• Published 3rd Mar 2012
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Sonic Generations: Friendship is Timeless - GreenS21



Sonic and Tails meet the main cast of "Friendship is Magic" in this re-imagining of "Sonic Generations"!

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Sweet Mountain and Planet Wisp, Part II

Sonic groaned and looked desperately at Twilight, whispering, “Twilight, you know him. Can’t you reel him in before he makes this any worse?”

Twilight, who still looked annoyed at the way Shadow was treating her brother, looked at Sonic with a confused expression and whispered, “What are you talking about? What…”

She was interrupted when Shadow uncrossed his arms and finally spoke, “It’s a matter I’ve chosen to move on from. It has nothing to do with this.”

Shining asked, “What are you moving on from? Are you saying it was a lie, that something somepony gave you was wasted on you? That you don’t care for them?”

Shadow’s eyes widened for a second at that before they narrowed and he asked, “What did you just say?”

Shining yelled, “You heard what I said! Whoever you’re talking about, it sounds like she would’ve been better off not knowing you!”

Now Rouge was starting to look worried. “Oh my… this isn’t going to end well,” she murmured.

“SHALL I MAIM HIM?” Omega asked.

Rouge placed her right hand on his left arm, hissing, “Omega, shush!”

Shadow glared at Shining Armor over his shoulder, “Oh really? Is that what you think?”

Shining replied, “Maybe it is! She must’ve done a lot for you; did you ever do anything for her?”

Shadow turned around completely, still glaring at Shining Armor. “Ignorance…” he growled.

Shining raised an eyebrow, “What?”

Shadow started to take slow steps towards the stallion as he spoke, “If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it would be ignorance. Ignorance that causes people to simply assume what they know is fact. Ignorance that prevents people from opening their eyes and considering just for a moment that not everything is as simple as it seems.” As he took another step, a red aura of Chaos Energy began to envelope him, surrounding him with a red glow. “And you reek of it,” he growled.

Shining began to sweat as he noticed the aura surrounding Shadow. It was like the air itself was trembling around the hedgehog as he walked. Shining managed to ask, “What are you talking about?”

Shadow kept walking, his teeth bared as he growled, “You think a lot of things are simple, don’t you? What reason do you have to think otherwise? I’m sure you hold a high position and you have a good relationship with your sister… you both probably had a nice upbringing. Not all of us are lucky enough to get that, you know.”

Shining began to back up as Shadow was just about arms length away. Espio noticed that Gilda was directly in his path, and she was as stunned as everyone else at what was happening in front of her. If she didn’t move, Shining was going to bump into her, and that surely wasn’t going to stop Shadow from whatever he was planning. He quickly glanced at Silver and gestured at Gilda, whispering, “Silver!”

The silver hedgehog looked where he was gesturing and picked up on what he was getting at. His hands lit up and he used his psychokinesis to lift Gilda up, moving her over to the side out of the way. The griffin was so stunned that she barely registered the fact that someone had lifted her up.

Oblivious to anyone or anything behind him, Shining kept backing up, stuttering, “I…what?”

Shadow kept walking towards him, saying, “I didn’t have ‘parents’, per se. I had creators. One wanted to find a way to save the life of someone precious and for me to be a savior. The other wanted me to deliver what he wanted to him and for me to be a destroyer. I was introduced to the one who the former wanted to save; she did more for me than you could imagine… and she didn’t properly know all the things you take for granted. She didn’t know what it was like to have the wind blow past her, to see the blue sky above her… to just live. And she never got a chance to due to ‘their’ ignorance. I tried to save her when they wanted to silence everyone who knew about me. No matter what happened, her safety was more important to me than anything. And yet…”

As Shadow paused, Shining’s legs suddenly made contact with the edge of the fountain and he fell into a sitting position on top of it with a grunt. Not a second passed before Shadow suddenly reached up with his left hand and grabbed him by the neck, pulling him down so they were looking each other in the eye. Shining shivered as he could barely see Shadow’s eyes through the glow around him. The black hedgehog growled, “Do you know what it feels like to be ready to give your life for someone if it means saving them, only for them to do it for you?” He moved his head closer as he demanded, “Do you know how it feels to see someone who means more to you than anything lying there in front of you hurt… and you can do nothing but watch them die?”

An incredibly tense moment passed before Twilight managed to ask, “…You’re talking about Maria, aren’t you?”

Shadow’s head snapped up at that and he turned his head to look directly at Twilight as he asked, “How do you know about Maria?” She flinched; the anger and force in his words, while not as strong as before, were still present.

Sonic spoke up, “I’m sorry, Shadow, but while we were running around earlier, we saw a few things from the past. One of them was Eggman’s demonstration of the Eclipse Cannon’s power. Spike and the girls weren’t sure what to think, so we told them about you and Gerald. But I only told Twilight, Spike, and Scootaloo.”

Tails, with his hands clasped, nodded, “And I only told Applejack and Rainbow Dash. We only told them so that, in case we ran into you, they wouldn’t think you were a bad guy. I swear, we didn’t tell anyone else the whole story.” Shadow stared at the three of them, his face a mask hiding any indicators of what was going through his head. After a few seconds, he turned back to Shining Armor, glared at him for a moment, and then roughly released his neck while turning around, the stallion letting out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding.

Cadance immediately wrapped herself around him once Shadow had walked a few steps, but they both stiffened when he stopped and spoke, “Let me give you one piece of advice. There’s nothing wrong with loving someone, but it doesn’t give you an excuse to not pay attention to everything else, especially others that are important to you. Forgetting what’s really important blinds you and makes you prone to anger. I think you’ll find that the things we say that we end up regretting the most are the things we say in our anger…” he looked back over his shoulder at Shining Armor, “because they’re often the last things we ever say to someone.”

He faced forward and started walking again, moving towards Sonic, Twilight, Tails, and Spike. As he approached them, he said, “As for you…” They all tensed up slightly, expecting him to do something. Instead, to their surprise, the glow around him simply vanished as he walked in front of them. He passed them while saying, “…I understand what you tried to do. And while it’s not necessary, I do appreciate your understanding and concern.” He then continued on, rejoining Omega and Rouge.

As they all watched Team Dark leave, Tails nervously noted, “That turned out better than I expected it to.”

Sonic sighed, “Yeah.”

