Brighthouse:
It had been around twenty minutes since the group had split, to gather what they needed for the trip. Excitement, caution and curiosity plagued each of their minds as they wondered what Twilight’s home would be like.
Considering she was somepony from ancient times, somepony who could keep things in good condition. However the question that plagued their minds the most, was why the message was sent to them now of all times?
Magic had been back for a decent amount of time, so this felt strange but if their was someone bad out there then they would face them.
Sonic who had been prepared and ready to go, was standing by the crystals for eighteen whole minutes tapping his foot at a rapid pace. His arms were crossed, his patience was running thin as the others took their sweet time getting ready.
But after waiting for a long time, the others started arriving from the elevator. “Finally! You all sure took your time, quite literally to get ready!” Sonic groaned still tapping his foot.
The looks he received could’ve withered a field of flowers, as Sunny spoke up. “Well sorry for not being as fast as you!” She retorted annoyed.
“I had to put on my makeup!” Pipp argued which was met with blank stares, from the rest of the group.
She quickly looked away in embarrassment, hiding the red tint on her cheeks. “Okay maybe I took a little too long.”
The rest of them shook their heads in amusement, Sonic then faced Hitch. “So, who did you get to babysit- er foalsit Sparky?”
The sheriff grinned with great confidence. “Don’t worry. I got the best foalsitter in Maretime Bay.”
Sheriff Station: Meanwhile
“Why can’t you stay still!” Posey screamed, chasing down the little green dragon.
Sparky then sneezed from the floating dust that populated the floor, turning said floor into ice causing Posey to slide backwards. “No that’s going backwards!”
She then faced the bookshelf she was about to collide into. “NOOO-“
Crystal Brighthouse: Present
The others looked at Hitch with dumbfounded faces. “Are you sure she’ll be fine, taking care of him?” Sunny questioned Hitch, who simply smiled back at her.
“Of course I’m sure!” His smile slightly faltered for a second.
Sunny simply shook her head. “Okay we’ll trust your words.”
They all then faced the crystals, that floated with a powerful aura radiating off of them. They were ready to go and stop whatever evil awaited them, but there was one small thing that Sonic had to ask.
“How do we travel to this place exactly?” He questioned.
This made the rest of them realise what he meant. “Oh yeah… hold on I think I got it!” Izzy excitedly exclaimed.
She quickly stood on her hind hooves, thrusting her forehooves forward at the crystals. “Teleport Sesame!” She stated boldly.
Abrupt silence followed as she placed her hooves back onto the ground, resuming her usual stance. “Well, I’m out of ideas.” She concluded facing her friends with an innocent smile.
Zipp simply raised a brow. “I’m not sure that’s how it goes Izzy, or if that’s even a real saying.” Izzy faced Zipp with the same smile she was holding.
“You never know Zipp, you have to be prepared for anythinggggg…” she dragged on whispering.
Pipp squinted her eyes at the crystals with curiosity. “Should we touch them?” She suggested but Zipp spoke up.
“No it’s too risky. Even if they bring magic to us all, we don’t know what could happen if we touch them in this state.” She pointed out.
“Doesn’t seem so bad to me.” Sonic added while having his right hand placed on the crystals, making Zipp slap his hand with her wing.
“What are you doing?! Are you trying to get us all hurt?!” She berated making the hedgehog groan loudly.
“Jeez, what’s got you guys so worked up about me doing things like this. It’s natural where I come from.” He stated frowning as if it was a fact that should be known.
Sunny facehoofed glaring at him with annoyance. “You may do it all the time back home, but we’re just not as accustomed to somepony doing something so reckless!”
Sonic smirked her way delivering an innocent whistle from his mouth, which was followed up with a simple clicking of his tongue. “Tsk, Tsk. Sunny my great friend, you and everyone else will just have to accept that it happens. Cause it ain’t leaving anytime soon… remember that.”
The unamused states that he received in return didn’t help his case, as he pinched the bridge of his nose sighing loudly. “Look just stop worrying about me, and let’s focus on how we travel to Twiggie’s home.”
