EXTRA 1: Work Behind the Scenes
Sonic fell to his knees with his right hand on his forehead while he pressed the palm of his left hand against the ground. Twilight stared at him worriedly; Discord’s magic may have had the intended effect of messing with her mind in order to keep her from believing in friendship, but she was still a reclusive bookworm at heart, even if her heart wasn’t speaking properly at the moment. At the moment, she was not a friend who was looking at Sonic, but an observer; she was concerned about his quick breaths, his eyes and teeth being clenched, and the way his body trembled as he supported himself, but she could not bring herself to do anything more than look on. Her mind was in control and it was telling her she had to stay detached.
After a few moments of just watching, her gaze shifted to the bracelet on Sonic’s left wrist. From what she’d heard, it had been part of the key to opening the castle tower doors and he’d had it on when they regrouped at the entrance. Now she was noticing that the stone set in the top of it was glowing green. It was a faint glow, but it was still noticeable. Twilight continued to stare, wondering what was happening.
In his mind, Sonic took his hand off of his head and opened his eyes, lowering the former and raising the latter to look around. He appeared to be in space as all he could see around him was blackness with white dots mixed in, though it still felt like there was solid ground beneath him as he stood up. “Where am I?” he wondered as he continued to look around, not seeing anything that stood out.
Suddenly he noticed a bluish-white light shining from above. Tilting his head up to look, he saw that it was coming from some sort of mist that was swirling and shaped like one of the many portals he and the others had been through all day. As he stared, Chip’s necklace slowly emerged from the mist-like opening, bringing with it a familiar form. Burgundy fur with white hands and feet, white stomach fur, a pair of small fairy-like wings, a bushy white tail, and a white tuft of fur on its canine-like head… “Chip?” Sonic asked as he looked up into the creature’s yellow eyes.
He received a nod in reply. “Yes. I told you I would always be with you, Sonic. I’m sorry I had to make you seize up, but it was the only way I could bring you here,” the creature said, Sonic hearing his voice despite it sounding a bit ghostly.
“I wish we could be talking at a better time, buddy. Things have managed to get worse than when Eggman blew the planet into pieces,” Sonic replied.
Chip nodded, “I know, Sonic. Even in my dormant state, I’ve felt and seen everything that’s happened. Eggman and his strange, though funny, new ally are trying to reshape everything to suit their interests, maybe even our planet’s cycle of destruction and rebirth. They won’t be satisfied until they control it all.”
Sonic urged, “I have to go back, Chip. That creep Discord did something to Twilight and me, and now he’s probably gonna do the same thing to her friends. I have to do something to snap her out of it.”
Chip said, “He does have unique powers, but when it comes to what he’s done, he’s no Dark Gaia. Even if he knew, his trickery is not as great as he thinks it is. A wise mind and a keen eye are enough to counter his simplest mind trick, but to untwist what he’s trying to do now will mean asserting control over what he embodies.”
Sonic held back a groan as he asked, “Seriously? You’re gonna talk to me in riddles, Chip? If there’s something I need to know, just tell me what it is!”
Chip replied, “You needed to be told that you were too strong to be affected by Dark Gaia’s influence because you believed I was subconsciously protecting you. There is no way his trick can work on you, and I don’t need to tell you anything. You already know how to undo what he’s set in motion, Sonic; you’ve done it before. Remember your greatest strength… Remember…” As he finished speaking, he floated back into the opening behind him and it began to glow brighter once he was through, forcing Sonic to hold his hands in front of his face and look away as the light enveloped him.
Back in the waking world, Sonic’s eyes shot open and his head jerked up suddenly, his right hand hanging in the air as he stared straight ahead. Twilight was surprised by this and backed up slightly with a small gasp. She watched as Sonic blinked a few times, seemingly fine despite how he had looked moments ago. “What happened?” she carefully ventured.
Sonic looked over at her and then down at Chip’s necklace, which was no longer glowing. “I was… somewhere else,” he uttered absently, turning Chip’s words over in his mind. After a few moments, he looked at Twilight again and closed his right hand into a fist, “Twilight… I don’t know what’s going through your mind right now, but you have to listen to me. You’ve got to fight it!”
The gray unicorn gave him a confused look, “Fight what?”
Sonic pushed himself up and quickly walked over to her, putting his hands on her shoulders as he said, “Discord is messing with you! I don’t know how he did it, but he’s the reason you look the way you do! He has you believing in lies!”
