Following the scene at the hospital, the group once again headed for Sugarcube Corner to regroup, thankfully not having to deal with any curious foals on the way there this time. When they got there, they found Mayor Mare and the Cakes on the front step, the tan earth pony evidently having been looking for the group. Mr. and Mrs. Cake ushered everyone inside, both of them and Pinkie Pie going into the kitchen afterwards and Shining Armor and the princesses taking Mayor Mare into the back where they were earlier to talk while the rest of them spread out around the shop, Soarin quickly trotting over to one of the display cases to get a good look at the pies and the Cutie Mark Crusaders moving off to the side near it so Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo could talk to Babs.
Currently, Tails, Blaze, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Spike were clustered around the Main Six’s favorite table. Atop it, in the center, sat the six Elements of Harmony and the six Chaos Emeralds that had been recovered so far. Tails was checking something on his radar while both Rarity and Spike eyed the Chaos Emeralds for their own reasons. The ponies in the back looked over as Twilight said, “So, with the Element of Magic restored, we’ve fully reunited the Elements of Harmony once again.”
Without looking up from his radar, Tails nodded, “Yep. And according to my analysis, it doesn’t look like either the Element of Magic or the red Chaos Emerald suffered any negative effects due to being turned to stone. I think I can safely say that, barring any outside influences, the Elements of Harmony will work perfectly when they’re needed.”
Spike began to discreetly reach for the Chaos Emeralds as Rainbow Dash asked, “What do you mean by ‘outside influences’, Tails? We’ve got the Elements of Harmony, and we’re all together. Why wouldn’t they work?”
Tails looked up and said, “I’m not saying they won’t, Rainbow. I’m just being open-minded here.” Rainbow raised an eyebrow at him in confusion.
Blaze spoke, “Don’t get upset by what Tails is saying, Rainbow Dash. It never hurts to think about a situation realistically. He’s just saying there’s a chance that,” she stopped short upon noticing Spike reaching for the green Chaos Emerald and the look on his face and used her left hand to push the gems away before finishing, “something could come up that you’re not expecting.” She then glanced at Spike out of the corner of her eyes, the baby dragon giving her a sheepish look.
Rainbow said, “Okay, I’ll agree with that. But still, we’ve got all the Elements of Harmony! We can take down that thing that messed with our worlds now!”
Rarity looked up at her, “That’s true, Rainbow Dash, but I can’t help but feel we’re not quite prepared yet.”
Marine piped up from behind Blaze, “Oy, she’s right, mate! You’re a doubloon short of a treasure!”
Tails nodded, “Right. We’re still missing a Chaos Emerald. We should be fully prepared before we try to find that creature.”
Twilight looked at him and asked, “How long will it take to locate the last Chaos Emerald?”
Tails looked down at his radar and started moving things around on the touch screen while saying, “The Chaos Emeralds are like magnets; they have the power to attract each other. I’m trying to use the energy signatures of the ones we have to hone in on the last one. It shouldn’t take too long to find it.”
Derpy flew over and asked, “You’re looking for something? Anything I can do to help?”
Rainbow Dash quickly turned to her and said, “No, that’s fine, Derpy! We can handle it!” She wrapped her right foreleg around Derpy and grabbed a stool with her left hoof, flying over to the other side of the shop with both in tow. She stopped in front of the window, across from Silver, Espio, Vector, Spitfire, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders and next to Charmy and Sonic (who was leaning against the wall) and let go of the stool and Derpy. “Tails knows what to do for this kind of thing, so you just sit over here and let him work, okay?” the rainbow-maned pegasus asked. Derpy nodded after a moment and plopped down on the stool while Rainbow flew back over to the table.
Shortly after she sat down, however, Derpy’s stool suddenly leaned back towards the window and the gray mare fell backwards! As she fell, she reached her forelegs out and wrapped them around Charmy’s waist, the bumblebee grabbing Sonic’s right arm with his left hand as he was pulled along with her. “Whoa!” Sonic exclaimed as Derpy pushed the window open and they all fell out, raising a cloud of dust as they all landed.
“Oops! My bad!” Derpy said.
Silver ran over to the window and looked out, “Uh, are you guys all right?”
Sonic sat up a moment later and said, “Yeah, we’re fine.” He then looked over at Charmy and Derpy before adding, “Well, most of us are.”
Before Silver could ask, Charmy sat up, his helmet having somehow being twisted around when he fell to cover his eyes, and asked, “Duh, who put the lights out?” Sonic reached over and placed a hand on the bee’s helmet, turning it around to its right position. “Oh, thanks! I can see just perfectly now!” he said happily. Sonic resisted the urge to roll his eyes.
