Ponyville:
To say the group all had shocked reactions was a big understatement, as jaws seemed to be dropped to the floor, eyes were wide and even ears were perked up to eleven.
Sunny was shaking like crazy with pure excitement, Izzy just looked the princess up and down seeming to analyse her luminescence, Hitch was surprised to see Twilight was in fact real after all this time. Zipp was just frozen as she couldn’t even process what was happening, Pipp meanwhile raised her phone up slowly trying to record but she entirely forgot about the fact she had no wi-fi out here.
Sonic on the other hand although impressed by the sudden appearance of an ancient ruler, frowned as he looked away for a second muttering to himself. “And hedgehog.”
Twilight who had held the pose for well over 10 seconds, by this point she dropped her wings carefully tucking back to her sides. She smiled down at the group, looking over each of them but the moment her eyes made contact with Sonic’s her smile faltered.
Who was this creature with them? She shook her lightly before regaining her smile. “I see you’ve all completed the test, that I set out for you.”
Sonic smirked. “Yeah, we almost died.” Only to receive a slap to the back of his head, from Sunny who glared at him.
She then faced Twilight nervously, as she expected her to voice her distain for a comment like that. But surprisingly Twilight never lost her calm expression, it was honestly soothing in some way.
“Now that you’ve proven to be worthy of taking on the threat, we’ll show you what you’re up against.” Twilight said before turning around entering back through the door.
“Come along.” She voiced before disappearing into the shadows.
The group were all still taken aback from seeing an actual legend be right in front of them, as they still stood stunned from the moment. Sonic however rolled his eyes in annoyance, facing towards the door moving forward. “I’ve seen better.” He said.
This snapped the group out of their frozen states and they too began moving, following closely behind the hedgehog who was still unamused. As they were about to enter the giant structure, Sunny then moved next to Sonic grabbing hold of him with her hooves spinning him around to face her.
“Are you bored with something this revolutionary, that’s Twilight Sparkle!” Sunny voiced annoyed with the hedgehog.
Sonic on the other hand wasn’t fazed. “Yeah, next thing you’ll tell me is that she shot rainbow lasers on her foes.” He dryly remarked, he then shook his head slightly. “The only thing that’ll shock me now, is if Death faced me. And she isn’t impressing me at all.” He jabbed his thumb towards the ancient Alicorn still showing boredom.
Without anymore words he resumed his advance after Twilight, leaving a stunned Sunny Starscout who couldn’t believe what she’d heard. ‘He’s not serious is he?’
She was so overwhelmed with his actions she followed after him, alongside the rest of her friends they were also taken aback by Sonic’s attitude, was he really used to this sort of thing?
Those questions couldn’t be answered at the moment, as they finally entered the darkened castle.
Ponyville: Twilight’s Castle
To say that their expectations of a messy indoors for an ancient castles could be thrown away, as the inside seemed relatively clean aside from maybe the little bits of objects, that were scattered in some of the halls.
“Sorry for the mess, it’s hard trying to keep this place tidy when you’ve been around so long.” Twilight said.
The group who’ve all caught up to Twilight by this point, we’re all looking around amazed at the sight around them. Although Sonic mostly was just curious, he wouldn’t lie about the fact that this was kind of cool. “Night Palace much, eh?”
The princess eyed the blue hedgehog with a look of uncertainty, he was mysterious and was an active wedge in her nerves. Who was he? What was his goal? She didn’t know, but she was going to find out.
Sunny who’s been trying to hold in her excitement, bounded right next to the Alicorn holding a big smile. “Oh my gosh, it’s amazing to meet you! I have so many questions to ask!”
Twilight chuckled slightly at the pony’s excitement, seeing herself doing something similar years and years ago made her smile fondly of her old memories. “You can ask your questions after I explain the current predicament at hoof, it’s something I didn’t get to fully disclose upon in the message I sent.”
Sunny felt a bit bummed out she couldn’t ask any of her questions, but chose to remain silent for the time being. Izzy approached from behind walking next to her friend, holding the same smile she’s held since they met. “Don’t worry we’re with you.”
Sunny could only chuckle at the unicorn’s optimism. “Thanks Izzy.”
Sonic who now has his hands behind his head, began whistling a small tune to fill the silence that followed them through the castle. He was bored so why not pass the time with a whistle, especially since the Alicorn princess seemed to be stealthily watching him.
He could understand why though after all he’s just popped into the picture, and has been in this world for months now so it’s bound to be weird. He then crossed his arms while walking finding the travel to wherever the princess wanted to go to very tedious, as he started to frown tapping his right finger onto his left arm.
Clutching his head tightly he groaned loudly. “Can we please speed this up!”
Zipp however came up behind him slapping the back of his head with her wing, he looked back at her with the same frown. “What?”
Zipp held her own frown of annoyance. “Can’t you be patient at all?”
“No.” Sonic retorted deadpanned making the silence return, it was a simple quick response that caused everyone to recoil back from how simple it was.
