"The nights and days blend together in an endless vortex that I now think signals the end of time itself" Sunny cried out in panic. "I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" she yelled in frustration.
"This is the most dramatic she has acted ever since her lantern disappeared..." Knuckles said with annoyance.
The Mane 5 and Team Sonic were at the Crystal Brighthouse, watching over some screens that were monitoring Canterlot on every corner, since Tails and Zipp installed security cameras a few days ago to watch over the city and spy on Discord, in case he decided to get back there.
However, only Zipp, Sunny, Tails and Sonic seemed to be interested on finding the draconequus, because Izzy was completely lost, both Hitch and Knuckles were bored - they had like 5 or 6 cups of coffee at this point - and Pipp was neutral apparently.
"Calm down!" Zipp called out to Sunny. "Since we can't figure out were Discord's going, the only way to find him is to go back to where he's already been" she pointed out, but Sunny just slammed her head against the control table.
"We need to make sure we keep an eye on every inch of the castle" Tails called out as well.
"If you absolutely need to blink, make sure is a fast one" Sonic added with concern. "We already wasted too much time, we have to find this 'lord of chaos' as soon as possible" he stated.
"Ooh! If you cross your eyes, the colors miiix together" Izzy said, crossing her eyes at the screens.
Knuckles was the only one who payed her attention, and he tried out as well. "Huh... I guess you learn something new every day" he said, while Hitch at his side rolled his eyes.
"I don't think my eyes even move anymore..." Sunny complained.
Pipp opened her right eye and smirked at her. "You know, you have a real flair for the dramatic, Sunny" she pointed out to her, and then she approached to Zipp and Tails. "But you're about to be outshined because I have a new song to perform" she said with another smirk.
"Can it wait? We've really gotta concentrate over here" Zipp said with both annoyance and concern.
"I think listening might help direct your focus" Pipp said, now starting to get annoyed as well.
"Pipp, if we turn away from this screens, even just for a slight second, we can loose a vital clue to get to Discord" Tails pointed out to her, not even moving his sight away from the screens.
"But perhaps my song is just in tune with your search" Pipp added, now very annoyed.
"It's not time to sing, Pipp" Sonic stated with a frown, also staring at the screens. "Finding Discord is everything that matters right now" he added.
That was it. Pipp could accept that Zipp didn't get the signs, even from Tails, who she started to see as a little brother as well, but Sonic? That was her limit. "HOW OBVIOUS DO I HAVE TO BE FOR YOU TO REALIZE I'VE DISCOVERED SOMETHING IN THE FOOTAGE?!" she screamed in anger to Zipp, Tails and Sonic, who got startled at her sudden snap.
"You found something?!" all the others asked to her, as Izzy and Knuckles had their Eyes a bit separated as if it was Derpy and Sunny opened her eyes slowly.
Pipp let out a sigh before rolling her eyes. "Embarrassingly obvious is the answer" she complained. She then grabbed a TV mote and rewinded the recording of the camera pointing at Discord's hideout where they all met him the first time. "Take a closer look at Discord's cave" she instructed to the others. "Five minutes ago, this was actual footage of the cave. But now..." she said, moving the footage back to live.
The footage, instead of showing the usual cave, it seemed more... cartoony.
"Is that a drawing?" Zipp questioned confused.
"It sure is!" Izzy said, looking better at the image. "And it looks just like photorealist artistic crayon stylings of One Reginald Fursome" she pointed out.
"... I refuse to ask how you know that..." Knuckles said with a bored expression.
"If he's using a drawing to cover the camera lens, he must be there right now" Hitch theorized.
"And if Reginald is there, he could guide us to Discord" Sonic stated with a confident smirk.
"Time to head back to Canterlot!" Sunny announced with a smile.
"And ruin another impeccable hooficure..." Pipp complained as she looked at her hooves.
"Pipp..." Sonic scolded her with a bored expression, while Zipp gave her a look.
"... For a noble cause, of course" Pipp added with a sheepish smile and sweating a bit.
The entire group made it to Canterlot, and Hitch quietly retired one of the trap doors from the ground and put it aside, while Knuckles climbed down using his knuckles to stick to the rocky walls, with Zipp, Hitch and Sunny following behind.
The four of them watched how Reginald was packing some stuff for Discord on a suitcase, grunting a bit as he tried to pack a straw hat.
