//------------------------------// // Chapter 15: To the Rescue... Or Not // Story: Sonic New World // by ColossalParadox //------------------------------// Tails, Amy, Knuckles, Rouge, and Shadow all rode down the elevator in complete silence. They were all dead set on finding out how Sonic was sent to this 'Equestria' and if there was a way of bringing him back. They all knew Eggman had a secret base somewhere on Mobius, but they thought with the way it was hidden, it might as well be a secondary base. Tails brightened up when the elevator finally stopped and dinged open at the bottom. The group of friends looked around the base in amazement, Tails thinking that the technology down here was impressive even for Eggman's standards. What really drew their attention was the giant circular machine near the back of the room. Everyone stepped out of the elevator to admire the room for a bit, all except for Tails who went straight to the portal and started scanning it with his hand held. Amy came up from behind Tails to examine what he was doing and to patiently wait for him to finish... but not really. "So," she started, "is that the portal that sent my poor Sonic to that weird, other worldly dimension," she asked Tails, hoping for a positive response. "Yep, it sure is," Tails answered, "And I've got to say, this is pretty impressive stuff Eggman's got. This even out does my technological understanding, but I will get the hang of it very soon." "Well I hope you finish soon, I haven't heard from Sonic in weeks. He hasn't answered any of my calls on his hand held." "Gee, I wonder why," Tails mumbled under his breath. "What was that Tails dear?" "I-I said," Tails stuttered, looking for answer until his hand held started beeping, "I said I think I've got something," he announced loudly to everyone, drawing them over to his location. They all gathered around him and gazed upon his hand held, wishing for an understanding of what exactly was on it. Tails looked at it and "oooed" and " awwwed" from time to time when a new bit of information would appear. Everyone cast their glances from the hand held screen to Tails, waiting for an explanation. Tails did not notice their looks but still absent mindedly said aloud what the screen displayed. "Amazing," he began, "Eggman created this machine to travel across and conquer different worlds. It would not work, however, because electricity was not a strong enough power source to run it. So that is why he needed the deadly six after the chaos emeralds were sucked into the portal with Sonic. He used their mystical power that Zeti possess in order to make it work again, and you see that machine over there," Tails said as he pointed to a small, generator, looking machine that had power cords running from it to the portal, "that is, well, it sort of acts as a battery for the machine. It holds, and when needed, uses the power that the Zeti have to power the portal; and by the looks of it, it is about 3/4 of the way empty. Very clever of him, the only thing he has done wrong is not hiding his base better for us to discover." Tails finished his rant and looked to the others and smiled, knowing that with them, this mission was going to be easier than pie. After Tails' small speech, everyone dispersed to explore the underground base some more while Tails worked out a plan and tried to understand the technology of the portal, until it suddenly sparked to life all on its own. Tails fell backwards when the machine came on and the swirly vortex of the portal appeared in the middle. He was not expecting it to come on, and he definitely was not expecting to hear other voices coming through the vortex. The others noticed the portal appearing and the voices, looking to Tails for what they should do. "EVERYONE, HIDE," Tails yelled, panicked. They were all quick to obey his command. Everyone jumped to a different hiding place in order stay out of sight. Rouge flew to the ceiling, Tails and Knuckles hid on the other side of the portal, and Amy and Shadow hid behind a giant computer console. They all stood still and remained absolutely silent as they witnessed Eggman and three of the deadly six, Zazz, Zomom, and Zavok, walk through the portal, continuing a discussion they must have started in Equestria. "Uuuaaggh, what are we here for again," Zomom asked. "I am here to retrieve a very special and secret weapon to use on Sonic," Eggman answered. "And what would that be," Zavok asked. "It is something that I have worked and tested many times before perfecting, and I feel that now is as good a time as any to use it. I just need to," Eggman said as he searched around the lab for his weapon, nearly discovering Amy and Shadow's hiding place in the process, "find it," Eggman finished. Eggman continued to search for his weapon while the three Zeti waited patiently for him to find it. Zazz of course finally got bored and decided to step in and add more to the conversation. "With it being a very secret and important weapon you sure don't care to put it in a place that you'll remember," Zazz said in a mocking tone. "Oh shut up, with everything that goes on in my life I don't have time to be organized. I just build the machine and then place it off to the side until it is needed. I think I built and organizer robot at some point, but I never got around to switching him on and he was lost in time.... AH HA, FOUND YOU," Eggman proclaimed. Tails and Knuckles gasped at Eggman's proclamence