Fluttershy’s eyes were wide and her mouth hung open as she looked around, marveling at all the green around the group. Less than a minute ago, they had leapt through a portal they had found in Pinkie Pie’s room in Sugarcube Corner, and now they were walking through a jungle filled with bright green grass, ivy, and various other types of plants (one nearby looked like it was some kind of staircase or ladder). “Wow! This is… so lovely!” she breathed.
While looking off to the side, Applejack nodded, “It sure is, Fluttershy. And considerin’ some o’ the other places we’ve seen, it’s nice ta have a little quiet.”
Sonic, who was carrying Scootaloo’s scooter (since it would have had a hard time getting through some of the undergrowth) and was walking alongside Twilight as she scanned a few pages of her ‘fighting’ book, said, “It is pretty nice. Too bad it’s not gonna last long.”
Rarity asked, “Whatever do you mean, er, Sonic? While this place isn’t exactly growing on me, I don’t see how things could, as you might say, turn ugly.”
Sonic shrugged, “Well, you never know, Rarity. Still, this place definitely has a familiar scent of adventure, so I’m willing to bet there’s some fun just waiting for us somewhere.”
Sweetie Belle perked up at this, asking, “Fun? What kind of fun? Is there something really interesting in this jungle?” She turned to her fellow Crusader and said, “Hey Scootaloo, maybe we can get our cutie marks here! There must be tons of things we can try here!”
Before anypony could speak up, Scootaloo surprised them all by turning to Sweetie Belle and saying, “Sweetie Belle, this is not a good time to be thinking about your cutie mark!” The white filly looked at her incredulously and looked like she wanted to say something, but Scootaloo went on, “First of all, Apple Bloom isn’t with us! We’d be excluding her if we tried to find out what our special talents are right now! And second, what’s happened to Ponyville is way more important than our cutie marks!” She looked up at Rainbow Dash and asked, “Right, Rainbow Dash?” The cyan pegasus looked back over her shoulder and nodded.
Sweetie Belle stuttered, “But… Scootaloo…”
Sonic held up his free hand and said, “Hold that thought, Sweetie Belle.” He then lowered his hand and asked, “Did anyone else hear that?”
Everyone stopped and listened for a moment. Tails soon pointed further ahead and said, “It’s coming from that direction. It sounds metallic; probably Eggman’s robots.”
Knuckles cracked his… knuckles and said, “Sounds about right. I could use a little stress relief after dealing with that obnoxious Gilda.”
Fluttershy meekly asked, “Oh, um… you’re not going to hurt any of these… robots, are you, Knuckles?”
Rainbow turned to her and said, “Fluttershy, they’re robots that work for a total jerk! If those Badniks that attacked us in that city were his…”
Sonic interjected, “Which they were.”
Rainbow continued, “Then I doubt whatever’s up ahead is going to be any friendlier! I mean, this guy unleashed a water creature and tried to take advantage of its anger AND he blew up half of the Moon in Sonic’s world! And that’s just what we’ve seen or heard! I’m sure he’s done plenty of other stuff that’s terrible!”
Twilight spoke tentatively, “Okay, Rainbow Dash, just… calm down for a second. If we keep it down, we might be able to see what these robots are without them knowing we’re here.”
Applejack said, “Good idea, Twilight. Maybe we can get the drop on ‘em!”
Rarity asked, “We’re not all going to be fighting, are we? Violence isn’t exactly my thing.”
Knuckles glanced back at her and said, “We won’t know until we get a better look, but I doubt we’re going to have to worry about a whole squad waiting for us. Now come on; follow me.” He then led the way forward, Sonic and Tails right behind him and everyone else following behind them.
The group soon found a large green log in their way. Knuckles climbed up the side and, after looking for a minute, looked back and waved his hand in the air, telling the others they could look. They all moved to an open part of the log, moving up and looking over it into the clearing beyond, where they could see a bunch of red, bipedal robots. Spike was the first to ask, “What are those things?”
Tails answered, “Egg Pawns. Ever since the ARK incident, they’ve become Eggman’s most common foot soldiers.” Looking towards the back of the clearing, the fox spotted a cage behind the Egg Pawns. He pointed at it and said, “Look! I think there’s a frog in that cage!”
Fluttershy gasped, “Really?! There is?!”
Rainbow Dash squinted, looking at the cage carefully before turning to look at Tails and asking, “Are you sure about that, Tails? That cage looks way too big for a frog. Spike could probably slip in and out of the holes in that thing easily.”
Sonic said, “No, Tails is right, Dash. I know where we are now. This is that jungle where the giant frogs live.”
Cream giggled, “Oh, I remember those frogs! They were big, but they were so cute when they got surprised! Right, Cheese?” Her Chao friend gave a happy nod in agreement.
Twilight asked, “Uh, how big are these frogs, exactly?”
