Back in the booth, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom looked shocked as they saw what happened on the video camera. “Was that supposed ta happen?” Apple Bloom asked Sweetie Belle, the unicorn filly rushing over to where she dropped the manual.
After consulting it for a moment, she said, “Uh, yeah. That’s actually part of the ride. It doesn’t say where they go, but it does say they should have a soft landing.”
Scootaloo leapt down from the control panel and ran to the door, saying, “Come on, we’ve got to find them!” Apple Bloom leapt down and Sweetie Belle dropped the manual, both of them running after her.
The group, meanwhile, was still flying through the air, some of them screaming as they flew. When gravity caught up with them and they began to fall, they bounced off of plates holding large jellies, which launched them up once more. As they were going up, they were caught by a giant robot holding a hot dog, which threw them behind it. They all ended up landing in something… soft, cold, and wet.
After a minute, everyone managed to pull themselves to the surface of whatever they landed in, all of them gasping for air. When they opened their eyes, they found that they obviously had some of the stuff they had landed in on them. Of course, Rarity freaked out when she realized this. “AAAAAHHHH!! What is this stuff?!” she screamed.
After recovering from her scream, Sonic looked around at the white and brown mush they were buried in. Pulling his hands and arms to the surface, he said, “It looks like ice cream.”
Tails scraped some of the stuff off his face and ate it. After swallowing, he nodded, “Yeah, and if I’m not mistaken, it’s a sundae.”
Rainbow tried some herself and said, “Hey, it IS an ice cream sundae!”
Applejack grunted as she tried to wiggle her forelegs out, “Is this part o’ the ride too?”
Spike, while gobbling up ice cream, said, “If… it is… it’s the best ride ever!”
Twilight sighed, “Oh great… If we have to eat all this, Spike’s not the only who’s going to have a stomachache when it’s all over.”
Shining shrugged, “Well, you have to admit, it’s certainly something different, Twiley.”
Cadance said, “It was enjoyable, though. I wonder what other rides they have here.”
As if to answer her, Eggman spoke over a nearby loudspeaker, “There’s no line at Bake Me Crazy, the ride that simulates what it’s like to be baked like a cake. The ride itself lasts an amazing 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Not recommended for our guests who are sensitive to temperatures exceeding 350 degrees.”
Sonic deadpanned, “You can count me out.”
Applejack nodded, “Fer sure!” The others agreed with her… except for Celestia. She looked positively thrilled to hear about a ride that had something to do with cake.
Luna noticed the expression on her sister’s face and sighed, “Celestia…” Before she could continue, the ice cream sundae started to shift. “Wait… what is happening?” Luna asked.
“Why is this ice cream moving?” Rainbow Dash added. The others looked around, wondering the same thing.
Suddenly, something large and purple burst out of the ice cream, its sharp purple teeth startling everybody! “What the hay is that?!” Applejack exclaimed.
“Someone or something is using the Purple Frenzy! Look out, guys!” Tails cried. Everybody began to move through the ice cream at that, trying to stay out of the path of the ‘shark’ that was tearing around the sundae.
After avoiding getting an arm grabbed by the purple jaws, Sonic noticed something weird on the back of… whatever was using the Purple Wisp. “Why is it all poofy in the back? For me, it was all spiky,” he said. He then looked down and noticed that he could see his legs. “Is it just eating the ice cream?” he asked.
He looked over when he heard Rarity scream and saw the purple berserker leap off of the white unicorn, leaving her on her back in a puddle of melted ice cream. “It LICKED me!” she shrieked.
Rainbow Dash flew over to her and snickered, “Yeah. It licked all that ice cream off your face while it was at it. That’s one heck of a facial!” Rarity glared up at her at that.
Tails said, “Hey, Sonic’s right. It just wants the ice cream.” Everybody relaxed at that, but they were still wary whenever the thing came near them. In no more than two minutes, the entire sundae bowl was empty, and the berserker jumped out of the bowl down onto the ground.
After a few seconds, while everyone was looking where it had jumped out, a Purple Wisp floated up near the rim of the bowl. Fluttershy got nervous when she saw the sinister-looking smile on its face, the shape of its head reminding her of Iron Will’s horns. “Wh-what’s that W-Wisp?” she stuttered out.
Tails said, “It’s a Purple Wisp, one of the Nega Wisps.”
Twilight looked at him and asked, “Nega Wisp?”
Tails nodded and asked, “Remember what we said about Eggman being interested in the Wisps’ Hyper-go-on power?” Everyone nodded, so he said, “When he finishes draining the Hyper-go-on energy from the Wisps, they turn into Nega Wisps, which are violent and do Eggman’s bidding. They can be either purple or violet.”
As Sonic began climbing up to the rim of the bowl, Luna asked, “Then who was using that Wisp’s power, and to eat ice cream no less?”
When Sonic reached the rim, he looked down below the bowl for a second before calling back, “I’ll give you three guesses, and the first two don’t count.”
Confused, Rainbow Dash flew up beside him and looked down. “Pinkie Pie!” she gasped. The pink pony was lying on her back on the ground, patting her belly contentedly with a dreamy expression. Her stomach was as slim as it usually was; if it weren’t for the Wisp that floated up, nobody would have ever guessed she ate a huge ice cream sundae.
As the others started climbing up, Sonic and Rainbow leapt out of the bowl. Fluttershy, Tails, Celestia, Silver, and Luna flew out after them, Cadance deciding to climb out of the bowl with her husband and sister-in-law. Sonic and Rainbow landed next to Pinkie, Celestia, Tails, Luna, Silver, and Fluttershy landing behind them. If Pinkie knew they were there, she made no indication of it. After a moment, Rainbow Dash said, “Hey, Pinkie Pie!”
Pinkie glanced up at her and replied, “Hey, Dashie…” Rainbow raised an eyebrow at the… far-off way she said that.
Sonic asked, “So, how are you enjoying Sweet Mountain so far?”
As soon as he asked that, the dreamy look in Pinkie’s eyes disappeared and she leapt to her hooves. She then started rambling, “Oh, I love, love, LOVE it, Sonic! It’s WAY better than eternal chaos! They have all my favorites here! Lollipops, cake, donuts, gingerbread ponies- well, they’re not ponies since Mr. and Mrs. Cake always make them so they’re on all fours and these gingerbread delights were on two legs, not four, but they were just as good! Actually, everything’s just as good as I remember it to be! It’s like the Cakes were hired to make everything here! I wonder if the Cakes ever make anything this big because if they do, I’ve never seen it, and they’ve shown me all kinds of things, but you know, they…”
By this time, everybody had reached the edge of the sundae bowl (with a few slips here and there) and Rainbow Dash couldn’t take anymore. She finally cut her pink friend off with a loud, “Pinkie!” When the party pony looked at her, she said, “We get it.”
