//------------------------------// // Chapter 25: The Deadly Infiltration // Story: Sonic New World // by ColossalParadox //------------------------------// Princess Celestia and Princess Luna sat in the commons room with two guards off to the side, making sure their princess' would be safe. Celestia used her magic to float her cup up to her mouth for another sip, until she heard a mysterious noise. She opened her eyes and what she saw made her pupil's shrink to the size of marbles and widened her eyes exponentially. A tall, blue box was fading into existence right in front of her. She knew that Twilight and her friends were on board, along with the family of three that piloted it. Celestia knew from experience that Twilight had something important to tell her, which could either be a good thing, or the lesser needed bad thing. Celestia sighed and shook her head as she set her cup of tea back on its matching saucer. She looked to Luna who had the same expression on her face as she just had. Luna looked over to her sister and immediately calmed down once she saw the look Celestia gave her. They both knew it was important for Twilight to barge in unannounced with that weird box. Celestia chuckled slightly which threw Luna off a tiny bit. "What's the point of having doors if this is how they will come to greet us," Celestia asked. Luna smiled at the humor in her sister's words, but frowned as she noticed the two guards began to approach the box. "Stand down," Luna commanded, "this object is of no threat to us." With the guards reassured, they went back to their posts by the entrance as the box fully faded in existence. Celestia and Luna got up from their chairs at the longer-than-necessary table and approached the box just in time for a distraught purple alicorn princess to burst out; panicking. "PRINCESSES!" She exclaimed as she slid to a halt in front of them and bowed for her sudden intrusion. The two guards looked to each other in confusion. "Princesses," she started, standing up from her bowing, "I have important information for you, information that includes the innocence of Sonic the Hedgehog!" Princess Celestia brightened up at this revelation. "REALLY?!?!" She pronounced more loudly than she would have liked. She noticed the frightened looks on the rest of the group stepping out of the TARPIS and quickly tried to grasp onto her composure, but still remained giddy inside. She cleared her throat and continued. "I mean, what proof do you have of this proclamation. Do you have any evidence?" She asked worriedly. "In terms of physical evidence....no," Celestia frowned at this, "But what I do have is a memory spell. I can show you what I saw Princess, if you are up for it that is," Twilight threw in. Princess Celestia's smile returned and nodded her head in acceptance, readying herself for Twilight to show her the memory. Twilight walked up to Celestia and touched her horn to Celestia's. They both closed their eyes as Twilight activated the spell and their consciousness was thrown into the memory that Twilight concentrated on. Outside, Luna, Twilight's friends, the CMC's, the two guards, and the Doctor and his family watched on in anticipation as they waited for Twilight to finish showing the memory. Twilight showed Celestia all their was she needed to see; them leaving the market place after their little pit stop, the shifting figure in the alleyway and the bright green light that came from it, and Sonic stepping out after he had clearly boarded the TARPIS and left. The memory then went from them turning to get back on the TARPIS, the Doctor and his family piloting it to the right coordinates, and ending with Twilight's first person view getting to the TARPIS doors. Twilight and Celestia were flung out of the memory and back to reality. Both of them were sweating profusely and panting heavily. They both looked to the group watching them; each one with a look of concern on their faces. Twilight turned her gaze to Celestia, and if on cue, turned her head to meet Twilight's. "So you see Princess, we have reason to believe that Sonic was framed by a changeling. They have been pretty quiet for a long time and probably think it is time for them to be heard. We think the best coarse of action is to prepare for an invasion, just as a precaution. So what do you say Princess?" Twilight asked. Princess Celestia still stared blankly with her jaw slightly agape. She finally broke free of her trance after a short bit and looked up to everyone. "Mother of Me..." o.0.o "Zazz you dolt, are you sure they're here?" "I'm more positive than a plus sign, Zeena. I am telling you, they're here somewhere, I can smell 'em." Zazz, Zeena, Zor, and General Hewdraw walked down the long and seemingly unending corridors of Canterlot Castle. They had snuck in and began their search for something important. "I saw that group of freaks get busted and carted off to this castle. I saw one of the short ones in the golden armor confiscate every emerald they had on them. If I counted correctly-" "Oh my goodness, you counted? Is your head alright?" Zeena asked smugly. Zazz looked back at her with a look of disgust, "As I was saying," he said, turning to face the front, "Sonic and the others are down here rotting in a cell, meaning the emeralds can't be too far from them. If we add those to the one I found by tripping and scratching my leg up, that will leave only one left to find." "That actually isn't the worst idea you have ever had and is probably the smartest thing you will ever say. Color me impressed," Zeena praised(ish). "Yeah, yeah. Whatever.... let's try this door," Zazz said, pointing to an approaching