On the bedroom of the Brighthouse, Tails was using a big high tech computer in front of his desk, looking at images of Metal Sonic and the blurred photos he managed to get of Metal Izzy and Metal Hitch. Also, there were other stuff open on the computer; like the map of Equestria Sonic got, pictures of the 7 Chaos Emeralds with just 4 drawn with circles around and the video of Twilight Sparkle's message Zipp recorded.

"It's it just me, or every single day there's a new mystery that pop's up suddenly?" Zipp asked rhetorically, since she was with Tails. He already told her the events of Metal Izzy and Metal Hitch appearing in Maretime Bay, and the big possibility of Metals of her, Pipp and Sunny as well.

"First the Chaos Emeralds failing, then working again, then Sonic and Knuckles' powers, Twilight's warning, Eggman's plan that we know nothing about, and now Metals of you and the others sins Knuckles and I" Tails listed all the mysteries that had appeared so far. "Did I missed something?" he asked with a bored expression.

"Nah, that pretty much covers it all" Zipp said with a side smile. "But seriously, what's Eggman's goal? What does he want from us? Why create Metals of us? And who's that evil force that Twilight tried to warn us of?" she kept asking, as she walked back and forth.

"Like if dealing with Metal Sonic, Eggman and his partner Opaline wasn't enough..." Tails said with concern. "Man, I'm just 23, but I feel as stressed as a 40 year old..." he complained with a frown.

Suddenly, Zipp stopped walking, and looked at Tails with widened eyes. "What was that last thing?" she asked with a hopeful tone.

"That I'm just 23, but I feel––" he tried to reply, but then Zipp grabbed his cheeks suddenly and cut him off.

"Uh... like dealing with Metal Sonic, Eggman and his partner Opaline wasn't enough?" Tails replied a bit confused.

"Opaline... of course!" Zipp said, almost with a victorious smile. "Twilight said to watch out for somepony which name started with 'Op', and Opaline it's helping Eggman!" she explained with excitement.

"Oooh! Of course! How did I didn't realized that?!" Tails said, now understanding. "Well, at least we know that Opaline it's the pony that wants to steal the magic, but now what?" he asked to Zipp.

Zipp flew to her computer for take some notes on this discovery. "Now that we know she's the one who wants to steal our magic, we'll need to find her hideout. In other words..." she stated, stopping and looking at Tails with a knowing look.

"We have to search for her Castle!" Tails finished with a smile, while Zipp just nodded in agreement. "Since I won't be working on the portal thing until we get all the Chaos Emeralds, I can start to track her castle" he stated, taking out his advanced tablet. "One way or another, I'm finding that place" he assured.

And then, Sonic entered the room suddenly. "Tails!" he called out, looking all around the room for his brother.

"Right here!" Tails said, waving his hand at Sonic, standing in front of Zipp's bed.

"What?!" both Tails and Zipp yelled in surprise, as Zipp close her computer and payed attention to Sonic.

"I went to check out, but he was gone... However! I did saw him flying away, and some parts were falling from his body!" Sonic said. "He was looking really rusty yesterday, so I'm guessing his body is falling apart. Now, why do I tell you this? He left a trail of metal stuff while he escaped, which means..." he gestured with his hands as he smiled.

"... That we could track down Metal Sonic!" Tails replied with a smile. "And it's very possible that he returned with Eggman, so if we follow him, we found Eggman!" he stated.

"So it seems like we have a clue!" Sonic stated with a smirk. "Now, I was planning on going alone, but I did realized something..." he said, now putting his arm around Tails neck. "Dude, I haven't been a very good older brother to you, and I've been on the solitary route for a while now. But not anymore!" he stated with a smile. "What do you say about an adventure together, huh? Just like in the good old times: Sonic and Tails against the world!" he added with excitement.

"Hedgehog word!" Sonic assured. "So, what do you say? Are you up 2 it?" he asked, extending his fist at Tails.

Tails rolled his eyes at the last joke, and fist bumped with Sonic. "I'm in!" he stated confidently.

Back at the junkyard where Metal Sonic hides, he managed to repair Metal Hitch and Metal Izzy, or at least their screens and their articulations.

"Ugh, why are we even here?" Metal Hitch complained. "Doctor Eggman can repair us properly! We shouldn't be hiding on this junkyard!" he cried out with frustration.

"Once they have failed to him, Eggman ditches the machines that Sonic managed to defeat" Metal Sonic explained, as he crossed some cables to turn Metal Izzy on. "So you are were you belong now: In the biggest trash can this dimension probably has" he stated, while Metal Hitch groaned and Metal Izzy finally turned on again.

"Sonic was so kind to put you to sleep" Metal Sonic said with sarcasm. "Now he knows about you two and about your partners. He would try and track you down, and me as well" he added with concern.

"And so what? We should just stay here and do what exactly?" Metal Hitch complained. "Staying here isn't going to kill that damn Hedgehog nor his friends!" he pointed out.

"Oh, but it will" Metal Sonic assured. "Eggman gave me and Metal Pipp a mission I accomplished on a 50% at least: guide Sonic to a cave and trap him there" he explained. "The trial it's settled down, and Sonic already saw me flying there, now Metal Pipp has to wait for him to reach the cave and trap him there" he added.

"So, what do we do in the mean time?" Metal Izzy asked, getting up with effort since her body was still a bit damaged.

"You two, stay here. I'm going to make sure she doesn't screw this like you two did" Metal Sonic ordered. "When I say Eggman won't receive you, I mean it. The only reason he keeps coming back at me it's because he knows him alone would never be enough to get rid of Sonic the Hedgehog" he stated, and then flew away without waiting for any of the other Metals to reply.

"Ugh, he can go around and play like 'daddy's favorite son' if he wants" Metal Hitch stated, walking back and forth with anger. "For all I care, we have to destroy those ponies! But on our current state we can't do much" he complained.

"Well, Metal Sonic repaired himself with some of this junk" Metal Izzy said, while Metal Hitch stared daggers at her. "Hey, don't look at me like that! I don't like the idea of looking half good and half trashy, but you know Metal Sonic it's right about daddy not wanting us anymore. Do you have any better idea to restore yourself?" she asked with a mocking tone.

Even tho they didn't had smiles, Metal Hitch could totally tell that she would smirking right now. With a loud groan and an eye roll, Metal Hitch looked at Metal Izzy with a bored expression. "Fine, but I'm going to complain every time!" he stated.

On Maretime Bay, the ponies were all going on their daily lives, when suddenly Sunny passed by rolling skating very fast, while she dodged some ponies she almost crashed with.

"Pardon me, excuse, but also, I have a really important announcement! One that will change all of our lives!" Sunny stated, as she kept skating around. Some ponies stared at her curiously, and others just looked with bored expressions. "Hurry, come listen!" Sunny instructed, as the ponies came closer to her. "Ponies of Maretime Bay: I have some alarming news... We eat too much junk food!" she said with worry.

Ironically, Toots was eating a bag of chips and an earth pony mare at his side was popping a bubble gum. "You're just saying that to get us to come to your Smoothie Cart!" Dahlia said, standing at Toots side as well, while he nodded in agreement.

"What?! No! But it is something we need to talk about" Sunny pointed out. "Why constantly eat junk food, full of, well, junk, when we have amazing new earth pony powers we could be using to create fresh fruits and veggies of our own?" she pointed out, taking out some fliers with fruits and vegetables images from her bag. "Imagine the possibilities!" she told with a smile.

"We could magically combine plants to make them more delicious or, or even invent new flavors of fruits" Sunny said, as she gave some of the fliers to the ponies around. "We can grow as ponies by growing our own food!" she stated with a smile.

However, it wasn't enough to convince the ponies. "Not another one of Sunny's lost causes..." Dahlia complained as she facehoofed herself. Then she walked away, and the ponies around threw the cards tot the ground, not interested on Sunny's idea.

"Ugh, yuck to that. And yum to you!" Toots said, as he threw the card and ate a donut, then walked away happily after eating the donut.

Sunny looked on with disappointment that her idea was rejected. "Hey! How's your rally going?" Zipp asked with a sheepish smile, as she arrived along the rest of the Mane 5 and Knuckles.

"So far, it's been nothing but failure" Sunny said with disappointment, pointing at the cards spreed on the ground. "Nopony in town even took one, did they?" she asked with concern.

"To be fair, these fliers do have a giant 'no' sign across a picture of French fries" Zipp pointed out, since the reverse of the fliers had exactly that: a big red circle and a line over French fries.

"There are so many things that need changing" Sunny stated. "How can I make the world a better place if nopony is willing to listen?" she asked concerned, walking on circles on her own place. "With all our new earth pony powers, there's so much potential!" she said, as her Cutie Mark started to glow and her friends stepped back a little surprised. "I just want to help!" she said out loud, while her Alicorn form appeared.

This made the earth ponies around Maretime Bay gasp in awe and surprise at Sunny's sudden transformation, as they all started to walk towards her and muttered between themselves.

"Okay, tell us more about them fruits and vegetables, Sunny!" Toots said with a smile, while the other earth ponies nodded in agreement.

"I finally got your attention?" Sunny asked excited with a giggle, not noticing that her horn and wings appeared.

A bit later, Sunny was delivering smoothies at her stand, while Hitch, Knuckles and Izzy played with Sparky behind it and Zipp and Pipp stood at Sunny's side.

