Crystal Brighthouse: Balcony
The Mane five all waited anxiously for Sonic to arrive, he had run off minutes ago and hasn’t even arrived yet at the Brighthouse. But they then heard the sound of feet landing, and turned to see Sonic who stood tall and proud while smiling.
“Now that the angry ponies aren’t following me, Zipp can finally explain.” He gestured his hand towards the Pegasus who nodded to him, as a sign of her saying ‘thank you.’
She began pacing around the room and explained. “I think I finally know what's happening to magic. Why it's glitching.” She stated.
Sunny was the first to respond. “You do?”
Zipp faced her. “It's the Crystals. They might be powered by ponies.”
“Whaaaaaat?” Hitch said dramatically.
“I thought we knew that already.” Sonic said out loud, to which he received blank stares. “Okay! Okay! Just that someone needed to say it.” He exclaimed while raising his hands into the air.
Zipp then smirked. “Okay. Check this out.” She walked over to her sister and faced her directly in the eyes. “Pipp, when we were fillies, I used to steal Mom's chocolate-dipped cherries and blame it on you.” Pipp gasped loudly and glared at Zipp heavily.
“I knew it! You got me grounded, like, twelve times!” Pipp exclaimed angrily to Zipp who had walked away, but she turned back around. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. And guess what. I don't like karaoke! It's the worst! UGH!”
Pipp gasped again, but this time Izzy got angry. “Hey, you take that back! Karaoke is a fun activity for every age and skill level!” Sonic who had been watching all of this unfold, looked at Zipp with a face that said. ‘You didn’t plan this far ahead did you?’
But it went unnoticed as Sunny spoke up. “Zipp's allowed to like what she likes. Just because we enjoy something doesn't mean she has to.” She said while defending Zipp.
“Sunny, there's no need to get all huffy about it. Izzy was just trying to stand up for Pipp.” Hitch told her, as he walked over to his best friend.
“Don't call me huffy!” Sunny shot back making Hitch groan. “I didn't call you huffy! I said you were being huffy!”
Zipp and Sonic walked over to the crystals while watching the both of them argue, but they then heard fizzling noises and turned to see the crystals glitching.
“There's a difference, and— Whoa.” Everyone stopped as they now noticed the glitching crystals, they all stood next to one another and watched as they continued to glitch.
“You... You were right.” Sunny admitted looking at both Sonic and Zipp, who looked back at her with expressions that said everything she needed to know.
“So, when ponies aren't treating each other with kindness...” Izzy started.
“When we aren't vibing...” Pipp continued.
“...the Crystals get weaker. And the more unstable magic becomes in Equestria.” Zipp added.
“Which causes Pegasi to lose their flight and fall on other ponies!” Sunny exclaimed.
“And unicorns to drop stuff onto sandcastles!” Hitch said out loud.
“And the budget becomes smaller and makes things look off.” Sonic joked with a casual tone.
Everyone looked at him weirdly but refocused their attention, onto the crystals. “And weather changes! Like a rando thunderstorm?!” Pipp asked with concern and fear.
“Yup! Everything is all out of whack!” Zipp exclaimed while pointing at the crystals which were still glitching.
Sunny who had her ears dropped had a quick thought. “I wonder if this had anything to do with why the Crystals were separated all those years ago. Ugh. Or why I still can't seem to figure out my Alicorn magic.”
Zipp looked over at her friend. “I don't know. I want to find out. But if we want to keep magic in Equestria, first we need to get everypony back on the same page.”
Sunny gained some confidence from Zipp’s words. “Zipp's right. We can't give up. We can still make Bay Day the celebration it's supposed to be.”
The others inputted their agreements, except for Sonic who looked down at the ground. “Let's do it!” Pipp cheered.
“Hoof to heart!” The Mane five yelled in unison, while Sonic just smiled at them but he had an answer of his own. “Then count me out.” He turned away from them.
The Mane five looked at him with shock wondering why he would say that. “Why not?!” Sunny asked.
Sonic faced her and smiled slightly. “Look you can handle it yourselves, I-I can’t get involved in this situation.” He explained nervously as he looked away slightly.
“But we’re gonna make everything better again!” Izzy exclaimed with joy but Sonic shook his head. “You guys will, I won’t.” He began walking away only to be stopped by a hoof on his shoulder.
He turned to see Pipp looking at him with concern. “Can you please tell us why?” She asked with curiosity, this made Sonic feel more comfortable but he shook his head and took her hoof off him slowly.
“No.” He said calmly as he continued walking away, Hitch who has been silent finally spoke up. “Why can’t you tell us?” He asked.
Sonic continued looking away from them. “I don’t feel like it.” He replied with a hint of anger but this didn’t stop Hitch from pressing onward. “I don’t see the reason why?”
But Sonic didn’t reply this time instead he growled silently, as a faint blue aura surrounded him that no one noticed. Zipp who was silent understood why he was acting this way. “Hitch maybe you should stop.”
But the Sheriff didn’t. “Why should I? I mean I want to help, but I don’t know why he is feeling angry—“ In an instant Sonic quickly spun around and slammed his foot onto the ground, making a loud echoing bang.
“YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW I FEEL!!!” This made everyone flinch and walk backwards with fear, as the Hedgehog panted heavily but he saw their faces of terror and without warning, went onto the elevator platform and went downstairs.
They all stared with wide eyes not moving from their positions for a good while, until they finally recomposed themselves and processed what had just happened. “I never expected him to be that upset.” Sunny said with concern.
But Zipp walked forward. “Yeah but he’s also feeling a lot of guilt, because of something that happened.” All eyes turned to her and she sighed heavily.
“You wanna know why Posey hates him?” They all stared for a second before nodding slowly, Zipp sighed again not knowing how they would react. “What happened was a few weeks ago, he went on a run and ran into another pony who was Posey’s mom. And after they talked and had everything solved, Sonic’s bracelet made her disappear into thin air and Posey saw it all happen. And ever since then Sonic has felt this way, and doesn’t want to talk about it because he fears off what you may think of him.”
They were all silent throughout the explanation and didn’t know what to say, but one thing was for sure they didn’t hate him. “I see why he didn’t want to tell us.” Pipp whispered.
“I never knew he felt like that.” Izzy added feeling sorry for the Hedgehog, they all did and knew that they needed to apologise. “Should we go see him?” Hitch asked with caution.
Zipp nodded which was all they needed, before heading downstairs in the elevator and to hopefully cheer up their Blue friend.
Crystal Brighthouse: Bedroom
Sonic was sitting on his bed looking at the wall, not acknowledging anything that was happening around him. His blue fur looked dull along with most of the room, sharing a grey shading scheme from the outside light that was seeping in through the window.
The sound of hoofsteps made his ears perk up but he didn’t look to see who it was behind him, it was in fact the Mane five who watched him with caution as they didn’t want to anger him again, but they slowly moved towards their friend with Hitch leading them.
“Sonic? Um we were just hoping you’re okay. And we wanted to say sorry for putting pressure on you—“ but Sonic raised his hand into the air making the Earth Pony immediately stop talking, which allowed the silence to take over and give them chills from how nothing made a sound.
The sound of breathing that became audible was coming from the Hedgehog, who continued facing away from them. “It wasn’t your fault at all… it was mine.” They kept silent as he took another quiet breath, still not meeting their eyes.
“I… I thought that maybe… just maybe if I continued looking forward that, everything would feel normal and Posey would forgive me… but all I know now is that… I don’t belong here.” His breath was shaking with each word he said, they had never seen him this way before.
“And the truth is that I have no where to go… I have no home, no friends, no… no nothing… because I’m different… and all I’ve done is cause trouble to so many innocents who don’t deserve it.” The words kept coming and hitting their chests, which made Sunny, Izzy and Pipp start tearing up while Zipp and Hitch just watched in sadness.
“And I can’t just fix it. Because what can I do to fix it? None of the Earth Ponies want me there… and even though I may be optimistic and happy… deep down I’m sad and angry because I can’t seem to make good choices.” Before he even realised what happened next, a pair of arms wrapped around him.
He turned his head around to see Pipp hugging him tightly, this felt nice. “Sonic… please don’t say that about yourself… please.” Pipp pleaded with sobs, to which Sunny and Izzy who also had tears going down their faces walked on over and hopped up onto his bed, and embraced him as well.
He sat there with shock evident in his eyes but he didn’t resist it felt warm, and without thinking he fell into the embrace hugging the three ponies the best he could, with his two arms.
And soon enough both Hitch and Zipp joined in as well, all six of them holding each other close for comfort, with the warmth of the hug making them feel safe and better.
Sonic’s colour slowly became brighter and his iconic smile returned, the room slowly became more colourful as the light became brighter. None of them cared about what was happening around them, or outside of the Brighthouse. Just each other was perfect enough, even for Sonic it was enough to make him feel like he was home.
After a few more seconds they all finally let go and sat down, with Sonic smiling the brightest in weeks no longer feeling the guilt get to him. Although the guilt remained he knew that the five ponies around him, would guide him through that darkness not matter what.
“Thanks, I guess I needed that.” He joked slightly earning giggles from the ponies, who were all smiling as well.
“Well yeah you did! You weren’t sparkling and that’s no good.” Izzy said with a funny voice.
“Yeah I guess you’re right.” Sonic admitted as the others nodded. Sunny then realised that nighttime was arriving soon, and they needed to make last minute preparations for the festival.
“Guys since we’re all so happy now. Why don’t we spend what time we have left of today and make some last minute preparations!” The others all looked at each other and gave a nod individually, with Zipp not doing so yet.
“Zipp?” Pipp asked quietly, waiting for an answer which was received when the Pegasus finally nodded with a smile. “Alright fine.” She hopped off the bed and stood up. “So what’s first?”
And so they all spent the next few hours preparing for Maretime Bay day, and Sonic finally learnt what it was thanks to them talking in peace with no interruptions. But they were not ready for what was in store for them tomorrow, and it was going to be chaotic to say the least.