Pinkie smiled, “Oh, goodie! There are still a few places I want to check out before…” She trailed off for a moment, a distant look in her eyes.
“Before…?” Vector, who was hanging onto the rim of the bowl with the others, asked.
Pinkie Pie looked back and a huge grin formed on her face. “Before I go to the Chocolate Milk Sea, silly! Can you believe it?! There’s a bunch of chocolate rivers here, and it all ends up in the Chocolate Milk Sea! Ooh, I want to go right now, but I have to see the rest of the park first!”
Twilight spoke, “Look Pinkie, we’ve been worried about you. If you want to go to this sea, that’s fine. Just don’t…”
Pinkie interrupted her, “Can’t wait, gotta go! See ya!” She then turned and dashed off, leaving a smoke version of herself behind.
“Hey!” Sonic called.
Blaze pulled herself up over the side of the bowl and leapt down, saying, “Not again!” As soon as she landed, she ran in the direction Pinkie Pie had gone, Sonic and Rainbow Dash following her while the others jumped down from the bowl, Silver catching Rarity, Celestia getting under Twilight, Tails grabbing Spike, and Luna breaking Applejack’s fall while Vector, Espio, Shining, and Cadance all leapt down and landed on their own. Despite a little bit of awkwardness with Rarity hugging Silver for catching her (causing him to blush and Spike to glare at him), they all ran after their friends when they were all back on the ground… except for one.
They didn’t have to go far before they caught up with Sonic, Rainbow, and Blaze, all of them looking around. “Did she disappear again?” Rarity asked after a moment.
The three turned to the others, Blaze saying, “Unfortunately.”
Sonic crossed his arms, “Man, what is up with that pony?” Twilight and her friends shrugged at him.
Tails looked around and asked, “Hey, where did Princess Celestia go?” Everybody looked around at that, but they found no trace of the Sun Princess.
“Did she disappear too?” Silver wondered.
Luna groaned, “Knowing my big sister, she’s looking for this Bake Me Crazy ride. When it comes to cake, her sweet tooth always acts up.”
Cadance asked, “So we have to find Aunt Celestia too?”
Vector turned to Tails and said, “Tails, you and Sonic went through every planet in this park. Do you have any idea where the Bake Me Crazy and Chocolate Milk Sea are?”
Tails replied, “No. When we were checking out the planets, we headed straight for the tractor beam generators that were holding the planets where they were. We didn’t really go on the rides, or see any maps for each planet.”
Luna sighed, “A map would certainly be useful right now…”
After a moment, Tails thumped his right fist against the palm of his left hand, “Wait, I’ve got it! Eggman’s responsible for this whole park!”
Rainbow rolled her eyes, “Well, we already knew THAT, Tails.”
Tails replied, “Yeah, but even as smart as he is, he’d need to have laid out plans and be able to have quick access to them, no matter where he is!”
Sonic said, “I see where you’re going with this. Those maps in the Tropical Resort only listed general areas of interest, but if we can find one of Eggman’s computers and hack into it, maybe we’ll find some more detailed maps of each planet.”
Tails nodded, “Exactly!”
Applejack asked, “So where can we find one o’ these… computers?”
Tails held a hand to his chin, “Hm… There was one hidden in Asteroid Coaster, but there wasn’t much information on it…” He looked up a moment later, “I know. It looked like Eggman was building a new base on Planet Wisp. He wouldn’t be able to build a fully functional base without at least one computer to handle a bunch of tasks. Even the Egg Pawns can’t keep up with everything. And if it was meant to be a base, he’d probably keep a lot of information there.”
Sonic said, “Well, that shouldn’t be a problem, then. We can use the Warp Ring to zip over there and check it out.”
Luna asked, “But what about Celestia?”
Blaze nodded, “Luna’s right, Sonic. Even if she doesn’t know where the Bake Me Crazy is, she could still find it and get on it while we’re gone.”
Applejack protested, “But we’ll have an easier time findin’ it if we can just find a map.”
Twilight said, “Sounds like we’re going to have to split up again.”
Silver spoke, “Good idea, Twilight.”
Sonic nodded, “Yeah.” He thought for a moment before looking at Blaze and saying, “I don’t think Luna should go searching alone. Why don’t you go with her, Blaze?”
The cat asked, “What, only me?”
Sonic replied, “No. If you want someone to come with, that’s fine. I’m just not going to put anybody on the spot.”
Blaze nodded, “I understand.” She looked at Silver and asked, “Silver, would you accompany me and Luna?”
The silver hedgehog quickly replied, “Oh! Of course, Blaze!”
Blaze nodded and then looked over at the married couple and asked, “Shining Armor, Princess Cadance?”
Shining quickly answered before his wife could, “Not unless you’re taking Twilight with you.” Twilight looked up at him in surprise while he shot a glare in Sonic’s direction. The blue hedgehog noticed it, but he looked back at Blaze and shrugged.
Blaze sighed and was about to ask someone else, but Silver laid a hand on her shoulder and, when she looked at him, said, “Blaze, I know what you’re thinking, but I’m sure the two of us can help Luna, both with the robots and finding Princess Celestia. We’ve done plenty of dangerous stuff together in the past, right?”
Blaze looked at him for a moment before saying, “I suppose you’re right, Silver.” She looked back at Sonic and said, “I’ll leave the rest to you, Sonic. Just be careful, all of you.” He and the others nodded in understanding, though Shining was still looking at Sonic.
Tails reached into his namesakes and pulled out the Warp Ring. He then turned around and threw it forward, the ring expanding to its full size behind the group. As they turned around, Tails walked over to it and placed his hand on its side, causing the image of a green landscape to appear in the ring’s shimmering middle. The fox spoke, “It’s all set. Next stop: Planet Wisp!” The remainder of the group walked over to the ring and went through it, Sonic going through last. Before following the others, Tails sent a quick salute to Blaze, Luna, and Silver and went through it after it was returned, the ring vanishing afterwards.
