In Maretime Bay, Sunny, Zipp, Pipp, Sonic and Shadow were at the smoothie stand.
Sunny was making smoothies for the rest, Sonic and Shadow were staring confused at Pipp, the mentioned pegasus was pacing back and forth with loud groans, and Zipp was sitting on the ground while looking at her phone.
Pipp decided to take out her phone to see if she got any message, but there was none so far, so she putted it away and groaned with worry.
"Is she always like this?" Shadow asked to Sonic with a raised eyebrow.
"Eh, only when she's stressed" Sonic replied with the same expression.
"Okay!" Sunny called out, as she borrowed the respective smoothies to her friends. "A Protein Power Punch for Zipp, a Fruity-colada for Pipp. Banana Delight for Sonic, Magic Mango and Coconut for Shadow..." she stated, as she placed these four smoothies in her stand's counter, but only Sonic, Shadow and Zipp grabbed theirs, because Pipp was still panicking over her phone. "And for her 'Royal Flyness', the usual: a Green Monster with extra greens. Hold the monster!" she added with a chuckle, while Zipp, Sonic and Shadow started sipping their smoothies.
"Where's your mom, anyway?" Sonic asked, as he sipped a bit more from his smoothie.
"I thought you said she was the punctual kind of... eh... pony..." Shadow pointed out, still struggling to not say 'person' since there's no humans in this world.
Before any of the sisters could answer, Pipp's phone chimed, which made Pipp smile and held out her phone. "Oh, she sent a text!" she cheered, now looking at her phone. "She says… Huh. Dog emoji?" she asked confused, since she got an emoji of Cloudpuff's face winking.
"... And I thought my messages were too cryptical..." Shadow deadpanned.
"What does that mean?" Sunny asked confused.
"Mom's terrible at texting" Zipp explained with a smile. "Last week, she sent me a text that just said, 'Don't'" she added.
"At least you send what you think with emojis, even though you can text" Sonic told Shadow with a bored expression.
"Oh, I know. I just choose not to" Shadow teased with a smirk, sipping from his smoothie, while Sonic rolled his eyes.
"But Mom never misses mother-daughter brunch!" Pipp pointed out with concern, now looking at her phone. "And now, she's sending us cryptic messages?!" she questioned, showing her phone to Sunny and Zipp, while the latter kept sipping on her smoothie. "It can only mean one thing… She's been ponynapped!" she called out with panic.
With that, Sunny, Zipp and Sonic bursted out laughing, while Shadow smiled and chuckled a bit at such a thing.
"Ponynapped? Little Pipp, you gotta chill!" Sonic said with a smile, as he wrapped an arm around his girlfriend's neck. "Your Mom is a busy mare, you know? Maybe she's a bit late because of her business!" he pointed out with a smile.
Pipp chuckled nervously after realizing what she said, and nodded to her boyfriend's words. "You're right, Blue Star. That sounded less silly in my head..." she admitted.
"Ponynapped?!" Hitch's voice called out suddenly.
"Huh?" Pipp asked surprised, as she and the others turned and saw Hitch and Sparky coming up.
Hitch was wearing some hoove straps ,while balancing himself on his hind legs and also balancing a crystal on his muzzle.
"Never fear, Hitch is here!" Hitch announced, keeping his balance by hopping, while Sparky came behind him, wearing a headband.
"Slow your roll! Or uh… slow your hop, buddy" Zipp said confused. "It's no big deal. Mom just didn't show up for our monthly brunch" she assured with a smile, taking another sip of her smoothie.
"But she did send us this dog emoji!" Pipp called out, while she showed her phone with the Cloudpuff emoji to Hitch.
However, Hitch didn't saw it, because he was focusing on balancing his crystal. "Sorry! Can't see… while… bouncing!" he managed to say.
Sonic groaned annoyed and rolled his eyes, while Sunny came out of her smoothie stand. "Hitch, get to the point and give us the context, 'cause bouncing around isn't telling us anything of what is this..." Sonic requested with a bored expression, gesturing at his bouncing.
"Is this some kind of pony training I'm not aware of?" Shadow asked with a raised brow.
"Not really!" Hitch answered, panting a bit as he kept hopping and balancing his crystal, before catching it with his hoof. "I'm training for Forest Critter Field Day!" he explained with a smile.
"What's that?" Sunny asked confused.
And then, a whistle blew loudly, so everyone looked up and saw Izzy on top of the smoothie stand, wearing sunglasses and blowing a whistle.
"That's a hop-stoppage penalty! You're out!" Izzy called out with a smile, while she waved her hoof.
"What?!" Hitch asked surprised. "That's not in the rules!" he pointed out.
"Actually, it is" Knuckles spoke, as he suddenly boosted at Hitch's side, while wearing sunglasses too, a yellow hat, and holding out a big purple book, which he opened it in front of Hitch. "Here, in the Forest Critter Field Day manual. Page 403" he showed, and Hitch looked down with concern after verifying that it was actually a penalty.
"So 'Forest Critter Field Day', huh? That's so far the shortest name to an event I've heard in this world..." Sonic said with an amused expression.
"I'm sorry, 'shortest'?" Shadow asked, and Sonic nodded. "What the hell is wrong with you ponies naming everything so long?" he questioned Sunny with a confused look.
"What's Forest Critter Field Day?" Sunny asked again.
Izzy gasped in shock, so she turned to her friends with a smile. "It's only the greatest ancient Unicorn tradition there is!" she explained. "Every fourth purple moon, all the ponies in Bridlewood gather for a day of thrilling events and games!" she announced, while she raised her hooves in the air, before getting closer to Sunny, Hitch and Zipp. "Games… games… games!" she repeated cheerfully.
"What game is this? 'Bounce around'?" Zipp asked confused, while Hitch balanced his crystal and hopped again on his hind legs.
"Nope, that's later!" Knuckles replied instead, which surprised Zipp that she actually named an actual game. "The Sheriff here is training for the Bunny Hop Relay" he explained.
"You bunny hop through an obstacle course while balancing a crystal, then pass the crystal to your critter, who has to hop over hurdles to the finish line!" Hitch explained, as he tossed his crystal around to demonstrate. "I'm teaming up with Sparky!" he added, as he looked down at the baby dragon, who growled excitedly while raising his claws up. "Sparky, catch!" Hitch called out, as he tossed the crystal in the air to Sparky.
However, the crystal landed on Sparky's mouth, and Sparky spit it out, also blowing his dragon fire on it, which turned the crystal into a banana peel that landed on Izzy's horn.
"Gross..." Shadow muttered with a bored expression.
"Mmm. That's a crystal droppage penalty!" Izzy called out. "You're out!" she added, before blew her whistle again.
"Wait, who's out? Me or Sparky?" Hitch asked confused.
"Both of you!" Knuckles intervened. "You dropped your crystal, and Sparky is not a critter... He's a baby!" he pointed out, while Sparky himself was eating on his headband.
"But, but…" Hitch tried to say, since he couldn't believe he was disqualified for two reasons.
"Look!" Izzy said, as she brought out the rule book again. "'Every pony contestant must compete with a critter! No baby dragons'" she read with a smile.
"There's no way it says that" Hitch said with a frown, but then Izzy showed him the page, and his eyes widened. "Oh. Wow, it does say that..." He said surprised.
"Let me check!" Sonic said, as he snatched the rule book from Izzy's hooves and read the same rule. "Huh. Well, that's weird... Didn't Sunny said that dragons haven't been seen in generations? Why is there a rule about 'no dragons allowed'?" he questioned confused.
"Just because they weren't there does not mean they never believed in them" Knuckles said with his arms crossed and a bored expression, while Izzy nodded in agreement with a smile. "Beside, this rules were probably made before dragons went away from Equestria, if everything Sunny's dad researched is feasible" he pointed out.
"Well, now I need a new partner!" Hitch said in disappointment. "What kind of critter should I compete with?" he asked.
Then, Sunny looked up, and her eyes widened. "Oh! A dog!" she called, as she pointed her hoof in the air, which Zipp and Shadow followed.
"I know! But why did she text a dog?" Pipp asked confused, since she was still only paying attention to her phone.
"I think she means the flying dog that's heading to us" Shadow pointed out.
"Hmm…" Zipp hummed. as she rubbed her chin while looking up.
"Ah-ha!" Hitch called out after seeing it as well.
In the sky, Cloudpuff was flying towards them, while holding a note in his paws and barking.
"Oh!" Pipp exclaimed, realizing what they meant.
"Mom sent Cloudpuff? With a note?!" Zipp asked confused. "Mom. Just learn how to text! Ugh!" she groaned, then tried to grab the note from him, but Cloudpuff flew back and barked at her, before flying away.
"Cloudy, wait!" Pipp called out, as she flew after him.
"Look at that dog go! He's so fast!" Hitch said with a smile, and then he gasped in realization. "Which is perfect!" he stated with a smirk.
But then, Hitch turned around and gasped in surprise, since the rest trotted/ran/skated off after Pipp and Cloudpuff ahead of him, leaving him and Sparky behind. So, Hitch groaned and picked up Sparky, then putted him on his back and trotted after his friends.
In the Brighthouse, Tails was creating a fourth watch similar to his, but this time in pink.
But then, the royal sisters and the rest bursted through the doors, with everyone but Sonic and Shadow panting exhausted after chasing down Cloudpuff, which startled him a lot.
"Cloudpuff?" Zipp called out.