Twilight murmured, “Lies…” She seemed to mull his words over for a few seconds, but then she stepped back and said, “No, he… he was right. After everything that’s happened, I should’ve known better. I never really had friends.”
Sonic stared at her in shock. “What?! Twilight, what did he show you that would make you think that?!” he asked.
Twilight shook her head, “He didn’t show me anything. He’s not messing with me.” Her eyes narrowed a little, “He just reminded me of everything I’ve been trying to deny.”
Sonic crossed his arms, “And what’s everything?”
Twilight gave him an odd look, “I never told you, did I? Why all those things we talked about happened?”
Sonic had to think for a moment to remember what she was referring to, but it soon came to him. “What, when you snuck off by yourself back in the jungle?” he asked.
Twilight nodded and said, “I thought it would be best to shift everything to me, to say that it was my fault those things happened… but my so-called ‘friends’ aren’t blameless either.”
Sonic held out his right hand as he spoke, “Uh, okay. Would you care to explain what you mean by that, Twilight? I seem to remember you saying your friends were busy at the time.”
Twilight’s eyes narrowed a little more, “Yes, when I was worrying about the then-weekly reports, my friends WERE busy… busy having a picnic.” Sonic raised an eyebrow as she went on, “When I went to them earlier that day, I was hoping I could help them with a problem without having to tell them, but no one needed any help. I was getting desperate and worried, and it was starting to show in my appearance. So what did my friends do when I went to the picnic and tried to explain the problem to them? They LAUGHED at me, Sonic.”
Sonic raised a finger, “Um…”
Twilight cut him off, “No, I’m not exaggerating! They thought it was a joke! They actually thought I let my mane and tail become disheveled and my heart rate and breathing go up all for a joke! I think I even heard Rarity call me a drama queen when I was leaving! I tried to make them understand how it was important, but their picnic was more important to them!” She gave Sonic a sidelong look, “Maybe anyone could come to the conclusion that I did, but I guess not everyone.”
Sonic flinched a little at having his words thrown back at him. “Well okay, maybe… maybe it wasn’t a day where everyone was remembering everything, but you said Princess Celestia fixed the problem that came up, right? That Spike contacted her?” he asked.
Twilight replied, “Yes, he did. And then during the Future Twilight incident, he too decided it was okay to laugh at me. I decide I’m going to worry about a possible danger that will happen in a week’s time and he decides to take advantage of it and eat all the ice cream he can get his claws on while I was worrying and Rainbow and Pinkie Pie were making light of it.” She huffed, “Future Spike… did he really think he wasn’t going to get a stomachache from all that ice cream, or did he think I had a cloning incident beforehoof? Or maybe he thought I did something unforgivable to him before that and decided to intentionally go overboard with how much he was enjoying himself.”
Sonic rubbed his forehead with his right hand, exasperated. “I’m running out of things to say. Not being there for what happened isn’t helping, but Discord has to have done something to her that’s making her act like this instead of how she was acting before. She kind of stumbled over her words and tried to take all the blame, but I think I prefer that to this new spiteful personality,” he thought to himself. After a moment, he started, “Okay, uh… considering how little you said about it before, I’m guessing your brother’s wedding was even worse?”
Twilight glared, “At last, we can both agree on something. Yes, it was. I would’ve been fine if it turned out Cadance had simply changed and it was not Queen Chrysalis posing as her, even though I wouldn’t have been happy about it. I would’ve even been fine with being completely wrong and there was actually nothing wrong with the bride. What I won’t tolerate any longer, however, is the complete and utter lack of faith that everypony, including my brother and Princess Celestia, showed me!”
Sonic asked, “And how faithless was that, exactly?”
Twilight yelled, “Completely! They were too wrapped up in being allowed to plan a royal wedding to pay attention to anything else! No, strike that! They didn’t even have to be directly involved in the preparations to not notice anything out of the ordinary! All Spike had to do was plan the bachelor party and he was too enthralled with the wedding cake toppers to do anything else! The rest of the lot? Applejack was too thrilled that Chrysalis said she liked her treats to notice she threw the rest away! Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy could not tell the difference between demands and rudeness and requests and stress! And Rainbow? Didn’t even bother trying to get to know the bride until she was made a bridesmaid! And my brother… Does he really think I don’t know what a spell meant to combat headaches looks like?!”
