At Mane Melody, Izzy and Knuckles were with Pipp, helping to decorate the salon because Pipp was going to make a massive presentation of her brand new product.
"Whaaaaaaaaat?!" Pipp cried out in shock, while Knuckles and Izzy were next to her, with Knuckles crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow while Izzy gave Pipp a cheery smile and waved at her to get her attention. "What do you mean you lost the glimmerberry shampoo?!" she asked the pony on the phone in shock.
The pony on the phone gave a high-pitch response, since only Pipp could hear on her phone while Knuckles and Izzy couldn't.
"Raccoonicorns?!" Pipp asked in disbelief, receiving a high-pitched response. "Attacked the trailer?!" she asked again, getting another high-pitch response. "ATE IT ALL?!?" she asked in shock and disbelief about what happened to her product.
Izzy looked out the window and saw one of the raccoonicorns that ate all the glimmerberry shampoo walking by, with they're belly bloated from the amount they ate, belching out bubbles from the shampoo and covering their mouth, also sitting on the floor.
Izzy gave a strange look at the raccoonicorn, and Knuckles approached soon enough as well. "There's no way these critters survived this long..." he said with shock and disbelief.
"Well, how am I supposed to do a product launch without any product?!" Pipp asked the pony on the phone in panic, gaining another high-pitched response. "UGH!" she groaned in frustration, ending the call and pacing back and forth desperate. "Okay" she said, panting and sweating nervously. "Think, Pipp. Think" she said to herself as she tried to think.
"Ah! I can help!" Izzy said to Pipp excitedly with sparkling eyes.
Pipp didn’t heard Izzy, and instead took out her phone, looking at the countdown while Izzy took a closer look at it as well, and Knuckles looked from behind them. "Four hours 'til we launch. No time to make my own" Pipp said with worry.
"I can help!" Izzy said to Pipp again with a smile.
"She's either ignoring you, or she actually isn't listening" Knuckles muttered to her. "Maybe we should do something to call her attention?" he suggested.
Izzy smiled with sparkling eyes, as an idea popped on her mind. "Knuckie! You're not only handsome, but also a genius!" she said with a bright smile.
However, both her face and Knuckles' turned red (yes, Knuckles became more red than he already is, that's possible) after they both realized what Izzy said.
"Y-You think I'm... em... well... You really think that about me?" Knuckles asked with a sheepish smile, scratching his head and feeling his face blushing a lot more, if that was even possible.
"I-I... W-Well... Y-You see... U-Um..." Izzy said nervously, sweating and blushing like a tomato. "Y-Yeah... I-I do think that..." she ended up confessing, and for some reason he couldn't understand, Knuckles felt his smile growing and his heart jumping in joy after hearing that. "A-Anyways! W-We have to call Pipp's attention, s-so... follow me!" she said, and then zoomed away.
Before being able to say anything, Izzy used her magic and levitated Knuckles to follow her.
Pipp didn’t paid them attention as she was biting her hoof nervously, but then smiled with an idea. "Wait! We just got a shipment of new hoof cream!" she said with a cheery smile and sparkling eyes. "I'll launch that instead!" she stated with a smile, but once Pipp opened the door, she gasped. "Izzy! Knuckles!" she cried out in shock.
Izzy was using the hoof creams in the storage room to paint on the walls, with all the hoof creams opened and Izzy herself got all messy because of the cream.
"I mean, the mane's a little off" Izzy said with a smile while looking at the hoof cream painting of Jazz she did with the hoof cream.
"Izzy... this isn't what I meant when I said we should CALL HER ATTENTION!" Knuckles scolded with a frown.
Izzy flinched from Knuckles' scold and gave a sheepish smile. "Okay, I might have got a little carried away. Sorry..." she apologized to both of them before facing Pipp. "But seriously, Pipp, I can help!" she assured to her.
Pipp sighed with a hoof on her head and walked towards Izzy and Knuckles. "Fine. Izzy, I need your help" she said to her.
Izzy smiled at the answer. "Awesome!" she cheered with a raise of her hoof, while Pipp was a little nervous and Knuckles raised an eyebrow. "Follow me! It's time for a day at the Bridlewood Spog!" she stated.
"Bridlewood Spa?!" Pipp said with excitement and sparkling eyes, while Izzy wiped the hoof cream off her with a towel.
