.

"How could it not?" Pipp asked, while se flied down the slide and landed at the floor. "We've literally though of everything!" she stated with a smile. "And, I've been working on the all new anthem for Maretime Bay Day! Woo!" Pipp said in an excited tone. "You want to hear it? Too late! Doing it anyway!" Pipp said, as Sunny and Izzy nodded at each other.

Pipp then started to sing out a different lyric from the Maretime Bay anthem. Although she actually just sang the word 'something' too many times in different tones.

She then looked at Izzy. "Uh... Yeah. I don't like it... I love it! What?" Izzy yelled with excitement.

Hitch arrived at the time, humming the melody Pipp sang since he find it catchy. "Yup, very catchy. She's good!" Hitch complimented to Pipp.

Then the sound of something ready at the stove was heard, and Sunny put some kind of cupcakes on the table. "Mmm! Miniature Glimmerberry tarts!" Sunny said with a smile. "Great idea, Izzy!" she complimented, as Izzy giggled a little.

Izzy then putted some kind of horns on the tarts. "Oh, ta-da!" she exclaimed with a smile. "Ooh, now they're a true work of 'tart'!" Izzy joked.

Hitch grabbed one of the tarts and immediately eat it, enjoying the flavor. "But how do you make them taste like magic?" he asked in awe.

"The secret ingredient..." Izzy said while shook her tail. "Magic!" she whispered.

"We have to make Cloud Candy next!" Pipp pointed out, as she showed the recipe of the treat. "It's Zipp's favorite!" she also added, then putted the recipe down, and frowned a little. "Um, where is she, by the way?" she asked, as she looked around.

"Not only him, where's Sonic as well?" Hitch pointed out, as Sunny and Izzy grunted, not knowing exactly where those two could be.

"Am I the only that feels like Sonic and Zipp are... growing apart from us?" Sunny asked with a sad tone.

"Not to mention, we barely have seen them these days" Izzy pointed out, strangely with a smile.

"Yeah... Sonic usually arrived to the station some mornings to talk with me about some... let's call it 'manly' stuff, but he hasn't showed up in the past few days" Hitch added with a worried face.

"Manly stuff?" Pipp questioned, but she decided to ignore the comment. "Whatever. You're right, Sunny. Those two are... really apart from us recently..." she pointed out with a sad look. But why you, Sonic? Pipp tough to herself. I get it with Zipp, she's been like this for a very long time, but not you... why are you parting away from us? From me?

What they didn't knew is that Sonic was listening, hiding behind the balcony of the second floor. He liked how Pipp sang, even if it was mostly the same word on different tones, yet he found her way to sing... cute. But those thoughts faded away as he remembered what they just say about he and Zipp being apart from them. He felt guilty for lying and trying to solve the problem with Eggman on his own.

But he knew it was for the best, the less his friends where involved on his personal problems with Eggman, the better. This was his war, not theirs, and they were close to a celebration, so he didn't wanted to ruin that too. This is the best... for all of them Sonic though, before running to the elevator and reach the top.

Tails and Knuckles where having a lunch break after spending the whole day working on the plane. It was looking really good so far, it only was missing a wing and the sits.

"According to my calculations, we should have this thing ready for tomorrow" Tails stated, while bitted a sandwich that Knuckles made. "Man, I didn't knew you were good at making food, Knux!" Tails confessed with a smile.

"I may spend most of my time guarding the Master Emerald, but I got some hobbies too" Knuckles explained, as he bitted his sandwich and ate some grapes. "Gotta say, I'm impressed on how fast we build this thing. I honestly though it would take us more time" he confessed, as he looked at the plane in progress.

"I have to say, I'm impressed too" Tails added, also looking at the plane. "I guess my determination to find Sonic has made go a little wild... and not only with the plane... but also with my entire life back home..." he said in a sad and guilty tone.

Knuckles noticed this, and frowned a little. "Hey, you just did what you though was right..." he tried to say in a comforting way, but Tails cut him off.

"Exactly, I did what I tough was right, but in the process: I lost care of myself, I lost Cream's friendship, I made Amy feel like she was totally alone on her pain and I treated you like you were guilty for Sonic's disappearance, but you aren't because Sonic told us to not help him..." Tails pointed out with a frown. "I get that you want to help me feel better, but... I can't just act like if I wasn't a jerk..." he replied, looking down with sadness.

Knuckles wanted to say something to make him feel better, but when it comes to comfort someone, it was Sonic who could easily make the job. Him, however, wasn't exactly the kind of guy ho could say something and make someone feel better. "I... I wish I knew what to say... just that I'm sorry... for not taking better care of you, Tails..." he apologized.

"Hey, It's fine. Again, It's me who has to apologize, so don't worry Knux" Tails assured with a comforting smile, and Knuckles smiled back.

Suddenly, the Chaos Emerald that Knuckles found started to glow on Tails' desk. Both creatures noticed this, and got closer to the glowing artifact.

"Maybe it recovered its energy... but how do we try out?" Tails questioned. "We don't have a connection with the Emeralds the same way Sonic does" he pointed out.

"... And if we both use it? Together, I mean" Knuckles suggested. "Maybe we can both use Chaos Control and see what happens" he told to the younger.

"Well, we can try, but I'm not so sure if it will work..." Tails warned, and then grabbed the Emerald.

They bot hold the Emerald with one hand and shouted 'Chaos Control!' as the Emerald glowed intensely and blinded them. When they recovered their view, on Tails desk there was a Map. The same map that Sonic had with all the locations of Equestria. The only difference was that besides Sonic's Emeralds', 'Opaline's Emeralds' and 'Remaining Emeralds', now there was another text that said 'Tails and Knuckles' Emeralds'.

"It says 'Land of Equestria'. I guess that's how the place's called" Tails theorized. "And also there seems to be notes with some names... Sonic and ours included. I have no idea of who's opaline, or where any of these places are, but this is very useful. Besides, the big tree were we are now appears here, so we can have some direction once we finish the plane and get out of here" he pointed out with a smile.

"Sounds good to me. I'm gonna put this thing somewhere safe" Knuckles said, as he grabbed the map and rolled. He then putted the map on one of the empty spaced of the plane were one of the sits should be, and then looked at the Emerald that stopped glowing after give them the map.

Weird... Knuckles though to himself. Whatever's happening with the Emeralds can't be good, because they never, never, stopped glowing before...

At the top of the Brighthouse, Zipp has been staring at the Crystals for the last couple of days to see if more glitches happen. However, there hasn't been anything happening, and Zipp started to feel sick because of that. And Sonic, who got there like 30 minutes ago, has been trying to keep and eye on her, but he also had been running around Equestria to keep looking for Eggman's hideout, with no success.

"Hour five. Still nothing..." Zipp recorded on her cellphone with a tired voice. "Hour five and one minute. Still nothing..." she recorded.

"Counting today, how many hours have you been staring to the Crystals exactly?" Sonic asked, laying on a wall with his arms crossed.

Zipp stood up and putted her phone under her wing. "87 Hours and 31 minutes..." she replied and then yawned.

"Okay, that's it" Sonic said, quickly standing in front of her. "Zipp, you have to clear your mind from this!" he exclaimed with a frown. "I get it: you're worried that magic might disappear again because of the many magical accidents we've been having in these days, but it would end up eating you!" he explained.

"The more time you spent watching over the Crystals, the more your life goes straight up to hell" Sonic yelled with a neutral expression. "You see, you're focusing so much on solving the magic problem, that you're growing apart from everything else. Your life, your friends, your mom, your sister! You're wasting your time in this, and your life!" he stated.

"But this is important for everypony's sake!" Zipp pointed out, but Sonic sighed heavily.

"I know, Zipp. But again, the more time you spent on this, the more it would suck on your life. I live by a philosophy: to live every second of our life's as if it was the last. And right now... you been wasting your time by looking at 3 floating gems for days!" he said, while pointed at the Crystals, as Zipp turned around to the balcony. "Think on all the time you could have spent with your friends, with your family... wasted because you're afraid. Sorry to be this harsh, but... I think you had to knew it..." he finished, as Zipp sighed and sat down.

"I think you're right, Sonic..." Zipp spoke out with guilty. "Maybe I was wrong. Maybe there's no pattern to it. Just a glitch..." she finished on a dead tone.

Sonic was about to say something else, but then a sound called his attention, and he gasped in surprise. "Holy chilidogs!" he cried out in awe.

Zipp stood up and turned around, just to see that three weird auras of blue, pink and orange colors where 'powering' the Crystals. "What in the wing feathers?" Zipp exclaimed, as both she and Sonic saw the Crystals getting brighter. They also noticed that those auras were coming from the lower floor, probably it came from their friends.

And just as they thought, those auras were coming from Izzy, Sunny and Pipp. The three mares were at the kitchen, laughing as they putted the Miniature Glimmerberry tarts on boxes, and Pipp even ate one just for fun. Apparently, the harmony between the three friends was powering the Unity Crystals, and the only ones that where witnessing the moment where Sonic and Zipp, who looked the auras and the Crystals in awe.

Suddenly, the Crystals shined bright, and the earth pony crystal glowed on a green color, as the in walls of the room started to grow some plants drawings, as the earth pony crystal kept shining bright. Both Sonic and Zipp looked in awe at the room, but mostly Zipp, because she never saw something like that before.

"I don't believe this..." Zipp said, still surprised of the sudden reaction of the Crystals.

"Wow..." Sonic said. "This is... like some kind of new magic..." Sonic theorized. "Zipp, quick! Get the others before it fades away!" he told the pegasus. Zipp nodded, and the trotted to the first floor trough the elevator. Sonic stayed, looking in awe at the walls. "This is incredible... I never though magic could do things like this. I'm so used to it hitting me in the face or something..." he said, as he remembered the bad experience he had with Erazor Djinn.

Meanwhile, Zipp arrived with the group in a hurry. "Everypony, quick! Come upstairs! You have got to see this!" she stated.

"Zipp, bright them here now! This thing is fading away!" Sonic shouted from the top.

Sonic, on the other hand, watched how the symbols of plants in the walls started to fade away.

"Oh no, don't you dare!" Sonic pointed at the Crystals. "Don't you even dare!" he shouted again, but the symbols faded away. And right at that moment, the Mane 5 arrived on the elevator. "Oh, c'mon!" Sonic yelled at the air, as he facepalmed in frustration.

"Wow!" Izzy said, as she jumped to the front. "What are we looking at?" she asked, still smiling.

"There were all these vines growing on the wall!" Zipp said with worry. "And they were glowing!" she added.

"Not to mention, the Crystals were shining more than usual" Sonic pointed out with a neutral expression and his arms crossed.

The others, however, were doubtful about what Zipp and Sonic told them, as Izzy and Pipp looked at each other. "Glowing vines?" Pipp questioned.

Zipp then sighed and turned to see the rest. "Okay. I have a confession. I've been monitoring the Crystals and I think something is wrong with them" she finally revealed, as she turned to see the Crystals. Sonic felt surprised that Zipp decided to tell, and kinda admire it too, since he had some secrets on his own that couldn't tell yet.

"What? No there isn't" Sunny assured with a smirk, and once again, Sonic frowned at her.

What the hell is going on with her? Sonic thought. Ever since our little incident with Posey, I feel like Sunny's trying to avoid something. But what?

"None of you have noticed that magic seems kinda weird lately?" Zipp asked, as she turned to face her friends. "Like it keeps switching off, or something" she added.

"You gotta be kidding me" Sonic said with a deep voice, as he shocked his head in disappointment. Pipp noticed that, and felt a little bad.

Zipp the remembered something. "Hitch?" she called, as she looked at him. "I saw what happened at the beach the other day! Didn't you take––" she tried to ask, but Hitch acted very defensive.

Zipp blinked with a frown at Hitch's attitude. "... down a report?" she finished to ask.

"Oh! Right, a report" he said, a little more calmed now. But then got nervous again, "Actually, that reminds me, gotta go file that report!" he excused himself, then stood on the elevator.

"Hey, you wait a second!" Izzy complained, as she and Pipp got down with Hitch. "You were gonna teach us how to make life-sized gummy bunnies! she pointed out.

"I know it sounds weird, but I know what I saw! And what I've been seeing" Zipp told Sunny.

"Be grateful you're not the only one who has saw the magic failing" Sonic pointed out, but he just looked at Zipp, he completely ignored Sunny.

"Like the other day, when I was flying back from Zephyr Heights, these two pegasi crashed into each other and I think it––" she tried to said, but Sunny cut her off.

"I'm sorry, Zipp" Sunny apologized. "I've been so caught up in all the festival planning"

"Which only reflects that you care more about minor things than real problems" Sonic mumbled to himself.