"Anypony else think that hat's too big for Reginald?" Sunny whispered to the others.
"He's packing for Discord" Zipp pointed out in whispers. "If we follow Reginald, I bet he'll lead us straight to Discord and the Crystal" she stated.
"Maybe, but let's be as quiet as pos––" Knuckles tried to say, but Zipp almost slipped and made a sound that put Reginald on alert.
Knuckles grabbed the three ponies and quickly climbed back to the top, just in time since Reginald turned around to the entrance, but he saw no one there.
He climbed back to the surface with the suitcase, and once he saw the coast clear, he started to move away from the castle. As for out heroes? Well...
Since Knuckles climbed up quick enough, and the magic of everyone but Sunny was failing, Tails lifted Zipp in bridal style and flew high enough to pass unnoticed by Reginald, while Knuckles stuck to the ceiling with one hand and grabbed Izzy with his arm. Sonic, on the other hand, grabbed Pipp in bridal style as well as he sat on a broken pipe getting out of the ceiling that simulated a hammock, while Sunny used her alicorn magic to lift Hitch, although she was starting to struggle.
"What a time for our magic to glitch out..." Zipp complained, blushing embarrassed since she wasn't used to be carried on this way.
"Thank hoofness we're around to give you a hand with that" Sonic told with a smirk.
"Yeah, I don't mind this at all~" Pipp thought out loud.
"What was that?" Sonic asked with a raised eyebrow.
"N-Nothing!" Pipp said with a nervous chuckle.
"Hoofness? Really?" Knuckles asked with a bored expression.
"Sonic's right, these phrases are starting to get into us" Tails pointed out.
And then, Sunny's magic started to glitch out, with her wings slowly disappearing.
"That's never a good sign" Sunny said after a small gulp.
The next thing everyone knew? Reginald Fursome was nowhere to be seen, and both Sunny and Hitch fell to the ground after her alicorn form disappeared.
"Well, that's what I call 'falling with style'!" Sonic said on a mocking tone, as he jumped from his place and used his boost ability with a stomp, landing safely on the ground. However, Pipp just attached to his body more after that sudden movement, which made him worry that he might accidentally hurt her. "Hey, Pipp! You okay?" he called out with concern.
Pipp realized what she just did and blushed until her face got as red as a tomato. "Y-Yeah!" she assured with a sheepish smile. "I-I'm perfectly fine!" she said nervously, but a soft smile from Sonic somehow made her relax a bit.
Knuckles glided down, carrying Izzy on his back, while Tails landed at Hitch's side and place Zipp down. Sonic also putted Pipp down, as she thanked Sonic silently and Sonic looked away with a slight blush.
"Just get a stupid room already" Knuckles said with a bored expression, as he passed by Sonic and Pipp.
"Knuckles..." Sonic groaned with a frown and a blush, while Pipp stared daggers at him.
"Are you guys okay?" Tails asked to Hitch and Sunny, as he helped Sunny to stand up.
"I-I think so..." Sunny said, feeling a bit dizzy.
"There will be time to count our bruises later" Hitch replied, shacking his head and looked at the exit of the room with a determinate look. "Right now, we got a possum to follow" he stated.
"Let's just hope he doesn't notices our presence..." Sonic muttered to himself a bit worried.
Hours later, the group followed Reginald Fursome close behind, while the possum was using a kazoo to play some music for himself.
"Okay, we're clear. Let's go" Sunny instructed, as the rest followed close behind Reginald.
Pipp, who has been recording everything, approached the camera to focus on the possum. "If you're just tuning in now, Pippsqueaks, we're in the middle of a life-or-no-magic stealth mission as we follow Reginald Fursome towards Discord's hideout" she explained through her livestream.
"Remind me: why are we letting her to record this?" Knuckles whispered to Sonic. "It's already a lost cause being sneaky. Discord knows we're looking for him" he pointed out.
"Maybe, but he doesn't know when we'll get him" Sonic pointed out. "And convincing Pipp to not stream is like telling me to stop running" he added with a bored expression.
"Impossible?" Knuckles asked with a bored expression as well.
"Exactly" Sonic replied.
Izzy then approached Pipp. "Pipp, Pipp, hi! Do you mind if I interrupt with a quick question?" she asked cheerfully.
"I do, but it's too late already" Pipp replied with an eye roll.