and peeked around the corner of the machine, believing that one of them had been discovered, but instead he held up a semi-large, gun looking device. He showed it to the others that he was with before handing it down to them to examine further, Zavok held it so the others could look down and admire it. Zazz looked up after seeing enough, determined to figure out what it was and what it did. "So what exactly is this thing, it just looks like any normal gun," he asked. "To the novice eye, that is what it would look like, but this," Eggman responded, taking the machine back from Zavok, "this is my Proton Plasma Canon. It charges and concentrates a ball of energy. Once it has a big enough charge, you aim and fire it at the victim or your enemy. It damages the atomic structure of the target and can be quite painful. It is not really that deadly, but if the charge is big enough it can cause major or even permanent paralysis, and that is exactly what we want to happen to Sonic," Eggman concluded with an evil laugh to add to the seriousness of the situation, Zavok joining in with him. Everyone, except for Shadow, looked to one another from their hiding places with looks of worry and fear pasted onto their faces. They were not sure how, but they needed to prevent Eggman from using that canon on anyone at all costs. They looked back to the group of bad guys when they noticed that they were not laughing anymore and they began to walk back towards the portal. Eggman walked over to the little generator that powered the portal and bent down to examine it, Eggman just inches from discovering the location of Sonic's two best friends. "Hmm," Eggman pondered, "you three," he shouted to the members of the deadly six, "refill the generator to about 3/4 of the way full while I attach the cannon to my Egg Mobile," he commanded." The three nodded and began the walk over to the generator. Tails was in an angry state at this point, he clenched his fists so hard that his whole arms shook. He tried to hold himself back as best he could, but it was all for not as he soon found himself running from the back of the portal and straight towards Eggman, screaming all the while. Eggman turned to the source of the sound, but only for the small fox to jump up and grab the cannon that was in Eggman's hands. He tried desperately to pull the weapon out if his grasp, but unfortunately for him Eggman was much stronger and was able to retain his grasp. "You, urgh, want to hurt Sonic with this, well I WON'T LET YOU," Tails shouted as he desperately tried to pull the canon away from Eggman. The others saw that he was having trouble so they came out of their hiding places and over to aid Tails. They all tugged as hard as they could on Tails as he tried to pull it away from Eggman. Eggman though was much tougher than he looked and was able to maintain his grasp even with all of them supporting Tails in the pointless tug-o-war. Eggman finally got tired of it and was about to end. "UrrrrRRRR, BUZZ! OFF! FOX BOY," Eggman commanded as he released one hand from the canon and knocked Tails off of the canon. They entire group fell backwards and towards the portal. The portal was still left idle after the group arrived, and misfortune was with the group of heroes today. Rouge who had been in the back of the tug team and one of her booted feet fell into the portals grasp and began to pull her into it. She began to yell and in an attempt to try to save herself, she grabbed Shadow's ankle. The suction was still too powerful and Shadow began to be dragged into the portal as well. He tried to save himself and Rouge by grabbing Knuckles by his ankles to get away from the portal. They were still being dragged into the portal and into the unknown world of Equestria. Knuckles, in a pitiful and hopeful attempt to prevent the inevitable, grabbed onto Tails. Tails fell to the ground face first, but he quickly forgot about the pain and tried to grip the floor as best he could to stop the group from being pulled in. The force of the pull from the portal was much to great and Tails felt his grasp on the linoleum floor of the lab begin to slip. Tails and the chain gang of heroes slid back a few inches, each one sending them more into the portal. Tails looked up one last time to see Doctor Eggman with his surprised expression before Tails finally lost his grip. They entire group of bad guys watched as they were pulled into the portal, each one of them screaming, and into the land of Equestria. After they were all sucked in and their screams subsided, the members of the deadly six looked to Eggman for an explanation. Eggman still tried to comprehend what had happened just now. They three waited for what he would do next, until they saw Eggman's expression change from surprised to total and complete depression. "Oh great," Eggman began as covered his face with his hand, "now THEY are there." o.0.o "And another thing princesses-," Sonic continually spouted, scolding the princesses on the social scale and terms of how others were treated while off near the TARPIS, Rarity approached Twilight who was just watching Sonic tell the sister princesses what for. Rarity came up behind Twilight and "pssst"ed at her to get her attention. Twilight looked away from the on going rampage Sonic was on and turned to the seemingly cautious Rarity to see what she wanted. "Twilight darling, could I have a word with you for a moment," she asked. "Of course," Twilight