"I don't know if that's what she said, at all..." Knuckles said with his arms crossed. "I'm tagging along just in case" he added with a determinate expression.
"You're just coming because of Izzy, aren't you?" Pipp asked with a teasing smirk, and Knuckles sudden blush and wide eyes made her chuckle playfully, then she looked back at Izzy while the unicorn twirled her towel in her hoof. "You never told me there was a Bridlewood Sp––" she tried to say, but got cut off when Izzy almost smacked the towel on Pipp's face, if it wasn't because of Knuckles' fist that received the smack.
"Izzy, honey, watch where you twirl that towel around, please" Knuckles called out.
Izzy sweated sheepishly from her mistake and smiled nervously, but she also blushed a bit after Knuckles called her 'honey'. "S-Sorry! Come on!" she called out, leading the way as the three friends exited Mane Melody.
"By the way, aren't you going to hang out with Sonic and Tails or something?" Pipp asked.
"They said something about investigating a place that could have the possible location of the last Chaos Emerald, and Sunny and Zipp tagged along with them" Knuckles explained with a bored expression. "They explicitly told me to stay here in the Bay in case Eggman attacks or something, but they're just exaggerating" he stated with a confident smirk. "Besides, wherever those two go, problems follow them close, so thanks but no thanks" he finished.
That sadly only made Pipp feel worried about them, but she decided to not think about it, at least for now.
"WHY DO WE ALWAYS GET OURSELVES IN TROUBLE?!" Sonic shouted with a frown.
Tails, Zipp and Sunny were flying at his side at top speed as they where running/flying away from a bunch of Buzzers and Buzz Bombers, as well as Eggman's Egg Beater, or at least, a smaller version of it.
What the group though was the location of the final Emerald was actually a trap made by Eggman, who gathered them there and was planning to 'destroy them all', as the doctor himself would say, but the group managed to escape, and now they were running for their lives.
"How's that you convinced us to tag along with you?!" Zipp cried out in worry, flapping her wings as fast as she could.
"We literally just told you about the signal!" Tails pointed out. "You didn't even allowed me to explain myself and said you'll be tagging along! And here we are now!" he explained in panic.
"I just came because I was bored! Flying away to save my life wasn't on my check list today!" Sunny confessed, also flapping her golden wings at fast paste.
"How we ended up here doesn't matter! How we are going to escape does!" Sonic stated with a determinate look. "First, we need to get rid of those badniks" he explained.
"How are you expecting us to fight back that?!" Zipp cried out in panic. "We cannot do the same things you do like curl into a ball and crash against those things!" she pointed out in worry and panic.
"First of all, it's called a Spindash" Sonic said with a bored expression and with his fists on his hips. "And second, yes you can!" he assured with confidence.
"We can?" both Zipp and Sunny asked confused.
"It's pretty simple, actually!" Tails added, now with a determinate look as well. "You just got to visualize a finish line, and then, as the name already implies, you just have to... Spin!" he shouted, Spindashing himself and launching against some Buzz Bombers, that feel to the ground completely destroyed.
"Tails, little bro, I couldn't have explained better myself!" Sonic stated with a proud smirk, before charging up his Spindash. turn around and then crash against some of the Buzzers in the air.
Both Sonic and Tails returned, still with plenty of badniks behind the group. "You just have to give it a shot!" Tails assured, dodging some of the shots that the badniks started to shot at them, with Zipp, Sunny and Sonic also dodging some of the attacks.
"And the sooner you do that, the better!" Sonic said with a worried frown.
Sometime later, Izzy leaded Pipp and Knuckles trough the Bridlewood forest and towards the Bridlewood Spog.
Izzy couldn't help but give an excited squeal. "Ooh! Okay. It's the best kept secret in all of Equestria. Feel the stress float out of your mane and calm seep into your hooves" she said, suddenly stopping and causing Pipp and Knuckles to do the same. "Here it is!" Izzy said excited, using her magic to move some bushes aside and revealing a mud green like puddle that was bubbling.
Pipp cringed at this, while Izzy smiled at the sight and Knuckles seemed to be neutral about it. Pipp looked down as she saw a bubble forming in the pond and it popped. "Aah!" she cried out startled, which caused her to flap her wings and jump back a bit. "This is Bridlewood Spa?" she asked Izzy.