"Woo! I am over the Luna-moon!" Sunny cheered. "The response in town went from zero to 100 in seconds. Ah! What gives, right?!" she asked with a smile to Zipp and Pipp.

Both sisters laughed a little before Zipp lay on the stand. "I think I can solve this mystery pretty quick" she assured to Sunny with a smirk. "Or, maybe you should just use that Alicorn mirror of yours..." she said.

"I have something in my face, again don't I?" Sunny asked with a bored expression. "Ah, I knew it––" she said, bringing out the alicorn mirror, and then her eyes widened when she saw the golden horn and wings. "My Alicorn magic? Ah! It was an accident!" she cried out, pulling the mirror away. "Oh, this keeps happening..." she said with worry, while Zipp and Pipp looked at each other confused.

"But that isn't a bad thing, it's a wonderful thing!" Pipp pointed out with a smile, pointing at the line at Sunny's stand, with the three usual fillies dressed as Alicorns. "That line is full of eager ponies who want to listen to you" Pipp added with a smile. "Am I jealous about that? No! Never. Because I'm secure in myself" she assured with a nervous smile, while Sunny stared at her concerned and Zipp a little annoyed. "And I have thousands of followers on multiple platforms validating my every move" she added with a sheepish smile, while Zipp stared at her with a raised eyebrow. "Ah... not that that matters. It doesn't!" she finished with a nervous chuckle.

Meanwhile the line of ponies waiting for take a smoothie on Sunny's stand chattered excited and looked at Sunny, while Sunny herself looked on nervously.

"Because, well, look at you! You're an Alicorn!" Pipp replied, as Sunny looked at her horn and wings. "Soon, everypony will be watching your every move while breathing down your neck at every moment, shouting 'Sunny, Sunny, Sunny! Ah! We love you!" Pipp said excited, laying on the stand and smiling at Sunny.

"That is... a lot" Sunny said with a nervous smile. "I'm not used to all this attention" she pointed out a little worried. "I, uh, I need some... space. A-hum. Yeah! Space. Okay" she said, ducking on her own stand and looking again at the Alicorn mirror, sighing and groaning a bit frustrated. "I gotta get ahold of this. I don't want to be an Alicorn right now" she stated, as her horn and wings faded away, and Sunny looked again at the mirror. There we go! Phew! Finally" she cheered quietly, closing the mirror and putting it away.

Back at Opaline's Castle, Opaline herself watched on disbelief how Sunny could summon her Alicorn form, unlike the other Alicorns in the history of Equestria like Celestia, Luna, Twilight or even Opaline herself.

"Sunny can transform into her Alicorn form?" Opaline asked herself in awe. "I've never seen this before... And she doesn't want to always be an Alicorn?" she asked again, opening her wings in anger.

Behind her, Misty was slurping loudly a smoothie that only Celestia knows where she got it from, while Dr. Eggman walked stood at the unicorns side and rubbed his chin. "Of course, magical artifacts always chooses the weak ones to posses the greatest power of all... how cliché" Eggman complained.

"Oh, I know. It's annoying" Opaline said, agreeing with Eggman. "However, if I can get Sunny to embrace her Alicorn powers, just imagine what we could accomplish with another Alicorn by our side" she said to both Eggman and Misty.

"That..." Eggman wanted to protest... however, he found the idea quite good. "Actually, my dear Opaline, that sounds wonderful! Two powerful Alicorns and a Mastermind like mine together... Ohohoho, the possibilities are endless!" he stated with an evil grin. "It's brilliant! She could even gave us the Unity Crystals and the Chaos Emeralds without knowing it! Opaline, you just make be grateful on our alliance more and more!" he added with a smirk.

"Oh, please, Ivo, you'll made me blush!" Opaline said jokingly. "With Sunny on our side, you'll get your precious Emeralds, and I'll be even closer to the magic I need" she stated with an evil grin.

This time, Opaline's eye twitched. "What is that?" she asked to Misty with a frown.

"A smoothie!" Misty replied. "It's got jicama in it, which isn't my favorite, but it still tastes like happiness" she explained with a smile, that somehow made Eggman smile a bit as well. "Want some?" she asked to Opaline and Eggman.

Opaline immediately replied by hitting the smoothie with a fire blast from her horn. "No, thank you Misty" Eggman simply said, patting the unicorns head.

"This is no time to drink vegetables!" Opaline said. "But it is time to plot. We have a job to do" she stated.

"Well, I don't know what would be your plan, but I'm afraid I won't be here to enjoy it" Eggman said, walking towards the exit. "The trial to lead Sonic to the cave where he'll met his fate it's done. And my sources says Tails came along, so I'll kill two birds on one shot" he stated. "I must prepare to kill them, so I must go now. Have fun, you two!" he finished, and then he got out of the throne room.

Meanwhile, Opaline looked at Misty with a grin. "Misty, I'm going to need you to infiltrate" she ordered.

"Ugh! Join a group of ponies! Blend in! I don't care!" Opaline replied with annoyance. "Just do whatever you have to do and find a way to get Sunny vulnerable" she ordered, and then she walked towards the boiler. "And as for Sunny's compact... Well, I think it could use a little extra Alicorn magic, don't you?" she stated, and then she started to laugh maniacally while she used her magic to change her reflection aspect to look exactly like Sunny.

Back at Sunny's stand, Izzy and Zipp where helping her out to deliver the smoothies. Since Tails was with Sonic following Metal Sonic's trail, he couldn't help Sunny today. Then, Zipp got out of the stand and flew away, while Pipp sat on a table with Hitch, Knuckles and Sparky.

Pipp sighed frustrated, but nopony seemed to care, so she sighed louder, but still nopony payed her attention. Nopony, except her two friends and the baby dragon.

Pipp looked over at Zipp, who came back rolling a giant watermelon over to Sunny's stand. "Don't mention it to Zipp, but yes!" Pipp told her friends, rising her wing to cover the conversation from Zipp and bringing out her phone. "None of my Clip Trots have been doing well!" she explained.

"But it is!" Pipp cried out at him, while Knuckles just looked at her confused. "These super popular and adorable ponies, the Filly Four, have been totally slaying the game!" she added, showing one of the Filly Four Clip Trots to Hitch and Knuckles. "I'm not saying it's a competition or anything, but this post had got thousands of hooftaps!" she said, looking at the likes on the video of the Filly Four she showed. "My latest post only got three likes and one monkey. And I don't even know what a monkey means!" she cried out with panic, slamming her cheek on the table with frustration.

"No biggie with the monkey part" Knuckles said. "Back home, we have them too and we have no idea what they mean either" he explained, then slurped from his smoothie.

"I've been trying everything lately, singing loudly, singing softly, singing in general..." Pipp explained, moving her hooves to prove her point while both Sparky and Knuckles looked at each other confused. "Oh my hoofness" Pipp said suddenly. "What if I've been..." she stopped and gasped dramatically, putting her hooves on her mouth. "... shadowbanished?!" she cried out with worry.

Both Hitch and Knuckles stared at her, not understanding why she was so dramatic so suddenly. "I don't know what that means, but it sound ominous" Jazz said, arriving suddenly and siting at Knuckles side, putting a hoof on her cheek while Hitch decided to slurp from his smoothie and check on his phone.

"Thank you, Jazz" Pipp thanked with a nervous look. "Shadowbanishing is when your content gets blocked to viewers!" she explained. "I mean, it has to be that, right?" she asked with panic. "There can't be any other explanation!" she pointed out.

"I don't like to be that guy, but it also could be that you're not that relevant anymore..." Knuckles said very calmly.

But that just made Pipp feel worst. "What?!" she yelled at Knuckles with widened eyes.

"There comes a moment on any influencer life where they stop being the hit" Knuckles explained. "It's completely normal that some influencers win viewers while others lost them. Sometimes it's not because people lost interest, but because something else call their attention from others" he added. "But don't worry too much, eventually you'll get your usual ratings back" he assured with a smile.

"I don't know. It could be days, weeks, months, years..." Knuckles listed, but then he saw Pipp's expression and quickly corrected himself. "It depends totally on what you upload, Pipp. Your viewers would give you attention again if you upload something they want to see, something that calls their complete attention back" he stated.

That only made Pipp felt more conflicted, and then Hitch started to laugh suddenly, which made Pipp felt even worst.

"Oh, sorry!" Hitch apologized. "It's just this video of Sparky. You gotta see it!" he explained, as Jazz, Pipp and Knuckles got closer to Hitch to look at his phone.

The video showed Hitch extending a fork with a cucumber slice to Sparky, who had hiccup and then let out his dragon fire at the cucumber, that turned into a rock. Sparky licked the rock a bit, and then he hugged it cutely, while thousands of heart emojis popped up.

"And look at all these comments, shares and likes..." Pipp said, grabbing Hitch's phone and checking the stats of the video. "... and monkeys. What does that mean?!" she cried out desperate again.

"Yeah, my little buddy has some sort of magic touch!" Hitch said, pointing at the baby dragon that just kept smiling at his smoothie. "I call it 'Sparky's Spark'. All of his stuff goes viral" he explained.

"Hmm, viral, you say..." Pipp commented, looking at Hitch with a smug while the sheriff grabbed his phone back. "Do you think I could I borrow him for a little bit?" Pipp asked Hitch with a nervous smile and her wings open.

"Dragonsit? Usually, Izzy and Knuckles does that" Hitch pointed out, while Knuckles just slurped from his smoothie and winked proudly. "But sure! I could use a little 'me' time" Hitch told Pipp with a smile. "And you can bond with Sparky!" he added, pointing at the baby dragon, who slurped happily from his smoothie.