Sonic replied, “About our size. I don’t know what they eat, but don’t worry. They didn’t try to turn any of us into food last time, so I’m sure ponies and dragons aren’t on the menu either.”
Applejack sighed, “That’s good ta hear.” She then looked back at the cage and asked, “So how do we get that frog outta that there cage?”
Knuckles explained, “It was set up by Eggman’s robots. It’ll open once they’re all destroyed.” He then looked at Sonic and Tails and said, “Come on, let’s do this thing!” The duo nodded and then all three leapt over the log, landing in the clearing and running towards the Egg Pawns.
One of the Egg Pawns spotted the team as they approached and called, “ENEMIES SIGHTED. GET THEM!” The rest of the Egg Pawns immediately turned their attention to the intruders and charged towards them.
Tails called, “Ready when you are, Knuckles!” The echidna nodded and, a second later, leapt up. Sonic and Tails jumped up after him, both of them going into a Spin Jump as they came up in front of Knuckles. The echidna pulled his right fist back and then brought it forward, hitting Sonic with it and sending him flying into the nearest Egg Pawn before sending Tails into the next nearest Egg Pawn with his left fist. While Sonic stayed airborne and started using Homing Attack to hit the Egg Pawns, Tails landed and put his twin fluffy appendages to good use, knocking the Egg Pawns that had shields off their feet to give Sonic and Knuckles a free shot. In under a minute, every Egg Pawn in the clearing had been reduced to scrap metal and the cage they had set up opened.
Almost immediately, Fluttershy flew out from behind the log and over to the cage. She gasped as she looked down at the green frog inside, “Oh my goodness! I’ve never seen such a big frog before!” As everyone else came out from behind the log, the shy pegasus lowered herself down onto the edge of the cage and spoke, “Hello there, Mr. Frog. How are you doing today?” Taking a closer look, she realized the frog seemed to be nervously looking around, as if expecting the Egg Pawns to come back, so she climbed in the cage and wrapped her forelegs around the amphibian, softly saying, “You poor baby. You must have been so scared.”
Everyone stood back in silence, watching the frog sit quietly and relax as Fluttershy comforted it. “Wow… She really is good with animals,” Tails commented after a minute of silence.
Rainbow Dash grinned at him, “Yeah. What’d I tell you, huh?”
Sonic looked over at his fox buddy and said, “Hey Tails, while Fluttershy does her thing, maybe you should see if there’s anything worthwhile left in the remains of those Egg Pawns. I mean, considering what’s going to happen and all…”
Tails blinked and then said, “Oh, that’s right!” He quickly ran over to the nearest Egg Pawn and started digging through what was left of it.
Twilight looked at Sonic and asked, “Uh, Sonic? If you don’t mind me asking, what’s going to happen?”
The blue hedgehog replied, “You’ll see. These frogs aren’t just bigger than your average frog. They’ve got… I guess you could call it a kind of power.”
Applejack asked, “And what kind o’ power do they have?” Suddenly, a raindrop fell on her nose. Then another landed on the brim of her hat while another landed in Twilight’s mane. A second later, it suddenly started pouring! “What in tarnation?!” Applejack exclaimed.
Rainbow asked, “Where did this rain come from?! There isn’t even a cloud in the sky!”
Knuckles explained, “That’s the special power the frogs in this jungle have: the ability to summon rain with their croaks.”
Sweetie Belle looked back at the giant frog and asked, “So if the rain is falling, does that mean that that frog is really happy or something?”
Rarity whined, “Well, I’m not very happy! My hair is getting ruined!”
Sonic sighed and rolled his eyes. He then looked off to the side and noticed a large leaf sticking out of the ground. He walked over to it and grabbed it near its base. With a sharp tug, he broke it off and carried it back over to Rarity. He then held it over her, saying, “Here, Rarity. I know it’s not an umbrella, but it’s the best I can do.”
Rarity looked up at the leaf for a moment and then took it in her magic, saying, “Mm. Thank you, Sonic. For one with hair so wild, you do appear to have some gentlemanly qualities about you.” Spike immediately put on an angry expression at the white unicorn’s words.
Sonic noticed the look the baby dragon was giving him, but decided not to comment on it. “Yeah, well, I kind of prefer my natural look,” he told Rarity, running a hand back along the side of one of his quills.
As the rain began to slow down, Rarity said, “Oh, I’m sure there’s another style that would suit you perfectly! Perhaps we can find it when we get back to Ponyville?”
Sonic shrugged, “Nah, that’s okay. I’m better at stomping ‘bots like this.”
He looked back at Fluttershy and saw that she had released the giant frog from the embrace she had been giving it. It soon turned and hopped away into the jungle. As it left, Fluttershy called, “Bye, Mr. Frog! Say ‘hi’ to all of your friends for me!” She then turned around, brushing a bit of her wet mane aside and noticed her friends were wet as well. As she trotted over to them, she said, “Oh. I thought it had rained just now.”
Twilight nodded, “Yeah. That frog must’ve really liked you.”