"Spa?" Izzy asked confused, then she smiled and laughed a bit. "No, no-no-no! Spog! S-P-O-G! Spog!" she corrected Pipp.
"Spog? Really, Izz?" Knuckles asked with a bored expression.
"What is a spog?" Pipp asked confused.
"Oh, it's a special bog" Izzy answered with a smile, also pointing at the bog. "'Bog' because it's a bog, and 'special' because it's special" she said with a smile and sparkling eyes, also placing a hoof on her cheek, while Pipp still look a little disturbed by this. "Come on, I'll give you both the tour" she said happily, skipping ahead.
"Let me guess: you regret having come, don't you?" Knuckles asked to Pipp with a bored expression
"Yeah" Pipp said honestly, gulping and cringing at the sight of the bog. "This is a little disturbing" she added with disgust.
"Well, if you compare it with the rest of Bridlewood, this has its own sense of beauty" Knuckles pointed out, as he walked off to catch up to Izzy.
"Fair point" Pipp said, still grossed out by the bog as she jumped a bit, and then ran off to catch up with Izzy as well. Once she caught up with them, she saw an old unicorn mare relaxing in the bog with tomatoes in her eyes. "Look, Izzy, I appreciate the help and showing this to me, but, um, bog mud isn't exactly on brand for Potions by Pipp" Pipp said, as she shook off a piece of mud from her hoof and pointed to herself with a small smile. But as she looked back at where Izzy used to be, she saw her friend was gone. "Izzy? Izzy?!" she called out in panic.
Suddenly, on one of the bog puddles, it started rumbling as it burst out, which caused Pipp to scream in shock and surprise.
But she soon realized that it was Izzy, because she babbled and shook the mud off her, also sighing in relaxation. "What are you waiting for? Put some vegetables on your face and get in here!" she said to her with a smile, placing two carrot pieces on her eyes and laying back in the puddle.
"No need to tell me twice" Knuckles said, already in the puddle as well, also without his gloves and shoes since he didn't wanted them to get muddier.
"Told y–– O-Oh... m-my hoofness" Izzy muttered, accidentally letting one of the carrots from her eyes fall and blushing like a tomato again at the sight of Knuckles showing up his chest more than usual.
For some reason, and without his gloves, Izzy could see Knuckles' muscles a lot better now that she was staring at him longer than usual. She gulped nervously, and she also suddenly felt hot.
Knuckles didn't seemed to notice that, tho. "Say, Pipp. Are you joining us or what?" he asked her.
Pipp was still grossed out at the spog. "Ummmm... yeah, I just... I think this mud is, um…" she tried to say with a nervous expression.
Izzy shook her head and finally got rid of her blush as she smiled at Pipp. "Y-Yeah, it's way too bubbly" she said, pointing at the puddle before turning to Pipp again. "Say no more, 'cause I got something I know you two are gonna love" she said as she got out of the mud puddle and approached Pipp, who gave a disgusted expression to Izzy.
Knuckles opened and eye and also got out of the puddle, shacking the mud away and putting back his shoes and gloves. "Well, I wasn't expecting a mud bath today, but I don't complain" he said with a smirk. "It was really refreshing" he added.
The old unicorn mare in the mud puddle suddenly tossed her tomato pieces in the air before they landed in her mouth as she ate them.
Sonic and Tails had to dodge a bunch of laser attacks to finally launch their Spindashes to the badniks, but somehow there were more and more of them.
"Is it just me, or are they multiplying?!" Tails questioned in panic.
"I swear there's more and more everytime!" Sunny cried out.
"Girls! We could really use your help here!" Sonic said.
"For the millionth time, we cannot spin like you, guys! We're not that flexible!" Zipp pointed out with anger.
"Ugh! We don't need you to do a Spindash!" Sonic stated with anger now. "Look, just attack them with what you have!" he instructed.
"With what we have?" Sunny questioned. "What do you mean?!" she asked again in panic.
"Sunny, you're an Alicorn!" Tails pointed out. "You may not be able to do a lot of spells, but you're still really powerful! Put those spells and lessons to good use–– whoa!" he exclaimed, as he dodged a laser from a Buzzer, who he ended up destroying with his own tails.