Pipp laughed nervously. "Yes, yes. Bonding!" Pipp repeated nervously. "That's exactly what I plan to do, and definitely not crack the code of 'Sparky's Spark'" she assured with a nervous chuckle. "Not that" she said, slurping from her smoothie.

"That it's incredibly suspicious..." Knuckles said, glaring at Pipp for a second, and then he realized something. "Wait! Does that means I'm in charge today?!" he asked excited to Hitch.

"Yeah! Since I'm gonna give some time for myself, you can take care of the schedule today" Hitch replied with a smile.

"Oh, heck yeah!" Knuckles cheered, taking out a cowboy hat with three yellow pins with a red star. "Sheriff Knuckles it's on town, baby!" he stated with a smirk. "With Sonic and Tails out the whole day, I can finally solve some problems on my own!" he added with a smile.

"Yeah. Those two are on one of their 'bro trips', which means they won't be back until sunset... or until tomorrow if things get complicated" Knuckles explained, and that just made Pipp more worried about Sonic. "Anyways, gotta go do sheriff stuff, see ya!" he waved, running towards the station.

Meanwhile, Sonic and Tails were running and flying behind the trail of metal pieces that Metal Sonic left behind.

"That's a lot of pieces, even for Metal Sonic" Tails said, as he tried to scan the trial to calculate when they would arrive to 'Eggman's hideout', not knowing that they fell on his trap.

"I guess Metal's finally becoming rusty" Sonic said on a mocking tone, while Tails chuckle a little. "Say, how you think his hideout must be?" he asked.

"Knowing Eggman? He redecorated so he can see his mustache everywhere he looks" Tails said with a smirk.

"True!" Sonic commented with a chuckle. "I bet he fights constantly with his partner. I mean, knowing his record with evil partners, I doubt they stand each other" he pointed out with a smirk.

"Yeah, I wouldn't be surprise is she ends up betraying... Look out!" Tails said suddenly, launching towards Sonic, which caused both of them to roll on the grass grunting, until they landed behind a bush.

Sonic sat behind it and shook his head. "Tails!" he scolded him. "What comes––?" he tried to ask, but Tails covered his mouth with a hand a shushed him.

Tails pocked his head over the bush on a a certain direction, which caused Sonic to do the same. And then he finally understood Tails sudden reaction: a giant red floating machine with black spikes all around it's body, a giant black drill as it's left arm and a giant mallet as his left arm was using the drill arm to brake some rocks that where blocking the entrance to the cave. The machine, of course, was controlled by Dr. Eggman, who was frowning and mumbling to himself.

"The Egg Dragoon..." Sonic muttered. "Eggman is in there. Should we attack now?" he asked to Tails.

"No" Tails stated. "Let's play safe and go for the surprise attack instead" he suggested.

"Let's do it, then" Sonic said with a smirk, fist bumping with Tails and moving quietly in the shadows to not alert the doctor.

"Damn you, Metal Pipp!" Eggman complained. "I warned her fifteen times to wait for a blue blur, not a giant red machine!" he cried out loud with frustration.

He managed to finally destroy the rocks blocking the entrance of the cave, and now he used his mallet arm to make the entrance even bigger. He entered with the Egg Dragoon to the place, while Sonic and Tails decided to take this chance and enter the cave. They nodded at each other, and while Tails flew over the entrance, Sonic used his super speed to run on the wall and reached the entrance as well.

"Wow!" Sonic said, looking at the inside: it looked like a normal cave from the outside, but inside it was a place full of giant crystals shining. "Is it just me, or these crystals are pretty much around Equestria?" he asked to Tails, as they slowly walked inside the cave.

"Yeah, and they all shine too" Tails pointed out. "And don't forget one of those crystals it's the reason our Emeralds are shining again. I guess this crystals are more magical than we thought" he added.

And then, they both heard suddenly rumbling, and when they turned around they saw some rocks falling over the entrance.

"Oh no!" both Sonic and Tails cried out looking at each other. They then ran and flew towards the exit, but then an avalanche started, and Sonic stopped, grabbed Tails hand and ran to the other side. But then a giant rock fell behind Sonic and send both him and Tails flying away, and they landed rolling on the ground.

The avalanche left some dust behind, and once it dissipated, both Sonic and Tails coughed and stood up. "Are you okay?" Sonic asked Tails.

"Yeah..." Tails replied, cleaning some dust from his body. Then he looked at the entrance, now blocked with rocks. "Seems like we're trapped" he pointed out worried.

Sonic took out his phone and checked on the bars, then groaned in frustration. "And I got no bars... Guess we're going to have to explore the place" he pointed out, now looking at the inside of the cave.

"That, and also we have to look for Dr. Eggman" Tails added. "That's why we came, right?" he said.

"Yup!" Sonic said with a smile, then he slowly ran inside the cave, with Tails following behind by flight.

Meanwhile, outside the cabe, Metal Sonic and Metal Pipp looked at the now blocked entrance thanks to the rocks they both made fell on it.

"Doctor" Metal Pipp called to Eggman. "It worked. Sonic and Tails are inside, and their only exit is blocked" she informed, looking at the now blocked entrance.

"Excellent!" Eggman said cheerfully. "Now resume your labor of finding that 7th Chaos Emerald, since it was false alarm on here" he ordered. "And tell Metal Sonic to take care of Metal Hitch and Metal Izzy, at least until they're able to fight again" he added, ending the call with Metal Pipp.

"Whatever you say, 'dad'" Metal Sonic said with annoyance, flying away towards the junkyard, while Metal Pipp flew away on the opposite direction.

Back at Sunny's stand, the line kept growing while Sunny, Zipp and Izzy gave smoothies.

"How can I help you, fellow thirsty and engaged citizen?" Sunny asked to Windy, who was the first on the line right now.

"Alicorn-Special?" Sunny questioned confused. "Uh, we don't have anything like that" she said.

"I don't really care what it is" Windy stated. "I just want a smoothie that an Alicorn, like yourself, would drink" she said with a smile, while the ponies behind her cheered in agreement.

"Okay, sure. Yeah, I'll conjure that up" Sunny assured, while Izzy and Zipp looked at each other confused, and then got back to work.

"But I kinda want it made by the Alicorn, you know?" Windy pointed out a little nervous.

"The thing is, it doesn't exactly work like that" Sunny said with a nervous smile, which caused disappointed looks on Windy and the three fillies. "Why don't I help you with your orders and tell you about this awesome idea I have instead?" she suggested.

"To get more ponies interested in fruits and veggies, we can build a community garden!" Sunny explained, as her body started to shine in a golden light, and Zipp looked at her a bit surprised. "A massive one, where everypony can practice the art of––" she tried to add, but then she sneezed and the whole stand shook, which made the ponies look back at her. "Excuse me" Sunny apologized for the sneeze. "I think some dust got kicked up. Anyway, I––" she tried to talk once again, but this time Zipp cut her off.

"Uh, Sunny? You're an Alicorn again" Zipp told her, touching her left golden wing.

"So sparkly!" Izzy said with a smile, touching the other wing while Sunny brought out the Alicorn mirror again and looked at her reflection.

"You do?" Sunny said with a hopeful smile, letting the mirror open and putting it on the table.

"Are there any super-cool cause we can help with right now?!" Peach Fizz asked excited.

"Really?" Sunny asked with a smile. "Actually... there are!" she assured, then she pulled a list of some ideas she had. "Um... Okay! Let's see" she said, rolling out the list that was large enough to even got out of the stand, while the ponies around stared at it on shock. "We can start with some planters around town and save 'Airhorns for Armadillos!' for later" she stated with a smile. "That name kinda speaks for itself..." she said, not noticing that her reflection on the Alicorn mirror moved and looked at her with an evil laugh.

Later on, Glory made a little hole on a planter while Peach Fizz putted a seed on the earth and closed the hole. Then Seashell used her magic and made the seed grown into a big berry plant.

"All my dreams are coming true" Sunny cheered with a bright smile. "The community is literally growing together!" she added, then she squealed happily and walked towards the fillies. "What are you growing over there? Grapefruits?" she asked to them. "Ah, no, uh... zucchini?" she asked again.

"It's a grape-chini!" Seashell replied, showing the fusion between a grape and a zucchini to Sunny.

"A combination, grepefruit-zucchini!" Glory added, while both she and Peach Fizz lifted up one of the grape-chinis.

"Oh. Interesting!" Sunny said a bit confused. "I'm just happy you're all showing such enthusiasm" she confessed with an honest smile.

The fillies got so happy at Sunny's words, that Glory and Peach Fizz let the grape-chini fell. "We made the Alicorn happy!" Peach Fizz cheered, and then the three fillies squealed excited, while Sunny felt uncomfortable to be referred as 'the Alicorn'.

"Neigh-way!" Seashell said suddenly, looking at a certain direction, while her friends and Sunny stared at the same direction. "Is that..." she added.

"The Filly Four!" the three fillies said, as the four ponies stared at the other four ponies walking towards them.

They were all wearing sunglasses, and the first three ponies posed dramatically, while the fourth one, being Misty in cover and with a fake butterfly Cutie Mark, tripped and fell into a Trash Can.