Sunny and Zipp faced each other for a second but nodded, as they refocused back on the crystals not bothering to argue with the hedgehog as it would get them nowhere. “Can you at least, please cut the nickname act! This is Twilight Sparkle we’re talking about!” Sunny requested.
Sonic simply gave a playful look. “Who’s that? Cause I can’t respect anyone’s name if I don’t know enough about ‘em.”
Sunny was about to argue once more, but chose to stop realising he was just having fun. “Well, what could be our way there?”
Zipp looked a little closer seemingly analysing the crystals, they still shined with power and colour. Pipp’s voice then came forth, “Hey, look at the floor!”
They all followed her pointed hoof that they’d missed, seeing the floor light up in different colours with six one for each individual spot. “They match us.” Hitch pointed out.
Zipp faced the sheriff with caution. “Yeah, but we don’t know that exactly.”
Sonic then noticed something on the floor, quickly picking it up with his right hand. “Oh look, instructions on how to teleport! We really are dumb dumbs for missing this!”
The others could only groan loudly. “Seriously?! It was on the floor the whole time?!” Pipp seethed in frustration.
“Eh, you’d get used it after a while.” Sonic flatly answered.
He looked at the instructions and read them to the whole group. “Stand on the colours that match you, it’ll grant you the key to my home.”
With the instruction read out the group of friends, stepped onto their specific spots. Sunny’s being Apricot orange, Izzy’s being lilac, Hitch’s being a very light amber, Zipp’s being white, Pipp’s being pink and Sonic’s being blue.
After a few seconds nothing happened as they stared at each other, wondering what would happen next.
Sonic crossed his arms looking incredibly bored facing the others with a quip ready. “Seems they may have had technical diff-“
He was cut off when a crackle boomed a top the Brighthouse, causing all of them to shift shape and become distorted. Their screams all fading in and out at a rapid pace, and just as the show of lightning and bright lights had reached its peak it ended, and the six friends had disappeared from sight.
Silence reigned over the area leaving no trace of any sort of activity. Nopony in town or anywhere knew what happened, but it would probably be best if they didn’t.
???:
Sunny could only see darkness as she tried to remember, what had happened moments prior. However that all changed when she opened her eyes to see, the ground of a unsaturated and decayed road.
Lifting herself up to stand on her hooves she fully took in the sight around her, seeing the many ancient looking houses. But they were old, rundown and seemed to be breaking from time itself.
She refocused her attention to the sounds of her friends who were standing up groaning, she began helping them regain their balance making sure they didn’t sustain injuries. “Is everypony okay?” She asked for reassurance.
Izzy smiled at her friend with bubbly optimism. “Of course, we’re okay! Look at us! I’m fine, you’re fine, everypony is fine!” She exclaimed with excitement.
Pipp who had managed to finally stand normally, looked around seeing a certain blue hedgehog was missing. “Wait, where’s Sonic?!”
The group all went wide eyed, as they just all now realised he wasn’t with them. Their panicked states would only slightly be toned down, as the sound of electricity from above took their attention.
And out from above Sonic appeared but he was falling, all while yelling all the way down. “WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!”
BOOM
The dust raised as he made contact with ground, the group ran over to his aid and found him with his head stuck in the earth below. More specifically his face.
Zipp and Sunny grabbed hold of him, trying to pry the hedgehog from the ground. Within a few seconds he came out, slowly regaining his balance placing a hand to his forehead.
“Why is it always me falling from the sky, and landing on my face?” He asked himself with a grumble.
Sunny moved in front of Sonic. “Are you okay?” She asked concerned.
Sonic removed his hand from his head smiling. “Aside from the potential headache that’ll ensue later, I should be fine. I’ve only landed on my face like, over five times but Y’know everyday life stuff.”
Pipp then jumped in to the conversation. “That’s normal for you too?”
Sonic simply shrugged. “I just roll with it at this point.”
He then felt something vibrate in his hand, he checked it seeing the instructions from before. But this time there was different writing, as Sonic read it out to the group. “You’ve made it to my home, proceed to the castle for a test.”