Fluttershy smiled, “Oh yes, he certainly did. And he was so nice too.”
Tails stood up and came over to the group, having salvaged a pair of Power Cores and a few spare parts from the Egg Pawns. Sonic looked over at him and asked, “Tails?”
The fox replied, “I managed to get a few things off the robots before it started raining. Not that that’s a big deal; I don’t think I could’ve found a use for most of the rest of their parts anyway.”
Scootaloo asked, “So what are you going to do with that stuff, Tails?”
The fox shrugged, “I don’t know yet, Scootaloo. I like to keep spare parts handy in case I need them, so… we’ll see.”
Rainbow said, “Well, if you’re sure you’re finished looking, maybe we should get going.”
Rarity spoke, “I most certainly agree with Rainbow Dash! The sooner we’re out of this jungle, the better! And hopefully, we won’t see any more of those giant frogs.”
Tails scratched the side of his head as he said, “I don’t think that’s going to be possible, Rarity. I mean, this is a big jungle. And the last time we passed through here, the frogs helped us make our way through the jungle.”
Fluttershy flapped her wings and hovered above the ground, pressing her front hooves together as she said, “Ooh! So we’ll be seeing more of those frogs?”
Cream nodded, “Yes, Miss Fluttershy! There are a lot more frogs that live in this jungle!”
Rarity sighed, “Oh… Then I suppose I will be keeping this leaf in order to protect my hair after all.” She turned to Sonic and asked, “Sonic, would you be a dear and carry it for me?”
Sonic noticed the look on Spike’s face again and said, “I don’t think that’s such a good idea, Rarity. I was planning on helping Knuckles and getting my hands dirty. I don’t think I can guarantee that I won’t accidentally get something on your leaf, so you might want to ask someone else for help.” He then jerked a thumb in Spike’s direction and added, “Someone like Spike, maybe?”
Spike’s expression instantly brightened somewhat at that and he looked eager to take the lifeline he was being thrown. Rarity cast her eyes in the baby dragon’s direction for a moment before looking back at Sonic and saying, “Very well, then. I see the logic in your statement; if the leaf were to get wet, it could drop something… rather unpleasant on me.” Both Rainbow Dash and Applejack quietly snickered to each other at that, but Rarity ignored them, turning to Spike and saying, “Oh Spikey-Wikey~.”
Spike immediately dashed over to her with a smile on his face. “At your service, Rarity!” he said as he came to a stop next to the white unicorn and wrapped his claws around the base of the leaf’s stem, holding it over her.
Rarity released her magic hold on the leaf and looked up at it for a moment. She then looked down at Spike and said, “Thank you, Spike. However, I do not require the shading properties of the leaf at the moment.” Nodding in understanding, Spike pulled the leaf away, holding it in his arms.
Everybody’s attention was diverted to the side when Knuckles called, “Hey! It looks like the rain made a path grow over here. If you’re all ready now, I suggest we see where it goes.” Everyone agreed and followed him up onto some large plants that had seemingly grown up out of nowhere.
As the group continued through the jungle, in addition to more of Eggman’s robots and the jungle itself, the members of the group found themselves having to deal with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo’s arguing in the background. Sweetie Belle was still trying to convince Scootaloo that it would be okay for them to continue their usual crusading without Apple Bloom while the orange pegasus filly continued to disagree with her, not only because of Apple Bloom, but also because of the earlier agreement she made with Rainbow Dash about behaving and her newfound respect for Sonic and Tails. Eventually, Applejack couldn’t take their bickering anymore and threatened to take the fillies behind the wooden shed as soon as they got back to Ponyville if they didn’t stop arguing. The threat clearly did the trick, since both fillies stopped arguing after getting over the shock of the earth pony’s threat.
Aside from all of this, the ponies also found out that Tails had been right. They did run into more of the giant frogs as they made their way through the jungle, and Fluttershy was more than happy to get to know each of them as they passed by. After meeting their fourth frog, as they stopped in a clearing rest for a minute, Tails looked over at Sonic and Knuckles after they finished talking with Twilight, Applejack, and Fluttershy about the different plants growing in the jungle and asked, “Hey, you guys remember the first time we ran into these frogs?”
Sonic grinned, “I know I do.”
Knuckles nodded, “Yeah. We were following Eggman’s Egg Fleet after he managed to distract us with an Eggman robot. Of course, as we later found out, we weren’t chasing Eggman in the first place. We were actually chasing Metal Sonic as part of his plan to get all of our data.”
Twilight asked, “Metal Sonic? Didn’t Tails mention that name before, back at the Town Hall?”
Applejack nodded, “He sure did, Twilight. He didn’t mention much else, though.”
Rainbow spoke up, “Tails told me, Spike, and Scootaloo a little about this ‘Metal Sonic’ thing after I beat Gilda and got back to Ponyville with Scootaloo. He said something about how it’s a robot that looks like Sonic and can imitate his moves or something like that.”