Soon enough, they saw Cloudpuff, and Zipp tried to catch him, but Cloudpuff dodged her, so Pipp tried to do the same but missed as well, and Cloudpuff hovered in the air with the note and barked twice.
"He says 'Dearest Princess, I bring a message from your dear mother, her Royal Majesty, Queen Haven of Zephyr Heights'..." Hitch began talking in a royal tone and bowing slightly, which made Sparky fell from his back.
"Get to it, Puff" Pipp quipped with a bored expression, while Zipp frowned and raised an eyebrow.
Cloudpuff barked twice again. "Cloudpuff says that before he delivers his message, he first requires a meal of the finest––" Hitch tried to say, once again in a royal tone.
"Oh, for hoofness sakes!" Zipp groaned, before she went and grabbed a treat that she held in front of Cloudpuff, who barked and grabbed it, while dropping the note that Zipp caught and unrolled. "My darlings, it is with deepest regret that I must postpone today's mother-daughter brunch. Some very important state business has come up and couldn't wait" Zipp read, while Pipp hovered to her side and gasped. "Let's reschedule for a time that is more inconvenient for you both, With love. Mother" Zipp finished to read, rolling the letter again.
"Inconvenient?" Sonic questioned confused.
"Did she mean to say 'more convenient'?" Sunny pointed out.
The two royal sisters sighed. "No.." they both said.
"Mom takes royal meetings all the time, but our special brunch is special! And she loves brunch!" Pipp explained, as she and Zipp landed back on the ground and Pipp gasped again. "I think maybe she has been ponynapped" she whispered to Zipp.
"Honey, you're overreacting again..." Sonic deadpanned.
"Come on" Zipp agreed.
"Look at the bottom!" Pipp gestured back to the note, that had a red heart at the bottom. "A cute little heart? When has she ever drawn a cute little heart on a note before?" she pointed out with concern.
"Hmm, you know what? That is suspicious..." Zipp replied, before taking out her phone and taking a picture of it and make zoom on the heart drawing. "What do you make of all of this, Sheriff?" she asked him.
However, Hitch was examining Cloudpuff to see if he was the perfect replacement for Sparky. "Make of what?" he asked.
"What else?!" Pipp snapped, before she paced a bit. "Cryptic Messages and cute little hearts! Something sinister is ahoof" she declared with a frown.
"I'm never gonna get used to all this pony talkery..." Shadow deadpanned, and Sunny at his side giggled a bit.
"Um... guys?" Tails called out, as he stood right at Sunny's side. "How about a little context, please?" he requested.
"Queen Haven is just late for brunch with Zipp and Pipp" Sunny explained him with a smile.
"And guess who's overreacting?" Shadow said with an eye roll and his arms crossed.
"Maybe Mom's being held hostage somewhere, all alone... with no brunch to eat!" Pipp exclaimed in panic.
"Aaaaand we lost her..." Knuckles deadpanned.
"We lost who?" Amy questioned, as she, Misty, Rouge and Omega arrived from the bedroom.
"The sisters' Mom is late for their monthly brunch. Pipp thinks her Mom's kidnapped just because of that" Shadow replied with a bored expression.
"Pipp, you are overthinking this more than usual." Sonic reasoned with a bored expression. "If she was ponynapped, everypony in Zephyr Heights would be in chaos because of it ,and Thunder and Zoom would be here at this moment to tell you themselves. Do you see them anywhere?" he questioned with a raised brow and a bored expression.
"Yup, Sonic's right. I think somepony's being overdramatic" Zipp added, putting a hoof on Pipp's back. "But, something is definitely up with her. Hmm..." she muttered with concern.
"Wow, they're concerned because their Mom has a life..." Knuckles deadpanned, and Amy hit him on the shoulder with a frown. "Like if I was wrong!" he added with a frown as well, and Amy rolled her eyes in annoyance.
Zipp turned and went over to Hitch, whom was still looking over Cloudpuff, whom at the moment was having his tongue held out by Hitch. "Could you help us figure it out?" Zipp asked him with a smile, while Cloudpuff licked Hitch happily.
"I will help you" Hitch replied. "And I know just where we should look for her first!" he stated confidently.
"Well, as much as I would like to join you, I have my own business to deal with" Tails said, as he moved aside and walked towards his desk.
"Wait, so you're not going to watch the Forest Critter Field Day?" Knuckles asked.
"I have no idea what that is, but no. I'm finding out about where Eggman could be hiding and how to not only infiltrate his base, but also infiltrate Opaline's Castle" Tails explained.
This made Misty gasp, so she turned to him. "Wait, you're investigating about Opaline and her lair?!" she asked in panic.
"We gotta find a way to defeat her for good, and so, we have to traverse that stupid barrier already!" Tails declared, before he remembered something, so he quickly boosted to Amy. "Before I forget!" he said.
Then, he brought out the pink watch he was making earlier and putted it on Amy's right wrist, then he sync it with his own.
"Huh... What is this?" Amy asked, not bothered by the fact that Tails putted the watch on her.
"A special watch Sonic, Knuckles and I have as well!" Tails replied with a smile. "Now that you're back with the Team, I found logical to give you one as well!" he pointed out with a smile.
"Oh, well... Thanks!" Amy replied with a smile.
"So I guess you'll catch up with us later?" Sonic asked, while the Mane 6 but Misty, Knuckles and Shadow left the Brighthouse.
"Yup!" Tails replied with a smile, while Amy and Sonic nodded at him and then walked out. "Have fun!" he said with a wave of a hand.
"Um, Tails?" Misty called out, and the young fox turned to see her. "Do you mind if I stay with you and help you out to figure out how to find Eggman and infiltrate Opaline's lair?" she asked with a sheepish smile.
"Of course! Any help is welcome!" Tails replied with a smile and a wink, while Misty blushed slightly and chuckled nervously.
"Mind if we help as well?" Rouge asked with a smirk, gesturing at herself and Omega, while she sat on the robot's shoulder with her legs crossed.
"Anything that requires locate and defeat Dr. Eggman is top priority in my database" Omega stated, as he slowly and robotically closed his hand on a fist.
"And I can infiltrate anything without being noticed" Rouge added confidently.
"Well, you know what they say: The more, the merrier!" Tails stated with a smirk.
The rest of the group made it to Bridlewood, were ponies were preparing for the games.
"Oh yeah!" Hitch said with a smile.
"Hitch!" Pipp called out, as she flew to him. "The Queen of Zephyr Heights is not being held captive at the Bridlewood Forest Critter Field!" she pointed out with anger.
"But you never know!" Hitch replied with a smile. "It's as good a place to start our search as any" he added. "Come on, Puffy, let's go register!" he stated, as he and Cloudpuff walked up to register in the games.
Pipp gave Hitch a dull look, while the rest but Shadow just smiled.
"Let him be, Princess" Knuckles told Pipp with a smirk.
Hitch walked up to the register stand and he signed in.
"Now don’t lose this" the unicorn stallion making the registration told Hitch, while placing on his right side a sign that had the number 5 on it.
"Yeah!' Hitch cheered, while he came up to the unicorn, who was trying to put a helmet on Cloudpuff, but the dog flew away with a bark. "Hey, uh… You haven't seen any Pegasus queens around here, have you?" Hitch asked in a slight whispering tone.
At this, the unicorn didn't respond and just walked off, making Hitch shrug in response.
The rest of the group were at a bench, with the two sisters sitting on, while Sunny and Izzy were chatting to each other, Sonic and Knuckles were making a bet, and Shadow and Amy just talked.
"Well, guess you two were right!" Hitch called out to the sisters, while everyone turned to him. "She's not here. But I'm sure your mom is just fine. She's probably somewhere enjoying brunch right now" he assured them.
Pipp groaned at Hitch and flew in front of him. "Without me? Ugh! She could never!" she retorted as she crossed her hooves.
"Pipp, sweetheart, I love you, but the world doesn't revolve around you" Sonic said, as he boosted in front of her with a frown, also tapping his foot. "Your Mom is fine, and you know why? Because nopony but you is panicking about her! Do you really think the forest will be this cheerful and lacking pegasi if she was lost or ponynapped?" he questioned.
Pipp blinked a few times after her boyfriend scolded her. "I... I guess not..." she recognized.
"Also, I see that Knuckles had a point back in the Brighthouse. Your Mom also has a life without you, why make a drama for something that doesn't requires it?" Amy questioned as well.
"They're right, Pipp" Hitch said in agreement. "But hey, now that we're here, now you can cheer me and Cloudpuff on in the first event!" he cheered, which made Pipp look down with sadness.
"Come on Pipp, let's go watch some weird sports" Zipp said, as she dragged Pipp away and then led her back to the bench, as they, with Sparky being the middle of them, while Sonic rushed and sat at Pipp's side.
And yet, Pipp groaned in anger and frowned, while cutely tapping her hooves to the bench and breathing heavily, which made Sonic gasp and cover his mouth, since he found that too adorable.
"Or you could help me give out the trophies?" Izzy suggested cheerfully, as she hopped in front of them.
"I'll help, Izzy!" Sunny called out with a smile. "All these new unicorn traditions are so fascinating" she stated, as she looked around at the game's setup. "I'd love to get an inside look" she added.
"Ooh!" Izzy squealed, as she hopped down. "Wait until you ponies see it. The Field Day games are so elegant!" she said in a fancy tone. "Beautiful! Majestic!" she added as she walked off.
And then, a ball came bouncing and passed them, while a unicorn chasing it left a trail of dust in front of them.
Pipp coughed from the dust, while some leaves ended on her mane. "Majestic..." she said in a bull tone.