Sunny decide to ignore him for the moment and looked back at Zipp. "This is all my fault" she said, looking at the floor with sadness

Sonic was starting to loose his patience over Sunny. He wouldn't mind in other circumstances, but she had all the proves right there, yet she was still denying it.

"But you said it yourself!" Zipp pointed at Sunny. "Your alicorn magic keeps appearing randomly! You don't find that strange at all?!" Zipp questioned, not being able to believe that Sunny was being so nescient.

"No, I-I think that's just because I'm still learning" Sunny said, not really convinced on herself.

And that was the straw that broke the camel's back for Sonic. He's fist was charged with his electrical power, and he hit a wall and growled in frustration, making the whole room shake a little. But Sunny and Zipp stared at him, confused and - at least in Sunny's case - scared.

"Zipp..." Sonic said with a deep voice. "Leave me alone with Sunny. I have to talk with her" he requested calmed, but his voice was warning her.

"Now!" Sonic ordered this time. Then he softened his look a little. "Please" he said.

Zipp hesitated, but nodded and left the place flying. Sunny, on the other hand, looked at Sonic in fear, because when he wasn't joking around and started to talk seriously, It was time to fear. She gulped as Sonic though a little before speak again.

"Let me tell you something, Sunny" Sonic started, still with his deep and serious voice. "There's these pony who was been... worrying me, to put it in someway. She is very close to her friends, and loves to have fun with them. But whenever she sees a problem, or hears about one, magic related or not, she does everything she can to solve it. Does that story sounds familiar to you?" he asked her, in a very sarcastic way.

Sunny gulped, then nodded in response, since she didn't wanted to say anything... mainly because she didn't knew what to say.

"Now, lately there's been several magical problems around" Sonic kept explaining. "Some pegasi are falling out of nowhere, and some unicorns magic is not working. Even the earth ponies have some problems, because they seem to be stuck to the floor for many minutes. Heck, even hours!" he revealed, which make Sunny to gasp. "Two of the best friends of that pony I mentioned told her about the glitches. And what did she do? Did she tried to find a solution? Look the problem by herself? Give some support to her friends? Amazingly, no. She denied that there was a problem, and made up a vague and unbelievable excuse!" he yelled with anger. "Do you understand now why I'm worried about this pony, Sunny?" he asked with a frown.

Sunny didn't knew exactly how to react, because he was clearly talking about her. She sighed and then finally looked at Sonic. "I... I do" she replied. "I've been trying so hard to make Maretime Bay Day a great celebration for everypony, that I didn't realize something was wrong... I still want to believe that we're all still learning, but... I don't know what to think anymore..." she confessed.

"... I... I have some secrets of my own... things that I've been hiding because I wanted to solve them before tell... but... I don't think I can hold it anymore..." Sonic confessed, still a little mad at Sunny for keep trying to deny there's something wrong, but now a little more calmed now that he knew she was just distracted. "Yet, I don't want to tell you either. It feels so personal that... I'm afraid I will drag you and the rest to trouble..." he added.

"You can tell us anything, Sonic. We're your friends, and I'm sure that whatever you're holding for yourself, we can all understand it" Sunny assured.

"... Yeah... I know, Sunny. I'll tell, but not now. Maretime Bay Day is two days ahead, and I think we should all enjoy that for now. We should leave the magical problems and... my things for the end of the festival" he suggested, smiling a little, while Sunny smiled back, glad that Sonic could think a little clear now. "And sorry for how I reacted earlier... I just couldn't take that you were trying to chill out so much. I'm supposed to be the 'fun and faster guy', not the reasonable one..." he apologized.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm not mad, and I kinda deserve it. So, no hard feelings" Sunny assured with a smile. "I'm going back down to keep baking some treats. Wanna join us?" she asked.

Sonic looked at the balcony, then looked at the Crystals and finally at Sunny. He wanted to keep his distance in order to not talking more than he should and tell about Eggman being in Equestria and the Chaos Emeralds thing. However, he also remembered the sad look on his friends because of not being there to help them, specially Pipp's reaction, that hurt him a little bit more than the others for some reason. He made up his mind and looked at Sunny with a smile.

"I have grow apart from you guys, haven't I?" he asked with a little smile and an embarrassed look.

"I gotta say, go out and run to clear my mind sounds great... But making bonds with my friends after being a little - too much - apart from them sounds funnier!" he stated with a smile.

Sunny then gasped a little. "Does that mean that...?" she tried to ask, but the excitement didn't let her finish.

Sonic became a ball and rolled until he got at Sunny's side on the elevator and stood up again. "Let's bake some treats for a festival, baby!" he yelled in excitement, as he put his arm around her neck and winked.

Sunny's smile grow bigger, and the elevator went down to the first floor. Sonic still wanted to go out and follow track of Eggman, however, he thought that let him aside for one time wasn't a bad idea. After all, he's been chasing Eggman to destroy his plans his whole life, so getting a brake for once wasn't going to hurt... right?

Eggman was analyzing a map given by the two Chaos Emeralds that Opaline found. They just started to glow out of nowhere and gave him the same map Sonic, Tails and Knuckles had.

"Interesting..." Eggman said to himself. "It seems that the Hedgehog has three of the Chaos Emeralds, and his little furry friends have one as well. With two of the Emeralds in my power, there's just one Emerald left that no one has found yet... and its curiously the one that I discovered it existed after what happened at little planet..." he said. "Finding the Emeralds should be a priority... but I think messing around with Sonic and his little friends has to be my main goal now. Once they're out of the equation, I'll get their Emeralds and then find the remaining one" he stated.

Now, about Opaline... I have to find a way to get rid of her the doctor though, since the alicorn was close to him, talking with a unicorn mare she had as an assistant. Once she gets those Crystals and all the Magic of those colorful talking horses, I have to make her disappear, or else my master plan won't succeed at all...

"Doctor" Opaline called out, while Eggman came out oh his thoughts and turned from his computer to look at Opaline. 'How was he called again? Um, 'Neo' says he wants to have a little chat with you" she said with a neutral expression.

"... I knew he would want to request something. And I'm afraid I know what it is..." Eggman said with a worried tone.

"No, my dear Opaline" Eggman replied. "Leave Neo to me. I may not like what he wants to request, but I know how to bend him while he remains at our side" he stated. He then walked alone to the corner where Neo Metal Sonic was being reconstructed, while Opaline stared at him with a frown.

"Doctor" Neo spoke out. "I see your partner gave you my message" he pointed out.

"Indeed. She told me that you wanted to have a little chat with me" Eggman mentioned.

"And I have the sensation that you already know why, don't you, doctor?" Neo asked rhetorically.

"You want something in exchange of helping me destroying the Hedgehog and his friends, or should I say, you want freedom after killing them" Eggman replied with a frown.

But for his surprise, Eggman smiled at him. "Oh, I'm just not celebrating my victory yet, that's all. I'm determined to not repeat the same stupid mistakes I've made so many times in the past. There's still many things that can go wrong, so that's why I'm doing everything step by step" he explained, as he started to walk around Neo.

Eggman laughed, and this just confused the robot even more. "Mocking me isn't going to work this time, Neo" Eggman stated, as he stopped in front of the robot. "Because no matter what you say or do, you won't be free ever again" he stated with an evil grin.

"I see..." Neo replied. "So you won't be freeing me if I help you, huh?" the robot stated.

"That's another thing, Neo. You have no choice" Eggman pointed out, then pressed a button on a panel as some robotic arms started to open Neo's head.

"What the...?! What are you doing?" the robot asked, as the hands hold his head and his whole body, while one hand stood there, waiting for the doctor's orders.

"I learn from my mistakes, Neo. You were a brilliant creation of mine, yes. Whoever, I lost count on how many times you stabbed me in the back, but no more. No more 'Neo', just Metal Sonic" Eggman explained. "In other words: you'll be just like the other machines, a robot who follows my orders with no hesitation. Metal Sonic will be just your nickname. From now on..." he started to say with an evil grin.

"NOOOOOO!!" Neo shouted, and then the robotic arm on his head switch a button that made Neo go back to his 'default settings', and now he was just a robot who followed orders, just as the doctor said.

"If it makes you feel any better: you're still the most powerful of my machines, hehehe" Eggman mocked, and then turned around back to his computer.

Opaline saw everything with her assistant, and they looked at each other worried and afraid of what Eggman was capable of doing if something didn't go the way he wanted.

Zipp was walking near Mane Melody with a bored expression and feeling frustrated. After Sonic ordered her to leave him and Sunny alone, she decided to take a walk to clear her mind. She was sure that, at the end, Sonic was probably going to be on Sunny's side and would keep helping with the festival. And she was mad that none of her friends sins Sonic, since he was there with her, believed on what happened with the Crystals at the Brighthouse.

The simple fact of remembering it made her groan, and she took out her phone. "Report. Nothing new to report" she started to record. "No more signs of mysterious glowing vines or Crystal glitches..." she said, but her phone suddenly started to sound because of a call incoming. She saw that, again, her mother was calling her. Zipp groaned in frustration, and answered the call. "Hi, mom" she greeted with annoyance.

"Zipp! There you are!" Haven said with a smile. "Have you been ignoring my calls, young filly?" she asked, now with a frown.

Zipp smiled nervously and lied. "No, no. Just busy, mom!" she replied. "I'm actually helping Sunny with decorations right now, so I gotta go" she added and then chuckled nervously.

"The decorations!" Haven pointed out. "Oh, didn't Pipp tell you? I'll be attending this Maretime Bay Day festival" Haven replied calmly.

"You will?" Zipp exclaimed with surprise and fear. "Why?!" she asked, as she opened her wings.

However, Haven didn't answered her because she was about to give a treat to Cloudpuff. "See you there, darling!" she said to Zipp before ending the call.

Zipp putted her phone back on her wing and rolled her eyes. "Come on!" she yelled with frustration. "There's gotta be something" she said, and then started to look all around Maretime Bay in search of something unusual. "Everything on Mane Street appears normal" she analyzed, but then she saw Hitch entering the station on a sneaky way and grabbing a bag with something. "Hmm... except that" she pointed out.

Inside the station, Hitch was still taking care of the egg he found on the beach. "Here you go, little one. I brought you some sand to make you more comfortable. I thought maybe you'd like that" he explained, then he putted a plushie of a crab at the left side of the egg, while McSnips appeared at the other side and patted the egg. "Lookin' rosy and cozy! Now, who wants to hear a story?" he asked to the egg.

"Ahh! Zipp!" Hitch exclaimed in surprise, as he closed the closet quickly. "Wow, you are sneaky!" he pointed out nervously. "What are you doing here?" he asked with a nervous smile.

Zipp looked at Hitch with a bored expression. "I had an instinct, so I followed. And I was right" she yelled with a grin. "You have been hiding something!" she said, then se flew over Hitch and landed above the closet and opened. She saw the egg inside, and giggled a little. "So, uh... what is it?" she asked confused.

"No clue. I saw it on the beach and I just knew it needed help" Hitch explained, as he looked down with his ears down. "I just––"

"Yeah" Hitch confessed with a smile. Zipp then landed at Hitch's side, as he looked at her. "Hey, uh... would you mind keeping this between us for now?" he requested.

"Sure, I can Zipp it" Zipp joked, but assured to not tell to anyone about the egg. Heck, how many secrets are there gonna be in this story? Anyway, the pegasus looked at Hitch with a playful smile.

"So... you're gonna read us that story now, or what?" Zipp asked on a mocking tone. Hitch smiled embarrassed, but before the conversation could continue, Zipp heard her phone making a sound, and when she took it out, both she and Hitch read a message of Pipp and gasped. "Oh no..." Zipp said, and the two ponies ran as fast as they could to the Brighthouse.

Once they arrived, they founded Izzy sitting on a little bench, Sunny and Sonic standing next to each other and Pipp standing in front of them. "We rushed right here! So what's the emergency?" Hitch asked with worry.

"Well, everypony seems really stressy lately" Pipp pointed out, looking at Zipp and Sonic since they both were the most apart lately. "We clearly need a break, and luckily, I know just the place" she added with a smile. She then inhaled and jumped on her place with happiness. "I planned a surprise for you! You're welcome!" she finished with a smile, which Sonic again found cute.

Man, I must be sick or something... Sonic though, still looking at Pipp. Why do I lately found Pipp and every single little thing she does... cute and adorable? She's just being the same, so why I keep... smiling at everything she does?

"Sounds good. What's that surprise of yours, Little Pipp?" Sonic asked with a little smile.

Zipp, however, had an idea of what kind of surprise her sister had planned. "Please don't let it be makeovers, please don't let it be makeovers" she begged.

And of course, Pipp's surprise was to do makeovers, at least to Zipp, Sunny and Izzy, since Jazz was filing Hitch's hooves - or trying to do so because Hitch was laughing as he felt tickles - and Sonic was on a massage seat having the most relaxed time of his entire life.