"Sunny, we've been looking for you everywhere!" Sugar said to Sunny, who looked on a little anxious while the fillies just squealed like fangirls. "It's so nice to finally meet" she said, lowering her sunglasses a bit, while Misty got out of the trash can with a sheepish smile and the other two looked at their phones.

"We went to school together, Sugar" Sunny pointed out a bit nervous. "I sat next to you in––" she tried to add, but Sugar cut her off.

"I'm Sugar" Sugar introduced herself, completely ignoring Sunny's comment. "This is Rosedust" she pointed at the green earth pony mare with light blue mane. "Lily" she presented the pink earth pony mare with purple mare and the white stripe. "And uh... what's that new unicorn's name?" she asked to Rosedust.

"Minty?" Rosedust replied, unsure and careless to tell the truth. "That slot is always on rotation, so we forget. Ha!" she said with a fake laugh.

"We were just about to go shopping. Wanna join?" Sugar asked to Sunny with a smug.

"I don't need to go shopping, but..." Sunny tried to say, and then Lily cut her off.

"But if you come with us, everypony is going to see us together and we're super influential" Lilly told her on a very egocentrically tone.

"Whatever. All you have to do is hang out with us" Sugar stated. "And stay an Alicorn, of course" she added, placing her hind leg around Sunny's neck.

"Right!" Sunny said with a nervous chuckle, walking away from the Filly Four. "Uh... One sec" she said with a nervous smile. "I just need to freshen up. Over there" she pointed at an alley.

"Freshen up? In a hardware store?" Sugar questioned. "Weird, but okay" she added, while Sunny quickly walked away from the mares, while Misty lowered her sunglasses and looked at Sunny strangely.

Sunny, on the other hand, marked Pipp's number, while Pipp was reading a magazine on her salon as she picked up her phone and answered the call. "Hey!" she greeted, not even reading who called her.

"Pipp!" Sunny called out in panic. "The Filly Four want me to hang out with them" she explained worried, while Pipp's jaw dropped in surprise. "What should I do?" Sunny asked.

Pipp gasped as she threw her magazine away and dropped her phone in shock. "The Filly Four?!" she asked to Sunny, grabbing the phone back. "They're the ones eclipsing me on social media! They're like..." she chuckled a bit before keep going. "... super-famous right now" she explained.

"They are?" Sunny asked, as he walked deeper into the alley to keep the conversation away from the Filly Four.

"Yeah!" Pipp replied. "You need to do all you can to get them on your side" she stated. "Ah, your school days are coming full-circle, Sunny. You're going from misfit to popular pony!" she added with a smile, while Sparky suddenly appeared at her side and she patted his head with a smile.

"Okay! I'm gonna do it then" Sunny assured, ending the call with Pipp. However, she still felt unsure about the idea, and it made her horns and wings disappear. "Oh no, no. Not now!" she begged, but her Alicorn form was already gone.

"Sunny..." Opaline's voice called to her from the Alicorn mirror on her bag. Sunny looked around to see who was calling her, but she found no one. "Sunny..." the voice called again, and this time Sunny could heard it from her bag, so she opened it and took out the Alicorn mirror. She opened, and her reflection started to talk with her. "Sunny" her reflection called out.

"Yes" Opaline, disguised as Sunny's reflection, replied with a smile. "Hello, me! Hello, you" she said.

"Wow!" Sunny said, hopping excited. "I need to share this with Zipp right away!" Sunny stated, turning around and running to look for Zipp.

"Wait!" Opaline told her, which made Sunny trip and threw the mirror in front of her, while Opaline chuckled a little bit. "This 'magic mirror' is only for Alicorns, Sunny" she explained. "I'm your inner voice. I'm here to guide you" she assured her.

"Yes!" Opaline reassured. "If any other type of pony uses it, it will lose its enchantment" she explained, while Sunny looked worried at her 'reflection'. "Because Alicorns are special. You are special. Haven't you noticed?" she asked to Sunny, while the mare placed a hoof on her chin as she though about it.

"Not different. Special. Better even" Opaline assured, while Sunny grabbed the mirror again. "Why be a basic, boring earth pony, when you can be an Alicorn?!" she asked to Sunny, as 'her reflection' opened her wings and showed that the wings where permanently attached to her.

"Then how... How do I stay an Alicorn?" Sunny asked to 'her reflection' desperately, this time willing to become an Alicorn, permanently if possible.

"Find the source of your power and harness it" Opaline instructed her. "Then all your wildest dreams can come true!" she assured her.

Opaline stared blankly at her. "That's your wildest dream?" she asked on disbelief. "We'll work on that, but yes!" she assured.

"I've been drafting my garden dream board at the Brighthouse!" Sunny explained with a bright smile, while her horn and wings appeared once again. "Oh, I really want it to become a place where I can help other ponies use their magic" she stated. "A place where everypony can––" she tried to add, but then 'her reflection' cut her off.

"Yes. That's it! Look" Opaline told her, as Sunny looked at her Alicorn form with a smile. "Go take what's rightfully yours" she instructed once again.

"Wow. Thank you so much... Me!" Sunny thanked to 'her reflection', a.k.a. Opaline. "Uh... Mirror me? Sunny-Squared?" she kept asking, while Opaline looked at her with a bored expression. "I'll come up with a better name soon" she assured, then she squealed excited and closed the mirror to put it away.

Meanwhile, in Mane Melody, Pipp sat Sparky on a chair, while the baby dragon looked at Pipp with a smile.

"Okay, Sparky. I need your help here" Pipp told the baby dragon. "I can't risk losing all relevance in the digital world" she stated, twirling Sparky on the chair once. "Also, I need to prove Knuckles that I'm still 'the hit'!" she added. "I must go viral. What gives you that 'spark' I'm missing?" she asked him, but Sparky replied with a giggle. "Hmm. Let's see..." she said, taking out her phone and looking at a video of Sparky dancing adorably, with thousands of heart emojis popping out.

Then the video moved to Pipp doing something similar, but barely getting some likes. Then, another video of Sparky crying appeared, once again getting thousands of likes in seconds. A video of Pipp doing the same appeared, and once again, it barely got any likes. And then, another video of Sparky wearing different outfits also got thousands of likes, while the video of Pipp doing the same didn't got any.

Pipp looked at the videos with sadness, while Sparky appeared at her side with his pacifier. He took it out of his mouth and put it in Pipp's, as he laughed a bit. "Can you please not right now?" Pipp begged, with the pacifier on her mouth. She slowly got up and threw her phone away, as well as the pacifier from her mouth. "Ugh! What does Sparky have that I don't?!" she questioned concerned, looking at the baby dragon with a frown. "I have to get to the bottom of this" she stated, pulling out another phone from down her wing. "Good thing I carry several phones on me for good measure" she added, now looking at a picture of the Filly Four getting thousands of likes and gasping. "No! Oh, my eyes! It burns!" she cried out, trowing the phone that Sparky caught in time, as he extend it to Pipp, who looked at him concerned.

"Why Sonic hasn't being connected for the last two hours?" Pipp questioned, looking at his profile in Clip Trot.

Meanwhile, at the cave, Sonic was moving all around the place with his phone on hand, trying to get at least one bar and talk to anyone. He couldn't care less on who to call, as long as he could do it.

"Come on..." Sonic groaned, still moving all around the cave. "Ugh! Just one stupid bar it's enough!" he cried out.

Tails, on the other hand, was using his tablet to analyze the crystals around the cave. "So many magic stuff in this world that I cannot understand... But eventually I will, by the power of science or not" he stated with a smile.

"How about you try to understand why can't I get a single bar?!" Sonic cried out.

"Uh... we're in a cave? Where all contact with the outside world is blocked?" Tails pointed out with a bored expression, as he resumed his walk on the cave. "Why do you want to have bars so bad, anyways? Spending too much time around Pipp its starting to affect you" he joked.

"Okay, first of all, Little Pipp isn't a bad influence... at least when she's not on her phone 24/7" Sonic said with a little frown. "And second, I need to tell the others that it might take a while before we go back. You know how they act whenever one of us disappears for so long" he pointed out.

"Okay, you might have a point. Specially with Sunny" Tails confessed. "But again: We're trapped in a cave, so don't expect to have any connection until we're out of here" he warned.

"Ugh, fine" Sonic said a bit annoyed. "But don't complain when Sunny explodes at us with thousands of questions" he also warned.

They kept walking on the cave for a while, until they reached a place that not only had more crystals, but it also have some kind of small forest in there, with a lake shining as much as the crystals, and even a waterfall.

"You know, this place is way too pretty for Eggman to hide in here" Sonic pointed out.

"Yeah... this is too suspicious..." Tails said. "It feels almost like..." he tried to add, but...

"This is a trap?" Eggman's voice spoke, and then the Egg Dragoon landed behind Sonic and Tails. Both of them backflipped and landed on their feet. "Well, you're absolutely right, Tails. This is, indeed, a trap. And you two fell straight on it!" he cheered with a maniacal laugh.

"Now look at that, Tails, a bald egg just stepped in our way!" Sonic said on a mocking tone, while Eggman just groaned at them. "What's up, Egghead? Long time no see! Truth to be told, I though I'll never see you again" he said with a frown and a smirk.

"Ohohohoho! You're too illusional then, if you really though you could get rid of me!" Eggman said with an evil grin. "As you already now, I've been watching your every move for a while. I also saw on first line how you and your pathetic group of friends destroyed my precious creations" he said, now with a frown.