"I just think maybe you shouldn't be livestreaming this secret stealth mission" Izzy pointed out with worry.
"See? Even Izzy understands it" Knuckles said with a frown.
"Oh, it's not like Reginald's going to see it. He doesn't follow me on socials" Pipp pointed out. "His loss" she added.
"I meant that we shouldn't be filming Reginald without his permission" Izzy said with concern.
"You know, Izzy's right" Zipp confessed. "This following thing is a total bore. I think it's time we let Reginald know we're here" she said with a confident smile.
"You want to confront him?" Sunny asked a bit concerned.
"Bad idea. Very, very bad idea" Tails said with a bored expression.
"I think it would be better if we approached Reginald as a friend" Izzy suggested. "Hitch could use his magic to talk to him, and I could give him a flower crown" she explained. "Then we'd be best friends forever, and he'd tell us were Discord is because best friends tell each other all their secrets" she added.
"Not all of them" Sonic muttered to himself with a frown.
"Reginald is 100 percent loyal to Discord" Hitch pointed out to Izzy. "There's no way he'd gave up his location" he stated.
"So we agree. Confrontation's the only way to get Reginald to talk" Zipp stated confidently. "Sunny, Pipp, Tails and I can fly down from those trees over there and take Reginald by surprise" she suggested.
"Count me out of this ridiculous plan" Tails quickly replied with a frown and his arms crossed. "I'm not attacking the possum, I don't care if he's taking us to Discord" he stated.
"Oh, come on!" Zipp complained. "If we make him talk by force, we'll get to Discord in no time!" she pointed out.
"Actually, I'm with Tails on this one" Sonic remarked. "We don't attack critters, enemies or not" he explained with concern.
"I agree with a more pacifist way to approach him" Hitch said. "Maybe not like Izzy suggests, but still..." he added.
"Being pacifist is taking us no where!" Zipp cried out with a frown. "We need to act now!" she stated.
"YOU CAN'T DO THAT TO MY NEW BEST FRIEND! YOU'LL SCARE HIM!" Izzy shouted with anger towards Zipp.
All the others were taken aback at Izzy's sudden reaction, specially Zipp. But Izzy's scream was so loud that even Reginald heard her, and once he spotted all the others, he quickly ran away from them.
"Too late for that" Pipp said with a bored expression, focusing her camera on Izzy, who looked at the ground with shame.
"Don't worry, Izz" Knuckles said, as he patted her head softly to comfort her. "This just proofs that Zipp was wrong" he told her on a playful tone, which made Izzy look at him and giggle.
"Hey!" Zipp complained.
"I mean, he isn't wrong at all" Tails said neutrally, winning a glare and a groan from Zipp. "But now we're back at square one" he pointed out with concern.
"Did anypony see which direction he was headed?" Sunny asked with worry.
Sonic was about to reply, because he saw him leaving. But then he got an idea, a very reckless one, that is, but still an idea. He wanted to take the Crystal back? Yes, yes he did, but more than that, he wanted to get his rematch with Discord, and also some answers regarding the Chaos Emeralds. So, he decided to stay quiet and wait for everyone to get distracted.
"No, but Pipp was livestreaming the whole thing" Hitch told Sunny with a bored expression.
Pipp, however, was publishing a video on her media with the hooftag 'Oopsie'. "I wasn't filming Reginald, I was filming Izzy" she confessed. That only made everyone but Izzy and Sonic to glare daggers at her, which didn't made her flinch, strangely.
Taking advantage of the fact that no one was paying him attention, Sonic quietly moved away to follow Reginald before loosing track of him.
"There's only one rule in livestreaming, and it's that no matter what, always follow the drama" Pipp explained to the others, who still glared at her. "And that was Izzy. Did you see how mad she was?" she questioned.
"Yes. I. Did" Knuckles replied madly, moving away before doing something he'll regret later.
"I-I wasn't mad..." Izzy tried to defend herself. "Or I didn't meant to be..." she told the others nervously.
"You were golden" Pipp said, getting close to Izzy to show her the video. "It was perfect applewood melodrama. I mean, look at this!" she said, now showing the video to Izzy.
However, despite Izzy's mad expression shouting on the video, absolutely nothing was heard. Just a few letters and the stream of the river, but nothing else.
"What in Zephyr Heights is going on?!" Pipp asked in panic.