"Well, hopefully we won't have any kind of inconvenience this time around..." Sonic muttered.
"What do you mean?" Amy asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Maretime Bay Day? A storm screwed things up. Winter Wishday? Eggman tried to destroy a Wishing Star after not being able to steal it. Bridlewoodstock? Ghosts with pig faces stoled voices..." Sonic replied with a bored expression. "It'll be nice for an event to go as right as possible without any inconvenience coming out of nowhere" he pointed out.
"Is just a bunch of silly - and questionable - games" Shadow pointed out. "What's the worse that can happen?" he asked with a deadpanned look.
In the Brighthouse, Tails brought out everything he had to start the research.
He moved a big yellow screen he has on his room to the living room, making it float in the air and work as a half-TV, half-computer and half-board so he could also write down some stuff.
As Tails prepared himself, Omega lowered himself down, Rouge sat over the robot's shoulder with her legs crossed, and Misty sat on one of the couched, looking at Tails with curiosity on what was he doing.
Finally, Tails turned on the screen, showing up the full map of Equestria, which included Opaline's Castle exact location, Canterlot's abandoned city and Fluttershy's Cottage. The map also had red 'X' marks in numerous areas, which where all the spots that Team Dark already visited and destroyed the empty Eggman basements.
"Since we already know that Eggman has a secret base hidden in somewhere, yet we don't know where yet, I'll say we should leave him for later on and focus on something we do know" Tails started to explain.
"Which is?" Rouge asked with a raised eyebrow.
Then, Tails made zoom on the image to focus on Opaline's Castle. "The barrier surrounding the Dark Castle!" he stated. "We gotta find a way to sneak inside and take a glance on what is Opaline going to do now!" he stated.
"Um... I think the Dragonstone still had some Dragon Fire that the Unity Crystals didn't contained when Eggman got his hands over them..." Misty commented. "And knowing Opaline, I think she'll look for more..." she pointed out with concern.
"Then that's a bigger reason to find a way to traverse that barrier!" Tails pointed out with a smile.
"I hate to brake your bubble, Yellow, but if this 'Opaline' character is an Alicorn with fire powers, how are you expecting us to traverse a barrier that could be made of fire?" Rouge questioned.
"Not to mention, find a weakness on her powers is required for victory" Omega added.
"The barrier is not made of fire" Misty explained. "All the times I approached it and used my magic to try and make it brake a bit, it never hurt nor burdened me" she pointed out. "But it doesn't changes the fact that regular unicorn magic does nothing to traverse that thing..." she added with dissapointment.
Yet, both Tails' and Rouge's eyes widened, as they looked at each other for a second, before they both close to Misty.
"Mist, repeat that!" Tails requested.
"Uh, um..." Misty said with a slight blush, since Tails was too close to her face. "T-The barrier is not made of fire?" she replied with a nervous smile.
"No, no! The last thing you said about your magic not working on the barrier!" Rouge pointed out, and Tails nodded in agreement.
Misty let out a small "Ooh!" and chuckled awkwardly. "Um, regular unicorn magic does nothing to traverse that thing?" she said this time around.
"Unicorn magic doesn't affects the barrier... Because it was made with Alicorn magic!" Tails realized. "Gosh, I sometimes feel too stupid to realize the simplest things!" he pointed out, before moving back to the screen.
"So, if someone like Sunny could use her magic on the barrier, could it open up?" Rouge theorized.
"It's the main idea!" Tails replied with a smirk, as he placed a picture of Sunny on her Alicorn form over Opaline's Castle in the map, while he also wrote down 'Alicorn magic' below Sunny's picture. "Now, we have to find a way to test our theory without Opaline either realizing what we want to do, or at least, distract with something else" he pointed out with concern.
"How about I do it?" Misty suggested. "Opaline would sure believe I want to go back with her!" she pointed out with a smile.
"Absolutely NOT!" Tails said with a frown. "You already had enough crap with her, and I'm not risking your safety because you wanna help!" he stated.
"But I know I can persuade her!" Misty replied.
"Mist, I'm not gonna risk you against Opaline!" Tails stated once again. "She not only manipulated you and lied you your whole life, but she also tried to paint herself as the heroine of a story where she is the bad guy!" he pointed out.
"Tails, I know you're worried for me, but I'm no damsel in distress!" Misty countered, now frowning as well. "I can distract Opaline long enough for you to get whatever you need to test!" she added.
"I don't want you to be manipulated by Opaline again, Misty!" Tails countered as well.
"Are you saying I'm gullible?!" Misty asked with anger, while some sparks came out of her horn.
"I'M SAYING I DON'T WANT TO LOOSE YOU!" Tails snapped, while his eyes turned yellow and his breath accelerated.
Misty's frown dissipated, and instead, she stared at Tails with wide and surprised eyes after he yelled that. "... You... don't want to loose me?" she asked confused.
Tails calmed himself down and let out a sigh, before looking at Misty again, but this time a bit guilty. "Misty... I trust you a lot more than you or anyone can imagine..." he started to explain himself. "But I don't trust Opaline. If experience taught me something over the years, is that you can never expect a dishonest person to be honest. Opaline is rotten to the core, and I... I don't want you to fall for her tricks, either if it's by manipulation or by mental control... I don't want to loose another friend the way I almost lost Sonic months ago..." he finished, while his ears lowered.
Misty's ears lowered as well after hearing all of this, and now, she felt a bit guilty after snapping at Tails liked that. He was just trying to protect her, and she still got mad with him.
"I... Tails, I'm sorry... I didn't knew you just wanted to––" Misty tried to apologize, but Tails raised a hand and stopped her.
"Don't. You're trying to help, and all I'm doing is feel paranoid about it..." Tails said with a groan. "But I'm serious when I say I don't want you to distract Opaline. We'll find another way!" he stated.
Misty chuckled slightly and looked at Tails with a smile. "Right!" she nodded.
"Well, if you two are done with your little apology show, I suggest we go over our next Issue: Dr. Eggman" Rouge suggested with a frown.
"Agreed. His defeat must be accomplished!" Omega agreed.
"Good, because I still need to hit him for making Sunny pay a month of therapy!" Tails said with a frown, looking back at the board, this time resuming the map to the normal one. "Eggman knows when to not make Sonic mad, but I doubt he'll like to see what happens when I am mad..." he stated with anger.
Months ago, when Tails' voice was high pitched, Rouge would had chuckle at the idea of Tails being so mad with Eggman, but now that his voice has matured... She actually felt a bit concerned for him.
Misty, on the other hand, gulped nervously, since she has seen enough to know that making Tails mad was never a good sign...
Back at the Bridlewood Field Critter Games, Sunny, Izzy and Knuckles were watching Hitch.
He was practicing with an elderly unicorn stallion, who wa asleep, while a camera stallion was aiming a camera at them.
"So, the point of the game is you push somepony over?" Sunny asked confused.
"Right!" Izzy replied with a smile.
"Or instead they push you over!" Knuckles added after looking at the book.
"You just push?" Hitch asked confused. "Is there a starting bell? Or a score? Do we flip a bit to see who goes first?!" he asked frankly. "Or do I just…" he then slightly pushed the elderly unicorn stallion, as he fell to the floor, which made him wake up.
"Right! Winner!" Izzy cheered, as she held out a trophy and gave it to the elderly unicorn stallion, who chuckled as he grabbed the trophy.
"Wait! Him?!" Hitch asked in shock. "That makes no sense!" he argued.
Then, the bunnycorn that was paired with the unicorn stallion pushed Cloudpuff down, and the dog laid on his side.
"Another winner!" Knuckles cheered this time, giving a small trophy to the bunnycorn, who squeaked happily, while Cloudpuff barked at them.
"What?!" Hitch asked again as he rubbed his head in confusion.
Shadow was at Sunny's side, reading the rule book and raising an eyebrow. "This are the most confusing rules I've ever read in my life..." he said with a deadpan.
Meanwhile, Zipp, Pipp, Sonic and Amy were walking through Bridlewood together.
"Ugh, it's hard to focus on these games when all I can think about is Mom" Pipp frowned with concern.
"I'm sure she's fine" Zipp assured.
"Yeah, but I'm not sure!" Pipp whined.
"Your mother is the Queen! She apologized because of important business, she literally sent you a letter about it!" Sonic pointed out with a bored expression.
"And she's busy as well. I don't get why you are being so dramatic over this" Amy added with a bored expression as well.
"That does not makes me any less worried!" Pipp exclaimed with a groan. "You're a detective, Zipp. Can't you do an investigation or something?" she told her elder sister, while making sad puppy dog eyes, which made Zipp sigh before taking out her phone.
"New Entry: the case of the missing mother" Zipp said with a small smile.
"Yes!" Pipp sang with her wings spread. "We should question that grumpy old Alphabittle at the Tea Room. He knows all the Bridlewood gossip" she suggested.
"I know you girls are still not over the fact that Alphabittle is dating your Mom, but that's no excuse to call him 'old' nor 'grumpy', you know?" Amy scolded with a frown.
Suddenly, the four of them heard a maniacal laughter coming from the Team Room. "That laugh! That's Mom's laugh!" Pipp said with a gasp.
"Uh, no it's not. Flypad, play Queen Haven laughing" Zipp told her phone, which played back a nicer sounding laugh. "That's Mom's laugh" she pointed out
"Actually, Pipp's right. That's just the phony laugh she does in public" Sonic dismissed, before the maniacal laugh was heard again. "That's your mom's real laugh!" he pointed out.