"And Zipp! Those hooves of yours are way too strong for even being normal! Use that!" Sonic told her with a smirk, before slowing down a bit and then make a Homing Attack to a Buzz Bomber, followed by a Stomp Attack on another one.
Both Zipp and Sunny looked at each other, before nodding with determinate looks and make a loop in the air, then boosting towards the badniks and the Egg Beater.
Tails used his powers to create two giant metallic gloves that he used to destroy some Buzzers with his bare fists, while Sonic Spindashed over some more Buzz Bombers.
And then, a massive golden laser passed by him and destroyed a bunch of Buzz Bombers, and he felt surprised a t what he saw: Sunny was using her Alicorn magic against the badniks. She was destroying them with some massive lasers from her horn, teleporting to dodge some of the surprise attacks and even using her magic glitter to make the badniks explode.
"Look at you, Sunny-bunny!" Sonic cheered with a big smile. "You should have told me you are an amazing robo-butt kicker!" he stated, as he kicked a Buzzer away and it exploded once it crashed in the ground.
"I could have if even I knew it!" Sunny replied with a serious expression, launching another massive golden laser towards the badniks, making them explode.
In the meantime, Tails was exchanging a lot of his weapons in middle fight: first he was using a laser arm similar to Mega Man's; then he switched to plasma guns for both of his hands; then he made a giant hammer similar to Amy's; then he switched to giant metallic gloves to strike quite a punch to the badniks.
But he was about to be shot on the back by one of them, if it wasn't because of Zipp, who saved his butt at the last minute. Literally. And how? Well...
Zipp was boosting through the sky, making loops and zig zags excitedly, until she started to kick the badniks at fast paste with her hind legs. She basically was as fast as Sonic, but in the sky, and instead of Spindashing, she was kicking the hell out of his enemies.
Tails, of course, blushed with sparkling eyes at the sight, as he created another 'Mega Man' like laser arm and shoot at a badnik that tried to take him by surprise.
Zipp noticed that and decided to tease him a bit. "Like what you see, Mr. Prower?" she asked in a flirty tone, crossing her front hooves in the air and smirking at Tails.
Tails himself gulped and quickly turned away. "Y-Yeah... Y-You're an amazing fighter Zipp. I-I expected that from and amazing girl like you" he said nervously, with his blush increasing, and he shoot at another badnik that also tried to shoot him by surprise.
Zipp herself blushed a lot now as well, and she kicked a Buzzer that tried to surprise her.
After the two of them shook their heads and focused back on the important matter, they realized that pretty much every badnik was defeated.
"Woo!" Sunny cheered as she landed with a smile, but also panting a bit.
"We did it!" Zipp cheered as well.
"Actually, we didn't" Sonic said with a frown, as he glared at the Egg Beater. "We still have to get rid of the big guy" he stated.
"But we managed to destroy the badniks already. A small replica of the Egg Beater shouldn't be a problem!" Tails said confidently.
Too bad the Egg Beater raised a punch and smashed the ground, making it rumble a lot.
"You had to open your mouth, don't you?!" Sonic scolded Tails, now posing to fight against the machine.
Tails smiled sheepishly, but also posed with a plasma shotgun and pointed to the robot, while Zipp and Sunny also prepared to fight against the machine.
Back in Bridlewood, Izzy led them to another part of the bog with a mud stream with rocks over them.
Izzy cleared her throat, while Pipp seemed to cringe at the sight of something. "And now we're going to step into the hooficure stream, full of hoof-nibbling bugs that nibbly-nibble-nibble on your hooves" Izzy said, while Pipp looked at the stream.
She saw a hoof-nibbling bug on the stream, cutely rolling around, and then a lot more appeared suddenly from the stream.
Pipp whimpered at the sight, while Knuckles didn't seemed to care. Izzy then lifted her hoof, now covered in mud and some bugs in it. "It makes them soooo smooth" she said with a smile, waving her hoof at Knuckles and Pipp before jumping ahead.
"Usually, I wouldn't mind, but I have no hoofs for them to clean, and I don't want to be beaten either, so I pass" Knuckles said with a bored expression, jumping and following Izzy ahead.
Pipp gave a nervous laugh and smile. "Just what everypony wants..." she started, jumping on the rocks as well, grunting in effort and hopping on each one, avoiding the bugs and mud. "...to put on their hooves" she said, hopping on another rock. "Bug paste" she finished.
