//------------------------------// // 2. The Blackout // Story: Sonic The Hedgehog x My Little Pony: Equestria Girls G5 // by BronySonicFan //------------------------------// Pipp scrolled through her phone with a bored expression the whole time. She was sitting on a box at the backstage of the school's stage to practice a song for the Fall Formal. Despite the fact that the Formal wasn't until at least 3 months more, the Principal insisted that, since she'll also be busy with her tours and concerts before the Formal, she should be practicing with anticipation. Pipp didn't declined, although she didn't needed to practice either because she knew the song better than the palm of her hand. She instead took this as a chance to avoid classes as much as she can and try to focus on her own stuff. And by 'stuff' I mean check her social media, post something or simply practice the song a little bit. Oh, yeah, and still wonder if she should leave this kind of life. Recently, the idea of stop being a Pop Star has been appearing more frequently on her mind. However, she still felt afraid that her fans, her 'Pippsqueaks', won't leave her alone if she decides to live a normal life. That is if she could ever feel 'normal', of course. "Why is this so difficult?" Pipp muttered to herself, putting her phone aside and burring her face on her right hand. "Why can't I just say 'I quit' and keep going?" She wondered, feeling frustrated that her desire to leave her pop star life was big, yet she wasn't brave enough to say it. "So here you are, sis," A female voice spoke suddenly. Pipp got startled and turned to find Zipp, her sister, lying on a wall and looking at her with a smirk. "Figured out you'll be on a place to think quietly," She said, now approaching to her sister and sitting at her side, noticing her worried expression. "Let me guess: You're struggling about your 'pop star' life again, aren't you?" "Am I that predictable?" Pipp asked rhetorically with a little smile. "Just a little bit," Zipp replied, side hugging Pipp as her sister rested her head on Zipp's shoulder. "Jokes aside, why do you keep torturing yourself? You know no one stops you from quitting, right?" "I know... but I don't want to disappoint the rest..." Pipp replied with worry. "Pipp, the others would understand and respect your decision if that's what bothers––" Zipp tried to assure her, but Pipp cut her off. "I'm not talking about Sunny, Izzy and Hitch," Pipp stated, now looking at Zipp in the eyes. "I'm talking about the Pippsqueaks! And don't tell me that I shouldn't care because you know better than anyone that they take bad news from me way worse than myself!" "...You do have a point there..." Zipp admitted with a concerned look. "But I personally think that, if they're really your fans, if they really love you as much as they claim to, then they will respect your decision," She assured her. "And if they don't, well, maybe they didn't loved you that much after all," She stated, but then panicked when she saw fear on Pipp's eyes. "Or they love you too much that are in denial. It's up to you to say what's better," She finished, and that calmed Pipp down, at least for now. Pipp looked down at the ground and sighed, still feeling conflicted. "The concert is in four days... maybe I could try and... no... No, I can't do it..." "Pipp, look at me," Zipp called out, while her sister obeyed and looked at her. "I understand your fear, trust me, I really do, but you always have been a brave woman, and I know that you can tell your fans that you don't want to be a pop star forever. And if it isn't on your next concert, it will be on a stream, or even a post. Wherever you decide to let them know, I'm sure they'll understand." Pipp smiled at Zipp, and then she hugged her. "Thank you, Zipp. I'll think about it." "Anytime, sis," Zipp replied with a smile, hugging her sister back. "Whenever you're ready, whatever you'll do, I'll be there supporting you... and our friends will be glad to hear you too when we all go to Manehattan for your concert." "I know––" Pipp tried to say, but then her eyes widened at the last thing that Zipp said. "Wait! Our friends are going too?!" She asked with excitement. "Guess who convinced Mom to let our friends stay with us on our vacation house at Manehattan before your concert?! This girl!" Zipp replied with a wink, pointing at herself with a thumb and a smirk. "NO WAY!" Pipp shouted, now hugging Zipp tighter. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you so much, Zipp!" She said. As stated before, Pipp barely sees her friends, so the idea of seeing them for three whole days where they would sleep under the same roof excited her a lot. "Again, anytime, Pipp," Zipp replied, hugging her back. And then, the ring bell of the school ringed, announcing recess time. "I'm guessing it's time for lunch," Zipp said with a smirk. "Wanna join us?" "Sure thing!" Pipp replied with a smile. "I'll just grab my handbag and I'll catch up with you!" She said, standing up with a little jump and moving towards a box where her bag rested. But as soon as she grabbed it, she noticed a blue light coming from behind of it. Pipp wasn't that small, but she wasn't tall enough either to move the box aside and see what was at the other side, so she had to sit on the box and move her legs to the other side, just to find a blue emerald in the ground, glowing a bit. Pipp gasped a bit before grabbing said emerald with her hand and inspect it curiously. "It's beautiful," Pipp muttered to herself. "I wonder what's it doing here... perhaps someone lost it, so I'm giving it to the principal and––" "Pipp! Are you coming or not?!" Zipp's voice shouted. Pipp remembered that she had to go, so she quickly putted the emerald on her bag and repeated the same thing she did before with the box to catch up with Zipp. "Coming!" She said, running towards her sister. A week has passed ever since Sonic arrived to this universe, and he was doing well so far! So far, he found four Chaos Emeralds. The first one, the Purple Emerald, was at that city he boosted to when he arrived. The Emerald was hidden behind some boxes on a dark alley. He didn't expected to find it in such a place, of all places, yet he found it there. He did had to be careful, though, because he found some homeless people digging in the trash, and he didn't wanted to be discovered, nor scare them. But of course, as the good heart hero he is, he literally just stole some food from various places at super speed and putted the food near those people so they could eat properly. The second Chaos Emerald, however, was a bit tricky, mainly because of where it was. He managed to track down the Red Emerald to a counterpart of Maretime Bay called 'Maretime City'. It was the same damn place, just with humans, of course, and the Lighthouse was intact, that was a good thing. Also, Hitch wasn't the Sheriff but a deputy in this world, although he discovered that by accident when he had to take the Emerald from the ceiling of the station. Hitch almost caught him, however, but Sonic was lucky enough to duck on the ceiling before getting caught and then boost out of there. The third Chaos Emerald, the Yellow one, was at a snowy territory, far away from the portal back home. Sonic didn't brought any warm clothes because he didn't expected the Emeralds to travel that far away, but here he was, trying so hard not to die from a cold. The Emerald was just buried in the snow, not on a specific place like the others, it was just randomly buried, and he hardly dug in the snow, but once he finally found the Emerald, he used one of the warp rings from the bag that Tails gave him and threw it in the ground, opening a portal that allowed him to get back to his hidden spot. It was an abandoned house on a place that many would consider dangerous, but Sonic managed to scare everyone with his mare aspect. Not that he enjoyed it, but he didn't had that much of a choice either: Tt was either him not being able to sleep because of hod cold it was, or scaring everyone away as long as he can rest to recover energies before continue. He also stole some food from shops and food stands. Again, he didn't enjoyed it, but he needed to survive, and his super speed was helping out, although he always passed as a blue blur in front of those places and some people. In fact, people that has saw him as a blue blur has called him that way. After many food has disappeared in the last few days, Sonic earned the nickname. He was considered a thief, though, and the police was trying to locate him, but of course, Sonic was a lot smarter than that. And the best part was that he stole lots of food to feed the homeless, so you could say he's the villain for the police, for the food stands and shops owners; but he was a hero for those in need, and that was enough for him. After all, if he can do some good on this universe, he definitely will. And lastly, he was at the ceiling of a building, looking at the Silver Emerald with a side smile. He recently got it from a jewelry store, a few blocks away from where he was sitting right now. He casually found some thieves inside of it, so he decided to take advantage of the fact that he was there for the Emerald and tied up the thieves. He then did the usual: Got some chilidogs for himself, stole food for those in need and then ran towards his hideout. All in another night of work. "Four down, three to go," Sonic told himself. "I can't believe my connection with the Emeralds has been guiding me all this time," He then looked at the night sky with a smile. "Just a bit more before I can go home." Despite being just a week, he already missed his friends, specially Pipp. God, how much he wanted to wrap her around with his arms... but