Silver looked back at the blue hedgehog and asked, “What about Derpy?” They both looked over at the gray pegasus, but she simply sat up and smiled, her eyes still going in different directions. The two hedgehogs looked at each other and shrugged before Sonic stood up and climbed through the window, Charmy and Derpy following behind him.
After Silver closed the window, Pinkie came bouncing out of the kitchen with a tray balanced on top of her head. She came to a stop near the front counter and spoke, “Hey guys, Mr. and Mrs. Cake just whipped up a fresh batch of muffins! Anypony want some?”
Derpy’s eyes focused for a second as she smiled, “Muffins?” She spread her wings and flew over to Pinkie, her eyes returning to Derpy normal as she did.
Sonic walked over to the table while Pinkie began bouncing around the shop, Derpy desperately reaching to grab one of the muffins as she moved. The Mayor came down from the back and walked over to Sonic, saying, “Oh, that Derpy and her love of muffins.”
Sonic commented, “Seems like she makes things interesting around here.”
While watching Derpy successfully get her hooves on the muffin tray and Pinkie congratulate her, Mayor Mare nodded, “Yes, whether it’s coming here to Sugarcube Corner to sample a new treat or doing her job, she certainly keeps Ponyville lively.” She then turned to Sonic and said, “The princesses and Prince Shining Armor just explained things to me. Are you, Twilight, and the others going to set things right now, Sonic?”
Sonic turned to the tan mare and replied, “Not just yet. I’m not saying anything about the power of the Elements of Harmony since I’ve never seen them in action before, but it can’t hurt to be fully prepared before we go after that creature. But I promise you, Mayor, it won’t be long before Ponyville’s back to normal.”
Mayor Mare sighed, “All right, I understand. Just please try to hurry if you can. Ever since that… monster appeared over Ponyville, everypony has been quite worried about it coming back, especially now when the repairs from the changeling attack are almost complete.”
Espio spoke up from the other side of the room, “I can understand their worry. With that creature appearing near the hospital, there’s no telling what it will do next.” He looked up at Vector and asked, “Any thoughts, Vector?”
The crocodile replied, “Your guess is as good as mine, Espio. To be honest, I’m wondering what happened to that Jet punk and his crew. We haven’t seen them since we got back! They’d better not be up to something!”
Sonic shrugged, “Anything world domination-related and beyond never seemed like Jet’s cup of tea, Vector… but you’re right. Even with Wave being angry, it is kind of weird that the Babylon Rogues took off on us like that.”
Spitfire spoke, “I don’t like it either. Those birds may have been willing to work with us earlier, but now we don’t even know where they are. Their leader especially seems like the kind to do something for his own gain. Those birds don’t belong in the sky; their kind messes it up for the rest of us fliers.”
Rainbow Dash nodded at her, “No argument there, Spitfire ma’am! Those guys definitely seemed like the crooked type! You think we should worry about finding them?”
Spitfire replied, “I would like to know what they’re planning, but all of us looking for them isn’t a good use of anypony’s time. You guys should focus on finding this missing Chaos Emerald and stopping that monster.”
Soarin looked up from the display case and asked, “So… does that mean the two of us are going to be keeping an eye out for them, Spitfire?”
The captain turned to him and said, “I was thinking of something along those lines, Soarin, yes. Why? Are you craving another pie?”
Soarin smiled at her, but replied, “No, I think I’m good, Spitfire… for now, anyway. I’m ready to get back to work.” Spitfire nodded at that.
A moment later, a beeping sound came from the table and everyone turned to look; the Cakes even poked their heads out from the kitchen. “I’m getting a signal! It’s coming from the Chaos Emerald!” Tails said.
Pinkie suddenly popped up on his left side between the table and the display case and smiled, “Ooh, already? That was super quick!” Despite being surprised by the pink pony’s sudden appearance, Tails began sliding his fingers around on the touch screen of his radar, trying to get a fix on the signal’s location as the Cakes returned to the kitchen, now knowing that there was nothing wrong.
Twilight asked him after a moment, “Where’s it coming from?” Tails took his fingers off the radar a second later and turned it towards her to let her see, Rarity, Spike, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie leaning over to look as well.
While they were looking, Applejack walked over to the table and spoke up, getting everyone’s attention, “Just a sec’, y’all. Ah know we gotta get movin’ and all, but before we go rushin’ off, Ah’d like ta take Apple Bloom and her friends back ta Sweet Apple Acres. Big Macintosh and Braeburn should have noticed they’re not in their clubhouse or on the farm by now. They’re probably worried sick!”
Fluttershy walked up beside her and meekly said, “Um, I can do that for you, Applejack. In fact, you girls, Spike, Sonic, and Tails can go ahead without me!”
Sonic asked, “Why would we do that?”
