//------------------------------// // Chapter 22: Picture Framed // Story: Sonic New World // by ColossalParadox //------------------------------// The spy watched from the roof top, a huge smile adorning her face as she watched all the ponies turn against Sonic. He was stumbling around as the ponies closed in on him and him watching them do it, still unclear as to why they were upset. The spy turned away from the commotion and concentrated hard on establishing a mental connection with the Queen. "My Queen, come in, do you read me?" The spy asked. "I read you, spy," Queen Chrysalis responded, "continue." "The plan worked like a charm, temporarily harnessing that emerald's power to look like Sonic and wreak havoc was a complete success. The whole town is angry with him and are ganging up on him as we speak. Word will most likely spread quickly across the land; We have successfully made Sonic the Hedgehog public enemy number one. I will inform you of any further happenings." "Very good spy, I will leave you to your work." "Just one question before we cut off," the spy quickly threw in. "And what would that be?" Queen Chrysalis asked. "Why exactly did I need the emerald to shape shift into Sonic?" "As you know, you can shape shift to look like other ponies," Chrysalis began. "Correct," the spy responded. "Well, we needed the emerald's power because Sonic is a biped, which means he walks on TWO legs. I was afraid that you would not be able to sustain that shape and would most likely end up damaging your body's structure. That is why we learned to harness its power, so you would be able to maintain his shape long enough without hurting yourself. Is that understandable?" "Crystal clear, my Queen." "Excellent, now, continue with your work." "Yes my Queen." And with that, the spy and Queen Chrysalis disconnected from their mental link and the spy went back to investigating the scene. As she was about to turn back though, she saw a large white figure flying towards the crowd at an amazing speed. Upon further examination, she discovered that it was Princess Celestia, the most powerful ruler in the land. The spy suddenly was washed over with nervousness and anxiety. She knew that if the Celestia were to see her, it could mean bad things for all the changelings. The spy decided that it was best to vacate the immediate area so she could try to sneak into the crowd from behind where she would not be noticed by them and before Celestia got too close to see her. The spy turned to take off in a direction on the rooftops that would hide her from the crowd and not make her seem suspicious to Princess Celestia if she noticed her. Little did the spy know that, with the force of her taking off and the loose securing of her saddlebags, the green emerald that was so precious to the changelings fell out. The emerald tumbled down the roof, slid down a gutter and grinded on the edge of the straw roof and landed in a cart full of hay. The spy, however, was already a quarter of a mile away from the town to notice the artifact was missing. Queen Chrysalis was not going to be happy to hear that news, and neither was the spy once she discovers it is missing. o.0.o Sonic twisted and turned in the center of the ring of angry Ponyvillers, looking at each upset face of the multi-colored equines. His face was one of sheer panic, still unclear as to why they were all mad at him. Filling that this was going to get worse before it got better, Sonic decided to try and take charge of the situation and try to find out why they were all sore with him. He stopped doing his panicking motions, stood up tall, and gave them a stare of confidence and of slight agitation; causing them to actually back away and momentarily lose their gall. "Alright," Sonic started, shouting, "Why are you all acting like this? What ever happened to your magical friendshi-". "SHUT UP!!" A very masculine voice shouted from the crowd, throwing an apple in Sonic's direction after he did. Thankfully, due to Sonic's quick reflexes, he was able to dodge the airborne fruit, it shattering on the ground with a pitiful "squishing" sound. Sonic looked in the direction the fruit was thrown and deadpanned, "Way to be civil," he said in a sarcastic and unenthusiastic voice. "YEAH!! SHUT IT, HEDGEHOG!!" Another voice commanded, this one female. The entire crowd agreed with the two ponies and even took up the first one's idea, as in, they all started to toss an array of different objects at Sonic. Varying from tough objects such as empty bottles and fresh fruit to soft and spoiling fruit. Sonic did his best to try and dodge all that was thrown, but with the size of the crowd and all the possible different angles they came from, some did manage to contact Sonic. Thankfully though, most of them were softer fruit, while the rest were harder fresh fruit. Sonic's friends, most of them anyway, looked on in horror at the display of violence towards the innocent hedgehog. He was the talk of the town just a few days ago, but now he was the first target all the ponies had on their hit list. Amy could no longer take any more of the torment and tried to run out and help him in any way possible, but before she could a loud, booming voice sounded over the entire crowd, instantly silencing the booing crowd and ceasing their uncivil show of conduct. "ENOUGH!!" Shouted the Royal Canterlot Voice from the most powerful princess of the land, Celestia. Princess Celestia flew down with amazing, but graceful speed. She landed on the ground inside the ring of ponies, right in front of Sonic, with a semi-loud thud, spreading a small cloud of dust away from the spot she landed in. She slowly approached Sonic and looked down at him, the look on her face the angriest he had ever seen, her eyes told Sonic that there was deep trouble and that somehow, it was his fault. "Sonic the Hedgehog, what is the meaning of this?" She asked in a stern tone of voice. Sonic shrugged at her and then crossed his arms, trying not to seem to startled by all that was happening. "I'm not sure princess, I was wondering the