Rarity asked, “A robot Sonic?”
Tails nodded, “Yeah. When it became abundantly clear that his animal-powered robots were no match for Sonic, Eggman started building robot copies of him that were powered by an actual energy source, hoping they would be more successful in stopping him.”
Fluttershy nervously asked, “Did you say… animal-powered robots?”
Tails replied, “Yeah. Some of Eggman’s robots, particularly his early Badniks, were powered by small animals. The animals themselves typically did very little to control the robots. For the most part, they served as, basically, organic batteries for the robots.”
Twilight asked, “Organic batteries? Does that mean his robots were… feeding off of the animals?”
Tails answered, “No. At least, nothing ever appeared to be wrong with them when we freed them. Of course, we did have to be careful about attacking the robots so as not to hurt them ourselves. They just… powered the robots somehow, allowing them to move without the animals needing to do anything. Eggman did this for a long time, but after the ARK incident, he started using animals less and less, going with other power sources like the Power Cores until he stopped using animals altogether.”
Cream put a hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder and Cheese stroked her pink mane as she whimpered, “Oh… Those poor animals…”
Knuckles spoke, “Yeah, it’s pretty terrible what he did to them. Thankfully, I don’t think he did much else to them, so why don’t we get back to the initial topic and not worry about that right now?”
Rainbow said, “Yeah, we are kind of getting off course, aren’t we, Knuckles? I mean, this Eggman guy is making me madder and madder, obviously, but now probably isn’t the time to be focusing on what he did before and instead focus on what’s currently going on, right?”
Knuckles shrugged, “Yeah, sure, Rainbow.”
Twilight decided to get the conversation started again by asking, “So what’s so special about this Metal Sonic? Based on what Tails said, I’m going to guess Metal Sonic was just one of the robots that Dr. Eggman built.”
Sonic replied, “You would be right about that, Twilight. Back when the idea was still new, Eggman experimented with several different designs while building robot versions of me. Metal Sonic is definitely the most unique robots out of all of them, in more ways than one. I mean, most of the other robots Eggman built were totally faithful to him; Metal Sonic is one of the few to rebel against him… and he's done it more than once, I might add!”
Rainbow Dash laughed, “Ha ha! This guy is smart enough to build all these different machines and he builds one that actually turns on him? That’s pretty funny!”
Applejack chuckled, “Yeah! That’s pretty sad. That’d be like Twilight totally messin’ up an easy spell!”
The aforementioned unicorn giggled nervously, “Yeah… Boy, would I feel stupid…”
While Rainbow and Applejack continued to laugh, Sonic noticed that uneasy look show up again in Twilight’s eyes. “What’s with that look? Is there something bothering her?” he wondered.
He didn’t get a chance to ponder this, though, as Fluttershy meekly asked, “Um… why would Metal Sonic turn against Eggman? Did he want to be friends with all of you instead?”
Tails said, “Unfortunately, no. That would be pretty cool, though, having a reformed Sonic robot helping us against Eggman. Anyway, what Knuckles mentioned earlier? That was what Metal Sonic did after putting Eggman somewhere where he wouldn’t get in the way.”
Rarity asked, “What was he trying to do again?”
Knuckles explained, “He was trying to collect all of our data. When he became Neo Metal Sonic, in addition to getting a new appearance, he gained the ability to shapeshift. He posed as Eggman, getting us all to fight him so he could copy all of our data, since he thought knowing everything about us would make him invincible so he could rule the world. We eventually fought him in his true form, after he revealed himself and used the power of Chaos to turn into a monster. As you can probably guess, he wasn’t as perfect as he thought he was. Even though Metal Sonic had turned on him, Eggman still rebuilt him sometime afterward.”
Spike asked, “So he managed to make him loyal again?”
Tails said, “For the most part. We’ve seen him turn on Eggman one other time since he was put back into action. One of Eggman’s more recent schemes saw him disguising himself and setting up a World Grand Prix competition under the fake name he had taken on. One of the competitors in the competition was a robot he built capable of gathering data on the other racers. He was going to use this data to prove that he was the fastest in the world.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow, “He set up a fake competition just to prove he was the faster than anybody else?”
Tails scratched his head, “Well, that’s Eggman for you. He likes to stand out in any way he can. Anyway, not only did this plan fail, but it turned out Metal Sonic had been posing as the robot Eggman had built, passing on fake data to him while keeping the real data for himself. He then challenged Sonic to a race, which Sonic won. Metal Sonic ran off after he lost, but Eggman managed to get him back.”
Rarity said, “Goodness, all this talk of planning, posing, revealing… It reminds me of the royal wedding in Canterlot.”
Knuckles asked, “Of all the things you can think of, Rarity, you think of a wedding after hearing a story like that?”
Applejack said, “Wasn’t just any weddin’, Knuckles. It was the weddin’ between Princess Celestia’s niece, Princess Cadance, and Twilight’s brother, Shining Armor.”