Luna looked at her two accomplices and asked, “Well, shall we?” Blaze and Silver nodded and they set out, looking for Celestia and the Bake Me Crazy.
________________________________________
Tails came through the other side of the Warp Ring, landing on beautiful, unspoiled green grass before holding up his left hand and catching the Warp Ring with it. As he tucked it away, Cadance asked, “This is Planet Wisp?”
Sonic, who was standing nearby, answered, “It sure is. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
Twilight nodded, “Yeah. It’s so… untouched.”
Applejack smiled, “Fer sure! Those little guys sure have a nice planet ta call home.”
Fluttershy looked off to the side and smiled as she noticed a couple of White Wisps floating over to the group. When they were around the group, they started chattering in their alien language. “Aw, they’re so cute,” Fluttershy sighed.
Rarity looked at Sonic and Tails and asked, “What are they saying?”
Tails replied, “I don’t know. I don’t have my translator with me.”
Fluttershy hugged several Wisps with her forelegs while saying, “They’re still adorable. And they’re so friendly too.”
Tails looked around and asked, “I wonder if Yacker is among them?”
Sonic pointed to a building in the distance and said, “Looks like the tractor beam is working right now. I bet our buddy Yacker is on one of the other planets at the moment.”
Twilight looked where he was pointing and asked, “Is that Dr. Eggman’s base?”
Sonic replied, “Well, that’s part of what he was building when we were here. I never really went inside, so I don’t know exactly.”
Rainbow grunted, “Well, whatever it is, he definitely knows how to make it stand out. You definitely wouldn’t mistake that for a tree.”
Espio said, “Let’s get moving. We don’t want to keep Silver, Luna, and Blaze waiting.”
Vector nodded, “Yeah, we’d better get in there and find a computer room!”
Twilight nodded, then turned to Fluttershy and said, “Okay Fluttershy, we’re leaving. You should probably set the Wisps down now.”
Fluttershy sighed, “Aw…” She released the White Wisps, saying, “Bye, my little friends.” The Wisps waved to the group as they set out for the structure in the distance.
As they walked, Fluttershy looked around at the interesting trees and plants, the sight reminding her of the day she went down to the ground for the first time and got her cutie mark. It made her feel happy, though she kept an eye out for any more Wisps. Vector seemed to sense this and placed a hand on her shoulder. When she looked up at him, he said, “Don’t worry, Fluttershy. The Wisps live here. I’m sure we’ll see and/or rescue plenty of them while we’re looking for a computer room.” Fluttershy smiled up at him, but they were both distracted by Spike giggling from beside Vector. The crocodile looked down at him and asked, “What?”
Spike looked up at his face and then looked away, muttering, “Uh…” He then thought up a good excuse and said, “I was just thinking how interesting it would be if you and Gummy were to hang out with each other, Vector. You know, like you showing Gummy some of your cool tricks and all that. I bet you two would be a real cool pair of gators.”
Vector’s eyes widened, “Gat -?” He glared down at Spike, “I’m a crocodile, not an alligator! Don’t you know your animals?!”
Spike looked nervous at that and he looked to Fluttershy for help. The shy pegasus spoke after a moment, “Um, I’m sorry, Spike, but Vector is right. He’s not an alligator; he’s a crocodile.”
Spike shrugged, “Same thing though, right?”
Vector yelled down at him, “NO! Now look here, bud, there are some very fine differences between crocodiles and alligators!”
Sonic rolled his eyes, “Oh boy…”
Soon…
“…And that’s how you tell a crocodile apart from an alligator! You get it now?” Vector asked Spike, the baby dragon quickly nodding so as not to make the crocodile angry again. Vector said, “Good! Anything else you want to know?”
Spike calmed down and replied, “Yes, actually. I almost forgot, but I saw you breathe fire earlier. Are you part dragon or something?”
Vector answered, “No, that’s-”
Before he could launch into another explanation, Espio interrupted, “Sorry to interrupt, Vector, but we’re here.” Spike, Fluttershy, and Vector looked up and saw that they were at the front door of the building they’d seen earlier.
“Wow, it’s even bigger up close,” Spike noted.
Rainbow shrugged, “I’ll bet that’s just on the outside. Canterlot Castle is probably bigger, at least on the inside.” She lowered her body, saying, “Come on, let’s trash this joint!”
Tails spoke, “Hold on, Rainbow Dash.” When the rainbow-maned mare glanced up at him, he pointed at the door and said, “That door is probably locked AND reinforced. It’d probably take a Sonic Rainboom to go through it without opening it.”
Rainbow stood up, “You think so?” Tails nodded; she looked up at the door and gulped, “Well, if that’s what needs to be done…” She spread her wings and said, “I guess I’ll get up there and start building up speed.”
Before she could start flapping her wings, Sonic spoke, “Or we could save ourselves a possible medical bill for blunt trauma and I could just open the door.”
Twilight turned to look at him, asking, “How are you going to do that, Sonic?” When she turned to him, she saw him with his hands on his hips, standing in front of a new Wisp.
Tails smiled when he saw it, “Hey, that’s a Yellow Wisp! You think he can help us, Sonic?”
The blue hedgehog looked at him, “Sure!” He then looked over at the nearby rocky ground and said, “This looks like a good area to put his special ability to good use. And knowing Eggman, he probably wouldn’t put the switch right next to the front door.” He looked back at the others, “I think I’ll do a little digging of my own and see if I can find a release for the door.”
Rainbow grinned lightly, “Hey, if it means I don’t have to end up in the hospital when we’re all done, I’m all for it.” The others nodded in agreement, though Shining Armor did so slowly.
Sonic nodded, “Okay!” He looked at the Yellow Wisp and said, “Come on, let’s go play.” The Wisp nodded happily and followed Sonic over to the rocky ground. Sonic then turned to look at the Wisp, who, after a moment, went inside of him. He began to glow yellow and, after a second, he suddenly burrowed into the ground!
“Whoa, what was that?!” Applejack exclaimed.
Tails giggled, “The Yellow Wisp gives you the ability to burrow through ground, provided it’s soft enough. Basically, that means no digging through solid metal.”
Rainbow smiled, “Heh, I guess rocks are a lot softer than metal, huh?”
Tails nodded and then said, “Let’s just wait until he gets back. Depending on what he finds, we might not have to find another way in after all.” Spike, Vector, Espio, and the ponies nodded, looking around as they waited.