Fluttershy replied, “W-Well, we have to get moving, right? Like Applejack said? S-So…”
Tails said, “But we can’t go without Applejack or you, Fluttershy. This isn’t like when each of us had something to take care of. We’re getting close to fixing all this; it wouldn’t feel right going without either of you.”
Applejack smiled at him while Fluttershy stuttered, “O-Oh, w-well…”
Pinkie Pie suddenly wrapped her hooves around him, saying, “Aw, that’s so SWEET of you, Tails!” She then remembered what Applejack said and asked, “But what about the girls? Applejack wants to take them back to Sweet Apple Acres; who’s going to do that?”
Blaze spoke, “If I may be allowed to do so, I will. We are starting to get a bit too crowded to be able to move very fast, and I would rather not slow anyone down if possible. I am also concerned about that creature. It could appear again at any time.”
Across from her, Silver said, “That’s true, especially after it tried to grab the Chaos Emerald and the Element of Magic earlier. No telling where it’ll appear next.”
Blaze nodded, “Exactly. Therefore, I believe I will stay behind to make sure the girls get back to Sweet Apple Acres safely as well as keep an eye on Ponyville.”
Vector spoke up, “Well, if that thing does show up again, you can count on the Chaotix Detective Agency to come rolling in to help!”
Espio glanced at him, “I hope you’re not thinking you can grease the wheels and get a little something extra for our services, Vector.”
Charmy giggled as he flew up alongside him, “Protecting towns from big scary monsters isn’t detective work, silly!”
While Vector began to rage at Charmy, Silver turned to Blaze and said, “Well, that aside, I’ll stay behind too. Shadow and his team are great, but they also can’t be everywhere at once. We managed to repel that thing once; if we have to, I’m sure we can do it again.” Blaze nodded in agreement.
Mayor Mare spoke, “I thank you all for volunteering to help protect Ponyville while the rest of you resolve this mess. You all truly do right by our fair city.”
Marine almost immediately piped up, “Fair dinkum! Sonic and Tails always try to do right! And Blaze too! She is a princess, after all! She won’t let you down, and I won’t either!”
Babs, who had been listening along with her fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders, spoke up at this, “Whoa, wait a minute! She’s a princess?” She looked at Apple Bloom and asked, “Why didn’t you tell me, Apple Bloom?”
The olive filly nervously rubbed the side of her head with a hoof as she replied, “Well, Blaze doesn’t really like bein’ called a princess, Babs. Ah guess Ah thought she’d get mad if we mentioned it…”
Sweetie Belle asked, “Is there a problem, Babs?”
The orange-brown filly looked off to the side nervously, “I don’t know. Should we really be troublin’ somepony so important with somethin’ like keepin’ an eye on us?”
Scootaloo smiled, “It’s not like that, Babs. Blaze let us hang around earlier and even told us a little bit about her. She seemed like she was cool with us.” Babs’ gaze shifted to the ground, still looking doubtful.
Blaze walked over and knelt next to Babs, the filly looking up at her as she said, “If it makes you feel better, Miss Seed, your cousin Apple Bloom is right; I do not prefer being referred to as royalty. My title does not mean much outside of my home dimension as it is, and I do not enjoy the thought of it making others think they have to act a certain way.”
Babs glanced to the side, “But they still do once they know you’re a princess, right?”
Blaze replied, “Not always. I’ll have you know that, when I was younger, I occasionally found myself the subject of teasing.”
Babs looked up at her with wide eyes, “You were?”
Blaze nodded, “Indeed. I’d hardly say that, deep down, I’m really all that different from any of my people.”
While they continued conversing, Fluttershy looked at Sonic and asked, “Why would anypony want to tease Blaze? She’s so nice… How could they be so mean?”
Sonic scratched his head for a moment before shrugging, “Well, I wasn’t there, and I’m not going to pry into her personal business without her permission, so I wouldn’t know.” He then looked over at Twilight and asked, “So what are we doing, Twilight?”
The lavender unicorn looked back at him and replied, “We’re going mountain climbing.”
Soon, at the path leading out of Ponyville
Sonic, Tails, Spike, Shining Armor, the Main Six, and the princesses looked at the path in front of them. At the end of the path, beyond the farm fields along the sides, was their next destination: the mountain containing the cave where the girls had met their first full-grown dragon. “So that’s the spot, huh?” Sonic asked.
Tails glanced down at his radar for a moment before looking back up and saying, “Yeah, definitely.” He looked at Twilight and asked, “Any ideas where we should look, Twilight?”
The lavender unicorn replied, “Well, there’s a cave at the top where a dragon was going to be taking a one hundred year nap. That’s about all any of us saw in the two times we were all up there.”
Sonic raised a hand to his chin, “Huh. So that’s how long a dragon sleeps.” He looked down at Spike and asked, “You don’t have any bad habits like that yet, do you, Spike?”