he had a mission to fulfill first. But just when he stood up, something passed in front of him very quick. Sonic looked on confused, then looked at his hand where he had the Emerald... and it was empty. "Huh?!" He exclaimed confused, and then saw something flying down on the streets with the Emerald. "Hey! That's not yours!" Sonic cried out, as he boosted to follow up the flying thing. Sonic chased the thing around the city, dodging cars as he tried to keep it up to take the Emerald back. However, as they got away from the city and into some kind of baseball camp, the flying thing started to run around the bases of the place. Sonic frowned and groaned, still chasing the flying thing around. However, he didn't noticed that, as he chased the thing, his electrical powers came, and he even dug his feet into the field by accident. But no matter what he did, the thing that he was chasing moved faster. And faster. And faster. And faster. And faster. Until finally, he jumped out to hit the thing and grab the Emerald back. However, making contact with the Chaos Emerald with his powers activated made him release his energy into huge wavelengths, engulfing the entire baseball field and then spread out into the city. His shockwave caused a power outage to nearby techs, including field lights and any nearby buildings within the area. But that didn't stop there, the shockwave continued to spread and caused power outages throughout the entire city, including stores, homes, and even satellites. And it gets worse, because the shockwave continued to spread outside the city, possibly even outside the state. Sonic himself landed with his face hitting the grass. He slowly got up and shook his head, feeling a bit dizzy. However, he noticed that he got the Emerald back, and also saw a small white drone with a propeller on his head, destroyed because of the hit. He then inspected all his surroundings with wide eyes. Even if it happened too fast, he could totally see what happened because of his powers. "...No one's going to notice that big blue explosion… right?" Sonic asked to himself, boosting back to his hideout in the city, not wanting to stick around any longer. Pipp was at her room, back at the big mansion she lived in with Zipp, once again practicing her songs for the concert with a cheery smile. She was in a very good mood today, specially after Zipp told her their friends would be with them on their vacation house at Manehattan for the concert. She still felt a bit conflicted about leaving her pop star life, but she was sure that her friends could help her make her decision more easily. And then, all light in her room suddenly faded away. She squealed scared in a very adorable way, quickly turning on her phone's lantern. She tried to contact Zipp through her phone, but realized there was no Wi-fi either. "Zipp!" She cried out, quickly running to the corridor of her house. It was a large one, and there where like 6 doors at each side. But despite knowing which door led to her sister's room, Pipp felt terrified at the darkness, so she quickly got back inside of her room and looked around a bit in fright. Besides her phone's light, the moon also illuminated her room a little bit, but Pipp still felt scared inside. She then took a deep breath before moving to her bed and lay on it, turning off the phone's lantern, activating her cellular data and quickly texting Zipp. "Zipp!" Pipp wrote. "There's no energy!!!" She added, stating her worry and fear through the message. "I know, Pipp." Zipp replied through the phone. "Apparently there was a blackout." "Don't tell me!!!" Pipp wrote back, frowning at her sister's message. "Can't you do something?!" She asked, feeling worried that the blackout might take a while to be solved. "No, sis." Zipp replied, and Pipp could perfectly picture Zipp rolling her eyes, considering her attitude 'childish'. "This wasn't only here. Sunny, Hitch and Izzy wrote me. They're already heading to Manehattan, and the news everywhere says that there's no energy in half the country!" That made Pipp grew nervous, and then Zipp sent a screenshot of a news article that explained the situation exactly like she describe it. "OMG!" Pipp wrote with worry. "Indeed." Zipp replied. "I guess the energy won't be back until tomorrow." She added, since the entire city was out of energy as well. Pipp sighed heavily and putted her phone away, but she could still feel it buzzing, although she ignored it. And then, she noticed that there was some extra light in the room. Pipp looked to her handbag over her desk, and slowly walked towards it. She opened the bag a bit scared, and then she saw the emerald she found before in school, shining brightly and illuminating the dark room. Pipp gulped a bit and took the emerald on her hand, not understanding; 1- How she forgot to give it to the principal before, and 2- Why was it