Sonic looked at Twilight and asked, “You have a brother?”
Twilight answered, “Yes. My older brother is the Captain of the Royal Guard in Canterlot. Also, Princess Cadance was my foalsitter when I was little.”
Sonic whistled, “Wow. That must’ve been some wedding.”
Twilight replied, “It was, actually, especially since it had to be put on hold to deal with an army of changelings.”
Tails asked, “What’s a ‘changeling’?”
Twilight said, “The best way I can describe it is as a cross between an insect, a unicorn, and a pegasus pony.”
Sonic joked, “An insect ‘pegacorn’? That sounds way stranger than a griffin. Why are they called changelings?”
Scootaloo piped up, “They’re called that because they’ve got this really crazy magic that allows them to take on any pony’s appearance! They can look exactly like any pony they want, right down to the cutie mark!”
Sweetie Belle added, “And that’s why my sister was thinking of the wedding! Some kind of threat had been made against Canterlot, so Twilight’s brother set up a shield to protect the city! But it turns out the Queen of the Changelings was already inside the city, posing as Princess Cadance! And she was nothing like the real Princess Cadance!”
Sonic shrugged, “Hm. I’m not surprised. A copy is usually inferior to the original, after all. Metal Sonic sure is!”
Twilight nodded, “Yeah.” For a second, she felt was miles away again, but she shook her head to clear it and asked, “So aside from being able to think for himself and deceive others, how else was Metal Sonic, as you put it, unique?”
Sonic replied, “Most of the other robots had clunky designs and were more designed for fighting in close quarters. He tried a different approach with Metal Sonic; he wasn’t strictly designed for close quarters fighting like the Mecha Sonic that we encountered in the Sky Sanctuary or the Silver Sonic that protected the original Death Egg. He could handle himself in a fight if need be, but he was built to be fast, to be able to race me. That’s actually what makes him more dangerous than any of Eggman’s other robot versions of me.”
Spike spoke up, “I can believe that. He sure gave Tails a tough time when they were fighting on that, uh… that long road… thing.”
Sonic looked over at him with a raised eyebrow, “Long road thing?”
Tails said, “I’m pretty sure the place where Spike and I fought Metal Sonic was the same place where you had your first race against him, Sonic.”
Sonic’s eyes brightened in understanding. “Oh! You’re talking about Stardust Speedway! Okay, I know which ‘long road thing’ you’re referring to.”
Tails thought to himself, “I’m glad Spike remembered to mention that. I’d just about forgotten what I wanted to ask Sonic.” Before anyone else could say anything, Tails asked, “Hey, Sonic?” When the blue hedgehog looked at him, he spoke, “While Spike and I were there, Stardust Speedway looked to be in pretty bad shape. The sky was full of red clouds and lightning, the city looked pretty desolate, and even the road seemed kind of dirty. Was that really where you raced Metal Sonic? I mean, I know you did race him, but did you race him there too? That place looked like an Eggman kind of place, and I know you were able to collect all of the Time Stones and drive Eggman completely off of the Little Planet.”
As Sonic thought about this, thoughts began to arise in Spike and the ponies’ heads. “Time Stones?”, “Little Planet?”, and “What the hay are they talking about now?” were some of the things they were thinking.
Sonic soon spoke, catching everyone’s attention, “Now that I think about it, yeah. I did go up against Metal Sonic in a ruined version of Stardust Speedway, Tails. Thanks to that ugly statue of himself that he was building, Eggman managed to find the Time Stone hidden there before I could get to it, so I wasn’t able to travel to the past and destroy his robot machine. To get to the doc’s base, I had to follow him into the future, which looked like the ruined future you just described. I managed to get back to the present after defeating Metal Sonic and rescuing Amy and headed for Eggman’s base, where I managed to recover both the Time Stone from Stardust Speedway and the one he originally found that he used to spread his influence in the past. I was more focused on making sure Eggman didn’t escape with any of the Time Stones and rescuing Amy at the time, and since Eggman’s base started falling apart after I beat him, I didn’t have any time to go back and check on Stardust Speedway. Maybe you saw that future because of whatever means Eggman used to recover Metal Sonic on the Little Planet’s return.”
Tails replied, “Maybe. I mean, Metal Sonic didn’t just look exactly like the original, he fought the same way, even having attacks similar to the ones he used when we fought him together.”
Rainbow Dash loudly interrupted, “HEY! Whatever you guys are talking about sounds like complete gibberish to the rest of us! You mind explaining a few things to us, or at least telling us just what the hay you’re going on about?!”
Tails sheepishly said, “Uh, sure, Rainbow. What do you guys want to know first?”
Twilight asked, “Well, for starters, can you tell us a little bit about this ‘Little Planet’ thing?”
Fluttershy softly added, “Yes, um, what is it, exactly?”