After a minute, they heard a noise and turned to look at the door. It began sliding up, exposing the inside of the building. Not long afterwards, they looked back over at the rocky ground and saw Sonic come out of the ground, still wrapped in the Yellow Wisp’s power. Once he was out of the ground, the Wisp popped out of him and he returned to normal. Tails called, “Good job, you two! You got the door open!”
Sonic called back, “Sweet!” He looked back at the Yellow Wisp and said, “Thanks, little guy! You really helped us out!” The Wisp let out a happy noise as Sonic shook one of his tentacles. He then floated away while Sonic rejoined the others and they all walked inside the building.
As they walked through the structure, the group could see that it was far from finished. There were drills boring into the rocks and other machines either clearing things away or working on the building itself. Overall, it reminded Sonic and Tails of the first time they visited the planet and saw Eggman ruining the environment. They pushed those thoughts aside for now; they came to Planet Wisp to find a map, not put a stop to Eggman’s park plans for a second time.
While searching, they came across a capsule containing a Pink Wisp near a wall. The Chaotix, Spike, and the ponies quickly noticed the Wisp’s angry expression and the spikes on the top of its head. It looked at them with a pleading look in its eye. “Aw, the poor little dear… We can’t just leave him here,” Rarity said.
Applejack walked over to the capsule while saying, “We sure can’t, Rarity. Hang on; Ah’ll let the little fella out.” When she was standing next to the capsule, she reared back on her hind legs, intending to knock the glass covering off with her hooves.
Before she could do so, however, a robotic voice spoke up behind the group, “HALT! YOU ARE TRESPASSING IN A HARD HAT AREA! CEASE YOUR EFFORTS AND LEAVE THE CONSTRUCTION AREA AT ONCE.” Everyone looked back to see more Egg Pawns behind them, most of them wearing hard hats and carrying picks.
“Ah, there’s the welcoming committee,” Sonic shrugged. He looked at Applejack and said, “Let him out, Applejack. He should be able to help us out with these guys.”
Applejack replied, “You got it, Sugar-hog!” She turned back to the capsule and kicked the glass on top of the capsule with her hooves, freeing the Pink Wisp. It immediately rushed into her and she started glowing pink; a second later, pink spikes burst out of her back along with three pink spikes on each of her hooves! “Wha-what the -?!” she exclaimed as she looked at the spikes on her front hooves.
Sonic nudged her with his arm, “You should be able to put those spikes to good use, Applejack. They’re good for climbing up walls… and tearing robots apart.”
The orange earth pony looked back at him as he spoke; after he finished, she smirked and crossed the spikes on her front hooves in front of her face, “Is that so?”
The leading Egg Pawn spoke, “THE ORANGE ONE HAS EGGMAN EMPIRE PROPERTY! STOP IT!” At that, Applejack leapt up onto the nearby wall, using her spikes to run across it somewhat awkwardly (due to the positioning of the spikes on her back hooves) before leaping at the Egg Pawns.
As she approached the lead Egg Pawn, Applejack thrust the spikes on her front hooves into where its neck would be, securing herself before pulling her hind legs up and quickly running the spikes on her back hooves down its chest, ripping it wide open. She then leapt off of it and everybody looked at least a little surprised that they could see its insides quite clearly. It fell onto its back a moment later, exploding. After a moment, Applejack grinned, “Yeehaw!” She then looked at the other Egg Pawns, “Any o’ y’all bolt brains want some o’ this?” The Egg Pawns stood still for a moment before charging towards her.
Cadance called, “Wait, Applejack, don’t -!” She was unable to finish before Applejack dashed towards the Egg Pawns, her temporary claws ready.
As she began tearing into them, Twilight smiled, “I think Applejack’s got it covered, Cadance.”
Rainbow cheered, “Go, Applejack!”
Sonic added, “Kick some Egg Pawn chassis!” As Applejack continued doing just that, the others began throwing out cheers for her (save for Fluttershy, who was frightened by what she was seeing and all the explosions).
After about a minute, all but one Egg Pawn had been reduced to scrap metal, the lone Egg Pawn lying on its front, stuck under a bunch of barrels. As she allowed herself a moment to relax, Applejack’s pink spikes disappeared and the Pink Wisp floated out of her chest. Dropping back down to all fours, the orange earth pony sighed, “Aw, Ah used it all up… Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.” She looked at the Pink Wisp and tipped her hat to it, “Thank ya kindly, pardner!” The Wisp gave her a kind wave as it floated away.
The others came over soon afterwards, Rainbow saying, “That was cool, Applejack! You totally nailed those Egg Pawns!”
Sonic nodded, “Yeah! Way to go!” He bumped his fist against Applejack’s hoof.
Vector spoke, “All right, enough fun and games. We gotta find that computer room!”
Espio looked around and said, “I’m starting to wonder if there even is one here. We’ve seen a lot of construction, but very few rooms so far, and we’ve been walking around for a while.”
Tails spoke, “But there’s gotta be something! There must be something we overlooked…”
Sonic eyed the last Egg Pawn, which was still trapped under the barrels. “Hang on, I’ve got an idea,” he said while walking over to it. Once he was in front of it, he looked down at it, saying, “Hey, tin toy! Tell us where we can find a map of this joint and I’ll help you out of there!”
The Egg Pawn hesitated for a moment before pointing at a nearby entryway, everyone looking where it was pointing as it said, “THERE’S ONE ON THE WALL IN THERE.”
Sonic looked back at the Egg Pawn, saying, “Good answer.” He curled up into a Spin Dash and shot towards the barrels, sending them flying when he hit them and freeing the Egg Pawn. As he uncurled and landed, the Egg Pawn climbed to its feet and ran away, going back the way the group had come from. Sonic turned in its direction and called, “Hey! You might want to…” Before he could say anymore, the Egg Pawn tripped and fell into a hole. “…watch that step there,” Sonic finished.
Tails, meanwhile, went into the nearby room and quickly found the building map the Egg Pawn had mentioned. While he was looking it over, the others entered the room and walked over to him. After a minute, he said, “I’ve got it!” He looked at the others and explained, “There’s a completed control room a couple floors up. We should be able to find something there.”
Espio asked, “Do you know how to get there?”
Tails nodded, “Uh-huh! It’s this way!” He then ran deeper into the room, everyone following close behind him.