Everyone save for Shining Armor, Princess Cadance, and Gilda moved closer to them, various emotions playing over their faces. Even Pinkie seemed somewhat somber at the moment, her cotton candy mane partially deflated. “Shady?” the pink pony whispered.

Rarity huffed, “Goodness! Was that really necessary?”

Espio said, “Well, considering the most important human in Shadow’s life was dishonored, I can’t help but feel it was warranted. Maria means far too much to him for anyone to do such a thing to her.”

Fluttershy whimpered, “He must really miss her…”

Sonic sighed, “He doesn’t talk about her as much as he used to, but he’ll never forget her again. His time with her… those are probably going to remain the happiest memories in his long life. No surprise, though, considering one of his creators wanted him to be his servant, the military shut down his home and locked away everyone who knew about him, and he was locked away for fifty years right after losing Maria to them. All in such a short time, too…”

Spike and the ponies looked at each other uneasily. Applejack, Spike, Twilight, and Rainbow had all heard the story of Shadow’s past, but hearing it again after seeing the one who had to live through it all… it was different, to say the least. Now everything the black hedgehog did and said made (some) sense. He was supposed to be strong, perfect, to never show weakness… but like everyone else, he had his moments where the emotions he tried to keep at bay got loose, causing him to lose his composure. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna probably knew that all too well.

Speaking of the sisters, they were looking at each other sadly. When Sonic had said that Shadow had a long life ahead of him, that could’ve meant anything, but there was one thing they thought when they heard that: never-ending life. They wondered if Shadow was an immortal like they were. If so, then they could relate to what he was going through. Even through Luna’s banishment and her later return, the sisters tried to maintain the composure that was expected of them, no matter how they actually felt. Despite everything they knew and had seen, they couldn’t help but feel sorry for the black hedgehog. They at least grew up with their mother and father before dangers like King Sombra and Discord came into their lives, but Shadow didn’t even get that. Everything after his awakening happened so fast; they couldn’t even guess how that felt…

Behind them, even as she clutched her husband close to her, Cadance could not bring herself to feel any anger for the black hedgehog. As the Princess of Love, she could tell when somepony was actually in love versus somepony who claims they’re in love. And while Shadow’s words had been laced with anger and frustration, she could still sense the love he had for this ‘Maria’ in them. She almost wondered if it was a love greater than the one she shared with Shining.

Gilda finally broke the silence, speaking in a low voice, “Hey… You guys are gonna be fine on your own, right?”

Sonic nodded, “Yeah, we should be.” Gilda nodded back before turning away.

“What are you doing, G’?” Rainbow asked.

The griffin was silent for a moment before replying, “I… I’m gonna go find something to do. Something other than napping on a cloud… Something worthwhile.” She spread her wings and took off, leaving the group alone next to the fountain.

Soon…

Everyone stood in front of the three story hospital, Tails looking down at his radar while Blaze had her eyes closed as she held her left hand up, a flame she had created floating above it. Pinkie’s mane was fully back to its cotton candy appearance, the party pony having managed to cheer up after the group moved on from the fountain. Her cheery attitude had managed to rub off on the others soon afterwards, though they could still remember Shadow’s moment of anger and Shining Armor was still thinking about it.

Sonic looked at Tails after a moment and asked, “Well, Tails?”

The fox replied, “Well, I can’t zero in on the portal any more at this point, but according to this…” He raised his head and pointed to the left (from their view) side of the hospital, “The radar indicates it’s in the east wing.”

Blaze murmured, “Yes.” Everyone looked over at her and saw her open her eyes and close her left hand into a fist, the flame above it disappearing as she did so. “I sensed something coming from that direction as well. I believe it’s coming from the second floor,” she stated.

Vector crossed his arms, “Spoilsports.”

Espio glanced at him, “We don’t have time to turn a hospital upside-down just because you want to play detective, Vector.”

Luna nodded, “Yes. The sooner we are done, the sooner your world and Equestria will be restored.”

Sonic looked at Rainbow, Blaze, Tails, Silver, and Espio and shrugged, “Then I guess we should go on ahead and find it, huh?”

Rainbow shrugged back, “Guess so. Come on, we’ll go in this way!” She spread her wings and flew up to the window over the front doors on the third floor. After she flew inside, Sonic, Blaze, Espio, Tails, and Silver looked at each other for a moment before following her, Sonic, Blaze, and Espio jumping up onto the awning over the doors before leaping up to the window while Tails and Silver flew up to it. Vector opted to stay with the others and followed them through the front doors into the hospital’s waiting room.

When they reached the second floor of the east wing, they found Sonic waiting for them outside of room 12. Strangely enough, they could hear the sound of talking coming from the room. “What’s going on in there?” Twilight asked.

Sonic replied, “Maybe you should just see for yourself.” He pushed the door open with his hand and walked inside, Spike and the ponies following him in. Inside the room, they could see Blaze, Rainbow, Silver, Espio, and Tails standing around the bed Rainbow had been in when she broke her wing.

“I understand what you’re saying, but I do not think it would be wise to move the bed. When the color comes back, what will the patient think?” Blaze was asking, gesturing to the pony in the bed.

“Well, we could put it back before we leave. And it’ll still be in the room; it’s not like we’re going to push it out the window or anything. He’ll be fine,” Dash replied.

“His charts say he’s prone to nervousness. They mention that he often says that ponies are trying to steal his slippers. Coming back to life and then having his bed lifted could be rather disorienting for him,” Blaze argued.

“What are y’all goin’ on about?” Applejack asked. Espio, Silver, and Tails turned away from Blaze and Rainbow as they too looked towards the door, noticing the others for the first time.

Espio cleared his throat, “Apologies. We have a… bit of a situation here.”

Celestia stepped forward and asked, “What is it?”

Tails pointed at the bed, “The next portal is under there on the floor. Rainbow said Silver should move the bed so that everybody can reach it easier, especially you, Luna, Vector, Cadance, and Shining Armor, Princess Celestia. Blaze isn’t sure it’s a good idea, though.”

Rainbow spoke up, “There isn’t a lot of room under there. It might be cramped for some of us if we had to go under the bed.”

Celestia reassured her, “Thank you for thinking of us, Rainbow Dash, but it’s all right. I’m sure we can all get under that bed just fine and leave the patient no worse for the wear.”

Rainbow replied, “All right, Princess Celestia. As long as you’re sure.”