The two sisters immediately trotted to the tea shop, while Sonic and Amy stood behind, so they looked at each other and shrugged, before following Zipp and Pipp.
The sisters bursted through the door, and they saw their mother with Alphabittle, not noticing that Queen Haven and Alphabittle were looking at each other lovingly, with their two hooves touching each other while they smiled with loving gazes.
"Ah-ha!" Pipp called out, while pointing a hoof at them.
"Okay! We are clearly interrupting something!" Amy said with a sheepish smile, as she and Sonic walked backwards, with Sonic imitating MJ's moon dance.
"Yup! Time to get out of here! Sayōnara! Yoru o o tanoshimi kudasai!" Sonic said, while saying 'Goodbye! Enjoy your evening!' in Japanese, leaving the Tea Room along Amy.
"Mom?!" Zipp asked surprised, which startled Haven as she gasped in surprise, not expecting her daughters at all. "What are you doing here?" Zipp questioned.
Haven looked nervous on how to explain this to her daughters, while Alphabittle just gave a small smile at the two sisters, whom looked back and forth to the adult ponies.
"Blink twice if you're being held hostage!" Pipp whispered a bit to their mother.
Haven was just surprised that her young daughter would think that, before looking nervous again and give a nervous smile. "Girls! This is Alphabittle! And uh, this is his Tea Room! Alphabittle, these are my daughters, the princesses Pipp and Zipp" she introduced quickly, even though they had already met before.
"We know him!" Zipp pointed out. "But why are you guys hanging out together?!" she questioned.
"And why didn't you show up for brunch?!" Pipp questioned as well.
"If you two are hungry, we got a great brunch here, right, Haven?" Alphabittle asked Haven with a smile.
"Mm-hmm" Haven agreed with a smile, while the two adult ponies looked at each other lovingly.
Yeah, Zipp and Pipp forgot that Haven and Alphabittle have been dating for a couple of months already. They haven't made their Big Relationship Announcement like Pipp has done, true, but like Pipp herself said, it had to be made, no matter how recent or old the relationship is. So be patient, these two can still do theirs.
Pipp gasped in shock after she remembered this. "Hitch was right! You brunched without us!" she said with shock, as she landed on the ground next to her sister.
"Didn't you get my message?" Haven asked her daughters with a smile, while the two sisters each took a seat. "Didn't Cloudpuff look so sweet with his little scroll?" she added with a cute face. "Sure it was a little cryptic, but you girls do love decoding things!" she pointed out.
Then, Alphabittle came up while levitating a tea kettle with a smile. "Would you two like some tea?" he asked politely.
Zipp was about to snap at Alphabittle, but just then, Sonic interfered by coming back into the Tea Room and sitting behind his sister-in-law. "Make it four, Alpha B!" he interrupted with a smirk, making sure that Zipp wouldn't be rude with Alphabittle, while Amy came in with a sheepish smile and sat behind Sonic.
Alphabittle smiled and nodded, as he turned around and went to grab four cups to pour tea on them.
"Mom, why did you bailed us on a brunch date?" Zipp asked to Haven with a frown, while Sonic and Amy deadpanned behind her.
Haven sighed and gave a small smile to her daughters. "Darlings, I told you that something important came up" she reminded them.
At this, Pipp held out her phone to show Haven a video that's livestreaming Hitch's push game from earlier. "This is important?!" Pipp questioned, pointing a hoof at her phone.
"Winner!" Knuckles cheered through the video, as he gave the trophy to the bunnycorn that pushed Cloudpuff.
Haven scoffed and lowered Pipp's phone. "Ugh, this Field Day is a special occasion for the Unicorns, and now that Pegasus and Unicorns are…" she trailed off after looking at Alphabittle, who was smiling at her, and Haven blushed a bit with a small smile before recomposing herself, tapping her hooves nervously. "… reuniting, well, it's, it's important that we have, um… ambassadors to… when they…" she trailed off again, now waving her hoof at them while following Alphabittle with her eyes, since she can't take her eyes off him.
"Yeah, we were definitely interrupting..." Sonic said, then Alphabittle used his magic to place the four cups with tea in front of Sonic, Amy, Zipp and Pipp, with Sonic and Amy taking the whole tea in one sip, despite it being completely hot.
"What are you saying?" Pipp asked their mother confused, while Zipp seemed to be as confused as her sister, and Sonic and Amy behind had to rush out for water because of sipping the hot tea so fast and in just one go.
Meanwhile, Haven turned to her daughters and got up, so the two sisters followed a bit and got in front of their mom, while Haven took a deep breath. "I am here in an official capacity!" she snapped, which made Zipp and Pipp flinch as they looked at each other, before turning their gaze back to their mother. "Now, if you don't mind, Alphie and I were discussing official… negotiations?" she suggested, as she sat back to her seat while looking at Alphabittle with a loving gaze.
Zipp and Pipp cringed at their mother, and they backed away a bit with a nervous smile. "Uh…" Pipp said uncertainly.
"Yeah..." Zipp said next. "We're gonna… go outside now..." she said, as she trotted to the door.
"Hm" Pipp said with a frown, before Zipp grabbed her sister and dragged her to the exit.
Once outside, the two sisters groaned in disgust and felt disturbed, with Pipp gagging in disgust and Zipp looking out a bit traumatized, still not fully accepting that Alphabittle was dating their mom.
"Is it wrong that I can't stand her calling him 'Alphie'?" Pipp asked her sister, while Zipp nodded in agreement.
Suddenly, they heard something weird, and they turned to see Amy desperately drinking down a full water bottle, while Sonic brought a whole gallon of water and drank it as well.
"Uh... what's the matter with you two?" Zipp asked confused.
Amy stopped drinking from her bottle and gasped with wide eyes, before wiping out some water from her chin and look over at the sisters. "We drank... a way to hot tea..." she replied.
Then, Sonic let go of the gallon, which spilled some water over him, as he spitted some that was still on his mouth, and then he also gasped with wide eyes. "Mental note: Never drink hot tea ever again!" he stated with panic.
However, as he stood up and tried to dry himself, that panic intensified when he saw Cyber Sonic from behind some bushes, and he fell to the ground with a yelp.
"Ow..." Sonic complained.
Back in the Brighthouse, Tails made some adjustments to the map on the screen.
He removed Opaline's castle and every single place that Team Dark visited on the past 6 months to have a clear idea on where to go and look after Eggman and his new basement or lab.
"Okay... Since pretty much all the areas near by Zephyr Heights, Fluttershy's Cottage and Canterlot have empty basements, and we know for sure that Eggman wants to stay as far from Opaline as he can..." Tails started. "That narrows it down to just two locations... Maretime Bay and Bridlewood!" he pointed out.
"Dr. Eggman is clearly hiding in one of these two zones... But where?" Rouge asked.
Omega then started to process all the data that Tails' screen presented, as he came to a conclusion himself. "... I suggest we start to think like the enemy to find the enemy" he suggested.
The other three turned to him confused.
"Uh, what?" Misty asked confused.
"Instead of narrowing down all the places we've not checked before, we should instead think like the mind that refuses to be found" Omega stated. "In other words: Which would be the last place an evil genius like Eggman would expect us to look for him?" he questioned.
After Omega said this, Tails' eyes widened. "... Eggman would never hid in a place lacking tech..." he realized.
Rouge's eyes widened as well. "Of course! Eggman is a genius that needs to recharge resources in order to power his machines. That's why we thought he was hiding in Zephyr Heights!" she pointed out.
"But if he wants to be as far from Opaline as possible, he would choose a place that's far from her Castle" Misty added as well.
"That narrows it down to just one location" Omega added, as he slowly walked to the board and pointed at one of the two remaining towns in the map: Bridlewood.
Tails made Maretime Bay disappear, and the four of them stared at the Bridlewood forest.
"Bridlewood is not only the farthest from Opaline's Castle. It lacks technology, despite counting with TV's and phones. And, it's the last kind of place Eggman would dare to hide!" Tails stated with a smirk.
"So, that narrows it... Eggman must be hiding in Bridlewood!" Rouge stated with a frown.
"Then we should go and look around! Knowing him, he could be hearing us..." Misty pointed out with concern, while looking around her with suspicion. "And even if Amy destroyed that robot-bird he had, he could still make another one and still spy on us!" she added.
"There's still one problem besides the chance of Eggman knowing our plan..." Omega spoke, as he slowly and carefully moved the floating screen aside and grabbed the TV remote, before pointing it at the TV.
As he did so, Sky Silver and Dazzle appeared, narrating all the events of the Forest Critter Field Day going on, with Hitch looking at the camera with an extremely confused expression.
"The Field Day is still in process" Omega explained, then he looked back at the rest. "We cannot approach the unicorn forest without looking suspicious, nor without the rest of the crew noticing we're not there for the event" he pointed out.
"Ugh... I hate to admit it, but he's right..." Rouge said with a frown. "If we're gonna look through Bridlewood for any possible basement, hopefully the right one this time, we'll need a good excuse" she pointed out.
"Oh, we need an excuse? I have the perfect one!" Misty declared with a smile.
"Really?" Tails asked curiously, and Misty nodded eagerly. "What is it?" he questioned.
"The Forest Critter Field Day is a unicorn tradition, right? And we promised to go there once we were done here!" Misty started to explain. "So, all we have to do..." she continued, but now gesturing with a hoof to the rest so they can continue.
It took them a while, but they immediately got it. "Is say we are done here, then watch the rest of the Day, and then stay after everything's done!" Tails realized first with a smile.