Spike looked up at him, “No way! I was trained to be an assistant! I always get up early!” He then blushed, remembering a few times in the past, and glanced down at the ground before adding, “W-Well, usually, anyway.”
Rainbow Dash snickered at his embarrassment while Rarity said, “Oh, I’m sure he never will, Sonic. Spike is a very punctual and hard-working dragon, after all! It wouldn’t be like our little Spikey-Wikey to suddenly do such a thing.” Spike smiled happily at that.
Rainbow Dash spoke up, “Yeah, okay, that’s great and all, but we’ve got to get going! The sooner we get that last Chaos Emerald, the sooner we can defeat that monster!”
Everybody nodded except for Fluttershy, the pink-maned pegasus looking a bit nervous at the idea of going back to that mountain again. Applejack noticed and walked over to her, placing a hoof reassuringly on her side as she said, “Now don’t you worry about a thing, Sugarcube. We ain’t seen that dragon since he agreed to find another place ta sleep, and we already dealt with all them loose rocks last time. This time we oughta be able to climb up without any troubles.”
Princess Luna nodded, “I agree with Applejack, Fluttershy. And remember, should we encounter any dangers, we are all together; we can defend each other.”
Although she was still a bit nervous, Fluttershy stood up straight and nodded, “O-Okay, Applejack and Princess Luna. I… I’ll try to be brave.” With that, the group started down the path, leaving the colored area of Ponyville and walking back into more whiteness.
As they were walking along the (somewhat) outlined path, Tails raised the question, “Uh, Applejack? You said something about loose rocks; is there any chance we’ll see any on the way up?”
The orange earth pony looked over at him and replied, “Ah doubt it, ‘less we all start yellin’ ‘bout somethin’. Other than that, Ah’m sure we won’t have ta deal with nothin’ like the last time we went up this mountain.”
Princess Celestia spoke, “Ah yes, I remember receiving the friendship report for that one. That lesson on understanding one another’s problems and working to sort them out while working through the situation at hand was a very fine one indeed. And I know the pony farmers and the rest of Ponyville must’ve been relieved that they don’t have to worry about any more rocks suddenly coming loose on top of them.”
Rainbow Dash nodded, “Yeah, especially since none of the farmers who live around here saw it coming. They usually try to send word about that kind of thing; guess even they weren’t expecting those rockslides to happen.”
Tails scratched the side of his head, “So… you’re saying that a bunch of rocks on the mountain just suddenly came loose and started coming down?”
Rainbow waved a wing dismissively, “Yeah, that’s all it was. No biggie.”
Shining Armor looked over at a farm field as they walked by and commented, “Well, it looks like those rocks are being put to good use.”
Sonic looked at another field and nodded, “Yeah. If I didn’t know any better, I might’ve guessed the ponies out here farmed rocks instead of, well, crops.”
Pinkie suddenly popped up next to him and said, “My Mama and Papa own a rock farm! I used to work with them and my sisters when I was an itty bitty little Pinkie, especially before I got my cutie mark! I was surprised when I heard that Papa let Trixie work on the farm before she came back to Ponyville! She was lucky he let her; Papa used to be so strict about who he let work on the farm! He could be real strict sometimes, especially…”
While Pinkie went on, Sonic glanced at the others and asked, “A rock farm? How does that work?”
Rainbow quickly said, “Don’t ask her. Trust me, that’s a bad idea; I should know.” She shook her head, remembering the costumes Pinkie magically had on hand when the girls went to the Changeling Kingdom so that they could avoid mixing each other up. She was grateful that Pinkie had seemingly forgotten about them this time around.
Sonic shrugged, “Uh… okay, then.” He glanced over at Twilight and noticed she was looking at the mountain intently for some reason. Facing forward again and noticing they were getting close to the base of it, he wondered if Twilight was thinking the same thing he guessed Tails was: that something about the rocks on the mountain coming loose suddenly and without the ponies who lived near the mountain seeing any signs that something like that was about to happen seemed unusual to say the least.
It wasn’t long before the group had reached the base of the mountain, all of them looking up at the steep cliff in front of them. Shining Armor broke the brief silence, “Uh, Twilight? Is there a path leading up around the side of the mountain or something like that?”
His sister answered after a moment, “Uh, yes there is, Shining. We can go around the mountain to go up, or we could go straight up the side of this cliff.”
Rainbow piped up, “Let’s do that. That’s the fast way. And since there’s no dragon this time around, Fluttershy’s wings should work.”
The shy pegasus looked back at her still-folded wings at that, slightly moving them but not extending them. “O-Oh, um, I-I don’t know, Rainbow…” she murmured. Rainbow (barely) repressed the urge to let out a groan of exasperation at this.