"But this is so relaxing!" Izzy said with a smile, while she and Sunny were reading some magazines. "And informative! Did you ponies know that there are over a thousand different kinds of hermit crabs?! Cause I... did not!" she yelled with happiness.

Zipp rolled her eyes, and then looked at Sonic with a frown. "Thanks for asking, Sonic..." she said with a very evident sarcasm.

Sonic, however, was enjoying the massage seat a lot. He even had some kiwis on his eyes and a mate on his hand. "I regret nothiiiiiiiiiing" he said with a smile, as his voice vibrated because of the seat.

Pipp laughed and blushed a little at his attitude, as she then walked towards the mares. "Don't you ponies love it here at Mane Melody?" Pipp asked with a big smile.

Rocky then noticed that Zipp was with a long and worried face. "What's wrong, Zipp?" he asked, as he pulled out comb. "Not a fan of Mane Melody?" he asked again.

"No, no. It's awesome" Zipp assured, smiling a little. "Pipp has done a great job here" she added with pride.

Pipp arrived at her sister's side and gasped in emotion. "You really think so?" she asked on disbelief, as Rocky walked away to give some space to the sisters.

"Yeah, I do" Zipp replied, and then her ears went down. "And hey, I'm sorry if I haven't been helping out" she apologized for getting apart. "My mind's just on other things" she added.

Sonic heard that, and he immediately turned off the massage chair, putted the mate down and grabbed the kiwis from his eyes, as he stood up and walked towards Pipp. "Yeah, I'm sorry too" he apologized as well. "I have my own problems to deal with, and I felt like I should just solve them alone. I didn't wanted to drag you all on it" he confessed with a little frown.

"Hey, It's fine Sonic" Sunny assured with a smile. "Just, tell us about them when you're ready" she stated once again.

Sonic smiled kindly at Sunny. "Thanks, Sunny. I will" he assured. "Also, I have been helping Zipp with some of her 'things'" he confessed with a neutral expression.

"Yeah, I wasn't talking about the Crystals at all... there's something even bigger than that" Sonic said with a frown.

"Oh, but I have reasons to be worried" Sonic stated, again on that deep and scary voice.

"And if something happens to those Crystals, we'll lose magic again for good!" Zipp pointed out. "Then it'll be no more flying and––" she tried to add, but Pipp cut her off.

"Sis, sis, sis, sis, sis, sis. You need to chill!" Pipp pointed out, she then looked at Sonic. "And you too, Sonic. Nothing is going to happen" she added with a smile. Then, she whistled and flied over the stage of the salon, where Jazz and Rocky where standing behind a golden microphone. "We've got our friends back, we've got magic back, and we've got..." she announced.

"Pipp, Pipp, hooray!" Sunny, Izzy and Hitch yelled together with Smiles, while Sonic and Zipp looked at each other with disapproval at their friends attitudes.

"What's going on with everyone acting like problems are just avoided these days?" Sonic asked with a frown.

Sunny heard the little conversation between Sonic and Zipp, and looked at them a little sad that they were still worried.

"This one goes out to my paranoid big sis and my handsome hedgehog friend: Zipp and Sonic!" Pipp announced, which cause Zipp to look confused and Sonic bored.

Pipp, Jazz and Rocky:
Shoop, shoop! Uh-huh! Shoop, shoop!
Shoop!

Pipp:
I know you're feelin' like there's somethin' wrong
But don't you worry, I have just the song for you (Mm-hmm!)
So kick those hooves up in this comfy chair
And you'll forget about those cares in a minute or two
Yeah! That's what you'll do-ooh-ooh

Jazz:
You've got a lot on your mane, and that's kind of tragic
But with a little bit of caring and a touch of magic

Rocky:
You'll feel brand new
And you'll forget what's been troublin' you

Pipp:
So put your hooves up high
'Cause we're feelin' all right (hey!)
Every day is awesome in Maretime Bay
So put your hooves up
Put your hooves up (hey!)
Everything is gonna be okay!

Zipp spent most of the song watching happy at her sister, that was, until she sang the last part of the song. And Sonic, well, he always saw Pipp's singing as something fantastic, but now, it was different. He saw it as a great show that he was glad he hadn't missed, and he spent most of the song smiling at the pegasus. But when she began to fly around the room in a genuine and elegant way, that was when something clicked in him. However, that 'click' disappeared upon hearing the last sentence of the song, and his frown and serious posture returned.

"You don't get it, do you?" Zipp yelled, tired of all this nonsense. "We can't just sing a song and ignore everything. If we lost magic this time, we may never get it back again!" she explained with a cracked voice. "And it'll be our fault" she finished, looking down with worry.

"Hate to be that guy, but Zipp's right, guys. We can't just shout 'Everything's gonna be fine' and call it a day!" Sonic pointed out. "And as much as I like to hear you sing, Pipp, this wasn't the time to do so" he added with a frown, which hurt Pipp a lot.

Suddenly, they all heard a thud outside the salon, and the Mane 5 and Sonic quickly got out to see what was happening.

They found two earth pony stallions, one unicorn stallion and Windy laying on the ground. Apparently, Windy was flying just as usual, when her magic started to fail and she fell onto the stallions. At first it was just the unicorn mad at Windy, but then Posey - to surprise of no one and annoyance for Sonic - arrived and began to fan the fire. She said thing like it wasn't fair that non magical ponies had to deal with accidents of the magical ones because they were not good at controlling their magic.

And the more angrier the earth ponies got, the darker the sky got all of a sudden. And when they heard a thunder, they all ran away from the place. Everypony except for the Mane 5 and Sonic, who looked at the storm with worry, and Hitch's crew hided behind his legs in fear.

Sonic, however, looked at the clouds with a frown and anger. "And like that, the storm finally begins" he whispered, knowing that, from here, things were going to get worst.

Back at the Crystal Brighthouse, the Mane 5 and Sonic were at the top with the Unity Crystals. At least, the Mane 5 were, because Sonic was on the balcony, thinking that it was time to tell the truth about Eggman and the Chaos Emeralds.

"I think I finally know what's happening to magic, why it's glitching!" Zipp said.

"What?!" Hitch said with confusion, while Sonic came inside and stood next to him.

"Okay, check this out" Zipp smirked, as she walked towards her sister. "Pipp, when we were fillies, I used to steal mom's chocolate-dipped cherries and blame it on you!" she confessed.

Pipp gasped in surprise and anger. "I knew it! You got me grounded like 12 times!" she yelled with anger as she opened her wings.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. And guess what? I don't like karaoke! It's the worst!" Zipp continued, as she growled to the idea of karaoke.

Pipp gasped in surprise, and Izzy decided to step into the conversation. "Hey, you take that back!" Izzy yelled with anger. Yup, Izzy was mad, something you never see. "Karaoke is a fun activity for every age and skill level!" she pointed out with a frown.

You know things are getting wild when Izzy, Izzy of all the ponies, gets mad Sonic though. He also noticed Pipp's hurt expression, so he decided to give her some comfort. He was about to do what he always does: put a hand around her neck and smile, but once Pipp noticed Sonic, she immediately attached to him in search of comfort. Sonic's heart started to beat faster than ever, even faster than when he runs, and he putted his hand on her mane, and then looked at Zipp with a frown. "Zipp, I get you want to prove your point, but you're crossing a line" he warned, while his eyes turned blue for a second.

"Zipp's allowed to like what she likes. Just because we enjoy something, doesn't mean she has to!" Sunny decided to step into the fight to try and calm things down.

But Hitch wasn't helping on that aspect. "Sunny, there's no need to get all huffy about it. Izzy and Sonic were just trying to stand up for Pipp!" he pointed out with a smile.

"Ugh! I didn't call you huffy, I said you were being huffy! There's a difference!" Hitch complained back, trying to justify his words.

While Hitch and Sunny were busy arguing like a married couple, Zipp got close to the Crystals. And as the fight between the two earth ponies kept going, the Crystals started to glitch again. But this time, they were all there to see it.

"Whoa!" Hitch exclaimed seeing the Crystals, which caused that everyone else looked at them as well.

"The Crystals get weaker" Zipp finished. "And the more unstable magic becomes in Equestria!" she added with worry.

"Which causes pegasi to lose their flight and fall on other ponies!" Sunny stated with worry.

"Not to mention earth ponies getting stuck on the ground out of nowhere" Sonic said as well.

"And weather changes..." Pipp added, looking at Sonic, and then she gasped. "Like a rando thunderstorm?" she asked, while Sonic nodded looking at her.

"Yup! Everything is all out of whack!" Zipp said with a frown, pointing at the Crystals.

"I wonder if this had anything to do with why the Crystals were separated all those years ago" Sunny wondered. "Or why I still can't seem to figure out my alicorn magic"

"I think Eggman found out about Equestria because of these things being separated" Sonic spoke. "He must knew that there was no magic here, so by sending me with the Emeralds out of power... he'll leave me stuck here with no way back" he pointed out.

"I don't know. I want to find out" Zipp said, looking at both Sunny and Sonic. "But if we want to keep magic in Equestria, first we need to get everypony back on the same page" she stated with confidence.

"Zipp's right, we can't give up" Sunny added, now willing to follow Zipp's plan. "We can still make Bay Day the celebration it's supposed to be" she stated with a smile.

"And harmony!" Pipp sang with a smile, and once again, Sonic found it adorable.

"Hoof to heart!" they all said while putted the hooves - hand in Sonic'c case - together.

While the Mane 5 decided to go back to the main floor, Sonic stayed on the top and went our to the balcony, just so he could see the view of Equestria.

"I know you're still out there, Eggman. And once Bay Day is over, I'm coming for you" Sonic whispered to himself. What's happening with me when I see Pipp? he though suddenly. I must be sick or something... I guess I just find her amazing and that's it. Now, about the other thing... I don't have to hide it anymore. "I'm gonna tell them, I'm gonna tell them everything" Sonic said with determination. "If they hate me, or if they get mad at me, then it will be okay, I deserve it anyway for hiding something like this. I can do this. Yeah, I can do this!" he yelled with excitement.

"I can't do this!" Sonic cried out with panic, now on the bedroom of the Brighthouse with Zipp and Hitch. "I know those three well, they're gonna hate me after I tell them!" he yelled, still with panic.

Hitch and Zipp looked at each other in worry. Sonic decided to tell Zipp first about the thing with the Chaos Emeralds. At first, Zipp didn't knew how to react since it was a lot to get in, and then, well, she felt a little mad at both Sonic and Hitch for not telling her nor the rest about that subject, although she kinda understood why they did it. At the end she accepted Sonic's apology, but she warned him to not do something like that ever again, and same with Hitch.

As for the sheriff, Sonic told him first about his encounter with Metal Sonic and that Eggman was now in Equestria. The fact that Sonic has told stories about everything Eggman's capable made Hitch felt worried, since he was sure Eggman could send an attack to Maretime Bay all of a sudden. He reacted a little panicked, but Zipp was able to calm him down, at least for now, because the one panicking a lot was Sonic.

"Hey man, I think you're worrying too much" Hitch said. "If anything, they're gonna react like Zipp: they'll be mad at you, and at me too, but at least they'll understand why we didn't told them" he added.

"And about Eggman, I think they will understand too... except for Pipp, I'm sure she won't take the fact that a Robot that looks like you almost killed you" Zipp added.

"Why Pipp, specifically?" Sonic asked confused. "Anyway, I'm not sure what to tell them exactly. Like, I'm sure the Eggman thing won't be that much of a trouble because it was a few days ago. But the thing with the Chaos Emeralds... that was 5 months ago, of course they're gonna hate me for not telling them!" Sonic pointed out in frustration.

"And even if they hated you, I'm sure you can do something to make up for them" Zipp assured with a smile.

"Man, I have fought a literal god that was going to destroy an entire city, yet I feel more nervous about telling my secrets than killing a god" Sonic pointed out with a little smile. Then, he walked over to his bed, raised the mattress and took out the chest with the 3 Emeralds he found so far. He sighed heavily, then looked at Zipp and Hitch. "If I'm gonna tell them, at least could you help me out? After all, you two know pretty much many of the details, if not all of them" he asked with a little embarrassed smile.

Zipp and Hitch looked at each other, then smiled and looked back to Sonic. "Of course we'll help you, buddy" Hitch assured.

Sonic smiled and nodded, then breathed deeply and carried the chest with the Chaos Emeralds. "Okay then, let's finish this over..." he said, as he started to walk back to the first floor with Zipp and Hitch following him.

Once he reached the main floor, he saw the three mares having fun by packing some more treats on boxes. He looked specifically to Pipp, at her smile, at her mane, and his heart started to beat faster again. However, he then saw the other mares, also smiling, and he focused back on what he had to do.