"Then we could go through Bridlewood and look after the basement!" Rouge continued as well.
"Our perfect excuse in case of questions would be using Misty's lack of knowledge in Bridlewood's culture as a facade to our true purpose" Omega added.
"The what are we waiting for?" Tails said with a smile, shutting down the TV and his screen. "Let's get to Bridlewood ASAP!" he declared.
With this, the four of them bursted out of the door, heading towards Bridlewood to put their plan in action.
Back at Bridlewood, a white bird with blue wings, similar to Kenneth, was flying by peacefully.
Soon enough, the bird stopped flying right over a tree branch, and it didn't took so long for another bird to come by and stand on the same branch...
However, this bird wasn't acting like one, and the first bird that arrived noticed it. The new bird was more... metallic looking like, and their eyes were fully red, which only startled the first bird even more.
Then, the second bird slowly turned their head to the first one, startling them a lot, and then, the second bird opened it's beak and released a green gas that the other bird inhaled.
After doing so, the bird started to caught a lot, before they felt really dizzy, and then, the bird fell unconscious over the branch, while the other bird, who was actually another robot made by Eggman, flew in the air and grabbed the unconscious bird with their legs, before flying away.
Meanwhile, near the Tea Room, Zipp and Pipp were peeking behind a tree.
Soon enough, they came over and pocked their heads to look at Alphabittle and their mother getting out of the building.
"This is even worse than I feared" Pipp said with concern.
Soon, enough, they heard Alphabittle laughing and snorted a little, something that Haven didn't minded, before they both looked at her phone. "Aww, look at that cute little face" Alphabittle said.
"Now she's showing him embarrassing photos of me as a filly!" Pipp said with concern, before frowning along Zipp.
Then, the two sisters sneaked away and popped their heads from behind a bush, discovering that Haven was actually showing Alphabittle photos of Cloudpuff.
"And here he is as a little pirate" Haven said with a smile, then she swapped to the next picture. "Oh and here, he's a ballerina!" she reminisced, before showing a video of Cloudpuff on his birthday as he ate a puppy treat cupcake. "Watch this, he eats his whole puppy cupcake in one bite!" she cooed.
"Now that's a hungry Pup!" Alphabittle grinned with a chuckle, while Haven sighed.
"Thank hoofness I have Cloudy..." Haven said with sadness, while her ears lowered and she putted her phone away. "With the girls away now, I feel so... alone sometimes..." she frowned, making a little circle on the grass with her hoof.
With Zipp and Pipp living in Maretime Bay, Haven has the palace all to herself, which wasn't as exciting compared to her daughters being with her.
Seeing this, Alphabittle placed a hoof under her chin, which made her turn to him. "Hey. You're not alone" he replied, as he got close to her and smiled, which she returned it.
That made Zipp and Pipp gag before they turned around, almost like they were about to vomit at the romance.
Sonic and Amy, who just followed them to make sure they wouldn't mess with Haven and Alphabittle, also popped their heads from behind the bush, and unlike the sisters, they smiled and found the exchange adorable.
"Aw!" Amy exclaimed, as she was being carried by Sonic, who simply smiled at the two adult ponies being so lovey-dobey with each other.
"If this isn't adorable, I definitely need glasses!" Sonic said cheerfully.
Suddenly, Hitch came trotting towards the sisters with Sparky on his back with Cloudpuff behind them as he skidded to a stop as he faced the two sisters.
"Hey! Can you two Sparky-sit for a sec?" Hitch asked them with a smile. "We've got to get across this balance beam before those birds drop stewed cabbage balls on us!" he quickly explained, as he pointed his hoof behind him.
Kenneth and a flock of birds were flying towards him, holding said stew cabbage balls. He didn't need an answer as he gave Sparky to Zipp, who giggled in response.
"Thanks! I think I've finally figured out the rules! Ha-ha!" Hitch yelled out as he trotted off with a laugh, but then he tripped and fell to the floor, so Kenneth and the birds dropped the cabbages on him. "Ow. Ow..." he complained, while the cabbages fell on him.
Just then, Izzy came by with Sunny and Shadow, as she blew her whistle while holding another trophy. "Winner!" she called out, as she gave the trophy to Sunny.
"Uh..." Sunny said in surprise, as she held the trophy.
Hitch sighed after seeing this. "Spoke too soon" he said, as he flopped to the floor.
Shadow deadpanned after seeing this. "This is the dumbest thing I've ever witnessed..." he said with annoyance.
A little bit later, Hitch was hopping on some hoops while balancing his crystal on his muzzle, before tossing it to Cloudpuff.
Cloudpuff than hopped through three wooden hoops and made it to the finish line, as he dropped the crystal.
"Yeah!" Hitch cheered.
Then, Knuckles blew a whistle and landed on a bench with other ponies. "Winner!" he stated, as he gave the green unicorn a trophy, while the other ponies cheered.
"Huh?" Hitch asked completely confused.
In the next game, Hitch and a few other ponies were hopping in sacks.
Their critter companions were in sacks of their own, as they either hopped or flew around. Suddenly, Cloudpuff's sack covered his eyes, and he started to bark, before hitting a tree face first, which make him bark a bit furiously.
Just then, Sunny and Shadow came by, while Sunny held a trophy. "Uh… winner?" she guessed, as she placed down the trophy at the tree's side.
Soon enough, Izzy slid down the tree with a smile. "Mm-hmm" she nodded.
Hitch sighed at this, and Shadow facepalmed himself in annoyance. "This is getting ridiculous..." he groaned.
In the next game, a group of unicorns were digging on the ground.
Soon enough, Hitch lifted up a soft football and threw it to Cloudpuff, who caught the ball with a bark, but then, the unicorn group used their magic to levitate it off from his grip, while they did a magical tug-a-war, before the ball ripped apart with confetti coming out.
With this, Knuckles blew the whistle again and placed the trophy in the center of the ripped up ball. "Winner!" he called out, while the ponies started to cheer again.
Hitch sighed frustrated because of this, since the rules were getting more and more ridiculous.
A light turned on suddenly over the bird from earlier.
This bird woke up while feeling dizzy and shook their head. Then, the bird looked confused around them, not understanding how they got there in the first place.
But then, they heard some steps, and when they turned around, they chirped in panic, because they saw Dr. Eggman at the other side of what seemed to be the capsule they were trapped in.
"Morning, little fella!" Eggman said with a grin. "I hope you had a good rest, because things are gonna get wild from here on!" he stated confidently.
Eggman started to walk around the capsule, while the bird inside shook in fear.
"Aww, are you scared in there, little fella? Do not worry! This is gonna be a quick, little test!" Eggman declared, while his grind grew and looked more sinister now.
Soon enough, Sage opened the upper zone of the capsule where the bird was held hostage, and she let go a tiny, little drop of the Metal Virus that Eggman was testing out, and unfortunately, this innocent bird was the first test subject.
The drop of the Metal Virus fell over the bird's head, which confused the critter more than it scared them...
And yet, the real scare started when the drop suddenly started to grow and extend at a very fast paste around the bird's body, which startled the bird a lot as they tried to fly away, and even rubbed their own body with their wings to take the metallic liquid off them.
However, once the entire liquid covered the bird completely, in the air, the bird stopped moving and fell facewards to the bottom of the capsule, staying there for around 10 seconds without moving, until they finally stood up and looked over at Eggman with a weird expression...
It seemed to be kind of a half-frown and half-lost gaze, because even if it seemed that the bird was looking at Eggman, it also seemed like they were staring at nothing specially. Their mouth was also hanging open and showing sharp teeth, and their eyes turned fully red.
"How are the vital signs so far, Sage?" Eggman asked curiously.
"The vital signs are stable for the time being, but I do warn: The chance to loose the subject with such a weak sample of the Metal Virus is still very high, father" Sage instructed.
Eggman just nodded and cleared his throat, while the small robot bird from before entered to the capsule and looked at the
real bird infected with the virus.
The bird slowly looked at their robotic counterpart, but as soon, as they started to move, the bird's body began to move and revolve, while the poor critter gagged a bit as well and grabbed their neck with their wings.
This seemed to make Eggman look down in disappointment, like if he already knew what was going to happen. So, he turned around from the capsule and walked to his computer, then pressed a button on the keyboard, and the windows from the capsule closed, followed by the last chirp of the infected bird.
After this, Eggman opened the capsule again, and the robotic bird came out of it alone, covered in remains of the Metal Virus, but not infected because of its lack of organic life.
"That's the seventh subject we loose, father..." Sage instructed with concern.
Eggman groaned, removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes with his hand. As Sage stated, this was their seventh try to perfect the Metal Virus, but so far, all the subjects had died.
"I don't understand... The first couple of seconds, the virus manages to infect them... But then they all freaking die!" Eggman complained with a frown. "What are we doing wrong?!" he asked confused, now grabbing his head with his hands.
Sage immediately started to analyze the previous tests they did with the previous animals, while the inside of the capsule cleaned itself and opened the windows again, showing that it was completely cleaned up from the rests of the subject that exploded.
"Father!" Sage called out suddenly, and Eggman turned to face his computer, putting his glasses back as well. "I think I have found what's wrong with the virus!" she revealed.
"So?" Eggman asked. "What are we doing wrong?" he requested an explanation, crossing his arms and frowning.
"I made a microscopic approach to the Metal Virus. Despite it being liquid and metallic-looking like, there are nano-bots in the sample that resemble bacteriophages" Sage explained. "These nano-bots main function is to destroy life, so whenever they touch a living being..." she tried to add, but Eggman already knew where she was going.