Sonic was actually considering backing away from the unicorn with how angry she was getting, but he kept telling himself to stand his ground and not lift his feet. “And…?” he prodded, hoping she was getting close to the part that was making her really angry.
Twilight snarled, “They abandoned me. I’d had enough of them brushing off what I had to say and not paying attention, so I arrived late to the rehearsal and laid out my accusations as forceful as I could. And as soon as Chrysalis started crying, they all turned on me. Shining stripped me of my Best Mare position, my friends walked out without looking back, and Celestia… ‘I have a lot to think about’, huh? Well, it’s a good thing Chrysalis sent me down to the caves where the real Cadance was and we escaped in time, otherwise the changelings would be ruling Equestria. I wonder what we’d all have to think about then!”
Sonic paused for a moment before saying, “Okay well, it’s good that it turned out that Cadance actually hadn’t changed, so it’s a good thing she was found, but you must look back now and realize that whatever you meant by ‘forceful’ probably wasn’t the smartest thing you could’ve done at the time, right?”
Twilight replied, “It doesn’t matter! Do you see how little they think of me, all of them?! They turn their backs on me whenever I’m standing in the way of their desires and then come crawling back when it’s most convenient for them! Shining basically disowned me when Chrysalis’ mind control spell hadn’t even taken full effect yet, and the fact that they were close to ending the wedding when Cadance and I burst in means no one cared enough about the fact that I had gone missing since the rehearsal! Not even a glance back… do you know how that feels?!”
Sonic took a moment to gather his thoughts and said, “Look Twilight, I really don’t want to contribute anything to this angst fest, and I’m not gonna lie… that really does burn and I’m only hearing about it, but it’s over with now. I’m not saying you should let it go, but there are more pressing matters to worry about right now. Eggman and Discord are probably doing who knows what to Tails, your friends, your brother, and the princesses right now. We have to help them!”
Twilight huffed and said, “What for? So we can once again save Equestria, the land that no longer recognizes how harsh things can be because Celestia expects the Elements of Harmony to keep it the way it is? Maybe if they change things, it’ll stop being full of secrets and lies.”
Sonic asked, “What about my world?! They’re gonna change that too!”
Twilight glanced at him and, after a moment, said, “You, Luna, and Cadance are the only ones I might still care about enough to help… but you’re Sonic the Hedgehog. You don’t answer to anyone, and apparently nothing can be thrown at you that you can’t stop. What do you need me, or anyone else, for?”
Sonic replied, “Because I CAN’T do everything alone! I never would’ve gotten this far if it was just me, and neither would you! You know it’s true! So snap out of whatever Discord did and remember all the times you and your friends went through!”
Twilight turned away and sat down, looking down at the ground sadly as she spoke, “What’s the point? I might’ve been able to recall what friendship was like and help my friends remember with my memory spell as well the last time Discord was freed, but they also hadn’t really abandoned me before. There’s nothing that friendship or harmony can do to fix that.” She reached up and grabbed her tiara with her hooves, taking it off and bringing it down to look at it. “This used to mean something, but now it’s just a lie, just like everything else I believed in…” Her horn lit up and grabbed the crown, throwing it to her right.
Sonic looked at where the crown slid to a stop for a moment before looking back at the unicorn and asking, “So that’s it, Twilight? You’re just gonna run away from everything?”
She emotionlessly responded, “There’s nowhere to go now. For better or worse, things are going to change soon, and right now, I’d rather wait and let it happen. It might be the only way I’ll ever be able to make sense of anything again. Don’t try to change my mind, Sonic; as impossible to understand as it is, I’d like to keep a little bit of happiness in my last moments.”
Sonic turned and made his way over to the crown, bending down and picking it up in his right. He looked at the gem in it as he thought, “Is this really the way she wants it to end, even with how strong she is? I want to bring back the Twilight I know, but she’s shut down on me. It doesn’t seem like I can say anything that can get her to wake up and listen, just like…” He stopped short and looked up as he remembered the only other time he’d seen something like this, and it was very recent too. “Silver,” he finished.