glowing so much. "T-This has to be normal... R-Right?" She questioned to herself, gulping nervously again. At the eastern side of the country, the country's department defense gathered to discuss about the little 'incident' that just happened. In the middle, looking at the others, there was Commander Walters, an older gentleman with clean-cut white hair, wearing a military suit with many medals all over it, showing off years of military experience under his belt. "Twenty minutes ago..." Commander Walters began. "An energy surge knocked out power across the entire west side of our country. What do we know?" "Well, our first instinct was it was an EMP," Said the Navy Chief. "But electromagnetic pulses don't have that kind of power." "NASA has ruled out meteor strikes or solar flares," The Air Force chief spoke. "The Department of Energy says it's not a power plant malfunction," The Homeland Security Secretary added. "Well, sounds like we're really good at figuring out what it wasn't," Commander Walters said sarcastically. "This could be a prelude to a larger attack..." The Army Chief theorized. "I'm suggesting we scramble the Fifth and Sixth Regiment." "No, no, no. This needs a much more sophisticated mind," Commander Walters pointed out. "You wanna send in a lab rat?" The Army Chief inquired. "Not just any lab rat. A lab rat with teeth!" Commander Walters replied. The Navy Chief's eyes widened in realization. "You're not suggesting who I think you're suggesting..." Commander Walters knew he was about to approach a very controversial subject, but he decided to keep going anyway. "I know, he's a little weird––" "Weird!?" The Air Force Chief exclaimed. "He's a psychological tire fire!" "But he's also brilliant!" Commander Walters pointed out. "Five Ph.D.'s, IQ off the charts and his… drone tech is-is-is-is revolutionary!" The Army Chief gave him his skeptic expression. "You sure he can handle this?" "He has the perfect Operations record," Commander Walters responded. "Remember the coup at Pakistan?" The Army Chief shook his head. "No." "Or the uprising in Erzafganistán?" Commander Walters asked again. "That's not even a country!" The Air Force Chief interjected. "Exactly!" Commander Walters exclaimed. "And you can thank Robotnik for that!" The Navy Chief sighed exasperatedly. "I can't believe you're bringing that freak into this!" "Neither can I," Commander Walters responded with a sigh. "But we have no choice..." At the same baseball camp where Sonic managed to get the Chaos Emerald back, soldiers from the government were investigating the entire baseball field. And then, a huge black truck suddenly arrived at the scene along with some several blacks vans behind it. "What the...?" The soldier in charge muttered, confused on what the hell was happening. Once the truck stopped, the panels on the side of the truck slide down then lowered to the ground as a panel. Within seconds, the back of the panel turned into a staircase, and then a man came out of the truck, dressed in dark shades and a black coat. He approached to the soldier in charge, while several men and women followed from their cars. They, too, were all dressed in black and had neckties. Several men held their weapons steady, but a signal from the man made them stand down and back away. The mustached man, called Dr. Ivo Robotnik, took off his shades. "Are you in charge here?" "Yes, I a––" "NOPE!" Robotnik abruptly cut him off. The man shuddered from the intrusion, but kept his cool. "My––" "Wrong!" "Name––" "I'm in charge!" "Is Sergeant––" He raised his voice. "ME!" "Ben––" "I'm in charge…" Robotnik dropped to a whisper, then one of his agents, Agent Stone, reluctantly presented a small electronic tablet, revealing Robotnik's digital insignia. "You've never seen anything like this before," Robotnik said, pointing at the tablet with a smug grin. "It says I'm the top banana, in a world full of hungry little monkeys. Allow me to clarify," He stated, then made some kind of 'buzz' sound and moved like a robot. "In a sequentially ranked hierarchy, based on level of critical importance, the disparity between us is too vast to quantify," Robotnik said at a fast pace, confusing everyone sans Agent Stone some more. "Agent Stone?" He asked, turning and walking away. "The doctor thinks you're basic," Agent Stone clarified. "I'm initiating a sweep sequence," Robotnik announced, as he began to press some buttons on his remote glove with an LCD display right on his arm. "Ten miles in every direction should suffice." As Robotnik was pressing buttons on his gloves, the roof of the truck opened, raising up several of his drones. Each drone had a strong resemblance to a large egg, including its shape and color. The only added feature to each drone was a large single red 'eye' at the very tip, which turned out to be a highly advanced camera. As the drones began to