"I can't hear anything Izzy's saying" Hitch pointed out.
"Me neither" Tails said.
"It's that stream over there!" Zipp said, pointing at the stream of the river where they were walking by. "It's so loud that it's the only thing the mic was able to pick up" she explained with anger.
"Oh no, no, no, nooooo..." Pipp cried out in panic. "It's not just Izzy's voice. Everything I've filmed for the last two hours has been drowned out by the stream!" she said. "So rude!" she yelled to the river... for some reason.
"Actually, it's great news!" Zipp said with a smile.
"Huh?" Izzy said confused.
"You got me completely lost, Zipp" Tails deadpanned.
"If Pipp's phone was picking up the stream for the past two hours, it must mean Reginald's been following it this entire time!" Zipp explained cheerfully.
Sunny immediately smiled at this. "If we want to find Reginald and Discord, all we need to do is continue following the stream" she stated with confidence. "You're a genius Zipp" she said.
"When she's thinking carefully, that is" Tails muttered to Knuckles and Izzy, with the former snorting and the latter giggling.
"Let's head out, team!" Hitch instructed, leading the way.
"Cheer up, sis" Zipp told to Pipp with a smirk. "I'm sure some of what you filmed was still fun to watch" she said.
"It was completely incomprehensible" Pipp complained with an annoyed look. "I might as well have livestreamed Mom discussing the health benefits of dragon fire tea" she groaned in frustration.
"Now that was rude" Zipp said with a bored expression.
"You're right. Let me call and apologize... Oh, wait! She won't be able to hear me over that STUPID STREAM!" Pipp cried out in anger.
"Drama queen" Knuckles muttered to himself as he rolled his eyes.
As Hitch, Zipp and Pipp walked forward, Izzy stood a few steps back, being followed by Sunny, Tails and Knuckles, who looked at the unicorn a bit concerned.
Izzy didn't lasted to notice her friends behind her, tho. "You know, I've always said a moment together is one you're more likely to remember" she told to the rest.
"Y-Yeah, we know" Tails said with a nervous smile.
"We were trying to give you some space" Sunny explained with concern.
"Yeah, it seemed that you need it" Knuckles pointed out with worry.
"It's my breath, isn't it?" Izzy asked concerned. "I know sugar doesn't make the best toothpaste, but it tastes so much better!" she said.
"It's not that" Sunny told her. "You've been distant ever since our run-in with Discord. I know he mentioned you felt left behind in Canterlot when we split up" she pointed out concerned.
"Which could be easily avoided if you listened instead of act once in a while" Knuckles replied coldly.
"Knux, don't start another unnecessary argument" Tails begged.
"Am I wrong?" Knuckles asked to him with a frown.
Tails tried to say something, but nothing came out of his mouth, because he knew Knuckles was right.
"Izzy, I hope you know flying off without you wasn't personal" Sunny told her. "If you could fly, we obviously would have invited you too" she assured to her.
"Oh, yeah... Abso-lutel-lutely..." Izzy replied, not convinced at all on her friends word.
"Izz, if you have no wings, that's not your fault" Tails told her. "In fact, as fun as the game was, I will rather not play if that meant to keep you some company" he confessed out loud.
"You do?" Sunny asked, both surprised and confused.
"Oh, definitely" Tails replied coldly as well, not even looking at Sunny. "Because that's what a real friend does" he added with a bit of anger.
This wasn't the first time Tails and Knuckles acted like this. In fact, Izzy wasn't the only distant one lately, those two were as well. And when it came to Izzy, they were... cold, very, very cold when they talked, and now Sunny started to grow worried on them as well.
"I think we've made it" Hitch's voice called out to the others.
They all approached him to see an abandoned cottage on a hill, all full of muss, which probably meant that it was abandoned years ago.
"Whoa! What is this place?" Pipp asked surprised.
"It looks like the animal sanctuary Discord told us about" Sunny pointed out. "The one he built with Fluttershy to care for the creatures of the Everfree forest!" she said with awe.
"Are you sure? It looks pretty empty for a sanctuary" Izzy pointed out with concern.
"Reginald must have given Discord and the other creatures the heads-up we were coming" Hitch theorized.
"Why am I not surprised?" Tails said with a bored expression.
"Nothing can ever be easy, can it?" Zipp complained.
"There's no point on having an adventure if things were easy" Knuckles pointed out with his arms crossed.