“You already know how to undo what he’s set in motion, Sonic; you’ve done it before. Remember your greatest strength… Remember…”
Chip’s words played in his head as he remembered what Silver had been like when they first ran into him, how angry he had seemed, how he pointedly believed in one thing despite being told otherwise, how… gray he looked. He thought maybe it had been a trick of the light at the time, but now… “Discord was the one who messed with his head! All he had to do was get Silver to drop his guard for a moment to scramble him. And what broke the spell was…” He remembered them both slamming their Chaos Emeralds together to do something he hadn’t known Silver was able to do. Or perhaps he did somehow and that’s why he did it. Either way…
“A wise mind and a keen eye are enough to counter his simplest mind trick, but to untwist what he’s trying to do now will mean asserting control over what he embodies.”
Once again he recalled Chip’s words as he thought, “Chaos Control. Somehow, it…” He looked back over his shoulder at Twilight, “But will it work on her? She doesn’t know how to do Chaos Control, and even if she did, she wouldn’t try to use it anyway since she’s not trying to fight me. I’d have to do it all myself.” He closed his eyes, “She thinks I can do things by myself… Well, I hope she’s right. Maybe I can still set things right, get her back to normal. Harmony’s no good here, so the only option is friendship’s other half. It got us here and it can get us back. We’re running out of time and I definitely can’t let second guesses stop me now, so… let’s do this.”
As she continued to stew in silence, Twilight suddenly heard the familiar sound of Sonic picking up speed. Before she could turn her head, Sonic crashed into her from behind and pushed her into the marshmallow wall in front of her, pressing up against her to hold her in place. “Sonic, what are you doing?!” she yelled as she began struggling to get away from him, especially when she noticed her crown close to her face. She tried to use her magic, but he had evidently picked up on what Eggman had done earlier since he kept shaking her to throw off her concentration.
As he kept her restrained, Sonic grunted, “I’m sorry about doing it this way Twilight, and I hope I didn’t hurt you by accident. But if you want things to make sense again, I think you’ll be glad about what I’m going to do. Let my rainbow remind you.” As he was talking, he reached his right hand into his quills and pulled out the green Chaos Emerald. Knowing she would manage to get free eventually, he had to act fast. Nodding, he brought the tip of the emerald in his hand forward as he yelled, “Chaos… Control!”
As a light from both the green emerald and the purple emerald in her mane began to shine from behind her, Twilight’s struggling suddenly ceased and her eyes shot open. In her mind, the heightened memories Discord had left her with, which had been flashing by like a sped up slideshow, began to slow down. As the memories stopped going by so fast that she actually had time to really look at them, she began to see the inaccuracies present in them. “No, that’s not how that… Applejack didn’t say that…! They were standing… We were…” Her thoughts were segmented as she sorted through and compared what she was seeing to what she remembered, but it didn’t matter. The fast and repeated memories were no longer constantly flashing their messages at her to the point where she would either accept or go mad.
And as her rationality won out over Discord’s trickery, the change began to happen. Sonic looked down as he heard a shimmering noise and saw that the shine from earlier was once again climbing up Twilight’s tail, but now it was revealing her true colors underneath all the gray. Her legs, her midsection, her mane… the color was coming back to all of her. And as it reached her horn, the pointy appendage began to shimmer with magic building up within. She closed her eyes and released it when she felt she couldn’t contain it any longer, sending it outwards. There was a brief flash of light from both Chaos Emeralds before the light they were emitting dimmed and died down completely.
Seeing that she had stopped moving almost completely, Sonic stepped back from Twilight, her hind legs sliding down first followed by her forelegs. She slowly turned to look at the blue hedgehog in wonder. “Sonic… how… what did you…?”
He shrugged, “Somebody I thought I’d never see again told me to think before I tried anything and this was the only thing I could come up with. I mean, hey, it worked for Silver; why wouldn’t it work for you?”
Twilight thought about his words, remembering how crazed Silver had been the first time they’d met. Somehow the Chaos Emeralds had had the same effect as her memory spell, but it didn’t make sense to her. “I don’t understand. How can chaos override… chaos?” she asked.
Sonic shuffled his feet and looked around a little before saying, “I guess it’s not something that’s easy to explain, but… that’s chaos for you. It can be a splendid thing, just not saying it the way Dizzy says it.”
Twilight shook her head, “I… maybe it’s because I just came out of him messing with my head, but I still don’t follow.”
Sonic looked at her, “I think we’re all kind of led to believe that order, or rather harmony, and chaos are complete opposites.”
Twilight asked, “Well, aren’t they?”