Soon…
“Um, are we almost there, Tails? N-Not that there’s a problem if we aren’t, but we’ve climbed up a few floors already,” Fluttershy, in a voice just loud enough to be heard, said.
Tails came to a stop, as did everyone else, and looked up at the ceiling. He put a hand to his chin, “We’re just about there, Fluttershy. We should be right under the control room.”
Vector asked, “Right under the computer room?”
Espio looked at him, “Vector, if you say that one more time…”
Vector shrugged, “What? I’m just asking a question!”
Rainbow glanced up at the ceiling, “There are too many ramps in this place, and none of them are clearly marked! There’s got to be a faster way to get up there!” She looked at Twilight and asked, “Twilight, can you blow a hole in the ceiling so we can fly up there?”
Before the lavender unicorn could respond, Spike said, “Hey there, little guy.” Everyone turned to look at him and saw an Orange Wisp floating in front of him. The Wisp said something in its alien language, but the way it spoke made Spike think something was wrong. “What did I say? Did I make him angry?” he asked while looking at the others.
Tails said, “No, he’s not mad, Spike. Orange Wisps typically have short fuses, but we’ve never seen what they look like when they get mad. I think you’re okay.”
Spike sighed, “Oh, good.” He looked back at the Orange Wisp and smiled, “You’re pretty cool, you know that?” The Wisp looked happy at that and suddenly rushed into Spike. As an orange glow surrounded him, the baby dragon exclaimed, “Hey, what’s it doing?!”
Sonic said, “Just relax and let the Wisp out, Spike! He’s gonna take you for a ride, and I just hope your scales are thick enough to protect you!” Not knowing what else to do, Spike did as he was told and relaxed, letting the Wisp’s Hyper-go-on energy flow through him. After a moment, the Orange Rocket formed around him and he shot straight up towards the ceiling! The metal stopped him for a moment before he punched through, leaving a big hole above the group.
“Spikey-Wikey?!” Rarity cried.
“Are you okay?!” Twilight yelled.
Spike called back a moment later, sounding a bit dazed, “Yeah, I’m fine. I don’t think I hurt or broke anything…” He looked around and noticed a large screen on the other side of the room, across from him. “Hey, it looks like Tails was right! I think this is the control room!” he shouted down before standing up.
Tails called back, “Okay, just stay in there! We’ll be right up!” Over the course of the next minute or two, Tails and Rainbow carried Rarity, Sonic, Applejack, and Espio up to the hole and Twilight used her magic to lift Shining Armor and Vector up. Cadance then carried her sister-in-law up while Fluttershy flew up after them.
Once they were all up in the room, they saw that Spike had crossed over to the other side of the room and had climbed up onto the control panel. He was tapping the computer keys as Espio ran over to him. “Are you in?” the chameleon asked when he was standing next to the panel.
Spike replied as he looked up at the screen, “Uh… I don’t know. It keeps saying something about a password. And I don’t know how this thing works.”
Espio grunted as the others came over, “Of course Eggman would try to lock out the system to everyone else. It’s just like him.”
Once the others were standing behind them, Tails said, “Maybe the password is ‘EGGMAN’.”
Sonic asked, “Hasn’t he used that one before?”
Espio said, “Well, I’ll try it.” He began typing the letters in on the keyboard while Spike moved to the side and watched him. Espio hit ‘Enter’ when he was done, but the screen flashed an angry red ‘ACCESS DENIED’. “I guess he’s not using that one anymore,” Espio growled.
Tails walked up beside him, “Well, it shouldn’t be too hard to crack his system. Let’s work on it.”
Twilight asked, “Is there anything we can do to help?”
Espio replied, “Aside from keeping quiet and staying back while we work, unlike a certain crocodile? Not much, I’m afraid.” Vector just smirked at that.
Tails said, “We can always take suggestions. Beyond that, I don’t know much help you’ll be able to offer.”
Sonic spoke, “Well, I know you guys will be able to get in.” He then pointed his right thumb in the direction of the doorway they would have come through had they gone around the long way, “While you’re doing that, I’ll go stand guard out there to make sure nobody tries to crash our party.” Tails and Espio nodded.
Rainbow asked, “Hey, can I come with?”
Shining Armor spoke up, “Actually, Rainbow Dash, if you don’t mind, I’ll go help Sonic stand guard. Guarding is my job, after all.”
Rainbow replied, “Oh yeah. Well, I’m gonna go look around then. After all that searching and running, I don’t want to just stand still right now! I’ll be back soon!” Before anyone could say anything, she flew over to the hole in the floor and disappeared through it. The rest of the group looked at each other before Sonic shrugged and ran towards the doorway, going through it and turning to look in the direction of the hallway. Shining shared a look with Twilight before turning and walking towards the doorway, leaving the rest of the group to try to break into Eggman’s system.
Shining Armor stepped out through the doorway and found Sonic standing to his left, a bit down the hallway that looked very similar to all the others in this strange building, away from the doorway. He trotted over to the hedgehog and stood on his right side, glancing down at him with a stony look on his face. Sonic looked up at him with a relaxed look on his face and asked, “So, you’re Captain of the Royal Guard, huh?”
Shining shortly replied, “Yes, I am. How did you know?”
Sonic returned his gaze to the hall as he answered, “Twilight told us about you and Cadance.”
Shining said, “It’s PRINCESS Cadance. If you’re going to be talking about royalty, you should have the formality to refer to them by title.”
Sonic shrugged, “In my experience, princesses don’t like being referred to as such. I can see why Twilight refers to Celestia by her title, but it doesn’t sound like she referred to Cadance as princess all the time.”
Shining replied, “Twilight was, and still is, very close to Cadance. I don’t see what you’ve done that excludes you from addressing royalty as such.”
Sonic asked, “So should I be referring to you as PRINCE Shining Armor, then?” Shining glared at him at that. Sonic waved a hand, “Relax, man. Seriously, Blaze hates it when her guards or anyone else refers to her as a princess. I’m sure Celestia has days where she wishes Twilight and other ponies would call her by name without using her title.”
Shining spoke, “As long as you bring her up, what do you think of Twilight? You two seem awfully close for two… a hedgehog and a unicorn who just met.”
Sonic turned his head to look up at Shining Armor, now noticing the stallion had turned his head and was looking down at him with an unreadable expression. It confused him, but he answered anyway, “She’s a cool girl. She kind of reminds me of Tails when I first met him, yet she’s still got a couple things unique to her besides her magic.” He looked away and placed a hand on his chin, “I’ve got to admit, she kind of surprised me when she said something to Shadow earlier.”
