//------------------------------// // Prologue: Strange Events // Story: The Legend of Sunny: Tears of the Kingdom // by Sonic MLP Lover //------------------------------// Sonic and Sunny were walking through the abandoned city of Canterlot. Three days ago, a strange gloom started to drift out from the depths of the Crystal Brighthouse. Ever since, the Mane 6 each have been living on their respective towns, with Sunny staying with Hitch, while Team Sonic slept on Electronic Tails on Maretime Bay, and Misty stood with Alphabittle for the time being. Both Sonic and Sunny have been investigating non stop all across Equestria in search for answers on what is this gloom, or why it seems to affect anypony that gets in contact with it. This was their third time in Canterlot ever since they started to investigate the gloom. The first two times were with research purposes: They went through every last book in the library, looking for any bit of information that could explain what was that gloom below the Crystal Brighthouse, but they got no luck. This time, however, they came back because both Sonic and Sunny have been having weird dreams with a girl, a girl that keeps warning them about a bigger danger that they must face together. This same voice told them to go to Canterlot's abandoned castle and look for answers on what used to be Twilight's throne room. Only then, they would understand how big this menace is. So, that's exactly what Sonic and Sunny were doing right now: They were heading towards the Throne Room on the abandoned castle, in hopes that they were actually going to get answers there, and that this voice talking to them was not trying to trick them. Once in front of the big gates that lead to the Throne Room, Sunny made her etherial horn appear, and then, she glimmered the entire room by surrounding the gates with her golden magic, not struggling that much to open the doors to enter the place. Stepping inside, Sonic and Sunny looked around: It still seemed as wonderful and abandoned as the first time they came here, or at least it did looked like it for Sunny. "No matter how many times I come here, I still feel amazed..." Sunny said with a little smile, as she stopped on her place and took a good look to her surroundings. "It almost feels like a dream!" "Well, this dream got real months ago, Sunny-Bunny." Sonic pointed out with a smirk, as he started to tap carefully in a wall, like if he was trying to find something. "Say, you said this castle has lots of hidden rooms, right?" "Yup. Down to the last room in this palace. Why?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. "Because I feel like we're not gonna find our answers on this room. At least, not in this one specifically." Sunny just felt even mored confused at that, but she decided that she wouldn't question him. In fact, she started to research for something that could open a hidden room as well, tapping with her hoof all spots on the other wall of the room. Eventually, as both of them kept searching, Sunny's hoof tapped on a certain zone that pressed as a button, and the entire room trembled violently. Sonic also felt this, so he turned around and looked at Sunny with concern, quickly rushing towards her and putting his arms around her neck, pulling her close in a protective way, while Sunny wrapped her hooves around Sonic and buried her face on his chest. As the trembles stopped, they both separated from each other after checking that they both were fine, and then, they looked around, trying to find something that seemed either odd or different from how it seemed to be a few minutes ago, before the room trembled. Eventually, Sunny spotted something: She saw that Twilight's throne was a bit farther than it was when they entered the first time. "Sonic... Look!" She said, pointing with her hoof at the now moved throne. Sonic obeyed and looked on the direction she was pointing, raising an eyebrow confused at the now moved throne. "Wasn't that in a different position earlier?" "It was." Sunny replied with a nod. Looking at each other, Sonic and Sunny nodded with determinate looks, before walking upstairs and towards the throne. Once they made it to the top, they felt surprised when they saw that, right below where the throne was originally, there was a secret entrance with stairs that lead to a door. They looked at each other again, before Sunny decided to make the first step downstairs, with Sonic following her soon afterwards, but not before looking back around the Throne Room, just to make sure that nobody/nopony was there. Once he saw the coast clear, he followed Sunny downstairs. Once in front of the door, Sunny took the handle and slowly opened the door, just to reveal a hidden hallway with many torches around. "I've never read about a place like this in my dad's journal... And a part of me feels like Discord didn't knew about this place either." Sunny said with a concerned frown. "Well, then let's get the answers none of them could give us!" Sonic stated confidently with a smirk, walking inside the hallway while grabbing one of the torches. Hesitant at first, Sunny nodded again, mostly to reassure herself, before following Sonic along. The hallway, besides the torches, also seemed to have several portraits and old-rusty armors of ancient knights, as well as rusty swords at the sides, considering this statues were pony-shaped, unlike regular knights. Yet, at some point, the portraits around them not only changed their aspect, but they also started to look a lot more different... At first, they were showing events of the Mane 6/Guardians of Friendship defeating many of the biggest threats for Equestria, like Queen Chrysalis, Lord Tirek, Discord before reformation, Nightmare Moon, and King Sombra. However, after moving ahead, the pictures started to show King Arthur's story, which confused Sunny and startled Sonic, but he decided to not show it off yet... He eventually did showed his surprise, though, because as they walked more and more, King Arthur's story started to get re-told, but changing the human characters with Sonic and his friends. Arthur got replaced with Sonic, Sir Gawain with Knuckles, Sir Lancelot with Shadow, Sir Percival with Blaze... "Okay... this is going from weird to 'What the hell is going on?!' way too fast." Sonic said with a frown, staring at the picture of King Arthur sitting on his throne... or rather, Sonic sitting on the throne. "Why are these pictures showing you, Knuckles and Shadow instead of those humans?" Sunny questioned. "Long story short, I was heading towards Amy's for the one time I accepted to go on a date with her, even with a chilidog for her and everything!" He started to explain. "When suddenly, I was falling through a weird portal that popped out of nowhere, and I kind