door on the right. They stopped right in front of the door, hesitating to open it in fear of getting caught. Zazz finally worked up the nerve and reached for the nob slowly. He grabbed it and twisted it slightly, pushing it open just enough to peak inside. What he saw made him start chuckling deeply. "What is it?" Zeena asked. "It is those delinquent chumps, they have the saddest looks on their faces and it is cracking me up!" "Well stop laughing and tell me what else you see." "Alright, Alright," Zazz waved off, "I see a guard not too far from the entrance, it looks like he is keeping more of an eye on Sonic and his friends. I see a few more empty cells, and a vault! That must be where they are holding the emeralds!" "Great, now we know our target, which leaves the problem of getting to it," Zeena pondered. Zazz looked around for a little bit before something of interest on the ceiling caught his eye, which made his grin grow even wider. "I hope you guys don't have any back problems." o.0.o "Zazz, I don't know whether I should pound your face into oblivion, or kick your butt so hard you'll have to sit on your eyes," Zeena threatened. Zazz had found an air duct above their heads and was leading their way to the emeralds. Following him were Zeena, G. Hewdraw, and Zor. The crawl space was extremely limited, leaving no room to turn around, straight was their only option. "Isn't there a third option? Such as thanking me for finding a way to get the emeralds," Zazz asked, not really expecting anyone to agree with him. They continued crawling for a few more feet, hearing slight creaks and sproings from the duct as they moved. Zeena looked around, unsure if the duct was stable enough. "Zazz, is this thing going to support all of us? Because it is making a lot of noise, plus this dust is messing up my hair," Zeena complained. "Dah, quit whinin', were almost there. Once we get those emeralds we'll be home freeEEEE-" Zazz said, realizing that all at once the air duct they were in was heading straight for the ground, right outside the vault where the chaos emeralds were; and where Sonic and the others could see them. Everyone in the cell bolted upright and looked to the loud clattering of metal hitting the shiny linoleum floors. To their shock, they saw three of the deadly six and one unidentifiable character. Sonic wasn't worried about him though, he had his sights set on the leader of the wannabe spy thiefs. "You!" Sonic said, referring to Zazz. "Uh oh," was all he could mutter out. "HALT," the guard in the room commanded, "What are you doing here? Identify yourselves!!" "Oh yeah, sure thing," Zazz replied sarcastically, "But first, we wanna have a look at this safe. I caught wind of there being something that belongs to us in here." "Belongs to YOU!!" Tails shouted, approaching the bars, "Those emeralds most certainly don't belong to you creeps, and your... friend," Tails said hesitantly, looking to General Hewdraw. "Eh, don't worry about him," Zazz shrugged him off, "Now, if you'll excuse me." "Stop right there!!" The guard commanded, pulling a spear on Zazz, "These are the belongings taken off of the prisoners when they were taken into custody. You are not allowed to touch or look through their property without permission." Zazz eyed the spear for a moment before swiftly taking it from the guard's hoof and snapping it in two over his knee, throwing it to the ground. "Is that so, bub, "Zazz said, poking the guard's chest harshly, "Well there is something you should know about me. I don't ask for permission, I do want I want, when I want. And right now, I want those EMERALDS!!" "Forget this," Sonic cut in, "Knuckles, you know what to do." "With pleasure," Knuckles said, cracking his, well, knuckles. Knuckles stepped up to the bars and stretched his neck from side to side, crackling it in certain spots as well. He eyed the bars of the cage for a moment before rearing back and began rotating his right arm in an impossibly fast motion. After a few seconds of charging up his punch, he let his arm fly forward, knocking four of the bars clean off and flying to the other side of the room, smashing into it with enough force to stay stuck in the wall without any other support. "Gotta act fast," Zazz mumbled to himself. He turned to face the vault and focused his energy on the hinges holding up the door. He used his mystical Zeti capabilities to melt the hinges of the small door and the combination lock on the door. After a few seconds, bright glows of red and orange appeared from the area and in no time at all the hinges and the lock were melted away. Without anything to hold up the door, it fell to the ground with a loud clattering of metal. Everyone recovered from the bright glow of Zazz's mysterious power to see that the door had fallen to the ground and Zazz was already in the vault, greedily snatching at any emerald he saw. He counted five of them after he held them all in his arms, cradling them like a mother would a baby. Zazz gruntingly laughed and turned for the exit, motioning with his head for the rest of posse to follow. They wasted no time in arguing and went along with it. "STO-OOOAAAAOOOHHH!!" The guard attempted to say as he jumped in the way to try and stop the thieves. What he did not expect however, was for the usually quiet General Hewdraw to produce a mysterious yellow aura from his hands, surrounding the guard in the same glow and lifting him in the air. After being suspended in the air for a few seconds, he was flung into the nearest wall of the room, impacting hard. The group gasped at the violent force used against the guard, which could have possibly left serious