Sonic nodded, “Yeah, but… maybe this is just me trying to put something together real quick, but I feel like they can’t always be because of friendship.” At Twilight’s quizzical look, he explained, “I’m kind of thinking that harmony is like a thing that sustains, that it keeps things the way they are. Then chaos comes along and… unexpected stuff happens and it shakes things up, but it doesn’t mean everything harmony kept in check is gone. They don’t always, but they can come together and make something new, spark something. Kind of like…”
Twilight finished for him, “Friendship.”
Sonic nodded, “Yeah… You know, I could just say that friendship is amazing because it’s beautiful, but I feel like that’s only half-right. I think it’s also amazing because it’s crazy.” Noticing the way Twilight tilted her head, he explained, “Yeah, there are some ugly parts to it, like what you’ve been trying to push out of your mind, especially since it’s possible they could’ve been prevented, but there are also so many great parts as well. All those friendship reports you and your friends have done, all the adventures you’ve had, all the misunderstandings… heck, just the fact that two beings from different universes could be having a conversation like this in a place like this. It seems crazy, Twilight, but I’m okay with that because this is gonna be something worth remembering. Even if our friendships don’t last forever, I’ll look back on this and smile at the thought because it was great to be part of it.”
Twilight mulled over his words for a bit before slowly asking, “So… you think friendship is essentially a mix of chaos and harmony?”
Sonic nodded, “It hurts, it heals… it’s magic.”
Twilight was silent again, looking down at the ground again. She began to breathe faster a moment later and she began to look around as she uttered, “I… I have to… I shouldn’t have let the past control me. I don’t know how my friends feel right now, but… I have to fix this… I have to tell them…”
Sonic smiled, “Now there’s the Twilight I know.”
The lavender unicorn looked at Sonic suddenly and said, “My crown… I shouldn’t have thrown it away… I need it back!” She moved forward and reached for it, but Sonic pulled his left hand back to keep it away from her.
When she looked at him, he asked, “I know you need it to make it all complete, but don’t you have something to do first?”
Twilight took a breath and nodded, “Right. My friends…”
Sonic brought the crown back down next to his left, “You don’t need me to tell you what you have to do; you already know. Prove you deserve this crown thingy.” Twilight nodded, resolve filling her eyes.
Suddenly they both noticed that the walls around them were starting to sag, the ceiling sinking in towards them. “Is this Discord’s doing? Is he trying to force us out?!” Twilight asked.
Sonic remembered how the draconequus had left them and got an idea. He turned to Twilight, “Can you use your magic to make us look gray?”
Twilight replied, “I could, but… I don’t think it’s going to fool him! Not for long, anyway.”
Sonic said, “I don’t think he’ll be completely fooled either, but it might buy us a little time. Just do it, quick!” Twilight nodded and her closed her eyes as her horn lit up. One bright flash later, Twilight’s coat was as gray as it was before and Sonic was completely gray save for his gloves. As he looked at his right arm, Sonic grimaced, “Ugh. How can that guy enjoy looking at this?”
Twilight urged, “We have to go, Sonic.”
Sonic looked up at the ceiling and noticed it was lower now. He nodded, “Right.” He moved to her right side and wrapped his right arm around her chest before saying, “Hey, I’m not gonna put any pressure on you, but can you try to look defeated? It might help sell it.” Twilight nodded and they both turned to look up at the sagging ceiling, Sonic preparing to Boost as he thought, “Here we go…”
________________________________________
“The Princesses are comin’! The Princesses are comin’!” Knuckles, Amy, Blaze, Silver, Marine, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders stopped looking at Canterlot in the distance and turned to see Granny Smith running through the streets of Ponyville and yelling. The streets were mostly empty due to the town-wide quarantine so they weren’t sure why she was acting this way.
Apple Bloom was the first to move, everyone else following after her as she moved to intercept the elderly mare. She managed to get in front of Granny’s path and leapt onto her, holding onto her face as she said, “Granny! Granny, snap out of it!” The green pony was surprised by the sudden action and came skidding to a halt in the middle of the street a moment later, Apple Bloom letting go of her sagging skin a moment later.
The rest of the Crusaders and the others came over a moment later, Silver asking, “Granny Smith, what’s wrong? Why are you yelling?”
Looking behind the older mare, they saw Big Macintosh, Braeburn, and Little Strongheart coming up, the two colts looking a bit winded. “Big Mac, Cousin Braeburn! What happened ta Granny Smith?” Babs asked.
Braeburn panted, “She took off runnin’ suddenly. Managed ta get past us.”