She hopped on another one, but it turned out that she landed on a big turtle shell, since the turtle woke up and glared at Pipp, which caused her to scream and dash off in fright.
A little bit later, in a spa room in the bogs, the three of them were laying on their bellies in relaxation beds, while a unicorn mare placed some mud on Izzy's back and a unicorn stallion was giving a big massage to Knuckles.
Izzy sighed in relaxation at the touch of the mud in her back. "This is the life, huh?" she asked Knuckles and Pipp with a relaxed smile. :Really helps get the knots out of your back" she added.
"Oh, for sure" Pipp’s voice called out, while she was hiding underneath the bed while sweating nervously. "I feel like a brand new pony. Ugh" she acted, while feeling a little nervous about this.
"Oh, yes. You got the spot. Keep it up. It sure feels amazing..." Knuckles said with joy as the stallion was 'abruptly' massaging his back.
Seeing that Knuckles was a bit distracted, Izzy whispered back to Pipp. "Hey, Pipp" she called out nervously.
"Hmm?" Pipp replied with no emotion.
"Can I... um... Do you think you can help me understand that weird feeling in my belly?" Izzy asked, sweating a bit.
Now Pipp felt a bit intrigued. "What do you mean?" she asked.
"Well... um... lately, I've been feeling something weird inside of me whenever I'm near Knuckles" Izzy started to explain. "It always feels weird... like something wants to get out of me" she added.
Pipp leaned her head confused at the question. Hasn't Izzy realized yet that she likes Knuckles, despite being very obvious for everyone but Knuckles himself?
"Izz... do you feel your cheeks turning red and your body feeling hot and warm whenever Knuckles talks to you in some specific way... or at all?" Pipp asked her.
"Um, yeah. Many times, actually" Izzy confessed.
Pipp chuckled playfully after hearing that. "Oh, Izzy. That's exactly how I feel whenever I'm near Sonic! And you already know why" she stated with a smirk.
Suddenly, Izzy's face went red again, and she felt her heart beating faster than ever. How's that she never realized that before? "S-So... y-you're saying I... like... Knuckles? Like, I like like him?" she asked, with her blush somehow increasing.
"Yup!" Pipp replied with a smile.
Izzy looked sideways to Knuckles and gulped nervously. The sight of the echidna, just smiling in relaxation, made her heart flinch in joy and she unconsciously smiled at the sight.
She still needed some time to process this feelings, but she could say one thing for sure: she didn't minded liking Knuckles, at all.
After that, Pipp and Izzy were in a steam room with towels on them as heated rocks steamed up the place.
Knuckles stood outside to guard them up since he's a male, and he knows perfectly nobody will see with good eyes to a man in a steam room with two girls, or mares in this case.
"And this is the steam room" Izzy said with a smile.
Pipp finally smiled, at last liking something about Bridlewood Spog. "Huh. This is actually kind of nice" she commented.
Izzy then pulled down a rope next to her, which made a shower faucet appear above them as it dripped out some mud. Pipp gasped at this, and then she screamed as she flew out of the steam.
"Pipp?" Knuckles called out confused. "What's the mat-" he was going to ask, but then more mud came flowing down from the steam room and covered him entirely.
Pipp landed after the sudden mudslide and started to pant from the adrenaline, giving an irritated look. "Look, Izzy, you're not listening––" she tried to say, but then screamed as some mud splat on her face.
Izzy walked out of the steam room with giggles, holding a bowl of mud while having some on her face as well. "Mud mask?" she asked Pipp with a smile.
Knuckles came out of the mud and cleaned out some off him, but still having around his body. "Okay, enough mud for one day" he said with a bored expression.
"Ah, gross!" Pipp cried out in disgust as she wiped some of the mud off her. "Gross-gross-gross-gross-gross-gross-gross-gross-GROSS!" she cried out, then growled angrily at Izzy. "I-I-I don't want to sell this slimy green mud in my store, okay?!" she called out to her.
"It's more of a burnt seaweed color actually––" Izzy tried to say innocently, but got cut off.
"I don't care!" Pipp snapped at Izzy, reaching the limit of her patience as Izzy flinched from Pipp's outburst. "It just doesn't fit in the Potions by Pipp product line! END! OF!" she yelled out at Izzy’s face, which caused the unicorn to tear up.