"Oh! You mean that metal scrap that you call 'machines'? Yeah well, we're awesome, and really good at what we do, so I don't know why are you so surprised" Sonic said, still smirking at him.

"Oh, Sonic, Sonic, Sonic. I don't think a mind of the size of a grape like yours can understand how powerful I am now" Eggman said, once again smiling. "And your new powers... I must say, if it wasn't because I know of their unlimited power, I would be afraid of you" he said with an evil grin again.

Sonic's smirk and confidence immediately left away, and fear made it through his body. "H-How do you know about my powers?" he asked terrified, something Eggman never saw on Sonic before.

He's... scared? No way... Eggman though. Well, then, time to enjoy this battle! he though again, with his smile growing bigger. "Remember your first battle with Metal Sonic? I saw it all! Your new electrical powers are something amazing, Hedgehog!" he started to explain, as Sonic's fear increased. "I needed to study it further, and I did! All thanks to Metal Sonic's help, of course" he added. "And now that I have you just where I want, I'm going to end you right here, right now, using your own power against you!" he stated, pressing a button on the machine that made some parts of the Egg Dragoon glow in blue.

"That color... it's just like Sonic's quills when he activates his powers" Tails muttered to himself. "There has to be something else..." he said, pulling out his tablet and scanning the Egg Dragoon.

Sonic, on the other hand, started to let the fear away to feel something else: rage. Full rage passing through his body, as he looked at Eggman with a deadly glare. His eyes and quills turned on blue while Sonic breathed heavily. "You think you can use my power against me, Robotnik?!" he asked. However, unlike last time, Eggman didn't felt any scared at Sonic. "Well, come and get it, you bastard!" he shouted.

Tails finally got what did the Egg Dragoon had that it made it glow on blue, and he looked in fear at the tablet. "Sonic, wait!" he tried to warn Sonic, but the hedgehog already charged his Spindash and launched himself towards Eggman.

Eggman smiled at this, and the Egg Dragoon stopped slightly the time, then he lifted its mallet arm and punched Sonic, who flew back wards until he crashed on his back against the wall, and fell in the ground.

Eggman laughed at the scene, while Sonic hardly stood up. "I tried to warn you, Sonic. But you didn't wanted to listen, so now it is time you meet your––" he tried to say, but then the Egg Dragoon got hit by a laser. "What the heck? What was that?!" he asked a little panicked.

And then Tails, appeared flying and frowning at Eggman, with his plasma gun on his hand. "What's the matter, Eggman? Are you scared of a two tail fox with a gun?" he said with a smirk and a mocking tone. Then he Spindashed against the Egg Dragoon, not waiting for Eggman to reply.

"Come one, Egghead! This isn't 2017 anymore, I may be his brother, but I can stand against you without Sonic!" Tails replied with a determinate look, and then he started to have a fight on his own against Eggman. He even managed to dodge the slow mo attacks Eggman tried to hit at him.

Sonic wasn't listening nor looking at what was happening, he was trying to get on his senses back. Once he could finally think clearly again, he looked at the machine and Tails fight, and he immediately felt terrified. "Tails, no!" he shouted, quickly running towards the fox.

"What?" Tails asked, distracting and getting a punch from the mullet arm of the Egg Dragoon. Tails fell in the ground, but quickly got up and shook his head. Sonic didn't wait and launched against Eggman again, and Tails tried to warn him about how Eggman had super speed now, but Sonic got hit again before he could even open his mouth. Tails groaned and tried to attack as well, but Eggman hit him and Tails landed at Sonic's side. When they both got up, Sonic stopped Tails.

"Um, giving you a hand? I'm not standing here while you do all the work!" Tails pointed out with a frown.

"I can do it on my own, Tails, you just stay here and––" Sonic tried to instruct, but Tails immediately got on his way and extended his arms to stop him.

"Oh no! This won't be another 'Sonic's saves the day' thing of yours!" Tails stated with a frown. "I've been on your shadow way too long, I've won't stay here and wait for you to save my butt like before!" he added.

"Tails, this isn't a thing about glory. If I don't stop Eggman now, our friends would be in danger!" Sonic tried to resonate.

"I know! That's why am I fighting too, because I want to help!" Tails shouted with anger.

"Oh really?! Well, guess what, Mr. Needlemouse? I'm not a kid anymore! I don't need you to protect me!" Tails pointed out.

Eggman just looked on with a smile at how Sonic and Tails kept fighting, completely forgetting about him. He decided to use the super speed of his machine again and punched the brothers with the mallet arm of the Egg Dragoon, which made them crash against a wall and fell into the ground with pain.

"You two are adorable when you fight" Eggman said on a mocking to Sonic and Tails. "Too bad this is the end of the line for you!" he stated with an evil grin.

Before any of them could react, Eggman used the black drill arm of the Egg Dragoon and destroyed the ground, then punched it with his mallet arm and the ground cracked, until it fell apart and both Sonic and Tails fell into a deep well as they screamed in fear.

"Bye, bye, losers!" Eggman told them with a wave of his hand, and then he laughed maniacally.

Back in Maretime Bay, Sunny got back with the Filly Four, who were taking lots of selfies of themselves.

"Alright!" Sunny said, landing near the other mares. "Feeling much better. After looking at gardening tools, I'm in!" she assured with a smile.

"I have another idea!" Sunny said, as she flew in front of the Filly Four. "I decided I'm going to make an announcement about this huge project I've been working on and I want to get everypony involved" she explained. "Only if they want to get involved, though" she added.

Since the three fillies were still there, they immediately replied jumping in front of Sunny. "Yes!" Glory said first with a smile.

The Filly Four looked surprised at the fillies enthusiasm, and Sugar even lifted her sunglasses a bit, but then she smiled. "The Filly Four would love to help" she said, walking towards Sunny and placing her hind hoove around Sunny's neck. "We'll rally all the ponies in town to hear the news! We're here for you" she said, pointing at Sunny's chest, then she took out her phone and lifted her glasses up. "Burt first, smile!" she told Sunny, as they both smiled at the camera. "That is so going viral" she assured, while Sunny looked on excited, but nervous at the same time.

Back at the Brighthouse, Izzy was doing some Unicycling stuff for 'Izzy Does It', crushing a tea cup with a frying pan.

Zipp, at her side of the room, kept researching on Opaline's possible plan to take over the magic and her hideout, since Tails haven't texted her at all and she was a bit worried for him and Sonic.

"Whoa, there" Zipp said, walking towards Hitch. "What's gotten into you?" she asked him.

"Yeah, you seem so... chill" Izzy said with a relaxed tone, while Zipp nodded in agreement.

"Pipp offered to watch Sparky for the afternoon, Knuckles would look over for the town today and I finally got some much needed 'me' time" Hitch explained with a bright smile. "Which is going to end with myself, a bubble bath, and the newest Bridlewood Beatnik jazz album" he added with a relaxed tone, pulling out an album that had an abstract drawing of Onyx and Jasper on it.

"Cool, cool" Zipp said, and then she realized something. "Wait–– You let Pipp do what?" she asked him about the thing he mentioned about Pipp and Sparky.

"No doubt Pipp's having a relaxing time with Sparky, too" Hitch answered to Zipp. "And Knuckles has the same sense of duty I have, so no killer machines this time" he replied to Izzy with a chuckle. "Now, where did I put that hydrating face mask?" he questioned to himself, while Zipp and Izzy looked at each other a bit confused.

Meanwhile, Pipp was having trouble with Sparky, since he was still a baby and needed to be take care of. He was making gibberish noises on a makeshift hammock Pipp made to entertain the baby dragon. Just for the record: she was terrible at dragonsit.

She sighed in defeat. "Oh, Pipp. What have you gotten yourself into?" she asked to herself with worry, pulling out her phone. "Up-and-up he goes, like the Filly Four" she said frustrated. "Oh! Why can't I get one thing to trend? What is my skill set if not this?!" she cried out, looking at her phone. "What is my Sparky's spark?!" she questioned in sadness and frustration. Then, Sparky threw an orange to her head, but Pipp though that something finally popped on her mind. "I have an idea!" she said excited, but then the baby dragon threw an apple to her face, and she realized that she still had no ideas at all. "Nope. It was Sparky" she said.

Sparky threw another apple at her face, also holding her phone to record her, and the camera showed Pipp getting hit by the apples that Sparky kept throwing at her. "Ow!" Pipp cried out multiple times, while Sparky just giggled at her.

Back with Sunny, she was being treated like and actual Alicorn princess by the three fillies, while Sunny felt really uncomfortable with this kind of treat.

"Would the Alicorn like to be fanned with an earth pony-grown branch?" Glory asked her cheerfully, holding a tree branch with her mouth and moving it like a big hand fan.

"Or maybe she would like to try one these fresh earth pony-grown grapes, made by me?" Seashell suggested, with the grapes on her forehead, while Sunny smiled sheepishly.

"Uh... okay? Thanks!" Sunny said nervously, as she tried to grab one of the grapes, but then Misty stopped her.

"No, no. You mustn't lift one perfect Alicorn-hoof of yours" Misty stated with a wink. "You deserve to be treated like the Alicorn-royalty that you are, all the time, forever" she declared, while the fillies walked away and Sunny looked at Misty confused. "Isn't it nice?" she asked her with a smile.

Sugar suddenly appeared at Sunny's side, and Misty walked away. "You have to tell us, how do you get your mane so shiny?" she asked her, touching her mane.

"Does it feel weird when you glow?" Lily asked Sunny, appearing at her other side.