Tails stepped up next to her and offered, “I could be your flying buddy, Fluttershy. You know, to make sure your wings don’t suddenly lock up before we get up to that ledge.”
Cadance nodded, “That’s very nice of you to offer, Tails. And if neither of you mind, I’ll fly with you both!”
Fluttershy smiled, “O-Okay. That sounds like a wonderful idea.” Tails nodded in agreement.
Rainbow said, “Well, come on, then! Let’s get up this mountain already!” She flew up the side of the mountain, landing on the closest ledge above and looking down at the rest of the group.
Applejack shook her head, “Typical Rainbow.” The other four silently agreed with her, though they were all glad the pegasus didn’t try to fly straight up to the top like the time with the dragon, and, after Twilight had Spike climb up on her back, they started up after her. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Twilight, and Shining started walking up the side of the mountain while Tails, Fluttershy, Cadance, Luna, and Celestia flew up just above them. It took them all about a minute to get up to Rainbow, the rainbow-maned mare doing her best to remain patient.
Once they were all up, Rainbow looked around and asked, “Hey, where’s Sonic?” She was answered not a second later with a quick gust of wind at her side and she turned to see the blue hedgehog standing there with his arms crossed.
“You rang?” he smirked.
“How did you get up here?” Shining asked.
Sonic shrugged, “I took the long way around. Seemed like the better choice.” Shining shook his head, but smiled all the same.
Rainbow smiled as well, “Well, all right! Let’s get moving, then!” With that, everyone started up the trail leading to the top of the mountain.
As they walked, Tails kept looking up curiously, eying the side of the mountain next to him. Luna noticed and, as they hugged the wall to their left, walked alongside him and asked, “Do you have something on your mind, Tails?”
The fox looked up at her and replied, “Uh, sort of, Princess Luna. I’m looking for the spots where the rocks came down. After seeing all those rocks down there, I’m curious how severe the rockslides were.”
Applejack looked back at him, “We should be comin’ up on the spot soon, Sugarcube. Ya can get a look-see real quick.”
From up ahead, Sonic called back, “You’d better look down and watch your step before you do that, Tails. It’s kind of steep here.” Tails looked forward and saw Sonic leap over to Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Rarity, and Shining Armor following him. As he got a little closer and saw Pinkie Pie jump and Fluttershy and Cadance fly over to the others, he saw that there was a break in the path with nothing but air bridging it. He, Celestia, and Luna came to a stop near the break while Applejack jumped over to the others.
After she landed, Applejack turned to look at Tails and, while pointing upwards with her right hoof, said, “Up there, Tails! That’s the spot!”
Celestia, Luna, and Tails all looked up to where she was pointing, Sonic, Spike, and some of the ponies looking up as well. Despite the complete whiteness of the mountain, they could see some small ledges further up along the steep cliff face. After a moment, Tails asked, “You mean the rocks fell from those ledges up there?”
Rainbow called, “No, they slid down the mountain! You know, from up near the top!”
Tails squinted as he looked further up, looking for some sort of sign to confirm what Rainbow Dash had said. “Are you sure? I don’t see any ledges that high up,” he said a few seconds later.
“I do not see anything either,” Luna commented.
Pinkie piped up, “Ooh, ooh! I remember now! This IS the spot where the rocks were coming down! We couldn’t go all the way up because rocks were rolling down across the path, but we found a hole in the mountain up on those ledges, and inside were all these cracks running up and down the inside! We used some of the rocks and Twilight’s magic to seal them, and then the rocks stopped coming down!” She looked at her lavender friend and asked, “Right, Twilight?”
Twilight glanced at her for a moment before saying, “Yeah, that’s right. The shaking stopped soon afterwards and the rocks stopped falling. That… fixed the problem.”
Celestia looked down at Tails and asked, “Does that satisfy your curiosity, Tails?”
The fox scratched the back of his head with his right hand as he replied, “I guess so.” Celestia nodded and then spread her wings, leaping over to the other side with the others. Tails and Luna shared a look before they followed her over. As they continued on, Tails took one last look up at the cliff face and thought, “That’s weird… If there really were rockslides up there, it should be pretty easy to see the collapse. But that cliff face looks intact…” Shaking his head, he turned and ran to catch up with the others.
Not long afterwards, the group began to see dirt along the side of the path. “Pray tell, could somepony tell me why this dirt appears to be misplaced?” Luna asked as they walked.
“Uh, that would probably be because of the avalanche that happened the first time we came up here, Princess Luna. Ended up knockin’ some rocks and dirt loose up ahead. Ah’m guessin’ some dirt fell back here too,” Applejack explained.
“Ooh, I certainly remember that avalanche, and having to climb over that big pile of dirt afterwards,” Rarity shuddered.