Knuckles felt pure rage going through his body, as he charged up his electrical powers on his fists and clapped them strong enough to make the entire earth rumble.
Once they rumble was over, both Izzy and Pipp looked at Knuckles startled, but then Pipp flinched when Knuckles saw her with a cold stare. "I'm making myself clear once, Petals" he warned with a menacing tone. "One of this days, I swear you'll have to try things out on your own before judging them. But of course, miss 'perfection' needed to keep her damn image clean when no one around cares at all. Tch. I'm disappointed at you, Pipp. I though you were better than this, but perhaps I was wrong" he said with anger.
Pipp scoffed and groaned after hearing this. "Well, sorry for disappointing you, but I'm not willing to get all myself muddier for the sake of fashion. Now, if you excuse me, I'll return to Mane Melody" she called out, as she began to tear up as well and then walked away, leaving a tearing Izzy and an even more disappointed Knuckles.
"I wonder what Sonic saw on you" Knuckles said suddenly, low but loud enough for Pipp to hear it, since the pegasus stopped suddenly. "I bet he'll be disappointed as well once he finds out what you did today" he added, turning and opening his arms to Izzy, who immediately buried her face on Knuckles' chest and sobbed a bit loud.
Pipp, on the other hand, felt panicked after hearing the last thing Knuckles said, and a part of her was hoping that Sonic never finds out about her sudden outburst and attitude, even if she knew he will find out anyway.
The Egg Beater pulled from its back a massive wrecking ball, similar to the one Sonic confronted when he first met with Eggman, and the robot started to smash the wrecking ball in the ground, with the intention of smashing the group.
"What's the matter, Eggy? Feeling nostalgic today?" Sonic asked with a mocking tone and smirk. However, to his and Tails' surprise, Eggman didn't said anything. "Eggman?" Sonic called out again, this time with a confused look, and he still got no response as he dodged a laser coming from the palm of one of the robot's hands.
"Focus on the fight, mock him later!" Zipp said, as she zigzagged in the air and kicked the robots back, that turned and started to shoot at her.
But as the four of them dodged the attacks, Tails started to feel that something was off.
"Guys, something's not right..." Tails said with a worried frown. "Eggman never stays quiet this long... or at all! He always mocks Sonic back" he explained with concern.
"And unlike his badniks, his attacks aren't that specific, precise and predictable... most of the time, at least" Sonic added with a frown as well.
"Can wrap this up quickly so we can find out what's wrong?!" Sunny suggested desperate, launching another laser attack from her horn towards the Egg Beater, that protected itself with a shield installed on its left arm.
"You're right, Sunny" Sonic stated. "Let's stop playing games!" he added with a smirk. "Guys, caught his attention! Leave the killer punch to me!" he instructed.
The others nodded and started to shoot, and kick in Zipp's case, to the Egg Beater to keep the machine distracted from Sonic.
Then, Sonic himself started to run on his place until his feet formed the shape of an eight, he charged up his electrical powers as well, with his quills and eyes turning neon blue, and then he launched against the machine. He curled in a ball and passed through the robot's chest, that stopped moving on its place with the wrecking ball falling to the ground in a loud thud and the machine slowly turning off until it fell completely in the ground.
The group gathered around the robot, and after a few seconds of silence, Zipp decided to finally break it.
"That... was... AWESOME!" Zipp shouted, twirling with excitement in the air.
"I know!" Sunny said with a smile. "I mean, it was kinda scary at first, but once we started to use our own powers... Eee! It was amazing!" she added.
"Gotta say, I feel really impressed, girls" Tails confessed with a smile. "Sonic's right: you should have told us you were amazing fighters, even if you didn't knew it yourselves" he added.
Sunny scratched her head with a sheepish smile and Zipp blushed at the compliment, and also smiled nervously.
"I agree with Tails" Sonic said with a smirk. "You two were awesome!" he added, before turning to the Egg Beater and walk towards its face with frown. "Alright, Eggman. Game's over, let's see why are you so quiet today" he added.
He used his Spindash to cut the robot's head and then rip it from the machine, launching the head away. However, Tails, Zipp and Sunny's gasp made him think that something was wrong, and in fact, it was: when he got at their side by a jump and looked inside of the robot... he saw that Eggman wasn't there.