He then just groaned again. “Fine.” He continued forward alongside the others, more annoyed than before, it was draining.
However none noticed the mysterious figure following closely behind that watched them with interest, it wasn’t a malice look or even hatred just curiosity and… shyness?
Twilight’s Castle:
They traveled down the hall a little bit longer before stopping by a huge door, that seemed to emit a strong magical presence. One that even Sonic took note of, it was honestly kind of weird even for him. But that’s not saying much as the five ponies all breathed out amazement from their chests, this feeling was a lot for them to process.
Twilight who still held her calm smile ignited her horn, which gently pushed the door open with a small gust of wind exiting out passing through the group’s hair. And what they saw was something they thought they’d never see, it was glowing brightly it shimmered off the dulled out crystals that were on the walls. Several small thrones surrounded the giant object in the centre, with an even tinier one sitting next to what was supposedly the main throne of the room.
It was the Cutie Map.
As most of the group gawked at the breathtaking sight, one particular apricot earth pony was shaking with such excitement, her face was turning red from holding her breath as steam blew out of her ears. The others showed concern as they cringed to what was about to happen, however Sonic had a knowing smile that was filled with cheekiness, he raised three fingers up behind his back muttering to himself.
“Three.” One finger dropped, two remain. Sunny’s eyes began twitching.
“Two.” The second finger dropped, one was left standing. Sunny’s legs started tapping the floor.
The tension rises as everyone was now facing towards the young earth pony, who was trying to contain herself. But it wasn’t to last as she was close to breaking, it was only a matter of time before it all broke loose.
Sonic’s face didn’t falter as his teeth shined with his grin, he was ready. “One.”
And just like that she broke. “OH MY GOSH IT’S THE CUTIE MAP IT’S REAL AND I’M LOOKING AT IT AND I CAN TOUCH IT’S EVERYTHING MY FATHER EVER TOLD ME ABOUT AND… AHHHHHHH!!!” She squealed loudly for all of the world to hear.
Only to then pass out immediately afterwards, flipping on her back with a sudden thud. Twilight was about to help the young mare but was stopped by Sonic’s laughter, which she showed minor annoyance for.
“Don’t worry she’ll be up in a few seconds anyway.” He cackled, wiping away a tear.
Sunny suddenly gasped heavily waking up from her jolt of excitement, well it was more than a jolt but you know what I mean.
She stood up dazed still blinking her eyes, as to readjust her focus. “What happened?”
Hitch came up next to her. “You had a… let’s say a little freakout.” He tried to explain lightly as to not embarrass her.
This backfired immediately as Sunny’s cheeks turned bright red, stumbling on her thoughts. “Oh my- I’m so sorry Princess Twilight, I don’t know what came over me!? I was so excited I just-“
The princess cut in. “You just blew up from the sudden dump of information, yeah I’ve been there too.” Twilight fondly looked back on her past. “It became such a normality, that my friends nicknamed it ‘Twilighting’ and they were justified in calling my antics that.” She chuckled a little embarrassed herself.
She then shook her head moving in from the happy moment, she needed to focus on the task at hoof. “But that’s not important, what is important is who’s rising up with the power to destroy everything we love.”
The group all faced the ancient ruler, who now stood on the opposite side of the table from them. Activating her horn once more she displayed what appeared to be another Alicorn, however they couldn’t make out the look of the figure.
It was so unknown and somewhat unnerving, as Twilight spoke. “This was my old rival, Opalinus Arcadia or Opaline for short. Once upon a time she never looked like this, she was just a regular pony who I personally took under my wing. She had something special about her, that ignited my interest to reach her inner potential.”
A sigh then escaped the Alicorn’s lips, as it the scene changed to Twilight and the pony arguing. “But after she and I had a disagreement, she took off into the night and I didn’t know where she went. I couldn’t track her, she used the teachings I gave her to hide herself from me.
“I eventually stopped looking after a few days, believing she’d eventually return with clearer mind…” Twilight’s voice very subtly broke at this moment, as the scene changed again.
“But how wrong could I have been? Cause when she came back, she wasn’t her normal self. Her appearance changed into that of an Alicorn, that was protected by pink fire that she used to fight against me.
“I then found out how she managed to become like this… she found the Alicorn amulet, a forbidden artefact that I had an old friend hide away. But she somehow not only found it, but became one with it by merging it with her soul and now it remains around her neck ready to be used.” Twilight finished.
Everyone in the room was left speechless, even Sonic was. “Damn, that must’ve hurt.” He said with a genuine tone.
The others gave him a glare not catching onto his genuine feelings, of seeing someone so close to you becoming evil.
Zipp then spoke up. “Then, what happened to her?”
Twilight faced away to hide her sadness from the the group, she had to remain strong. “I had to make the hardest decision of my entire life, me and my friends tried to use our power of friendship to stop her. But it was having no effect, and that’s when I realised that in order to stop her we had to use all of our power.”