Sonic spoke, “Simply put? It’s a natural satellite that orbits our planet, kind of like the Moon. But the fact that they’re both satellites is where the similarity ends; the Little Planet is a lot greener, there may or may not be people living on it, and we only see it for one month every year.”
Applejack asked, “Why only one month?”
Tails said, “We’re not completely sure. We know now that it orbits our planet, but the only reason we learned of the Little Planet’s existence in the first place was because of the legend surrounding it. The legend itself states that the Little Planet appears for one month every year over Never Lake. We think the reason we never see it for the rest of the year has something to do with the Time Stones. But we’ll talk about those later.”
Spike asked, “So basically what you’re saying is that, for a whole month, you can actually see this planet from this ‘Never Lake’ place?”
Sonic nodded, “That’s right, Spike. I’m sure you’d need a telescope to get a good look at it from the lake, though. Unless, of course, Eggman has plans for the Little Planet, in which case he’ll drag it down into our planet’s atmosphere.”
Twilight asked, incredulously, “He moved a whole planet?!”
Tails said, “Well, it’s not a big planet; hence the name ‘Little Planet’. But yeah, Eggman’s pulled it down close to the surface of our planet before.”
Twilight asked, “How? And you said the Little Planet orbits your world, so it has its own gravity, right? Wouldn’t bringing it down to the surface of your world throw off the natural balance and cause natural disasters?”
Sonic answered, “Eggman used a huge chain to pull it down the first time, and then did the same thing the next time it appeared while he was building his new Death Egg around it. I thought it was pretty hard to believe myself the first time he did it. And then he surprised me again when he ended up doing pretty much the same thing for a bunch of planets that were nowhere near where ours is. As for natural disasters, there are never any major weather changes that occur when it normally appears over Never Lake, and nothing unusual was reported when Eggman brought it down. Maybe our planet’s used to the Little Planet’s annual appearances, or maybe it’s just something else about the Little Planet that we can’t explain.”
Rarity asked, “But why would this Dr. Eggman you’ve been talking about want to move the Little Planet in the first place? Was it because of these Time Stones you mentioned?”
Sonic nodded, “That’s right, Rarity. The Time Stones have the power to warp through time, though this is only possible on the Little Planet. The Time Stones cannot be taken off the planet. That’s why we think they’re the reason why we only see the Little Planet for one month every year.”
Tails added, “Having just one Time Stone would allow whoever possesses it to travel to almost any point in time. That’s how Eggman was able to briefly ruin the Little Planet and how Sonic was able to prevent him from taking it over completely. Collecting all seven is rumored to grant the power to reshape time itself.”
Sonic grinned sheepishly, “Yeah, I never did find out if that’s true or not, seeing as I had to get Amy out before Eggman’s base could collapse right on top of us.”
Tails said, “Well, you stopped Eggman and saved the planet, Sonic. That’s what counts. Anyway, that’s why Eggman went after the Little Planet in the first place. The next time it appeared, he built his Death Egg Mk. II around it after chaining it and dragging it down again.”
Applejack raised an eyebrow, “Death Egg? What’s that all about?”
Sonic asked, “Remember the ARK? Remember how it was a research facility in outer space?” Twilight, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Scootaloo all nodded in confirmation, so Sonic said, “The Death Egg was similar, except this space station was made to be a fortress to help spread Eggman’s tyranny over the planet. I still remember it as one of Eggman’s greater weapons.”
Tails said, “We dealt with the first Death Egg when Eggman and his robots raided West Side Island. That’s where I was born, and it’s also where I met Sonic. We had to chase Eggman across the island, but he eventually led us to that city we were at earlier. I remember now that’s where we were: Eggman’s Metropolis.”
Rainbow growled, “So that was Eggman’s city! I should’ve guessed based on everything else we know about that jerk!”
Tails hesitantly said, “Uh, sure Rainbow. Anyway, after we dealt with Eggman there, we followed him up to his Wing Fortress, where he used a shuttle to get to the Death Egg. Sonic managed to hitch a ride with him and got on board the Death Egg, where he battled with Silver Sonic and the Death Egg Robot. The fighting set off a chain reaction that caused an explosion within the Death Egg. We thought it had been destroyed, but we later learned it had crash-landed on Angel Island, Knuckles’ home.”
Twilight asked, “So is that how you guys met?”
Knuckles rubbed his head as he spoke, “Yeah, though I wouldn’t exactly consider setting traps and just in general making things rough for them to be an example of a stellar first meeting, Twilight.”
Applejack asked, “What are ya talkin’ about, Knuckles?”
Knuckles explained, “I met Eggman shortly after the Death Egg landed on Angel Island. Because of my duty, I don’t get to leave Angel Island very often; as a result, I was a bit… uh…”
Sonic grinned, “Gullible?”
Knuckles glared at him and yelled, “Hey, I’m telling it!”
Sonic held up his hands, “Hey, relax Knuckles! I’m just trying to help out!”