"What's it like being ethereal?" Rosedust asked her about the golden horn and wings.

Sunny, feeling too overwhelmed and uncomfortable, stood up and extended her wings to apart the Filly Four. "Uh, I gotta go, you know, do the 'Ali' stuff I do" she said with a sheepish smile, flying away from the mares and landing in front of a crowd of ponies carrying signs that pretty much indicated they loved Sunny... as an Alicorn. "That's the Ali-part of being an Alicorn. So. Yeah" she said, walking away nervously.

"Anything for an Alicorn!" the three fillies shouted, which made Sunny to run now.

Sunny returned to the same alley from before, and took out the Alicorn mirror to talk again with herself, or should I say, to talk with Opaline.

"What should I do?" Sunny asked to 'her reflection'. "I feel so lost" she said with worry and pain.

"Continue on this path to glory" Opaline, once again disguised as Sunny, instructed her. "You are an Alicorn. You should be praised, admired, feared" she stated with an evil grin that Sunny didn't noticed.

"Do you remember how horrible it was before?" Opaline asked her, reminding her of those times before she even met Izzy and Sonic when absolutely nopony listened to her and her ideas about a unified Equestria. "How nopony would listen to you? How small you felt?" Opaline added.

Sunny sobbed a bit, looking at the ground with pain since remembering her life before Sonic and Izzy's arrival was always painful for her. "Yes I do" she replied with sadness, closing the Alicorn mirror. And then, both her horn and wings faded away. "No! Come back. Come back!" she pled desperately, but her Alicorn form faded anyways. Sunny looked at the ground broken, feeling that nopony cared at all about her unless she was an Alicorn. And, unfortunately, it was the truth. "I don't need to be an Alicorn for ponies to like me, right?" she said, now sobbing and letting out tears of pain. "Right?" she asked again, turning around and looking at the ponies gathering.

"Now that's better!" Knuckles said with a smile. "Everything seems in order so far. And quiet" he pointed out, looking around on town. Then, he realized that nopony was actually around, and the town felt almost empty. "Too quiet..." he added with worry.

"Quick! We're gonna miss it!" a unicorn mare told an earth pony stallion, as they both ran towards the crowd of ponies that Knuckles didn't noticed until now.

He looked confused, and then he managed to stop the ponies he saw running before. "Hello, citizens from this beautiful town. Can I ask what's going on over there?" he told the ponies.

"Sorry, De-- I mean, Sheriff Knuckles!" the mare apologized with a sheepish smile. The word about Knuckles being in charge for the day spreed very quickly, and now everyone referred at him like that, although Knuckles doesn't feel any comfortable with it. "We were just trying to hurry to listen to the Alicorn" the mare explained quickly, and then she ran again alongside the stallion.

"The Alicorn?" Knuckles questioned. "Are they talking about Sunny?" he asked himself. Knuckles slowly walked towards the crowd, and found them booing at Sunny, who was a normal earth pony right now. He got both confused and worried, so he approached to the stand to talk with her, but then he heard something that made his blood boil.

"... you're cool now. At least when you're an alicorn" Lily told Sunny, who looked on both disappointed and broken.

"This isn't what I wanted. At all" Sunny stated with pure sadness, and then ran away towards the Crystal Brighthouse.

That was everything Knuckles needed to groan loudly and stomp his foot loud enough to gain the ponies attention. "I don't care what gathered you here! I want this place cleared in 2 minutes, or I will tell Hitch to put some Community Services to all of you!" he stated, with his fists and quills glowing in red.

"Oh, really?" Knuckles asked on a voice that send chills on everypony's spines. "Let me ask this one time: If you had the power to become an Alicorn yourself, and everypony suddenly approaches to your Flowers Stand, would you like that? Would you like to have attention just because you're an Alicorn, with everyone not caring on the slightest about how you feel or what you say if you don't have two wings and a horn attached to you the whole damn day?!" he asked her with anger.

"That's what I though" Knuckles said, as his powers faded away. "Now, get lost! And I expect an apology for Sunny from each and every single one of you!" he stated with a frown. "Let's see how Hitch reacts at this unacceptable behavior of yours" he muttered to himself, as some ponies walked away and others, Misty included, ran away too.

Speaking of her, she was having an internal conflict now. Opaline found her and saved her when she was a filly, so she had to prove her to be worth of a Cutie Mark. However, Knuckles' words also made it to her mind, and she questioned if doing this to Sunny at all was a good idea in the first place.

Meanwhile, Sunny made it to the Brighthouse and quickly ran up stairs, where she met Izzy and Zipp.

"Hey, hey, Sunny!" Izzy called to her. "We have something really exciting we wanna show you that we've been working on and––" she tried to explain, but then Sunny looked at her with teary eyes.

"Do you wanna show me, or show the Alicorn?" Sunny asked them with both anger and sadness, which worried Izzy and Zipp, and then Sunny sobbed a little. "I can't do this!" she cried out, walking towards her room, while Zipp and Izzy looked at each other with worry.

Sonic was laying on the ground, unconscious after the fall from the Egg Dragoon attack. He slowly started to woke up, and he stood up, shaking his head and looking around, until his gaze landed on Tails: he wasn't unconscious, but he was curled up in ball and sobbing.

At first Sonic didn't understood why, but then he saw that his right tail was bent, and felt horror. "T-Tails..." he weakly called out, as he tried to run towards him, but then he felt his whole body hurting a lot. However, he couldn't care less about his state and slowly hopped towards his brother.

Once he was near him, he took out some bandages he always had with him and softly touched Tails bent tail. That was enough to make Tails scream in pain, and pull his tails away as a reflex, which made the pain even worst.

"Tails, don't touch your..." Sonic tried to say, but Tails immediately cut him off.

"I SAID: STAY AWAY FROM ME!!!" Tails shouted with anger, as he glared daggers at Sonic while some yellow sparks came out of his body and his teary eyes turned yellow.

Sonic stepped back, not of fear, but from surprise. If it wasn't because Tails wanted him to stay away, he would be very proud of him now that it seemed like he got his powers.

Tails slowly started sobbing again and the electricity faded, with his eyes turning back to be blue while he curled on a ball again.

Sonic frowned and sat down, giving his back to Tails. "Fine! Close on your stupid sadness if you don't want me to help you" he said with anger. "I don't even know what has gotten into you anyways" he said frustrated.

"You!" Tails shouted from the other side. "You're my problem! You were not listening to me back there!" he complained.

"I was trying to hit Eggman before he could punch you again!" Sonic said with a frown.

"And if you just listened to me, you would have knew that Eggman has one of your quills!" Tails revealed, while Sonic's eyes widened now. "That's how he punched us before we could even dodge him!" he pointed out with anger. "But you were so focused on giving me protection that I didn't needed! And now we're trapped deep down on a cave that I have no idea if we would get out of!" he finished.

Sonic didn't said anything for a while, he just looked down in shame. He knew Tails was right, he should have listened, but his sense of duty and his 'big bro' sense blurred him completely.

"I-I wanted to help you like in the old times..." Tails added suddenly. "I wanted you to see that I'm still useful... t-that you didn't had to get rid of me..." he said in sobs.

Sonic looked at him in shock and worry. "Why would I ever want to get rid of you?" he asked, genuinely confused.

"I-I haven't been of much help lately..." Tails said with sadness. "In the Lost Hex I got captured and didn't did much while you defeated the Deadly Six, when Time Eater came you and your past self did all the hard work while I just watched. During the war with Infinite, I got so depressed that I couldn't even stand against Chaos 1..." he listed with disappointment on himself. "I hear everyone back home saying that you'll be so much better without me... that you can stand against Eggman by yourself... that you should just ditch me at the first chance you have..." he added.

"I-I spend those 6 months building up that portal machine to look for you because I had to prove them wrong. I needed to take you back and prove I'm not useless..." Tails added with concern. "But instead, I got me and Knuckles trapped here too..." he finished.

Once again, Sonic didn't said anything. He didn't knew Tails felt like this, and his attitude and word back there didn't helped at all. He was so focused on protecting him, that he never stopped to think if he needed protection in the first place. He felt shame, shame on himself, on his words, on everyone else back home.

But not anymore. Sonic closed his fist and looked at Tails with determination. He slowly walked towards him and sat at his side, while Tails didn't tried to pull him away this time.

Sonic sighed before looking at Tails with a guilty expression. "I'm sorry, Tails" he said on the first place. "I should had payed more attention to you than to anything else... instead, I kept running away and abandoned you whenever you offered something to me" he confessed with shame. "I... I just wanted to protect you so badly. Not because I don't trust you, man, I know very well you could take down Eggman on your own. You did it once, if I recall correctly" he said with a little smile of pride, which made Tails smile weakly. "I wanted to protect you because... you're all the family I have left" he confessed.

"Dude, you're my little brother, blood related or not" Sonic assured with a smile. "It's just that... after what happened to Longclaw, I was so scared that something could happen to you that I... I acted like a jerk" he said with shame and lowered ears. "I didn't wanted to lose you too... I guess that's also why I didn't asked your help that much on those adventures you mentioned. I was scared... scared that I'll lose you just like I–– Like we lost Longclaw" he finished.

Tails looked at him surprised and, surprisingly even for him, happy. He did cared, Sonic did cared about him, he just prove it with the wrong actions. "Sonic, I don't want to lose you either" Tails confessed. "I want to help, even if you don't needed that much, because I can protect you the same way you used to protect me when we were kids" he confessed. "Yeah, I wanted to prove that I'm not useless, too, but my main goal was being there for you" he finished.