She had returned to facing the group, but she couldn’t hide the pain and sadness she held on her face. “My friends realised the same, but were willing to go through with it…” She hesitated for a moment before continuing, “We used all of our friendship power to keep Opaline trapped in a secluded area of Equestria, where she could bring no harm to any who came across her. It hurt a lot to make that decision, but it was the only way to stop her for the moment.” She seemingly concluded as the scenarios disappeared.
Everyone looked like they had seen something unworldly, as every single emotion was present on their face. It was something truly unnerving for them, Sonic to an extent was more calm about it and wasn’t showing as much emotion but it didn’t mean he didn’t feel anything.
“What happened after that?” Izzy asked the ancient ruler who had managed to regain her breath.
“I realised that when we had kept her trapped, she was slowly gaining power through the amulet and would eventually breakout, and strike once more with even more power on her side.” Twilight’s face turned grim.
“Which led to us sealing away all of magic, that way we’d keep her at bay and hopefully come up with a plan to stop her for good… and prevent the other ponies from fighting one another.” Twilight explained.
Zipp spoke up this time, with intrigue and slight concern in her eyes. “Did… she cause the ponies, to be divided in the first place?”
Twilight could only nod solemnly. “It was the worst time for our society as a whole, and it was almost about to become a war. Which is why we sealed away magic, inside of those crystals and separated them.”
“Which was how our lives were months ago.” Pipp said, with murmurs of agreement from the rest of the group.
Twilight then grew a stern face. “And now that you’ve put the crystals back together, and brought magic back, it’s only a matter of time before Opaline is free from her prison.”
Hitch then spoke up. “And we’re supposed to stop her?”
Twilight nodded once more, making all the ponies feel uncomfortable. Sonic then raised his hand as if he were in class, which Twilight acknowledged in annoyance. “Yes?” She answered.
“If you’re an ancient ruler of the land, how are you here as a spirit? It’s just a little confusing that’s all.” Sonic asked bluntly.
Twilight sighed from the question. “Because I can’t move on, until Opaline has been taken care of. My time may have passed ages ago, but it doesn’t mean I went to the afterlife. It’s like a curse, and I hope to get rid of it as soon as possible alongside having Opaline be stopped.”
Sonic was satisfied enough with that explanation, shrugging his shoulders. “Makes sense.”
Sunny then moved closer to her idol. “So what’s our first move, your highness?”
Twilight regained a smile glad to move on from the hedgehog, moving closer to the young earth pony.
“You’ll head outside and wait by the entrance of the castle, I’ll be coming along to guide you towards Opaline’s prison. There are many dangers, and obstacles you’ll need to conquer in order ti show your worth at stopping Opaline.” Twilight listed off as the ponies grouped up together once more.
Sonic began walking back over to them, smiling with confidence as they prepared to move towards the doors that led them into this room. “Alright, let’s do this!” Sonic cheered bringing smiles to the others, that is until…
“You hedgehog need to stay.” Twilight said from behind, causing them all to freeze and turn back around to face the princess.
Sonic looked both left and right, then towards his friends, he faced Twilight blinking a few times before breathing out his next word. “What?”
Twilight held a neutral face. “Because I’d like to discuss something important with you, you’re friends can continue out the door.”
Pipp who’d been silent throughout spoke next. “Wait, why? He’s a part of the group as well, what’s so important that he has to stay behind to talk to you about it?” She questioned heavily not noticing the looks she got from the others.
Zipp’s suspicious stare returned from before. ‘What’s up with her being so attached to Sonic? Unless… no way!’
Zipp grew wide eyed realising what might be happening, but she didn’t speak up about it. Sonic turned to his friends, carrying his familiar smirk they’ve grown accustomed to showing no doubts on his face.
He waved his hand casually, with no care about the current predicament that may unfold. “Eh, it's fine. I already had my fun with the puppies out there. Guess it's only fair for you five to do this on your own! Just try not to have so much fun without me, otherwise you’ll understand a new meaning of what an ass kicking is.”
The others took his words for what they were, mentally noting not to mess with Sonic’s fun streak. That’s when Izzy brought up something, that the others missed. “Wait Sonic, are you implying that Twilight’s trying to keep you from coming with us?” She whispered to him.
“Yeah, she’s giving off those vibes. Gotta be cautious about these things, besides if something goes down then I’ll catch up.” He whispered back winking at the unicorn.
Her mouth changed to the shape of an ‘O’ as she let out a noise of understanding. “Ohhhhh, that makes sense.”
He nodded in response. “Yeah it does.”
He then gestured towards the door with his left hand, with his right fist to his hip. “Now get moving, don’t want to be slowing you down now, eh?”
They nodded with smiles as they turned around and made their way out, leaving an eerie silence in the room that wasn’t there before. Sonic turned around to face the Alicorn, who stared at him with the same neutral face she held earlier which didn’t lead them anywhere, and he could only say one thing. “At least I didn’t receive, another smack to the head.”
Only for Zipp to enter back in and slap his head once more, laughing before exiting back out. Sonic faced back towards the door with a look of anger, as he yelled out loud to the heavens. “GodDammit Zepherina!”