answered as she walked around the corner of the TARPIS to the spot Rarity called her to, "What is it?" "I don't think I heard Sonic mentioned it in order to not sound like a braggart, but I have to tell somepony about the most wonderful and heart-string tugging thing I have ever witnessed." "What, what did he do," Twilight asked with a hint of concern in her voice. "As you already know, Sonic witnessed a few poor fillies being tormented and treated like... rubbish, by the upper class in Canterlot." "Yeah, he started with that before he started chewing out the princesses." "BUT, what he didn't mention is that he gave every single morsel of food he bought with that spending money you gave him to those poor filly souls," Rarity revealed, eliciting a soft gasp from Twilight. "W-Wow, that was really thoughtful and sweet of him, I wonder what made him do it?" "He saw the poor things suffering, so I guess something deep within him told him to give the food away. Telling him that they needed it more than he did. An entire family can live off all that food he gave them for a few days. Hooh, it was just the sweetest, most wonderful thing I ever saw. He even pet and showed the little things some affection, as if saying that there is still hope left and that others still do care. I just hope he doesn't get in too serious of trouble from shouting at the princesses, they can be very unforgiving sometimes," Rarity concluded. Her and Twilight both went back out in front of the Guard Box to watch Sonic speak for what was right. "You need to crack down and help others out of their financial ruts, or at least stop this alienating of who to torment because of their monetary status, PHEW," Sonic finished, breathing heavy from the amount of air it took from his lungs to speak. As for the princesses, they were speechless. Celestia's mouth just hung open and Luna stared wide eyed at Sonic, like a deer in headlights. Celestia eventually discovered her mouth was hanging open and quickly closed it, moving her jaw around to loosen any tight muscles. "A-," Princess Celestia tried to start but was once again cut off by Sonic. "So, just to sum up," he started, coaxing groans from all the ponies in the room, "there are living, BREATHING, ponies out there, some children, roaming the streets and digging through trashcans trying to find their next meal. And as if their lives weren't already tough enough, you allow the upper class to torment and ridicule them as if they were just some rag-doll to be thrown around. I request that you do something about this soon, I was told to believe this is a world of peace and friendship, not a world based on social status," Sonic concluded. The princesses just sat there in a long silence for a while before Celestia bowed her head to look at the floor in some kind of state of depression, closing her eyes before she spoke. ".... You're right," she said, drawing a wave of gasps from around the room. Celestia noticed their concerned draws of air and quickly raised up her head to explain, "I mean, you are right about this land being of peace and love and friendship and about some of the population being poor. I was not, however, aware of the upper class treating those poor, innocent hearted ponies like they do. I am a bit glad that you informed us of this pressing matter, I just wish you would have delivered it a bit more politely and formally," Celestia said, giving a semi-stern look. Sonic stood straight and rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish smile at the princess' revelation. "Oh, he he, sorry. I just thought that you were aware and that you were allowing that kind of behavior amongst the others." "*Sigh* No matter, you have informed us of a great problem that must have action put into affect at once. We planned to do something about the poor and famine, we just never found the time to, but now is the perfect time to act. Thank you for informing us Sonic the Hedgehog, just next time, think before you act, and don't be afraid to ask questions," she said in a soft voice and ending with a smile. "Yes princess," he said, kneeling to the ground and bowing to them. "SONIC," the Doctor yelled from the TARPIS doors. Sonic quickly shot up and turned towards the Doctor, noticing he now wore only a white collar with a green tie, but pushed the thought aside so he could answer back. "YES?" He asked back. "MAY I SEE YOUR CHAOS EMERALD PLEASE?" "YOU GUYS DON'T HAVE TO SHOUT, YOU ARE BOTH LITERALLY ONLY 4.57 FEET AWAY FROM EACH OTHER," Dinky cut in from the shouting match. The Doctor looked at Dinky with a smile on his face, anticipating what he was going to do next. "BUT SHOUTING IS FUN," the Doctor yelled right at Dinky. Dinky gave the Doctor a cold stare that could freeze you in place if on looked too long. The Doctor quickly got the message and turned his attention back towards Sonic, clearing his throat as he did. "May I please see you chaos emerald," the Doctor said, looking to the side of him and smiling when he got a nod of approval from his daughter. "Sure, here," Sonic said as he tossed the emerald to him. The Doctor caught the emerald with virtually no trouble. He sat down and reached into the side of the collar he wore and pulled out a small mechanical, device. It resembled something that of a horseshoe, molding perfectly to the Doctor's hoof as a bright blue light shined from the outer edges of it. He moved the emerald around in his other hoof, making sure the