Silver asked, “So I don’t have to move it now?” Espio shook his head in response.

Sonic shrugged, “Well, that was quick. Let’s get going, then!” He walked over to the side of the bed and sat down on the floor, thrusting his legs under it. As he went under the bed, he said, “Try to go so you’ll land right side up.” He then went through the portal as he went fully under the bed.

Rainbow followed after him, going forelegs first through the portal. Blaze then went as well and the rest followed. Soon, Celestia, Cadance, Luna, and Shining Armor were the only ones left. Celestia went first, having to really press herself against the floor to get her form underneath the bed. When she finally went through the portal, Luna went next, the younger sister having less trouble working her way under the bed, and Cadance and Shining Armor followed them. After they were all gone, three fillies snuck into the room, creeping towards the bed…

A second after he went through the portal, Shining’s hooves came into contact with metal, the stallion standing up straight next to his wife. They looked around and found that they were standing in a large, square-shaped room made of metal and the others had spread out, looking around. Shining and Cadance trotted over to Twilight and Rainbow Dash as the former looked at Sonic and Tails and asked, “Where are we?”

Tails, while looking around, replied, “This kind of reminds me of the receiving station for the space elevator we took to get up to Eggman’s Incredible Interstellar Amusement Park, but we’re not there. This is a different station, but I’m not sure which one it’s for.”

Espio walked over and pointed to a pair of metal sliding doors, “Then I guess we’ll find out where we are once we step through those doors.” Everyone came back together soon after that and they started for the doors.

As they got close, Blaze stopped and sniffed the air. A moment later, she said, “Strange… I can smell something fresh on the other side of those doors.”

The others stopped and looked at her. “What do you mean by ‘fresh’, Blaze?” Silver asked.

Before the princess could respond, Pinkie chirped, “Ooh, gum drops!” Everybody looked back at her, the pink pony looking kind of like an anteater as she slurped up the gum drops off the floor with her tongue.

Sonic raised an eyebrow, “Sweet smells? Gum drops lying around?” After a moment, he pressed his left hand against his forehead, “Oh… I know where we are.”

Twilight looked at him and asked, “Really, where?” Sonic glanced up at a nearby loudspeaker and took his hand off his head, holding it up with all of his fingers pointing up. Twilight watched in confusion as he counted down the seconds with his fingers, “Uh, what are you…?”

Sonic hit zero before she could finish, and he lowered his hand to his side as a familiar voice crackled through the loudspeaker, “Welcome to the Sweet Mountain! Insulin will be provided at a marginal extra cost. And by ‘marginal’, we mean ‘enormous’.”

Tails smiled, “Oh boy, we’re at Sweet Mountain! It’s sugar city time!”

Sonic sweat dropped, “I know you loved this place when we were here, Tails, but we might have a few problems this time.” As he said that, his eyes moved in Pinkie’s direction, the pink pony having stood up straight when she heard ‘Sweet Mountain’ and ‘sugar city’. Tails look confused at that, not sure what problems the blue hedgehog was referring to.

Applejack looked at him and asked, “Hey, uh, why’d Eggman call this place ‘Sweet Mountain’?”

Sonic replied, “You’ll see why when we get outside.” He walked over to the doors, which began to slide open as he approached them. Blinking rapidly and holding his hand up to his eyes as the Sun hit them, he stepped outside.

Tails was right behind him, Twilight and Blaze following behind him. As her vision cleared, Twilight got her first look at Sweet Mountain and her eyes went wide. “Uh, wow…” was all she could utter. The others followed them out and, except for Silver, were equally shocked by what they saw.

All around them, as far as the eye could see, were confectionaries of all sizes intermixed with what appeared to be machines and rides. There were life-sized gingerbread men and candy canes, cakes that could very well have been the size of mountains, and huge jelly beans and other candies being carried away on conveyor belts. And they’d only just set foot/hoof on the planet!

Applejack gaped, “Well, dang… That answers mah question. Is it all real?”

Tails nodded, “Totally! Except for the stuff Eggman added, just about everything here is edible!”

Rainbow looked at Sonic and asked, “And this is a whole planet?”

Sonic glanced up at the sky and said, “That’s right. And since I don’t see any cotton candy clouds, I know it’s not that other candy land I’ve seen.” He then looked at the others. Rarity, Fluttershy, Shining, and Cadance were all staring with their mouths open, Espio had joined Blaze and Silver in remaining calm after the initial shock wore off, and Vector, Spike, and, to Sonic’s surprise, Celestia were eying some of the confections while licking their lips, Celestia particularly focused on the giant cakes. The look Luna was shooting her sister made him think that her reaction was pretty common.

Finally, Sonic looked at the pony whose reaction he was worried about the most: Pinkie Pie. She was sitting on her haunches rubbing her hooves together in front of her, her mouth hanging wide open and her tongue dangling out. Her eyes held a look Sonic had never seen before, one that indicated it was time to man the lifeboats because the S. S. Pinkie was about to sink.

Pretty soon, the reality of where they were caught up to everyone and Pinkie’s friends looked at her nervously, noticing the look on her face. “Um, Pinkie…?” Fluttershy ventured.

Spike groaned, “Oh man… She looks like she’s gonna burst any second now…”

Tails murmured, “Uh-oh…” He at last realized what problems Sonic was thinking of and was now nervous along with everypony else. “Oh please, don’t let something set her off. Not now…” he thought to himself.

If anyone or anything had heard his mental plea, it went unanswered as Eggman’s voice came through another loudspeaker, “We hope you’re enjoying this sunny day here at the park. Sadly, a sunny day once again means that the Choco-Coaster is out of service… due to melting.”

That did it. Pinkie’s internal dam burst as she reared up on her hind legs and let out a resounding, “YAHOOOOOOOOOO!!!” Though her scream was not nearly as loud as the time she used her super megaphone, it was still loud enough to cause everyone to shut their eyes and either cover or plug their ears; even Celestia was broken out of her trance by it. By the time they opened their eyes, Pinkie Pie had disappeared from her spot.

Twilight looked down the path and saw a flash of pink disappear around the side of a cake. “Pinkie!” she called before taking off after her, Rainbow Dash flying above her.

“Hey, wait!” Sonic exclaimed while running after them. Everyone else soon took off after them, nobody noticing three little fillies poke their heads out of the doors behind them.