Shining gritted his teeth, once again remembering what the black hedgehog said to him. While trying to keep his voice steady, he spoke, “About that… Are you related to him?”
Sonic replied, “Only in appearance. As far as I know, there are no aliens in my family tree.”
Shining looked confused by that last part, but he pressed on, “So you have no siblings then.”
Sonic replied, “I like to think of Tails as my little bro. He was just a little guy when we first met, and I taught him and looked out for him.”
Shining said, “Then maybe you’ll understand what I’m about to say to you.”
Sonic started to turn his head, “Understand? Understand what?” As he finished turning his head to look at the stallion, he saw that Shining Armor had turned his body so he was facing the hedgehog, which caused him to raise an eyebrow in confusion.
Shining lowered his head, pressing his face up against Sonic’s and saying, “You stay away from my sister.”
Sonic’s eyebrow raised higher, “What?”
Shining said, “I have a problem with you.”
Sonic replied, “So does Shadow, but he doesn’t tell me all the time.”
Shining leaned his head back a bit, though it was still close to Sonic’s, and asked, “You’re not getting it, are you?”
Sonic pointed at his face with his right hand, “Do I look like I’m getting it? I mean, really? You get up in my face without warning and expect me to know what you’re talking about?”
Shining said, “We are currently on what you and your friends are saying is an alien planet, which is part of this Dr. Eggman’s theme park, somepony who happens to be set on some form of conquest from the sound of things, and you’re making light of the situation.”
Sonic replied, “Well, first of all, Tails and I already trashed Egghead’s theme park. That was our most recent adventure, in fact. We’re probably just back at a point in time before the park was destroyed and all the planets were returned to where they belong. And second, what does that have to do with anything?”
Shining answered, “You’re not what I would call serious. Somepony is trying to take over your world, and what do you do? Treat it like it’s something to worry about? No, you crack jokes and act like it’s nothing new. That doesn’t seem very responsible, and Twilight certainly shouldn’t be hanging around somepony like that.”
Sonic shrugged, “Well, it IS nothing new. Besides, isn’t who Twilight hangs around her choice? She wasn’t a little filly last time I checked. She seems like someone who’s capable of making sound decisions without anyone to hold her hoof. She might need someone she can count on to talk to about her problems, but who doesn’t every now and then?”
Shining asked, “Problems? What problems? Did you do something to her?!”
Sonic waved his hands in front of him, “No! What’s the deal, man? Where’s all this coming from? I get that you love your sister and all, but still!”
Shining said, “I’ll tell you. You’re too laid-back, you can RUN at speeds that, typically, only pegasi can reach, you’re from a completely different universe, and you’ve been exposed to this… Hyper-go-on energy a lot, something we Equestrians know nothing about. You really think I can trust you to be around my sister? How do I know you won’t do something to her?!”
Sonic retorted, “Then who would YOU recommend? Who would you want around your sister who can guarantee that nothing will happen to her?”
Shining took a step back at that, his unjustified anger being lifted for the moment. “I… uh, I…” he stuttered.
Sonic spoke, “See? You can’t recommend anyone, Shining Armor. I don’t know what you’ve been through, but if you’re relying on past assumptions, those won’t help you here. I’ll admit, I didn’t expect Twilight to warm up to me so quickly, but all things considered, it looks like she’s found that she can trust me. I’m not going to claim I know her better than you, Celestia, or her friends do, but it seems like I know her well enough that she’s willing to put her faith in me.”
Shining asked, “But fighting robots? Saving aliens? All this running around? Do you really think Twilight can put up with all of this?” The stallion’s angry tone of voice was long gone as he spoke, and his arguments were beginning to fall apart as his silent rage dissipated.
Sonic said, “It looked like Celestia and Luna were filling you and Cadance in on recent events earlier at Sugarcube Corner. Did they tell you everything?” A moment of silence passed before Sonic continued, “Well, let me fill in the gaps regarding your sister. Ever since she was returned to normal, she’s seen a lot of stuff. She’s braved an industrial wasteland while avoiding killer robots placed in the craziest of spots, went through a winter wonderland, actually fought Nightmare Moon alongside me and Applejack, put her smarts to good use with some ancient mysteries, ran from the law, went through a jungle, fought Chrysalis and her changelings along with everyone else, made a volcanic venture, and got a taste of the Far East and was forced to fight someone who was under the influence of mind control. All of this happened before you showed up back at the Crystal Empire.”
Shining Armor just stared at Sonic in shock as he heard all this, all of it sounding hard to believe yet finding that it didn’t sound too farfetched.
“But you notice that, aside from the usual wear and tear you get from an adventure like this, she’s pulled through nicely and has been helping out any way she can. So for you, her own brother, to stand here and tell me that you don’t think she can take care of herself and you can’t trust the ones she’s with to help her when she’s in over her head… well, that doesn’t look good for you, dude,” Sonic finished.
Shining stammered, “I… I…” His mind couldn’t find any words, not that his mouth would be able to say them if he could. Sonic just looked at him, wondering what was going through the stallion’s head at the moment.
They were both brought out of their thoughts when they heard Rainbow Dash call, “Heads up, guys!” The both turned to look down the hall and saw the cyan pegasus flying towards them, moving up towards the ceiling as she flew. Looking down, they saw Egg Pawns running their way, evidently trying to catch their rainbow-maned friend. Sonic steadied himself, knowing their priorities would probably shift when they saw him.
Suddenly, Rainbow called, “Check this out!” Sonic and Shining looked up at her again and saw a blue glow surrounding her. A second later, a cube formed around her body and she fell straight towards the ground! Looking down, Sonic noticed the Egg Pawns were closer now. Just as they were about to reach him and Shining Armor (who was still looking at the Blue Cube), Rainbow hit the ground and raised a cloud of dust upon landing.
As soon as she landed, the Egg Pawns were lifted up off their feet and exploded while in midair. Rainbow turned back to normal shortly afterwards and, as a Blue Wisp came out of her chest, she faced Sonic and Shining and asked, “Pretty cool, huh?”
Sonic smiled, “I see you found out about what the Blue Wisp can do while you were out.”