Rainbow looked at her, “What’s the big deal, Rarity? It wasn’t hard to climb over.”
Rarity glanced at her sharply, “You say that because you flew over it, Rainbow. The rest of us had to walk over it.”
Before Rainbow could respond, Pinkie piped up, “Ooh, lookie!” Rarity and Rainbow looked where she was pointing and saw that, around the bend… the path was clear.
As the group stopped where the path curved, Applejack asked, “What the hay? There used ta be a huge pile o’ dirt blockin’ the way! We didn’t clear it when we came down; what happened ta it?”
Spike shrugged, “Maybe it fell down during the rockslides? The whole mountain could’ve been shaking during all that.”
Shining rubbed his chin with a hoof, “That is possible, Spike.”
Rainbow said, “Yeah, that’s gotta be what happened. I mean, what else could’ve caused a dirt pile to disappear?” She noticed Pinkie taking a deep breath and turned to her, saying, “I wasn’t looking for an answer, Pinkie!”
While they started talking, Sonic noticed Twilight was eying the bend ahead with an unsettled look on her face. Curious, he looked as well, but couldn’t see anything unusual from where he was standing. Without warning, he suddenly dashed down the path, going around the curve and heading for the bend. “Hey, where are you going, Sonic?” Tails called in surprise.
The blue hedgehog came to a stop at the bend and turned to look at the wall, at which point he saw something unusual. He looked towards the others and called, “Hey guys, come look at this!” Everyone hurried over to him, spreading out so they could all stand on the mountain path and get a good look. They saw what had caught his attention.
In the side of the mountain wall was what appeared to be a large indentation, the inside of which seemed to curve, almost like the inside of a bowl. It did not look as smooth, however; near the bottom of the inside were what appeared to be two rows of jagged rocks, and near the top was a pair of rocks that stuck out from the rest of the indentation.
“What is it?” Cadance asked.
Sonic shrugged, “Beats me. But it sticks out like a… well, a hole in the wall.”
Celestia looked at Twilight and asked, “Do you have any idea what created this, Twilight?” The lavender unicorn shook her head.
Fluttershy squeaked, “Um… maybe it was always here? I mean, maybe it wasn’t, but we wouldn’t have known the first time we came up here…”
Rainbow nudged her, “Yeah, you’re right, Fluttershy. It’s probably been here this whole time and was buried under the dirt when that avalanche came down!”
She looked at Tails when the fox spoke up, “I don’t know about that, Rainbow.” He had his radar out and was pointing it at the indentation. “I’m getting some odd readings here. They’re faint, but they look familiar somehow…” he mused.
Applejack asked, “What do ya mean, Sugarcube?”
Luna added, “Are you suggesting this is somehow… recent?”
Tails looked up, his arms dropping to his sides as he said, “I don’t know… I don’t think this could have happened in the last day or two, but with everything the way it is right now, I can’t even begin to guess how old the rock is when it all looks the same.”
Spike hopped off Twilight’s back and asked, “But it could just be nothing, right?”
Tails looked down at him and replied, “Well, I hope it’s nothing, Spike.” Looking up at the indentation again, he added, “But if it is, it’s a very odd nothing.”
Pinkie giggled, “I know, right?! It almost looks like a face! Ooh, Mr. Scary Rocky Face is gonna get us!”
Ignoring the party pony’s fake terror, Sonic looked back at the indentation for a moment before turning to Twilight, who was also looking at it, and asking, “How close are we to that dragon’s former home?”
Twilight absently replied, “We’re just about there.” She continued to look up at the indentation for a few seconds, remembering when she first found it following the Main Six’s rockslide-halting venture. The readings Tails said his radar had picked up on had brought some of her worries about what it could be back, but she still wasn’t sure what it actually was. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she turned and continued on down the path, Sonic and the others doing the same.
Not long afterwards, the group climbed up the natural steps at the end of the path and found themselves in front of the cave. Rarity looked at Tails and asked, “Tails, darling?”
The fox nodded as he looked down at his radar, “Yeah. The signal’s almost topped out.” He looked up, “It’s gotta be in that cave.”
Fluttershy whimpered, “D-Do you think it’s safe in there?”
Princess Cadance said, “It doesn’t sound like there’s anything living in there, Fluttershy. I’m sure it’s fine.” Applejack nodded in agreement.
Pinkie smiled, “And if it isn’t…” She zipped off to the side and came back happily waving a rubber chicken in her mouth.
Sonic and a few others raised their eyebrows at her. Sonic turned away a few seconds later and muttered, “I’m not even going to ask…” He then walked towards the cave opening, Tails, Spike, Shining, the Main Six, and the princesses following him in.