Pipp was the first one to notice their three missing friends arriving. "Oh, hey guys!" she greeted smiling, as Sunny and Izzy turned to see the rest and smiled as well. "What took you so long?" she wondered.

None of them answered, and Sonic put the chest on the table. He was incredible nervous, and Izzy noticed that the most, since she noticed his sparkle wasn't shining at all. "Uh, what's on the chest?" Sunny asked.

Sonic sighed heavily, then looked at Zipp and Hitch, who nodded at him with smiles, and Sonic smiled back. Then , he looked back at the other three mares with a serious expression. "Girls... I... I have some things to confess... and this chest is part of it, but I'll get to that later" he started to explain. The three mares looked at each other confused, then looked back at Sonic. "I will start saying that... Eggman, somehow, has managed to find me. He's now out there, hiding somewhere... here in Equestria" he let the bomb finally explode.

"A few days ago, Eggman sent Metal Sonic to kill me" Sonic revealed, which caused Sunny and Izzy to gasp, and Pipp to cover her mouth with a hoof. "I managed to kick his robo-butt, but knowing that Eggman was here... it scared me. The idea of any of you getting hurt because of his obsession to get rid of me made me sick, so... I just decide to keep to me and not tell you. I felt that Eggman was my responsibility, and you were so excited with the Bay Day that... I just thought the best was to deal with this myself" he added, looking at the ground with shame. "I'm sorry to bring that up just now..." he apologized.

"That thing tried to kill you?!" Pipp yelled with worry, the she started to fly around Sonic, checking on him. "Are you hurt? Injured? Dying?!" she exclaimed, looking now at his eyes.

"Pipp, don't worry!" Sonic assured with a comfortable smile, which managed to calm her down a little. "Look at me, not in the eyes only, all of me" he requested, and then Pipp looked at his entire body, now with more patience, and after a few seconds, she sighed in relief. "See? I'm fine. As I said, I got rid of him. Wish I've had destroyed him, but..." he cut off on midsentence, then ran upstairs and came back in less than 1 second. "... at least I ripped his arm off" he said with a grin, as he putted the arm of Metal Sonic in the table.

"Ooh!" Izzy exclaimed with awe, while the rest stared at the arm in disgust, and Pipp stared at it with anger. "Mind if I unicyle this thing, buddy?" she asked to Sonic, still looking at the arm.

Izzy levitated the arm with her magic, and ran towards her crafting spot. "I'll be right back!" she yelled.

Sonic's smile faded, and he looked ashamed at the ground. "That's... not gonna like you, I can tell you that" he warned, then he grabbed the chest from the table. "Remember that I told you about the Chaos Emeralds? You know, those things which power Eggman used to get me here" he asked the two mares in front of him, as they nodded while Izzy came back. "Well... this is where you're gonna hate me... I found 3 of them... 5 months ago" he said, then he opened the chest to reveal the red, blue and green Chaos Emeralds. As it's been happening, they were not glowing, but they were impressed enough to make the mares look at them in awe.

"Wait a second... 5 Months ago? Didn't you said that maybe finding these Emeralds was gonna help you go home?" Sunny questioned.

"They should, but Oh surprise! They don't work!" Sonic replied sarcastically. "This whole time, I've been trying to find a way to activate their power, but nothing works. And the only time the did shone again, they just gave me a map of Equestria, with a place called 'Opaline's Castle' that I have no idea where it is because everywhere I go, it's a dead end. And this 'Opaline' has 2 Chaos Emeralds too, which means there's 2 Emeralds missing. I only told Hitch about this, and made him stay quiet. I kept this a secret... because I was scared that I will give you problems from my world. Even now, that I'm telling you, I'm scared that Eggman would attack and hurt you... I'm sorry for not telling you before" he finished, with an ashamed expression. "I will understand if you hate me after this, or even if you want to hit me. I deserve it" he added.

Sunny was processing everything she just heard, Izzy didn't understood everything but wasn't ignorant either, and Pipp had a frown looking at Sonic. The three mares were mad at Sonic for keeping something this big and important as a secret, but Pipp was mostly mad because she felt like Sonic didn't trust them at all. However, she knew that wasn't the case, otherwise he wouldn't have told them about this a few seconds ago.

Pipp was the first one to react, she walked at quick steps towards Sonic. "Oh no, here it comes!" Sonic said, but instead of running, he just closed his eyes and waited for the pegasus to slap him. Big was his surprise when she just hugged him, and now he didn't knew exactly how to react. "This is... unexpected. I'm not complaining, tho" he said with a little smile, hugging Pipp back.

"Sonic, I think I talk for Sunny and Izzy when I say we can't hate you" Pipp spoke while broke the hug, and both Sunny and Izzy nodded their heads at her statement. "But please, NEVER kept something this big again!" she pled. "You are our friend, and we'll love to help with any problem you have, no matter what kind of problem it is" she added.

"Yeah, no cool keeping something this important eating your mind" Izzy spoke next.

"I know you didn't wanted to worry us, Sonic, but next time you discover something that seems important, tell us" Sunny requested as well with a smile.

Sonic looked in disbelief at his friends. "I... guess I'm too loyal to those that matter to me. I wanted to protect you, even if that meant that I had to lie... and I'm sorry. From now on, no more secrets, Hedgehog's honor!" he assured with a smile, a hand on his chest and the other one raised.

The three mares smiled at him, then looked at each other and nodded. Before Sonic could ask anything, the three mares lunged at him, knocking him down to wrap him in a hug. The three mares laughed as Sonic sat down on the floor with a smile. He noticed that Zipp and Hitch where looking at them laughing, and then smiled.

"Come on, you two!" Sonic told to the ponies staring at them. "Don't just stand there watching, join us!" he said.

Both Zipp and Hitch looked at each other, then smiled and lunged at the rest, joining to the group hug and laughing.

"Now THIS is what I call a good job!" Tails exclaimed with a smile, looking at the finally finished plane that he and Knuckles would use to travel all across Equestria and look for Sonic. After a week of arriving to this place, and after spending that time building the plane, they were finally ready to look out for Sonic.

Knuckles whistled at the view. "Not bad. This is indeed a fantastic work" he pointed out with a smile as well. "Should we put it a name? Like we did with the Tornado?" he asked to Tails.

"Hmm... How about... Cyclone?" Tails suggested. "I mean, to keep the 'natural disaster name' tradition" he pointed out.

"The Cyclone... I like it. Yeah, let's work with that" Knuckles stated with confidence.

"And now that the Cyclone is ready, let's pack up everything we need and look for Sonic!" Tails stated, as he ran towards his desk to get what he needed ready. Knuckles already had everything he needed - just some grapes, the map of Equestria and the Chaos Emerald - so he just sat down on his seat. Tails arrived after a few minutes, and he looked at Knuckles with a smile. "Ready to travel trough the skies?" he asked to the Equidna.

Tails nodded, and turned up the Cyclone. The propeller started to spin around until the plane's motor made noise. The Cyclone began to move on the ground, until it gained enough speed to lift off the ground, and Tails lifted the plane towards the top of the tree. He dodged some branches of the tree house, and finally reached the top of the tree, climbing out of the tree and finally beginning his trek through Equestria to meet Sonic.

"Way to go, infant prodigy!" Knuckles yelled with pride. "Well, you're not a kid anymore, but you get it!" he corrected himself.

"Hehe, yeah! I'm glad it actually worked" Tails cheered. "And now that we're out of that tree, could you look at the map and tell us were to go?" he requested to the Equidna.

"Sure" Knuckles replied, and took out the map. "Alright, let's see... we were on this tree, and the mountain in the distance seems to be the same on the map... apparently, there's this place called 'Zephyr Heights' on that mountain over there. I think it could be a good place to start looking for him. Besides, it's the closest one according to the map" Knuckles suggested.

"So, to the mountain?" Tails asked, and Knuckles nodded. "Alright then, hang on tight!" he warned, as he moved the Cyclone faster and directed towards Zephyr Heights.

"You know, after a week of darkness and isolation on that tree, seeing so many colors and light is giving me a headache" Knuckles confessed, looking at the view of Equestria.

"Yeah, I'm having a hard time adapting to the light as well, but at least I can fly the Cyclone" Tails replied. Then, he noticed a black point that became bigger when they were getting closer. "Hey, whats that?" the younger asked, looking at the point that started to get clear and clear the closer they get. And then Tails saw the face of Neo Metal Sonic flying towards them. "Holy mints!" he exclaimed, and quickly moved the plane to one side, dodging the robot.

Knuckles then turned around to see at the thing coming back, but this time at their backs. "Um, Tails, it is Metal Sonic..." he revealed with a frown.

"What?!" Tails cried out in surprise and worry. "But then... that means... that Eggman's here too!" he yelled with worry.

"Oh great! Whenever it seems like we got rid of him, he comes back to be a pain in the ass!" Knuckles yelled with anger and frustration. "And it's about to get worst! Incoming!" he warned Tails, since Metal Sonic was about to crash against the plane.

Tails began to maneuver the plane evasively, dodging Metal Sonic's attempts to ram the plane and bring it down. Knuckles held on at all times, and prayed inside that nothing bad happened to them. He didn't doubt Tails' piloting skills, but he never hurt to be cautious. Metal Sonic started shooting at the plane, fed up with trying to ram it and fully ready to take out Tails and Knuckles.

"That's it!" Knuckles yelled, as he stood up on his seat. "Tails, keep driving this thing and don't you dare to stop just to help me, understood?" he ordered the younger.

"Don't. You dare. To stop!" Knuckles yelled again, and then glided towards Metal Sonic. He crashed with the robot, who stopped to shooting at the Cyclone, and Knuckles started to punch his face and back. "We spent a week building that thing!" he started to yell, still punching Metal Sonic. "And we're not gonna a let a piece of junk like you to destroy our hard work! We will find Sonic, defeat Eggman and go home!" he assured.

But suddenly, Metal grabbed Knuckles from his neck and started to cut off his breath. "No, you won't!" Eggman spoke trough Metal Sonic, and then launched Knuckles back to the Cyclone.

The Equidna landed on his seat in the plane, and Tails turned to look at him worried. "Knux, are you okay?!" he asked, but he got distracted checking on Knuckles and didn't noticed that Metal Sonic shoot at one of the wings, and the plane began to fall down. "Woah!" Tails yelled.

They were falling straight to a place that looked like a landing track, but they were falling so fast that Tails didn't had time to pull the plane up, and they crashed really hard on the ground.

Metal Sonic arrived at the place and scanned the entire area, which was only covered by parts of the now wrecked plane. Metal Sonic detected no signs of life, so he flew away at full speed.

Tails and Knuckles came out of the plane, relieved that Metal wasn't there anymore. Tails looked at the plane with sadness and sighed. "Well, there goes a week of work..." he said in disappointment.

"What in the name of Equestria is going on here?!" a female voice said suddenly, making Tails to turn around and find... a pony.

"Huh... a talking horse with wings..." Knuckles said a little surprised and very confused.

"It's called a pegasus, Knuckles" Tails corrected him, "And it seems like they're mad at us..." he pointed out, since there were two pegasi there with frowns.

The two pegasus decided to escort Tails and Knuckles to their Queen, since they 'invaded' the pegasi territory and destroyed the landing track for the royal guard pegasi.

"At least we're now at Zephyr Heights" Tails pointed out, trying to be a little more optimistic.

"Yeah, but this was a short visit to ask about Sonic, not to stay and talk to the royalty!" Knuckles complained again.

"Well, at least we will ask about him, and also explain our little incident with Metal Sonic" Tails explained.

"This is just what I said before: Whenever it seems like we got rid of him, he comes back and mocks us with another stupid scheme!" Knuckles yelled in frustration.

"Look, let's deal with Eggman later, okay? Right now, our priority has to be find Sonic" Tails pled to Knuckles, and he sighed in frustration and nodded.

They finally arrived to the Throne Room of the Castle, and looked at the Queen of Zephyr Heights flying down, until she sat down on her throne.

"Thunder, Zoom" she greeted to the guards that escorted Tails and Knuckles, as the pegasi guards kneeled at their Queen. "Please, tell me what's so important that you had to interrupt my free time moment" she demanded for an explanation.

"Queen Haven, your majesty" Zoom spoke out. "We found these two creatures on the now destroyed landing track" she explained.

"Um, excuse me, your majesty?" Tails called out, and Haven looked at him, in awe since she felt a little deja vu. "My name's Miles Prower, but everyone calls me Tails, and the big guy here at my side is Knuckles the Equidna. We're really sorry for destroying your landing track, it was an accident!" he justified.

However, after looking at both Tails and Knuckles for a few minutes, she gasped on disbelief. "Two creatures, standing on two feet, with gloves and shoes? Again?" she yelled in surprise.