The instructions then went blank, as if it erased the words from its skin, quickly tucking the instructions away into his quills Sonic finally looked ahead. The group then all faced where Sonic was now looking, and gaped in awe at the town around them.
It was old, rusty and ancient. Sunny had noticed it earlier but was too focused on the others to really process it, she smiled in wonder taking a few steps forward.
“This… it’s. Ponyville.” She majestically announced.
As they eyes the town around them, they quickly took note of where they were placed. It was near a big tree stump, it was like the tree itself that used to be there was blown off.
Sonic then took notice of a sign a few feet ahead of them, he zipped over to the other side of the sign and read out what was on it. “Here rests the Golden Oak Library, the old home of Twilight Sparkle.”
The group all shared the same expression of shock, as they wondered exactly how it got destroyed reduced to nothing but a stump.
“Let’s hopefully never find out what did this.” Zipp said making them all nod in agreement.
Sonic then had an idea. “I’m gonna run around, and see what how big this place is.”
Without anyone being able to say anything to shoot down the idea, he blasted off down one of the many roads that were in the town.
Pipp could only show frustration. “He’s gonna get in so much trouble one day, if he keeps this up.”
Ponyville: Sonic
As he began running Sonic took note of everything around him, the mountains in the distance, the forest that seemed to go on forever, the sky that had grey clouds with sunlight seeping through the cracks, and the very unique buildings that stood out amongst the rest.
He then made a turn around a corner, before stopping as he saw something far away. On a mountain there was a giant castle, no a city, a huge place that lied dormant.
“Woah, that’s actually kinda cool.” He admitted with a small smile.
He then took notice of something he completely missed, which was met with a simple bored face. “Wow, I missed the giant crystal castle that stands super tall.”
Without anymore hesitation Sonic flew forward towards it, staring in awe at how much it stood out amongst everything he’d seen since arriving in this world.
He ended up stopping at the bottom of the stairs, that led to the door. Taking in the full scope of what was in front of his sight, the crystal shell that shines brightly made him feel comfortable as of this place was a home.
Soon enough the sound of hooves, patting the ground behind him became known. Turning back to see his friends, staring in awe of the castle as well. “Oh my stars.” Sunny whispered beyond squealing on the inside.
“How the heck did something like this get made?” Hitch asked Nopony in particular.
Izzy moved next to him. “Well duh, they used crystals to build it. It’s not that hard to know.” She smiled.
Hitch grumbled. “It was rhetorical.”
Pipp seemed beyond the moon, as she took out her phone recording the sight before them. “OMG!!! This is so cool! Everypony, has got to see this back home!”
Her excitement ceased when her video failed to be sent out to anypony, she was puzzled until she realised the problem. “There’s no bars out here?! No!”
Everyone else was facing her with straight faces, as of to say ‘Are you serious.’
“Come on Pipp, it’s not the end of the world.” Sonic nonchalantly commented.
This made Pipp stare at him in disbelief. “But if I don’t keep updating my social feed, everpony back homes going to question where I am. And they might unsubscribe, and not listen to me anymore.”
Sonic walked over towards her placing his hand on her shoulder. “Come on, you know that’s not true. Besides at the current moment, they can wait cause you’re beauty isn’t going to be going away anytime soon.”
If Pipp hadn’t already been flustered before, she definitely did now as her cheeks burned making her ability to talk hard. “Y-You’re absolutely s-sure?” She asked hoping for some reassurance.
“Of course! Worry about it later, and let’s figure out what the heck this castle is.” He finished turning around gesturing his left palm towards it.
Zipp got closer analysing the crystal shell, with her magnifying glass machine. The results she got were unbelievable. “My gosh, this castle. The crystals that covers it, it’s…” She trailed off her face in complete shock.
“It’s what?” Sunny asked cautiously.
Zipp smiled at her friend before facing everyone else. “It’s pure magic.”
This confused the rest of them. “So it’s just magic?” Hitch questioned.