Inside, they found that the cave was completely empty save for the natural rock formations. The dragon had evidently returned to the mountain after he found a new place to sleep and taken his horde with him, as not a trace of it remained, not even one little coin. “Oh… I was hoping that beautiful diamond was still here!” Rarity pouted.
The others looked around near where the horde had been, searching for any sign of the Chaos Emerald. “Anything, Tails?” Sonic asked after a moment.
The fox consulted his radar again. “I don’t understand. The signal’s completely topped out. We should be right on top of it,” he said after a moment. Before anyone could say anything, the dual screens on Tails’ radar started acting up. “What the…?” he asked.
“What is it?” asked Luna.
“Something’s happening… I’m picking up an energy fluctuation…” Tails said.
“What does that mean?” Rainbow asked. Tails didn’t get a chance to answer her because something suddenly slammed against the side of the mountain, shaking the cave. Everyone turned to look towards the cave opening and saw, instead of white, the creature looking in at them! It placed its left hand on the side of the mountain as they stared, shaking the cave again.
Fluttershy yelped and dove behind Applejack, “I-It’s back!” Applejack stood protectively in front of her as the yellow pegasus covered her head with her hooves.
“What’s it doing up here?!” Spike exclaimed.
“It matters not. We’re not waiting any longer; the time has come to put a stop to this madness,” Celestia said. She looked at Twilight and spoke, in her calm voice, “Twilight Sparkle, the Elements of Harmony, if you please.” The unicorn quickly nodded and used her magic to open her saddlebags, reaching for the necklaces and tiara.
Before she could pull any of them out, Sonic suddenly yelled, “Whoa!” Everyone turned to look at the back of the cave, where Sonic had been standing, and saw one of the purple portals open behind him, lifting him off his feet and pulling him towards it!
“SONIC!” the others exclaimed; a second later, he was pulled into the portal! The group looked back at the creature and saw that it was floating away from the mountain; it soon opened a purple void behind itself and floated backwards, disappearing through it. Seeing that they missed their chance, Tails turned and dashed towards the portal, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Spike, and Applejack hot on his heels, the others right behind them. They disappeared through the portal and, upon finding themselves in the odd hallway again, hurried towards the open door at the other end of the room, running into the light inside.
________________________________________
Tails and the others grunted as they came into contact with the ground, all of them taking a moment to make sure of their balance before looking around. They were standing on a plateau that had grass on it as well as some small green plants, crates marked with stars, and tree roots extending out of the wall where the portal was. Off to the side, they could see what appeared to be a statue with a bird on top of it; beyond that, they could see a large stone structure. The sky above was overcast, filled with gray clouds that hid the sun from view, but didn’t completely block out its light.
Rainbow cupped her hooves around her mouth and called, “Sonic?! Sonic, where are you?!”
Pinkie did the same, adding, “Come out, come out, wherever you are!”
Luna looked around before saying, “I do not see him. Did that creature even bring him here?”
Applejack asked, “Fer that matter, where IS here?”
Tails walked over to the statue and placed his right hand on its side. He then looked up at the bird on top, examining it before saying, “An eagle statue…” Looking off to the side, he noticed that the plateau they were standing on was situated over a large valley; he could barely see the ground at the bottom. He looked back at the others and said, “I think we’re in Kingdom Valley.”
Twilight tilted her head, “Kingdom Valley?” She raised a hoof to the side of her head, rubbing it as she thought she remembered hearing that name when she had probed Sonic’s unconscious memory earlier. It then clicked and she asked, “That’s near Soleanna, right?”
Tails nodded, “Yeah. This is where the old Soleanna castle used to be.”
Celestia cocked her head slightly, “Used to be?”
Luna asked, “Do you mean it has been abandoned?”
Tails replied, “Um, yes. You see, there was a big experiment involving some sort of prototype engine in a laboratory underneath this valley that the Duke of Soleanna was involved in. Something went wrong during the experiment and a huge accident occurred. The castle and the lab were both abandoned afterwards.” He winced for a second and then held his hand to the side of his head, uttering, “Wait… did that happen, or was it…?”
Rainbow spoke, bringing the fox out of his thoughts, “Hey, uh, guys?! Enough with the history lesson already! We gotta find Sonic!”
Rarity spoke, “I agree that we must find him, Rainbow, but where are we supposed to start looking? This valley is rather large, you know.” Before Rainbow could respond, a shadow suddenly draped over everyone, making everything seem darker.
“Ooh… spooky!” Pinkie exclaimed.
“Eep! What’s happening?” Fluttershy squeaked as she looked around nervously.
“Good question, Fluttershy. Why’d it get dark all of a sudden?” Applejack asked.