Big Macintosh took a deep breath and said, “Eeyup.”
Before anyone else could say anything, they heard a familiar slow voice ask, “What’s with all the noise?” They all turned and saw Big, Cream and Cheese, and Derpy approaching them.
“Oh, Big. We were wondering that ourselves. Granny Smith seems a bit riled up about something,” Amy said.
They heard Mayor Mare say a moment later, “Yes, we all heard her.” They turned and saw the tan mare walking towards them, the Chaotix, Trixie, and Zecora with her as well.
They then heard a metallic thudding sound and turned to see Team Dark approaching. “I HEARD AN INCREDIBLY GRATING SOUND, AND NOW IT HAS STOPPED… ARE MY AUDIO RECEPTORS FAULTY?” Omega questioned.
They weren’t the only ones, as Spitfire and Soarin flew down a moment later and landed in front of the group, having seen the gathering while they were patrolling what passed for a sky. “What’s going on here?” Soarin asked.
“How many more…?” Blaze muttered, starting to feel a little claustrophobic.
Marine piped up, “Oy! This here Granny took off runnin’ and yellin’! Little Bloomer here finally got her to stop! Strewth, I promise. Just ask ‘Big Red’, ‘Mellow Yellow’, and ‘Bucking Bull’.”
Braeburn muttered, “Mah coat’s not yellow…”
Spitfire stepped forward, saying, “As long as nobody’s hurt here, it’s fine. That’s the big issue.” She stepped up in front of Granny Smith and said, “Now, uh, Ms. Smith, I’m gonna have to ask you to come with me. The town is still under quarantine and you really shouldn’t be out on the streets now.”
There was a thump a moment later and they all looked to see that it was Gilda, the griffin having landed close by. “Hey, I got a better idea. Why don’t you just zip your wrinkled face, you old coot? Some of us are trying to sleep; why don’t you try it?” she snarked.
The Babylon Rogues suddenly flew in on their Extreme Gear a moment later and hopped off near the gathering. “Yeah, will you keep it down? Being stuck in this town was fine when there were repairs to be done; now you’re really making it unbearable!” Wave said.
Granny Smith simply glared at both insulting parties while saying, “You young’uns need ta learn ta respect yer elders. And ya might want ta think about respectin’ royalty as well, since… the Princesses are comin’!”
Knuckles sighed, “Yes, we heard you the first time, Granny Smith. What does…?” He stopped short when he and everyone else noticed a light shining down. They all turned and looked up to see Princess Celestia and Princess Luna descending, their wings closing against their sides as they got close to the ground.
“Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!” Mayor Mare exclaimed, all the equines quickly dropping into a bow.
Princess Celestia spoke curtly, “There is no time for this, my little ponies. I’m glad to see you’re all here together.” As she looked over them, she noticed Granny Smith shoot her a wink as she raised herself up.
Espio asked, “Princess Celestia, why are you and Princess Luna here? The last time anyone in Ponyville saw you, you were both heading back to Canterlot.”
Charmy piped up, “Yeah, and Sonic, Tails, and those ponies and the dragon were following behind you in the choo-choo train!”
Celestia nodded, “Indeed. We’ve returned because we need help.”
Mayor Mare asked, “With what, Your Highness?’
Princess Luna stepped forward, “We now know that the creature responsible for this mess, the Time Eater… is being controlled by Dr. Eggman and Discord.”
Rouge rolled her eyes, “Oh my. Isn’t that unexpected. …In case anyone can’t tell, not really.”
Shadow looked at her and nodded, “Hm. It has been a while since he worked with someone or used another creature, but it’s still hardly anything new for the Doctor.”
Luna’s eyes narrowed slightly, “Perhaps this is nothing new for any of you, but the fact remains that our worlds are still in danger, perhaps more so than they were before. And him being allied with Discord is not a good thing.”
Mayor Mare shuddered, “I would have to agree with you, Princess Luna, considering how he nearly ruined Ponyville last time.” Big Macintosh made an exaggerated spit at that, remembering all the buried objects he’d had to cough up when the draconequus’ spell had been broken.
Little Strongheart asked, “What is Discord, uh, Your Highnesses?” Braeburn also looked confused.
Luna answered, “He is a draconequus, Little Strongheart.” Both she and Braeburn only looked further confused.
Celestia spoke, “To perhaps put it more simply, he’s the storybook creature whose shadow you and Braeburn saw.” Silver, Little Strongheart, and Braeburn’s eyes all widened and they shared a gaze as they all remembered what she was referring to.