Sonic looked over at him with more guilty than before, then he looked down at the ground and sighed. "I'm being such a terrible brother..." he said with disappointment on himself. "I wanted you to come along to have a bro adventure, like we used to, but... I didn't expected Eggman to be that powerful... specially because of my powers..." he said.

After that, none of them said anything for a good while. It wasn't an awkward silence, however, just a deep silence that they both needed to put their thoughts together.

Sonic:
In the light of the day
In the dark of the night

Tails slowly lifted his head up, and he looked in awe at Sonic who looking at the ground with guilty. Sonic made that song years ago to calm him down whenever there was a storm, since Tails is afraid of thunders. Soon enough, Sonic looked at him, and they were staring at each other now. Sonic smiled, and Tails smiled back, while Sonic decided to keep singing.

When you're raring to go
When you're tired from the fight

Sonic stood up and extended his hand to Tails, who accepted it and stood up as well.

When you're losing your mind
Let me give you a thought
I'm gonna be right by your side, no matter what

Sonic danced tap around Tails as he kept singing, and at the last sentence, he ruffled his hair, while Tails chuckled a bit. Now, Tails decided to join to the song.

Sonic:
In the dark of the night

Tails:
In the dark of the night

Sonic:
In the light of the day

Tails:
In the light of the day

Sonic:
When you're rising to shine

Tails:
When you're rising to shine

Sonic:
When you're hitting the hay

Tails:
When you're hitting the hay

Sonic:
I'll be hanging around

Tails:
I'll be hanging around

Sonic:
If you like it or not

Tails:
If you like it or not

Sonic and Tails:
I'm gonna be right by your side, no matter what

Sonic:
Through whoever you've been

Tails:
Through whoever you've been

Sonic:
Through whoever you'll be

Tails:
Through whoever you'll be

Sonic:
Through whatever you lose

Tails:
Through whatever you lose

Sonic:
You will always have me

Tails:
You will always have me

Sonic:
At the end of your rope

Tails:
At the end of your rope

Sonic:
I'll be holding you tight

Tails:
I'll be holding you tight

Sonic and Tails:
I'm gonna be right by your side, no matter what

As they sang this part, both of them remembered some things that happened to both of them through their lives, like Sonic's lonely life when he wasn't with Longclaw, or Tails being bullied because of his tails. Then, they both remembered when they met and every adventure they had together ever since.

Be right by your side
Be right by your side
Be right by your side, no matter what

They both finished singing, and then Tails hugged Sonic suddenly, but Sonic didn't lasted long to hug him back.

"I'm really sorry, Tails" Sonic said again, braking the hug. "I didn't wanted to make you feel like I didn't needed you. I was just... scared to lose you" he confessed.

"I'm sorry, too" Tails said. "I should have said something before instead of stay quiet. I guess that, despite knowing each other for 18 years now, we still have a lot to learn as brothers" he suggested with a smile.

"Well, I'm glad I would learn to be a better brother with you" Sonic assured with a smile.

Both Sonic and Tails looked up and saw the Egg Dragoon flying slowly until it got completely in front of them. "Ugh! Eggman!" the two brothers groaned angrily.

"Well, hello again!" Eggman said. "I would said 'Long time no see', but 1- We saw each other like an hour ago, and 2- Repeating it would get annoying eventually" he pointed out. "Now, I was about to leave, but I still detected two life signals and decided to make a double check. And I'm glad I did, because now I can make sure I kill you!" he stated with an evil grin.

"Get lost, Eggman!" Tails shouted. "I don't care what's your plan with Equestria, but one thing is for sure: we're stopping you for good!" he stated with confidence.

"Oh, really?" Eggman said on a mocking tone. "And what are you going to do, exactly? Cry and ask Sonic for help? Like with Chaos 1?" he said, laughing maniacally. However, Tails' rage just increased and slight yellow electricity appearing around him.

"No" Tails stated, and Eggman stopped laughing. "I'm tired of this 'useless' bullshit. I'm not a kid anymore. I'm not afraid of a good-for-nothing like you anymore. And I'm not depending on my friends either! I'm enough on myself. And I'm gonna. Take. You. DOWN!" he shouted, with his eyes turning yellow and his body releasing his electrical powers as well. However, somehow his powers also made his bend tails go back to normal, and Tails flew in the air extending his arms and released electricity, which slowly turned in metallic pieces that united and created a giant robot that looked exactly like Tails.

"This is my power, Eggman. And I'm gonna used it to protect my friends from you!" Tails stated, moving one arm of the robot and punching the Egg Dragoon.

Eggman didn't had enough time to react when Tails launched another punch, then another, and then another. He kept punching Eggman's machine until the Egg Dragoon was nothing but metal scrap around the ground. Eggman came out of the machine and fainted in the ground.

Meanwhile, Tails finally got time to process what just happened. "Wow!" he said in awe. "Did you see that?!" he asked to Sonic excited.

"Of course I did!" Sonic said with a proud smile. "Man, you were amazing! And it seems like your power increases your mechanical abilities! You just builded this with your mare imagination!" he said, still very proud of Tails. "I couldn't be more happy and proud of you right now!" he assured.

"Well, thanks!" Tails said, a bit embarrassed but also happy. "Now, let's get out of here!" he stated.

"Give me a sec!" Sonic said, as he quickly ran and grabbed Eggman. "I know he's our enemy, but you know: hero code" he explained.

"Yeah, yeah" Tails said with an eye roll and a smile, finally pulling them out of there with the new robot, that also had Tails and turned them into a helicopter propeller and flew out of the hole.

Once they were fully out of the cave, Sonic putted Eggman on the ground at the cave's entrance, then he got over Tails' robot again and the brothers boosted back to Maretime Bay.

Eggman, on the other hand, woke up a bit dizzy. Once he realized what happened, he groaned frustrated. "DAMN YOU, SONIC AND TAILS!!!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

Back at the Crystal Brighthouse, Sunny was crying on her bed, while Zipp and Izzy looked at her with worry.

"We don't like to see you hurting, Sunny" Zipp said with lowered ears and worry.

"It was a lie" Sunny started to explain, not sobbing anymore, but still sad. "Nopony actually cares about these causes, they only care about me being an Alicorn!" she said with sadness. "I don't want to be followed and adored just because of what I am. I want ponies to believe, truly believe, in what they're fighting for, that they can make the world a better place for every ponykind" she stated, still a bit sad.

"Being an Alicorn doesn't make you any different!" Izzy assured with a smile. "It makes you the same" she added.

"You're everypony, all-in-one! Like Zipp's spy gear" Izzy stated with a smile. "Or one of those pens you push that has every color!" she added with a cheery tone. "But as an earth pony or an Alicorn, you've inspired all of us to be better ponies. That's your true power" she assured.

Finally, Sunny got up from her bed and smiled. "Thank you, Izzy. I guess that is true" she said.

"I carry the limitless knowledge of my Unicorn ancestors" Izzy said cheerfully, looking at the ceiling, while Zipp looked too confused.

Sunny laughed a bit before reply. "Okay. I'm ready to see whatever you two were talking about earlier" she said with a smile.

"Good. Cause I think it'll put you in even better spirits" Izzy assured with a smile. "Shh, Auntie Buttons! Not now!" she said suddenly to the ceiling, while Sunny and Zipp looked on confused. "Come on!" Izzy told Sunny, as the two mares got out of the room, while Zipp stayed and looked confused at the ceiling before following them.

Back with Pipp, she kept complaining about not being viral anymore while Sparky played around the salon.

"Zipp was right! The likes and validation, it isn't worth it" Pipp stated suddenly. "This isn't fun anymore! So what's the point?" she questioned, laying frustrated on the ground. "I'm just going to stop and... be me own, un-viral self. Be an obscure, but sane, popstar princess" she assured with a smile now. "Besides, I know that my friends would still love me for who I am, specially... him" she said, a little blushed now.

And then Sparky came in front of her and let out a small dragon flame that reached Pipp's tiara and turned it into a ridiculous bow.

"Oh, no! No, no, no, no, no, no!" Pipp cried out in panic, and then Sparky turned on her camera phone and recorded her. "Sparky!" she scolded him, while the baby dragon edited several videos of funny stuff that happened to Pipp the whole day. He started to laugh out loud, dropping the phone while Pipp grabbed it and looked at it. "Sparky, you created this?" she asked him.

Sparky hiccuped a bubble and said something that sounded like 'Yeah...' to Pipp.

"But... but... it's unflattering! It's embarrassing!" Pipp said with panic. "Its... Its... Hilarious!" she stated, now laughing a bit, as Sparky laughed with her as well. The video kept playing, and Pipp kept laughing at herself. "You know what? It actually feels kinda good to laugh at myself. Thank you" she told Sparky, then she ducked and the baby dragon sat on her back. "Well. As fun as that was, we have somewhere super important to be right now, huh?" she said.

She walked towards the exit, but when she passed in front of a mirror, she stepped back a bit and looked at her reflection, more specifically to her bow.

"Um... I will fix that later" Pipp told Sparky, finally walking out of Mane Melody.

Back at Opaline's Castle, Opaline was groaning and complaining about Sunny not wanting to be remembered just because she's an Alicorn.