"They kill them as soon as the whole body is covered..." Eggman frowned. "So we didn't did anything wrong... The nature of the virus' sample simply did what it was supposed to do..." he realized, now rubbing his chin.
"I'm afraid that's the case..." Sage replied. "If I had a physical form, as well as the abilities I acquired thanks to Cyber Space, I could immediately put a stop to these bacteriophages so they wouldn't kill any living being, but..." she added with a concerned tone.
"Sorry to brake your bubble, dear, but I'm still looking for a way to bring you a physical form again" Eggman informed. "For the time being, we'll have to find a scientific, quick and non-lethal way to make this virus work... and make those bacteriophages stop working..." he stated with a frown.
Back in Bridlewood, the group was confused on what the heck was happening.
Apparently, the ponies seemed to be tossing a ball back and forth to each other, as well as going through an obstacle course.
Just then, Tails, Rouge, Omega and Misty arrived with everyone else. "Sorry for the delay!" Tails apologized with a sheepish smile. "Investigating all that stuff took us more than we wished..." he explained.
"Did we miss anything important?" Misty asked a bit worried.
"Nope!" Sonic replied. "Just a bunch of silly games with no sense at all" he added, while he brought out a Chili Dog from Chaos knows where and ate it.
As he did so, Tails and Misty sat near Zipp, while Rouge went to sit with Amy, and Omega decided to stand in the side so he wouldn't obstruct anyone's view.
"What in the hay is happening out there?" Zipp asked confused, while one pony tripped and his pig critter partner bumped into him.
"I've been wondering that since this crap started..." Shadow deadpanned with a sigh.
"Uh, I don't know. This is literally what every sport looks like to me" Pipp answered.
"I'm usually all in for a sports day, but everything going on so far makes little to absolutely no sense..." Amy pointed out.
Just then, some mic feedback was heard, and Onyx was on stage near a small podium. "This poem means a lot to me. It's called 'Visiting dignitary Queen Haven of Zephyr Heights is about to make public remarks on the Grand Marshal's Stage'" she stated, then she cleared her throat, while soft percussion was heard. "Pain. Metamorphosis" she started, while Zipp and Pipp tilted their heads to the side confused. "Long Division" Onyx continued.
Then, another unicorn stallion came over to Onyx and cut her off. "Alright. Sorry everypony" he gently ushered Onyx off of the stage. "Uh... Queen Haven on the Mane Stage, um... right now" he announced a bit nervous.
With this, Queen Haven took to the Mane Stage at the podium, while the ponies started to cheer.
"Um…/Huh?" Pipp and Zipp asked confused.
Sparky just sat there, feeling a bit bored with this, but then, he saw the same tree from Winter Wishday and smiled, as he quickly got downstairs and headed towards the tree, something that only Tails and Misty seemed to notice, because the rest had their attention on the podium.
So, Tails and Misty looked at each other, nodded, and immediately followed Sparky along.
Meanwhile, Haven made it to the Mane Stage. "Thank you! I'm very honored to be here on this very special day. Here we all are, Unicorns, Earth Ponies and Pegasi united and rebuilding the strong bond that once…" she trailed off when she saw her daughters and their friends sitting at the bench looking at her, with her daughter frowning at her. "... we didn't, uh…" she stuttered. "We didn't realize how much we needed each other" she said in sympathy, while Zipp and Pipp looked at each other for a moment before looking back at their mother. "How wonderful it can be when we're… all together" she said, then Alphabittle approached her with a small smile, and she smiled back at him before continue her speech. "Which is to say, I'm very excited to join in the judging of the day's final event, the 'Forest Critter Grand Prix'!" she announced, spreading her wings.
The crowd than cheered from Queen Haven's speech, but they didn't noticed that Sparky was running around behind them, as he made it to the tree and babbled amazed.
Soon enough, he touched the tree, which made his claws glow, and he smiled in awe.
But then, Tails and Misty arrived with the baby dragon. "Hey, Spark!" Tails said with a little smile, before noticing that his claws were glowing a bit because of the tree. "Huh... That's new..." he said a bit confused.
Misty then looked at the tree and saw that Sparky wanted to climb it, which was a bit dangerous considering he was a baby.
"You want to climb this up, don't you?" Misty asked Sparky with a smile, and Sparky giggled and let go of the tree to hug her muzzle, which made Misty giggle as well. "I'll take that as a yes!" she said with a smile. "Tails, you think you can take us up there? If we stay with Sparky up, we can prevent him from getting hurt" she pointed out.
"Sure thing!" Tails said with a wink, followed by him placing Sparky on his head and the grabbing Misty in bridal style, before spinning his tails and flew towards the top of the tree.
After around 15 tests later, Eggman smashed his keyboard in rage.
All the tests they did to try and cancel the bacteriophages effect of the virus were going terribly wrong, and now, they lost 15 more subjects because of it.
Eggman wasn't happy nor proud, because 1- He was using critters again, something he dared to never do again, but he had to if he wanted this plan to succeed. And 2 - He was killing the critters by mistake, when his intention was to infect them.
He was so frustrated that this was not going well... But he wasn't going to give up.
One of the main reasons Sonic's his nemesis is because they share one thing in common: It doesn't matter if they win or fail against the other, they will always come back for more. They're that stubborn, at the end of the day.
"Um... Father?" Sage called out suddenly.
Eggman shook his head after Sage's voice dragged him out of his own thoughts. "Yes?" he said.
"Um... I, uh... I have miscalculated something..." Sage confessed. "Well, it wasn't miscalculation, actually. I... It seems that I didn't realized something earlier..." she added.
"Huh?" Eggman said confused.
"The virus can affect living beings, correct?" Sage started to explain on a nervous tone. "W-Well, um... T-That includes animals and... plants..." she revealed.
After she said this, Eggman's eyes widened, and he immediately frowned with anger. "... You misread THAT?!" he yelled in rage. "You calculated all the freaking possibilities, found out about every single factor that could go wrong, and you still misread a vital piece of information that could have spared us from killing 22 critters?!" he added.
Sage didn't replied anything this time, and that was good, because it allowed Eggman to take a deep breath and calm himself down.
"Sorry, dear..." Eggman apologized.
"... No... I am sorry for this failure..." Sage said with an ashamed tone.
"It's okay... We all make mistakes. The important thing is that we learn from them, which is why I cannot let myself get carried away by anger and do something stupid" he pointed out.
"You mean, like attacking Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends?" Sage asked.
"Precisely" Eggman replied. "There's no point on planning on how to defeat them when the completion of the Metal Virus is the key to everything: Everypony in Equestria will be infected and controlled, obeying my every order! But that's why we need the virus to infect and not kill first" he explained.
"I'll try a new combination to remove the bacteriophages from the virus, then. Perhaps I'll find another critter that––" Sage tried to say.
"Slow down your horses, dear" Eggman instructed. "We are not using animals anymore. Now that we know animals and plants per equal can get infected, I say we should test the virus over plants first" he stated.
"So I should bring a plant instead?" Sage asked.
"Indeed!" Eggman replied with a grin. "We'll test out the virus on plants until we get a satisfying result!" he stated.
"I'll get to work, then" Sage replied.
Back at the Critter Field Day Prix, light drumming started to sound.
Hitch, with Cloudpuff on his back, got ready for the final event of the games, alongside three other ponies, including Windy and Elder Flower.
"On your marks... Get set..." Onyx began, while the ponies got ready in the start line, and then, Onyx blew a confetti horn, which was the sign for the racers to run.
Well, Elder Flower and her pig companion had to walk because of the mare being too old to run.
"And they're off!" Sky Silver said with a smile
"Oh! Wait until you see this one!" Izzy squealed with a smile. "You're not gonna believe how wild it is! The Grand Prix is the biggest event of the whole day! I'm so excited!" she cheered, but then, some ponies precariously came in front with signs and began cheering and shouting. "Wait! Ugh!" Izzy complained, as she tried to call the ponies attention. "Stop the games! We can't see!" she whined.
"Hold your hooves, Izz!" Zipp told her with a smile. "Pipp and I can fix this. Come on, sis!" she stated, as both Zipp and Pipp flew in the air. "Okay! They're pulling a boulder up a hill with like... some sort of giant rubber band?" Zipp quipped.
"You've gotta be kidding..." Shadow facepalmed again.
"Is this what you've been dealing with the whole day?" Rouge asked him confused.
"No... It's even worse..." Shadow deadpanned.
"Oh-oh! That's the rock trot!" Izzy called up.
"Whose in the lead?!" Knuckles asked.
"Hitch is!" Pipp grinned.
"Yes!" Izzy grinned as well.
"LET'S BUCKING GOOOOO!" Knuckles cheered loudly.
On the other hand, Tails carefully landed on a tree branch in the Unicorn Wishday Tree, carefully placing Misty down, while Sparky went to walk the branch on his own with smiles.
"Wowie!" Misty exclaimed with a smile. "This is a really nice view of the Race!" she pointed out with excitement.
"And we can have an eye over Sparky as the race goes on!" Tails pointed out as well, while Sparky seemed really happy with the tree.
Back in the bench, Zipp and Pipp were looking at the race with binoculars, and Omega decided to join as well by standing behind the bench because of how tall he is, using his sensors to narrate a bit about the race as well.