Rainbow grinned, “Well, initially I didn’t know what to think of the little guy, but he seemed like he knew a lot. And turning into a cube turned out to be cooler than I thought!” She looked at the Blue Wisp and nudged him with a wing, the Wisp nodding back before floating away. Rainbow then looked at Sonic and Shining and asked, “So did Tails and Espio manage to get into Eggman’s system?”
Sonic said, “You know, we don’t know. Shiny and I have been having… an engaging conversation, you could say.” Shining’s hard look at Sonic’s use of the nickname that Twilight and Cadance called him by disappeared when the hedgehog hinted at the words that had been exchanged between the two. While his thoughts turned back to their talk, Sonic went on, “We’d better see how they’re doing. Come on!” Sonic turned and headed for the doorway to the control room, Rainbow hot on his heels. Shining remained where he was for a moment before turning and following after them.
When he got back to the control room, Shining found his sister and the others huddled around the computer console, the screen displaying something different than before. Watching out for the hole in the floor, he followed Rainbow and Sonic over to the group. When they were standing behind the others, Sonic asked, “How’s it going, guys?”
Most of the others looked back at him, Espio saying, “Well, we’ve managed to get inside Eggman’s system. It took a little bit of searching, but Tails found what we’re looking for.”
Rainbow looked at the fox and asked, “You found a map of Sweet Mountain, Tails?”
While looking between his radar and the computer console it was resting on, Tails replied, “Uh, sort of. Eggman decided to put the maps of all the planets in one big file. I can’t extract the one we need, so right now, I’m downloading the whole thing.”
Rainbow raised an eyebrow, “Downloading?”
Sonic looked at her and said, “Basically he’s transferring the maps to his radar so he’ll be able to refer to them when needed. That saves us from having to memorize them now and hope that we don’t forget them later.” Rainbow nodded in understanding; Sonic looked back at Tails and asked, “Are you sure you can’t get the one map we need, Tails?”
The fox nodded, “Positive. Eggman probably did it on purpose in case anyone got in. But I’m at 50% on the download; it shouldn’t take much longer.”
Sonic glanced back at the hole in the floor, faintly hearing sounds coming through it. “I hope so; it sounds like we might have stirred a hornet’s nest,” he said.
Rainbow looked at the others and asked, “Was it hard cracking Eggman’s password?”
Applejack replied, “Nah. It turned out the password is ‘PASSWORD’. Ain’t that just lousy thinkin’ or what?”
Spike shrugged, “He must’ve been going for ‘so obvious it’s overlooked’.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes, “Yeah, I can imagine.”
Sonic asked, “What about the Bake Me Crazy?”
Vector said, “Tails found it on one of the security cameras after he started the download. Got the coordinates and everything. We can warp straight there once he’s done!”
A minute later, Shining glanced back at the doorway, definitely hearing sounds coming from the other side of it. “How’s that ‘download’ coming, Tails? We need to get going!” he urged.
Tails answered, “90% right now! I’m not sure I want to cut it off there; if I lose the connection, I might lose the whole file!”
Sonic looked back at the door and saw Egg Pawns beginning to come through it. “At least get the Warp Ring going, Tails. Pretty soon, your connection’s going to be cut one way or the other!” he said. Tails reached back with his left hand and fished out the Warp Ring, tossing it to the side and causing it to grow to full size.
Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rarity looked back at the Egg Pawns a moment later, noticing the robots were moving around the hole towards them. “Tails!” they all urged.
Tails moved his hands forward and shut his radar with his left hand while grabbing it with his right hand, saying, “It’s finished! Let’s go!” Still holding the handheld in his right hand, he made a dash towards the Warp Ring, leaping through it with everyone right behind him. The Egg Pawns reached where the ring had been as it shrunk and vanished from sight.
________________________________________
“Luna, it was not necessary for you to damage the ride just to stop it. I would have been fine, though I would have been better if there had been some cake involved,” Celestia complained as she, Luna, Blaze, and Silver stood near the entrance to the Bake Me Crazy.
“Sister, if you had paid attention to the entire announcement, then you would have known that that ride simulates what it’s like to be baked like a cake. There was never any mention of there actually being cake,” Luna stated.
Celestia shook her head, “I don’t see why they wouldn’t offer some kind of cake. It seems as though they have plenty of it here; it could help attract customers.”
As the two princesses continued talking, Silver turned to Blaze and asked, “Do you think this is a normal thing for them?”
Blaze looked back at him and said, “Luna seems to be used to it, but that doesn’t necessarily imply anything. Then again, they are sisters; I’m sure they’re familiar with their own quirks.” She turned her head to look in the other direction, saying, “Now, where are Sonic and the others? They should…” She stopped short when the Warp Ring suddenly appeared a short distance away, its appearance enough to startle Luna and Celestia out of their talk. “Ah,” Blaze murmured as Tails leapt out of the ring, followed by everyone else.
Silver and the princesses walked over to them after Tails had put the ring away, Twilight instantly noticing her mentor. “Princess Celestia!” she said, the Sun Princess smiling at her.
Sonic looked at Luna and noticed the smoke rising out of the huge, oven-looking ride behind her. He grinned, “Heh, looks like that ride has been baked bad, huh Luna?”
Luna allowed herself a giggle before replying, “Indeed, Sonic. Thankfully, Blaze and Silver were able to locate it just as it was starting up. I have a feeling I would have missed it otherwise.”
Silver nodded at her, “Happy to help, Luna!”
Blaze looked at the others and asked, “So did you manage to find a map?”
Tails opened up his radar and, while looking down at it, said, “Yeah, but there wasn’t a separate map, so I had to download a file containing maps of each planet in the park. I just need a second to find the one we need and then we can find out where the Chocolate Milk Sea is.” As he was working, a sudden flash of orange and yellow flew over everyone’s heads at high speed, a tailwind blowing past all of them. Tails looked up and asked, “Hey, what was that?!”
Celestia said, “That looked like a pegasus pony.”
Rainbow eyed the trail left by the mystery pony. “Orange followed by yellow and back to orange…” she muttered. She soon knew which of her heroes left a trail like that and cupped her hooves around her mouth, yelling, “SPITFIRE, MA’AM!”
There was a moment of silence, then the pegasus came flying back, this time slowing down as it approached the group. As Dash had thought, it was Spitfire, Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and Celestia recognizing the mare in her Wonderbolts flight suit. The gold pegasus placed her hooves on her hips as she looked at the pony who called her. “Well, what do we have here? If it isn’t Rainbow Dash!” she grinned as she lowered herself to the ground.