Rainbow and Twilight hurried down the path, noticing the sweets along the sides of the path either had bite marks on them or had already been eaten. It was easy to see that Pinkie’s sweet tooth was working overtime. Soon, the path changed to metal, Twilight running across a grating while Rainbow flew alongside her. The grating soon gave way to ordinary metal and Twilight came to a stop, panting a bit while Rainbow landed beside her and looked around, asking, “Shoot, where’d Pinkie Pie go?!”

Once Twilight had her breathing back under control, Sonic came up behind them and asked, “Any sign of her?”

Twilight looked back at him and replied, “No, she’s already gone. There’s no telling where she could be now.” She looked around and noticed a huge cake with strawberries on it nearby, in addition to pipes, huge donuts, and some odd-looking missiles. “Wow, what is this place?” she asked.

Sonic shrugged, “I don’t know. Maybe it’s where they make the donuts.”

Rainbow looked at some of the donuts being held up and noted, “Pinkie likes donuts, and these haven’t been touched. Maybe she’ll show up here, and then we’ll…” She stopped short as a shadow suddenly fell over the three of them. “Hey, why’d it get dark all of a sudden?” she asked.

Sonic looked up and his eyes widened. “Look out!” he cried, grabbing Twilight and Rainbow Dash and pulling them back with him before they all dropped to the ground and covered their heads. A second later, there was a loud explosion right behind them.

A few seconds later, Applejack and the others caught up and stared at the strange sight before them. Sonic, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash were lying on the ground, still covering their heads while their backsides were covered with confetti and various candies. “Uh, y’all okay?” Applejack asked, causing the three of them to look up and uncover their heads.

Sonic replied, “Yeah. We just missed getting hit by a missile loaded with goodies, that’s all.” He then rose to his knees while Twilight and Rainbow raised themselves into a sitting position. He then ran his left hand through his quills and pulled something out after a moment. “Hm, Jolly Rancher,” he noted while looking at the green candy. He then looked at Rainbow and said, “Hey Dash, I think you got a Fruit Roll-Up in your hair.”

Rainbow ran a hoof through her mane at that while Twilight did the same. She soon extracted the sweet from her hair while the lavender unicorn found some Laffy Taffy in her stripes. “What is this? Is this candy?” Rainbow asked.

Tails offered, “I’ll eat it if you don’t want it.”

Rainbow glanced at him, “I didn’t say I wasn’t gonna eat it.”

Blaze asked, “Where’s Pinkie Pie?”

Twilight started, “Well, uh…” She heard a noise and turned her head to look. One of the donuts had been eaten partway and, after a second, it fell off of the stand holding it up. “Looks like she was just here,” she sighed.

“Wow, she eats fast!” Silver noted, looking where the donut had fallen as Twilight, Rainbow, and Sonic stood up and dusted/shook themselves off.

“Man, at this point, she could be anywhere!” Rainbow groaned.

Luna spoke, “Well, we have to find her, and soon! Isn’t that right, sister? …Sister?” She looked back at Celestia after a moment and found her eying the strawberry cake with a smile. Luna nudged her with a hoof, “Sister!”

Celestia shook her head and asked, “Huh? What? Oh, uh, yes, Luna! You know, what you said!” The Lunar Princess rolled her eyes at that.

Vector spoke, “Well, we better start looking for her, then! Anybody have an idea of what she likes the most?”

Applejack said, “Can’t help ya there, pardner. Pinkie loves anythin’ that has sugar in it. If it’s got somethin’ else on it, she loves it even more! There ain’t a sweet in the world she doesn’t like.”

Rarity nudged her and smirked, “Except for your baked bads. She certainly didn’t like those.” Applejack lowered her hat and gave Rarity an odd look at that.

Suddenly, Tails yelled, “Heads up! They’re firing more of those missiles!” Everybody (save for Celestia) looked and saw that he was right. Five missiles were being launched, and if the one earlier was any indication, they were going to come down right on top of their heads!

“Let’s get out of here!” Twilight exclaimed, already turning to run. Everybody did the same and started running along the metal pathway. After a few steps, Luna stopped and looked back to see Celestia staring at the cake once again. Shaking her head, her horn lit up and her cobalt blue aura wrapped around her sister, pulling her along as Luna turned and started running again.

After a short while of running, everyone came to a stop, now back on the brown, frosting sided ground from before. As they took the opportunity to rest, Spike groaned, “Whoa… That was close…” Everybody nodded in agreement.

Shining looked back down the path and asked, “How did a park like this ever get opened with such a clear danger to guests?”

Tails spoke, “First of all, it didn’t open. It was destroyed before it was officially open to the public. And second, it’s Eggman’s park. He’ll make it as dangerous as he wants.”

Twilight sighed, “Great… Wonder what’s going to happen next.”

As if to answer her, a voice Sonic and Tails recognized spoke, “Well, what do we have here?” Sonic quickly whirled around, looking towards the edge of the path and up where the voice came from. Above the edge, standing on a green hoverboard, was a familiar green hawk standing with his arms crossed and a smirk on his beak. “It’s been a while, Sonic the Hedgehog,” he stated.

“Jet!” Sonic exclaimed.

Behind him, a purple hoverboard flew over the heads of everyone else, turning around and flying behind and around Jet and coming to a stop just above Tails. The purple swallow on the board looked down at him and said, “Long time no see, shorty.”

“Wave!” Tails gasped.

Sonic glanced around, noticing there was one familiar face that was missing. “Hey, you lose someone or something, Jet?” he asked.

The hawk leapt down from his board, grabbing it as he fell and landing in front of Sonic. “You’ll be the one losing something, Sonic the Hedgehog! Especially if those horses behind you are what you call a racing team! They look like they stand on four legs all the time; how are they supposed to ride Extreme Gear?”

Sonic replied, “You don’t know them like we do, Jet. They’ve stood up on two legs before, so it shouldn’t be too hard for them to learn!”

Wave, instead of making a remark about what Sonic said like Jet expected her to, had instead taken on a more scholarly viewpoint upon seeing Sonic and Tails’ new friends. “Huh… These equines aren’t just ordinary horses. There are pegasi, unicorns, and pegasus unicorns in this group. Even that orange one looks like something special, and… Is that a real dragon? How’d you ever come up with proof of the existence of mythological beings, shorty?”

Rainbow yelled, “Hey! Who are you calling mythological?! You don’t exactly look too common yourself!”