However, Pipp then turned to the Mane Stage. "Hmm..." she said to herself, while she saw her mother and Alphabittle with binoculars as well to see the race, but then they turned to each other as their binoculars bumped a bit, before they smiled and waved at each other. "Huh?" Pipp asked confused, before she groaned in disgust and lowered the binoculars.
"Now he and Cloudpuff are… are they on waterskis?!" Zipp asked surprised, since she was still focusing on the race.
"Affirmative" Omega confirmed. "Looks like they're being pulled by a gaggle of geese" he added. "Context required to understand the current situation" he requested.
"Oh, oh! The water fowl slalom!" Izzy explained. "The goose is loose!" she announced in excitement.
"Oh, did they jump through all six flaming hoops yet?!" Knuckles asked next, as he turned to Pipp. "Pipp? Princess! What's happening now!?" he asked.
However, Pipp was still aiming her binoculars at Haven and Alphabittle, with the older unicorn feeding her mother some cheese they got from the snacks, and Haven smiled sweetly at him.
"No!" Pipp cried out, lowering her binoculars. "He's feeding her cheeses, from a fancy platter!" she cried out.
"The what now?" Sonic asked confused.
"Who, Hitch?" Izzy asked confused. "Hm? They aren't supposed to eat the cheese until the Gouda Relay…" she stated.
"Uh-huh?" Sunny said, completely lost at this point.
"Would that count as cheating or..." Knuckles questioned, as he brought out the rule book and read it confused.
"Hmm..." Amy muttered, as she noticed that Pipp wasn't looking at the race, but instead at Alphabittle and Haven back in the Mane Stage. "Uh, Sonic? Your girl is still stalking her mom..." she pointed out.
"Huh?!" Sonic exclaimed with wide eyes, before pulling out his own binoculars and look at the Mane Stage, where Alphabittle and Haven were feeding cheese to each other with smiles. "Okay, Knuckles is on a two-episode streak of being right, and that scares me..." he said with a frown.
"Hey!" Knuckles complained.
"Pipp, maybe your mom hasn't made that big-ass revelation like you and I, but it's pretty obvious what's happening, no matter how much you want it to be fake: Haven and Alphabittle are in love" Sonic deadpanned.
"What?!" Pipp yelled in shock, before gagging and groaning while covering her eyes. "Oh, oh, it’s just so gross!" she cried out.
"Isn't it a bit hypocrite of you to be grossed out about your Mom having a relationship when you are in one?" Amy pointed out with a bored expression.
"Not only that: It's selfish, and it kind of offends me 'cause she's grossed out on love..." Sonic added with a bored expression as well. "You have a boyfriend, woman!" he pointed out with a frown.
Meanwhile, Tails and Misty sat happily over the tree branch as they watched the race, with Misty holding Sparky on her hooves with a smile, while the baby dragon was happy to see his dad racing over.
Suddenly, he let go on if his dragon fires, which hit a leave on the branch and turned it into a cookie, that was heading towards the ground, but then, a magic aura surrounded the cookie, and it floated towards Sparky, who grabbed the cookie and babbled happily.
It seems that Misty noticed when the cookie fell, so she used her magic to levitate it and give to Sparky, while the mare smiled down at the happy baby dragon.
Back with Hitch, he kept trotting through the field with Cloudpuff beside him, as the Sheriff grunted in effort while he made it to an infinity track obstacle course, as he hopped through hoops and got his eyes on the finish line.
"Come on, Cloudpuff! We've almost got this!" Hitch said to the pegasus dog with a smile, trotting ahead.
As Hitch kept racing through the circuit, Sparky started to clap and babble happily at him, pretty much cheering for him to win the Grand Prix.
Meanwhile, in the track, Windy jumped over a ramp, which caused her critter to be tossed into the air, while Hitch and Cloudpuff raced to the finish line, making it past Elder Flower and her pig, as they jumped through the hoops.
"Come on, we got this!" Hitch encouraged, as he and Cloudpuff finally crossed the finish line, with the streamline breaking. "Woo-hoo! Yeah!" he cheered.
The crowd then cheered to Hitch. "Awesome!" a unicorn mare among the crowd cheered.
"Woo-hoo!" Sunny cheered to Hitch.
"About time!" Shadow said with relieve.
However, Knuckles seemed to cringe for some reason, as he took off his hat and covered his face with it.
"Red?" Rouge called out confused. "Why are you hiding like that?" she asked.
"You're about to find out for yourself..." Knuckles replied with shame.
"Woo!" Hitch cheered at his achievement, before he and Cloudpuff were levitated by other unicorns at the finish line. "Oh yeah! Woo-hoo!" Hitch kept cheering, doing a victory dance in the air.
"Winner!" Izzy announced, while levitating a big trophy.
"Yes!" Hitch cheered, but just when he was about to grab it, it moved away from him. "What?!" he asked in shock.
Elder Flower and her critter made it to the finish line second, and Izzy gave her the trophy. "Yay!" she cheered.
"Huh?" Hitch said confused, while the ponies stopped using their magic on him. "Ah! Oh!" he yelled out, as he fell to the floor, while Cloudpuff fell next.
"Oh, happy day!" Elder Flower cheered.
"But I…" Hitch started, not expecting this outcome. "But we… We finished first!" he told Izzy.
"And Elder Flower finished second last year, so we promised her that no matter what, she could be the winner this year" Izzy explained with her usual smile, as she brought out the rule book again. "It's right here in the rules. Page 372" she explained.
Hitch saw the page with irritation. "This is ridiculous! Let me see that!" he yelled, as he took a closer look at the book, but once he verified that Izzy wasn't lying, he sighed frustrated, while the bunnycorn critter from the ramp landed on the trophy.
At the Mane Stage, Alphabittle approached to the mic. "Thank you all for––" he started. but was cut off when Hitch spoke.
"Hey, can we get an official Grand Marshal ruling on this?" Hitch asked the two elder ponies, tired of all the crap he went through the game.
Alphabittle and Queen Haven looked at him for a moment before they started whispering to each other, then they looked at Hitch and Cloudpuff, and then they smiled to each other.
"The Queen and I have discussed it and there has indeed been a grave oversight" Alphabittle announced, which made Hitch gasp with a smile. "The Bridlewood Forest Critter Field Day awards the team of Hitch and Cloudpuff…" he started.
"Uh-huh…" Hitch said with an eager nod.
"... the very prestigious cutest puppy award!" Alphabittle finished, while the crowd started cheering.
"The what?!" Hitch asked in shock, while Cloudpuff smiled. "That's not even a real category! He's the only puppy here!" he pointed out.
Then, Knuckles appeared with a small meddle. "Winner!" he said, as he placed a medal on Cloudpuff's helmet, while Cloudpuff twirled around with a smile, and Knuckles held out the book. "It says it right here, dude. Cutest puppy" he said, now turning the book to said page.
Hitch sighed frustrated, but then, both him, Izzy and Knuckles stepped back when a spear traversed the rule book and pined it to the floor.
The spear vanished away, but the book already had a massive hole on it, while Shadow glared daggers at the book and huffed, since he made a Chaos Spear to destroy the book.
"I officially hate sports" Shadow stated.
"Okay, Black blur. Let's just go away to a place where you can release your anger better, alright?" Rouge said, as she dragged Shadow away before he did anything else more dangerous, while Omega followed them.
"Wow, this games are pretty bad if it got on Shadow's nerves..." Sonic pointed out with an amused expression, while he lay on Amy's shoulder, who nodded in agreement.
"Hitch!" Zipp called out with worry, as she and Pipp arrived, looking at the Sheriff with panicked expressions. "We lost track of Sparky!" Zipp added with panic and concern.
"What?!" Hitch yelled back in panic as well.
However, before any of the three ponies could panic even more, they all heard a whistle, and soon enough, Tails and Misty were approaching them, with Tails walking backwards while he spun his tails slowly, which was launching Sparky in the air, as the baby dragon giggled happily, and Misty giggled a bit at the sight.
"Sorry for the scare!" Tails apologized, as he launched Sparky one last time and Misty caught him with her magic, as she cooed the baby dragon, who giggled at her. "Sparky went over the tree we saw on Wishday, and we had to follow him before he tried to climb on his own" he explained.
"Yeah! We didn't wanted anything bad to happen to him if he fell from the tree" Misty added with a smile, as she levitated Sparky back with Hitch, who grabbed him with his hooves.
"Oh, thank hoofness!" Hitch said with a smile, as he nuzzled his muzzled with Sparky's nose.
"We are so sorry we lost track of Sparky!" Zipp apologized to Hitch after Tails and Misty explained themselves.
"Seriously" Pipp agreed. "We let our own stuff get in the way and feel so bad!" she apologized.
"It's not your fault" Hitch assured with a smile. "I'm the one who let his own stuff get in the way of things. Sparky's my responsibility. I just got so wrapped up with these games and trying to figure out the rules. But the rules made no sense!" he snapped, before calming down. "That… Did that make any sense?" he asked.
"Eh... 50/50?" Knuckles pointed out.
"I'll say more like 25/100" Sonic said with a bored expression and his arms crossed.
"Guess we should apologize too, Hitch..." Izzy said, as she gestured to herself and Knuckles. "We should've told you about the rules before hoof instead of just saying them after each game!" she pointed out with concern.
"You would've won at least a game that way..." Knuckles added with a sheepish smile.
"It's okay, guys" Hitch assured with a smile. "I should've looked through the whole book before the game. Usually I'm more careful with this kind of stuff..." he added with concern.
"So… you"re not mad?" Pipp asked.