Knuckles growled, “Yeah, well, you can keep your colorful commentary to yourself, wise guy!”
Sonic rolled his eyes, “Fine. Don’t mind me, ‘Captain Trusting’.”
Twilight asked, “What does that mean?”
Knuckles looked over at her sheepishly as he said, “Well, uh, you see, Twilight, back then I didn’t get a lot of visitors to my island, if any at all. So when I met Eggman after his Death Egg crash-landed, I kinda, sorta believed him when he said that Sonic and Tails were the bad guys…”
Rainbow Dash immediately shouted, “You WHAT?! He ended up on your island with a huge space station thing and you actually listened to what he was saying?!”
Knuckles growled, “Hey, up until that point, I was pretty much cut off from the world outside of Angel Island! You try carrying out an important duty in complete isolation for years and see how willing YOU are to trust the first person you see!”
Rainbow retorted, “I know it wouldn’t matter what anypony told me, even if I did spend a long time by myself! In that situation, I’d still regard anything I was told with suspicion!”
Applejack scoffed, “Oh please, Rainbow! We all know that if somepony claimed to know you and how ‘cool’ you are, ya’d instantly give ‘em the benefit of the doubt! Besides, Knuckles just said he was isolated from the rest o’ the world! He probably had no idea what the Death Egg was and Eggman fed him a bunch o’ lies!”
Rainbow Dash looked ready to launch into one of her usual arguments with Applejack, but before she could say another word, Fluttershy suddenly flapped her wings and lifted off the ground, flying over to Knuckles and hovering just above him. She then spoke in her sweet, soft voice, “Oh, please don’t be angry at Rainbow Dash, Knuckles. She didn’t mean anything bad by what she said. And it’s okay; I’m sure the real reason you believed Dr. Eggman is because you have a very trusting heart and you want to believe there is good in everypony. I think that’s really sweet, actually.”
Knuckles grunted, “Uh, I guess that’s one way of looking at it, Fluttershy.” He then smiled, “Who knows? Maybe that is the reason.”
Sonic shrugged, “Yeah, I guess you could look it at that way, Fluttershy. And Knuckles has wised up a bit. At least as far as Eggman is concerned.”
Rarity said, “Well… I suppose that’s good. So everyone is okay with the fact that you all have, well, butted heads before?”
Tails giggled, “It’s happened more than once, Rarity. Sonic and Knuckles are just funny when they’re together.”
Cream added, “And Sonic was able to destroy Dr. Eggman’s Death Egg after Knuckles learned the truth about him. So they did part on friendly terms. And nowadays, Sonic and Knuckles usually only fight for fun.”
Rainbow asked, “And you guys are okay with that?”
Sonic grinned, “Sure. Everybody’s used to it by now. And it looks like something similar goes on between you and Applejack.”
The orange earth pony chuckled, “Heh, heh, you got that right, Sugar-hog! Rainbow often wants to throw down with somethin’ when she’s not bein’ lazy!”
The cyan mare glared at Applejack out of the corner of her eye and then loudly said, “Right, well, I think we’ve rested enough. Shouldn’t we get going and find our friends?”
Sonic stood up before replying, “Yeah, I guess you’re right, Dash.” He then looked at the others and asked, “What do you guys think?” Everybody nodded in agreement and they all stood up, picking up anything they had with them.
As he was picking up her scooter, Scootaloo walked up next to Tails and asked, “What about that other time you mentioned, Tails? You know, when you said Eggman built another Death Egg around the Little Planet or something?”
The fox replied, “Oh that, yeah. Well, that happened some months after the original Death Egg’s destruction, around the time of the Little Planet’s annual appearance. Sonic had found out that Eggman was up to no good on the continent neighboring the one he had explored a few months back, so he came to me to ask if I’d tag along. Of course, I agreed; I didn’t want to miss out on another adventure. After we arrived on the continent, we started searching the ruins of an old castle and the surrounding forest. As the sun went down, we saw that the Little Planet had already revealed itself. However, it had not only been chained down again, but Eggman was building something around it, which we later found out was the Death Egg Mk. II.”
Applejack asked, “Why was he buildin’ a new Death Egg around it?”
Sonic supplied the answer, “Because it was more cost-effective. He was using the Little Planet like a massive organic battery, similar to how he used small animals to power his older robots. As it turned out, the doc had been planning for this since our last showdown.”
Tails explained, “Aside from Eggman, we also had to deal with Metal Sonic, whom Eggman had apparently revived when the Little Planet was approaching our world. We had to deal with both of them as we pursued them across the continent, eventually following them up to Eggman’s Sky Fortress. Before it was destroyed, Eggman and Metal Sonic were able to escape to the new, though still incomplete, Death Egg. We managed to follow them into space by taking one of the escape pods left behind on the Sky Fortress.”
Spike asked, “Yeah? And then what happened?”