Jet said, “Miss Pride Parade is right, Wave! Who cares who’s supposed to be made up or not! It’s not like there’s anything we need to worry about!”

Sonic grinned, “You’re just gonna go ahead and make that assumption, huh? You’re rushing into things like you always do, Jet.”

Jet smirked at him, “Rush? I happen to be the fastest thing in the universe, and you’re going to know it today!” Sonic looked ready to fight at his words, and Rainbow looked ready to join him in disproving Jet’s claim.

Before they could do anything, Wave spoke, “Enough!” Sonic, Rainbow, and Jet all looked at her, the swallow still standing on her Extreme Gear. “Jet, as much as I’d love to beat shorty and blue for old time’s sake, we still have to find Storm! We already agreed not to do anything else until we find him!”

Jet complained, “Aw, come on, Wave! We’re rogues; can’t we bend our own rules a bit?” Wave responded by putting her hands on her hips and raising an eyebrow at him. “Ugh, fine!” Jet groaned. He let go of his Extreme Gear, the board hovering as it landed right side up, and jumped on it. Before leaving, he turned to Sonic and said, “You’re getting off lucky this time, Sonic the Hedgehog! Once we find Storm, you’re going down!”

Sonic smirked, “I’ll be looking forward to it.” Jet growled at that and turned away, both him and Wave flying off over the nearby ledge on their Extreme Gear.

A moment later, Applejack asked, “Okay, so who were they?”

Tails answered, “Jet the Hawk and Wave the Swallow. The third member you didn’t see was Storm the Albatross. They’re the Babylon Rogues.”

Twilight looked at him and asked, “Babylon? You mean like the Babylon Garden you mentioned before?”

Tails nodded, “That’s right. They’re descendents of ancient Babylonians!”

Vector growled, “Too bad those Babylonians aren’t around to teach Jet some manners! He’s still a snarky little twerp!”

Rarity nodded, “Oh, I agree! He was simply rude!”

Rainbow asked, “Were those flying boards they were riding on?”

Tails replied, “Yes, they’re called Extreme Gear, a type of hoverboard. Wave’s the mechanical genius behind their Extreme Gear.”

Applejack said, “Well, Ah’m sure you got some Extreme Gear expertise yerself, Sugarcube.”

Tails rubbed the back of his head, “Well, I do have some experience, but Wave specializes in Extreme Gear. I do a little bit of everything. I might be able to outrace her at times, but as far as being an Extreme Gear mechanic, I’ve got a long way to go before I’ll be able to match her.”

Sonic patted him on the shoulder, “Well, you’re good at it already, buddy. Don’t worry about pushing yourself just to be better than her.”

Shining cleared his throat, “Yes, well, maybe we should get moving. We still have to find Pinkie Pie, after all.”

Sonic shrugged, “Hey, we didn’t forget about her. We’ll find her, even though that’ll probably mean turning Sweet Mountain upside-down.”

Cadance smiled, “Let’s go, then! I can’t wait to see what else they have here!” With that, the group started off again, moving on through the candy paradise.

After a short while, while walking on a path coated with real frosting (which Celestia bent down and took licks of when she thought nobody was looking), Cadance walked alongside Twilight and gave her a nudge with her left wing. When Twilight looked at her, she asked, “Wouldn’t it have been great if there had been a place like this when you were a little foal, Twilight? Think of all the fun we would’ve had!”

Twilight giggled before replying, “That’s a nice thought, Cadance, but somehow I’m not sure I would have had as much fun in a place like this as Pinkie is right now.”

Shining came up along her other side and said, “Hey, I think you would’ve had a lot of fun, Twily, especially if I came along.”

Twilight glanced up at him for a moment before looking forward and saying, “Well, I don’t.”

Shining looked down at her, a bit worried at the way she had said that. “Are you okay, Twilight?” he asked.

Twilight sighed; she just couldn’t think of a good way to go about this, but she couldn’t leave it hanging in the back of her mind forever either. No matter how it made her feel, she had to bring it up. She had to take action or it’s unlikely it would ever come up normally. “Uh, Shining…” she started.

“Ooh, look!” Cadance spoke, interrupting her. Both Twilight and Shining looked forward, Twilight’s eyes widening at what she saw: Egg Pawns! They looked just like the ones she and the others had seen earlier, with the exception that they were wearing chef’s hats and carrying wicks, which confused her. Cadance looked at Sonic and Tails and asked, “Do they work for the park?”

Sonic, through half-lidded eyes, replied, “Yeah, they’re the clowns that work for the big clown around here. They help him capture aliens so he can steal their energy for his mind control machine.” Cadance looked at him in confusion.

Rainbow looked at him and said, “You mentioned rescuing aliens before. What kind of energy do they have that had Egghead so interested?”

Tails spoke, “That would be the Hyper-go-on energy. For the Wisps, it’s their life source; it’s very powerful stuff.”

Applejack asked, “Wisps?”

Tails nodded, “That’s what they’re called.”

Rainbow looked at the Egg Pawns and said, “Neat! So let’s get busy and bust some bots!”

Celestia spoke, “I don’t think we need to do that, Rainbow Dash. They’re just dancing towards us.” Indeed, the Egg Pawns were hopping from one foot to the other, moving towards the group all the while.

When one of them was close enough, it tried to whack Sonic on the head with its wick, but the hedgehog reacted swiftly and reached up with his left hand and grabbed it by its right arm. “Okay, I’m calling it! That was foul play!” he said. He yanked the wick out of its hand with his right hand and smacked it right across the face with it, knocking the robot back. Rainbow took the initiative and flew at the Egg Pawn, bringing her hind legs up as she got closer and kicking it right in the chest. This action knocked it off its feet and, when it landed on its back, it exploded.

Shining stared in shock, “They really are robots?”

Rainbow flew back over and grinned at him, “Exploding robots!” The other Egg Pawns, upon seeing that their ploy had been foiled, rushed towards the group, ready to attack.

Sonic leapt at one, landing on its head and jumping off of it, confusing the Egg Pawn while Applejack dashed up and delivered a solid buck to it, Sonic taking out another with a Homing Attack while she did so. Tails and Rainbow Dash tag teamed one, both flying into it and kicking it in the face. Espio ran up to one and used a pair of kunai daggers to disable its legs, allowing Silver to lift it up with his psychokinesis and crush it like an aluminum can. Blaze and Vector worked together to get rid of several Egg Pawns, Blaze unleashing fire from her hands while Vector unleashed fire from his mouth. Spike’s eyes widened in surprise when he saw this. “Is he part dragon or something?” he wondered.