same thing to myself. I tried asking nicely what it was, but all I got in response was being bombarded by a variety of different items," he replied, looking to his immediate head turning ares, giving all the ponies he could an angry glance. Celestia just growled slightly at this response. "That is not what I meant. What I meant was, what is with these acts of treason and terror. We thought you and your friends could be trusted," she said, trying to make him understand. Sonic sighed at this and shook his head, looking at her and chuckling with a cocky grin. "Alright, I'll humor you, what exactly do you mean 'treason' and 'acts of terror?" "First off, wipe that smile off your face," she commanded, Sonic immediately dropping his smile and what courage he had reserved to try and speak with her, "I assure you that this is no laughing matter. This is a very serious situation," Celestia suddenly lost her edge and her head drooped a few inches, "I personally do not think you did it, but the evidence presented is irrefutable and I can't just ignore this, or else the citizens would become upset and create even more problems. I'm sorry," she apologized. "Hold on, wait one second! What are you talking about? What evidence? What do you mean?" Sonic asked frantically. "Are you saying you unaware of any of this?" Celestia asked. "YES!!" Sonic answered. "Pictures of your acts of treason and terror are all over the Ponyville newspaper, I believe you even posed for one of them," Celestia pondered, putting a hoof under her chin and rubbing for emphasis. Sonic, however, couldn't believe what he was hearing. He knows he has been framed in someway, but couldn't quite place who did it. That is when Sonic noticed that another pony approached from the crowd, carrying a newspaper in her mouth. When the pony got up to Celestia she put it down in front of her. "Here you go princess," she started, shooting an angry glance at Sonic, who backed away slightly, "A copy of the paper with the committed crimes," she finished, walking back to the crowd, but still tried to hold an angry stare with Sonic. Princess Celestia picked up the newspaper in her magical grip and held it up to Sonic. "Is this not you," she asked. Sonic grabbed the paper in both hands and looked at it. Sure enough, there he was on the front page. There were three pictures of him, one was of him tipping over a fruit cart, another was of him smashing a stand in the market area of town, and the last was of him in front of that same stand, except he was posing. He was holding up two fingers to the camera pony with his arms in a crossed fashion with a smile of victory adorned on his face while the stand burned in the near background. Sonic's eyes widened at the horrors of these preposterous crimes. Sonic dropped the paper on the ground with his mouth gaping open, slowly he turned his head upwards to look at Princess Celestia with pleading eyes. Celestia looked down on him in pity. "Come on Princess, you know it isn't me in these photos. It must be some sort of transformation spell, you have magic here right? Please, you've gotta believe me," Sonic pleaded, only getting a deep and sorrowful sigh out of Celestia. "I don''t want to believe it Sonic, but I have to do this in the meantime or else there will be trouble in the future," she responded, giving Sonic a confused look. "What do you mean?" He asked carefully. Celestia turned her head to him quickly and put a serious look on her face. "Sonic the Hedgehog," she announced for all the crowd to hear, who listened intently, "for you crimes against the citizens of Ponyville I hear by place you under arrest until further evidence proving your innocence arises," Celestia announced, afterwards two ponies of the Royal Guard flew from seemingly out of nowhere and landed beside Celestia. They then slowly and carefully approached Sonic, each of them with a pair of shackles. Some others, however, did not agree with the sentence. "NO!!" Amy shouted, shoving her way through the crowd and running between Sonic and the guards, barricading Sonic from them, "You can't take Sonic!!" "Yeah!!" Tails shouted as well, joining Amy, "This has happened in the past before, there is always someone out to get Sonic and make him look bad. I believe the second time Sonic was framed was when people thought Shadow was Sonic. We were able to solve that issue though!" Tails assured them. The rest of Sonic's friends, except for Shadow, who opted to walk, rushed over to his aid, blocking anyone from getting to him. "I've known Sonic for a good while now," Knuckles began, "at first, we didn't get along. I downright hated the guy, but that is only because someone gave me false information about him. I eventually learned the truth and am now glad to call Sonic my friend and/or rival," Knuckles finished, looking to Sonic who gave him a nod in thanks. Knuckles nodded back and returned to his defense stance. Tails glanced around nervously, trying to think of a solution out of this mess. His eyes eventually landed on Twilight, remembering her mentioning at one point that she was a princess. "Twilight!!" Tails exclaimed, getting her attention, "You're a princess, right? Can't you give Sonic some sort of Royal Pardon or something like that? Please, you've gotta help him," he pleaded with big, soft eyes. Twilight shook her head vigorously and looked around nervously, all of the ponies' eyes on her. "I-I don't know," she stammered out, "I may be a princess but I am not sure if I have that kind of jurisdiction. Even so, I may or may not need approval from other royalty to execute the pardon." "You do have that kind of jurisdiction, Twilight," Celestia answered, "And you would not need other's approval. Unfortunately, this is not a case in which you can do that. If the crime were smaller and there was little to no evidence to confirm they did it then yes, you could pardon them. However, we cannot do that this time," Celestia said in a sad tone, Sonic's friends faces drooping a little, even Shadow's. Tails wasn't about to give up that easy though. "Come on