Sonic said, “Well, we went looking for Eggman and Metal Sonic, of course. After they briefly fought us together, Metal Sonic came back to challenge me and Tails to another race. Despite the obstacle course we were racing on, we were able to beat him and he disappeared into the depths of the Death Egg after getting electrocuted.”
Scootaloo asked, “So then you went after Eggman, right?”
Tails nodded, “Yeah. We followed him to the heart of the Death Egg, where he was waiting with his Egg Heart machine. It was a tough battle, but we managed to beat him. Not long after the Egg Heart was destroyed, a chain reaction spread throughout the Death Egg Mk. II, causing explosions on the inside of the station. We managed to find more escape pods and used them to escape, allowing us to return to our world while the Death Egg powered down.”
Rainbow asked, “You mean you didn’t destroy it?”
Sonic said, “We weren’t able to at the time, Rainbow. We hadn’t counted on Eggman building a new Death Egg around the Little Planet. If we had destroyed the Death Egg at that point, then the Little Planet would’ve been caught in the blast.”
Rainbow murmured, “Oh yeah… Good point.”
Tails added, “By forcing it to power down, we made sure Eggman would have to repair the Death Egg in order to use it and kept it from causing any more harm to the Little Planet.”
Scootaloo asked, “But you guys did eventually free the Little Planet and destroy the Death Egg, right?”
Tails started, “Well…” Before he could get any further, a loud explosion from somewhere in the jungle startled everybody, some of them leaping up in shock.
“What was that?!” Spike exclaimed.
Suddenly, the clearing they were in seemed to get darker. “Hey, where’d the sun go?” Sweetie Belle asked.
Knuckles looked up towards the sky, only to see a long red ship with a familiar insignia on the side that looked like a shark. “Look! Isn’t that one of the Egg Fleet’s ships?!” he asked while pointing up at it.
Tails said, “I think you’re right, Knuckles! We’d better get everyone out of here!”
Applejack looked back at him and asked, “Why?” A second later, one of the cannons on the ship fired a shell that crashed through jungle canopy and exploded somewhere nearby, going right through any plants in its way. Applejack winced and said, “Uh, never mind. There’s mah sign.”
Sonic called, “Come on, people, let’s move it!” He then led the way deeper into the jungle, Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash hot on his heels while Tails stayed close to Rarity and Fluttershy (Spike clinging onto her back and leaving behind the leaf as she ran) and Knuckles pulled Cream along as she carried Cheese, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle in her arms.
As the group members ran as fast as they could through the jungle, the ship continued to fire exploding shells down into the jungle. Most of them landed far away, due to the ship not being able to keep a solid lock on them due to the jungle canopy, but a few came worryingly close to exploding on top of them.
After one shell exploded behind the group, Rainbow Dash shouted, “Geez, how long can that thing keep this up?!”
Tails, as he ran behind her, called, “Who knows?! If the whole Egg Fleet is here, there’s probably enough arsenal to burn this jungle to the ground!”
Applejack groaned, “Oh, this is bringin’ up bad memories of the changeling invasion!”
As they continued running, Tails soon noticed that they were running out of room to run. Not far ahead, the path ended with a steep drop, and there was no telling how far the drop would be. But he also noticed something near the edge of the drop. Raising a finger to point, he called, “Hey, Sonic! Look at those flowers!”
Sonic looked and saw what his two-tailed friend was referring to. “All right! Good thinking, Tails!” he called back before speeding ahead of the group, the wind directly behind him beginning to pick up. As he got closer to the flowers, he planted his feet against the ground and slid past them, the wind following after him. The ponies soon caught up with him, as did Tails, Knuckles, and Cream, but before they could ask what he was doing, they noticed that the top of the flowers were beginning to spin around like Tails’ tails. Soon afterwards, the flowers split from their stems, spinning and hovering in the air.
“Those flowers can fly?!” Twilight asked.
Sonic nodded, “Yep!” He then waved his arm, saying, “Let’s go! We’ll ride them out of here!” Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash hurried over to Sonic as he grabbed the farthest flower. He then grabbed one of Applejack’s hooves while Twilight wrapped her forelegs around the earth pony’s hind legs. As Rainbow followed the flower as it began flying away, Tails grabbed onto the next flower and grabbed one of Fluttershy’s hooves, holding onto her while Spike held onto her back and Rarity wrapped her forelegs around her hind legs as they lifted off. Knuckles, still holding onto Cream, grabbed the last flower and followed the rest of the group deeper into the jungle just seconds before a shell exploded against the spot where they had been.
The wind blew all of the flowers in the same general direction: towards the deepest part of the jungle, where they would be able to lose the ship raining fire down on their heads. The only problem was that they weren’t all being carried off in the exact same direction. As they flew, the flowers began to drift further apart from each other, heading for different landing spots. When Rainbow Dash noticed this, she was left unsure of which one to follow for a minute before finally deciding to stick with Sonic’s flower, zooming after it as it disappeared into the jungle.