Then, Hitch saw a squirrel holding two acorns with a frown, and smirked with an idea. "Maybe it's not easy, but I'll take a lucky break when it comes along" he said with confidence, and then approached the squirrel with a smile. "Hi! You might remember us from Discord's little tea party. I don't want to brag, but we were his VIP guests of the day. And maybe of the last ten years..." he told the squirrel.
"And thanks to that party, now I hate tea" Tails said with a frown.
"Anyways..." Hitch said, ignoring Tails' comment. "We're looking for our friend Discord. Do you know were he might have gone?" he asked.
"He won't be teaching a class on the art of subtlety anytime soon" Zipp said with annoyance.
"Unfortunately, being subtle isn't one of his strengths" Knuckles commented with a bored expression.
The squirrel said something that made Hitch look at him with worry. "Oh no! That's horrible news!" he cried out.
"What is it? What's wrong?!" Sunny asked, now concerned as well, while the other looked with worry at Hitch and Pipp covered her mouth with her hooves.
"Has Discord found a way to destroy the Crystal and turn us back into miserable, meaningless, magicless ponies?!" Pipp asked in panic.
"Oh, I don't know about any of that" Hitch confessed with a very calmed expression. "But this little guy says his friend hid all his acorns from him, and he's been stuck here searching for them for the past two hours" he explained.
Pipp huffed with a frown and Sunny rolled her eyes at Hitch's attitude.
"I swear, Hitch, one of this days I'm braking your face if you keep doing stuff like this!" Knuckles groaned in anger.
Then, Izzy and Tails approached the squirrel to talk with him. "That doesn't sound like a very nice friend" Izzy told him with a worried look.
"Yeah, you must be hungry, little guy" Tails told him as well, while the squirrel sobbed a bit in sadness.
Suddenly, Izzy got and Idea, as she made her horn glow, hoping that her magic won't glitch out. "Let's hope this works..." she muttered with worry.
She started to levitate the acorns of the trees near by, and then she let go her magic, with all the acorns falling from the trees. The squirrel looked at the acorns with sparkling eyes, but just before he could grab even one, Izzy caught the acorn first and looked at the squirrel with a smirk.
"Not so fast!" Izzy said with a confident smile. "While normally I'd let you take this for free, we're in a time crunch to find Discord, so I'm going to need some information first" she told the squirrel.
As the squirrel nodded and ran towards Fluttershy's abandoned cottage, Tails side hugged Izzy with a smile. "Offer something in exchange of some info! You're a genius, Izz!" he told her with a smile.
"Nicely done, kiddo" Knuckles told her with a smile as well.
"T-Thanks!" Izzy said with a blush and a smile.
The group approached to Fluttershy's cottage, entering through the main door, finding the place very abandoned, dusty and messy. The squirrel made sounds agains as he entered to the cottage.
"He says Discord's been using this place for research" Hitch translated.
"He must have cleared it out when he found out we were coming" Sunny theorized.
"Well, he did a terrible job" Tails said with concern. "This place is a mess!" he pointed out.
Then, the squirrel tapped to a door on the floor as he talked to Hitch. "Sounds like Discord made one last trip down here before he took off" he translated again.
"Oh great, another musty underground lair" Pipp complained with a groan.
"Can't say he isn't consistent" Zipp pointed out.
"Go on, Zipp" Pipp told her with a mocking smirk. "Crawling into the pits of despair is one of your favorite pastimes" she added.
"You sure gave me a run for my money at the thought of ruining your hooficure" Zipp said sarcastically with a bored expression.
"Oh, for Chaos sake!" Knuckles groaned, as he simply walked downstairs, turning his electrical powers on for some light. As he looked around of what it looked like the basement of the house, Knuckles mumbled to himself a bit angry. "Why are they always like this?! I get they are siblings, but come on! Not even Sonic and Tails act like that..." he complained.
And then, he stopped suddenly to stare at something glowing at the end of the basement as his eyes widened.
"Knux? Is everything okay down there?" Izzy called out from upstairs.
"You might wanna come down here and check it out for yourselves!" Knuckles called out.
Soon enough, the others came downstairs, and they all gasped when they saw a giant crystal - very similar to the ones of Bridlewood - shining bright in the middle of the basement.