Princess, you know Sonic. He's a HERO! You can't arrest him, what if there is trouble again? Sonic is a good guy, those pictures must be fake, or somebody playing dress up," Tails took this moment to breathe in deeply and then heftily release, looking into Princess Celestia's eyes before continuing, "Sonic has been framed way too many times for crimes he didn't commit. This is another one of those situations where he is framed and the hated by all, something big is bound to happen, and then everyone depends on him to come rescue them. And you know what? He always does. So let's just avoid all that hassle, please? I am sorry to say this princess, but you are not taking Sonic." Celestia stared at Tails with her mouth slightly open as if she was going to say something. All of the ponies in the area had wide eyes, shrunken pupils, and mouths wide enough to fit three apples between them, top to bottom. They all slowly looked to Celestia to see how she would respond, someone else giving CELESTIA a command was unheard of. Princess Celestia eventually regained her composure and shut her mouth, clearing her throat when she did. "There is much passion in your words and I can sense deep bond in your friendship. However, that doesn't mean we can just brush this off and go on with our lives, as much as I wish we could. Someone has to be responsible and accept the consequences of this. Sonic is the lead suspect so he must be arrested. Please don't make this any harder than it already is, I'm begging you," Celestia said, struggling with that last sentence. Everyone wondered what was wrong until they saw one tiny tear make its way out of her right eye and streaking down her cheek like a lightning bolt. Tails slowly turned to Sonic, the other following suit after him, and looked at him with what Sonic could read as failure in his eyes. ".... I'm sorry," Tails said, barely above a whisper. Sonic chuckled at this, drawing a confused look from Tails. He looked up just in time to see Sonic waving it off. "Don't worry about it, not like it's the first time I've been falsely accused. I'll be out of there soon enough, so in that time I am going trust you guys with the emeralds," Sonic said in more jovial voice. Tails perked up at hearing the enthusiasm in Sonic's voice. "Okay, you can count on us. Plus, you are surely allowed visits here right? We'll come and visit you everyday until we get the evidence we need to prove your innocence, don't worry. In the mean time, you won't have to worry about anything. Just sit back and let us solve this," Tails responded happily, getting Sonic to smile and give him a thumbs up, who gladly returned it. Celestia gave an audible nervous sigh in the background, which made everyone turn to her. She noticed their gazes soon enough and caused her to smile nervously, causing little beads of sweat to drip down her face. "Okay, now you're really going to be mad," she said awkwardly, "I was informed that we must detain your friends as well and confiscate the emeralds." "WHAT!?!??" Sonic exploded, "WHY!?! They have done nothing wrong and the emeralds won't be safe unless they are with us! Why do you have to arrest them and take the emeralds anyways?" He asked. "There is a possibility of your friends doing the same acts you have done in the photos and from what we have been told those emeralds are very dangerous. They want to make sure these terrors don't happen again and so they can't be made worse. I am truly, very sorry Sonic. To you, and all your friends." Sonic knew she meant it, the look on her face said it all. Sonic sighed and was about to accept his fate, until Shadow stepped forward with a look of extreme agitation. "If you choose to turn your backs on us," Shadow paused and looked up from the ground to his friends for a moment before turning to meet Celestia's gaze, "then we will fight like we always have," he finished. Celestia was awed by the potential threat and took a few steps back; the ponies in the area gasping at the grim words that had come from the black hedgehog's mouth. Sonic decided to stop their panic by stepping forward and grabbing a-hold of Shadow's shoulder. Shadow looked at the gloved hand on his left shoulder for a few seconds before his eyes traveled up the arm and to its owner, Sonic, who shook his head slightly from side to side; subtly telling him not to do this for it would only make things even worse. Shadow just growled slightly and cracked his right hand's knuckles by squeezing it tightly into a hard fist. Shadow released his tension and stepped back into the middle of the group, crossing his arms and looking off into any other direction but Celestia's. Sonic stepped forward, away from the protective barrier his friends were producing. He came to stand in front of Celestia, casting his gaze over to the group of traveling ponies he has come to know as his friends. Celestia's guards prepared to step forward to keep Sonic from getting any closer to her, but she stuck out her hoof, which signaled for them to halt and to stand down. They were hesitant to follow through with the order she gave with the gesture, but they eventually complied and stepped back to her sides. Sonic looked from his pony friends: Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, the Doctor, Derpy, and Dinky all had frowns, especially the usually hyper and bouncy Pinkie Pie, who's mane was starting lose some of its puffiness. Sonic looked to Celestia, who stared back at him, trying to predict his next move. A few long seconds passed before anything interesting happened. Sonic was the first to speak, choosing his words very carefully. "Okay Princess, I'll go with you," he paused as he heard his friends give an audible gasp, Princess Celestia giving her own look of depression. Sonic looked to her again, making sure to make eye contact. Then, he gave a wide cocky grin. "If you can catch me first," he said a bit maniacally. After Sonic spoke the words, everyone shouted "WHAT!?!?", but it was too late as Sonic turned around to make a break for it, trying to hold off the inevitable.