"Only at myself" Hitch answered.
Then, Izzy wrapped a hoof around Hitch with her cheerful smile. "Come on, champ! All the winners have to go answer questions for the Bridlewood Pony Press Association" she explained, as she dragged Hitch and Sparky away, while Cloudpuff followed along.
"And I get to make fun of it!" Knuckles said with a smirk, as he followed along.
Tails, Amy, Sunny and Misty followed the three of them immediately, and Pipp, Zipp and Sonic were going to do it as well.
But before they could catch up with their friends, Haven came up to her daughters with a proud smile. "That was very noble of you, girls" she told them proudly. "It's not always easy to apologize" she added.
"Yeah, well…" Zipp started. "Hitch is our friend, you know?" she stated, as she and Pipp smiled.
"I do know" Queen Haven said with a smirk, as she pointed her wing to Alphabittle behind her, who was smiling back at her.
However, Haven was only looking at Zipp, insinuating something going on between her and the Sheriff, which made Zipp cringe and even gag in complete and utter disgust.
"Oh yuck!" Zipp cringed in disgust, as she spread her wings. "Hitch is my friend! I play board games and mess up with him for fun!" she pointed out.
"Plus, she's had her eyes on my little bro ever since Wishentine. And even if she didn't, Hitch only has eyes for Sunny-Bunny!" Sonic interfered for a second with a chuckle, before simply moving away.
This made Zipp blush entirely in embarrassment at the confirmation, while Pipp at her side chuckled slightly at the situation, and Haven laughed about it as well.
"The point is... We are friends with Hitch in a normal way!" Pipp got back on track. "Not like… like whatever this is..." she explained, gesturing at Haven and Alphabittle.
Before Pipp could explain further, Haven frowned at them and yelled with her wings spread. "Pipp Petals! Zephyrina Storm! You will listen to me right now!" she lectured, stomping her hoof on the ground, while Alphabittle and Sonic, who were behind the Queen, cringed and looked at each other, before looking away awkwardly.
"Uh-oh" Pipp said in panic, while Zipp gasped with concern.
"Sorry" Haven apologized from her outburst and calmed down. "Ahem… It's just that… you two are growing up. You've flown the nest and started living your lives! But I still have a life too" she pointed out, while the two sisters looked down a bit guilty. "I love your new friends and I love the ponies you're all growing into" she said with a smile, while Zipp and Pipp smiled back at her, before Haven turned to Alphabittle with a smirk. "And I also love––" she tried to add.
"Okay! Okay! We get it" Pipp quickly said, as she closed her eyes, while Zipp covered her wings, clearly not wanting to hear what they know she's gonna say next.
"For the love of–– You are in a relationship too, Pipp!" Sonic complained from behind, before sighing and groan.
"We're sorry, Mom" Zipp apologized as she lowered her wings. "We do want you to be happy" she admitted.
"Yeah" Pipp agreed. "You deserve to have brunch, even when we’re not there" she added, as she began to tear up for saying those words and waved a hoof to her face.
"Oh. Thank hoofness for that!" Haven said with a smile. "I love you, girls" she added happily.
"We love you too" both Pipp and Zipp said at the same time.
Then, Haven flew up and spread her hooves with a wide smile. "Then hug mother!" she said to her daughters, as the royal family shared a hug with smiles.
After the hug, Alphabittle came to them, while he and Haven walked off together, and the two sisters smiled before moving over to catch up with their friends.
Sonic rolled his eyes after Pipp moved over without apologizing for what he believes was an attack to his feelings, but before he could follow them as well, his eyes stopped in a certain are of the forest.
Where some unicorns seemed to be chatting happily between them, Cyber Sonic stood behind them, staring straight at Sonic with a combination of a frown and a glare, which made Sonic flinch and widened eyes.
"Hey, Sonic!" Tails' voice called out, and Sonic shook his head to look over at the young fox, sitting near a bench where the rest were sitting as well, waiting for the Bridlewood Pony Press Association to start their questions. "You're gonna miss Hitch's interview if you don't come here!" he pointed out with a mocking smirk.
Sonic, however, chuckled sheepishly, and he glanced one last time to the unicorn group, just for Cyber Sonic's image to be gone. So, with a sigh, Sonic boosted towards the rest.
Why was this still happening? He didn't knew, and honestly? He wasn't sure if he wanted to know...
Once the games were over, Tails, Misty, Rouge and Omega putted their plan in action.
As expected, they were asked on why they wanted to stay a bit longer, and as Omega said earlier, Misty excised herself on wanting to learn more in unicorn culture.
Everyone believed this, although Shadow did raised an eyebrow at Rouge and Omega for wanting to tag along Tails and Misty, but he still shrugged it off and went back to Maretime Bay with everypony else.
So, with their plan working on so far, they decided to get deeper into the forest and start to investigate things out.
Tails brought out his Miles electric and turned on a 'Metal Detector' function, while Omegas used his scanner and Misty used an old unicorn spell she found on a book in the Brighthouse to look after metallic objects.
The three of them got deep inside Bridlewood's forest to look after a possible Eggman basement for at least three or four hours, but once the sun started to set in the horizon, they started to loose up all hope.
"Um, Yellow?" Rouge called out. "I hate to brake the morale here, but we've been looking for hours, and we still haven't found anything!" she pointed out with a frown.'
"I hate to admit it, but she's right, Tails!" Misty pointed out, sitting down on the floor and undoing her magic, as she also rubbed her horn a bit in pain, because she's tired after using her magic for hours.
"My sensors can't detect any basement, computer, machine, lab, nothing Eggman-related" Omega informed as well. "We're reaching a dead end" he pointed out.
Tails groaned and rubbed his eyes, and he was about to admit that the others were right, and that there was nothing related to Eggman here... but then, his Miles Electric made a beep sound, the first one ever since they started to search.
Tails looked at the screen with wide eyes, since it finally detected something metallic underground.
"... I think we found what we're looking for..." Tails said, as he putted his Miles Electric aside and kneeled, tapping the floor a few times with a hand.
And bingo! The floor made clanking sounds, which was the recognizable sound of metal. So, Tails stepped a few steps back with a smile and looked over at Omega.
"Hey, dude! Think you can help me with this?" Tails asked the robot with a smile.
Omega replied by approaching the same place that Tails tapped, raising an arm and then punching the ground, making a dent on the floor, confirming that this was a metallic structure, and not natural ground like the rest of the forest.
So, Omega used both of his fists this time, making a bigger dent. And finally, he raised the gunshots of his arm and shoot multiple times to the dent, until it broke and fell with a loud clank in the ground, which allowed them to go inside.
Once they entered this place, Misty lightened up the place with her horn, and Omega used the lights from his eyes, while Tails created a plasma gun with his powers that also had a small lantern and illuminated the path.
Just as they were expecting: It was a lab, but unfortunately, it was an empty one.
Tails went over the computer in the middle of the room, and with just clicking one button, the entire place's lights turned on. Of course, this also granted him access to Eggman's computer, which he quickly checked for any useful information... But it was empty, just like in every other basement Team Dark visited before.
"Dang it!" Rouge declared, also stomping a foot on the ground. "For once, I thought we finally found the right place!" she added with anger.
"Huh... does all the other labs, basements or however you call them looked like this, too?" Misty asked, both concerned and scared for how big the place was.
"Affirmative" Omega replied. "Yet Eggman is still not around here" he pointed out with anger, while robotically closing his hand on a fist.
"I guess we must keep looking... Unless..." Tails said, as he turned to the computer, then brought out a USB drive and connected it to the computer, then made sure that all the encrypted data was uploaded to the drive.
"What are you doing?" Rouge asked.
"Eggman might be an evil genius that knows how to trick us..." Tails replied, before finishing uploading all the encrypted archives on his USB drive. "But I know how to access his encrypted data without him ever knowing!" he stated confidently.
"You think we can get a glance on where he is?" Rouge asked curiously.
"Oh, I'm sure we will!" Tails stated.
"I'll say we should take this chance" Omega stated, decided to trust Tails on this plan if it meant they could find Eggman.
And so, Tails, Rouge and Omega left the place by flight, while Misty stood behind and looked around her.
She wasn't looking for anything special, but she did wanted to share something...
"Eggman... I know you can hear me. Don't know how, but I know you can..." Misty spoke to the air. "Wherever you are hiding, whatever you are planning, it doesn't matter... I'm stopping you with my friends... and that's a promise!" she assured with a frown.
Eggman watched the message from his lab and frowned.
Of course, now Misty was against him. Maybe not in all the sense of the word, but they clearly were not in the same team anymore, which only made things more complicated and worse for him, because he didn't minded fighting everyone else, but her? That was going to be a problem...
"I may not have a full understanding on feelings, but I suppose what's happening right now should be classified as a Dejà vu, right?" Sage asked.
"Yes..." Eggman replied with anger. "Shadow did the same a few weeks ago, and now Misty..." he pointed out.
"The offer to initiate protocols to recon and destroy is still up" Sage suggested.
Eggman rubbed his chin and considered for a second the idea, but he shook his head still. "No, no... But I think reconning every step from those fools wouldn't be bad..." he admitted with a smirk.
"Initiating reconning protocols" Sage instructed.
With this, a capsule came out of the ground, and it revealed a certain someone we haven't seen in a while: Metal Sonic, shut down and connected to a bunch of cables, being tied in arms and legs.
However, that didn't seemed to be a problem, because his red eyes turned on, and he looked straight at Eggman... Nodding with confidence, and ready to start his mission.