That made Tails and Knuckles look at each other confused. "Again?" they both asked in unison.

"Excuse me, your majesty. This isn't the first time you look at creatures like... us?" Knuckles asked.

"Of course not!" Haven stated. "You don't happen to know a guy named Sonic, do you?" she asked with curiosity.

That was all Tails and Knuckles needed to hear to feel happiness like they never felt before. Tails acted like a little kid yelling 'Yes!' with joy, while Knuckles closed his eyes and sighed in relief. They were more close than ever to reunite with Sonic now.

"Yes! we do know him!" Tails replied directly now with a big smile. "He's our friend, and we came here to fin him!" he explained, still trying to process the fact that Sonic was close.

"We arrived a week ago, and we build up the vehicle that we accidentally crashed on your landing track" Knuckles added. "You see, there's this guy that––" he tried to explain, but then a big noise was heard from the outside.

And then, another pegasi guard entered to the room in a hurry. "Your majesty!" the guard kneeled at his Queen.

"It's Sonic the Hedgehog! He's at the landing track, he's been attacked by... some kind of robot that looks like him!" Heracles explained with worry.

Tails and Knuckles frowned and then looked at each other. "Metal Sonic!" they both yelled in unison.

"That robot is the reason why our plane crashed onto your track, your majesty!" Knuckles explained.

Both Tails and Knuckles nodded, and immediately ran out of the Throne Room, ready to bring Sonic some help.

A few Hours before Tails and Knuckles finished their plane, Sonic woke up with a little frustration since he loved to sleep on Wednesday's, but he knew he had to help his friends with the final touches of the decorations for Maretime Bay Day and, of course, a plan to make all the ponies get along in order to keep magic.

They were a day ahead of the festival, and as Sonic expected, the rest were already up because no one else was on the bedroom, and there where noice's and laughs from the first floor. Sonic growled and stretched up, then he quickly got his bed done, putted his shoes on and fixed his quills. He decided to take a little moment to relax at the top of the Brighthouse, and once again, enjoy the amazing view of Equestria.

He liked the peace and quiet that land had, although he knew that it wouldn't last longer since Eggman was now there too. But until he decided to make a move again, he was just going to stay and enjoy the peaceful scenery.

"So here's where you were hiding" a voice said at his back, a voice that has been music to his ears the last few days.

"Morning, Little Pipp" Sonic greeted to his pegasus friend with a smile. "What brings you up here?" he asked.

"To be honest, I was looking for you" Pipp confessed with a little blush. "You know, since you were a little apart this days because of the guy that's bothering you and all" she added.

"Yeah, again, sorry for not telling this before. I was scared something could happen to all of you" Sonic apologized again. "I know Eggman, and he's willing to kill innocents just to get what he wants..." he added with worry.

"At least you told us, and that's what matters" Pipp said, putting her hoof over Sonic's hand, which make Sonic blush a little as well. "But please, don't hold back more secrets to us... to me..." she pled to him with sadness on her eyes, which broke Sonic's heart as he quickly talked to comfort her.

"Hey..." he started, as he turned his hand and grabbed gently Pipp's hoof. "I promised I won't hide anything else, and I will keep my promise, you know that I kept my word at any cost, right?" he asked with a smile, as he putted his other hand on Pipp's cheek, who smiled softly at him.

Suddenly, Sonic's ear twitched, and he turned his head around at the direction of the sound, letting Pipp's check and hoof go in the process. This confused and worried Pipp, since Sonic was now frowning. "What's wrong?" she asked with worry.

Sonic didn't replied immediately, he just closed his eyes and concentrated on the sound he heard before. Pipp took that as a sign to stay quiet for the moment. Sonic didn't heard anything at first, but suddenly, he heard what it was like rockets, and he opened his eyes in fear, turning his whole body into the direction of the sound. "You gotta be kidding me..." he said with his deep voice.

"Metal Sonic" Sonic replied with a frown, and Pipp gasped while putted a hoof on her mouth. "Eggman must have upgraded him, and now he must be coming towards me" Sonic theorized. "But I'm not letting that happen!" he yelled, and then prepared to run towards the woods.

But Pipp flied quickly in front of him and stopped him. "Wait! Last time you may have won, but if that Eggman guy really upgraded him, then maybe you won't have the same luck!" she pointed out with worry.

"Maybe, but if I don't try to stop him now, someone can get hurt in Maretime Bay, and I cannot allow that!" Sonic protested.

"Sonic, I don't want anything to happen to you!" she replied, then blushed at what she just said and tried to correct herself. "A-And I know our friends don't want that either!" she added.

"Look, I get it Pipp, you don't want me to get hurt or something worst, and I appreciate that you worry about me, but I have to stop him or else there won't be a Maretime Bay Day tomorrow!" Sonic pointed out, but Pipp didn't wanted to let him go. He sighed and softened his look at her, "Listen, give me 10 minutes to bring that piece of junk down, and If I don't come back in that time, tell the others and go look after me, okay?" he stated with a calm voice and a little smile.

Pipp was at the edge of crying, however, she knew she won't convince Sonic to stay, so sighed defeated and looked at him. "Okay... Just, one more thing before you leave" she said. She gulped as she flied to be at the same height of Sonic's face, as he looked confused at her. But before he could ask anything, Pipp grabbed his neck with her hoofs and she kissed Sonic's cheek softly for a few seconds. Sonic felt like the entire world around suddenly disappeared and felt his heart beating faster than ever. If he already suspected he was having feelings for Pipp, her little action just confirmed his suspicions. "Be careful out there, Sonic" Pipp said to him with a blush.

Sonic looked at her, not knowing what to say since he didn't expected something like that, but he heard Metal Sonic again and focused back on the task. "I will, Pipp. And I promise I'll come back!" he stated lastly, before finally ran off towards his enemy.

Pipp stared at the direction where he boosted out running, and her worry growed even more. "Sonic... please come back to me..." she whispered to herself.

Metal Sonic was flying over a field of flowers towards Maretime Bay. Now that he 'eliminated' Tails and Knuckles, he was going to destroy Sonic once and for all, since he wasn't an IA anymore and he only followed orders with no hesitation.

However, Metal's system detected an attack incoming, but he wasn't fast enough to dodge it and got hit by a blue ball. The ball landed in the ground and stoop up to reveal Sonic, mad at the robot and ready for the second match.

"Well, but if it isn't Sonic the Hedgehog! Glad I'm gonna see you... for the last time!" Eggman stated, and even though he couldn't see him, Sonic knew he was smiling.

"Say, isn't Neo supposed to be its own thing?" Sonic asked, confused that Metal Sonic had his 'Neo' form, yet he wasn't talking.

"Neo is one of my biggest mistakes. Do you think I'm fool enough to upgrade him without restrictions?" Eggman asked with sarcasm. "He's nothing but another robot that follows orders now! I disabled his AI for good, so he can't turn against me! " he explained as he laughed like a maniac.

Sonic vs Metal Sonic: Round 2 (Background Music)

Sonic growled, summoned his electrical power and launched himself at Metal Sonic. But this time, Metal raised his metal hand and caught Sonic in a ball, and with his other hand hit him, making him fall to the ground somewhat dizzy. Sonic shook his head and glared at the robot. Metal was the one to lunge at Sonic now, and though Sonic was able to dodge the attack at the last minute, Metal somehow managed to move nimbly and grab Sonic by the foot and launch him into a mountain.

Sonic got stuck on the mountain, sore from the impact his back received from the blow. He tried to get out of the mishap of him, but Metal came flying quickly, grabbed him by the neck and took off upwards, dragging Sonic down the mountain and applying karma to him for doing that to him days ago. Once the mountain was over, Metal threw Sonic into the air and began to land multiple punches all over his body, finally landing one that sent him flying and landing at Zephyr Heights' landing track.

Now, Sonic was laying with pain all over his body because of Metal Sonic. He slightly moved his head to the side, and noticed that he was surrounded by debris, but not far away he also saw a plane in pieces. "A-A... plane?" Sonic asked weakly, as he coughed some blood.

Metal Sonic landed soon, in front of him, and looked on the same direction Sonic was looking at, then looked back at the hedgehog. "It appears that you have found your little furry friends airplane. A shame that even if I left now, the only thing you would found it's the corpses of them" Eggman mocked, since he didn't knew Tails and Knuckles weren't dead.

"W-What... are you... t-talking about?" Sonic asked, still feeling weak and sore.

"Oh, you didn't knew?" Eggman mocked with a grin. "Tails and Knuckles came to Equestria to look after you, but they already have met their fate, hehehehe" he 'revealed'.

That made Sonic's eyes grow big and look at Metal Sonic with horror. "What?!" he asked on disbelief.

"Your friends wanted to see you, but thanks to Metal Sonic, they won't be a problem anymore" Eggman replied and started to laugh like a maniac.

All Sonic could do now was feel anger, which grew and grew and grew, until it made him explode. His whole body was covered with electricity, he got up from the ground and tried to hit Metal Sonic, but Metal Sonic grabbed him by the neck again and began to cut his breath.

"Listen to me, Hedgehog" Eggman warned. "After 21 years of humiliations and defeats, I finally have the key to get rid of you" he explained, while Metal Sonic took one of Sonic's quills, and kept it in a compartment that he hid in his back, and disappeared surrounded by for a purple aura. "But it's no use explaining everything to you. Just knowing that I have 2 Chaos Emeralds and a legion of machines ready to end this world I say more than enough" he declared.

"D-Damn old son of a..." Sonic tried to say, but Metal Sonic tightened his hold on him.

"It's a shame you won't be here to witness it anymore" Eggman assured, and then Metal knocked Sonic to the ground and aimed a plasma beam at the Hedgehog, ready to kill him once and for all. "Now, prepare to die!" he announced.

Sonic just closed his eyes, and waited for his fate to arrive... but he heard then a growl and something punching a metallic object. Sonic opened his eyes confused, hardly stood up and opened his eyes with surprise: Metal was a few meters away, and in front of him there was Knuckles, standing with his fists raised.

Knuckles turned around and looked at Sonic. "Hey there, pal. Long time no see!" he greeted, as he extended his hand to Sonic.

Sonic took his hand, and feeling the touch of the Equidna confirmed that he wasn't hallucinating: Knuckles was actually there, and Sonic smiled with joy. And then Metal Sonic got hit by a yellow SpinDash, and then the hit of a plasma weapon. The one who made those attacks was Tails, and that just made Sonic's smile grow bigger.

"T-Tails!" he tried to exclaimed. He was feeling happy, but he was still sore as well.

"Sonic!" Tails exclaimed happy, and immediately hugged Sonic. "You have no idea of how much I missed you, man!" he said, still hugging Sonic.

"Guys, I hate to be the party pooper, but let's save the 'happy reunion moment' for when Metal Sonic is nothing but junk, okay?!" Knuckles called out.

"E-Everything hurts... but when its about kicking Eggman's machines metallic buts, no pain can hold me back!" Sonic assured, as he walked slowly towards Knuckles' side. Tails smiled and stood at Sonic's side. Metal Sonic looked at Team Sonic with anger, as the group of heroes stared back with the same hate towards the machine.

Sonic positioned himself to run, while Knuckles cracked his knuckles and Tails reloaded his plasma weapon. Metal Sonic fired his rockets and shot towards Team Sonic. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles decided to charge at Metal as well, with Knuckles matching Sonic's speed and Tails flying at the same rate as them.

Sonic Heroes (Main Theme)

Once they were about to collide with Metal Sonic, Sonic slipped under the robot, while Tails and Knuckles separated in opposite directions. Sonic then began to run at full speed around Metal Sonic, creating a dust storm that blocked his view. Metal Sonic began to look in all directions, but couldn't see anything. Suddenly, Knuckles burst through the dust storm and slammed his fist into Metal Sonic's screen, blocking any chance of detecting his enemies' attacks.

But it didn't stop there: Knuckles climbed on top of Metal Sonic as if he were a wild animal he wanted to tame and started hitting his head harder and harder; then he got down and hit the legs with all the force that his fist gave him, then hit his chest and shoulders until they were completely shattered. "Yes!" Knuckles exclaimed happily, "I haven't had a good fight in months!" he exclaimed with a smile. "Come on, Tails, it's your turn!" he yelled at the two-tailed fox.

Tails decided to mainly use his plasma weapon and shoot at his arms, then use his tails as pincers and rip one of his arms off with them. He repeated the same process with the other arm, then smiled victoriously. "How about those attacks, Eggman?!" the minor scoffed. "Sound like something a coward would do against human trash like you?" he added as he did a SpinDash against Metal Sonic's chest.