Spike turned around and his eyes widened as he noticed something coming towards them. He pointed up at it and said, “Uh… I think THAT might have something to do with it!” Everybody turned and looked up where he was pointing… and their eyes widened as well.
Above them, not too high above the top of the valley, was a large, mostly red flying ship, the sun casting its shadow on the ground below. The front of it jutted out, giving it a long, pointy bow, it had what appeared to be some kind of cannon mounted on its underside, and it had several engines mounted on the back of it, all of them emitting bright blue flames as it flew in their direction.
“What in Equestria is that?!” Cadance exclaimed.
“It looks like one of Eggman’s battleships, the Egg Carrier! But… it looks smaller and sleeker!” Tails said. As it got closer, almost flying overhead, what appeared to be a large, mostly silver mechanical dragon with black wings and parts of it red and yellow suddenly flew into view from around the other side of it, flapping its wings to stay in the air!
As they watched, they began to hear a voice that they all recognized, “♪I am the enemy, I will succeed, my mission, yeah, I must complete~♪”
Tails gaze hardened as he looked up at the dragon, “That voice…! It’s Eggman!”
Spike gasped, “What?! You mean that dragon’s under his control?!”
Twilight spoke as she continued to look up at the mechanical creation, “That’s not a real dragon, Spike! It’s one of his machines!”
Tails’ gaze turned back to the Egg Carrier as it began to pass the group, flying further into the valley. “That’s it! Sonic’s got to be up there, on the Egg Carrier!” he said.
Applejack looked at him, “How can ya tell?”
Tails replied, “Eggman wouldn’t be flying around in something like that if he didn’t have something to use it on! Why would he go joyriding in one of his machines when he’s got a big battleship like that to terrorize people with?”
Shining glanced at him, “Good point.”
Rainbow said, “Well, now that we know that, let’s get up there and take that thing down!” She started to trot forward, “I’ll go on ahead! Twilight can help the rest of you get up there!”
She was stopped when Luna extended a wing in front of her. Rainbow Dash looked up at the Lunar Princess as she spoke, “Wait… Something is happening.” Looking back up at the Egg Carrier, the cyan mare saw what she was talking about.
Eggman’s robot dragon was hovering near the back of the Egg Carrier, flapping its wings to stay close. On the underside of the battleship, almost out of the group’s sight, a large hatch slid back, revealing an opening underneath the ship. As they watched, a large number of robots, varying in color and/or appearance, dropped out of the Egg Carrier, some of them flying off into the valley and some of them staying where they were but beginning to move towards the group, their sights locked on them.
“How many robots does Dr. Eggman have on that thing?” Twilight wondered aloud. She was both fascinated and worried, fascinated at getting a chance to see more of Eggman’s tech, but worried about what it was going to do.
“What are they doing?” Rarity asked.
Tails said, “I think they’re acting like anti-air defenses. I can’t tell what kind of weapons they have or how fast they are, but with that many robots, it wouldn’t matter because it’s unlikely anything that can fly would reach the Egg Carrier unscathed.”
Shining nodded, “You’re right; they’re acting like an airborne squad. Even if they can’t stop the princesses and our pegasus friends, they’re sure to do some damage on the way up. It’s a typical force concentration strategy. We might be better off searching for a place where it’ll be easier to punch through.”
Applejack asked, “But how are some o’ us gonna get through this here valley?” She looked over the side of the plateau the group was on, “Ah see nothin’ but a lotta thin air between us and the ground.”
Tails looked around for a second before his eyes fell on the eagle statue. “I know!” he said as he ran over to it. The others watched as he jumped up as he reached the statue and struck a strange green glowing orb attached to it with his tails. Almost as soon as he did, a strange path appeared next to the statue out of thin air, floating above the ground. Tails turned back to the others and pointed at the path, “These statues create wind paths! We can use them to move through the valley! Come on!” He then jumped up onto the path and, to everyone’s surprise, began to grind along it.
“Whoa, cool!” Pinkie grinned.
Spike also looked excited by it. He looked up at Twilight, who was still staring at the wind path, and nudged her, saying, “Come on, Twilight! If Tails can do it, so can we!”
Twilight looked down at him and said, “You’re right, Spike. We’d better hurry!” She lifted him up onto her back and ran towards the statue, the others quickly following suit. As she neared the statue, Twilight used a quick flash of magic to whack the orb again, hoping it would keep the path from disappearing for a little longer. She, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Shining then jumped up onto the path, Twilight, Shining, Applejack, and Rarity grinding down it on all fours while Pinkie did it on two legs. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and the princesses used their wings to take to the air instead, though they stayed close to the path and the ponies on it.
Up ahead, Tails brought out his radio and clicked it on. He then spoke, “Sonic, can you hear me? We’re following Eggman’s Egg Carrier through Kingdom Valley! Are you up there?”