Amidst all the fighting, Twilight noticed one Egg Pawn trying to sneak away with something in its arms. Quickly deciding on what to do, she turned and ran after it. Ignoring her brother’s protests, she got within range of the Egg Pawn and quickly created a horizontal Psychic Knife with her magic. She then released it towards the Egg Pawn, the blade slicing both the robot and whatever it was holding in half. Twilight looked at what it had been carrying and was surprised to see a small, angry-looking cyan-colored creature floating up out of the remains of what appeared to be a capsule. She trotted over to it and said, “Uh, hi! Are you a Wisp?” The creature nodded its head.

Sonic and the others came over, all the Egg Pawns having been taken care of. Sonic noticed the Wisp in front of Twilight and smiled, “Hey, that’s a Cyan Wisp!”

The Wisp suddenly floated up and began flying in circles around the group. “He seems pretty excited… and fast!” Twilight noted.

Fluttershy smiled, “He’s so cute…!”

Rainbow, on the other hand/hoof, looked doubtful, “This is what Eggman had his eyes on? This little guy?”

Tails looked at her and said, “Well, he was looking to get a lot more than one Wisp, but yeah! He wanted lots of Hyper-go-on energy!”

Rarity raised a hoof to her mouth, “Well, he seems rather hyper right now. Is he showing us this energy?”

Tails said, “No, the Cyan Wisps happen to be kind of excitable, Rarity. The…” He trailed off as he looked ahead and saw more Egg Pawns coming up ahead. He pointed, “Look out! There’s more!” Everybody looked and got ready when they saw the robots.

Suddenly, the Cyan Wisp floated down in front of Twilight’s face, causing her to look at it. She watched as it floated down and suddenly rushed into her chest! The others looked on in surprise as a cyan glow began to surround her. “Hey, what’s going on?!” she exclaimed.

Sonic said, “Don’t worry, Twilight! Just let it out!”

Twilight glanced at him and asked, “Let it out?! How?!”

Sonic shrugged, “How about you use your horn?” Twilight looked up at it and then squeezed her eyes shut, focusing. Applejack and Rainbow Dash got out of the way as she tried to channel her magic into her horn, but something else was filling it instead. Suddenly, she fired a cyan beam from the tip of her horn! At first, it went straight, but as it approached the Egg Pawns, it suddenly began to zigzag along its path, striking all of the Egg Pawns in the chest and going through to the next one before resuming its straight course after the last Egg Pawn was destroyed. It stopped soon afterwards and the entire beam disappeared.

Spike and the ponies, especially Twilight, stared in shock at what just happened. Twilight noticed the Cyan Wisp pop out of her chest and float away after it waved goodbye to her. “Was that… from the Wisp?” she asked.

Sonic nodded, “That’s right. You got your first taste of Hyper-go-on energy! Those particular aliens do just that: lasers!”

Fluttershy looked at Tails and worriedly asked, “Is the Wisp going to be okay, Tails? You said the Hyper-go-on energy is their life source!”

Tails replied, “Don’t worry, Fluttershy. Twilight just used a small amount of it to do that. Now that he’s free, he won’t have to worry about having his Hyper-go-on energy drained.”

Rainbow gaped, “That was a SMALL amount of energy?!”

Tails nodded, “Yep. You can see why Eggman was so interested in it. That’s why he was capturing Wisps; they don’t like him either.”

Sonic grinned, “And here’s the kicker: they call him ‘Baldy Nosehair’.”

Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Spike, Silver, and Vector instantly broke into a fit of laughter at that while Rarity, Twilight, Fluttershy, Celestia, Luna, and Cadance giggled, the princesses using a hoof to cover their mouths and failing to hide their amusement. Even Blaze and Espio cracked a smile at the Wisps’ name for Eggman. Rainbow eventually spoke, “Baldy Nosehair? That’s pretty funny for aliens! You should totally never forget that!”

Tails giggled, “I know. I even wrote it down for future reference.”

Applejack grinned, “If we see him, we should call him that!”

Sonic smiled, “Yeah, we could. But you know what I was thinking would be funnier?” He used his hands to imitate Eggman’s mustache as he said, “Baldy McNosehair!” He was answered with another round of laughter from everybody. Everybody except Shining Armor, who was glaring at the back of Sonic’s head as the hedgehog patted his sister on the back, praising her use of the Cyan Wisp’s power.

Soon…

“You don’t think ‘Magic Knife’ would work?” Silver asked Twilight while everybody was walking. The group was still searching for Pinkie Pie, but since the pink pony could pop up anywhere, they decided not to rush it and instead keep an eye out for evidence that she’d been through the area.

Twilight shrugged, “Well, it would work, Silver. It’s just…”

Rainbow backed her up, “It sounds kind of plain, dude, especially since you’ve already taken the whole ‘knife’ thing for yourself.”

Silver held a hand to his chin, “Hm, I guess you’re right. Uh… how about ‘Magic Cutter’?”

Applejack smirked at him, “Now that just sounds silly.”

Silver looked up and asked, “What about ‘Mana Sword’?”

Tails looked at him and said, “I think that’s already taken, Silver.”

Silver snapped his fingers, “I’ve got it! Magic- no, ‘Mystic Blade’!”

Twilight looked up thoughtfully, “Hm, Mystic Blade…”

Blaze said, “It seems fitting enough.”

Luna nodded, “Indeed. Shall we dub the magic version of the Psychic Knife that, Twilight Sparkle?”

Before the unicorn could respond, Fluttershy spoke up, “Um, excuse me…” Everyone stopped and looked at her; she asked, “Does anypony hear that?” Everyone looked around at that, listening.

After a moment, Espio said, “It sounds like running water… but different.”

Silver pointed to a guardrail up ahead of the group, “It sounds like it’s coming from over there.” Everybody walked over to the guardrail and looked over it. Below them, they could see what appeared to be a river of chocolate flowing beneath them. As they watched, a huge donut came floating down the river.

“What is it?” Twilight asked.

Tails said, “That donut looked like it had something in the middle. Maybe it’s like one of those river rides where you jump in the boat and go rolling down the river.”