Now that Metal Sonic was lying on the ground, Sonic decided to step in to deliver the killing blow. With the help of Tails, he propelled himself into the air, and once he gained enough height, he summoned his electrical power, charged up his SpinDash and launched himself towards the ground, piercing Metal Sonic's chest, and doing a backflip, landing on the ground. Side of Tails and Knuckles, who did not know whether to see the robot with pleasure for not being a hindrance anymore, or to see Sonic impressed by his new power.

"Okay... now that he's out of the way... can we have our emotional and happy reunion now?" Sonic asked looking at Tails and Knuckles.

They both looked at each other, smiled and then lunged at Sonic, hugging the hedgehog with joy after not seeing each other for 6 months. "Don't you ever scare us like that again, Hedgehog!" Knuckles said, still hugging Sonic.

"I missed you guys a lot, like you seriously have no idea!" Sonic replied with a big smile, as he and the rest stood up. "There's a lot we have to talk about, I know, but first..." he said, as he looked around with an awkward smile, "... I think we should clean this mess up..." he pointed out, as Tails and Knuckles looked around as well, and gulped. "And also, find a doctor... my whole body hurts..." he said as he fainted in the ground.

Several hours later, after cleaning all the mess they caused with Metal Sonic and the now destroyed plane, as well as put some dangers signs at the request of Queen Haven so pegasi don't land there, and give Sonic some medical attention, Sonic Tails and Knuckles decided to talk about everything they lived in the last six months before Sonic took Tails and Knuckles to Maretime Bay.

"So you had quite an adventure with those ponies" Knuckles said, while the trio walked out of Zephyr Heights. "And you found Chaos Emeralds that aren't working either, huh?" he pointed out with a frown.

"Yeah" Sonic replied with a smile. "If it wasn't because of those 5 new friends I made, I'll probably be dead by now. And as for the Emeralds, I've been trying to find out why they don't seem to work. To tell the truth, the connection I always felt with them faded away ever since I found them" he confessed.

"I guess Eggman's Emeralds are failing too, since ours doesn't work either" Tails pointed out, looking at the Emerald on his hand. "I wonder if this has something to do with the Emeralds being on another dimension or something..." he wondered.

"I doubt it. Even if were not home, I still feel my connection with the Master Emerald" Knuckles revealed. "Maybe the Emerald we're missing has the answer..." he theorized.

"Speaking of the Emeralds, now I know that 'Opaline' is Eggman's partner, cause he mentioned that he had two Emeralds. At first I thought he was talking about the ones we were missing, but after you showed me yours, I guess the connection became clear" Sonic stated.

"So, if we found 'Opaline's Castle', we found Eggman and those two Emeralds, right?" Tails asked, as he took the map of Equestria out and looked at it.

"Let's just hope that, once we got the seven Emeralds, we can go home" Sonic said with a little frown. "But let's focus on one task at a time. First: you seriously treated Knuckles like an enemy for six months when I told you to stop trying?!" he asked to Tails on disbelief.

"Hey, Sonic, chill. I feel like he's right, I should tried to do more..." Knuckles stepped in the conversation.

"No Knux, none of you two has the fault of me ending in this world. I was the one who thought that using the Emeralds was a good idea, but I fell right into the lion's den" Sonic assured. "None of this is your fault, but if something like this happens again, let's hope not of course, you two work together and DON'T FIGHT!" he warned.

"Ok then. Now, the second thing, let me present you my new friends!" Sonic yelled with excitement. "Try to keep up!" he yelled as he boosted out running towards Maretime Bay.

Knuckles sighed and shook his head in delight. "Some things never change, eh?" he said and chuckled.

"Yeah. New dimension, same old Sonic!" Tails said, as both he and Knuckles decided to boost out and follow Sonic.

Back in the front of the Brighthouse, the Mane 5 where resting for looking around the town for Sonic, since he hasn't appeared in two hours and Pipp did just what Sonic told her to do.

"I can't believe he's doing all this reckless stuff and then acts like nothing bad's happening!" Sunny yelled, both worried and angry.

"I know he wants to protect us, but he's starting to cross a line he shouldn't!" Hitch added.

The Mane 5 sighed in relief for Sonic finally showing up, apparently in one piece. But the first one to react mad at him was Pipp. "What the hoof is wrong with you?!" she yelled at him.

"Is this because instead of coming back in 10 minutes, I lasted 2 hours?" he asked rhetorically.

"Okay, fair enough" Sonic admitted. "Sorry I didn't told you before, but you guys won't believe what just happened to me!" he exclaimed in surprise.

"Pipp told us about this robot copy of you" Hitch stepped in first. "What happened?"

"A lot of things, but I think the first one - and most important of all - is that I got some friends of mine I want to present you" Sonic explained. He then turned around and whistled at the air. The Mane 5 looked at each other confused, but then they saw a yellow fox flying down from the sky, and he landed on Sonic's back, hiding in there since he was a little shy. They also saw a red Equidna gliding until he landed on Sonic's side. Sonic turned to see the fox and smiled. "Chill, little buddy, it's okay. Guys, remember my friends back home I talked you about? Well, say hello to Miles 'Tails' Prower and Knuckles the Equidna!" he said, as he presented his friends from his own dimension to the Mane 5.

"Say what?!" Izzy exclaimed excited, as she ran towards Knuckles. "Wow, your hands are big!" she said with a smile.

"Wow..." Zipp said, getting close to Tails. "I-I heard from Sonic about a two-tail fox, but looking at you for real its... just wow" she said in awe, since she never expected to see an actual creature with two tails.

"U-Uh... yeah... I-It's form birth that I have them..." Tails explained with a little blush of embarrassment.

Sonic got a little apart as he saw his new friends meeting his old pals. "So, they ended up here too..." Sunny said, getting at his side.

"Yeah... I'm glad to know they're okay..." Sonic replied with a smile, that faded away slowly. "But now Eggman knows they're here too..." Sonic replied with a little worry.

"What happened?" Sunny asked with a little worry as well. "With Metal Sonic, I mean" she added.

"We'll tell you everything later. For now, let's make Tails and Knuckles feel welcome to Equestria" Sonic stated with a smile and winked at Sunny.

Sunny smiled at the idea, and she quickly told the rest of the Mane 5 to go in, as Sonic took both Tails and Knuckles from their hands and dragged them inside the Brighthouse.

After a day of telling stories and knew each other better with the Mane 5, Tails and Knuckles decided that they would stay in the Brighthouse with Sonic and the Mane 5 until they could go back to Mobius. The only thing was that they'll had to sleep on the couch since the Brighthouse could not be restyled with two extra beds... for now.

Izzy was the first one to got up, and gasped with excitement. "It's here!" she exclaimed on Sunny's bed, as the earth pony mare stretched and smiled at Izzy's attitude. The unicorn moved now to Pipp's bed while scatted. "The big day is here!" she whispered at Pipp's ear, as the pegasus yawned and woke up. Then Izzy ran and got into the middle of both Sonic and Zipp's beds. "The big day is here!" she yelled excited, as Zipp woke up a little worried, and Sonic woke up too, with his quills made a mess but also excited as well. In a flash, he was ready and immediately went down stairs.

Zipp, on the other hand, went to the top of the Brighthouse and looked at the Unity Crystals, then sighed. "Don't worry, I got you" she assured to the Crystals.

At the main door, Sonic Tails and Knuckles boosted running to the town while laughed. Izzy noticed that, ever since Tails and Knuckles where there, Sonic's sparkle was shining brighter than ever, and that made her smile with joy because his sparkle wasn't shining a lot lately.

As Pipp and Zipp came out of the Brighthouse as well, Izzy decided to stop Sunny before she left too. "Sunny, Sunny, wait!" the unicorn called out to her friend, as Sunny turned around to face Izzy. She took out with her magic a gift on a box and gave it to Sunny. "Happy Maretime Bay Day" Izzy said with a smile.

"We don't usually exchanged gifts" Sunny pointed out, but took the gift anyways.

Sunny decided to open the gift box, but once she saw what was it, she had to find some strength to not cry. "It's... it's the lantern my dad made for me..." she said, again, trying really hard not to cry, although the lantern was very different now, because it seemed like Izzy just made the lantern from scratch. Then again, if you want to blame someone for this decisions and changes, go blame the writers, not me. "I-I thought it was beyond repair!" Sunny exclaimed with a smile. "Thank you so much, Izzy" she thanked with joy.

"Sometimes, when you add a little bit of magic, you can fix anything" Izzy stated with a smile.

Sunny's smile just grow bigger by hearing that. "You're right! Now let's go add some magic to today and fix this" she declared with confidence and a smile, holding the now repaired lantern that Izzy gave to her.

On Maretime Bay, the celebration already began, and some ponies were participating on carnival games and winning prices, as well as some were 'admiring' the new decorations made by Izzy. And speaking of her, she was with the rest of the Mane 5 and Team Sonic while ate an Ice Cream, when she noticed that many pegasi and unicorns arrived as well.

"Oh, look, look, look! Ponies showed up after all!" Izzy pointed out with a smile. "And there's the Queen!" she said excited, as Queen Haven landed in town, alongside with Cloudpuff and escorted by Zoom and Thunder. "Hello, Your Majesticness!" Izzy greeted, as she walked towards Haven, followed by Sunny, Hitch and Team Sonic.

Pipp, as always, was looking at her phone, but then se finally noticed her mom's arrival and gasped. "Mom!" she yelled excited, and ran towards her.

Zipp, however, the moment she looked at Haven, turned around and ran as far as possible. A while later, Sunny and Hitch where greeting everypony passing by as they stood behind some of the carnival games.

"Happy Maretime Bay Day, everypony! Welcome!" she greeted with a smile, as she waved her hoof.

Posey, Dahlia and an old mare where complaining on the decorations that Izzy made since they were not the ones they were used to. Sunny and Hitch heard that, and while Hitch frowned a little, Sunny looked at ground with sadness, because it wasn't going to be easy to have everypony in the same line.

At the beach, many ponies - specially foals - where participating on a Sand Castle competition. Izzy was looking around in awe at the many works, but the gasped amazed at one big Castle that was made by Windy... mainly because of her wings. A unicorn was one of the judges, and he gave the first place trophy to her. And of course, Posey and her little group didn't last much to complain against Windy and how she cheated by using magic.

The discussion just growed and growed, and then thunderstorms where heard again. Zipp and Pipp where there to see te competition as well, and while Pipp looked a little scared at the darkening sky, Zipp looked as well with a frown, and then tried to think on someway to fix things up.

Back at the town, some foals where participating on the carnival games. Team Sonic was participating too, and as weird as it sounds, no one was actually complaining on them, not even Posey. Yeah, maybe she didn't liked how reckless Sonic could be, and she wasn't a big fan of having two creatures similar to him, but they weren't harming anyone. Just three friends hanging out and having fun at the festival, nothing wrong with that.

"If we ignore the stares of the earth ponies to the rest..." Tails whispered at his ear, "I actually like it here! It's very charming!" he complimented.

"It's not bad, I recognize that, but I feel this is kinda child- OH MY CHAOS, IS THAT COTTON CANDY?!" Knuckles exclaimed, as he immediately ran towards the Cotton Candy stand.

"Kinda childish, huh?" Sonic said with a smirk. "Say, Tails. Wanna spend our money on all the candy you can eat?" he asked to the fox, as they both smiled with complicit smiles.

Again, the problem for the earth ponies wasn't Team Sonic, their problem were the unicorns and pegasi, but specially the unicorns. The earth ponies tried some treats the unicorns made for the festival, but they hated the flavor and threw the treats into a trash can. A unicorn stallion didn't wanted to waste the treats, so... well... he started to eat from the trash can.

Two earth ponies saw that with disgust, and tried to eat from their Cotton Candy, but the wind of the storm was so strong that it took away the two Candies.

"Oh no!" Pipp exclaimed, as she tried to fly and get the Cotton Candy, but she immediately fall and grunted into the ground. "My wings won't work!" she cried out with worry.

Hitch was there too, and he tried to help to get the Cotton Candy, but his hooves were stuck in the ground by some kind of sticky purple and pink goo. "Neither will my hooves!" Hitch cried out in panic.

Sunny saw that other earth ponies were stuck on the ground as well, until they suddenly were free. "What's going on?!" one of the earth ponies asked in panic, as Zipp passed by them.

The storm was getting just worse and worse since the earth ponies didn't had a very peaceful attitude towards the unicorns and pegasi, and the attitudes of those two races wasn't helping at all. Now, everypony was reunited in front of the stage for the big concert that Pipp planed to perform.

Behind the curtains, Sunny and Tails were looking at the crowd with worry, and Sunny got behind the curtains again.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Sunny asked to Pipp. "Nothing has gone to plan today" she pointed out with disappointment.

"Yeah, the crowd seems a little tough if you ask me" Tails added with a worried face, as he got to Sunny's side.