Zipp shook her head. “Not just any magic, it’s the purest we’ve ever seen. The whole castle it covered in it, from top to bottom. It’s literally magic itself in a solid form.”
Sunny then gasped realising what her friend meant. “You mean… this castle created itself with magic. No ponies or anything?”
Zipp’s smile continued to grow as she nodded. “Yep, it was created from just how powerful its magic was and still is.”
Everyone made their surprised emotions known, with a single unified word. “Woah.”
Sonic then spoke up. “It kind of explains the strange feeling, I’ve had since arriving here.”
The others seemed confused. “How would you have a feeling like that?” Sunny asked.
Sonic took a deep breath making the tension grow higher, as he breathed out. “Lots of experience.”
Deadpanned looks were aimed at him mostly, making him raise his arms defensively. “Hey, I’ve had to deal with really powerful energies before. Like every single week, so I’d at least have something to show for it.”
With that all set in stone, they returned their attention towards the giant castle in front of them. More specifically the front entrance doors, that loomed over them causing their breaths to shudder except for Sonic, Izzy and Pipp.
The Hedgehog shrugged after a second of hesitation. “Okay, time to see if anyone’s home.”
Without further hesitation he walked up to the front doors, raising a fist and giving a firm knock on the wooden object.
Silence reigned over the area for what felt like hours, and yet nothing happened. Suddenly movement was happening in Sonic’s quills, shaking them slightly along with the wind that now produced.
Reaching in for what was moving Sonic grabbed hold of it, pulling out the instructions paper he’d been holding ever since that little goof moment from before.
Holding in front of his face, his sights landed on the words that were being written like there was an efficient writer.
He once again read out what was on the parchment. “To prove your worth, you must pass a test. Tread forward if you dare.”
If the confusion about everything that was going on so far didn’t seem big enough, now it really was big as they all couldn’t hide it from each other.
“A test? A test for what?” Pipp questioned heavily breathing in a wild panic.
Zipp patted her sister on the back trying to calm her, from having a heart attack. “Breathe in, breathe out. It’s not going to be so bad.”
Sonic could only facepalm. “I really hate tests.”
Hitch stared at the hedgehog with slight confusion. “Why would you-“
He then received a stare that told him enough to not ask such a stupid question, that had an obvious answer. “Okay, fair enough.”
Izzy on the other hand or hoof, damn these ponies and their literature… Izzy on the other hoof, smiled not seeming all too upset. “Ah, come on buddies. We’ve dealt with two major incidents, where the loss of magic was at stake.
“What’s a simple test gonna do any harm?” Her answer would be granted with the foul Oder that made itself known to them.
“Ew! What is making that disgusting smell?!” Pipp cried desperately covering her nose.
Zipp did the same. “Ditto, to that sister!”
Before anymore questions could be asked, the sounds of low growls echoed from behind them as they turned to see wolves, but not just ordinary wolves they were made of wood.
Sunny could only gasped out in horror one name. “Timberwolves.”
The five ponies took a step back in fear as the timberwolves came closer, slowly advancing in on their prey. However the sound of a foot stepping forward, caused all attention from both parties to converge onto the cobalt hedgehog, who stared down the vicious creatures with determination.
“Sonic! What are you doing?! Those are Timberwolves!” Sunny seethed with worry through her gritted teeth.
Sonic however eyed his pony friend, revealing a smug smirk. “I ain’t backing away from some old twigs, after all I need some sort of thrill!”
If the group had not been gobsmacked by the hedgehog’s sudden attitude shift, but his fearless determination to very dangerous predators of ponies themselves.
But what made it worse was the fact that Sonic, was looking forward to a moment like this. “You can’t be serious!” Pipp piped up.
Sonic however returned his attention to somewhat deterred wolves, not worrying a single bit about his actions. “You can stay back if you want, but I’m gonna have fun.”
Bringing his left foot back, and left arm forward he prepped himself for battle as the predator wolves did the same.
And Sonic decided to throw in one more quip. “Let’s see if you pups, can play a little game called. Catch.”