"Foolish of me to think that Sunny could understand her Alicorn greatness!" Opaline complained. "But I'm not giving up. I don't need another Alicorn! I have Eggman's help. We can finish this ourselves! The way it's always been" she stated with confidence.

"Opaline!" Misty called out, entering the room with a smoothie that she quickly threw away. "Um, I have to tell you that... our plans failed" she said with disappointment on herself.

"I know they failed" Opaline scolded Misty. "That Alicorn clearly doesn't understand what it means to be one" she stated angrily. "She's a disgrace to my kind, so I'll do her a favor: I'll take her power, all of their power!" she assured. "But to do that, we'll need to go directly to the source" she said, walking towards her boiler and looking at images of the Crystal Brighthouse. "The Brighthouse, home of the Unity Crystals. The one place I can't glance inside of" she said with frustration. "I need to find a new way in. And I know just the thing..." she stated.

But then suddenly, the doors opened abruptly and Eggman came inside, walking with pure rage going through his body. "Don't. Even. Ask" he warned to the two mares before any one them could said a word. Eggman walked towards his lab, but before he opened the door he stopped. "Misty, perhaps you would like to cover your ears" he warned her.

Opaline and Misty looked at each other confused, but then lots of stuff crashing and breaking on the lab where heard, and Misty decided to do what Eggman told her and cover her ears. In other circumstances, Opaline would tell the unicorn to don't act ridiculously, but since Eggman started to swear as well and curse Sonic and Tails, she decided to let her this time.

After a while, Eggman stopped, but then he groaned out of rage once again. "Why?" he asked desperately. "Why every time it seems I got him, something happens that makes me look like an idiot?!" he complained. "Now the good-for-nothing of Tails has powers too, and things complicate more and more..." he muttered to himself. "But I won't give up. Not now, when I still have my hideout as a secret. Not now when I'm still so close to victory" he stated, with his confidence slowly coming back. "But I have to be more careful from here. I'll have to make my next moves unpredictable, or else everything I have accomplished so far would have been for nothing..." he finished, before looking back at his computer and finally smiled. "And I know how exactly" he said, making appear an image of the three Metal Mane left.

Outside the Brighthouse, Izzy was leading Sunny to a new area, while Sunny walked with her eyes closed.

"Okay, just two more steps to the left. Oh, one to the right" Izzy told Sunny, who obey and moved a step to the right. "Take it back now, ya'll!" she said cheerfully.

Sunny decided to open her eyes excited, and then her jaw dropped in awe and disbelief. "Oh! A community garden?!" she asked excited.

"What do you think?" Hitch asked her, standing behind her with Pipp at his side, while Knuckles gave them all his back as he looked at something on his phone and Sparky ran around the garden.

"We knew you've been hoping to build something like this forever" Pipp told her with a smile.

"A little helping hoof for the pony who helps all of us to be better" Izzy added.

Sunny looked around on disbelief and joy. "I... I'm..." she tried to say, then her Cutie Mark glowed and once again her Alicorn form appeared, with a bright golden light covering her body. "So grateful for all of you" she assured with a warm smile.

Sunny looked at her wings and horn with a bright smile. "I know, but this time it feels different. I think I can only transform into an Alicorn when I feel like I'm truly helping somepony, because that's my best self" she said with a smile.

"So you can't just do it for any reason" Zipp said, with her phone on her hoof. "It has to mean something special! Fascinating..." she said with a curious tone. Then, her phone chimed and Zipp check it our, hoping it was a message from Tails, or even from Sonic, but instead it was something that she didn't expected. "Uh... Pipp? Did you mean to post this?!" she asked to her sister, showing the video Sparky made of her. "Because it's hilarious!" she said.

The others, sins Knuckles who was still giving his back, started to laugh at the video, while Pipp looked on happily. "Yup!" she replied smiling. "Sparky found a way to show me that it isn't about always about being perfect. It's about being true to yourself" she stated with a smile.

"We like you for who you are, Pipp" Sunny told her with a smile. "And you all like me for who I am. No matter what kind of pony I am! And I know I can change the world with that" she stated with joy.

"Sparky!" the Mane 5 all shouted together, starting to look over the baby dragon.

Hitch quickly found the baby dragon standing over a plant that had the form of Pipp's head, and the baby dragon let out another flame that added to the plant the same ridiculous bow Pipp had over her head right now.

"Oh no! I totally forgot" Pipp said a bit worried, looking at the bow on her head.

Hitch recorded the whole thing with his phone. "And that one's gone viral too" he said with a smile.

"What can I say?" Pipp said with a little smile, and then Sparky started to throw apples over her head again. "Ouch! Ow! Sparky! Enough with the apples already!" she complained at him.

But then the baby dragon started to laugh, which ended on all of the Mane 5 laughing as well.

"UGH! JUST GRAB YOUR DAMN PHONE FOR ONCE, HEDGEHOG!" Knuckles shouted with rage.

The Mane 5 looked at each other both worried and confused. "Uh, Knux?" Hitch called out first. "It's everything okay?" he asked.

Knuckles finally turned around just to face Hitch with a bored expression. "Please tell me he didn't just asked that..." he said.

"Ugh, I'm just worried, okay?" Knuckles decided to confess. "I haven't heard of Sonic and Tails all day. They always take their time, sure, but at least they say something, not just... disappear just like that" he said with worry. "Have any of you tried to contact them?" he asked to the ponies.

"I did" Zipp confessed. "Tails said he'll call me to tell if he found something on Eggman and Opaline hideout, but I haven't received anything at all. I tried to call, but it always sends me to the mailbox" she explained.

"I haven't received anything on Sonic either" Pipp said. "He's used to text me when he's out, but..." she added, now worried as well.

"Sonic's a walking battery, he can charge them" Knuckles pointed out with a frown. "Wherever they are I just hope they stay out of trouble..." he said with concern. "Meh, who am I kidding? Those two hang out together and trouble always follow them behind" he added with a bored expression.

And then, the 6 of them started to heard screams that became more and more loud with the pass of the seconds.

However, the screams stopped when something hit the ground out of the Community Garden, and let out a little dust as well. The 6 friends looked at each other, and quickly ran outside of the garden. And then they saw Sonic, with his head buried on the ground.

Sonic managed to stood his feet together, and he used his hands to push his body backwards. After grunting and pushing for a while, he managed to take his head out of the ground, and stood normally on his feet again, shacking his head since he felt a little dizzy.

"Ugh, that was a terrible idea..." Sonic complained. "But knowing my lack of self control, I'm probably doing it again" he said to himself, looking at something in the sky. Then he lowered his sight and found his friends looking at him. "Oh, hey guys!" he greeted with a hand wave.

"Why haven't you answered your phone? Nor Tails?!" Knuckles scolded him, with his red electrical powers showing up.

"What's that, Knucklehead? Where you worried about us?" Sonic asked on a mocking tone.

"Of course, you idiot!" Knuckles replied with more anger. "I may enjoy to punch you on the face sometimes, but we're still friends!" he pointed out. "Besides, I don't want to tell anyone back home that you two just died" he added, then he looked sideways to Pipp and got closer to Sonic to whisper. "Specially to Amy" he pointed out.

"Please don't bring her up" Sonic pled with a bored expression. "Okay, fine. Sorry to worry you, guys. We just had a little situation tracking down Eggman..." he started to explain.

"And by little..." Tails; voice spoke, as he started to descend on the robot with his shape. "... he means we had plenty of and adventure" he finished, landing the whole robot.

The ponies looked in awe at the giant robot that looked exactly like Tails, with Zipp starting to record him with her phone while Knuckles looked but shocked and confused. "Uh... where did you get that?" he asked to Tails.

However, Sonic smirked at his friends and then he looked over to the robot. "Wanna show them, lil' bro?" he asked to Tails.

The robot then glowed on yellow, and it disassembled completely, with Tails moving the metallic parts around with his electrical powers and his eyes glowing in yellow. "It'll be my pleasure!" he stated with a bright smile.

He moved the pieces around until they started to assemble again, but this time in a plane that looked pretty much like the Cyclone, just in yellow this time.

Tails landed at Sonic's side after he finished building the plane. "Nice job, man!" Sonic told him with a pride smile, as they fist bumped.

"Oh, heck yes!" Knuckles said, immediately grabbing Tails and hugging him tightly. "I knew you had it in you, too! Congratulations!" he said, still hugging tightly the fox.

"T-Thanks..." Tails said, trying to catch his breath. "B-But I pretty m-much need my lungs to breath!" he pointed out.

"Oh, right" Knuckles said with a sheepish smile, letting Tails go and patting his head. "Sorry" he apologized.

"Well, that settles the three of us now!" Sonic said, side hugging Tails. "We did find Eggman, but it wasn't his hideout, it was a trap" he explained with an eye roll.

"Oh, yeah, yeah" Sonic assured with his usual smirk. "You know, a little taste of death and some new bruises, nothing to worry about" he stated.

"Eggman appeared with a giant machine, we fight against him, Sonic and I had a discussion that ended on a wholesome result, Eggman almost kills us three times, he has one of Sonic's quills and now he can potentially use machines that goes as fast as him" Tails explained on a calm tone with a neutral expression.

The Mane 5 looked at each other both confused and shocked, mostly because of how calmed Tails said all those things.

Once again, the Mane 5 started to laugh, and Team Sonic joined to them this time.

Sonic The Hedgehog x My Little Pony: Make Your Mark - Season 1

by BronySonicFan

5. Ali-Conned