"I have to give it my best shot!" Pipp said with determination. "We still need all the positivity we can get, right?" she asked, trying to be optimistic.

"I like the sound of that! The more positive, the best!" Sonic stated with a smile.

Pipp gasped in surprise and took the microphone "My lucky mic!" she exclaimed, as she smiled at her sister. Now, with more motivation than before, she started to sing vocal warm-ups. "Alright. Showtime!" she declared.

"Break a hoof, Pipp! But not really! Actually, be really careful!" Izzy said, whispering the last sentence with worry, as Pipp flied to the top of the stage, and Sunny went out to talk with the crowd.

Sonic, however felt his quills lifting up in surprise, something that just happens when a bad thing was near to happen. "Oh boy..." he exclaimed, as he saw his quills with worry.

Out with the crowd, Sunny announced that Pipp was going to sing a rearrangement of the Maretime Bay Day anthem, and of course that got the earth ponies angrier than with anything else. Pipp felt hurt that they were not going to give her adaptation a shot, and Sonic, who watched the scene from behind the stage, felt mad at the crowd, with his electrical powers coming out.

But then he saw that the storm become worst, and then some lightning started to fall, with one of the lightnings hitting the unicorn's horns.

And back at the Brighthouse, the lightnings touched the Crystals, which where glitching once again, but once a lightning fall into them, the Crystals began to broke.

Since things were not getting better between earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns, the rest of the Mane 5 decided to step in the middle, while Team Sonic got out of the curtain but stayed back.

"Things are getting out of hand here!" Knuckles pointed out with a frown, as he looked at the sky.

"If these ponies refuse to work together, the storm's gonna get worse!" Tails cried out with worry.

"We have tried to make them understand, but they are stubborn as mules!" Sonic yelled with frustration, as the thunderstorm kept going, since nothing that the Mane 5 said was calming the earth ponies down.

"We know that magic returning hasn't been easy for everypony, that Equestria is really different, but that's a good thing! It's so much better now that––!" Sunny tried to explain, but then she saw that the rainbow from the Crystal Brighthouse was vanishing at the distance. "No, no, no! The magic! It's dying!" she cried out in panic.

Hitch saw a lightning falling into the station's entrance, and he remembered something and gasped. "Eggie!" he yelled, and then ran towards the station.

And then suddenly, a lightning fell in front of the stage, and a black hole started to grew and grew, consuming the stage and the ground itself.

"Um, you guys didn't asked for a sink hole, did you?" Sonic said as he, Tails and Knuckles got close to the Mane 5.

"What is that thing?!" Queen Haven asked, holding Cloudpuff and pointing at the hole.

The crowd didn't think it twice, and they started to run away in panic. However, the Earth Ponies got stuck in the ground again, and this time they couldn't get out.

"It's not us!" the unicorn mare replied, since her magic was failing and could not use it at all, and then suddenly a thunder destroyed a bush.

Posey was groaning, trying to get free, and Windy decided to stop at her. "Can't you ponies with magic do something?!" Posey asked on desperation.

Windy tried to fly, but it was useless. "Our magic isn't working!" she cried out, as she started to try and let Posey go from her sticky situation, as Team Sonic, Izzy, Pipp and Zipp were trying to free some earth ponies as well.

"Ah! I do not like this! No, I do not!" Hitch complained, since he was also an earth pony and got stuck on the ground as well.

However, the void growed more and more, and it swallowed Posey and Windy, who fell into the void.

"Posey! Windy! No!" Sunny shouted with fear, as she looked in panic at the void.

Sonic heard that, and saw the void where the mares just fell into. "Oh no, no one's getting hurt while I am here!" he stated with a frown. "Come on, Tails!" he called out to his best friend.

Tails helped Knuckles to free an earth pony, who ran away, then turned to see Sonic. "On it!" Tails said, as he twirled his tails and flied quickly with Sonic.

Izzy, Zipp and Pipp arrived at Sunny's side, and then Pipp noticed Sonic. "What is he doing?!" she yelled with worry, as the other mares looked at Sonic as well.

"The most reckless thing I've ever done since I got here!" Sonic replied, still smirking.

He then jumped until he was over the void, and charged his SpinDash in the air... but he boosted the attack towards the void, and the mares gasped. "SONIC!" Pipp shouted in fear, but they lost sight of the hedgehog.

Tails then arrived and boosted flying towards his friend, loosing sight of him as well.

"Come on, alicorn magic! Work!" Sunny begged, not willing to left 4 innocent people she knew to get lost on that void.

Sunny felt desperate, since she had to save the one's that fell into the void. "Then I'll have to try without it! I'm going in" she stated with determination.

And then, Zipp finally realized what to do. "That's it! The magic will come back to us if we can work together!" she explained with a smile. "Come on, unicorns! Come on, pegasi! Help the earth ponies!" Zipp pled, as the unicorns and pegasi started to help the earth ponies get out of their situation. Even Knuckles decided to help, despite being worried about Sonic and Tails. Izzy helped an earth pony stallion to get free with her magic, and Pipp and Zipp helped Hitch get free as well. "It's working!" Zipp announced excited, as Hitch got away holding the egg. "You got this, Sunny!" she cheered.

"It's too dark in there! Take this!" Izzy said, as she tried to give Sunny her lantern with her magic, but then her magic vanished, and the lantern was about to fell into the void.

Sunny ran towards the lantern, and grabbed with her mouth, as she felled into the hole with the lantern. Izzy, Zipp and Pipp saw this in shock, but thankfully, Sunny's Cutie Mark started to glow, and her golden wings and horn appeared, as she smiled and flapped her wings, grabbing the lantern with her hoof, and flying straight into the darkness.

Meanwhile, Posey and Windy kept falling into the void while screamed, until they saw a blue ball getting straight to them. The ball turned back to normal and Sonic was now trying to reach Posey and Windy. He was closer and closer now, and then he could finally grab Posey from her waist with one hand, as his other hand was grabbed by Tails, who used his tails to carry the two of them back to the surface.

"I've got you, Posey!" Sonic said. "But... Windy!" he realized that he didn't saved the pegasus. Then, some kind of golden shield passed at their side, and Windy got trapped on it. Sonic was confused, then he looked at his side to find Sunny on her alicorn form. "Way to go, Starscout! Sorry to made you come here" he joked.

In Maretime Bay, Windy got back to the ground thanks to Sunny's magic, and Tails lifted Sonic and Posey up, as Sonic putted Posey down, and he landed as well. However, Sunny didn't came out of the whole, and everyone looked at the void with expectation and worry.

Suddenly, a rainbow crossed the sky, as Sunny got out of the hole that finally closed, and the rainbow landed at the top of the Crystal Brighthouse, as the whole building started to glow the same vine symbols that Sonic and Zipp looked at a few days ago. Those symbols kept growing, until they grew on the Unity Crystals as well. The Crystals were repaired, and they glowed up more than ever, as they drew the vines symbols all around the Brighthouse, and those symbols kept growing, until they reached the town and the earth ponies, which hooves started to glow in color green.

Even Hitch's hooves glowed, as he started to laugh by the sensation. "That tickles!" he said, as his crew came out of their hiding spot - a box - and cheered at him. "I know, I know! I totally agree with everything you guys are saying" Hitch replied to his animal crew. And that was the weird thing, he understood the animals. "Did you just talk?!" he yelled at him with shock and surprise. "Did I just... understand you? What?!" he yelled on disbelief, since a few minutes ago, he couldn't get a dingle thing on what his animal friends could say.

One of the birds started to chirp excited, since this was the first time in centuries somepony could understand them.

"Wow, that's a lot of information" Hitch replied with a smile. "Well, nice to meet you, Kenneth. I'm Hitch!" he greeted to the bird, now that he knew his real name, as the bird chirped with joy.

Meanwhile, both Posey and Windy were looking at Posey's hooves, that were glowing on a green color. Posey decided to step her right hoove in front, and then some flowers grew in the middle of street thanks to her new magic.

The rest of the earth ponies decided to try out their new magic as well, and together, they restored the bush that the lightnings destroyed before.

Hitch was standing at the front of the station, smiling with the egg he found at the beach, as the rest of his friends got close to him.

"But that's never happened before!" Izzy pointed out, as she jumped to Sunny's side.

"You're right Zipp" Sunny replied. "Actually, you were right about everything. I'm sorry I didn't believe you. I should have been a better friend and listened. I was just so focused on hoping magic was okay that I lost sight of everything else" she pointed out and then walked towards Zipp. "Can you forgive me?" she asked.

Zipp chuckled and then looked at Sunny with a smile. "Obviously" she replied, as she and Sunny hugged each other with Sunny laughing.

Meanwhile, Pipp decided to have a little talk with Sonic, but not without first hug him with relief. Sonic felt the pegasus, and didn't knew how to react exactly, but he could not do it since Pipp spoke out. "Don't you dare to scare me like that ever again!" she pled, since she didn't wanted to see Sonic do something like what he did before to save Posey and Windy.

"Yeah... I can't promise that" Sonic confessed. "As long as someone gets in trouble, I can't just stand and wait for a miracle to happen. Nothing starts until you take action, and I just did what I knew was right" he explained. But Pipp's worry didn't decreased at all, so he sighed and kneeled at her "Look, I'm sorry for worrying you, Pipp, but this is the kind of stuff I do almost every day. I won't ask you to like it, because I know that won't happen, but I would ask you to... understand that this sense of duty I have is something I cannot ignore, even if I tried" he explained. "Again, I'm sorry for worrying you" he apologized again, as he stood up.

Pipp looked down with a frown and though on everything Sonic just told her. After a while, she sighed, flied until she was at the same height of Sonic's face, and once again kissed his cheek, which caused Sonic to froze on his place, not knowing how to react. "Okay, but try to be more careful, Hedgehog" she said with flirtatious smile and a wink.

Sonic's face blushed and he shook his head, finally recovering, while scratched his head and looked away nervously. But his embarrassment grew when he saw the mischievous looks of Tails and Knuckles, although he rolled his eyes.

"Zephyrina! There you are!" Haven called out to her daughter, as Zipp turned around and looked at her mother with fear. "My hoofness, what an ordeal!" she exclaimed. "Gather your things, we need to hit the sky if we're going to make it back to the palace by sundown" she pointed out.

Zipp walked towards her mom and sighed. "Mom! I'm not going back with you" she stated with confidence.

Haven looked surprised at he daughter, and then frowned. "We agreed that you were to resume your studies" she pointed out.

"My place is here in Maretime Bay with my friends. I just need more time to figure things out" Zipp pointed out, since she wasn't ready to be a Queen yet. "To investigate magic! To explore who I am before I take on my royal duty. And you know what? I think who I am is somepony who likes figuring things out" she said with a smile.

Haven ended up smiling softly at Zipp. "Yes, you certainly are, my little princess investigator" she replied, as she hold Zipp's chin.

Suddenly, Cloudpuff walked towards Hitch and barked at him. "I'm sorry, it's a what?" Hitch asked with surprise, looking at the egg.

"Huh, I haven't seen a dragon egg in a while..." Knuckles said suddenly, looking at the egg Hitch was holding.

Sonic's eyes widened after hearing that. "That thing it's a what now?!" Sonic yelled, looking at the egg.

The egg began to shake, until it hatched into a turquoise baby dragon with purple eyes.

The baby dragon laughed and hugged Hitch, as the mares stared at the creature tenderly.

Knuckles stared at him with a neutral expression, and then putted on hand on his shoulder. "You live better without the answer" he simply replied.

Sonic stared at him with confusion. "Okey..." he said, not really convinced on the answer.

"Hey, everypony..." Posey stepped in the conversation. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry for the way I acted" she apologized. "I think I just felt..." she started.

"We'll make sure that doesn't happen again. Right, guys?" Sunny stated, as the rest agreed with her, even Sonic.

"Pipp?" Posey called out a little shy, "Would you mind singing your new Maretime Bay song?" she requested.

"I will, on one condition, if you'll sing it with me!" Pipp replied, as she hang her lucky mic to Posey.

On Opaline's Castle, Opaline herself was watching trough a screen all the recent events at Maretime Bay.

"Ha. Those little ponies finally figured out how to stabilize the magic. Took them long enough" Opaline said, as she then looked at her assistant. "And now that they have, it's time to take back what is mine!" she stated, as she started to laugh like a maniac, ready to make her next move. Then, she suddenly stopped to laugh, "Of course, if the doctor does not mess up again..." she tried to point out, but she got cut off.

"For the last time, Opaline. Metal Sonic's purpose was to fail at his task, he just never knew" Eggman explained.

"How's not destroying your worst enemy part of your plan?!" Opaline yelled with frustration.