or fatal injuries. Thankfully, that did not see any signs of blood. "Nice!" Zazz yelled continuing towards the door with his group in tow. Sonic looked from the guard, to the escaping baddies. Sonic closed his eyes and focused on the problem at hand. His eyes were closed for what seemed like eternity, but in reality it was only a few seconds. Sonic's eyes shot open and he leapt into action. Sonic went to the safe first and started tossing out the handhelds to everyone. "You guys go! I'll catch up!" Sonic commanded. Everyone nodded at him as they acquired their handhelds and darted off in the direction of Zazz and the others. After giving Tails his handheld and watching him fly off, Sonic ran over to the guard and knelt down next to the unicorn guard. The guard looked up at Sonic with wide eyes, breathing heavily. "You could've done that... at any time?" The guard asked. Sonic nodded. "Yeah, we normally don't do that, but this was an emergency." Sonic looked up and down the guards body for any signs of bleeding or broken bones. "Come on, we've gotta get you to a doctor," Sonic said, reaching to find a good way to pick up the guard without hurting him. "You're gonna help me, after what I did to you?" "This isn't the first time I've been arrested," Sonic reassured. "No, I mean. Well, first of all, HHng, I'm sorry about throwing you into that hay stack, I was just doing my job." "Heh heh, I thought you looked familiar. Talk about karma," Sonic joked. "Heh heh heh, heeaAAAGGgghh," the guard strained as Sonic picked him up. "Don't worry about it, I'm not one to hold a grudge. Plus, you helped us to find an emerald, so I guess I should thank you for that." The guard looked to the blue hedgehog and smiled. "You're a good person Sonic, I will never forget you," the guard strained to raise his hoof to his forehead, "I salute you, soldier." Sonic smiled at the guard's enthusiasm and secured him in his arms before getting into a running stance. "Hang On!!" o.0.o "Alright, Sonic and his friend's holding cell should be right up here," Celestia said. Princess Celestia and the group of traveling ponies walked down the long corridor of prison cells. After Twilight had revealed the truth behind Sonic's framing, Celestia deemed Sonic be set free; not publicly yet, but she would soon. They were nearing a corner they would turn down when they heard some commotion and a loud slamming sound. Celestia and Twilight looked to each other and picked up their pace. When they were a few feet away from the corner, they saw a weird pink monster skid past it and ran in their direction. Celestia, Twilight, and the rest of the group froze in place. "Out of my way Sunshine!" Zazz said, doing a half moon pivot out of Celestia's way just before colliding with her. Zazz's cohorts follow closely behind them in the opposite direction, looking for any kind of escape route. The entire group was still looking back in their direction until they heard more footsteps running in their direction. The group turned to see what it was. "Stop them!!" Tails shouted, pointing to Zazz and the others, "THIEVES!!" Without a moment of hesitation, the Doctor was running after them, followed shortly by his family, Celestia's guards, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy. Princess Celestia, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash were about to take chase as well, until they noticed Sonic running in at them with a blob of gold, white, and blue. "WAIT!!" Sonic shouted. Sonic slid to a halt in front of Rainbow Dash and took a breath. Sonic looked up to Rainbow and the others, then down to the guard. "Please, I need you to get this guy to a hospital ASAP. He was seriously injured by that guy in the armor that ran past here with Zazz. I would take him myself, but I've gotta keep those thieves in sight. They stole the chaos emeralds and plan to do who knows what with them, Eggman probably has a plan. But anyways, please, take good care of this soldier." Sonic got closer to Rainbow and gently laid the soldier in her arms. He groaned slightly as he lied there, Rainbow Dash not taking her eyes off of him once. Sonic nodded and took off after his friends in pursuit of the emerald snatchers. Rainbow looked back to the guard once Sonic was out of sight and saw that he was staring at her. He smiled when she noticed him and opened his mouth a few times, trying to hydrate his parched throat. "That hedgehog is innocent," He said barely above a whisper, "He may very well be the reason I live to see another day. We have got to help him in any way that we can, because he is still willing to help us." The guard shut his eyes and fell asleep in Rainbow's arms, thankfully, and everyone let out a sigh of relief once they saw he was still breathing. Rainbow looked to the remaining ponies and narrowed her eyes, a look of determination her friends recognized as. She flapped her wings to get off the ground and hovered in the air. "You guys go help in Sonic, I've got to find this guy some medical attention," Rainbow stated. "We understand. If you want to find a quick exit," Celestia started, walking over to a specific section of the wall and pulling a candlestick downwards, "Head this direction. It should take you right outside and a hospital should not be too far from there." Rainbow smiled and nodded, bolting down the newly revealed secret doorway. She looked down to the pony in her arms and thought to the bravery and forgiving nature Sonic had. A warm feeling welled in her chest at this thought which seemed to increase her speed and dexterity, making the light at the end of the tunnel grow closer even faster by the second.