blue light touched every single part of the gem. Sonic got curious as to what the device was and decided to find out. "Hey Doc, what is that thing you're shining on the emerald?" "Huh? OH, you mean this," the Doctor said and held up the small device to assure it was what Sonic was referring too, then he went back to scanning the emerald, "Well, this is, ironically enough, my Sonic Horseshoe. I am able to do all sorts of different tasks with it. Right now I am scanning the emerald and collecting its molecular structure so when we land in an area with a chaos emerald I can use this to track it, sort of like an automatic compass the points you in the right direction all the time." "Oh yeah, the horseshoe," Derpy cut in, "I remember when that thing saved us more than once, it is like an icon to the Doctor. He says it makes him... complete. I say he is just another kid with his toy, but if it makes him happy, then I am happy too. It is also a pretty powerful weapon, the Doctor doesn't go anywhere without it." Sonic thought over the words Derpy had told him until a sudden thought struck him. "Hang on, if it is a great weapon like you say it is, then why didn't you use it on the timber-wolves?" "Oh that is an easy one," Derpy said, "for some weird reason, the Doctor can't get it to work on wood. That is the only thing it will not work on, wood." "Yep," the Doctor agreed, "wood is the number one enemy of a Sonic device, go figure," he said as he finished scanning the emerald and tossed it back to Sonic. "So, are we all ready," he asked everyone, a wave of "YES" washing over him. "Well then.... ALLON-SY!!" He exclaimed as he held the door open for everyone to board the TARPIS. The Doctor walked in after everyone had boarded, but Sonic poked his head out through the door before they departed. "Princesses, I just wanted to thank you, ALL of you for your help in finding the emeralds. Your troops can continue searching if they want, but the Doctor and I will be taking the main lead for now on. Once again, thank you for your help and I will try to work on the way I say things. Now everyone, you might want to tie your stuff down before what is about to happen next happens," Sonic finished with a smug smile and closed the door. The TARPIS then started making its iconic noise as it slowly picked up the wind in the room and began to fade out of existence. As it disappeared more, the wind got weaker and weaker until finally stopping as the TARPIS disappeared completely. The princesses just stared at it in amusement until it completely vanished, then they both turned to look at each other. "I don't think I'll ever get used to that," Celestia said to her younger sister. "We think that we will not be able to get acquainted with that either, sister," Princess Luna responded. o.0.o Dragons. Dragons of ever different size, shape, color, parent or offspring, siblings, all stood in the giant lava pits having belching contests or seeing who had the stronger tail with tail wrestles. They would laugh, pick on each other, and have the idea of what a teenage dragon called fun while the parents just rested in their nests. That was, until they heard a strange noise come out of nowhere and the wind picked up fiercely. All of the teenage and adult dragons looked to the center of the pit and watched as a strange unknown box appeared out of thin air, the noise stopping and the wind settling as it fully appeared. They saw what they guessed was the door on it open and a brown stallion in a white collar and green neck tie step out. The Doctor froze in place and looked from dragon to dragon and gave a wide smile after looking at them all. Three of the punk dragons that few ponies in the group knew all too well approached, pounding their fists together and cracking their knuckles and necks. "So," a red dragon teenager started, who the Doctor guessed was the gangs leader, "who are you?" The Doctor's smile only widened more at the question, causing the leader dragon to get a brief look of unsureness before switching back to his brave face. The Doctor waited to answer for dramatic effect, but eventually gave the answer they were looking for. "I'm the Doctor." o.0.o "You, change," Queen Chrysalis commanded to one of her changeling army. He did as he was told and changed, but she got a look of disgust on her face after he did. "No.... YOU, change," she commanded to another changeling in the line of changelings she arranged. This one did as he was told right away and changed, again not what she wanted. "Still No.... YOU, change NOW," she commanded to another changeling in the line. He did as he was told, but instead of getting disgusted, she got a delighted smile on her face this time and walked over to examine the new form of the changeling. "Excellent, you may be to the one we need if this plan is going to work," she semi-complimented to the soldier. She stopped walking around him and stopped right in front of him, the soldiers new form standing and saluting at the ready. "You are exactly the one we need. You know the plan, now go and fulfill the mission," Chrysalis commanded. "Yes, My Queen," the soldier obeyed and walked out of the "throne room" to complete his mission. Chrysalis dismissed the others that were in the line so she could have her thought to herself. "Very good. Now, if everything goes according to plan, we may see victory for the changelings yet," she stated, and evily laughed after her proclamation of victory.