of ended up in King Arthur's narrative story... Or, at least, something like that..." "Who's King Arthur?" "Well, just like you have old fairy tales with some being true and some being not, I have my own as well. King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table is one of those stories from my world." "Oh." Sunny muttered, nodding in understanding. "So, it's like a very old tale you guys heard as kids to sleep or...?" "I mean, I did heard really weird stories from Longclaw as a kid, but King Arthur's story is definitely something you wouldn't like to read as a child." Sonic replied with a chuckle. "In other words: No. It's more of a medieval knights story that could make any kid sleep after the first page... out of boredom..." At this statement, Sunny giggled, even covering her mouth with a hoof. She was about to make another question, but then, they both stopped when they both felt the ground sinking all of a sudden. So, they both looked under them, just ti see that they pressed some kind of button. Worst of all, this button also was making the ground sink because of a trap, which made Sonic and Sunny look at each other and gulp. "Well... Crap..." Sonic said with a bored expression. After this, the ground opened entirely, and both Sonic and Sunny fell through the hole, sliding through a tunnel and screaming as they slipped at fast speed. Of course, Sonic screams became cheers of joy after a while, since he always enjoyed all kinds of speed, unlike his partner. Eventually they reached the end of the tunnel, and why Sonic still cheered for all the adrenaline he felt while traveling the tunnel down, Sunny groaned and slowly stand up, shaking her head and feeling dizzy. But then, they both looked ahead and gasped, as Sonic's eyes widened in shock and surprise: They were staring at the Caliburn Sword, the very same one that Sonic found to defeat King Arthur. Sunny could also tell it was the same sword they both saw not so long ago in the hallway's frames, and that did concerned her a bit. "Sonic?" She called out. "Isn't that––" "The sword we saw in the frames?" He interrupted her, but he had an anxious look and began to slowly walk towards the sword. "The very same Caliburn Sword that I used long time ago to fight against King Arthur, and then to defeat Merlina after she betrayed me? Yes, is the very same sword." After Sonic said what he said in the way he said it, Sunny felt concerned for him, so she walked ahead of him and stopped him. "Wait! Don't get close to it!" She told him with concern, placing a hoof on his chest to stop him entirely. Sonic looked down at her with a raised eyebrow. "Why not?" "Because we don't know for sure that it is the same sword!" She pointed out. "Sure, it looks like it, but is it the same?" Sonic actually didn't considered this until Sunny pointed it out, so he looked back at the sword with a slight frown. "I guess you have a point... But it doesn't change the fact that it's strange that it appeared all of a sudden, and specifically right now." "What do you mean?" "Caliburn is the weakened version of the legendary Excalibur Sword from the very same story than King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. He's... Also a talking sword, at least he was when I first pulled him out. If this is the same Caliburn, then he should talk as soon as I touch him..." "And if it doesn't?" Sunny asked with concern. "Then it was a pleasure to meet you." Sonic said with a frown, one that told Sonic this was serious business. The Earth Pony mare gulped nervously, but still moved aside to allow Sonic to continue his path. Sonic nodded to her with a smile, as a way to thank her for understanding his plan, before he walked towards Caliburn once again with a frown. Deep down he hoped it was the same sword, but even if it wasn't, he'll still take it with him. It could be useful, anyways, and he could take it down the Crystal Brighthouse once they reached the place. He grabbed the sword's handle with his right hand and tried to pull it off, but it didn't came out just like that, so he grabbed it with both hands and began to pull. One, two, three, four... After the fifth pull, he felt the sword lifting from its place, so he kept pulling it up. Six, seven, eight, nine... The tenth pull came, and he finally took the sword out of the pedestal it was over. Sonic turned the sword around and examined it from top to bottom: Fake or not, it looked the exact same as it did when he had his adventure against the Black Knight. However, Caliburn didn't woke up like he did when Sonic pulled it out all those years ago, and that concerned him. "I guess you're right, Sunny..." He said with disappointment, turning around to show her the sword, while Sunny looked at him with a sad but sympathetic smile. "This is not the same Caliburn... Eh, at least I have a cool new weapon to use against whatever's that gloom coming out of the Brighthouse!" However, as he swing the sword playfully to show off, with Sonic giggling at his action, the sword suddenly began to glow on a golden light, and it even made a strange sound, both things getting Sonic and Sunny's attention. "... Sir Sonic... Miss Starscout..." Caliburn's voice spoke, and the two friends' eyes widened. "Caliburn?!" Sonic asked with disbelief. "You were right!" Sunny said with surprise. "It is a talking sword!" "... Be careful on the journey that awaits you..." Caliburn spoke again. "... A powerful force is awakening... Don't loose the path of light..." After saying this, the golden light faded away, and Caliburn's voice couldn't be heard anymore. Sonic and Sunny both stared at the sword for a while, and none of them said nothing for quite a while. "Wow..." Sunny eventually said with an amused and excited smile. "I didn't knew you were talking about this when you said that the sword could talk!" "I wasn't..." Sonic replied with an anxious look. Sunny's smile faded away, and she looked at Sonic with concern. "W-What?" "Sunny, Caliburn should talk with a mouth... He has a face." Sonic pointed out with a slight frown. "But he talked to us in a way he has never done before... And if that thing below the Brighthouse is as dangerous as that girl on our dreams told us, then I get now how dangerous it is if we need Caliburn to face it." "How powerful is this sword, again?" "It could literally slash a castle in half at its full force, Sunny." The mare's eyes widened, then she frowned concerned. "So it is that bad..." Sonic nodded, then looked at the sword, and then made a movement to put it on its case, which magically appeared thanks to a golden aura made by the sword itself on Sonic's back, and Sonic sheath the sword. "Let's return to the Brighthouse." Sonic declared. "Something tells me we should go down there as soon as we can..."