"This is the prettiest crystal I've ever seen!" Izzy exclaimed with a smile, accidentally making her horn glowing. "And I once saw a crystal whose name was 'Pretty'!" she pointed out.
Suddenly, the crystal started to react weirdly, which startled Izzy as she stepped back.
"I think your magic broke the crystal, Izzy" Pipp said with concern.
"Hello? Is this thing working?" a female voice spoke through the crystal.
Once it became clear, the crystal showed an apparent message from Fluttershy herself.
"That's Fluttershy! Is she speaking to us?!" Sunny said with bot surprise and excitement.
"I think it's a memory" Izzy said with an analytical look. "My mom used to tell me this Bridlewood legend about crystals being able to hold messages from the past. Ones that you could only see if you used magic" she explained.
"Looks like your magic unlocked it" Hitch pointed out.
"First a message from Twilight, and now a message from Fluttershy" Tails muttered. "I'm starting to see a pattern here..." he said with a small frown.
"Me too" Zipp said at his side, as they all gathered to listen and Pipp took out her phone to record the message.
"Discord... Listen closely, because this is something you need to hear..." Fluttershy begged in the memory.
A long time ago, when the pony tribes started to split up, Fluttershy was humming a melody to herself as she walked towards Ponyville.
Or at least she tried, because a sign saying 'Danger! Construction! Do not enter!' suddenly appeared and blocked her way.
"Discord!" Fluttershy cried out a bit mad, knowing perfectly that he was the one who made those things appear.
"Top of the morning to you, Fluttershy!" Discord greeted her with a smile, as he was driving a backhoe to expand the animal sanctuary. "Don't you just love that expression? It's so hopeful, like everything bad that's happened before is just a distant memory" he commented.
However, Fluttershy knew his intentions very well and frowned at him. "A little construction is not going to stop me from talking to Water Lily" she stated at him.
However, that only made him snap his fingers to appear more signs to stop her from leaving. He snapped again, this time appearing in front of her, and now frowning as well.
"If I can just talk to her, I know I can convince her that being a pegasus doesn't change who I am or what I can teach her" Fluttershy tried to resonate with Discord.
"That would involve her listening to reason. She wasn't prepared to do that the other day" Discord reminded her with anger. "We did everything to help Water Lily and all the other ponies! And they just abandon us because our magic is a little different than theirs?!" he complained.
"I know it's hurtful, but what's important to remember is that if our magic separates us––" Fluttershy tried to point out, but...
"IT CAN DESTROY US!" Discord stated, as his eyes literally became fire.
He snapped his fingers again and left, leaving Fluttershy disappointed and sad as she looked at the ground.
"I was going to say it can also bring us together..." Fluttershy finished with sadness.
She then walked towards a crystal outside of her cottage, with her bunny Angel following behind.
"Hello? Is this thing working?" Fluttershy said, tapping the crystal a bit. "Discord... Listen closely, because this is something you need to hear... And stop rolling your eyes at me like that! I know you are because I know you better than anypony else" she scolded him with a frown, knowing very well that he would be acting annoyed because of her message. "Which is why I can tell how hard it's been for you to let go of the pain caused by these magical divides" she said with a worried tone. "I'm creating this message for you in the hopes that every time you feel overwhelmed, you can listen back and remind yourself why anger is not the answer" she added.
As the Mane 5, Tails and Knuckles listened closely to the message, the same squirrel that guided them there sneaked behind and grabbed a book from a shelf. Once he got it, he climbed upstairs as fast as he could before anyone noticed him.
"Our magic does makes us different..." Fluttershy said on the message. "... And that's something we should embrace... Lead with your heart, Discord. It will always show you the way" she finished, with her image finally disappearing.
"Poor Discord..." Izzy said, feeling sympathy towards the draconequus.
"Poor Discord?! He's trying to get rid of all magic!" Zipp pointed out with frustration.
".... Discord is not a bad guy" Knuckles said suddenly, whit his eyes closed and his arms crossed.
"WHAT?!" everyones else, sins Izzy and Tails, shouted at him.
"Before you all scold me, listen. For once, in this entire story, listen before act" Knuckles said with a frown, now opening his eyes and staring daggers at the others sins Izzy and Tails. "Discord wants the same that we all on this room want: unity. Peace. No more unnecessary fights because of horns or wings" he started to explain. "However, he's using a very, very questionable method to do it. He has good intentions, yes, but his actions... are not that positive as he might think" he pointed out.