While the two pegasi started talking, Sonic looked at Twilight with a raised eyebrow, projecting the question that was on his mind and his friends’ minds. Twilight picked up on it and said, “That’s Spitfire, the captain of the Wonderbolts. They’re the ones Rainbow Dash dreams of being a part of.” Sonic, Silver, Tails, Blaze, Vector, and Espio nodded in understanding.
Looking back at the two, Sonic heard Rainbow Dash ask, “So Spitfire, what are you doing here? If you don’t mind me asking, that is.”
The gold pegasus replied, “In this… candy land? Hay if I know, but right now, I’m looking for Soarin.”
Luna asked, “What happened to him?”
Spitfire answered, “We kind of got separated, Princess Luna. He got a little nutty when he noticed all the candies and cakes and all that, but I tried to keep him under control. Unfortunately, I turned my back on him for a second, and when I turned back around, he was gone.”
Vector asked, “I suppose you don’t have any idea where he could be?”
Spitfire looked up at him for a moment in mild surprise before saying, “Knowing Soarin, he went off looking for pies.” She shook her head, “He loves his pies…”
While looking down at his radar, Tails spoke, “Hang on, Miss Spitfire. I may be able to help you find him.”
The gold pegasus raised an eyebrow, “How?”
Tails replied, “Well, I have a map here of Sweet Mountain. That’s what this place is called. If there’s a place where pies can be found, I’m sure it’s somewhere on the map.” After a few seconds of searching on the bottom screen of his radar, he said, “Hey, I found something!”
Spitfire asked, “Already? That’s an academy record… well, it should be, anyway. What have you got?”
Tails answered, “There’s a place here called Pie Hills. The map description describes it as having all the known pie flavors, and considering everything else here, I wouldn’t be surprised if the pies there are huge.”
Spitfire placed her right hoof over her eyes as she groaned, “Oh boy… If Soarin rips his flight suit from eating too many pies, he’s paying for a new one…”
Tails continued, “Hey, and it’s right on the way to the Chocolate Milk Sea!”
Spitfire took her hoof off of her eyes, raising an eyebrow, “Say what?”
Sonic looked at her and said, “We lost one of our buddies too. She mentioned going to the Chocolate Milk Sea. We’re hoping she’s still there.”
Spitfire simply replied, “Oh. Well, which way is this Pie Hills? I need to find Soarin before his stomach is bigger than his head.”
Sonic noticed Rainbow looking a bit disappointed that Spitfire was leaving. He looked at the gold pegasus and said, “Actually, since we’re going the same way, why don’t we go with you? If Soarin loves pies as much as you say he does, it wouldn’t hurt to have a little help getting him under control.”
Spitfire held a hoof to her chin, “Hm… It can be a little hard to separate him from a good pie…” She looked up at him and said, “All right, you got yourself a deal. Where to?” Rainbow grinned at Sonic, the blue hedgehog winking back at her.
Tails, meanwhile, was checking his radar and making the necessary adjustments in his head. He soon pointed, “That way! The Pie Hills and the Chocolate Milk Sea are in that direction!”
Spitfire said, “All right! Let’s go, then!” She spread her wings and took off, Rainbow Dash following behind her. Once Spike was on Twilight’s back, everyone else ran after them.
Soon…
“Oh man, look at all these pies. I figured they were big, but still…” Tails sighed, running his right hand along a huge pie tin as he walked.
“Hoo-wee, you said it right, Tails! And here Ah thought we made a lot o’ pies back home,” Applejack said as she looked at a nearby stack of pies.
The corners of Luna’s mouth moistened with drool as she looked at a large blueberry pie off to the side. “That does look delicious…” she murmured. She shook her head and chided herself, “No! Now is not the time for indulgence!”
Spitfire spoke, “Keep an eye out for Soarin. All these pies in one place… he’s got to be here!”
A voice up ahead called, “Hey, look what I found!”
Spitfire asked, “Found something already? That was- Wait, who said that?”
Tails glanced off to the side, “That sounded like Wave!” Sonic immediately took off at that, running ahead and coming to a stop next to a stack of pies, the swallow’s voice sounding like it was close by.
Placing his right hand on the stack and peering around it, the hedgehog spotted Jet and Wave standing atop a small hill, Wave walking up towards Jet with an Extreme Gear in her hands. Once she was at the top, Jet asked, “That’s it? That’s all you managed to -” He stopped short when he noticed something on one end of the board and pointed at it, “What is that?”
Wave nearly growled, “That lunk-head left his Extreme Gear in a key lime pie! Ooh, when I get my hands on him…!”
Sonic turned his head around to see the others coming towards him. Before anyone could say anything, he raised his left finger to his lips and pointed in Jet and Wave’s direction with it. He then turned his head back while the others tried to get as close as possible, all of them trying to listen. Jet spoke, “Well, at least we know Storm’s nearby somewhere! He wouldn’t get far without his Extreme Gear! Come on, let’s keep looking!”
While trying to wipe the key lime off of Storm’s board, Wave muttered, “Yeah, sure.” She walked over to Jet, still trying to clean off the Extreme Gear she tuned while he pulled both of their boards out of a considerably less messy pie and set them down, both of them floating just above the ground.
“What are they doing here?” Blaze whispered.
“Sounds like Soarin’s not the only one who enjoys a good pie,” Sonic whispered back.
“Who are you guys talking about?” Spitfire asked in confusion.
“The Babylon Rogues. They’re a racing team,” Tails answered.
“Yeah, and they’re not exactly nice either,” Rainbow grunted.
“Really? Well, maybe I should go say something to them,” Spitfire said, spreading her wings.
Cadance spoke, “Excuse me for saying so, Miss Spitfire, but I don’t think you should do that.” Spitfire looked at her, debating whether or not to listen to the Princess of Love.
Silver suddenly spoke, “Hey, it looks like they’re leaving!” Everyone looked to see that Jet and Wave were on their Extreme Gear, both of them flying away a second later.
“That’s it, they’re toast!” Spitfire said, leaping off the ground with her wings still spread, flapping them and flying after the two birds.
“Hey, I’m coming too!” Rainbow called, flying after the captain despite her friends’ protests. Left with no other choice, everyone quickly ran after the cyan pegasus across the pie-filled zone.