Spitfire asked, “So, uh, why exactly did you come back here for help, Your Highnesses?”
Celestia’s eyes narrowed slightly, “To prove Dr. Eggman right… and wrong.” She received some confused looks, but she simply turned her head to glance back up at Canterlot as she explained, “Right now, Sonic and the others are trying to stop the Time Eater, but thanks to Discord’s magic, they’ve been split up and the Elements of Harmony rendered useless. They are in danger.” She looked back at everyone, “The tracks all the way to Canterlot are clear and we have chariots on the way here to help move anyone who needs them. If they do not receive help soon, we will lose them and Discord and Dr. Eggman’s victory will be all but assured.”
Her blunt statement shocked everyone, but Knuckles soon thumped his fists together as he said, “Not happening on my watch! It’s one thing if Eggman’s trying to ruin things, but trying to do it with some other clown? I’m definitely gonna help any way I can! Who’s with me?”
Amy spoke up, “I am! Nobody’s hurting my friends or my Sonic!”
Cream added, “Cheaters never prosper!”
Big stated, “I want to help my buddies!”
Jet asked, “Eggman taking down Sonic? That’s not happening until I’VE put him in his place!”
Storm said, “I’m with you, Boss!”
Vector spoke, “Payment or no, the Chaotix Detective Agency ain’t gonna stand around and let the world end!”
Rouge smirked at Shadow, “You really gonna let Eggman take Sonic down before you’ve had another crack at him?” The black hedgehog said nothing in response.
Omega stirred, “I WILL INTERRUPT EGGMAN’S PLANS MYSELF IF I HAVE TO!”
Trixie spoke up, “Trixie will swallow her pride if it means rescuing Twilight Sparkle!”
Soon everyone else was rallying together as well, ready to go to Canterlot and back everyone else up. Gilda eventually couldn’t take the noise anymore and yelled, “Will you all give it a rest?! Why do any of you care?! What are you getting out of this?!”
Luna said, “We are aiding our allies and allowing our world to continue to be the way we all remember, griffin.”
Gilda crossed her arms, “Yeah well ‘pony’, as great as that sounds, some of us don’t get along so great in the world we know. Maybe those detectives can shrug it off, but some of us need help getting by.”
Luna asked, “You would have us be in your debt?”
Gilda replied, “Gold talks to us griffons. You get some of that and I’ll be willing to give it a shot.”
Celestia knew her patient wasn’t infinite and neither was the time they had remaining. They needed to get Gilda to help them, but she also wasn’t about to roll over and give the griffon whatever she wanted. “It is in your best interest, Gilda, to come and provide your aid, regardless of a reward,” she said.
Gild huffed, “Yeah? Why?”
Celestia had a feeling she knew just what to say to convince her. “Because if you don’t, you will be forced to remain here within the quarantine zone, waiting for everything to end surrounded by ponies,” she stated simply, deciding to cut straight to the point like Sonic had earlier.
That caused Gilda to raise an eyebrow as she glanced in the direction of the princess. After a moment, she curled the claws on her right talon into a fist as she pointedly said, “Let’s roll.” By this time, the chariots had arrived and had started setting down near the train station.
As Knuckles, Blaze, Silver, Team Rose, Team Dark, and the Chaotix started following the train tracks to Canterlot and everyone that was unable to fly started filling up the chariots, Luna turned to Celestia and smirked, “I must admit, that was rather effective, sister.”
Celestia smiled back, “Despite what Dr. Eggman thinks, Luna, I have learned a few things while I waited for you to return. And while I haven’t learned as much, I’ve continued learning since then.”
Luna smiled at her for a moment, pleased to see that she seemed to be back to her old self. She then asked, “Shall we be off?”
Celestia nodded, “Yes. I believe we’ve accomplished what we set out to do. We have proven that we are able rally others and we do know more about Twilight and her friends than when we were on the spot earlier. Now we must return to Canterlot once more.” She then spread her wings and Luna did the same. “With as clear a flight as we had coming back here, I believe part of the reason for the train taking so long to arrive was because they were closing the portals we encountered, and that works in everyone’s favor. Let us hurry so that we may join everyone else in supporting Twilight and her friends.”
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...Cool...
This has been surprisingly well done. A sign that as sad as those moments were, we all need to let go.
Nice