"Are you saying that he's trying to so something good by doing something wrong?" Sunny asked confused.
"Pretty much" Knuckles replied. "There's no sides on this. No good or bad, no black or white, no yin or yang... we are all on the same page, we're just reading different passages" he pointed out.
"Even if Discord has good intentions, we still have to find him and the Crystal before he destroys it" Tails pointed out with concern.
"But we still have no clue where he is" Hitch said with worry.
"Back to square one..." Pipp complained. "It's really starting to feel like home these days" she pointed out with annoyance.
"We made it all the way here, and we'll figure out where Discord is, too" Sunny stated with confidence. "From this moment on, nothing slips past us" she assured with a determinate look.
"Except for the part were we have no idea where Sonic went" Knuckles said casually with a bored expression.
"I'm sorry, what?!" Tails said in panic.
Meanwhile, somewhere not too far away, Discord and Reginald Fursome were standing in front of a cliff as the sun started to hide. And then, the squirrel from before arrived with him with the book he took from Fluttershy's house.
"Thank Canterlot!" Discord said with a smile, taking the book from the squirrel, and then looking at Reginald with a frown. "It's one thing to lead our rivals straight to our sanctuary, but then to leave a vital key to our plan behind?" he scolded him, which caused Reginald to sweat nervously.
What Discord had wasn't an ordinary book, it was one of the Daring Do books, the ones Rainbow Dash loved to read. It was called 'Daring Do and the Curse of the Basaltic Caves'.
"If they'd found this book, we'd be failures, castaways, garbage left to rot in a world with magic for the rest of eternity" Discord said with anger. "But with it, we can finally––" he tried to add, but some sounds of the squirrel cut him off, and Discord turned to face him with a frown. "No, not destroy everypony in Equestria! Have you been paying any attention to our plan?!" he asked with disbelief. "With this book, we can finally create peace by ridding Equestria of magic once and for all" he stated with confidence.
Suddenly, a blue blur passed in front of him, and the next thing he knew, the book wasn't with him anymore. Discord blinked a few times before realizing that, and as he panicked, he then saw Reginald pointing with worry at the other side of the cliff.
"Well, well, well. It seems like I finally found you, old man" Sonic spoke, as he held the book and took a quick look inside of it.
"What the...? How did you found me?!" Discord asked confused.
"You can thank Reginald for that. He's terrible at being sneaky" Sonic mocked up. "Now, hearing that this is vital for your nonsense mission of destroying magic makes me change my plans a little bit" he said with a smirk.
Discord glared daggers at Reginald for leading Sonic accidentally to them, as the draconequus returned his sight to the hedgehog. "What do you want?!" he cried out in anger.
"Relax, old man. I'm not here to fight... today, at least" Sonic said, now frowning back. "I only need some information, then I'll give you your precious book back" he said.
"... Fire away" Discord replied with a raised eyebrow.
"You mentioned something about the last Chaos Emerald being here in Equestria, but not at the same time" Sonic started to explain. "Would it be too much if I asked what the heck does that means?" he requested.
"Maybe you should try and check places you never seen before instead of walking the same path a thousand times" Discord replied with a smirk.
Sonic just glared at him more confused. "You just passed from talking nonsense to bullshit!" he stated with anger. "Look, old man, you have good intentions, I get it, you only want the ponies to stay together. But getting rid of magic won't solve anything!" he tried to resonate again.
"Twilight used to think the same" Discord replied. "And look what happened to her legacy because of that" he pointed out.
"Isn't the fact that Sunny and her friends restored magic because of friendship and unity enough prove that we can live in harmony with magic?!" Sonic asked with anger.
"No. It's. NOT!" Discord replied, now snapping his finger again and making both Sonic and the book go back to him. Now discord held Sonic from his neck with his lion arm, while with the other he grabbed the book. "You've been even more annoying than Sunny Starscout and those other ponies, Sonic" he said with a frown. "The sooner you found that Emerald and leave Equestria for good, the better" he stated. "You, your friends and your enemy are a real problem for this lands, so please go back home before it's too late" he begged.
Before Sonic could even ask anything, Discord launched him strong enough, as Sonic screamed and got lost in the distance.
"Now let's get moving. We have a Crystal to destroy" Discord stated with a frown.
To be continued...