Cadance smiled, “Since Pinkie Pie likes donuts and chocolate, she might be taking a ride. Maybe we should take a ride too!”

Blaze looked down at the river and said, “I don’t know if we should. Is it safe?”

Vector shrugged, “What could be dangerous about donuts and chocolate?”

Eggman’s voice sounded from a nearby loudspeaker, “Due to cost restraints, some of the donuts used in this ride are of the ‘day-old’ variety. We apologize for this cost-cutting measure, and hope that you enjoy the ride.”

Espio glanced at Vector, “Does that answer your question?”

Vector replied, “Uh, I guess so…”

Celestia spoke, “Well, we can at least look and see if Pinkie Pie has been around here. If not, we might be able to use this ride to go elsewhere in Sweet Mountain.”

Luna looked down as another donut floated by and asked, “Erm… how do we get on?”

Tails looked off to the side and said, “I bet there’s a spot further upstream somewhere. I doubt Eggman would set up a ride without including a spot where people can get on.”

Sonic looked down at the liquid-like chocolate and muttered, “For once, I hope so…” The group began heading upstream, searching for Pinkie Pie and/or a place to get on the ride.

After about a minute, they found a metal platform hanging out over the chocolate river. There was a sign next to it saying ‘Chocolate River Ride: Boarding Platform’. Seeing as there was no sign of Pinkie Pie, they decided to get on the ride. As they walked onto the platform, Eggman chimed in from a nearby loudspeaker, “Enjoy the ride, but be careful! The seats can be sticky.”

When they reached the end of the platform, they found that they were still high above the river, the donuts floating by underneath them. “Are we supposed to jump down into the donuts from here?” Twilight wondered.

Sonic said, “Those donuts look like they can hold more than one person. I don’t think we can all jump down there at once.”

Silver asked, “So how do we get on?” Everyone began to think about this.

Not far away, three little fillies were in a booth containing the controls for the river ride, trying to figure out how to work them. “Come on, there’s got to be a way to get those donuts to stop,” Scootaloo said.

Apple Bloom looked at one of the monitors and noticed the group standing on the platform while thinking. She looked at Sweetie Belle while saying, “Hurry up, Sweetie Belle! They’re startin’ to look impatient!”

While looking over the controls in front of her, Sweetie Belle muttered, “I’m trying! I’m not sure what everything does, though!” She soon eyed a button and a lever; the button was labeled ‘Stop Donut’ and the lever was labeled ‘Boarding Lift’. “Okay, I think I’ve got it now,” she said while pressing the first button with a hoof.

Back with the group, they looked down when they heard a metallic sound and saw a railing slide up from the chocolate, blocking the next donut that came by. After a moment, a lift rose out of the chocolate, bringing the top of the donut up just under the platform. “Huh. That’s odd,” Twilight commented.

“Yeah. Why didn’t that rise up sooner?” Applejack asked.

Rainbow shrugged, “Well, it’s up now, so I guess we can get on.” She flew above the center of the donut and found a white floor in the hole, the donut above it cut into the shape of a circular seat. She called to the others, “Looks safe enough! Come on!”

As the others started to climb onto the donut, Rarity spoke, “But he said the seats might be sticky! How are we to know?”

Sonic looked back at her and said, “Just feel it with a hoof before you sit down. That’s one way to know.” He then climbed up onto the donut, Rarity following after a moment, and sat down between Tails and Twilight. Once everybody was on and seated, they waited a minute before the donut was lowered, at which point it started going down the river.

While they were going down the river, Blaze looked around and noted, “This is rather relaxing, actually.”

Celestia nodded to her, “I agree.”

Cadance said, “Yeah, it is nice. And we’re all nice and close together like this.” She snuggled up against Shining Armor, the stallion smiling down at her and wrapping a hoof around her. Blaze blushed softly at this and just then noticed she was sitting right next to Silver, which caused her to turn a little redder under her fur.

As they were going down the river, Spike, who was sitting between Rarity and Rainbow Dash, looked at the donut the group was riding in and said aloud, “You know, this donut is making me kind of hungry.”

Rainbow looked down at him, saying, “Yeah, me too! You think they’d mind if we ate some of it?”

Applejack looked at the pegasus sitting next to her and spoke, “Rainbow Dash! Why in tarnation would ya go eatin’ somethin’ you’re ridin’ in?”

Rainbow waved a hoof, “Hey, I didn’t mean eat the whole thing! Just a little bit of it. That wouldn’t be a problem, right?”

Vector said, “That depends. Is this a day-old donut or a fresh one? You might not want to put a day-old donut in your mouth.”

Rainbow replied, “Well, just a lick, then! What could be wrong with a lick?”

Before anyone could say anything, Eggman spoke up from another loudspeaker, “We know they look delicious, but please refrain from licking the rides. That would be disgusting. Do you know where those rides have been?! People have been sitting on those rides! With their BUTTS! Okay, go ahead; lick them. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.”

Everybody sat dumbstruck for a second at that announcement. Then, suddenly, Celestia leaned over and started sniffing the seat with interest. “Sister!” Luna whispered, embarrassedly.

Twilight looked over at Spike and noticed he was licking the outside of the donut anyway. “Spike!” she said.

The baby dragon looked over his shoulder at her, holding bits of the donut in his claws. “What? It’s good!” he shrugged. He looked at Rainbow Dash and asked, “You want some?”

The rainbow-maned pegasus stared for a second before saying, “No thanks, Spike, I think I can wait it out.” Spike shrugged and went back to eating.

Espio looked away from Celestia, who was lifting herself to sit upright in her seat, and asked, “Speaking of which, does anyone know where this river ends?” Everybody shook their heads at that.

Silver spoke, “Hang on. I’ll fly on ahead and see where the end is.” He focused his psychic powers, a green aura surrounding him as he leapt from the donut and started flying downstream.

After Silver left, Twilight looked around the donut at her friends. Fluttershy and Tails were talking, Rarity was talking to the princesses, and Applejack and Rainbow Dash were leaning back against their seats, trying to nap. Twilight decided she didn’t want to interrupt any of the conversations, so she turned to the two athletic ponies in the boat and asked, “Uh, Applejack? Rainbow Dash?”

Rainbow Dash waved a hoof without opening her eyes, “Not now, Twilight. Blaze was right; this is relaxing, and I’m going to enjoy it.”