"What the––" Sonic said with a shocked look. "It's... It's empty..." he said with disbelief.
Tails approached the driver's seat and looked at all the combination buttons inside of it. "Auto Pilot is on" he said. "We were never fighting Eggman himself, but some kind of decoy" he pointed out. "Apparently, Eggman just uploaded instructions and sent the Egg Beater and some badniks to us, to make a trap and kill us" he explained.
"So, Eggman didn't showed up? He just... he was just looking from wherever he's hiding with Opaline?!" Zipp asked a bit mad.
"I know Eggman can be a cowards sometimes, but... this is nothing like him" Sonic said with a frown. "He never attacks without a proper reason. Like Tails said, it seems he just wanted to get rid of us, but... why I have the feeling this is something else? What I'm not seeing?" he questioned, rubbing his chin with concern.
"After Wishday, I had clear this guy lost common sense, but... I do feel this attack has other reason behind that isn't just get rid of us..." Sunny said with worry.
Unknown for them, the Egg Beater's head that Sonic threw away was still on and looking at them, but it suddenly turned off not so long after.
Hours later, at Mane Melody, ponies were gathered around as they are having a little party for Pipp to make her announcement while Jazz, Rocky and Hitch passed some snacks for them.
Hitch stopped in front of a pegasus stallion as he presented his snack plate. "Help yourself" he said with a smile as his eyes closed.
Before the stallion could get a snack, Sparky gobbled up the entire plate very quickly and burped, which gave the stallion a bored expression and make him walk away, while Hitch looked at his plate in surprise as Sparky blowed out his dragon fire, which startled Hitch and the ponies around him.
Pipp was in her products room, still with some mud on her, and she sighed with worry, then looked at herself in the mirror with a nervous smile. "Presenting my brand new Potions by Pipp product... Nothing!" she sarcastically called out, with her right eye twitching in panic, then she sighed in despair. "Enjoy" she said, tearing up a bit as she got some of the mud off her, but when she looked back at the mirror, she gasped in awe. "Neigh... way!" she said with a smile, since her mane was now sparkling.
She quickly rubbed the rest of the mud off her and she looked at her mane with sparkling eyes, waving her mane around as it was sparkling bright, so she struck a pose to her reflection.
Pipp picked up some more of the mud and rubbed it together in her hooves, which made them sparkle up as well. At this, Pipp gasped in amazement with sparkling eyes, having the right idea for her new products.
"Knockity-knock" Izzy’s voice spoke, and Pipp turned to see Izzy at the doorway of the product room smiling at her.
Pipp smiled back and got close to her. "Izzy! Oh, my glitter, this mud is incredible!" she sang the last word happily as she waved a piece of mud in her hoof around.
"It is?" Izzy asked in surprise while sweating nervously. "I mean, uh, yeah! It is!" she said with a nervous smile.
"No, it really is!" Pipp excitedly assured to Izzy. "It super is! It really-super-mega-really-totally-super IS!" she excitedly said with sparkling eyes, squealing excited and turning back to the mirror. "I should've given your spog a chance instead of being so worried about what it looks like, just like Knuckles said... I'm sorry, Izz" she apologized to Izzy.
"Thanks, Pipp" Izzy said with a smile. "And I'm sorry, too. I know mud isn't exactly what you had in mind for Potions by Pipp, which is why…" she pointed her hoof to the doorway, which showed three bunnycorns, one of them holding a bottle of purple something while the other two carried a crate load of them, and Knuckles followed soon enough with a bunch of crate loads as well. "Knux and I made you something I think might work better" Izzy added, as she held out a bowl with the bunnycorn purring the purple stuff in it. "We even colored the mud to make it less, uh, gross" she said with a small smile.
Pipp looked at the bowl with sparkling eyes. "It's…" she started, also tearing up now and sniffing happily. "...totes perfect!" she said with a little squeak.
Then, Knuckles placed the crate loads in the ground and scratched his head embarrassed. "Hey, um... I'm sorry for the way I snapped at you, Pipp" he said with guilt, avoiding eye contact with Pipp. "I... I got carried away by anger and said things I didn't meant, and... I'm sorry... I should explained myself better" he added, now looking at her in the eyes.