"Ever since I discovered Sonic's new power, I decided to study it thoroughly" the doctor began. "I needed one of his quills, and thanks to Metal Sonic, I got it!" he yelled, as he showed the quill to the mare. "Now, you may think this quill has nothing special, but once I connect it to the machines..." he explained, as he putted the quill inside a robot that hasn't turned on in weeks.

The robot immediately got up, and started to scan his surroundings, until he stopped at Eggman and waited for orders. Opaline watched in awe at this. "W-What kind of magic is this?!" she exclaimed in disbelief.

"The amazing magic of science!" Eggman shouted with a grin. "Although it's also just the power of the quill. And here's the best part: this single quill has unlimited power" the doctor revealed, as Opaline stared at him with her jaw drop. "With this single quill, I can build an entire unstoppable army that could take over this lands in less than a week! But not only that, I can use Sonic the Hedgehog's own power against him and his little group of friends, that now is bigger with the arrival of Tails and Knuckles" he explained forward with a sinister smile.

"So, we have a unlimited source of power with us that we can use against those little ponies and your enemies..." Opaline summarized.

"Bingo! And not only that, but once they put their guard down, we can make our next move, my dear. And you would take what rightfully belongs to you, as I would finally kill that blue rat!" he stated.

"Oh, this is gonna be a blast!" Opaline replied, as both she and Eggman started to laugh like maniacs, preparing for their next attack.

Back at the Crystal Brighthouse, Sonic took out the chest with the three Chaos Emeralds he found, as he putted another one on it, the one Tails and Knuckles found on that hided tree house.

"At least we know they still have energy, otherwise they wouldn't had any color, right?" Knuckles stated.

"That doesn't quit the fact that we still haven't found a way to reactivate them, nor another way to go home..." Sonic pointed out with a frown. "And I still have to find out why my connection with them also vanished suddenly. Knux, do you still have your connection with the Master Emerald?" he asked to the Equidna.

"Yeah... but it feels a little bit far compared to the last time I checked" Knuckles replied. "I guess the more time we spent here, the more weak my connection will get" he theorized with worry.

"And we have to worry not only about Eggman now, but also his little partner Opaline, which Castle's location I haven't found yet in the last months..." Sonic complained. "And even worst, those two have two Chaos Emeralds with them. Whatever Eggman's up to now can't be good if someone with magic is helping him" he stated with a frown.

"Well, even if Eggman founded the remain Emerald, we still have the high ground" Tails pointed out with a little smile. "I think we should spent some specific days to find this Castle, and the rest just try to relax, but take a closer look to our surroundings as well" he suggested.

"Sounds good to me" Knuckles replied with a smile, as Sonic nodded in agreement. "My only complain is that we have to sleep in the couch, tho..." he pointed out while crossed his arms.

"Yeah... Sorry for that" Sunny apologized, as she got close to Team Sonic. "If we could redecorate the place and give you two space, we would do it with no hesitation. But, well, we're still learning how to use magic and––" she tried to explain, but suddenly the rainbow light started to shine brighter.

At the top of the Brighthouse, the Crystals were glowing, and then a white flash made Team Sonic and Sunny to cover their eyes for a moment. When they all opened their eyes again, their jaws dropped to the ground: two new sections and beds appeared specifically for Tails and Knuckles, since one had weights and other exercise equipment, as well as a red sheet on the bed and several posters with waterfalls and a giant green emerald; the other had a yellow sheet on the bed, various tools and construction materials, as well as several of Tails' inventions that came to Equestria with him and Knuckles.

If you want to know how the Crystals brought that there, the answer is magic, okay? No need of logical explanations here.

"Sweet!" Knuckles said, as he launched himself over his bed. "Now this is what I call a warm welcome!" he joked, as he enjoyed how comfortable his new bed was.

"B-But... What? When? How?!" Sunny asked, not understanding where the other two beds came from.

"Well, it's just like Zipp said, magic is unpredictable" Sonic pointed out, then he smiled and putted a hand on Sunny's shoulder. "But I say we shouldn't brake our minds on finding out why the Crystals make this or how, let's just go with the flow" he suggested. Sunny smiled, and then they both walked towards Zipp's area of the bedroom, where she was putting some of her things back on place since she packed up, thinking that se would have to leave back to Zephyr Heights after all.

"We're so glad you're staying in Maretime Bay, Detective Zipp!" Pipp cheered with a smile.

"Me too" Zipp replied, smiling back at her friends. "We have a lot to learn about magic and how it works" she said, while looked at a detective badge she recently made. "I'm just glad I'll be here to figure it out with my best friends" she stated.

Sunny, however, still had many thing on her mind. "Well, I definitely still have a lot of questions" she confessed. "Like why does my alicorn magic disappear?" she exampled.

"Yeah!" Hitch exclaimed, as he hold Sparky on a bag on his back. "Like why do I now have the magical power to understand every animal except for this adorable baby dragon?" he asked, as he got close to the dragon, who grabbed strongly Hitch's nose. "Ow, ow, ow..." he said in pain.

"Or who's this Opaline girl, and why did she decide to help Eggman find me here in Equestria?" Sonic added with his arms crossed.

"Or why does the Chaos Emeralds aren't working anymore ever since they arrived on this dimension?" Tails exampled as well, arriving at Sonic's side with Knuckles.

"Or... where did magic come from? Who made the Crystals, anyway? And how did they get separated? Why didn't earth ponies have magic before?" Zipp listed a few more questions, while Knuckles started to feel a headache.

"Man, this many questions are gonna melt my brain..." Knuckles said, as he shook his head and scratched, getting a bored look from Tails and an eyes roll from Sonic.

Izzy gasped and got close to Sunny's face. "What's that?" she asked with a smile.

Then the entire group, Team Sonic included, started to cheer at the statement, ready to face whatever the future hold for them.

That night, while everyone else slept, Sonic got to the top of the Brighthouse once more to enjoy the view of the night in Equestria, but with one more question on his mind.

"Eggman said he discovered word beyond my imagination... but now that I think about it, we already have visited other worlds in the past. Sure, they were just short visits, and in Mushroom Kingdom's cases, it was for the Olympic Games" Sonic told himself. "And I visited Hyrule once, and even Yoshi's Island when I was trapped on the Lost Hex. Not to mention Pac-Man parties on his birthday. So, what's Eggman talking about when he says he discovered new worlds? Was he talking about visiting places that have no idea we exist in the first place?" he whispered with worry. "Man, why does stopping this guy has to be so difficult all the time?" he asked to the air, as he looked up to the moon. "I wish I could always have this peace, whenever I need it..." he whispered again with sadness.

"As long as Eggman's free, I'm afraid peace isn't an option" a voice said at his back. Sonic turned around and found Knuckles, laying on a wall with his arms crossed and a smirk. "Can't sleep either?" he asked, as he walked towards Sonic's side on the balcony.

"No. My thoughts won't allow me" Sonic confessed, looking back at the sky. "Eggman's always a pain in the ass whenever it seems like I can relax for a while..." he said with frustration.

"That's how life pay us for being good. Pretty sure if we were from the other side, things would work out as we want" Knuckles joked.

"Heh, yeah. But what's the point of being able to do whatever you want if you only cause pain and destruction?" Sonic pointed out. "I don't want to live like that. That's why I help people, because it feels good, I genuinely feel great when I see the smiles of the lives I saved" he confessed with a smile.

"I agree with you there. I also enjoy seeing people go home with smiles, knowing that they would leave to live another day" Knuckles confessed, smiling as well.

They stood in silence for a few minutes, until Sonic came up with a question that's been on his mind for a while now.

"Knux..." Sonic called out, as the Equidna turned to see him. "Do you think... locking Eggman on a cel's gonna stop him?" he asked nervously.

"We did that while you were out, actually, and... well... Opaline helped him escape two months ago, so... yeah, locking him isn't a good option after all" Knuckles explained with a frown.

"So he's been here for two months only, huh?" Sonic said with frustration. "Well, at least he does not know a lot about us..." he pointed out with a smile. But then he got another question on his mind, and his smile faded away. "Do you think that... after everything we've been trough, after all the stuff and trouble he has done... do you think... we should... kill him?" he let out, with his voice almost cracking.

That question made Knuckles eyes widened, as he looked at Sonic with worry. "What?!" he whispered in surprise.

"Knux, there's this voice that keeps shouting I should kill Eggman directly" Sonic confessed, as he started to feel anxious. "I've been hearing this voice for days now. It tells me that I should just get rid of him on the hard way, that I already gave him enough chances to redeem himself, that is finally time to get rid of him for good..." he said, as he started to cry. "I-It says that the best for everyone not only in Equestria, b-but also back in Mobius is to kill Eggman, t-that he deserves it... a-and the worst part is t-that I don't hate the idea at all..." he confessed, as tears fell from his eyes.

"A-Am I a monster for that?" Sonic asked, now looking to Knuckles straight at his eyes. "D-Does wanting to kill a man t-that only causes trouble makes me a m-monster?" he asked again. "A-Am I a terrible person for––" he tried to ask again.

However, he was cut off by Knuckles, who decided to stop playing as the cool guy and hugged Sonic directly. That calmed the hedgehog down, since the tears stopped and he felt he could clear his mind now. Knuckles broke the hug and looked at Sonic.

"I cannot tell if killing Eggman's gonna solve something" Knuckles confessed. "But you aren't a monster for wanting him dead, Sonic" he clarified. "We all want that old man to kick the bucket and let us alone for good, trust me, we all do, so if you ever feel bad again for wanting him dead, just remember everything he has done so far to us" he suggested with a little smile.

Sonic tough on what Knuckles told him, and then smiled a little. "Thanks, knucklehead" Sonic joked. "I really needed that" he confessed.

None of them knew that someone heard the whole thing, and she was crying in silence so they couldn't heard her sob.

"Oh my hoofness..." Pipp whispered to herself. "Sonic... I-I have to help you..." she stated, as she quietly flew back to the bedroom, before Sonic or Knuckles could notice her.

Opaline and her assistant were sleeping, while Eggman was hearing at Sonic and Knuckles conversation, slurping some coffee he made to spent the most time awake he could. He laughed when he heard Sonic saying that he did not knew things, when he actually knew everything about them.

He then noticed that Sonic's smile disappeared. "Do you think that... after everything we've been trough, after all the stuff and trouble he has done... do you think... we should... kill him?" Sonic let out, with his voice almost cracking.

That question made Eggman spit his coffee away and cough a little, since that question took him absolutely off guard.

"Knux, there's this voice that keeps shouting I should kill Eggman directly" Sonic confessed, and the doctor noticed that he was looking a little anxious, something weird since its Sonic we're talking about. "I've been hearing this voice for days now. It tells me that I should just get rid of him on the hard way, that I already gave him enough chances to redeem himself, that is finally time to get rid of him for g––" he kept saying, but Eggman decided to turn off the screen.

I... I've heard enough for one day... the doctor though, then turned around and started to walk towards an empty place of the Castle.

Eggman always believed that Sonic would remain bound by his morality for life, because despite all the atrocities he has committed in the past, Sonic seemed to continue to fight and let him go alive and well. But if now it was Sonic himself who was beginning to think that it was best to kill him directly, then it was time to worry, because Sonic would never kill someone, not even if his life depended on it.

If Sonic of all the people thinks killing me it's the solution, perhaps I do have to use my backup plan after all... Eggman though, as he stopped in front of a wall.

Eggman ran his hand along the wall, until his index and middle fingers stopped in a specific area, and then he pressed two buttons, which opened a secret corridor that Opaline apparently knew nothing about. Eggman walked through this corridor until he reached a secret room with a computer bigger than the one in the throne room, with 5 capsules where there were 5 pony-shaped robots inside the capsules.

"I truly didn't wanted to do this, but since Sonic's moral codes are starting to broke, I must use the unlimited power of the quill to feed my new babies, since the two Chaos Emeralds I have are now on some kind of recharging state" Eggman stated, as he looked at the capsules. "My masterplan is far from being complete, but once these 5 beauties unlock their full potential, they would make chaos wherever they go. And the best part is, that once they left the scene, those stupid ponies would confuse my creations with the original ponies they're based of!" he exclaimed with an evil grin. "I mean, if back home G.U.N. confused Sonic and Shadow, with those two being two completely different guys, I'm pretty sure these ponies are dumb enough to confuse the 'Mane 5' with my Metal Mane!" he stated, as he looked at the robots.

These new machines were copies of Sunny, Izzy, Hitch, Zipp and Pipp, with similar traits as the original Mane 5 and with the same abilities, but of course, there was the little detail that they were robots that only followed orders from their creator.

"Soon, Equestria will be mine!" Eggman assured, as 'Metal Sunny' turned on with her red eyes glowing, ready to take action against the ponies.

Sonic The Hedgehog x My Little Pony: Make Your Mark - Season 1

by BronySonicFan

1. Make Your Mark