Twilight pleaded, “But…”

Applejack tipped her hat up to look at the unicorn and said, “Relax, Twi’. A donut ain’t much of a boat, but it sure is workin’ out here. Just sit back and enjoy the ride; it’s all okay.” She then tilted her hat back down, covering her eyes.

Twilight sighed as she looked down at the floor. Sonic noticed this and asked, “Twilight?”

The lavender unicorn looked up at him in surprise, forgetting that she was sitting right next to him. “Oh, sorry, Sonic. I, uh…” She trailed off, thinking. Sonic could tell whatever she was thinking about had something to do with her friends, though he guessed she thought she’d be rude if she tried to get their attention now. She looked up at him and asked, “I was wondering, what was that device you used back in Ponyville?”

Sonic replied, “Device? Oh, you mean my cell phone.” He reached into his quills and pulled the black phone out, holding it up in the palm of his right hand so Twilight could see it.

Twilight looked at it, eying the lit screen curiously. “Cell phone? What’s that? What does it do?” she asked.

Sonic replied, “It’s kind of like the radios you and Tails made. It lets you communicate from long distances; the difference is the radios are short-range compared to a cell phone’s range. Basically, if I had a friend on the other side of the world that had a phone and I knew their number, I could call them and talk to them.”

Twilight looked at him in wonder, “Wow… And you can do this from anywhere in the world?”

Sonic shrugged, “Well, it kind of requires you to be connected to the wireless network to call someone. That pretty much means you need to be able to get a signal to use it.” He turned his phone around and looked at it before saying, “And wouldn’t you know it? There’s no signal here. Should’ve guessed Eggman would cheap out on something like that.”

Twilight looked disappointed at that, “So it’s useless now?”

Sonic looked back at her and said, “Well, not entirely. Cell phones today have a lot of nifty features available. Like this, for example.” He looked down at his phone and slid his left finger around on its surface for a minute, tapping a few times before holding it out towards Twilight, who put her ear up to it. After a moment, she could hear music:

…all my speed,
My very self is who I’ll lead.
I’ll never turn back, there’s nothing to fear,
‘Cause the end of this road is very near~

Twilight looked at Sonic in surprise, “You can also listen to music on it?”

Sonic nodded, “Yeah! And that’s not all!”

As they kept talking, Shining Armor glared across the donut at Sonic, the hedgehog seemingly oblivious to the look he was receiving. The young captain had tried to save a seat for his sister when he sat down to separate them, but Cadance had called Celestia and Luna over before he could save the spot to his right. And of course, Sonic ended up sitting next to Twilight. How was he supposed to get them apart now?

His thoughts were interrupted when Cadance nudged him. He looked down at her and she asked, “Something on your mind, Shiny?”

Shining looked over at Sonic as he said, “Even though they just met, that Sonic guy seems awfully close to Twilight. I wonder why…”

Cadance gasped softly and whispered, “Oh, Shining! Are you suggesting…?”

Shining looked down at her and asked, “Can you tell? I mean…” Cadance nodded at what he was implying and looked over at the two, sitting up straight before closing her eyes and focusing on them as she began to discreetly prod them with her magic.

About a minute later, she opened her eyes with a frown, “Odd…”

Shining looked at her and asked, “What?”

Cadance replied, “I can’t to seem to sense anything from Sonic. At all. It’s like his mind is closed off so it can’t be read. And something’s clouding Twilight’s mind. I don’t know what it is, but I can’t see past it.”

Shining looked anxious at that. “So you can’t tell if -?”

He was cut off when Silver suddenly flew down and landed in the middle of the donut, exclaiming, “Hey guys, I think we have a problem!”

Blaze stood up and asked, “What’s wrong, Silver?”

Before he could answer her, Tails asked, “Hey, what’s that sound?”

Silver looked down the river and gasped, “Oh no, we’re already approaching the waterfall!”

Twilight gasped, “There’s a waterfall?!”

Silver nodded to her, “Yeah! And at the bottom, there’s a whirlpool!”

Applejack exclaimed, “What?! Then we gotta get off now!”

Sonic looked over the side of the donut as he said, “It might be a little late for that, Applejack! The current’s speeding up, and those cake-y walls look pretty steep!”

Celestia spoke, “Please calm down, everypony. Luna and I can use our magic together to carry our donut to safety. Just remain calm.” Everybody relaxed slightly as Celestia and Luna stood up, focusing their magic into their horns and together wrapping it around their donut while everybody else watched as the waterfall began to get closer.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders, meanwhile, had figured out where the group was heading and were looking for a way to help everyone. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were looking over the control panel while Sweetie Belle consulted a manual she had found after the ride had started. “Construction, setting up the system, what to do with jelly donuts… there’s got to be something in here that can help us!” the young unicorn exclaimed.

“Hurry up, Sweetie Belle! We don’t know what any of these controls do, and we’ve got to help them!” Scootaloo exclaimed.

“I know, I know! There’s just so much stuff in here, and very little of it is helpful!” Sweetie Belle cried.

Apple Bloom looked over the panel nervously. Any one of the switches or levers could help her sister and everyone else… or make things worse. Suddenly, she noticed a large lever off to the side, near the end of the control panel. “What’s this?” she asked.

Sweetie Belle spoke up, “I’ve got it! There should be a big lever that’s used when the donuts reach the waterfall!”

Apple Bloom hopped up on the control panel, heading for the lever as she said, “This must be it!” Once she reached it, she wrapped both forelegs around it and started pulling, but it wouldn’t budge. “It’s stuck! It ain’t movin’!” she cried.

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle hopped up onto the panel, Scootaloo saying, “Hang on, we’ll help you!” They got up behind her and wrapped their forelegs around her, pulling. The lever began to move, but not much. Scootaloo put on a determined face and said, “When I say ‘now’, we’ll all pull at once! Okay?” Both Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom nodded, waiting for the signal.

Back with the group, they were just about to the waterfall, and Celestia and Luna’s magic auras completely surrounded the donut they were all standing in. “Are you ready, Luna?” Celestia asked. The Lunar Princess nodded and they both steadied themselves, waiting for the donut to go over the edge of the waterfall.

Suddenly, as they were about to go over, a platform hidden in the riverbed sprung out of the chocolate underneath the donut! It came up so fast it sent the donut into the air and launched everyone out of it! The donut landed in the whirlpool below while the group was sent flying.

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