Pipp wiped out the tears and smiled at Knuckles. "It's okay, Knux. I kinda deserved it for being a jerk with Izzy, and... I think you were right to feel disappointed at me" she confessed, but still smiling. "In fact, I also should be apologizing with you––" she tried to add, but Knuckles cut her off.
"Nah, you just made a mistake. Big deal! No one's perfect, not even me, and again, I shouldn't have spoke with anger controlling me, but... Anyways, let's put the past in the past and focus on the now!" he stated with a confident smirk.
"Right!" Pipp said with a determinate look and grabbing one of the bottles of the new and improved mud as she twirled it around in her hoof. "This launch is back on!" she declared with a determined expression and a smile.
Knuckles managed to quickly decorate the place with images of Pipp's new product, using his super speed to finish the job at fast paste and pass unnoticed by the crowd.
Then, at the stage of Mane Melody, the room darkened suddenly, getting the ponies' attention as Pipp's voice echoed throughout the room. "The age of shampoo is over!" she announced, and the lights turned on while the ponies turned to the stage and saw Pipp on her microphone with her mane sparkling. "The age of Bridle Shine has begun!" she declared as Izzy came up on stage, and Pipp placed the purple mud stuff on Izzy's mane and rubbed on it. "Exfoliating! Rejuvenating! Shine-ifying!" she declared, while Izzy tossed her sparkling mane around and struck a pose with a smile to the crowd.
"Whoa!" all the ponies in the room said in awe.
"'Whoa' indeed..." Knuckles said with a massive blush and sparkling eyes, and Hitch at his side chuckled at his attitude.
"It's the magic of Bridlewood's finest spog bottled for your beauty!" Pipp finished with a smile and winking to the crowd.
Just then, a unicorn filly appeared with a wide smile and sparkling eyes as she waved her money at Pipp, wanting to try Bridle Shine herself, and then all the other ponies in Mane Melody started to cheer and wave their money out to Pipp as well with sparkling eyes.
Izzy and Pipp smiled at the crowd with sparkling eyes, then they looked at each other and tapped each other's hooves with wide smiles.
The crowd got closer to the two ponies in excitement, while Pipp and Izzy started passing out the bottles.
"Two bottles over here! And for you, sir? One bottle?" Pipp said to the ponies in the line as she grabbed the money and then she gave them the bottles, the amount and how much they are paying for it. "Form a line for Bridle Shine! Yes, yes! Come one, come all! Get it!" she announced with a smile as she tossed one of the bottles away to somepony.
Or some critter in this case, since McSnips grabbed the bottle and opened it, poured some on himself and a sparkling yellow hair appeared on his head, so McSnips smiled at this result.
"Well, another day that ends up well" Hitch said with a smile.
"Except for the part that we don't know where are the rest" Knuckles pointed out with a worried expression, and now Hitch felt worried for the rest as well.
At Opaline's Castle, Eggman was on his lab with Opaline herself, looking at the recordings of the Egg Beater of Sonic, Tails, Sunny and Zipp attacking the badniks and the Egg Beater itself.
"Mission report: the badniks have been destroyed, the Egg Beater has been defeated. Sonic and company's data has been recorded and uploaded to your system, doctor" Sage reported.
"Well done, Sage. Rest for the time being" Eggman instructed, then he turned to Opaline. "Now you understand? This is why we must be careful with Sunny and her little friends even if they seem harmless!" he pointed out with anger.
Opaline sighed in defeat and nodded. "I hate to admit it, but you were right, Ivo. Sunny is a really dangerous pony when she's not happy. All of that power wasted in friendship... and yet, she still manages to surprise me just as much as she disappoints me" she said with a frown.
"That's why we must me careful with her" Eggman repeated. "In the mean time, I'll be making for the next few weeks what I like to call... 'Experimental Attacks' to these pests" he stated with a sinister smile.
"Experimental? Explain yourself better" Opaline said with a bored expression.
"My next attacks will be like the one I did today: Attack them because I can, then study these ponies moves and attacks, and then use that info against them" Eggman explained. "However, I need to make sure they won't suspect a thing about this, so next time, I'll be attacking them in person..." he stated with an evil grin.
Opaline wasn't so sure about this plan, but so far it seemed to work, so at least for now, she'll let Eggman have all the fun attacking the Mane 5 and Team Sonic.
THE END...?