hover and rise into the air Robotnik glanced back slightly. "Is he still looking at me funny?" Asked Robotnik with his back still facing them. "Yes, he is," Agent Stone answered. "Tell him to stop, or I'll pull up his search history," Robotnik said nonchalantly. "If you don't stop looking at the doctor, he'll take a closer look at your––" "I'm. Not. Deaf." The man spat furiously. "And tell him his men report to me now, blah blah blah, blah blah blah, blah blah blah," Robotnik droned, making some wacky arm gestures as he did. "Excuse me," The soldier said coldly. "I don't think you realize who––" "I'm sorry, Sergeant," Robotnik turned around with arms spread. "What was your name?" The man sighed in relief. "Benin––" "NOBODY CARES!" Robotnik blurted out, while the soldier cringed in anger. "Nobody cares…" He repeated mockingly, slowly walking back up to him. "Listen, Sergeant Nobody-Cares. Do you know why nobody cares who you are? Because nobody cares about your feeble accomplishments. And nobody cares how proud your mommy is that you're now reading at a third-grade level," He taunted. "Have you finished Charlotte's Web yet? Spoiler alert: She dies in the end. But she leaves a big creepy egg sac." Then, the oval-looking drones hovered over their creator, who chuckled and spread his arms wide. "Aw, my babies. Look what came out of my egg sac!" Robotnik boasted, while all eyes turned to the robots. "You know what I love about machines?" He asked, looking at the drones like a proud father. "They do what they're told. They follow their programming. They don't need time off to get drunk and put the boat in the water!" He exclaimed, turning to see the soldier with a frown. The solider frowned back at him while Robotnik pointed right at his face. "And you do what you're told. Stand over there on the edge of your personal abyss… and let my machines do your job!" Robotnik ordered with a grin. The soldier didn't reply. Instead, he turned and moved away without breaking eye contact. The other police and MCF personnel soon followed his lead. "Can you feel it, Stone?!" Robotnik called out in an ecstatic tone. "I can feel it, Doctor," Agent Stone replied. "It's evolution, Stone… it's EVOLUTION!" Robotnik shouted. The drones rose into the air and flew off into the forest in multiple directions. The drones scattered into the forest, the sound of their engines startling wildlife. Deer turned their heads at the flying machines while birds, squirrels, rabbits, and other small critters bolted for safety. One drone descended to the forest floor, its main optic scanning the ground. Nothing seemed unusual. Just dirt, twigs, leaves, and rocks… and a footprint on a rock. "Logging anomaly…" The drone beeped, hovering closer to the footprint. A red beam emitted from its optic, tracing over the sneaker print. "Initializing spectral analysis… initializing mineral composition… transmitting…" Back at the 18-wheeler truck, Robotnik saw the footprint on his main monitor. His assistant entered the vehicle, standing at attention. "Agent Stone?" "Doctor?" Robotnik pointed at the screen. "Do you see anything useful in this image?" Agent Stone stared at the screen for a moment, specifically, at that strange mark which was on that rock. "Nothing at all, Doctor." "Of course you don't! Your eyes weren't expertly trained to spot tracks by the Native American Shadow Wolves," Robotnik stated with a snort. While Stone looked at his boss confused, Robotnik typed some more on his computer and then he rolled his chair back for his associate to see. Agent Stone watched as Robotnik’s computer analyzed the mark before it alters and breaks down into a shoe footprint. Then the computer analyzed even further, revealing a mark of a footprint that only had two fingers. "That's extraordinary!" Agent Stone said amazed. "No. What's extraordinary is I determined the exact height, weight, and spinal curvature of this creature. And my computer can't find a single match for it, anywhere, in Earth's Animal Kingdom," Robotnik stated, then stood up from his chair and pointed at the footprint on the screen while facing Stone. "This blackout was not a terrorist attack, and that's no baby Bigfoot. This guy… is something else… entirely!" He stated with a grin. "And you know what else? Last night, just before the blackout, a signal matching with this emerald's power appeared suddenly, and then it faded away when the blackout happened," he explained, staring at the green emerald he had on a capsule. "So, this creature and the emerald are related?" Agent Stone questioned. "Indeed!" Robotnik replied with an evil grin. "And it's a mater of time before I unleash the power of the emerald, and put my hands on this guy. Divert all search units to the site of the footprint!" He ordered as he let out a huge grin. "That's one small step for men... one giant leap for me!" He added happily.